Category: Stories

Esports Scholarships and New Playing Arena Announced

Esports scholarships and new playing arena announced.

North Park University will award 15 Esports Excellence scholarships, ranging from $500–$2,000, to incoming students who commit to playing for the new Esports varsity team.

The scholarships, which will be awarded beginning in the fall 2023 term, will be available to full-time students who are incoming first-year or transfer students.

North Park’s Esports Varsity team, which kicked off in fall 2022, has joined the National Esports Collegiate Conference and is competing this month in the VALORANT competition.

Other Esports played at North Park include Super Smash Bros. and Ultimate.

“What I really want to promote most heavily with Esports is the level of cooperation and camaraderie you can form by being on a team,” said Esports Varsity Coach Peter Casella. “I want people to understand the friendships you can make playing a sport.”

North Park Esports games will be played at Ignite Gaming Lounge in Skokie, widely considered one of the largest and best video game and LAN center businesses in the country. The facility is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and is located directly across from the Skokie-Oakton Yellow Line CTA stop, making it readily accessible to students.

Esports, a form of competitive, organized video gaming, is most often used in a “multiplayer” setting. As a fan-friendly sport when it comes to viewership and streaming, Esports is expected to net 29.6 million monthly viewers this year, up 11.5% from 2021 according to estimates done by Insider Intelligence.

Chicago has been a hotspot for Esports for many years and North Park is well-situated with its Chicago campus to be in the epicenter of this growing sport.

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories Press, Stories

Chicago’s Team of the Moment

North Park’s historic men’s basketball 2023 season run is gaining attention from the city it calls home. The team was featured in a Chicago Sun-Times article.

North Park’s historic men’s basketball 2023 season run is gaining attention from the city it calls home. The team was featured in a Chicago Sun-Times article highlighting North Park’s humble roots as a basis for building a major basketball comeback. Head Coach Sean Smith brought in nine transfers to complete the team this year and a few early wins set off a “lightbulb” for the players.

“Our team motto this year, because we have been at the bottom of Division III in a lot of ways, is: Nothing to lose and everything to prove,” Smith told the Sun-Times. Read the full article.

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories News, Stories

North Park Included on List of Illinois’ Best Colleges

North Park was ranked #13 on a recent list of Illinois’ Best Colleges.

Two students sitting on a bench talking.

North Park was ranked #13th on a list of Illinois’ Best Colleges. The list, compiled by Stacker media, used rankings from Niche. Tuition, student-to-faculty ratio, acceptance rate, graduation rate, and location were factors considered in deciding these rankings. Read more about the rankings at Chicago Star Media.

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories News, Stories

North Park University Receives $166K Grant From NASA To Install Air Quality Sensors

North Park University will install sensors that detect weather and pollution patterns as part of a $166,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

North Park University will install sensors that detect weather and pollution patterns as part of a $166,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The sensors will be installed atop the Nancy and G. Timothy Johnson Center for Science and Community Life on campus.

NASA awarded the five-year grant to North Park in part because of its federal status as a Hispanic Serving Institution, a school that is committed to equitable outcomes for Hispanic students. The two weather sensors will be installed by NASA this spring, and money from the grant will fund travel expenses and salaries for instructors and student workers. The equipment will be owned and maintained by NASA.

The grant was secured through the joint efforts of Assistant Professor of Chemistry John Randazzo and Director of Sponsored Projects Renee Cox. Only about 10 institutions across the country received the grant, and North Park is the lone Chicago site.

The environmental data gathered by the sensors will allow NASA researchers to monitor levels of atmospheric compounds such as carbon monoxide, along with particulate matters expelled by cars and factories. The data will also be compared to that acquired by satellites circling the earth to ensure accuracy. North Park students and professors will have access to that data, which will be transmitted directly into North Park’s classrooms.

“This is a powerful tool because it makes learning real,” Randazzo said. “The students can read the data and know that’s coming from just above their heads.”

Randazzo said the NASA grant was likely to raise North Park’s profile as a research university.

“Building a face-to-face relationship with NASA raises our credibility and increases future prospects,” Randazzo said, adding that a NASA engineer will be speaking on campus in March.

Dr. Randazzo said he and Cox found the grant opportunity on a NASA LISTSERV about a year ago, and although they ignore “99% of them” because they are not applicable, this particular grant struck them both because of North Park’s location and Randazzo’s background in atmospheric science.

The two worked together to apply for the grant, which they learned they’d won late last year. Read more press releases here.

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories News, Press, StoriesTags , , , ,

Alumnus Nominated for Grammy Award in Music Education

Trevor Nicholas (’08) is a top ten finalist for the 2023 Music Educator Award.

Trevor Nicholas ’08 is a top ten finalist for the 2023 Music Educator Award.

Trevor Nicholas headshot

Trevor Nicholas (’08) is a top ten finalist for the 2023 Music Educator Award. Nicholas also made it to the top ten for the award last Grammy season.  

“Basically, the purpose of this Grammy is to honor the people who’ve poured into the musicians who have gotten Grammys.”  

Nicholas, a vocal ensemble teacher at Senn High School, always knew music was his passion after health issues as a child left him indoors by the piano most days. 

While he knew the topic, the medium was difficult to nail down. Nicholas began at NPU’s School of Music, Art, and Theatre as a music education major with an instrumental focus but switched to a choral focus his senior year.  

Trevor Nicholas playing piano

“I remember [my professor’s] face when I said, ‘I’m changing to choral’ but they let me do my recital with my original music and they let me take those lessons and change the direction of my degree without starting over. They allowed me to be me.” 

Nicholas said he took advantage of all North Park had to offer, which led to his increased awareness of the world around him and armed him with the skills needed to compose music and ultimately be nominated for the prestigious award. 

“All those experiences have come together. I needed those band skills and theory and composition lessons. I needed to be involved in the global impact trips to question the way things were done.”  

Nicholas is grateful, but more so proud of his students and community who helped him get here.  

“This is really our Grammy nomination.” 

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories News, Profile, Stories

Roseland Portrait Project Exhibit Featured in ABC News

Roseland Portrait Project, the Carlson Tower Gallery’s current exhibit, was featured in ABC 7 News’ Localish program.

Roseland Portrait Project, the Carlson Tower Gallery’s current exhibit, was featured in ABC 7 News’ Localish program. The 310-panel exhibit features 404 portraits of residents of Roseland, a Far South Side neighborhood of Chicago with a history of disinvestment and crime.

Roseland Christian Ministries commissioned John Bakker to paint the project to commemorate the life of Percy Julian High School star athlete Andre Taylor, who was shot to death in 2016. The exhibit includes Roseland residents from all backgrounds and vocations, from aldermen and business owners to children and homeless residents. Bakker said his motivation for the project is rooted in his belief that all people matter.

The portraits are on view through Tuesday, January 17, and will eventually reside at Roseland Christian Ministries at 109th Street and Michigan Avenue.

Learn more about the exhibit at the ABC News website.

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories News, Stories

North Park’s Center for Civic Engagement To Empower Community Leaders, Enrich Student Learning

North Park University launches Center for Civic Engagement.

North Park University has launched the Center for Civic Engagement, an outgrowth of its Catalyst 606 program in which the university’s faculty and students will work with community leaders to strengthen the important work they’re doing in Chicago’s neighborhoods. As part of the initiative, North Park will also offer a Public Policy major beginning in fall 2023.

“The main idea is to build more of a city-centered ethos on campus, and to augment North Park’s commitment to the just flourishing of cities by honoring the work that is going on in neighborhoods,” said Richard Kohng, assistant vice president for the Center of Civic Engagement.

The center enacts this mission through four core divisions: the Catalyst Hub; the Community Assets and Program Evaluation Consortium; the Community Development Hub; and through public policy engagement.

“The Center for Civic Engagement elevates North Park’s unique distinctives as a Christian, city-centered, intercultural university,” North Park President Mary K. Surridge said. “Faculty and students learning and working alongside community leaders across Chicago is yet another example of North Park living into its mission of preparing students for lives of significance and service.”

As part of the center, faculty will provide their specialized expertise to community groups for a reduced fee. For instance, Assistant Professor of Psychology Amy Governale will provide at-cost guidance on program development for organizations that lack the resources to do so themselves.

“A lot of locally led groups don’t see the money they should from grants or philanthropy,” Kohng said. “This will help level the playing field.”

Students will be involved as well, via the Catalyst Hub. Since 2017, students have participated in a designated civic engagement block every Wednesday afternoon. The schedule allows immersive learning experiences to be incorporated into classes across the curriculum, Kohng said.

Building on Catalyst’s success, the new program will incorporate a consortium that allows students to work on real-time projects that benefit community groups. For example, a business class might work on a marketing campaign for a fundraising drive, or a math class could analyze data related to program participants.

The center will be led by a board of community leaders from across the city, and with the guidance of partner Transform Capital—a nonprofit lending initiative cofounded by Paul Hawkinson, a professor in North Park’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management.

Learn more about the Center for Civic Engagement

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories News, Press, StoriesTags , , , ,

University Orchestra Commits to Carbon Neutrality

North Park University Orchestra commits to carbon neutrality.

NPU Orchestra with composer Jonathan Beard and lyricist Minita Gandhi.
NPU Orchestra with composer Jonathan Beard and lyricist Minita Gandhi at the American Geophysical Conference 2022.

North Park’s University Orchestra making an impact on our environment. It is the first carbon-neutral and net-zero university orchestra in the US, balancing and reducing 82 tons of carbon emissions this year in collaboration with the United Nations Carbon Offset Platform.

The orchestra, conducted by Professor Tom Zelle, recently performed at the American Geophysical Union Conference in Chicago. They performed “In Nomine Terra Calens: In the Name of a Warming Earth”, a piece that demonstrates the earth’s rise in temperature through pitch. The orchestra also met and worked with Emmy award-winning composer, Jonathan Beard on a piece he wrote addressing climate change and the need for action called, “Rising Tide.”

In addition, Zelle has been working with composer and scientist Lucy Jones on the Tempo Project which brings together climate scientists and engineers, social scientists, and musicians to explore the ways in which music can be used to change the emotional climate about climate change.

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories Stories

Alumna Contributes to Major Cancer Study

North Park alum Erika Rees-Punia C’10 was part of a major study published this month by the American Cancer Society.

Erika Rees-Punia C’10 was part of a major study published this month by the American Cancer Society.

North Park alumna Erika Rees-Punia C’10 was part of a major study published this month by the American Cancer Society which found adult cancer survivors who have a recent history of chemotherapy are at an increased risk for bone fractures. 

Rees-Punia, who graduated with her bachelor’s degree in exercise science, went on to receive her PhD from University of Georgia and has previously been a research fellow and intern at the Centers for Disease Control and the National Cancer Institute.  

In true North Park fashion, Rees-Punia also co-leads the ACS Health Equity workgroup, which aims to lessen health disparities in vulnerable communities. For more information on her cutting-edge research, visit https://bit.ly/3G2EhDf. 

Author Ana FundukPosted on Categories News, Profile, Stories