A celebration of 75 years of Roosevelt University

75 Stories for 75 Years

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.’”

Al Golin

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Public Relations Pioneer | BSc Marketing, ’50

Al Golin

In the 1950s, Al Golin cold-called McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc to pitch his public relations services. The call ignited a 60-year partnership that helped grow McDonald’s from a one-location hamburger restaurant into a global phenomenon. “We never would have made it without your help,” Kroc wrote Golin in 1977.

As the Golin PR agency grew more successful, Golin created a Roosevelt scholarship for communications students and served on the Board of Trustees for 16 years.

Ramsey Lewis

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Jazz Pianist, Composer | BA Music Composition, ’52

Ramsey Lewis

Ramsey Lewis released his debut album in 1956. Since then, he has recorded over 80 jazz albums, won three Grammys and had seven gold records. Lewis is one of four Roosevelt alums to win an NEA Jazz Master fellowship, the highest honor for jazz musicians in the United States.

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.”

Shel Silverstein

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Author, Cartoonist | 1950–53

Shel Silverstein cartoon

As a Roosevelt student Shel Silverstein drew cartoons for the Torch and wrote a satirical column called “The Garbage Can.” Perhaps most famous for children’s books The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends, Silverstein also wrote songs for Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash, including the Grammy-winning “A Boy Named Sue.” He dedicated his first book to Roosevelt English professor Robert Cosbey.

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.

Women’s Scholarship Association

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Volunteer Fundraising Organization | 1955–87

The Women’s Scholarship Association raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Roosevelt financial aid. The all-volunteer group led the Scholarshop, a campus store that sold University memorabilia and donated profits to support students. With its Freedom Award, the WSA recognized leading activists and artists including Pearl Buck, Margaret Mead and alumna Lorraine Hansberry.

James Forman

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Civil Rights Leader | BA Public Administration, ’56

James Forman

Often on the front lines of desegregation, James Forman mobilized activists in the South during the civil rights era.

Forman served as Roosevelt’s student council president. In the 1960s, he became executive secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the youth “shock troops” of the civil rights movement. He led voter registration drives and joined Martin Luther King Jr.’s Freedom Rides.