The University of Illinois: Engine of Innovation

by Frederick E Hoxie (Editor), James R. Barrett (Contribution by), George O Batzli (Contribution by), Claire Benjamin (Contribution by), Jeffrey D Brawn (Contribution by)

Overview

The founding of the university in 1867 created a unique community in what had been a prairie. Within a few years, this creative mix of teachers and scholars produced innovations in agriculture, engineering and the arts that challenged old ideas and stimulated dynamic new industries. Projects ranging from the Mosaic web browser to the discovery of Archaea and pioneering triumphs in women's education and wheelchair accessibility have helped shape the university's mission into a double helix of innovation and real-world change. These essays explore the university's celebrated accomplishments and historic legacy, candidly assessing both its successes and its setbacks. Experts and students tell the eye-opening stories of campus legends and overlooked game-changers, of astonishing technical and social invention, of incubators of progress as diverse as the Beckman Institute and Ebertfest. Contributors: James R. Barrett, George O. Batzli, Claire Benjamin, Jeffrey D. Brawn, Jimena Canales, Stephanie A. Dick, Poshek Fu, Marcelo H. Garcia, Lillian Hoddeson, Harry Liebersohn, Claudia Lutz, Kathleen Mapes, Vicki McKinney, Elisa Miller, Robert Michael Morrissey, Bryan E. Norwood, Elizabeth H. Pleck, Leslie J. Reagan, Susan M. Rigdon, David Rosenboom, Katherine Skwarczek, Winton U. Solberg, Carol Spindel, William F. Tracy, and Joy Ann Williamson-Lott.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252099328
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	02/07/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	37 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Frederick E. Hoxie is Swanlund Endowed Chair and Professor of History, American Indian Studies and Law at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Most recently he is the author of This Indian Country: American Indian Activists and the Place They Made and editor of the Oxford Handbook of American Indian History.

Table of Contents

Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Preface: Changing the World from a Very Small Place Introduction: A University for Learning and Labor Part One. Singular People: Remarkable Individuals Who Triggered Innovation at the University Isabel Bevier: Bringing Science into the Home Arthur Palmer: The Chemistry of Safe Water Austin Harding: Inventor of the School Band Victor E. Shelford: Environmental Pioneer Katharine Sharp: Shattering the Glass Ceiling of Library Leadership Ven Te Chow: Hydrologist, Educator, and Rainmaker Stuart Pratt Sherman: Literary Criticism Comes to the University Ruth Maslow and Oscar Lewis: Giving Voice to the Voiceless Thomas K. Cureton: The Father of Physical Fitness Tim Nugent: “Wheelchair Students” and the Creation of the Most Accessible Campus in the World Renée and Henry Kahane: Exploring Language’s History and Structure Alta Gwinn Saunders: The Invention of Business English Shozo Sato: Reinventing Kabuki Theater John Bardeen: Citizen of Science Carl Woese: Discovery of a Third Form of Life Clarence Shelley: The Campaign to Diversify the University Part Two. World-Changing Inventions: Created and Nurtured on the University of Illinois Campus Affordable Higher Education Inventing Professional Architecture The Hillel Foundation: The Invention of University Diversity Clarence W. Alvord: The Illinois Historical Survey and the Invention of Local History Beyond Women’s Studies John Laughnan: Sweet Corn Revolution Remarkable Animals: Illini Nellie and Big Al “2 + 2 = green”: Innovation in Experimental Music at the University of Illinois The Beginning of Public Broadcasting Joseph McVicker Hunt: Invention of Early Childhood Education Samuel Kirk: Birth of Special Education The Invention of MRI Nick Holonyak Jr.: Development of LED Lights Mosaic: The First Point-and-Click Internet Browser Superfluidity Bottled Sunshine: Discovering and Harnessing the Power of Photosynthesis Interdisciplinary Scholarship at the College of Law Part Three. Places of Innovation: Where Ideas and People Meet to Produce Innovation The Morrow Plots Bringing Innovation to the Farm through the Farmers’ Institutes The Story of the University of Illinois Library Improvising an Innovation: Stadium Terrace Housing and the Arrival of “Nontraditional Students” Across the Pacific: The University of Illinois and China The ILLIAC Computers: Product and Source of Innovation (and Controversy) The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Ebertfest: Where Hollywood Comes to the Prairie Innovation across Disciplines: The Institute for Genomic Biology The Business Instructional Facility Designed for Innovation The Beckman Institute: Imagining Interdisciplinarity Nevada Street: A Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity Timeline Acknowledgments Bibliography About the Authors Index

Editorial Reviews

"Great public research universities emerged in the United States over the last 150 years. Unlike anything that had come before, they literally changed the world. Hoxie's compilation is a delightful case study of one such university: Illinois. These delightful vignettes reveal the genius of those whose innovation shaped the academic giants we know today."—Stanley Ikenberry, President Emeritus of the University of Illinois

"A good book for inspiring the Illini alum or historian. . . . Capture[s] a lot of Illinois' history and the innovators who shaped the institution into what we know of it today."—Smile Politely
 

From the Publisher