Concordia University Opens $45 Million Facilities on Hillside Campus

Concordia University serves nearly 5,000 students annually, a number that stands in sharp contrast to its beginning in 1976. At that time, the institution opened on an undeveloped Irvine hillside with a single building, 36 students, five faculty members, and two staff members. The Lutheran Christian university has grown to offer more than 60 degree programs across six academic schools. It now counts more than 28,000 alumni worldwide.

The institution marked its 50th anniversary with a major construction push. On Oct. 2, the university opened $45 million in new and transformed facilities. This is the largest construction program in the school's history. Donors and alumni paid for the entire cost. The projects did not use tuition dollars or create long-term debt. The new spaces include the expanded 800-seat CU Center for Worship and the Performing Arts. The construction also produced the two-building Golden Eagle Athletics Complex.

The university's history includes several key structural changes. It received full WASC accreditation in 1981. The school changed its name in 1993. In 2017, it became Orange County's first NCAA Division II school. The institution opened the Concordia - Spectrum Campus in 2023. U.S. News & World Report ranks the university among the nation's Top Performers on Social Mobility.

Graduates from the six academic schools are currently working in local hospitals, classrooms, finance teams, and boardrooms. The university's growth from a small hillside operation to a major regional institution reflects five decades of expansion in the Irvine area.