University of Illinois | 150 Years & Beyond

Steve Vavrik

CEO

Actuate Energy LLC

Dustin Dumas

Fulbright specialist

U.S. State Department

Kelley Francis

Executive director

HITEC Foundation

Paul Ellinger

VP, CFO and comptroller, UI System

2025 ACES Alumni Award of Merit

Hope Michelson

Professor, Department of Agricultural & Consumer Economics

Urbana native

Mildred Barnes Griggs

UI College of Education's first Black dean

Died in 2025

Mike Small

Illini golf coach

13-time Big Ten Coach of the Year

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Hope Wheeler

2021 Athena Award recipient

Principal, CliftonLarsonAllen of Champaign 

Hugh Hefner

Founder and editor-in-chief, Playboy magazine

Died in 2017

George Lundeen

Sculptor of statues on campus depicting Red Grange and Dick Butkus

2024 Alumni Achievement Award recipient

Danielle Wilberg

Associate VP for development and executive director

Parkland College Foundation

Kevin Modglin

President

Mid Illinois Concrete & Excavation, Inc.

Adham Sahloul

2025 Young Alumni Award winner

Co-founder, North Star Policy Initiative

Sharone Mitchell Jr.

Public defender

Cook County

Becki Salzman

Director

Illini Union

Michelle Smallmon

Co-host, "Unsportsmanlike"

ESPN Radio

Amy Stabell

Global quality head of experts/aerospace, Henkel

2024 Young Alumni Achievement Award, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Austin Hill

General counsel, Eastern Illinois

Former assistant university counsel, Illinois

Alexandra Jones

Director of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Undergraduate Program, University of Maryland

Earned two UI degrees in atmospheric sciences and meteorology (master’s in 2010, Ph.D. in 2015)

Sean Long

Corporate director of programming, Weigel Broadcasting

2-time Emmy-winning Illini Media Hall of Famer

Rob Lang

Business litigation attorney, Thompson Coburn

Represented Illini basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr.

Kenneth Jaconetty

Retired intellectual property attorney, 2024 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award winner

2022's chemical and biomolecular engineering convocation speaker

Elaine Hsieh

Professor and Chair, Communication Studies, University of Minnesota

Earned Ph.D. in health communication from Illinois

Eric Swenson

Strategy specialist, Carle Health

Earned two degrees in natural resources/conservation (2013, '15)

CeCe (Marizu) Cooper

Swimming star turned senior content producer for Apple Fitness+

Earned UI degrees in broadcast journalism (2010), education policy studies (2012)