The University of Illinois Springfield honored Saul Morse, an attorney at the Springfield law firm Brown Hay & Stephens, with the University of Illinois Foundation’s William E. Winter Award for Outstanding Advocate Leadership during a Celebration of Philanthropy event on April 25, 2023, in the Student Union Ballroom.
Morse and his wife, Anne Morgan, are longtime supporters of the University of Illinois System and their local community. The passion for the System runs in the family. Morse, in addition to his son and daughter, all hold degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While he may not have graduated from the Springfield campus, he has the desire to make UIS an integral part of our community. He and his wife have established a scholarship at UIS to assist students who demonstrate financial need.
His legal practice focuses on matters related to governmental regulation, insurance, health care and municipal law. He has been practicing in the Springfield area for almost 50 years. He began his career as a hearing officer at the Illinois Commerce Commission and has worked in various state and federal agencies, law firms and corporate legal departments.
Saul served as an adjunct assistant professor at UIS for nearly 10 years. He taught a graduate-level course in the Legal Studies Department that covered confidentiality and privacy related to health care.
Throughout the years, Morse and Morgan have dedicated their time to serving on a variety of UIS committees. Being so involved with UIS, they recognized the need for a central gathering place for students and the community. They were strong supporters of building the Student Union and dedicated their gift to the Center for Volunteer and Civic Engagement.
While Morse may live in Springfield, he has great involvement with the entire
U of I System. He currently serves as a governing director of the University of Illinois Foundation Board of Directors and is the chair of the Membership and Governance Committee.
He was an instrumental part of the Reaching Stellar campaign committee where he served as co-chair along with Hy Bunn, president and CEO of Bunn-O-Matic Corporation. This was the largest fundraising campaign for UIS, raising a record-breaking $42.48 million.
Past UIS recipients of the William E. Winter Award include Karen Hasara, Mark and Julie Staley, Larry Shiner, David Farrell, Paul O’Shea, W. Robert Felker, Pamela McClelland, Cullom Davis (deceased), Bob Clary, Leonard Branson, Thom Serafin, Tom Marantz, Julie Kellner, Guerry Suggs and Michelle Suggs (both deceased); Howard Humphrey (deceased), James Lundquist (deceased) and Clifford Greenwalt (deceased).