TERRY WELCH (’76) grew up in Springfield with a Republican father and a Democratic mother who enjoyed engaging the family in political debate. Studying political science at the U of I felt like “a natural next step.” He was on campus during the Watergate era, a particularly interesting time to take political science courses! After graduation, he went on to study law at the University of Houston and public affairs at the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin. He had interned in the Dallas city manager’s office during graduate school, but he decided he wanted to practice law in the...