Loyola University Chicago facts for kids
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Former names
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St. Ignatius College (1870–1909) |
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| Motto | Ad majorem Dei gloriam (Latin) |
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Motto in English
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For the greater glory of God |
| Type | Private research university |
| Established | 1870 |
| Founder | Arnold Damen |
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Religious affiliation
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Catholic (Jesuit) |
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Academic affiliations
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ACCU, AJCU |
| Endowment | $971.55 million (2023) |
| President | Mark Reed |
| Provost | Margaret Callahan |
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Academic staff
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784 |
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Administrative staff
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1,608 |
| Students | 17,159 |
| Undergraduates | 12,240 |
| Postgraduates | 4,919 |
| Location |
,
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United States
42°00′00″N 87°39′28″W / 41.9999°N 87.6578°W |
| Campus | 45 acres (18 ha) |
| Colors | Maroon and gold |
| Nickname | Ramblers |
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Sporting affiliations
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NCAA Division I – A-10 |
| Mascot | Lu Wolf |
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Loyola University Chicago (often called Loyola or LUC) is a private university in Chicago, Illinois. It was started in 1870 by a group called the Jesuits, who are Catholic priests. Loyola is one of the biggest Catholic universities in the United States. It is named after Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
Loyola has programs in medicine, nursing, and health sciences. These are connected to the Loyola University Medical Center. The university is also known for its strong research programs.
Loyola has thirteen colleges and schools. It offers over 80 programs for undergraduate students and 140 for graduate students. About 17,000 students attend Loyola. The university has six campuses around Chicago and one in Rome, Italy. The main campus, Lake Shore Campus, is right on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Loyola's sports teams are called the Ramblers. They compete in NCAA Division I. The men's basketball team won the national championship in 1963. This makes them the only team from Illinois to do so. The men's volleyball team also won national championships in 2014 and 2015.
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History of Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago started as St. Ignatius College on June 30, 1870. It was founded by a Jesuit priest named Arnold Damen. Chicago was a fast-growing city back then. The first campus was closer to the city center.
In 1909, the school changed its name to Loyola University. In 1912, it began moving to the Lake Shore Campus. The original building is now part of St. Ignatius College Prep.
To help Chicago grow, Loyola added new schools. These included law (1908), medicine (1909), business (1922), and nursing (1935). The university also opened a downtown campus in 1914. This campus included the School of Sociology. This school was important because it was where Loyola's first female students enrolled. The university became fully coeducational for all programs in 1966.
The current Water Tower Campus opened in 1949. In 1962, Loyola opened a campus in Rome, Italy. In 1969, Loyola started the School of Education. It also brought all its medical programs together at the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Today, the university is run by a board of trustees. Loyola also bought Mundelein College in 1991.
Since the year 2000, Loyola has made many improvements to its campuses. In 2005, the Loyola University Museum of Art opened. The Rome campus was also renamed after its founder, John P. Felice. In 2009, Loyola received a huge gift: the Cuneo Mansion and Gardens. This 100-acre estate has an Italian-style mansion and many art collections. It was the largest gift in Loyola's history.
In 2010, Loyola bought the Resurrection Retreat Center in Woodstock. This became the school's fifth campus. It is used for retreats and studying nature. In 2012, a Loyola graduate, Michael R. Quinlan, gave $40 million to the business school. It was then named in his honor. Many new eco-friendly buildings have been built on the Lake Shore Campus.
Loyola is ranked among the top universities in the nation. In 2015, the university started Arrupe College. This two-year college helps students from lower-income families get a Loyola education.
On May 23, 2016, Jo Ann Rooney became Loyola's first female president. She served until September 2022. Then, Mark Reed became the new president.
Loyola University Campuses
Lake Shore Campus
Loyola's main campus is the Lake Shore Campus. It is located on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago. This campus was founded in 1912. It is where most students live and where the College of Arts and Sciences is located. The campus has over 40 buildings, green spaces, and lake access.
Important buildings include the Madonna della Strada Chapel. This beautiful Art Deco building was finished in 1939. It is the center of religious life at Loyola. The Mundelein Center is a tall Art Deco skyscraper built in 1930. It houses Loyola's arts programs and is a National Historical Landmark.
The Joseph J. Gentile Arena holds 5,500 people for sports and events. It was recently updated to include the Norville Center. This center helps student-athletes with their studies. The Halas Recreation Center was also updated and is now part of the Damen Student Center. This is a popular spot for student activities.
The E.M. Cudahy Memorial Library has over 900,000 books. In 2008, it added the Information Commons. This is a study and social area with great views of the lake. Science classes and research happen in the Quinlan Life Sciences building. The Institute of Environmental Sustainability is a complex with classrooms, a dorm, a greenhouse, and Chicago's largest geothermal energy system.
The Lake Shore Campus is connected to Chicago's train system, the "L". The Loyola station on the CTA Red Line is right there.
Campus Sustainability Efforts
Loyola cares about the environment. The university has cut its energy use by 33% since 1998. Loyola has several buildings that are LEED Silver or Gold certified. All new buildings will also be LEED certified. Loyola has more green roofs than any other college in the Midwest. In 2014, Loyola was ranked 4th nationally for being one of America's Greenest Colleges.
Water Tower Campus
The Water Tower Campus opened in 1949. It is on Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile. The campus is named after the Chicago Water Tower. This city landmark survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. This campus is home to many schools, including business, law, education, and communication.
The campus has many tall buildings. These include the Corboy Law Center, Terry Student Center, and Baumhart Hall. Lewis Towers, built in 1945, houses the Office of the President and the Loyola University Museum of Art. Recent additions include the School of Communication. The LEED-certified John and Kathy Schreiber Center opened in 2015. It is the new home for the Quinlan School of Business.
The campus is close to major company offices and Chicago's main shopping area. It is also near places like the Museum of Contemporary Art. Holy Name Cathedral, a large Catholic church, is right next door.
The Water Tower Campus is also connected to the "L" train system. Students can take a free shuttle between the Water Tower Campus and the Lake Shore Campus during the week.
Health Sciences Campus
The Health Sciences Campus opened in 1969 in Maywood. This campus is home to the Stritch School of Medicine and the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. Maywood is a suburb about eleven miles from downtown Chicago.
The Loyola University Medical Center includes the main hospital, a children's hospital, and a cancer center. In 2011, the medical center was sold to Trinity Health. However, Loyola still owns and runs the academic buildings and research facilities on campus.
John Felice Rome Center
Loyola's campus in Rome, Italy, opened in 1962. It is located on Monte Mario, about two miles from Vatican City. This campus has the oldest American university program in Italy. It hosts students from Loyola and other universities who want to study abroad. In 2005, the campus was renamed after its founder, John P. Felice.
Other Campuses
In 2010, Loyola started the Retreat and Ecology Campus in Woodstock. This campus is about fifty miles northwest of Chicago. It is used for university retreats and studying nature. The property has 20 acres of natural areas, including ponds, streams, woods, and prairie.
Loyola also owns the Cuneo Mansion and Gardens in Vernon Hills, Illinois. This is about thirty miles north of Chicago. The mansion and grounds were given to the university in 2009. It works as a museum and hosts special events. It also has academic programs in business, education, and law.
Academics at Loyola
| ARWU World | 901–1000 |
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| USNWR National University | 103 |
| Washington Monthly National University | 213 |
| Forbes | 248 |
| 2022 | |
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| New Freshman | 2,864 |
| Mean GPA | 3.90 |
| 50% ACT Range | 27-32 |
| 50% SAT Math | 580–660 |
Tuition and Costs
For the 2022–2023 school year, tuition for new full-time undergraduate students was $50,270 per year. This amount does not include housing, meals, or other fees. These fees include a student transit pass, student activity fee, technology fee, and health insurance. Graduate school tuition costs are different for each program.
Religious Studies
Loyola's Department of Theology offers classes for both undergraduate and graduate students. These classes cover different areas of religious study. They are not just about Catholic beliefs.
Loyola also hosts a Jesuit First Studies Program. This is one of only three in the country. In this program, Jesuit students study philosophy and some theology for three years. This is part of an eleven-year process to become a Jesuit priest.
Loyola University also provides religious education for people who want to work in church ministry. It offers degrees in interdisciplinary Catholic studies.
Schools and Colleges
Loyola Chicago has many different schools and colleges:
- College of Arts & Sciences
- Quinlan School of Business
- School of Communication
- School of Continuing and Professional Studies
- School of Education
- The Graduate School
- School of Law
- Stritch School of Medicine
- Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing
- School of Social Work
- Arrupe College
- Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health
- School of Environmental Sustainability
Student Life at Loyola
Where Students Live
Most of Loyola's dorms and apartments are near the Lake Shore Campus. One dorm, Baumhart Hall, is at the Water Tower Campus in downtown Chicago. Many of Loyola's dorms are named after other Jesuit colleges.
First-year students can live in dorms like Campion Hall, de Nobili Hall, Mertz Hall, and Simpson Hall. Some of these dorms are located above dining halls. First and second-year students must live in on-campus housing.
Older students can choose from many dorms at the Lake Shore campus. These include Bellarmine, Fordham, and Marquette Halls. Santa Clara Hall has great views of Lake Michigan. Upperclassmen can also live in Baumhart Hall downtown. This is an apartment-style dorm for older students and graduate students.
Student Organizations
Loyola University Chicago has many student groups, including fraternities and sororities. These include social groups, professional groups, and cultural groups.
Some of the fraternities are Beta Theta Pi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, and Sigma Chi. Some of the sororities are Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Sigma Alpha, and Kappa Kappa Gamma.
There are also professional co-ed fraternities like Delta Sigma Pi. Service fraternities like Alpha Phi Omega are also available. Cultural groups include Alpha Psi Lambda and Lambda Upsilon Lambda.
College Radio Station
Loyola University used to have a radio station called WLUC-AM in the 1960s. Students played music on 600 kHz to campus buildings. Later, WLUC-AM was replaced by an FM station, WLUW, in the 1970s.
Loyola Ramblers Athletics
Loyola has 11 varsity sports teams. Most of them compete in NCAA Division I. These teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track, and volleyball. The nickname "Ramblers" started in 1926 for the football team. They were called Ramblers because they traveled a lot for games.
The mascot for the university is LU Wolf. He was inspired by the coat of arms of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This crest shows two wolves standing over a kettle. The wolves and kettle represent the Loyola family's generosity. They had enough food for their family, staff, and even wild animals.
Loyola's men's basketball team, the Ramblers, won the national championship in 1963. They are the only Division I NCAA school in Illinois to win a men's basketball national title. In 2018, they had one of the highest win percentages in the NCAA tournament's history.
The Loyola Ramblers men's volleyball team won national championships in 2014 and 2015.
In 2018, Loyola's men's basketball team won their conference tournament. This allowed them to play in the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. They won four upset games against strong teams to reach the Final Four. However, they lost to the Michigan Wolverines in the Final Four.
Loyola's success in the tournament brought a lot of attention to the school. In October 2018, the Loyola Ramblers Women's Soccer team won their first conference title. In November 2021, Loyola announced it would join the Atlantic 10 conference in 2022.
Notable Alumni
Many successful people have graduated from Loyola University Chicago. Here are a few:
- Leslie David Baker, actor (from The Office)
- Ian Brennan, writer and co-creator of TV shows like Glee
- Susan Candiotti, CNN correspondent
- Shams Charania, sports reporter for The Athletic
- William M. Daley, former White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama
- David Draiman, lead singer of the band Disturbed
- Lori Greiner, inventor and TV personality (from Shark Tank)
- Mary Gross, actress and comedian (from Saturday Night Live)
- George Halas, Jr., former president/owner of the Chicago Bears football team
- Donte Ingram, NBA basketball player
- Jennifer Morrison, actress (from Once Upon a Time and House)
- Bob Newhart, famous actor and comedian
- Michael R. Quinlan, former Chairman of McDonald's Corporation
- Todd Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team
- William Scholl, founder of Dr. Scholl's footcare products
- Robert R. Thomas, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois
- John York, co-owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team
See also
In Spanish: Universidad Loyola Chicago para niños
- List of Jesuit sites
