Meet Robert L. Growney (ME ’74, M.B.A. ’82) and Gertrude Lempp Kerbis (M.S. ARCH ’54), this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipients.

Growney spent 36 years at Motorola and held a variety of managerial positions during his long tenure at the company, retiring as president, chief operating officer, and vice chairman of Motorola, Inc. in 2002. At Motorola Growney worked to recruit and hire many Illinois Tech engineering and business graduates, continuing a long tradition of partnerships.

Kerbis started her professional career in 1954 as one of the few women architects working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. She designed the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Mitchell Dining Hall and considered the one-day raising of the building’s roof a career highlight. In 1959 she moved on to Naess & (C.F.) Murphy, where she designed one of her best-known and best-loved buildings: the Rotunda Building at O’Hare.

The 2017 Alumni Awards luncheon and ceremony will recognize 12 alumni and one civic leader. Help us celebrate these extraordinary winners on Friday, April 21 at noon in Hermann Hall. Registration is required, and tickets are $50 each. Come early and check out the Spring 2017 IPRO Day exhibits.