This edition of the North Parker celebrates our deep rootedness in the Christian faith—central to our founding 132 years ago, defined throughout our history, and essential in our campus life today.
What a year it has been for North Park University! We set records for CCIW Championship teams, incoming first-year students, and alumni giving totals for Blue and Gold Day! North Park is building momentum!
We give thanks to God for our beautiful Christian university in the city, the Kingdom work He has given us to do, and for His abiding provision and protection.
North Park celebrated a joyful spring Commencement on May 13, conferring nearly 400 undergraduate, graduate, and seminary degrees, sending our newest alumni into the world prepared for lives of significance and service.
As summer arrives, we are eagerly making plans for the fall arrival of new students— students who have chosen our distinctively Christian, city-centered, and intercultural university as the community they will embrace, and the university that will help them achieve their goals in higher education.
Together, these three distinctives bring clarity to our mission. They enrich our culture. They mandate the pursuit of excellence in everything we do. And they inspire our excellent faculty and staff in their collective commitment to the growth and success of every student—in our classrooms, on our courts and playing fields, in our practice rooms and studios, and in every co-curricular activity across this campus.
This edition of the North Parker magazine is the first of three that will articulate some of the ways our distinctives come to life.
We start with our deep rootedness in the Christian faith— central to our founding 132 years ago, defined throughout our history, and essential in our campus life today.
Our newly launched Center for Civic Engagement, an initiative connecting the university, its students, and the city of Chicago, is one example of our Christian distinctive at work. Through the center, students learn to think about civic engagement as putting their faith into action. Connected to the center are student internships with Trans- form Capital—the social impact enterprise cofounded by North Park alumnus and associate professor, Paul Hawkinson C’92. These internships give students another opportunity to grow in their faith through service and learning.
Our University Ministries staff is hard at work every day living into our Christian mission through chapel services, small group Bible studies, and experiences like Sankofa where students have the chance to explore the historical, theological, and cultural dimensions of racial reconciliation and human wholeness.
This edition features our champion Viking men’s basketball team and the faithful Christian leadership of Coach Sean Smith— along with many other examples of Christian witness in Viking athletics.
And finally, our rootedness in the Christian faith is well demonstrated through the work of our alumni. In this issue, we highlight Nancy Valentin C’13, Linnea Ek C’09 S’16, and Vince Lambert G’96 who credit North Park with inspiring them to give back to their communities through the work that they do.
Throughout this issue, you will find the full range of a vibrant North Park educational experience reflected in words and photos—and a campus community intentionally living into its Christian mission, working to advance our three distinctives, and envisioning a strong and promising future for North Park University.
Thank you for reading and thank you for your enduring connection to North Park.
In Christ,
Mary K. Surridge President