The University of Chicago ( U of C , UChicago , or simply Chicago ) is a private research university in Chicago , Illinois , United States . The University consists of the College of the University of Chicago , various graduate programs and interdisciplinary committees organized into four divisions , six professional schools and a secondary school . The university enroll approximately 5,000 students in the College and about 15,000 students in general . The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the world's top 10 universities . University associated with Stanford University for 5th place in the 2014 U.S. News & World Report " Best National Universities Rankings " .
University of Chicago scholars have played a major role in the development of various academic disciplines , including: the Chicago School of Economics , the Chicago school of sociology , law and economics movement in legal analysis , the Chicago school of literary criticism , the Chicago school of religion, the school of political science known as behavioralism , and in physics leading to the world's first artificial self-sustaining nuclear reaction . The University is also home to the University of Chicago Press , the largest university press in the United States .
The University of Chicago is affiliated with 89 Nobel Prize winners ( including 10 current faculty ) , 49 Rhodes Scholars and 9 Fields medalists . It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil - magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890 . William Rainey Harper , the university 's first president in 1891 , and the first class was held in 1892 .
Campus :
The main campus of the University of Chicago consists of 211 acres ( 85.4 ha ) in the Chicago neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn , seven miles ( 11 km ) south of downtown Chicago . The northern and southern parts of the campus are separated by the Midway Plaisance , a large , linear park created for the World's Columbian Exposition . 1893 In 2011 , Travel + Leisure university listed as one of the finest universities in the United States .
The first buildings of the University of Chicago - campus, make - up that is now known as the main four corners , was part of a "master plan " pregnant by two University of Chicago trustees and drawn by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb . The main four corners consist of six quadrangles , each surrounded by buildings , bordering a larger square . The buildings of the main four corners was designed by Cobb , SHEPLEY , Rutan and Coolidge , Holabird & Roche , and other architectural firms in a blend of Victorian Gothic and Collegiate Gothic styles , pattern on the colleges of the University of Oxford . ( Mitchell Tower , for example , is modeled after Oxford 's Magdalen Tower , and the University Commons , Hutchinson Hall , Christ Church saal replica . )
After the 1940's , the Gothic style on campus begins to give self-conscious modern styles . Away In 1955 , Eero Saarinen was contracted for a second master plan , which led to the construction of buildings , both north and south of the Midway , including the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle develop ( a complex designed by Saarinen ) ; a series of art buildings; a building by Mies van der Rohe for the University's School of Social Service Administration ; a building to house the Harris School of Public Policy Studies by Edward Durrell Stone , and the Regenstein Library , the largest building on campus , a Brutalistiese structure designed by Walter Netsch of the Chicago firm Skidmore , Owings & Merrill become . Another master plan , designed in 1999 and updated in 2004 , the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center produces (2003 ) , the Max Palevsky Residential Commons (2001 ) , South - campus residence - and dining commons (2009 ) , a new children's hospital, and other construction , extensions and restorations . In 2011, the university completed glass domed Joe and Rika Mansueto Library , which has a large reading room of the university library and eliminates the need for an off - campus Book Depository .
The site of Chicago Pile - 1 is a National Historic landmark and is characterized by the Henry Moore sculpture Nuclear Energy . Robie House, a Frank Lloyd Wright building by the University in 1963 , is a National Historic Landmark , such as room 405 of the George Herbert Jones Laboratory, where Glenn T. Seaborg and his team were to isolate . First plutonium Hitchcock Hall , an undergraduate residence , is on the National Register of Historic Places .
Other Campus of the University of Chicago :
- Snell - Hitchcock:
- Rockefeller Chapel:
- Henry Hinds Laboratory:
- The Gerald Ratner Athletics Center:
Satellite campuses :
The University of Chicago also maintains facilities apart from its main campus . The University Booth School of Business keeping campuses in Singapore , London , and the downtown Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago. The center of Paris , a campus located on the left bank of the Seine in Paris , hosts various undergraduate and graduate studierigtings . In 2010 fall , the University of Chicago has opened in Haidian District . Center in Beijing , close to Renmin University campus The most recent addition is a center in New Delhi , India , opened in 2014 .
Administration and Finance :
The University of Chicago is governed by a Board of Trustees . The Board of Trustees oversees the long-term development and planning of the university and the management of fundraising , and is composed of 50 members , including the University President . Directly under the President , the Provost , fourteen Vice Presidents ( including the Chief Financial Officer , Chief Investment Beampte and dean of students at the University ) , the Directors of Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab , the Secretary of the University and the student ombudsperson . As of August 2009 , the Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Andrew Alper , and the President of the University is Robert Zimmer . In December 2013 it was announced that the director of Argonne National Laboratory , Eric Isaacs , Provost would be .
The University Endowment was the 12th largest among American educational institutions and state university systems in 2013 and from 2012 is worth $ 6.571 billion .
Academy :
The academic bodies of the University of Chicago consist of the College , four sections of the postgraduate research , six professional schools , and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies ( a continuing education school ) . The university also has a library system , the University of Chicago Press , the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and the University of Chicago Medical Center , and maintain ties with a number of independent academic institutions , including Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory . The university is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the North - Central Association of Colleges and Schools .
The university has a quarter - system in which the academic year is divided into four terms : Summer ( June - August) , autumn (September - December ) , Winter (Jan - March) and spring survey (April - June). Full undergraduate students take three to four courses per quarter for approximately eleven weeks before their quarterly academic break . The school year usually begins in late September and ends in mid - June
Undergraduate College :
The College of the University of Chicago awarded BA and BA of Science degrees in 50 academic majors and 28 minors . The Biological Sciences Collegiate Division , the Physical Sciences Collegiate , Collegiate Division of Social Sciences , Department of Humanities Collegiate Division , and the New Collegiate Division : college graduates are divided into five sections . The first four sections within their corresponding graduate divisions , while the New Collegiate Division administers interdisciplinary majors and studies which do not fit into any of the other four divisions .
Undergraduate students are required to have a spread of college courses core - curriculum known as to satisfy the Common Core . In 2012-2013 , the Core - Chicago classes limited to 17 students and is generally led by a full-time professor (as opposed to an assistant ) . As of the 2013-2014 school year , 15 courses and have demonstrated proficiency in a foreign language is required under the Core . Undergraduate courses at the University of Chicago is known for their exacting standards , heavy workload and academic problems ; according to Uni in the U.S. , "Among the academic cream of American universities - Harvard , Yale , Princeton , MIT , and the University of Chicago - . UChicago that is making the most convincing claim to the most rigorous , intense learning experience "
Graduate schools and committees :
Biological Sciences , Humanities , Natural Sciences and Social Sciences : The University graduate schools and committees are divided into four sections . In the spring quarter of 2009 , the University has subscribed 3633 graduate students : 485 in the Department of Biological Sciences , 1076 in the Humanities - Division , 732 in the Physical Sciences Division , and 1340 in the Social Sciences Department .
The university is home to several committees for interdisciplinary scholarship , including the Committee on Social Thought .
Professional schools :
The university consists of six professional schools : the Pritzker School of Medicine ( which is part of the Biological Sciences - Division ) , the Booth School of Business , the Law School , the Divinity School , the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and the School social Service Administration ( SSA ) . The total entries for these six professional schools were 5086 students in the 2009 spring quarter of 2878 students in the Business School , 344 in the Divinity School , 452 in the medical school , 269 in the Harris School , 494 in SSA , and 649 in the law school .
The Law School is accredited by the American Bar Association , the Divinity School is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada , Pritzker is accredited by the skakel committee on medical education.
Associated academic institutions :
The University has a number of academic institutions and programs apart from his - and postgraduate schools . The work of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools ( a private school day for K - 12 students and day care) , the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School ( a residential treatment program for people with behavioral - and emotional problems ) , and four public charter schools on south side of Chicago is managed by the University Urban Education Institute.In addition, the Hyde Park Day School , a school for students with learning disabilities , maintains a site on the University of Chicago - campus . Since 1983, the University of Chicago , the University of Chicago School Mathematics - Project , a math - program used in urban primary and secondary schools.The University maintained runs a program called the Council on Advanced Studies in the social sciences and humanities , which administer interdisciplinary workshops provide a forum for graduate students , staff and visiting scholars to offer professional work underway to provide . The University also operates the University of Chicago Press , the largest university press in the United States .