CEE Alumnus to deliver 2017 Engineering Convocation address

3/22/2017

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Civil and Environmental Engineering alumnus Wilbur C. Milhouse III (BS 94, MS 95) will be the 2017 College of Engineering convocation speaker.

Milhouse earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering (1994) and master’s degree in structural engineering (1995) from CEE at Illinois. In 2001, he founded Milhouse Engineering and Construction Inc. in Chicago, where he serves as President and CEO. In addition to affiliated companies (Milhouse International, Milhouse Construction and Milhouse Snow), he also founded Milhouse Charities, a private philanthropic foundation which supports education in the STEM fields and bringing young people into the engineering and power professions.

“Wilbur inspires the entire CEE at Illinois family with his outstanding accomplishments as an entrepreneur, innovator and leader in our profession, and with a strong loyalty to his Alma Mater,” said CEE at Illinois Department Head Benito Mariñas. “I recently met with Wilbur at his office in Chicago and learned about his amazing projects around the world including the founding of energy-related companies in Nigeria. It will be great to have Wilbur back as keynote speaker for the 2017 College of Engineering convocation so that he could inspire our graduates to excel as global leaders of the engineering professions.”  

Milhouse is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin. His firm regularly appears on the list of Chicago’s 101 Best & Brightest Companies to Work For, and the company received the Stellar Star Award at the National Organization of Minority Engineers’ Leadership Summit in 2016.

The campus-wide Commencement ceremony will take place at Memorial Stadium on Saturday morning, May 13, 2017. The College of Engineering Convocation will take place later that day at the State Farm Center. A reception for graduating CEE at Illinois students and their friends and families will be held in the Newmark Lab crane bay prior to Engineering Convocation.


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This story was published March 22, 2017.