1868 The Illinois Industrial University opened its doors (eventually to be known as the University of Illinois)

1868 Course in Landscape gardening was first offered at the University

1870 Nathan Ricker arrived as architecture student at the University

1870 Group of sixteen students requested and received brass instruments and instruction for a military band for the University Battalion

1871 School of Architecture established within the College of Engineering

1871 First drawing teacher hired by the University and first course in freehand drawing offered

1871 First course in Garden Architecture added

1872 Keyboard instruction first offered by the University

1872 Charlotte E. Patchin became the University’s first woman teacher – she taught freehand and cast drawing and a course in music

1873 Nathan C. Ricker became the first graduate of an architecture program in the United States.

1874 University President John Milton Gregory started the U of I art collection by purchasing plaster copies of art while traveling in Europe.

1875University’s Art Gallery opened – located on the 3rd floor of University Hall

1876 School of Art established

1877 School of Design established

1877 U of I Board of Trustees established the department of Free Hand Drawing (and Designing) in the School of Art

1878 University became the first architecture school in the nation to give a woman a degree; her name was Mary Page.

1878 Illinois Industrial University came to be known as the University of Illinois

1885Elementary Graphical Statics and Construction of Trussed Roofs was first book published by any member of the UI faculty

1893-1894 Art and Design became a Department in the College of Literature and Arts

1896 Joseph Cullen Blair came to the University and through his interest; professional courses in Landscape Architecture and City Planning were added

1897 School of Music (SOM) established, after several years of discussion

1907 Curriculum required for degree of Landscape Gardening added

1912 Division of Landscape Architecture established, only UI and Harvard offered a planning program with studios and workshops

1912 University appointed the first Professor of City Planning in the nation, Charles Mulford Robinson

1913 Charles Mulford Robinson appointed Professor of Civic Design.

1915 School of Architecture became College of Architecture and separated from the College of Engineering

1916 Captain Thomas J. Smith donated land and money for the building now called Smith Music Hall - Smith Hall has the distinction of being the first building on campus to be wholly funded by private donations. It was added to the National Historic Register in 1996.

1917 Architecture department was first unit to have departmental library within the University. It was named in Nathan Ricker’s honor, the first architecture student.

1919 The Military Bands (eventually the University Bands) became an independent organization under the administration of a director reporting to the University President

1920s University at the forefront of establishing city and regional planning as a discipline

1922 Curriculum of Music Education added in cooperation with the College of Education

1929 UI was one of first eight schools selected as qualifying to meet standards of the American Society of Landscape Architects for accreditation

1930 John Philip Sousa visited the University and donated his music library, naming the University band, “the world’s greatest college band”

1931 Creation of the College of Fine and Applied Arts on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus A proposal was made by the University Senate on October 3, 1921 to organize the Department of Architecture, the Division of Landscape Architecture, the School of Music and the Department of Art and Design into a College of Fine Arts. A committee of the faculty was appointed in 1928 to make recommendations – which were approved by the Senate on February 2, 1930. On March 12, 1931, the Board of Trustees established the college for the "... cultivation of esthetic taste on the part of the student body at large ... and development of general artistic appreciation."

1931 Title of Department of Art and Design changed to the Department of Art and adopted a fine arts degree in painting

1931 Department of Architecture became part of the College of Fine and Applied Arts from Engineering

1931 Division of Landscape Architecture reorganized as a department in the newly formed College of Fine and Applied Arts

1932 Rexford Newcomb, the first dean of the College, was appointed1935 – Fine arts degree offered in arts education1937 – Fine arts degree offered in industrial design and commercial design

1937 The Emily N. Trees '05 and Merle J. Trees '07 Collection, worth approximately $100,000, was donated to the University

1940 School  of Music started to offer courses leading to the degree of Master of Music

1944 Spencer and Lena Ewing Collection of Balinese and East Indian Art objects was acquired

1945 Graduate program in Landscape Architecture established

1948 SOM began an outreach, or “extension” program

1948 The annual or biennial Festival of Contemporary Arts began at the University

1948 The "Military Bands" changed to "The University of Illinois Bands"

1949 Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education with Dance concentration offered

1949 Fine arts degree offered in advertising design to replace commercial design

1949 School of Music began the Illinois Summer Youth Music programs

1949 The first fine arts master’s degree was offered

1949 Dance offered as a course of study when a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education with a dance concentration was implemented in the Department of Physical Education for Women

1940s Concert violinist Paul Rolland led the first Illinois Stringed Instrument Clinic and helped organize the American String Teachers Association1950 - The Board of Trustees placed the bands under general supervision of the Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts

1951 Fine arts degree offered in art history

1951 First landscape architecture advanced degree rewarded

1953 School of Music offers courses leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology

1953 Bachelor of Fine Arts in City Planning offered

1954 Landscape Architecture Department was renamed Department of City Planning and Landscape Architecture. The Bureau of Community Planning was incorporated into new departmental structure

1957 University began receiving funding from the Krannert Foundation of Indianapolis to help build an art gallery in physical proximity to the College of Fine and Applied Arts

1959 Dance Department the first to initiate a long-term guest artist residency with choreographer Merce Cunningham

1959 Board of Trustees authorized a graduate program in College of Physical Education leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Dance

1954 Department of City Planning renamed Department of City Planning and Landscape Architecture, incorporating the Bureau of Community Planning (U of I was one of 16 university planning programs)

1958 The Experimental Music Studios were founded by Lejaren Hiller – first of their kind in the western hemisphere

1960 Fine arts degree in crafts and master’s degree in painting and printmaking offered

1960s The notion of city planning expanded to urban planning

1960s Paul Rolland, who led the first Illinois Stringed Instrument Clinic,  developed a string pedagogy course and a new method he called the “teaching of action in string playing” now used worldwide

1961 Krannert Art Museum opened its doors, giving the University’s existing collection of fine art a permanent home

1961 To celebrate its opening, Mrs. Herman Krannert gave Murillo's "Christ After the Flagellation" to Museum

1962 Mr. and Mrs. Herman Krannert established a gift to create the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (KCPA)

1964 Shozo Sato, then artist in residence and now Professor Emeritus in the School of Art and Design, initiated a series of courses about the art and culture of Japan

1964 Baccalaureates in medical art and sculpture offered

1964 Erlanger House was designed by Jack Baker as a request of Margaret Erlanger, the first head of the Department of Dance in the College.

1965 Two separate departments born: Department of Urban and Regional Planning and the Department of Landscape Architecture

1966 Construction began on Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

1966 Degree in graphic design replaced advertising design

1966 The graduate program was rounded out by a fine arts master's degree in sculpture and a doctorate in art education offered in conjunction with the College of Education

1966 Study Abroad Program at Versailles established – the first program for foreign study in the University

1967 Theatre Department was established when parts of the Department of Speech and Theater oriented for performance were transferred from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to the College of Fine and Applied Arts

1968 Krannert Center for the Performing Arts building completed

1968 Board transferred programs in dance from the College of Physical Education to the College of Fine and Applied Arts as a Department of Dance

1969 Philosophy doctorate in art history offered

1969 The Department of Theatre began offering a program leading to a master of Arts degree

1972 School of Art and Design changed to Department of Art and Design

1972 Fine arts degree in painting offered

1974 Last Festival of Contemporary Arts held at the University

1974 Graduate and undergraduate curricula in the SOM offers courses in music theory, history, and applied music

1976/77 School of A&D celebrated 100 year anniversary

1977 The Walden String Quartet was the first such ensemble in residence full-time at an American University

1981 Department of Architecture changed to School of Architecture

1981 Department of Art and Design changed to School of Art and Design

1982 For the next two years, the Landscape Architecture Department focused on computer-based design education, becoming one of the leading schools in his field in the nation

1984 Landscape Architecture Department received equipment grant from IBM and continued to integrate computers into design education

1984 Sinfonia da Camera began as the University’s resident chamber orchestra within the College of Fine and Applied Arts

1984 The Computer Music Project was founded in conjunction with the Experimental Music Studios

1986 Department of Dance granted five-year accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Dance

1986 East St. Louis Action Research Project began their public service to communities

1988 Kinkead Pavilion was added to Krannert Art Museum, nearly doubling the building’s size

1990 East St. Louis Action Research Project established through architecture, urban and regional planning, and landscape architecture

1992 Department of Dance granted 10-year accreditation

1992 I space Gallery in Chicago established 1992 – College of Fine and Applied Arts opened a Chicago-based gallery and public forum for the visual, performing, and design arts: I space

1995 Landscape Architecture Department moved to Temple Hoyne Buell Hall and joined School of Architecture and Department of Urban and Regional Planning

1998 Permanent home for Japan House was built on the southeast corner of the University campus, where the community and students could experience and learn about Japanese culture and art

1999 A jointly administered Ph.D. program in Architecture and Landscape Architecture established

2001 First Landscape Architecture Ph.D. students admitted

2001 International Arts Minor offered in the College

2002 Department of Landscape Architecture and School of Architecture launched a new joint Ph.D. program

2003 University Alumnus James Bier completed the Japanese tea garden, the strolling garden, and the Zen style rock garden at Japan House

2003 Sasaki Initiative for Integrated Design Instruction course began among architecture, urban and regional planning, and landscape architecture

2003 Japan House presents the Kimono Fantasy in collaboration with the Hakubi Kimono School

2004 Community Design Center established in Champaign-Urbana by architecture, urban and regional planning and landscape architecture

2006 The Arts at Illinois CELEBRATE 75 years!