Born in Centralia, Illinois, the Honorable Roland Burris, shown in the image with Associate Dean Diane Taub, earned his B.A. in Political Science from SIUC in 1959. While at SIUC, along with other members of his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, Mr. Burris documented discrimination against African-Americans by Carbondale merchants, leading to university-led reforms. After graduating, he spent a year doing post-graduate work in Hamburg, Germany, as an exchange student, before returning to earn his law degree from Howard University in 1963.

From 1963 to 1964 Mr. Burris worked for the U.S. Treasury Department as a national bank examiner. From 1971 to 1973 he worked at Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, before joining the cabinet of then Illinois Governor Dan Walker as Director of the Department of General Services in 1973. From 1977 to 1978 he served as National Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Operation PUSH, People United to Save Humanity.

In 1978, he became the first African-American elected to a major political office in Illinois when he became Illinois Attorney General. Since leaving public office, he has worked as Counsel with the law firm Buford and Peters, LLC, in Chicago.

Mr. Burris has served on the SIU Foundation Board and in 1988 he received an Alumni Achievement Award. In 1997 he was named an SIU Distinguished Alumnus and received the Obelisk Award for Education and Community Service in 1999.

Mr. Burris' wife, Dr. Berlean Burris, holds a Ph.D. and several nursing degrees, and has taught nursing, as well as serving as Vice Provost and Director of the Chicago campus of National-Louis University. They have two adult children, Rolanda S. Burris and Roland W. Burris II.