Ryan and Emily Wirick and brothers Philip and Cris Zimmermann have been nominated for Alumni of the Year Awards.

John “Rock” Simmons began picking cotton when he was 5 years old. Growing up on the Mississippi Delta in a family of sharecroppers, that was just the way of life.

For 12 years he picked cotton every summer. From sunrise to sunset, six days a week in the relentless heat and humidity of Mississippi,...

By Benjamin R. Cremer, Class of 2008 and 2010

Unite the pair so long disjoined, knowledge and vital piety.” This quote by Charles Wesley holds a prominent place in NNU’s Brandt Center auditorium. It was one of the first impressions made on me as a potential student at the “Explore NNU” event. In...

By Veronica Craker, Class of 2020

NNU students returning to campus this past fall found a slightly altered experience—at least visually. Although changes were necessary to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, NNU has been able to serve its students in person unlike so many other colleges and...

Doug Reader had expected he would be one of the oldest students in his cohort in the NNU Master’s in Business Administration program. What he didn’t expect, though, was how much he would gain from the experience.

The now-president of dietary giant Slimfast, decided to pursue his MBA in 2007 at...

By Anna (Salisbury) Lee, Class of 2004

NNU aims to build a community that stays connected wherever people go,” said Braedon Gerdes (’17), and he and his wife Annaliese (Fereday, ’17), have embodied that goal. The couple has traveled widely in the three years since leaving NNU, building their...

Each year at Homecoming, NNU honors alumni for their accomplishments and service since graduation. This year, four individuals will be recognized on Friday, November 8 at 10 a.m. during chapel in the Brandt Center’s Swayne Auditorium.

Alumnus of the Year
Patrick Gray graduated from NNU in 1997...

On October 11, Cynthia Ulrich Tobias will be leading a seminar based on her best-selling book, You Can’t Make Me (But I Can Be Persuaded). She will be sharing her own strategies for bringing out the best in strong-willed children, and give parents, grandparents and teachers clear insight on how to...

By Patrick Gray, Class of 1997 and 1999

Life is full of lessons big and small. Everywhere I turn, there are opportunities to learn something new about others, about myself, about God. These lessons can be found through time spent with my kids, quiet evenings with my wife or conversations with...

This fall, I began my tenth year working in higher education. When I graduated from NNU, I had no idea that I would find a passion in higher education, but here I am, and I love what I do! My first three years were at one of our sister Nazarene schools, Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville,...

By Courtney Ritchey, Class of 2022

After spending time across the country and researching in the neotropical region of the world, NNU biology alum David Hille (’03) returned to NNU earlier this year to become an assistant professor in the biology department.

While majoring in biology as a...

Dr. Daniels (’88) is the senior pastor of College Church of the Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho, and the pastoral scholar-in-residence at NNU. As the pastoral scholar-in-residence, Dr. Daniels enhances the student experience at both the undergraduate and graduate level. NNU's Wesley Center has special...

The 2018 Professional Achievement recipient, Lisa Nordstrom (’93) has built her regulatory law career over the past two decades. She serves as lead counsel at Idaho Power Company, represents the company before Idaho and Oregon utility regulators, and has argued appeals before the Idaho Supreme Court...

Kenton Lee (’07) is the founder of Because International, a non-profit organization formed in 2009 committed to leveraging innovation to develop projects to improve daily life for people living in extreme poverty. Their first project, which was created by Lee, is The Shoe That Grows, a shoe that...

Dorothy Ackerman graduated from the Department of Chemistry in 2013. Since then she completed the organic chemistry doctoral program at Vanderbilt University and her research was published in and featured on the cover of ACS Infectious Diseases journal.

Q. What do you hope you accomplished...

This April, NNU alumnus Dr. Jeren Rowell (’83) was elected as the 11th president of Nazarene Theological Seminary (NTS). This election followed a comprehensive search process that began in July. Dr. Rowell was approved by the trustees of NTS on October 12, 2017.

“In his forty years as a pastor...

by Maxwell Moser, Class of 2014

The sun is hot and stifling, beating down like a heavy rain. If only it were rain; I’ve never seen a place so dry. We’re tumbling through a sea of dust and jagged rock—what Mohammud refers to, jokingly, as a road—and slow to a halt as the Land Cruiser in front of...

Each year at homecoming, NNU honors alumni for their accomplishments and service since graduation. For 2017, four individuals will be recognized Friday, November 10 at 10 a.m. during chapel in the Brandt Center’s Swayne Auditorium.

2017 Alumnus of the Year
As a result of his distinguished career...