University of Illinois Springfield

The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is a public university in Springfield, Illinois, United States. The university was established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1969 as Sangamon State University with a focus on post-graduate education. It became the third member of the University of Illinois system on July 1, 1995. The university serves 4,198 students as of fall 2022 with 56 bachelor's degrees, 39 minors, 44 master's degrees, one doctoral degree, 37 graduate certificates, and coursework that leads to six ISBE endorsements.

The university now also includes a liberal arts college and is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. UIS is also a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education. The campus' main repository, Brookens Library, holds a collection of nearly 800,000 books and serials in addition to accessible resources at the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campuses.

In 1967, the Illinois General Assembly created a Board of Regents to operate Illinois State University and Northern Illinois University, as well as a third unnamed institution in Springfield. In 1969, Governor Richard Ogilvie signed into law a bill officially creating Sangamon State University. It originally operated as an "upper-division" university—that is, a university that offers only the last two years of undergraduate education, as well as graduate work. The first classes were held on September 28, 1970, at the former Hotel Leland in downtown Springfield. In October, SSU began offering classes in the current campus location near Lake Springfield.

Sangamon State aimed to be a "truly pioneering segment of public education" through a spirit of openness, innovation and adaptability.

The school grew steadily over the years. Its first permanent building, Brookens Library, was dedicated in 1976, and its Public Affairs Center and first dormitories opened in 1980.

In 1995, Governor Jim Edgar signed a bill which abolished the Board of Regents and merged SSU with the University of Illinois system. On July 1, SSU officially became the University of Illinois Springfield. Naomi Lynn, the last president of SSU, became the first chancellor of UIS.

In 2001, it admitted freshmen for the first time in an honors program called the "Capital Scholars". On September 8, 2005, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved a new general education curriculum, making UIS a full-fledged four-year university for the first time. Freshmen were slated to be admitted under the general education curriculum beginning in fall 2006.

The University of Illinois Springfield is located six miles southeast of Springfield, occupying 740 acres of prairie land adjacent to Lake Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College. In 1841, the land was acquired by Thomas Strawbridge Jr., a prosperous saddler and harness maker in Springfield. The Thomas Strawbridge homestead, constructed around 1845, still stands on the south edge of the University of Illinois Springfield campus and was restored in 2012.