The University of Chicago (U of C, UC, UChicago, or simply Chicago) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The University consists of the College of the University of Chicago, various graduate programs and interdisciplinary committees organized into four divisions, six professional schools, and a school of continuing education. The University enrolls approximately 5,000 students in the College and about 15,000 students overall.
In 2008, the University spent $423.7 million on scientific research.University of Chicago scholars have played a role in the development of the Chicago school of economics, the Chicago school of sociology, the law and economics movement in legal analysis, the Chicago school of literary criticism, the Chicago school of religion, the school of political science known as behavioralism, and in the physics leading to the world's first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction. The University is also home to the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in the United States.
The University of Chicago is affiliated with 87 Nobel Laureates, 49 Rhodes Scholars and 9 Fields Medalists. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890. William Rainey Harper became the university's first president, in 1891, and the first classes were held in 1892. Harper worked with steel magnate Clayton Mark on educational reforms in Chicago. It is now non-sectarian.
