Repository: UIHistories Project: UI Foundation Series - Need for Student Union (1937) [PAGE 3]

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Our University is really a young university* It is only sixty-nine years old,* From fifty students, three faculty members, and one building in 1868, it has grown today to approximately 13,000 students, including the Chicago colleges, a staff of 1,700, and a $30,000,000 plant including some eighty-one major buildings*! Little wonder that the dean of an eastern college, which has a record covering a life span of nearly three centuries, said recently, "When I see what you have done in sixty-nine years and compare your accomplishments with ours in 300 years, I can see that the future of higher education is no longer centered in the eastern institutions/' And to prove his statement, he pointed to the fact that a report of the American Council on Education for 1934 has ranked Illinois among the first ten of sixty-two universities in the country in point of academic greatness; that is, in the eminence of its teaching and research* All of which is impressive. But if you are like most alumni of the University, mere bigness, mere size, mere rating by educational associations, mere numbers of buildings and students and faculty, are not enough. You want to know what the University has done. What has it accomplished in these sixty-nine years? What are some other values? In research, for instance, the equivalent of millions of dollars is annually given back to the State and nation in the form of returns on the investment in the University, One friend said that the value of these discoveries "approximates many millions of dollars a year, certainly many times the amount the State appropriates for all purposes—teaching, research, and building." A prominent industrialist spoke of one research project in engineering which meant "ten millions of dollars annually in the Chicago area alone"; and one agricultural project is "worth twenty-nine millions annually." The University's research,! which covers practically the whole field of human endeavor,

* Harvard College is 300 years old, the University of Michigan 120 years, and the University of Indiana, 117. t Illinois ranks fourth among the universities of America i n the number of full-time students, a n d fifth in the number of books in the library (1,052,684). It ranks first among state universities in size of library. t Awards last year to University of Illinois faculty m e n for research included the F. Paul Anderson Gold Medal for distinguished service to President A. C. WiUard; the John Fritz Medal (highest award in engineering), to Prof. A. N . Talbot, '81, by the National Societies of Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Mining and Metallurgical Engineers; the Wason Medal from the American Concrete Institute, to Prof. Hardy Cross; the WiUard Gibbs Medal, by the Chicago Chemical Society, to Prof. Roger Adams ;the J. James R. Croes Medal of the Society of Civil Engineers, to Prof. W. M . Wilson. Illinois ranks fourth among 456 American and 49 foreign universities in the number of graduates whose biographies appear in the latest edition of "Chemical Who's Who." J'

has produced results which touch the lives of almost everyone, often in everyday ways not realized* Alumni will never forget that day in March in 1926 when the University announced the discovery of "Illinium," the first chemical element ever discovered by anyone in the West' ern Hemisphere* This is only one of many of the great achievements of the University* Here also were discovered one of the amino acids essential to life; the virus causing ptomaine poisoning and an anti-toxin to combat it; synthetic chaulmoogric oil, used in the treatment of leprosy; "Illium," a platinum substitute; and a process by which the life of steam boilers in alkaline water communities is increased from three or four years to twenty or thirty* N o one department has failed to contribute to the world's knowledge* Perhaps the most spectacular contributions have been those of Architect's drawing of the new Medical and Dental the College of Engineering, a few of which are: Laboratories Building now nearing completion on the Research in plain and reinforced concrete, Chicago campus. Along the Polk Street front will be seen which has revolutionized concrete design all other units of the medical building with the tower in the distance.Thenewunitcost$l,400t000withoutequipment over the world; new truths discovered regarding warm air, steam and hot water heating systems, storm windows and doors, refrigeration and year-round air conditioning; solution of ventilating problems of the Holland Tunnel, connecting N e w York and N e w Jersey (system later adopted for the Mersey Tube in England); bridges and highways made safer; research in freight car wheel failure, resulting in complete change of design; tonnage rates for locomotive hauls; fatigue of metals research, aiding in prevention of disasters such as railroad wrecks, broken elevator cables, snapping of auto steering knuckles and springs, and great improvements in high-tension electrical transmission* The first engineering experiment station in the United States, the first educational shop laboratory, and the first department of railway engineering, were established in connection with the College of Engineering at the University* In another important field, equally valuable have been the discoveries of the College of Agriculture, which have been of incalculable value to farmers. Some of these are: The "Illinois System of Soil Fertility," which was even transplanted to Greece during the World War, whereby worn-out soils are restored and n e w soils kept from deterioration; the Illinois Soil Survey, whereby any farm in any county in the State can be known and purchased on the basis of "what the soil contains"; the oldest soil experimental plots in America; the oldest line of corn breeding in the world; and comprehensive research in the soybean industry* Founded originally as an agricultural and mechanical college, the broad character of the University's activities can also be shown by its accomplishments in fields outside of agriculture and engineering* Faculty members in the College of Law have been instrumental in drafting the new Illinois Insurance Code, the new Illinois Civil Practice Act, the new Illinois Code of Criminal Law and Procedure* University of Illinois architects and planners lead their professions throughout the country* The College of Commerce is looked to by the business interests of the State as logical leaders in eliminating waste and misunderstanding* The work of the Department

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Hall, which houses the executive offices of the College of Engineering as well as departments of the college. The engineering group includes thirteen fine buildings