The director of the national Marine Corps museum is among five University of Illinois Springfield graduates who will be honored by the school’s alumni association Friday.
Lin Ezell, a 1974 UIS graduate, director of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, will receive the Alumni Achievement Award. The award is the highest honor bestowed upon graduates of the University and is given to those who have attained distinction and success in their profession or life’s work.
“I was very surprised, but I think that’s a common theme among most recipients,” said Ezell, who is active on the Alumni Advisory Council. “I was very shocked when I got the call.
“I’ve had an embarrassment of riches in my career and I think we all look back to our roots in education for those successes,” said Ezell, who originally is from Lewistown.
Ezell, who graduated with a degree in English, worked at NASA in Houston for 10 years, and then went on to work for the Smithsonian for 21 years before becoming the director of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, which opened in 2006.
The awards were featured in a November 8, 2010, article in The State Journal-Register.
Download the full PDF with details on the other award winners
