A Legacy of Opportunity

On September 1, 1900, the Rasmussen Practical School of Business opened in St. Paul, Minnesota, to meet the needs of a booming “commercial age.” Early promotional material invited students to participate in “A Grand Opportunity” as they prepared for a business career. These opportunities would become critical as the nation recovered from World War I and the Great Depression.

Founder Walter Rasmussen was known as “the father of Gregg Shorthand in the West,” which played a significant role in the institution’s establishment. Coursework included subjects such as shorthand, dictation, typewriting and bookkeeping.

Walter’s brother, Julius Rasmussen, opened an extension of the Rasmussen Practical Business School in Stillwater, Minnesota, which remained open from 1901 until the early 1920s.

The Rasmussen Practical School of Business was a pioneer in providing educational opportunities for all students, including many new Americans and veterans returning from war. By the time the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, granting women the right to vote, women had already been learning alongside men since the school’s inception.

As U.S. families left cities for the suburbs, Walter Nemitz’s sons, Wilbur and Robert, assumed leadership and expanded opportunities for career education in outstate communities across Minnesota. In the 1970s, Rasmussen acquired the St. Cloud Business College and the Northern Technical School of Business in Minnetonka, Minnesota. A new campus was opened in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1983, and the original St. Paul campus relocated to Eagan, Minnesota, in 1989.

Rasmussen's course offerings evolved to meet the increasing demand for legal secretaries, court reporters and machine operators. “Rasmussen Graduates go places FAST!,” said promotional material. Graduates worked in numerous local businesses, Fortune 500 companies, and even the White House.

The institution began offering its first Associate's degree, which led to a name change to Rasmussen Business College. In 1986, Rasmussen Business College became Minnesota's first proprietary two-year college authorized to award Associate in Applied Science degrees.

As America was reshaped by global events and economic changes, Rasmussen College established new campuses and expanded educational opportunities across six states. This expansion included mergers with Aaker's College of North Dakota (founded in 1902) and Webster College of Florida (founded in West Virginia in 1922 before expanding to Florida in the 1980s). Both institutions shared Rasmussen's mission of "Changing Lives" by preparing graduates for better-paying jobs in business and industry.

During this decade, two wars and the evolution of the internet (Web 2.0) were significant events, and Rasmussen’s curriculum responded by adding specializations such as Homeland Security and Web Media Production.

Furthermore, Rasmussen broadened its offerings by launching online learning in 2002 and nursing education in 2003. The first Bachelor's degree programs were introduced in 2006. By the mid-2000s, Rasmussen reaffirmed its core values with the acronym CHIPS, which stands for Community, History, Integrity, Placement and Service.

Rasmussen enters a new era. What was once a practical business school has now transformed into a university, with more than half of our students enrolled in nursing and healthcare programs across our network of campuses. Additionally, we offer convenient and accessible online degree programs in business, design, education, human services, justice studies and technology.

In 2021, Rasmussen University became part of American Public Education, Inc. (APEI), a network of schools dedicated to educating and training military service members, veterans, nurses and other ambitious professionals.

In 2023, Paula Singer became Rasmussen’s president, bringing years of higher education experience and a vision for helping the university reimagine itself. As we begin our 125th year, Singer transitions to Rasmussen’s Board of Directors while we welcome Mark Arnold as president. Arnold brings a growth mindset and an extensive knowledge of the healthcare industry, both of which are crucial for Rasmussen's continued success as we strive to expand opportunities in career-focused fields that address critical workforce needs.

While we write our next chapter, we remain committed to our legacy of supporting "difference makers" who serve our communities, a purpose that is more critical than ever as the demand for nurses and healthcare workers continues to grow.