Illinois Institute of Technology
Encyclopedia
Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.
-granting university located in Chicago
, Illinois
, with programs in engineering
, science
, psychology
, architecture
, business
, communications
, industrial technology
, information technology
, design
, and law
. It is a member of the Association of Independent Technological Universities
.
The Armour Institute of Technology was founded in 1890 with one million dollars from Philip Danforth Armour
, Sr., a prominent Chicago meat packer and grain merchant. Armour had heard Chicago minister
Frank W. Gunsaulus
say that with a million dollars he would build a school that would be open to students of all backgrounds instead of just the elite. After the sermon, Armour approached Gunsaulus and asked if he was serious about his claim. When Gunsaulus said yes, Armour told him that if he came by his office in the morning, he would give him the million dollars. Armour also stipulated that Gunsaulus become the first president of the school, and Gunsaulus served as president of Armour Tech from its founding in 1890 until his death in 1921. Gunsaulus's sermon thus became known as the "Million Dollar Sermon".
Centered at 33rd Street and Armour Avenue (now Federal Street), Armour Institute of Technology opened its doors on September 14, 1890. It shared the neighborhood now known as Bronzeville with many historic places: Comiskey Park
was a few blocks away, west of what is now the Dan Ryan Expressway
; the land used to expand the campus in the 1940s through 1970s was home to many of Chicago's old famous jazz
and blues
clubs, with performers like Louis Armstrong
highlighting the neighborhood.
Founded in 1895 from the estate of the Chicago real estate investor Allen Cleveland Lewis
, Lewis Institute stood where the United Center
now stands. Allen Lewis was one of many investors to descend on Chicago after the 1871 Great Chicago Fire
, and helped to rebuild the city's west side. Under its first director, George Noble Carman, Lewis Institute was the first institution to offer adult education programs, making it the first junior college
in the United States. The Institute offered courses in engineering, sciences, and technology, but also featured courses in home economics and other domestic arts. Lewis Institute offered a program in which a young child was borrowed from a member of the community and would be cared for by students for up to a year. As the first President, Carman helped create North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
, the first educational accreditation board.
in the 1920s and 1930s left Armour Institute and Lewis Institute looking for ways to expand programs and relieve debt. In the late 1930s, the Board of Trustees at Armour was greatly expanded, with many Chicago industrialists and businessmen joining the board to increase funding and support the institute. However, it was a proposal from Lewis's chairman Alex Bailey to Armour President Henry Townley Heald
and Board Chair James Cunningham that would lead to the birth of IIT. While Armour's faculty and trustees supported the merger, some Lewis faculty and alumni opposed it, feeling that Lewis's legacy would be forgotten in the new school. in 1939 is was agreed to consolidate the two institutes and form the new school. Armour's campus became the permanent home of the new school while Lewis's campus was briefly repurposed by the City of Chicago as a civic building before being demolished for the construction of the United Center
. The resistance by Lewis supporters led to a court battle in which the original will of Allen C. Lewis was dissolved. The Lewis Institute and Armour Institute completed the merger in July 1940, with the first academic year for the new Illinois Institute of Technology beginning in the fall of the same year.
during World War II
the school saw a large increase in students and expanded the Armour campus beyond its original 7 acres (2.83 ha). Two years before the merger, German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
joined the then Armour Institute of Technology to head both Armour's and the Art Institute of Chicago
's architecture program. The Art Institute would later separate and form its own program. Mies was given the task of designing a completely new campus, and the result was a spacious, open, 120 acres (48.6 ha) campus set in contrast to the busy, crowded urban neighborhood around it. The first Mies-designed buildings were completed in the mid-1940s, and construction on what is considered the "Mies Campus" continued until the early 1970s.
Engineering and research also saw great growth and expansion from the post-war
period until the early 1970s. IIT experienced its greatest period of growth from 1952 to 1973 under President John T. Rettaliata
, a fluid dynamicist
whose research accomplishments included work on early development of the jet engine
and a seat on the National Aeronautics and Space Council. This period saw IIT as the largest engineering school in the United States, as stated in a feature in the September 1953 issue of Popular Science
magazine. IIT housed many research organizations: IIT Research Institute
(formerly Armour Research Foundation and birthplace of magnetic recording wire and tape as well as audio and video cassettes), the Institute of Gas Technology, and the American Association of Railroads, among others.
Three colleges merged with IIT after the 1940 Armor/Lewis merger: Institute of Design
in 1949, Chicago-Kent College of Law
in 1969, and Midwest College of Engineering in 1986. IIT's Stuart School of Business
was founded by a gift from Lewis Institute alumnus Harold Leonard Stuart in 1969, and joined Chicago-Kent at IIT's Downtown Campus in 1992; it phased out its undergraduate program (becoming graduate-only) after Spring 1995. (An undergraduate business program focusing on technology and entrepreneurship was launched in Fall 2004 and was for a while administratively separate from the Stuart School. It is now part of the school, but remains on Main Campus.) The Institute of Design, once housed on the Main Campus in S.R. Crown Hall
, also phased out its undergraduate programs and moved downtown in the early 1990s.
Though not used in official communication, the nickname "Illinois Tech" has long been a favorite of students, inspiring the name of the student newspaper; (renamed in 1928 from Armour Tech News to TechNews), and the former mascot of the university's collegiate sports teams, the Techawks. During the 1950s and 1960s, the nickname was actually more prevalent than "IIT." This was reflected by the Chicago Transit Authority
's Green Line
rapid transit
station at 35th and State
being named "Tech-35th", but has since been changed to "35th-Bronzeville-IIT."
high-rises replaced virtually all of IIT's neighbors in the 1950s and 1960s, a well-meaning but flawed attempt to improve conditions in an economically declining portion of the city. The closest high-rise, Stateway Gardens
, was located just south of the IIT campus boundary, the last building of which was demolished in 2006. But the Dearborn Homes to the immediate north of campus still remain. The past decade has seen a redevelopment of Stateway Gardens into a new, mixed-income neighborhood dubbed Park Boulevard; the completion of the new central station of the Chicago Police Department a block east of the campus; and major commercial development at Roosevelt Road
, just north of the campus, and residential development as close as Michigan Avenue on the east boundary of the school.
Bolstered by a $120 million gift in the mid-1990s from IIT alumnus Robert Pritzker
, former chairman of IIT's Board of Trustees, and Robert Galvin
, former chairman of the board and former Motorola executive, the university has benefited from a revitalization. The first new buildings on Main Campus since the "completion" of the Mies Campus in the early 1970s were finished in 2003—Rem Koolhaas's McCormick Tribune Campus Center
and Helmut Jahn's State Street Village
. S.R. Crown Hall
, a National Historic Landmark
, saw renovation in 2005 and the renovation of Wishnick Hall was completed in 2007. Undergraduate enrollment has breached 2,500. To further boost their focus on biotechnology and the melding of business and technology, University Technology Park At IIT, an expansive research park, has been developed by remodeling former Institute of Gas Technology and research buildings on the south end of Main Campus.
), two institutes (Institute of Design, Institute of Psychology), two schools (School of Applied Technology, Stuart School of Business), and a number of research centers, some of which provide academic programs independent of the other academic units. While many maintain undergraduate programs, some only offer graduate or certificate programs.
In 2003, IIT administrators split the former Armour College of Engineering and Science into two colleges which are now known as the Armour College of Engineering and the College of Science and Letters. The Armour College of Engineering is composed of five departments: the Department of Biomedical Engineering
, the Department of Biological
and Chemical Engineering
, the Department of Civil
, Architectural
and Environmental Engineering
, the Department of Mechanical
, Materials and Aerospace Engineering
, and the Department of Computer
and Electrical Engineering
.
The College of Science and Letters is divided into six departments: the Department of Applied Mathematics
, the Department of Biological, Chemical
and Physical Sciences, the Department of Computer Science
, the Lewis Department of Humanities
, the Department of Mathematics and Science Education, and the Department of Social Sciences
.
The Institute of Design was founded in 1937 as the New Bauhaus: Chicago School of Design by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. It became known as the Institute of Design in 1944 and later joined Illinois Institute of Technology in 1949.
IIT also contains the College of Architecture
. This College began in 1895 when trustees of Armour Institute and Art Institute merged the architectural programs of both schools to form the Chicago School of Architecture of Armour Institute.
The Institute of Psychology
was created in 1996. Originally a part of the Lewis College of Science and Letters, the first psychology degrees were awarded in 1926.
The Center for Professional Development opened in 2001 in order to provide technology oriented education for working professionals.
In December 2009, IIT announced the formation of the School of Applied Technology, which is composed of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Industrial Technology and Management (INTM) and Information Technology and Management (ITM), as well as non-credit Professional Learning Programs (PLP). These programs were all formerly part of the Center for Professional Development.
Chicago-Kent College of Law
began in 1886 with law clerks receiving tutorials from Appellate Judge Joseph M. Bailey in order to prepare for the newly instated Illinois Bar Examination. By 1888 these evening sessions developed into formal classes and the Chicago College of Law was established. It wasn't until 1969 that the school was incorporated into Illinois Institute of Technology.
With a bequest from IIT alumnus and financier Harold Leonard Stuart the IIT Stuart School of Business
was established in 1969. In addition to the M.B.A. and Ph.D.
, IIT Stuart offers specialized programs in Finance
, Mathematical Finance
(provided in conjunction with the IIT Department of Applied Mathematics
), Environmental Management
and Sustainability
(provided in conjunction with the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
and Department of Civic, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
), Marketing Communications
, and Public Administration
.
IIT also offers many dual admission programs including programs in medicine, optometry, pharmacy, law, and business. The programs in medicine are particularly competitive and include an 8-year program with Midwestern University
leading to a D.O. degree and a 6-year program with Rush University
leading to a M.D. degree, both of which are earned after satisfactory completion of a bachelor's degree from IIT. The IIT/Midwestern program accepts anywhere from 5-10 students each year, and the IIT/Rush program accepts anywhere from 0-4 students each year.
Two other undergraduate institutions share IIT's Main Campus: VanderCook College of Music
and Shimer College
. Both institutions share dormitories with IIT and offer cross-registration for IIT students.
The 120 acres (48.6 ha) IIT main campus is centered around 33rd and State Streets, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the Chicago Loop
in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side
of Chicago, part of the Douglas
community area
. Also known as the Black Metropolis District, the area is a landmark in African-American history. Following rapid growth during the Great Migration
of African-Americans from the south between 1910 and 1920, it became home to numerous African-American owned businesses and cultural institutions and offered an alternative to the race restrictions that were prevalent in the rest of the city. The area was home to author Gwendolyn Brooks
, civil rights activist Ida B. Wells
, bandleader Louis Armstrong
, pilot Bessie Coleman
and many other famous African-Americans during the mid-20th century. The nine extant structures from that period were added jointly to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1986 and designated a Chicago Landmark
in 1998.
In 1941, the Chicago Housing Authority
began erecting massive public housing developments in the area. By 1990, the IIT campus was encircled by high-rise housing projects rife with crime. The projects were demolished beginning in the 1999, and the area began to revitalize, with major renovations to King Drive and many of the historic structures and an influx of new, upscale, housing developments. Neighborhood features include U.S. Cellular Field
, home of the Chicago White Sox
, Burnham Park
and 31st Street Beach on the Lake Michigan
waterfront, and historical buildings from the heyday of the Black Metropolis era, including the Chicago Bee Building
, the Eighth Regiment Armory
, and the Overton Hygienic Building
. The campus is bordered on the west by the Chicago 'L'
Red Line
, which runs parallel to Lake Michigan north to Rogers Park and south to 95th street. The Green Line
bisects the campus and runs north to the Loop and then west to the near west suburbs and south to the Museum Campus
and the University of Chicago
.
The campus, roughly bounded between 31st and 35th streets, Michigan Avenue
and the Dan Ryan Expressway
, was designed by modernist
architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
, "one of the great figures of 20th-century architecture", who chaired the IIT School of Architecture from 1938 to 1958. Van der Rohe's master plan for the IIT campus was one of the most ambitious projects he ever conceived and the campus, with twenty of his works, is the greatest concentration of his buildings in the world. The layout of the campus departs radically from "traditional college quadrangles and limestone buildings". The materials are inspired by the factories and warehouses of Chicago's South Side and "embod[y] 20th century methods and materials: steel and concrete frames with curtain walls of brick and glass." The campus was landscaped by van der Rohe's close colleague at IIT, Alfred Caldwell
, "the last representative of the Prairie School
of landscape architects." Known as "the nature poet", Caldwell's plan reinforced van der Rohe's design with "landscaping planted in a free-flowing manner, which in its interaction with the pristine qualities of the architecture, introduce[d] a poetic aspect."
On the west side of Main Campus are three red brick buildings that were original to Armour Institute, built between 1891 and 1901. In 1938, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
began his 20-year tenure as director of IIT's School of Architecture (1938–1959). The university was on the verge of building a brand new campus, to be one of the nation's first federally funded urban renewal projects. Mies was given carte blanche in the large commission, and the university grew fast enough during and after World War II to allow much of the new plan to be realized. From 1943 to 1957, several new Mies buildings rose across campus, including the S.R. Crown Hall
, which houses the architecture school, and was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 2001.
Though Mies had emphasized his wish to complete the campus he had begun, commissions from the late 50s onward were given to Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM), prompting Mies to never return to the campus that had changed architecture the world over. SOM architect Walter Netsch
designed a few buildings, including the new library that Mies had wished to create, all of them similar to Mies's style. By the late 1960s, campus addition projects were given to SOM's Myron Goldsmith
, who had worked with Mies during his education at IIT and thus was able to design several new buildings to harmonize well with the original campus. In 1976, the American Institute of Architects
recognized the campus as one of the 200 most significant works of architecture in the United States. The new campus center
, designed by Rem Koolhaas
, and a new state-of-the-art residence hall designed by Helmut Jahn
, State Street Village, opened in 2003. These were the first new buildings built on the Main Campus in 32 years.
In 1976, American Institute of Architects
named the IIT campus one of the 200 most significant works of architecture in the United States. The IIT Main Campus was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
's highest sustainability
rating among universities in Illinois, tied with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
.
Three of IIT's major student organizations serve the entire student body: the Student Government Association (SGA), the Student Union Board (UB), and TechNews. SGA is the governing student body of IIT and acts as a liaison between the university administration and the student body, serves as a forum to express student opinion, and provides certain services to student organizations such as official recognition and distribution of funds. UB serves as the main event programming group and plans over 180 on and off-campus events for students per year. Since 2005, UB has been particularly active and has increased the frequency of student activities, and is responsible for the emergence of the school spirit and booster group Scarlet Fever; UB it has been active since its founding on November 23, 1938. TechNews is the campus paper and serves as a news outlet for campus interests and as another outlet for student opinion in both a weekly paper edition and online format; it has existed since at least the 1930s.
IIT hosts a campus radio station, WIIT
, with an antenna located atop Main Building and a radio studio in the McCormick Tribune Campus Center. In September 2007, IIT opened a nine-hole disc golf
course which weaves around the academic buildings on the Main Campus and is the first disc golf course to appear within the Chicago city limits.
In anticipation of the opening of the McCormick Tribune Campus Center
, the on-campus pub and bowling alley known as "The Bog" ceased operations in 2003. However, in response to students, faculty, and staff who missed the former campus hangout, the Bog reopened in February 2007 and is now open every Thursday and Friday night offering bowling
, billiards
, table tennis
, and video games. The Bog is also home to the campus bar, which serves beer
and wine
, and hosts weekly events such as comedians, live bands, or karaoke nights on its stage.
On the sixth floor of Main Building is the IIT Model Railroad Club. Founded in 1948, the club builds and runs an H0 scale model railway layout that occupies much of the floor.
In the fall of 2007, the third generation of a cappella
groups was formed, The TechTonics, a coed group of students. Within a year the organization expanded and now includes an all-male group, the Crown Joules, and an all-female group, the X-Chromotones. IIT A Cappella performs a variety of shows on campus as well as off campus and in the midwest. They perform shows at the end of each semester which showcase everything they have learned.
The Illinois Institute of Technology Main Campus has an established Greek System, which consists of 7 fraternities and 3 sororities. Fraternities Sigma Phi Epsilon
, Pi Kappa Phi
, Delta Tau Delta
, Alpha Sigma Phi
, Phi Kappa Sigma
, and Triangle
fraternity and sororities Kappa Phi Delta, and Alpha Sigma Alpha
have chapter houses. The Omega Delta
fraternity and Zeta Pi Omega sorority do not.
IIT's athletic teams compete in the NAIA
Division I Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference
. The Athletic Department is one of the few IIT departments which uses "Illinois Tech" instead of "IIT", and has done so since the beginning of IIT in 1940. Teams compete in soccer, baseball
, swimming
and diving
, outdoor track and field and cross country running
for men, and soccer, volleyball
, swimming
and diving
, outdoor track and field and cross country running
for women. IIT discontinued its men's and women's basketball program in 2009. Recently, IIT even started a Cricket
as a part of non-varsity-level sports. Their cricket team competes in Division II of the Midwest Cricket Conference.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
-granting university located in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, with programs in engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, communications
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...
, industrial technology
Industrial technology
Industrial technology is the field concerned with the application of basic engineering principles and technical skills in support of industrial engineers and managers...
, information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
, design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
, and law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. It is a member of the Association of Independent Technological Universities
Association of Independent Technological Universities
The Association of Independent Technological Universities is a group of private American engineering colleges established in 1957. The purpose of the association is to share ideas and practices that promote innovation and entrepreneurship, promote technology-oriented careers and advance...
.
History
IIT was formed in 1940 by the merger of Armour Institute of Technology (founded in 1890) and Lewis Institute (founded in 1895).Armour Institute of Technology
Philip Danforth Armour
Philip Danforth Armour, Sr. was an American businessman who founded Armour and Company, an American meatpacking firm.-Biography:...
, Sr., a prominent Chicago meat packer and grain merchant. Armour had heard Chicago minister
Minister of religion
In Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community...
Frank W. Gunsaulus
Frank W. Gunsaulus
Frank Wakeley Gunsaulus D.D. LL.D was a noted preacher, educator, pastor, author and humanitarian. Famous for his "Million Dollar Sermon" which led Philip Danforth Armour to donate money to found Armour Institute of Technology where Gunsaulus served as president for its first 27 years...
say that with a million dollars he would build a school that would be open to students of all backgrounds instead of just the elite. After the sermon, Armour approached Gunsaulus and asked if he was serious about his claim. When Gunsaulus said yes, Armour told him that if he came by his office in the morning, he would give him the million dollars. Armour also stipulated that Gunsaulus become the first president of the school, and Gunsaulus served as president of Armour Tech from its founding in 1890 until his death in 1921. Gunsaulus's sermon thus became known as the "Million Dollar Sermon".
Centered at 33rd Street and Armour Avenue (now Federal Street), Armour Institute of Technology opened its doors on September 14, 1890. It shared the neighborhood now known as Bronzeville with many historic places: Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...
was a few blocks away, west of what is now the Dan Ryan Expressway
Dan Ryan Expressway
The Dan Ryan is an expressway in the city of Chicago that runs from the Circle Interchange with I-290 near downtown Chicago through the South Side of the city. It is designated as both Interstate 94 and Interstate 90 south to 66th Street, a distance of...
; the land used to expand the campus in the 1940s through 1970s was home to many of Chicago's old famous jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
clubs, with performers like Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
highlighting the neighborhood.
Lewis Institute
Allen Cleveland Lewis
Allen Cleveland Lewis was a Chicago citizen who left his estate in order to create Lewis Institute.-Biography:Allen Cleveland Lewis was bown in Sterling, Connecticut. He lived in Elgin, Illinois as a young man, where he a hardware merchant. He married and had one son. At the age of twenty months,...
, Lewis Institute stood where the United Center
United Center
The United Center is an indoor sports arena located in Chicago. It is named after its corporate sponsor, United Airlines. The United Center is home to both the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League...
now stands. Allen Lewis was one of many investors to descend on Chicago after the 1871 Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S...
, and helped to rebuild the city's west side. Under its first director, George Noble Carman, Lewis Institute was the first institution to offer adult education programs, making it the first junior college
Junior college
The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...
in the United States. The Institute offered courses in engineering, sciences, and technology, but also featured courses in home economics and other domestic arts. Lewis Institute offered a program in which a young child was borrowed from a member of the community and would be cared for by students for up to a year. As the first President, Carman helped create North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools , also known as the North Central Association, is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states, that is engaged in educational accreditation...
, the first educational accreditation board.
Lewis/Armour merger
The Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in the 1920s and 1930s left Armour Institute and Lewis Institute looking for ways to expand programs and relieve debt. In the late 1930s, the Board of Trustees at Armour was greatly expanded, with many Chicago industrialists and businessmen joining the board to increase funding and support the institute. However, it was a proposal from Lewis's chairman Alex Bailey to Armour President Henry Townley Heald
Henry Townley Heald
Henry Townley Heald was president of Armour Institute of Technology from 1938 to 1940, when it became Illinois Institute of Technology . He is credited with bringing architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to Chicago in 1938 to direct IIT's architecture program. He left IIT in 1952 to become president...
and Board Chair James Cunningham that would lead to the birth of IIT. While Armour's faculty and trustees supported the merger, some Lewis faculty and alumni opposed it, feeling that Lewis's legacy would be forgotten in the new school. in 1939 is was agreed to consolidate the two institutes and form the new school. Armour's campus became the permanent home of the new school while Lewis's campus was briefly repurposed by the City of Chicago as a civic building before being demolished for the construction of the United Center
United Center
The United Center is an indoor sports arena located in Chicago. It is named after its corporate sponsor, United Airlines. The United Center is home to both the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League...
. The resistance by Lewis supporters led to a court battle in which the original will of Allen C. Lewis was dissolved. The Lewis Institute and Armour Institute completed the merger in July 1940, with the first academic year for the new Illinois Institute of Technology beginning in the fall of the same year.
Growth and expansion
IIT continued to expand after the merger. As one of the first American universities to host a Navy V-12 programV-12 Navy College Training Program
The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the school saw a large increase in students and expanded the Armour campus beyond its original 7 acres (2.83 ha). Two years before the merger, German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
joined the then Armour Institute of Technology to head both Armour's and the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
's architecture program. The Art Institute would later separate and form its own program. Mies was given the task of designing a completely new campus, and the result was a spacious, open, 120 acres (48.6 ha) campus set in contrast to the busy, crowded urban neighborhood around it. The first Mies-designed buildings were completed in the mid-1940s, and construction on what is considered the "Mies Campus" continued until the early 1970s.
Engineering and research also saw great growth and expansion from the post-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
period until the early 1970s. IIT experienced its greatest period of growth from 1952 to 1973 under President John T. Rettaliata
John Rettaliata
John T. Rettaliata was a fluid dynamicist who was president of Illinois Institute of Technology for 21 years, from 1952 to 1973, and served on President Dwight D. Eisenhower's National Aeronautics and Space Council, the predecessor to NASA...
, a fluid dynamicist
Fluid dynamics
In physics, fluid dynamics is a sub-discipline of fluid mechanics that deals with fluid flow—the natural science of fluids in motion. It has several subdisciplines itself, including aerodynamics and hydrodynamics...
whose research accomplishments included work on early development of the jet engine
Jet engine
A jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...
and a seat on the National Aeronautics and Space Council. This period saw IIT as the largest engineering school in the United States, as stated in a feature in the September 1953 issue of Popular Science
Popular Science
Popular Science is an American monthly magazine founded in 1872 carrying articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. Popular Science has won over 58 awards, including the ASME awards for its journalistic excellence in both 2003 and 2004...
magazine. IIT housed many research organizations: IIT Research Institute
IIT Research Institute
IIT Research Institute is a contract research organization located in Chicago, Illinois. IITRI is an independent corporation that operates in collaboration with its parent entity, the Illinois Institute of Technology ....
(formerly Armour Research Foundation and birthplace of magnetic recording wire and tape as well as audio and video cassettes), the Institute of Gas Technology, and the American Association of Railroads, among others.
Three colleges merged with IIT after the 1940 Armor/Lewis merger: Institute of Design
IIT Institute of Design
Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology , originally founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design.- History :...
in 1949, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
in 1969, and Midwest College of Engineering in 1986. IIT's Stuart School of Business
Stuart School of Business
IIT Stuart School of Business is an academic unit of the Illinois Institute of Technology, a private Ph.D.-granting technological university...
was founded by a gift from Lewis Institute alumnus Harold Leonard Stuart in 1969, and joined Chicago-Kent at IIT's Downtown Campus in 1992; it phased out its undergraduate program (becoming graduate-only) after Spring 1995. (An undergraduate business program focusing on technology and entrepreneurship was launched in Fall 2004 and was for a while administratively separate from the Stuart School. It is now part of the school, but remains on Main Campus.) The Institute of Design, once housed on the Main Campus in S.R. Crown Hall
S.R. Crown Hall
S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-born Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
, also phased out its undergraduate programs and moved downtown in the early 1990s.
Though not used in official communication, the nickname "Illinois Tech" has long been a favorite of students, inspiring the name of the student newspaper; (renamed in 1928 from Armour Tech News to TechNews), and the former mascot of the university's collegiate sports teams, the Techawks. During the 1950s and 1960s, the nickname was actually more prevalent than "IIT." This was reflected by the Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
's Green Line
Green Line (Chicago Transit Authority)
The Green Line is part of the CTA rapid transit system known as the Chicago 'L'. It is the only completely elevated route in the 'L' system. It utilizes the system's oldest segments , extending with 29 stops between Forest Park and Oak Park , through Chicago's Loop, to the South Side and Englewood...
rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
station at 35th and State
State Street (Chicago)
State Street is a large south-north street in Chicago, Illinois, USA and its south suburbs. It begins on the Near North Side at North Avenue. For much of its course, it lies between Wabash Avenue on the east and Dearborn Street/Lafayette Avenue on the west...
being named "Tech-35th", but has since been changed to "35th-Bronzeville-IIT."
Today
In 1994, the National Commission on IIT considered leaving the Mies Main Campus and moving to the Chicago suburbs. Construction of a veritable wall of Chicago Housing AuthorityChicago Housing Authority
The Chicago Housing Authority is a municipal corporation established by the State of Illinois in 1937 with jurisdiction for the administrative oversight of public housing within the City of Chicago...
high-rises replaced virtually all of IIT's neighbors in the 1950s and 1960s, a well-meaning but flawed attempt to improve conditions in an economically declining portion of the city. The closest high-rise, Stateway Gardens
Stateway gardens
Stateway Gardens was a Chicago Housing Authority public housing project in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the South Side of Chicago, alongside the Dan Ryan Expressway, adjacent to the former Robert Taylor Homes. Stateway Gardens was home to people living in mid- and high-rise apartment buildings...
, was located just south of the IIT campus boundary, the last building of which was demolished in 2006. But the Dearborn Homes to the immediate north of campus still remain. The past decade has seen a redevelopment of Stateway Gardens into a new, mixed-income neighborhood dubbed Park Boulevard; the completion of the new central station of the Chicago Police Department a block east of the campus; and major commercial development at Roosevelt Road
Roosevelt Road
Roosevelt Road is a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. It is 1200 South in the city's street numbering system, but only one mile south of Madison Street...
, just north of the campus, and residential development as close as Michigan Avenue on the east boundary of the school.
Bolstered by a $120 million gift in the mid-1990s from IIT alumnus Robert Pritzker
Robert Pritzker
Robert Alan Pritzker was a member of the wealthy Pritzker family.-Biography:His parents were Fanny and A. N. Pritzker, and his brothers were Jay and Donald. Robert Pritzker received a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1946 and an honorary...
, former chairman of IIT's Board of Trustees, and Robert Galvin
Bob Galvin
Robert William "Bob" Galvin was a US executive. He was the son of the founder of Motorola, Paul Galvin, and served as the CEO of Motorola from 1959 to 1986.-Motorola career:...
, former chairman of the board and former Motorola executive, the university has benefited from a revitalization. The first new buildings on Main Campus since the "completion" of the Mies Campus in the early 1970s were finished in 2003—Rem Koolhaas's McCormick Tribune Campus Center
McCormick Tribune Campus Center
The McCormick Tribune Campus Center is a building on the main campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago.-Description:...
and Helmut Jahn's State Street Village
State Street Village
State Street Village is the newest residence hall for the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. Designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy-Jahn Associates, the dormitory is IIT's newest, completed in 2003....
. S.R. Crown Hall
S.R. Crown Hall
S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-born Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
, a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
, saw renovation in 2005 and the renovation of Wishnick Hall was completed in 2007. Undergraduate enrollment has breached 2,500. To further boost their focus on biotechnology and the melding of business and technology, University Technology Park At IIT, an expansive research park, has been developed by remodeling former Institute of Gas Technology and research buildings on the south end of Main Campus.
Academic units
IIT is divided into: four colleges (Armour College of Engineering, College of Science and Letters, College of Architecture, Chicago-Kent College of LawChicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
), two institutes (Institute of Design, Institute of Psychology), two schools (School of Applied Technology, Stuart School of Business), and a number of research centers, some of which provide academic programs independent of the other academic units. While many maintain undergraduate programs, some only offer graduate or certificate programs.
In 2003, IIT administrators split the former Armour College of Engineering and Science into two colleges which are now known as the Armour College of Engineering and the College of Science and Letters. The Armour College of Engineering is composed of five departments: the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve...
, the Department of Biological
Biological Engineering
Biological engineering, biotechnological engineering or bioengineering is the application of concepts and methods of biology to solve problems in life sciences, using engineering's own analytical and synthetic methodologies and also its traditional...
and Chemical Engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
, the Department of Civil
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
, Architectural
Architectural engineering
Architectural engineering, also known as building engineering, is the application of engineering principles and technology to building design and construction...
and Environmental Engineering
Environmental engineering
Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment , to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites...
, the Department of Mechanical
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
, Materials and Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
, and the Department of Computer
Computer engineering
Computer engineering, also called computer systems engineering, is a discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering, software design, and...
and Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
.
The College of Science and Letters is divided into six departments: the Department of Applied Mathematics
Applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with mathematical methods that are typically used in science, engineering, business, and industry. Thus, "applied mathematics" is a mathematical science with specialized knowledge...
, the Department of Biological, Chemical
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and Physical Sciences, the Department of Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, the Lewis Department of Humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
, the Department of Mathematics and Science Education, and the Department of Social Sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
.
The Institute of Design was founded in 1937 as the New Bauhaus: Chicago School of Design by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. It became known as the Institute of Design in 1944 and later joined Illinois Institute of Technology in 1949.
IIT also contains the College of Architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. This College began in 1895 when trustees of Armour Institute and Art Institute merged the architectural programs of both schools to form the Chicago School of Architecture of Armour Institute.
The Institute of Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
was created in 1996. Originally a part of the Lewis College of Science and Letters, the first psychology degrees were awarded in 1926.
The Center for Professional Development opened in 2001 in order to provide technology oriented education for working professionals.
In December 2009, IIT announced the formation of the School of Applied Technology, which is composed of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Industrial Technology and Management (INTM) and Information Technology and Management (ITM), as well as non-credit Professional Learning Programs (PLP). These programs were all formerly part of the Center for Professional Development.
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
began in 1886 with law clerks receiving tutorials from Appellate Judge Joseph M. Bailey in order to prepare for the newly instated Illinois Bar Examination. By 1888 these evening sessions developed into formal classes and the Chicago College of Law was established. It wasn't until 1969 that the school was incorporated into Illinois Institute of Technology.
With a bequest from IIT alumnus and financier Harold Leonard Stuart the IIT Stuart School of Business
Stuart School of Business
IIT Stuart School of Business is an academic unit of the Illinois Institute of Technology, a private Ph.D.-granting technological university...
was established in 1969. In addition to the M.B.A. and Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, IIT Stuart offers specialized programs in Finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
, Mathematical Finance
Mathematical finance
Mathematical finance is a field of applied mathematics, concerned with financial markets. The subject has a close relationship with the discipline of financial economics, which is concerned with much of the underlying theory. Generally, mathematical finance will derive and extend the mathematical...
(provided in conjunction with the IIT Department of Applied Mathematics
Applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with mathematical methods that are typically used in science, engineering, business, and industry. Thus, "applied mathematics" is a mathematical science with specialized knowledge...
), Environmental Management
Environmental management
Environmental resource management is “a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities” . It is not, as the phrase suggests, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of the interaction and...
and Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
(provided in conjunction with the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Chicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
and Department of Civic, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
Environmental engineering
Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment , to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites...
), Marketing Communications
Marketing communications
Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...
, and Public Administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
.
IIT also offers many dual admission programs including programs in medicine, optometry, pharmacy, law, and business. The programs in medicine are particularly competitive and include an 8-year program with Midwestern University
Midwestern University
Midwestern University is a graduate degree-granting institution specializing in the health sciences with eight colleges and two campuses....
leading to a D.O. degree and a 6-year program with Rush University
Rush University
Rush University is a private university on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The university, founded in 1972, is the academic arm of Rush University Medical Center.Rush University comprises:* Rush Medical College* Rush University College of Nursing...
leading to a M.D. degree, both of which are earned after satisfactory completion of a bachelor's degree from IIT. The IIT/Midwestern program accepts anywhere from 5-10 students each year, and the IIT/Rush program accepts anywhere from 0-4 students each year.
Rankings
- IIT was featured on Princeton Review's list of 368 best colleges in the United States and on its list of Best Midwest Colleges.
- IIT was ranked as a tier 1 university being the 111th best university nationally, and the third best university in the Chicago metropolitan area (after the University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
) based on U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
's "Best Colleges 2011" - IIT was ranked the 72nd best graduate school for engineering in U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
's "Best Graduate Schools 2009" - IIT-Kent was ranked as a tier 1 law school being the 61st best law school nationally based on U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
." - IIT College Architecture was ranked the 13th best architecture school of the nation in the Design Intelligence's "Best Architecture School".
- IIT Institute of Design was ranked the best design school (1st) in the United States in the Design Intelligence's "Best Architecture School".
- "The Commons," IIT's main cafeteria/restaurant, was ranked as one of the 15 best college cafeterias/restaurants in the nation.
- The McCormick Tribune Campus Center, also known as the MTCC, was chosen as the "coolest university building" in the country.
- IIT was ranked the most sustainable university in Chicago.
- IIT Main Campus is one of the 200 most significant works of architecture in the United States.
Campus
IIT has five campuses:- Main Campus, located at 3300 South Federal Street in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, houses all undergraduate programs and graduate programs in engineering, sciences, architecture, communications, and psychology
- Downtown Campus, at 565 West Adams Street in Chicago, houses Chicago-Kent College of LawChicago-Kent College of LawChicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
, Stuart School of BusinessStuart School of BusinessIIT Stuart School of Business is an academic unit of the Illinois Institute of Technology, a private Ph.D.-granting technological university...
, and the graduate programs in Public Administration - Institute of DesignIIT Institute of DesignInstitute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology , originally founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design.- History :...
is located at 350 North LaSalle Street in Chicago - Daniel F. and Ada L. RiceDan and Ada RiceDaniel F. Rice and his wife Ada L. Rice were American businesspeople, thoroughbred racehorse owners and breeders, and philanthropists. Dan Rice was educated in the public school system of Chicago, Illinois and spent two years at Depaul University and the University of Notre Dame. In 1919, he...
Campus in Wheaton, IllinoisWheaton, IllinoisWheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...
, houses the School of Applied Technology and degree programs in Information Technology and Management. This 19 acres (7.69 ha) campus opened its doors in January 1991. - Moffett Campus in Summit, IllinoisSummit, IllinoisSummit is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,637 at the 2000 census. The village is best known as the setting to Ernest Hemingway's 1927 short story "The Killers".-Geography:...
, is home to the National Center for Food Safety and TechnologyNational Center for Food Safety and TechnologyThe National Center for Food Safety and Technology is a unique research consortium among the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition , Illinois Institute of Technology and the food industry...
. Moffett Campus was donated to IIT by CPC International Inc. in 1988.
Two other undergraduate institutions share IIT's Main Campus: VanderCook College of Music
Vandercook College of Music
VanderCook College of Music is a private, liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois, and is the only college in the country solely specializing in the training of music educators. Students may pursue a Bachelor of Music in Education , Master of Music in Education , and Master of Music in Education...
and Shimer College
Shimer College
Shimer College is a very small, private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded by Frances Wood Shimer in 1853 in the frontier town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, it was a women's school for most of its first century. It joined with the University of...
. Both institutions share dormitories with IIT and offer cross-registration for IIT students.
The 120 acres (48.6 ha) IIT main campus is centered around 33rd and State Streets, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the Chicago Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side
South Side (Chicago)
The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...
of Chicago, part of the Douglas
Douglas, Chicago
Douglas, located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois is one of 77 well-defined Chicago community areas. The neighborhood is named for Stephen A. Douglas, a famous Illinois politician, whose estate included a tract of land given to the federal government...
community area
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
. Also known as the Black Metropolis District, the area is a landmark in African-American history. Following rapid growth during the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
of African-Americans from the south between 1910 and 1920, it became home to numerous African-American owned businesses and cultural institutions and offered an alternative to the race restrictions that were prevalent in the rest of the city. The area was home to author Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968 and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985.-Biography:...
, civil rights activist Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an African American journalist, newspaper editor and, with her husband, newspaper owner Ferdinand L. Barnett, an early leader in the civil rights movement. She documented lynching in the United States, showing how it was often a way to control or punish blacks who...
, bandleader Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, pilot Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and the first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license.-Early life:...
and many other famous African-Americans during the mid-20th century. The nine extant structures from that period were added jointly to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1986 and designated a Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark is a designation of the Mayor of Chicago and the Chicago City Council for historic buildings and other sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artistic, cultural,...
in 1998.
In 1941, the Chicago Housing Authority
Chicago Housing Authority
The Chicago Housing Authority is a municipal corporation established by the State of Illinois in 1937 with jurisdiction for the administrative oversight of public housing within the City of Chicago...
began erecting massive public housing developments in the area. By 1990, the IIT campus was encircled by high-rise housing projects rife with crime. The projects were demolished beginning in the 1999, and the area began to revitalize, with major renovations to King Drive and many of the historic structures and an influx of new, upscale, housing developments. Neighborhood features include U.S. Cellular Field
U.S. Cellular Field
U.S. Cellular Field is a baseball ballpark in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, it is the home of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball's American League. The park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 81 years at old Comiskey Park...
, home of the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
, Burnham Park
Burnham Park (Chicago)
Burnham Park is a public park in Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The park, which lines along six miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, connects Grant Park at 14th st. to Jackson Park at 56th St. The of parkland is owned and managed by Chicago Park District. It was named for urban...
and 31st Street Beach on the Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
waterfront, and historical buildings from the heyday of the Black Metropolis era, including the Chicago Bee Building
Chicago Bee Building
The Chicago Bee was founded by the African American entrepreneur Anthony Overton in 1926 in what was one of Chicago's African American newspaper buildings. This building was Overton's affirmation of his confidence in the viability of the State Street Commercial district...
, the Eighth Regiment Armory
Eighth Regiment Armory (Chicago)
The Eighth Regiment Armory, located in the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District of Chicago, Illinois, was the first armory in the United States built for an African-American military regiment, known as the "Fighting 8th". The building later was used by a division of the Illinois National Guard,...
, and the Overton Hygienic Building
Overton Hygienic Building
The Overton Hygienic Building is a Chicago Landmark and part of the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District in the Douglas community area of Chicago, Illinois. It is located at 3619-3627 State Street....
. The campus is bordered on the west by the Chicago 'L'
Chicago 'L'
The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...
Red Line
Red Line (Chicago Transit Authority)
The northern terminus of the Red Line is Howard Street in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago , on the City Limits farthest north. The Red Line extends southeasterly on an elevated embankment structure about a half-mile west of the lakefront to Touhy Avenue then turns south along Glenwood...
, which runs parallel to Lake Michigan north to Rogers Park and south to 95th street. The Green Line
Green Line (Chicago Transit Authority)
The Green Line is part of the CTA rapid transit system known as the Chicago 'L'. It is the only completely elevated route in the 'L' system. It utilizes the system's oldest segments , extending with 29 stops between Forest Park and Oak Park , through Chicago's Loop, to the South Side and Englewood...
bisects the campus and runs north to the Loop and then west to the near west suburbs and south to the Museum Campus
Museum Campus Chicago
Museum Campus Chicago is a lakefront park in Chicago that surrounds three of the city's most notable museums, all dedicated to the natural sciences: the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Field Museum of Natural History...
and the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
.
Architecture
Michigan Avenue (Chicago)
Michigan Avenue is a major north-south street in Chicago which runs at 100 east south of the Chicago River and at 132 East north of the river from 12628 south to 950 north in the Chicago street address system...
and the Dan Ryan Expressway
Dan Ryan Expressway
The Dan Ryan is an expressway in the city of Chicago that runs from the Circle Interchange with I-290 near downtown Chicago through the South Side of the city. It is designated as both Interstate 94 and Interstate 90 south to 66th Street, a distance of...
, was designed by modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
, "one of the great figures of 20th-century architecture", who chaired the IIT School of Architecture from 1938 to 1958. Van der Rohe's master plan for the IIT campus was one of the most ambitious projects he ever conceived and the campus, with twenty of his works, is the greatest concentration of his buildings in the world. The layout of the campus departs radically from "traditional college quadrangles and limestone buildings". The materials are inspired by the factories and warehouses of Chicago's South Side and "embod[y] 20th century methods and materials: steel and concrete frames with curtain walls of brick and glass." The campus was landscaped by van der Rohe's close colleague at IIT, Alfred Caldwell
Alfred Caldwell
Alfred Caldwell was an American architect best known for his landscape architecture in and around Chicago, Illinois.- Career :* Attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, left before completing a degree....
, "the last representative of the Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
of landscape architects." Known as "the nature poet", Caldwell's plan reinforced van der Rohe's design with "landscaping planted in a free-flowing manner, which in its interaction with the pristine qualities of the architecture, introduce[d] a poetic aspect."
On the west side of Main Campus are three red brick buildings that were original to Armour Institute, built between 1891 and 1901. In 1938, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
began his 20-year tenure as director of IIT's School of Architecture (1938–1959). The university was on the verge of building a brand new campus, to be one of the nation's first federally funded urban renewal projects. Mies was given carte blanche in the large commission, and the university grew fast enough during and after World War II to allow much of the new plan to be realized. From 1943 to 1957, several new Mies buildings rose across campus, including the S.R. Crown Hall
S.R. Crown Hall
S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-born Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
, which houses the architecture school, and was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2001.
Though Mies had emphasized his wish to complete the campus he had begun, commissions from the late 50s onward were given to Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM), prompting Mies to never return to the campus that had changed architecture the world over. SOM architect Walter Netsch
Walter Netsch
Walter Netsch was an American architect based in Chicago. He was most closely associated with the brutalist style of architecture, as well as the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. His signature aesthetic is known as Field Theory and is based on rotating squares into complex shapes...
designed a few buildings, including the new library that Mies had wished to create, all of them similar to Mies's style. By the late 1960s, campus addition projects were given to SOM's Myron Goldsmith
Myron Goldsmith
Myron Goldsmith was an American architect and designer. He was a student of Mies van der Rohe and Pier Luigi Nervi before designing 40 projects at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill from 1955 to 1983. His last 16 years at the firm he was a general partner in its Chicago office...
, who had worked with Mies during his education at IIT and thus was able to design several new buildings to harmonize well with the original campus. In 1976, the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
recognized the campus as one of the 200 most significant works of architecture in the United States. The new campus center
McCormick Tribune Campus Center
The McCormick Tribune Campus Center is a building on the main campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago.-Description:...
, designed by Rem Koolhaas
Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, USA. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural...
, and a new state-of-the-art residence hall designed by Helmut Jahn
Helmut Jahn
Helmut Jahn is a German-American architect, well known for designs such as the US$800 million Sony Center on the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, the Messeturm in Frankfurt and the One Liberty Place, formerly the tallest building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Suvarnabhumi Airport, an international...
, State Street Village, opened in 2003. These were the first new buildings built on the Main Campus in 32 years.
In 1976, American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
named the IIT campus one of the 200 most significant works of architecture in the United States. The IIT Main Campus was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
Sustainability
In 2010, IIT received the Princeton ReviewThe Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
's highest sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
rating among universities in Illinois, tied with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
.
Student life
There are numerous student organizations available on campus, including religious groups, academic groups, and student activity groups.Three of IIT's major student organizations serve the entire student body: the Student Government Association (SGA), the Student Union Board (UB), and TechNews. SGA is the governing student body of IIT and acts as a liaison between the university administration and the student body, serves as a forum to express student opinion, and provides certain services to student organizations such as official recognition and distribution of funds. UB serves as the main event programming group and plans over 180 on and off-campus events for students per year. Since 2005, UB has been particularly active and has increased the frequency of student activities, and is responsible for the emergence of the school spirit and booster group Scarlet Fever; UB it has been active since its founding on November 23, 1938. TechNews is the campus paper and serves as a news outlet for campus interests and as another outlet for student opinion in both a weekly paper edition and online format; it has existed since at least the 1930s.
IIT hosts a campus radio station, WIIT
WIIT
WIIT is a radio station located at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Licensed to Chicago, Illinois, USA, it serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Illinois Institute of Technology....
, with an antenna located atop Main Building and a radio studio in the McCormick Tribune Campus Center. In September 2007, IIT opened a nine-hole disc golf
Disc golf
Disc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc." Of the more than 3000...
course which weaves around the academic buildings on the Main Campus and is the first disc golf course to appear within the Chicago city limits.
In anticipation of the opening of the McCormick Tribune Campus Center
McCormick Tribune Campus Center
The McCormick Tribune Campus Center is a building on the main campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago.-Description:...
, the on-campus pub and bowling alley known as "The Bog" ceased operations in 2003. However, in response to students, faculty, and staff who missed the former campus hangout, the Bog reopened in February 2007 and is now open every Thursday and Friday night offering bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
, billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
, table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
, and video games. The Bog is also home to the campus bar, which serves beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
and wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, and hosts weekly events such as comedians, live bands, or karaoke nights on its stage.
On the sixth floor of Main Building is the IIT Model Railroad Club. Founded in 1948, the club builds and runs an H0 scale model railway layout that occupies much of the floor.
In the fall of 2007, the third generation of a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
groups was formed, The TechTonics, a coed group of students. Within a year the organization expanded and now includes an all-male group, the Crown Joules, and an all-female group, the X-Chromotones. IIT A Cappella performs a variety of shows on campus as well as off campus and in the midwest. They perform shows at the end of each semester which showcase everything they have learned.
The Illinois Institute of Technology Main Campus has an established Greek System, which consists of 7 fraternities and 3 sororities. Fraternities Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
, Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi is an American social fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg, Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty, Jr. on December 10, 1904 at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina...
, Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, . It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service...
, Alpha Sigma Phi
Alpha Sigma Phi
Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity is a social fraternity with 71 active chapters and 9 colonies. Founded at Yale in 1845, it is the 10th oldest fraternity in the United States....
, Phi Kappa Sigma
Phi Kappa Sigma
Phi Kappa Sigma is an international all-male college social fraternity. Its members are known as "Phi Kaps", "Skulls" and sometimes "Skullhouse", the latter two because of the skull and crossbones on the Fraternity's badge and coat of arms. Phi Kappa Sigma was founded by Dr. Samuel Brown Wylie...
, and Triangle
Triangle Fraternity
Triangle Fraternity is a social fraternity, limiting its recruitment of members to male students majoring in engineering, architecture, and the physical, mathematical, biological, and computer sciences...
fraternity and sororities Kappa Phi Delta, and Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Sigma Alpha is a US national sorority founded on November 15, 1901 at the Virginia State Female Normal School in Farmville, Virginia...
have chapter houses. The Omega Delta
Omega Delta
Omega Delta is a multi-cultural social fraternity founded in the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Alpha Chapter was established on January 19, 1997; the organization has since expanded to seven chapters, six campuses in the state of Illinois, and a seventh chapter at...
fraternity and Zeta Pi Omega sorority do not.
Achievements
- Programming team went to 2004 and 2005 world finals.
- American Society of Civil EngineersAmerican Society of Civil EngineersThe American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. It is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. ASCE's vision is to have engineers positioned as global leaders who strive toward...
Steel Bridge Team went to the 2008 National Competition after placing second in the 2008 Great Lakes Regional Competition. - The Formula HybridFormula HybridFormula Hybrid is a design and engineering challenge for undergraduate and graduate college and university students. Started at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, and sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, the competition is a spinoff of the Formula SAE competition...
Team, of the Society of Automotive Engineers and IEEE, placed 3rd overall in the 2008 International Formula Hybrid Competition held in Loudon, New HampshireLoudon, New HampshireLoudon is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,317 at the 2010 census. Loudon is the home of New Hampshire Motor Speedway....
, and placed placed 6th in 2007. - IIT students won the Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
Entrepreneur Idol in 2008 and were finalists in 2009.
Athletics
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...
Division I Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference
The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NAIA. Its 14 members are located in the Midwestern United States...
. The Athletic Department is one of the few IIT departments which uses "Illinois Tech" instead of "IIT", and has done so since the beginning of IIT in 1940. Teams compete in soccer, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
, outdoor track and field and cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
for men, and soccer, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
, outdoor track and field and cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
for women. IIT discontinued its men's and women's basketball program in 2009. Recently, IIT even started a Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
as a part of non-varsity-level sports. Their cricket team competes in Division II of the Midwest Cricket Conference.
Faculty
- Lori AndrewsLori AndrewsLori B. Andrews is a professor of law at Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law; Director of IIT's Institute for Science, Law, and Technology; and in Spring 2002, she was a Visiting Professor at Princeton University. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from Yale College and...
, Distinguished Professor of Law - John F. O. Bilson, Professor of Finance
- Harry Callahan, Professor of photography
- Cosmo CampoliCosmo CampoliCosmo Campoli was a Chicago sculptor, specializing in strong, surreal bird and egg imagery. He was hampered in later years by bipolar disorder.-Exhibits and Career:...
, Professor of sculpture - Michael DavisMichael Davis (philosopher)Michael Davis is a philosopher of law, ethics, and political philosophy, author, and Professor of Philosophy at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and Senior Fellow at IIT's Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions...
, Professor of Philosophy - S. I. HayakawaS. I. HayakawaSamuel Ichiye Hayakawa was a Canadian-born American academic and political figure of Japanese ancestry. He was an English professor, and served as president of San Francisco State University and then as United States Senator from California from 1977 to 1983...
, Professor of English - Fazlur KhanFazlur KhanFazlur Rahman Khan was a Bangladeshi born architect and structural engineer. He is a central figure behind the "Second Chicago School" of architecture, and is regarded as the "Father of tubular design for high-rises"...
, Adjunct Professor of Structural Engineering - Albert Henry KrehbielAlbert Henry KrehbielAlbert Henry Krehbiel , was an American artist who was born in Denmark, Iowa and who taught, lived and worked for many years in Chicago. Although educated as a realist in Paris, which is reflected in his neoclassical mural works, soon developed a strong appreciation for impressionism and is mainly...
, Professor of Art - Leon M. LedermanLeon M. LedermanLeon Max Lederman is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his work with neutrinos. He is Director Emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, USA...
, Professor of Physics (Nobel Laureate, Physics) - Walter McCroneWalter McCroneWalter Cox McCrone was an American chemist who was considered a leading expert in microscopy. To the general public, however, he was best known for his work on the Shroud of Turin, the Vinland map, and Forensic science.-Biography:...
, Professor of Microscopy and Materials Science - Karl MengerKarl MengerKarl Menger was a mathematician. He was the son of the famous economist Carl Menger. He is credited with Menger's theorem. He worked on mathematics of algebras, algebra of geometries, curve and dimension theory, etc...
, Professor of Mathematics - László Moholy-NagyLászló Moholy-NagyLászló Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.-Early life:...
, Professor of Design - Edward ReingoldEdward ReingoldEdward M. Reingold is a computer scientist active in the fields of algorithms, data structures, graph drawing, and calendrical calculations.He has co-authored the standard text on calendrical calculations, Calendrical Calculations, with Nachum Dershowitz...
, Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics - Susan Fromberg SchaefferSusan Fromberg SchaefferSusan Fromberg Schaeffer was a noted novelist and poet who was a Professor of English at Brooklyn College for over thirty years...
, Assistant Professor of English - Tamara Goldman SherTamara SherTamara Goldman Sher, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and Vice President for Research at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She is a leading researcher in the fields of Behavioral Medicine and Couples Therapy...
, Professor of Psychology - Nambury S. RajuNambury S. RajuNambury S. Raju was an American psychology professor known for his work in psychometrics, meta-analysis, and utility theory...
, Professor of Psychology - Ludwig Mies van der RoheLudwig Mies van der RoheLudwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
, Professor of Architecture - Herbert SimonHerbert SimonHerbert Alexander Simon was an American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and psychologist, and professor—most notably at Carnegie Mellon University—whose research ranged across the fields of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, computer science, public administration, economics,...
, Professor of Psychology (Nobel Laureate, Economics) - John Henry Waddell, Professor of Sculpture/Art
Alumni
- John CalamosJohn CalamosJohn P. Calamos, Sr. is an American businessman and a self-made money manager and investor. With an estimated current net worth of around $2.7 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 258th-richest person in the world. He founded Calamos Asset Management in 1977, and won BusinessWeek's best manager...
, Founder of Calamos Asset Management - Marvin CamrasMarvin CamrasMarvin Camras was an electrical engineer and inventor who was widely influential in the field of magnetic recording.Camras built his first recording device, a wire recorder, in the 1930s for a cousin who was an aspiring singer...
, Electrical Engineering, "Father of Magnetic Recording" - Martin Cooper, Electrical Engineering, Inventor of first Mobile Phone with Motorola
- Paul Galvin, Founder of MotorolaMotorolaMotorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
- Munir Ahmad KhanMunir Ahmad KhanMunir Ahmad Khan , HI, was a Pakistani nuclear engineer and a scientist who served as the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission from 1972 to 1991...
, Chairman, Pakistan Atomic Energy CommissionPakistan Atomic Energy CommissionThe Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, , is an administrative governmental and autonomous science and technology governmental department of Pakistan, responsible for development of nuclear energy and development of nuclear power sector in Pakistan...
1972-1991, and IAEA Board of Governors, 1986-87. - Sam PitrodaSam PitrodaSatyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda popularly known as Sam Pitroda is an inventor, entrepreneur and policymaker. Currently Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations, he is also widely considered to have been responsible for India’s communications revolution...
, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India - Kalyan RamKalyan RamNandamuri Kalyan Ram is a Telugu actor and producer. He is one of the grandsons of the late Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, who was an actor, a statesman, founder of the Telugu Desam Party, and the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He is the son of Nandamuri Harikrishna and Lakshmi. He has one...
, Indian actor
See also
- Chicago architectureChicago architectureThe architecture of Chicago has influenced and reflected the history of American architecture. The city of Chicago, Illinois features prominent buildings in a variety of styles by many important architects...
- Center on Nanotechnology and SocietyCenter on Nanotechnology and SocietyThe Center on Nanotechnology and Society is an affiliate of Illinois Institute of Technology and is housed at IIT’s Chicago-Kent College of Law...
- IIT Research InstituteIIT Research InstituteIIT Research Institute is a contract research organization located in Chicago, Illinois. IITRI is an independent corporation that operates in collaboration with its parent entity, the Illinois Institute of Technology ....
(IITRI) - Chicago-Kent College of LawChicago-Kent College of LawChicago–Kent College of Law, the law school affiliated with Illinois Institute of Technology, is nationally recognized for the scholarship and accomplishments of its faculty and student body. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. Many of the applications of technology in the...
- McCormick Tribune Campus CenterMcCormick Tribune Campus CenterThe McCormick Tribune Campus Center is a building on the main campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago.-Description:...