Illinois Central College Seeks Nominations for 2023 Alumni Awards

Seeking examples of exceptional career success and community service

by Paul Moore

East Peoria, IL (02/09/2023) — The ICC Educational Foundation is seeking nominations for two alumni awards: Distinguished Alumnus and Alumnus of the Last Decade.

The Distinguished Alumnus award recognizes former students who have achieved career success, while providing humanitarian services to society, and continually demonstrating support for higher education and Illinois Central College. The Alumnus of the Last Decade award recognizes an alumnus at the beginning of their career, who over the past 10 years has realized notable achievements either professionally, in improving our education district, or other outstanding community service.

The awards are presented in October as part of the college's Community Celebration event, held annually to honor high-achieving alumni, and to recognize and celebrate current ICC scholarship recipients, their donors, and our community partners.

"These awards honor ICC alumni who have achieved exceptional success since their time at ICC. They also recognize community service and support for higher education," said ICC President Dr. Sheila Quirk-Bailey. "The nomination process itself is an opportunity to reflect on how ICC changes lives. I look forward to celebrating the next alumni to be added to honor roll of exceptional representatives of Illinois Central College."

The 2022 ICC Distinguished Alumnus award was presented to Dr. Jonathan F. Sauder. Jonathan was homeschooled before ICC and earned his Associate in Engineer Science early in 2007. He later attended Bradley, and achieved a PhD at the University of Southern California. A past winner of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, Jonathan is a Deputy Manager for the Office of Technology Infusion at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Additional past winners of the Distinguished Alumnus award include Ron Givens and Rachel Reliford.

The 2022 ICC Alumnus of the Last Decade award was presented to Markie Maloof. She attended Illinois Central College from 2010 to 2012, and is now an Organizational Development Advisor for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Markie's commitment to St. Jude can be traced back to her grandfather, former Peoria Mayor Jim Maloof, who co-founded the first-ever St. Jude affiliate outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Markie and her sister Micheline "Michy" (2018 Alumnus of the Last Decade), also wrote and recorded a song "Changing the Face of Beauty" advocating for the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in media. Other past winners of the Alumnus of the Last Decade award include Brent Baker and Christine Bare-Kemper.

Nominations are due by Friday, March 31, 2023. To submit nominations and for more information, please visit icc.edu/alumni.

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