Alumni Hall of Fame
James D. Nowlan
James D. Nowlan, a native of Henry County Illinois, received his B.A. (1963), M.A. (1965), and Ph.D. (1973) degrees in political science from UIUC. Since leaving campus he has had a varied career as a public servant, political strategist, pundit, teacher/scholar, newspaper publisher and novelist. Before even completing his Ph.D. Nowlan ran for elective office: was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1968, at age 26. Four years later Governor Richard B. Ogilvie asked Nowlan to be his running mate as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, when they were narrowly defeated.
Because of his keen sense of Illinois politics, then-U.S. Senator Charles Percy asked Nowlan to manage his successful campaign for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 1978. The following year, U.S. Representative John B. Anderson asked Nowlan to organize his national campaign for the Republican nomination for President. Nowlan’s planning work for Anderson was described as "brilliant" in the Washington Post book, Pursuit of the Presidency. In addition to managing political campaigns, Nowlan has had a great deal of experience in managing governmental operations. He has directed Illinois state agencies on three different occasions and he has been a counselor to four Illinois governors: Ogilvie, Thompson, Edgar and Ryan. In addition to serving on the boards of a variety of nonprofit groups, he has also been president of the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois, an organization that provides tax and budget analysis for legislators and policymakers.
Nowlan has been on the faculty in political science and public management at the University of Illinois in both Urbana and Chicago, and also at Western Illinois University and Knox College. His book Inside State Government is considered by many to be required reading for executives in Illinois state government. Nowlan and Samuel K. Gove are the authors of Illinois Politics and Government: The Expanding Metropolitan Frontier, published in 1996 by the University of Nebraska Press as part of their series on major state governments. Nowlan is currently a Senior Fellow at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs.
In addition to his scholarly writing Nowlan frequently writes for daily newspapers throughout Illinois and is a periodic columnist for Crain’s Chicago Business. In the 1970s, Nowlan owned and operated a group of community newspapers in central Illinois. He published his first novel in 2000. The Itinerant is a story about a 1940s printer in small town America.
In recognition of his work in the public arena, Dr. Nowlan received the 1994 award for "distinguished leadership as a public administrator" from the Illinois state capital
chapter of the American Society for Public Administration, and the 1995 Ben C.
Hubbard Award for Leadership in Education from the Illinois State University College of Education.