Leadership that Inspires and Transforms
Honoring the Great Citizens of Today.
Celebrating the Great Citizens for Tomorrow.
INTRODUCTION of the 58th CONVOCATION:
The 58th Convocation was conducted at the campus of Elmhurst University on Saturday, April 30, 2022.
The Laureates honored
William J. Brodsky, Debra Cafaro,
Rebecca Carlisle Doyle, John McCarter,
Martha C. Nussbaum, Justice Robert R. Thomas
We thank all of our sponsors and supporters.
Excellence. Service. Honor.
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois partners with donors, members, and regents to advance the values exhibited in the life of Abraham Lincoln: Excellence, service, and honor.
We are committed to programs that:
- Honor distinguished Illinoisans’ contributions to society;
- Encourage public service; and
- Invest in developing principled leadership for the future.
We can all play a role in encouraging leadership in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln through the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.
Invest in leadership, in excellence, in the future of Illinois. Join us →
News
Ziegler native Dr. Nick Holonyak, Jr., 2005 Laureate, Passes Away at 93
Ramsey Lewis, 1997 Laureate, Passes Away at 87
Bernard Shaw, 2002 Laureate, Passes Away at 82
Maj. Gen. John Borling – Lincoln Laureates Podcast
Business Executive Frank Clark – Lincoln Laureates Podcast
2021 Student Laureates Announced
NBA Star Doug Collins – Lincoln Laureates Podcast
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Mourns the Passing of Joanne C. Smith, MD, President & CEO
MLB Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg – Lincoln Laureate Podcast
Educational Pioneer Stephanie Pace Marshall – Lincoln Laureate Podcast
“The Lincoln Laureates” Podcast
Frank Clark, Chancellor, and The Honorable Jay Robert “J.B.” Pritzker, President of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois
MISSION STATEMENT
To honor individuals whose outstanding contributions to the betterment of mankind have been accomplished in or on behalf of the State of Illinois, or whose achievements have brought honor to the State because of their identity with it, whether by birth or residence, or by their dedication to those principles of democracy and humanity as exemplified by the great Illinoisan whose name we bear. These individuals, reflective of the diverse populace of the State of Illinois, are named Laureates of the Academy and receive the “Order of Lincoln,” the State of Illinois’ highest award, at an annual Convocation.
To honor one outstanding senior from each of the four year not-for-profit degree granting institutions and one outstanding senior from among all of the community college students who, in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, demonstrated leadership and service in his or her campus or community and excellence in curricular and co-curricular programs, to be named Student Laureates and receive the Abraham Lincoln Civic Engagement Award and the Lincoln Medallion.
We have the difficult news of sharing the passing of yet another Lincoln Laureate this month. Dr. Nick Holonyak, Jr. (Lincoln Laureate '05) - an engineer and former professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign - passed away at the age of 93 on Sunday.
Dr. Holonyak was most known for his development of the first practical visible-spectrum LED in 1962 while working for General Electric’s Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory in Syracuse, New York. The LED has countless applications including lightbulbs, mobile phones, TV sets and microscopic surgical equipment that can save lives.
President George H.W. Bush awarded Dr. Holonyak the National Medal of Science in 1990 for “his contributions as one of the Nation’s most prolific inventors in the area of semiconductor materials and devices.” President George W. Bush later bestowed on him the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2002 and Queen Elizabeth of England presented him with the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2021.
Our thoughts are with Dr. Holonyak's family, colleagues, and countless students that he mentored for over 50 years while serving as a professor at UIUC.
www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/09/21/nick-holonyak-led-illinois-dead/
Nick Holonyak Jr., who made an LED breakthrough, dies at 93
www.washingtonpost.com
Experts say LEDs, with countless practical applications, use up to 75 percent less energy than incandescent sources and last up to 25 times longer than incandescent and halogen light sources.
Congratulations to today's Student Laureate Spotlight, Lauren Sgambelluri, from Illinois College. Sgambelluri, a native of Springfield, graduated in May with a major in biology (ecology concentration) and chemistry as well as a minor in art. She is currently getting an advanced degree in marine biology at UNCW.
Sgambelluri’s experiences conducting research and being an active leader in Environmentalists of Illinois College taught her how to navigate bumps in the road, problem solve, compromise and educate others if she hoped to accomplish something. When she learned she had been nominated to join the 47th cohort of Student Laureates, she began researching Lincoln and his response to the challenges of his day.
“His message was to bring people together, to compromise, to put aside our differences and to love each other. That's where I want to take myself and where I want to take my research: finding those compromises with other people and communicating and understanding that, if someone doesn't care about climate change, there's probably a reason for that. It probably means that their livelihood depends on them not caring about it,” she said. “It made me look into him as a person and it made me become very inspired to apply his actions to my own life and what I hope to accomplish."
#StudentLaureate #IllinoisCollege
🚨 New Podcast Episode Alert 🚨
In honor of Constitution Day, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood joins us for the latest episode of the Lincoln Laureates.
LaHood served Illinois’ 18th district in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years, passionately spreading his bipartisan ideals as a driving force in legislation.
Listen as he discusses the famous bipartisan Congressional retreats in Hershey, Pennsylvania that he organized. Over 200 members, 150 spouses, and 100 children attended the retreats. LaHood believes the bipartisan atmosphere fostered the creation of good laws and meaningful legislation.
The Lincoln Laureates: Ray LaHood - Bold Reasoning on Apple Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com
Show The Lincoln Laureates, Ep Ray LaHood - Bold Reasoning - Sep 15, 2022Funds raised at the Academy’s Order of Lincoln Convocation help provide the Abraham Lincoln Civic Engagement awards and the ‘Lincoln Medallion’ which will be presented by the Academy’s President to each of 57 Student Laureates at a separate ceremony held in Springfield later this year.
Thus, the Lincoln Academy honors the Great Citizens of Today and Celebrates the Great Citizens of Tomorrow — knowing that now, as always, our state and nation need what Vachel Lindsay called ‘Lincoln-hearted’ men and women.
Mr. Lincoln would be proud.