Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private Ph.D.-granting university on the South Side of Chicago with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. It was founded in 1940 by the merger of the Armour Institute of Technology (founded in 1893) and Lewis Institute (founded in 1895). Several other colleges have since merged with it. It has a student population of around 6,000: 1,800 undergrads, 3,000 graduate students, and 1,200 law students. It is known by its student population as Illinois Tech.
Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the main campus buildings. In 1976, the American Institute of Architects recognized the campus as one of the 200 most significant works of architecture in the U.S.
IIT's predecessor institution, Armour Institute, was founded by Philip Danforth Armour, a prominent Chicago meat packer and grain merchant, after he heard Chicago minister Frank Gunsaulus say that with a million dollars, he would build a school that would be open to students of all backgrounds, instead of just the elite as was common then. Gunsaulus became the first president.
