The roots of Andrews University date back to a little 19th century school with 12 students, one of which was the breakfast-cereal-genius–to-be John Harvey Kellogg. Through the leadership of a teacher, Goodloe Harper Bell, the Battle Creek, Michigan-based school expanded quickly and, in 1874, took the name Battle Creek College. By 1901, the school's administrators had decided to experiment with a non-classical concept for education that fused traditional academia with a practical approach to learning. For this experiment, school leaders felt that a new location was needed, away from the moral and ecological pollution of the city. Eighteen thousand dollars bought a 272-acre piece of land in Berrien Springs, Michigan. The "experiment" packed into 16 box cars and traveled from Battle Creek to a new home nestled in gentle hills and farming fields.

With a new location came a new name, Emmanuel Missionary College (EMC). There was much work to be done since the new school had no buildings. For the 1901–1902 school year, the college rented a barn, the former Berrien County courthouse, an office building, a jail, and a sheriff's residence to serve as temporary school buildings. Construction of the new school started almost immediately. All buildings were built from wood since brick was perceived to be too permanent for those expecting the imminent return of Jesus. Early buildings were built almost entirely by students.

Faculty also got involved with helping to get things under way in Berrien Springs. EMC's first president, E.A. Sutherland, felt inspired to plant a long row of Norway spruce trees to help landscape the new school. The tall row of trees stands proud today, over a hundred years later—a testimony to the hands-on attitude of our school's pioneers.

As EMC began to establish itself in the community, students and faculty developed a deep interest in oversees missionary work. By the 1920s, mission fervor had become one of the defining features of the Andrews experience. In 1959, Washington D.C.-based Potomac University moved to Berrien Springs and merged with EMC, bringing with it a School of Graduate Studies and the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. The combined institutions were chartered as Andrews University the very next year.

Today, it is the most prominent university in Adventism. More than 3,000 students study here, representing most of the U.S. and nearly 100 countries. Another 1,700 students study at affiliate campuses around the world. Andrews offers approximately 180 undergraduate degrees and just under 50 postgraduate programs.

J.N. Andrews is best remembered as the first official Seventh-day Adventist missionary to work outside North America. Before boarding the ship in 1874, he penned this benediction that has become a traditional blessing at university occasions:

“And now, as we set forth, we commit ourselves to the merciful protection of God, and we especially ask the prayers of the people of God that his (sic) blessing may attend us in this sacred work.”

Bjorn Karlman is a University Relations student news writer.