Rewind

Winter 2022

Before You Go

On an unseasonably warm late fall afternoon, pumpkins were flung all across Ed Glancy Field on Sunday, October 23, during the 16th annual Pumpkin Launch competition. Illinois Tech students banded together to create catapults to heave the gourds, leaving them broken and busted and strung across the grass on the university’s baseball field.

Fall 2021

Connecting to the Community

The methodologies may have changed over the last few decades, but the purpose remains clear: in working to become a valued member of the communities in which it resides, Illinois Institute of Technology aims to channel the passion, commitment, and talent of the students in Bronzeville and other South Side neighborhoods in Chicago through pre-college programs.

Summer 2021

Sailors Brown and Cooper Share Land and Sea Memories

The presence of the United States military at Illinois Institute of Technology has a long tradition, reaching back to the early 1940s. According to information from Paul V. Galvin Library’s University Archives and Special Collections, President Emeritus Henry T. Heald wrote a letter to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz one week after the bombing of Pearl Harbor to request that the university be allowed to form a Naval Reserve Officer Training unit. Since that time, not only the U.S. Navy, but also the Air Force and the Army have enrolled students in Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs on Mies Campus.

Summer 2021

Before You Go

Before You Go As the summer sun shines on Mies Campus, a resourceful member of the Illinois Tech community finds some relaxation near the north end of Wishnick Hall. Photo by: David Ettinger

Spring 2021

The Original Influencer

Twelve years ago this June, some 200 Illinois Institute of Technology alumni (including the newly formed African American Alumni Association), among them engineers, Fortune 500 leaders, educators, and even a Broadway entertainer, gathered on Mies Campus to honor and welcome back a man who was their guiding career star: Nathaniel “Nate” Thomas. Founder of Illinois Tech’s Early Identification Program for underrepresented minority recruitment, Thomas passed away late last year.

Fall 2020

Twentieth-Century Celebrities Come to Campus

Frank Wakeley Gunsaulus (1856–1921), the Chicago minister whose “million-dollar sermon” resulted in the establishment of Armour Institute of Technology, a predecessor to Illinois Institute of Technology, was described as being a skilled orator and influential leader. A charismatic figure, he formed relationships with people in government, industry, and business from around the world.

Summer 2020

Making History—and a Landmark

In 1969, when John H. Johnson needed a new headquarters for Johnson Publishing Company—publisher of iconic titles such as Ebony and Jet and an integral part of Black life in the twentieth century—he approached Ludwig Mies van der Rohe protégé John Warren Moutoussamy (ARCH ’48) to create the new home for his publishing juggernaut.

Spring 2020

Understanding Society

Last November Illinois Tech Magazine received an email from Roger L. Henry (M.S. [for Teachers] SOCT ‘70), Tallahassee, Florida, about a special graduate-level, professional program in which he was enrolled from 1969–1970. Henry was on the faculty of DeLaura Junior High School in Satellite Beach, Florida, and was looking for graduate school opportunities when he learned about the Academic Year Institute in Sociology at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Fall 2019

Treasures out of Paper and Glue

Illinois Institute of Technology’s legacy as a nexus for the teaching of design and architecture has its roots in the Bauhaus, an influential arts and crafts, design, and architecture school founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany. The Bauhaus remained open for 14 years before it closed under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.

Spring 2019

Remembering "Goldy"

Colleagues and friends lent their voices in tribute to Myron Goldsmith (B.ARCH ’39, M.S. ’53) in a collection of testimonials honoring the acclaimed architect and engineer, who was celebrated in a memorial service held on October 19, 1996, at S. R. Crown Hall.

Fall 2018

A Distinguished Past

Under Henry T. Heald’s presidency, Alumni Memorial Hall—a product of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s “almost nothing” philosophy—served as both an armory and a hub for the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps from its opening in 1946 until 1972. Originally dubbed the Navy Building, it now houses the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, yet honors all Illinois Tech alumni who gave their lives in active military service. It is also a testament to the more than 40,000 individuals who completed defense-related training courses at the university during 1941 to 1943 as well as to those in the V-12 Navy College Training Program—a nationwide effort that gave aspiring officers the opportunity to earn bachelor’s degrees at civilian institutions of higher learning.

Spring 2018

Last Bridge Standing

The next time you drive across the IL-104 River Bridge over the Illinois River in Meredosia, Illinois, thank Sasha Bajzek (CE ’11) for your safe passage. She designed the steel plate girders, steel details, joints, and bearings for the structure’s nine approach spans, each at 140 to 200 feet in length.