Because of the shortage of teachers due to World War II, the university gave special attention to the training of elementary teachers in the summer of 1942. The State Department of Education ruled that non-renewable, emergency certificates would be issued for 1943-1944 on presentation of at least four semester hours..Read More

Since Quakers were traditionally pacifists, their war involvement focused on relief efforts. Students contributed to the World Student Service Fund and the American Red Cross, they sent supply boxes to men overseas and helped with the Blood Donor Service while women were bussed to Camp Phillips in Salina to act..Read More

President Young announced a new wartime major, Reconstruction, that combined history, sociology, political science, psychology and language courses with the hope of preparing students for the problems they might face at the end of the global conflict. Other new courses included War Issues and Post War Problems.

The Singing Quakers sang at the New York World’s Fair in June. The fair’s theme that year was “Peace Through Understanding;” it featured exhibitions designed by NASA, the debut of Walt Disney’s ‘It’s a Small World’ ride, and even the world’s largest cheese.

The terrorist attack in New York and Virgnia on September 11, 2001 shook the world and closed down international travel. At Friends, music tours were cancelled and the university had to respond to new mandates regarding international students.

With the stock market crash of 2008, the university’s endowment fund rapidly dropped 40 percent. But the administration was steadfast in their commitment to continue to provide scholarships to students despite the sudden economic challenges.

On October 16, 2015, Dr. Amy Bragg Carey was inaugurated as the 14th President of Friends University. Dr. Carey came from Minnesota where she served as the Vice President of Advancement for the University of Northwestern St. Paul. Her focus would be to build on the Christian heritage of the..Read More

As the world navigated a global pandemic due to the Covid-19 Coronavirus, the university followed national mandates to close the school, transition to online classes and work from home in March.

In the fall, the campus returns to in-person learning with hybrid options and enhanced health and safety measures on campus including frequent testing, vaccine clinics, and mask-wearing mandates.