Gallery of Trailblazers
Meet some University of Maryland Trailblazers
The people in this gallery are past and present leaders, advocates, activists and achievers from a range of fields and with a range of accomplishments. Learn more about how people apply their University of Maryland educational experience to enact real world change.
Dr. Graciela Palau de Nemes (M.A. '49, Ph.D. '52)
was a professor at the University of Maryland for over 35 years. She shaped the field of Latin American and Spanish literary studies and coordinated the candidacy of Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez for his 1956 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Dr. Kosali Simon (Ph.D. '99)
is a health economist and leading authority on health insurance and healthcare policy analysis who has been regarded as the “broadest economist alive”. Her work was referenced in the development of the Affordable Care Act, and she has provided some of the greatest research insights into its implementation and impact. In 2021 she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.
Dr. Jeanette Epps (M.S. '94, Ph.D. '00)
recently returned from life on the International Space Station (ISS) and is the second Black woman to do so. Epps has persevered through an extended delay in her spaceflight opportunity and finally took off for a 6-month rotation on the ISS as part of SpaceX Crew-8 on March 3, 2024.
Hon. Angela Alsobrooks (J.D. '96)
serves as a current U.S. senator representing the state of Maryland and a lifelong public servant dedicated to uplifting working families. Earlier in her career she was the first Black woman to serve as County Executive in Prince George's County and the youngest and first woman to be elected Prince George's County State's Attorney. serves as a current U.S. senator representing the state of Maryland and a lifelong public servant dedicated to uplifting working families. Earlier in her career she was the first Black woman to serve as County Executive in Prince George's County and the youngest and first woman to be elected Prince George's County State's Attorney.
Dr. Beth A. Haller (M.A. '91)
has dedicated her career to the intersection of disability and media. As co-founder and co-director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (GADIM), Haller strives to increase the visibility and inclusive portrayal of people with disabilities in the media.
Dr. SunAh M. Laybourn (Ph.D. '18)
is a sociology professor and Korean adoptee who studies the intersections of race, identity and belonging, especially for Asian Americans. She was a previous co-lead facilitator for the National Civil Rights Museum’s Unpacking Racism for Action program. In 2023 Laybourn launched the first ever Memphis Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Amie Ward (B.A. '05, M.A. '08)
is known nationally as "The Healthtender", the name of an organization she founded in 2015 to promote health, equity, and safety in the hospitality industry. She now serves as the executive director of Safe Bars, a nonprofit that trains alcohol-serving staff to intervene in dangerous or discriminatory situations.
Dr. Barbara Ann Williams (Ph.D. '81)
was the first Black woman to obtain a Ph.D. in astronomy, earning the terminal degree here in 1981. Williams’ work in radio astronomy helped deepen the scientific community’s understand of galactic structures and their evolution over time.
Cedric Nwafor (B.A. '18)
is a social entrepreneur and the founder of ROOTS Africa, a student-led organization that combats hunger, poverty and exclusion by connecting students and agricultural experts in the U.S. and Africa.
Riley Grace Roshong, Esq (JD/MPP '23)
is Assistant State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County, and she is changing the way politics engages with young voters by taking activism, campaigning and policy analysis to social media. She was central in passing the Trans Health Equity Act in Maryland in 2023.
Reverend Vashti McKenzie (B.A. '78)
is a preacher, journalist, author and activist blazing the trail for women of faith as the first woman leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Liz Lerman (B.A. '70)
is a pioneer in dance, choreography, and education whose work is grounded in the belief that dance is truly for everybody, constantly considering accessibility and inclusion. She developed the world-renowned Critical Response Process (CRP).
Dr. Chloe Schwenke (Ph.D. '02)
is a human rights scholar and activist, researcher, author and educator. She led the development of the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender Based Violence Globally.
Gayle King (B.A. '76)
is one of the best broadcast interviewers of all time, a co-anchor of CBS This Morning and editor-at-large for O: The Oprah Magazine. King was in the Times 100 Most Influential People in 2019.
Dr. Evelyn Pasteur Valentine (M.A. '67, Ph.D. '86)
was a giant in the Baltimore city public education system from 1962-1990, receiving the Maryland’s Teacher of the Year award and the University of Maryland College Park Alumni Association’s Ralph J. Tyser Medallion.
Aryan Rodriguez Bocquet (B.A. '00)
was appointed the first director of language access for the Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights at the age of 26 and now serves as Senior Managing Director for the educational advocacy group the Flamboyan Foundation.
Maria Otero (M.A. '74)
is a world leader in the world of global microfinance and financial inclusion. A Bolivian immigrant, Otero is the first Latina Under Secretary of U.S.
Dominique Dawes (B.A. '02)
was the first African American to make the national gymnastics team, the first African American to win an individual Olympic medal in women’s gymnastics, and a member of the first U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team in history to win gold.
Dr. Zohra Aziza Baccouche (Ph.D. '02)
was the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics in the state of Maryland and the first blind on-air correspondent for both CNN and PBS.
Dr. Bernice Resnick Sandler (Ed.D. '69)
is known as the “Godmother of Title IX” for her lifetime of work on equity for women in education.
Honorable Aisha N. Braveboy (B.A. '97)
is the current State's Attorney for Prince George's County, MD and a staunch advocate for policies that improve equity and dignity for marginalized people in her community.
Dr. Marilee Lindemann (faculty/staff '92-present)
was the inaugural director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program (2002-2013), pushing for the importance of queer studies and bringing awareness to the LGBTQ+ community.
Dr. Irma Aracely Quispe Neira (M.S. '21)
went from growing up in a Peruvian town with no electricity to becoming the first Latin American to command three successful NASA missions.
Learn more about Quispe
Elissa Washuta (B.A. '07)
is a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and an award-winning nonfiction author some regard as one of the best living essayists today. Her deeply personal work explores her experiences with mental health challenges, sexual violence, her native identity, and more.
Shige Sakurai (faculty/staff '10-'22)
blazes trails for non-binary people. They received the first ever X gender marker on their driver’s license in 2017, authored the website MyPronouns.org and founded International Pronouns Day.
Dr. Yousef Munayyer (M.A. ‘08, Ph.D. ‘15)
is a Palestinian-American writer and political analyst who has made and continues to make significant contributions to the discourse on Palestine, Israel, and the broader Middle East.
Dr. Chao Wu (Ph.D. '09)
is a senior data scientist, an engineer, and a Chinese-American immigrant who has dedicated his life to public service and improving his local community. He currently serves as a Maryland State Delegate for District 9A.
President Galo Plaza Lasso (B.A. '29)
worked tirelessly toward peace in Latin America and around the world, as well as the education and technological modernization of Ecuador. Plaza is regarded as one of the best political leaders in Ecuadorian history.
Dr. Ashley Minner (Ph.D. '20)
uses art and storytelling to share the stories of indigenous peoples in the United States. She works alongside tribal elders to map, reconstruct and archive the rich but invisible history of the Lumbee Indian Community in East Baltimore, MD.
Aaron Kaufman (B.A. '11)
is the first member of the Maryland General Assembly with a physical disability and a constant advocate for people with disabilities, as well as for equity issues in healthcare, education, and other areas. Kaufman was named Rookie Delegate of the Session in 2023.
Dr. D'Arcee Charington Neal (M.A. '19)
is an “award-winning queer disability activist, theorist, and consultant,” using storytelling to advocate for all marginalized communities’ rights, especially at the intersections of race, sexuality and ability.
Josh Schneider (B.A. '04)
is a national advocate for blind hockey, #17 on the USA Blind Hockey Team, and the Chief Operating Officer of The Dented Puck, a grassroots organization striving to expand blind hockey across the world.
Renaldo "Skeets" Nehemiah (B.A. '81)
set world records for multiple distances of hurdles, despite missing out on an Olympic run due to a U.S. boycott of the Games during the Cold War. He is also a Super Bowl Championship winner with the San Francisco 49ers (1982-1985).
Dr. Luke Jensen (faculty/staff '94-'21)
started as associate director of a music research center, and then founded the President’s Commission on LGBT Issues and what is now the LGBTQ+ Equity Center.
Dr. Manning Marable (Ph.D. '76)
was a renowned political science and history scholar who bridged scholarship and activism. Marable's most famous books are How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America (1983) and his revisionist biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (2011).
Dr. Jack Minker (faculty '67-'21)
founded the UMD Department of Computer Science and was committed to shedding light on the human rights violations against scientists around the world.
M Pease (B.S '22, M.S. '24)
is a social justice advocate whose work seeks to bridge science with advocacy and activism efforts that tangibly improve conditions for marginalized communities in the pursuit of social justice, equity, decolonization, and liberation.
Oula Alrifai (B.A. '11)
focuses on peace and development in the Middle East, with a special emphasis on Syria. As a current AVP for the National Immigration Forum, Alrifai works with national security and law enforcement leaders to prioritize immigration reform.
Dr. Aya Soffer (M.S. '92, Ph.D. '95)
has been one of the world’s leading experts on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for 30 years. She is now responsible for the global AI research strategy for IBM, as well as their research lab in Haifa, Israel.
Dr. Jeong H. Kim (Ph.D. '91)
began as a South Korean immigrant with few resources and worked his way up to become a tech industry giant with the first Asian-named building on campus and a place on the Forbes list of richest Americans.
Dr. Neela Vaswani (Ph.D. '06)
is an award-winning author and Grammy-winning audiobook narrator, and an education activist in the U.S. and India who utilizes the power of storytelling to promote literacy, activism and connection.
Captain Florent Groberg (B.A. '06, M.S. '17)
has dedicated himself to the cause of military veteran mental health after being injured in combat in 2012. In 2015 Groberg was the first foreign-born Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War.
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Aaron McGruder (B.A. '98)
is an influential cartoonist, writer and socio-political satirist, best known for creating the controversial and groundbreaking comic strip and animated series The Boondocks.