Recipients of the Eastern’s Alumni Association 2011 alumni awards will be honored at a dinner on Saturday in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union during the homecoming

The recipients will be honored at dinner, set to begin with a 6 p.m.

Social hour will follow at 7 p.m.

The Outstanding Young Alumnus Award will go to Jake Byrne ’07, ‘09 of Long Island City, Ny.

In addition, Tim ’71, ’72 and Vickie Burke ’72, ‘75 of Evanston will receive the Louis V. Hencken Alumni Service Award and Craig Lindvahl ‘79 of Effingham will receive the Distinguished Educator Award.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards will go to Larry Closson ‘74 of Springfield; Will Keiper ‘72 of Paradise Valley, Ariz.; Gregg Kirkland ‘83 of Edwardsville; Keith Kohanzo ’69, ‘71 of Charleston; and Ron Woods ‘86 of Milwaukee.

Tickets are $25 per person. A portion of the dinner price will support the Legacy Scholarship Fund. To order tickets, please contact the EIU Alumni Association at 800-ALUM-EIU or [email protected].

Jake Byrne

Outstanding Young Alumnus

Byrne completed an internship at the Merrill Lynch Global Headquarters in New York City after earning his undergraduate degree and was offered a full-time position with the firm upon completion of his MBA. He has moved up the ranks quickly and has been promoted to associate in the firm with responsibilities as a convertible bonds trader.

Tim and Vickie Burke

Louis V. Hencken Alumni Service Award

Tim Burke, chief financial officer at William Blair & Co., a global investment firm which manages more than $54 billion in assets, currently serves on the accounting advisory board and as secretary of the EIU Foundation, while Vickie Burke is also a member of the Foundation and an active volunteer in their community.

Craig Lindvahl

Distinguished Educator

Although his background is in music education, Lindvahl’s diverse career in education has seen him collaborate with his students in multimedia classes to produce Emmy award-winning short films on a variety of subject matter.