The university's newest academic building, Wabash, is located in The Loop of Downtown Chicago. It is the tallest educational building in Chicago, the second tallest educational building in the United States, and the fourth-largest academic complex in the world.[9]
The university was founded in 1945 by Edward J. Sparling, the former president of Central YMCA College in Chicago. He refused to provide Central YMCA College's board with the demographic data of the student body, fearing the board would develop a quota system to limit the number of African Americans, Jews, immigrants, and women at the school. Sparling resigned under protest and took with him many faculty and students to start a new college. Faculty voted in favor 62 to 1, and students 488 to 2 for the school.[10][11] In the beginning, the university had no library, campus, or endowment.
Robert Morris University Illinois merged with Roosevelt University in 2020. The integrated university continued under the name of Roosevelt University. Robert Morris added its majors to Roosevelt's large portfolio of programs under the name Robert Morris Experiential College, now one of several colleges of Roosevelt University.[13]
The Wabash Building for the downtown campus was completed in 2012. The 32-story vertical campus is the second-tallest higher-education building in the United States and the sixth tallest in the world. It serves as a multipurpose building: housing student services, classrooms, contemporary science labs, administrative offices, and student residences.[18] Student residences are on the top floors (14-32), with a shared lounge overlooking Lake Michigan on each floor. The university held an open house in the summer of 2012, with classes beginning in the new addition during the fall 2012 semester.[19] The Lillian and Larry Goodman Center,[20] the first stand-alone facility for college athletics in Chicago's Loop, is the latest addition to Roosevelt University's downtown Chicago campus and serves as the home for Roosevelt Lakers athletics.
Roosevelt University's campus in Schaumburg is the largest four-year university in Chicago's Northwest suburbs, serving approximately 2,500 students. The campus is located in the former headquarters office building of the Pure Oil Company. Roosevelt converted the building into a comprehensive campus in 1996. The Albert A. Robin Campus is home to the Doctor of Pharmacy program, which accepted its inaugural class in July 2011.[21]
The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees through six colleges:
Chicago College of Performing Arts (Music Conservatory), Chicago College of Performing Arts (Theatre Conservatory), College of Arts & Sciences, College of Education, College of Pharmacy, and the Heller College of Business.[23][24] In addition, the university operates a variety of centers and institutes:[25] St. Clair Drake Center For African And African-American Studies,[26] The Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation,[27] Roosevelt University Cyber Security Center,[28] The Center for New Deal Studies,[29] Policy Research Collaborative,[30] The Montesquieu Forum,[31] The Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate,[32] The Institute for Politics,[33] and The Institute of Tourism Studies[34]
Social justice, a cornerstone of Roosevelt's history and development, has been purposefully embedded into the school's curriculum and is part of every student's academic experience. Topics previously covered have included such issues as public versus private rights to use city parks, the impact of gentrification following urban modernization projects, and the impact one can have to preserve the earth's natural resources. Student-led research projects and theses have also touched areas such as gender equality and the effects of minimum wage on the economy.[35]
Rankings
For 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked Roosevelt tied at #390 out of 439 in National Universities and tied at #174 out of 434 in Top Performers on Social Mobility.[36]
Student life and residence life
Roosevelt University currently has three residence hall options, including the new vertical campus. The new Wabash building serves as housing for all incoming freshmen and transfers. The University Center of Chicago is the other main residence hall, with apartment style options.[37] It was officially opened in the fall of 2004 and is located at 525 S. State Street. The UCC houses students from Roosevelt University, DePaul University, and Columbia College Chicago, totaling 1700 residents from these three schools combined. The second residence hall is Fornelli Hall, with apartment-only options, located in the Pittsfield Building at 55 E. Washington Street, Chicago. It opened in the fall of 2008.[38] It provides apartment-style housing for upperclassmen from Roosevelt University.[39]
The Herman Crown Center, located at 425 S. Wabash Avenue, Chicago, was the main residence hall for Roosevelt until it was closed in the spring of 2008.[40] Like the Herman Crown Center, the new 32-story vertical campus is connected to the Auditorium Building and provides direct access between the two buildings.[41]
Student activities
Roosevelt University Wabash Building entrance
There are many active student organizations at both of the Roosevelt University campuses.[42]
Alpha Phi Omega: co-ed National Service Fraternity; charter for the Alpha Phi Omega chapter was originally at Central YMCA, transferred on reactivation at Roosevelt
Oyez Review: Roosevelt's national and award-winning literary journal.[43]
Black Student Union: represents the interests and concerns of black students, faculty and administration at Roosevelt University, and brings together all aspects of black student life for the purpose of improving the campus environment
Colleges Against Cancer: an initiative originally started by the American Cancer Society and brought to Roosevelt to educate advocacy, recognize survivors, and participate in the Relay for Life.
RU Green: develops sustainable practices and systems throughout campus to promote an ecologically conscious student body and to implement green methodologies throughout campus
PULSE: GSM (Gender and Sexual Minority) Society: an organization that focuses on uniting students who are accepting of differences; an alliance among all gender and sexual minorities. Was renamed in 2016 after the PULSE massacre in Florida.
RU Sociological Society (RUSS): fosters the advancement of sociological study at undergraduate and graduate levels by providing outlets for students to present research, exchange ideas, and build relationships
Society for Human Resource Management: a gateway into the human resources profession by encouraging personal and career growth for its student members
Roosevelt competes in 25 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, football, golf, ice hockey (D-I & D-II), soccer, tennis, track & field and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, bowling, cross country, ice hockey, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball; and co-ed sports include cheerleading, dance, eSports performing arts.[46]
Move to NCAA Division II
On August 1, 2022, Roosevelt announced that it would move to the NCAA Division II and join the GLIAC, starting in the 2023–24 school year as a provisional member, before competing in full GLIAC membership in 2024–25.[47]
Athletic expansion
The Lakers announced in April 2020 their addition of football and men's/women's ice hockey for the 2020–21 academic year, having been acquired from Robert Morris when they competed as the Eagles. The ice hockey teams joined the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and inherited the Eagles' former ACHA affiliation.[48][49][50]
Roosevelt University revived its athletic program after a 20-year absence in 2010. Roosevelt added women's volleyball for the 2011–12 academic year, followed by men's golf, men's and women's soccer, and softball for the 2012–13 academic year.[51]
The expansion of the university's athletics has brought the number of sport offerings from the initial seven sports to fourteen.[46] After the 2020 merger, Roosevelt completed its acquisition of Robert Morris's football and men's/women's ice hockey teams.
The Lillian and Larry Goodman Center is located at 501 S. Wabash Avenue, which is the southeast corner of the intersection known as Ida B. Wells Drive and Wabash Avenue. The Goodman Center is a two-story, 27,834-gross-square-foot field house featuring a multi-purpose gymnasium on the second floor and first-floor space containing offices, meeting rooms, a team lounge, locker rooms, an athletic training room, and a strength and conditioning center.[53]
The lobby stairwell of the Auditorium Building (430 S. Michigan Avenue) was featured in the film The Untouchables (1987).[54] The lobby was also the set of a nightclub scene in the 2009 film Public Enemies.[55]
In the summer of 2005, the Murray-Green Library on the 10th floor of the Auditorium Building was used as a set for the film The Lake House, in which the room doubled as an architect's office.
^First as Acting President, then in 1967 as elected President.
^"Pitchell held a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and was an Indiana University political scientist and tax expert. He was hired as Roosevelt's second president after an 18-month national search, but his tenure only lasted for one year. Sometimes called "the forgotten president," he failed in raise money or understand the strong culture of shared governance at Roosevelt and so did not gain the support of the deans and trustees." Laura Mills and Lynn Y. Weiner: Roosevelt University, p. 66. See also: "Pitchell, Head of Roosevelt U., Quits in Administrative Conflict; In Letter of Resignation, He Asks to Be Relieved of Duties by Aug. 31". New York Times. December 18, 1964.
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