Turn-of-the-Century Progressive Education
When Lewis Institute—one of IIT’s predecessor schools—was incorporated in 1895, it asserted itself as a modern education leader on several levels. Guided by terms stipulated in the will of benefactor Allen Cleveland Lewis, trustees tapped several prominent education visionaries to lead the institute, including William Rainey Harper and George Noble Carman, both on staff at the University of Chicago. By offering evening courses for the working class, Lewis Institute is considered to be the forerunner of adult education in the United States; its two-year Associate in Arts degree also makes it the first junior college. And Lewis’s wishes to include a “school for respectable females” within the institute resulted in a bachelor’s degree in domestic economy, with specialized coursework in the arts, sciences, and design to not only improve homemaking skills but also to form a foundation for a career in teaching.
