Arthur W. Hill
Arthur W. Hill (CHE ’71), Chicago, had a long career as an engineer in the food-processing industry, retiring from Bestfoods Inc. (now part of Unilever). After serving in the United States Army, Hill began working and enrolled in night courses at Illinois Tech, eventually leaving his job to devote his time to earning his undergraduate degree. He also became a successful investor. A member of the Armour Society, Hill was a key donor to the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, and established the George and Dorothy Hill Endowed Scholarship and the Robert Milton Hill Endowed Scholarship.
Jules F. Knapp
Jules F. Knapp, Glencoe, Ill., founded the Stuart School of Business Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center in 2004. The center focuses on helping launch, expand, and strengthen businesses created by students, faculty, alumni, and the community at large. Knapp was drawn to business and entrepreneurship as a child, selling newspapers, shoes, and paintbrushes before founding United Coatings Inc. with his brother. They grew the company to become the largest private-label paint manufacturer in the United States; it was ultimately sold to The Sherwin-Williams Company in 1996. Knapp also purchased Grisham Manufacturing and sold that company in 2014. A noted philanthropist, Knapp mentored startups, served on the Stuart School Board of Advisors and the Illinois Institute of Technology Board of Trustees, and made substantial gifts to various nonprofits. In 2016 Illinois Tech presented Knapp with the Galvin Award for advancements to the university.
George D. Kraft
George D. Kraft, Naperville, Ill., was a member of the Illinois Institute of Technology faculty from 1968 until his retirement in 2004. He became a tenured professor in 1980 and taught at both Armour College of Engineering and Stuart School of Business. For 15 years Kraft was a research scientist at AT&T Bell Laboratories. With degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Case Institute of Technology, he was a member of Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society and Eta Kappa Nu, the international honor society of the Institute of the Electronics and Electrical Engineers.
Peter D. Land
Peter D. Land, Chicago, was on the faculty of the College of Architecture for 42 years and received an Excellence in Teaching Award in both 1977 and 2015. He is known for his collaboration with Yale University as field director of an inter-American graduate program in urban and regional planning at the National University of Engineering in Lima, Peru. Land also directed the United Nations Experimental Housing Project from 1968–1973 and was awarded the Order of the Sun, the highest civil decoration then issued by the Peruvian government. Born in England, Land credited his paternal grandfather, a stone mason, with influencing him to enter the field of architecture. He was an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects who completed his graduate studies at Yale University and Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture.
James A. Schoke
James A. Schoke (PHYS ’48), Delray Beach, Fla., served in the Special Engineering Detachment of the Army Corps of Engineers as well as in the historic Manhattan Project’s Instrument Section. As such, he was responsible for inventing instruments to detect uranium and alpha emitters and for training scientists to use and maintain these instruments. In 1946 he began a successful entrepreneurial career by founding the Instrument Development Laboratory, a company that developed and manufactured specialized radiation detection instruments and radioactive chemicals for medicine, industry, research, and the military. It ultimately became the Nuclear-Chicago Corporation and was subsequently merged with Abbott Laboratories.
David C. Sharpe
David C. Sharpe (ARCH ’60, M.S. ARCH ’62), Chicago, served as the first Black professor at the College of Architecture, where he was a member of the faculty for nearly a half-century. A champion of inclusion and diversity, Sharpe inspired professionals and students alike as a long-time architect at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (1967–1985) and as an academic. He left SOM to teach full-time and to direct the college’s graduate thesis program. Sharpe brought an applied research direction to the curriculum and contributed to tall-building development. He retired in 2010 and received a Distinguished Service Award from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Stephen Skaper
Stephen Skaper (CHEM ’69), Padua, Italy, performed research on the role of immune cells and their interactions in neuroinflammation, in particular in neuropathic pain and autoimmune demyelinating diseases. From 1998–2008 he was a senior group leader for the Neurodegeneration Research, Neurology and GI Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery, GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development Ltd., in the United Kingdom. Prior to that he held academic research positions at the University of California, San Diego. A prolific writer, Skaper was also editor-in-chief of CNS & Neurological Disorders–Drug Targets and the associate editor of the American Journal of Neuroprotection and Neuroregeneration.