Justice Debra B Walker of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, received the Illinois State Bar Association’s Carole Bellows Woman of Influence Award on May 13th. This was very meaningful to Debra because former Judge Carole Bellows, the first female ISBA President and first female President of any statewide bar association in the nation, served as Debra’s presiding judge when she was on the Cook County Circuit Court.
Category: 1980s
Karen (Pszanka) Layng ’87
Karen P. Layng was elected in May 2025 as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association in its 100th year.
Paul M. Lisnek ’83
Paul Lisnek recently received the 2025 Alumni Award for Liberal Arts and Sciences, the 2020 Award for Chicago Alumni of the Year (due to Covid, finally presented this year), and the Krannert Award for Alumni Lifetime of Giving.
Debra Walker ’87
Illinois Appellate Court Justice Debra B. Walker will receive the Illinois Judges Foundation Distinguished Service Award at the IJF Annual Reception on October 10, 2024.
Dan Slack ’83
Dan Slack retired from his role as Executive Director of the Fire & Police Pension Association of Colorado at the end of 2021. He is enjoying free time trail running and climbing mountains in the United States and in Brazil while continuing to serve on the board of directors of Leave No Trace, Inc.
Tom Stipanowich ’80
Tom Stipanowich, William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution and Professor at Pepperdine’s Caruso School of Law, recently received Pepperdine’s Howard A White Award for Excellence in Teaching. Stipanowich, a nationally known scholar on arbitration and mediation law and practice, was also named to the California Dispute Resolution Hall of Fame by the California Lawyers Association.
Helen Hartnell ’80
1/24/24: Helen Hartnell passed away in late 2023. She taught international law at numerous institutions and was a full-time faculty member at Golden Gate University (GGU) School of Law in San Francisco from 1997 until 2013.
Mark Feyen ’80
1/24/24: Hon. Mark A. Feyen has announced his retirement from the Ottawa County Probate Court. Now in his 35th year, Judge Feyen took to the bench on January 1, 1989, after winning election in November of 1988. He won re-election five times.
Shelly Knuppel ’86
3/21/24: Shelly Davis Knuppel, 63, passed away after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer at her home in Petersburg on January 11, 2024.
Peter Rasmussen ’82
3/21/24: Peter Rasmussen recently retired from Bloomberg Law and is enjoying his time serving on two non-profit boards, taking parts in community theater, and reveling in the role of grandpa to a future Illini.