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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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Campus Theme Day Focuses on Food, Faith, and Our Future on Earth
Events will include a ‘Poverty Banquet,’ examining the diversity and disparity of how the world eats
CHICAGO (March 18, 2015) — One of the first volunteer opportunities freshman Marisa Bowden participated in at ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï was making, serving, and sharing food with people experiencing homelessness in Chicago. Last fall, Bowden joined 36 other students from North Park’s for first-year students in the Anderson Hall dormitory kitchen to prepare hot meals for over 100 people in the city’s Uptown and Wicker Park neighborhoods. “We delivered the food to our neighbors through the local organization the Night Ministry,” Bowden said. “When it was served, we engaged in conversation with them, and students’ hearts and minds were truly opened.”
The service experience was one of many related to food and justice that has partnered with departments across campus and nonprofit organizations to provide for North Park students. The University community’s concern for these issues was part of what led to centering this year’s around the question “What Is Food?”
The yearlong Campus Theme program includes a series of events, lectures, and discussions related to an enduring and ultimate question of human experience. Wednesday, March 25, will mark the climax of this year’s program with .
Dr. Norman Wirzba, professor of theology and ethics at Duke Divinity School, will address the intersection of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies.
"Campus Theme Day brings a variety of perspectives to bear on this issue, including faith, culture, justice, and economics,” said , associate professor of and the director of the Campus Theme program. “Between the morning chapel service, the afternoon panel discussion, and the evening Poverty Banquet, we will offer a comprehensive view of the ways food affects our lives now and in the future.”
The day’s events will begin with a 10:30 am chapel service in Anderson Chapel featuring Dr. Norman Wirzba, professor of theology and ethics at Duke Divinity School. Dr. Wirzba’s talk, “Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating,” will address the intersection of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies.
“Food is God’s expression of love for us,” said Wirzba. “When we eat well, we participate in this love, and by sharing, extend God’s love to others. Eating is not simply about ingesting calories. It is about witnessing to God’s hospitable and nurturing ways with creatures. Good eating matters for Christians because it makes for healthy bodies, vibrant communities, and healthy lands.”
Wirzba will return to Anderson Chapel at 3:30 pm for “The Ethics and Economics of the Land,” a panel discussion on food justice. Panelists will include Wirzba; alumni Ryan Anderson, ecological economist at the Delta Institute, and Tim King, farmer and former chief strategy officer at Sojourners; and Seminary student Ericka Elion, formerly of Bread for the World.
“The panel discussion will be about systems—agricultural, economic, rural-to-urban food transfer systems,” Clifton-Soderstrom said. “Each panelist has a relationship with the question of what it means to respect the land, and how that relates to faith and policy.”
Campus Theme Day closes with a 6:00 pm “Poverty Banquet” in Hamming Hall, a unique dinner experience that examines both the diversity and disparity of how the world eats. “The Poverty Banquet is designed to create a dramatic, interactive event that enables participants to experience the extent of global poverty, the degree of inequality in the world, and the interconnectedness of the three income tiers—20 percent high-income, 30 percent middle-income, and 50 percent low-income,” said Tony Zamblé, director of University Ministries.
Seminary student Ericka Elion, formerly of Bread for the World, will serve as a discussion panelist and Poverty Banquet master of ceremonies for Campus Theme Day.
Adjunct Youth Ministry Professor Cynthia Stewart will be the Banquet’s keynote speaker, and Ericka Elion will return as master of ceremonies, leading participants through an interactive program that Zamblé believes will be “a very realistic and impactful evening. Without divulging too much, different groups will be served accordingly, resulting in a powerful experience for all involved.”
For North Park students, the Poverty Banquet will provide another experience in a regular series of service-oriented activities around shared meals and food. This week, the African Student Club cooked a traditional African meal together, tying into the Campus Theme and empowering students to make food as an expression of culture. In April, Residence Life and University Ministries will partner on a Greater Chicago Food Depository volunteer experience for students, allocating food to the Friendship Center in Albany Park, and directly impacting the North Park community.
Marisa Bowden, who served with other COMPASS students last fall, was so impacted by her volunteering experience that she became a participant in the University’s weekly Friday Night Street Ministry. Through this ongoing, relational program, she helps prepare and serve food for hungry people on Lower Wacker Drive, engaging in conversation over meals.
The experience has taught Bowden that “you don’t need to be an international missionary to make this world a better place. It can start within the kitchen of our own homes.”
All Campus Theme events are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit .
Three CCIW All-Conference Honors Cap Positive Year for Vikings Basketball
Liz Rehberger, sophomore guard from Chicago
Liz Rehberger and Jordan Robinson earned third-team honors; Juwan Henry named first-team All-Conference
CHICAGO (March 2, 2015) — Three ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï basketball student-athletes were named to the 2014–2015 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) All-Conference team. The honor caps off a successful season for the women and men’s teams, who both improved on last year’s records, including the men having their best season in five years.
, a sophomore guard from Resurrection High School in Chicago, earned third-team honors, finishing in the top-10 in conference in points per game (14.8), steals per game (2.2), and total three-point field goals. A foot injury sidelined her for the final four games of the season, where the team went 1-3 in her absence. Overall, she helped lead the team to a 13-12 record on the season, and a fifth place conference finish.
“You can see how valuable Liz is to our team with those last four games,” said women’s head coach Amada Crocket. “She is someone who leads by example, and with a lot of returning players next year, I see us continuing to improve and make it into the postseason conference tournament.”
Jordan Robinson, freshman forward from Schaumburg, Ill.
A bright future
Two members of the Viking’s men’s basketball team earned CCIW honors, leading the team to within on game of a trip to the postseason.
, a freshman forward from Schaumburg, Ill., earned third team honors after playing a key role in North Park’s 6-2 finish to the season. He averaged 16.3 points and nearly 6 rebounds per game over that stretch, which included three wins over nationally ranked opponents.
“The immediate impact Jordan had on our program was a pleasant surprise,” said men’s head coach Tom Slyder. “We expected him to contribute, and now that he has, he will be a marked man going into next year. He’ll have to learn to handle different types of defenses and raise his game. Hopefully we’ll be able to add more pieces to the team, and as guys develop, it will take the pressure off everyone.”
Juwan Henry, sophomore guard from Chicago
It was the second consecutive year a freshman basketball player earned All-Conference honors. , a sophomore guard from Bogan High School in Chicago, followed up last year’s third-team honors with a place on the All-Conference first team. A three-time conference Player of the Week, Henry led the team and the conference in scoring, averaging 22.5 points per game. He also ranked in the CCIW top-five in assists (4.0), steals (1.8) and blocked shots (1.3) per game. Twice Henry scored 30 or more points in a game, including a season-high 34 in North Park’s season finale against North Central College.
“The best thing for Juwan this season was that he had quality players around him so he could elevate his game,” said Slyder. “His overall demeanor and maturity really developed this year as well. He’s not a finished product, none of us are, but his development in that area allowed him to excel.”
The men’s team finished 15-10 on the year, its best finish since 2010–2011, and its six conference wins were the most since 2009–2010.
Dr. Jacqueline Berning, Professor and Dietitian, to Discuss Food as Fuel
Dr. Jacqueline Berning, professor and chair of health sciences at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, teaches professional athletes, Olympians, and students how to make wise food choices for increased performance.
Friday, February 20, 10:30 am in Johnson Center 314—the next event in North Park’s Campus Theme, ‘What Is Food?’
Chicago (February 19, 2015) — Last year, Dr. Jacqueline Berning, professor and chair of health sciences at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, took a few dozen young men grocery shopping. It was part of an award-winning project, “,” that aimed to teach football players from the University of Colorado how to shop, prepare, and cook nutritious food that would provide the proper nutrients to optimize athletic performance.
She showed them how to read food labels, calculate calories from fat, and examine ingredients. Berning then brought the food back to a kitchen and taught the players how to prepare it.
“What happens is a lot of young people don’t know how to shop or basic cooking skills, so they turn to pre-prepared food,” Berning says. “Most athletes are motivated to increase their performance, and this project provided them an opportunity to improve their performance through food.”
This Friday at 10:30 am, Berning will visit ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï to give a lecture about eating for optimal performance on the field and in the classroom. She will focus on the physiological side of food—the energy necessary to maximize potential in all facets of life.
It is the next event in North Park’s yearlong , which brings the North Park community together for a series of events, lectures, and discussions around a central question of the human experience. A tradition for more than a decade, this year’s question, “What Is Food?” marks a different approach from year’s past.
“Traditionally, the Campus Theme has been about a value or idea, for example, ‘What Is Community?’ ‘What Is Justice?’ ‘What Is Peace?’" said , associate professor of and the director of the Campus Theme program. “This year we wanted to address something more tangible. Eating is a daily human experience that all of us share. It is the most provocative of questions because first, it is so fundamental to human life, and second, because it bears directly on other values that we care about here at ºÚÁϳԹϗjustice, compassion, community, theology, and cultural diversity.”
In addition to her work with the University of Colorado football team, Berning has also served as nutrition consultant for the Denver Broncos, nutrition coordinator for USA Swimming, and sports dietitian for the Cleveland Indians and the Colorado Rockies.
She is the author and editor of several books, including Training Nutrition and Nutrition for Sport and Exercise. She earned her PhD in nutrition at Colorado State University, and is a registered dietitian and certified board specialist in sports dietetics, as well as an advisory board member at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute.
While much of Berning’s work deals with nutrition for athletes, she also stresses the importance of proper eating for optimal performance in the classroom and beyond. Much of what happens on the field, in the classroom, and in life, comes down to solving problems. The preparation for solving those problems is essential.
“If class starts at 8:00 am, how many students show up without breakfast and expect to have the brain to be able to recall all the things that they’ve been studying?” Berning asks. “It’s like driving your car to campus with the empty light flashing at you. Once it starts flashing you haven’t got very much time until it shuts down and stops. How many students are still showing up with no fuel and wondering why they can’t focus or figure out particular problems?”
All Campus Theme events are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit .
Crendalyn McMath Fitzgerald, 49, served as associate professor of marketing at ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï since 2002, after a long and successful career in marketing and entrepreneurship.
Associate professor of marketing in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management specialized in entrepreneurship and advertising
Chicago (February 18, 2015) — Crendalyn McMath Fitzgerald, known as “Cren” to her students and colleagues, passed away last Friday, February 13. As associate professor of marketing and advertising since 2002 in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management, Fitzgerald, 49, leaves a legacy of inspiring undergraduate and graduate students to be leaders in their communities.
“Cren was able to connect with her students because she taught from her own experience as a leader in education, marketing, and entrepreneurship,” said , dean of the . “She was also a mentor to her colleagues, modeling how to balance work and family life. It is difficult to imagine our faculty without her.”
Fitzgerald served as faculty lead in the undergraduate advertising major, challenging students to look beyond their own experiences and gain a broad understanding of the role culture plays in people’s decision making. Before coming to North Park, Fitzgerald served as the founding director for the Center for Urban Business at the University of Illinois at Chicago, founded and ran a television and video production company, and was president of Kennedy Taylor Corporation.
“Professor Fitzgerald was a very kind and attentive instructor,” said Colleen Atwell, one of Fitzgerald’s students in the graduate nonprofit management certificate program. “She showed a personal interest in our assignments, our places of work, and each of us as individuals. She was very interactive and always available to her students.”
Fitzgerald grew up in an Evangelical Covenant Church on the South Side of Chicago, learning her entrepreneurial drive from her family’s neighborhood restaurant. She went on to earn a bachelor of science in marketing and a master of business administration from the University of Illinois Chicago.
“The passion our faculty show their students is the heart and soul of our University,” said ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï President David Parkyn. “Cren was a shining example of that, and our prayers and sympathy extend to her family and loved ones.”
Cren is survived by her husband, Ephriam, daughters Eren and Courtney, and her parents.
A visitation will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, February 21, 2015 at Mt. Holy Rock Missionary Baptist Church, 11441 S. Wentworth Ave., Chicago, IL 60628, with the funeral service immediately following.
A memorial service for the ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï community to celebrate the life and memory of Crendalyn will be held at 3:30 pm on Tuesday, February 24 in Isaacson Chapel. A light reception will follow in Olsson Lounge.
Messages of condolence may be sent to: Ephriam Fitzgerald, 8304 S. Calumet, Chicago, IL 60619.
ºÚÁϳԹÏ's Nancy and G. Timothy Johnson Center for Science and Community Life Achieves LEED Gold Status
Sustainability features include a "green roof" on the Johnson Center for Science and Community Life, which not only promotes stewardship but provides a real-life laboratory for environmental science students at ºÚÁϳԹÏ.
CHICAGO, IL (Feb. 10, 2015) – Completed last year, the $45 million at ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï was recently awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, which establishes criteria for the construction of sustainable buildings.
“We are very pleased to have been awarded LEED Gold,” said David Parkyn, President of ºÚÁϳԹÏ. “The building is not only esthetically beautiful, but also functions efficiently and plays an important environmental role. That’s especially rewarding on our urban campus, and consistent with North Park’s mission as a Christian institution and stewards of the environment.”
Through its achievement of LEED Gold status, ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï is able to provide the best environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors, while also minimizing waste, reducing toxins, lowering potential energy bills and operating costs, and achieving healthier indoor air quality.
“LEED Gold is an outstanding accomplishment and shows ” said Susan Heinking, Vice President & Sustainability Leader at VOA Associates Inc., longtime architectural partners with the University.
As sustainable administrator, Heinking’s role was to facilitate the sustainable design throughout the design and construction process. "Each element—from the external shades on the facade allowing daylight in while blocking out heat gain, to the green roof that reduces building stormwater run-off—was selected to meet sustainability requirements," said Heinking.
The Nancy and G. Timothy Johnson Center for Science and Community Life
Throughout the design process various stakeholders, which included scientists, faculty, staff and administrators, and students, gave input to the architectural team for the design of a building that would create a space for all students, optimize outdoor space and daylight, and meet sustainability goals.
Some of the sustainable features of the Johnson Center include: reducing heat island effect with green roofs and high albedo hardscapes; promoting alternative transportation methods; promoting ongoing building recycling; incorporating recycled and regional materials; and promoting healthy indoor environment via low emitting materials. Sustainable design and construction of the Johnson Center also means increased air filtration, increased air ventilation; and occupant comfort is increased via thermal comfort measures and lighting controls. Additionally, the building produces 30% water savings, 26% energy savings, and 75% waste diverted.
Nonprofit Professional Development: Axelson Center Spring Workshops
Workshops and webinars for nonprofit professionals now open for registration
CHICAGO (February 3, 2015) — Finding new real estate for your nonprofit, conflict resolution, metrics, mergers, planned giving, and managing across generations are just a few of the topics that will be covered in the Spring 2015 workshop series hosted by the , a capacity-building center located at ºÚÁϳԹÏ.
The Axelson Center offers professional development on timely topics featuring expert speakers and powerful, relevant takeaways. Nonprofit professionals of all types—from program managers to executive directors—will benefit from these upcoming learning opportunities.
Workshops are held on Wednesday mornings at ºÚÁϳԹÏ's campus on the northwest side of Chicago. The series kicked off on Wednesday, January 28, 2015, with "There's No Place Like Home: Finding New Real Estate for Your Organization." Other highlights of the series include “Stewardship Thinking: Ensuring the Future of Your Organization” on February 11, “Planned Giving BootCamp” on February 18, “Navigating Your Way through Conflict” on March 25, and “Valuing the Knowledge of How Things Get Done” on April 8. , including registration details for each individual event.
The Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management at ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï is the source for informative and engaging nonprofit professional development in the Chicago region. Through , an , and an , the Axelson Center delivers a superior educational experience for nonprofit leaders, volunteers, and frontline staff, covering a vast array of topics from program evaluation to strategic planning, and communications to development. The valuable information presented through these programs enhances the impact of both the nonprofit sector and its staff. Visit for more information, including a full schedule of upcoming programs.
Dr. Mary Trujillo is one of the primary faculty members for the conflict transformation studies program, teaching courses that include Conflict and Community and Mediation.
Conflict transformation studies major launched in Fall 2014
CHICAGO (January 29, 2015) — For North Park students, the second weekend of May is often one of celebrating the close of the school year with friends and family. Many pack up to head home for summer jobs or move to new places to begin careers after graduation.
This year, for 15 students, that weekend will begin a unique international study trip to Northern Ireland—the first trip offered as part of the University’s new . Students and faculty in the International Conflict Transformation course will dive deeply into the forces of history, religion, and art in the experience of conflict. The group will partner with the Junction, a peacebuilding and community service organization in Derry, Northern Ireland. Their itinerary includes walking tours of public murals that are statements of both suffering and transformation; experiences of how music and art interact with spiritual dynamics in conflict; and conversations with community leaders and ex-combatants on trauma, understanding, healing, and reconciliation.
“We’re going to listen, to learn, and to observe,” says , professor of communications and co-director of the conflict transformation studies program. He hopes this trip will be an academic experience that builds connections between theory, practice, and the real-life complications of creating peace in a challenging landscape.
The questions in conflict
Conflict transformation studies began as an undergraduate certificate at ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï ten years ago and transitioned to a full undergraduate major in Fall 2014. The major offers interdisciplinary courses that tackle the pressing questions that emerge out of conflicts in places from Northern Ireland to Chicago, and the Middle East to Ferguson, Missouri: How do communities in conflict begin the process of healing? Where do individuals find safe avenues to express the experience of living through conflict? What good can come out of tension, anger, or misunderstanding? Can we really create peace?
“Conflict is a universal experience—even though we don’t want it to be,” says , professor of communications and co-director of the program. Students who are drawn to conflict transformation studies are expressing their desires to “change the world” and are people of compassion, grounded in a belief that there can be a way in the world better than conflict, she says.
Carmen Velazquez, a junior in the program, agrees with Trujillo’s assessment. “Conflict is part of our everyday life. It doesn’t matter what socioeconomic class you belong to, your gender, the color of your skin, or your race: conflict will always be around,” she says. “Conflict transformation teaches us to not try to remove conflict but to transform it into something positive and greater.”
Working for justice in communities
David Potter is one of the first conflict transformation studies majors at ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï and will graduate in December 2015. He came to the University after working at a nonprofit organization with youth and under-resourced communities. “While I was not aware of it at the time, the opportunities to work in several marginalized and neglected domestic communities—from large- and small-scale urban areas, to Native American reservations and Appalachian coal mining towns—instilled a desire to create healing spaces of justice and restoration.”
Velazquez also identifies a desire for social justice work as the driving factor in choosing the conflict transformation studies major. She grew up in an immigrant community in the Central Valley of California, and is preparing for a career in community organizing to advocate for her people. “This program has allowed me to realize the many issues in my own community; it has empowered me to strive for positive change.”
The work that Potter and Velazquez dream of is what is often referred to as “track two diplomacy,” or public diplomacy and hands-on conflict transformation efforts, according to Hostetter. Conflict transformation students learn the relational skills that allow them to work in long-term, sustainable community initiatives, not necessarily high-level political diplomacy that is focused on negotiation and resolving conflict. “We call this a conflict transformation program—not conflict resolution—because it is relationally focused,” he says. “Relationships are transformed, not resolved.”
Creative approaches to hard questions
provides a rich backdrop for students to gain hands-on experience learning about conflict in urban and international relationships. Students in the Community and Conflict course organize an annual one-day peace conference. The Performance and Social Change class does an ethnographic study of personal experiences around a particular topic in order to create a public performance that sparks conversation and action.
“Conflict transformation is evolving as we speak,” Trujillo says. New relational and creative approaches continue to emerge as the field broadens. Along with studying the history and context of global conflicts, courses provide opportunities for students to conduct research and analysis, and gain more self-awareness in an effort to pursue creative, nonviolent approaches to help in conflict situations.
In one course, Trujillo has her students create three-dimensional models that represent peace. “I tell students, ‘You’ve imagined it, you’ve created it with your hands. Now we’re going into communities to work on peace with people.’ I really believe that we can make a difference, that students can create peace,” she says.
Professors Trujillo and Hostetter invite their students to explore creative models of strategic peace building like these with the hope of equipping students to be advocates for positive change in global, national, and local communities.
Though the major is new, Velazquez’s testimony affirms that the program is on the right track. She says her courses have opened her eyes to conflict outside of her personal experience. “Coming from a rural community, I wasn’t aware of major conflicts that happen throughout the United States or all the injustices in the city of Chicago. Knowing that there are others also fighting for social justice helps me to acknowledge the power of my own voice and actions.”
North Park Commemorates Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Call to Action
Social justice leaders from the Chicagoland area conducted civil rights discussions with North Park students.
Worship service and ‘teach-ins’ led by students, faculty, and staff
CHICAGO (January 21, 2015) — With recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, ºÚÁϳԹϒs annual commemoration of the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday focused on the opportunities presented in this particular moment in history
“We know there is work to be done because there is inequality in our nation,” said Rev. Velda Love, director of justice and intercultural learning at ºÚÁϳԹÏ, in her welcome address to the audience in Anderson Chapel. “We know there is work to be done because there is police brutality in communities of color.”
Ramelia Williams, a student at , echoed the call to action. “If we paid attention we might see the miracle of this millennial moment, a moment that has raged righteous anger like a fire storm across this nation.”
Their voices were part of Monday’s event, “What is Civil—What is Right? A Millennial Response.” The day included a worship service with music from the ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï Gospel Choir and guest musician Bryan Johnson from . An emotional rendition of Sweet Honey in the Rock’s “The Women Gather,” performed by North Park students and staff, opened the service.
, pastor of pastoral care and administration at Second Baptist Church in Evanston, Ill. spoke on the importance of intergenerational leadership in building momentum within a new social movement.
Students from ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï Gospel Choir performed with Bryan Johnson during the worship service celebrating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Out of the context of the perilous moments of 2014—which you have already heard here today—came a movement led by a new generation,” said Mosby. “I believe the legacy of Dr. King demands that we stop looking for another King and begin embracing the prophets that God has raised up in this millennial generation. To do so we must be willing to stop looking at the mountain tops long enough to gaze into the streets and classrooms where God is doing a new thing.”
Following the service, North Park students gathered in discussion groups guided by social justice leaders from organizations including the and Trinity United Church of Christ. Sessions included, “Civil Rights Movement: Then and Now,” “Millennial Activism is Here to Stay,” and “De-Spiritualizing Non-Violent Resistance.”
“This movement is not led by the voice of the majority race or minority race,” Ramelia Williams said. “Millennials move forward in persistence with a proactive voice that is louder and stronger than their individual voice.”
North Park Senior Presents Summer Research at Physics Conference
Olivia Chisman, a senior in North Park’s physics program, also presented her work in October at an American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics meeting in Hawaii.
Olivia Chisman's research recreates the conditions of the early universe to try and explain the world around us
CHICAGO (January 19, 2015) — Olivia Chisman spent the summer watching millions of tiny particles moving close to the speed of light crash into one another. It was part of a research program at UCLA, where she joined nearly 500 physicists from around the world in observing the outcomes of a particle accelerator that spans 2.4 miles underground.
“I got to be part of weekly phone meetings with expert physicists and present my research,” said Chisman, a senior in ºÚÁϳԹϒs . “The work is known as fundamental physics. By recreating the conditions of the early universe a few microseconds after the Big Bang, we can try to understand what makes up the world around us.”
Chisman was invited to present her research this past weekend at the , hosted at Purdue University. The goal of the conference was to support women physicists as they transition from a major to a career, and help combat the recent decline of women in the field. After a four-decade trend since 1965 that saw the percentage of women in physics rise from 5 to nearly 25 percent, that number has regressed to below 20 percent, . Joining Chisman, who also presented her research to an American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics meeting this fall in Hawaii, were three additional students from North Park’s physics and programs, Anika Zima, Azra Dizdarevic, and Nayelii Duran.
"Research experiences for undergraduates and giving papers at national conferences are incredible opportunities for our students," said , assistant professor of physics at ºÚÁϳԹÏ. "The American Physical Society conference allows the students to make connections with well-known physicists from around the country. It also let’s them meet other young women who are sharing their same experiences and worries about their future. It helps knowing that you are not the only one."
Chisman's research, explained in the above video, included observation of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Upton, New York.
Like a number of students, Chisman did not take a direct route to a career in physics. “Since I was young I wanted to be a nurse, and I came to North Park as a ,” Chisman said. During her sophomore year, she read some books and watched a few movies about cosmology and astrophysics, and then decided to have a conversation with McDonald. “I asked her what I could do with a physics career,” Chisman said. “She told me my options were limitless.”
Chisman recently submitted applications for a PhD in physics, and hopes to begin a program after her graduation from North Park this May. She is looking to continue the research she began last summer in the field of relativistic heavy ion physics and experimental nuclear physics. Chisman credits North Park’s science programs for preparing her for graduate school and beyond.
“The small class sizes and the way that ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï teaches physics forces students to take responsibility for their own learning, which is something that was infinitely important to my research this summer,” Chisman said. “I’ve been able to have direct contact with my professors, and as a result, they know me very well.”
McDonald is also excited to hear about Chisman's next steps in terms of education and research. "One of my joys is when alumni come back and tell me all about the things they are doing," McDonald said. "I know that ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï makes a difference in the world, and it is great to see it in action with people like Olivia."
ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï Confers 254 Degrees at 2014 Winter Commencement
Graduating students were encouraged to reach beyond their future professions to find the essence of the image of God in every person they meet.
Graduates called to find God in their neighbors
CHICAGO (December 15, 2014) — A festive crowd gathered on Friday night in the North Park gymnasium to celebrate the achievements of students from across the University.
Students were led into the gymnasium by a procession of flags of the countries and territories in which graduates were born, are citizens, or have been residents. The flags of the United States, the city of Chicago, and ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï led the procession, followed by the flags of Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Sweden, and Ukraine.
Serving as the culmination of the fall semester, ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï awarded bachelor’s degrees to 182 students, including graduates from the . Seventy-two graduate degrees were awarded to 68 students from across the , , , and .
In his commencement address to graduates and their friends and family, University President Dr. David L. Parkyn told the story of . A North Park alum, Carlson was featured on the cover of and magazines 50 years ago this month after he was tragically killed while providing medical care in the Congo.
“What Paul Carlson discovered during his two years at ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï was a commitment to find God in his neighbors,” Parkyn said. “He was not a saint; he didn’t set out to be martyred and become a hero with his portrait in the national press. He simply set out to find and serve God in every person he met.”
Parkyn urged graduates that although they are not expected to meet the same fate as Dr. Carlson, the example he provided is what the University means in its mission of preparing students for lives of significance and service. “Become a teacher or a nurse, a social worker or psychologist, a research scientist or a community organizer, an artist or a programmer, a musician or a preacher, an entrepreneur or a business leader. Develop a command of digital design, market messaging, financial portfolios, political structures, or information systems. Make any one of these your professional goal,” Parkyn said. “Yet don’t stop with this. Reach beyond these good and honored professions and be a person, like Paul Carlson, who sets out to find the essence of the image of God in every person you meet.”
Katherine Patterson, biology major, was awarded the Ahnfeldt Medallion for the highest undergraduate GPA in the graduating class.
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In addition to awarding degrees, the University also presented the Ahnfeldt Medallion, given to the undergraduate with the highest GPA, to , a biology major who graduated a semester early. In addition to her studies, Peterson was also active in North Park’s and served as a peer-writing mentor on campus. Patterson also spent multiple summers at the and volunteered at Chicago’s .
“Katherine’s love for nature stems from her love for God and the things God created,” said Bruce Bickner, chairman of the Board of Trustees, who presented the award. “Her sense of wonder and awe leads her to a mission field of woods and streams.”
The commencement program also included a reading from Proverbs, choral performances by the , a graduation litany, and a presentation of degrees by University deans.
The commencement ceremony also featured a benediction from , read by graduates in seven languages, including Arabic, Hindi, Tagolog, Swedish, Korean, Vietnamese, and Norwegian.
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