Carlo Segre Named Duchossois Chaired Leadership Professor
Carlo Segre has been named Duchossois Leadership Professor, a new three-year, $2 million chaired professorship. The chair honors faculty who are exemplary in scholarship, education, and service.
Segre, a professor of physics, was selected in part for his longtime service to students as an undergraduate advisor, associate dean for graduate admissions, professor, research mentor, co-leader of the IIT bridge-building contest, and more. He also is deputy director of the Materials Research Collaborative Access Team (MRCAT) at Argonne National Laboratory.
Duchossois Leadership Professors select students and develop programming for the new Duchossois Leadership Scholars Program.
The scholars—three at first—are top students from across the country who have demonstrated exceptional leadership potential and academic success and the ability to be developed into future leaders of business, government, and academia. Students will receive full tuition, housing and food, summer educational experiences, and opportunities for internships, travel, retreats, and other activities to develop their abilities. Ultimately, there will be four endowed Duchossois professorships and 16 endowed scholarships.
The pairing of endowed professorships and student scholarships is believed to be unique in the country.
"There's nothing else like it," noted Segre. "It is a great opportunity for me personally to participate, and it's a great opportunity for IIT. We will attract outstanding new students because of it. They can't just be great at academics – they have to have something else – that leadership spark, an outgoing personality, the ability to handle themselves in all sorts of situations, and the willingness to develop and express their opinions." Scholars also will be expected to give back to the university, enriching the campus environment for all other students.
Segre received his B.S. in physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1976. He earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, San Diego in 1981 and then spent two years as a post-doc at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He has been on the IIT faculty since 1983 with a one-year sabbatical in Trieste, Italy, at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics. He has over 100 refereed publications.
The Duchossois family have supported scholarship opportunities and significant endeavors in health care and other areas of need and promise, especially in the Chicago area. Craig Duchossois is chief executive of the Duchossois Group, Inc., in Elmhurst. He is an IIT University Regent and Life Trustee. He and his wife Janet are members of the Philip Danforth Armour Society at IIT. They have been strong supporters of the university since 1994 through scholarships and other initiatives.
