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About the College

History

Richard J. Daley Library and Great Court

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE’S HISTORY: A TIMELINE

1946 Architecture and Art is established as a part of the Engineering Sciences program at the Chicago Undergraduate Division at Navy Pier. (Source: 44th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1964 Educational programs at the Chicago Undergraduate Division are expanded, formally establishing the College of Fine and Applied Arts, later changed to the College of Architecture and Art. (Source: 52nd Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1976 The university renames several departments: the Department of Architecture becomes the School of Architecture; the Department of Art becomes the School of Art and Design; and the College of Urban Sciences becomes the School of Urban Sciences.
(Source: 58th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1976 The College of Architecture and Art merges with Urban Sciences. (Source: 59th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1977 The Department of Speech and Theatre is re-designated as the Department of Communication and Theatre. (Source: 59th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1988–1990 Undergraduate degrees in art and design are redesignated:
the BFA in design with a major in industrial design becomes the BFA in industrial design;
the BFA in design with a major in communication design becomes the BFA in graphic design; and the BFA in design with a major in photography/film/video becomes the BFA in photography/film/electronic media.
(Source: 65th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1988 The School of Architecture revises its five-year curriculum, the first comprehensive modification since the school’s inception 20 years earlier. (Source: 65th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1992 The Department of Music (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences), the Theatre Program (Department of Communication and Theatre), and the Dance Program of the College of Kinesiology are combined to form the Department of Performing Arts. (Source: 66th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1993 The bachelor of arts degree in music and the music minor in liberal arts and sciences are both transferred to the Department of Arts in Art and Architecture and Urban Planning. (Source: 67th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1993 The master of arts degree in communication and theatre (LAS) is transferred to the Department of Arts. (Source: 67th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1995 The Department of History of Architecture and Art is redesignated as the Department of Art History. (Source: 68th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1997 The minor in Dance discontinued. (Source: 69th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

1998 The PhD in art history is established (Source: 69th Report of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees)

2001 Jane Addams Hull-House Museum moves to the College of Architecture and the Arts.

2013 The College of Architecture and the Arts becomes the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts.

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