Famous Alumni
We're proud of all our Titans, who make a difference in the world as teachers, nurses, attorneys and just about every imaginable rewarding and satisfying career. Some are also deservedly celebrated by broader audiences. Below are just a few.
Actor is noted for his appearance in all four Hannibal Lecter films. His many credits also include HBO's The Wire, the Cinemax program Banshee and the Netflix series Luke Cage.
Award-winning author and medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris 鈥�04 wrote the critically acclaimed biography The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister鈥檚 Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine, the New York Times bestseller The Facemaker, and she co-authored Plague-Busters! Medicine's Battles with History's Deadliest Diseases.
Oscar-nominated, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor Richard Jenkins '69, is perhaps best known for his work as the deceased father, Nathaniel Fisher, on HBO's Six Feet Under, and as the dad on Stepbrothers. Jenkins has been nominated twice for an Academy Award for acting (The Visitor, 2008, and The Shape of Water, 2017).
Known as the Voice of the Chicago Cubs, longtime announcer has sung the national anthem for Cubs home games since 1985, and at Game Five of their World Series feat in 2016.
Flight attendant-turned author Torri 鈥淭.J.鈥� Newman '06 has published two New York Times best-selling novels which were the target of seven-figure bidding wars for publication rights and then for movie deals. Falling and Drowning will each soon be major motion picture films
Burke Nihill '00 is president and CEO of the National Football League鈥檚 Tennessee Titans. Before joining the Titans in 2016 as general counsel, he worked in various legal and management roles across a range of industries, including technology, big-box retail and professional services. He earned his law degree with honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Edward B. Rust Jr. '72 was CEO of State Farm Insurance from 1985 until 2015, when he stepped down and fellow IWU alumnus was named CEO of State Farm Insurance. Tipsord retired in 2024, while remaining Chairman of the Board of Directors for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. Tipsord was replaced as CEO by Jon Farney, whose role in turn was filled by Mark Schwamberger '91, State Farm鈥檚 new senior vice president, treasurer and CFO.
Jack Sikma '77 is a seven-time NBA All-Star center with the Seattle SuperSonics, who drafted him in the first round of the 1977 NBA draft. He was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.
, five time Grammy Award-winning soprano, was the first vocal artist to be awarded the MacArthur Foundation 鈥済enius鈥� prize.
Titans in History
NFL Player was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
IWU graduate George L. Fox was one of who gave their lives in World War II while serving on the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, a military transport ship. The chaplains are honored on the annual "Four Chaplains Day" and have been commemorated in many works of art, memorial foundations, and a U.S. postage stamp.
, founder of the Anti-Defamation League, graduated from 91黑料专区's former law school in 1894.
, IWU class of 1915, is known as "the father of Polymer Chemistry." Polymer chemistry is the basis of all plastics.
, nicknamed "The Red Rooster", played shortstop at 91黑料专区 in 1963 and 1964 before spending 11 seasons as a major league third baseman. Rader won five straight Gold Glove Awards from 1970 to 1974.
The late was an American playwright, best known for writing the popular farces The Nerd and The Foreigner.
The founder of Toastmasters International, , was a 1903 graduate of 91黑料专区.
, who attended 91黑料专区 in the class of 1853, was vice president of the United States from 1893-1897.
Three IWU alumni were state governors in the 19th and 20th century:
- , class of 1868, was Governor of Illinois from 1889-1893.
- , 1892 graduate, was Governor of Idaho from 1927-1931.
- , graduate in the 1910s, was Governor of Wyoming from 1943-1949.