This article is about the former university in Illinois that is now part of Roosevelt University. For the university in Pennsylvania, see Robert Morris University.
Robert Morris University Illinois, formerly Robert Morris College, was a private university with its main campus in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1965 but its oldest ancestor was the Moser School founded in 1913.[2] It changed its name to Robert Morris University Illinois in 2009. In 2020, it merged into Roosevelt University, which formed under it a new Robert Morris Experimental College as one of several colleges at Roosevelt.[3]
Robert Morris offered associate and bachelor's degrees and was regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Robert Morris traces its history back to the founding of the Moser School of Business in 1913.[2][4] Robert Morris College itself was founded in 1965 in Carthage, Illinois[2] as a two-year college, buying the former campus of Carthage College for $1.1 million after Carthage College had left Illinois for its newer Wisconsin campus.[5] In 1975 Robert Morris expanded to Chicago by acquiring and merging the Moser School.[2][4][6]
Robert Morris opened a Springfield, Illinois campus in July 1988[2][6] and closed the Carthage campus in July 1989.[5][6] The college later opened campuses in Orland Park in 1991, Naperville in 1997, Bensenville in 1999, Peoria in 2000. The Orland Park campus was moved to Aurora as the DuPage Campus in 2001. Waukegan opened as the Lake County Campus in 2003. The Graduate School was established in 2005 and became a separate campus in Schaumburg in 2008. Two more campuses followed: Elgin in 2009, Arlington Heights in 2011.[2]
In March 2020, Robert Morris University Illinois merged with Roosevelt University to become one of its colleges.[3]
In 2014 RMU became the first university to offer gaming scholarships for a varsity e-sports team; they competed in League of Legends, Hearthstone, and Dota 2 competitions.[7][8]
Sports sponsored
Men's basketball was one of the dominant programs in the NAIA, having reached the Final Four of the NAIA tournament three times. Othyus Jeffers, formerly of the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, and San Antonio Spurs, played for Robert Morris during the 2007–08 season. Then-head coach Al Bruehl has averaged 30 wins a season during that time and has never won fewer than 25 games in his nine years at the helm of the Eagles. In 2014, the team again reached the final four of the 2014 NAIA Men's Division II Basketball Tournament.
Men's ice hockey, under the guidance of former head coach Tom "Chico" Adrahtas (CSCHL Coach-of-the-Year 2010–11 & 2011–12), played in the American Collegiate Hockey Association at the Division I level in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League (CSCHL). The teams all practiced and played at the Edge Ice ArenainBensenville. In addition, RMU fielded teams in Chicago at the ACHA Division II and ACHA Division III levels as independent teams. Robert Morris–Springfield and Robert Morris–Peoria fielded teams at the ACHA Division III and played in the Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association. In 2014, the RMU-Gold team played in the ACHA Men's Division I National Championship game vs. Arizona State, and finished as national runners-up.
Women's softball had much success at Robert Morris–Springfield, winning the USCAA National Championship in 2006 and 2010, reaching third place in 2007, and reaching second place in 2008 and 2009.
April Sutton, a personal trainer and professional stuntwoman who performed stunts for the movie Divergent as well as the television show Chicago P.D.[11]