Explore campus to find these locations and learn more about the lore. Scroll through or use the buttons above to skip to a specific location.
Created by Meredith Harvey, Zachary Bishop, Evangeline Reid, and Bridgitte Barclay
One of the original three buildings when Mendota Bible College moved to Aurora and became Aurora College in 1913, Eckhart has housed just about every part of academic life in its history.
The class of 1914 made Eckhart the center of campus when they participated in the first graduation with academic regalia and transported the class “gift” of “Lovers’ Rock” or “Engagement Rock,” a favorite holdover from Mendota 51 miles away, to a spot in front of Eckhart where it remains today.
Students sitting on engagement rock
The class of 1914
At that time, Eckhart Hall housed the library, the gymnasium, Lowry Chapel (still there) and the budding college Journal Pharos, that published all the academic news, as well as classrooms and offices---
Colonel Sanders at Aurora College
Today AU’s student publications of Environmentalese and Elysian also find a home with advisors in offices on Eckhart’s Fourth floor. Additionally, today, Eckhart Hall houses academic advising in The Crouse Center as well as Financial Aid---which seems appropriate as one of our more famous donors Colonel Sanders of KFC fame once provided scholarship aid as well as donated the bells in 1967 that still sit atop Eckhart.
Eckhart Hall today
Aurora College’s first President, Orrin Jenks asked for a residence for the President on campus during WWII---his successor broke ground for President’s house on campus in 1952. Today, this building houses Campus Life and the adjoining building houses the Wellness Center-- It's much more inviting to visit than AU's original medical facility - an isolation hospital built in 1925 to quarantine students who caught infectious diseases, like scarlet fever and diphtheria. And you don't need to be sick to visit AU’s current Wellness Center for free snacks and beverages.
The Isolation Hospital
The Wellness Center today
Breaking ground on the Founder's House in 1952
The original library at Aurora College was built in Eckhart in 1914 and housed the minimum of 10,000 books required for any institution bearing the name of ‘college,’ but by the late 1950s, Eckhart needed a makeover, and the library needed more space. So in 1962, AU built the Phillips Library, and over 300 students volunteered to move 40,000 library books from Eckhart to Phillips Library.
Carrying books in the move to the Phillips Library on May 11, 1962
Today you can still check out books, both in the library and online, but you can also seek out librarians to help you with research and check out other interesting items, like our skeleton students named Nicholas Ribcage, who is available for students to check out and study.
The skeleton model is checked out at the information desk.
In addition, Phillips library houses the Academic Support Center, where you can find tutoring as well as the Disability Resource Office and Testing Services.
You might even spot Leroy, the horse!
Leroy posed for this photo but is typically found in the Academic Support Center.
Built in 1957 because of the post-war boom and named after the first president that brought Aurora College from Mendota, Jenks Hall was built at a time that student policy was a little different than it is today—in fact it would take another 12 years before the university allowed a “co-ed” dorm on campus in 1969:
Today, you get a co-ed dorm, and a Student Fitness Center that houses way more equipment than our original 50 x 30 x 17 gymnasium in Eckhart's second floor (side note: the initially ‘Spartan’ gym may have been a sign that the Founders were thinking more about staying afloat than fitness and sports, but students have always prioritized the fun.)
Shortly after the college came to Aurora in 1913, students in need of activity built and coached the first football team at AU and voted on the name Spartans for all their teams.
Unfortunately, many of those teams were shut down shortly thereafter during WWI when many student athletes enlisted in the war effort. But athletics were brought back (again by students) in the late 1920’s. Still their teams performed quite poorly and usually against local high schools until Aurora College decided to support their efforts and hired its first coach. With Coach Snell, the students won their first significant game in October 1929. Guess they did need a coach after all.
The 1929 football team
Built to replace the temporary Gymnasium of the post-war Quonset structures, and the small Eckhart Gymnasium before that, Alumni Hall broke ground in 1968 and housed AU’s first real gymnasium. The next year Mickey Johnson began to play on the newly constructed Alumni Hall gymnasium, and was named All-American, All-Conference, and All-District in his time playing for AU. Mickey went on to play for the Chicago Bulls and several other NBA teams after his 1974 graduation. Not sure if he could have mastered those skills in the Quonset, so it’s probably for the best that we relocated the center of our sports program into fancy new Alumni Hall.
But that was basketball. Football continued the legacy of its rocky foundations at AU, was shut down again in 1952, and wasn’t revived until 1984 under Sam Bedrosian, the athletic director that brought football back to AU. Today, football players, soccer players, the bowling team, the EcoClub – in fact all students! – can in Alumni Halls’s training room, eat at the Tru Blu Dining Hall, and attend events in Thornton Gymnasium. While you’re there, you can thank Sammy (Bedrosian) Spartan in front of Alumni Hall and get a little finals’ good fortune by rubbing his lucky toe.
Sam Bedrosian, the athletic director that brought football back to AU, poses as the new Alumni Hall is built.
In the early days, Aurora College students had their own cow, Rose Brindle, for mowing and milk – and for visiting, we suppose. And while the archives don’t tell us exactly where Rose lived, besides on Calumet Ave., they do tell us a little about her in the obituary students wrote for her in a 1914 issue of the of the student publication, Pharos.
We like to think the cow was nearby a then-open grassy spot on campus, perhaps where you can now grab a latte in her honor at Tru Blu cafe located on the first floor of the always busy Institute building that houses offices, classrooms, and perhaps the spirit of our long deceased cow.
The Tru Blu Coffee shop in the Institute for Collaboration
Campus safety was up to administration, with occasional help from local law enforcement for AUs first 50 years. While administration had spoken admirably about Aurora University’s limited need for police intervention during the tumultuous time of the late 60s, perhaps there was more than meets the eye—and less, as the major disruption during the Counter Culture Revolution seemed to be a few streakers during the early 1970s, according to AU historian Charles Anderson.
Around this same time, and inspired by a few dormitory thefts, AU hired its first Chief of Campus Security, James Freund, former Chief of Police in Geneseo, Illinois, during the summer of 1976. To assist Chief Freund, an all-student security force was enlisted. Today, Campus Safety handles parking, student IDs, lost and found, and student safety concerns. Campus Safety employs certified police officers, dispatchers, and per the original mission of our earliest Campus Security, student workers.
Campus safety is found in the base of the parking garage today.
This report about the events in Selma was written by Delano Hagin, a student who went on to become Aurora College's chaplin.
Founded in 2001 by 1918 Alumni Helena Zentmyer, the Wackerlin Center found its current home on campus in 2011, but long before the building was erected, faith and action was a part of the identity of Aurora University students. From faith-based volunteering with high school students in Chicago, to the five Aurora University students who marched in Selma, Alabama and watched Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most famous of speeches, Aurora University students have always demonstrated both faith and action.
A Latino Fogato at the Wacklerlin in 2014
AU’s historical ties between faith and action, and between faith and supporting diverse communities in the world don’t stop there, as one of those students in Selma, Del Hagin, eventually became Aurora University’s Chaplain. So it makes sense that today Wackerlin Center Houses our Office of the Chaplain, interfaith programming, as well as the Office of Black Excellence and the Office of Latino/a Excellence.
Student Success offices have moved throughout AU’s history, but in 2021, it found a unique and beautiful home. The Hill Center houses a number of resources for students – a beautiful study space, guidance finding internships, and help building a resume. A gorgeous 24-foot art installation, “Changing Waters,” greets visitors in the entryway, and Spartan Attic offers free professional clothing and accessories. Did we mention occasional free snacks?
Students' professional outfits looked quite different in the 1970s!
Spartan Attic is ready for visitors.
The Schingoethe Center, founded at AU in 1990, brings students face to face with world-class artwork. This Smithsonian-affiliated museum presents a new art exhibition every semester that premieres with a reception where the AU community can meet featured artists. The Center also offers art-making workshops and fun events to Halloween, Earth Day, and so much more.
One work of art on display in the Contemporary Native American Art exhibition is allegedly by the Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau, but may be a fake created by the largest art forgery ring in Canada’s history.
The Schingoethe Center's contemporary Native American gallery
Visit the museum to reflect on art.
Stephens Hall was built for the Sciences in 1959 and housed AU’s first computer. In 1973, the administration invested $60,000 into the purchase of the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11/20 computer, even though they were initially unsure of how they would use it.
The first computer at Aurora College was large, as computers were back then
Five years later, the building took on two additions. First, a second story for the new nursing program, and second, Perry Theater---though the theatre only came about after some quick thinking from Aurora faculty and staff. Towards the end of construction, the theater didn’t have the full $410,920.05 needed for completion, so to make up the final $10,920.05, faculty, students, and community members bought individual seats for $100 each. By the time of dedication of the theatre, Saturday, September 23, 1978, all but four seats had been "sold."
The Imaginary Invalid, February 1979 in Perry Theater
Today Perry still houses the arts at AU, with theater productions each semester, and the building complex has continued to expand in its usage, with nearby Spartan Spot being a favorite spot for students to hang out or grab a favorite quick snack. Perhaps some fried chicken, and an ode again to our most famous of donors, Colonel Sanders. 
Colonel Sanders with Sue Towne May in 1979
Spartan Spot has food, games, computers, and more.