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.
A new major, offered exclusively online, will instruct students in the latest geospatial technologies and their application in a variety of careers.
Johannes Buerger, coordinator of the new location intelligence program at ϳԹ, appreciates the reliable real estate maxim “location, location, location.”
Led by Buerger, North Park recently launched a major in location intelligence offered through the School of Professional Studies. “There are many students who come out of high school with a dream to change the world, and I think that location intelligence, which is related to geography and sustainable environmental planning, is something that gives you the opportunity to make changes in the world,” says Buerger.
Anyone who has done the research of buying a home or renting an apartment has likely used a simple form of a geographic information system (GIS), a tool applied in the study of location intelligence (LOCI). Using that information to choose a house or apartment is a perfect example of a practical, everyday use of location intelligence.
“Location matters in your everyday life,” says Buerger, noting that skills acquired in the study of location intelligence can be applied to a broad range of disciplines, from digital marketing to biology.
In the LOCI program, students learn in-demand tech skills such as utilizing GIS—software specifically designed to collect and manage geographic data. Other skill sets students will develop include map design, remote sensing, urban planning, and geomarketing.
From elevation to demographics of consumers in a neighborhood – location intelligence analyzes this type of valuable information and applies it to businesses and everyday life. While expertise or a degree in math is not required, a statistics background is an advantage in such areas as creating and analyzing maps.
As the field of location intelligence is relatively new and broadly applicable, location intelligence professionals are highly valuable to businesses who already implement GIS in small ways and those who have yet to implement these tools. “Location intelligence offers a very desirable skill set because you can do big data management and spatial analysis, which are required in so many different fields,” Buerger says.
Graduates with a degree in location intelligence have many exciting career options such as urban planning, disaster management, community service, and geo-marketing. For instance, city and retail planners use location intelligence to choose the spot for a new bus stop, find out where the next viable franchise location is, and assess where it is most profitable for a company to make deliveries.
Location intelligence is not limited to urban planning or urban studies – it can be used to assess weather patterns, sales, marketing, and even the natural sciences. “Location intelligence is such an interdisciplinary program which opens many doors, not just one,” says Buerger.
The MLKJ Award highlights those on campus who are doing exceptional work in the area of restorative justice and racial reconciliation.
Daniel White Hodge, ϳԹ’s assistant professor of intercultural communication, is the 2018 recipient of North Park’s Martin Luther King Jr. Award.
Hodge, who before coming to North Park spent 17 years working with urban youth through organizations such as Young Life and World Vision, continues to advocate for urban youth justice issues.
He’s also a recognized youth culture expert and cultural literacy scholar. At ϳԹ and at schools including Fuller Theological Seminary, Hodge has taught classes on race and ethnicity in religion, black popular culture, and hip-hop discourse.
The MLKJ Award was created in 2017 by Jacqueline Strapp C’08, head of the Office of Diversity, to highlight those on campus who are doing exceptional work in the area of restorative justice and racial reconciliation.
Dr. Mary Trujillo, a communication arts professor, was the recipient of North Park’s first MLKJ award last year.
Trujillo and Hodge were recognized for working continuously with the community, faculty, staff, and students to “be disciplined in our demeanor in not being divisive, to continue to do better, and strive for peace at the forefront—with peace being what MLK fought for,” Strapp said.
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at ϳԹ, Gregor Thuswaldner joined the ACAD Board of Directors’ Class of 2019 and will serve a two-year term.
Gregor Thuswaldner, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, was elected as a Board Member of the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD) at the Annual ACAD/AAC&U Conference in Washington, DC. Thuswaldner joined the Board of Directors’ Class of 2019 and will serve a two-year term.
The American Conference of Academic Deans was founded in 1945 to support the work and development of provosts, deans, and other university leaders. According to their website, “ACAD provides academic leaders who share a commitment to student learning and to the ideals of liberal education with networking and professional development opportunities to support them in their work as educational leaders.”
Friday, February 9th, ϳԹ is canceling classes and administrative offices ahead of the winter storm that is expected beginning Thursday night.
Campus Weather Alert
On Friday, February 9th, all ϳԹ classes will be canceled. Administrative offices will also be closed. Campus facilities will operate on a limited basis but residential students will have access to food services in the Magnuson Center dining hall.
The trustee scholar event, hosted by the Office of Admission, will continue as planned.
The Brandel Library and Helwig Recreation Center will close at 11 p.m. Thursday. Both facilities will be open on Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Staff for Physical Plant and Aramark will work regular schedules.
Thursday evening classes are not affected and will continue as scheduled.
A look at the unique messaging of North Park’s new marketing campaign.
A new marketing campaign for ϳԹ will soon be featured on billboards throughout the city of Chicago as well as on traditional FM radio and Spotify Radio ads. For interested members of the North Park community, the University offers this insight into the campaign’s unique message.
Campaign description: “True Leaders are Truth Seekers” is a bold educational message that is unique in the market. Passion, Purpose, Preparation, and Direction are overly used competitor positions that cannot compare to the strength and purity of the word Truth. North Park’s Truth statement embodies personal truth, social truth, and spiritual truth as well as the belief that education pursues and values those truths. The North Park educational experience helps to create, foster, and direct students to be true to themselves, true to their faith, true to their principles, and therefore to be true leaders in every facet or path their career takes them.
Campaign imagery: To keep the Truth Seeker message honest and true, it was important to use real North Park students in real campus situations to embody and impart the spirit and validity of the campaign. To accomplish this, the campaign features real North Park students photographed on campus, in their environment, showing the diversity, breadth of culture, ethnicity, and individualism that is a strength of the University. The tone and style of the photography exude a quiet and strong confidence in the student’s decision, their future, and their personal truth that is inspirational and aspirational. This direction was achieved through subtle smiles, comfortable body language that is not forced, and a variety of poses and perspectives that do not always involve looking directly at the camera—all in context of their real academic situations. The strategic direction of these visuals connect to the audience and embody not only Christian values but socially conscious positions that are very much relevant in the world today. The presentation of these powerful images in billboard executions with a clean and uncluttered messaging hierarchy and call to action maximizes impact and creates a distinctive, strong brand in a cluttered and saturated education landscape.
North Park Senior Renee Baker is nominated for the prestigious Glenn T. Seaborg Science Scholarship after completing an internship with NASA.
North Park Senior Renee Baker has been nominated for the prestigious Glenn T. Seaborg Science Scholarship, an honor bestowed upon an outstanding natural science major at one of the six colleges recognized by the Swedish Council of America as a Swedish Heritage College. North Park is recognized as such an institution because of its active connection with modern Scandinavia, via its language studies and academic exchange programs.
“I’m so incredibly honored to be nominated for this scholarship,” said Baker, an environmental science major, of the award named for the famed Swedish chemist.
She’s certainly worthy: while many college kids spend their break on the beach or working a part-time job, Baker was doing test flights with NASA. Last summer, Baker spent two months in California interning with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, tagging along on plane rides, collecting atmospheric data and learning how various instruments worked.
The Carol Stream, Illinois native actually applied for the NASA internship on something of a whim. “I honestly just got an email from [chemistry professor] Dr. Rienstra-Kiracofe, and I applied because, why not?” Baker says. Rienstra-Kiracofe provided a letter of recommendation, and the next thing Baker knew, she was on her way to Irvine, Ca.
In addition to the flying experience, Baker spent several weeks on campus at the University of California, Irvine, where she learned how to use tools to perform remote sensing and took a trip to the Jet Propulsion Lab. At the end of the internship, she and her group presented to a group of NASA employees and fellow students.
Ultimately, Baker, a physics minor, plans to pursue a career in alternative energy and biomimicry engineering, a field of science that seeks sustainable solutions to human-generated problems by copying patterns in nature. For instance, scientists who specialize in biomimicry are testing new plumbing and electric systems that mimic the branch-like structure of trees and leaves, as they may be more efficient than pipes positioned at right angles.
Baker will find out in March if she has won the coveted Seaborg prize, which includes airfare to Sweden, a living stipend, and participation in December’s Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar, a weeklong series of events arranged in connection with Nobel Peace Prize activities.
North Park Seminary has honored the Rev. Dr. Richard W. Carlson by dedicating a room in Nyvall Hall to the late professor, a lifelong learner who spent his life fighting racial injustices.
North Park Seminary has honored the Rev. Dr. Richard W. Carlson by dedicating a room in Nyvall Hall to the late professor, a lifelong learner who spent his life fighting racial injustices.
The space is called Richard’s Renaissance Room, a nod to Carlson’s devotion to a variety of pursuits, from history to baseball, Civil Rights, poetry, and biblical scholarship. Carlson’s wife, Jolene Bergstrom Carlson, said her husband also loved spending time with his children and spent his life fighting against societal hatred and violence.
“Richard especially had a head and heart for racial justice, lamenting over racial injustices until his final moments,” Jolene said. “To Richard, all people belonged and had worth.”
The Richard Renaissance Room, designed as a place to read, pray, and connect with others, is being furnished by $30,000 in private donations to the Seminary. The money also provides tuition assistance via the Richard and Jolene Carlson Scholarship Fund to a seminarian whose studies focus on justice issues.
“Richard was brilliant, but he never used his mind as anything but a tool to encourage his students to engage with the complexities of faith and life through thoughtful questions and readings,” Jolene Carlson said.
The dedication took place Jan. 24, during the ECC’s Midwinter Conference.
To donate to the fund, visit , select “other” and include “Richard Carlson Memorial Fund” in the comment box to designate your giving. You may also mail checks to ϳԹ’s Development Office:
ϳԹ
Development Box 6
3225 W. Foster Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625.
January 15th, ϳԹ will present an MLK Jr. Celebration featuring Gospel Recording Artist Corey Barksdale and Chicago Activist Sherida Morrison.
January 15th, ٰ.Martin Luther King, Jr.ٲ,ϳԹ’s Black Student Union Group will present an inspirational presentation commemorating Dr. King’s fight for justice and peace.
MLK Jr.’s own words will serve as the inspiration for the event: “The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood.”
Chicago’s leaders work to restore justice ϳԹ is committed to supporting Chicago’s diversity and embracing leaders who have demonstrated restorative justice. Like King, Morrison and Hodge each believe in nonviolent methods of pursuing social justice.
Keynote speaker Sherida Morrison is the founder of Demoiselle2Femme, a female empowerment group. Through the non-profit, Morrison has developed “a community-based model encouraging the avoidance of at-risk behaviors as a strategy for success while empowering girls with the hope of accomplishing their educational and professional goals through self-discipline, hard work, commitment and service to their community.”
North Park’s Hodge, assistant professor of intercultural communication, is a recognized urban youth culture expert and cultural literacy scholar. He will also honor the legacy and racial justice work of ٰ.Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. His presentation is titled “No Church in the Wild: Christianity, White Supremacy, Black Liberation and Hip Hop.”
In addition to MLK day, North Park’s Office of Diversity Director Jacqueline Horbrook works continuously with the community, faculty, staff, and students to “be disciplined in our demeanor in not being divisive, to continue to do better, and strive for peace at the forefront—with peace being what MLK fought for.”
The service will be held at 10 a.m. in Anderson Chapel and the celebration will be live-streamed at .
Nearly 300 students received undergraduate and graduate degrees during ϳԹ’s Winter Commencement Convocation Friday, Dec. 15.
President Carl Balsam presided over ϳԹ’s Winter Commencement Convocation Friday, Dec. 15, in which nearly 300 students received undergraduate and graduate degrees.
In his remarks, Balsam challenged graduates to do justice and show mercy in their lives after college. He also kicked off his address with a well-received joke about tuition.
“When I was told I was responsible for something called the ‘charge to graduates,’ my initial thought was, haven’t we charged them enough?” Balsam said to wide-spread laughter and applause.
Then, Balsam offered the graduates a message of “encouragement and challenge,” noting that the current job market is strong, especially for those with college degrees. He then urged graduates to show mercy by “making things right not just for yourselves, but others.”
He noted that many students had stood with fellow DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) students whose status as citizens was being challenged. Students should continue to fight for such social justice issues upon graduation, he said.
The Ahnfeldt Medallion for academic excellence was presented to Thomas H. Cellilli IV, who majored in Biblical and Theological Studies and earned a 3.969 grade point average. Board President Christine Strand awarded Cellilli the Medallion, noting his “gift of leadership” as well as his many extracurricular activities while at ϳԹ, including coaching a middle school baseball team.
Following Christmas hymns, scripture readings and a charge to students by Balsam and Provost Michael O. Emerson, diplomas were handed out by Emerson, followed by cheers from family and friends in the audience.
A reception for graduates was held in Hamming Hall following commencement.
The committee leading the search for the 10th president of ϳԹ has published a guide to the position, describing both the University and the opportunity for prospective candidates.
CHICAGO (October 9, 2017) – The committee that is leading the search for the 10th president of ϳԹ has published a guide to the position, describing both the University and the opportunity for prospective candidates. Anyone interested in reviewing and sharing the 12-page document is invited to download it from the ϳԹ websitehere.
“Our committee is pleased to move into the next phase of the search with the publication of this document,” said Owen R. Youngman, chair of the committee and a member of the University Board of Trustees. “We have incorporated ideas from a variety of sources in creating it, including the online survey that we conducted over the summer as well as meetings, conversations, letters, and emails.”
The committee has been receiving nominations for the position throughout the summer and will continue to do so through Monday, Oct. 16, at its dedicated email address, PresidentialSearch@northpark.edu. “In addition to many nominations and suggestions, we have been greatly encouraged by the prayer support we have received from the North Park community,” Youngman said.