University of Chicago, private, coeducational institution located in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by American businessman and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, the university opened its doors to students in 1892. William Rainey Harper, who served as the university’s first president, helped establish the university’s reputation as an institution that challenges existing educational traditions and establishes new ones.

The University of Chicago created the four-quarter system of study, established the first adult education courses in the liberal arts, and played a leading role in providing equal educational opportunity for women and minorities. By 1895 women made up 50 percent of the student body, and, up until 1940, no other American educational institution had conferred more doctoral degrees to blacks. The university is also widely known for its research, and many of its former and current faculty members, researchers, and graduates have won the Nobel Prize.

In addition to a large undergraduate college and five graduate divisions, the university has six professional schools—business, divinity, law, medicine, public policy studies, and social service administration—and an office of continuing studies (adult education). The degrees of bachelor, master, and doctor are conferred.

Also at the university are the Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies; the Yerkes Observatory; and the Oriental Institute, which houses a museum and library devoted to the archaeology of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Persia, and Palestine. The university administers Argonne National Laboratory for the United States Department of Energy. The University of Chicago Press was established in 1892 to facilitate the publication of scholarly books and journals. Prominent alumni of the school include economist Milton Friedman, choreographer Katharine Dunham, writer and historian Studs Terkel, poet T. S. Eliot, author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., composer Philip Glass, and Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens.