Alumni Interview: Bill Geist
I’m very much a Midwesterner, and I think of myself that way. Very practical. Standard. I’d say I’m normal, but I’m actually from Champaign, and Normal is about 50 miles further west. (That’s an...
Alumni Interview: Thomas M. Siebel
The information technology business has grown from virtual nonexistence in 1950 to a $50 billion industry in 1980 to a $3.5 trillion market today. In five to six years, that market will be $9...
Alumni Interview: Temple Grandin
I got my master’s degree in animal science at Arizona State University. I went there to study cows. I had come a long way in my development by then. I didn’t speak until I was...
Alumni Interview: Scott Altman
I always wanted to fly: It was my passion from the time I was 3 years old. I got an appointment to the Air Force Academy. Unfortunately, at the pre-induction physical, they measured my...
Alumni Interview: Gene Honda
I like to joke that I graduated from the U of I in four terms: the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations. It’s not that I was a slow student, though I’ll admit I never...
Alumni Interview: Judson Todd Allen
Editor’s Note: Before this article was published, we were informed that Chef Allen had died from a heart attack. He was 36. I was a food science and nutrition major at the U of I....
Alumni Interview: Elizabeth Pieroth
As a mom as well as a concussion specialist working with the Chicago Bears, Blackhawks, White Sox, Fire and National Women’s Soccer League, I’m often asked if I would let my own son play...
Alumni Interview: Joe Pedott
I can’t say that when I started in business I intended to end up in the Smithsonian Institute, but that’s what happened. My relationship with the first item that won me entry into the...
Alumni Interview: Former Fighting Illini gymnast shares what it’s like to be Spider-Man’s stunt double
“What’s it like to be Spider-Man’s stunt double?” Ask Illinois grad Chris Silcox, ’08 FAA, who appears in the latest installment of the Marvel Studios franchise. Check out this interview with Silcox. (Image courtesy of...
Alumni Interview: Steven Keiser
Forty-one years ago, I was offered a job teaching special education at a school on the Navajo Nation Reservation in Chinle, Ariz. At the time I thought, “I can do this, at least for...
