Four with Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø Ties Receive State’s Highest Honor for Professional Achievement
Governor Bruce Rauner announced the 2016 recipients of the Order of Lincoln Awards. Four of the six recipients are intimately connected to Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø.
02/12/2016 2:15 PM
Governor Bruce Rauner announced the 2016 recipients of the Order of Lincoln Award, which is the state’s highest honor for professional achievement in public service. Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø offers it congratulations to all of the recipients. Four of the six recipients this year are intimately connected to the University and have left a lasting impression on Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø.
has been a professor at Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø since 1984. He is the recipient of two of Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø’s most prestigious awards: Caterpillar Professor of English and Samuel Rothberg Professional Excellence Award. In 2003 Stein was named Illinois’ Poet Laureate and remains in that position today. He is the author of numerous poetry books, scholarly books, poetry anthologies & published poems. Stein has been recognized by his peers as one of the best poetry critics in the U.S.
Ray LaHood is a 1971 graduate of Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø who represented Illinois’ 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995-2009 and is a former U.S. Secretary of Transportation. He received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2011. In 2013, LaHood was named the first Honorary Senior Distinguished Fellow for the Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service and in 2008 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award and was inducted into the Centurion Society. He served as a member of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø Board of Trustees, President of BUAA and various other advisory groups.
Robert Gilmore is retired President and CEO of Caterpillar and is touted as one of Illinois’ most substantial industrial leaders who has made an impact on manufacturing throughout the world. He served on the BU Council 1985-2003, received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø in 1982. Gilmore became an Honorary Alumnus in 1995.
Nancy Goodman Brinker is regarded as the leader of the global breast cancer movement – Founder of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She was named one of Time Magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People’ in ’06 and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Brinker received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø in 2010 and was named an Honorary Alumnus in 1996. She served on the Parents Board from 1997-1998.
Read the Governor’s news release here.