“If the Capitol doesn’t look the way it looks today in 100 years, I haven’t done my job.”
Alumni Travel
Egypt & The Eternal Nile
—stephen ayers ’85
March 20–April 5, 2013
For more information about upcoming trips, visit alumni.umd.edu or contact Angela Dimopoulos ’07 at 301.405.7938 / 800.336.8627 or adimop@umd.edu.
alumni profile / michael ealy ’96
Ealy’s Second Act Is Comic Relief
Lori Beecher ’87 (right), longtime producer for Katie Couric, accepts the Philip Merrill College of Journalism Distinguished Alumna Award from world-class soprano and Professor Carmen Balthrop ’71 at the 12th annual Maryland Alumni Association Awards Gala in April. For a full list of honorees, visit alumni.umd.
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When Michael Ealy ’96 left for New York after graduation to pursue an acting career, his family took bets on how long he’d last, and no one guessed more than a year. Ealy won. The handsome native of Silver Spring, Md., has become known for strong secondary performances in film and TV dramas, and had his first starring role in the recent hit comedy “Think Like a Man,” based on radio personality Steve Harvey’s popular advice book. Ealy also shares top billing in USA Network’s new buddy cop sitcom “Common Law.” Ealy says the romantic, funnier characters are more like him, and he’s as thankful for the switch in roles as he is for steady work in a finicky industry. “What I do doesn’t cure cancer,” he says. “I know now that I don’t have to take it or myself so seriously. It’s been liberating.” Ealy has worked with top names, such as director Spike Lee and actors Will Smith and Taraji P. Henson, and landed roles on TV shows “Sleeper Cell” and “The Good Wife,” and the TV movie “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”
He didn’t always think his future lay in acting, though. An English major, he concentrated on African-American studies. Professors thought Ealy was on the verge of becoming the next Cornel West, the fiery black intellectual and activist. Ealy enjoyed the coursework and the professors who respected his perspectives, he says, and the result was “the best degree I could possibly get. I was just enthralled.” Then two childhood friends asked him to perform in their film after his sophomore year. He caught the acting bug and did some local plays. “I realized I was passionate about both [my studies and acting].” Once he earned his degree, Ealy felt he could risk “figuring out this dream.” Ealy, now a Los Angeles resident, says he’s been “blessed to make a lot of good decisions,” allowing him a life that includes attending red carpet movie screenings and being “Uncle Mike” to five godchildren. “I can fall asleep on the couch and no one takes pictures. No special treatment,” he says. “It’s nice.”–mab
Aaron McGruder ’98, creator of “The Boondocks,” the critically acclaimed comic strip and TV series, provided the opening animation sequence for “Think Like a Man,” through his company, Partner Rumble Studio. It depicts how courtship rituals have changed over time.
alumni profile / stephen ayers ’85
Capitol Conservator With just 10 Architects of the Capitol preceding him in American history, Stephen Ayers ’85 is in rare company. “It’s really an honor,” he says. “The scope of responsibility has expanded over the centuries. It grew from just one person designing and constructing in 1791 to the office today where I’m an administrator and leader working behind the scenes enabling the Congress and Supreme Court to carry out their duties.” Ayers oversees 2,600 employees and a $600 million budget and describes his job as threefold: to make sure Congress has the buildings and infrastructure it needs to do its business; to be a good steward of the nation’s heritage; and, through his role in several federal and city commissions and councils,
advise on historic preservation matters. “These are our nation’s treasures, and my job is to conserve them in a beautiful state for our future generations,” he says. “If the Capitol doesn’t look the way it looks today in 100 years, I haven’t done my job.” Ayers joined the office of the Architect of the Capitol in 1997 as assistant superintendent for the Senate office buildings. In 2010, he was nominated by the president and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to his current post. He is serving a 10-year term, which is renewable. In recent years, he has overseen the completion of the Capitol Visitor Center, opened in 2008, which provided the first educational opportunity for visitors coming to
Gala image by Mike Morgan / Ealy image by DeWayne Rogers / Ayers image by John T. Consoli
the Capitol, and the renovation of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. His major projects now include the restoration of the Capitol Dome, which includes repainting, resealing and repairing any damage it has sustained since its last restoration more than 50 years ago; an extensive renovation of the Cannon House Office Building; and an increase in sustainability across the buildings and grounds. An avid Terps fan—he has season tickets for football and basketball—he remembers his time at Maryland fondly, and he credits the weekly critiques he endured in the architecture school for giving him thick skin. “It serves me well in my job today,” he says.–ks
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