NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Evanston, Ill., U.S. It is a comprehensive research institution and a member of the Association of American Universities. The university includes the College of Arts and Sciences and schools of Music, Speech, and Education and Social Policy. It also includes the Medill School of Journalism, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Graduate School, and the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. The university's campus in Chicago is the site of its law, medical, and dental schools. Northwestern's undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs are among the most highly regarded in the United States. Research facilities include the Institute for Learning Sciences, the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, and the Center for High-Temperature Superconductivity. Total enrollment is approximately 13,000. The university was founded in 1851 by a group of business and professional men led by John Evans. Instruction began in 1855. The university's law and medical schools were established in 1859. Women were first admitted in 1869; when the university merged with the Evanston College for Ladies in 1873, Frances E. Willard became its first dean of women. U.S. Senator George McGovern, Nobel Prize-winning economist George Stigler, and author Saul Bellow are among Northwestern's notable alumni.