University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Naval Science | University of Illinois Archives
Show Related People or Groups
On March 20, 1945, President Arthur C. Willard applied to the U.S. Bureau of Naval Personnel for the establishment of a Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NROTC) program at the University of Illinois.1 Under the terms of the agreement the University agreed to provide adequate facilities for classrooms, offices, equipment and drill; to promote the objectives for which NROTC was established; and to conform to the regulations of the Navy Department relating to the operation of the unit.2 The NROTC program was established in November 1, 1945, in conjunction with the Navy V-12 College Training Program.3 The V-12 program had been established at the University in July 1943, to train men ordered to duty by the Bureau of Naval Personnel.4 The Department of Naval Science and Tactics was organized as a department of the University to administer the curriculum for the INT NROTC and V-12 program.5 The V-12 program was terminated in June 1946.6 The University department conducting instruction for the NROTC unit was renamed the Department of Naval Science in 1946.7
In 1977 the NROTC unit offered three programs; the Navy Scholarship Program, the Navy College Program (non-scholarship), and the Naval Science Program (non-scholarship, non-contractual).8 Students completing the NROTC Scholarship or College Program are commissioned in the Regular U.S. Navy or Marine Corps or in the Reserve units.9
1. "Applications for Establishment of NROTC Unit at the University of Illinois", NROTC Unit Organization & Regulations Manual, (University of Illinois, 1 May 1957), Chapter 1, Section 20. NROTC Issuances, RS 27/4/0/1.
2. Naval ROTC Unit, University of Illinois, (ca. 1957), p. 5. NROTC Issuances, RS 27/4/0/1.
3. Catalogs and Registers, 1945-46, p. 253.
4. Board of Trustees Transactions, 42nd Report, June 19, 1943, p. 401.
5. Catalogs and Registers, 1945-46, p. 253.
6. Illio, 1947, p. 342.
7. Catalogs and Registers, 1946-47, p. 269.
8. Undergraduate Study Catalog, 1977-79, p. 115.
9. Ibid., p. 116.