Alumni & Campus Stories

Black and white image of artist Karen Sixkiller holding a birthday candle to her lips as if it were a cigarette.

Fire Bearer

A Cherokee legend tells of ancient animals praying for warmth to survive the winter on their island. Unetlanvhi (“the Creator”) answered by striking a tree with lightning, setting it on

Carmen Rossi, casually dressed, sitting on the edge of a bar countertop at his Hubbard Inn restaurant.

Serial Entrepreneur

It’s astonishing that Carmen Rossi, ’07 LAS, MS ’09 AHS, ever had time to go to class. As an undergraduate at Illinois, he started a business that built dormitory lofts

Male student being silly, laughing and poking his face through a life-size, orange Illinois block "I."

From Zero to $2.7 Billion

One might say a triumph was front-loaded. When With Illinois officially kicked off in the fall of 2017, approximately 45 percent of the campaign’s ambitious $2.25 billion goal had already

Sunny library facade with an open book in the foreground and pages curled into the spine to form the shape of a heart.

The University Library

Beloved and ever-evolving, the University Library has drawn a range of gifts, including a $2.5M pledge for revisioning and renovation from the Shebik family (Steven E., ’78 BUS, ’78 BUS,