Board of Education. While the college's first president, elected in 1916, was H. Orton Wiley of Pasadena University, Fred J. Shields filled in as acting president before leaving for the Eastern Nazarene College in 1919, while Wiley finished his graduate work.
Under Russell V. DeLong, Northwest Nazarene College (NNC) received educational accreditation as a two-year school in 1931 and as a four-year school in 1937, making it the first accredited college affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. Master's degree programs were added in the 1960s and 1970s. It was renamed Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in 1999.
Northwest Nazarene University was granted an exception to Title IX in 2014 which allows it to legally discriminate against LGBT students for religious reasons.
== Affiliations ==
As one of eight U.S. liberal arts colleges affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene, the college receives financial backing from the Nazarene churches in its region. Each college is also bound by a gentlemen's agreement …
