University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

The original University Hall, which stood until 1938, when it was replaced by Gregory Hall and the Illini Union. Pieces were used in the erection of Hallene Gateway dedicated in 1998.[15]

The University of Illinois, originally named "Illinois Industrial University", was one of the 37 universities created under the first Morrill Land-Grant Act, which provided public land for the creation of agricultural and industrial colleges and universities across the United States. Among several cities, Urbana was selected in 1867 as the site for the new school.[16][17] From the beginning, President John Milton Gregory's desire to establish an institution firmly grounded in the liberal arts tradition was at odds with many state residents and lawmakers who wanted the university to offer classes based solely around "industrial education".[18] The university opened for classes on March 2, 1868, and had two faculty members and 77 students.[19]

John Milton Gregory, the university's first president

The Library, which opened with the school in 1868, started with 1,039 volumes. Subsequently, President Edmund J. James, in a speech to the board of trustees in 1912, proposed to create a research library. It is now one of the world's largest public academic collections.[17][20][21] In 1870, the Mumford House was constructed as a model farmhouse for the school's experimental farm. The Mumford House remains the oldest structure on campus.[22] The original University Hall (1871) was the fourth building built; it stood where the Illini Union stands today.[23]

In 1885, the Illinois Industrial University officially changed its name to the "University of Illinois", reflecting its agricultural, mechanical, and liberal arts curriculum.[18]

During his presidency, Edmund J. James (1904–1920) is credited for building the foundation for the large Chinese international student population on campus.[24][25][26][27] James established ties with China through the Chinese Minister to the United States Wu Ting-Fang.[27] In addition, during James's presidency, class rivalries and Bob Zuppke's winning football teams contributed to campus morale.[17]

Statue on campus titled "Alma Mater" by Lorado Taft

Alma Mater, a prominent statue on campus created by alumnus Lorado Taft, was unveiled on June 11, 1929. It was established from donations by the Alumni Fund and the classes of 1923–1929.[28]

Like many universities, the economic depression slowed construction and expansion on the campus. The university replaced the original university hall with Gregory Hall and the Illini Union. After World War II, the university experienced rapid growth. The enrollment doubled and the academic standing improved.[29] This period was also marked by large growth in the Graduate College and increased federal support of scientific and technological research. During the 1950s and 1960s the university experienced the turmoil common on many American campuses. Among these were the water fights of the fifties and sixties.[30]

By 1967 the University of Illinois system consisted of a main campus in Champaign-Urbana and two Chicago campuses, Chicago Circle (UICC) and Medical Center (UIMC), and people began using "Urbana–Champaign" or the reverse to refer to the main campus specifically. The university name officially changed to the "University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign" around 1982. While this was a reversal of the commonly used designation for the metropolitan area, "Champaign-Urbana," most of the campus is located in Urbana. The name change established a separate identity for the main campus within the University of Illinois system, which today includes campuses in Springfield (UIS) and Chicago (UIC) (formed by the merger of UICC and UIMC).

In 1998, the Hallene Gateway Plaza was dedicated. The Plaza features the original sandstone portal of University Hall, which was originally the fourth building on campus.[23] In recent years, state support has declined from 4.5% of the state's tax appropriations in 1980 to 2.28% in 2011, a nearly 50% decline.[31] As a result, the university's budget has shifted away from relying on state support with nearly 84% of the budget now coming from other sources.[32]

On March 12, 2015, the Board of Trustees approved the creation of a medical school, being the first college created at Urbana–Champaign in over 60 years.[33][34][35] The Carle-Illinois College of Medicine began classes in 2018.[36]

In October 2011, the Sustainable Endowments Institute gave the campus a grade of B for sustainability in its 2011 College Sustainability Report Card. Strengths noted in the report included the campus's adoption of LEED gold standards for all new construction and major renovations and its public accessibility to endowment investment information. The university makes a list of endowment holdings and its shareholder voting record available to the public. The weaknesses are areas such as student involvement and investment priorities. The Student Sustainability Committee is empowered to allocate funding from a clean energy technology fee and a sustainable campus environment fee,[41] while the university aims to optimize investment return but has not made any public statements about investigating or investing in renewable energy funds or community development loan funds. However, the biggest weakness of the university's sustainability is its shareholder engagement, as the university has not made any public statements about active ownership or a proxy voting policy.[42]

Currently, the University of Illinois has 11 LEED certified buildings. Three of these are platinum certified (Business Instructional Facility, Lincoln Hall, and Bousfield Hall). Three are gold (National Petascale Computing Facility, Nugent Hall, Wassaja Hall). The rest are silver (Ikenberry Dining Hall, Evers Laboratory, Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, Illinois Fire Service Institute, and Huff Hall).[43]

In his remarks on the creation of the Office of Sustainability in September 2008, Chancellor Richard Herman stated, "I want this institution to be the leader in sustainability."[44] In February 2008, he signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, committing the University of Illinois to take steps "in pursuit of climate neutrality."[45]

In September 2018, a lawsuit was filed against the former head of the East Asian Language and Culture Department at the university, alleging "a reign of terror that includes accusations of preying on young Chinese women and sexually assaulting students."[46] Former students and another professor are suing Gary Xu, who worked at the university from 2006 until 2018, when he was “allowed to resign.” The lawsuit claims Xu specifically targeted female Chinese students, who often depended on the university for their visa status. He allegedly raped and beat one of his students repeatedly.[47] The lawsuit states that after the university prepared a report on Xu's violent abuse of students, he was allowed to remain on the faculty as a professor at full pay for two years, and then the university gave him a $10,000 departure bonus when he resigned.

An investigation by ProPublica and National Public Radio (NPR Illinois) in August 2019 revealed numerous instances of "allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct" against professors and an administrator at the university, none of which were publicly reported.[48] Several are still employed or affiliated with the university.

Admission to UIUC is rated as "more selective" by U.S. News & World Report.[51] Admissions differ between the different colleges/schools in the university. The School of Social Work has the lowest ranges with the middle 50% range of the ACT at 24–27, and the middle 50% range of the SAT is 1150–1350 (out of 1600; for critical reading and math only). The middle 50% high school class rank is 74–90%.[52] The schools start to make a more significant increase with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The middle 50% range for the ACT is 27–32, the SAT (no writing) is 1320–1450, and the high school class rank is 85–97%.[52] The middle 50% range for the ACT and SAT (no writing) for the Gies College of Business are 28–32, 1320–1440 and the high school class rank is 88–97%.[52] The most selective college is the College of Engineering. The middle 50% range for the ACT is 31–34, the SAT (no writing) is 1400–1520, and the high school class rank is 92–99%.[52]

For the freshmen who were admitted for the 2018 school year, the middle 50% range of the ACT composite was 27–33.[52] The middle 50% range for the SAT was 1270-1480.

In 2009, an investigation by Chicago Tribune reported that some applicants "received special consideration" for acceptance between 2005 and 2009, despite having sub-par qualifications.[53]

In addition to the university's Illinois Online platform, in 2015 the university entered into a partnership with the Silicon Valley educational technology company Coursera to offer a series of master's degrees and specialization courses, currently including more than 70 joint learning classes. In August 2015, the Master of Business Administration program was launched through the platform.[54] On March 31, 2016, Coursera announced the launch of the Master of Computer Science in Data Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.[55] At the time, the university's computer-science graduate program was ranked fifth in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.[56] On March 29, 2017, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign launched their Master's in Accounting (iMSA) program, now called the Master of Science in Accountancy (iMSA) program. The iMSA program is led through live sessions, headed by UIUC faculty.[57]

Similar to the university's on-campus admission policies, the online master's degrees offered by The University of Illinois through Coursera also have strict admission requirements. All applicants must hold a bachelor's degree, and have earned a 3.0 GPA or higher in the last two years of study. Additionally, all applicants must prove their proficiency in English.[58][59][58]

In the 2020 U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) "America's Best Colleges" report, UIUC's undergraduate program was ranked tied for 48th among national universities and tied for 14th among public universities, with its undergraduate engineering program ranked tied for 6th in the U.S. among schools whose highest degree is a doctorate.[71] The graduate program had 24 programs ranked within the top 25 nationwide by USNWR, including 8 within the top five.[72] U.S. News & World Report's 2020 graduate school rankings include the School of Information Sciences at 1st in the nation, with six programs ranked within the top ten; the Gies College of Business tied for 47th nationally, with the accounting program at number 2; the College of Engineering ranked 10th at the graduate level, with 9 programs ranked within the top ten; the College of Education was ranked tied for 50th overall, with 2 programs ranked in the top ten; and the School of Law was ranked tied for 39th.[72]

Washington Monthly ranked UIUC 17th among national universities in the U.S. for 2019, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.[73] Kiplinger's Personal Finance rated Illinois 12th in its 2019 list of 174 Best Values in Public Colleges,[74] which "measures academic quality, cost and financial aid."

The Graduate Program in Urban Planning at the College of Fine and Applied Arts was ranked 3rd nationally by Planetizen in 2015.[75] The university was also listed as a "Public Ivy" in The Public Ivies: America's Flagship Public Universities (2001) by Howard and Matthew Greene.[76] The Princeton Review ranked Illinois 1st in its 2016 list of top party schools.[77]

Internationally, UIUC engineering was ranked 13th in the world in 2016 by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and the university 38th in 2019;[78] the university was also ranked 48th globally by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2020 and 75th in the world by the QS World University Rankings for 2020. The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) has ranked University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as the 20th best university in the world for 2019-20.[79]

UIUC is also ranked 32nd in the world in Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings for 2018.[80] Nature Index ranks UIUC 33rd among top Academic institutions in the world.[81]

Round Barns found on the University of Illinois Experimental Dairy Farm Historic District part of ACES

Located in the southwest part of campus, Research Park opened its first building in 2001 and has grown to encompass 13 buildings. Ninety companies have established roots in research park, employing over 1,400 people. Tenants of the Research Park facilities include prominent Fortune 500 companies Capital One, John Deere, State Farm, Caterpillar, and Yahoo, Inc. Companies also employ about 400 total student interns at any given time throughout the year. The complex is also a center for entrepreneurs, and has over 50 startup companies stationed at its EnterpriseWorks Incubator facility.[86]

In 2011, Urbana, Illinois was named number 11 on Popular Mechanics' "14 Best Startup Cities in America" list, in a large part due to the contributions of Research Park's programs.[87] The park has gained recognition from other notable publications, such as inc.com and Forbes magazine. For the 2011 fiscal year, Research Park produced an economic output of $169.5M for the state of Illinois.[88]

The university hosts the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), which created Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser, the foundation upon which the former Netscape was based on and Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer are based, the Apache HTTP server, and NCSA Telnet. The Parallel@Illinois program hosts several programs in parallel computing, including the Universal Parallel Computing Research Center. The university contracted with Cray to build the National Science Foundation-funded supercomputer Blue Waters[89][90][91] The system also has the largest public online storage system in the world with more than 25 petabytes of usable space.[92] The university celebrated January 12, 1997 as the "birthday" of HAL 9000, the fictional supercomputer from the novel and film 2001: A Space Odyssey; in both works, HAL credits "Urbana, Illinois" as his place of operational origin.

One of the research fields located on campus. Located off Florida Ave.

The Prairie Research Institute is located on campus and is the home of the Illinois Natural History Survey, Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois State Water Survey, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, and the Illinois State Archeological Survey. Researchers at the Prairie Research Institute are engaged in research in agriculture and forestry, biodiversity and ecosystem health, atmospheric resources, climate and associated natural hazards, cultural resources and history of human settlements, disease and public health, emerging pests, fisheries and wildlife, energy and industrial technology, mineral resources, pollution prevention and mitigation, and water resources. The Illinois Natural History Survey collections include crustaceans, reptiles and amphibians, birds, mammals, algae, fungi, and vascular plants, with the insect collection is among the largest in North America. The Illinois State Geological Survey houses the legislatively mandated Illinois Geological Samples Library, a repository for drill-hole samples in Illinois, as well as paleontological collections. ISAS serves as a repository for a large collection of Illinois archaeological artifacts. One of the major collections is from the Cahokia Mounds.[93]

In Bill Gates' February 24, 2004 talk as part of his Five Campus Tour (Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Carnegie-Mellon and Illinois)[94] titled "Software Breakthroughs: Solving the Toughest Problems in Computer Science," he mentioned that Microsoft hires more graduates from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign than from any other university in the world.[95] Alumnus William M. Holt, a Senior Vice-President of Intel, also mentioned in a campus talk on September 27, 2007, entitled "R&D to Deliver Practical Results: Extending Moore's Law"[96] that Intel hires more PhD graduates from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign than from any other university in the country.

In 2007, the university-hosted research Institute for Condensed Matter Theory (ICMT) was launched, with the director Paul Goldbart and the chief scientist Anthony Leggett. ICMT is currently located at the Engineering Science Building on campus.

The University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), which recognizes excellence in both individual and institutional achievements, has awarded two awards to U of I.[97]

The Technology Entrepreneur Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign is a permanent center established to provide students with resources for their entrepreneurial ideas. The center offers classes, venture and product competitions, and workshops to introduce students to technology innovation and market adoption.[99] Events and programs hosted by the TEC include the Cozad New Venture Challenge, Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship Workshop, Illinois I-Corps, and SocialFuse. The campus-wide Cozad New Venture Challenge has been held annually since 2000. Participants are mentored in the phases of venture creation and attend workshops on idea validation, pitching skills, and customer development. In 2019, teams competed for $250,000 in funding.[100] The Silicon Valley Workshop is a week-long workshop, occurring annually in January. Students visit startups and technology companies in the Silicon Valley and network entrepreneurial alumni from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Students are exposed to technology entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership. The trip features corporate leaders, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs in various stages of a startup lifecycle.[101] Illinois I-Corps teaches National Science Foundation grantees how to learn to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research, and gain skills in entrepreneurship through training in customer discovery and guidance from established entrepreneurs. [102] The program is a collaboration between the Technology Entrepreneur Center and EnterpriseWorks, with participation from the Office of Technology Management and IllinoisVentures. The program consists of 3 workshops over 6 weeks, where teams work to validate the market size, value propositions, and customer segments of their innovations. [103] SocialFuse is a recurring pitching and networking event where students can pitch ideas, find teammates, and network. [104]

• BCS theory – John Bardeen, in collaboration with Leon Cooper and his doctoral student John Robert Schrieffer, proposed the standard theory of superconductivity known as the BCS theory (named for their initials). They shared the Nobel Prize in Physics 1972 for their discovery.[105]
• Sweet corn – John Laughnan produced corn with higher than normal levels of sugar while he was a professor at the university.[106]

• ILLIAC I – (Illinois Automatic Computer), a pioneering computer built in 1952 by the University of Illinois, was the first computer built and owned entirely by a US educational institution. Lejaren Hiller, in collaboration with Leonard Issacson, programmed the ILLIAC I computer at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (where both composers were professors) to generate compositional material for his String Quartet No. 4.[107]
• ILLIAC Suite – is a 1957 composition for string quartet which is generally agreed to be the first score composed by an electronic computer.[108]
• LLVM – compiler infrastructure project (formerly Low Level Virtual Machine). Vikram Adve (professor) and Chris Lattner started development as a research assistant and M.Sc. student.[109]
• Mosaic (web browser) – The first successful consumer web browser was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign released in 1993.[110]
• PLATO – (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations)[111] was the first generalized computer assisted instruction system. Starting in 1960, it ran on the University of Illinois' ILLIAC I computer. By the late 1970s, it supported several thousand graphics terminals distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen different networked mainframe computers. Many modern concepts in multi-user computing were developed on PLATO, including forums, message boards, online testing, e-mail, chat rooms, picture languages, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multiplayer video games.[112]
• Touchscreens & Plasma displays – developed by Donald Bitzer in the 1960s.[113]
• Talkomatic – (http://talko.cc/) is an online chat system[114] that facilitates real-time text communication among a small group of people. created by Doug Brown and David R. Woolley in 1973 on the PLATO System.[115]
• Synchronized Sound-on-film – Joseph Tykociński-Tykociner publicly demonstrated for the first time a motion picture with a soundtrack optically recorded directly onto the film June 9, 1922.[116]

UIUC alumni and faculty have founded numerous companies and organizations, some of which are shown below.[117][118][119]

• Andreessen Horowitz, 2009, co-founder Marc Andreessen (B.S.)
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), 1969, co-founder Jerry Sanders (B.S).
• Arizona Diamondbacks, 1995, founder, Jerry Colangelo (B.A.)
• Beckman Coulter, 1935, founder Arnold Orville Beckman (B.S, M.S).
• BET, 1980, co-founder Robert L. Johnson (B.A.)
• Chicago Bears, 1920, founder George Halas
• Girls Who Code, 2012, founder Reshma Saujani (B.A.)
• Harlem Globetrotters, 1926, founder Abe Saperstein
• National Football League, 1920, co-founder George Halas
• Netscape, 1994, co-founder Marc Andreessen (B.S).
• Oracle, 1977, co-founders Larry Ellison (dropout) and Bob Miner (B.S).
• PayPal (Confinity), 1998, co-founders Luke Nosek (B.S) and Max Levchin (B.S).
• Playboy Enterprises, 1953, founder Hugh Hefner (B.A).
• Siebel Systems, 1993, co-founder Thomas Siebel (B.A, M.S, M.B.A).
• Tesla, 2003, co-founder Martin Eberhard (B.S,. M.S).
• W. W. Grainger, 1927, founder William Wallace Grainger (B.S.)
• Yelp, 2004, founders Jeremy Stoppelman (B.S) and Russel Simmons (B.S).
• YouTube, 2005, co-founders Steve Chen (B.S) and Jawed Karim (B.S).

As of spring 2018, the university had 45,813 students.[120] As of 2015, over 10,000 students were international students, and of them 5,295 were Mainland Chinese.[121] The university also recruits students from over 100 countries[122][123] among its 32,878[124] undergraduate students and 10,245[124] graduate and professional students.[123] The gender breakdown is 55% men, 45% women.[123] UIUC in 2014 enrolled 4,898 students from China, more than any other American university. They comprise the largest group of international students on the campus, followed by South Korea (1,268 in fall 2014) and India (1,167). Graduate enrollment of Chinese students at UIUC has grown from 649 in 2000 to 1,973 in 2014.[125]

The Student Union Building called Illini Union

The university has over 1,000 active registered student organizations,[126] showcased at the start of each academic year during Illinois's "Quad Day." Registration and support is provided by the Student Programs & Activities Office, an administrative arm established in pursuit of the larger social, intellectual, and educative goals of the Illini Student Union. The Office's mission is to "enhance ... classroom education," "meet the needs and desires of the campus community," and "prepare students to be contributing and humane citizens."[127] Beyond student organizations, The Daily Illini is a student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of since 1871. The paper is published by Illini Media Company, a not-for-profit which also prints other publications, and operates WPGU 107.1 FM, a student-run commercial radio station. The Varsity Men's Glee Club is an all-male choir at the University of Illinois that was founded in 1886.[128] The Varsity Men's Glee Club[129] is one of the oldest glee clubs in the United States as well as the oldest registered student organisation at the University of Illinois. As of 2018, the University also has the largest chapter of Alpha Phi Omega with over 340 active members.[130]

There are 59 fraternities and 38 sororities on campus.[131] Of the approximately 30,366 undergraduates, 3,463 are members of sororities and 3,674 are members of fraternities.[132] The Greek system at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign has a system of self-government. While staff advisors and directors manage certain aspects of the Greek community, most of the day-to-day operations of the Greek community are governed by the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council.[133] A smaller minority of fraternities and sororities fall under the jurisdiction of the Black Greek Council and United Greek Council; the Black Greek Council serves "historically black" Greek organizations while the United Greek council comprises other multicultural organizations.[134][135] Many of the fraternity and sorority houses on campus are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Foellinger Auditorium

U of I has an extensive history of past student governments. Two years after the university opened in 1868, John Milton Gregory and a group of students created a constitution for a student government. Their governance expanded to the entire university in 1873, having a legislative, executive, and judicial branch. For a period of time, this government had the ability to discipline students. In 1883, however, due to a combination of events from Gregory's resignation to student-faculty infighting, the government formally dissolved itself via plebiscite.[136]

It wasn't until 1934, when the Student Senate, the next university-wide student government, was created. A year before, future U of I Dean of Students, Fred H. Turner and the university's Senate Committee on Student Affairs gave increased power to the Student Council, an organization primarily known for organizing dances. A year after, the Student Council created a constitution and became the Student Senate, under the oversight of the Committee on Student Affairs. This Student Senate would last for 35 years.[137] The Student Senate changed its purpose and name in 1969, when it became the Undergraduate Student Association (UGSA). It no longer was a representational government, instead becoming a collective bargaining agency. It often worked with the Graduate Student Association to work on various projects[138]

In 1967, Bruce A. Morrison and other U of I graduates founded the Graduate Student Association (GSA). GSA would last until 1978, when it merged with the UGSA to form the Champaign-Urbana Student Association (CUSA).[139][140] CUSA lasted for only 2 years when it was replaced by the Student Government Association (SGA) in 1980. SGA lasted for 15 years until it became the Illinois Student Government (ISG) in 1995. ISG lasted until 2004.[140]

The current university student government, created in 2004, is the Illinois Student Senate, a combined undergraduate and graduate student senate with 54 voting members. The student senators are elected by college and represent the students in the Urbana–Champaign Senate (which comprises both faculty and students), as well as on a variety of faculty and administrative committees, and are led by an internally elected executive board of a President, External Vice President, Internal Vice President, and Treasurer. As of 2012, the executive board is supported by an executive staff consisting of a Chief of Staff, Clerk of the Senate, Parliamentarian, Director of Communications, Intern Coordinator, and the Historian of the Senate.[141]

Busey-Evans Residence Halls is one of many buildings on the NRHP

University housing for undergraduates is provided through twenty-four residence halls in both Urbana and Champaign. Incoming freshmen are required to live in student housing (campus or certified) their first year on campus. Graduate housing is usually offered through two graduate residence halls, restricted to students who are sophomores or above, and through three university-owned apartment complexes. Some undergraduates choose to move into apartments or the Greek houses after their second year. There are a number of private dormitories around campus, as well as 15 private, certified residences that partner with the university to offer a variety of different housing options, including ones that are cooperatives, single-gender or religiously-affiliated.[142] The university is known for being one of the first universities to provide accommodations for students with disabilities.[143] Currently, most first-year students with disabilities will live in Nugent Hall, supported by the Beckwith Residential Support Services.[144] In 2015, the University of Illinois announced that they would be naming its newest residence hall after Carlos Montezuma also known as Wassaja. Wassaja is the first Native American graduate and is believed to be one of the first Native Americans to receive a medical degree.[145]

Krannert Museum of Art

The campus library system is one of the largest public academic collections in the world.[20] Among universities in North America, only the collections of Harvard are larger.[146] Currently, the University of Illinois' 20+ departmental libraries and divisions hold more than 24 million items, including more than 12 million print volumes.[20] As of 2012, it had also the largest "browsable" university library in the United States, with 5 million volumes directly accessible in stacks in a single location.[147] University of Illinois also has the largest public engineering library (Grainger Engineering Library) in the country.[148][20][149] In addition to the main library building, which houses nearly 10 subject-oriented libraries, the Isaac Funk Family Library on the South Quad serves the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences and the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center serves the College of Engineering on the John Bardeen Quad.

Main Library and home to Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Residence Hall Library System is one of three in the nation.[150][151] The Residence Hall Libraries were created in 1948 to serve the educational, recreational, and cultural information needs of first and second year undergraduate students residing in the residence halls, and the living-learning communities within the residence halls. The collection also serves University Housing staff as well as the larger campus community, including undergraduate and graduate students, and university faculty and staff.[152] The Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) is one of the Special collections units within the University Library.[153] The RBML is one of the largest special collections repositories in the United States.[154][155][156][157]

The university has several museums, galleries, and archives which include Krannert Art Museum, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music and Spurlock Museum. Gallery and exhibit locations include Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and at the School of Art and Design.

Campus Recreation Center East

The campus has two main recreation facilities, the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) and the Campus Recreation Center – East (CRCE). Originally known as the Intramural Physical Education Building (IMPE) and opened in 1971, IMPE was renovated in 2006 and reopened in August 2008 as the ARC.[158] The renovations expanded the facility, adding 103,433 square feet to the existing structure and costing $54.9 million. This facility is touted by the university as "one of the country's largest on-campus recreation centers." CRCE was originally known as the Satellite Recreation Center, and was opened in 1989. The facility was renovated in 2005 to expand the space and update equipment, officially reopening in March 2005 as CRCE.[159]

The bus system that operates throughout the campus and community is operated by the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District. The MTD receives a student-approved transportation fee from the university, which provides unlimited access for university students. In addition, the university pays for universal access for all its faculty and staff.

Six daily Amtrak trains connect Champaign-Urbana with Chicago and Carbondale (IL). The City of New Orleans train also serves Memphis, Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans.

Willard Airport, opened in 1954 and is named for former University of Illinois president Arthur Cutts Willard. The airport is located in Savoy. Willard Airport is home to University research projects and the university's Institute of Aviation, along with flights from American Airlines.

Chief Illiniwek, also referred to as "The Chief," was from 1926 to 2007 the official symbol of the University of Illinois in university intercollegiate athletic programs. The Chief was typically portrayed by a student dressed in Sioux regalia. Several groups protested that the use of a Native American figure and indigenous customs in such a manner was inappropriate and promoted ethnic stereotypes. In August 2005 the National Collegiate Athletic Association expressed disapproval of the university's use of a "hostile or abusive" image.[164] While initially proposing a consensus approach to the decision about the Chief, the board in 2007 decided that the Chief, its name, image and regalia should be officially retired. Nevertheless, the controversy continues on campus with some students unofficially maintaining the Chief. Complaints continue that indigenous students feel insulted when images of the Chief continue to be present on campus.[165] The effort to resolve the controversy by the current chancellor has included the work of a committee that issued a report of its "critical conversations" that included over 600 participants representing all sides, which remain sharply divided.[166]