HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...
in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the
Chicago Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...
. The second campus established under the
University of Illinois system The University of Illinois System is a system of public universities in Illinois consisting of three universities: Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign. Across its three universities, the University of Illinois System enrolls more than ...
, UIC is also the largest university in the
Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hin ...
, having more than 33,000 students enrolled in 16 colleges. It is
classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...
among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity." The roots of UIC can be traced to the establishment of the Chicago College of Pharmacy in 1859, which was joined in the 1800s by additional medical related schools. It began an undergraduate program toward the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, and developed its West side campus in the 1960s. In 1982, it consolidated the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle and the University of Illinois at the Medical Center into the present university. Today, the university has become a global leader for a number of subjects, such as nursing, pharmacy, communication, education, law, and public administration. UIC competes in
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...
Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...
. The
Credit Union 1 Arena Credit Union 1 Arena (previously known as UIC Pavilion) is a multi-purpose arena located at 525 S. Racine Avenue on the Near West Side in Chicago, Illinois, which opened in 1982. Description and history Credit Union 1 Arena is located on the ca ...
(formerly UIC Pavilion) is the Flames' venue for home basketball games.


History


Beginnings

The University of Illinois Chicago traces its origins to several private health colleges founded during the late 19th century, including the Chicago College of Pharmacy, which opened in 1859, the College of Physicians and Surgeons (1882), and the Columbian College of Dentistry (1893). The
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...
was chartered in 1867 in Champaign-Urbana, as the state's
land-grant university A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Signed by Abraha ...
. In exchange for agreeing to the Champaign-Urbana location, Chicago-area legislators were promised that a "polytechnical" branch would open in Chicago. The Chicago-based health colleges affiliated with the university in 1896–97, becoming fully incorporated into the University of Illinois in 1913, as the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy. Medical education and research expanded in the succeeding decades, leading to the development of several other health science colleges, which were brought together as the Chicago Professional Colleges. In 1935, the first act of newly elected state representative Richard J. Daley was to introduce a resolution calling for the establishment of an undergraduate Chicago campus of the University of Illinois.


Navy Pier campus

As
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
was drawing to a close, Congress passed the G.I. Bill in 1944, which sought to reward veterans for their military service. Among other benefits, it provided educational funding, making college degrees far more attainable to a much-wider selection of the American public. In 1945, Richard J. Daley, who was then a state senator, introduced four bills calling for a university in Chicago. In 1946, realizing that they would be "besieged with applications," University of Illinois officials opened what was to be a temporary branch campus called the Chicago Undergraduate Division (CUD) on
Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of parks, gardens, shops, restaurants, family ...
. The campus was not a junior college, but rather had a curriculum based on Urbana's courses, and students who successfully completed the first two years' requirements could go on to Urbana and finish their degree. Classes at the CUD campus began in October 1946, and approximately 4,000 students enrolled each semester.Navy Pier Campus History
. ''Office of the UIC Historian'' Retrieved on November 16, 2007.

. ''Office of the UIC Historian'' Retrieved on November 16, 2007.
Nicknamed "
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
on the rocks," three-quarters of its students were veterans on the G.I. Bill, many of whom were immigrants and most of whom worked other part-time jobs to support themselves. It also accommodated first-generation college students from working families who commuted from home. (Navy Pier makes an appearance in Robert Pirsig's '' Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance''; its protagonist taught freshman English there.) Due to high demand for a public university education in Chicago, the university made plans to create a permanent degree-granting campus in Chicago. Students at CUD needed to transfer after two years to a more expensive private college in Chicago or go to the main campus in Champaign—Urbana, where there were fewer job opportunities.


Congress Circle campus

Daley succeeded in getting the state senate in 1951 to pass a bill calling for a Chicago campus. Daley then became mayor of Chicago in 1955 and pressed the University of Illinois to upgrade the Chicago Undergraduate Center to a full-fledged four-year institution. After a long and controversial site decision process,Permanent Campus Site Selection, 1958–1963
. ''Office of the UIC Historian'' Retrieved on November 16, 2007.
in 1961, Mayor Daley offered the Harrison and Halsted Streets site for the new campus.Chicago Circle Campus Construction
. ''Office of the UIC Historian'' Retrieved on November 16, 2007.
In December 1961, the final decision to establish a four-year university in Chicago was made. In that same year, the Chicago Professional Colleges became the University of Illinois at the Medical Center (UIMC).https://findingaids.library.uic.edu/sc/MSScal90.xml Florence Scala led the fight against Mayor Richard J. Daley's plan to demolish her Italian-American neighborhood to construct the campus. In 1963, the trustees of
Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Ch ...
accepted an offer of $875,000 for the settlement building.
Jessie Binford Jessie Florence Binford (1876 Marshalltown, Iowa-1966), aka “the conscience of Chicago”, was a social worker who worked closely with Jane Addams at Hull House. Binford was the founder and executive director of the Juvenile Protective Associatio ...
and Scala took the case to the Supreme Court. Scala led marches and staged a sit-in at City Hall to protest the construction. Lawsuits filed by her and others dogged Daley’s construction plans for almost two years. The struggle officially ended in 1963, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal brought by neighborhood activists and the settlement was closed on March 28, 1963. During the construction of the 100-acre (0.40 km2) UIC campus, 200 businesses and 800 homes were bulldozed in Little Italy, with 5,000 residents displaced. In 1963, construction began on the university's new Chicago campus at Harrison and Halsted Streets near
Greektown, Chicago Greektown is a social and dining district, located on the Near West Side of the United States' city of Chicago, Illinois. Today, Greektown consists mostly of restaurants and businesses, although a cultural museum and an annual parade and festival ...
. In February 1965, the new Chicago campus opened and was named the University of Illinois at Congress Circle (UICC) referencing the nearby
Circle Interchange The Jane Byrne Interchange (until 2014, Circle Interchange) is a major freeway interchange near downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is the junction between the Dan Ryan, Kennedy and Eisenhower Expressways ( I-90/ I-94 and I-290), and Ida B. Wells ...
of
I-290 Interstate 290 may refer to the following Interstate Highways in the United States: *Interstate 290 (Illinois), a highway from Chicago, Illinois, to Rolling Meadows, Illinois * Interstate 290 (Massachusetts), a highway in Massachusetts that connects ...
and
I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, an ...
/ I-94).Circle Campus: 1965–1982
. ''Office of the UIC Historian'' Retrieved on November 16, 2007.
Shortly before opening, the Congress Expressway was renamed the Eisenhower Expressway and the campus was renamed to University of Illinois at Chicago Circle (UICC). UICC was designed in the
brutalist style Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...
by
Walter Netsch Walter A. Netsch (February 23, 1920 – June 15, 2008) was an American architect based in Chicago. He was most closely associated with the brutalist style of architecture as well as with the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. His signature aest ...
of
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The fir ...
, a Chicago-based architectural firm responsible for many of today's tallest skyscrapers. Unlike the CUD campus, Circle was a degree-granting institution. Within five years of the campus' opening, in addition to undergraduate degrees, virtually every department offered graduate degrees.


Consolidation

In September 1982, the University of Illinois system consolidated UICC and UIMC to form the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).Circle Campus: 1965–1982
. ''Office of the UIC Historian'' Retrieved on November 16, 2007.
In 2000, UIC began developing the south campus. The expansion of UIC south of Roosevelt Road increased on-campus living space and research facilities.
. "UIAA Alumni Magazine" Retrieved on July 31, 2009.
In 2019, the John Marshall Law School (founded in 1899) became affiliated with the university.


Academics

One in ten Chicagoans with a college degree is a UIC alumnus. Approximately one in eight Illinois physicians is a graduate of the UIC College of Medicine (the nation's largest medical school). One in three Illinois pharmacists is a graduate of the College of Pharmacy. Half of all the dentists in Illinois are graduates of UIC's College of Dentistry.


Organization

The University of Illinois Chicago offers 86 bachelor's degrees, 111 master's degrees, and 66
doctoral degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
through its 16 colleges, in addition to the university's specialized Honors College (for undergraduates) and the omnibus Graduate College (for graduate students). UIC offers eleven inter-college programs, some of which are organized as centers: Cancer Center, Center for Structural Biology, Neuroscience program, Council for Teacher Education, Graduate Education in Medical Sciences, Guaranteed Professional Programs Admissions program, Moving Image Arts program, National Center of Excellence in Women's Health, Office of International Affairs, Study Abroad Office, and the Office of Special Scholarship Programs. The university is governed by the chancellor who is supported by seven vice chancellors, one CEO for administrative functions, and fifteen college deans. There is a library dean and three regional deans for colleges of medicine. The Undergraduate Division was regarded as an offsite department of the main campus in Urbana-Champaign. As such, it was first headed by a dean (1946-1957), then an executive dean (1957-1960), then a vice president in charge (1960-1966) who reported to U of I's president. When the Chicago Circle campus, UIC's direct ancestor, opened in 1967, its chief executive was given the title of chancellor. At the same time, day-to-day leadership of the Urbana-Champaign campus was transferred to a chancellor as well, and both reported on an equal basis to the president.


Demographics

The student body at UIC consists of more than 30,000 total students, of which nearly 21,000 are undergraduate students. Demographic statistics for the student body were: The chancellor operates six diversity-related committees on
Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...
, Blacks,
Latinos Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...
,
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
issues, persons with
disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
, and women. The University of Illinois Chicago is a federally designated
Hispanic-serving institution A Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) is defined in federal law as an accredited, degree-granting, public or private nonprofit institution of higher education with 25% or more total undergraduate Hispanic or Latino full-time equivalent (FTE) stud ...
(HSI) and is among the most ethnically diverse universities in the United States.


Rankings and statistics


Overall

In the 2022 U.S. News & World Report's ranking of colleges and universities, the University of Illinois Chicago ranked as the 46th best
national university A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...
and the 52nd best national
public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universi ...
. In the 2018
Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alternat ...
ranking of national universities, UIC ranked as the 26th best
national university A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...
in the U.S. In 2014–15,
Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...
placed UIC in the 150–200 bracket in the world and 68–85 in the U.S. In 2016–17, the
Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
World University Rankings placed UIC 63rd in the U.S. and 200th in the world. In 2014,
Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
100 Under 50 University Rankings (a comparison of universities less than 50 years old) placed UIC in the 3rd position in the U.S. and 13th in the world. The 2014/15 QS Worldwide University rankings placed UIC in the 186th position. Forbes ranked the University of Illinois Chicago 361st out of 650 universities in "America's Top Colleges 2014".


Research

UIC is
classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...
among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity." According to the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
, UIC spent $361 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 69th in the nation.


Subject areas – program-specific

In the 2012 rankings by the Institute of Higher Education in Shanghai, UIC tied for 51st–75th in the subject area of social sciences, 76th–100th in the subject area of medicine, and 101st–150th in the subject areas of life/agricultural sciences and natural sciences and mathematics. In '' U.S. News & World Report's'' 2015 rankings, published in 2014, the University of Illinois Chicago
Liautaud Graduate School of Business The UIC Liautaud Graduate School of Business is the graduate business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to ...
was ranked 92nd for among best business schools for its full-time MBA program. Many programs ranked in the top 50 overall graduate program rankings by U.S. News & World Report in 2013 (released in 2012) including: Clinical Psychology (42) Criminology (19), Education (38), English (41), Fine Arts (45), History (36), Mathematics (36), Nursing (11), Occupational Therapy (4), Pharmacy (14), Physical Therapy (16), Public Affairs (37), Public Health (16), Social Work (24), and Sociology (41). The June 2007 issue of the Communications of Association for Computing Machinery published a ranking of graduate computer science programs based on recent scholarly publications. That list ranked UIC 34th, tied with
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
, among the top 50 U.S. graduate programs.
The Princeton Review The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4 ...
and
Entrepreneur magazine ''Entrepreneur'' is an American magazine and website that carries news stories about entrepreneurship, small business management, and business. The magazine was first published in 1977. It is published by ''Entrepreneur Media Inc''., headquart ...
's survey of more than 700 American schools ranked UIC's entrepreneurship program 9th (undergraduate) and 12th (graduate). In 2008 '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked UIC's undergraduate business program 58th and the undergraduate engineering program 57th in the United States. ''U.S. News & World Report'' also ranked UIC's part-time MBA 24th out of over 300 programs nationally and the graduate finance program 19th; undergraduate program rankings were accounting (28th) and finance (17th in 2010). In 2010 Princeton Review ranked UIC in the top 50 undergraduate game design programs of 700 universities in the US and Canada. Criteria included the quality of the curriculum, faculty, facilities and infrastructure. The Princeton Review also looked at data on scholarships, financial aid and career opportunities. UIC merged with the John Marshall Law School in 2019 and formally became the UIC John Marshall Law School. It is the first public law school in the city of Chicago and an addition long overdue for the university striving to broaden the availability of a public law school in the city. John Marshall students officially became UIC students and are entitled to the accessibility to the same resources as all UIC Students. In May 2021, the UI Trustees voted to officially rename UIC John Marshall Law School as UIC School of Law in July 2021, citing John Marshall's “role as a slave trader, slave owner of hundreds of slaves, pro-slavery jurisprudence, and racist views”.


Campus

UIC is Chicago's largest university with more than 33,000 students, 12,000 employees, 16 colleges and the state's major public medical center. The East Campus was designed in the
brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
style by
Walter Netsch Walter A. Netsch (February 23, 1920 – June 15, 2008) was an American architect based in Chicago. He was most closely associated with the brutalist style of architecture as well as with the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. His signature aest ...
. The plan included second-story walkways that connected all of the buildings. Some of the later buildings in Netsch's design were not rectilinear (the Behavioral Sciences Building) and even irregularly shaped (Science and Engineering South, and the never-completed Art & Architecture building). These demonstrated his idea of "field theory": designs which used squares and rotations of squares superimposed on one another. While the buildings are largely intact, the walkways were taken down in phases during the early 1990s to make the campus more welcoming. Considerable effort has been expended to modify the original Netsch campus plan to create the feel of a traditional college campus. For example, the area in front of the main administration building, University Hall, has been the site of several renovations in the last decade; and,
Credit Union 1 Arena Credit Union 1 Arena (previously known as UIC Pavilion) is a multi-purpose arena located at 525 S. Racine Avenue on the Near West Side in Chicago, Illinois, which opened in 1982. Description and history Credit Union 1 Arena is located on the ca ...
(formerly the UIC Pavilion, a sports arena) was added in 1982. The East Campus is located on the Near West Side, just south of
Greektown Greektown is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Greeks or people of Greek ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. History The oldest Greek dominated neighborhood outside of Greece were probably the Fener in Istanb ...
and a 15-minute walk from
downtown Chicago ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...
. The juxtaposition of campus and commercial density was a direct result of large-scale urban renewal led by Mayor Richard J. Daley. The West Campus, also on the Near West Side, is much older and includes some buildings built in the
collegiate gothic Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...
style. The colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry, Applied Health Sciences and Public Health, as well as the Library of the Health Sciences are all located on the West Campus. The West Campus is in the heart of the
Illinois Medical District The Illinois Medical District (IMD) is a special-use zoning district two miles west of the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. The Illinois Medical District consists of 560 acres of medical research facilities, labs, a biotechnology business incubator ...
where the
University of Illinois Medical Center The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System is a member of the Illinois Medical District, one of the largest urban healthcare, educational, research, and technology districts in the USA. The University of Illinois Hospital & Hea ...
is located. The
Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , ...
's Blue Line, part of the
Chicago 'L' (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, runs through the median of the
Eisenhower Expressway Interstate 290 (I-290) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that runs westward from the Chicago Loop. The portion of I-290 from I-294 to its east end is officially called the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway. In short form, it is known as "t ...
along the north side of the campus. Three Blue Line stations are close to the university: UIC-Halsted,
Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...
, and
Illinois Medical District The Illinois Medical District (IMD) is a special-use zoning district two miles west of the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. The Illinois Medical District consists of 560 acres of medical research facilities, labs, a biotechnology business incubator ...
. The Pink Line serves UIC's west campus on Polk Street and runs directly to
Ogilvie Transportation Center The Richard B. Ogilvie Transportation Center (; formerly Chicago and North Western Terminal) is a commuter rail terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is the terminus for the three commuter rail lines of Metra's Union Pacific District to Chica ...
.


Student housing

UIC offers nine residence halls for its students. The East Campus contains four residence halls, the South Campus contains three, and the West Campus contains three. Until the South Campus expansion, UIC students were still predominantly commuters. However, the administration has worked to change the campus to one where most students are residential. Nearly 6,000 students live within one-and-a-half miles of campus. 3,800 students, including over half of all freshmen, live in UIC's nine residence halls. There are also thousands of apartments within walking distance to classes. On the East Campus, Commons West and Commons South are traditional halls with double rooms opening into a common hallway; each floor shares a common bathroom. Courtyard and Commons North are cluster-style buildings with rooms grouped to share a small private bathroom. These four buildings are connected to the Student Center East which houses a cafeteria, the campus bookstore, a convenience store, bowling/billiards, a barber shop, and the Inner Circle (an assortment of fast food restaurants). West Campus housing is composed of the Single Student Residence (SSR, apartments for graduate students) and Polk Street Residence (cluster style rooms). South Campus is home to Marie Robinson Hall and Thomas Beckham Hall, both apartment style buildings. In the fall of 2007, James Stukel Towers opened containing suite style rooms with a bathroom and living room. In keeping with UIC culture, students often refer to residence halls by abbreviations instead of their full names (e.g. "TBH" instead of "Thomas Beckham Hall"). The main purpose of the SSR is to house graduate students, undergraduate students of the ages 24 and older, and professional students. The third and fourth floors house undergraduate students of the ages of 21 through 23. The nursing house is located on the 16th floor. The fifth floor of the SSR has a pilot program for students with families. The program can house up to 15 families.Family Housing
." University of Illinois Chicago. Retrieved on October 2, 2011. "Building Address Single Student Residence (SSR) 809 S. Damen Avenue Chicago, IL 60612"
Residents of the family program are zoned to
Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. ...
. Families living in the SSR are assigned to Washington Irving Elementary School and Crane High School. The brand new Academic and Residential Complex, ARC, was opened in response to the ongoing enrollment increase at the university. The building consists of large lecture halls, smaller discussion section classrooms, meeting rooms, and student housing. The building also has a small gym for student occupants and a
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...
.


Student recreation

The UIC Student Recreation Facility (SRF) is a recreational complex for UIC students. Opened in spring 2006, the SRF features a three-story
climbing wall A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used i ...
, multipurpose courts for games, and a pool with adjoining lazy river. There is also a recreational facility on the west side of the campus. The Sport and Fitness Center, SFC, comprises a fitness floor, Olympic pool, steam room, multipurpose courts, and racquetball courts. UIC Campus Recreation also oversees the Outdoor Field Complex, OFC, on the south side of campus. This outdoor complex comprises two large multipurpose fields. Campus Recreation hosts a variety of programs that promotes the wellness and well-being of students throughout the academic year. Such events includes RecFest, Destress fest, and many more.


Medical center and College of Medicine

The University of Illinois College of Medicine offers a four-year program leading to the MD degree at four different sites in Illinois: Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, and Urbana-Champaign. UIC is a major part of the
Illinois Medical District The Illinois Medical District (IMD) is a special-use zoning district two miles west of the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. The Illinois Medical District consists of 560 acres of medical research facilities, labs, a biotechnology business incubator ...
(IMD). While IMD's billing itself "the nation's largest urban medical district" may be up for debate, the district is a major economic force contributing $3.3 billion to the local economy and supporting 50,000 jobs. In popular culture, UIC College of Medicine was the Medical School affiliated with Cook County Hospital in the television series E.R.


Campus renovations

After the major $550 million South Campus expansion, the university began renovating existing facilities on campus. This focus is in part due to a constrained state budget: state funds for new buildings are scarce. Since renovation is less costly, this approach is being used to update facilities. The first such renovations were to three original "pillbox" buildings: Grant Hall, Lincoln Hall, and Douglas Hall. The renovated buildings use solar and geothermal power which required digging fifty wells 500 feet into the ground east of University Hall. The energy savings of 20–25% led to Lincoln Hall and Douglas Hall being certified US
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
Gold. Grant Hall did not apply for LEED certification even though it was the prototype for many of the features found on Lincoln and Douglas Halls. The new fascia are all glass and the buildings contain facilities for faculty and students. There are plans to expand the renovation project to every lecture hall cluster if the pilot program is successful. Other campus renovations include the roof of the Behavioral Sciences Building and the terrace of the Education, Performing Arts, and Social Work building. A brand new building housing the College of Engineering was opened in 2019 to accommodate the increased enrollment in the college. It features the only high bay structural laboratory in the city of Chicago. To accommodate the rising enrollment in the computer science department, a new building is being constructed called the Computer Design Research and Learning Center (CDRLC); it is slated to be completed in the summer of 2023, with a budget of $117.8 million.


Sustainability

The university's Office of Sustainability was founded in January 2008. Current sustainability initiatives include lighting upgrades, building envelope improvements, metering upgrades, and landscape waste composting. Recent work on Grant, Lincoln, and Douglas Halls included upgrading them to use geothermal heat pumps, which efficiently heat and cool the building. The university has approved a Climate Action Plan.


Athletics

The Illinois–Chicago (UIC) athletic teams are called the Flames. The university is a member of the Division I level of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA), primarily competing in the
Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...
(MVC) since the 2022–23 academic year. The Flames previously competed in the D-I
Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Mi ...
from 1994–95 to 2021–22; in the D-I
Mid-Continent Conference The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...
(Mid-Con, now currently known as the Summit League since the 2007–08 school year) from 1982–83 to 1993–94; as an NCAA D-I Independent during the 1981–82 school year; and in the
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Its 14 members are located in the Midwestern United States. In many sports, the ...
(CCAC) of the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...
(NAIA) from 1949–50 to about 1980–81. UIC competes in 18 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis and track & field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.


Nickname

UIC's team name is the Flames, a reference to the
Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 1 ...
which started a few blocks east of campus. The mascot is Sparky D. Dragon.


Men's soccer

In September 2006, the men's soccer team earned its highest ranking in school history when the SoccerTimes.com College Coaches Poll pegged the Flames at No. 6 in the country. In November 2006, UIC defeated Western Illinois 3–0 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament before falling in the second round to Notre Dame 1–0. UIC finished the 2006 season as the nation's best defensive squad after allowing a mere eight goals in over 1993 minutes of play during 21 matches for a goals-against average (GAA) of 0.36. The GAA was tops in the nation in 2006 and it also ranked fifth all-time in NCAA history. UIC posted 13 shutouts and never allowed more than a single goal in a match. UIC also allowed just two goals after intermission the entire season. Along with the GAA mark, UIC posted the nation's best save percentage with a 0.908 rate. In 2007, UIC soccer's successful season culminated in an Elite-Eight appearance in the NCAA tournament by way of wins over No. 12 St. Louis, Northwestern, and No. 8 Creighton. In a bid for a Final-Four appearance, UIC fell to Massachusetts 2–1. At season's end, UIC had a record of 13–6–6 and was named a top 10 team by the
National Soccer Coaches Association of America The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 3 ...
(NSCAA).


Baseball

UIC's baseball team recorded 30 or more victories in a nine-year stretch from 2001 to 2010, won seven straight Horizon League Championships, and advanced to an NCAA regional four times (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008). UIC baseball has recorded regional wins against No. 1 Long Beach State in 2007 and No. 2 Dallas Baptist University in 2008.


Gymnastics

In 1978 and 1979 the UIC men's gymnastics team won the school's only NCAA team titles at the Division II Championships. Following the 1979 season the men's gymnastics program entered Division I competition and finished the season ranked 10th, Nationally. After the successful 1980 season the remainder of the UIC athletic teams ascended to Division I status. The 1996 men's gymnastics team finished the season in 9th place, the school's highest final ranking. UIC Men's Gymnastics individual Division I All America honorees include: Paul Fina (Rings), Mike Costa (Pommel Horse, twice), Barry McDonald (Parallel Bars), Shannon Welker (Floor Exercise), Neil Faustino (Vault), and Andrew Stover (Horizontal Bar).


Student life

The university is located near the neighborhoods of Taylor Street, Greektown and Pilsen, with restaurants, and bars nearby. Downtown Chicago is a 10-minute walk or a short CTA ride away. UIC has a wide variety of amenities in its Student Centers. There are two on campus, one on the east side and one on the west side. Student Center East, SCE, is the hub to all student life on the east side of campus. The three story building comprises the following amenities and services: UIC Student Center West, SCW, also consists of various amenities to the students on the west side of campus, while smaller their services include: UIC has 200 student organizations, sports clubs, volunteer groups, Greek fraternities and sororities, and other associations, which include: UIC's monthly/weekly events: * Friday Night Live UIC's once-a-semester/year events:


Spark in the Park

Spark in the Park is an annual music festival that is held on Harrison field, off Halsted and Harrison, except in 2014 and 2015, when it was held in the UIC Pavilion due to construction on the Eisehower Expressway Interstate 290. It is held during the second week of classes in the fall. The first year it was held was in 2010 where
Kid Cudi Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cudi would move to New Y ...
was the headliner, followed by
Lupe Fiasco Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, '' Lupe Fiasco's ...
in 2011,
Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glov ...
in 2012,
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...
in 2013, and
J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...
in 2014. In 2015
Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots (stylized in all lowercase or as twenty øne piløts) are an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who ...
were the headliners and also featured Wale. In 2016, rapper
Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...
was the opening act followed by a performance by both Daya and Travis Scott. In 2017,
Nick Jonas Nicholas Jerry Jonas (born September 16, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. Jonas began acting on Broadway at the age of seven, and released his debut single in 2002; this caught the attention of Columbia Records, where Jonas ...
performed along with DRAM. In 2018 rapper
Rich The Kid Dimitri Leslie Roger (born July 13, 1992), professionally known as Rich the Kid, is an American rapper. He released his debut studio album, '' The World Is Yours'', on March 30, 2018. His second studio album, '' The World Is Yours 2'', was relea ...
headlined the show, and in 2019
21 Savage Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is a rapper based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Born in London, he moved to Atlanta with his mother at age seven. He became known after releasing two m ...
performed at the event.


Greek life

Greek letter social organizations at the University of Illinois Chicago create smaller communities within the larger University environment for the purposes of facilitating growth in the areas of scholarship, personal and leadership development, campus involvement and community service. The creeds and rituals that guide the individual organizations are based on values and ethics that foster the highest ideals and behavior. Fraternal organizations have been a core component of the campus community since the 1970s. Currently there are 27 social fraternities and sororities, including both general and culturally based organizations.


Fraternities

*
Alpha Epsilon Pi Alpha Epsilon Pi (), commonly known as AEPi, is a college fraternity founded at New York University in 1913 by Charles C. Moskowitz and ten other men. The fraternity has more than 150 active chapters across the United States, Canada, United K ...
*
Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...
* Chi Sigma Tau *
Delta Epsilon Psi Delta Epsilon Psi () is a South Asian interest social and service fraternity located in the United States. Delta Epsilon Psi Fraternity, Inc. was founded on at the University of Texas at Austin. The main archive URL iThe Baird's Manual Online A ...
*
Iota Phi Theta Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland, and is currently the 5th largest Black Greek ...
* Kappa Pi Beta *
Lambda Theta Phi Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc. () is a Latino non-profit social fraternity in the United States. It was founded on December 1, 1975, at Kean College in Union, New Jersey. It emphasizes Latin unity and the celebration of the Latin cultu ...
*
Lambda Sigma Upsilon Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, Inc. () ("L-S-U" or "Upsilons") is an intercollegiate Latino oriented Greek lettered fraternity, founded on April 5, 1979 at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. Lambda Sigma Upsilon has 81 undergraduate ...
* Omega Delta * Omega Delta Phi *
Phi Beta Sigma Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young Afr ...
*
Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...
*
Sigma Alpha Mu Sigma Alpha Mu (), commonly known as Sammy, is a college fraternity founded at the City College of New York in 1909. Though initially founded as a Jewish organization, the fraternity dropped its religious affiliation and became open to men of a ...
*
Sigma Lambda Beta Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Incorporated () (known as Betas, Lambda Betas or SLB) is a historically Latino based fraternity in the United States, now expanded to include a multicultural membership. Founded in 1986 at the Univers ...
* Tau Kappa Beta * Tau Phi Sigma *
Theta Lambda Beta Theta (, ; uppercase: Θ or ; lowercase: θ or ; grc, ''thē̂ta'' ; Modern: ''thī́ta'' ) is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter Teth . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 9. Gr ...
*
Theta Xi Theta Xi () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on April 29, 1864. Of all the social fraternities today, Theta Xi was the only one founded during the Civil War. Its ...


Sororities

*
Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen s ...
* alpha Kappa Delta Phi * Alpha Phi Gamma *
Alpha Sigma Tau Alpha Sigma Tau (known as or Alpha Tau) is a national sorority founded on November 4, 1899, at Eastern Michigan University (formerly Michigan State Normal College). A member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the sorority has 83 active col ...
* Chi Sigma Omega *
Delta Kappa Delta Delta Kappa Delta (Also known as B.E.T.I.S., , and DKD) is a United States-based college sorority. Delta Kappa Delta is a cultural interest sorority oriented towards South Asian culture. It was founded at Texas A&M University in 1999. It is a ...
*
Delta Phi Epsilon Delta Phi Epsilon () may refer to: *Delta Phi Epsilon (professional), the professional foreign service fraternity and sorority *Delta Phi Epsilon (social) Delta Phi Epsilon ( or DPhiE) is an international Fraternities and sororities in North Ame ...
*
Delta Phi Omega Delta Phi Omega (commonly referred to as DPO, or ) is a nationally-based, South Asian-interest, multicultural sorority in the United States, with over 2,600 sisters in twenty-five chapters and twenty-six colonies across the nation. It is categor ...
*
Delta Xi Phi Delta Xi Phi () is a national multicultural sorority that was founded at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by fifteen women on April 20, 1994. The sorority welcomes women from all ethnic, cultural, religious and socio-economic backgr ...
* Gamma Phi Omega * Lambda Zeta Chi *
Lambda Theta Alpha Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. () is a Latina-based sorority, established in 1975 at Kean University by seventeen women of Latin, Caribbean, and European descent as a support system for women in higher education. According to their websit ...
*
Phi Sigma Sigma Phi Sigma Sigma (), colloquially known as Phi Sig, was the first collegiate nonsectarian sorority to allow membership of women of all faiths and backgrounds. The sorority was founded on November 26, 1913, and lists 60,000 initiated members, 115 ...
*
Sigma Gamma Rho Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority, international collegiate, and non-profit community service organization that was founded on November 12, 1922, by seven educators on the Irvington campus (1875– ...
*
Sigma Lambda Gamma Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Incorporated () (also known as Gammas or SLG) is a national sorority. It was founded on April 9, 1990, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, by five collegiate women who wanted an organization to em ...


Co-ed fraternities

*
Alpha Psi Lambda Alpha Psi Lambda National, Inc. (), is a co-educational, Latino-oriented fraternity which began in 1985 at Ohio State University. It is the first co-ed fraternity for Latino college students in the United States. Today the Fraternity has more ...
*
Alpha Phi Omega Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a coeducational service fraternity. It is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of over 25, ...
* Omega Phi Alpha Psi *
Alpha Kappa Psi Alpha Kappa Psi (, often stylized as AKPsi) is the oldest and largest business fraternity to current date. Also known as "AKPsi", the fraternity was founded on October 5, 1904, at New York University and was incorporated on May 20, 1905. It is c ...
* Delta Psi Alpha * Delta Epsilon Mu


Student media

* 234 Magazine – Student-run Art and Culture publication * Chicago Flame (Pier Illini/Chicago Illini) – A former independent weekly newspaper * the Argus – A former independent weekly newspaper and media site * UIC Radio – An internet based radio station * Red Shoes Review – A review literary and art magazine * Journal for Pre-Health Affiliated Students (JPHAS)- A student-run medical journal * UIC ONEWORLD – A journal focusing on social justice issues * UIC Today – A former daily newspaper * Housing Cable – TV closed-circuit cable station * UIC Portfolio Management Team - Investment Management


Notable alumni and faculty


See also

* CASTp


References


External links

* *
Official athletics website
{{authority control Universities and colleges in Chicago West Side, Chicago Educational institutions established in 1859 1859 establishments in Illinois Public universities and colleges in Illinois
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...