Burks Oakley II

2022 Marcia Peterman ECE Award

In recognition of outstanding service to the ECE department and its students, faculty, and alumni.

Burks Oakley II is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  From 1997 until 2007, Oakley served as an Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois.  He was the founding director of the University of Illinois Online initiative, a program designed to facilitate the development and delivery of University of Illinois courses, degrees, and public service resources over the Internet.  While active as a faculty member and administrator, his areas of interest included distance education and educational technologies.  Through his innovative use of technology in teaching, Professor Oakley earned a national reputation as a practitioner and promoter of Internet-based learning environments.

Oakley received his B.S. degree from Northwestern University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan.  He has received numerous awards for his teaching and for his innovative use of technology in education, including the Luckman Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award from UIUC in 1993, the Outstanding Teacher Award from the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) in 1993, the Educom Medal in 1996, the Educational Activities Board Major Educational Innovation Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1996, the Meritorious Service Award from the IEEE Education Society in 1998, the Third Millennium Medal from the IEEE in 2000, the Engineering Alumni Society Merit Award from the University of Michigan in 2003, and the Sloan-C Award for the "Most Outstanding Achievement in Online Teaching and Learning by an Individual" in 2003.  He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Online Learning Consortium, a Fellow of the ASEE, and a former Vice President of the ASEE.

Prof. Oakley and his family named an ECE award that was established in 1994 and named a scholarship that was established in 1995. He is passionate about supporting undergraduate students in the department and stays in touch with many of them to this day.

Current as of 2023.