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Lewis-Clark State College is a
public college A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...
in
Lewiston, Idaho Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's North Central Idaho, north central region. It is the third-largest city in the Idaho Panhandle, northern Idaho region, behind Post Falls, Idaho, Pos ...
, United States. It was founded in 1893 and has an approximate annual enrollment of 3,600. The college offers more than 130 degrees.


History

In 1893, Governor William J. McConnell signed an act on January 27 authorizing the establishment of the Lewiston State Normal School in Lewiston, "provided the mayor and common council of that city on or before May 1, 1893, donate ten acres, within the city limits and known as part of the city park, and authorizing the said mayor and council to convey to the trustees of said normal school the said tract of land," etc. The first Trustees on the school's Board were James W. Reid (who had done the most to shepherd the authorization bill through the
Idaho Legislature The Idaho Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the 43rd State of Idaho and is bicameral, consisting of the upper chamber of the Idaho Senate and the lower chamber of the Idaho House of Representatives. The state of Idaho ...
), Norman B. Willey (who had just stepped down as Idaho governor), Benjamin Wilson (a previous gubernatorial candidate), J. Morris Howe, and C. W. Schaff. Reid was elected President of the Board,Keith C. Petersen, ''Educating in the American West: One Hundred Years at Lewis–Clark State College'', 1893–1993, © Lewis–Clark State College, Confluence Press, Lewiston, Idaho (1993). a position he held until his death in 1902. Lewiston residents lost no time in obtaining the required space for the school. However, the legislature acted slowly in providing construction funds, and then construction lagged. George E. Knepper had been hired as first President of the Normal School. Frustrated by the delays in getting his building, Knepper leased space in downtown Lewiston and opened for classes on January 6, 1896. The building itself was not ready until May. Over the next several years, more structures were added to the campus, including dormitories and a gymnasium. In keeping with the normal school philosophy, Lewiston Normal focused on practical, hands-on training for new teachers. That meant the school provided a great deal of “manual training”—what is now called
vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...
. Also, to insure that teachers truly knew how to handle a classroom, the school ran an on-campus training school. In it, real teachers taught real pupils, and student teachers also learned-by-doing under the supervision of experienced teacher-critics. Until the 1920s,
one-room school One-room schoolhouses, or One-room schools, have been commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Spa ...
s served well over half of Idaho's primary students. In most, only the teacher knew anything at all about running a school. Thus, “teachers assumed responsibility for shaping a district's entire educational policy.” The
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
certainly impacted the nation's normal schools, but not as much as it did conventional institutions. Generally, male students were in the majority at regular colleges, many of which experienced brutal enrollment losses. Normal schools attracted a predominantly female student body, so the declines were much smaller—about 15% at Lewiston Normal. The school experienced a painful crisis on December 5, 1917, when the Administration Building suffered severe damage in a fire, later determined to be
arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
by a student. Its
cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...
collapsed into the gutted interior of the main structure and the older east wing was totally destroyed. Lewiston Normal continued to grow, as the demand for pre-college teachers increased. However, by the late 1920s, the "normal school" idea was being supplanted by a "teachers college" approach. Such colleges still focused on teacher education, but now students could earn a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
—more and more often required for certification. Recognizing this trend, school supporters began a campaign to change Lewiston Normal's status. They also began the process of upgrading the faculty—inciting much ill will. Supporters also fought an ongoing battle just to keep the school open; some legislators still wanted to close the Normals to save money. The advent of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
squelched that notion. Not only did the school continue to turn out desperately needed teachers, it also expanded its nurse-training program, and produced large numbers of fliers in its Navy Air School. In 1943, the Board of Education raised the school to full four-year status and became North Idaho Teachers College (NITC). Now with the ability to grant a
Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed. or BEd) is an undergraduate academic degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. A Bachelor of Education program typically lasts three to four years and combines both coursework and practical exp ...
degree, school leaders took it upon themselves to use the name Northern Idaho College of Education (NICE), and the legislature approved the name change in 1947. The school got another temporary reprieve from the cost-cutters when a deluge of veterans funded by the
G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...
hit the campus after the war. However, that wave passed, and in 1951 budget hawks succeeded in closing the school, as well as its counterpart, the Southern Idaho College of Education (SICE), which had previously been called Albion State Normal School, in
Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...
in southern Idaho. The state's other colleges had assured legislators that they could supply all the teachers needed. That promise proved disastrously wrong: In just three years, the state found itself issuing nearly 40% more provisional teaching certificates than it had in 1951. Under that pressure, the legislature re-opened the school as Lewis-Clark Normal School in 1955 as a two-year school under the administration of the
University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...
, north in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. The first dean of the school was appointed for the third year in 1957, and enrollment was 319 in the fall of 1961. The arrangement with the university proved difficult and it ended abruptly in 1963 when the affiliation seemed like it might damage the university's academic accreditation. The ongoing need for teachers, a developing shortage of nurses, and a new push for vocational education from the
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
combined to rescue the school from oblivion. The state legislature voted to elevate it to four-year status in 1963 but did not approve funding until two years later. Enrollment of the now-independent, four-year school grew, from 465 in 1964 to 1,033 in the fall of 1968. It continued to grow and in July 1971 the name was officially changed to Lewis-Clark State College, and was the last normal school in the country to make the change. In April 2025 the Idaho State Board of Education approved a request to rebrand the school as Lewis-Clark State University to better reflect the institution’s offerings, which extend beyond two-year degrees.


Athletics

The Lewis-Clark State athletic teams are called the Warriors and Lady Warriors. The college is 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 higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...
(NAIA), primarily competing in the
Cascade Collegiate Conference The Cascade Collegiate Conference (or Cascade Conference) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member schools are located in the Northwestern United States and in Britis ...
(CCC) since autumn 2020. The Warriors and Lady Warriors previously competed in the
Frontier Conference The Frontier Conference is a List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference was founded in 1934. Member institut ...
from 1998 to 2000. LC State competes in twelve intercollegiate varsity sports: men's sports are baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, tennis, and track & field; women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, tennis, track & field, and volleyball. The
school colors School colors, also known as university colors or college colors, are the colors chosen by a school, academy, college, university or institute as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms ...
are navy blue, white, and red. The nickname "Warriors" was adopted after the school reopened in 1955; earlier nicknames include "Pioneers" in the 1930s, "Loggers" was adopted through a contest in October 1938, and continued until the 1951 closure.


Baseball

Absent for a decade (1952–1961), baseball returned as an intercollegiate sport in 1962. Since 1984, the team has won nineteen NAIA national championships; sixteen were under head coach Ed Cheff, who retired after 34 years in 2010. LC State has hosted the
NAIA World Series The NAIA World Series (officially branded as the Avista NAIA World Series for sponsorship purposes from 2013) is a double-elimination tournament, held since 1957, to determine the baseball champion of the National Association of Intercollegiate ...
at Harris Field since 2000, and also from 1984 through 1991.


Notable alumni


Baseball players

* Marvin Benard (born 1970) * Connor Brogdon (born 1995) * Seth Brown (born 1992) * Vic Darensbourg (born 1970) * Steve Decker (born 1965) * Donnie Ecker (born 1986) * Tom Edens (born 1961) * Jason Ellison (born 1978) * Anthony Ferrari (born 1978) * Carlos Fisher (born 1983) * John Foster (born 1978) *
Keith Foulke Keith Charles Foulke ( ; born October 19, 1972) is an American former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. A graduate of Hargrave High School in Huffman, Texas, Foulke attended Galveston College and Lewis–Clark State College. Between 1997 an ...
(born 1972) * Emerson Frostad (born 1983) * Sean Halton (born 1987) * Blaine Hardy (born 1987) * Bucky Jacobsen (born 1975) * Chris Kissock (born 1985) * Chris Mabeus (born 1979) * Steve Reed (born 1965) * Brendan Ryan (born 1982) * Chris Schwinden (born 1986) * Frank Williams (1958–2009) :


Other fields

* Kim Barnes (born 1958), author * Ed Cheff (1943–2022), college baseball coach *
Bryan Fuller Bryan Fuller (born July 27, 1969) is an American writer and producer, best known for creating the television series ''Pushing Daisies'' (2007–2009) and ''Hannibal (TV series), Hannibal'' (2013–2015). Fuller is also known for his work as a writ ...
(born 1969), television writer and producer * Alex Mallari (born 1987), basketball player * George Pfeifer (born 1955), basketball coach * Aprilynne Pike (born 1980), ''New York Times'' best-selling author of young adult fiction * Victor Rojas (born 1968), baseball executive and former
Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...
play-by-play announcer * Jacob Wiley (born 1994), basketball player * Sam Atkin (born 1993), Track & Field, Olympian, World Championship Qualifier, Professional Runner (Puma Running)


References


External links

*
Official athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis-Clark State College Universities and colleges established in 1893 Frontier Conference Universities and colleges accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Buildings and structures in Nez Perce County, Idaho Education in Nez Perce County, Idaho Tourist attractions in Nez Perce County, Idaho 1893 establishments in Idaho Public universities and colleges in Idaho