Loma Linda University didn't get around to expressing itself by motto until it had passed its half-century mark. That's not unusual when one considers that from its frail beginnings in 1905, the institution struggled for several years to determine its purposes and curriculums and, in 1909, to settle on the School of Medicine’s first name, College of Medical Evangelists (CME).
The process that supplied a motto began with the planning of a yearlong observance. The CME administration, supported by the Board of Trustees, proposed that in a Dec. 3, 1953, action "the 50th anniversary of CME be celebrated in 1955." A seven-member committee was appointed to plan the events and programs. William Frederick Norwood, Ph.D., then CME Vice-President and Professor of Cultural Medicine, chaired the committee that met regularly throughout 1954.
One of their early actions was conducting a student-employee contest to suggest ideas for a theme that would "tell the story of CME" for its first 50 years. The contest was held during April 1954. Three prizes offered totaled $50. The winning themes would become the basis for the committee's study and final selection. The winners, all CME employees, were featured in the May issue of The Voice of CME Employees.
Meanwhile, the committee continued its pondering of the appropriate wording for a theme. In July a new member was added to the committee, Frank A. Moran, Associate Professor of Religion. (Moran eventually became one of the first city councilmen for the City of Loma Linda.) And not long thereafter the theme was born! Remembering the process some 40 years later, committee member Milton Murray, then coordinator of public relations, clearly recalls that it was Pastor Moran who suggested the words, “To Make Man Whole.” The "CME family" expressed its satisfaction with the phrase and the committee finalized its decision in August 1954.
The theme caught on and was used enthusiastically throughout 1955. It was promoted in a variety of ways in the following months. Throughout the year of the anniversary events it appeared on products, in speeches and sermons, as the title of a film, and in journal editorials and articles. Authors and speakers viewed the phrase “To Make Man Whole” in many ways. It was seen as a "Restatement.. of the purpose of the College," as a means of viewing the nature of humankind in the lofty goals of education, as an expression adding dimension to the practice of the healing arts, and suggesting a partnership with the Great Physician.
When did the 50th anniversary phrase cease being a theme and become an official motto? Throughout 1956 the phrase was referred to as a theme. But, in December, the CME Board of Trustees adopted the words “To Make Man Whole,” as the institution’s motto.