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In 1995, Governor Jim Edgar signed a bill which abolished the Board of Regents and merged SSU with the University of Illinois system. On July 1, SSU officially became the University of Illinois Springfield. Naomi Lynn, the last president of SSU, became the first chancellor of UIS.
In 2001, it admitted freshmen for the first time in an honors program called the "Capital Scholars". On September 8, 2005, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved a new general education curriculum, making UIS a full-fledged four-year university for the first time. Freshmen were slated to be admitted under the general education curriculum beginning in fall 2006.
== Campus ==
The University of Illinois Springfield is located six miles southeast of Springfield, occupying 740 acres of prairie land adjacent to Lake Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College. In 1841, the land was acquired by Thomas Strawbridge Jr., a prosperous saddler and harness maker in Springfield. The Thomas Strawbridge homestead, constructed …
