North Park has served five generations of students and continues to grow in diversity, academic relevance, and Christian commitment. Our Chicago location is a great asset that reflects the School’s global reach and outlook.
After 125 years, we’ve learned how to streamline the process of helping qualified applicants seek admission to North Park and find affordable ways to attend. If you don’t see what you’re looking for on our website, please contact us directly!
North Park offers more than 40 graduate and undergraduate programs in liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies. Classes average 17 students. 84% of our faculty have terminal degrees. Academics here are rigorous and results-oriented.
North Park Theological Seminary prepares you to answer the call to service through theological study, spiritual development, and the formative experiences of living in a community with others on a similar life path.
The Office of Alumni Engagement fosters lifelong connections by engaging alumni with the university and one another in activities, programs, and services that support the university’s mission and alumni needs.
Dr. Peter K. B. St. Jean, North Park Sociology and Criminal Justice Professor, researches and actively works with students and the community to upgrade the age-worn paradigm focus on violence to one of making peace profitable.
Sociology and Criminal Justice Professor Peter St. Jean Upgrades Paradigm from Violence to Peace
North Park University, rooted in the Christian faith, engages its talented faculty to educate an intercultural student population on the importance of a peaceful society.
Dr. Peter K. B. St. Jean
Dr. Peter K. B. St. Jean, North Park Sociology and Criminal Justice Professor, researches and actively works with students and the community to upgrade the age-worn paradigm focus on violence to one of making peace profitable.
Focusing mainly on solutions to violence, St. Jean works directly with participants who have been conditioned, and rewarded, throughout their lives to concentrate their energy on violence. Instead, St. Jean shifts the attention in a positive direction, demonstrating a pathway towards living a life of peace.
Make a Living Out of Peace Rather Than Crime
“Violence has been made profitable through the costs of crime,” said St. Jean. Through teaching and outreach efforts, says St. Jean, there is a noticeable paradigm upgrade away from participating in an economy of violence to being involved in building an economy of peace — making peace profitable.
“Promoting the profits of peace — by showing disenfranchised communities that peace is a way of life — there is potential to realize a more peaceful Chicago, and world by extension,” said St. Jean.
St. Jean operates his research and leads students in community outreach efforts through the Urban Peace Lab within the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at North Park University.
In the sum of its three distinctive attributes — Christian, city-centered, and thoroughly intercultural — North Park University finds its unique value, its competitive advantage, and its opportunity to emerge as the model for Christian higher education in 21st Century America.
Since 2015, the North Park Research Experience for Summer Students (NPRESS) has been strengthening students’ relationships with North Park faculty as well as their research skills over the course of eight weeks.
Since 2015, the North Park Research Experience for Summer Students (NPRESS) has been strengthening students’ relationships with North Park faculty as well as their research skills over the course of eight weeks. While the presentations were delivered virtually on August 18th this year, the NPRESS tradition continued, providing the cohort of seniors with graduate-level research experience.
NPRESS offers undergraduates the opportunity to engage as one would in a graduate setting—requiring each research proposal to demonstrate merit, defined goals, and commitment.
This year’s NPRESS student cohort of seniors included:
Emmanuel Carrillo, Fine Art and Philosophy
Miakala Rath, Business Management
Gabrielle Rigg, History
Donna Shergarfi, Political Science and Communications
Emmanuel Carrillo
Emmanuel Carrillo
Titling his project “Nostalgia of the Present: Art and Design in Response to Cultural Hauntology,” Emmanuel Carrillo, a Fine Art and Philosophy major, explored the philosophical idea of hauntology through art. Carrillo said, “My mentor really helped me think about how art can respond to ideas from the academic world in various ways, which led me down interesting avenues. I ventured forth from my comfort zone in painting and drawing to more experimental work in performance and video art,” said Carrillo on his work with Professor Kelly VanderBrug.
Miakala Rath
Mentored by Dr. Mark Gavoor, Miakala Rath, presented “Quality Transformation in Higher Education.” Rath, a senior Business Management major, studied metrics and quality transformation models to measure improvement in higher education.
Gabrielle Rigg
Gabrielle Rigg
Gabrielle Rigg, who is majoring in History and will be graduating this fall, collaborated with Dr. Sarah Doherty to present “Unlikely Neighbor: The Relationship between Anglo and Japanese Farmers in the Central Valley of California during World War II.” Inspired to continue her project, Rigg said, “The online NPRESS experience required Dr. Doherty and I to adapt our original aims of this project, but I am thankful I was able to conduct remote interviews and I will hopefully continue this research in the future.”
Donna Shergarfi
As a senior majoring in Political Science and Communications, Donna Shergarfi conducted research of the appropriation of Black culture under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel White Hodge. During the virtual event, Shergarfi presented “Keeping up with the Kim: An Ethnonarrative of the Kardashian Empire.”
North Park’s NPRESS graduates have applied their research experience, moving on to a range of graduate studies including STEM, sociology, and philosophy.
North Park University jumped 22 spots in the 2021 Midwest regional rankings, U.S. News & World Report announced today. The nearly 3,000 student campus community on Chicago’s near northside — with a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio moved from 61 up to 39 this year out of 87 schools.
North Park University Rankings Jump in 2021 U.S. News & World Report
Midwest Regional Rankings Climb 22 Spots
Chicago, Illinois — September 14, 2020 — North Park University (North Park) jumped 22 spots in the 2021 Midwest regional rankings, U.S. News & World Report announced today. The nearly 3,000 student campus community on Chicago’s near northside — with a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio moved from 61 up to 39 this year out of 87 schools.
In the sum of its three distinctives — Christian, city-centered, and thoroughly intercultural — North Park finds its unique value, its competitive advantage, and its opportunity to continue this upward trajectory and emerge as the model for Christian higher education in 21st Century America.
The 2021 U.S. News & World Report Midwest regional rankings also measured: Campus Ethnic Diversity, Social Mobility, and Best Undergraduate Teaching.
Campus Ethnic Diversity
North Park tied for third most diverse institution in the region. “North Park is a thoroughly intercultural institution fully committed to the success of every student,” said North Park President Mary K. Surridge, “and we were encouraged to recently be named a Hispanic Serving Institution.”
The University’s Office of Diversity and Intercultural Life helps students of all backgrounds feel welcome and included. “Cultural clubs, student success programming, and advocacy are just a few ways we support students in our missional commitment to prepare them for lives of significance and service,” Surridge said.
College-bound students who seek a diverse environment will appreciate North Park’s thoroughly intercultural campus.
Social Mobility
North Park ranked 14th out of 87 in Social Mobility — as measured by graduated students who received federal Pell grants.
“North Park’s active recruitment of promising Pell-eligible students compels our responsibility to support them in achieving their goals, preparing them to contribute to their families, the workforce, and their faith communities,” Surridge said.
Best Undergraduate Teaching
North Park was one of only 17 schools recognized for Best Undergraduate Teaching, based on responses to a 2020 U.S. News peer assessment survey of college presidents, provosts, and admissions’ deans.
“At North Park, our talented and committed faculty embraces the extraordinary opportunity to educate a thoroughly intercultural student population, in the world-class city of Chicago, at a University deeply rooted in the Christian faith,” Surridge said.
ABOUT NORTH PARK UNIVERSITY
North Park University is city-centered, intercultural, and emerging as the model for Christian higher education in 21st Century America.
The Reverend Doctor Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian — a giant of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s as a field lieutenant and close friend of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a lifelong advocate for racial justice — died in Atlanta on Friday, July 17, 2020, at the age of 95.
IN MEMORIAM
The Reverend Doctor Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian — a giant of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s as a field lieutenant and close friend of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a lifelong advocate for racial justice — died in Atlanta on Friday, July 17, 2020, at the age of 95.
For his Christian ministry, his commitment to nonviolence, and his decades of leadership and advocacy for racial justice, North Park University awarded Vivian an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree at Commencement on May 12, 2007. The presentation was given by Dr. Mary Trujillo, Professor Emeritus of Communications Arts.
“It is simply not possible to list in this short time all the activities and accomplishments of Rev. C.T. Vivian,” Dr. Trujillo said in presenting the degree. “Nor is it possible to fully grasp the degree of self-sacrifice, courage, and determination that he possesses. The full impact of the work of C.T. Vivian is of such magnitude that it can only be seen from the perspective of history.”
Reverend Doctor Cordy Tindell Vivian receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Vivian was born on July 30, 1924, in Boonville, Missouri, and moved as a child to Macomb, Illinois, where he graduated from Macomb High School in 1942 and attended Western Illinois University. He participated in the desegregation of Barton’s Cafeteria in Peoria in 1947. He studied and prepared for ministry at the American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee, where he learned Mohandas Gandhi’s nonviolent direct-action strategy and joined the Nashville Student Movement in 1959 — launching what was to become a storied career as an icon of peaceful protest and the Civil Rights Movement.
Vivian helped found the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference and organized the first sit-ins in that city. In 1960 he led 4,000 peaceful demonstrators to City Hall where he met with Nashville Mayor Ben West. As a result of that meeting, West publicly declared that racial discrimination is morally wrong. Vivian participated in the Freedom Rides, in which activists rode interstate buses into the Southern states to protest their failure to comply with U.S. Supreme Court rulings that banned segregated public transportation. He worked with King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, serving as the national director of affiliates. After the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches in 1965, Vivian launched an educational program that gave college scholarships to 702 Alabama students. That program later became Upward Bound, a federal program to provide college opportunities for low-income first-generation students.
In 1970, Vivian published Black Power and the American Myth, the first book about the Civil Rights Movement written by a member of King’s inner circle. In it he wrote that “It was Martin Luther King who removed the Black struggle from the economic realm and placed it in a moral and spiritual context. It was on this plane that The Movement first confronted the conscience of the nation.”
After leaving Dr. King’s Executive Staff, Dr. Vivian trained ministers and developed the urban curriculum for seminaries throughout the nation at the Urban Training Center in Chicago. He returned to seminary education as the Dean of Divinity at Shaw University Seminary.
In 1977 Vivian founded a consultancy called BASICS, the Black Action Strategies and Information Center, and in 1979 with Anne Braden of Louisville, Kentucky, he founded the National Anti-Klan Network, which later became the Center for Democratic Renewal, where people of all races worked together to combat white supremacist activities. He served in Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign in 1984, as national deputy director for clergy. Jackson had been one of Vivian’s first students at the Urban Training Center.
Vivian was an analyst in the 14-part PBS civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize and was the subject of a PBS special, The Healing Ministry of Dr. C.T. Vivian.
President Barack Obama — speaking at Selma’s Brown Chapel on the March 2007, anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches — recognized Vivian in his opening remarks, saying King had referred to Vivian as “the greatest preacher to ever live.”
In 2008, Vivian founded the C.T. Vivian Leadership Institute to train a new generation of grass-roots leaders.
On August 8, 2013, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.
Vivian died on the same day as his friend and fellow civil rights leader, U.S. Representative John Lewis.
Peace be to the memories of Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian and Rep. John Lewis.
North Park Ensures Equitable Access to Higher Education for 2020-2021 Applicants.
North Park University has long reviewed its applicants on a holistic basis—grade point average, rigor of high school curriculum, perseverance, extra-curricular activities, and standardized test scores are all considered towards meeting admission criteria.
With the onset of COVID-19 shelter-in-place across the country, students who didn’t already take the SAT and ACT in the Fall 2019 or early Winter 2020, were not able to sit for the exam in Spring 2020. Re-instated test dates for Summer and Fall 2020 still have the potential to be canceled.
The decision for North Park to go test-optional was approved by North Park University President Mary K. Surridge to accommodate all students. The decision is a natural one. North Park is an institution that has always valued the diverse strengths of its student body that come in many forms—academics, athletics, intercultural background, drive to succeed, and contributions to society.
The application process for 2020-2021 will emphasize the whole student, as it always has, just without an SAT/ACT test score. The University not only rewards what students accomplish in the classroom and their test scores but also what they bring outside of the classroom and to their communities.
The decision to go test-optional for 2020-2021 admissions is about ensuring equitable access to higher education. “We want all of our students to have the ability to apply, be admitted, and receive financial aid without a test date dictating this timeline,” said Anthony Scola, North Park’s Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing.
By removing the SAT/ACT requirement, North Park is honoring what can be an obstacle in meeting admission criteria. “Many students have had their SAT/ACT canceled and we want our applicants to know we recognize this challenge,” said Scola.
Dropping the SAT/ACT removes a barrier to entry, an ongoing higher education debate. Going test-optional long-term is yet to be determined. What North Park admission’s committee does recognize is the 2020-2021 class experienced significant change in their learning.
“The 2020-2021 class offers unique qualities in its own way by having to pivot its learning platform during an unprecedented time,” said Scola.
North Park University (North Park) has been recognized for its honorable commitment to engaged, experiential education by Colleges of Distinction, which is celebrating its 20-year anniversary as a one-of-a-kind guide for college-bound students.
Chicago, Illinois—June 12, 2020
North Park University (North Park) has been recognized for its honorable commitment to engaged, experiential education by Colleges of Distinction, which is celebrating its 20-year anniversary as a one-of-a-kind guide for college-bound students. Colleges of Distinction boasts its longstanding support for student-centered schools that traditional rankings often overlook. As an institution whose primary goals are based on student success and satisfaction, North Park confirms its honor as one of the renowned Colleges of Distinction.
Founder Wes Creel traces Colleges of Distinction’s beginnings back to when he was helping his eldest daughter search for schools. The institutions that dominated the rankings were drowning out all the others, and not speaking to what the student experience would be like. He then created Colleges of Distinction to draw more attention to schools like North Park whose student-centered education prevails in applying theory to practice while fostering a dynamic learning community.
While higher education has changed over the last 20 years, Colleges of Distinction’s selection process has stayed consistent—conducting in-depth research and detailed interviews with the schools themselves about each institution’s freshman experience and retention efforts alongside its general education programs, career development, strategic plan, student satisfaction, and more—and accepting only those that adhere to the Four Distinctions: Engaged Students, Great Teaching, Vibrant Community, and Successful Outcomes. Overlaid in the last few years have been a look into High-Impact Practices. This model prioritizes the opportunities institutions have for students that make for a fulfilling, individualized college experience.
“Each school is different, just as every student is different,” said Creel. “There is no number-one college for everyone, so we never rank those in our cohort.” North Park’s inclusion is informed by the unique ways it commits to achieving success.
Creel and his colleagues found that the most pervasive ranking systems rely on metrics like peer reputation, size of endowment, and alumni salaries. They knew instead that most critical to the student experience were the kinds of engaging experiences that are found at North Park’s experiential-based learning programs (Catalyst 606), service-learning programs, diversity and global learning programs, living-learning communities (CRUX), study abroad programs, and internships.
Creel continued, “It’s inspiring to see North Park commit to the learning styles and community involvement that will best allow their students to thrive.”
About Colleges of Distinction
Since 2000, Colleges of Distinction has been committed to honoring schools throughout the U.S. for true excellence in higher education. The member schools within the Colleges of Distinction consortium distinguish themselves through their dedicated focus on the undergraduate experience. Its website provides dynamic college profiles, customized tools, and resources for students, parents, and high school counselors. For more information, and to learn how to become a College of Distinction, visit CollegesofDistinction.com.
Kelly (Sladkey) Vetter, North Park School of Education C’11 (BEEd, Magna Cum Laude) talks about her day as a Chicago Public School (CPS) teacher in a Channel NBC 5 series, Coronavirus in Illinois: A Day in the Life During the Pandemic.
A third-generation Viking and former member of the Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) Committee, Vetter currently teaches science and social studies to seventh- and eighth-graders. As a special education teacher with CPS, Vetter is passionate about co-teaching in an inclusion setting.
Sitting at her kitchen table while her one-year-old son naps, Vetter manages her dual role as stay-at-home mom engaging her three-year-old son in a 15-minute activity alongside developing remote learning plans to add to students’ Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Later in the day, Vetter perches her laptop on a box containing toddler supplies while reviewing vocabulary words with a student.
Sommar (Johnson) Otfinoski, North Park School of Nursing C’13 (BSN) and G’20 (MSN), talks about her day as an ICU nurse caring for COVID-19 patients in an NBC 5 Chicago series, Coronavirus in Illinois: A Day in the Life During the Pandemic.
Sommar (Johnson) Otfinoski C’13 G’20 talks about her day as an ICU nurse caring for COVID-19 patients in an NBC 5 Chicago series, Coronavirus in Illinois: A Day in the Life During the Pandemic.
A third-generation Viking, Otfinoski currently works at Swedish Hospital. Alongside other Day in the Life stories, including a North Park alum CPS teacher, social worker, and truck driver, Otfinoski tours Swedish Hospital’s medical supply storage closet, hallways, and patient room. Humbly describing the intensity of the long shifts caring for COVID-19 patients, the overflow of patients, and seriousness of the virus, Otfinoski embodies North Park’s School of Nursing distinctives — collaborative, skillful, passionate, ethical, and knowledgeable.
To see Otfinoski’s first-hand experience on the floor of Swedish Hospital as an ICU nurse, watch the NBC 5 Chicago feature video “A Day in the Life: ICU Nurse Sommar Johnson.”
Every state, every school—from A to Z—celebrated high school and college 2020 graduates on Facebook Live and Instagram Live. When it was Illinois turn, North Park University was joined by Northeastern Illinois University in celebrating its 2020 graduates.
Every state, every school—from A to Z—celebrated high school and college 2020 graduates on Facebook Live and Instagram Live. A commencement address by Oprah Winfrey was joined by other celebrities including Usher, Matthew McConaughey, and Jennifer Garner. When it was Illinois turn, North Park University was joined by Northeastern Illinois University in celebrating its 2020 graduates. Also featured for Illinois was Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson and the Special Olympics. Jackson expressed that the 2020 graduates represent a unified generation.
The live event, focusing on being all about the students, reiterated the strength and resilience of the 2020 graduating class. “You made it. You graduated. Don’t take that lightly. Do it with conviction and do it with integrity,” said Usher.
In a video featuring North Park’s School of Education, Dr. Rebecca Nelson congratulated the graduates from the School of Education and the entire North Park class of 2020, offering her best wishes.
An interview with healthcare alum Lauren Lewandowski and more graduation celebration!
In these times of physical separation, we as the North Park community still want to stay emotionally and socially connected! If you have anything to share with the North Park community, please reach out and email us at UMC@northpark.edu. We’d love to hear from you and share how all of us are doing while we are apart.
Employee Thank You – Sharee Myricks
Keep calm and Viking on . . . like Sharee Myricks, North Park’s Director of Diversity and Intercultural Life. Sharee has been working from home on everything from helping students adjust to their new normal, to working on North Park’s accreditation process as a member of the Higher Learning Commission committee. Thanks, Sharee!
NPU Social
Today Facebook will be hosting a 2020 Graduation event, and our own Dean of the School of Education Rebecca Nelson was invited to send in a video! #Graduation2020: Facebook and Instagram Celebrate the Class of 2020” will kick off Friday, May 15, at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT. The multi-hour live broadcast will stream on Facebook Watch (available at facebook.com/facebookapp).
Thank you to our Health Care Workers:
Interview with Alum Lauren Lewandowski
Lauren Lewandowski School of Nursing 2019 Alumna
Where are you working as a nurse?
I am currently working at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. I work on the Cardiovascular and Thoracic stepdown unit, so we see any post-operative patients in these services.
How did your education at North Park prepare you for working as a nurse in crisis situations such as COVID-19?
North Park prepared me for working as a nurse in this particular crisis situation by instilling the values of holistic-centered care. One professor in particular, Heather Duncan, always reiterated to us that “every patient is a child of god and deserves to be treated with care and respect”. Keeping in mind that there is a person behind the virus and disease processes encourages me to give the best care possible. North Park prepared us with the critical thinking skills through lab and various rotations to recognize pertinent symptoms of de-compensation and how to appropriately react and escalate the situation.
How did you get the job working as a nurse (i.e. through North Park career services)?
I got my Job at Northwestern through an internship secured via the North Park Nursing program. Northwestern has a program called the “Clinical Role Transition” where you learn on the job skills that ultimately prepare you for that position.
Did you have an internship while a student at North Park and if so, where?
I had several nursing clinical rotations throughout my time at North Park. These included Northwestern, Shirley Ryan, and Swedish Covenant hospitals.
What inspires you about working as a nurse (i.e. doing social good)?
Seeing the turnaround a patient is able to take after having spent a significant amount of time in the hospital constantly inspires me as a nurse. Whether that be seeing someone pre-operatively and through their course of heart transplant, or a patient who is fighting the COVID-19 virus, it is encouraging to see the patients come full circle. Some patients in particular we are able to form bonds with during extended stays, and knowing that you were able to bring a smile to their face, even for just a small moment, lets you know the hard days are worth it.
What was your journey towards deciding to study nursing at North Park?
I knew I wanted to be a nurse after seeing a family friend who was a nurse react and help save a child during a crisis situation. She reacted with firm knowledge and composure, and I knew I wanted to exemplify that in my career down the line. North Park in particular was a school that emphasizes working closely with peers and professors, which was very important for me. In the clinical setting, it is all about teamwork. Being prepared for this field in a like-minded environment gave me assurance that I would have the best foundation to begin my career.
What experiences at North Park prepared you for a career in nursing?
North Park partners with exceptional hospitals and facilities through clinical rotations, which offered lots of hands on experience. I had my first clinical rotation on the floor that I am currently working on. Through professors and clinical instructors, connections are able to be made for future jobs. By offering a wide range of simulation activities and floor experience, North Park allowed me to feel comfortable to enter the field as a new grad.
What year did you graduate and what specific degree did you earn?
I graduated in 2019 and my degree is a BSN.
What excites you about the field in which you’re working?
Healthcare is constantly evolving, and there are ample opportunities to continue education. I am excited by new technologies or studies that point to more effective practices in patient care.
Why did you choose North Park?
I wanted to be in a city environment with small class sizes, where the professors were hands-on. I had many family friends who were nurses who talked about the reputation of North Park nurses in their hospitals.
What North Park values stand out to you (Christian, city-centered, intercultural)?
North Park being city-centered and intercultural stood out most to me. Having met people from all around the world during my time at North Park, I learned to appreciate cultures different from my own and how to apply that in the clinical setting.
Commencement
A huge thank you to everyone involved in the virtual commencement this past Saturday — students, families, staff, and faculty — we could not have finished this year so strong without you! If you missed it, here is our virtual commencement video.
Inspiring Music for Uncertain Times
Annie Picard has been at NPU since 1998, teaching our undergraduate and Master of Music students voice lessons and classes. To encourage us now, she has selected music about connection: connection to our earth, emotions, beautiful sounds, joie de vivre, amazing musicians, words, nature, freedom, and peace.
Author Ellen AlmerPosted on Categories Stories
Lauren Lewandowski