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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign
Official seal of the University of Illinois
MottoLearning and Labor
TypeLand-grant, sea-grant, space-grant, Flagship state university
Established1867
Endowment$1.147 billion
ChancellorRichard Herman
PresidentB. Joseph White
Students40,670
Undergraduates30,453
Postgraduates9,188
Location
Urbana, Illinois
,
USA
CampusUrban, 1,458 acres (5.90 km²)
SportsFighting Illini
ColorsOrange and Blue            
Websiteuiuc.edu

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also known as UIUC and the U of I (the officially preferred abbreviation), is the flagship campus in the University of Illinois system. The university is composed of 18 Colleges and Institutes that offer more than 150 programs of study and has been referred to as a Public Ivy. The university has awarded over 500,000 degrees in its history.[1]

The campus was originally established as the Illinois Industrial University in Urbana in 1867 under the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, which provided western lands to each state to establish a university for agriculture and engineering. It now includes 272 major buildings on 1,458 acres (5.90 km²) in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana, and has an annual budget of more than $1 billion. As of Fall 2005, 40,670 students were enrolled, of whom 30,453 were undergraduate students and 9,188 were graduate,[2] and, until 1998, it was one of the 10 largest universities in the United States in terms of student enrollment. The student population includes students from all 50 states and 100 nations. Eleven alumni and nine professors (two of whom are also alumni) from the U of I have won the Nobel Prize.

Organization

Gregory Hall on the campus of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hosted an important meeting of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters in the 1940s that spawned both PBS and NPR.

Campus

A view of the main quad looking North toward the Illini Union

The campus's main research and academic facilities are divided almost exactly between the twin cities of Urbana and Champaign. The College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences' research fields stretch south from Urbana and Champaign into Savoy and Champaign County. The university maintains formal gardens and a conference center in nearby Monticello at Allerton Park.

UIUC is one of the few educational institutions to own an airport.[3] The university owns and operates the Willard Airport, named for former University of Illinois president Arthur Joffrey Willard and located in Savoy. The airport was completed in 1945 and began service in 1954. Willard Airport is home to many University research projects and the University's Institute of Aviation, along with flights from American, Delta, and Northwest Airlines.

The campus is based on the quadrangle design popular at many universities. Four main quads compose the center of the university and are arranged from north to south. The Beckman Quadrangle and the John Bardeen Quadrangle occupy the center of the Engineering Campus. Boneyard Creek flows through the John Bardeen Quadrangle, paralleling Green Street. The Beckman Quadrangle is primarily composed of research units and laboratories, and features a large solar calendar consisting of an obelisk and several copper fountains. The Main Quadrangle and South Quadrangle follow immediately after the John Bardeen Quad. The former makes up a large part of the Liberal Arts and Sciences portion of the campus, while the latter comprises many of the buildings of the College of ACES spread across the campus map.[4]

Research

Altgeld Hall

UIUC is the site of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), which created Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser, the foundation upon which Microsoft Internet Explorer is based, the Apache HTTP server, and NCSA Telnet. UIUC also has the third largest academic library and the largest public engineering library (Grainger Engineering Library) in the country. In 1952, the university built the ILLIAC (Illinois Automatic Computer), the first computer built and owned entirely by an educational institution. UIUC is also the site of the Department of Energy's Center for the Simulation of Advanced Rockets, an institute which has employed graduate and faculty researchers in the physical sciences and mathematics. The Siebel Center for Computer Science recently opened, and the Institute for Genomic Biology will open in 2006. Both the Illinois Natural History Survey and Illinois State Geological Survey are located on campus and affiliated with the university. The university is also recognized as a world-class center for agricultural and horticultural research.

Student life

Residences

Main article: UIUC Residence Halls
Alma Mater statue near Illini Union Photo:Ragib Hasan

The university requires all first-year undergraduate students (who do not commute) to stay in either the University Residence Halls or in University Private-Certified Housing. Both programs are administered by the university's housing division.[5] University housing for undergraduates is provided through twenty-two residence halls in both Urbana and Champaign. All undergraduates within the university housing system are required to purchase some level of meal plan, although they are free to eat elsewhere if they choose. Graduate housing is usually offered through two graduate dormitories, restricted to those over twenty years of age, and through two university-owned apartment complexes. However, the recent record-sized freshman class has forced the housing division to convert one of the graduate dormitories into undergraduate housing. Disabled students are provided special housing options to accommodate their needs.

There are a number of private dormitories around campus, as well as a few houses that are outside of the Greek system and offer a more communal living experience. The private dorms tend to be more expensive to live in compared to other housing options. Private-certified residences maintain reciprocity agreements with the university, allowing students to move between the public and private housing systems if they are dissatisfied with their living conditions.

Some undergraduates choose to move into apartments or the Greek houses after their first or second year. The University Tenant Union offers advice on choosing apartments and the process of signing a lease.

Greek life

The university has the largest Greek system in the world.[6] There are currently forty-five fraternities and twenty sororities on the campus. Of the approximately 30,000 undergraduates, about 2900 are members of sororities [7] and about 3100 are members of fraternities [8]. Many of the fraternity and sorority houses on campus are on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Libraries

A view of the Grainger Engineering Library from the Bardeen Quad

The University claims to have the largest public university library in the world [9], with more than 10 million volumes, which help comprise 22 million items [10] in the main library and the 40 other departmental libraries and divisions.

As of 2006, it is also the largest "browsable" university library in the United States, with 7.5 million volumes directly accessible in stacks in a single location (rather than in offsite storage).

The online catalog is utilized by over one million people around the world every day. In addition to the main library building, which houses nearly 20 subject-oriented libraries, the Issac Funk Family Library on the South Quad serves the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences and the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center serves the College of Engineering on the John Bardeen Quad. All together there are nearly 40 departmental or school libraries on campus.

Transportation

The University bus system is part of the local Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District. The university, through an MTD fee garnered on top of students' tuition, provides a substantial amount of funding for the MTD, that in turn provides campus bus service and unlimited access to the entire system for university students, faculty, and staff. As part of this arrangement, the MTD also runs a bus line between Illinois Terminal and the university's University of Illinois Willard Airport. In addition, the Illinois Terminal provides connection services to Amtrak and Greyhound, making it the focal point of Chambana's public transportation systems.

The university maintains an extensive system of bike paths on campus. All students are expected to register their bicycles with the campus public safety department, and to keep their bicycles in a safe operating condition.

Athletics

Main article: Illinois Fighting Illini

UIUC's Division of Intercollegiate Athletics fields teams for ten men's and eleven women's varsity sports. The university participates in the NCAA's Division 1-A and is a member of the Big Ten Conference. The university's athletic teams are known as the Fighting Illini. The university operates a number of top athletic facilities, including Memorial Stadium for football, the Assembly Hall for men's and women's basketball, and the Atkins Tennis Center for men's and women's tennis. The men's NCAA basketball team had a dream run in the 2005 season, with Bruce Weber's Fighting Illini tying the record for most victories in a season. Their run ended 37-2 with a loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the national championship game.

On October 15, 1910, the Illinois football team defeated the University of Chicago Maroons with a score of 3-0. The game is notable in that it was the focal point of the first ever organized homecoming weekend.[11]

The Ice Arena, also known as the "Big Pond", is home to the University's hockey team and is available for recreational use through the Division of Campus Recreation. It was built in 1931 and designed by Chicago architecture firm Holabird and Root, the same firm that designed the University of Illinois Memorial Stadium and Chicago's Soldier Field. It is located on Armory Drive across from the Armory. The structure features 4 rows of bleacher seating in an elevated balcony that runs the length of the ice rink on either side. These bleachers provide seating for roughly 1,200 fans, with standing room and bench seating available underneath. Because of this set-up the team benches are actually directly underneath the stands.[12]

Chief Illiniwek, or 'The Chief', is the University's official symbol, although its association with the athletic teams of the Fighting Illini lead to its use as an athletic mascot. Use of this symbol has garnered criticism for the University since the mid-1970s from Native Americans and others as a misappropriation and inaccurate portrayal of indigenous culture. However, the Chief has remained popular among students as a symbol of the university, although a vocal minority within the student body opposes the continued use of the symbol.[citation needed]

Notable faculty and alumni

The Morrow Plots on the campus of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is America's oldest experimental field for agriculture, established 1876.

As of 2005, nineteen alumni are Nobel laureates and sixteen have won a Pulitzer Prize. Alumni have created companies and products such as Oracle Corporation, Netscape Communications, AMD, PayPal, Playboy, Siebel Systems, Mortal Kombat, and YouTube. Notable people have invented the LED, integrated circuit, transistor, MRI, and Plasma screen.

The University of Illinois has also produced many outstanding athletes. Many have gone on to enjoy distinguished professional athletic careers.

Nathan C. Ricker attended U of I and was the first person to graduate in the United States with a degree in Architecture in 1873. Mary L. Page, the first woman to obtain a degree in architecture, also graduated from U of I.[13]

See also: List of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign people

Rankings

In 2006, US News and World Report ranked the undergraduate program 41st overall out of nationally accredited universities and 10th out of nationally accredited public universities, with various other programs ranked highly as well. The graduate program has 60 disciplines ranked in the top 30 nationwide, including 23 in the top 5 overall. The US News ranked both the Undergraduate and Graduate Accounting programs #1 in the United States in their 2006 rankings. Of note is the College of Engineering (ranked 5th nationwide) with 14 graduate disciplines ranked in the top 10, the College of Education with six programs ranked in the top 10, and library and information studies with five programs ranked in the top 10.

Internationally, Illinois is ranked as the 22nd best university in the country, and 58th best in the world, by The Times Higher Education Supplement’s list of the top 200 universities in the world;[14] and 19th best university in the nation, and 25th best university in the world, by The Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University..[15]

Points of interest

See also

References

  1. ^ Chancellor Richard Herman. On Our Watch Newsletter. Inaugural edition. 2006.
  2. ^ Fall 2005 Enrollment stats, UIUC
  3. ^ Committee on Campus Operations. UIUC Senate. April 26, 2004.
  4. ^ "http://www.uiuc.edu/images/maps/campusmap.gif". Retrieved November 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |title= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Housing Home". Retrieved November 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ University of Illinois. UIUC Factsheet. Accessed September 25, 2006.
  7. ^ "Illinois Panhellenic Council". Retrieved April 24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "http://www.odos.uiuc.edu/greek/IFCchapterMembership.xls". Retrieved April 24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |title= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Largest Public University Library". Retrieved September 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Rankings". Retrieved September 3. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Origin of the University Homecoming" (PDF). Retrieved December 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ Staff (July 26, 2006). "Ice Arena Facility". University of Illinois, Division of Campus Recreation. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
  13. ^ Professor Paul Kruty. Establishing Architecture at the University of Illinois. Last updated May 28, 2005.
  14. ^ Education news & resources at the Times Higher Education Supplement, retrieved July 7, 2006
  15. ^ Top 500 World Universities, retrieved July 7, 2006

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