CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Illinois International are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 International Achievement Awards.
The International Achievement Awards recognize outstanding alumni, faculty, and students whose exceptional work, service, and/or scholarship have made a significant, global impact.
The recipients will be honored at a private on-campus ceremony on April 28.
The Illinois International Graduate Achievement Award recognizes an Illinois graduate student (U.S. citizen or international) whose innovative and sustained international research or public service abroad has had a significant, societal impact.
This year, that graduate student is Ebubechukwu Uba, a doctoral student in the School of Information Sciences at Illinois.
She has demonstrated a strong commitment to and passion for her doctoral studies, and developed an innovative research agenda, building upon her experience as Founder of Step-Up Academy, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the information and technology literacy of underserved communities in rural Nigeria.
Uba founded Step-Up Academy in 2023 to advance digital literacy and learning opportunities for children and young adults in underserved and orphanage communities across Nigeria.
Through this work, Step-Up Academy aims to bridge the persistent educational and technological divides that limit access to quality education in rural and low-resource areas.
She has worked to design and implement digital learning programs that equip students and teachers with practical digital skills, using low-cost, contextually relevant technologies.
Projects have reached learners in multiple orphanage homes and rural schools through community- based workshops, mentorship programs, and digital literacy bootcamps.
On campus, Uba integrates her experience as founder of the Step-Up Academy into her doctoral research. Her dissertation builds on the important work she does by focusing on digital literacy and technology design equity in rural African contexts and explores how educational technologies can be co-designed and adapted to meet local needs.
Across her research, service, and entrepreneurial work, she demonstrates her commitment to advancing equity in education and technology through culturally grounded, community-driven approaches.