The
University of Chicago (
U of C,
UC,
UChicago, or simply
Chicago) is a
privatePrivate universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
research university in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
,
IllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, USA. It was founded by the
American Baptist Education SocietyThe American Baptist Churches USA is a Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainline, although varying theological and mission emphases may be found among its...
with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist
John D. RockefellerJohn Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
and incorporated in 1890.
William Rainey HarperWilliam Rainey Harper was one of America's leading academics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Harper helped to organize the University of Chicago and Bradley University and served as the first President of both institutions.-Early life:Harper was born on July 26, 1856 in New Concord,...
became the university's first president, in 1891, and the first classes were held in 1892. It has a reputation of devotion to academic scholarship and
intellectualismIntellectualism denotes the use and development of the intellect, the practice of being an intellectual, and of holding intellectual pursuits in great regard. Moreover, in philosophy, “intellectualism” occasionally is synonymous with “rationalism”, i.e. knowledge derived mostly from reason and...
and is affiliated with scores of Rhodes Scholars and 87
Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureates, the largest number affiliated with any American university.
The University consists of the
College of the University of ChicagoThe College is the sole undergraduate institution and one of the oldest components of the University of Chicago, emerging contemporaneously with the university at large in 1892...
, various graduate programs and interdisciplinary committees organized into four divisions, six
professional schoolA professional school is a school type that prepares students for careers in specific fields.Examples of this type of school include:* Architecture school* Business school* Dental school* Education school* Journalism school* Law school* Library school...
s, and a school of
continuing educationContinuing education is an all-encompassing term within a broad spectrum of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada...
. The University enrolls approximately 5,000 students in the College and about 15,000 students overall.
In 2008, the University spent $423.7 million on scientific research. University of Chicago scholars have played a role in the development of the Chicago school of economics, the
Chicago school of sociologyIn sociology and later criminology, the Chicago School was the first major body of works emerging during the 1920s and 1930s specialising in urban sociology, and the research into the urban environment by combining theory and ethnographic fieldwork in Chicago, now applied elsewhere...
, the
law and economicsThe economic analysis of law is an analysis of law applying methods of economics. Economic concepts are used to explain the effects of laws, to assess which legal rules are economically efficient, and to predict which legal rules will be promulgated.-Relationship to other disciplines and...
movement in legal analysis, the
Chicago school of literary criticismThe Chicago School of literary criticism was a form of criticism of English literature begun at the University of Chicago in the 1930s, which lasted until the 1950s. It was also called Neo-Aristotelianism, due to its strong emphasis on Aristotle’s concepts of plot, character and genre...
, the Chicago school of religion and the physics leading to the world's first man-made, self-sustaining
nuclear reactionIn nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, a nuclear reaction is semantically considered to be the process in which two nuclei, or else a nucleus of an atom and a subatomic particle from outside the atom, collide to produce products different from the initial particles...
. The University is also home to the
University of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
, the largest university press in the United States.
History
Founding–1910s
The University of Chicago was created and
incorporatedIncorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
as a coeducational, secular institution in 1890 by the
American Baptist Education SocietyThe American Baptist Churches USA is a Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainline, although varying theological and mission emphases may be found among its...
and a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist
John D. RockefellerJohn Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
on land donated by
Marshall FieldMarshall Field was founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores.-Life and career:...
. It emerged from a
Baptist university of the same nameThe University of Chicago, now known as the Old University of Chicago , was a school founded by Baptists in Chicago in 1857...
that had closed in 1886 due to financial difficulties.
William Rainey HarperWilliam Rainey Harper was one of America's leading academics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Harper helped to organize the University of Chicago and Bradley University and served as the first President of both institutions.-Early life:Harper was born on July 26, 1856 in New Concord,...
became the modern University's first president on July 1, 1891, and the first classes were held on October 1, 1892.
The business school was founded in 1898, and the
law schoolThe University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
was founded in 1902. Harper died in 1906, and was replaced by a series of three presidents whose tenures lasted until 1929. During this period, the
Oriental InstituteThe Oriental Institute , established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's archeology museum and research center for ancient Near Eastern studies.- History and purpose:James Henry Breasted built up the collection of the Haskell Oriental Museum...
was founded.
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 deemphasize athletics over academics, instituted the undergraduate college's liberal-arts curriculum known as the
Common CoreThe Common Core is the University of Chicago's implementation of the Great Books program for its college. These courses cover topics in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and sciences. It forms the general education requirements for the college and uses the Socratic method to teach...
, and organized the University's graduate work into its current four divisions. In 1933, Hutchins proposed an unsuccessful plan to merge the University of Chicago and
Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
into a single university. During his term, the University of Chicago Hospitals (now called the University of Chicago Medical Center) finished construction and enrolled its first medical students, and the
Committee on Social ThoughtThe Committee on Social Thought is one of several PhD-granting committees at the University of Chicago. It was started in 1941 by historian John Ulric Nef along with economist Frank Knight, anthropologist Robert Redfield, and University President Robert Maynard Hutchins.The committee is...
was created.
Money that had been raised during the 1920s and financial backing from the
Rockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
helped the school to survive through the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the University made important contributions to the
Manhattan ProjectThe Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. The University was the site of the first isolation of
plutoniumPlutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
and of the creation of the first artificial, self-sustained nuclear reaction by
Enrico FermiEnrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
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.
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. After the sit-in ended, when Dixon turned down a one-year reappointment, 42 students were expelled and 81 were suspended, the most severe response to student occupations of any American university during the student movement.
In 1978,
Hanna Holborn GrayHanna Holborn Gray , is a historian of political thought in the area of the Renaissance and Reformation, and an emerita professor and former President of the University of Chicago.-Biography:...
, then the provost and acting president of
Yale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, became President of the University of Chicago, in which capacity she served for 15 years.
1990s–2000s
In 1999, then-President
Hugo SonnenscheinHugo Freund Sonnenschein is a prominent American economist and educational administrator. Currently the Adam Smith Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago, his specialty is microeconomic theory; with a particular interest in game theory...
announced plans to relax the University's famed
core curriculumThe Core Curriculum was originally developed as the main curriculum used by Columbia University's Columbia College. It began in 1919 with "Contemporary Civilization," about the origins of western civilization. It became the framework for many similar educational models throughout the United States...
, reducing the number of required courses from 21 to 15. When
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
,
The EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
, 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.
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 InstituteBetween 2008 and 2011, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics was an academic center established at the University of Chicago as a collaborative, cross-disciplinary site for research in economics. The Institute aimed to support research applying the tools of economic analysis to...
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 SeminaryThe Chicago Theological Seminary is a seminary of the United Church of Christ. It prepares women and men for leadership in the church and society through Master of Divinity , Master of Arts in Religious Studies , Master of Sacred Theology , Doctor of Ministry , and Doctor of Philosophy programs...
. During the same year, investor
David G. BoothDavid G. Booth is co-founder and co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors In 2008, he donated $300 million to the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, which is the largest donation ever given to a business school....
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. In 2009, planning or construction on several new buildings, half of which cost $100 million or more, was underway.
A recent two billion dollar campaign has brought substantial expansion to the campus, including the unveiling of the Max Palevsky Residential Commons, the South Campus Residence Hall, the
Gerald Ratner Athletics CenterThe Gerald Ratner Athletics Center is a $51 million state-of-the-art athletics facility within the University of Chicago campus in the Hyde Park community area on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. The building was named after University of Chicago alumnus, Gerald Ratner...
, a new hospital, and a new science building. Current 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.
Campus
The main campus of the University of Chicago consists of 211 acres (85.4 ha) in the Chicago neighborhoods of
Hyde ParkHyde Park, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois, United States and seven miles south of the Chicago Loop, is a Chicago neighborhood and one of 77 Chicago community areas. It is home to the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of Science...
and
WoodlawnWoodlawn, located in the South Side of the City of Chicago, Illinois, USA, is one of 77 well defined Chicago community areas. It is bounded by Lake Michigan to the east, 60th Street to the north, Martin Luther King Drive to the west, and, mostly, 67th Street to the south...
, seven miles (11 km) south of
downtown ChicagoThe Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
. The northern and southern portions of campus are separated by the
Midway PlaisanceThe Midway Plaisance, also known locally as the Midway, is a park on the South Side of the city of Chicago, Illinois. It is one mile long by 220 yards wide and extends along 59th and 60th streets, joining Washington Park at its east end and Jackson Park at its west end. It divides the Hyde Park...
, a large, linear park created for the 1893
World's Columbian ExpositionThe World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
.
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 CobbHenry Ives Cobb , born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Albert Adams and Mary Russell Candler Cobb, was a Chicago-based architect in the last decades of the 19th century, known for his designs in the Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles...
. The Main Quadrangles consist of six
quadranglesIn architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
, each surrounded by buildings, bordering one larger quadrangle. The buildings of the Main Quadrangles were designed by Cobb,
Shepley, Rutan and CoolidgeShepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry Hobson Richardson....
,
Holabird & RocheThe architectural firm of Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm's designs have changed many times — from the Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern Architecture to Sustainable Architecture.-History:...
, and other architectural firms in the Collegiate Gothic style, deliberately patterned after the layouts of the
Universities of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. (Mitchell Tower, for example, is modeled after Oxford's
Magdalen TowerMagdalen Great Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England. It is one of the oldest parts of Magdalen College, Oxford, situated directly in the High Street. Built of stone from 1492, when the foundation stone was laid, its bells hung ready for use in 1505, and completed by 1509, it is an important...
, and the University Commons, Hutchinson Hall, is a duplicate of Oxford's
Christ ChurchChrist Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
Hall.)
After the 1940s, the Collegiate Gothic style on campus began to give way to modern styles. In 1955,
Eero SaarinenEero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
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); a series of arts buildings; a building designed by
Ludwig Mies van der RoheLudwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
for the University's School of Social Service Administration; and the
Regenstein LibraryThe Joseph Regenstein Library is the main library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. Holding over 7.9 million volumes, it is one of the largest repositories of books in the world, and is noted for its brutalist architecture.-History:The...
, the largest building on campus, a
brutalistBrutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...
structure designed by
Walter NetschWalter Netsch was an American architect based in Chicago. He was most closely associated with the brutalist style of architecture, as well as the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. His signature aesthetic is known as Field Theory and is based on rotating squares into complex shapes...
of the Chicago firm
Skidmore, Owings and MerrillSkidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP is an American architectural and engineering firm that was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest...
. Another master plan, designed in 1999 and updated in 2004, produced the
Gerald Ratner Athletics CenterThe Gerald Ratner Athletics Center is a $51 million state-of-the-art athletics facility within the University of Chicago campus in the Hyde Park community area on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. The building was named after University of Chicago alumnus, Gerald Ratner...
(2003), the Max Palevsky Residential Commons (2001), South Campus Residence Hall and dining commons (2009), a new children's hospital, and other constructions, expansions, and restorations.
The site of
Chicago Pile-1Chicago Pile-1 was the world's first man-made nuclear reactor. CP-1 was built on a rackets court, under the abandoned west stands of the original Alonzo Stagg Field stadium, at the University of Chicago. The first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was initiated in CP-1 on December 2, 1942...
is a
National Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
and is marked by the
Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
sculpture
Nuclear Energy.
Robie HouseThe Frederick C. Robie House is a U.S. National Historic Landmark in the Chicago, Illinois neighborhood of Hyde Park at 5757 S. Woodlawn Avenue on the South Side. It was designed and built between 1908 and 1910 by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is renowned as the greatest example of his Prairie...
, a
Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
building acquired by the University in 1963, is also a National Historic Landmark, as is room 405 of the
George Herbert Jones LaboratoryThe George Herbert Jones Laboratory, at 5747 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, is a facility building of the University of Chicago. Room 405 of the building was named a National Historic Landmark in May 1967....
, where
Glenn T. SeaborgGlenn Theodore Seaborg was an American scientist who won the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements", contributed to the discovery and isolation of ten elements, and developed the actinide concept, which led to the current arrangement of the...
and his team were the first to isolate plutonium. Hitchcock Hall, an undergraduate dormitory, is on the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Satellite campuses
The University of Chicago also maintains facilities apart from its main campus. The University's Booth School of Business maintains campuses in
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
,
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and the downtown
StreetervilleStreeterville is a neighborhood in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, north of the Chicago River in Cook County...
neighborhood of Chicago. The Center in Paris, a campus located on the
left bankLa Rive Gauche is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two: looking downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank is to the right....
of the
SeineThe Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
in Paris, hosts various undergraduate and graduate study programs. 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. Directly beneath the President are the Provost, fourteen Vice Presidents (including the
Chief Financial OfficerThe chief financial officer or Chief financial and operating officer is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management...
,
Chief Investment OfficerThe chief investment officer is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as the liaison with investors, and recognize and avoid...
, and Dean of Students of the University), the Directors of
Argonne National LaboratoryArgonne National Laboratory is the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States, receiving this designation on July 1, 1946. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest...
and
FermilabFermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics...
, the Secretary of the University, and the Student
OmbudspersonAn ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
. As of August 2009, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees is
Andrew AlperAndrew Alper was the President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation .-President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation:...
, and the President of the University is Robert Zimmer.
The University's endowment was the 12th largest among American educational institutions and state university systems in 2010 and as of July 2010 is valued at $5.578 billion.
Academics
The University is considered an "Ivy Plus" institution, denoting a school that competes academically with
Ivy LeagueThe Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
universities.
The academic bodies of the University of Chicago consist of the
CollegeThe College is the sole undergraduate institution and one of the oldest components of the University of Chicago, emerging contemporaneously with the university at large in 1892...
, four divisions of graduate research, six professional schools, and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies (a
continuing educationContinuing education is an all-encompassing term within a broad spectrum of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada...
school). The University also contains a library system, the
University of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
, the
University of Chicago Laboratory SchoolsThe University of Chicago Laboratory Schools is a private, co-educational day school in Chicago, Illinois. It is affiliated with the University of Chicago...
, and the University of Chicago Medical Center, and holds ties with a number of independent academic institutions, including
FermilabFermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics...
and
Argonne National LaboratoryArgonne National Laboratory is the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States, receiving this designation on July 1, 1946. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest...
. The University is accredited by
The Higher Learning CommissionThe Higher Learning Commission is part of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The Higher Learning Commission oversees the accreditation of degree-granting colleges and universities in nineteen Midwestern and South-Central states, including Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa,...
of the
North Central Association of Colleges and SchoolsThe North Central Association of Colleges and Schools , also known as the North Central Association, is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states, that is engaged in educational accreditation...
.
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). Full-time undergraduate students take three to four courses every quarter for approximately eleven weeks before their quarterly academic breaks. The school year typically begins in late September and ends in mid-June.
Undergraduate college
The College of the University of Chicago grants
Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and
Bachelor of ScienceA Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degrees in 49
academic majorIn the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
s and 22 minors. 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, and the New Collegiate Division. 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.
Undergraduate students are required to take a distribution of courses to satisfy the University's
core curriculumThe Core Curriculum was originally developed as the main curriculum used by Columbia University's Columbia College. It began in 1919 with "Contemporary Civilization," about the origins of western civilization. It became the framework for many similar educational models throughout the United States...
known as the
Common CoreThe Common Core is the University of Chicago's implementation of the Great Books program for its college. These courses cover topics in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and sciences. It forms the general education requirements for the college and uses the Socratic method to teach...
. Most of the Core classes at Chicago contain no more than 25 students, and are generally led by a full-time professor (as opposed to a
teaching assistantA teaching assistant is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include graduate teaching assistants , who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants , who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school...
). 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.
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.
The University is home to several committees for interdisciplinary scholarship, including the
Committee on Social ThoughtThe Committee on Social Thought is one of several PhD-granting committees at the University of Chicago. It was started in 1941 by historian John Ulric Nef along with economist Frank Knight, anthropologist Robert Redfield, and University President Robert Maynard Hutchins.The committee is...
.
Professional schools
The University contains six professional schools: the
Pritzker School of MedicineThe Pritzker School of Medicine is the M.D. granting unit of the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. It is located on the University's main campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, and matriculated its first class in 1927...
(which is a part of the Biological Sciences Division), the Booth School of Business, the
Law SchoolThe University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
, the
Divinity SchoolThe University of Chicago Divinity School is a graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries...
, the
Harris School of Public Policy StudiesThe Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies is the public policy school of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is one of the top policy schools in the United States. It is located on the University's main campus in Hyde Park...
, and the
School of Social Service AdministrationThe School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago is one of the world's leading schools for the training of social workers and researchers in social welfare scholarship, ranking 3rd...
(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.
The Law School is accredited by the
American Bar AssociationThe American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
, the Divinity School is accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and CanadaThe Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has more than 250 member institutions...
, Pritzker is accredited by the
Liaison Committee on Medical EducationThe Liaison Committee on Medical Education is an accrediting body for educational programs at schools of medicine in the United States and Canada. The LCME accredits only the schools that grant a doctor of medicine degree; osteopathic medical schools are accredited by the Commission on...
.
Associated academic institutions
The University runs a number of academic institutions and programs apart from its undergraduate and postgraduate schools. It operates the
University of Chicago Laboratory SchoolsThe University of Chicago Laboratory Schools is a private, co-educational day school in Chicago, Illinois. It is affiliated with the University of Chicago...
(a private
day schoolA day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...
for K-12 students and
day careChild care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...
), the
Sonia Shankman Orthogenic SchoolThe Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, also known simply as the Orthogenic School or informally as the O'School, is a residential treatment center and therapeutic school for children and adolescents typically classified as emotionally disturbed or as having a socio-emotional disorder...
(a residential treatment program for those with behavioral and emotional problems), and four public
charter schoolCharter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...
s on the
South SideThe South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...
of Chicago administered by the university's Urban Education Institute. In addition, the Hyde Park Day School, a school for students with learning disabilities, maintains a location on the University of Chicago campus. Since 1983, the University of Chicago has maintained the
University of Chicago School Mathematics ProjectThe University of Chicago School Mathematics Project is a multi-faceted project of the University of Chicago intended to improve competency in mathematics in the United States by elevating educational standards for children in elementary and secondary schools...
, a mathematics program used in urban primary and secondary schools. The University runs a program called the Council on Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and Humanities, which administers interdisciplinary workshops to provide a forum for graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars to present scholarly work in progress.
The University also operates the
University of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
, the largest
university pressA university press is an academic, nonprofit publishing house that is typically affiliated with a large research university, and publishes work that has been reviewed by scholars in the field. It produces mainly scholarly works...
in the United States.
Library system
The
University of Chicago LibraryUniversity of Chicago Library is the library of the University of Chicago, located on the university's campus in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is one of the largest university libraries in the United States....
system encompasses six libraries that contain a total of 8.5 million volumes, the 12th most among library systems in the United States. The largest of the University's libraries is the
Regenstein LibraryThe Joseph Regenstein Library is the main library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. Holding over 7.9 million volumes, it is one of the largest repositories of books in the world, and is noted for its brutalist architecture.-History:The...
, which will be the largest collection of print volumes in the United States once its expansion is completed in 2010. The
John Crerar LibraryThe John Crerar Library is a library, which after a long history of independent operations, is currently operated by the University of Chicago. It is recognized as one of the best libraries in the country for research and teaching in the sciences, medicine, and technology...
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. 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
In fiscal year 2006, the University of Chicago spent US$305,301,000 on scientific research. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as an institution with "very high research activity" and is a founding member of the
Committee on Institutional CooperationThe Committee on Institutional Cooperation is the academic consortium of the universities in the Big Ten Conference plus former conference member, the University of Chicago....
and the
Association of American UniversitiesThe Association of American Universities is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education...
.
The University operates 12 research institutes and 113 research centers on campus. Among these are the
Oriental InstituteThe Oriental Institute , established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's archeology museum and research center for ancient Near Eastern studies.- History and purpose:James Henry Breasted built up the collection of the Haskell Oriental Museum...
—a museum and research center for
Near EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
ern studies owned and operated by the University—and a number of
National Resource CenterThe National Resource Center Program of the U.S. Department of Education provides funding grants to American universities to establish, strengthen, and operate language and area or international studies centers that will be national resources for teaching any modern foreign language.Also known as...
s, including the
Center for Middle Eastern StudiesThe Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago is a National Resource Center for the study of a region extending from Morocco in the West to Kazakhstan in the East. As a result, this Area Center covers some of the most important and controversial regions - including North...
. Chicago also operates or is affiliated with a number of research institutions apart from the university proper. The University partially manages
Argonne National LaboratoryArgonne National Laboratory is the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States, receiving this designation on July 1, 1946. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest...
, part of the
United States Department of EnergyThe United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
's national laboratory system, and has a joint stake in
FermilabFermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics...
, a nearby particle physics laboratory, as well as a stake in the
Apache Point ObservatoryThe Apache Point Observatory is located in the Sacramento Mountains in Sunspot, New Mexico 18 miles south of Cloudcroft. The observatory consists of the Astrophysical Research Consortium's 3.5-meter telescope, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey 2.5-m telescope with a 20" photometric telescope,...
in
Sunspot, New MexicoSunspot is an unincorporated community in the Sacramento Mountains in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. It is located within the Lincoln National Forest, 18 miles south of Cloudcroft. Its elevation is 9200 feet....
. Faculty and students at the adjacent
Toyota Technological Institute at ChicagoIn 2003, the Toyota Technological Institute of Nagoya, Japan opened the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, jointly with the University of Chicago. The stated purpose of the institute is to impact research and education in computer science....
collaborate with the University, and although formally unrelated, the
National Opinion Research CenterNORC at the University of Chicago, established in 1941 as the National Opinion Research Center, is one of the largest and most highly respected social research organizations in the United States. Its corporate headquarters are located on the University of Chicago campus...
is located on campus.
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 marketA free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
and is the namesake of the Chicago school of economics, the school of economic thought supported by
Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
and other economists. The University's
sociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
department was the first independent sociology department in the United States and gave birth to the
Chicago school of sociologyIn sociology and later criminology, the Chicago School was the first major body of works emerging during the 1920s and 1930s specialising in urban sociology, and the research into the urban environment by combining theory and ethnographic fieldwork in Chicago, now applied elsewhere...
. In physics, the University was the site of the
Chicago Pile-1Chicago Pile-1 was the world's first man-made nuclear reactor. CP-1 was built on a rackets court, under the abandoned west stands of the original Alonzo Stagg Field stadium, at the University of Chicago. The first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was initiated in CP-1 on December 2, 1942...
(the first self-sustained man-made nuclear reaction, part of the
Manhattan ProjectThe Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
), of
Robert MillikanRobert A. Millikan was an American experimental physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his measurement of the charge on the electron and for his work on the photoelectric effect. He served as president of Caltech from 1921 to 1945...
's
oil-drop experimentThe oil drop experiment was an experiment performed by Robert Millikan and Harvey Fletcher in 1909 to measure the elementary electric charge ....
that calculated the charge of the electron, and of the development of
radiocarbon datingRadiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
.
People
There have been 87 Nobel Laureates affiliated with the University of Chicago, 17 of whom were pursuing research or on faculty at the University at the time of the award announcement.
In addition, many Chicago alumni and scholars have won the
Fulbright awardsThe Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
and 44 have matriculated as
Rhodes ScholarsThe Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
.
Student Body Demographics, Spring Quarter 2009
| By gender |
|
College | Graduate
schools | Professional
schools | University
total |
| Male |
50.3% |
56.6% |
60.9% |
55.1% |
| Female |
49.7% |
43.4% |
39.1% |
44.9% |
| By race |
|
College | Graduate
schools | Professional
schools | University
total |
| International student According to Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development , international students are those who travel to a country different from their own for the purpose of tertiary study. Despite that, the definition of international students varies in each country in accordance to their own national...
|
8.8% |
28.4% |
21.2% |
18.3% |
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
|
5.7% |
3.3% |
5.4% |
4.9% |
Native AmericanThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
|
0.3% |
0.4% |
0.2% |
0.4% |
ArabArab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
/Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern/
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n |
0.4% |
0.2% |
0.2% |
0.4% |
| Asian Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
|
13.8% |
4.6% |
14.7% |
11.6% |
| Pacific Islander Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...
|
0.06% |
0.02% |
0.06% |
0.06% |
| Hispanic Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
/LatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
|
8.6% |
3.0% |
4.2% |
5.4% |
MultiracialMultiracial Americans, US residents who identify themselves as of "two or more races", were numbered at around 9 million, or 2.9% of the population, in the census of 2010. However there is considerable evidence that the real number is far higher. Prior to the mid-20th century many people hid their...
|
0.4% |
0.9% |
1.1% |
0.8% |
| White White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
|
44.2% |
47.9% |
47.7% |
46.5% |
| Unspecified |
17.7% |
11.3% |
5.17% |
11.9% |
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. In the 2009 Spring Quarter,
international studentAccording to Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development , international students are those who travel to a country different from their own for the purpose of tertiary study. Despite that, the definition of international students varies in each country in accordance to their own national...
s comprised about 18% of the overall study body, at least 23% of students were domestic ethnic minorities, and 45% were female. The middle 50% band of
SATThe SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
scores for the undergraduate class of 2014, excluding the writing section, was 1400–1530, the average MCAT score of students in the Pritzker School of Medicine is 36, and the median LSAT score for students entering the Law School in 2009 was 171.
Alumni
In 2004, the University of Chicago claimed 133,155 living alumni.
Athletics
The University of Chicago hosts 19 varsity sports teams: 10 men's teams and 9 women's teams, all called the
MaroonsThe Maroons are the intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Chicago. They are named after the color maroon, one of the school's colors. They compete in the NCAA's Division III. They are primarily members of the University Athletic Association and were co-founders of the Big Ten...
, with 585 students participating in the 2008–2009 school year.
The Maroons compete in the NCAA's Division III as members of the
University Athletic AssociationThe University Athletic Association is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Member teams are located in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York...
(UAA). The University was a founding member of the
Big Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
and participated in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball and Football and was a regular participant in the Men's Basketball tournament. In 1935 the University of Chicago reached the Sweet Sixteen. 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. (In 1969, Chicago reinstated football as a Division III team, resuming playing its home games at the new
Stagg FieldAmos Alonzo Stagg Field is the name of two different football fields for the University of Chicago. The earliest Stagg Field is probably best remembered for its role in a landmark scientific achievement by Enrico Fermi during the Manhattan Project. The site of the first nuclear reaction received...
.)
Student life
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. Among notable RSOs are the nation's longest continuously running student film society
Doc FilmsThe Documentary Film Group, better known as Doc Films, is a student-operated film society at the University of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is—according to a 2007 Chicago Tribune article—"the longest-running collegiate film society in the country" and may be the oldest film society of any...
, organizing committee for the
University of Chicago Scavenger HuntThe University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt is an annual four-day team-based scavenger hunt held at the University of Chicago, USA, in May.- Overview :...
, the twice-weekly student newspaper
The Chicago MaroonThe Chicago Maroon, the independent student newspaper of the University of Chicago, is a twice-weekly publication that traces its founding to 1892. During autumn, winter, and spring quarters of the academic year, the Maroon publishes every Tuesday and Friday. The paper consists of four sections:...
, and the University-owned radio station WHPK-FM.
Fraternities and sororities
There are fourteen
fraternitiesFraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
and six
sororitiesFraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
at the University of Chicago, as well as one co-ed community service fraternity,
Alpha Phi OmegaAlpha Phi Omega is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of approximately 17,000 students, and over 350,000 alumni members...
. Three of the sororities are members of the
National Panhellenic ConferenceThe National Panhellenic Conference , founded in 1902, is an umbrella organization for 26 national women's sororities.Each member group is autonomous as a social, Greek-letter society of college women and alumnae...
, and ten of the fraternities form the University of Chicago Interfraternity Council. In 2002, the Associate Director of Student Activities estimated that 8–10 percent of undergraduates were members of fraternities or sororities. The student activities office has used similar figures, stating that one in ten undergraduates participate in Greek life.
Student housing
On-campus undergraduate students at the University of Chicago participate in a
house systemThe house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
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". There are 35 houses, with an average of 70 students in each house Freshmen are required to participate in the house system, and housing is guaranteed every year thereafter. About 60% of undergraduate students live on campus.
For graduate students, the University owns and operates 28 apartment buildings near campus.
Traditions
Every May since 1987, the University of Chicago has held the
University of Chicago Scavenger HuntThe University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt is an annual four-day team-based scavenger hunt held at the University of Chicago, USA, in May.- Overview :...
, in which large teams of students compete to obtain notoriously esoteric items from a list. Since 1963, the Festival of the Arts (FOTA) takes over campus for 7-10 days of exhibitions and interactive artistic endeavors. The University also annually holds a summer carnival and concert called Summer Breeze that hosts outside musicians, and is home to
Doc FilmsThe Documentary Film Group, better known as Doc Films, is a student-operated film society at the University of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is—according to a 2007 Chicago Tribune article—"the longest-running collegiate film society in the country" and may be the oldest film society of any...
, a student film society founded in 1932 that screens films nightly at the University. Since 1946, the University has organized the
Latke-Hamantash DebateThe Latke-Hamantash Debate is a serious academic debate about the relative merits and meanings of these two items of Jewish cuisine. The debate originated at the University of Chicago in 1946 and has since been held annually...
, which involves humorous discussions about the relative merits and meanings of Latke and Hamantash.
External links