Eastern Illinois University

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Eastern Illinois University
Image:EIU_logo.gif
Established 1895
(as Eastern Illinois State Normal School)
Type Public State university
President Louis V. Hencken
Undergraduates 9,928
Postgraduates 1,723
Location Charleston, Illinois, United States
Campus Small town
Nickname Panthers
Website http://www.eiu.edu

Eastern Illinois University is a state university located in Charleston, Illinois.

Contents

[edit] Institution

Eastern Illinois University has approximately 10,000 undergraduates, 1,700 graduate students, and 2,000 faculty and staff. Admission is selective. Tuition is approximately $7,000 per year for Illinois resident and $17,500 for non-residents, making it one of the most affordable universities in Illinois. There are prominent Communication Disorders and Sciences and Biological Sciences programs, though the College of Education remains the largest department. The university has an endowment of approximately $19 million.

[edit] History

Old Main
Old Main

Eastern Illinois University was established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School. Originally a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, it gradually expanded its curriculum to include Baccalaureate and Master's degrees in most of the arts, sciences, and humanities.

The first building was finished in 1899 and is called Old Main, though it is formally named the Livingston C. Lord Administration Building in honor of EIU's first president, who served from 1899 to 1933. Built of Indiana limestone in a heavy Gothic revival style with turrets, towers, and battlements, its distinctive outline is the official symbol of the school. Old Main is one of the five "castles" built in the 1890s at the major Illinois state colleges. The others are at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois State University, Northern Illinois University, and Southern Illinois University. Governor John Peter Altgeld was instrumental in funding the Illinois university system, and he was especially fond of the Gothic style. EIU and Illinois State are the only schools where the "castle" is not named after Altgeld. Another original Gothic Revival building, Blair Hall, was restored after a disastrous fire in 2004.

[edit] Sports

Eastern Illinois University's colors are blue, grey and white; the sports teams' nickname is the Panthers. Except for men's soccer and swimming teams, the teams participate in NCAA Division I (I-AA for football) in the Ohio Valley Conference. The men's soccer program competes in the Missouri Valley Conference and the swim team competes in the Mid-Continent Conference.

Eastern Illinois University is home to one of only two NCAA Division I women's rugby teams in the United States.

Three current National Football League coaches - Mike Shanahan of the Denver Broncos, Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints and Brad Childress of the Minnesota Vikings - are alumni of Eastern Illinois. Additionally, Tony Romo, the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, is also an alumnus of the university, having actually been hired in Dallas on the advice of Peyton, then an assistant coordinator on the squad.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] External links


Public Colleges and Universities in Illinois
Chicago State • Eastern Illinois • Governors State • Illinois • Illinois-Springfield • Illinois State • Northeastern Illinois • Northern Illinois • SIU-Carbondale • SIU-Edwardsville • UIC • Western Illinois
Ohio Valley Conference
Austin Peay • Eastern Illinois • Eastern Kentucky • Jacksonville State • Morehead State • Murray State • Samford • SEMO • Tennessee State • Tennessee Tech • Tennessee–Martin
This article on a midwestern U.S. institution of higher education is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/a/s/Eastern_Illinois_University_c897.html"
In other languages