In 2023, MLC’s main campus is home to over 600 undergraduates. The campus is spread across 88 acres on four sites in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Martin Luther College (MLC) is an unusual learning institute in that it is a single purpose school.

MLC President Richard Gurgel said the school provides pastors, teachers and staff ministers for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). He was not aware of another institute like MLC in the country.

WELS is a church body made of 300,000 people scattered across the United States. “We prepare church workers all over the country,” Gurgel said. “They can go anywhere in the country and in fact, other countries in the world. “For this reason, MLC has a significant impact world wide. Though the college is relatively small, its reach is global in scope. “From this hill people are impacting 100,000 people every day,” Gurgel said. “There are hardly a pastor in WELs that has not gone through this campus.”

The college was formed as a collaboration between the Minnesota and Wisconsin Synod to train more pastors. New Ulm was able to secure the land for college. In 1884, the cornerstone for the college was laid. At the time, the school was called Dr. Martin Luther College (DMLC). The college would drop the Dr. Title in 1995 after the Minnesota and Wisconsin Synod joined together.

Gurgel said a lot has changed since the school was founded in 1884, but it has always remained a teaching college.

One of the greatest challenges facing MLC is enrollment. Gurgel said college enrollment is down nation wide; especially education major. As primarily a teacher’s college, MLC has seen the impact. Gurgel said they are seeking ways to overcome these trends through recruitment and retention.

“We’re putting new effort to train adults and non-traditional students,” he said. The idea is to take people already working in schools to help them complete education degrees and get teaching licenses. This means taking paraprofessionals and providing them with the education to be full-teachers. Much of this will be done online. The catch is, most of these non-traditional students will never be on campus in person.

Under retention, the college has taken steps to train staff and resident assistance to be the first line of defense in mental health. “A huge number of college students struggle with anxiety or depression,” Gurgel said. “We hate to lose someone who is a strong student but they are getting discouraged because of anxiety.”

Gurgel is pleased with the staff and resident assistance work on mental health. He said two years ago he would hear people say the school was not doing enough about mental health, but now he hears compliments on how much staff has helped. Another benefit of attending MLC is the graduates have a near 100% job placement rate.

Gurgel said if a person is willing to go anywhere after graduation, they will have a job waiting for them after graduation. Each year the WELS districts put out a call to fill open teaching positions and the new MLC grad selected to take these spots.

Despite the current low enrollment, Gurgel believes the relationship between MLC and the city of New Ulm had never been stronger.

“I think our students are learning to love the town and I know our employers really value our students,” he said.

Many of the students living on campus will get part-time work in New Ulm, benefiting the economy of the town. MLC has a $30 million budget and about 200 families that make a direct living off the campus.

“The economic impact on our community is no small thing,” Gurgel said.

This year, 623 undergraduates are taking classes on campus, learning from 72 full-time faculty and 24 part-time adjuncts. Roughly 600 students come to the campus every year and their families come visit, bringing further income to the community.