Honoring university's founders

"Founders Hall" is the name of our new residence hall, a tribute to members of the Springfield community who helped establish this university, known as Sangamon State, in the late 1960s. The name of the 200-bed hall, now in early stages of construction, also honors the charter administrators and faculty who broke new educational ground with innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Classes were first offered in fall 1970, so that means this university will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2010. That's an ideal time to recognize those leaders and individuals whose visions inspired the formation and shaped the development of this university (known as the University of Illinois at Springfield since July 1995). We have taken the opportunity to recognize in a permanent way our indebtedness to our founders. The very good news is that some of them are still living, so we'll be thinking of more ways to honor them in person in 2010.