2004-2005 Inductees
Kathryn Bohn
Biological Sciences, BS '74, M.S. '80
Kathryn Bohn is an emergency physician at BroMenn Regional Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Hospital in Bloomington, Illinois. She also works part-time as an ISU Health Service M.D. and as an adjunct professor in ISU’s Department of Biological Sciences, and she serves as Medical Director for the Pre-professional Mentorship Program at ISU. As such, Bohn not only volunteers her time to mentor ISU students considering a future in the medical world, but she also helps to administer the program.
In 1999, Bohn was awarded the McLean County YWCA Women of Distinction Award. She has served as President of the Southern Illinois School of Medicine Board of Governors Alumni Association, and her current involvements include service on the ISU Foundation Board, the College of Arts and Sciences Community Advisory Board, the 11 th Judicial Circuit Family Violence Coordinating Council, the McLean County Domestic Violence Coalition, and the McLean County Red Cross.
Bohn was born in West Brooklyn, Illinois, and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Illinois State University before going on to earn her M.D. from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in 1983. She considers balancing a career in emergency medicine with a family life her most important achievement. She has been married to Dr. Tom Nielsen, also an emergency room physician at BroMenn, for 20 years, and they have a 16 year-old daughter, Beth.
K. Patricia Cross
Mathematics, BSE '48
K. Patricia Cross is Professor of Higher Education, Emerita at the University of California at Berkeley. She received her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Illinois State University and master's and Ph.D. degrees in social psychology from the University of Illinois. Cross has had a distinguished career as a university administrator (Assistant Dean of Women at University of Illinois and Dean of Students at Cornell University), researcher (Distinguished Research Scientist at Educational Testing Service and Research Educator at The Center for Research and Development in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley), and teacher (Professor and Chair of the Department of Administration, Planning, and Social Policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Professor of Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley).
The author of eight books and more than 200 articles, monographs, and chapters, Cross has been recognized for her scholarship by election to the National Academy of Education, receipt of the E.F. Lindquist Award from the American Educational Research Association, the Sidney Suslow Award from the Association for Institutional Research, and the Howard Bowen Distinguished Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education. She was voted one of “the most influential voices” in higher education in a Change Magazine poll in 1975, and when the poll was repeated in 1998, she was again selected as a national leader.
Elected Chair of the Board of the American Association of Higher Education twice (1975 and 1989), she has received many awards for her leadership in education, among them the Leadership Award from the American Association of Community and Junior colleges, the Outstanding Service Award from the Coalition of Adult Education Organizations, the Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Improvement of Instruction from the National Council of Instructional Administrators, and the Academic Leadership Award from the Council of Independent Colleges. She has been awarded 15 honorary degrees and is currently a Trustee of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, a member of the Board of Directors of Elderhostel and the National Selection Committee for the Hesburgh Award, and a Senior Fellow of the League for Innovation in the Community College.Cross received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1980.
Gerald Ferris
Psychology, BS '73; MS '79
Gerald Ferris is the Francis Eppes Professor of Management and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. Prior to accepting this chaired position, he held the Robert M. Hearin Chair of Business Administration, and was Professor of Management and Acting Associate Dean for Faculty and Research in the School of Business Administration at the University of Mississippi from 1999-2000.
Before that, he served as Professor of Labor and Industrial Relations, of Business Administration, and of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1989-1999, and as the Director of the Center for Human Resource Management at the University of Illinois from 1991-1996. After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Illinois State, Ferris received a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He has research interests in the areas of social influence in organizations, performance evaluation, and reputation in organizational contexts. Ferris is the author of numerous articles published in scholarly and applied journals. Ferris served as editor of the annual series, Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, from 1981-2003. He has authored or edited a number of books including Political Skill at Work, and Handbook of Human Resource Management. Ferris has consulted on a variety of human resources topics with companies including ARCO, Borg-Warner, Eli Lilly, and Motorola, and he has taught in management development programs and lectured in Austria, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, in addition to various U.S. universities.
James Fisher
Social Sciences Education, BSE '56; MSE '57; Honorary Degree '83
James Fisher is the most published writer on leadership and organization in higher education today. He has written scores of professional articles and has also been published in such popular media as The New York Times, The Washington Times, and The Baltimore Sun. The author or editor of ten books, his book, The Board and the President, “clearly established him as the nation's leading authority on the college presidency,” wrote Michael Worth of George Washington University reviewing in Currents.
His The Power of the Presidency was reviewed in Change magazine as “the most important book ever written on the college presidency” and was nominated for the nonfiction Pulitzer Prize. A registered psychologist with a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, he is President Emeritus of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and President Emeritus of Towson University. He has taught at Northwestern, Illinois State, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and the University of Georgia and has been a consultant to more than three hundred colleges and universities.
He coined the term “institutional review” and has conducted hundreds of institutional and governance reviews for public and private institutions and systems. He also conducts board orientations and retreats and consults on presidential searches, evaluations and contracts. Dr. Fisher has been a trustee at eleven private colleges and universities and two preparatory schools. A former Marine, he presently serves as a board member of the Marine Military Academy, Millikin University, and Florida Institute of Technology. He has received awards for teaching, writing, citizenship and leadership and has been awarded eleven honorary degrees. At Illinois State, The Outstanding Thesis Award was named by the faculty The James L. Fisher Thesis Award and the CASE Distinguished Service to Education Award bears his name. Fisher received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1989.
Robert Gray
Biological Sciences, Ph. D. '71
Robert Gray earned his Ph.D. in zoology and ecology from Illinois State in 1971 and joined the staff of Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories in 1973. Throughout his 26-year career with Battelle, at many sites, Gray has contributed to the national defense and solutions to the nation's energy problems, all while protecting the environment. He has authored more than 260 book chapters, open literature, and symposium articles, and has edited eight books.
Gray has served as a member of international delegations, including the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists delegation to East Asia and the International Atomic Energy Agency Scientific Panel on environmental monitoring. He also has served as a mentor or major professor to graduate students from the University of Minnesota and Washington State University. Many of his students have gone on to establish impressive careers and publication records of their own.
Gray is now an independent consultant. His many projects include evaluating the potential environmental effects of construction and operation of an incinerator designed to dispose of nerve agent on a U.S. Army base, studying water quality problems in the semi-arid Southwest U.S., and co editing a book on urban fisheries. He also is using some of the data collected during his graduate studies at Illinois State to answer questions surrounding the worldwide decline of amphibians and observations of increased amphibian malformations. Gray received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004.
Kenneth Janda
Political Science, BS '57
Kenneth Janda is the Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. He earned his bachelor’s degree at ISU before going on to earn a Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1961. In 1961, he began his career at Northwestern University as an assistant professor, and in 1969 he was promoted to full professor. Janda’s scholarly research focuses on political parties, computer methods, and American government, including methods of teaching. His American government textbook, The Challenge of Democracy, is widely used in the United States as well as in central Europe and the Soviet Union. It has been translated into various languages, including Hungarian, Georgian, Czech, Slovak, and Korean.
He has authored multiple other significant publications including Political Parties and Their Environment: Limits to Reform?; Political Parties: A Cross-National Survey; and Cumulative Index to the American Political Science Review, Volumes 1-57: 1900-1963, which was one of the first computer-generated indices to include bibliographic material and was selected as an Outstanding Reference Book for 1964 by the American Library Association.
Janda has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Essex, and Budapest University of Economic Sciences. In 1983, he won the Outstanding Teaching Award for the College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University and he also won an Outstanding Alumni Award from Illinois State University. In 2000, Janda was awarded the Samuel J. Eldersveld Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association. While at ISU, Janda was active in photography, starting as a sport photographer for the Vidette, and then for the ISNU yearbook, The Index. He was employed in the Alumni Relations Department as assistant to Nelson Smith, University Photographer.
He considers his most important achievement teaching for 41 years at Northwestern University after having graduated from a one-room country school outside of Wilmington, Illinois. He and his wife Ann have two daughters, Susan (who plays viola with the Minnesota Opera) and Katy (who is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College), and one grandchild.
Keith Kattner
Biological Sciences, BS '85
Keith Kattner is a neurosurgeon and co-owner of Central Illinois Neuro Health Sciences, Advance Neurotechnologies, and Cybertechnologies.
He is also the program director of neurological surgery residency at Midwestern University/Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine/BroMenn Regional Medical Center, and an adjunct professor in ISU’s Department of Biological Sciences. Kattner earned his bachelor’s degree from ISU before going on to receive his D.O. from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1989.
Kattner is principal investigator on the Glioma Outcome Project, which involves creating a voluntary North American database of outcomes for patients who undergo surgery for glioma (a brain tumor). This database will serve as a tool to better understand clinical practices in the care of these patients and the relationship between medical practices and clinical outcomes. He has also served as co-investigator on multiple important neurological clinical research efforts, the results of which have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Kattner’s current involvements include serving as chair-elect of the Neurosurgical Section of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons, service on the Residency Evaluation and Standards Committee for the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons, and membership on the North American Skull Base Society, Illinois Neurosurgical Society, American Medical Association, CyberKnife Society, and American Osteopathic Foundation Board. Kattner considers co-founding the Central Illinois Neuroscience Foundation his most important achievement. He resides in Bloomington, Illinois, with his wife, Nita, and enjoys surfing in Hawaii in his spare time.
James A. Knecht
English, BS '68
James Knecht is a Justice of the Appellate Court, Fourth District, and has been a judge for 29 years. After earning his bachelor’s degree from ISU, Knecht went on to earn his J.D. degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1973. Knecht served as Chair of the statewide Appellate Court Administrative Committee from 1997-2001, and was a member of the Illinois Courts Commission, the constitutional disciplinary body for the judiciary from 1999-2001.
He is Secretary of the Illinois State University Foundation Board of Directors, member of ISU’s College of Arts and Sciences Community Advisory Board, and has served as President of Beyond the Books Education Foundation, and the Appellate Lawyers Association of Illinois. He serves on the National Board of Directors of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence, and the National Advisory Board of the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulator Studies Judicial Education Program.
Knecht previously served on the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, the Steering Committee of the Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Council, and the National Judicial Advisory Board of the Law & Organization Economics Center at the University of Kansas. He taught as an adjunct professor at ISU from 1977-2004. On Law Day 2000, the McLean County Bar Association awarded him the Abraham Lincoln Award of Excellence and in 2001, he received the Distinguished Service award from the ISU Attorneys Advisory Council.
Knecht’s interest in literature (as well as in pool), led to his publication of Other People’s Money in 2000. It is a short story set in Hickey's Billiards, the site of some of Knecht’s own extracurricular activity, that by his own admission proved very educational. He has been married to Ruth Knecht for 39 years, and they have two children and three grandchildren. He considers his most important achievement as striving to be a positive influence on his grandchildren, his family, his community, and his profession. Knecht received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000.
James Koch
Social Sciences Education and Economics, BA '64
James Koch is Board of Visitors Professor of Economics and President Emeritus at Old Dominion University. He also served as President of the University of Montana from 1986-1990. He was identified as one of the one hundred most effective college presidents in the United States.
Koch also has held teaching and research positions at Illinois State University, California State University at Los Angeles, the University of Grenoble ( France), Brown University, Rhode Island College, Ball State University, the University of Hawaii, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, and the University of Montana. Koch has published nine books and 80 articles in refereed journals. His research has focused primarily upon applied microeconomics topics.
His journal articles on the economics of intercollegiate athletics, the economics of discrimination and affirmative action, TQM, and the economics of education have been reprinted and cited frequently. Recently, he has done extensive work in the economics of e-commerce and his current research on the risk-taking behavior of corporate CEOs is funded by the Kauffman Foundation. Koch has served as a consultant or expert witness for over fifty legal firms, corporations, and universities. His e-commerce cases have included issues such as the ordering and sale of wine via the Internet, and the value of intellectual property stolen by means of the Internet.
Additionally, he has led or been a part of teams commissioned by the presidents or boards of trustees of more than two dozen universities to evaluate the strategic position of these institutions. His 1996 book, Presidential Leadership (co-authored with James L. Fisher) is used as a reference and textbook in many universities and leadership institutes. Another interest of Dr. Koch is the History of World War II; he began teaching a history of World War II course early in the 1980s and has published a series of items on aspects of World War II. He is a non-competitive runner and also enjoys playing basketball. He holds a B.A. degree from Illinois State University and a Ph.D. degree in Economics from Northwestern University. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Yeungnam University in Korea and Toyo University and Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. Koch received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1994.
Felissa Lashley
Biological Sciences, Ph. D. '73
Felissa Lashley is dean of the College of Nursing at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She previously was dean and professor at Southern Illinois University’s School of Nursing and clinical professor of pediatrics at the university’s School of Medicine. A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Lashley was the first nurse to be certified as a Ph.D. medical geneticist by the American Board of Medical Genetics, was a founding fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics, and the first nurse to be a member of the AIDS standing research committee of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
Lashley is an expert on genetics, infectious disease, and HIV/AIDS care and is widely published on these topics. She has authored more than 250 publications and has received numerous awards, including Book of the Year Awards in 1984 and 1987 from the American Journal of Nursing in two categories and Book of the Year Award from Nurse Practitioner in 1996. Her most recent book is Emerging Infectious Diseases: Trends and Issues, which received a Book of the Year Award from the American Journal of Nursing and an Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Award from Choice magazine. Lashley’s many honors include the Golden Lamp Award for excellence in teaching at the University of Illinois College of Nursing and the SAGE Award for mentoring nurse leaders.
Lashley considers her greatest achievements as assisting in the translation of genetic knowledge to the clinical practice of nursing and the fact that her publication for patients and families who are affected by botulism is still used by the CDC. Most important to her is her F1 generation, Peter Cohen, Heather Cohen Ahmann, and Neal Cohen and their spouses, Julie, Chris and Anne, and her F2 generation, Benjamin, Hannah, Jacob, Grace and Lydia. Lashley received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2003.
John Matheson
Economics, BS '74
Originally from Chicago, Illinois, John Matheson is a nationally recognized expert in the areas of corporate and business law. The courses he teaches at the University of Minnesota Law School include business associations and corporations, contracts, corporate finance, publicly-held corporations, and closely-held corporations. In 2001, Matheson was appointed to the Melvin C. Steen and Corporate Donors Professorship in Law.
In 1995, he was appointed the S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law. On three occasions, Matheson has been the recipient of the annual Stanley V. Kinyon Outstanding Teaching and Counseling Award. He also held the Julius E. Davis Chair in Law for 1992-93. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from ISU, Matheson earned his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Northwestern University Law Review.
After completing his J.D. degree, he clerked for Judge Robert A. Sprecher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Matheson then practiced with the law firm of Hedlund, Hunter & Lynch (now Latham & Watkins) in Chicago In 1982, he joined the University of Minnesota Law School faculty. He is a member of the American Law Institute, serves as Director of the University of Minnesota Law School Continuing Legal Education Programs and is co-director of the Kommerstad Center for Business Law and Entrepreneurship.
He is Of Counsel to the Minneapolis law firm of Kaplan, Strangis and Kaplan, where he specializes in corporate governance counseling, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law matters.Matheson's eight books and numerous articles predominantly address business and corporate law issues. He has been married to Judy Matheson (‘73) for 34 years and they have three sons, Dean (25), Jack (22), and Adam (18).
C. Robert O'Dell
Physics, BSE '59; Honorary Degree '01
C. Robert O’Dell is a Distinguished Research Professor at Vanderbilt University and the Andrew Hayes Buchanan Professor of Astrophysics Emeritus, Rice University. He was born in Hamilton County, Illinois, and developed an interest in astronomy by reading the monthly Sky and Telescope Magazine from cover to cover and building several additional telescopes, starting from scratch (actually blank pieces of glass and lots of grinding compound).
He received his bachelor’s degree from ISU, followed by his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1962. After serving as an assistant professor at Berkeley, he was chair of the department and then the director of Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago. O’Dell left Yerkes for Huntsville, Alabama in 1972 to become NASA's Project Scientist for (what is now called) the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
This was before the HST was an approved program, so that his early years with NASA were spent selling the idea to Congress, to the astronomical community (many of whom were skeptical), and coming up with a preliminary design. He left NASA in 1982 to return to research, becoming a professor at Rice University in Houston. In 1978, he was awarded the Order of Merit from the Polish People’s Republic, and in 1991 he received the Public Service Medal from NASA.
O’Dell has over 140 scholarly publications, along with around 40 non-research publications. According to O’Dell, he has worked on the Orion Nebula region on and off for the bulk of his professional life (now 40+ years), and it is still a case that many mornings he can't wait to get in to the office to find out what lies around the next corner. O’Dell received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1997.
Andreas Paloumpis
Secondary Education; Biological Sciences, SE '50; MSE '53
Andreas Paloumpis is Vice President of Collegiate Enterprise Solutions (a firm providing higher education consulting and outsourcing), and President of Paloumpis and Associates, Inc. (a higher education and environmental consulting firm) in Tampa, Florida. Paloumpis was born in Minonk, Illinois, and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from ISU, then earned his Ph.D. in Fisheries Biology from Iowa State University in 1956.
He returned to ISU as Professor of Zoology and Fisheries from 1956-1966, before leaving to become the founding President of Winston Churchill College in Pontiac, Illinois. From there, Paloumpis went on to serve as Vice President of Academic Affairs for Illinois Central College; President of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York; President of Hillsborough Community College, in Tampa, Florida; and Interim President of Luzerne County Community College, in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania.
He has published numerous articles and has been awarded several research grants throughout his career. He is one of 13 founding members of the North American Benthological Society, and served as its President from 1960-1961. He served on the Illinois Board of Higher Education from 1967-1977, and as a member of the Board of Trustees for Monmouth College from 1971-1974.
Paloumpis has also served on the Board of Directors for the Outback Bowl Association and the Florida Aquarium. In 2003, he was appointed by Florida Governor Jeb Bush to the Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board.
Paloumpis considers his most important achievement the assumption of the Presidency of Hillsborough Community College. As the fifth president in 15 years, he provided strong leadership for 14 years over 4 campuses, three Environmental Centers, an extensive program at MacDill Air Force Base, and 25,000 students. Paloumpis and his wife of 54 years, Bess, have 3 children: Tom (53), Evan (50), and Andrea (deceased). Paloumpis received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002.
George Pruitt
Biological Sciences; Counselor Education, BS '68; MS '70; Honorary Degree '94
George Pruitt is President of Thomas Edison State College, where he has served since 1982. In a study of presidential leadership funded by the Exxon Education Foundation, Pruitt was identified as one of the most effective college presidents in the United States.
He previously served in executive leadership positions at Illinois State University, Towson State University, Morgan State University, Tennessee State University, and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). He is active in the formulation of educational policy nationally and within the state of New Jersey.
Pruitt has served as Chairman of the New Jersey Presidents’ Council; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning; member of three national commissions of the American Council on Education; Chairman of the Committee on Alternatives and Innovation of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities; and Advisor to the Kellogg National Fellowship Program of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
He is past Chairman of the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce; a member of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity at the United States Department of Education; a member of the New Jersey State Planning Commission; and serves on the Governor’s Education Cabinet.
Pruitt also sits on the Board of Directors of Sun National Bank, Rider University, Structured Employment Economic Development Corporation, Economic Development Corporation of Trenton, and the Union Institute. Pruitt has consulted widely in business and government, as well as within the higher education community. He has served in an advisory capacity to four Secretaries of Education under three Presidents of both parties. He is the recipient of three honorary degrees in addition to numerous awards, honors, and commendations. He has an adult daughter, Shayla and resides in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with his wife, Pamela. Pruitt received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996.
Elston Roady
Secondary Education and Political Science, BSE, '42
Elston Roady is Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Emeritus at Florida State University. He is also a retired colonel from the United States Air Force. Roady was born in Kane, Illinois, and after receiving his bachelor’s degree from ISU, he earned his master’s (1947) and doctorate (1951) degrees from the University of Illinois. During this time, he was also on active duty with the United States Army and Air Force, and is a combat veteran from World War II. He continued to serve in the reserves from 1947-1972, and has been honored with 8 military awards.
In 1947, Roady was appointed assistant professor at Florida State University, where he continued to serve for 37 years and develop a distinguished career researching campaign finance and producing several seminal scholarly articles and four books for which he received national and international recognition. He was awarded the best political science professor at Florida State University twice and the Outstanding Professor Award once. In 1960, he served as Director of the U.S. Senate Campaign Committee, and he has served as an advisor to two presidential commissions on voting and elections.
Roady has also served as an advisor to Time and Newsweek on campaign finance and elections. He considers his most important achievement as making some impact on improving registration and voting procedures in the U.S. and four foreign nations, as well as shedding light on campaign finance and corrupt and illegal campaign procedures. Roady and his wife Barbara (Elder) Roady (‘44), have three children and eight grandchildren. Roady received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1986.
Gary Schnurrpusch
Mathematics and Biological Sciences, BS '69
Gary Schnurrpusch is the Naval Surface Warfare Analysis Group Leader with Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc., and Captain, United States Navy (retired). His career spans over 35 years of service to the nation. During almost 28 years on active Navy duty as a career Surface Warfare Officer, Schnurrpusch completed worldwide multi-mission fleet operations on seven ships. He commanded three, USS O’CALLAHAN, USS GARY, and the state-of-the-art AEGIS guided missile cruiser USS BUNKER HILL, homeported in Japan, which completed a historic port visit to China, and deployments to international crises in Korea, Iraq, and Taiwan.
Ashore, Schnurrpusch’s Navy duties included three assignments to the Pentagon on the staffs of the Secretary of Defense and the Chief of Naval Operations. He led analyses of Navy operations, future combat systems, and Defense strategies and budgets. One study led directly to a new class of AEGIS guided missile destroyers.
Since retiring from active duty, Schnurrpusch continues to serve Defense and leads a group of analysts and scientists to provide quantitative assessments of future surface warfare needs and capabilities. For example, his studies have led to Navy ships specially equipped for National Missile Defense against ballistic missiles. After earning his bachelor’s degree from ISU, Schnurrpusch earned a M.S. in Operations Research/Systems Analysis in 1975. He is currently working toward his Ph.D. in information technology and engineering from George Mason University.
His honors include personal and service decorations from the Navy. Schnurrpusch considers his most important achievement his military service—the honor to directly lead well over a thousand of the best individuals from around our nation while in command of three frontline warships. He and his wife, Diane (Read) Schnurrpusch (‘70), reside in northern Virginia and have two grown sons and one granddaughter. Schnurrpusch received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999.
Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw
Social Sciences Education, BSE 1961; Honorary Degree 1987
Kenneth “Buzz” Shaw is Chancellor Emeritus of Syracuse University, where he served as chancellor for 13 years and as a campus CEO for 27 years. Prior to becoming Syracuse’s 10th Chancellor, Shaw was President of the University of Wisconsin System from 1986-1991. He also has served as Chancellor of the Southern Illinois University System (1980), President of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (1977-1986), and Vice President for Academic Affairs of Towson State University (1969-1977).
During his tenure as Chancellor of Syracuse, Shaw was honored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II with its Chief Executive Leadership Award, and Syracuse received the Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Faculty Development to Enhance Undergraduate Learning. Also while at Syracuse, Shaw assumed an active leadership role with the NCAA, chairing the Basketball Issues Committee and the Division I Board of Directors.
He also serves on the Commissioner’s Advisory Council on Higher Education for the New York State Education Department, the National Association of Independent Colleges and University, and the Council on Competitiveness. In 1999, he wrote The Successful President: “Buzzwords” on Leadership, which has become a top seller in the American Council on Education/Oryx Press Series on Higher Education.
His book, The Intentional Leader, was released in August 2005, and he is presently writing another book on leadership. Shaw also serves as Chair of the Central New York Metropolitan Development Association—the chief economic arm of the region—and as member on the Board of the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, the Unity Mutual Life Insurance Co., the University Hill Corp., the Museum of Science and Technology, and the Policy Council of Success by Six.
He holds seven honorary degrees. Shaw and his wife Mary Ann, who is a reading specialist and former Vice President for Development for the Madison, Wisconsin United Way and Associate of the Chancellor at Syracuse University, have three children: Ken, Susan Gleason, and Sara Buffett and seven grandchildren. Shaw received the Illinois State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1991.
Lloyd Simonson
Biological Sciences, MS '68; Ph.D. '74
Lloyd Simonson earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in microbiology from Illinois State and then went on to earn an M.B.A. from Roosevelt University in 1984. He is currently retired after serving as Research Director for the Naval Institute for Dental and Biomedical Research from 1968-2004, where he managed all scientific and intellectual property programs.
He also served on the graduate faculty as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University Dental School, and as a research consultant in the Oncology Department at Chicago Medical School. Simonson has served as President of the Microbiology/Immunology Group and President of the Chicago Section of the American Association for Dental Research.
In 1994, he received a Meritorious Civilian Service medal and in 1997 he was awarded an Illinois State University Alumni Achievement Award. Simonson has 21 patents, including one for what he considers his most important achievement—rapid salivary diagnostics for tuberculosis. He currently resides in Spring Grove, Illinois, with his wife, Katherine (Peck) Simonson (‘73), whom he met at a dance on the ISU campus. In his spare time, he has won 9 titles in dog agility trials with his two English Springer Spaniels, and he is attempting to master the game of golf.
Louis Smith
History, MA '67
Louis Smith earned his master’s degree from Illinois State in 1967 and went on to earn his Ph.D. in History from Michigan State University in 1977. He is the currently the U. S. Department of State senior historian in the Office of the Historian and Chief of the European and General Division. As such, he is editor or co-editor of twenty volumes of the Department of State’s flagship publication, Foreign Relations of the United States, and he considers this his most important achievement.
Noteworthy among those volumes were the volumes that documented the Bay of Pigs crisis, the Cuban missile crisis, and the two volumes that documented the agonizing decision Lyndon Johnson made in 1965 to expand the Vietnam conflict and convert it into a primarily American undertaking. In 1981, Smith also published a history of the battle of Yorktown in English and in French, which was presented by President Reagan to French President Mitterand on the occasion of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the battle.
Smith was awarded Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State in 1976, 1981, and 1989, and in 2004 he received a Superior Honor Award—the Department of State’s highest individual honor—for a lifetime contribution to the Foreign Relations series. Smith has been married for 40 years to Sharon Ann (Moeller) Smith and they have two children, David, 34, and Deborah, 33.