2006 Award Recipients

Chicago Illini of the Year, left to right: Howard Engle, John Mooney and Pam Strobel

Three notable University of Illinois alumni received the 2006 Chicago Illini of the Year Award at a Feb. 23 reception and dinner held at the University Club in Chicago.

The award, co-sponsored by the UI Alumni Association and the Chicago Illini Club, honors alumni who have made outstanding contributions both to their profession and community, particularly the city of Chicago. The event is open to all alumni..

This year’s awardees include:

Howard Engle ’72 BUS, a global thinker who, in his position as partner in the financial consulting firm of Deloitte & Touche, specializes in advising U.S. multinationals on conducting business outside of the United States. He previously was an international tax partner with Arthur Andersen. Engle has spoken on international taxation at various conferences and institutes and has taught at DePaul University. His activities in Chicago range from serving as president of The Standard Club to being on the board of the 1959 White Sox Foundation to his work with the Jewish United Fund. Among his many activities at the College of Business, Engle has served as a visiting lecturer and spearheaded the College of Business Building Campaign. A life member of the Alumni Association, he served on its board of directors and chaired the finance and investment committee.

John David Mooney, MFA ’65, an internationally recognized artist for his large-scale, public sculptures that have been showcased from Chicago to Australia to the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. His work has included a 133-foot-long rooftop light sculpture in Los Angeles; an aluminum and Waterford crystal work hanging in the atrium of the John Crerar Library at the University of Chicago; and light sculptures in the Chicago Tribune Tower and Adler Planetarium. Mooney is the founder and artistic director of the John David Mooney Foundation in Chicago, an organization which provides a postgraduate study program for international artists and architects. In addition, his training program for young international artists focuses on Chicago-based public art projects. In 2004, the UI Alumni Association recognized his accomplishments in naming him a Comeback Guest during Homecoming.

Pam Bristow Strobel ’74 COM, JD ’77 LAW, who has combined her legal expertise and business acumen to develop a career that recently landed her on Fortune magazine’s list of the "50 Most Powerful Women in America." The former executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Exelon, a $15 billion utility, she previously was a partner in the law firm of Sidley & Austin, which she joined after 11 years with Isham, Lincoln & Beale. In Chicago, Strobel chairs the board of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and serves on the boards of trustees of many organizations, including Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center. At the College of Law, she was a founding member of the John Cribbett Society, the college’s major donor organization, and received the college’s Distinguished Alumna Award in 1996.