The University of Illinois System expects to award more than 22,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees for the second straight year, and continued enrollment growth could push degrees over 25,000 by 2026, President Tim Killeen announced today.
In a report on this month’s commencements, Killeen told the Board of Trustees that final totals will not be available until summer, but he expects degrees will top last year’s record of 22,142 and will mark the eighth straight year over 20,000.
“Commencements symbolize the very core of our mission – to plant the seeds of learning that transform lives, one-by-one, at a massive scale that harvests bumper crops of world-class talent year after year to lift the fortunes of our state and nation,” he said.
The latest class of graduates will add to a global network of nearly 750,000 alumni, including almost 400,000 in Illinois.
Killeen said degree increases are rooted in enrollment growth across the system’s universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield. System-wide enrollment has set records for six straight years, rising to nearly 86,000 students last fall, increases that Killeen said are driven by academic quality and affordability efforts that include an in-state tuition freeze that has been extended to a fifth consecutive year next fall.
The board set a high-aspiration enrollment goal in 2016, seeking to increase enrollment by 15 percent to more than 93,600 students by 2021. The system is on pace to meet the target and expects to move closer next fall, with undergraduate applications up more than 10 percent and offers for admission up more than 5 percent.
More students equal more graduates, Killeen said, and a 15 percent increase in students should produce similar growth in degrees awarded. That would mean more than 3,000 new degrees over five years once the enrollment goal is reached, he said, pushing degrees past 25,000 by 2026.
College of Engineering
The board approved naming the College of Engineering in Urbana-Champaign as The Grainger College of Engineering, stemming from a gift by The Grainger Foundation honoring the late William W. Grainger, who graduated from the college a century ago.
The Grainger Foundation, led by William W. Grainger’s son, David W. Grainger, is donating $100 million to the university, adding to the more than $200 million previously received from the foundation. The combined gifts represent the largest donation ever given to a public university to name a college of engineering.
William W. Grainger, a 1919 graduate, founded W.W. Grainger Inc. in 1927. It has since grown to become a Fortune 500 company with more than 25,000 employees worldwide. Based in Illinois, Grainger is recognized as North America’s leading broad line supplier of maintenance, repair and operating products.
Facilities named
The board approved renaming an engineering building in Urbana as the Nick Holonyak Jr. Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. Holonyak, a pioneer in the field of semiconductors and known as the father of the LED (light-emitting diode), is an internationally renowned engineer and a veteran member of the faculty at Urbana-Champaign. Holonyak was the first graduate student of John Bardeen, the only two-time recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics. He earned his undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering at Urbana-Champaign.
Trustees also approved renaming the mechanical engineering building in Urbana as the Sidney Lu Mechanical Engineering Building. Lu donated $21.5 million toward a building upgrade that includes a 25,000-square-foot addition and extensive renovations to the existing building. Lu is chairman and chief executive officer of Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd., a global leader in precision components. He earned his undergraduate degrees in mechanical engineering and math at Urbana-Champaign.
Appointments
The board approved the appointment of Darby Dickerson as dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) John Marshall Law School, effective Aug 16. Dickerson has served as dean of The John Marshall Law School since 2016, and will stay on when it comes part of UIC, expected this fall.
A nationally known leader in legal education, Dickerson was named one of the “most influential people in legal education” by The National Jurist in 2016. She is president-elect of the Association of American Law Schools and will serve as president in 2020. She previously served as dean and the W. Frank Newton Professor of Law at Texas Tech University School of Law, and prior to that as interim dean and dean at the Stetson University College of Law in Florida. She earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from The College of William and Mary, and her law degree from Vanderbilt University.
Dickerson’s appointment, as well as the appointments of 36 faculty members to the law school, is subject to the merger of John Marshall Law School into UIC. The process began in July 2018, and would create Chicago’s first public law school. The UIC John Marshall Law School is seeking accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission and approval for a change of control from the U.S. Department of Education. The first class of students under the new name is expected this fall.
Trustees also appointed Rebecca Ann Rugg as dean of the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts at UIC, effective July 8. Rugg succeeds Walter Benn Michaels, who has served in the position on an interim basis since July 1, 2018, when Steve Everett resigned as dean to become provost at Adelphi University.
Rugg is director of the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Purchase College, part of the State University of New York, and a lecturer at the Yale School of Drama. She is recognized for her expertise in creating and building interdisciplinary artistic and community partnerships. Rugg earned her undergraduate degree from Cornell University, a master’s degree from the University of California at Riverside, and a master’s and doctorate of fine art from the Yale School of Drama.
Continuing budget resolution
The board approved a resolution to keep the U of I System operating legally after its current fiscal year ends June 30. The annual resolution is required to pay bills and maintain operations until the legislature finalizes a new state budget for the fiscal year 2020 that begins July 1.
Trustees will consider the U of I System’s operating budget for fiscal 2020 when a state budget is approved. The total operating budget for fiscal 2019 was $6.8 billion.
