IMPACT

  • Historical Impact
  • Impact Today and into the Future
  • Faculty Impact
  • Educational Impact

  • Historical Impact

    Elizabeth Harrison, our University's first president, had a radical idea for her time in 1886–to create a college to train women to teach kindergarten. The fact that today kindergarten is a universally accepted component of public school education in the U.S. is a testament to her tenacity–and a reflection of the significant impact our university has had on American education and society.

    From its inception, the University has been for and about helping communities grow and flourish. First, by leading the nation in early childhood education, forging the PTA, and then later serving as a leader in developing the Head Start movement. In the 1970s, National Louis took its classes out in the community, serving people where they live and work.

  • Impact Today and into the Future

    For 125 years, National Louis has educated Chicago's hardworking communities from all neighborhoods and ethnic backgrounds. Today, we mirror the city both in diversity and richness of historical experience.
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    We deliver among the most business degrees to African Americans in Illinois
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    We're among the most diverse campuses in the Midwest
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    77% of our students are female
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    Our College of Education alumni have earned 35 Golden Apple Awards–one of the most prestigious teacher honors in the State of Illinois–more than any other school of education.
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    Our M.A. in Psychology is the largest, non-clinical master's degree program in the state of Illinois–and about 40 percent of the students in the program are African-American or Latino/Hispanic
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    We're ranked #1 for the most graduate degrees in Education in the State
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    The Wyzsza Szkola Biznesu-National-Louis University (WSB-NLU) is considered the finest business school in modern Poland

  • Faculty Impact

    Our faculty members are teachers who are constantly learning, helping to make a difference in our students' lives. We help struggling learners find the community they need to thrive. We help both our most vulnerable students and the best and brightest shine at once. National Louis has always stood for community, empowerment and progress and our faculty provides the gateway for many students to improve their lives.
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    In an effort to bridge the divide between theory and practice, several department chairs have begun implementing the practiced-based model in their teacher education. By using more authentic and field-based methods, National Louis faculty is responding to the nation's call to improve teacher preparation. In fact, this initiative was designed to be implemented as a professional development model applied in the College of Management and Business and College of Arts and Science as well - with the ultimate objective of connecting practice with theory - and strengthening curriculum and instruction.
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    National Louis faculty will be able to spend up to a year as a faculty resident in a high-need school, through a $750,000, three year grant from the US Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). This residency program helps deepen faculty knowledge in practice and integrate more authentic learning into their curriculum and instruction of new teachers. This cutting-edge model breaks the mold that college faculty are often "out of touch" with the real world.
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    The National College of Education's (NCE) literacy reach encompasses faculty working in research and professional development with schools in Chicago across the state. As a result of this literacy reach, we have been awarded a US Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) grant with Ohio State University and fifteen other universities across the nation, to implement and sustain Reading Recovery.

  • Educational Impact

    The NCE is a leader in teacher preparation and has emerged as a local trailblazer in providing field-based teacher education in Chicago Public Schools. In addition, NCE faculty has had tremendous success securing financial support through both public and private grants to fund external projects. These projects reflect the deep passion of the faculty and their commitment to policy and the field of education.
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    Through our partnership with the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), NLU helps prepares new teachers for the field using the residency model, which has been identified by the U.S. Dept. of Education as one of the most effective methods in preparing teachers.
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    NLU provides teacher preparation for Chicago-area Teach for America (TFA) participants and principal training for Chicago-area New Leaders for New Schools and Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP).
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    We provide new teacher support for first and second year teachers in three Chicago Public Schools turnaround high schools, heeding the call of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who has asked the nation to "turnaround" 10% of the nation's worst performing schools by 2014.
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    NCE is part of the Chicago Teacher Pipeline Project, in partnership with three colleges of education (University of Illinois, Loyola University Chicago, and Northeastern Illinois University) to collectively reform their baccalaureate teacher prep programs. The partnership is currently receiving funding from the US Dept of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant and The Chicago Community Trust. In fact, National Louis is currently t he only institution of higher education nationally to serve on two Teacher Quality Partnership grants - one as a partner, and the other as the lead.
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    To date in 2011, the Center for Early Childhood Leadership has secured over $2M in public and private funding, and over nearly $13M since 2004.
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    Harrison Fellowships are awarded to full-time students interested in pursuing an undergraduate degree in business administration or elementary education on National Louis's Chicago campus. The cross-college collaboration provides major scholarships to students who exhibit strong promise in their communities, but might not be able to otherwise attend college. Community leaders agree to sponsor the student they recommend and provide encouragement and leadership opportunities as they pursue their degree, with the expectation that upon graduation, the student will use their education to serve and advance their communities -- making the program a true community investment. The program, which began in September 2010, currently includes nearly 70 students–with plans to grow.
  • Lydia Murphy Stephans
    Lydia Murphy-Stephans
    B.A. Elementary Education, 1982 (NCE)
    • Murphy-Stephans was a member of the United States National Speedskating Team from 1976-1985, winning three national championships and other international competitions. She competed in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics as a speedskater, and finished 13th in the 1000 meter race. She joined ABC Sports in 1986, working on-air, in production and programming, before being named the vice president of programming and acquisitions in 1993. She was the first female vice president at ABC Sports. In 1999, Murphy-Stephans created the sports department at Oxygen Media, and became executive vice president of production. In 2006, she was named the executive vice president of programming and production at Madison Square Garden Media. In 2009, she left the position to focus full-time on her own strategic media company, Peace Tree Inc.
  • Charlie Toth
    Charlie Toth, M.Ed.
    Interdisciplinary Studies C & I, 1990 (NCE)
    • Toth is the associate director for education and the principal deputy director of the Department of Defense Education Activity. Toth provides educational leadership for all the Department of Defense schools around the world, serving the children of U.S. service members. Toth has 28 years of experience in Department of Defense schools, as a superintendent in South Korea, an assistant superintendent in Germany, and as a high school educator in Germany.
  • Terry Glover
    Margena Christian
    M.Ed. C & I, 1993 (NCE)
    • Christian is Senior Writer for Ebony magazine. Ebony has a circulation of more than 1.3 million. Christian is the only editor in the company's history to have written for Ebony, Jet, Ebony Man and Ebony South Africa. Since 1997, she has also worked as an adjunct English professor at Chicago's Kennedy-King College. Her work as an educator further includes six years as a junior high language arts teacher in St. Louis. Christian has a bachelor's degree in mass communications from St. Louis University.
  • Richard Davidson
    Richard Davidson
    B.S. Management, 2002 (CMB)
    • Davidson was appointed President and CEO of Century 21 Real Estate in February 2010. He leads the world's largest residential real estate sales organization, with over 121,000 sales associates in 72 countries worldwide. Davidson previously worked as a senior executive at Century 21, and as the Chief Operating Officer at Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. He serves on the international board of directors for Easter Seals, and is active in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.
  • Denis Antoine
    Denis Antoine
    M.S. Management, 1992 (CMB)
    • Antoine served as Grenada's Ambassador to the United States of America, Permanent Representative to the Organization of America, and as the non-resident Ambassador for Grenada to Mexico and Panama from 1995-2009. He was also a senior member of Grenada's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly from 2000-2008. Today, Antoine is the chairman of the board of directors for the Young Americas Business Trust, an organization working to provide young entrepreneurs in the Americas with the tools, skills and networks to succeed and grow as business leaders.
  • Jose Rico
    Jose Rico
    C.A.S. Administration, 2004 (NCE)
    • Rico is the deputy director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic-Americans. He works to carry out President Barack Obama's efforts to improve the academic achievement of Hispanic students. Rico served as the program director for Public Allies, a Chicago community service organization, from 1995-1997. In 1997, he joined the Illinois Coalition for Immigration Rights. Two years later, he was hired by the University of Illinois-Chicago's Small Schools Workshop to develop small, innovative learning communities in public schools. Rico was the first principal of Chicago's Multicultural Arts High School, opened in 2005.