Fostering A Transformative Learning Environment

On any given day on our campus, Illinois students have a chance to learn in some of the best facilities in the nation:

• the Siebel Center for Computer Science
• the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
• the Beckman Institute
• libraries around campus
• the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

And on any given night on campus, Illinois students have new opportunities for learning, not in the classroom, but through the myriad activities at venues throughout campus. Whether they are hearing a talk from a leading scholar, joining in the activities of nearly 1,000 student clubs, taking in an art exhibit or participating in numerous multicultural programs, our students are immersed in a vibrant environment that nurtures their creativity, challenges their ideas, and fosters life-long friendships.

Having a campus that’s the size of a small city helps us deliver all of these advantages. And yet, our students are a close-knit family. Our Living and Learning Communities give students the chance to live with other students who have the same majors or life goals. We’re also the number-one disability-friendly campus, which stands to reason since many of the nation’s accessibility services and policies were developed right here at our College of Applied Health Sciences. Thanks to generous private support, we’ve been able to develop intimacy and inclusion amid beautiful physical surroundings.

While our generous donors have supported many new buildings on our campus in the past decade, many of our older buildings and facilities—such as Lincoln Hall, and others which are historically and architecturally significant—are in urgent need of maintenance and renovations, as well as new educational technology. Private support raised through the Brilliant Futures Campaign is critical to meeting these needs.

The Campaign can also help us expand many current programs that provide transformative learning experiences

• the Program in Jewish Culture
• the Center for the Study of Democratic Governance
• the School of Social Work’s Children and Family Research Center

Across our colleges, we’re ready to develop new centers that build on our strengths and provide defining moments for students:

• an experiential program in our College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
• a Center for Entrepreneurial Lawyering in the College of Law
• the Graduate School of Library and Information Science’s Center for Children’s Books
• the College of Education’s Center for Education in Small Urban Communities

State-of-the-art learning facilities are indispensable to an institution striving to become the nation’s premier public research university. Our dedicated friends and alumni can help us protect our treasured assets and create new campus resources that will enhance learning for generations.