University of Illinois Black Alumni Network

06/14/2026

Congrats 🔹🔸

06/14/2026

Congrats

🔸🔹🏃🏿‍♀️‍➡️🏃🏾‍♀️‍➡️🔸🔹

06/14/2026

👏🏾 👏🏾🏃🏾‍♀️‍➡️🏃🏿‍♀️‍➡️🔸🔹

With five All-Americans your women's squad takes eighth place with 27 points!

06/14/2026

Congrats 🔹🔸🏃🏿‍♀️‍➡️🔸🔹

06/12/2026

Supporting local businesses 🔸🔹

What an incredible honor it was to welcome University of Illinois Chancellor Charles Isbell, Provost John Coleman, and members of the university's senior leadership team to Neil St. Blues this afternoon.

As a locally owned Champaign restaurant, we are deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve the leaders helping shape the future of our university and community. It was truly a pleasure meeting Chancellor Isbell and hosting such a distinguished group.

Thank you to the University of Illinois leadership team for choosing Neil St. Blues for your gathering. We hope you enjoyed your time with us as much as we enjoyed having you.

We look forward to welcoming everyone back again soon!

06/11/2026

📣 Calling All UIC & UIUC Black Alumni
❤️🖤💚

Join us for the Official Summer Black Alumni Mixer hosted by UIC and UIUC Black Alumni on Thursday, June 18th, from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM at Hue Chicago, 67 E. Cermak, Chicago, IL.

This is a great opportunity to reconnect with fellow alumni, expand your network, and celebrate the legacy and excellence of Black graduates from both institutions. Food, drinks, and parking will be available.

Don’t miss an evening of fellowship, networking, and community. Register today using the QR code on the flyer! 🎉

06/09/2026

Longtime CBS Chicago sports and news anchor/reporter Ryan Baker announced he will be leaving his role after nearly 20 years to enter a new chapter in the nonprofit sector.

Baker, a respected figure in the Chicago sports media landscape, will serve as the new president and CEO of First Tee Greater Chicago, an organization focused on mentoring young people and teaching life skills through golf. His final day on CBS Chicago will be June 25.

Baker was born in Chicago Heights and raised in south suburban Phoenix, Illinois. He is a graduate of Thornridge High School and received a B.S. in journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

06/07/2026

This month, after 33 years, Assistant Director & Coordinator of Student Support Services (SSS) at The Jeffries Center formerly known as the Office of Minority Affairs (OMSA), Dr. Urias Betoel Escobar, retires from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Anyone who visited The Center or was apart of the TRiO SSS, McNair Scholars Program, or Mother’s Day Brunch would recall how warm and supportive Dr. Escobar was and how much he cared for advancing opportunities for underrepresented students.

We could fill this page with his titles, and they are real and earned, from his years at the Office of Minority Student Affairs to his work today at The Jeffries Center. Betoel knows that the titles were never the point. The point was always the student sitting across from him.

Felicidades, on retirement, Dr. Escobar! 🎉

06/03/2026

Join Illinois Alumni on June 11, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. (CT) for a Conversation with Chancellor Isbell.

This is a historic moment for higher education, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is working strategically to affirm its role as a leader in the 21st century. Join Illinois Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. for a Q&A session on institutional goals and priorities, the Illinois Leads strategic planning effort, access and affordability, evolving technologies, how he sees Illinois leading innovative change throughout the higher education landscape, and other important topics.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YP7VC60oQ3qOiDFZNeflVQ #/registration