First published 2000
Robert Vincent Remini chronicles how the University of Illinois grew from its 1867 founding to become a major urban research institution. The narrative follows the university's expansion into Chicago during the 1890s and tracks the mounting pressure for a dedicated urban campus. Remini details how Mayor Richard J. Daley spearheaded the creation of Circle Campus in 1965, placing it in the Near West Side's historic Hull-House neighborhood. The book documents the 1982 merger between Circle Campus and the Medical Center that formed the University of Illinois at Chicago. Remini argues that UIC transformed its urban setting from a challenge into an asset through the Great Cities Initiative and other outreach efforts. The volume features nearly two hundred historical photographs that capture the campus evolution. Remini shows how UIC developed into a comprehensive urban research university model, growing to serve 25,000 students with 12,000 faculty and staff across 15 colleges, offering degrees in over 230 fields.
Genres: history, non-fiction, biography-memoir, college, academia, american-history
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: institutional-history
Setting: University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Near West Side, Hull-House
Period: 1867, 1890s, 1965, 1982
128 pages · Paperback · Arcadia Publishing