Illinois Institute of Technology

About

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business, and law. 

IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university's 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.IIT was formed in 1940 by the merger of the Armour Institute of Technology, founded in 1890, and the Lewis Institute, founded in 1895. 

Both schools had nationally recognized engineering programs. The Institute of Design, founded in 1937, merged with IIT in 1949. In 1969 the Kent College of Law was merged into IIT and the Stuart School of Business was created with a gift from Harold Leonard Stuart, an alumnus of the Lewis Institute. 

In 1986, the Midwest College of Engineering at Lombard Illinois, founded in 1967, was absorbed by IIT. This was the start of IIT's strong presence in Chicago's west suburban high-tech "Silicon Prairie." 

In 1995, beset by declining enrollment in its liberal arts programs, the university reorganized its academic units, eliminating the liberal arts college entirely and concentrating on architecture, science and engineering, psychology, law, and business.