Recent News and Stories

Thanks to a generous gift from Illinois alumni Douglas and Deborah Ackerman, Gies College of Business is pleased to announce the launch of a new student-led venture capital investing program – Orange & Blue Ventures.

In 2001, when Barbara Fifield Brandt ’71 LAS, EDM ’82, PHD ’87 ED, celebrated the birthday of her father, Norm, she had no idea she would end up with the best gift of all.

Brandt would become the eventual owner of a family memoir that a cousin had brought as a present. Tucked within its 200 pages were a mere few sentences about a distant relative named Almira Fifield. That excitement led to the establishment in 2024 of the Barbara F. and Lawrence M. Brandt Library Endowment, which supports preservation and conservation efforts within the Library.

Two short years ago, during National Ag Day at AgRally in Fort Worth, Texas — an event sponsored by John Deere and broadcast on the RFD-TV network — ACES alum and AgRally co-founder Lyle E. Orwig helped introduce the vision for the Evans Center.

Scholarships helped bridge the financial gap when Bill Tarter Jr. (ACES ’74, ’96) was a student, and he never forgot it. That’s why, years later, he has been quietly funding scholarships — first in honor of a friend and a pioneer of modern soil testing, Dr. Ted Peck, and now through the Tarter Family Scholarship.

The family of George Shapland, a former University of Illinois basketball player and highly influential local businessman, is making a $1 million gift in support of U of I Athletics. In recognition of the family’s generosity and impact, State Farm Center’s east circle drive will be named “George Shapland Family Drive.”

Recently discovered metal boxes filled with hundreds of recipe cards reveal a flavorful time capsule of dining history from before the digital age.

The Ira R. Cohen Chair in Computer Science and Cancer Research has been created by a generous gift from Debra Cohen in memory of her late husband, Ira (GRAINGER ’80). This endowed chair will be held by a prominent faculty member in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science in The Grainger College of Engineering who is also a Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) member.

Sean Richards was a gifted, kind-hearted boy whose life and legacy inspired his family to create the Love Like Sean Foundation, dedicated to spreading joy and compassion after his tragic passing. Through the foundation and a new $1 million scholarship at Gies Business, his family hopes to support students who lead with empathy and character, ensuring Sean’s enduring impact on others.

Ivesdale native Tim Tracy has known and loved Allerton Park for decades. The duo and park officials have announced a six-figure gift that will restore and renovate the Mansion Pine Room, a onetime library and office on the first floor that now hosts small corporate gatherings and classes. Their gift also provides an endowment to ensure that the space can be well maintained into the future.

Illinois mine rescue expert R.Y. Williams bravely descended into the burning depths of the worst coal mine fire in state history.