Distinguished CS alumnus to receive U of I honorary degree

Engineering at Illinois alumnus Raymond Ozzie (BS 1979, Computer Science), former chief software architect for the Microsoft Corp., has been chosen to receive an honorary doctor of engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the campuswide Commencement ceremony in May.

Through late 2010, he was Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, the company's most senior technical strategy and architecture role previously held by Bill Gates. Ozzie came to Microsoft in 2005 through the acquisition of Groove Networks, a company he founded in 1997 to focus on software and services for small-team dynamic collaboration.

Prior to Groove, in 1984 Ozzie founded and led Iris Associates, the creator and developer of Lotus Notes. A decade later, Iris was acquired by Lotus and then by IBM. Under his leadership during that period, Lotus Notes grew to be used for communication and social productivity by hundreds of millions at most major enterprises worldwide. Before creating Notes, he worked on 1-2-3 and Symphony at Lotus, on VisiCalc and TK!Solver at Software Arts, and on operating systems at Data General.

While earning his degree at Illinois, Ozzie also worked as a systems developer on the seminal PLATO project. He credits that work with helping him to understand the significance of online community and social interactive systems.

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. Ozzie was named "Person of the Year" in 1995 by PC Magazine, and he has been inducted in to the Computer Museum Industry Hall of Fame. He was selected for an Engineering at Illinois Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in 1997, and, in October 2011, he was one of 11 individuals inducted into the Engineering at Illinois Hall of Fame. 

Ozzie is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences last year.
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Writer: Jeff Unger, University of Illinois News Bureau, 217/333-1085.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.