Lenoir-Rhyne University history

In 1895, the college assumed its first official synodical sponsorship which continues today with the North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

1903 In the summer of 1903, Fritz selected the school colors (garnet and black) and the motto “Veritas vos Liberabit” (the truth shall set you free, from John 8). The college started a baseball team, its first intercollegiate sport.

1907 The college awarded its first honorary doctorates.

His son, Leo L. Boliek, received his degree the same week to become the college’s first “grandson.” 1909 A proposal for a college yearbook was made to faculty at its meeting on January 22, 1909.

1915 At the annual banquet, the alumni association selected as speaker Virginia pastor A.L. Boliek, who was the first alumnus to have a son graduate from Lenoir.

In 1923, the college became Lenoir-Rhyne, in honor of Daniel E. Rhyne, a Lincoln County industrialist who boosted the endowment and other assets of the institution.

1926 Professor Pearl Setzer Deal created the Lenoir-Rhyne Playmakers.

1928 Daniel E. Rhyne, a Lutheran businessman from Lincoln County, gave $150,000 toward the college’s rebuilding effort.

1935 Professor Kenneth Lee began the A Cappella Choir.

1957 On February 16, 1957, the first basketball game was played in the new Shuford Gymnasium.

1960 The Minges Science Building, named after the L.L. Minges family of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, opened.

1963 The Cromer Center opened, incorporating part of the original dining hall, while also providing space for student activities.

1966 The Greek Awards were founded by Doctor Ellis Boatmon, a history professor, to recognize the achievements of fraternity and sorority members.

1968 Gloria Ann Sudderth became the first African-American to graduate from Lenoir-Rhyne.

Bost’s successor, Albert B. Anderson, assumed the presidential duties on September 13, 1976 and was the first non-clergyman to serve as president.

1977 In April 1977, Pulitzer Prize-winner Alex Haley, the author of “Roots,” spoke at Lenoir-Rhyne.

1988 On November 14, 1988, English professor Doctor Rand Brandes began the Visiting Writers Series, with Paul Muldoon serving as the first visiting writer.

1990 In the Shuford Gymnasium on a steamy August day at 10 am, Doctor Gunnar Stålsett, General Secretary of the World Lutheran Federation in Geneva, Switzerland, officially opened the Lenoir-Rhyne College centennial year.

1991 To encourage and support student travel, Lenoir-Rhyne opened the office of international.

1995 Natalie Daniel earned First Team All-American honors in soccer – the first woman to do so in Lenoir-Rhyne’s history.

2000 Lenoir-Rhyne’s Friends of Music was established to support performing arts on campus and in the community.

2002 The Charles M. Snipes School of Business & Economics was the first school of the college to be named.

2004 Renovations and dedication of Mauney-Schaeffer Conference Hall.

2007 John ’72 and Marilyn ’73 Moretz gave the largest gift in the college’s history, totaling $5.1 million.

2008 In March 2008, the board of trustees approved the plan to transform Lenoir-Rhyne College into a university.

2009 The Solmaz Institute for Obesity was established in October 2009 with $3 million gift from Gungor and Diana Solmaz of Denver, North Carolina.

2010 A generous gift from Irwin Belk gave the University a 12-foot-tall statue of Martin Luther in October of 2010.

“History of Lenoir-Rhyne University and The Low-Down on L-R.” Lenoir-Rhyne University website. http://www.lr.edu/visitors/history-of-lenoir-rhyne, (accessed February 1, 2012).

2015 The University Rising campaign finished in March 2015 with $66 million raised.

2016 In January 2016, Lenoir-Rhyne opened its doors to the new Wayne B. Powell Health Sciences Center and welcomed its inaugural class for the Physician Assistant Studies Program.

2017 Doctor Frederick K. Whitt and his wife, Donna, are welcomed to Lenoir-Rhyne's campus in February 2017.

The first cohort for the Family Nurse Practitioner/Doctorate of Nursing Practice, LR's first doctoral program, began in August 2018.

2019 To offer half-off tuition statewide, the university expanded its Catawba County Promise program to provide the same tuition benefits statewide.

Of the 359 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Lenoir - Rhyne University in 2020, 7 of them were history majors.

2021 Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenoir-Rhyne University announced accreditation had been reaffirmed by the Association of Theological Schools for 10 years.