Beginnings • The Post-War Years • The New Millennium • Student Work Off-Campus
Founded in 1866 by the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches, many of Carleton’s first engagements with the wider world were associated with its Christian mission. A number of Carleton’s earliest graduates went on to undertake missionary work in China, Japan, India, Turkey, as well as throughout the United States. Some of Carleton’s earliest international students first become acquainted with Carleton through these missionary connections.
The study of foreign languages at Carleton also has its roots in Carleton’s earliest years: initially, Latin and Greek, with French and German joining them soon thereafter. The early 20th century saw an international dimension introduced to new areas of Carleton’s curriculum, from international relations to geology, with the help of notable figures like Frank B. Kellogg and Laurence M. Gould.
Masao “Frank” Shigemura ‘45
circa 1943
During the Second World War, Carleton College admitted and extended scholarships to a number of students of Japanese descent who had been forcibly evacuated from the West Coast, among them Masao “Frank” Shigemura ‘45. Eager to serve in combat, Shigemura later enlisted in the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team and was killed in action in France in 1944. The Shigemura Room in Willis Hall was dedicated in his memory in 1953.