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The University of Illinois Alumni Association has recognized ten outstanding individuals for their achievements in fields including space exploration, healthcare, sports, music, sustainability, and public service. Honorees include NASA veterans Deb Neubek (FAA School of Architecture alumna) and Michael Hopkins, wildlife medicine leader Julia Whittington, and maternal health researcher Fleda Mask Jackson.
Deb (Ridgeway) Neubek, (BSAS ’82), grew up in Illinois gazing at the stars, dreaming of designing space stations and lunar habitats. She chose the U. of I. to study architecture and the University of Houston to study space architecture, and she joined NASA shortly thereafter. Over the next three decades, in a civil service career at Johnson Space Center that spanned six U.S. presidential administrations, she supported the establishment of national space policy and was instrumental in the development of the International Space Station (ISS), leading negotiations for a significant portion of the station’s contracts. She also served as the ISS’s vehicle integration manager and as a manager for systems engineering and integration.
As chief of NASA’s Exploration Analysis Branch, Neubek led advanced design and conceptual studies for future exploration of the Moon and Mars, helping the U.S. return to space after the retirement of the space shuttle. Later, as chief of staff-technical for the Constellation Program, she helped establish the foundational programs and projects that enabled the U.S. return to the Moon, including this year’s Artemis II mission.
Neubek has received many awards, including the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, the NASA Senior Executive Fellowship to Harvard University, and two Johnson Space Center Director’s Certificates of Commendation. Her philanthropic endeavors include service to two nonprofit organizations: Helping Parents Heal, which assists parents whose children have passed, and the Nature Discovery Center. She also has recently been appointed to the City of Bellaire’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.
The awards also recognize Dan and Gina Hartleb for their contributions to Illini baseball and the Champaign-Urbana community, and Kate McMahon for her influential career in concert promotion, working with major artists such as Kenny Chesney, Ed Sheeran, and George Strait. Other recipients include winemaker Christopher Carpenter, biotechnology entrepreneur Kathryn Polkoff, and longtime Illini sports journalist Loren Tate. The awards celebrate alumni whose professional accomplishments, leadership, and service have made significant contributions to their industries and communities.
