27 Notable alumni of
Northeastern Illinois University
Updated:
Northeastern Illinois University is 1877th in the world, 644th in North America, and 605th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 27 notable alumni from Northeastern Illinois University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Michael Angelo Batio
- Occupations
- music educatorguitaristmusician
- Biography
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Michael Angelo Batio, also known as Michael Angelo, Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal guitarist. He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band Nitro in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is currently the permanent guitarist for the band Manowar.
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Tim McIlrath
- Occupations
- singer-songwriterguitaristactorsinger
- Biography
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Timothy James McIlrath is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of the punk rock band Rise Against. He is vegetarian and straight edge.
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Luis Gutiérrez
- Enrolled in Northeastern Illinois University
- In 1974 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Luis Vicente Gutiérrez is an American politician. He served as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 4th congressional district from 1993 to 2019. From 1986 until his election to Congress, he served as a member of the Chicago City Council representing the 26th ward. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus during his tenure in the House. In the 113th Congress, with his 20 years of service, Gutiérrez became, along with Bobby Rush, the longest serving member of the Illinois House delegation, and so was occasionally referred to as the unofficial "dean" of the delegation.
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Delia Ramirez
- Enrolled in Northeastern Illinois University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Delia Catalina Ramirez is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 3rd congressional district since 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
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Angelo Reyes
- Occupations
- military personnelpolitician
- Biography
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Angelo Tomas Reyes also known as General Reyes, was a Filipino retired general and politician who served as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff from 2000 to 2001 under President Joseph Estrada. At the height of the 2001 EDSA Revolution, Reyes withdrew his support for Estrada, which led to the installation of Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as president, under whom he then served as Cabinet Secretary until 2010. He also served under Arroyo as Secretary of the Departments of the Interior and Local Government, Environment and Natural Resources, Energy, and National Defense.
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Dan Crawford
- Occupations
- basketball playerbasketball official
- Biography
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Danny Crawford is a retired American professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He made 23 straight NBA Finals appearances, achieving this in Game 1 of the 2017 Finals. Crawford was an NBA referee from 1985 to 2017 and worked at least one NBA Finals game each season from 1995 to 2017. He will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2025.
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Ana Castillo
- Occupations
- writerpoetnovelistessayist
- Biography
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Ana Castillo is a Chicana novelist, poet, short story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator and independent scholar. Considered one of the leading voices in Chicana experience, Castillo is most known for her experimental style as a Latina novelist and for her intervention in Chicana feminism known as Xicanisma.
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Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- assistant professor
- Biography
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Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an American academic, writer, and activist. She is a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. She is the author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. For this book, Taylor received the 2016 Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book from the Lannan Foundation. She is a co-publisher of Hammer & Hope, an online magazine that began in 2023.
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Karen Yarbrough
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Karen A. Yarbrough was an American politician who served as the Cook County Clerk from 2018 until her death in 2024. Yarbrough served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013, and as Cook County Recorder of Deeds from 2012 to 2018. She briefly served as the interim chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois after long-time chair Michael Madigan resigned from the position in February 2021. Elected to the office of Cook County Clerk on November 6, 2018, she was the first woman and African American to hold the position. She held the position until her death in April 2024.
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Art Porter, Jr
- Occupations
- saxophonistjazz musician
- Biography
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Arthur Lee Porter Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist. He was the son of jazz musician Art Porter Sr. and the namesake of "The Art Porter Bill".
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Walter Burnett, Jr
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Walter Burnett Jr. is an American politician who served as the alderman for Chicago's 27th ward from 1995 to 2025. The 27th ward includes the West Loop, Greektown, East Garfield Park, Near North Side, Old Town, West Humboldt Park, West Town, Goose Island and the Illinois Medical District. From 2023 to 2025, he also served as vice mayor of Chicago.
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Laura Fine
- Years
- 1967-.. (age 59)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Laura Fine is an American politician who has served as a member of the Illinois Senate from the 9th district since 2019, representing parts of Chicago and several North Shore suburbs in Cook County. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 17th district in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. In 2025, Fine announced her candidacy for Illinois's 9th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, seeking to succeed Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the 2026 midterm election.
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Iris Martinez
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Iris Y. Martinez is a former American politician and administrator. In 2020, she was elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. She previously served as a member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 20th district from 2003 until becoming clerk. A member of the Democratic Party, she rose to Assistant Majority Leader in the State Senate. As court clerk and as a state senator, she is the first Latina to have held either of those offices.
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Karen Lewis
- Occupations
- teachertrade unionist
- Biography
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Karen Lewis was an American educator and labor leader who served as president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Chicago's division of the American Federation of Teachers, from 2010 to 2014. For nearly 20 years before becoming president of the teachers union, she was a high school chemistry teacher.
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Sara Feigenholtz
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sara Feigenholtz is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate who has represented the 6th district since 2020. The district includes the lakefront Chicago neighborhoods of Lake View, Lincoln Park, and the Near North Side. From 1995 to 2020, she was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives representing the 12th district.
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Gilbert Villegas
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Gilbert Villegas is an American politician. He is a member of the Chicago City Council, serving as alderperson for the city's 36th ward. The 36th ward includes Belmont-Cragin, Galewood, Hermosa, Humboldt Park, Montclare and Portage Park. Prior to his election to the Chicago City Council, he served as chief of staff of the Illinois Capital Development Board.
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Miguel del Valle
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Miguel del Valle is an American politician who has served in various roles in municipal and state government in Chicago. He was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1987, becoming the first Hispanic member of the body, and served until 2006. He was appointed to fill a vacancy for Chicago City Clerk by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2006, and won re-election to a full term in 2007. He ran for Mayor of Chicago in the 2011 election, placing third with 9.3% of the vote. In 2019, he was appointed as president of the Chicago Board of Education by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and served until June 2023.
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George Cardenas
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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George A. Cárdenas is an American public official serving as a commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review for the 1st district. He previously represented Chicago’s 12th Ward on the Chicago City Council from 2003 to 2022, where he served in leadership roles including deputy floor leader and chair of the Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy.
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Juliana Taimoorazy
- Biography
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Juliana Taimoorazy is an Assyrian American activist from Iran. She is the founder and current president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, a position that she's held since its inception in 2007. From 2015 to 2020, she was a senior fellow with the Philos Project, an organization that aims to increase Christian engagement in the Middle East. She became a refugee when her family left Iran in 1989, and was subsequently granted asylum in the US at the age of 17 in 1990.
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John C. D'Amico
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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John C. D'Amico is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 15th District from November 2004 to November 2021.
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Margaret Laurino
- Years
- 1952-.. (age 74)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Margaret Laurino Barnette is a former alderman of the 39th Ward of the City of Chicago. She is the daughter of former Alderman Anthony C. Laurino, the sister of former state Representative William Laurino, and the wife of former 39th Ward Democratic Committeeman Randy Barnette.
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Milly Santiago
- Born in
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United States - Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Milagros "Milly" Santiago is an American politician who served as alderman of the 31st ward of Chicago, Illinois from 2015 to 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
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William Delgado
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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William "Willie" Delgado is a former Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 2nd district from 2006 until June 2016. He was first elected in 2006, replacing Miguel del Valle, who was elected Chicago City Clerk. Previously, Delgado served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1999 to 2006 and was replaced by Luis Arroyo.
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Shinobu Sato
- Years
- 1955-.. (age 71)
- Occupations
- classical guitarist
- Biography
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Shinobu Sato, is a Japanese classical artist. Shinobu debuted in 1988 with the tape Red Dragonfly: World Music on Guitar, which was released on audio CD in 1992. His second major album, Little Signs of Autumn was released on audio CD in 1994.
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Nancy Davidson
- Occupations
- sculptordesignervideo artistartist
- Biography
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Nancy Davidson is an American artist best known for large-scale inflatable sculptures regarded as hyper-feminized abstractions of the human female form. Bulbous and flesh-like, the sculptures resemble buttocks and breasts and employ erotic cultural signifiers in their shape and decoration. Davidson's work spans art media but centers around sculpture. It is largely post-minimal in character and described by commentators as providing a feminist counterpoint to the male-dominated, minimalist sculpture of the 1960s, as well as to cultural tropes involving bodies that the works themselves invoke. Of particular note are Davidson's use of humor and a sense of absurdity to seemingly both celebrate and subvert these tropes, inviting their investigation but without the seriousness and moralism that often accompany critical works. Sculpture Magazine critic Robert Raczka wrote that "The confectionary color and oversize scale" of Davidson's sculpture creates a "playfully upbeat mood that allows feminist and gender issues to rise to the surface at irregular intervals, without didacticism." The New Art Examiner's Susan Canning described it as establishing "a context where all can revel in the transgressive and liberating power of the grotesque."
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Teresa Fraga
- Occupations
- community organizeractivistteacher
- Biography
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Teresa Fraga is a Mexican-born teacher, community organizer, and activist in Pilsen, Chicago. She is an executive board member and the treasurer of Pilsen Neighbors Community Council, and the co-chair of the Pilsen Planning Committee.
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Marie Agnes Hinrichs
- Years
- 1892-1979 (aged 87)
- Occupations
- physiologistzoologist
- Biography
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Marie Agnes Hinrichs Ph.D., M.D. was an American scientist specializing in zoology, physiology, and physical health. She earned a Ph.D. in zoology in 1923, conferred from the University of Chicago. She taught at the University of Chicago, before moving on to direct departments at Southern Illinois University and University of Illinois. She became known for her research into the effects of both ultraviolet radiation and visible radiation on living matter, with particular interest in the effects on developing embryos.
