[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3228]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the 
sesquicentennial anniversary of the founding of the University of 
Illinois, a nationally recognized institution of higher education with 
a long record of innovation and discovery and the home of the Fighting 
Illini.
  In 1867, 150 years ago, my home State of Illinois established the 
University of Illinois with the purpose of fostering access to higher 
education for the working people. It would become one of 37 public, 
land-grant institutions established as a result of the Morrill Land-
Grant Colleges Act signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
  Over the past 150 years, the University of Illinois and those 
associated with it have been responsible for pushing the boundaries of 
human knowledge, scientific discovery, social justice, and equality.
  In 1941, David Blackwell, the son of a railroad worker from southern 
Illinois, received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of 
Illinois. In 1965, Dr. Blackwell became the first African American 
elected to the National Academy of Sciences, whose members advise the 
President and Congress on matters related to science and technology. 
Dr. Blackwell is regarded as the most famous African-American 
mathematician in history.
  In 1948, the University of Illinois became, and remains to this day, 
the most accessible campus in the world for individuals with 
disabilities. Timothy Nugent founded the first comprehensive program of 
higher education for individuals with disabilities at the University 
and helped create a campus that allowed individuals with disabilities 
to move about freely and independently. While the availability of buses 
with wheelchair lifts, accessible street curbs, and comprehensive 
collegiate programs for those with disabilities all have become the 
national standard, they started at the University of Illinois.
  The University of Illinois has long been a leader in groundbreaking 
research and innovation in science. In the early 1970s, Paul Lauterbur 
discovered magnetic resonance imaging--better known by its initials: 
MRI. For his pioneering work, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2003.
  Today the university is one of the premier public research 
universities in the world. It ranks in the top 50 universities in 
America for research and development dollars spent in science and 
engineering. It is also home to one of the world's most powerful 
supercomputers, known as Blue Waters. Blue Waters is the fastest 
supercomputer located on a college campus in the world.
  What began 150 years ago as a small building on the Illinois prairie 
between the Illinois Central train station in Champaign and the 
courthouse in Urbana is today a 785-acre campus with a reputation 
admired around the world. It is home to more than 44,000 students from 
all 50 States and more than 100 different countries each year. The 
University of Illinois has enhanced the lives of over 450,000 living 
alumni and produced 23 Nobel Laureates and 22 Pulitzer Prize winners in 
the process. In addition, the university has grown to include campuses 
in Chicago and Springfield and regional campuses in Rockford, Peoria, 
and the Quad Cities.
  It is with great pride that I ask my colleagues to join me in 
recognizing the sesquicentennial anniversary of the founding of the 
University of Illinois. I offer my best wishes and congratulations to 
President Timothy Killeen and all the University faculty, staff, 
students, and alumni on this important milestone.

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