From Suomi College to Finlandia University, and Its Closing in 2023

After the Suomi Synod merged into the Lutheran Church in America in 1962, the college at Hancock continued under the sponsorship of its successor bodies, first the Lutheran Church in America and, after 1988, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It became a four year institution in 1996, and on 1 July 2000 it took the name Finlandia University, retaining its Finnish founding in its new name while reflecting a student body and curriculum that had grown well beyond training clergy for one immigrant church. For over a century Finlandia remained the only private institution of higher learning in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. That long run ended abruptly in 2023. On 2 March, President Timothy Pinnow announced the university would close after the spring semester, citing years of declining enrollment and an unsustainable debt load, and the board voted on 14 March 2023 to dissolve the institution. Finlandia arranged transfer agreements for its displaced students with Michigan Technological University and Northern Michigan University. The historic Old Main building, standing on campus since the college's early years, was purchased by a private developer in January 2024 and has since been repurposed as a retreat center and event venue, the most visible survivor of a school that trained Finnish American pastors, teachers and students for 127 years.