Illinois Institute of Technology, often called IIT, is a private institution of higher education in Chicago. It traces its origin to 1890, when Chicago clergyman Frank Gunsaulus expressed his vision of a school where students of all backgrounds could prepare for meaningful roles in a changing industrial society. Chicago meat packer Philip Danforth Armour financed Gunsaulus’s vision, and the Armour Institute of Technology opened in 1893. It offered various science and engineering courses. In 1940, the Armour Institute merged with Lewis Institute, a Chicago college founded in 1895, to form Illinois Institute of Technology. The Institute of Design, founded in 1937, merged with IIT in 1949. In 1969, Chicago-Kent College of Law, founded in 1887, also merged with IIT. Stuart School of Business was also added in 1969. Midwest College of Engineering, founded in 1967, joined the university in 1986.
IIT operates five campuses in and near Chicago. The Main Campus in Chicago, as well as many of its buildings, was designed by the German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who directed the architecture program at IIT from 1938 to 1958. IIT’s sports teams are known as the Scarlet Hawks.
The school’s website at https://www.iit.edu/ offers additional information.
