“BYU Announces Nauvoo Study Center,” Ensign, July 1999, 77–78
BYU Announces Nauvoo Study Center
In September 1999 Brigham Young University will begin offering credit courses at a recently acquired study center in Nauvoo, Illinois. Located across the street from the Nauvoo Temple site, the center was formerly a Catholic boarding school and will be called the Joseph Smith Academy.
“We are pleased to offer this study opportunity in one of the most important historical sites in the Church, particularly now with the announcement of a temple in Nauvoo,” said Debby Bennion, student coordinator of the program.
BYU has held study programs in Nauvoo during winter semester for the last five years, with students living in restored homes during the off-season. “The new study center will provide an excellent campus and enhance study opportunities,” Sister Bennion said. “Students have told us this is a powerful learning experience. To study the early days of the Church in Nauvoo brings the history to life.”
Included in the Nauvoo semester will be a study tour of Church and American history sites in Chicago, Illinois; Kirtland, Ohio; Palmyra, New York; Niagara Falls, New York; Winter Quarters, Nebraska; and several Missouri locations. Field trips will be made to sites in Carthage and Springfield, Illinois, and Hannibal, Missouri. Classes at the Nauvoo study center will include American history, American literature, English, the Doctrine and Covenants, and teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Social activities will include sledding, firesides, and service activities in the community.
Larry Dahl, professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU, has been named director of the center. “There’s a spirit of place about Nauvoo that’s very real and will tie students to their spiritual heritage,” he said. “We want to help them build their faith and courage to face what they have to face in their own lives.”
BYU’s Semester in Nauvoo program will be limited to 80 students for fall semester and expanded to 120 students for winter semester. Students enrolled in a degree program at any college or university may take between 12 and 16 credit hours of courses at the academy. Students attending BYU, Ricks College, or BYU—Hawaii Campus will have the credit transferred to their transcripts; students at other colleges or universities will need to work with their institution to have the credit transferred. The Semester in Nauvoo program is coordinated by BYU Travel Study; for more information, call 1-800-525-2049 or 1-801-378-3946.