2019 Education magazine

2019 “Education making a difference” LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 Page 35 W hen David Gerlach was studying for his doctorate he wrote a dissertation entitled: “Transfer rates and baccalaureate attainment – Two-year versus hybrid colleges,” he was living in upper New York State and didn’t know Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois. However, that dissertation was a key to bringing Dr. Gerlach to our community to serve as the president of Lincoln College. The dissertation was for all practical purposes a blue print of how to go about transitioning a two-year college to a four-year college, and also offered the reasoning behind why that should be a goal for our future right here. Dr. Gerlach believes it was that dissertation, and his proposal to the Lincoln College Trustees that they pursue this plan for LC, which led to his being hired. Looking back to see the future President Gerlach reviewed the history of the college, noting that when it opened in the mid 1800’s it was a four-year university. It was also a faith-based school founded by the Presbyterian Churches located in the southern United States. This was the Civil War Era, and the church saw a need to establish a college in the ‘northern’ region. They chose Lincoln, Illinois, and the university was named for then sitting President Abraham Lincoln. The university continued on until the depression in the early 1900’s. With the depression, LC University Trustees determined that the college could not afford to continue on as a four-year institution. The last masters degree was awarded in 1915. In 1929, Lincoln University delivered its final bachelor degrees, and in 1930, officially became a two-year college. From 1930 to the early 2000’s, Lincoln College’s campus (the trustees changed the name but did not drop the schools ‘University” designation) continued on as a two-year school. The Normal campus was then opened and offered a one-year certificate, a two-year associate and a limited number of bachelor degrees. Dr. Gerlach said when he came to the trustees in 2015 he saw the Lincoln campus as “the oddest campus.” He noted that the trustees touted Lincoln College as the only two-year college with dorms, but at the same time, it was the most expensive two-year college in the state. Dr. Gerlach said he presented his case to the trustees that it was time to take the Lincoln campus back to its roots as a four-year moves forward by looking to its past Lincoln College David Gerlach CONTINUED