Chicago, University of

Related to Chicago, University of: Northwestern University, Loyola University

Chicago, University of

Chicago, University of, at Chicago; coeducational; inc. 1890, opened 1892 primarily through the gifts of John D. Rockefeller. Because of the progressive programs and distinguished faculty established under its first president, William R. Harper (1891–1906), the Univ. of Chicago immediately achieved prominence in American education. Under Robert M. Hutchins (1929–51) it established a unique program of admitting students to the undergraduate division after only two years of high school and granting B.A. degrees at the age of 18 or 19. Survey courses were developed and comprehensive examinations were substituted for regular course requirements. However, under Lawrence Kimpton (1951–60), this program was largely abandoned. Significant among the university's graduate and research facilities are the Pritzker School of Medicine; the Enrico Fermi Institute; the Enrico Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, at Batavia, Ill.; the Argonne National Laboratory, at Argonne, Ill.; the Yerkes Observatory, at Williams Bay, Wis.; the Oriental Institute; and the former school of education (closed in 1997). Facilities for studio art, film, theater, and music are housed in the Logan Center for the Arts (2012).

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Chicago, University of

a major higher educational institution of the USA, located in the state of Illinois. Founded in 1857, the university suspended operations from 1886 to 1889 but reopened in 1890 with the financial support of J. D. Rockefeller; regular instruction began in 1892. In the late 19th century the University of Chicago became one of the first American universities to admit women. The university’s medical school was founded in 1927.

The payment of tuition is required for study at the university, which comprises 12 subdivisions: graduate divisions of biological sciences, hurpanities, physical sciences, and social sciences; graduate professional schools of theology, business administration, library science, education, social service administration, medicine, and law; and an undergraduate college. The University of Chicago has 8,000 students and more than 1,000 faculty members. The Oriental Institute and a university press are attached to the university. The university library, founded in 1892, contains more than 3.3 million volumes.