University of Chicago

One of the world's premier academic and research institutions, the University of Chicago has driven new ways of thinking since our 1890 founding. Today, UChicago is an intellectual destination that draws inspired scholars to our Hyde Park and international campuses, keeping UChicago at the nexus of ideas that challenge and change the world. It was ranked as 11th by THE world University rankings in 2014-2015.

The University of Chicago was founded in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society and oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, who later described the University of Chicago as “the best investment I ever made.” The land for the new university, in the recently annexed suburb of Hyde Park, was donated by Marshall Field, owner of the Chicago department store that bears his name. William Rainey Harper, the first president, imagined a university that would combine an American-style undergraduate liberal arts college with a German-style graduate research university. The University of Chicago quickly fulfilled Harper's dream, becoming a national leader in higher education and research.

There have been 87 Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Chicago, 17 of whom were pursuing research or on faculty at the university at the time of the award announcement.

Notable alumni in the field of government and politics include community organizer Saul Alinsky, Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod, Attorney General and federal judge Robert Bork, Attorney General Ramsey Clark, former Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine, Prohibition agent Eliot Ness, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, former minister of economy and finance in Haiti Leslie Delatour.

Academic programs

• Biological Sciences Division
• Chicago Booth School of Business
• The College (undergraduate studies)
• Divinity School
• Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies
• Harris School of Public Policy Studies
• Humanities Division
• Law School
• Institute for Molecular Engineering
• Physical Sciences Division
• Pritzker School of Medicine
• School of Social Service Administration
• Social Sciences Division
• Laboratory Schools
• Summer Session