Altgeld Hall Rededication
October 7, 2004

President’s Welcome

On behalf of all who have been privileged to serve this great institution as president, I welcome you to historic Altgeld Hall—birthplace of Northern Illinois University.

Our beginnings as a state “normal school,” or teachers college, set the stage for generations of service to a region now ranked as third largest in the country. We honor those beginnings in the pages that follow, and we celebrate a future in which lovingly restored Altgeld Hall can continue to play a role.

Those who came before me and those who will come after are linked in purpose and vision—and now, in a very real way, by the building where it all began. Altgeld Hall is not a museum, but a living, working, public space where the roots of American higher education are still very much in view. It is your building, and I hope you will visit often.

John G. Peters
Eleventh President, Northern Illinois University