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Notable Alumni

Bernard Shaw, 1966
Former chief anchor at CNN

Carol Moseley Braun, 1969
The first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. Running for Mayor of Chicago, 2011.

McNulty has more than 30 years experience in global financial markets, management, exchange, over-the-counter trading and international finance.

Past president and CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange James J. McNulty ’73 understands the importance of the Pacific Rim on the global economy andhas helped sponsor the expansion of the Asian studies Program in LAS. MORE

Shaw’s energy has been likened to the Energizer Bunny, as he pursues all possible leads.

Alumnus Andy Shaw’s ’71 dogged pursuit of the truth once provided staple viewing on the local news, but now inspires the Better Government Association to search for and stamp out waste, fraud and corruption across Chicago. MORE

Gery Chico, 1979
Former president of the Chicago Board of Education. Running for Mayor of Chicago, 2011.

Ellis Cose, 1972
Author, columnist and contributing editor, Newsweek Magazine

Michael Gross, 1970
Movie and television actor best known for playing Steven Keaton on “Family Ties”

Leonard Roberts, 1971
Executive Chairman of Radio Shack Corporation

Bobby L. Rush, 1994
Member of U.S. House of Representatives

Billy Branch, 1974
Grammy award nominee for “Billy Branch and his Sons of Blues Band.”

Bill Lamar, 1973
Director of Operations and Assistant Vice President of Marketing, McDonald’s Corporation
Winner of the Silver Medal Lifetime Achievement Award, American Advertising Federation, 2007

Tony Podesta, 1967
Founding President of People for the American Way
Former aide to President Bill Clinton

Rose Economou, 1968
Independent filmmaker and documentarian for ABC, PBS and CBS
Winner of seven Emmy Awards, and four Chicago International Film Festival Awards

: The Soyinka Prize was established by the Lumina Foundation in 2005 and named for the Nigerian playwright, poet and political activist.

Pulling from her own history,alumna Nnedi Okarafor ‘07 writes what she calls “plant and creature-inhabited literary science fiction and fantasy,” a feat for which she was recognized with a Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa, considered Africa’s Nobel Prize. MORE

Crabtree is also the former Director of the Materials Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory.

National Science Association fellow and alumnus George Crabtree PhD ’74 returned to his alma mater home in 2010 as UIC’s newest distinguished professor of physics and the campus’ special advisor on energy. MORE

Jean Bogner, 1973
Member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore

Barbara Schaal, 1969
First woman elected vice president of the National Academy of Sciences
Named by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

Carlos Tortolero, 1975
Founder and president of the National Museum of Mexican Art

Howard Kaufman, 1982
Director of the Rush Cancer Center and Associate Dean, Rush University Medical Center

James Compton, 1978, MA 1983
Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, United Airlines

Jaslin Salmon
Vice President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Dukor and BioTools provide instrumentation and services to pharmaceutical and biotech firms.

Alumna Rina Dukor ’86, ’87, ‘91 became so engrossed in her work as an undergraduate that she stayed for nine years, eventually going on to develop a vibrational circular dichroism spectrometer for BioTools, a company she co-founded. MORE

Charles Connor, 1972
Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing for the American Red Cross
President and Chief Executive Officer American Lung Association

Michelle Howard-Vital
President, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
Cheney University is known as "America's Oldest Historically Black Institution of Higher Education."

Donald Johanson, 1966
Anthropologist, Arizona State University, Institute of Human Origins
Famous for the co-discovery of the most complete partial hominid skeleton, Lucy, in Ethiopia.

Michael Nawrocki, 1992
Writer and Director, Big Idea Productions
Voice of Larry the Cucumber on “Veggie Tales”

Credits:
George Crabtree by Matthew Kaplan
Rina Dukor by Donna Victor/UIC Alumni Magazine
James McNulty courtesy of James McNulty
Nnedi Okorafor courtesy of Nnedi Okorafor
Andy Shaw by Callie Lipkin
Special thanks to UIC News