Wilbur Wright College, formerly known as Wright Junior College, is a public

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior s ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Part of the

City Colleges of Chicago The City Colleges of Chicago is the public community college system of the Chicago area. Its colleges offer associate degrees, certificates, free courses for the GED, and free English as a second language (ESL) courses. The City Colleges system ...

system, it offers two-year associate's degrees, as well as occupational training in IT, manufacturing, medical, and business fields. Its main campus is located on Chicago's Northwest Side in the Dunning neighborhood.

History

Wilbur Wright College was established in 1934 by the

Chicago Board of Education The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools. The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837. The board is currently appointed solely by the mayo ...

as one of the system of three city junior colleges designed to serve the post-secondary educational needs of Chicago residents. For a three-year period during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the U.S. Navy leased the facilities and trained thousands of men as part of the

Electronics Training Program The Electronics Training Program (ETP) was the name commonly used for an unusual, difficult, and selective training activity of the United States Navy during World War II. The ETP combined college-level classroom instruction with laboratories ...

. The college remained in its initial location at 3400 N. Austin Ave. until moving to a new campus in 1993. In 1966, Wright and the other city colleges were reorganized into a new community college district, named the

, with its own Board of Trustees and taxing authority. This system includes colleges which, in turn, are a part of the State system comprising 40 public community college districts and 49 individual colleges. Under the City Colleges of Chicago's new college to Careers initiative, Wright is

's hub for Information Technology.
" Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on October 31, 2014.

Campus

Wright College was originally located in a large building at 3400 N. Austin Avenue, in Chicago. The original Wright campus is now home to the Chicago Academy Elementary School, the Chicago Academy High School, and the

Academy for Urban School Leadership AUSL (Academy for Urban School Leadership) is a Chicago nonprofit school management organization founded in 2001. Today, it manages 31 Chicago Public Schools serving more than 16,000 students. Over 1,045 teachers have graduated from the AUSL Chi ...

's central office. Due to needs for additional space and more specialised facilities, in 1993 it moved to a 23-acre parcel at 4300 N. Narragansett Avenue, at a cost of $90 million.Chicago Tribune. 14 May 1986.
/ref> The campus was designed by renowned Chicago-area architect

Bertrand Goldberg Bertrand Goldberg (July 17, 1913 – October 8, 1997) was an American architect and industrial designer, best known for the Marina City complex in Chicago, Illinois, the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time of complet ...

Bertrand Goldberg. Retrieved on February 21, 2013. In 2013, the school began a $3.5 million project to renovate and install new HVAC systems in the Learning Resource Center, a pyramid and one of the campus' landmarks.
Board of Trustees Resolution 508. 12 July 2012. Wright College is a leader in sustainability and was recognized as a Bronze Level Compact School in the Illinois Campus Sustainability Compact Program. The

National Arbor Day Foundation The Arbor Day Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has more than one million members and has planted more than 350 million trees in neighborhoods, communities ...

has named Wright College as a Tree Campus USA for three consecutive years.
" City Colleges of Chicago. Retrieved on February 21, 2013.

Humboldt Park Vocational Center

Humboldt Park Vocational Center is a satellite site of Wright College and offers classes that teach adult basic education skills, vocational training and other programs.
" Humboldt Park Portal. Retrieved on October 31, 2014. The facility offers a nine-month advanced certification program in computerized numerical control (CNC) machining. In 2012, the CNC machining program placed 100 percent of its graduates into jobs paying $40,000 a year, with the potential to jump to $55,000 to $65,000 in less than two years.
" CNN Money. Retrieved on October 31, 2014.

Accreditation

Wilbur Wright College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and approved by the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois Office of Education Department of Adult, Vocational, and Technical Education. The program in Radiography is accredited by the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology; the Business Department is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs; and the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE). The paralegal program is accredited by the American Bar Association.

Notable alumni

Jerry G. Bishop Jerry G. Bishop (August 3, 1936 – September 15, 2013) was a radio and television personality who is known for being Chicago's original " Svengoolie", and for his award-winning twelve-year stint on ''Sun-Up San Diego''. Education Born Jairus ...

- Emmy Award-winning television personality *

Oscar Brashear Oscar Brashear (born August 18, 1944) is an American jazz trumpeter Herbert C. Brown Herbert Charles Brown (May 22, 1912 – December 19, 2004) was an American chemist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work with organoboranes. Life and career Brown was born Herbert Brovarnik in London, to Ukrainian Jewis ...

- Nobel Prize winner *

Dennis Franz Dennis Franz Schlachta (; born October 28, 1944), known professionally as Dennis Franz, is an American retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series ''NYPD Blue'' (1993–2005), a role that e ...

- Emmy Award-winning actor *

Shecky Greene Shecky Greene (born Fred Sheldon Greenfield; April 8, 1926) is an American comedian. He is known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he became a headliner in the 1950s and '60s. He has appeared in several films, including ' ...

- Comedian * Isaac Guillory - Folk guitarist * Barbara Harris - Oscar-nominated actress *

Sally Insul Sally Insul (October 3, 1916 – August 4, 2008) was an American actress who appeared in over fifty different television and film roles during her career. Insul was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She wrote and directed her first pl ...

- Actor *

M. Larry Lawrence Maurice Larry Lawrence (August 16, 1926 – January 9, 1996) was a United States Ambassador to Switzerland and real estate developer. In 1991, ''Forbes magazine'' named Lawrence among the 400 richest Americans and estimated his fortune at $315&nbs ...

- Hotelier and Ambassador to Switzerland *

Ted Lechowicz Thaddeus S. "Ted" Lechowicz (December 20, 1938 – January 5, 2009) was an American politician and businessman. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Lechowicz went to Weber High School in Chicago. He received his associate degree from Wright Junior Col ...

- Illinois politician * Judith Leznaw - American virologist, medical researcher and academic * Eric Morris - Actor, acting teacher *

Chuck Nergard Charles Lester Nergard (February 6, 1929 – November 9, 2017) was an American politician who represented parts of the Treasure Coast in the Florida House of Representatives from 1967 to 1976 and 1978 to 1990 Early life and education Nergard w ...

- Member of Florida House of Representatives *

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- Activist and wife of

Fred Hampton Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an American activist. He came to prominence in Chicago as deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party and chair of the Illinois chapter. As a progressive African Ame ...

Kim Novak Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American retired film and television actress and painter. Novak began her career in 1954 after signing with Columbia Pictures and quickly became one of Hollywood's top box office stars, ...

- Actress *

Ron Offen Ronald C. “Ron” Offen (October 2, 1930 – August 9, 2010) was an American poet, playwright, critic, editor, and theater producer. He received an A.A. from Wright College in Chicago and an M.A. in English Language and Literature from the Univ ...

- Pulitzer Prize nominated poet, playwright, critic, and editor *

Bill Page Bill Page (September 11, 1925 – April 26, 2017) was an American reed player, band leader, and entrepreneur who was best known for his work in the Lawrence Welk Band. Early life Page is a World War II veteran of the European theater, serving i ...

- Lawrence Welk band leader, entrepreneur *

Julius Pasculado The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain t ...

- Basketball player for the Alaska Aces *

J.F. Powers James Farl Powers (July 8, 1917June 12, 1999) was an American novelist and short story writer who often drew his inspiration from developments in the Catholic Church, and was known for his studies of Catholic priests in the Midwest. Although not ...

- Novelist and short story author *

Mike Royko Michael Royko Jr. (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago. Over his 30-year career, he wrote over 7,500 daily columns for the ''Chicago Daily News'', the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', and the ''Chicago ...

- Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist *

Al Schwartz (producer) Allen "Al" Schwartz (born January 3, 1932) is an American television producer who has produced a variety of shows in association with Dick Clark. He is best known for producing award shows such as the American Music Awards and the Golden Globe ...

- Emmy-nominated producer * Bernard Stone - Alderman, mayoral candidate *

Lily Venson Lily Pagratis Venson (October 24, 1924 – June 27, 2011) is an American journalist and was a resident of Chicago her entire life. She attended Wilbur Wright College and Columbia College Chicago. She began writing for Lerner Newspapers at t ...

- Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist

Notable faculty

* Ed Badger - Head basketball coach - Coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1976 to 1978 *

Katherine Whitney Curtis Katherine Whitney Curtis (January 4, 1897 – July 6, 1980), also spelled "Katharine" or "Kay" Curtis, was an American swimmer and physical education instructor who is widely credited as the originator of synchronized swimming. While historica ...

- Swimming instructor - Founder of synchronized swimming *

Susan Fromberg Schaeffer Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (March 25, 1940 – August 26, 2011) was an American novelist and poet who was a Professor of English at Brooklyn College for more than thirty years. She won numerous national writing awards and contributed book rev ...

- English instructor - National Book Award and O. Henry Prize nominated novelist and poet

Miscellaneous

Wilbur Wright College is host to the Scholars at Wright program, a

great books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...

program funded by the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

. Wilbur Wright College is host to the only ABA (American Bar Association)-approved Paralegal Studies Program at a public college in the City of Chicago.

References

External links

Wright College WebsiteWright College Library homepage Wright College Library catalogScholars At Wright WebsiteStage Wright Productions - Wright College TheaterWright College Math Department app3D Google Earth Model
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Wilbur Educational institutions established in 1934 Community colleges in Illinois City Colleges of Chicago 1934 establishments in Illinois Bertrand Goldberg buildings Wright brothers