History
| A.M. Hills | 1909–1910 |
| Ezra Franklin | 1910 - Feb. 1912 |
| J.E. Hoover | Feb. - Jun. 1912 |
| E.F. Walker | Jun. 1912-1913 |
| E.P. Ellyson | 1913–1914 |
| John H. Norris | Jun. - Nov. 1914 |
| E.P. Ellyson | Nov. 1914 - Mar. 1915 |
| A.L. Whitcomb | Mar. - Sep. 1915 |
| E.F. Walker | 1915–1916 |
| Benjamin Franklin Haynes | 1916–1917 |
| J.E. Hoover | 1917–1918 |
| M.E. Borders | Mar. - Sep. 1918 |
| C.L. Hawkins | 1918–1919 |
| J.W. Akers | Jan. - ? 1919 |
| J.E.L. Moore | 1919–1922 |
| Newport W. Sanford | 1922–1926 |
| T.W. Willingham | 1926–1938 |
| A.L. Parrott, Sr. | 1938–1948 |
| Selden Dee Kelley | 1948–1949 |
| Harold W. Reed | 1949–1975 |
| A. Leslie Parrott, Jr. | 1975–1991 |
| John Bowling | 1991–present |
Olivet Nazarene University traces its roots to 1907, when the Eastern Illinois Holiness Association started Miss Mary Nesbitt's grammar school in a house in Georgetown, Illinois. In 1908, the school's founders acquired 14 acres in the village of Olivet, and moved the grammar school to the proposed campus. A Wesleyan–holiness community sprang up around the school.
In 1909, the liberal arts college was chartered and named Illinois Holiness University, with A. M. Hills from Texas Holiness University as its first president. It was then given to the Church of the Nazarene in 1912, with E. F. Walker as president, and inherited one of the most populated Nazarene regions in the United States. It was renamed Olivet University in 1915, and again in 1921 to Olivet College.
The economic solvency of the school became a problem in the 1920s, and the trustees were forced to declare bankruptcy in 1926. The school's treasurer, T. W. Willingham, purchased the school back at an auction and was elected president. In 1939, the main building on campus was destroyed by fire. This prompted the school to look for a new location. Under President A.L. Parrott, the school moved in 1940, onto the previous 42-acre (170,000 m2) campus of St. Viator's College. With the move, the school's name was changed to Olivet Nazarene College (ONC). The school's name was changed again in 1986 to Olivet Nazarene University (ONU).
The past twenty years have been marked by a massive change in the culture and image of Olivet. Following the appointment of John C. Bowling as University president, the university began appealing to a more diverse set of students from different Christian denominations. The school began several different construction projects to mark the growth of the school as a whole. The university has also recently subdivided itself into one college and four schools: the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, School of Professional Studies, School of Theology and Christian Ministry, and the School of Graduate and Continuing Studies.
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