World War II and the University of Illinois:

World War II brought massive change to the University of Illinois. As thousands of male students were drafted, enrollment declined precipitously, and the men-women ratio on campus changed almost overnight from 3-1 to 1-4. Women filled the vacated slots, populating the staffs of the Daily Illini and Illio, taking control of student activities, and working in jobs usually assigned to men. Hundreds of faculty and staff members enlisted in the armed forces or secured positions doing military work, including several physicists who were assigned to the Manhattan Project. In what was perhaps their biggest challenge, the administrators had to make room for a host of new visitors–thousands of Army and Navy men dispatched to the University for specialized training. When the veterans flocked back to the campus after the war, they found a University that had survived the crisis and that had begun to gear up for a new world offering higher education to more and more people.


 

 

U of I students enlisted in the military pose in front of the Alma Mater statue, circa 1943
Announcement- World War II Event- August 28, 2008


You’re invited to learn more about the effects of World War II on the U of I at a reception and screening/panel discussion of “Central Illinois World War II Stories” 6pm, Thursday, August 28 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 S. Lincoln Ave, Urbana. This event is free and open to the public.


The program begins at 6pm with a reception featuring live music from the World War II era and refreshments. The Student Life and Culture Archival Program will curate an exhibit of materials depicting campus life that may be viewed that evening.


This event is a partnership between WILL, the U of I Archives’ Student Life and Culture Archival Program funded by the Stewart Howe Endowment, and the U of I Alumni Association.

 

To view a website with further details on the event click here

 

Please contact Ellen Swain for more information at 333-7841 or eswain@illinois.edu