Nauvoo University was a private academic institution organized by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon or LDS Church) in Nauvoo, Illinois.[1] It was intended to succeed an institution founded by Mormons in the 1840s and a more recent program operated by Brigham Young University, but it was not owned nor controlled by the church.
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After the Mormons had been expelled from Missouri, they crossed into Illinois and settled in Nauvoo in 1839. They were granted a city charter from the Illinois state legislature in December 1840, which included authorization to found a university. The school was founded in 1841 as the University of the City of Nauvoo, or the University of Nauvoo.[1][2]
Several notable leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints acted as officials and staff. The chancellor was John C. Bennett, the registrar was William Law, and among the regents were Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, William Marks, Samuel H. Smith, Daniel H. Wells, Newel K. Whitney, Charles C. Rich, Don Carlos Smith, John P. Greene, Elias Higbee, James Adams, Robert B. Thompson, and George Miller.[3] On February 15, James Kelley (A. M., Trinity College, Dublin)[4] was elected as university president.[5]
This institution "probably was among the first municipal universities in the United States".[6] A building committee was organized, though there was no campus. Many American colleges at that time were "one-building affairs" and "in fact not colleges at all, but glorified high schools or academies that presumed to offer degrees." Shortly after its organization, the Nauvoo city council delegated oversight of common schools to the university regents and chancellor.[4]
However, the University of Nauvoo was ambitious in its plan to offer languages (German, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew), mathematics, chemistry, geology, literature, and history.[6] While "the data are too scant" on the quality of the academic instruction,[6] the faculty included Sidney Rigdon, Orson Spencer, and most notably, Orson Pratt,[4] and were considered "considerable scholarship … a rather remarkable group to be found in a frontier city".[6] David P. Gardner believes "it was probably superior to the average secondary work of the time."[6]
The University of Nauvoo ended after the 1844 murder of Joseph Smith, when the interest of many church leaders moved toward westward migration.[6]
Nauvoo University was intended to be a reorganization of its 1840s predecessor. It took its mission statement from Joseph Smith's comment on the old university:
The University of the City of Nauvoo will enable us to teach our children wisdom -- to instruct them in all knowledge, and learning, in the Arts, Sciences and Learned Professions. We hope to make this institution one of the great lights of the world, and by and through it, to diffuse that kind of knowledge which will be of practical utility, and for the public good, and also for private and individual happiness.[7]
Like LDS Church-owned colleges, such as Brigham Young University (BYU), and other LDS-themed colleges such as Southern Virginia University, Nauvoo University promoted the moral standards of the LDS Church.[7]
The school drew interest from leaders and educators from the LDS community and the areas of Nauvoo, western Illinois, and southeastern Iowa. Its governing body was a 24-member Board of Trustees:[8]
Name | Significance | Residence |
---|---|---|
Dell Allen | Technology professor at BYU and Utah State University and inventor | Logan, Utah |
Charles Bair | Executive Director Western Illinois Economic Development Authority | Carthage, Illinois |
Dr. Susan Easton Black | Noted lecturer and Professor of Church History, BYU | Provo, Utah |
William Fillmore | Past associate general counsel for BYU and Attorney, FillmoreSpencer LLC | Utah |
J. Phil Harrop | Executive Director, John Stoddard Cancer Center. BS from BYU; MBA, MHA from The Ohio State University | Des Moines, Iowa |
Dr. Evan L. Ivie | Manager at Bell Labs, BYU professor, and past Director of BYU-Nauvoo | Nauvoo, Illinois |
Michael A. Kennedy | President of the Joseph and Emma Smith Association | Alpine, Utah |
David F. King | CPA, founding partner of King, King, Alleman & Jensen | Nauvoo, Illinois |
Dr. Clive D. Moon | Research chemist, chemistry professor and businessman, Nauvoo, University | |
J. Samuel Park | Past president of the Nauvoo-Illinois Mission and Utah businessman | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Hugh Pierce | Past mayor of Nauvoo, LDS Church leader and Nauvoo businessman | Nauvoo, Illinois |
Dr. Anthony Piña | Dean at Sullivan University. BA and M.Ed. from BYU, Ed.D. from La Sierra University | Louisville, Kentucky |
Vee Wilson | President of the Desert Valley Academy | Moapa, Nevada |
By January 2009 Harrop, having expressed concerns regarding the lack of operational and financial preparedness for opening the university in fall 2009, was no longer a member of the board of trustees.[9] By the summer of 2010 Black and Bell were no longer members of the board.[10]
The university opened in fall 2009, anticipating around 50 students and 20 employees as faculty, administration, and staff.[11] It planned to organize as a 501(c)(3) non-profit institution.[1] The school anticipated future donations to help it survive.[12]
Chris Benedict, one of the first students at the University, won the U.S. Cyber Challenge in Washington D.C. in December 2009.[13]
Among the members of Nauvoo University's faculty as of summer 2010 was Clayne Robison, former director of BYU's Opera Program. His wife, Vivien Robison, who had been a part-time faculty member at BYU and sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was also on the faculty. Evan L. Ivie, who has a Ph.D. from MIT and was a professor of Computer Science at BYU for several years, was another early faculty member. Ivie had been director of the BYU Nauvoo program from 2002 until it was discontinued in 2006. Nauvoo University expected more retired professors would to come to teach in the city and local church members would assist in its beginnings.[12]
Realizing difficulties in its first year, the organization changed its name to "Nauvoo Study Program," then in September 2010 it was discontinued indefinitely.[12][14] In a letter posted to the school's website, Evan Ivie cited insufficient donations, faculty, staff, and students as contributing to this decision.[12]