Northwestern University was chartered in 1851 as an independent institution of higher education in Illinois to serve the people of the Northwest Territory, and its growth has paralleled the dynamic rise of Chicago, the metropolitan focus of the original Northwest Territory. In 1853, the founders purchased a 379-acre tract of farmland along Lake Michigan 12 miles north of Chicago. The town that grew up around the University was named Evanston in honor of one of the University's founders, John Evans. After completing its first building in the fall of 1855, Northwestern opened its doors with two faculty and ten students. By 1900, Northwestern was a university composed of seven graduate and undergraduate schools with 2,700 students and an annual budget of more than $200,000.
Today, Northwestern is a major private research university with more than 17,000 students enrolled in twelve academic divisions on two lakefront campuses, over 7,100 employees including about 3,100 faculty, and an annual budget over $1.5 billion. Awards for research and sponsored programs are more than $350 million per year, with an increase of about 40% over the past five years. Without doubt, Northwestern has fulfilled the expectations of its founders to establish "a university of the highest order of excellence."
Stretching for nearly a mile along Lake Michigan, the Evanston campus is situated in the first suburb north of Chicago, about 14 miles from the downtown center called the Loop. The university occupies nearly 240 acres in Evanston, including a lakefill of approximately 85 acres created in 1964. On the Evanston campus about 12,000 full-time and part-time students are enrolled in The Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences; the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science; the Schools of Education and Social Policy, Music, and Speech; the Medill School of Journalism; the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management; and School of Continuing Studies. Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, an institution with which Northwestern University shares a joint doctoral program, and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary are adjacent to Northwestern.
Twelve miles south of the Evanston campus is the 20-acre Chicago campus, which is located on Lake Michigan just east of the "Magnificent Mile" on North Michigan Avenue. The heart of this campus is the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, which coordinates the educational, research, and service facilities of the Medical School, and several member hospitals. Also located on the Chicago campus are the School of Law; the evening program of the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management; and courses of study in the Division of Continuing Education and Special Programs (School of Continuing Studies). Approximately 2,000 full-time students are enrolled in the Law and Medical Schools. In addition, about 3,000 part-time students study in the Kellogg Graduate School and School of Continuing Studies.
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
The Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science is housed in the Technological Institute on the Evanston Campus. It includes the departments of Applied Mathematics, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. About 1400 undergraduate students and 1100 graduate students are served by approximately 160 full-time faculty and a number of adjunct faculty.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is consistently ranked among the top ten in the United States. In addition to Project Management, areas of specialty within the department include Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and Transportation Systems. All degree programs are designed to provide a strong background in the fundamental principles of modern civil engineering. The department has 28 full-time faculty and about 15 adjunct faculty to serve about 150 undergraduate students and more than 100 graduate students.
Technologies Support Services, the central computing support organization for the University, operates public computer labs in the Technological Institute building and at other locations on campus. These facilities are supplemented by a large and ever-increasing number of computers housed in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the MPM program has a dedicated computer lab that is networked to the University system.
The Northwestern University library system ranks among the most prestigious in the United States. Its collection consists of approximately 4.4 million volumes, over two million microforms, and 38,000 current periodicals and serial publications. The University Library is also a designated U.S. Government Depository Library, and scientific and technical information is provided by several specialized libraries. The Science-Engineering, Geology, and Mathematics Libraries have combined holdings of more than a quarter million volumes and 2,000 current journals. The Transportation Library, the second largest such library in the nation, includes a comprehensive environmental impact statement collection. Industrial and management information is made available by management services librarians in the general reference department of the main University Library. These facilities and their staffs are equipped to search on-line and to abstract data bases in a wide range of disciplines. The Northwestern On-line Total Integrated System (NOTIS) provides access to bibliographic information through terminals at many locations on campus and through computers or terminals with dial-up capacity both on and off campus. The Northwestern University Library is a national leader in the field of library automation and a designer of computer software used by major universities throughout the United States and abroad.
The Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Norris Aquatics Center is one of the finest sports recreation complexes in the nation. Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, this magnificent facility includes a 165-meter track; six tennis courts; an Olympic-size swimming pool; a conditioning room with weight machines, exercise bikes, stair machines, treadmills and rowing machines; eight racquetball and squash courts; and locker rooms with showers and saunas. The center is uniquely designed to take advantage of its prime location on beautiful Lake Michigan. The east end of the jogging track has a glass rotunda which enables runners to view the lake while running their laps. Windows along the swimming pool allow early morning swimmers to watch the sun rise over Lake Michigan. The exercise bikes, stair machines and rowing machines on the second floor are positioned so that participants may view the beautiful lakefront while they work out.
Northwestern University offers students a rich social and cultural life, both on and off campus. The Activities and Organizations Board sponsors movies, nationally and internationally famous guest speakers, concerts, and all-campus parties. Jazz bands and singing groups perform concerts several times every quarter. Warm weather sends sun bathers and sailors to the beaches along Lake Michigan, and exciting Big Ten sports attract enthusiasts throughout the year. Downtown Chicago, only 30 minutes from campus by train, offers shopping on famous State Street (that "great street") and the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue. In addition, Rush Street holds vibrant entertainment for the night owl. Chicago's various sports teams attract devoted fans during the entire year. The famous blues clubs, comedy clubs, museums, zoos, playhouses, fine restaurants, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Civic Opera are easily accessible.
In addition to a limited number of University-owned apartments for graduate housing, off-campus apartments and rooms are usually available within walking or biking distance from campus. The nearby public transit system also makes living accommodations in north Chicago a convenient possibility.
