SCENES FROM THE UNIVERSITY
Still Carrying Miss Harrison’s Torch By Nicholas A. Love
Walk onto National Louis University’s Chicago campus today , and you’ll encounter two striking scenes. On the second floor you’ll find a carefully preserved desk and magnificently upholstered chairs from the 1880s — heirlooms of the National Kindergarten and Elementary College (NKEC), which later became NLU. On the sixth floor you’ll find students with razor-thin laptops, surrounded by HDTVs and wall-to-wall whiteboards. In the balance between antique upholstery and vivid LCD screens is where the innovative vision of NLU founder Elizabeth Harrison continues today. President Edna Dean Baker, Harrison’s immediate torchbearer, was the first to move the vision forward when she helped transform the National Kindergarten and Elementary College (NKEC) into the National College of Education (NCE). Back in the 1920s, NKEC was stuck in a souring neighborhood. The college needed a fresh start and new life. Thanks to the generosity of a friend of the college named William H. Swett — which came as a bequest of around $2 million in today’s dollars — and the support of an army of invested students and alumni, NKEC was able to raise enough funds to acquire new property and make a full transition to Evanston, Illinois. With the move, Harrison’s legacy was safely planted and reemerged as the National College of Education in 1930. President Baker explained the much-needed transformation to the alumni community: “’National’ because we are national with students from every state in our country and because everybody uses ‘National’ now in speaking of us. The ‘College
girls’ say ‘We go to National.’ The superintendents say ‘We have teachers from National.’”
In the spirit of maintaining a “National” impact, NLU continues to focus on quality education with broad strokes. NLU’s teachers are prepared for excellence with NCE’s Adaptive Cycles of Teaching (ACT) model that centers on video records of teaching experiences. Students receive precise feedback from teachers, faculty and peers that helps pinpoint areas of improvement that hone their skills. The desire for a “National” impact led to NLU’s Harrison Professional Pathways program. Those students on the sixth floor are part of a unique college experience that includes flexible curriculum and academic coaches who help them attain their bachelor’s degrees. When looking at NLU, NCE or even NKEC — you’ll find the same drive for excellence that’s traced back to Elizabeth Harrison and her class for mothers of kindergarten students. It’s those important markers from past successes and achievement that provide the encouragement and the drive to pursue innovations and excellence for all the current and future students who walk (or click) onto NLU campuses.
Students enjoyed the front lawn at the old Evanston campus.
[Read more about Elizabeth Harrison on the back cover]
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National Louis University VIEW | Fall 2016
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