Bethany University was a four-year private coeducational Christian university located in Scotts Valley, California, in Santa Cruz County. It operated from 1919 until closing in 2011 and was endorsed by the Assemblies of God USA, a Pentecostal denomination, and was the denomination's oldest college at the time of its closure. It was formerly called Glad Tidings Bible Institute, Bethany Bible College and Bethany College. Its athletic teams were known as the Bruins, and it was a member of the NAIA in the California Pacific Conference.HistoryBethany University was the oldest of several Assemblies of God institutions of higher education. It was founded in 1919 as Glad Tidings Bible Institute at 1280 Webster Street, San Francisco, to be the training school for an inner-city ministry conducted by Robert and Mary Craig. It moved to Scotts Valley in 1950, and in 1955 became Bethany Bible College and in 2005 Bethany University.Enrollment during the 2010–11 academic year was down to approximately 400 students, a decrease from over 500 in previous years. The university also reduced the number of its faculty to 22 full-time and 50 adjunct faculty in its final years. On June 13, 2011, the university announced that it would close effective immediately for reasons of finances and low enrollment.Not long after the closure announcement, a San Francisco-based Christian institution, Olivet University, announced that it would lease the Bethany campus and hold its classes there, with the intent of acquiring both the Bethany campus and the nearby former headquarters complex of Borland Software for its worldwide headquarters, but those deals fell through by May 2012; Olivet vacated the Bethany campus at that time and remains based in San Francisco. The Bethany campus buildings and grounds were put up for sale by the regional leadership of the Assemblies of God denomination. It has been rebuilt as the site of 1440 Multiversity, a health and wellness retreat and education center run by the 1440 Foundation, which was started by Scott Kriens and his wife.
