Stuart Receives U of I System’s Legislative Champion Award

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.— State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, has received the University of Illinois System’s Legislative Champion Award for her dedication to improving higher education for students, educators and administrators across the state of Illinois.

“It’s an honor to receive this award and a pleasure to bring my experience as an educator to the legislature as we work to improve higher education,” said Stuart. “While the federal government attacks higher education, especially in women-dominated fields, I’ll continue to ensure every Illinois student has access to the high-quality higher education they deserve.”

The award was presented by University of Illinois President Tim Killeen during a U of I System event recognizing the system’s growing presence and success in its Metro East extension offices. The Illinois Innovation Network is housed at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, showing increased collaboration between the two university systems.

“I’m proud that education— specifically higher education— is one of the issues I’m known to prioritize, but I can’t do it alone,” said Stuart. “I’m grateful to have strong relationships with higher ed advocates and administrators across the state because it takes all of us working together to make change happen.”

Just this spring, Stuart championed measures to ensure military members could resume their academic standing after their service (Senate Bill 3737), require more institutional responsibility to aid students in transferring their credits across institutions (Senate Bill 3720) and strengthen safety, academic freedom, and financial transparency on college campuses (House Bill 4304). She also supported legislation to protect full time media employees at state universities and updated laws to the private student loan data companies must report to the state.

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