Southern Nazarene University

About Southern Nazarene University

GENERAL INFORMATION

Type of Institution
Four-year university
Support
Private (Church of the Nazarene)
Enrollment
over 2,200
Student-Faculty Ratio
18:1

Academic Emphasis
Liberal Arts

Location
6729 NW 39th Expressway
Bethany, OK 73008 (just west of OKC)
CLICK HERE for a map to the main SNU campus!

President
Dr. Loren P. Gresham

Founded in 1899, Southern Nazarene University is the third-oldest private four-year liberal arts institution in the state of Oklahoma. It is located on more than 200-acres, including the academic campus, athletic facilities and support facilities in Bethany, Oklahoma. Situated on the western edge of Oklahoma City, Bethany joins the rolling Oklahoma prairies, yet is only minutes away from Oklahoma’s largest city, Oklahoma City, and Will Rogers World Airport.

Oklahoma City is at the crossroads of three interstate highways (I-40, I-44, and I-35) and is served by several national and regional airlines. SNU also maintains a campus center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Southern Nazarene University, an institution that is more than 100 years old, grew out of several small colleges committed to training people for service to God and to their fellow man. Today, more than 26,200 SNU alumni are scattered throughout the United States and the world.

MISSION
Southern Nazarene University educates students for responsible Christian living within the context of the liberal arts, selected professional and graduate studies, a Wesleyan-holiness theological perspective, and a cross-cultural community life. Through its primary relationship to the Church of the Nazarene in the South Central Region of the USA, the University is the church at work in higher education integrating faith, learning, and life. The SNU motto is Character, Culture, Christ.

Character

• Accept personal responsibility
• Develop habits that lead to emotional and physical well-being
• Commit to high moral standards with integrity
• Build family life on Biblical principles
• Serve others and the Church
• Provide leadership to the Church and society
• Exercise stewardship of God’s creation

Culture

• Value the best of civilization’s contribution to the arts and sciences
• Think analytically and communicate effectively
• Value and appreciate all people and their cultures
• Practice appropriate refinement and maturity in all social settings
• Commit to responsible citizenship
• Understand and appreciate the heritage of the United States
• Become shapers, not merely reflectors, of culture

Christ

• Make a personal commitment to Christ and to service in the Church
• Commit to study of the Bible as the foundation for contemporary life
• Accept the role of Christians as servant-leaders
• Nourish the development of the Christian community
• Pursue Christ-likeness through a deepening commitment to holiness of heart and life

ACADEMICS
SNU offers a number of outstanding and diverse degree programs, many of which have received national recognition. From its award-winning programs in business to its elite studies in pre-medicine, the University provides students undergraduate degree options in more than 70 different fields of interest. It also offers three convenient graduate degrees within seven program areas as well as five adult studies programs and four advantageous associate degree programs. All programs are designed to achieve two major educational goals: 1) help students become critical and creative thinkers who can clearly discern and communicate a Christian perspective in every aspect of life, and 2) prepare students for successful professional careers.

• Graduates of the School of Education have consistently ranked at or near the top of the state in the percentages of individuals passing the Teacher Certification exams for more than five years.
• SNU’s pre-medicine program boasts an acceptance rate approaching 90 percent.
• SNU is unique in its offering of the cadaver study program to premedical students (most schools limit access to nursing and funeral service students only). SNU has the only undergraduate cadaver class taught by a Ph.D. trained specifically in Human Anatomy at the medical school.
• The Physics Department is distinguished by its extracurricular professional development through undergraduate research and paper presentations at professional meetings.
• The SNU School of Music is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of School of Music and enjoys participation by both music majors and non-majors in various studios and ensembles. In addition, 11 different ensembles perform locally, regionally and travel internationally on musical mission tours.
• SNU’s Intercollegiate Management Gaming Team has achieved seven national championships in 12 years – a total of eight national titles for the prestigious School of Business.
• Since its beginning in 1985, enrollment in the SNU Professional Studies program has increased from 20 to nearly 1,000 students a week. Undergraduate programs include Organizational Leadership (a broad-based, management-oriented program for business professionals), Family Studies and Gerontology (a psychology/sociology-based, service-oriented program), the RN/BS program (for registered nurses who wish to obtain their bachelor’s degree), Network Management (a degree program that also includes Microsoft certification [MCSE] and Cisco certification [CCNA]), and Bridge (a program enabling freshman and sophomore students to acquire general education courses).

FIELDS OF INTEREST

FACULTY
Approximately 120 accomplished professionals serve as SNU teaching faculty members, including professors, associate professors, assistant professors, instructors, and adjunct instructors. Doctoral degrees are held by 70 percent of the fulltime teaching faculty.

COST
(as of 2004-05 school year)

FINANCIAL SERVICES
While the cost of private higher education is significant, Southern Nazarene University is competitive in total cost with similar four-year accredited institutions. In fact, of 2003-2004 reporting member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, SNU ranks among the top 20 percent of most affordable schools. In addition, cost comparisons between SNU and large state schools, show that cost of tuition at SNU is higher, but cost of living in terms of room and board are surprisingly and significantly less, and in some cases, offset the difference.

To help reduce costs, the University, through the Financial Assistance Office, provides assistance to students who may qualify for grants, scholarships, or loans. More than 80 percent of SNU students receive some form of financial assistance. During the 2003-04 school year, scholarships totaled more than $4.5 million. Academic scholarships are awarded by SNU to incoming freshman based on their ACT or SAT scores or the National Merit Scholar Program. Other general scholarships are available as well as by departments.

Other types of financial assistance include federal and state grants, student and parent loans and alternative loans. Various campus and local community employment opportunities are available by applying for the Federal Work-Study program. Other sources of assistance include civic groups, private foundations and corporations.

HOUSING
SNU campus residences (Hatley and Garey for women; Snowbarger and Bracken for men; Asbury Apartments, Chapman apartments, and Imel Townhouse for upper-class men and women) are staffed by a resident director and student resident advisors who work together to provide leadership, administration, community development activities and paraprofessional counseling to residential students.

Chapman Apartments, Asbury Apartments and Imel Townhouse provide housing for eligible single students (academic and citizenship eligibility). Chapman Apartments also house married students who desire to live on campus.

INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS
As a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and a member of the Sooner Athletic Conference, SNU boasts one of the elite athletics programs in the nation. The Crimson Storm has accounted for numerous national championships including the women’s golf program in 1999 and 2002; the NAIA-record seventh title for women’s basketball in March 2004; plus the Distance Medley Relay Team Individual National Championship in Indoor Track & Field in 2004. The Sawyer Center, a multi-million-dollar athletic convocation center, was completed in 1998.

Intercollegiate athletic programs available at SNU include:

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
A unique dimension of community life is the emphasis on the holistic integration of faith, learning and living. Spiritual formation, therefore, pervades the work of the entire university community. Deep devotion to the principles of the Christian faith, high standards of excellence in learning, and great commitment to integrity in living are dynamically brought together on the SNU campus. These commitments translate into a supportive, caring environment where close friendships develop and where students and faculty can grow together within a transforming community.

Chapel services, which meet each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, form the cornerstone of spiritual development efforts at SNU. Students are exposed to a variety of speakers, encouraged to expand their worldview, driven to be their best and challenged by the implications of the Christian faith.

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
Students, faculty and administrators at SNU feel a responsibility to reach out and serve those outside the Christian community. To provide students with a variety of avenues of service, SNU sponsors many volunteer service programs. Student organizations, academic clubs, honor societies, and various ministry groups engage in service projects in the local community as well as around the world. The importance of service is emphasized by incoming students’ participation in a major service project as a part of their orientation week at SNU. Graduates are also challenged to serve one year in voluntary Christian service before beginning their professional careers. Students quickly come to know their university as a place where service to others is a priority.

CONTACT INFORMATION
For additional information on Southern Nazarene University, contact us at:

THE VALUE OF SNU
SNU boasts one of the lowest-priced tuition plans of private universities across the nation. This is based in large measure on significant support through generous investments made by alumni and friends, sponsoring churches and members of the community.

OUTSIDE SUPPORT
SNU encourages investment through annual gifts, major gifts, corporate matching gifts, scholarship endowment and planned gifts. These contributions, along with a growing endowment in excess of $14 million, help make up the difference between what students pay in tuition and what it really costs to educate them.

Currently, more than 80 percent of students receive some form of additional financial assistance. The average package is approximately $5,000 per year.

For information on ways to invest in the SNU educational mission, contact the Office of University Advancement, 405.491.6311.