Institutional History
The University
Northern Illinois State Normal School was chartered in 1895 under Governor John P. Altgeld. Local entrepreneurs donated 72 acres for the original campus and $30,000 to start construction on its only building, later named Altgeld Hall. In addition to the funds donated by private parties, the Illinois state government appropriated a total of approximately $200,000 for construction of the building. Instruction began at the Normal School in September of 1898, at which time the building was not yet finished. Sixteen faculty members greeted 139 students on the first day.
In 1955, the institution was renamed Northern Illinois State College, having expanded its function beyond teacher education. The college became Northern Illinois University in 1957, and soon expanded its programs to include degrees in business, fine and applied arts, and liberal arts and sciences.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Organized in 1959 from fourteen departments, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences originally contained Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, English, Foreign Languages, History, Journalism, Library Science, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Social Sciences, and Speech. In 1961, the Departments of Economics, Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology replaced the Social Sciences Departments. Numerous other changes and transitions occurred in subsequent years. Since 2001 the Liberal Arts and Sciences College comprises the following departments: Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Communication, Computer Science, Economics, English, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Geography, Geology and Environmental Geosciences, History, Mathematical Sciences, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology.
