Alumni Award Winners
2018 Distinguished Alumnus Award - Dr. Steve Doran '79
Dr. Steve Doran '79 is an oral surgeon in Bloomington, Illinois. He is a graduate
of Illinois Wesleyan and SIU School of Dental Medicine, and completed his oral surgery
residency at Cook County (Ill.) Hospital. His activities in the Illinois State Dental
Society (ISDS) include participation in the Gary S. Johnson '71 free extraction clinic
twice per year and participation in four ISDS Mission of Mercy clinics. In 2011, he
received the ISDS President's Award for outstanding contributions to the dental profession.
He has also twice received the McLean County Dental Public Health Award. Steve's passion
is overseas mission work; he has made 12 oral surgery mission trips to Haiti and Honduras
since 2011. He presently serves on the boards of the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal
and John Scott Health Services. Steve is a proud member of the Alpha Iota Sigma Chi
fraternity and is a former board member of the Illinois Wesleyan Associates. He and
his wife Joy, a retired IWU piano instructor, have provided generous financial support
and summer employment for many IWU students.
2018 Robert M. Montgomery Outstanding Young Alumnus - Debo Olaosebikan '06
Debo Olaosebikan '06 is the chief technology officer and co-founder of Gigster, a
smart software development service that combines top freelance developers and designers
with automation tools. Gigster builds software for a stable of top enterprise clients
including Staples, Airbus and MasterCard, and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint
and Y-Combinator. Debo came to IWU from Nigeria as a Presidential Scholar at 16, taking
junior-level physics courses by age 17. In the IWU chapter of the Society of Physics
Students, he was "the one" to turn to with difficult challenges. Debo was inducted
into Phi Beta Kappa and was named the IWU Anderson Scholar for 2005-06. In 2005, he
worked on theoretical/computational frameworks for analyzing experimentally observed
transitions in spin transfer devices at IBM. Debo went on to graduate work in physics
at Cornell University, working in the nanophotonics group on light-matter interactions,
electro-optics and non-linear optics. He was the Cornell representative in a collaboration
with MIT, Stanford and Caltech, to build the world's first electrically activated
silicon laser, a project supported by $6 million in grants. Debo has since demonstrated
his dedication to promoting education through a variety of scholarships and educational
opportunities for students in Nigeria, including CATCH AFRICA, a scholarship competition
for secondary school students.
2018 Loyalty Award - John '57 and Pat '59 Jordan
John and Pat (Lashbrook) Jordan graduated from Illinois Wesleyan in 1957 and 1959,
respectively. While students, both chaired the Religious Activities Commission of
the student government and were active in other organizations. John was state president
of the Methodist Student Movement and served on its national committee. He was awarded
a Rhodes Scholarship and, after graduating from Illinois Wesleyan, he studied politics,
philosophy and economics at Oxford University. He then earned a graduate degree in
divinity from Drew University. While living in New Jersey, Pat went on to earn a master's
degree and taught for 15 years. She served as president of the Education Association,
was active in Citizens for Public Education, and also served as the district reading
specialist. The Jordans lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, while John worked for the United
Methodist Church, but later returned to Illinois, where he served as the Executive
Director of the University of Illinois YMCA. Pat taught at Parkland College for ten
years. John joined the IWU Board of Trustees in 1992 and has served on many committees,
including the committee for re-accreditation. Since retiring in 1999, the Jordans
have visited over 20 countries and much of the U.S. Both have served on committees
at Wesley United Methodist Church at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
They served as emcees for the Golden Titans homecoming dinner in 2017 and have been
loyal supporters to the University through their donations and service.