Alumni inducted into Illini Media Company's Hall of Fame

04/20/2022

The Illini Media Company, which oversees The Daily Illini student newspaper, WPGU 107.1 FM radio station, and the Illio yearbook, inducted 20 people into its Class of 2022 Hall of Fame at a ceremony on April 9, 2022. Fourteen were College of Media alumni, including:

  • the late Nelson Algren (BS '31, journalism), winner of 1950 National Book Award for Fiction for The Man with the Golden Arm
  • Susan J. Smith Cornwell (BS '77, journalism), retired congressional correspondent at Reuters
  • Amara Enyia (BS '05, journalism), Chicago attorney and activist
  • Jon Hansen (BS '06, journalism), Emmy Award-winning host of WGN's "Your Money Matters"
  • Paula Kamen (BS '89, journalism), author of the book Finding Iris Chang, about her friend and Illinois journalism classmate
  • John J. Kim (BS '97, advertising), photographer at Chicago Tribune and winner of 2011 Pulitzer Prize with reporting team at Chicago Sun-Times
  • Natasha Korecki (BS '96, journalism), senior national political reporter at NBC News
  • Will Leitch (BS '98, journalism), contributing editor at New York Magazine, founder of Deadspin, MLB.com national correspondent, and author
  • the late Allan R. Loudell (BS '77, radio & TV), National Association of Broadcasters Crystal Radio Award winner
  • Steve Osunsami (BS '93, journalism), Emmy Award-winning senior national correspondent at ABC News
  • John Paul (BS '77, radio & TV; MS '10, journalism), retired TV broadcaster at WCIA-TV in Champaign and journalism instructor at UIUC
  • Rick Sallinger (BS '71, MS '72, advertising), Peabody Award-winning reporter at CBS4 in Denver, Colorado
  • Bernard Schoenburg (BS '76, journalism), retired political journalist
  • Pat Wingert (BS '77, journalism), reporter at Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, former correspondent at Newsweek

The members were recognized for "their distinguished professional careers and contributions to Illini Media as students, professional staff, and alumni," according to the Illini Media website.

Illini Media Company Hall of Fame Class of 2022

Photo courtesy of the Illini Media Company.

Row 1 (left to right): Bernard Schoenburg, Rick Sallinger, Susan J. Smith Cornwell, Pat Wingert Kelly, Paula Kamen

Row 2: Ralph Nozaki, Jon Hansen, Natasha Korecki, Will Leitch, John Paul, Sean Long

Row 3: Ann Dwyer, Steve Osunsami, Brad Fuhr, John J. Kim