CUS board continues work under new structure

The Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe, president of the Concordia University System, speaks to the LCMS convention in 2016. Wenthe will retire as CUS president this year. (LCMS/Michael Schuermann)

The Concordia University System (CUS) Board of Directors met Jan. 31–Feb. 1 on the campus of Concordia University Irvine (CUI), Irvine, Calif. The CUS board continues to implement 2023 Resolution 7-04B, which restructured the CUS. The Irvine meeting marked significant progress in this process.

The meeting followed two days of visitation to the CUI campus. This visit was the first informal campus visit under the new structure created by 2023 Res. 7-04B. A team of six members — including CUS staff, CUS board members, a district president and a representative from a peer Concordia — met with a broad cross-section of representatives of the institution. During these conversations, the team used a working draft version of the Lutheran Identity and Mission Outcome Standards (LIMOS) being developed by the CUS. The team was pleased to provide a positive report to the CUS board following the visitation.

The draft LIMOS that were employed during the visitation were subsequently adopted by the CUS board during the two-day meeting. The LIMOS represent the culmination of several months of drafting and revision by a sub-committee of the board, the CUS Institutional Advisory Council (made up of CUS campus presidents), and other contributors. The LIMOS will guide future informal and formal visitations to the various campuses of the CUS. An evaluation tool based upon the LIMOS is currently in development as well.

The Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe, president of the CUS, said, “The LIMOS are the product of nine years of conversations by multiple stakeholders on how best to assure fidelity in doctrine and practice to the LCMS’ theological confession at the university level. They are evangelical, practical and substantive — a splendid set of protocols that will serve the church.”

The adoption of the LIMOS was followed by the approval of revised articles of incorporation and bylaws for the CUS. Revisions to these documents were necessitated due to the action taken in Res. 7-04B. The documents will now be forwarded for review to the Commission on Constitutional Matters as the next step in the revision process. In addition to the revision of these corporate documents, the CUS board also approved revised versions of policy manuals related to the Institutional Advisory Council, the CUS institutions and the board itself.

Prior to the board’s meeting, three lay voting member positions remained to be filled on the CUS board. Approved names were presented to the convention-elected members of the board for their consideration. Dr. Mark Kalthoff, Mark Franke and Dennis Eickhoff were all appointed as voting members and will join Dr. Stevin Gerhke, who was appointed in November 2023. The appointment of these individuals means that all positions on the board are now filled.

In addition to setting the schedule for upcoming board meetings and campus visitations, the CUS board also approved the process to replace Wenthe, who announced his impending retirement at the November 2023 CUS board meeting. A search committee has been appointed, and an election is expected in the spring.

The Rev. Mark Braden, CUS board chairman, summarized the meeting and the board’s future work: “With the adoption of the LIMOS, the revision and updating of our governing documents, and the completion of the first ecclesiastical visit, the CUS Board of Directors has achieved several important milestones. I am thankful to all of our board members for their hard work.

“Major projects before us are the creation of standards for commissioned worker and pre-seminary programs, fundraising, the completion of the first cycle of ecclesiastical visits, and the appointment of a new president of the Concordia University System. I look forward to welcoming our new board members and working together with our Concordias to achieve these goals.”

Posted March 5, 2024