Olivet Nazarene University »
Contact information
Lukas Quanstrom
One University Ave
Bourbonnais, IL 60914
Phone: (800) 648-1463
Fax: (815) 935-4998
Located in: Bourbonnais, Illinois
Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a private, Christian, liberal arts university with a strong emphasis on both academic excellence and Christ-centered living. ONU offers one of the finest liberal arts educations in the Midwest, world-class facilities for learning and entertainment, and an atmosphere that promotes fun, relationship building, and spiritual growth.
Olivet’s high retention, graduation, and employment/placement rates demonstrate the University’s commitment to students’ success. The members of the faculty, staff, and administration are dedicated to teaching, encouraging, and mentoring each student as a whole person—academically, socially, and spiritually.
With 4,600 students (2,600 undergraduates), Olivet offers an ideal student population for a private institution, maintaining diversity without sacrificing personalized attention. Nearly half of the student body comes from the Nazarene denomination, and the rest come from some thirty other denominations. Most U.S. states are represented, as are more than twenty countries.
The campus offers a championship-caliber athletics department (seventeen intercollegiate men’s and women’s sports in all) and a large intramural sports program. Music and drama groups involve hundreds of students, and many clubs are organized for a wide variety of interests. Olivet students are also heavily involved in dozens of ministry groups and volunteer efforts, small-group Bible studies, and weekly student-led services.
The University recently completed a number of campus improvements, including the renovation of the lower level of Ludwig Center, the student union, to include a glass-enclosed gaming room featuring plasma TV screens, a convenience store, and new student leadership offices. In addition, the first floor of Nesbitt Hall, a residence hall, was converted into a fourth dining option for students, and the Department of Communication moved to a new, technologically advanced facility in Benner Library, which also houses some of the University’s art programs, representing a partnership between the departments of communication and art. Future plans call for a new chapel/performing arts center.
The University is home to the Chicago Bears’ summer training camp and Shine.fm, a 35,000-watt station ranked among the top stations in the nation and staffed by Olivet’s broadcasting students.
In addition to its traditional undergraduate programs, Olivet offers six degree-completion and continuing-studies programs, nearly twenty master’s degrees, and a Doctor of Education in ethical leadership. The School of Graduate and Continuing Studies strives to meet the needs of the ever-expanding number of adults returning to school. Adult degree-completion programs are designed to assist working adults so they can complete their degree requirements without an interruption to their employment. The school serves as a resource for adults striving to enhance their personal and professional lives in a constantly changing world.
