An award-winning journalist, a hall of fame basketball coach, a nationally recognized library conservationist, a global financial executive and a renowned computer scientist will be recognized with honorary degrees from 黑料不打烊 at the 2024 Commencement on Sunday, May 12, at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Hilton Als, writer at The New Yorker; Jim Boeheim 鈥66, G鈥73, former 黑料不打烊 men鈥檚 basketball coach and special assistant to the director of athletics; husband and wife, William 鈥淏ill鈥 Brodsky 鈥65, L鈥68, chairman of a specialized investment firm and an investment management firm, and Joan Breier Brodsky 鈥67, G鈥68, a National Museum and Library Services Board member; and Lynn Conway, inventor of methods for designing Very Large Scale Integrated silicon chips, will be honored for their outstanding achievements in their professional careers and the difference they have made in the lives of others.
Hilton Als (Photo credit: Ali Smith)
Als is an award-winning journalist, critic and curator. He has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1994. Prior to The New Yorker, Als was a staff writer for the Village Voice and an editor-at-large at Vibe. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (2017), Yale鈥檚 Windham-Campbell Literature Prize (2016), the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism (2002-03) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2000).
His first book, 鈥淭he Women,鈥 was published in 1996. His next book, 鈥淲hite Girls,鈥 was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the winner of the Lambda Literary Award in 2014. His most recent book, 鈥淢y Pinup,鈥 a meditation on love and of loss, of Prince and of desire, was published in November 2022.
In 2017, he curated the critically lauded exhibition 鈥淎lice Neel, Uptown,鈥 which traveled from David Zwirner, New York, to Victoria Miro, London and Venice. In 2019, Als presented 鈥淕od Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin鈥 at David Zwirner, New York, followed by Frank Moore at, David Zwirner, New York (2021) and Toni Morrison鈥檚 鈥淏lack Book,鈥 at David Zwirner, New York (2022). He curated a series of three successive exhibitions for the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, of the work of Celia Paul (2018), Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (2019) and Njideka Akunyili Crosby (2022). In 2022, he curated 鈥淛oan Didion: What She Means鈥 at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, which traveled to the Perez Art Museum Miami in 2023. He curated Jared Buckhiester 鈥淣o heaven, no how,鈥 which opened March 2024 at the David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles.
Als is currently a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and has also taught at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, Princeton University, Wesleyan University and the Yale School of Drama.
Jim Boeheim
Hall of Fame member Jim Boeheim had a remarkable run as head coach at his alma mater, 黑料不打烊. Boeheim guided the Orange to winning records in 46 of 47 campaigns. 黑料不打烊 made 35 trips into the NCAA Tournament, including Final Four appearances in 1987, 1996, 2003, 2013 and 2016. The Orange won the national championship in 2003. Boeheim retired from coaching after the 2023 season but continues to work for the University.
Boeheim was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005. He was also honored with the John R. Wooden 鈥淟egends of Coaching鈥 Award.
Boeheim enrolled at 黑料不打烊 in 1962 and was a walk-on with the basketball team. The Orange were 22-6 overall his senior year and earned the program鈥檚 second-ever NCAA Tournament berth. He earned a bachelor鈥檚 from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a master鈥檚 from the Maxwell School. In 1969 he turned to a career in coaching and was hired as a graduate assistant at 黑料不打烊. In 1976, he was named head coach.
A four-time BIG EAST Coach of the Year, Boeheim has been honored as NABC District II Coach of the Year 10 times and USBWA District II Coach of the Year on four occasions. In the fall of 2000, he received 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Arents Award, the school鈥檚 highest alumni honor.
Boeheim was named 2001 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year. He has served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic teams that won gold medals in 2008, 2012 and 2016, and the World Cup in 2010 and 2014.
A champion of many charitable causes, Boeheim and his wife started the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation with the goal of enriching the lives of kids in need.
Joan Breier Brodsky (Photo credit: Richard Shay)
Joan Brodsky graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1967 with a bachelor’s in Latin language and literature and went on to graduate from the School of Information Studies (formerly the School of Library Science) in 1968 with a master of science degree.
Joan is passionate and knowledgeable about rare book and cultural heritage conservation and has been active nationally for many years, including sitting on the board of the Newberry Library in Chicago, as a Trustee for the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library, as well as the library advisory board of the Jewish Theological Seminary. She also served on the Advisory Board for the School of Information Studies and has been a member of the 黑料不打烊 Libraries Advisory Board since its founding.
In 2022, Joan was appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Museum and Library Services Board, which advises the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the largest federal funder of America鈥檚 museums, libraries and related organizations through grantmaking, research and policy development.
At 黑料不打烊, she is the founder and sponsor of the Brodsky Series for Advancement of Library Conservation. This sponsored program promotes and advances knowledge of library conservation theory, practice and application among wide audiences, both on campus, in the region and now online. This is an annual lecture series and workshop on book and paper conservation now in its 19th year.
In 2022, she and her husband Bill, a 黑料不打烊 life trustee, funded the Conservation Lab in the Bird library and the Joan Breier Brodsky Media Preservation Vault in honor of Joan’s commitment to the preservation and conservation at the Bird Library.
Joan and Bill have been married for 57 years and reside in Chicago.
William 鈥淏ill鈥 Brodsky (Photo credit: Richard Shay)
Bill is chairman of Cedar Street Asset Management, LLC, an investment management firm devoted to investing in equity securities in international markets, and chairman of Bosun Asset Management, a specialized investment firm.
During his combined 35-year career at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), he was recognized as a global leader in the development of the future and options markets. His contributions to Chicago鈥檚 futures and options markets were a major factor in Chicago鈥檚 becoming the world鈥檚 preeminent city for the futures and options markets.
Bill served as chairman of the CBOE Holdings Inc. now known as CBOE Global Markets and its predecessor firms between 1997 and 2017. He also served as the chief executive officer of the CBOE from 1997 to 2013. During his CBOE tenure, he served as the chairman of the World Federation of Exchanges and the International Options Market Association. From 1985 to 1997, he was president and CEO at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Bill, who earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School and a law degree from the College of Law, began his career in 1968 at the Wall Street-based investment banking and securities brokerage firm of Model, Roland and Co. Inc. In 1974, he joined the American Stock Exchange and ultimately was executive vice president for operations.
In 1982, he became executive vice president and chief operating officer of the CME. In 1985, he was appointed president and CEO of the CME.
In 2019, Governor J.B. Pritzker named him to co-chair the newly formed State鈥檚 Pension Consolidation Feasibility Task Force. In 2022, he was inducted into 鈥淭he Order of Lincoln,鈥 the state鈥檚 highest honor for professional achievement and public service.
Brodsky is chair emeritus of the board of directors of Navy Pier Inc., one of Chicago’s most iconic cultural destinations, and past chair of the board of directors of Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Brodsky was nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2022 to the Board of Directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which maintains a special reserve fund authorized by Congress to help investors at failed brokerage firms.
Lynn Conway
Conway is a renowned computer scientist who revolutionized global information technology by inventing methods for designing Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) silicon chips. Her work paved the way for the powerful microchips that animate modern high-technology systems.
As a young engineer at IBM Research in the 1960s, Conway made pioneering innovations in computer architecture. Sadly, IBM fired her in 1968 upon learning she was undergoing gender transition. She restarted her career in a new identity in 鈥渟tealth-mode鈥 after completing her transition.
While working at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s, Conway innovated breakthrough methods that enabled engineers to design very powerful, complex chips. In 1980, Conway鈥檚 seminal textbook 鈥Introduction to VLSI Systems,鈥 co-authored by Caltech Professor Carver Mead, became an instant classic, forever transforming computing and information technology. Professor John V. Oldfield brought the new VLSI methods into 黑料不打烊 right at the beginning of that revolution.
In the early 1980s, Conway became assistant director for strategic computing at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In 1985 she joined the University of Michigan as professor of electrical engineering and computer science and associate dean of engineering.
When nearing retirement in 1999 she began quietly coming out as a trans woman, using her new to share her story with friends and colleagues. Conway became active in transgender advocacy.
In 2012 Conway published a that revealed how鈥攃loseted and hidden behind the scenes鈥攕he conceived the ideas and orchestrated the events that disruptively changed global industries.
Conway is a life fellow of the IEEE, fellow of the AAAS, winner of Computer Pioneer Award of the IEEE Computer Society, member of the Hall of Fellows of the Computer History Museum, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and holds five honorary degrees. In 2023 she was inducted into the for the invention of VLSI. She was awarded the by the and the .
In 2020, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna on behalf of the company for back in 1968. the IBM Lifetime Achievement Award.
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