DRES Presents Harold Scharper Awards
The Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services presented two of its alumni with 2011 Harold Scharper Awards,
named for the first person with a disability to attend the University of Illinois. The recipients were honored in a ceremony
held on September 30.
Harold Scharper Achievement Award
Yusef A. Dale
Federal Prosecutor
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Yusef Dale holds two degrees from the University of Illinois—a Bachelor of Science in Corporate Finance, which he completed in
1993, and a law degree, which he completed in 1996. He is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office in
Chicago. As a member of the financial crimes and special prosecutions section, he investigates and prosecutes such federal crimes
as narcotics and firearms trafficking, wire and mail fraud, corporate and securities fraud, bank robberies, and bank embezzlement.
Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he was an Assistant Regional Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel of the Social
Security Administration.
Harold Scharper Humanitarian Award
James W. Gallo
Managing Partner
Gallo Associates LLC
James Gallo is a managing partner of Gallo Associates, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, and acting CEO of Specialty Finishing Group
in Elk Grove Village. He earned his undergraduate degree in Accounting at the University of Illinois, and his master’s degree in
Journalism at Northwestern University. He had an award-winning career in wheelchair sports for 26 years, retiring in 2007. In 1989,
he led the Wheelchair Bulls in starting an annual event for children with disabilities. In the early 1990s, he founded a scholarship
at the University of Illinois that recognizes student-athletes with disabilities who demonstrate commitment to community service,
academic excellence, and wheelchair athletics.