Lenoir–Rhyne University is a private

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

university in

Hickory, North Carolina Hickory is a city located primarily in Catawba County, with formal boundaries extending into Burke and Caldwell counties. The city lies in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the time of the 2020 census, Hickory's population was 43,490. Hic ...

. Founded in 1891, the university is affiliated with the North Carolina Synod of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxi ...

(ELCA).

Academics

The university is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...

to award bachelor's and master's degrees. In the fall of 2018, LRU offered its first doctorate program, the Family Nurse Practitioner/Doctor of Nursing Practice (FNP/DNP). Overall, Lenoir–Rhyne University has over 50 undergraduate majors and nearly 30 graduate programs. The university has campuses in Hickory,

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous city ...

, and

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the ci ...

Athletics

Lenoir–Rhyne fields 20 intercollegiate teams and competes in National Collegiate Athletics Association Division II (NCAA Division II) as a member of the

South Atlantic Conference The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the southeastern United States. The SAC was founded in 1975 as a ...

. The school nickname is the Bears; its mascots are Joe and Josie Bear. The school's swimming programs compete in the Bluegrass Mountain Swimming Conference and the men's lacrosse program was a member of the Deep South Lacrosse Conference until the conference dissolved in 2013. The men's and women's track & field and women's lacrosse teams compete as NCAA Division II Independents. MoretzSportsAthleticComplex

Prior to competing in the NCAA, the university was a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stud ...

(NAIA). The LRU football team won the NAIA National Championship in 1960 and made three trips to the title game in four years. In 2013 the Lenoir Rhyne football team made it to the 2013

NCAA Division II Football Championship The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination tournament with eight teams. The tourn ...

game. In 1980, the Bears' women's basketball team reached the NAIA Final Four while the men's basketball squad made it to the NAIA Elite Eight in 1992. Recently, the Lenoir–Rhyne softball team has seen six straight trips to the NCAA Division II Playoffs, and reached the Southeast Region Finals in 2010 and 2011. Also, the Bears' women's soccer team advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in 2010 after the program's most successful season to date. The LRU men's and women's basketball teams have both reached Division II NCAA postseason play several times in the 2000s, with the Bear women hosting the Southeast Region Tournament in 2009.

Student life

There are over 60 student clubs and organization on campus. Undergraduate students are required to live on campus for their first three years. The university designates Morgan Hall, Isenhour Hall, and half of Fritz-Conrad Hall exclusively for freshman students. Upperclassmen housing includes Hickory House, Price Village, and Fourth Street apartments. In 2007 Lenoir-Rhyne built the Living Learning Center which provides upscale living and classroom space. Students who are part of the Lenoir-Rhyne Honors Academy or Greek Life may choose to live in designated on campus houses.

Fraternities and sororities

Notable alumni

* Virginia Dare Aderholdt, an Arlington Hall cryptanalyst and Japanese translator, who decrypted the intercepted Japanese surrender message, August 14, 1945 * Frank Barger, high school football coach at Hickory High School; inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 *

Rick Barnes Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

, men's

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

head coach * Cherie Berry, former

North Carolina Commissioner of Labor The Commissioner of Labor is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The commissioner is a constitutional officer who leads the state's Department of Labor. North Carolina's general statues provide the commissioner with bro ...

James B. Black James Boyce Black (born March 25, 1935) is a member of the North Carolina Democratic Party, and a former member of the North Carolina General Assembly, who represented the state's 100th House district, including constituents in Mecklenburg County ...

, former Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives * Lindsay Deal, MLB player *

Elizabeth K. Dillon Elizabeth Kay Dillon (née Hillman; born December 14, 1960) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Biography Dillon received an Artium Baccalaureus degree, magna cum laude, i ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia (in case citations, W.D. Va.) is a United States district court. Appeals from the Western District of Virginia are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth ...

Kyle Dugger Kyle Dugger (born March 22, 1996) is an American football safety for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Lenoir–Rhyne. High school career Primarily playing basketball at Whitewater H ...

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

safety for the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

* Perry Fewell, former NFL football coach; currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Officiating Administration for the NFL's officiating department * Gary Glenn, political activist and former member of the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...

* David Hoyle,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

politician who served as a member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the state's forty-third

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

district *

W. Stine Isenhower Walter Stine Isenhower (April 27, 1927 – December 31, 2022) was an American politician in the state of North Carolina. A native of Conover, North Carolina, Isenhower is an alumnus of Lenoir-Rhyne College (now Lenoir-Rhyne University) and a ...

, served in the

North Carolina House of Representatives The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North ...

* Burgess Jenkins, actor * Harold Johnson, former

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio wa ...

for WSOC-TV in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

* Craig Keith, former NFL tight end *

Donnie Kirkpatrick Donnie Kirkpatrick is an American football coach. He is currently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at East Carolina University, a position he has held since 2019. It is his second stint at East Carolina, having previously served ...

, college football coach *

John Milem John Ray Milem (born June 9, 1975) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Lenoir–Rhyne ...

, former NFL defensive end *

Don Padgett Don Wilson Padgett (December 5, 1911 – December 9, 1980) was an American professional baseball player, a catcher/outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals (1937–41), Brooklyn Dodgers (1946), Boston Braves (1946) and Philadelphia Phillies (1947� ...

, MLB

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

Elwood L. Perry Elwood "Buck" Lake Perry (15 July 1915, Hickory, North Carolina – 12 August 2005, Taylorsville, North Carolina) was the inventor of the form of fishing lure known as the spoonplug along with being an author. NY Times "Correction: August 30, 200 ...

, inventor of the form of

fishing lure A fishing lure is a broad type of artificial angling baits that are replicas designed to mimic real prey animals and attract the attention of predatory fish, using appearances, flashy colors, bright reflections, movements, vibrations and/or lou ...

known as the spoonplug *

Buz Phillips Albert Abernathy "Buz" Phillips (May 25, 1904 – November 6, 1964) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They ...

, MLB pitcher * Mike Pope, best known as NFL tight ends coach for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

, serving on all four of their Super Bowl Championship teams * Tom Segura, stand-up comedian, actor and co-host of Your Mom's House podcast * Dick Smith, MLB outfielder *

Herm Starrette Herman Paul Starrette (November 20, 1936 – June 2, 2017) was an American relief pitcher; pitching and bullpen coach; and farm system official in Major League Baseball. Starrette was a native and lifelong resident of Statesville, North Caroli ...

, former MLB pitcher and coachHerm Starrette Stats
''Baseball-Reference''. Retrieved Aug 15, 2020. * Terence Steward, former NFL wide receiver * Aaron Wheeler, former MLS forward for the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 2010 ...

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenoir-Rhyne University Educational institutions established in 1891 1891 establishments in North Carolina Hickory, North Carolina Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Private universities and colleges in North Carolina