Third in a series highlighting DePaul’s campus and how it has changed through the years.

Can you guess which building this is?

 

 

The Schmitt Academic Center didn’t always look like the building that we see today. Although it now connects to O’Connell and Levan, when first constructed SAC stood alone. Named after Arthur J. Schmitt, a noted inventor and philanthropist, SAC was built in 1967 in order to house classrooms, faculty offices, and the university library.

Although it may not be obvious to the general eye, the SAC building won the Concrete Contractor’s Association Superior Craftsmanship Award for “superior concrete construction” in 1968. The next year, in 1969, SAC was taken over by the Black Student Union in order to demand better education for African-American students at DePaul. In 1992, the Richardson Library was built, which eventually connected to SAC through a hallway, and then in 2001, the SAC, O’Connell, and Levan buildings were renovated and joined, obscuring the front view of SAC.

Today SAC remains a vital part of campus life, though it has changed a great deal throughout the years.