2026 CEE Alumni Awards Dinner

3/24/2026

The CEEAA Alumni Awards Dinner is the largest CEE at Illinois alumni gathering of the year, in which alumni, faculty, students and staff come together in Chicago to celebrate the Distinguished Alumni and Young Alumni Achievement award recipients. 

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The University of Illinois Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association (CEEAA) hosted its annual Alumni Awards Dinner on March 12, 2026 at the Union League in Chicago, Illinois.

Over 250 CEE alumni, faculty, staff and students were in attendance to celebrate this year's Distinguished Alumni Award winners, Jesus de la Garza (MS 84, PhD 88), Michael Kreger (BS 79, MS 81, PhD 83), and Martha VanGeem (BS 76), as well as the Young Alumni Achievement Award winner Ugwem Eneyo Showunmi (BS 13).

The evening kicked off with a cocktail hour sponsored by Hanson, followed by dinner and the awards presentation hosted by CEEAA Board President Dana Mehlman. CEE Department Head Ana Barros also took to the stage to share a short update on the department and offer her congratulations to the award winners.

2026 CEEAA Alumni Awards Dinner Photo Gallery

2026 Alumni Award Winners

2026 CEEAA Distinguished Alumni Award
2026 CEEAA Distinguished Alumni Award
2026 CEEAA Young Alumni Achievement Award
2026 CEEAA Distinguished Alumni Award

See Previous Winners

 

2026 Alumni Dinner Sponsors

WELCOME RECEPTION SPONSOR

 

DIAMOND LEVEL

   

   

PLATINUM LEVEL

Haskell Co. RME (Rubinos & Mesia Engineers) Specialty Consulting, Inc.
W.A. Randolph Vedder Crawford, Murphy & Tilly

GOLD LEVEL

Ameren Transmission Andy Richardson CHA Consulting, Inc.
Collins Engineers Cummins Engineering Corporation EXP
Oates Associates Shannon & Wilson R.M. Chin & Associates
Thornton Thomasetti Czaplicki Lopez, PLLC Kiewit
Ciorba Group, Inc. Mott MacDonald Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
  Dixon O'Brien & Associates, PLLC  

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This story was published March 24, 2026.