Refreshed, Cunningham Hall Reopens to Students
One year after the re-opening of the fully renovated George J. Kacek Hall, another Modernist residence hall designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is once again open for business. Cunningham Hall opened to students at the beginning of the fall 2021 semester, with a design mirroring that of the redesigned Kacek Hall. The building features six residential floors in a pod-style configuration, with student rooms pinwheeling around central study and social lounge areas, and another two floors that are in an apartment-style configuration.
A Sign of His Significance
On Saturday, September 18, the City of Chicago honored the late Leon Lederman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who served as an Illinois Tech faculty member for nearly 20 years before retiring in 2011, by renaming a portion of 33rd Street in his honor. Proposed by the university’s Department of Physics, the Chicago City Council, led by Alderman Pat Dowell (Third Ward), passed an ordinance in October 2020 creating Leon Lederman Way.
Marking History
A parking lot outside of Keating Sports Center, at the northern edge of Illinois Tech’s Mies Campus, sits at the intersection of 31st and State streets in Bronzeville, near the former site of Alpha Suffrage Club, the first organization established in Illinois to promote the right for Black women to vote. It was founded by Ida B. Wells.
There had been no indication that an organization of such importance once called that location home—until recently. On October 1, Illinois Tech unveiled a commemorative marker in honor of the Alpha Suffrage Club at that intersection. Illinois Tech President Raj Echambadi and Illinois State Representative Kambium “Kam” Buckner (26th District) were among the speakers at the event, along with two great grandchildren of Wells.
Illinois Tech on the Scoville Scale
In its continuing quest to build more local partnerships, Chartwells, Illinois Tech’s food service provider, found a spicy solution this year: creating a university-branded hot sauce. One of its new partners in 2021 is Co-op Sauce, which teamed with the university to create Tech Yeah, a hot sauce made with honey and gochujang, a Korean red chili paste.
