The University of Illinois System is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Illinois consisting of three universities: Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign. Across its three universities, the University of Illinois System enrolls more than 94,000 students.[4] It had an operating budget of $7.18billion in 2021.[5]
The University of Illinois System of universities comprises three universities in the U.S. state of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield. The university in Urbana-Champaign is known as "Illinois", "U of I", or "UIUC", whereas the Chicago campus is known as "UIC" and the Springfield campus as "UIS".
The system is governed by a board of trustees consisting of thirteen members: the governor of Illinois serves as an ex officio member, nine trustees are appointed by the governor of Illinois, and a student trustee elected by referendum represents each of the system's three universities. One of the three student trustees is designated by the governor to have a vote.
The U of I System is led by the president, an executive vice president, a CFO/vice president of finance, a vice president for economic development and innovation, and the chancellors that lead each of the three universities. System leadership works to develop strategies and solutions to address educational and administrative challenges across the system. Centralized system offices staff support the work of the three universities by providing critical services that are vital to its missions.[6]
The largest university in the Chicago area, UIC serves approximately 34,000 students within 16 colleges & schools including Applied Health Sciences, Architecture, Design, and the Arts, Business Administration, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Graduate, Honors, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Social Work, Urban Planning & Public Affairs, Law, and the College of Medicine (largest branch of three branches of the medical school) which is one of the nation's largest medical schools. With annual research expenditures exceeding $394million, UIC is one of five doctoral research universities in the State of Illinois. Playing a critical role in Illinois healthcare, UIC operates the state's major public medical center and serves as the principal educator of Illinois' physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and other healthcare professionals. The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System (a.k.a. "UI Health"), which includes the hospital, clinics, and health science colleges, is a part of UIC.
The modern UIC was formed in 1982 by the consolidation of two campuses: the Medical Center campus, which dates back to the 19th century; and the comprehensive Chicago Circle campus, which in 1965 replaced the two-year undergraduate Navy Pier campus designated to educate returning veterans.
The newest university in the system is University of Illinois Springfield. It is located in Springfield, the state capital of Illinois. When it opened in 1969, it was named Sangamon State University, and was exclusively an upper-level university, serving only upperclassmen and graduate students. In 1995, Sangamon State joined the University of Illinois system and was renamed as the University of Illinois Springfield. The University of Illinois System then transitioned the school from an upper division university into a full four-year institution with an undergraduate program.
UIS is the smallest university in the University of Illinois System, with an enrollment of approximately 4,000 students.[7] UIS offers more than 50 degree-granting programs. The academic curriculum of the university emphasizes a liberal arts core, an array of professional programs, opportunities in experiential education, and an engagement in public affairs issues in its academic and community service pursuits. UIS has the lowest student/teacher ratio of all three universities in the U of I System.
Altgeld Hall on the Urbana campusIllini Union on the Urbana campus
The Urbana-Champaign campus was founded in 1867 as the Illinois Industrial University. It was one of the 37 public land-grant institutions created shortly after Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862.[8] The university changed its name to University of Illinois in 1885, and then again to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1982. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the largest and most prestigious of the three universities, enrolling more than 56,000 students. UIUC, or more commonly "ILLINOIS", is home to 17 colleges and instructional units including the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences; College of Applied Health Sciences; the Gies College of Business; College of Education; the Grainger College of Engineering; College of Fine and Applied Arts; Division of General Studies; Graduate College; School of Labor and Industrial Relations; College of Law; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; School of Information Sciences; College of Media; Carle Illinois College of Medicine; School of Social Work; and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
It is also home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, NCSA, where Marc Andreessen (of Netscape fame) and others helped develop the Mosaic web browser, the first HTML browser capable of rendering images. In addition, in 1987, NCSA created NCSA Telnet, a program which permitted users access to the supercomputer's resources remotely. The petascale Blue Waters was among the world's fastest supercomputers when it went into service in 2012.
UIUC and its alumni are particularly well known for their contributions to engineering, including inventions such as the LED, plasma screen, and the integrated circuit. The library is notable both for being the largest public academic library[9] in the country, with over forty departmental libraries, and for possessing over twelve million volumes.[10] Each year, the library circulates about 1.2 million items and answers about 293,000 reference questions. The university is highly ranked in psychology, engineering, law, library and information science, chemistry, computer science, labor and industrial relations, educational psychology, finance, accounting, business administration, communication, and music.[11] Physics professor John Bardeen won the Nobel Physics Prizetwice in his lifetime, an honor no other researcher has received. The school's marching band, named the Marching Illini, also enjoys a superb reputation. Until 2007, the symbol of the university's athletic teams was a Native American figure, Chief Illiniwek, which sparked significant controversy. Chief Illiniwek completed his last performance on February 21, 2007, and has since been retired from performing and as the official symbol of the school.
Currently the university boasts the world's most technologically advanced[citation needed] Computer Science building, Siebel Center, as well as many other world-class research laboratories such as the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building and the Loomis Laboratory of Physics.
In 2017 the University of Illinois System launched the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), a center for tech workforce development and applied R&D in Chicago. Its primary goals are to prepare individuals for careers in Illinois-based tech companies and to bring academic expertise and tech company know-how together within a dedicated building. The DPI is currently located at 200 S. Wacker Dr., with plans for construction within The 78, in Chicago's South Loop. It is part of the Illinois Innovation Network led by the University of Illinois System.
The University of Illinois Foundation is the official fundraising and gift agency of the University of Illinois System. In 2017, the Foundation announced its largest and most ambitious comprehensive fundraising initiative, aiming to raise $3.1billion over five years to support students, faculty, academic, and research programs and facilities.[12] Previously, the U of I Foundation raised $2.43billion for students, faculty, research and the campus environment through the "Brilliant Futures" fundraising campaign completed on December 31, 2011.
Alumni associations
Each of the three universities has an alumni organization: the University of Illinois Alumni Association (Urbana-Champaign), the UIC Alumni Association, and University of Illinois Springfield Alumni Relations. Collectively, the University of Illinois System has one of the world's largest alumni networks with more than 810,000 members internationally.[citation needed]
Further reading
Solberg, Winton U. Reforming Medical Education: The University of Illinois College of Medicine, 1880–1920 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009) 309 pp.ISBN978-0-252-03359-9
Related Research Articles
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois system, UIC is also the largest university in the Chicago metropolitan area, having more than 33,000 students enrolled in 16 colleges. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity."
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. It is the flagship institution of the University of Illinois system and was established in 1867. With over 53,000 students, the University of Illinois is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the United States.
The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is a public university in Springfield, Illinois. The university was established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1969 as Sangamon State University with a focus on post-graduate education. It became the third member of the University of Illinois system on July 1, 1995. The university now also includes a liberal arts college and is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. UIS is also a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education. The campus' main repository, Brookens Library, holds a collection of nearly 800,000 books and serials in addition to accessible resources at the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campuses.
Chief Illiniwek was the mascot of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), associated with the university's intercollegiate athletic programs, from October 30, 1926, to February 21, 2007. Chief Illiniwek was portrayed by a student to represent the Illiniwek, the state's namesake, although the regalia worn was from the Sioux. The student portraying Chief Illiniwek performed during halftime of Illinois football and basketball games, as well as during women's volleyball matches.
The University of Illinois College of Medicine offers a four-year program leading to the MD degree at four different sites in Illinois: Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, and formerly Urbana–Champaign. The Urbana–Champaign site stopped accepting new students after Fall 2016 to make room for the newly established Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
Gies College of Business is the business school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public research university in Champaign, Illinois. The college offers undergraduate program, masters programs, and a PhD program. The college and its Department of Accountancy are separately accredited by AACSB International.
The College of Education is the undergraduate and graduate education school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It was founded in 1905 and took on its current name in 1918 after previously being known as the School of Education. The college offers undergraduate, graduate, and online programs in areas including elementary education, early childhood education, special education, and Educational Organization and Leadership. It began with six departments; three of them merged and formed the largest department in the college. All departments offer masters and doctoral degrees. However, only two departments offer undergraduate degree programs: Special Education and Curriculum & Instruction. The college also offers 16 online programs. Students seeking an undergraduate degree in the college must meet the minimum graduation requirement set forth by the university. To obtain a certification, students must also meet the requirements of the Council on Teacher Education, a professional educational administration at the University of Illinois. The total enrollment is 1,361 students as of 2015.
The University of Illinois College of Law is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public land-grant research university in Champaign and Urbana, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees.
The School of Information Sciences, also The iSchool at Illinois, is an undergraduate and graduate school at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. Its Master of Science in Library and Information Science is currently accredited in full good standing by the American Library Association. The school is a charter member of the iSchool initiative.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an academic research institution that is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois System. Since its founding in 1867, it has resided and expanded between the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana in the State of Illinois. Some portions are in Urbana Township.
The Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science (I-CHASS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign was established in 2005 to conduct research at the intersection of high performance computing and humanities, arts, and social science. I-CHASS is hosted by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and maintains strategic partnerships with NCSA, the Great Lakes Consortium for Petascale Computation (GLCPC), and the Illinois Informatics Institute (I3).
Engineering Hall is an administrative building at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. It is located in the south end of the Bardeen Quadrangle on Green Street in Urbana, Illinois, facing the Illini Union. Engineering Hall serves all disciplines within the UIUC College of Engineering and is well known for representing the school's colors with its orange bricks and blue roof. In addition to many offices and conference rooms, Engineering Hall also includes two computer labs and four lecture halls. Engineering Hall also houses many engineering-based student organizations in its offices.
Lawrence B. Schook is the vice president for research at the University of Illinois. He oversees the $1 billion research portfolio across all three campuses. A scholar in comparative genomics and the exploitation of genomic diversity to understand traits and disease, Dr. Schook focuses his research on genetic resistance to disease, regenerative medicine, and using genomics to create animal models for biomedical research. He led the international pig genome-sequencing project, which produced a draft of the pig genome allowing researchers to offer insights into diseases that afflict pigs and humans.
The University Library at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign is the network of libraries, including both physical and virtual library spaces, which serves the university's students, faculty, and staff, as well as scholars and researchers worldwide. The University Library continues to evolve to serve the needs of the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign campus.
The history of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign dates back to 1862. U of I is a public research-intensive university in the U.S. state of Illinois. A land-grant university, it is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign opened on March 2, 1868, and is the second oldest public university in the state, and is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference.
U of I Community Credit Union (UICCU) is a federally insured credit union based in Champaign, Illinois. They currently have 5 branches in Champaign–Urbana, Danville, Bloomington, and Normal, Illinois, and serve the University of Illinois campus and surrounding communities.
Paula G. Allen-Meares is an American academic who served as the chancellor of the University of Illinois Chicago from 2009 to 2015. She has a background in social work.
Robert A. Easter is an American animal scientist and university professor who served as the 19th president of the University of Illinois system from 2012 until 2015.
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