Northern Illinois University

Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system for producing college-educated teachers. In addition to the main campus in DeKalb, it has satellite centers in Chicago, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon, Illinois.

The university is composed of seven degree-granting colleges and has a student body of approximately 16,000 with over 240,000 alumni. NIU is one of only two public universities in Illinois that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the highest levels of all sports, Division I. The university's athletic teams are known as the Huskies and compete in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

History

Northern Illinois University was founded as part of the expansion of the normal school program established in 1857 in Normal, Illinois. In 1895, the state legislature created a board of trustees for the governance of the Northern Illinois State Normal School, which would grow into what is today known as NIU.

In July 1917, the Illinois Senate consolidated the boards of trustees for the five state normal schools (Eastern Illinois State Normal School, Illinois State Normal School, Northern Illinois State Normal School, Southern Illinois State Normal University, and Western Illinois State Normal School) into one state Normal School Board.

Over the next fifty-eight years, the school and the governing board changed their names several times. In 1921, the legislature gave the institution the name Northern Illinois State Teachers College and empowered it to award the four-year Bachelor of Education degree. In 1941, the Normal School Board changed its name to the Teachers College Board. In 1951 the Teachers College Board authorized the college to grant the degree Master of Science in Education, and the institution's Graduate School was established. On July 1, 1955, the state legislature renamed the college Northern Illinois State College and authorized the college to broaden its educational services by offering academic work in areas other than teacher education. The Teachers College Board granted permission for the college to add curricula leading to the degrees Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. On July 1, 1957, the Seventieth General Assembly renamed Northern Illinois State College as Northern Illinois University in recognition of its expanded status as a liberal arts university.

In 1965, the Illinois State Teachers College Board became the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities and was reorganized to include Northeastern University, Governor's State, and Chicago State Universities. In 1967 authority for Northern Illinois University, Illinois State University, and Sangamon State University were passed on to a newly formed board of regents. In 1984, the board created the position of chancellor for the three regent universities to act as a chief executive for all three schools; the first person appointed chancellor was then-NIU President William R. Monat. The board of regents and the chancellor governed the three regency universities until the end of 1995. On January 1, 1996, authority for each of the three regency universities was transferred to three independent boards of trustees, each concerned solely with one university.

On February 14, 2008, the university drew international attention when a gunman opened fire in a crowd of students on campus, killing five students and injuring 17 more people, before fatally shooting himself.

University presidents

13 presidents have served at the university.

* John Williston Cook (1899–1919)
* J. Stanley Brown (1919–1927)
* Joseph Clifton Brown (1927–1929)
* Karl L. Adams (1929–1948)
* Leslie A. Holmes (1949–1967)
* Rhoten A. Smith (1967–1971)
* Richard J. Nelson (1971–1978)
* William R. Monat (1978–1984)
* Clyde Wingfield (1985–1986)
* John E. La Tourette (1986–2000)
* John G. Peters (2000–2013)
* Douglas D. Baker (2013–2017)
* Lisa C. Freeman (2017–present)

Academics

NIU has seven degree-granting colleges that together offer more than 60 undergraduate majors, 70 minors, nine pre-professional programs, and 79 graduate programs, including a College of Law, and 24 areas of study leading to doctoral degrees. Many of NIU's academic programs are nationally accredited for meeting the highest standards of academic quality and rigor, including business, engineering, nursing, visual and performing arts, and all teacher certification programs. New interdisciplinary academic programs in Environmental Studies and Community Leadership and Civic Engagement were established in FY 2012.

Rankings

In 2021, Northern Illinois University was ranked the 97th top college in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNet's Social Mobility Index college rankings. NIU is classified as a "National University" by '' U.S. News & World Report'' and ranked number 177 out of 206 ranked National Universities (75 National Universities were left unranked). The same publication also ranked NIU as 41st best in the country for Public Affairs programs, and within that field, NIU's program in City Management & Urban Policy was ranked 3rd in the nation and the Public Finance & Budgeting program at 12th. ''Forbes'' magazine placed NIU as number 386 on its list of 600 universities in 2021.

Science and research

NIU is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The university is also a member of the Universities Research Association that manages several federal physics laboratories including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. The university is expanding its program in accelerator technology.

Established in 1963, Northern Illinois University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) is currently one of seven federally recognized National Resource Centers (NRC) for Southeast Asian foreign language and area studies. NIU has been awarded the Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships since 1974 and Undergraduate NRC grants since 1997. NIU's CSEAS operates within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and offers an undergraduate minor and a graduate concentration in Southeast Asian studies, enrolling more than 1,500 students each year.

Campus

The main campus sits on 756 acres in DeKalb and includes 64 major buildings. Additional campus sites include, the Lorado Taft Field Campus (144 acres), Rockford Campus (10 acres), and the Naperville Campus (11.2 acres).

One of the most prominent buildings on campus is the castle-like Altgeld Hall. It is one of the five castle-themed buildings built according to the suggestion of Governor John Peter Altgeld. The auditorium in Altgeld Hall, which was designed to also function as a ballroom, was r