Illinois CS Alumnus Ray Ozzie To Receive Honorary Degree

12/2/2011 Jeff Unger, University of Illinois News Bureau

Alumnus Ray Ozzie, former chief software architect at Microsoft, will receive an honorary degree at commencement on May 13.

Written by Jeff Unger, University of Illinois News Bureau

University of Illinois computer science alumnus Raymond Ozzie, former chief software architect for the Microsoft Corp., has been chosen to receive an honorary doctor of engineering degree at the 2 p.m. campuswide Commencement ceremony May 13 at the Assembly Hall.

Illinois computer science alumnus Ray Ozzie
Illinois computer science alumnus Ray Ozzie
Illinois computer science alumnus Ray Ozzie

In the early 1990s, his creation, Lotus Notes, was the first networked groupware application for the personal computer, revolutionizing business computing. In 1994, he was named one of seven “Windows Pioneers” by Microsoft because of the impact he and Lotus Notes had on the development of the Windows operating system.

In 1995, Ozzie, was named “Person of the Year” by PC Magazine. Two years later, the U. of I. College of Engineering honored Ozzie with its alumni award for distinguished service. Ozzie earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Illinois in 1979.

In 2000, Ozzie was awarded the IEEE Computer Society’s W. Wallace McDowell Award for his “vision, determination, and programming skill in the development of Lotus Notes, a program that enables groups of people to collaborate over computer networks.”

Ozzie is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.


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This story was published December 2, 2011.