2006 UMBC Alumni of the Year & Distinguished Service Award Winners

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 16:03:35 -0500
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Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University. Learn more about our past award winners.

Outstanding Alumna
Natural & Mathematical Sciences
Diane Auer Jones ’88, M.S. Applied Molecular Biology
In addition to a successful career as an entrepreneur, government policy maker and administrator at Princeton University, in November Jones was appointed Deputy Associate Director for the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. She also has served as an active member of the UMBC Research Park Corporation’s board of directors for the past eleven years.
Outstanding Alumnus
Humanities
Steven Eidelman ’73, American Studies
After serving for three decades as an advocate for people with disabilities – most recently as national executive director of The Arc of the United States – Eidelman last fall was named the University of Delaware’s first Robert Edelsohn Chair in Disabilities Studies, as well as a Senior Fellow at the university’s Center for Disabilities Studies. In his new position, Eidelman also develops leadership training programs for government and not-for-profit managers who support people with disabilities.
Outstanding Alumnus
Visual & Performing Arts
Billy Kemp ’95, Visual and Performing Arts – Music
An accomplished multi-instrumentalist and producer, Kemp received three nominations from the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) in 2004 including best producer. In 2003 Kemp produced Grammy-nominated and Wammy award-winning singer Debi Smith. He has been the composer for the regional Emmy award-winning Maryland Public Television series, “Outdoors Maryland,” since 1997. He has been adjunct faculty at UMBC since 1996.
Outstanding Alumna
Social & Behavioral Sciences
Lisa L. Dickerson ’78, Political Science
Prior to her appointment as the first African-American female Administrator for the Maryland Transit Administration in 2005, Dickerson served as Assistant Secretary for Equity and Economic Empowerment at the Maryland Department of Transportation, and before that garnered successes working as a congressional fellow in Washington and serving as vice president of a national telecommunications firm. During his time in office, President George H.W. Bush also appointed Dickerson to the prestigious Committee for Small Business and the Republican Council of 100.
Outstanding Alumna
Engineering and Information Technology
Donna Stevenson ’87, Information Systems
As head of Early Morning Software, Stevenson is one of only a few minority women CEOs of an IT company in Maryland and the rest of the United States. She remains an active volunteer at UMBC, most notably as a member of the Center for Women and Information Technology advisory board and a mentor-in-residence for the ACTiVATE program, which promotes entrepreneurship among women.
Distinguished Service Award
Michael L. Oster ’74, Economics
As chairman of the UMBC Economics Advisory Board since its inception in 2001, Oster has helped shape the council’s objectives, facilitate scholarships and internships for students and created many valuable connections for the University. An accomplished banking executive, Oster joined BB&T in 1999 as a regional president and became Maryland Group President in 2001. His time and talents also benefit the boards of a number of worthy organizations, many of them in his home, Carroll County.
Visionary Leadership Award
The Alumni Association Executive Board will present this special award to the Reginald F. Lewis Event Committee in recognition of their achievement in advancing the mission of the Alumni Association. The committee members are:
Kisha Matthews ’03
Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88
Devin Walker ’89
James Wiggins ’75
Gary Brooks ’79
Michael Sterling ’85
Juan Holcomb ’81
Crystal Watkins ’95