A celebration of 75 years of Roosevelt University

Roosevelt University

Ray Clevenger

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U.S. Representative | BA Political Science, ’49

Ray Clevenger served as Roosevelt’s student council president with Harold Washington as his vice president. In 1963, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan’s 11th congressional district. Clevenger wrote that his role in Congress gave him “the opportunity to learn about and teach the democratic principles that I had been taught at Roosevelt University.”

Clevenger voted in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; two decades later, the law was renewed with the support of Washington, his former VP.

Dempsey Travis

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Real Estate Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Activist | BA Political Science, ’49

Dempsy Travis

Dempsey Travis studied with Harold Washington at Roosevelt and later became a key fundraiser for his classmate’s mayoral campaigns. Travis also helped organize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1960 march on Chicago.

“I had never experienced the kind of camaraderie and spirit that existed [at Roosevelt] between white folks and blacks, it was unlike anything that was going on in the country,” Travis told the Chicago Tribune.

Travis founded several successful real estate and mortgage companies. As an activist and business owner, he fought redlining practices that discriminated against African American communities. He was also a prolific writer, the founder of the Urban Research Press, and an accomplished jazz musician.

Harold Washington

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U.S. Representative, Mayor of Chicago | BA Political Science, ’49

Harold Washington

Harold Washington began his political career as the vice president and then president of Roosevelt’s student council. He went on to serve for 15 years in the Illinois state legislature and for two terms in the U.S. House. As Chicago’s first black mayor, Washington increased minority representation in city government and sought to balance economic development between neighborhoods.

Washington was nicknamed the “People’s Mayor” for his ability to unify Chicagoans from different backgrounds. In a campaign speech, he once said: “In the future when you ask me, ‘What are you really like, Mayor Washington?’ I’m going to say, ‘Go over to Roosevelt University. I’m like them.’”

Timuel Black

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Civil Rights Leader, Oral Historian | BA Sociology, ’52

Timuel Black

Timuel Black, who recently celebrated his 101st birthday, has dedicated his life to civil rights advocacy. He helped to bring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Chicago and organized thousands of Chicago protestors at the 1963 March on Washington. As an educator, Black helped end segregation in Chicago Public Schools.

“Roosevelt was the first university that publicly made it clear they wanted an integrated college,” Black said. “A reason to go to Roosevelt was because it was so openly inclusive, but the faculty were of such a superior quality that they were the reason to stay.”

Alyce Pasca

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Director of Counseling and Testing Services | 1945¬–75

Alyce Pasca

An alumna of Central YMCA College, Alyce Pasca was one of 62 faculty members that voted to leave the Y College and found Roosevelt University. She taught psychology and statistics before becoming the counseling director in 1954. She helped hundreds of students and was highly respected in the medical field.

Chicago Musical College Merges with Roosevelt

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1954

Rudolph Ganz

Founded in 1871, the Chicago Musical College offered courses in music, acting, “elocution, oratory and physical culture.” After the merger, its president, legendary pianist Rudolph Ganz, continued to serve the University for another two decades.

CMC alumni include five-time Oscar nominee Irene Dunne and Broadway songwriter Jules Styne. In 1955, CMC graduate Robert McFerrin became the first black man to perform at the Metropolitan Opera — only a month after Marian Anderson, a member of Roosevelt’s advisory board, first broke that color barrier.

Rolf Weil

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Professor, University President, Honorary Trustee | Years at Roosevelt: 1946–2010

Rolf Weil

In 1936, Rolf Weil arrived in Chicago as a refugee from Nazi Germany. Weil understood the struggles that came with pursuing an education and identified with Roosevelt’s social justice mission. He worked hard to make sure Roosevelt University was affordable for all students.

Weil helped plan and create the Heller College of Business, serving as the dean and later as the president of Roosevelt University from 1964 to 1988. He led the construction of the Herman Crown Center, which was the University’s first residence hall and student union, and the creation of the Albert A. Robin Campus in Arlington Heights.

Goldie Wolfe Miller

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Commercial Real Estate Broker | BS Business, ’67

Goldie Wolfe Miller

Born in a displaced persons camp after World War II, Goldie Wolfe Miller graduated from Roosevelt University as class president and valedictorian. At a time when the commercial real estate industry was dominated by men, she ran the largest woman-owned commercial brokerage in the United States with almost $3 billion in transactions.

In 2007, Wolfe Miller created the Goldie B. Wolfe Miller Women Leaders in Real Estate Initiative at Roosevelt University. The program supports young women in commercial real estate and now extends to graduate students across the Midwest. Wolfe Miller was inducted into the Chicago Association of Realtors Hall of Fame in 2011 and received an honorary Roosevelt doctorate in 2015.

Bachelor of General Studies

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Bachelor of General Studies

In 1967, Roosevelt established the Bachelor of General Studies degree to make higher education more accessible to adult learners. Instead of counting credits, the bachelor’s program used College Board tests so students could apply their professional experience toward completing their degree.

This non-traditional adult degree program was the first of its kind in the area and became the fastest-growing Roosevelt program at the time. Distinguished alumni that hold a Bachelor of General Studies include:

  • Walter Grady (BGS ’72, MBA ’79): former president and CEO of Seaway Bank and Trust Co.
  • Patricia Harris (BGS ’80): former global chief diversity officer at McDonald’s and chair of Roosevelt’s Board of Trustees
  • Bobby Rush (BGS ’74): 14-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Mark Paul “Corky” Siegel and Jim Schwall

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Jazz Musicians | Years at Roosevelt: 1964–66

Mark Paul “Corky” Siegel and Jim Schwall

Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall met at Roosevelt in 1964. Although the students were in jazz band together, they did not officially meet until a chance encounter in an elevator, when Siegel asked Schwall if he played the blues. Siegel recalls that moment as finding his musical soulmate.

The pair quickly formed the Siegel-Schwall Band, which became one of Chicago’s most loved blues groups. Siegel played the harmonica and the saxophone while Schwall played the guitar, and both did vocals. Siegel was inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame in 2018.