Ralph Brill Endowed Chair
Cary Martin Shelby
Cary Martin Shelby joined Chicago-Kent College of Law as the Ralph Brill Endowed Chair and professor of law in July 2023. She was previously a professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law and served as the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law with Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Shelby specializes in corporate and securities law and teaches related classes such as Business Organizations, Securities Regulation, and Investment Funds. Her research has scrutinized the blurred distinctions between public and private investment funds arising from financial innovation and systemic risk. It has since expanded to explore intersections between race and systemic risk by examining the extent to which racism poses a threat to financial stability in ways that should be recognized by financial regulators.
Shelby has published several articles in leading journals such as the Northwestern University Law Review and California Law Review. Shelby is currently under contract with Cambridge University Press for her forthcoming book project, Markets for Black Pain: Law and Marginalization as a Commodity.
Ralph Brill
Ralph Brill joined the faculty at Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1961 and served as a beloved professor for more than five decades. He founded both the law school’s groundbreaking legal research and writing program as well as its award-winning moot court program. Brill taught many courses, including torts, products liability, advanced torts, and legal research and writing to more than 8,500 Chicago-Kent students.
In the spring of 2006, to honor what Chicago-Kent's then dean Harold J. Krent called Professor Brill’s “extraordinary commitment to legal education and to generations of Chicago-Kent students,” the law school announced plans to name its first faculty endowed chair after him. The school launched an aggressive fundraising campaign led by Thomas A. Demetrio (LAW ’73). The Ralph Brill Endowed Chair was created with more than $1.5 million in cash and pledges contributed by more than 400 Chicago-Kent alumni and friends.
Robert W. Galvin Electricity Innovation Endowed Chair
Mohammad Shahidehpour
Mohammad Shahidehpour joined Illinois Institute of Technology in 1983 and is a University Distinguished Professor and the director of the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Inventors, and the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, as well as a Laureate of Khwarizmi International Award and an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Shahidehpour has been the principal investigator for more than $80 million in grants and contracts on power system operation and control, smart grid research and development, and large-scale integration of renewable energy. His U.S. Department of Energy project on perfect power systems led to the conversion of the entire Illinois Tech Mies Campus to an islandable microgrid. He initiated the development of the Center for Smart Grid Applications, Research, and Technology (CSMART) at Illinois Tech for the promotion and implementation of smart grid research and enhancing the resilience of networked communication and control systems in smart cities.
Shahidehpour has received numerous accolades and prestigious awards for contributions to his field.
Michael P. Galvin
Mike Galvin (LAW ’78) is a graduate of Illinois Tech’s Chicago-Kent College of Law and the current president of Galvin Enterprises, Inc., a venture capital investment firm. Prior to that, Galvin worked as a corporate finance transactions partner for Chicago-based law firm Winston & Strawn before co-founding Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and becoming vice chair of the Galvin family investment holding company. Known for his relentless focus on tech innovation, his commitment to ethics, and his dedication to public service, he has also served as the U.S. Commerce Department assistant secretary for Export Administration, a role in which he worked to reform and negotiate post-Cold War strategic trade policies during the former President George H. W. Bush administration.
Galvin became a member of the Illinois Tech Board of Trustees in 1994 and was elected board chair in 2018. As one of the most prolific philanthropists in Illinois Tech's history, Galvin deeply believes in the founding purpose of the university: to give the underrepresented the opportunity to have a seat at the table of innovation and technological progress. Firmly committed to that mission, Galvin has supported countless strategic priorities and initiatives to ensure that our students receive a world-class education, obtain skills that can answer the most pressing needs of our lifetime, and understand the importance of a robust culture of philanthropy in order to positively impact the world by driving innovation that is cutting-edge, inclusive, and accessible.
Galvin established the Robert W. Galvin Electricity Innovation Endowed Chair in honor of his father and University Regent, the late Bob Galvin, former CEO of Motorola and chair of the Illinois Tech Board of Trustees.
In addition to his juris doctor degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Galvin also holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Boston College.
Motorola Endowed Chair in Engineering
Anna M. Barnett
Anna M. Barnett joined the Illinois Institute of Technology faculty in fall 2024 as the Motorola Endowed Chair in Engineering and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Barnett came to Illinois Tech from University of Sussex, United Kingdom, where she was the associate vice president for research. A noted polymath, autodidact, and advocate of alternative education, Barnett is the world’s foremost expert on novel compound semiconductor radiation detectors and instrumentation for space and terrestrial applications. Her work thus far has been motivated primarily by the need to develop next-generation UV, X-ray, γ-ray, electron, and neutron instrumentation for space and planetary science applications.
Barnett is an elected fellow of numerous learned societies, including, but not limited to, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (the older sibling of the IEEE), the Institute of Physics, and the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacture, and Commerce. In 2016 she won the $130,000 Leverhulme Prize for Engineering, one of the world’s most prestigious academic awards.
Motorola
Motorola was founded in Chicago in 1928 as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin. The company went public in 1943, and became Motorola, Inc. in 1947. Paul and his son, Bob Galvin, led the company through the creation of many innovative products that now seem commonplace, such as car radio receivers, hand-held walkie-talkies, defense electronics, cellular infrastructure, the first two-way pager, and the first mobile phone. Motorola products were sold to police departments, municipalities, the U.S. government, corporations, and NASA. Motorola equipment even carried the first words from the moon in 1969. In short, Motorola, Inc. became a global powerhouse in communication technology and innovation.
In 2011, Motorola, Inc. separated into two independent, publicly traded companies: Motorola Solutions, Inc., providing mission-critical communication products and services for enterprise and government customers; and Motorola Mobility, Inc., producing mobile cellular devices and cable video management equipment. Motorola Solutions, Inc. remains in existence today while Motorola Mobility, Inc. was purchased by Google in 2012, and later by Lenovo in 2014.
Throughout its long history, a strong relationship evolved between Motorola and Illinois Institute of Technology. This relationship was nurtured by long-time Motorola CEO, the late Bob Galvin, one of Illinois Tech’s most generous donors, University Regent, and trustee for more than 50 years, including 10 of those years as chair. Motorola’s impact on Illinois Tech is felt today through scholarships, fellowships, research, summer programs, the Interprofessional Projects (IPRO) Program, and the Motorola Endowed Chair in Engineering.