Alumni

2025 Honorary Alumni Award

Lin Stults

linStults is a Macomb native, small business owner and a long-time WIU supporter and partner. Stults' business, Engraving by Lin, has been a staple in downtown Macomb for more than 40 years.

Stults has been a long-time member of the Leatherneck Club and can be frequently found supporting WIU student athletes on the field and the court. She is just as likely to be found supporting WIU student musicians at live music performances around town.

Through Engraving by Lin, which was designated a Historic Downtown Legacy Business Enterprise in 2019, Stults' handiwork can be found in all corners of WIU, from Homecoming trophies to student leadership awards, from directional signage to staff name tags. When the Goldfarb Center for Performing Arts opens in 2026, plaques produced by Stults will be installed on the back of every seat in the Great Hall.

Outside of WIU, Stults is deeply planted in the Macomb community. She is involved in Altrusa, Rotary International, the Macomb Public Library Board of Trustees, the Salvation Army, and the McDonough County Genealogical Society. She was also instrumental in establishing some of Macomb's most beloved traditions, including serving on the inaugural Heritage Days Steering Committee in 1982 and assisting in the initiating and implementing Dickens on the Square.

Stults is a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow, a 2024 Macomb Feminist Network Writing Women into History honoree, and the 2010 Town & Gown Award recipient. 

The Honorary Alumni Award is presented to an individual who is not a WIU graduate but who has provided exceptional service to the WIU community. Previous recipients include Larry T. Balsamo (2024); Steve Silberer (2023); Tate Lindahl (posthumously, 2022); Bill Howard (2021); Dr. Kenneth Wright (2019); LaVern McEntire (2018); C. Don Weston (posthumously, 2017); Jeff Mabrey (2016); Garry Johnson (2015); John Biernbaum (2014); Dan O'Neill (2013); Lisa Ward (2012); Al Goldfarb (2011); Gil Belles and Marion Blackinton (2010); Bob Anstine (2009); Jack Stites (2008); Bill Brattain (2007), Marilyn Johnson (2005); Donald Dexter (2004); Mark Martin (2003); Mel and Judy Kerr (2002); Charlene Callison (2001); Ed Holzwarth (2000); Donald S. Spencer (1999); Laura Kent Donahue (1998); Cathy Early (1997); Dick Miller (1995) and Dennis Iversen (1994).