Editing Wittenberg University (section)

==History==
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'''Wittenberg College''' was founded in 1845 by a group of ministers in the English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio, which had previously separated from the recently established [[German (language)|German-speaking]] [[Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio|Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States]]. The college was named for the historic [[Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg|University of Wittenberg]] in [[Wittenberg]], Germany, the town in which [[Martin Luther]] famously posted his ''[[Ninety-five Theses]]'' on the church door on October 31, 1517.<ref name=WIT>{{cite web |url=http://www.oh-palam.org/Wittenberg.pdf |work=Wittenberg University |title=Wittenberg founded as the English-speaking University of the Lutheran Church |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326141713/http://oh-palam.org/Wittenberg.pdf| archive-date=26 March 2009 |author=Chester C. Winter |access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref>

A [[German American]] pastor of the [[Lutheran|Evangelical Lutheran Church]], the Rev. [[Ezra Keller]] was the principal founder and first president of the college. Its initial focus was to train clergy with the Hamma School of Divinity as its theological department. One of its main missions was to "Americanize" Lutherans by teaching courses in the English language instead of [[German language|German]], unlike the nearby [[Capital University]] in [[Columbus, Ohio]].<ref name=WIT/>

The first class originally consisted of eight students at the beginning of the academic year, but grew to seventy-one by the end. With a faculty of one professor and two tutors, classes were held in [[Springfield, Ohio]], in a church on land that was donated. That city was selected for its location on the [[National Road]], running from the eastern cities of [[Baltimore]] and [[Cumberland, Maryland]], to the west in the [[Illinois Territory|Illinois Country]], eventually to the territorial capital of [[Vandalia, Illinois|Vandalia]], near the [[Mississippi River]].

In 1874, women were admitted to the college, and, the following year, [[African Americans|black people]] were admitted. The college attained university status in 1957 and was renamed accordingly.<ref name=WIT/> In 1993, the university and its namesake city Wittenberg entered into an official partnership. 

In 1995, the [[American Philosophical Association]] censured Wittenberg University when the Wittenberg administration overruled the faculty personnel board and denied tenure to [[Leemon McHenry]], a member of the faculty.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=3130913|title=Letters to the Editor|first1=Leemon|last1=McHenry|first2=Frank B.|last2=Dilley|first3=Saul|last3=Fisher|first4=Richard|last4=Field|first5=Michael|last5=Huemer|first6=Bruce|last6=Wilshire|date=1 January 2000|journal=Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association|volume=73|issue=5|pages=169–186|doi=10.2307/3130913}}</ref> The university was [[List of colleges and universities sanctioned by the American Association of University Professors|sanctioned]] in 2021 by the [[American Association of University Professors]] (AAUP), for discontinuing eight academic programs and firing two tenured faculty members without, in the AAUP's opinion, respecting faculty rights.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.aaup.org/article/covid-19-governance-investigation#.YMEsKvmpGUk | title=COVID-19 Governance Investigation | date=15 October 2020 }}</ref>

===Hamma Divinity School===
[[Luther Alexander Gotwald]], Professor of Theology in the '''Hamma Divinity School''' that served as the theological department of the college, was famously tried for and unanimously acquitted of heresy by the board of directors at Wittenberg on April 4–5, 1893. The trial concerned many key issues that Evangelical Lutherans still debate today.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www4.wittenberg.edu/about/history.html |title=Wittenberg History |publisher=Wittenberg University |access-date=30 September 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927115605/http://www4.wittenberg.edu/about/history.html |archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref>

For decades, Hamma and Wittenberg were associated with the local [[English (language)|English-speaking]] regional Lutheran synods in the Midwest.

In 1978, Hamma Divinity School merged with the nearby Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary (associated with [[Capital University]]) in the [[Bexley, Ohio|Bexley]] suburb of Columbus, Ohio, to form [[Trinity Lutheran Seminary]].

===Presidents===
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* Ezra Keller (1844–1848)
* Samuel Sprecher<ref>{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Sprecher, Samuel|year=1900}}</ref> (1849–1874)
* John B. Helwig (1874–1882)
* Samuel Alfred Ort (1882–1900)
* John M. Ruthrauff (1900–1902)
* Charles G. Heckert (1903–1920)
* [[Rees Edgar Tulloss]] (1920–1949)
* Clarence Charles Stoughton (1949–1963)
* John Nissley Stauffer (1963–1968)
* G. Kenneth Andeen (1969–1974)
* William A. Kinnison (1974–1995)
* [[Baird Tipson]] (1995–2004)
* William H. Steinbrink (Interim President)
* [[Mark H. Erickson]] (2005–2012)
* Laurie M. Joyner (2012–2015)
* Richard "Dick" Helton (2016–2017) (Interim President)
* Michael Frandsen (2017–present)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wittenberg.edu/news/05-8-17/wittenberg-selects-dr-michael-frandsen-15th-president |title=Wittenberg's 15th President – Wittenberg University |access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref>
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