Beginning in 2024, the Legacy Walk recognizes exceptional Blackburn alumni who have excelled in their chosen fields and left an indelible mark on the world. On the scenic northeastern portion of our beautiful campus, this inspirational pathway pays tribute to the rich and diverse tapestry of our institution’s history, illuminated by the remarkable stories of the many distinguished alumni who have enriched our community.
As you travel this walkway, you’ll discover innovators, leaders, and creative thinkers who once called our campus home. We hope the next generation of Blackburn students will find inspiration in these remarkable legacies, recognize their own potential to make a difference, and understand that Blackburn will empower them to turn their dreams into reality.
Afua Agyeman-Badu (Class of 2004)
Dr. Afua Agyeman-Badu is a 2004 Blackburn College graduate who is currently a principal in the Chicago Public Schools.
A career educator and community leader, Agyeman-Badu has spent twenty years in the Chicago Public Schools system. She earned an M.Ed. from Concordia University-Chicago in 2008 and an Ed.D. from National Louis University in 2023.
From 2004-12, Dr. Agyeman-Badu was a teacher at the Burnham Math and Science Academy, then served as Lead Instructional Coach at Burnham from 2012-17. She was the Resident Principal at the Lenart Regional Gifted Center in 2017-18 before serving as an Assistant Principal at various Chicago schools from 2018-22, including a stint at Aldridge Elementary School on Chicago’s south side.
In July 2022, Dr. Agyeman-Badu was named Principal at Aldridge, where she remains.
Dr. Richard Alexander (Class of 1948)
Dr. Richard Alexander was a 1948 Blackburn College graduate and a longtime faculty member at the University of Michigan.
Born in White Heath, Ill. on Nov. 18, 1929, Alexander did not have electricity or indoor plumbing as a child. He received his early education in a one-room schoolhouse.
After leaving Blackburn, Alexander graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University in 1950, then earned an M.S. degree from Ohio State University the following year. An Army veteran, he earned a doctorate from Ohio State in 1956.
A postdoctoral research associate of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1955-57, Dr. Alexander spent most of his career at the University of Michigan, where he was awarded that institution’s prestigious Henry Russell Lectureship and Theodore H. Hubbell Distinguished University Professor honors.
Dr. Alexander’s many research interests included animal behavior, evolution, and entomology, particularly singing insects. He served as Director of U-M’s Museum of Zoology from 1993-98.
One of four Blackburn alumni who have been inducted into the National Academy of the Sciences, Alexander’s work on crickets resulted in the location of over 1,000 new species, as well as the description of an estimated 426 new species and genera.
A skilled artist and prolific writer, he authored books on such diverse topics as the evolution of behavior, children’s literature, poetry, and Blackburn College history. Dr. Alexander died on Aug. 20, 2018.
Sen. Karl Berning (Class of 1933)
Karl Berning was a 1933 Blackburn College graduate who served five terms as an Illinois State Senator from 1967-83, becoming one of the most respected members of the General Assembly.
Born on June 10, 1911, Berning spent much of his childhood in Deerfield, Ill. He never lost an election in a political career that spanned thirty-six years.
His career in public service began in 1946, when he won an election to fill an unexpired term as constable of West Deerfield Township. Berning was elected West Deerfield Township supervisor in 1953, a position that included a seat on the Lake County Board.
Twice elected chairman of the county board, Berning oversaw the establishment of the Lake County Public Works Department and the Lake County Public Commission. He served as the first president of the Lake County Forest Preserve District, and was one of several individuals who worked to establish a permanent home for the Lake County Museum.
In 1962, Berning won a race for Lake County treasurer. Four years later, he was elected to the first of five straight terms in the state senate, where he continued his dedication to the needs of his voters.
Unlike many of his fellow legislators, Berning refused to hold a second job as legislator, choosing to devote himself solely to his office and constituents.
After retirement, Berning settled in Fort Myers, Fla, where he spent fifteen years as a volunteer mediator for the 20th Judicial Circuit Lee County Small Claims Court. He was also an engaged member of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee and the Trawler Village Board.
In addition, Berning was active in theater, an interest that dated to his time at Blackburn when he starred in several campus Shakespeare productions, such as The Merchant of Venice. He died on Sept. 26, 2005.
Dr. Paul Bingham (Class of 1973)
Dr. Paul Bingham is a 1973 Blackburn College graduate who is a foremost molecular biologist.
Dr. Bingham earned an M.S. from the University of Illinois in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard in 1980. He then spent two years as a Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) branch at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.
In 1982, Dr. Bingham was named to the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he continues to teach.
Dr. Bingham studied metazoan molecular genetics early in his career before emphasizing improved methods of cancer chemotherapy to selectively kill tumor cells—work that has earned both awards and patents.
A teaching innovator, Dr. Bingham has authored and co-authored several books, numerous scholarly articles on his research, and a theory on the origin of humans as a species.
Glenn Boornazian (Class of 1981)
Glenn Boornazian is a 1981 Blackburn College graduate who is a nationally acclaimed architectural conservator.
Boornazian has worked on a variety of high-profile, historic structures, including the United States Capitol Building and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
From 1981-84, Boornazian served as Director of Restoration for the Nantucket Historical Association in Massachusetts. He then enrolled in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University.
From 1985-87, Boornazian was a Staff Conservator for the Center for Preservation Research at Columbia, where he taught classes in the Graduate Program for Historic Preservation. It was one of many teaching opportunities for Boornazian on architectural conservation and historic preservation.
In 1988, Boornazian started Integrated Conservation Resources (ICR) and Integrated Conservation Contracting (ICC), national leaders in investigative architectural conservation and the preservation of historic buildings and monuments.
Dr. Herman Brockman (Class of 1956)
Dr. Herman Brockman is a 1956 Blackburn College graduate who was a professor of genetics and molecular biology at Illinois State University for thirty-five years.
A native of Danforth, Ill., Dr. Brockman began his education in a one-room schoolhouse. He later earned an M.S. from Northwestern University in 1957 and a Ph.D. from Florida State in 1960.
Dr. Brockman spent three years as a postdoctoral research fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory before being named to the faculty at Illinois State, where he remained until his retirement in 1998.
A charter member of the Environmental Mutagen Society, Dr. Brockman has participated in research funded by such agencies as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). He published over sixty scholarly articles in his career.
Upon his retirement, Dr. Brockman’s former students at Illinois State created an Alumni Symposium in his honor. For decades, Dr. Brockman has lived on a fifth-generation family farm near Congerville, Il.
Dr. Leon Chestang (Class of 1959)
Dr. Leon Chestang is a 1959 Blackburn College graduate who enjoyed a long university teaching career in social work, race, and culture.
Dr. Chestang earned a Master’s in Social Work from Washington University and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
He has served on the faculty of the University of Chicago, the University of Alabama, Jackson State University, and Alabama State University. Dr. Chestang was a faculty member at Wayne State University, where he also served as Dean of the School of Social Work for nineteen years.
In addition, Dr. Chestang has held positions as either a distinguished visiting professor or lecturer at Howard University, Norfolk State University, Fordham University, New York University, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, the University of Utah, and Bryn Mawr College. He has published over thirty articles in his career.
Marie Dargan (Class of 1958)
Marie Dargan is a 1958 Blackburn College graduate who was a longtime administrator in the Family Court of St. Louis County.
Dargan earned a Master’s in Social Work from Washington University in 1962, the same year that she was hired as a case worker by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in East St. Louis.
In 1969, she was appointed as Supervisor of the Family Court of St. Louis County. Thirteen years later, she was named Chief Deputy Juvenile Officer, and was subsequently appointed Director of Delinquency Services. In that role, she worked with local school districts to implement the Safe Schools Act in St. Louis County.
Dargan was appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court in 1998 to serve on the Juvenile Division Education Committee, working with the Office of the State Court Administrator to plan programming for juvenile education.
Known for her fair treatment of juveniles in all of her positions, Dargan retired from the Family Court of St. Louis in 2004. A member of the Blackburn board of trustees from 1990-2008, she also served on the Blackburn alumni board from 1987-90, the board of St. Vincent Children’s Home, and the board of Pilgrim United Church of Christ, where she has been a member for sixty-one years.
Dr. Lois DeFleur (Class of 1958)
Dr. Lois DeFleur is a 1958 Blackburn College graduate who served as President of the State University of New York at Binghamton from 1990-2010.
Dr. DeFleur earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of Illinois. She extensively studied juvenile delinquency in Latin America, as well as deviant behavior and occupational socialization.
She taught sociology at Washington State, where she was also Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. DeFleur then accepted a position as professor of sociology at the University of Missouri, where she later served as Provost.
Prior to that, Dr. DeFleur served as not only a Distinguished Visiting Professor but also the first female faculty member at the United States Air Force Academy.
In 1990, Dr. DeFleur was named the fifth President at Binghamton, a school that, in the words of the New York Times, held “an academic reputation as the crown jewel of the State University of New York system.”
During Dr. DeFleur’s tenure, SUNY-Binghamton constructed twelve new buildings, greatly expanded its study-abroad programs, and focused on changing technology. The school’s endowment grew eightfold in Dr. DeFleur’s administration, and faculty research awards increased sixty percent.
Dr. DeFleur has served as chair of the board of directors of both the American Council on Education and the National Association of State Universities, and was a member of the Blackburn college Board of Trustees from 2013-2021.
Dr. Elisabeth Gantt (Class of 1958)
Elisabeth Gantt is a 1958 Blackburn College graduate who was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 1996. She is one of four Blackburn alums to earn this remarkable honor.
Born on Nov. 26, 1934, near the Hungarian border in present-day Serbia, Dr. Gantt and her family were forced from their home by World War II aggressions and communist advances. Dr. Gantt and her family spent several years in refugee camps in the former Czechoslovakia before settling in Chicago, where she taught herself to speak English.
Dr. Gantt earned a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1963 and was a postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth Medical School. From 1967-88, she worked with the Smithsonian Institution to study photosynthesis in cyanobacteria and red algae.
Dr. Gantt then joined the faculty at the University of Maryland, where she was named a Distinguished University Professor in 1997. At Maryland, she has variously served as Director of Graduate Studies in both Plant Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology. In 1988-89, she was the first female President of the American Society of Plant Biology.
She earned induction into the National Academy of Sciences for her outstanding research on the structure of energy migration within light harvesting systems. Dr. Gantt is widely considered one of the foremost botanists in the United States.
Though she officially retired in 2007, she worked daily in either the laboratory or office at Maryland for eight years. Though she is nearing ninety years of age, Dr. Gantt remains active in the field as a guest researcher at Roanoke College in Virginia.
Reginald Guyton (Class of 2014)
Reggie Guyton is a 2014 Blackburn College graduate who is active in theater in the Illinois capital city of Springfield.
An advocate for minorities in theater, Guyton is a resident artist in Our Stage/Our Voices, a program at the University of Illinois-Springfield which promotes diversity in the performing arts.
Guyton has either acted in or directed productions at various Springfield theater venues, including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Springfield Muni Opera, the Springfield Theater Center (of which he is a board member), the Legacy Theater, and the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Credits include The Wiz, A Raisin in the Sun, Chicago, Violet the Musical, and Kinky Boots.
Hon. Herman Haase (Class of 1963)
Hon. Herman Haase is a 1963 Blackburn College graduate who spent nearly three decades as a judge, mainly of the 12th Judicial Circuit, in the south Chicago suburbs.
Haase earned his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University. He then worked in the insurance business before securing a job as an assistant in the office of the Will County State’s Attorney in 1970.
In 1977, Haase was appointed as an associate judge. He was then elected circuit judge, a position he held for most of his thirty years on the bench. During that time, he also served as an appellate judge.
Haase was elected as chief judge of the circuit court four times. In 1992, the Illinois Bar Association awarded him a “recommended” rating.
While in office, Haase was a key figure in the construction of the first juvenile detention center in Will County. He also worked to introduce an automated court-management system in the Will County circuit clerk’s office.
After retiring from the bench in August 2006, Haase became a managing member of Foreclosure Mediation Specialists, an organization that offered mediation services on residential foreclosures in Will County.
Walt Harrington (Class of 1972)
Walt Harrington is a 1972 Blackburn College graduate and a former journalist at The Washington Post Magazine, where he authored profiles of Rosa Parks, Carl Bernstein, Jesse Jackson, Rita Dove, and President George H.W. Bush.
The recipient of numerous journalism awards, Harrington also wrote many in-depth accounts for the Post of ordinary people who live extraordinary lives.
Harrington has written or edited eleven books, including Crossings: A White Man’s Journey into Black America, The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family, and more recently, The Detective: And Other True Stories.
After leaving the Post, Harrington became a professor at the University of Illinois. He and his wife, Keran, retired to Carlinville in 2022.
Mary Hunter-Austin (Class of 1888)
Mary Hunter Austin was an 1888 Blackburn College graduate who achieved fame as an author of southwestern American literature in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries. She was also an early feminist and supporter of American Indian rights.
Austin, a Carlinville native born on Sept. 9, 1868, is credited with 32 books of fiction and 250 published articles, stories, and poems. She was part of an enclave of writers and artists in California that included Jack London, author of Call of the Wild.
Her works, including her 1903 novel The Land of Little Rain, drew on her own life experiences and often reflected the importance of climate and the need for thrift among residents of rural environments.
The Land of Little Rain remains one of the most popular selections of southwestern American literature. In 1924, she relocated to Santa Fe, N.M., where she died on Aug. 13, 1934.
The fiction room of the Blackburn library was named in Austin’s honor in 1988. That same year, an episode of the PBS series American Playhouse was devoted to Austin’s life. Several scholarly books have been written on Austin and her place in American literature.
A mountain in the Sierra Nevada is named for Austin, and her home in Independence, Calif. has been designated a historical landmark.
Dr. John Imig (Class of 1985)
Dr. John Imig is a 1985 Blackburn College graduate who is currently the chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy.
Dr. Imig is a nationally renowned expert in cardiovascular, metabolic, and kidney diseases. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Louisville in 1991. Dr. Imig completed postdoctoral training at the Medical College of Wisconsin from 1991-93.
He then was a faculty member in the Department of Physiology at Tulane University from 1993-2001. Dr. Imig served as a professor of physiology at the Medical College of Georgia from 2001-07.
From 2008-22, Dr. Imig was a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he was named an Eminent Scholar.
A Fellow in the American Physiological Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Society of Nephrology, Dr. Imig is chief editor of Frontiers in Physiology and an associate editor for Cardiovascular Therapeutics and Frontiers in Vascular Physiology. He also serves on seven other editorial boards.
Dr. Imig published over 180 scholarly articles, authored or co-authored nine book chapters, and received research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute.
In addition, Dr. Imig co-founded three therapeutics companies and holds five U.S. patents for various medical treatments.
Edwin Jaenke (Class of 1950)
Edwin (Ed) Jaenke was a 1950 Blackburn College graduate who distinguished himself as an executive in the United States Department of Agriculture.
After leaving Blackburn, Jaenke earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois in 1952. He then spent three years in the U.S. Navy, serving in the Far East during the Korean War.
Following the war, Jaenke earned a master’s degree from the University of Missouri. In 1957, he was hired by Sen. Stuart Symington (R-Mo.) to serve as his agricultural advisor in Washington.
Four years later, Jaenke was named Executive Vice President of the Commodity Credit Corporation. In 1969, he was honored as one of the Ten Most Outstanding Young Men under 40 serving in government. That same year, he was appointed the youngest-ever governor of the Farm Credit Administration, with responsibility for $13 billion in farm lending and credit.
From 1975-95, Jaenke operated his own company, E.A. Jaenke & Associates, a Washington-based international agriculture and food consulting firm. Jaenke traveled the world in promoting American agriculture, visiting 53 countries.
Jaenke and his wife, Claire, operated a massive beef cattle farm in Madison County, Virginia from 1979-2008. Claire died on Nov. 11, 2011.
In 2016, four years prior to his own death, Ed supported Blackburn in opening and dedicating the Claire Jaenke Alumni & Visitors Center.
Jared Jones (Class of 2016)
Jared Jones is a 2016 Blackburn College graduate who is the Director of Team Travel & Logistics for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Jones has held a variety of positions in major league sports since leaving Blackburn, where he actually served as de facto athletic director for several months while he was a student.
In 2017, he was a baseball operations intern for Vanderbilt University, a recognized power in NCAA Division I college baseball. He served as a Game Day Assistant for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans in 2016-17 which led to a position as Stadium Event Operations Assistant for the Titans from 2016-19. In that role, Jones helped with day-to-day stadium operations and planned large-scale events at Nissan Stadium, including regular Titans games and major concerts, the annual Music City Bowl, and a soccer match between English powers Manchester City and Tottenham.
In 2019, Jones was named Facility Manager for the Cleveland Guardians’ spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz., where he also oversaw the franchise’s year-round player development facility.
The Guardians appointed Jones as Director of Team Travel & Logistics, or Traveling Secretary, in January 2022.
Eliana Kaloshi-Imamura (Class of 2005)
Eliana (Ela) Kaloshi-Imamura is a 2005 Blackburn College graduate who is a global finance leader in the nation’s capital.
After leaving Blackburn, she was a Senior Management Consultant for the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC) in Washington. Kaloshi-Imamura earned an M.A. from George Washington University in 2007.
From 2006-10, Kaloshi-Imamura was a Program Analyst in Private Equity and Investment Funds for the International Finance Corporation in Washington.
It was the start of a distinguished career in world banking for Kaloshi-Imamura, a Banking Specialist in the Office of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund in the nation’s capital from 2010-12.
Since 2012, Kaloshi-Imamura has been the Capital Markets Business Lead in the Treasury Department of the International Finance Corporation, in both Washington and Tokyo. She has worked closely with various global asset managers and created opportunities for clients in transition bonds.
Kaloshi-Imamura co-founded, and co-led, Digital Economies for Africa, a one-of-a-kind program in over twenty African countries that supports the African Union’s Digital Economy Initiative for Africa.
A prolific writer with attention to detail, Kaloshi-Imamura has co-authored multiple manuals and studies at her various positions during her career.
Paul Kirby (Class of 1986)
Paul Kirby is a 1986 Blackburn College graduate who is an internationally renowned concert tenor soloist.
Kirby earned a master’s degree from Boston University in 1989, also receiving the Diploma from the Opera Institute of that school in 1999. A Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1990, he was part of the Ensemble Program Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 1995 and 1996.
A highly versatile singer, Kirby is skilled in everything from medieval monophonic song with baroque, classical, and romantic opera to late 20th-century opera and concert works.
Kirby, who now lives in Norway, has been called “one of today’s outstanding young lyric tenors.” He has appeared throughout North America, Scandinavia, and Europe and has performed with numerous internationally accomplished conductors, like Seiji Ozawa, and has recorded for Sony Classics, Harmonia Mundi, and many others. Kirby has also appeared with some of the world’s most acclaimed ensembles.
Hon. Joseph Koval (Class of 1950)
Hon. Joseph Koval was a 1950 Blackburn College graduate who was a Macoupin County circuit judge for thirty years.
Born in Mount Olive, Ill. on March 16, 1929, Koval continued his studies at the University of Illinois, where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1952 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1954.
Koval served in a tank battalion of the U.S. Army from 1954-56. He then returned to Macoupin County and practiced law from 1958-76.
From 1961-69, he was a hearing officer in the Illinois Department of Aeronautics. In 1972, he was elected Macoupin County State’s Attorney, a position he held until 1976, when he was elected circuit judge. Koval then won retention to the bench until his retirement in December 2006.
Koval was listed as a “reputable judge” in the Marquis Who’s Who. He was an active member of the Macoupin County Bar Association, the Illinois Judges Association, the American Judicature Society, Macoupin County Adopt-a-Pet, and his local Knights of Columbus lodge. He died on March 15, 2020.
Gen. Truman Landon (Class of 1924)
Gen. Truman Landon was a 1924 Blackburn College graduate who is among the most distinguished United States Air Force generals of the twentieth century.
Born in Maryville, Mo. on Feb. 11, 1905, Landon was raised in Carlinville, where he finished second in the state track meet in the high hurdles as a senior. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1928, and during his career, ascended from second lieutenant to four-star general.
Landon received the Silver Star “for gallantry in action, conspicuous bravery and coolness in handling of his airplane and in leading his echelon” at Pearl Harbor. It was one of many decorations for Landon during his career, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, and Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
Following World War II, Landon remained in service and was nominated by President Kennedy on July 1, 1961 as commander in chief of American Air Forces in Europe.
He retired on July 1, 1963. In retirement, Landon was presented with Germany’s highest decoration ever given to an American military officer—the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit with Star and Shoulder Scarf.
Some credit Landon with the rebirth of the German air forces. He died in San Antonio on Jan. 27, 1986.
Louis Liay (Class of 1954)
Louis Liay is a 1954 Blackburn College graduate who went on to the University of Illinois as first a graduate student, and who would one day be an alum who would have significant impact on that institution.
The son of a coal miner, Liay was born on Jan. 1, 1934. He enrolled in the graduate school at Illinois with career plans to teach, earning an Ed.M. from Illinois in 1962. Under Liay, the University of Illinois Alumni Association was the largest dues-based alumni association in the United States.
Liay was one of the most active University of Illinois alumni, and spent thirty-five years with the alumni association, serving as Executive Director from 1983-98. As one peer said, Liay “turned the [association] into a gold standard against which all other alumni associations were measured.”
Another source states that Liay “played a significant role in redefining the alumni relations profession in the U.S., working with Big Ten colleagues to professionalize every aspect of their alumni associations.” Among other achievements, he oversaw the establishment of an alumni travel program and career center, turned the alumni newspaper into a professional alumni magazine, and promoted the construction of a dedicated campus alumni center.
In 2023, Liay was awarded an honorary doctorate from Illinois for his contributions to the university. The Lou Liay Spirit Award was also established in 1997 to honor graduates who have extraordinary spirit and pride in the university.
Sherry Liske (Class of 1978)
Sherry Liske is a 1978 Blackburn College graduate and foreign humanitarian who has traveled around the world on medical missions.
A native of the south side of Chicago, Liske earned an advanced degree in nursing from Rush University. She was a Certified Staff Nurse at the Center for Rehabilitation at Rush University Medical Center for much of her career.
In conjunction with the Seventh Day Adventists, Liske made numerous trips as a medical missionary to Mexico, Panama, Nepal, and Cuba, working to aid thousands of people in dire need of care.
She continues to be an active volunteer in Habitat for Humanity in Elgin, Ill. where she has also worked with the Literacy Connection Program, teaching classes in English as a Second Language. As an environmental and justice advocate, she works for economic equality, women’s rights, and Medicare for all.
Dr. Gordon MacLeod (Class of 1954)
Gordon MacLeod was a 1954 Blackburn College graduate who enjoyed a long teaching career at the University of Pittsburgh. He also served as Secretary of Health of the state of Pennsylvania during the nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island in 1979.
Born in Boston in 1929, Dr. MacLeod came to Blackburn after serving in the U.S. Army. He then worked as an engineer for Proctor and Gamble for two years before pursuing a career in medicine.
Dr. MacLeod earned a medical degree from the University of Cincinnati, then finished a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He then joined the faculty at Yale Medical School, where he directed the Yale Diagnostic Clinic.
In 1971, Dr. MacLeod was enlisted to develop and direct the first federal Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) program. In 1974, he was named to the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh.
Appointed Pennsylvania Secretary of Health in 1979, he managed the effects on health after the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island and mitigated a polio epidemic among the large Amish population of central Pennsylvania.
An advocate of accessible and affordable health care, Dr. MacLeod was invited to numerous countries to assist in research and served as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Over the course of his life, he worked in New Zealand, and taught health management in Moscow—in a time when U.S.-Soviet relations were cool, which attests to his capacity for diplomacy. Dr. MacLeod is credited with over 100 articles, chapters, and books. He died on Nov. 25, 2007.
Brent Mitchell (Class of 1979)
Brent Mitchell is a 1979 Blackburn College graduate who is one of the preeminent conservationists and environmentalists in North America.
In January 2022, Mitchell was named vice-chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas, a part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the largest conservation alliance on the globe. Mitchell helps lead the effort to position protected and conserved areas on agendas of biodiversity, human health, climate, and restoration.
Mitchell is a founding member of the U.S. National Park Service Stewardship Institute, which seeks to help National Park Service leaders achieve their mission of conservation and stewardship of the country’s national parks.
Since 1986, Mitchell has been a part of the Quebec-Labrador Foundation’s Atlantic Center for the Environment, and currently serves as senior vice-president. Among other initiatives, the QLF is charged with protecting the communities and environment of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.
During his long career, Mitchell has worked in the development of the first national parks in Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and conducted field research in wildlife ecology in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. He had also worked in nature conservation and civil society in central and eastern Europe, as well as in the Balkans.
Dr. C. Barber Mueller (Class of 1936)
C. Barber Mueller was a 1936 Blackburn College graduate who was an internationally known surgeon and medical researcher.
Born in 1917 in Carlinville, Mueller continued his studies at the University of Illinois, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1938. He then completed a medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1942.
Between this graduate degree and pursuing a Rockefeller Fellowship in Biochemistry at Harvard University Medical School, Dr. Mueller was wounded twice in U.S. Navy service in the South Pacific theater in World War II.
After completing his studies in renal failure at Harvard, he served as a surgical resident at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis from 1948-51 and on the medical faculty of both Washington University (1951-56) and State University of New York at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse from 1956-67. At SUNY-Upstate, he won acclaim for his research on breast cancer.
Dr. Mueller was a member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons from 1966-69.
From 1967-83, Dr. Mueller was a professor of surgery at McMaster University in Canada, where he was active in the “problem-based curriculum” as well as the planning and design of the school’s medical center.
He was the first chair of the Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster from 1967-72, and founded the Friends of the Health Sciences Library at the school. In 2007, the C. Barber Mueller History of Health and Medicine Room was created at the library. Dr. Mueller died on Feb. 13, 2014.
Maj. Marie Okoro (Class of 2009)
Maj. Marie Okoro is a 2009 Blackburn College graduate who is among the nation’s most experienced military medical officers.
In addition to Blackburn, Maj. Okoro holds degrees from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Benedictine University, and Catholic University. She was a resident student at the U.S. Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in 2021 and was accepted into the Advanced Military Studies Program (AMSP) at the School of Advanced Military Studies at Leavenworth for the Class of 2022.
In 2020, Maj. Okoro was deployed to Saudi Arabia as a Medical Planner/Public Health Nurse at the United States Central Command Forward. She was previously assigned to the U.S. Army Central Command in 2018.
From 2016-18, she was the Medical Operations Officer and Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General at Fort Gillem, Ga. Before that, Maj. Okoro was the Aide-de-Camp to the Deputy Commanding General at Fort Douglas, Utah.
Among her many awards and decorations, Maj. Okoro has received the Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Achievement Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Joint Achievement Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, Army Reserve Component Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
Bruce Pavitt (Attended 1977-1979)
Bruce Pavitt, who attended Blackburn College from 1977-79, is the co-founder of Sub Pop, the record label that discovered Nirvana, Soundgarden, and other major grunge rock acts.
A Chicago native, Pavitt is widely credited with the founding of ‘90s grunge music, which revolutionized American rock music.
Pavitt completed his bachelor’s at Evergreen State College in 1982 while working at radio station KAOS and promoting indie music. Pavitt created a new radio show, Subterranean Pop, a name that morphed into a music column and later, the Sub Pop record label.
In 1987, he was joined at Sub Pop by music promoter and record executive Jonathan Poneman and the label was officially incorporated on April 1, 1988.
With Sub Pop, Pavitt and Poneman branded Seattle the epicenter of grunge and alternative rock, signing iconic bands such as Soundgarden and Nirvana. Pavitt wrote two books on his work in the music industry, including a photo journal called Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989, documenting the band’s first European tour and the beginning of their worldwide fame.
Mike Pinter (Class of 1970)
Mike Pinter is a 1970 Blackburn College graduate who was formerly the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Kemper Reinsurance Companies.
The titles were the culmination of a thirty-year career with Kemper that began while Pinter was attending Blackburn, as he worked for the Kemper companies during his summer months as a Kemper Scholar.
A U.S. Army veteran, Pinter was an underwriter with Kemper from 1970 through 1986, when he was elected as Executive Vice President and became responsible for the Domestic Treaty Underwriting Department. During this time, Pinter also joined Kemper’s board of directors.
In 1988, Pinter was elected Senior Executive Vice President, and took on the position of Chief Underwriting Officer. He was elected as Chairman and CEO in 1990, remaining in both roles through 1999, also serving as Chairman and CEO of both Kemper Reinsurance London and Kemper Reinsurance Bermuda. He successfully completed the Advanced Executive Program at the renowned Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Teresa Place (Class of 1993)
Terri Place is a 1993 Blackburn College graduate who is the co-founder of The Baobab Home, an orphanage, farm, and school in Bagamoyo, Tanzania for that nation’s most vulnerable children.
Place and her husband, Caito Mwandu, established The Baobab Home in 2004 to help children from families affected by the spread of HIV/AIDS, mental illness, and poverty. The Baobab Home is described as a “small, community-focused non-governmental organization” on a twelve-acre regenerative farm that grows fresh fruits and vegetables, while raising fish, poultry, and cows.
The programs at The Baobab Home have evolved over the two decades of its existence to address changing community needs. Today, The Baobab Home offers a children’s home for orphaned or vulnerable children, the farm, a breakfast program that serves daily breakfast to HIV/AIDS patients at a district hospital that handles 1,600 patients per month, and community outreach efforts.
In 2012, Baobab expanded to found the Stephen Tito Academy, an English-language primary school that serves local children, operates through the sponsorship of generous donors from more than 20 countries, and hires teachers internationally so as to provide a world-class education.
Helen Ryley-Cobean (Class of 1962)
60 years of domestic and international education leadership
Samuel Scheid (Class of 2019)
Samuel Scheid is a 2019 Blackburn College graduate who serves low-income communities as a staff attorney with the Eviction Defense Collaborative.
The Eviction Defense Collaborative offers legal assistance to tenants who are facing eviction, providing emergency legal aid and rental assistance to over 5,000 low-income tenants in the San Francisco area.
Scheid joined the Collaborative as a Litigation Fellow in September 2022 and was named staff attorney in July 2023.
In addition to his work with the Eviction Defense Collaborative, Scheid has served as an Economic Justice/Supplemental Security Income Law Clark with Bay Area Legal Aid, and has worked as a Policy Intern in the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2022.
Kiaundra L.S. Smith (Class of 2006)
Kiaundra Smith is a 2006 Blackburn College graduate who has served as the Director of Federal and State Programs in the East St. Louis School District since April 2021.
Smith taught high school mathematics in the Springfield, Ill. School District in 2007-08. She then served as a high school math and Spanish teacher in the East St. Louis School District from 2008-12 and she earned a master’s degree from Lindenwood University in 2010.
From 2012-16, Smith variously served in the following roles: Instructional Coach in East St. Louis, helping to develop the proficiency of teachers while developing mathematics curriculum guides; Summer School Principal and Evening High School Principal; and Advanced Placement Coordinator.
With this experience, Smith became Assistant Principal at Lincoln Middle School in East St. Louis and served on the PERA Joint Committee for Teacher Evaluation.
Smith became Principal at Dr. Katie Harper-Wright Elementary School in East St. Louis, then Principal of Hartford public schools in Hartford, Conn., returning again to East St. Louis to take up the role of Director of Federal and State Programs.
Daniel Smolka (Class of 1981)
Daniel Smolka is a 1981 Blackburn College graduate who has held high-ranking positions with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
USAID promotes inclusive economic growth around the world, as well as improvements to education and healthcare. The agency also supports local democratic processes while strengthening civil society and meeting cross-border issues like water scarcity and the regional impacts of conflict.
Smolka has served in numerous management positions with USAID, including as Director of the USAID Frankfurt Support Center in Germany. He currently holds the rank of Minister Counselor in the Career Senior Foreign Service, an office which required nomination by the President and confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
In addition, Smolka has served as Chief of Operations for the Interagency Power Africa Initiative, the USAID Mission Director for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, USAID Mission Director in Panama, and USAID Mission Director in Honduras.
After leaving Blackburn, Smolka earned an M.S. from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He later served as Associate Peace Corps Director in Nairobi, Kenya, Manager of the Peace Corps Recruiting Office in Chicago, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the west African nation of Ghana.
Dr. William Spencer (Class of 1942)
Dr. William Spencer was a 1942 Blackburn College graduate and well-regarded soil scientist who earned worldwide acclaim for his studies on environmental behavior and the result of pesticides in soil and water.
Born in 1922, Dr. Spencer was one of six children growing up on a farm north of Carlinville, where the family raised prize-winning hogs. After leaving Blackburn, he continued his education at the University of Illinois, but his studies were interrupted by World War II.
Dr. Spencer spent two years with the Army in the South Pacific theater before returning to the University of Illinois, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1948. He then earned a master’s degree in 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1952 from the University of Illinois.
He completed a National Science Foundation AEC Fellowship from 1949-51. Dr. Spencer then carved an outstanding career as a soil scientist. In honor of his extensive contributions, he was variously named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Agronomy, and the Soil Science Society of America.
Dr. Spencer authored over 130 papers in scientific journals on soil management, crop production, and pesticide reactions in soil and water. He also presented numerous lectures on his research both in the United States and abroad. Dr. Spencer died on Dec. 2, 2003.
Byron Stingily (Class of 1987)
Byron Stingily attended Blackburn College in the early 1980s before a long career as a Grammy-nominated house-music singer and songwriter.
Stingily has charted eleven singles as a solo artist on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart, including three No. 1 hits. They included “Get Up (Everybody),” which reached number-one the week of Feb. 8, 1997, and “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” which topped the Billboard charts the week of March 14, 1998.
He also recorded the number-one single “That’s the Way Love Is,” which reached number-one on Nov. 6, 1999. That song was the first of three-straight top-ten Billboard hits for Stingily from 1999-2000.
“That’s the Way Love Is” was also an update of a number-one hit by Ten City, a Chicago-based house music act of which Stingily was a member from 1987-96. Ten City’s version was the number-one song on the Billboard charts the week of March 11-18, 1989.
Stingily has been part of nine singles on the Billboard charts with Ten City, including “Only Time Will Tell/My Piece of Heaven,” which reached number-two in 1992.
In 2021, Stingily paired with Marshall Jefferson, another artist from Ten City, to release the first single for the group in twenty-five years. The album, Judgment, was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards.
Stingily is the father of Diamond Stingily, a visual artist and poet whose works have been exhibited across the nation. In 2017, she was listed as one of “30 Under 30” in Arts and Culture by Forbes magazine. Stingily’s son, Byron Jr., was an offensive lineman with Tennessee and Pittsburgh in the NFL from 2011-15.
Hon. Craig Stowers (Class of 1975)
Hon. Craig Stowers was a 1975 Blackburn College graduate who was the 18th chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court.
Born on June 11, 1954 in Daytona Beach, Fla., Stowers was raised in Yorktown, Va. After leaving Blackburn, he worked as a National Park Service ranger, including service at Denali National Park in Alaska. Stowers earned his Juris Doctor from the University of California-Davis School of Law in 1985.
Stowers worked as a law clerk in the Alaska Supreme Court before entering private practice in 1987. In 2004, he was appointed as judge of the Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage by Gov. Frank Murkowski.
In December 2009, Stowers was named to the Alaska Supreme Court by Gov. Sean Parnell. He remained on the high court until his retirement on June 1, 2020, and served as chief justice from July 2015-July 2018.
After Stowers’ death on Feb. 10, 2022, U.S. and state flags in Alaska were flown at half-mast by gubernatorial order.
Dr. George Tilton (Class of 1943)
Dr. George Tilton, who began his college career at Blackburn in 1941, helped create the method that is used to determine the age of the earth and the solar system using isotope ratios, as well as the age of rocks using isotopic dates.
Born in Danville, Ill. on June 3, 1923, Tilton was inducted into the National Academy of the Sciences in 1977. He is one of four Blackburn graduates who have earned induction into the Academy.
Tilton’s studies at Blackburn were interrupted by World War II. He received the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in Alsace, France in November 1944. Following the war, Tilton earned a B.S. from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
At Chicago, Dr. Tilton teamed with Clair Patterson to develop the method that is used to calculate the age of the earth and the solar system at 4.56 billion years. That estimate has changed little in the last half-century since. Tilton and Patterson also developed a formula to estimate the age of rocks using isotopic dates.
A researcher at the Carnegie Institution from 1951-65, Tilton was a professor of geochemistry at the University of California – Santa Barbara from 1965-91. He received two Humboldt Foundation Awards for studies at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.
In 1994, Tilton was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He died on Oct. 12, 2010.
Robert Tucker (Class of 1984)
Robert (Bob) Tucker is a 1984 Blackburn College graduate who is a trustee and deputy director of the Give Something Back Foundation, which helps economically challenged young people locate and fund educational and professional opportunities.
Tucker worked in the Blackburn Admissions Office following graduation. After leaving the College, he played a pivotal role in the remarkable growth of the Give Something Back Foundation, which expanded from serving just one state into a ten-state area, helping over 1,000 young people.
On a national level, Tucker has worked with numerous colleges and foundations to secure over $35 million of scholarship opportunities for young people who could not afford a college education. A number of those students have earned degrees from Blackburn through Tucker’s efforts in the Give Something Back Foundation.
In addition, Tucker has also worked with many colleges to introduce supplementary curriculum and worthwhile activities to help these young people—many of whom are first-generation students—acquire the tools to succeed. Tucker’s far-reaching efforts have established him as a national leader in helping young people gain a college education.
Capt. Gregory Wooldridge (Class of 1969)
Capt. Gregory Wooldridge is a 1969 Blackburn College graduate who is the only commander to have led the Blue Angels, the precision flying team of the U.S. Navy, for three separate tours.
A career Navy officer, Wooldridge earned his wings of gold in 1971 as a Naval pilot. He was the commander of the Blue Angels in both 1991 and 1992, as well as a five-month stint in 1993. Wooldridge was then called back to command the Blue Angels in 1996, the team’s 50th anniversary season.
In September 1992, Capt. Wooldridge led the Blue Angels on a tour of Russia and seven other Euro-Asian nations. It was the first flight demonstration tour by a western squadron in that part of the globe. A highlight of the tour was a Blue Angels flight over Moscow.
Wooldridge, who retired from the Navy in 1997, is in nationwide demand as a motivational speaker.
Ed Young (Class of 1962)
President, Allstate International Corporation
Jamie Young (Class of 1998)
Jamie Young is a 1998 Blackburn College graduate who has spent 23 years on National Basketball Association staffs, including ten years as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.
A product of Logansport, Ind., Young was a two-sport athlete at Blackburn. He was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Greenville College from 1998-2000 before breaking into the NBA in the 2000-01 season, when he was hired to break down video for the New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets. He joined the Celtics the following season, and spent six years as the franchise’s video coordinator.
Young became Boston’s advance scout prior to the 2007-08 season, when the Celtics won their league-high seventeenth NBA championship. In 2011, Young was named assistant coach.
During Young’s ten years on the Boston bench, the Celtics qualified for the playoffs nine times, with three trips to the Eastern Conference finals.
In 2021, Young accepted a position as assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers, where he remained for two seasons. In 2023-24, Young was an assistant coach on the collegiate level at Le Moyne University in Syracuse, N.Y. In June 2024, Young joined the Villanova University men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach.
Dennis Zimmerman (Class of 1965)
Dr. Dennis Zimmerman is a 1965 Blackburn College graduate and renowned economist who is currently Director of Projects at the American Tax Policy Institute.
Dr. Zimmerman earned a Ph.D. from Washington University in 1969 and served as a Specialist in Public Finance with the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress from 1978-2000.
From there, Dr. Zimmerman served as a Senior Economist in the Congressional Budget Office for seven years, eventually gaining a distinguished tenure as Director of Projects with the American Tax Policy Institute, which supports nonpartisan research, analysis, and discussion of federal, state, local, and international tax policy issues.