Olivet Nazarene University

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Olivet Nazarene University
Olivet Nazarene University logo
Olivet Nazarene University logo
Motto: "Education with a Christian Purpose"
Established: 1907[1]
Type: Private
Religious affiliation: Church of the Nazarene
Endowment: $15 million
President: John C. Bowling
Undergraduates: 2,600
Postgraduates: 2,000
Location: Bourbonnais, IL, USA
(41°09′13″N 87°52′34″W / 41.153620, -87.876140Coordinates: 41°09′13″N 87°52′34″W / 41.153620, -87.876140)
Campus: Suburban
Former names: Miss Mary Nesbitt's Grammar School, Illinois Holiness University, Olivet University, Olivet Nazarene College
Sports: Baseball, Basketball, Cross-country running, Football, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track and field, and Volleyball
Colors: Gold and Purple
Nickname: Tigers
Athletics: NAIA Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference
Affiliations: Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
Website: www.olivet.edu

Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a Christian liberal arts college located in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Originally founded as a grammar school in east central Illinois, Olivet Nazarene organized a centennial observance in 2007.

Contents

[edit] History

A "product of lay initiative," Olivet traces its roots to 1907 when a group of families in East-Central Illinois started a school to provide a Christian education for their children.[2] Classes at Miss Mary Nesbitt's Grammar School were first held in a house in Georgetown, Illinois. In 1908, the school's founders acquired nineteen acres[3] south of Georgetown, in the village of Olivet, and built on this land, moving the grammar school to the proposed campus and beginning secondary-level classes. A Wesleyan–holiness community sprang up around the school.[4] In 1909, the liberal arts college was started and the school was given the name Illinois Holiness University.[3]

The school was given to the Church of the Nazarene in 1912. It was renamed Olivet University in 1915,[5] and again in 1923 to Olivet College. The economic solvency of the school became a problem in the 1920s, and the trustees were forced to declare bankruptcy in 1926. The school's treasurer, Dr. T. W. Willingham, purchased the school back at an auction and was elected president.[3]

In 1939, the main building on campus was destroyed by fire.[3] This prompted the school to look for a new location. Under President A.L. Parrott, the school moved in 1940, onto the previous 42-acre campus of St. Viator's College.[6] With the move, the school's name was changed to Olivet Nazarene College. The school's name was changed again in 1986 to Olivet Nazarene University.[3]

[edit] Presidents (1909-present)

  • A.M. Hills (Aug. 1909-March 14, 1910)
  • Ezra Franklin (March 14, 1910-Feb. 13, 1912)
  • J.E. Hoover (acting president, Feb.-June 1912)
  • E.F. Walker (June 27, 1912-Oct. 1, 1913)
  • E.P. Ellyson (acting president, Oct. 1 1913-June 1, 1914)
  • John H. Norris (June 1-Nov. 21, 1914)
  • E.P. Ellyson (acting president, Nov. 21 1914 to the end of school year)
  • A.L. Whitcomb (March 31-Sept. 9, 1915)
  • E.F. Walker (Sept. 9, 1915-March 19, 1916)
  • Benjamin Franklin Haynes (March 19, 1916-June 11, 1917)
  • J.E. Hoover (acting president, June 11, 1917-March 27, 1918)
  • M.E. Borders (March 27-Sept. 2, 1918)
  • C.L. Hawkins (acting president, Sept. 2, 1918-Jan. 29, 1919)
  • J.W. Akers (acting president, Jan. 29, 1919 until the election of Moore)
  • J.E.L. Moore (1919-1922)
  • Newport W. Sanford (1922-1926)
  • T.W. Willingham (1926-1938)
  • A.L. Parrott (1938-1948)
  • Selden Dee Kelley (1948-1949)
  • Harold W. Reed (1949-1975)
  • Leslie L. Parrott, Sr. (1975-1991)
  • John C. Bowling (1991-present)

[edit] Affiliation

As one of eight regional U.S. liberal arts colleges[7] and universities affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene,[8] ONU is the college for the "Central USA Region"[9] of the United States.[10] In terms of the Church of the Nazarene, the "Central Region" comprises the Wisconsin, Northwestern Illinois, Illinois, Chicago Central, Northern Michigan, Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northwest Indiana, Northeastern Indiana, Indianapolis, and Southwest Indiana districts, which include Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. Each college receives financial backing from the Nazarene churches on its region; part of each church budget is paid into a fund for its regional school. Each college or university is also bound by a gentlemen's agreement not to actively recruit outside its respective "educational region."[11]

[edit] Academics

ONU offers roughly 100 areas of study. The School of Graduate and Continuing Studies offers nearly 20 master's degrees, nontraditional adult degree-completion programs, and one doctoral degree,[12] a Doctor of Education in ethical leadership[13] only offered at the "Chicago Regional Center" in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.[14] There is a Master of Professional Counseling degree offered at a site in Hong Kong, China and distance education is offered for the Master in Education degree.[14]

[edit] Accreditation

Olivet Nazarene University has been accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools since 1956.[14]

[edit] Evolution at Olivet

In 2004, Olivet biology professor Richard G. Colling wrote a book attempting to reconcile the foundations of modern evolutionary biology with the principles of modern Christian faith.[15] Due to pressure from donors and board members, in September 2007 Olivet President Dr. John Bowling prohibited Colling from teaching the general biology class he had taught since 1991 and banned professors from assigning his book. According to an interview with Newsweek, the reason behind Bowling's response was to "get the bull's-eye off Colling and let the storm die down." The Church of the Nazarene does see "knowledge acquired by science and human inquiry equal to that acquired by divine revelation," and President Bowling supported Colling in a letter to trustees when he expressed that, while the church "'believes in the Biblical account of creation' and holds that God is the sole creator, it allows latitude 'regarding the "how" of creation.'" Newsweek notes that other Nazarene scholars embrace these ideas: Karl Giberson of Eastern Nazarene, the first Nazarene scholar to publish with Oxford University Press, has written three books on the tensions between science and religion.[16][17]

[edit] Campus

Olivet's campus is 250 acres (1.0 km²), with 30 buildings.[13]

[edit] Student life

ONU students are from more than 40 states and 20 countries, and represent more than 30 Christian denominations.[13]

[edit] Athletics

ONU Tigers logo
ONU Tigers logo

The Olivet Tigers compete in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Men's varsity teams include Baseball, Basketball, Cross-country running, football, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, and Track and field. Women's varsity sports include Basketball, Cross country running, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track and field, and Volleyball.

Since 2002, the Chicago Bears have held their summer training camp at the campus. Though this likely has little effect on the athletic programs at ONU, the Bears do pay to use the college's facilities, and their use itself speaks to the relative quality of those facilities.

The Women's Track and Field team had the winning Distance Medley Relay (DMR) at the Drake Relays four years in a row (2005-2008) and set the Drake Relay record for college division teams in a time of 11:26.59 which they ran in 2007. [18][19]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ This is the year classes were first offered at Miss Mary Nesbitt's Grammar School in Georgetown, Illinois and the "official" founding date. Olivet became a liberal arts college in 1909.
  2. ^ ONU's first board of trustees included only one minister.
  3. ^ a b c d e History at olivet.edu
  4. ^ "Why These Schools? Historical Perspectives on Nazarene Higher Education," by Stan Ingersol
  5. ^ The History of ENC, written by James Cameron, references J.E.L. Moore leaving Eastern Nazarene College in 1919 to become "president of the Pentecostal Nazarene University at Olivet, Illinois." on p.142 and the Year Book of American Churches, 1921-1922 edited by E.O. Watson, published by Hayworth Publishing Co. Washington D.C. cites the name as "Olivet University."
  6. ^ History of the Village of Bourbonnais
  7. ^ Eastern Nazarene College is the only Nazarene institution to retain the "college" moniker. Different states hold different standards for university status, but Nazarene higher education is based on the liberal arts model rather than that of a research university.
  8. ^ LIBERAL ARTS AND THE PRIORITIES OF NAZARENE HIGHER EDUCATION by J. Matthew Price, Ph.D.
  9. ^ Central USA Region
  10. ^ Although its name might suggest that it is the college for the "Olivet" region, no such region currently exists. Eastern and Northwest are the only Nazarene schools to use their regional names. Olivet is named for a former location in the village of Olivet, Illinois (see History). There was, interestingly, a Nazarene institution once called Central Nazarene College in Texas.
  11. ^ Nazarene Educational Regions
  12. ^ ONU and Trevecca Nazarene University are the only Nazarene liberal arts colleges with doctoral programs.
  13. ^ a b c Fast Facts page
  14. ^ a b c HLC of the NCA: ONU profile
  15. ^ Random Designer: Created from Chaos to Connect with Creator (Browning Press, 2004, ISBN 0975390406)
  16. ^ Worlds Apart: The Unholy War between Religion and Science, Beacon Hill Press, 1993 ISBN 0834115042, Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002 ISBN 0742507645 with Donald Yerxa, The Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientist Versus God and Religion, Oxford University Press, 2006 ISBN 0195310721 with Mariano Artigas) and is under contract for a fourth book titled Saving Darwin. Darrel R. Falk of Point Loma Nazarene wrote Coming to Peace with Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology (InterVarsity Press, 2004, ISBN 0830827420) similar in intent to that of Colling.
  17. ^ "Can God Love Darwin, Too?" by Sharon Begley, Newsweek, Sept. 17, 2007 issue
  18. ^ http://www.godrakebulldogs.com//pdf5/116652.pdf?SPSID=71589&SPID=8142&DB_OEM_ID=15700
  19. ^ http://www2.olivet.edu/athletics/news.php?c_id=15&n_id=6060

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Nazarene liberal arts colleges and educational regions