Northwestern University And University of Chicago

Northwestern University is a private research university with campuses in Evanston and Chicago in Illinois, United States. Northwestern has 12 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees(Dell 1691P battery).

Northwestern was founded in 1851 by John Evans, for whom Evanston is named, and eight other lawyers, businessmen and Methodist leaders to serve the people of a region that had once been known as the Northwest Territory. Instruction began in 1855; women were admitted in 1869. Today, the main campus is a 240-acre (97 ha) parcel in Evanston(Dell 310-6321 battery), along the shores of Lake Michigan. The university's law and medical schools are located on a 25-acre (10 ha) campus in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. In 2008, the University opened a campus in Education City, Doha, Qatar with programs in journalism and communication. In academic year 2010-11, Northwestern enrolled 8,397 undergraduate and 7,870 graduate and professional students. (Dell 312-0068 battery)

Northwestern has one of the largest university endowments in the United States, currently valued at $7.2 billion.[1] One of only 62 institutions elected to the Association of American Universities (1917), Northwestern was awarded more than $500 million in research grants in 2010–2011, placing it in the first tier of the major research universities in the United States by the Center for Measuring University Performance. (Dell 312-0078 battery)Its schools of management, engineering, and communication, for example, are among the most academically productive in the nation.[9] Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and remains the only private university in the conference. The Northwestern Wildcats compete in 19 intercollegiate sports in the NCAA's Division I(Dell 312-0079 battery).

History

Main article: History of Northwestern University

The foundation of Northwestern University is traceable to a meeting on May 31, 1850 of nine prominent Chicago businessmen, Methodist leaders and attorneys who had formed the idea of establishing a university to serve what had once been known as the Northwest Territory. On January 28, 1851, the Illinois General Assembly granted a charter to the Trustees of the North-Western University, making it the first chartered university in Illinois. (Dell 312-0305 battery) The school’s nine founders, all of whom were Methodists (three of them ministers), knelt in prayer and worship before launching their first organizational meeting.[12] Although they affiliated the university with the Methodist Episcopal Church, they were committed to non-sectarian admissions, believing that Northwestern should serve all people in the newly developing territory(Dell 312-0326 battery).

John Evans, for whom Evanston is named, bought 379 acres (153 ha) of land along Lake Michigan in 1853, and Philo Judson developed plans for what would become the city of Evanston. The first building, Old College, opened on November 5, 1855.[14] To raise funds for construction, Northwestern sold $100 "perpetual scholarships" entitling the purchaser and his heirs to free tuition(Dell 312-0518 battery). In 1873 the Evanston College for Ladies merged with Northwestern, and Frances Willard, who later gained fame as a suffragette and as one of the founders of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), became the school's first dean of women. Northwestern admitted its first women students in 1869, and the first woman was graduated in 1874.[17] Willard Residential College (1938) is named in her honor(Dell 312-0566 battery).

Northwestern fielded its first intercollegiate football team in 1882, later becoming a founding member of the Big Ten Conference. In the 1870s and 1880s, Northwestern affiliated itself with already existing schools of law, medicine, and dentistry in Chicago. As the university increased in wealth and distinction(Dell 312-0585 battery), and enrollments grew, these professional schools were integrated with the undergraduate college in Evanston; the result was a modern research university combining professional, graduate, and undergraduate programs, which gave equal weight to teaching and research. The Association of American Universities invited Northwestern to become a member in 1917(Dell 312-0831 battery).

Deering Library (1933)

Under Walter Dill Scott's presidency from 1920 to 1939, Northwestern began construction of an integrated campus in Chicago designed by James Gamble Rogers to house the professional schools; established the Kellogg School of Management; and built several prominent buildings on the Evanston campus, Dyche Stadium (now named Ryan Field) and Deering Library among others(Dell BAT30WL battery). In 1933, a proposal to merge Northwestern with the University of Chicago was considered but rejected. Northwestern played host to the first-ever NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship game in 1939 in the original Patten Gymnasium, later demolished and relocated farther north to make room for the Technological Institute.

University Hall (1869), the second building constructed on campus, and the oldest building still standing(Dell D6400 battery).

Like other American research universities, Northwestern was transformed by World War II. Franklyn B. Snyder led the university from 1939 to 1949, when nearly 50,000 military officers and personnel were trained on the Evanston and Chicago campuses. After the war, surging enrollments under the G.I. Bill drove drastic expansion of both campuses(Dell N3010 battery). In 1948 prominent anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits founded the Program of African Studies at Northwestern, the first center of its kind at an American academic institution.[22] J. Roscoe Miller's tenure as president from 1949–1970 was responsible for the expansion of the Evanston campus, with the construction of the lakefill on Lake Michigan(Dell Inspiron N4010 battery), growth of the faculty and new academic programs, as well as polarizing Vietnam-era student protests. In 1978, the first and second Unabomber attacks occurred at Northwestern University.[23] Relations between Evanston and Northwestern were strained throughout much of the post-war era because of episodes of disruptive student activism(Dell INSPIRON 1100 battery), disputes over municipal zoning, building codes, and law enforcement,[25] as well as restrictions on the sale of alcohol near campus until 1972. Northwestern's exemption from state and municipal property tax obligations under its original charter has historically been a source of town and gown tension(Dell Inspiron 1200 battery).

Though government support for universities declined in the 1970s and 1980s, President Arnold R. Weber was able to stabilize university finances, leading to a revitalization of the campuses. As admissions to colleges and universities grew increasingly competitive in the 1990s and 2000s, President Henry S. Bienen's tenure saw a notable increase in the number and quality of undergraduate applicants, continued expansion of the facilities and faculty(Dell Inspiron 1420 battery), and renewed athletic competitiveness. In 1999, Northwestern student journalists uncovered information exonerating Illinois death row inmate Anthony Porter two days before his scheduled execution, and the Innocence Project has since exonerated 10 more men. On January 11, 2003, in a speech at Northwestern School of Law's Lincoln Hall(Dell Inspiron 1464 battery), then Governor of Illinois George Ryan announced that he would commute the sentences of more than 150 death row inmates.[30]

The Latin phrase on Northwestern's seal, Quaecumque sunt vera (Whatsoever things are true) is drawn from the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians 4:8, while the Greek phrase inscribed on the pages of an open book is taken from the Gospel of John 1:14: ο λόγος πλήρης χάριτος και αληθείας (The Word full of grace and truth). (Dell Inspiron 1564 battery)Purple became Northwestern's official color in 1892,[33] replacing black and gold after a university committee concluded that too many other universities had used these colors. Today, Northwestern's official color is purple, although white is something of an official color as well, being mentioned in both the university's earliest song, Alma Mater (1907) ("Hail to purple, hail to white") and in many university guidelines. (Dell Inspiron 1764 battery)

Campuses

See also: List of Northwestern University buildings

Evanston

Northwestern's Evanston campus is located on Lake Michigan.

Northwestern's Evanston campus, where the undergraduate schools, the Graduate School, and the Kellogg School of Management are located, runs north-south from Lincoln Avenue to Clark Street west of Lake Michigan along Sheridan Road. North and South Campuses have noticeably different atmospheres(Dell Inspiron 1520 battery), owing to the predominance of Science and Athletics in the one and Humanities and Arts in the other. North Campus is home to the fraternity quads, the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Norris Aquatics Center and other athletic facilities, the Technological Institute, Dearborn Observatory, and other science-related buildings including Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Hall for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly(Dell Inspiron 1521 battery), and the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center. South Campus is home to the University's humanities buildings, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall and other music buildings, the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, and the sorority quads. In the 1960s, the University created an additional 84 acres (34.0 ha) by means of a lakefill in Lake Michigan. Among some of the buildings located on these broad new acres are University Library(Dell inspiron 1525 battery), Norris University Center (the student union), and Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.

The Chicago Transit Authority's elevated train running through Evanston is called the Purple Line, taking its name from Northwestern's school color. The Foster and Davis stations are within walking distance of the southern end of the campus, while the Noyes station is close to the northern end of the campus(Dell inspiron 1526 battery). The Central station is close to Ryan Field, Northwestern's football stadium. The Evanston Davis Street Metra station serves the Northwestern campus in downtown Evanston and the Evanston Central Street Metra station is near Ryan Field. Pace Suburban Bus Service and the CTA have several bus routes that run through or near the Evanston campus(Dell Inspiron 1720 battery).

Panorama of Northwestern University in Evanston

Chicago

The Montgomery Ward Memorial Building (1927) at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, America's first academic skyscraper.

Northwestern's Chicago campus is located in the city's Streeterville neighborhood. The Chicago campus is home to the medical school and affiliated hospitals, the law school, the part-time MBA program(Dell Inspiron 2000 battery), and the School of Continuing Studies, which offers evening and weekend courses for working adults. Northwestern's professional schools and affiliated hospitals are about four blocks east of the Chicago station on the CTA Red Line. The Chicago campus is also served by CTA bus routes.

Founded at various times in the university's history, the professional schools originally were scattered throughout Chicago. In connection with a 1917 master plan for a central Chicago campus and President Walter D. Scott's capital campaign(Dell INSPIRON 2600 battery), 8.5 acres (3.44 ha) of land were purchased at the corner of Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive for $1.5 million in 1920. The architect James Gamble Rogers was commissioned to create a master plan for the principal buildings on the new campus which he designed in collegiate gothic style. In 1923(Dell INSPIRON 3800 battery), Mrs. Montgomery Ward donated $8 million to the campaign to finance the construction of the Montgomery Ward Memorial Building which would house the medical and dental schools and to create endowments for faculty chairs, research grants, scholarships, and building maintenance.[38] The building would become the first university skyscraper in the United States. (Dell INSPIRON 4000 battery) In addition to the Ward Building, Rogers designed Wieboldt Hall to house facilities for the School of Commerce[39] and Levy Mayer Hall to house the School of Law.[40] The new campus comprising these three new buildings was dedicated during a two-day ceremony in June 1927. The Chicago campus continued to expand with the addition of Thorn Hall in 1931 and Abbott Hall in 1939(Dell Inspiron 5000 battery).

[edit]Satellite Campus in Qatar

In Fall 2008, Northwestern opened a campus in Education City, Doha, Qatar, joining five other American universities: Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, and Virginia Commonwealth University.[42] Through the Medill School of Journalism and School of Communication, NU-Q offers bachelors degrees in journalism and communication respectively. (Dell INSPIRON 500M battery)The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development provided funding for construction and administrative costs as well as support to hire 50 to 60 faculty and staff, some of whom rotate between the Evanston and Qatar campuses.

[edit]Sustainability

In January 2009, the Green Power Partnership (GPP, sponsored by the EPA) listed Northwestern as one of the top 10 universities in the country in purchasing energy from renewable sources. The university matches 74 million kilowatt hours (Dell INSPIRON 5100 battery) (kWh) of its annual energy use with Green-e Certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). This green power commitment represents 30 percent of the university's total annual electricity use and places Northwestern in the EPA's Green Power Leadership Club. The 2010 Report by The Sustainable Endowments Institute awarded Northwestern a “B-” on its College Sustainability Report Card. (Dell INSPIRON 510M battery) The Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), supporting research, teaching and outreach in these themes, was launched in 2008.[47]

Northwestern requires that all new buildings be LEED-certified. Silverman Hall on the Evanston campus was awarded Gold LEED Certification in 2010; Wieboldt Hall on the Chicago campus was awarded Gold LEED Certification in 2007(Dell INSPIRON 6000 battery), and the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center on the Evanston campus was awarded Silver LEED Certification in 2006. New construction and renovation projects will be designed to provide at least a 20% improvement over energy code requirements where technically feasible.[48] The university also released at the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year the Evanston Campus Framework Plan, which outlines plans for future development of the Evanston Campus(Dell INSPIRON 600M battery). The plan not only emphasizes the sustainable construction of buildings, but also discusses improving transportation by optimizing pedestrian and bicycle access.[49] Northwestern has had a comprehensive recycling program in place since 1990. Annually more than 1,500 tons are recycled at Northwestern, which represents 30% of the waste produced on campus. Additionally, all landscape waste at the university is composted. (Dell Inspiron 6400 battery)

Organization and administration

Northwestern is privately owned and is governed by an appointed Board of Trustees. The board, composed of 70 members and as of 2011 chaired by William A. Osborn '69, delegates its power to an elected president to serve as the chief executive officer of the university.[51] Northwestern has had sixteen presidents in its history (excluding interim presidents) (Dell INSPIRON 7000 battery), the current president, Morton O. Schapiro, an economist, having succeeded Henry Bienen whose 14-year tenure ended on August 31, 2009. The president has a staff of vice presidents, directors, and other assistants for administrative, financial, faculty, and student matters.[55] Daniel I. Linzer, provost since September 2007, serves under the president as the chief academic officer of the university to whom the deans of every academic school(Dell INSPIRON 700M battery), leaders of cross-disciplinary units, and chairs of the standing faculty committee report.[56]

The Associated Student Government consists of the elected representatives of the undergraduate students and the Graduate Student Association represents graduate students.

Northwestern University is composed of 12 schools and colleges. The faculty for each school consists of the dean of the school and the instructional faculty. Faculty are responsible for teaching, research, advising students(Dell Inspiron 710m battery), and serving on committees. Each school's admission requirements, degree requirements, courses of study, and disciplinary and degree recommendations are determined by the voting members of that school's faculty (assistant professor and above).[59]

Northwestern's endowment was $7.2 billion as of Aug. 31, 2011, estimated as ninth among US and Canadian universities.[1] In 2003, Northwestern finished a five-year capital campaign that raised $1.55 billion, $550 million more than its goal(Dell INSPIRON 8200 battery). In 2007, the university sold its royalty interest in the pain relief drug Lyrica for $700 million, a drug developed at Northwestern by Richard Bruce Silverman, the John Evans Professor of Chemistry. This was the largest such sale in history,[60] the proceeds of which were added to the endowment. (Dell INSPIRON 8600 battery)

Northwestern University had a dental school from 1891 to May 31, 2001, when it closed.[62]

Academics

Northwestern is a large, residential research university.[7] Accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and the respective national professional organizations for chemistry, psychology, business, education, journalism, music, engineering, law, and medicine, (Dell INSPIRON 9100 battery) the university offers 124 undergraduate programs and 145 graduate and professional programs. NU conferred 2,219 bachelors degrees, 2,971 masters degrees, 447 doctoral degrees, and 444 professional degrees in 2009–2010.[6]

The four-year, full-time undergraduate program comprises the majority of enrollments at the university and emphasizes instruction in the arts and sciences, plus the professions of engineering, journalism, communication, music, and education. (Dell INSPIRON 9200 battery) Although a foundation in the liberal arts and sciences is required in all majors, there is no required common core curriculum; individual degree requirements are set by the faculty of each school.[59] Northwestern's full-time undergraduate and graduate programs operate on an approximately 10-week academic quarter system with the academic year beginning in late September and ending in early June(Dell INSPIRON 9300 battery). Undergraduates typically take 4 courses each quarter and 12 courses in an academic year and[71] are required to complete at least 12 quarters on campus to graduate. Northwestern offers honors, accelerated, and joint degree programs in medicine, science, mathematics, engineering, and journalism.[72] The comprehensive doctoral graduate program has high coexistence with undergraduate programs. (Dell Inspiron 9400 battery)

Undergraduates with grade point averages in the highest 3 percent of each graduating class are awarded degrees summa cum laude, the next 5 percent magna cum laude, and the next 8 percent cum laude. Northwestern also has chapters of academic honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa (Alpha of Illinois), Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Lambda Pi Eta. (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) Since 1951, Northwestern has awarded 520 honorary degrees.

Undergraduate tuition for the 2010-2011 school year was $39,840.[76] Northwestern awards financial aid solely on the basis of need through loans, work-study, grants, and scholarships. The University processed in excess of $472 million in financial aid for the 2009-2010 academic year. This included $265 million in institutional funds(Dell Inspiron E1705 battery), with the remainder coming from federal and state governments and private organizations and individuals. Northwestern scholarship programs for undergraduate students support needy students from a variety of income and backgrounds. Approximately 44 percent of the June 2010 graduates had received federal and/or private loans for their undergraduate education, graduating with an average debt of $17,200(Dell Inspiron Mini 9 battery).

Among the six undergraduate schools, 51.6% of undergraduate students are enrolled in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, 17.4% in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, 13.7% in the School of Communication, 8.1% in the Medill School of Journalism, 4.3% in the Bienen School of Music, and 4.9% in the School of Education and Social Policy. (Dell Latitude D400 battery)The five most commonly awarded undergraduate degrees are in economics, journalism, communication studies, psychology, and political science.[79] While professional students are affiliated with their respective schools, full-time graduate academic degrees are primarily administered by the Graduate School. With 2,446 students enrolled in science, engineering, and health fields, (Dell STUDIO 1450 battery) the largest graduate programs by enrollment include chemistry, integrated biology, material sciences, electrical and computer engineering, neuroscience, and economics.[83] The Kellogg School of Management's MBA, the School of Law's JD, and the Feinberg School of Medicine's MD are the three largest professional degree programs by enrollment(Dell Vostro 1400 battery).

Libraries and museums

University Library (1970) in Brutalist style.

The Northwestern library system consists of four libraries on the Evanston campus including the central University Library, three libraries on the Chicago campus, and the library affiliated with Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.[84] University Library contains over 4.9 million volumes, 4.6 million microforms(Dell Vostro 1500 battery), and almost 99,000 periodicals making it (by volume) the 30th-largest university library in North America and the 10th-largest library among private universities.[84][85] Notable collections in the library system include the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, one of the largest Africana collections in the world,[86] an extensive collection of early edition printed music and manuscripts as well as late-modern works(Dell XPS GEN 2 battery), and an art collection noted for its 19th and 20th-century Western art and architecture periodicals.[87] The library system participates with 15 other universities in digitizing its collections as a part of the Google Book Search project.[87] The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art is a major art museum in Chicago, containing more than 4,000 works in its permanent collection as well as dedicating a third of its space to temporary and traveling exhibitions. (Dell XPS M1210 battery)

In 2011, the Holocaust Educational Foundation, which had previously endowed the Theodore Zev Weiss – Holocaust Educational Foundation Professorship in Holocaust Studies, became part of Northwestern.

Research

Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center (2005)

Northwestern was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1917 and remains a research university with "very high" research activity. (Dell XPS M1330 battery) Northwestern's schools of management, engineering, and communication are among the most academically productive in the nation.[9] Northwestern received $511.7 million in research funding in 2011. Northwestern supports nearly 1,500 research laboratories across two campuses, predominately in the medical and biological sciences. Northwestern researchers disclosed 165 inventions(Dell XPS 1340 battery), filed 76 patents applications, received 58 patents, started 4 companies, and generated $824.4 million in license income in 2009. The bulk of revenue has come from a patent on pregabalin, a synthesized organic molecule discovered by chemistry professor Richard Silverman, which ultimately was marketed as Lyrica, a drug sold by Pfizer, to combat epilepsy, neuropathic pain(Dell XPS M1530 battery), and fibromyalgia. The Lyrica returns in 2008 pushed Northwestern into first place among universities in licensing income.

Northwestern is home to the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, Materials Research Center, Institute for Policy Research(Dell XPS M170 battery), International Institute for Nanotechnology, Center for Catalysis and Surface Science, Buffet Center for International and Comparative Studies, the Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern [91] and the Argonne/Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center and other centers for interdisciplinary research. (Dell XPS M1710 battery)

Campus life

The Rock in front of University Hall

The undergraduates have a number of traditions: Painting The Rock (originally a fountain donated by the Class of 1902) is a way to advertise, for example, campus organizations, events in Greek life, student groups, and university-wide events.[93] Dance Marathon, a 30-hour philanthropic event, has raised more than 13 million dollars in its history for various children's charities. (Dell XPS M1730 battery) Primal Scream is held at 9 p.m. on the Sunday before finals week every quarter; students lean out of windows or gather in courtyards and scream.[95] Armadillo Day, or, more popularly, Dillo Day, is held on Northwestern's Lakefill every Spring on the weekend after Memorial Day.[95]

There are traditions long associated with football games. Students growl like wildcats when the opposing team controls the ball, while simulating a claw with their hands(Dell XPS M2010 battery). They will also jingle keys at the beginning of each kickoff. In the past, before the tradition was discontinued, students would throw marshmallows during games.[96] The Clock Tower at the Rebecca Crown Center glows purple, instead of its usual white, after a winning game, thereby proclaiming the happy news. The Clock Tower remains purple until a loss or until the end of the sports season(Dell Latitude E5400 battery). Whereas formerly the Clock Tower was lighted only for football victories, wins for men's basketball and women's lacrosse now merit commemoration as well; important victories in other sports may also prompt an empurpling.

[edit]Media

The Daily Northwestern is the main student newspaper. Established in 1881, and published on weekdays during the academic year, it is directed entirely by undergraduates(Dell Latitude E5500 battery). Although it serves the Northwestern community, the Daily has no business ties to the university, being supported wholly by advertisers. It is owned by the Students Publishing Company. Current circulation is in excess of 7,500.

Politics & Policy was founded at Northwestern and is dedicated to the analysis of current events and public policy. Begun in 2010 by students in the Weinberg College, School of Communication, and Medill School(Dell Latitude E6400 battery), the organization reaches students on more than two hundred and fifty college campuses around the world. Run entirely by undergraduates, Politics & Policy publishes several times a week with material ranging from short summaries of events to extended research pieces. The organization is funded in part by the Buffett Center.

North by Northwestern is an online undergraduate magazine, having been established in September 2006 by students at the Medill School(Dell Latitude E6500 battery). It's published on weekdays, with updates on news stories and special events inserted throughout the day and on weekends. North by Northwestern also publishes a quarterly print magazine, recently honored by the Society of Professional Journalists as the nation's best student magazine.[97]

WNUR (89.3 FM) is a 7,200 watt radio station that broadcasts to Chicago and its northern suburbs(Dell Inspiron Mini 12 battery). WNUR's programming consists of music – jazz, classical, rock – varsity sports (football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, and women's lacrosse), breaking news on weekdays, politics, current events, and literature.

Northwestern News Network, commonly known as NNN, is a student-produced television news report. It broadcasts news and sports programming three days a week during the academic year on NU Channel 1(Dell XPS M140 battery), online at nnntv.org, and weeknights at 10 p.m. on Evanston Public-access television cable TV channel 6.

Syllabus is the undergraduate yearbook. First published in 1885, the yearbook is an epitome of that year's events at Northwestern. Published by Students Publishing Company and edited by Northwestern students, it is distributed in late May(Dell XPS 13 battery).

Northwestern Flipside is an undergraduate satirical magazine. Founded in 2009, The Flipside publishes a weekly issue both in print and online.

Helicon is the university's undergraduate literary magazine. Started in 1979, it is published twice a year, a web issue in the Winter, and a print issue with a web complement in the Spring.

TriQuarterly Online (formerly TriQuarterly) is a literary magazine published twice a year featuring poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, literary essays, reviews, a blog, and graphic art. (Dell XPS 16 battery)

Studio 22 is Northwestern's student-run production company which produces roughly ten films per year. The organization, for example, financed the first film Zach Braff directed and has produced many films in which students who would go on to successful acting careers performed, including Zach Gilford of the TV show, Friday Night Lights. (Dell XPS 1640 battery)

[edit]Performing arts

Two annual productions are especially notable: the Waa-Mu show, and the Dolphin show. Waa-Mu is an original musical, written and produced almost entirely by students.[99] Children's theater is represented on campus by Griffin’s Tale and Purple Crayon Players.[citation needed] Its umbrella organization—the Student Theatre Coalition, or StuCo—organizes nine student theatre companies, plus some other performance groups. (Dell XPS 1645 battery) Students produce more than sixty independent productions each year.[citation needed] Many Northwestern alumni have used these productions as stepping stones to successful television and film careers. Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre, for example, which began life in the Great Room in Jones Residential College, was founded in 1988 by several alumni, including David Schwimmer; in 2011, it won the Regional Tony Award. (Dell XPS 1647 battery)

Northwestern also has a variety of improv groups. The improv and sketch comedy group Mee-Ow created by Paul Warshauer and Josh Lazar in 1974 lists Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ana Gasteyer, Dermot Mulroney, Seth Meyers, John Cameron Mitchell, and Kristen Schaal among its alumni. Mee-Ow, The Titanic Players, and Out da Box, a multicultural comedy show, together with Northwestern's theatre department(Dell Latitude 131L battery), have brought attention to Northwestern's improv comedy training and performance.

There are seventeen a cappella groups and a variety of dance companies on campus. The dance companies include Fusion Dance Company, Northwestern's premiere Hip-Hop Dance Crew; ReFresH Dance Crew, an open dance community that offers free hip-hop choreography and freestyling lessons; (Dell Latitude C400 battery) Graffiti Dancers, a dance group that focuses on jazz and modern; and Boomshaka, Northwestern's premiere drum and dance ensemble, combining body rhythm, drumming, and dance.[101] Radio drama featuring student voice actors is a staple of WNUR's programming.[102]

Debate Society

The Northwestern Debate Society is a policy debate team which has won fourteen National Debate Tournaments, the highest number of any university(Dell Latitude C500 battery). Famous alumni of the Society include Erwin Chemerinsky and Elliot Mincberg, the latter senior vice president, general counsel and legal director of People For the American Way. Scott Deatherage, the head coach, was named the Coach of the Nineties.

Service

Many students are involved in community service in one form or another. Annual events include Dance Marathon, a thirty-hour event that raised more than a million dollars for charity in 2011;[103] and Project Pumpkin(Dell Latitude C510 battery), a Halloween celebration hosted by the Northwestern Community Development Corps (NCDC) to which more than 800 local children are invited for an afternoon of games and sweets. NCDC's work is to connect hundreds of student volunteers to some twenty volunteer sites in Evanston and Chicago throughout the year.[citation needed] Many students have assisted with the Special Olympics (Dell Latitude C540 battery)and have taken alternative spring break trips to hundreds of service sites across the United States. Northwestern students also participate in the Freshman Urban Program, a program for students interested in community service. A large and growing number of students participate in the university's Global Engagement Summer Institute (GESI), a group service-learning expedition in Asia(Dell Latitude C600 battery), Africa, or Latin America, in conjunction with the Foundation for Sustainable Development.[104] Several internationally recognized non-profit organizations have originated at Northwestern including the World Health Imaging, Informatics and Telemedicine Alliance, a spin-off from an engineering student's honors thesis(Dell Latitude C610 battery).

[edit]Undergraduate housing

See also: List of Northwestern University residences

Northwestern has several housing options, including both traditional residence halls and residential colleges which gather together students who have a particular intellectual interest in common. Among the residential colleges are the Residential College of Cultural and Community Studies (CCS), Ayers College of Commerce and Industry, Jones Residential College (Arts) (Dell Latitude C640 battery), Slivka Residential College (Science and Engineering), the International Studies Residential College, Communications Residential College (CRC), and the Public Affairs Residential College (PARC). In Fall 2007, 27% of undergraduates were affiliated with a fraternity or sorority.[107] Northwestern recognizes 21 fraternities and 18 sororities.[108]

Athletics

Main article: Northwestern Wildcats

2005 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship game between the Virginia Cavaliers and Northwestern Wildcats(Dell Latitude C800 battery)

Northwestern is a charter member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private institution in the conference. Northwestern fields 19 intercollegiate athletic teams (8 men's and 11 women's) in addition to numerous club sports.[109] The women's lacrosse team won five consecutive NCAA national championships between 2005 and 2009, went undefeated in 2005 and 2009(Dell Latitude C810 battery), added another NCAA championship in 2011, and holds several scoring records. The men's basketball team is recognized by the Helms Athletic Foundation as the 1931 National Champion.[112] In the 2010-11 school year, the Wildcats had one national championship, 12 teams in postseason play, 20 All-Americans, two CoSIDA Academic All-American selections, 8 CoSIDA Academic All0District selections(Dell Latitude C840 battery), 1 conference Coach of the Year and Player of the Year, 53 All-Conference and a record 201 Academic All-Big Ten athletes. Overall, 12 of Northwestern's 19 varsity programs had NCAA or bowl postseason appearances.

The football team plays at Ryan Field (formerly known as Dyche Stadium); the basketball and volleyball teams play at Welsh-Ryan Arena(Dell Latitude CPI battery). Northwestern's athletic teams are nicknamed the Wildcats. Before 1924, they were known as "The Purple" and unofficially as "The Fighting Methodists." The name Wildcats was bestowed upon the university in 1924 by Wallace Abbey, a writer for the Chicago Daily Tribune who wrote that even in a loss to the University of Chicago, "Football players had not come down from Evanston; wildcats would be a name better suited to [Coach Glenn] Thistletwaite's boys." (Dell Latitude CPX battery) The name was so popular that university board members made "wildcats" the official nickname just months later. In 1972, the student body voted to change the official nickname from "Wildcats" to "Purple Haze" but the new name never stuck.

The mascot of Northwestern Athletics is Willie the Wildcat. The first mascot, however, was a live, caged bear cub from the Lincoln Park Zoo named Furpaw who was brought to the playing field on the day of a game to greet the fans. But after a losing season(Dell Latitude D410 battery), the team, deciding that Furpaw was to blame for its misfortune, banished him from campus forever. Willie the Wildcat made his debut in 1933 first as a logo, and then in three dimensions in 1947, when members of the Alpha Delta fraternity dressed as wildcats during a Homecoming Parade. The Northwestern University Marching Band (NUMB) performs at all home football games and leads cheers in the student section and performs the Alma Mater at the end of the game(Dell Latitude D420 battery).

Ryan Field (1926), Northwestern's 49,000 seat football stadium

Northwestern's football team has made 73 appearances in the top 10 of the AP poll since 1936 (including 5 at #1) and has won eight Big Ten conference championships since 1903. At one time, Northwestern had the longest losing streak in Division I-A, losing 34 consecutive games between 1979 and 1982. (Dell Latitude D430 battery) The team did not appear in a bowl game after 1949 until the 1996 Rose Bowl. Despite playing in the 1996 Rose Bowl, 1997 Citrus Bowl, 2000 Alamo Bowl, 2003 Motor City Bowl, 2005 Sun Bowl, 2009 Alamo Bowl, 2010 Outback Bowl, 2011 TicketCity Bowl, and 2011 Texas Bowl, the last bowl game Northwestern won was the 1949 Rose Bowl.[120] Following the sudden death of football coach Randy Walker in 2006, (Dell Latitude D500 battery) 31-year-old former All-American Northwestern linebacker Pat Fitzgerald assumed the position, becoming the youngest Division I FBS coach at the time.

In 1998, two former Northwestern basketball players were charged and convicted for sports bribery as a result of being paid to shave points in games against three other Big 10 schools during the 1995 season(Dell Latitude D505 battery). The football team became embroiled in a different betting scandal later that year when federal prosecutors indicted four former players for perjury related to betting on their own games.[127] In August 2001, Rashidi Wheeler, a senior safety, collapsed and died during practice from an asthma attack. An autopsy revealed that he had ephedrine, a stimulant banned by the NCAA, in his system(Dell Latitude D510 battery), which prompted Northwestern to investigate the prevalence of stimulants and other banned substances across all of its athletic programs. In 2006, the Northwestern women's soccer team was suspended and coach Jenny Haigh resigned following the release of images of alleged hazing.

People(Dell Latitude D520 battery)

[edit]Student body

Northwestern enrolled 8,367 full-time undergraduate and 8,108 full-time graduate and professional students in the 2010-11 academic year, along with approximately 1,100 part-time students.[6] The undergraduate population is drawn from the 50 states and from some 50 foreign countries(Dell Latitude D600 battery). Admissions are characterized as "more selective, lower transfer-in".[7] There were over 32,000 applications for the undergraduate Class of 2016 (entering 2012): 15% were admitted.[137] The interquartile range on the SAT was 2030–2290 and 90% ranked in the top ten percent of their high school class.[138] In 2007, Northwestern enrolled 249 National Merit Scholars as freshmen(Dell Latitude D610 battery), the third-largest total in the nation.[139] 86% of students were graduated after four years, 92% after five years, the university having several five-year programs.[6]

Faculty

Main article: List of Northwestern University faculty

The university employs 2,291 full-time faculty members across its eleven schools,[2] including 18 members of the National Academy of Sciences,[140] 65 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[141] 19 members of the National Academy of Engineering, (Dell Latitude D620 battery) and 6 members of the Institute of Medicine.[143] Notable faculty include 2010 Nobel Prize- winning economist Dale T. Mortensen;[144] nano-scientist Chad Mirkin; Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman; management expert Philip Kotler; King Faisal International Prize in Science recipient Sir Fraser Stoddart; Steppenwolf Theatre director Anna Shapiro; sexual psychologist J. Michael Bailey; (Dell Latitude D630 battery) Holocaust denier Arthur Butz;[146] Federalist Society co-founder Steven Calabresi;[147] former Weatherman Bernardine Rae Dohrn;[148] ethnographer Gary Alan Fine;[149] Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills;[150] and MacArthur Fellowship recipients Stuart Dybek, and Jennifer Richeson. Notable former faculty include political advisor David Axelrod, (Dell Latitude D800 battery)artist Ed Paschke,[152] writer Charles Newman,[153] Nobel Prize-winning chemist John Pople,[154] and military sociologist and "don't ask, don't tell" author Charles Moskos.[155]

Alumni

Main article: List of Northwestern University alumni

Charlton Heston, Academy Award-winning actor, National Rifle Association President, B.S. '45

Northwestern has roughly 225,000 alumni in all branches of business, government, law, science, education, medicine, media, and the performing arts(Dell Latitude D810 battery). Among Northwestern's more notable alumni are U.S. Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern, Nobel Prize-winning economist George J. Stigler, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Saul Bellow, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and diarist Ned Rorem, the much-decorated composer Howard Hanson, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Ali Babacan, the historian and novelist Wilma Dykeman, and the founder of the presidential prayer breakfast Abraham Vereide(Dell Latitude D820 battery). U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, Supreme Court Justice and Ambassador to the United Nations Arthur Joseph Goldberg, and Governor of Illinois and Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson are among the graduates of the Northwestern School of Law. Many Northwestern alumni play or have played important roles in Chicago and Illinois, such as former Illinois governor and convicted felon Rod Blagojevich(Dell Latitude D830 battery), Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, and theater director Mary Zimmerman. Northwestern alumnus David J. Skorton currently serves as president of Cornell University. Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago and former White House Chief of Staff, earned a Masters in Speech and Communication in 1985.

John Paul Stevens, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, J.D. '47(Dell Latitude 2100 battery)

Northwestern's School of Communication has been especially fruitful in the number of actors, actresses, playwrights, and film and television writers and directors it has produced. Alumni who have made their mark on film and television include Ann-Margret, Warren Beatty, Paul Lynde, David Schwimmer, Anne Dudek, Zach Braff, Zooey Deschanel(Dell Latitude 2110 battery), Marg Helgenberger, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jerry Orbach, Jennifer Jones, Jerry Springer, Megan Mullally, John Cameron Mitchell, Dermot Mulroney, Charlton Heston, Richard Kind, Ana Gasteyer, Brad Hall, Shelley Long, William Daniels, Cloris Leachman, Bonnie Bartlett, Paula Prentiss, Richard Benjamin, Laura Innes, Charles Busch, Stephanie March, Tony Roberts(Dell Latitude E4300 battery), Jeri Ryan, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, McLean Stevenson, Tony Randall, Charlotte Rae, Patricia Neal, Nancy Dussault, Robert Reed, Mara Brock Akil, Greg Berlanti, Dan Shor, Seth Meyers, Frank DeCaro, Zach Gilford, Nicole Sullivan, Stephen Colbert and Garry Marshall. Directors who were graduated from Northwestern include Gerald Freedman, Stuart Hagmann, Marshall W. Mason(Dell Vostro 1310 battery), and Mary Zimmerman. Lee Phillip Bell hosted a talk show in Chicago from 1952–1986 and co-created the Daytime Emmy Award-winning soap operas The Young and the Restless in 1973 and The Bold and the Beautiful in 1987. Alumni such as Sheldon Harnick, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Heather Headley, Kristen Schaal, Lily Rabe, and Walter Kerr have distinguished themselves on Broadway(Dell Vostro 1320 battery), as has designer Bob Mackie. Amsterdam-based comedy theater Boom Chicago was founded by Northwestern alumni, and the school has become a training ground for future The Second City, I.O., ComedySportz, Mad TV and Saturday Night Live talent. Tam Spiva wrote scripts for The Brady Bunch and Gentle Ben. In New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, the number of Northwestern alumni involved in theater(Dell Vostro 1510 battery), film, and television is so large that a perception has formed that there's such a thing as a "Northwestern mafia."

The Medill School of Journalism has produced notable journalists and political activists including 38 Pulitzer Prize laureates. National correspondents, reporters and columnists such as The New York Times's Elisabeth Bumiller, David Barstow, Dean Murphy, and Vincent Laforet, USA Today's Gary Levin, Susan Page and Christine Brennan(Dell Vostro 1520 battery), NBC correspondent Kelly O'Donnell, CBS correspondent Richard Threlkeld, CNN correspondents Nicole Lapin and Joie Chen, and ESPN personalities Rachel Nichols, Michael Wilbon, Mike Greenberg, Steve Weissman, J. A. Adande, and Kevin Blackistone. The bestselling author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R. R. Martin, earned a B.S. and M.S. from Medill(Dell Vostro 2510 battery).

Northwestern alumni involved in music include Steve Albini, Thomas Tyra, Andrew Bird, Joshua Radin, members of Arcade Fire, The Lawrence Arms, Chavez, and OK Go. Lastly, Northwestern alumni involved in professional sports include Rick Sund (NBA), Billy McKinney (NBA), Mark Loretta (MLB), Joe Girardi (MLB), Luis Castillo (NFL), Ernie Adams (NFL), Otto Graham (NFL), three-time Olympic medalist Matt Grevers, and PGA Tour star Luke Donald(Dell Vostro 1014 battery).

The University of Chicago (U of C, UC, UChicago, or simply Chicago) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Chicago has an international reputation for strong devotion to advanced academic scholarship and intellectualism[6][7] and is affiliated with 49 Rhodes Scholars[8] and 87 Nobel Prize laureates(Dell Inspiron 1410 battery).

The University consists of the College of the University of Chicago, various graduate programs and interdisciplinary committees organized into four divisions, six professional schools, and a school of continuing education. The University enrolls approximately 5,000 students in the College and about 15,000 students overall(Dell Vostro 1014N battery).

In 2008, the University spent $423.7 million on scientific research.[9] University of Chicago scholars have played a role in the development of the Chicago school of economics, the Chicago school of sociology, the law and economics movement in legal analysis,[10] the Chicago school of literary criticism, the Chicago school of religion, the school of political science known as behavioralism, (Dell Vostro 1015 battery) and in the physics leading to the world's first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction.[13] The University is also home to the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in the United States.[14]

The University was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890. William Rainey Harper became the university's first president, in 1891, and the first classes were held in 1892(Dell Vostro 1015N battery). Harper worked with steel magnate Clayton Mark on educational reforms in Chicago.[15] It is now non-sectarian.

History

Main article: History of the University of Chicago

An early convocation ceremony at the University of Chicago

Founding–1910s

The University of Chicago was created and incorporated as a coeducational,[16] secular institution in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society and a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller on land donated by Marshall Field.[17] It emerged from a Baptist university of the same name that had closed in 1886 due to financial difficulties(Dell Inspiron 1088 battery). William Rainey Harper became the modern University's first president on July 1, 1891, and the first classes were held on October 1, 1892.[18]

The business school was founded in 1898,[19] and the law school was founded in 1902.[20] Harper died in 1906,[21] and was replaced by a series of three presidents whose tenures lasted until 1929.[22] During this period, the Oriental Institute was founded. (Dell Vostro A840 battery)

[edit]1920s–1980s

In 1929, the University's fifth president, Robert Maynard Hutchins, took office; the University underwent many changes during his 24-year tenure. Hutchins eliminated varsity football from the University in an attempt to emphasize academics over athletics,[24] instituted the undergraduate college's liberal-arts curriculum known as the Common Core, (Dell Vostro A860 battery) and organized the University's graduate work into its current[when?] four divisions.[24] In 1933, Hutchins proposed an unsuccessful plan to merge the University of Chicago and Northwestern University into a single university.[26] During his term, the University of Chicago Hospitals (now called the University of Chicago Medical Center) finished construction and enrolled its first medical students,[27] and the Committee on Social Thought was created(Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 battery).

The University of Chicago team that worked on the production of the world's first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction, including Enrico Fermi in the front row left

Money that had been raised during the 1920s and financial backing from the Rockefeller Foundation helped the school to survive through the Great Depression.[24] During World War II, the University made important contributions to the Manhattan Project. (SONY PCG-5G2L battery) The University was the site of the first isolation of plutonium and of the creation of the first artificial, self-sustained nuclear reaction by Enrico Fermi in 1942.

In the early 1950s, student applications declined as a result of increasing crime and poverty in the Hyde Park neighborhood. In response, the University became a major sponsor of a controversial urban renewal project for Hyde Park, which profoundly affected both the neighborhood's architecture and street plan. (SONY PCG-5G3L battery)

The University experienced its share of student unrest during the 1960s, beginning in 1962, when students occupied President George Beadle's office in a protest over the University's off-campus rental policies. In 1969, more than 400 students, angry about the dismissal of a popular professor, Marlene Dixon, occupied the Administration Building for two weeks(SONY PCG-F305 battery). After the sit-in ended, when Dixon turned down a one-year reappointment, 42 students were expelled and 81 were suspended,[31] the most severe response to student occupations of any American university during the student movement.[32]

In 1978, Hanna Holborn Gray, then the provost and acting president of Yale University, became President of the University of Chicago, in which capacity she served for 15 years. (SONY PCG-5J1L battery)

View from the Midway Plaisance

[edit]1990s–2000s

In 1999, then-President Hugo Sonnenschein announced plans to relax the University's famed core curriculum, reducing the number of required courses from 21 to 15. When The New York Times, The Economist, and other major news outlets picked up this story, the University became the focal point of a national debate on education. The changes were ultimately implemented, but the controversy played a role in Sonnenschein's decision to resign in 2000. (SONY PCG-5J2L battery)

In the past decade, the University began a number of multi-million dollar expansion projects. In 2008, the University of Chicago announced plans to establish the Milton Friedman Institute which attracted both support and controversy from faculty members and students. The institute will cost around $200 million and occupy the buildings of the Chicago Theological Seminary. During the same year(SONY PCG-5K2L battery), investor David G. Booth donated $300 million to the University's Booth School of Business, which is the largest gift in the University's history and the largest gift ever to any business school.[40] In 2009, planning or construction on several new buildings, half of which cost $100 million or more, was underway.[41]

A recent[when?] two-billion dollar campaign has brought substantial expansion to the campus, including the unveiling of the Max Palevsky Residential Commons(SONY PCG-5L1L battery), the South Campus Residence Hall, the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, a new hospital, and a new science building. Current[when?] construction projects include: the Jules and Gwen Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, a ten-story medical research center, as well as further additions to the medical campus of the University of Chicago Medical Center. (SONY PCG-6S2L battery)

Woodlawn, seven miles (11 km) south of downtown Chicago. The northern and southern portions of campus are separated by the Midway Plaisance, a large, linear park created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

The first buildings of the University of Chicago campus, which make up what is now known as the Main Quadrangles, were part of a "master plan" conceived by two University of Chicago trustees and plotted by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb. (SONY PCG-6S3L battery) The Main Quadrangles consist of six quadrangles, each surrounded by buildings, bordering one larger quadrangle.[44] The buildings of the Main Quadrangles were designed by Cobb, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, Holabird & Roche, and other architectural firms in a mixture of the Victorian Gothic and Collegiate Gothic styles, patterned on the colleges of the University of Oxford.[43] (Mitchell Tower, for example, is modeled after Oxford's Magdalen Tower,[45] and the University Commons, Hutchinson Hall, replicates Christ Church Hall. (SONY PCG-6V1L battery))

After the 1940s, the Gothic style on campus began to give way to self-consciously modern styles.[43] In 1955, Eero Saarinen was contracted to develop a second master plan, which led to the construction of buildings both north and south of the Midway, including the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle (a complex designed by Saarinen);[43] a series of arts buildings; (SONY PCG-6W1L battery) a building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the University's School of Social Service Administration;[43], a building which is to become the home of the Harris School of Public Policy Studies by Edward Durrell Stone, and the Regenstein Library, the largest building on campus, a brutalist structure designed by Walter Netsch of the Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. (SONY PCG-7111L battery) Another master plan, designed in 1999 and updated in 2004,[48] produced the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center (2003),[48] the Max Palevsky Residential Commons (2001),[43] South Campus Residence Hall and dining commons (2009), a new children's hospital,[49] and other construction, expansions, and restorations.[50] In 2011, the University completed the glass dome-shaped Joe and Rika Mansueto Library(SONY PCG-71511M battery), which provides a grand reading room for the University Library and eliminates the need for an off-campus book depository.

The site of Chicago Pile-1 is a National Historic Landmark and is marked by the Henry Moore sculpture Nuclear Energy.[51] Robie House, a Frank Lloyd Wright building acquired by the University in 1963, is also a National Historic Landmark, (SONY PCG-6W3L battery)as is room 405 of the George Herbert Jones Laboratory, where Glenn T. Seaborg and his team were the first to isolate plutonium.[53] Hitchcock Hall, an undergraduate dormitory, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Satellite campuses

The University of Chicago also maintains facilities apart from its main campus. The University's Booth School of Business maintains campuses in Singapore, London, and the downtown Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago(SONY PCG-7113L battery). The Center in Paris, a campus located on the left bank of the Seine in Paris, hosts various undergraduate and graduate study programs.[57] The University of Chicago also opened a new center in Beijing in fall 2010.

Administration and finances

The University of Chicago is governed by a board of trustees. The Board of Trustees oversees the long-term development and plans of the University and manages fundraising efforts, and is composed of 50 members including the University President. (SONY PCG-7133L battery)Directly beneath the President are the Provost, fourteen Vice Presidents (including the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Investment Officer, and Dean of Students of the University), the Directors of Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab, the Secretary of the University, and the Student Ombudsperson.[59] As of August 2009, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Andrew Alper,[60] and the President of the University is Robert Zimmer(SONY PCG-7Z1L battery).

The University's endowment was the 12th largest among American educational institutions and state university systems in 2010[61] and as of July 2010 is valued at $5.578 billion.[2]

[edit]Academics

The academic bodies of the University of Chicago consist of the College, four divisions of graduate research, six professional schools, and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies (a continuing education school). The University also contains a library system(SONY PCG-7Z2L battery)  , the University of Chicago Press, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and the University of Chicago Medical Center, and holds ties with a number of independent academic institutions, including Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory. The University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. (SONY PCG-8Y1L battery)

The University runs on a quarter system in which the academic year is divided into four terms: Summer (June–August), Autumn (September–December), Winter (January–March), and Spring (April–June).[70] Full-time undergraduate students take three to four courses every quarter[71] for approximately eleven weeks before their quarterly academic breaks. The school year typically begins in late September and ends in mid-June. (SONY PCG-8Y2L battery)

Undergraduate college

Main article: College of the University of Chicago

The College of the University of Chicago grants Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in 50 academic majors[72] and 28 minors.[73] The college's academics are divided into five divisions: the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division, the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division, the Social Sciences Collegiate Division, the Humanities Collegiate Division(SONY PCG-8Z2L battery), and the New Collegiate Division.[74] The first four are sections within their corresponding graduate divisions, while the New Collegiate Division administers interdisciplinary majors and studies which do not fit in one of the other four divisions.[75]

Undergraduate students are required to take a distribution of courses to satisfy the University's core curriculum known as the Common Core. Most of the Core classes at Chicago contain no more than 25 students, and are generally led by a full-time professor(SONY PCG-8Z1L battery) (as opposed to a teaching assistant).[76] As of the 2009–2010 school year, 15 courses, tested proficiency in a foreign language, passage of a swim test, and up to three physical education courses (depending on results of an entrance examination) are required under the Core.[25]

Eckhart Hall houses the University's math and statistics departments(SONY PCG-7112L battery).

Graduate schools and committees

The University graduate schools and committees are divided into four divisions: Biological Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences. In the spring quarter of 2009, the University enrolled 3,633 graduate students: 485 in the Biological Sciences Division, 1,076 in the Humanities Division, 732 in the Physical Sciences Division, and 1,340 in the Social Sciences Division. (SONY PCG-6W2L battery)

The University is home to several committees for interdisciplinary scholarship, including the Committee on Social Thought.

Professional schools

The University contains six professional schools: the Pritzker School of Medicine (which is a part of the Biological Sciences Division), the Booth School of Business, the Law School, the Divinity School, the Harris School of Public Policy Studies(SONY PCG-5K1L battery), and the School of Social Service Administration (SSA). The total enrollment for these six professional schools was 5,086 students in the 2009 spring quarter: 2,878 students in the business school, 344 in the Divinity School, 452 in the medical school, 269 in the Harris School, 494 in SSA, and 649 in the Law School. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11L battery)

The Law School is accredited by the American Bar Association, the Divinity School is accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, Pritzker is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.[69]

Associated academic institutions

The University of Chicago Lab Schools, a private day school run by the University

The University runs a number of academic institutions and programs apart from its undergraduate and postgraduate schools(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11Z battery). It operates the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (a private day school for K-12 students and day care),[78] the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School (a residential treatment program for those with behavioral and emotional problems),[79] and four public charter schools on the South Side of Chicago administered by the university's Urban Education Institute. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11M battery)In addition, the Hyde Park Day School, a school for students with learning disabilities, maintains a location on the University of Chicago campus.[81] Since 1983, the University of Chicago has maintained the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, a mathematics program used in urban primary and secondary schools.[82] The University runs a program called the Council on Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and Humanities(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18M battery), which administers interdisciplinary workshops to provide a forum for graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars to present scholarly work in progress.[83] The University also operates the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in the United States.[14]

The Joseph Regenstein Library

Library system

The University of Chicago Library system encompasses six libraries[84] that contain a total of 8.5 million volumes, the 12th most among library systems in the United States. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18 battery)The largest of the University's libraries is the Regenstein Library, which will be the largest collection of print volumes in the United States once its expansion is completed in 2010.[86][87] The John Crerar Library contains more than 1.3 million volumes in the biological, medical and physical sciences and collections in general science and the philosophy and history of science, medicine, and technology. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ210CE battery) The University also operates a number of special libraries, including the D'Angelo Law Library, the Social Service Administration Library, and the Eckhart Library for mathematics and computer science.

Research

Aerial view of Fermilab, one of the science research laboratories partially operated by the University of Chicago

In fiscal year 2006, the University of Chicago spent US$305,301,000 on scientific research. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31S battery) It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as an institution with "very high research activity"[91] and is a founding member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the Association of American Universities.

The University operates 12 research institutes and 113 research centers on campus.[92] Among these are the Oriental Institute(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31Z battery)—a museum and research center for Near Eastern studies owned and operated by the University—and a number of National Resource Centers, including the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Chicago also operates or is affiliated with a number of research institutions apart from the university proper. The University partially manages Argonne National Laboratory, part of the United States Department of Energy's national laboratory system(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31E battery), and has a joint stake in Fermilab, a nearby particle physics laboratory, as well as a stake in the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico. Faculty and students at the adjacent Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago collaborate with the University,[93] and although formally unrelated, the National Opinion Research Center is located on campus(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31J battery).

The University of Chicago has been the site of some important experiments and academic movements. In economics, the University has played an important role in shaping ideas about the free market[94] and is the namesake of the Chicago school of economics, the school of economic thought supported by Milton Friedman and other economists(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31M battery). The University's sociology department was the first independent sociology department in the United States and gave birth to the Chicago school of sociology.[95] In physics, the University was the site of the Chicago Pile-1 (the first self-sustained man-made nuclear reaction, part of the Manhattan Project), of Robert Millikan's oil-drop experiment that calculated the charge of the electron,[96] and of the development of radiocarbon dating. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31B battery)

People

See also: List of University of Chicago people and List of Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Chicago

There have been 87 Nobel Laureates affiliated with the University of Chicago,[98] 17 of whom were pursuing research or on faculty at the University at the time of the award announcement. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ32 battery)

In addition, many Chicago alumni and scholars have won the Fulbright awards[100] and 49 have matriculated as Rhodes Scholars.[101]

Student body

In the 2009 Spring Quarter, the University of Chicago enrolled 4,920 students in the College, 3,633 students in its four graduate divisions, 5,088 students in its professional schools, and 14,000 students overall.[104] In the 2009 Spring Quarter(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ410 battery), international students comprised about 18% of the overall study body, at least 23% of students were domestic ethnic minorities, and 45% were female.[102] The middle 50% band of SAT scores for the undergraduate class of 2014, excluding the writing section, was 1400–1530,[105] the average MCAT score of students in the Pritzker School of Medicine is 36,[106] and the median LSAT score for students entering the Law School in 2009 was 171. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21 battery)

Alumni

Main article: List of University of Chicago alumni

In 2004, the University of Chicago claimed 133,155 living alumni.[108]

Notable alumni in the field of government and politics include community organizer Saul Alinsky, Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod, Attorney General and federal judge Robert Bork, Attorney General Ramsay Clark, Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine, Prohibition agent Eliot Ness, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21S battery).

In business, Goldman Sachs and MF Global CEO Jon Corzine, Bloomberg L.P. CEO Daniel Doctoroff, Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan, and Morningstar, Inc. founder and CEO Joe Mansueto are all alumni.

In journalism, notable graduates include New York Times columnist David Brooks, Washington Post columnist David Broder, Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, investigative journalist Seymour Hirsch, and statistical analyst Nate Silver(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21M battery).

In literature, novelists Philip Roth and Kurt Vonnegut are graduates.

In academia, alumni include astronomer Carl Sagan, economist Milton Friedman, astronomer Edwin Hubble, and international relations scholar Samuel P. Huntington.

Notable former students who did not graduate include novelist Saul Bellow, film critic Roger Ebert, Oracle Corporation founder and CEO Larry Ellison, and director Mike Nichols(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ38M battery).

Athletics

Main article: Chicago Maroons

The University of Chicago hosts 19 varsity sports teams: 10 men's teams and 9 women's teams,[109] all called the Maroons, with 585 students participating in the 2008–2009 school year.[109]

The Maroons compete in the NCAA's Division III as members of the University Athletic Association (UAA). The University was a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and participated in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball and Football and was a regular participant in the Men's Basketball tournament(Sony VAIO VGN-SZ battery). In 1935 the University of Chicago reached the Sweet Sixteen.[109] However, the University chose to withdraw from the conference in 1946 after University President Robert Maynard Hutchins de-emphasized varsity athletics in 1939 and dropped football.[110] (In 1969, Chicago reinstated football as a Division III team, resuming playing its home games at the new Stagg Field.) (Sony VGN-NR11S/S Battery)

Student life

The University's Reynolds Club, the student center

[edit]Student organizations

Students at the University of Chicago run over 400 clubs and organizations known as Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs). These include cultural and religious groups, academic clubs and teams, and common-interest organizations.[112] Among notable RSOs are the nation's longest continuously running student film society Doc Films, organizing committee for the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt, (Sony VGN-NR11M/S Battery) the twice-weekly student newspaper The Chicago Maroon, the alternative weekly student newspaper the Chicago Weekly, the nation's second oldest continuously running student improvisational theater troupe Off-Off Campus, and the University-owned radio station WHPK-FM.

[edit]Fraternities and sororities

There are fourteen fraternities and six sororities at the University of Chicago,[113] as well as one co-ed community service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega. (Sony VGN-NR260E/S Battery) Three of the sororities are members of the National Panhellenic Conference,[115] and ten of the fraternities form the University of Chicago Interfraternity Council.[116] In 2002, the Associate Director of Student Activities estimated that 8–10 percent of undergraduates were members of fraternities or sororities.[115] The student activities office has used similar figures, stating that one in ten undergraduates participate in Greek life. (Sony VGN-NR11Z/S Battery)

Student housing

Max Palevsky Residential Commons, a dormitory constructed in 2001 designed by postmodernist Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta

Main article: Housing at the University of Chicago

On-campus undergraduate students at the University of Chicago participate in a house system in which each student is assigned to one of the university's 10 residence hall buildings and to a smaller community within their residence hall called a "house"(Sony VGN-NR11Z/T Battery). There are 35 houses, with an average of 70 students in each house[117] Freshmen are required to participate in the house system, and housing is guaranteed every year thereafter.[118] About 60% of undergraduate students live on campus.[118]

For graduate students, the University owns and operates 28 apartment buildings near campus. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21E battery)

Traditions

Qwazy Quad Rally, Scav Hunt 2005, item #38

Main articles: Doc Films, Summer Breeze (concert), and University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt

Every May since 1987, the University of Chicago has held the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt, in which large teams of students compete to obtain notoriously esoteric items from a list.[120] Since 1963, the Festival of the Arts (FOTA) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21Z battery)takes over campus for 7–10 days of exhibitions and interactive artistic endeavors.[121] The University also annually holds a summer carnival and concert called Summer Breeze that hosts outside musicians, and is home to Doc Films, a student film society founded in 1932 that screens films nightly at the University. Since 1946, the University has organized the Latke-Hamantash Debate(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21J battery), which involves humorous discussions about the relative merits and meanings of Latke and Hamantash.