The swimming pool at Lisa Virgilio’s vacation hotel beckoned invitingly. But back in the Chicago area, her friend and study partner Lynda Gilgenbach was Skyping Virgilio in the hotel, ready to talk about a group project for a graduate education class. And thus, she kept Virgilio on track with schoolwork even during vacation.

“We motivated each other to complete our master’s degrees so we could graduate together, as we are from the same district (Community Unit School District 200 in Wheaton, Illinois),” Virgilio said. Continue reading »

From the moment graduates of National Louis University’s College of Professional Studies and Advancement streamed into the Arie Crown Theater at Chicago’s McCormick Place on June 24, 2017, they created an air of exuberance for the 131st Commencement. Students smiled broadly as they took their seats, and the cheering only got louder as the ceremony went on.

Guest speaker Richard “Rick” Davidson, an NLU alum, president of the Everest Group, LLC and former  president and CEO of Century 21 Real Estate, focused the graduates’ attention on decisions they make each day that show their true characters. Continue reading »

Wearing black gowns and decorated mortar boards, graduates of National Louis University’s National College of Education processed into the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago June 24 for the 131st Commencement.

Guest speaker Dominic Belmonte, CEO of the Golden Apple Foundation, got the ceremony off to a thoughtful and moving start. Quoting artists from Shakespeare to Rickie Lee Jones, he urged teachers to think of themselves as first responders to their students, and to know that for a child, three years of receiving ineffective teaching creates a deficit from which many never recover. Continue reading »

As a child, Arnita Mock-Harris resented her mother for being a single parent. She wanted a dad and a family life like the ones she read about in storybooks, and blamed her mother for failing to make that happen.

“I was a child– what did I know?” asked Mock-Harris, 56, now a mother of two and grandmother of four, who is graduating from National Louis University with a B.S. in Health Care Leadership.

“I did not understand the challenges my mom and dad faced, and why should I? In the era I grew up in, children knew nothing of their father’s and mother’s personal business. Continue reading »

It’s not often that a mother and daughter duo graduate from college on the same day, and rarer still that they graduate with the same degree.

Demetria Randle, 47, and her elder daughter Raven Hoffman, 24,  will be doing exactly that, however, at National Louis University’s Commencement ceremonies on Saturday, June 24 at Chicago’s Arie Crown Theater. Each will receive a B.A. in Psychology degree. Continue reading »

When NLU’s College of Professional Studies and Advancement graduates filed into the Arie Crown Theater June 12, they celebrated a joyous and distinguished commencement ceremony punctuated by inspiring moments.

The 510 graduates who participated in the ceremony received bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in fields such as business, psychology, human services, public policy, health administration, communications, counseling, criminal justice, social science and others. A total of 1,671 students in both of NLU’s colleges graduated this year. Continue reading »

Looking dignified in black gowns and mortar boards, graduates of NLU’s National College of Education streamed into Chicago’s Arie Crown Theater on June 12 under a marquee which read, “National Louis University 130th Annual Commencement Ceremony.” Most had big smiles on their faces, and several had carefully decorated the tops of their mortar boards with elaborate designs.

Hundreds of students, who had earned doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in education, marched in the processional. Continue reading »

By Carolyn Davis, NLU Wisconsin Campus

The gorgeous Grand Geneva Resort Ballroom set the stage for an elegant National Louis University (NLU) Wisconsin Commencement on Friday, June 3 at 7:30 pm in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Sixty-three graduates were conferred with degrees representing each level of scholarship offered by the university—doctorate, educational specialist, master’s and bachelor’s, from both the National College of Education and the College of Professional Studies and Advancement.

More than 650 family members and friends filled the ballroom to capacity, generating a palpable energy of excitement, joy, pride and satisfaction. Continue reading »