Repository: UIHistories Project: Booklet - UI Informational Pamplet (1945) [PAGE 2]

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The University of Illinois

The U n i v e r s i t y of Illinois is 77 y e a r s old. It is th, lai rant college of the s t a t e w h e r e the land mt coll.

movement began in 1851, and of the home state ol iv

dent Abraham Lincoln who signed the Land Grai

College Act in 1862.

W h e n it o p e n e d M a r c h 2, 1868, t h e r e w e r e 50 student and a faculty c o n s i s t i n g of the i ,ent and two oth( P r e - w a r resident e n r o l l m e n t e x c e e d e d 14,000, and th

faculty numbered 2,500.

O n the basis of full-time resident e n r o l l m e n t , lllitu ranked t h i r d in s i / e a m o n g A m e r i c a n univcrsiti.

During its 77 years, 152,000 young men and wom<

have followed t h e f o o t s t e p s of t h e first 50. T o d a y m o r e t h a n 17,970 f o r m e r lllini are in tin timed services, s o m e 4,500 of t h e m as officers. M o i e t h a n 70 faculty m e m b e r s h a v e left the c a m p u s for w a r service.

In a normal year, some 3,700 degrees are conferred.

A s m a n y as 2,000 c o u r s e s a r e offered each semester. W e l l over a million p e r s o n s a r e served directly by the U n i v e r s i t y e a c h year t h r o u g h classes, e x t e n s i o n ac

tivities, meetings, conferences, publications, radio, et(

A r t h u r C u t t S W i l l a r d h a s b e e n P r e s i d e n t of the University since 1934. H e is an i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y - k n o w n engineer and a f o r m e r d e a n of t h e College of E n g i n e e r i n g , E l e v e n p e r s o n s c o m p o s e t h e U n i v e r s i t y ' s Hoard of T r u s t e e s . N i n e a r e elected d i r e c t l y by t h e p e o p l e of the State, while t w o o t h e r s , t h e G o v e r n o r and t h e State S u p e r i n t e n d e n t of P u b l i c I n s t r u c t i o n , a r e ex officio trustees. T h e U n i v e r s i t y ' s m a i n c a m p u s is at U r b a n a - C h a m paign, 128 miles s o u t h of C h i c a g o , 94 miles east ot Springfield, 170 miles n o r t h e a s t of St. Louis, and 125 miles west of I n d i a n a p o l i s . It is served by t h e Illinois C e n t r a l , Illinois T e r m i n a l , N e w Y o r k C e n t r a l , a n d W a bash r a i l r o a d s . F e d e r a l h i g h w a y s 45 a n d 150 a n d state h i g h w a y 10 pass t h e c a m p u s . T h e U n i v e r s i t y ' s Colleges of Medicine, D e n t i s t r y , a n d P h a r m a c y arc at C h i c a g o . U r b a n a a n d C h a m p a i g n lie respectively to the east and west of W r i g h t s t r e e t , w h i c h r u n s n o r t h from the U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y . T h e cities h a v e a c o m b i n e d p o p u lation of 37,500, exclusive of s t u d e n t s a n d of A r m y and Navy p e r s o n n e l .