Alumni Five Awards

A celebration of distinguished alumni

The University of Illinois Alumni Association Alumni Five dinner and awards ceremony honors UIC alumni and friends who have given back to the University and the community. The Alumni Five ceremony includes presentations of the Alumni Achievement, Distinguished Service, Alumni Humanitarian, City Partner and Corporate Partner awards.

2010 University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award
Alaa Al Aswany, MS ’85 DENT
Author, dentist

Alaa Al Aswany is one of the biggest selling Arabic novelists in the world. His 2002 book The Yacoubian Building, which depicts the political, religious and social ills of modern Egypt, has been translated into 27 languages. His most recent novel, Chicago, is based on his experiences while living in the city and studying at UIC.

An outspoken critic of the Egyptian political system, Aswany writes a monthly political column for the newspaper Al Arabi. Rather than give up dentistry and pursue writing full-time, Aswany still maintains his Cairo clinic and sees patients two days a week. His publications have earned him many awards, including the Bashraheel Literary Award for Best Novelist in the Arab World.

 

2010 University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award
Shoujie Fu, MBA ’00
Chairman, Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co. Ltd.

Within four years of joining Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co. as general manager in 2004, Shoujie Fu was promoted to chairman and helped turn it into the leading automobile producer in southern China. Under his leadership, the company expanded to include two production plants producing 360,000 automobiles annually and employing 7,000 people.

A supporter of environmental protection efforts, Fu was instrumental in the implementation of green technology at the company’s Zengcheng plant, making it the first of its kind in China to have zero water pollution emissions. His commitment to the environment has earned the company the honor of being voted Most Respected Enterprise in China for two years in a row.

 

2010 University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award
Peter Harvey Hackett, MD ’73
Director of Emergency Services, Telluride Medical Center
Director, Institute for Altitude Medicine, Telluride
Clinical Professor of Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine

Considered the leading authority on high-altitude medicine and physiology, Dr. Peter Harvey Hackett spent years in the Himalayas researching the effects of altitude on the body, including six years in Nepal at the base of Mount Everest, which he reached the top of in 1981. Hackett has also done research in Alaska at Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America.

Hackett has published more than 100 articles on his research in numerous medical journals and has edited three books on the subject of hypoxia. He is an active member of many professional organizations, including the Aerospace Medical Society, International Society for Mountain Medicine and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

 

2010 University of Illinois Distinguished Service Award
William Hawes ’68 ENG, MS ’69 ENG
President, Hawes Engineers Inc.

A 32-year veteran of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, William Hawes is an active supporter of UIC and the College of Engineering. He has served as a student adviser and mentor, participating in the EAA Career Prep Day for several years.

But his most significant contributions relate to preserving UIC’s rich history. To that end, Hawes donated a portion of ribbon to UIC archives that was cut on the day the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle opened in 1965. He also spearheaded the efforts to establish exhibits in the Pier Room and Circle Center Lounge in Student Center East. Each exhibit celebrates the early history of the East Campus through a diverse display of photographs and artifacts.

 

2010 University of Illinois Alumni Humanitarian Award
Mary R. Ingram, MS ’81 NURS
Captain, United States Public Health Service
Family Nurse Practitioner, Indian Health Service

For more than 24 years, Mary Ingram has provided health care services to Native Americans living in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on the boarder of North and South Dakota, the Ogala Sioux Reservation in Pine Ridge, S.D., and an urban Indian Health Service hospital in Rapid City, S.D.

A nurse practitioner with a Ph.D. in transcultural nursing, she began her work with the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) as a lieutenant, junior grade, assigned to the Indian Health Service. Her personal research into Lakota health and caring practices was adopted as curriculum model for the nursing program at Oglala Lakota College, where she serves as instructor and academic counselor. Also a member of the USPHS Commissioned Corps Readiness Force, Ingram was deployed to provide care for Albanian Kosovar refugees in 1999 and Gulf Coast Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005.

 

2010 UIC City Partner Award
Gloria M. Curtin ’74 ED, MED ’80
Vice President for Adult Programs, El Valor Corp.

Since joining El Valor as a student teacher in 1972, Gloria M. Curtin has seen the organization grow from a small nonprofit with roots in the Hispanic community into a thriving organization reaching more than 4,000 families of children and adults with disabilities. Curtin helped El Valor founder Guadalupe Reyes expand the organization into the 15th largest Hispanic nonprofit in the country.

Today, as vice president of adult programs, Curtin oversees disability programs at all stages of development, including family support, respite care and home base services. Her connection to the University has provided many UIC students with the opportunity to work in the field at El Valor via internships, practicum and research programs.

 

2010 UIC City Partner Award
Arthur Jones, MD `79
Physician, Former Chief Executive Officer, Lawndale Christian Health Center

As a fourth-year medical student, Arthur Jones faced the daunting task of helping his church provide affordable healthcare to the residents of the North Lawndale community. As a result, he helped found the Lawndale Christian Health Center, which today serves more than 110,000 patients annually and has grown to include three locations.

Jones stepped down as LCHC’s chief executive officer in 2008, but he continues to work at the Health Center as a physician, spending 32 hours a week seeing patients. In recognition to his contributions to the community, he has received many awards, including the Institute of Medicine of Chicago’s Henry P. Russe, M.D. Citation for Exemplary Compassion in Healthcare (2003).

 

2010 UIC Corporate Partner Award

Accepting on behalf of CME Group: Craig Donohue, CEO

UIC’s longstanding partnership with the CME Group and its predecessor companies (the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange) continues to pay dividends for alumni, students and faculty alike. A major employer of UIC alumni from the College of Business, College of Engineering and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the CME Group played a key role in establishing the University’s International Center for Futures and Derivatives, which provides students, faculty and researchers with unparalleled access to financial instruments and global financial markets. The educational experience of students is further enhanced by CME Group executives who frequently serve as guest speakers and panelists in classrooms and programs. The CME Group has also advanced UIC’s reputation as a leader in urban studies by supporting the Richard J. Daley Urban Forum, which draws leaders from around the world to Chicago to discuss challenges facing cities and to share best practices.