, located on UIC's East Campus UIC is Chicago's largest university with more than 33,000 students, 12,000 employees, 16 colleges and the state's major public medical center. The East Campus was designed in the
brutalist style by
Walter Netsch. The plan included second-story walkways that connected all of the buildings. Considerable effort has been expended to modify the original Netsch campus plan to create the feel of a traditional college campus. For example, the area in front of the main administration building, University Hall, has been the site of several renovations in the last decade; and,
Credit Union 1 Arena (formerly the UIC Pavilion, a sports arena) was added in 1982. The East Campus is located on the
Near West Side, just south of
Greektown and a 15-minute walk from
downtown Chicago. The juxtaposition of campus and commercial density was a direct result of large-scale urban renewal led by Mayor
Richard J. Daley. Nearly 6,000 students live within one-and-a-half miles of campus. 3,800 students, including over half of all freshmen, live in UIC's nine residence halls. There are also thousands of apartments within walking distance to classes. On the East Campus, Commons West and Commons South are traditional halls with double rooms opening into a common hallway; each floor shares a common bathroom. Courtyard and Commons North are cluster-style buildings with rooms grouped to share a small private bathroom. These four buildings are connected to the Student Center East which houses a cafeteria, the campus bookstore, a convenience store, bowling/billiards, a barber shop, and the Inner Circle (an assortment of fast food restaurants). West Campus housing is composed of the Single Student Residence (SSR, apartments for graduate students) and Polk Street Residence (cluster style rooms). South Campus is home to Marie Robinson Hall and Thomas Beckham Hall, both apartment style buildings. In the fall of 2007, James Stukel Towers opened containing suite style rooms with a bathroom and living room. In keeping with UIC culture, students often refer to residence halls by abbreviations instead of their full names (e.g. "TBH" instead of "Thomas Beckham Hall"). The main purpose of the SSR is to house graduate students, undergraduate students of the ages 24 and older, and professional students. The third and fourth floors house undergraduate students of the ages of 21 through 23. The nursing house is located on the 16th floor. The fifth floor of the SSR has a pilot program for students with families. The program can house up to 15 families. Residents of the family program are zoned to
Chicago Public Schools. The Academic and Residential Complex, ARC, was opened in response to the ongoing enrollment increase at the university. The building consists of large lecture halls, smaller discussion section classrooms, meeting rooms, and student housing. The building also has a small gym for student occupants and a
Starbucks.
Student recreation The UIC Student Recreation Facility (SRF) is a recreational complex for UIC students. Opened in spring 2006, the SRF features a three-story
climbing wall, multipurpose courts for games, and a pool with adjoining lazy river. There is also a recreational facility on the west side of the campus. The Sport and Fitness Center, SFC, comprises a fitness floor, Olympic pool, steam room, multipurpose courts, and racquetball courts and much more. UIC Campus Recreation also oversees the Outdoor Field Complex, OFC, on the south side of campus. This outdoor complex comprises two large multipurpose fields. Campus Recreation hosts a variety of programs that promotes the wellness and well-being of students throughout the academic year. Such events includes RecFest, Destress fest, and many more.
Medical center and College of Medicine The University of Illinois College of Medicine offers a four-year program leading to the MD degree at three different sites in Illinois: Chicago, Peoria, and Rockford. (Urbana-Champaign faculty no longer participate in the University of Illinois College of Medicine, with the establishment of the
Carle Illinois College of Medicine, hosted entirely at the flagship campus.) UIC is a major part of the
Illinois Medical District (IMD). While IMD's billing itself "the nation's largest urban medical district" may be up for debate, the district is a major economic force contributing $3.3 billion to the local economy and supporting 50,000 jobs. In popular culture, UIC College of Medicine was the Medical School affiliated with Cook County Hospital in the television series E.R.
Campus renovations skyline in the background After the major $550 million South Campus expansion, the university began renovating existing facilities on campus. This focus is in part due to a constrained state budget: state funds for new buildings are scarce. Since renovation is less costly, this approach is being used to update facilities. The first such renovations were to three original "pillbox" buildings: Grant Hall, Lincoln Hall, and Douglas Hall. The renovated buildings use solar and geothermal power which required digging fifty wells 500 feet into the ground east of University Hall. The energy savings of 20–25% led to Lincoln Hall and Douglas Hall being certified US
LEED Gold. Grant Hall did not apply for LEED certification even though it was the prototype for many of the features found on Lincoln and Douglas Halls. The new fascia are all glass and the buildings contain facilities for faculty and students. There are plans to expand the renovation project to every lecture hall cluster if the pilot program is successful. Other campus renovations include the roof of the Behavioral Sciences Building and the terrace of the Education, Performing Arts, and Social Work building. A brand new building housing the College of Engineering was opened in 2019 to accommodate the increased enrollment in the college. It features the only
high bay structural laboratory in the city of Chicago. To accommodate the rising enrollment in the computer science department, a new building is being constructed called the Computer Design Research and Learning Center (CDRLC); it is slated to be completed in the fall of 2024, with a budget of $117.8 million.
Sustainability The university's Office of Sustainability was founded in January 2008. Current sustainability initiatives include lighting upgrades, building envelope improvements, metering upgrades, and landscape waste composting. Recent work on Grant, Lincoln, and Douglas Halls included upgrading them to use geothermal heat pumps, which efficiently heat and cool the building. The university has approved a Climate Action Plan.
Regional campuses The College of Nursing operates on five other campuses in central and northern Illinois: •
Peoria Campus (The College of Nursing maintains an online campus, whereas the College of Medicine has a physical campus in Peoria.) • Quad Cities Campus (
Moline, Illinois) • Students who live in Illinois or Iowa pay in-state tuition. •
Rockford, Illinois (the UIC Health Sciences Campus) • The UIC Health Sciences Campus in Rockford is shared with UIC's colleges of medicine and pharmacy. •
Springfield, Illinois (at the
UIS campus) •
Urbana, Illinois (at the
UIUC campus) ==Academics==