Loyola University Chicago

Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Loyola's professional schools include programs in medicine, nursing, and health sciences anchored by the Loyola University Medical Center, and the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research spending and doctorate production".

Comprising thirteen colleges and schools, Loyola offers more than 80 undergraduate and 140 graduate/professional programs and enrolls approximately 17,000 students. Loyola has five campuses across the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as a campus in Rome. Another guest program in Beijing was closed in 2018. The flagship Lake Shore Campus is on the shores of Lake Michigan in the Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods of Chicago, just over seven miles (11.3 km) north of the Loop.

Loyola's athletic teams, nicknamed the Ramblers, compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Loyola won the 1963 NCAA men's basketball championship and remains the only school from Illinois to do so. The Ramblers are also two-time (2014, 2015) NCAA champions in men's volleyball.

History

On June 30, 1870, Jesuit priest and educator Arnold Damen established St. Ignatius College. At that time, Chicago was a much smaller, but rapidly growing city just shy of 300,000 people, and as a result, the original campus was much closer to the city center, along Roosevelt Road. In 1909, the school was renamed Loyola University, and in 1912, it began to move to the Lake Shore Campus; today the original building is part of St. Ignatius College Prep, adjacent to the University of Illinois at Chicago.

To meet the growing needs of Chicago, Loyola established professional schools in law (1908), medicine (1909), business (1922), and nursing (1935). The Chicago College of Dental Surgery became part of the university in 1923, and closed 70 years later. A downtown campus was founded in 1914, and with it, the School of Sociology. As the predecessor to the School of Social Work, it enrolled Loyola's first female students, though the school did not become fully coeducational until 1966. Loyola Academy, a college prep high school, occupied Dumbach Hall on the Lake Shore Campus, until it moved to Wilmette in 1957.

The current Water Tower Campus opened in 1949. In 1962, Loyola opened a campus in Rome, near the site of the 1960 Summer Olympics. In 1969, Loyola established the School of Education and consolidated medical programs at the Loyola University Medical Center, a hospital and health care complex in Maywood, a neighboring suburb of Chicago. The university legally separated from the Jesuits in 1970, and today is under lay control and governed by a board of trustees. Loyola purchased neighboring Mundelein College in 1991.

The university faced severe financial hardships and dwindling enrollment during the late 1990s. Michael J. Garanzini S.J. was instated as president of Loyola in 2001 and led major capital campaigns to improve Loyola's academic profile and campuses. In 2005, the Loyola University Museum of Art was established on the Water Tower Campus, and the Rome campus was renamed in honor of Director Emeritus John P. Felice. In 2009, the Cuneo Foundation presented the university with the Cuneo Mansion and Gardens, a 100-acre (40 ha) estate with an Italianate mansion and extensive collections of art and furnishings in Vernon Hills. The $50 million gift was one of the largest in Loyola history.

In 2010, Loyola purchased the Resurrection Retreat Center in Woodstock for retreats and ecological study, allowing the site to become the school's fifth campus. In 2012, Loyola alumnus Michael R. Quinlan donated $40 million to the business school, which was renamed in his honor. During this time, over 200,000 square feet of LEED-certified sustainable spaces have been built on the Lake Shore Campus, along with significant mixed-use developments on the Water Tower Campus.

In 2015, the university established Arrupe College, a uniquely structured two-year college designed to give low-income students access to a Loyola education.

On May 23, 2016, Loyola named Jo Ann Rooney its 24th president. She was the school's first female president. She served until the end of September 2022 when Mark Reed succeeded her.

Campuses

Lake Shore Campus

Loyola's flagship Lake Shore Campus is on the shores of Lake Michigan in the Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods on Chicago's north side, about seven and a half miles north of the Loop. Founded in 1912, it is the school's primary residential campus and the home of the College of Arts and Sciences and a variety of graduate programs. With over 40 buildings, the campus offers green space and lakeshore access, as well as several landmarks: The Madonna della Strada Chapel, an Art Deco masterpiece completed in 1939, is the center of Loyola's religious life. The Mundelein Center, a 200-foot tall Art Deco skyscraper completed in 1930, is the home of Loyola's fine and performing arts programs and a National Historical Landmark. The Joseph J. Gentile Arena, which holds 5,500 for basketball, volleyball, and campus events, was recently expanded to include the Norville Center, a student-athlete academic center and home of Rambler athletics. One of the largest events held annually in Gentile Arena is Colossus, which features a musical artist and comedian. Artists, including Jason Derulo and John Mulaney, have performed for Colossus. The Halas Recreation Center was remodeled and incorporated into the sprawling new Damen Student Center, the heart of campus social life. Mertz Hall is considered a hub for friendship and amongst the best of the resident halls.

The E.M. Cudahy Memorial Library contains over 900,000 volumes and 3,600 periodical subscriptions, and in 2008, was expanded to include the Information Commons, an academic and social space with glass curtain walls that offer unparalleled views of the lake and campus. Science education and research takes place in the Quinlan Life Sciences building and the Institute of Environmental Sustainability, a multipurpose complex that includes academic space, a residence hall, a greenhouse, and the largest geothermal energy facility in Chicago.

Sustainability

Loyola's various environmental efforts have reduced university energy use by 33% since 1998. Loyola has three LEED Silver certified buildings and four LEED Gold certified buildings, with all future construction to be LEED certified as well. Loyola has more green roofs than any college in the Midwest, which includes both new and renovated buildings.

Water Tower Campus

The Water Tower Campus opened in 1949, along a stretch of Michigan Avenue today known as the Magnificent Mile, and is named after the Chicago Water Tower, a city landmark that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It is the home of the Quinlan School of Business, the School of Law, the School of Education, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, the School of Social Work, the School of Communication, the Institute of Pastoral Studies, and Arrupe College, as well as a selection of classes from programs based elsewhere.

Dominated by mixed-use skyscrapers, campus buildings include the Corboy Law Center, Terry Student Center, Baumhart Hall, and landmark Lewis Towers, built in 1945 as the Illinois Catholic Women's Club, and today home of the Office of the President and the Loyola University Museum of Art. Recent construction includes the School of Communication which occupies the basement, first, and second floors of The Clare, a 587-foot tower that serves as a retirement community, and the LEED-certified John and Kathy Schreiber Center, which opened in 2015 as the new home of the Quinlan School of Business.

The campus is steps from the offices of major corporations, Chicago's premiere retail and tourist district, as well as institutions like the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Newberry Library. Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago, is directly adjacent to the south.

Health Sciences Campus

Founded in 1969, along with the Loyola University Medical Center, the Health Sciences Campus in Maywood is the home of the Stritch School of Medicine, the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, and several programs that are part of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Maywood is a nearby western suburb of Chicago, approximately eleven miles from the Loop.

Loyola University Medical Center comprises the main hospital, Loyola Outpatient Center, Ronald McDonald Children's Hospital, Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, and several medical office and laboratory buildings. In 2011, the medical center was sold to Trinity Health, while Loyola continues to own and operate the academic buildings and select research facilities on campus.

In 2017, Loyola expanded its accelerated nursing program to an online-based format with lab in Downers Grove.