CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- Former U.S. senator and Illinois politician Roland W. Burris will receive a Distinguished Service Award following approval by the SIU Board of Trustees. Burris is one of six individuals recommended by SIU Carbondale Chancellor Austin A. Lane for Ìý²¹²Ô»åÌý.
A 1959 SIU Carbondale graduate in political science, Burris became only the sixth African American to serve in the U.S. Senate and the only SIU graduate to hold that seat when he was appointed in January 2009 to fill the seat vacated by then-President-elect Barack Obama.
Others who will be honored at commencement in May 2022 or at a future commencement are:
- Carolyn Taft Grosboll, Distinguished Service Award. Grosboll served as Clerk of the Illinois Supreme Court from January 2011 until her retirement on Nov. 30, where she “played a leading and pivotal role in modernizing and streamlining operations� of the court, while improving “communication, enhanced case management and expanded access to the general public.�
- A two-degree SIU Carbondale alumna, she earned her bachelor’s degree in history in 1984 and a law degree from the SIU School of Law in 1987. The nomination notes Grosboll “contributed significantly to the administration of justice and the preservation of natural resources in Illinois throughout her decades of public service to the State of Illinois."
John S. Jackson III,
- Â Distinguished Service Award. A visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute since 2002, Jackson has served the university for more than 50 years, beginning as an assistant professor in political science in 1969. Jackson went on to become a tenured professor and higher education administrator, including serving as dean of the College of Liberal Arts, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, and interim chancellor.
- The nomination notes Jackson “has devoted himself to teaching and mentoring young people who have gone on to careers in local, state, national and international levels.� His research profile and publications are impressive and even in retirement, Jackson is “devoted to making scholarly contributions and works with student researchers to ensure they have the opportunity to realize their own potential to make a mark on the world as they follow their passions.�
- Thelma Mothershed-Wair, Distinguished Service Award. Mothershed-Wair is perhaps best known as a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African American students who first integrated Little Rock High School in 1957, but she is one of three of those students to attend SIU Carbondale, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in home economics education in 1964. She later earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from SIU Edwardsville in 1970.
- The nomination notes Mothershed-Wair “dedicated her professional life to serving students and their families in the East St. Louis school system, working as a home economics teacher and a counselor,� retiring in 1994. She also worked for the St. Clair County Jail Juvenile Detention
- Richard Hunt, honorary Doctor of Public Arts degree. The nomination notes that Hunt, who became a visiting artist at SIU Carbondale in 1969 and had a one-person show in 1970 in University Museum’s Mitchell Gallery, “is perhaps the most important living contemporary sculptor in the United States.� While in Carbondale, Hunt taught both sculpture and printmaking, and he has remained “engaged and supportive of SIU Carbondale, helping to facilitate the donation of dozens of important prints and pieces of artwork to the University Museum from a New York City gallery and his own personal collection.�
- Hunt has more than 150 public commissions to his name and recently completed a 13-year project “that resulted in a stunning tribute to Ida B. Wells in the Bronzeville neighborhood in Chicago.� His welded bronze sculpture, “Swing Low,� hangs over the entrance of the lobby of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. His work is on display in more than 20 states, more than any other sculptor, the nomination states. Hunt’s welded bronze work, “Starwalk,� is on display at the University Museum Sculpture Garden near Faner Hall.
- Cho-Yee To, honorary Doctor of Educational Leadership degree. An emeritus professor at the University of Michigan and 1967 SIU Carbondale doctoral graduate in education, To “is an internationally recognized educator, scholar and pioneer in multidisciplinary inquiry in educational theory,� the nomination states. To’s dissertation at SIU was “John Dewey’s Conception of the Relation of Education to the Democratic Ideal� and he began his academic career at SIU in the Center for Dewey Studies.
- He joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1967 as an assistant professor and was later promoted to associate professor and full professor. To has served as a visiting professor, research professor and dean of education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; the Gerald R. Read Professor at Kent State University; the Ruth Wong Lecturer and T.Y. Wu Lecturer at the National University of Singapore; and the Daisaku Ikeda Lecturer of Soka Gakkai International of Tokyo.