North Park University Celebrates 125 Years of Quality Academics, Faith and Diversity
Since its founding in 1891 as a Swedish immigrant college and theological seminary, North Park University has been a firsthand witness and active participant in Chicago's extraordinary growth into a world-class city. And along the way it also played a vital role in shaping the city's urban landscape as Chicago responded to the nation's social, racial, and diversity challenges.
As the 3,200-student university prepares to celebrate its 125th anniversary on September 23, its historic tracings from a one-building school to cosmopolitan institution paint a vivid picture of just how far North Park has evolved throughout its rich history.
By 1900, Chicago maintained the second largest Swedish population of any city in the world, with only Stockholm housing more. Chicago was also the center of the school's sponsoring denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, with more members and churches than any other American city. After three years of conducting classes and seminary training in the basement of Minneapolis Swedish Tabernacle church, the school relocated to land on the northwest outskirts of Chicago and formally changed its named to North Park College.
When the school opened in the fall of 1894 in a single building called Old Main, North Park was comprised of 74 students and seminarians and had five departments: Seminary, music, business, academy, and primary. At first, growth was slow and operating funds were scarce. In fact, the annual meeting of the Covenant Church in 1897 narrowly avoided a vote that would have closed all but the Seminary.
But the following year an alumnus struck gold while serving as a missionary in Alaska and the windfall funded the addition of a men's residence - the current Wilson Hall - and a house for the school's president, David Nyvall. Thanks to a later donation of Alaska gold, the school's first auditorium and gymnasium were built and a junior college was established.
"Over the decades that followed, both North Park and Chicago literally grew up together," noted David L. Parkyn, North Park's president since 2006. "What began as a humble immigrant institution, North Park reflected the growth and transformation of Chicago and became a truly cosmopolitan university. And with the Americanization of first- and second-generation immigrants that made up one-third of the American population following World War I, the immigrant experience here in Chicago changed dramatically."
Wartime Expansion and the Turbulent '60s and '70s
With World War II transforming the country, the Evangelical Covenant Church, and North Park, the University felt the prevailing influence of warfare upon all the school's activities. More than 900 North Park alumni served in the military and the influx of post-war students and the G.I. Bill strained the institution's resources, prompting the construction of additional residence halls and educational buildings.
The post-war expansion also paved the way for substantial growth in educational programs. In 1956 the bachelor of science in nursing program began in partnership with Swedish Covenant Hospital, creating Chicago's first accredited nursing program. In 1964, a four-year-degree nursing program was transferred from Swedish Covenant and established on campus. Today, North Park's anatomy cadaver laboratory is ranked among the top technical teaching facilities in the Midwest and serves as a vital resource for Chicago and Midwestern hospitals and teaching institutions.
At the outset of the nation's most tumultuous decade, conflict and changes in the country found clear expression at North Park. Students demanded justice in a number of areas, including the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and farm workers' unions. The North Park campus became a hotbed of protest, and national organizations and leaders from the "Chicago Seven," the Black Panthers Party, the National Farm Workers, and the women's rights movement found sympathetic platforms and supporters among students and faculty alike.
Following the Kent State shootings in 1970, hundreds of North Park students decided to strike in protest of the invasion of Cambodia, and staged a march down Foster Avenue to demand that then-Covenant President Milton Engebretson speak out on contemporary crises facing the country. As North Park grew and matured to a student body of nearly 2,000 by the end of the decade, the school's culture and influence has paralleled the transformation of the area into one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the United States (North Park's neighborhood today holds the distinction of being located in one of the most diverse zip codes in the nation).
"Throughout its history North Park considered leaving Chicago for possible locations in Iowa, St. Paul, and Chicago's northwest suburbs," said Parkyn. "But each time we reaffirmed our commitment to being an intercultural community despite neighborhood decline and the offer of donated land in Lake County. We recognized that our urban location was instrumental to the quality of education our students received and our focus on urban outreach programs vital to our city and neighbors."
Growth of Degreed Programs, Facilities and Urban Engagement; Fulbright Scholars Shine
The 1990s brought significant expansion of degreed programs, including master's programs in nursing, management, business administration, and community development, culminating in North Park being accredited as a university in 1997. Further growth followed with the addition of master's degrees in nonprofit education, human resources management, higher education administration, music, counseling psychology, and the Seminary's doctor of ministry degrees.
The University's ongoing commitment to building a better understanding of social justice learned in the classroom and the application needed on the streets of Chicago drove the creation of North Park's Urban Outreach program. Through its 2016 "Love Mercy - Do Justice" urban engagement conference, students and community organizations gathered to tackle pressing issues facing Chicago and identify ways to move from conversation to action. The program has been hailed as an effective community model aimed at closing the city's social and racial divisions.
Through its Engage Chicago, Chicago Intensive, and Urban Discipleship Living-Learning Community experiential learning curriculum, students prepare to learn and work in diverse environments via immersion experiences that teach students how to be agile and flexible across a range of settings and situations - all transferable to today's workforce. As a university situated in a highly diverse urban environment, North Park's educators embrace Chicago as part of a learning curriculum where students benefit from direct experience working with a range of not-for-profit and civic organizations.
In 2014, North Park opened the Nancy and G. Timothy Johnson Center for Science and Community Life, a state-of-the-art facility housing laboratories and classrooms for its signature science programs and hub for student interaction and campus offices. Named for North Park graduate and award-winning ABC News chief medical editor Dr. G. Timothy Johnson and his wife Nancy, the Center's programs include biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and psychology.
But today's North Park University also has another distinction: since 2008 19 graduates have received student Fulbright awards, with the University named as a "top-producer" by the Fulbright program in both 2013-2014 and 2015-2016. In 2015-2016 more North Park students received Fulbright awards than any other master's-level university in Illinois.
President Parkyn notes these important milestones reflect the school's history of "cultivating great hearts and great intellects." But he also believes that the work initiated 125 years ago in demonstrating lives of significance and service continues to be "a work just beginning."
North Park University will celebrate its 125th anniversary on Friday, September 23, with a history and heritage exhibit, classroom sessions highlighting North Park's expert faculty and state-of-the-art facilities, and alumni panels featuring graduates accomplished in the fields of entrepreneurship, health professions and the arts.
A celebration dinner and an anniversary concert program featuring renowned alumnus composer Dr. Marvin Curtis (who was commissioned to perform at President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration) are also planned. For more information on the anniversary celebration and schedule of events visit www.northpark.edu/125.
About North Park University
For 125 years, North Park University has focused on the important task of preparing students for lives of significance and service. Located in Chicago and founded by the Evangelical Covenant Church, North Park is a Christian comprehensive university that serves nearly 3,200 undergraduate and graduate students from around the country and the world. Within a diverse, close-knit, urban community, North Park offers a values-based education to students through more than 40 undergraduate majors and an adult degree-completion program, as well as graduate and continuing education in business, nonprofit management, nursing, education, music, counseling psychology, and theology. For more information about the university and its academic programs, visit www.northpark.edu.