Northwest Nazarene University
Encyclopedia
Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) is a private Christian
liberal arts college
located in Nampa
, Idaho
.
Eugene Emerson organized a combination grade school and Bible school in 1913 as Idaho Holiness School. It was renamed twice in 1916, first to Northwest Holiness College and then to Northwest Nazarene College, and then became a liberal arts college
in 1917 with degree-granting authority from the Idaho state Board of Education. While the first president elected for the college in 1916 was H. Orton Wiley
of Pasadena University, Fred J. Shields
would fill in as acting president before leaving for the Eastern Nazarene College
in 1919, while Wiley finished his graduate work
. Under Russell V. DeLong
, Northwest Nazarene College (NNC) received educational accreditation
, as a two-year school in 1931 and then received accreditation as a four-year school in 1937, making it the first accredited college affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene
. Under Presidents John E. Riley
and Kenneth H. Pearsall
in the 1960s and 1970s, master's degree
programs were added. It was renamed as Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in 1999.
s affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene
, the 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 is also bound by a gentlemen's agreement
not to actively recruit outside its respective educational region. NNU is the college for the Northwest Region of the United States, which comprises the Alaska, Washington Pacific, Oregon Pacific, Northwest, Intermountain, Rocky Mountain, and Colorado districts, which include Washington, Oregon
, Idaho
, Montana
, Wyoming
, Colorado
, and parts of Nevada
and Utah
. NNU is also a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
(CCCU). NNU has been accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
(NWCCU) since 1930, making it the first Nazarene school to achieve an accredited status.
, Humanities
, and Social Sciences
), Business
& Economics
, Education
& Social Work
, Health & Science
, and Theology
& Christian
Ministries. The university offers baccalaureate programs in 29 areas and graduate programs in seven disciplines. It is the home of the Wesley Center for Applied Theology. There were 1,836 students at the college in 2007, 1,247 of whom were undergraduates. The 2007 acceptance rate for students who applied to the college was 69.7 percent.
NNU is a co-educational college. According to InsideHigherEd and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
, black student
enrollment at NNU is one percent or less of the entire student population.
's Great Northwest Athletic Conference
at the NCAA Division II level in 8 sports: basketball
, baseball
, cross country running
, golf
, softball
, soccer, track and field
, and volleyball
. Along with the Eastern Nazarene College
, it is one of only two Nazarene colleges to compete in the NCAA; the other six compete in the NAIA
. NNU's athletic moniker is "Crusader
s" and colors are red
and black
.
, the current administrator for USAID's Bureau for Global Health and former president of the Eastern Nazarene College
(1992-2001), and Michael Lodahl
and Thomas Jay Oord
, noted Nazarene
theologians. Oord is current on faculty at his alma mater
. A notable non-graduate alumna is Mildred Bangs Wynkoop
, another noted Nazarene theologian. Notable former faculty members include Fred J. Shields
, H. Orton Wiley
, and Olive Winchester
.
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
located in Nampa
Nampa, Idaho
Nampa is the largest and the fastest growing city in Canyon County, Idaho, USA. The population of Nampa was 81,557 at the 2010 census. Nampa is located about west of Boise along Interstate 84, and six miles west of Meridian. Nampa is part of the Boise metropolitan area...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
.
History
| Fred J. Shields Fred J. Shields Frederick James Shields was a minister, educator, and president of the Eastern Nazarene College.-Education:Shields earned his bachelor's degree from the Nazarene University in 1915 and master's degrees from the University of Southern California and Harvard University... |
1917-1919 | |
| 1. | H. Orton Wiley H. Orton Wiley Henry Orton Wiley was a Christian theologian primarily associated with the followers of John Wesley who are part of the Holiness movement... |
1919-1926 |
| 2. | Joseph G. Morrison | 1926-1927 |
| 3. | Russell V. DeLong Russell V. DeLong Russell Victor DeLong was a Nazarene minister, evangelist, and college president.- Early life and education :DeLong was a New Hampshire native, the son of a minister. He received his undergraduate education at the Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts, then earned his master's and doctoral... |
1927-1932 |
| 4. | R. Eugene Gilmore | 1932-1935 |
| 5. | Russell V. DeLong Russell V. DeLong Russell Victor DeLong was a Nazarene minister, evangelist, and college president.- Early life and education :DeLong was a New Hampshire native, the son of a minister. He received his undergraduate education at the Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts, then earned his master's and doctoral... |
1935-1942 |
| 6. | L.T. Corlett | 1942-1952 |
| 7. | John E. Riley John E. Riley John Eckel Riley was a Nazarene minister and president of the Northwest Nazarene College from 1952 to 1973.- Early life and education :John Riley was born to George Duncan Riley and Mary Jane Oliver Riley on January 23, 1909 in Haverhill, Massachusetts... |
1952-1973 |
| 8. | Kenneth H. Pearsall Kenneth H. Pearsall Kenneth H. Pearsall was president of the Northwest Nazarene College from 1973 to 1983.-Early life and education:Ken Pearsall was born 1918 in New York, the son of Hazel and Nelson D. Pearsall. He received his undergraduate education at the Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts... |
1973-1983 |
| 9. | A. Gordon Wetmore A. Gordon Wetmore Arnold Gordon Wetmore is president emeritus of the Nazarene Theological Seminary and a former president of the Northwest Nazarene College.-Early life and education:... |
1983-1992 |
| 10. | Leon Doane | 1992-1993 |
| 11. | Richard A. Hagood | 1993-2008 |
| 12. | David Alexander | 2008-Present |
Eugene Emerson organized a combination grade school and Bible school in 1913 as Idaho Holiness School. It was renamed twice in 1916, first to Northwest Holiness College and then to Northwest Nazarene College, and then became a liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
in 1917 with degree-granting authority from the Idaho state Board of Education. While the first president elected for the college in 1916 was H. Orton Wiley
H. Orton Wiley
Henry Orton Wiley was a Christian theologian primarily associated with the followers of John Wesley who are part of the Holiness movement...
of Pasadena University, Fred J. Shields
Fred J. Shields
Frederick James Shields was a minister, educator, and president of the Eastern Nazarene College.-Education:Shields earned his bachelor's degree from the Nazarene University in 1915 and master's degrees from the University of Southern California and Harvard University...
would fill in as acting president before leaving for the Eastern Nazarene College
Eastern Nazarene College
The Eastern Nazarene College is a private, coeducational college of the liberal arts and sciences in Quincy, Massachusetts near Boston, in the New England region of the United States. Known for its strong religious affiliation, distinctive liberal arts core curriculum, and excellence in science...
in 1919, while Wiley finished his graduate work
Postgraduate education
Postgraduate education involves learning and studying for degrees or other qualifications for which a first or Bachelor's degree generally is required, and is normally considered to be part of higher education...
. Under Russell V. DeLong
Russell V. DeLong
Russell Victor DeLong was a Nazarene minister, evangelist, and college president.- Early life and education :DeLong was a New Hampshire native, the son of a minister. He received his undergraduate education at the Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts, then earned his master's and doctoral...
, Northwest Nazarene College (NNC) received educational accreditation
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
, as a two-year school in 1931 and then received accreditation as a four-year school in 1937, making it the first accredited college affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness movement in North America with its members colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination in the world. At the end of 2010, the Church of the...
. Under Presidents John E. Riley
John E. Riley
John Eckel Riley was a Nazarene minister and president of the Northwest Nazarene College from 1952 to 1973.- Early life and education :John Riley was born to George Duncan Riley and Mary Jane Oliver Riley on January 23, 1909 in Haverhill, Massachusetts...
and Kenneth H. Pearsall
Kenneth H. Pearsall
Kenneth H. Pearsall was president of the Northwest Nazarene College from 1973 to 1983.-Early life and education:Ken Pearsall was born 1918 in New York, the son of Hazel and Nelson D. Pearsall. He received his undergraduate education at the Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts...
in the 1960s and 1970s, master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
programs were added. It was renamed as Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in 1999.
Affiliations
As one of eight U.S. liberal arts collegeLiberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
s affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness movement in North America with its members colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination in the world. At the end of 2010, the Church of the...
, the 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 is also bound by a gentlemen's agreement
Gentlemen's agreement
A gentlemen's agreement is an informal agreement between two or more parties. It may be written, oral, or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or through mutually beneficial etiquette. The essence of a gentlemen's agreement is that it relies upon the honor of the parties...
not to actively recruit outside its respective educational region. NNU is the college for the Northwest Region of the United States, which comprises the Alaska, Washington Pacific, Oregon Pacific, Northwest, Intermountain, Rocky Mountain, and Colorado districts, which include Washington, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, and parts of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
and Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. NNU is also a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities is an organization designed to help primarily Protestant and evangelical Christian institutions of higher education cooperate and communicate with one another...
(CCCU). NNU has been accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education since 1952 and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as the regional authority on educational quality and institutional...
(NWCCU) since 1930, making it the first Nazarene school to achieve an accredited status.
Academics
Northwest Nazarene University has six schools: Academic Resources (ArtsARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
, Humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
, and Social Sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
), Business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
& Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, Education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
& Social Work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
, Health & Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, and Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
& Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Ministries. The university offers baccalaureate programs in 29 areas and graduate programs in seven disciplines. It is the home of the Wesley Center for Applied Theology. There were 1,836 students at the college in 2007, 1,247 of whom were undergraduates. The 2007 acceptance rate for students who applied to the college was 69.7 percent.
Student life
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities is an organization designed to help primarily Protestant and evangelical Christian institutions of higher education cooperate and communicate with one another...
, black student
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
enrollment at NNU is one percent or less of the entire student population.
Athletics
NNU participates in the NCAANational Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
's Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Great Northwest Athletic Conference
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which has historically operated in the Northwestern United States, but also currently includes four schools in areas not usually considered part of that region—two in Alaska , one in eastern Montana The Great Northwest...
at the NCAA Division II level in 8 sports: basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, soccer, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
. Along with the Eastern Nazarene College
Eastern Nazarene College
The Eastern Nazarene College is a private, coeducational college of the liberal arts and sciences in Quincy, Massachusetts near Boston, in the New England region of the United States. Known for its strong religious affiliation, distinctive liberal arts core curriculum, and excellence in science...
, it is one of only two Nazarene colleges to compete in the NCAA; the other six compete in the NAIA
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...
. NNU's athletic moniker is "Crusader
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
s" and colors are red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
and black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
.
Notable persons
Notable graduates include Kent R. HillKent R. Hill
Kent R. Hill is the Vice President for Character Development at the John Templeton Foundation.-Career:Hill has been Vice President of Character Development at the John Templeton Foundation since early 2009. Hill briefly served as Acting Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development...
, the current administrator for USAID's Bureau for Global Health and former president of the Eastern Nazarene College
Eastern Nazarene College
The Eastern Nazarene College is a private, coeducational college of the liberal arts and sciences in Quincy, Massachusetts near Boston, in the New England region of the United States. Known for its strong religious affiliation, distinctive liberal arts core curriculum, and excellence in science...
(1992-2001), and Michael Lodahl
Michael Lodahl
Michael Lodahl is a theologian in the Church of the Nazarene. He graduated from Northwest Nazarene College in 1977, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Nazarene Theological Seminary in 1981, and earned a Ph.D. from Emory University...
and Thomas Jay Oord
Thomas Jay Oord
Thomas Jay Oord is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies. He is the author or editor of about twenty books and professor at Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, Idaho...
, noted Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness movement in North America with its members colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination in the world. At the end of 2010, the Church of the...
theologians. Oord is current on faculty at his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
. A notable non-graduate alumna is Mildred Bangs Wynkoop
Mildred Bangs Wynkoop
Mildred Olive Bangs Wynkoop was an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, who served as an educator, missionary and theologian, and the author of several books...
, another noted Nazarene theologian. Notable former faculty members include Fred J. Shields
Fred J. Shields
Frederick James Shields was a minister, educator, and president of the Eastern Nazarene College.-Education:Shields earned his bachelor's degree from the Nazarene University in 1915 and master's degrees from the University of Southern California and Harvard University...
, H. Orton Wiley
H. Orton Wiley
Henry Orton Wiley was a Christian theologian primarily associated with the followers of John Wesley who are part of the Holiness movement...
, and Olive Winchester
Olive Winchester
Olive May Winchester was an American ordained minister and a pioneer biblical scholar and theologian in the Church of the Nazarene, who was the first woman ordained by any Christian denomination in Scotland, the first woman admitted into and graduated from the Bachelor of Divinity course at the...
.