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| Undergraduate Catalog 2001-2003: |
History | Academic Structure | Mission
Aurora University is a private, independent, comprehensive institution with an enrollment of over 4,000 students. Over 400 students reside on campus, 1,000 are undergraduate commuters, 1,000 are graduate students, and over 1,600 students attend at off-campus sites. The majority of AU students come from the upper-Midwest region, but 20 states and over a dozen foreign countries are represented as well. Besides the main campus in Aurora, classes are offered in New Berlin, Wisconsin; at the campus in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and in downtown Chicago.
Aurora University had its beginning as Mendota Seminary, founded in Mendota, Illinois, in 1893 as an institution to train ministers and lay workers in the Advent Christian Church. Almost immediately, however, the name was changed to Mendota College and the school took on the much broader mission of providing a full collegiate curriculum with a liberal arts base.
By 1911, the college had outgrown its facilities and sought a new location closer to Chicago. Citizens of Aurora donated land on what was then the rural edge of the city, and Charles Eckhart, founder of the Auburn Motorcar Company, provided a donation that covered the cost of erecting the first three buildings of what would now be known as Aurora College - Eckhart, Wilkinson, and Davis Halls. Classes in Aurora commenced in the spring of 1912.
Aurora College grew substantially over the years and took on many new challenges. In 1938, it was one of the first small colleges to achieve regional accreditation. In 1947, the College's evening program was instituted - one of the nation's first adult education programs at a liberal arts college. In 1971, Aurora College became legally independent of the Advent Christian Church.
In January of 1985 Aurora College was reorganized into Aurora University, reflecting both the increased size of the institution and the needs of its many new programs. In the fall of 1992, Aurora University entered into an affiliation agreement with George Williams College. Under the agreement, the George Williams College of Aurora University was created to be the home of the School of Social Work, Recreation Administration, Physical Education, and Teacher Education programs. In addition, George Williams College's 241-acre Lake Geneva, Wisconsin facility is now part of a corporation controlled by Aurora University.
The University is currently composed of three colleges:
Building on a century of tradition responsive to student needs, Aurora University is the urban university of the future. We are a growing, comprehensive learning community that prepares aspiring students of diverse ages and backgrounds to be liberally educated professionals. We offer bachelors' programs combining a liberal arts foundation with majors emphasizing career preparation and selected concentrations in the Liberal Arts and Sciences. We also offer programs leading to career-related masters' degrees and doctoral degrees and professional certifications.
Our central task is to teach students through challenging, current, and responsive instruction conveniently offered at our main campus and other sites. We educate graduates to be purposeful, ethical, and proficient - equipped for contributing careers, for productive lives, and for venturing into a changing world.
Aurora University educates students through programs and services that:
Aurora University's goal is to enable all graduates to demonstrate appropriate career preparation. Graduates will have demonstrated skills needed to enter our world of computerized written and quantitative operations; to fashion cogent oral, visual and written presentations; and to interpret qualitative and statistical, scientific, and financial data. Graduates will have demonstrated knowledge of American institutions and of the global community, of human behavior and social institutions, of the process of scientific inquiry and the working of the natural and technical world, of the great ethical issues confronting humanity, and of ideas and artistic works that are central to the human tradition. Graduates will also have demonstrated the understanding necessary for living humanely in a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse world, and for maintaining lifelong physical, mental and spiritual health.
Students who enroll at Aurora enter into a fruitful, lifelong relationship with classmates, faculty, and the University.
Posted: 11 March 2002