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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.
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Urban Youth Worker Awards given; early registration through April 2
CHICAGO (March 6, 2014) — On April 5, the Chicago Reload Urban Youth Worker Conference will celebrate its tenth year of providing valuable resources and networking opportunities to youth advocates throughout Chicago and the Midwest. The daylong conference, held annually at North Park University, serves hundreds of urban pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, social workers, teachers, and parents.
“Reload is a place for urban youth workers to connect and meet with other urban youth workers,” said Alison Burkhardt, associate director of the University’s Center for Youth Ministry Studies (CYMS). The conference was established, she said, out of recognition that “there wasn’t necessarily a place for them to go and gather together. Reload highlights what these people are doing so that they can hear each other’s stories, then collaborate or serve as resources for each other.”
At its tenth anniversary, CYMS Director Dr. Daniel White Hodge finds the conference more relevant than ever. “Reload is very important to the growing number of urban churches—particularly in the Evangelical Covenant Church, where many of the churches experiencing growth are urban, multiethnic church plants,” he said.
“This has become a place that people look for in the early spring to come congregate, process, and pray,” said Hodge. “We get people not only from Chicago, but from Wisconsin, the Twin Cities, Detroit, Iowa, and Cincinnati. If you’re interested in working with young adults, you’re going to find something here that is relevant for you.”
When Chicago Reload launched, Burkhardt said, conference planners were uncertain of how many attendees to expect and how best to plan their experiences. “The overwhelming response was, ‘Thank you for providing a place for us to talk to and meet each other,’” said Burkhardt. It’s in that spirit of gratitude that Reload’s tenth anniversary conference seeks to celebrate and recognize youth workers for the servant leadership they demonstrate.
The inaugural Reload Urban Youth Worker Awards will be given at this year’s conference, including the Urban Youth Worker Award, selected from among those nominated by an external committee; the People’s Choice Youth Worker Award, chosen online from among those nominated for the Urban Youth Worker Award; and the Student Leader Award.
“We wanted to be able to highlight people who are doing the work on the ground,” Hodge said of the awards. “Oftentimes in ministry, there’s not necessarily a lot of recognition. So we really wanted to honor leaders and say, ‘Thank you for the work that you’re doing and the service you’re providing.’”
“Youth ministry’s often a thankless job,” Burkhardt agreed. “So this is a celebration of this group of youth workers continuing to push forward in ministry, as well as a look back at the ten years and what has developed and come from it.”
Celebrating and honoring the achievements of youth workers is a theme that will run throughout Reload this year, one reflected in the conference’s keynote speakers, House Covenant Church Pastor Phil Jackson and life coach Justine Conley.
“What’s particularly interesting about our two keynote speakers is that Phil brought the idea of Reload to North Park, and Justine has been on our planning team since that first year,” Burkhardt said. “So this really is coming full circle. Phil is the one who said, ‘We need to do this at North Park.’”
Author Romal Tune will give a pre-conference intensive workshop on Friday, April 4, addressing how current models of youth ministry both succeed and fail at reaching vulnerable teens in the urban context.
More than 20 workshops with a variety of speakers are planned throughout the day, including concurrent sessions and lunchtime forums. Featured workshops include a session on mentoring with gang interventionist and youth advocate Amy Williams; a session on introverts in youth ministry with North Park Theological Seminary student Nilwona Nowlin; and a session on work-life balance with the Urban Youth Worker Institute’s Larry Acosta.
“We also have an early-morning workshop track for people who want to get a little something extra at no additional cost,” said Burkhardt. Among the early-morning sessions will be a fundraising workshop led by Axelson Center Director Dr. Pier Rogers, with the goal of “building connections between youth workers and nonprofit resources,” Burkhardt said.
In addition to the workshop schedule, the conference will include times of worship, featuring University student Leslie Moore leading a Chicago Reload band.
Another new addition to the conference schedule this year will be an optional pre-conference intensive workshop led by author Romal Tune. The session, “Should Christians Act Like Crips? Innovative Approaches for Urban Youth Ministry and Evangelism,” was added as another way to celebrate Chicago Reload’s ten-year anniversary, Hodge said. “This year, we’re extending Reload into an all-day Friday session, so we wanted to bring in Romal.” Tune will address the effectiveness of current models of evangelism aimed at reaching vulnerable teens in the urban context.
Discounted early registration for individuals and groups ends April 2. Walk-in registration is available April 5. Chicago Reload is sponsored by the Center for Youth Ministry Studies, in partnership with the Urban Youth Workers Institute.
Katherine Patterson, a senior from Park Ridge, Ill., is completing a bachelor of science in biology.
Katherine Patterson will spend the summer studying river and watershed biology in Michigan
CHICAGO (March 4, 2014) — A passion for science has opened many doors for senior Katherine Patterson since she began her studies at North Park University. This summer, the biology major will have the opportunity to dig even deeper into her chosen field thanks to the Harold Snyder Fellowship from the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies. Patterson is the first-ever recipient of this award, which was established in 2013 to honor the legacy of the institute’s founder.
The Harold Snyder Fellowship award makes it possible for Patterson to take two courses at the institute in the summer of 2014. She earned the fellowship by showing promise and dedication to “do and teach science as an expression of Christian faith and as a commitment to serve and protect God’s earth,” according to the Institute’s press release.
“Dr. Snyder’s mission was ultimately what I want to do as well,” Patterson said. “To teach and inspire students through being in the field, in the wild, amidst the wonder of nature.” She will use the award to take courses in limnology (the study of inland waters) as well as watershed and global development at the institute’s Great Lakes campus in Michigan.
This will be the second summer that Patterson, a Park Ridge, Ill. native, will spend with the Au Sable Institute. In 2013, she studied marine biology and marine mammals at their Puget Sound campus on Whidbey Island in Washington. This hands-on experience, which she found to be “inspiring,” helped her identify that her passion for animals and nature is something she wants to share with others as a career.
“It was last summer that solidified that this is what I want to do and where I want to be,” she said. “I want to teach biology. I want to teach students and people all about God’s creation and how it’s so magnificent and wondrous.”
Patterson came to this realization, in part, through the encouragement and mentoring of her professors. "They've all been very supportive," she said.
Dr. Linda Vick, professor of biology, encouraged Patterson to participate in the courses offered by the Au Sable Institute.
“Katie epitomizes the ideals set forth by Harold Snyder,” Vick said. “She is so charismatic and engaged in everything she’s doing. She sees the connections between what she’s learning and experiencing, and is interested in bringing the ideas of science to life.”
The University has had a relationship with the Au Sable Institute for more than 25 years, sending students there for coursework, internships, and research experience. The Institute draws students and faculty from more than 50 Christian colleges and universities across North America, offering biology and environmental education through field courses. “Au Sable is literally a place where faith and learning meet, in a hands-on way,” Vick added. “It’s a natural extension of what we do here at North Park.”
“Students at Au Sable can really grow and have opportunities to broaden their perspectives,” Vick said.
Patterson has continued to take hold of opportunities that will enrich her knowledge and skills to be a successful science educator. The University’s Chicago location makes it possible for her to do things like volunteer at the Shedd Aquarium, where she is an exhibit interpreter. “I stand in front of the exhibits, armed with props, and teach guests about wildlife, about the animals, and about Shedd in general,” she said.
Her faculty advisor, Dr. Jeff Nelson, connected Patterson with an internship in the Cook County Forest Preserve’s wildlife department. She is working with a team to track and monitor animals for a variety of purposes, including disease control. “It’s really fun and it’s a great hands-on experience,” Patterson said. “I’m learning a lot of skills that you just can’t learn from a textbook.”
But Patterson is also stepping outside the science arena to enrich her skills and learning. She has been involved in the North Park Theatre program since her freshman year—acting, writing, directing, and even designing costumes—and is currently their company manager. She draws strong connections between her loves of science and performance, and envisions using her theatre skills for a career in environmental education.
“Learning about how people interact is more of the humanities side, but I also have the science side, and I love that. I think it brings such an interesting perspective, looking at biology from the side of art and human behavior and how we interact. And looking at interactions from the idea of science—how does that happen, why does this happen? It’s a cool meshwork,” she said.
Following her summer at Au Sable, Patterson will return to North Park for her final semester, graduating with a bachelor of science in biology in December 2014.
Journal of Hip Hop Studies ‘Legitimizes Hip Hop and Brings it into a More Serious Conversation’
Dr. Daniel White Hodge
A conversation with Editor-in-Chief Daniel White Hodge
CHICAGO (February 27, 2014) — The Journal of Hip Hop Studies began as an idea to provide an innovative and unifying force in the field of hip hop studies. Dr. Daniel White Hodge, assistant professor of youth ministry and director of the Center for Youth Ministry Studies at North Park University, organized a national editorial team in 2012 “committed to publishing critically engaged, culturally relevant, and astute analyses of Hip Hop.” After developing a partnership with Save the Kids, a grassroots organization devoted to eliminating the school-to-prison pipeline, Dr. White Hodge and the journal’s editorial team began accepting submissions and launched the first issue in January 2014. The journal is currently preparing its second issue for release this year, and the team is also working on a special issue on the rise of African hip hop.
North Park: Why is the Journal of Hip Hop Studies important?
Daniel White Hodge: Hip hop studies is much like what the field of film studies was in the late 70s and early 80s. People asked the question, ‘Why are we going to study film?’ Now that’s almost a moot question. Why not study film and understand it? Aspects of popular culture have really grown over the last 25 years and, with the advent of social media and the Internet, hip hop has really flourished —the good, the bad, and the ugly. It hasn’t been all positive, but it hasn’t been all negative.
The field of hip hop studies has created a sense of curiosity among scholars. What does it mean to have culture and people groups that didn’t form in an establishment or a system? Hip hop formed in the boroughs, in the ghettos, in the ‘hoods, and under expressways. And scholars, activists, and journalists are trying to figure out what that means. People predicted back in the 80s this is just a fad and it would blow over. It’s been around for a long time now.
We have a special issue coming out, hopefully in summer, on African hip hop. We’ve got about eight essays from Ghanaians, Kenyans, Nairobians, and South Africans talking about hip hop in their context. For the first time we have a non-U.S. entity becoming bigger than a U.S. entity [in hip hop]. We saw some of this with K-pop and “Gangnam Style.” K-pop is big in Korea and you have emergence in Tokyo, Japan. You have Jewish hip hop, you have Russian hip hop, and all kinds of modes of this [music].
And we’re all trying to figure out what it means. This journal legitimizes hip hop and brings it into a more serious conversation about the art, the aesthetic, the culture, the people, and of course the theological input.
NP: The first issue launched in January, but the project’s origins go back further. How did the Journal of Hip Hop Studies come to be?
DWH: I had this idea for a journal back in 2003 when I was in grad school. The field of hip hop studies, which at the time was just a side talk in conference corners, wasn’t really a formulated field. Really the first book that came out was by Tricia Rose back in 1994, called Black Noise. That particular book set the field ablaze. It took a few years to get things together because, to do anything academic, you have to have the right things in place.
By 2012 you have professional organizations and fields like communications studies, the Journal of Popular Culture, Black studies, African studies, and the list goes on. They are dedicating portions of their organizations to hip hop culture. Seeing this I thought—we need to pool our resources together and form a collective group that says we are going to study this. It’s no different from the American Academy of Religion and no different from the Journal of Youth Ministry.
NP: Back when hip hop studies was forming, hip hop culture was a voice on the margins. Now it is more part of the definition of mainstream culture. How has hip hop changed?
DWH: You have this exponential growth of salaries, and these salaries come with a lot of strings attached. But now some of those artists who are making beaucoup bucks aren’t talking about the same kind of social issues that some of the underground artists are talking about. That discrepancy is what we’re trying to study. What causes someone coming from the ‘hood, like a Chingy or a 2 Chainz, to go from seeing all of these issues growing up to only talking about partying, women, and drugs? And what keeps the underground artist the underground artist?
Or think about something like the Harlem Shake. The Harlem Shake is a 35 to 40 year old dance that most people only know from silly YouTube videos. Most people don’t know the history and context where it was established. In places like Brooklyn and Harlem that were undergoing major innovations, this dance was a form of protest and a form of releasing that would otherwise be put onto the streets.
The golden era [of hip hop] has generally been marked as the years between ‘87 and about ‘96. Can we have a resurgence of that? That is what is being worked out and talked about in a number of circles.
NP: You mentioned the role of theology in hip hop, and it incorporates two of the five pillars of the journal’s mission. Why does it play such a big role in hip hop?
DWH: What is the significance of someone like Snoop Lion’s conversion, or what was Tupac espousing? When you start thinking about any culture, when you’re talking from an anthropological perspective, you have to include spirituality and religion. It can’t be left out. There are a multitude of artists wrestling through and trying to work through theological constructs.
If you think about it from a Christian perspective, how is God interacting with this culture? And what is God saying to this culture? You have Tupac and the Outlaws talking about a Black Jesus, and then you have Jizza and Liquid Swords questioning the very foundations of Christianity. In the context of oppression and racism, most of the rappers, particularly if they are Black, have been raised in a fundamental, rigid, Christian home. Now that they are older, and they are a little bit more mature, with all of the things that they’ve seen, what does religion mean in a hip hop environment?
NP: The journal is sponsored by the Save the Kids and the Center for Youth Ministry Studies at North Park University. How have they helped?
DWH: Save the Kids is an organization founded by Dr. Anthony Nocella, who was the keynote speaker for last fall’s conference on the school-to-prison pipeline our center put on in collaboration with North Park’s School of Education. Essentially he just has a heart and a passion for kids. The foundation itself is not a faith-based foundation, but offers resources and training for all of the issues surrounding youth and injustice.
As far as the Center for Youth Ministry Studies, hip hop is in every single youth ministry in the United States, so we have to be studying it. I don’t know too many other arenas where you can say that. You could say rock and roll or metal, but they didn’t really reach into the Black or Brown areas. Jazz, maybe. But hip hop is everywhere. The Center needs to be having those conversations.
NP: What’s in store for the future of the Journal of Hip Hop Studies?
DWH: Hip hop is very inclusive, so from the beginning we didn’t want to be exclusive. If we go the traditional route with print and other things, that comes with a cost. The genesis of our idea was to keep this free and inclusive and accessible. If we go the traditional route, it costs a lot more.
We want to be a place for activists, practitioners, and artists, but at the moment it is solely academic. If there is any place that can work across those different groups, it is going to be hip hop. You can bring almost any discipline into hip hop and have a genuine conversation about what it means.
And there is a legion of emerging scholars that are young, talented, on the cutting edge, and really forward-thinking about issues in hip hop studies. At the journal, we want to be able to capture that.
“Sing a New Song” Tour Explores ‘New’ and ‘Old’ from a Musical Perspective
North Park's University Choir and Chamber Singers perform throughout the year under the direction of Dr. Julia Davids.
University Choir and Chamber Singers will tour in Minnesota, March 7–12
CHICAGO (February 25, 2014) — North Park University’s Chamber Singers and University Choir will tour Minnesota over Spring Break, performing at six churches, the Covenant Village retirement community, and Minnehaha Academy. The tour’s theme, “Sing a New Song,” features both classical and contemporary sacred and secular music, including works by René Clausen, Baldassare Galuppi, and Claude Debussy, as well as arrangements by Moses Hogan and Randall Thompson.
More than 50 North Park students will participate in the tour, representing the University’s undergraduate and graduate music programs, conducted by Dr. Julia Davids, director of choral activities and Stephen J. Hendrickson Assistant Professor of Music, and accompanied by Myron Silberstein. For student musicians, tours provide important performance experience, an opportunity to build close relationships with fellow vocalists and faculty members, and a refreshing perspective on music.
“As a vocalist, touring is something that should be essential,” said Ellie Weihsmann, a first-year music education major and alto in the University Choir. She also participates in a student worship team that leads services on campus. “When you can travel to see other places and perform for other people, it provides a different atmosphere and outlook on why you sing and what you love about singing for others.”
“This choir tour will offer undergrads and grad students alike more than a refreshing dose of ‘Minnesota nice,’” said Josh Pritchett, a master of music in vocal performance student who will graduate this May. He sings with both the University Choir and Chamber Singers, and has participated in North Park’s opera program. “I find that these tours offer valuable bonding time for students. Many of us are music students, but there are non-music majors, as well, which makes fellowship with other choristers hard to achieve during the school year.”
For both Weihsmann and Pritchett, the Minnesota destination for the tour brings the particular joy of returning home.
Originally from Duluth, Weihsmann’s family now lives near the Harris Covenant Church stop on the tour. “It is an honor to bring a piece of my college experience to my hometown,” she said. “Minnesota will always be “home” for me, and being able to share a piece of my current life in Chicago with my home is such a treat!”
“Minnesota has a special place in my heart,” Pritchett said. Growing up, he moved a number of times between Minnesota and Wisconsin before finally settling in Minnesota. “It is always a joy to return back home.”
The tour’s theme, “Sing a New Song,” comes from a piece the choirs will sing, “Sing Unto the Lord a New Song” by Srul Irving Glick (1934–2002). This contemporary Canadian composer was also a Jewish canter; his work sets Psalms to music in both Hebrew and English, moving seamlessly between contemporary and classical styles. The piece “juxtaposes new and old” in a unique, moving way, according to Davids.
The entire tour repertoire takes up this theme of exploring the journey between ‘new’ and ‘old,’ Davids said. She hopes this strikes close to home for choir members, and helps them reflect on their journey as students and into adulthood. “In so many ways, students evolve throughout their time at university,” she said. “They begin intending to do one thing and may end up doing something completely different.”
“These are not ‘ordinary’ pieces that an ‘ordinary’ choir will be singing,” said Weihsmann. “These pieces are heartfelt and brilliant, and being sung by students who have a lot of passion for what they do.”
While more well known in Canada, Glick’s compositions are less familiar to American audiences. “I think it’s part of the job of a university touring group like ours to bring something new and balance it with what audiences are more familiar with,” Davids said.
According to Pritchett, this tour offers a wide variety of music to audiences, “from 20th century Hebrew to gospel infused choral pieces. What I’m looking forward to singing are three “Ave Maria” pieces, one of which was composed by our own piano professor, Thomas W. Jefferson.”
The tour will begin with a Friday evening concert at Winnetka Covenant Church in Wilmette, Ill., before the group heads to Minnesota. There, they will perform evening concerts at four churches, as well as participate in Sunday morning worship services at Salem Covenant Church in New Brighton. The group will conclude the tour with an afternoon concert at Covenant Village in Golden Valley. All performances are free and open to the public:
Saturday, March 8, 7:00 pm, at Redeemer Covenant Church, Brooklyn Park
Sunday, March 9, 8:30, 9:50, and 11:00 am, at Salem Covenant Church, New Brighton
Sunday, March 9, 6:00 pm, at Lakeview Covenant Church, Duluth
Monday, March 10, 7:00 pm, at Harris Covenant Church, Harris
Tuesday, March 11, 7:00 pm, at Bethlehem Covenant Church, Minneapolis
Wednesday, March 12, 12:30 pm, at Covenant Village, Golden Valley
On Tuesday, March 11, the ensembles will visit Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis to conduct a choral workshop for young singers. The choirs will collaborate with the high schoolers to sing “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” during a chapel service.
Engineering Degrees Part of North Park’s Commitment to Science
Two new programs launching Fall 2014
CHICAGO (February 21, 2014) — In recent years, North Park University has focused its efforts on meeting the growing demand for science and health education, training students to be leaders of industries that will help shape the future. This has meant a number of things, from new facilities to increased scholarship opportunities.
The next stage of this scientific focus will launch this coming fall with the expansion of undergraduate engineering programs at North Park. Students interested in pursuing careers in innovation and technology can receive the engineering education they want with the flexibility of three degree options.
“Recently I had a student in my office and I asked them what they want to be doing five years from now,” said Linda McDonald, assistant professor of physics. “I asked them, 'What is your dream job?' With these three engineering programs to go with our two physics options, no matter the student's dream, we have a way to get them there. That’s what a smaller school like North Park can do.”
Students will have the opportunity to participate in the full academic and community life of both universities and, in just five years, earn both a BS in engineering from UIC and a BS in physics from North Park University. They will be equipped for immediate careers or for advanced research at the graduate level.
“There is a critical need for people who both understand the technology they develop and can appreciate the cultural, political, and economic impact of that technology on our lives and the lives of future generations,” McDonald said. Having the opportunity to learn critical thinking skills in a traditional liberal arts program at North Park University, in addition to engineering training in a premier research school at UIC, prepares students to be effective leaders in designing the cities and industries of the future.
Students will major in either civil or mechanical engineering while at UIC, which is continually ranked as one of the top engineering programs in the country.
For students interested in completing an entire engineering degree at North Park, the Department of Physics and Engineering will offer a bachelor of arts in engineering starting this fall. Either on its own, or as a complement to another undergraduate major, students will explore how science and technology continually engage and shape different disciplines and professions.
North Park will also continue to offer its flexible 3/2 program, which provides a foundation in liberal arts and critical thinking. With this degree option, undergraduates spend their first three years at North Park before transferring to another engineering institution. At the completion of their engineering degree, they receive both their bachelor's in engineering and a BA in physics from North Park.
These three programs are an important component of preparing students for lives of significance and service in the 21st century. As an engineer, or as a professional with an engineering background, North Park alumni will be reay to lead advances in technology and sustainability that reinforce North Park’s commitment to God and to the world.
Students in the new programs will also be a part of the first class to utilize the Nancy and G. Timothy Johnson Center for Science and Community Life. Science and health education will have a new home in the state-of-the-art building that puts technological opportunity at student’s fingertips.
“We are proud to provide a range of options in engineering for students that have an interest and an ability,” said Dr. Joseph Jones, provost of North Park University. “This has long been an area of demand and with our new science facilities we can now serve these students with great resources and wonderful faculty.”
Future Students, University Supporters Tour Interior of Johnson Center
Dave Olson, co-president of construction firm W.B. Olson, Inc., led prospective students and their families through the interior of the building in progress, what he and the University envision as a "center of student activity" once it opens for the Fall 2014 semester.
Building set to open this summer
CHICAGO (February 13, 2014) — Future North Park students and dedicated University supporters got a sneak peek inside the Nancy and G. Timothy Johnson Center for Science and Community Life on Friday, February 7. Twenty-four select students and their families, on campus to attend a Trustee Award Event, toured the building’s interior in the afternoon. More than 60 President’s Club members were given a tour in the evening as part of President’s Club Appreciation Events.
Despite Chicago’s cold winter, the construction schedule has been kept on track. “Our goal was to have the building enclosed by December,” said Dave Olson, co-president of construction firm W.B. Olson, Inc. “We knew if we could get there and get the heat, we’d be just fine.”
Crews working to complete the Johnson Center’s interior structure have progressed from installing and insulating miles of conduit and plumbing piping to placing drywall and painting classroom and office spaces. With lab equipment arriving later this month, mechanical connections beginning, and floor completion scheduled for March, the building is on pace for a July move-in and to open for classes in August.
Incoming students got a feel for how the Johnson Center will be a University hub, with floor-to-ceiling windows in classrooms, labs, and gathering areas offering impressive views of the campus and city. “We envision that this will be a center of student activity,” Olson said as he led the tour through the building’s two-story atrium lobby.
Koslow Martin explained that all students will be able to use the Johnson Center as a resource in many different areas of community life, made easier by its physical location in the center of campus. She encouraged them to visit the Center for Student Engagement when they stop by the Johnson Center’s café. “Grab a bagel, then come see us.”
Professor of Chemistry Dr. Jonathan Rienstra-Kiracofe led students through classrooms and labs, describing the cutting-edge equipment that students will be able to use. “You’ll be able to attend lectures together in the classroom, then do your lab work in smaller groups at laboratories in the same building,” he said. Labs for the biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology programs were designed in consultation with faculty, Rienstra-Kiracofe said. The mathematics department will also move into the Johnson Center.
Students and their families stood in the future lecture hall in the Johnson Center as they learned about the many ways advanced technology will be incorporated into their learning experiences in the building.
In addition to interactive display screens, HDTVs, and smart display podiums, Rienstra-Kiracofe said, the Johnson Center’s labs and classrooms will include lecture capture technology that will allow class lectures to be recorded, then posted online for students’ further review. A new advanced anatomy cadaver lab will include a hospital-grade dissection light and camera.
Touring groups were also given a glimpse of the building’s energy-efficient design and construction process. The Johnson Center has submitted for LEED Gold-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, said Olson, and he expects to exceed those goal standards. The design and construction teams meet monthly on the status of LEED submittals and progress.
The LEED goal is for 10 percent of materials being used in construction of a building to be manufactured from recycled material, with 40 percent of materials mined or manufactured within 500 miles. To date, nearly 23 percent of construction materials for the Johnson Center are made from recycled materials, and nearly 48 percent of materials are mined or manufactured regionally. Eighty-two percent of the construction waste generated by the building has been diverted from landfills; the project goal is 75 percent.
Next, Olson said, he is eager to resume outside activity on the Johnson Center, which should begin again in two months. “The public spaces have to wow users of the building. The lobby area and the café—the places where people are going to hang out are going to be great,” he said. “But one area people are going to be thrilled by is the outside area,” he continued, looking to spring. “It’s pretty elaborate landscaping out there, and it’s hard to envision with all of the snow.”
I Go On Singing: Paul Robeson's Life in His Words & Songs
An Evening with Anthony Brown, Baritone
Thursday, February 13, 7:30 pm
Anderson Chapel, North Park University 5159 North Spaulding Avenue Campus Map
A lost American hero re-discovered through his music and archival video.
As an All-American athlete, recording artist, and star of the stage and screen, Paul Robeson was once the best-known African-American entertainer in the world. After his emergence in the 1930s, Robeson became an early champion of civil rights. He traveled the world promoting peace, but trouble lay ahead, and ultimately he sacrificed his career and everything he’d accomplished by challenging the dominant culture’s status quo.
The story of this all-but-forgotten American hero will come alive on February 13 at North Park University in a rousing new 90-minute song-filled presentation, I Go On Singing: Paul Robeson’s Life in His Words & Songs, performed by the gifted American baritone and international promoter of peace, Anthony Brown. Accompanied by School of Music faculty member Thomas Jefferson on piano, Mr. Brown will reveal Robeson as an American patriot and towering figure of the 20th century. Told in Robeson’s own words, using many first-hand accounts from his autobiography, Here I Stand, the show traces his humble beginnings as a preacher’s son in Princeton to his international celebrity and as tireless fighter for human rights. The late folk legend Pete Seeger makes three video guest appearances discussing his friendship with Robeson and the music they shared.
I Go On Singing, written by Andrew Flack, delivers equal parts historical documentary with a live concert experience. Musical numbers range from Spirituals to Broadway, and include original arrangements of Robeson favorites like Ol’ Man River, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Shenandoah, Scandalize My Name, It Ain’t Necessarily So, All Through the Night, Joe Hill, Deep River, and many others.
This concert experience is free and open to the public, and is in conjunction with this year's Campus Theme, "What Is Peace?" as well as North Park University’s celebration of Black History Month.
About the Artist
Anthony Brown
Internationally acclaimed baritone Anthony Brown is a promoter of peace and goodwill around the world. Anthony uses music to promote peace and reconciliation in countries where peoples’ lives are torn by war and civil strife.
His peace work has taken him to political hot spots such as Bosnia, Northern Ireland, China, Japan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Uganda, South Korea, Ethiopia, and Colombia. In each venue, Anthony’s stirring performances connected people across race, language, religion, and culture—and helped them focus on how all one in the family of humanity.
In addition to his international peace work, Anthony is one of today’s most dynamic performers who sings a wide range of crowd-pleasing vocal repertoire, from musical theater and African American spirituals, to opera, oratorio, and art song. He is artist in residence at Hesston College, Hesston, Kan., and represents the college at various events across the United States.
Additional Events
In addition to the Thursday evening presentation, Mr. Brown will participate in several other campus events during his visit:
Chapel Service
Wednesday, February 12, 10:30 am
Anderson Chapel
Honoring the Ancestors: Taking the African American Spirituals Around the World
Wednesday, February 12, 7:00 pm
Anderson Chapel
(Workshop with members of the North Park University Gospel Choir; open to the public)
Performance and Social Change
Thursday, February 13, 1:30–3:00 pm
(Undergraduate class; open to the public)
For more information, please contact Karen Dickelman via email or by calling (773) 244-5265.
A collaboration among North Park Theological Seminary and partner international schools visited ancient Greek sites in January, including the Greek amphitheater in Epidaurus.
North Park Theological Seminary in Greece
CHICAGO (February 4, 2014) — There are three ideal spots onstage at the Greek amphitheater in Epidaurus. It is one of the best-preserved theaters, built in the fourth century B.C., and its pitch-perfect acoustics have not been able to be replicated with modern technology.
A group of North Park Theological Seminary students and faculty traveled to the amphitheater last month and spread out in the audience around circular stone bench seats.
The tour guide asked if anyone wanted to sing, hoping to show off the acoustics of the theater. The class immediately volunteered three people, including Nilwona Nowlin, a North Park Seminary dual-degree student who will earn her master of arts in Christian formation and master of nonprofit administration in May. Nilwona hesitated as she had a cold, but finally gave in, and stepped to one of the three perfect spots and sang a rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
“Normally when you sing on a stage you have to think about projecting and all of the muscles that go into it,” Nilwona said, “but I didn’t have to force anything and people all the way in the back could hear clearly.”
One of the people in the back was Nilwona’s teacher, Dr. Max Lee, associate professor of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary. “We were stunned about how advanced they were back then in terms of technology and it made the ancient world that much more real. It made the world of Acts come alive.”
From January 3 through 11, Nilwona and Dr. Lee journeyed to Greece along with 15 students and two additional faculty members from the Seminary for a Greece and Early Christianity course. It was collaboration with IFFEC, the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches. Joining North Park were 16 international participants from IFFEEC schools in Sweden, Norway, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, China, and Brazil.
“We got to converse with our sister churches, and hear what’s happening in their ministry,” Dr. Lee said. The group gathered at night for worship and prayer led by North Park’s Dr. Carol Noren, Wesley Nelson Professor of Homiletics. “We heard the challenges the churches are having, and had a renewed sense of communion among the diverse group.”
Students prepared for the trip with a series of readings on Greco-Roman history, religion, and culture, as well as study of Acts and Paul's letters to the Corinthians. The Greek Bible Institute in Athens hosted the group, who stayed in dorms and spent the first day in seminars preparing for the week.
But most of the trip was reserved for traveling around to significant sites in early Christianity, including the Roman Forum in Athens, the Parthenon and Acropolis, Epidaurus, Naflplion, Delphi, and Corinth.
One of the first sites the group visited was Areopagus, known to many as Mars Hill, the site where Paul delivered a sermon to the Stoics and Epicureans recorded in Acts 17. Dr. Klyne Snodgrass, North Park’s Paul W. Brandel Professor of New Testament Studies, had a student read the sermon aloud. They heard the words of Paul, “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands.” In the background stood the Parthenon, the impressive Greek temple and center of Athenian worship.
“It was a really great moment for all of us when we could see the Parthenon,” Dr. Lee said. “We could see the temple of Nike, and here we could see with our mind's eye Paul pointing directly to the temple and saying: 'God does not live in shrines made by human hands.'”
“Now when I approach the Bible, I have this culture and these sites in mind,” said Nilwona Nowlin, who with the class visited sites including the Roman Forum in Athens, the Parthenon and Acropolis, Corinth, and Erechtheion, a Greek temple (above).
Nilwona added, “Now when I approach the Bible, I have this culture and these sites in mind.” She talked about visiting locations of athletic competitions, and being reminded of Paul’s words of “running the race” and “finishing the course.” Paul used that language to speak directly to the people and their culture. “Seeing this helps not just as I’m studying the Bible, but also how I’m communicating it to other people,” Nilwona said. “I came home asking what are cultural examples I can use as I’m communicating.”
“I didn’t get these kinds of opportunities growing up,” Nilwona said. “Experiencing these kinds of things allows me to take these stories back to my community and encourage young people to want to do these kind of things and want to travel and experience other parts of the world.”
North Park Theological Seminary’s commitment to developing women and men as faithful ministers of the Gospel is enhanced through travel learning. Yearly trips around the world to places like South America, Europe, and the Middle East allow students to experience a variety of cultures and engage scripture and theology from new perspectives.
“A lot of what people experience most of the time in Seminary is very cognitive,” said Dr. Lee, who has been blogging about the recent trip to Greece. “They read, they go to class, and that is a tremendous way to learn. But sometimes there are insights born from being there that cannot be born from just being in the classroom.”
University Commemorates Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Rev. Dr. Willie Jennings, associate professor at Duke University, spoke during Monday's worship service.
Rev. Dr. Willie Jennings asserted that living in King's legacy means to unmask and speak truth to power
CHICAGO (January 21, 2014) — Rev. Dr. Willie Jennings, associate professor of theology and black church studies at Duke Divinity School, told an audience in Anderson Chapel on Monday that the world is in desperate need of religious and Christian intellectuals.
“By definition a Christian intellectual is an activist intellectual,” Dr. Jennings said. “It is a person who has the courage to unmask and speak truth to power. Our goal is to change the world because we serve a God who has changed it.”
Dr. Jennings’ message was part of North Park University’s annual worship and service day celebrating the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Jennings admonished the smoothed and polished symbol of Dr. King etched into stone monuments, and told the audience to reclaim the legacy of a man rooted as a “black Baptist preacher of the Church and of the South” who “carved his voice out of suffering and out of pain.”
“If the civil rights movement taught us anything,” Dr. Jennings added, “it is that fear normalizes oppression. It normalizes the absurd. And right now in this country we are normalizing the absurd.” Citing issues of racial injustice, economic disparity, and health deprivation, Dr. Jennings said he can no longer ignore that this country from its founding has been addicted to greed and violence. The only question that remains is whether we are going to challenge that addiction.
A number of voices reflected on Dr. King’s message of justice during Monday’s service, from the North Park Seminary Gospel Choir to a group of young people from Second Baptist Church and Beth Emet The Free Synagogue in Evanston. That group recently journeyed on Sankofa together, a six-day trip to major Civil Rights sites in the south, reflecting on issues of race and privilege. During Monday’s service the group related their journey to the call of Isaiah 58 to “loose the bonds of injustice.”
Other faculty, students, and area community members shared reflections on what Dr. King means for their vision of justice, including Randa Kuzies, a Muslim leader from Interfaith Youth Core. She shared excerpts from Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” emphasizing that time is neutral, and can be used either constructively or destructively.
Later Monday afternoon, Dr. Daniel White Hodge, director of the Center for Youth Ministry Studies and assistant professor of youth ministry at North Park, continued the discussion of what Dr. King’s legacy means today with an interfaith and intercultural discussion panel. Members of Interfaith Youth Core, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders, along with area youth discussed issues of race, religion, and gender.
Workshops and webinars for nonprofit professionals now open for registration
CHICAGO (January 16, 2014) — Career paths for nonprofit professionals, fundraising to fuel social change, recharging volunteer programs, project management, program evaluation, and budgeting are just a few of the exciting topics to be covered in the upcoming spring workshops and webinars presented by the Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management at North Park University.
Workshops and webinars take place between January 29 and April 23, and are a valuable resource for nonprofit professionals in the greater Chicago area. Industry experts, including representatives from Heartland Alliance, LinkedIn, and Silk Road Rising, will present on a variety of timely topics relevant to management and leadership of nonprofit organizations. Past participants have praised Axelson Center workshops for their outstanding, informative and relevant content, as well as their incredible value, calling them “a cost-effective method of staff training” and “a great reminder of what it takes to be successful in this [nonprofit] business.”
Half-day workshop registration fees are $80; full-day fees are $160. Members of YNPN Chicago, Donors Forum, United Way and several other affiliate groups are eligible for registration discounts. North Park University students, alumni, and participants affiliated with organizations with budgets under $1 million are also eligible for discounts. Registration closes at noon Central Time the day prior to the event.
The Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management at North Park University is the source for informative and engaging nonprofit professional development in the Chicago region. Through regular workshops, webinars, and an annual two-day conference, the Axelson Center delivers a superior educational experience for nonprofit managers, leaders, and frontline staff, covering a vast array of topics from program evaluation to strategic planning, and communications to financial management. The valuable information presented through these programs enhances the impact of both the nonprofit sector and its professional staff. Visit www.northpark.edu/axelson for more information, including a full schedule of upcoming events.
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