University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Former names	Illinois Industrial University (1867–1885) University of Illinois (1885–1982)
Motto	"Learning & Labor"
Type	Public land-grant research university
Established	1867; 157 years ago (1867)
Parent institution	University of Illinois System
Accreditation	HLC
Academic affiliations	AAU URA Sea-grant Space-grant
Endowment	$3.82 billion (2021) (system-wide)[1][2]
Budget	$7.7 billion (2023) (system-wide)[3]
Chancellor	Robert J. Jones[4]
President	Timothy L. Killeen[5]
Provost	John Coleman[6]
Academic staff	2,548
Administrative staff	7,842[7]
Students	56,403 (Fall 2023)[8]
Undergraduates	35,467 (Fall 2023)[8]
Postgraduates	20,936 (Fall 2023)[8]
Location	Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area , Illinois , U.S.
Campus	Small city[10], 6,370 acres (2,578 ha)[9]
Newspaper	The Daily Illini
Colors	Orange and blue[11]
Nickname	Fighting Illini
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I FBS – Big Ten
Website	illinois.edu

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois)^[12][13] 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 contains 16 schools and colleges^[14] and offers more than 150 undergraduate and over 100 graduate programs of study. The university holds 651 buildings on 6,370 acres (2,578 ha)^[9] and its annual operating budget in 2016 was over $2 billion.^[15] The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also operates a Research Park home to innovation centers for over 90 start-up companies and multinational corporations.^[16]

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".^[17] In fiscal year 2019, research expenditures at Illinois totaled $652 million.^[18][16] The campus library system possesses the fourth-largest university library in the United States by holdings.^[19] The university also hosts the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and is home to the fastest supercomputer on a university campus.^[20]

Illinois athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Fighting Illini. They are members of the Big Ten Conference and have won the second-most conference titles. Illinois Fighting Illini football won the Rose Bowl Game in 1947, 1952, 1964 and a total of five national championships. Illinois athletes have won 29 medals in Olympic events. The alumni, faculty members, or researchers of the university include 30 Nobel laureates, 27 Pulitzer Prize winners, two Fields medalists, and two Turing Award winners.

History

Illinois Industrial University (1867–1885)

The University of Illinois, originally named "Illinois Industrial University", was one of the 37 universities created under the first Morrill Land-Grant Act, which provided public land for the creation of agricultural and industrial colleges and universities across the United States. Among several cities, Urbana was selected in 1867 as the site for the new school.^[22][23] From the beginning, President John Milton Gregory's desire to establish an institution firmly grounded in the liberal arts tradition was at odds with many state residents and lawmakers who wanted the university to offer classes based solely around "industrial education".^[24] The university opened for classes on March 2, 1868, and had two faculty members and 77 students.^[25]

The Library, which opened with the school in 1868, started with 1,039 volumes. Subsequently, President Edmund J. James, in a speech to the board of trustees in 1912, proposed to create a research library. It is now one of the world's largest public academic collections.^[23][26][27] In 1870, the Mumford House was constructed as a model farmhouse for the school's experimental farm. The Mumford House remains the oldest structure on campus.^[28] The original University Hall (1871) was the fourth building built; it stood where the Illini Union stands today.^[29]

University of Illinois (1885–1977)

In 1885, the Illinois Industrial University officially changed its name to the "University of Illinois", reflecting its agricultural, mechanical, and liberal arts curriculum.^[24]

During his presidency, Edmund J. James (1904–1920) set the policy of building a massive research library.^[30] He also laid the foundation for the large Chinese international student population on campus.^[31] James established ties with China through the Chinese Minister to the United States Wu Ting-Fang. Class rivalries and Bob Zuppke's winning football teams contributed to campus morale.^[23]

Alma Mater, a prominent statue on campus created by alumnus Lorado Taft, was unveiled on June 11, 1929. It was funded from donations by the Alumni Fund and the classes of 1923–1929.^[32]

The Great Depression in the United States slowed construction and expansion on the campus. The university replaced the original university hall with Gregory Hall and the Illini Union. After World War II, the university experienced rapid growth. The enrollment doubled and the academic standing improved.^[33] This period was also marked by large growth in the Graduate College and increased federal support of scientific and technological research. During the 1950s and 1960s the university experienced the turmoil common on many American campuses. Among these were the water fights of the 1950s and 1960s.^[34]

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1977–present)

By 1967, the University of Illinois system consisted of a main campus in Champaign-Urbana and two Chicago campuses, Chicago Circle (UICC) and Medical Center (UIMC), and people began using "Urbana-Champaign" or the reverse to refer to the main campus specifically. The university name officially changed to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by 1977 (the word "at" was dropped for marketing purposes by all U of I System campuses by 2021). While this was a reversal of the commonly used designation for the metropolitan area (Champaign-Urbana), a majority of the campus is located in Urbana. The name change established a separate identity for the main campus within the University of Illinois System, which today includes separate institutions at the University of Illinois Chicago (formed by the merger of UICC and UIMC) and University of Illinois Springfield.

In 1998, the Hallene Gateway Plaza was dedicated. The Plaza features the original sandstone portal of University Hall, which was originally the fourth building on campus.^[29] In recent years, state support has declined from 4.5% of the state's tax appropriations in 1980 to 2.28% in 2011, a nearly 50% decline.^[35] As a result, the university's budget has shifted away from relying on state support with nearly 84% of the budget coming from other sources in 2012.^[36]

On March 12, 2015, the Board of Trustees approved the creation of a medical school, the first college created at Urbana-Champaign in 60 years.^[37][38][39] The Carle Illinois College of Medicine began classes in 2018.^[40]

Philanthropy

Over the last twenty years state funding for the university has fallen. Private philanthropy increasingly supplements revenue from tuition and state funding, providing about 19% of the annual budget in 2012.^[36] Notable among significant donors, alumnus entrepreneur Thomas M. Siebel has committed nearly $150 million to the university, including $36 million to build the Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science and $25 million to build the Siebel Center for Design. Further the Grainger Foundation (founded by alumnus W. W. Grainger) has contributed more than $300 million to the university over the last half-century,^{[citation needed]} including donations for the construction of the Grainger Engineering Library. Larry Gies and his wife Beth donated $150 million in 2017 to the shortly thereafter renamed Gies College of Business.^[41]

Campus

The main research and academic facilities are divided almost evenly between the twin cities of Urbana and Champaign, which form part of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area. Some parts are in Urbana Township.^[42]

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, parallel to Green Street. The Beckman Quadrangle, named after Arnold Orville Beckman, 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 Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES) spread across the campus map.^[43]

Additionally, the research fields of the College of ACES stretch south from Urbana and Champaign into Savoy and Champaign County. The university also maintains formal gardens and a conference center in nearby Monticello at Allerton Park.

The campus is known for its landscape and architecture, as well as distinctive landmarks.^[44] It was identified as one of 50 college or university "works of art" by T.A. Gaines in his book The Campus as a Work of Art.^[45] The campus also has a number of buildings and sites on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places including Harker Hall, the Astronomical Observatory, Louise Freer Hall, the Main Library, the Experimental Dairy Farm Historic District, and the Morrow Plots. University of Illinois Willard Airport is one of the few airports owned by an educational institution.^[46]

Panorama facing north on the Main Quad

Sustainability

In 2008, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign became a signatory of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment, binding the campus to the goal of carbon neutrality as soon as possible. In 2010, the first Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) was written to chart a path to this goal. The iCAP is a strategic framework for meeting the university's Climate Leadership Commitments to be carbon-neutral by 2050 or sooner and build resilience with its local community. Since then, the iCAP has been rewritten every five years to track the university's progress.

In December 2013, the University of Illinois launched the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) on the Urbana-Champaign campus. The institute, under the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, leads an interdisciplinary approach to researching solutions for the world's most pressing sustainability, energy, and environmental needs. In addition, iSEE has engaged students, faculty, staff, and campus leadership in the iCAP process — especially in the areas of zero waste and conservation of energy, food, water, land, and natural resources — as well as sustainability outreach and immersive educational programs.

In her remarks on being named Director of iSEE in 2022, Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics Madhu Khanna explained: "We aim to position campus to play a transformative role in moving us all to a more sustainable future."

In 2022, new solar and geothermal energy projects, a reduction in water use, and wide-ranging sustainability research helped the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign earn its fifth consecutive gold certification in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS).^[47] Illinois has consistently achieved gold certification since it began reporting data through STARS in 2013, and the 2022 score was one of its highest to date.

Currently, the campus features 27 LEED-certified buildings.

Academics

Admissions

Undergraduate

Undergraduate admissions statistics
2023 entering class[48] [49]Change vs. 2018
Admit rate	43.7 ( −18.5)
Yield rate	28.0 ( −3.1)
Test scores middle 50%[i]
SAT Total	1400–1530
ACT Composite	31–34
^ Among students who chose to submit

The overall first-year admit rate for 2023 is 43.7%,^[50] which differ greatly among UIUC colleges — whereas the overall first-choice admit rate is 34.7%, the Grainger College of Engineering has an admit rate of 22.3%. Certain in-demand majors like Computer Science, including Computer Science + X, of which the program being ranked consistently 5th nationwide^[51][52] can be extremely competitive, with an acceptance rate of less than 6.8% in 2022, ^{[53] [54]} and average freshman ACT composite score of 33.7.^[55]

In 2009, an investigation by The Chicago Tribune reported that some applicants "received special consideration" for acceptance between 2005 and 2009, despite having sub-par qualifications.^[64] This incident was known was the University of Illinois clout scandal.

Academic divisions

The university offers more than 150 undergraduate and 100 graduate and professional programs in over 15 academic units, among several online specializations such as Digital Marketing and an online MBA program launched in January 2016. In 2015, the university announced its expansion to include an engineering-based medical program, which would be the first new college created in Urbana-Champaign in 60 years.^[38][39] The university also offers undergraduate students the opportunity for graduation honors. University Honors is an academic distinction awarded to the highest achieving students. To earn the distinction, students must have a cumulative grade point average of a 3.5/4.0 within the academic year of their graduation and rank within the top 3% of their graduating class. Their names are inscribed on a Bronze Tablet that hangs in the Main Library.^[65]

Online learning

In addition to the university's Illinois Online platform, in 2015 the university entered into a partnership with the Silicon Valley educational technology company Coursera to offer a series of master's degrees, certifications, and specialization courses, currently including more than 70 joint learning classes. In August 2015, the Master of Business Administration program was launched through the platform.^[66] On March 31, 2016, Coursera announced the launch of the Master of Computer Science in Data Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.^[67] At the time, the university's computer-science graduate program was ranked fifth in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.^[68] On March 29, 2017, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign launched their Master's in Accounting (iMSA) program, now called the Master of Science in Accountancy (iMSA) program. The iMSA program is led through live sessions, headed by UIUC faculty.^[69] Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=University_of_Illinois_Urbana–Champaign
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