Michael Olmert ’62, ’80 Ph.D.
Liz Lerman ’70
Manning Marable ’76 Ph.D.
Emmy Award-winning Writer
American Choreographer
Authority on African American History
Thanks to his ability to entertain while educating, Michael Olmert also has two Emmies on the mantle: one each for his writing on the Discovery Channel’s Allosaurus: A Walking With Dinosaurs Special (2001) and Walking With Prehistoric Beasts (2002). “When I write something, I feel privileged to give new information … If I think it’s cool, it goes in,” says Olmert, who teaches in Maryland’s Department of English.
Liz Lerman also teaches through her performances, inviting the young, old and marginalized to express themselves in dance—to use movement to highlight social issues. For her efforts, she has received numerous awards including a MacArthur Fellowship (commonly known as the “genius” award) in 2002 and the American Choreographer Award in 1989.
Columbia University professor, African American Studies scholar and activist Manning Marable uses words to lobby for social justice. In a 1999 edition of his syndicated column, Along the Color Line, he wrote,“Only a leadership that learns from the past is capable of articulating a vision for the future.” Through books, articles and his current work as an educator, Marable sets the curriculum.
Tobin Marks ’66
Raymond Davis ’37, ’40 M.S.
Russell Marker ’23*
World-renowned Chemist
Nobel Laureate (Physics)
Pioneering Chemist
As a chemistry researcher and professor at Northwestern University,Tobin Marks is also leaving his fingerprints on the future. “I smile inside when I see what students have learned,” he says. Marks’ professional awards are as diverse as his research, which has been used to enhance plastics, high-speed data transmission and anti-cancer drugs.
The Nobel Prize is the acme of science awards—Raymond Davis won his in 2002 for trapping solar neutrinos. Davis goes a long way for his groundbreaking research, analyzing lunar rocks from the Apollo missions and building his neutrino detector in a mine, nearly a mile beneath Barberton, Ohio.
*INDUCTED POSTHUMOUSLY.
Russell Marker only excavated a few inches for the yams that yielded his pioneering discoveries. By isolating chemical compounds in the tubers, Marker was able to help develop inexpensive oral contraceptives and cortisone medications that have eased the suffering of those with arthritis, fertility problems and kidney dysfunction.
A Home for Honorees The Phillip R. Rever Alumni Hall of Fame at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center was named after
Maryland’s most famous graduates. The hall is located outside Alumni Hall on the
Hall of Fame members will be exhibited permanently on the walls of the Rever Alumni Hall of
Class of 1964 graduate Philip Rever, whose
center’s first floor. Its exterior glass wall provides
Fame to enlighten and educate all who visit the
efforts as a member of the center’s development
plenty of natural light, allowing visitors to take in
Riggs Alumni Center. —MW
committee transformed the hall from an archi-
the view of the center’s Moxley Gardens.
For a complete list of Hall of Fame members, visit
tect’s drawing into a three-dimensional tribute to
Images and biographies of the university’s
www.alumni.umd.edu.
TERP SPRING
2005
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