Alumni Humanitarian Award

The Alumni Humanitarian Award, established in 2001, is bestowed upon alumni of the University of Illinois by the Alumni Association, on behalf of the University of Illinois. It is presented to those alumni who, through their outstanding involvement and dedication, have made a significant contribution of volunteer leadership or service which has improved or enriched the lives of others and the welfare of humanity, and whose accomplishments reflect admirably on or bring honor to their Alma Mater.

2010 Recipient

Dr. Dennis Warner ’63 ENG, ’63 LAS, MS ’66 ENG, is honored for his selfless commitment to emergency relief for the world’s most vulnerable populations. For more than 40 years, whether working with local organizations or global institutions, he has focused on re-establishing sanitation and water supply systems in areas experiencing war or natural disasters, including famine in Ethiopia, genocide in Rwanda, international conflict in Kosovo, the 2001 earthquake in India, the 1991 Gulf War and, most recently, the war in Iraq. After beginning his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, Warner held positions with the University of Dar es Salaam, Duke University, World Health Organization, World Bank, USAID and several engineering consulting firms. As senior technical adviser for Catholic Relief Services and a member of Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement, Warner works both at the highest levels, advocating for disaster relief, peace engineering and global water needs, and directly on the ground with some of the world’s poorest communities. He earned bachelor’s degrees in sciences and letters and civil engineering in 1963, and a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1966.