From Helsinki, we flew north of the Arctic Circle to stay at the Kakslauttanen Resort in Saariselkä. Here, the hills were covered with evergreens and snow. We had the opportunity to interact with reindeer.Ěý We fed them handfuls of the aptly named reindeer moss, and they took us for a sleigh ride through the snowy night.Ěý

Lawrence’s Professor Megan Pickett accompanied us on our adventure.Ěý Her guidance enhanced our experience of the auroras, helping us to understand the processes behind their formation. She explained how events on the sun lead to space weather that affects Earth.Ěý We learned that the colors we see in the sky depend on the types of elements excited by particles from the solar wind and on their altitude in our atmosphere.Ěý

A tour bus ferried us to various sites where we were most likely to spot the aurora.Ěý We shared Minttu and Finnish chocolates as we waited for a break in the clouds.Ěý In the end, the best spot for us to see the northern lights was from our cozy bed in a glass igloo.Ěý

All along the way, our dedicated guide, Nancy, shepherded us safely and comfortably from place to place. She made sure that we understood the historical and cultural significance of each site.Ěý She regaled us with local folk tales, like the story of “Mighty Mikko.”  She stressed the role that saunas play, not only for health and relaxation but also for building and maintaining relationships.Ěý And, most of all, Nancy impressed upon us the importance of sisu, or determination, to the people of Finland.  

One of the final group activities on our trip required a bit of courage.Ěý It was a dog sledding excursion.Ěý Our spirited team of huskies needed no encouragement as they pulled our sled at a great speed and with great enthusiasm. They were not as inclined to stop, at least not until their job was done.Ěý Then they were ready for petting and rolling in the snow.

Even with all the amazing Finnish adventures, the best part of the trip was our tour group.Ěý We were a team drawn from different parts of the country and the world, but each traveler was very friendly and filled with curiosity.ĚýEach meal together led to fascinating discussions. The kindness of our group gave me the safety to try new things.ĚýAs a first-time attendee of a Lawrence trip, I would recommend it.

Career Achievement

Kim Sherman ’76,ĚýLucia Russell Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award: Kim Sherman’s music was recently highlighted in the GrammyÂŽ-nominated album ALIKE – My Mother’s Dream, but her path began with a college pamphlet.Ěý

“I saw the pictures on it, and I’m like, ‘That’s where I’m going,’” she says of Lawrence. Receiving this alumni award, she adds, is “a surprise… to be seen is very nice.”

At Lawrence, she studied piano, theory, and composition, experiences she credits with helping her find her creative voice. But it was the theater department that changed everything. A guest director from the Guthrie Theater came to campus to direct a play, and Kim composed the music. 

After graduation and a year studying with composer Thea Musgrave, that same director helped her land her first job. A Lawrence connection resurfaced years later when Rick Davis ’80 brought her to Baltimore Center Stage to compose for Hamlet. “That put me on a new level in the theater world. That’s a direct relationship from Lawrence.”

Her work, described as both “rhapsodic and lush” and “craggy and leap-about,” has appeared on concert stages, in opera houses, and in theaters. In 2025, her composition Invocation was featured on Allison Charney’s album Alike: My Mother’s Dream, which earned a Grammy nomination. 

“At this point in your life, to have this new world open up for you is pretty great.” 

Her work includes recordings, choral pieces, song cycles, and stage works such as O Pioneers!, Heartland, and Bluestem. She is artistic director of the Composers Institute, which runs a summer program at UW-River Falls for young composers, songwriters, and film and game music creators. She also works with New York’s 52nd Street Project, where children write original plays with songs. 

“The characters might be a pencil and an eraser having a fight,” she says. “It takes you to places you would not expect.” 

Her advice is simple: “Pay attention to who is around you. You never know.” 

Looking back, she still values the independence she found at Lawrence. “The Conservatory thought I should be taking harpsichord lessons instead. I was like, ‘No, I think I will do this other thing.’ The good news is that it was my choice.” 

Sara (Schlarman) Russell ’01, Nathan M. Pusey Distinguished Achievement Award:For Sara Russell, teaching is built on small moments that add up over time.

Sara first visited Lawrence as a high school junior. “It was a gross day. It was late November. It was snowy and rainy,” she says. But she remembers thinking, “This is where I am supposed to be. It just felt like home.”

She arrived planning to study government but switched to history. Near the end of her junior year, she took an education class on a whim and never looked back. She found a mentor in Professor Stewart Purkey.

“The best teachers I had were very much authentically themselves,” she says. “They weren’t trying to be someone they weren’t, and that really resonated with me.”

Her first job, in a small farming district in Iowa, was not what she expected. She taught special education and psychology, areas she had not been formally trained in.

“It was a real baptism by fire,” she says. “My first month, I cried nearly every day on the drive home. I was like, ‘What am I doing here? I am not fit to be here.’”

Over time, the experience reshaped how she teaches. 

“Now I’m so thankful,” she says. “It gave me a better appreciation of how different each learner is.”

In 2005, she moved to Pleasant Valley High School in Bettendorf, where she still teaches social studies today. Two decades later, in 2022, she was named Iowa Teacher of the Year. 

As part of that honor, she stepped out of the classroom for a year of service. She chose to visit all of the teacher preparation programs in the state, making it to every one except one, not for lack of trying. “My classroom became all of those college classrooms,” she says. 

Ask her why she teaches, and she points to her students. “I can brag on these kids all day,” she says. She co-advises “A Positive Place,” a student group that has helped create a Welcome Wall in multiple languages, a multi-faith space, hygiene supply boxes, and a name pronunciation audio system.

“Kids are amazing,” she says. “If you are ever feeling down, just spend a day with students.”

The ripple effect of education, she says, is incredible. “I have been in education now for over 20 years, and I run into 30-year-olds at Costco who say, ‘Ms. Russell? You were my history teacher.’ That impact is huge.”

She adds that teachers do not always see their influence in the moment. “You sometimes have to get a little distance from it to realize the effect you are having on others,” she says. 

Beyond her classroom, Sara mentors new teachers and supports professional development in her district. She holds two master’s degrees and serves on the University of Iowa REACH board, and she is active in the Iowa State Education Association. 

Outside work, she runs, loves live music, and travels with her husband, Ian ’01, and their twin sons.

When the alumni award letter arrived, she was stunned. “Lawrence was such a supportive, accepting place,” she says. “To be honored by Lawrence is really cool. I’m just so proud.”

Her advice: “Going out into the world and making an impact is not easy. It requires perseverance and grit.” But she adds, “Being able to have an impact on people every single day, I can’t think of anything better.”

Service to Society

Marylene Wamukoya ’01, Joseph F. Patterson Jr. ’69 Service to Society Award:Marylene Wamukoya often says, “In order to make any kind of change anywhere, you need information. You need data.” 

She is a PhD Fellow in Global Health Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, researching how reproductive events, from first period to menopause, shape a woman’s risk of multimorbidity later in life, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. 

“Globally, multimorbidity is more prevalent in women than men. We are losing women,” she says. “We need to find out why.”

Her work builds on more than 15 years of health and demographic research in Africa, much of it rooted in two slums in Nairobi. 

In one, many residents had moved for factory jobs. “They are not as poor as you think. They are employed,” she says. 

The other left a deeper mark. “The okay-ness with slum living really shook me,” she says, describing the sense of permanence, what it felt like people accepted as their future: “I will live here, and my family will live here, and my grandkids will also live here.” 

From that work came a clear insight. “People just want to matter. They also want to be counted.” 

In many places, births and deaths go unrecorded. “You don’t realize how important that document is until you try to get a passport, go to school, buy land, or open a bank account,” she says. “You just don’t exist without that paper.”

Her approach is simple: “I make data sing our songs.”

“If you are born in a slum and you don’t matter and you’re not registered, I am probably singing your song in some graph or table or publication,” she says. “You matter.” 

She also mentors others. “When you arrive here, you have a purpose,” she says. “Someone should invest in making sure that it is extracted from you before you leave.”

Marylene holds a Master of Public Health from Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts from ĚÇĐÄvlog, where she studied Chemistry and Spanish. â€œThose many hours in the lab taught me attention to detail. Spanish and art history taught me expansive thinking.” 

She says receiving the award, “confirms I am on the right path.”

When she is not making data sing, she sings herself, performing in choirs and playing drums, kayambas, and tambourines. She also weightlifts and is planning to create 12 handmade blankets for a children’s hospital in 2026 through knitting, crocheting, and sewing, and hopes others will join her.

Susan (Susie) Medak ’76, George B. Walter ’36 Service to Society Award: Susie Medak never planned this path. She arrived at Lawrence thinking she would become a dentist. Three months later, she changed course. 

“I have to be in theater,” she told her sister. 

She tried acting, then realized it was not going to be her career. A classmate, David Haugland ’73, introduced her to theater management. “It had never crossed my mind that there was a career like that.”

She met two of the most important people in her life at Lawrence: her lifelong friend Sue Cook ’76, and David Hawkanson ’69, a mentor who became her greatest sponsor. 

During her sophomore year, Hawkanson offered her a job at the Guthrie Theatre. “You idiot,” he said. “Quit school and come up here.” She did. 

Lawrence faculty supported her, and she finished her degree later, graduating with eight job offers. “I’ve never written a resume in advance of a job in my life.”

She went on to a 32-year run as Managing Director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, helping build major facilities and programs, including the Roda Theatre, the Nevo Education Center, and the Medak Center, a 45-unit artist housing complex named in her honor. 

Her leadership philosophy traces back to a government class with Professor Lawrence Longley, who required students to attend city council meetings. “I can still remember sitting in that chamber, watching democracy in action,” she says. “It taught me that if you want to lead a cultural organization, you have to be part of the community.” 

Mentorship has remained central to her work. For 20 years, she hosted Yale drama students. During the pandemic, she began weekly calls with former students, which still continue every other week. 

At her retirement, the technical crew at Berkeley Rep threw her a party. Two longtime colleagues pulled her aside to share news of a pregnancy. “That felt like the award,” she says. “They named a building after me, but that was the thing that really sticks out for me.”

As an executive coach, she compares her work to dentistry. “You tap around with that sharp little device, poking for the soft spot. When you hit it, that’s where you’ve got to work.”

Receiving the alumni award, she says she was surprised. “I’m a little shocked. I have done nothing for the campus in 50 years to speak of. But it’s lovely to be recognized.” 

Her advice to current students: “Learn everything you can. Don’t get precious. The more you know, the more you have to offer.” 

She says Lawrence did not demand that everyone be a leader, “but if you wanted to be one, there was so much opportunity.”

And after 50 years: “I just have the best life.”

Service to Lawrence

Alison Guthrie ’86, Gertrude Breithaupt Jupp M-D ’18 Outstanding Service Award: For more than 36 years, Alison Guthrie has taught music to students of all ages. She runs her own music school, mentors teachers, and helps students discover abilities they did not always believe they had. She continues to refine her teaching, pursing the highest level of instruction she can offer. 

She holds memberships in MTNA, WMTA, WFMC, and MMTA, has served in leadership roles across multiple music organizations, and currently sits on the board of PianoArts Milwaukee. She adjudicates competitions, performs, and stays deeply active in the field.

Lawrence gave her something she did not have at the start: belief. 

“It shaped me in learning to believe in myself, in my capacity to succeed at things,” she says. “It helped me push myself out of my comfort zone.” 

That mindset never left. 

“In all that I do, I try to apply the belief that I can do something. Just roll up your sleeves and dig in.”

She still thinks about her teachers. Piano instructor Ted Rehl taught her to play artistically. Professor George Damp saw something in a shy student she had not yet seen in herself. “He was very kind and gentle with me,” she says, “and recognized where I had gifts. One of them was teaching”

Freshman Studies also left a mark. “My teacher just ripped me apart,” she remembers. “And it helped me be much more intentional about what I say and how I write it.”

After graduation, Alison eventually reconnected with Lawrence through alumni involvement. “I heard myself say yes and then thought, ‘What have I done?'” 

She served on the Alumni Board and eventually became co-chair. Her committee, Connecting to Campus, organized a speed-dating-style event where students met alumni for career advice. 

During a difficult stretch in the Conservatory, students reached out, not for answers, but for someone to listen. “I really enjoyed just hearing what their struggles were and what their vision and dreams were,” she says.

Some friendships from Lawrence have lasted decades. This year is her 40th reunion, and her best friend from freshman year is still close, even though they live in different states.

What she didn’t expect was how returning would change her perspective. 

“Old wounds have been healed,” she says. “I went from not wanting any connection to the university to a complete evolution.” 

Now she uses her own difficult experiences to help students going through similar challenges.

The alumni award caught her off guard. “I don’t know why I was picked, but I am very grateful,” she says. “I do not like to stand out. I like to just do the work. The fact that someone noticed me means a lot.”

When she’s not teaching or performing, she enjoys cooking, reading, and gardening.

Stephen Rodriguez ’01, Marshall B. Hulbert ’26 Outstanding Service Award:Stephen Rodriguez’s path to university advancement began at Lawrence, where he worked in student phonathon, calling alumni. “People actually answered their phones in the late ’90s,” he says. “I probably talked to thousands of alumni and parents. That really began my career in philanthropy.” 

What started as a campus job grew into a 25-year career in fundraising and leadership, taking him from Berklee College of Music, where he worked during its first comprehensive campaign, to roles at Boston University, MIT, Phillips Academy, and Harvard. He now serves as Vice President of Development at Brandeis University.

At Lawrence, he still remembers the “Con couches,” what he calls “the living room of the Conservatory,” where students gathered before and after rehearsal. One of his key mentors there was saxophone professor Steve Jordheim. 

“He taught me how to think about practice, how to think about honing your craft, and how to embrace limitations and failures,” Stephen says. 

Early in his freshman year, Jordheim paused a lesson when he was unprepared. “He simply said, ‘You know, Stephen, I think for the next 15 or 20 minutes you should go to a practice room. Then you can come back.’ It was the nicest way of saying, ‘You’re unprepared. Don’t let that happen again.’” 

That moment stuck with him and shaped his approach to growth beyond music.

Stephen stayed connected to Lawrence through volunteer work, including the Alumni Board and admissions efforts in Boston. He is currently serving on his 25th reunion committee.

“It is all about the people,” he says.

Looking back on receiving the award, he calls it unexpected. “I feel honored that someone noticed that I’ve been involved,” he says. “That recognition is really meaningful.” 

When he told his son, “Your dad is going to get an award,” it made him feel, as he says, “cool that he was excited about it.”

“Lawrence is an amazing place,” he says. “Not because of its geography, but because of its magnetic power to bring together people who are smart, hardworking, want to learn, want to push themselves, and are just good human beings.”

Honorable Mentions In addition, and new to this year, we are also honoring alumni who were top candidates for awards with an honorable mention. These extraordinary individuals are all making a positive impact on those they come into contact with every day and the larger community as a whole. 

David Kirchman ’76Kelly Senecal ’95Lori Hilt ’97 

Gary Springer ’76Sarah Johnson Campbell ’97 

Tony Ohlhausen Smith ’16 

Lyndsay Sund ’01

The Reunion Convocation included the annual presentation of class gifts.ĚýThe Class of 1975, celebrating its 50th reunion, led the way as its members announced gifts to Lawrence of $6.2 million. The Class of 1985 announced gifts totaling $3.4 million, the cluster of 1989-90-91 $724,849, the Class of 2000 $171,626, the cluster of 2009-10-11 $68,647, and the Class of 2015 $13,876.

In all, more than $10.5 million was pledged to Lawrence—some of it for the Lawrence Fund, which supports operating expenses in everything from academics and study abroad to facilities maintenance and athletics, and some of it earmarked for specific uses.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is thanking Lawrentians for their investment in this university,” Carter said. “Your time, talent, and resources make this university truly extraordinary.Ěý Lawrence thrives because of your leadership and support. On behalf of our entire community, thank you for these very generous class gifts.” 

New LUAA president

Margaret “Maggie” Schmidt ’12 was meeting with alumni throughout the weekend as the new president of the ĚÇĐÄvlog Alumni Association (LUAA). She leads an LUAA Board that represents an alumni community more than 22,000 strong. She encouraged her fellow Lawrentians to look forward as much as backwards as they reconnect with campus.

“Renew connections with classmates, with friends, and with Lawrence, too,” Schmidt said. “Lawrence has physically changed since many of us were students. Take the time to embrace how Lawrence is continuing to evolve as higher education evolves. Make time to build new connections with alumni outside your class, with current students, and with faculty.Ěý I guarantee you will meet some amazing people and learn something new, and maybe even unexpected.”

Schmidt, a civil rights attorney and educator, succeeded Matt Murphy ’06 as LUAA president.

She encouraged alumni to pay it forward, supporting the university in ways that make enrollment more affordable for future students and the Lawrence experience more vibrant, enriching, and vital. It comes at a time when the higher education landscape is rapidly changing.Ěý  

“Great things are happening at Lawrence—have you seen Fox Commons and West Campus?—and our investments are critical to the continued success and vitality of the college and our community,” Schmidt said. “The moral of the story—connect, engage, pay it forward, and celebrate. Whether you share your story in the classroom, as a volunteer, or through your philanthropy, there is a role for everyone.”

Parade of Classes

The Convocation was preceded by the annual Parade of Classes, one of the great traditions of Reunion. Members of each celebrating class walk the sidewalk together as they approach Memorial Chapel, stopping to have their group photo taken.Ěý

Ted Katzoff ’65, celebrating his 60th reunion, led this year’s parade.

Ode to Minoo Adenwalla

Glen Johnson ’85 returned for his 40th reunion. He did so still thinking of Minoo Adenwalla, the longtime Lawrence professor who died Jan. 5, 2025.

Johnson, a former reporter for the Associated Press and Boston Globe ˇÉłó´ÇĚý from 2013 to 2017, calls Adenwalla his “favorite professor.” He maintained a close relationship with him to the end. Shortly before returning for Reunion,Ěý.

“It’s fair to say I never had a better or more impactful teacher,” Johnson wrote. “And it’s also without doubt I was extremely lucky to have him remain interested in my life and career until almost the day he died at age 97.”

Johnson would maintain a friendship with his former professor that spanned 45 years: “Minoo helped me through my studies, time overseas, career advancement, and development as a reporter and writer. He taught me much about friendship and loyalty, including the simple act of staying in touch and the loosening effect of single-malt Scotch.”

Tours of old and new

Tours were part of the weekend experience. In the full campus tour, alumni got a chance to revisit old haunts while getting up-to-speed on all that’s changed since they walked the campus as undergraduates.Ěý

There also were guided tours of two new developments—Fox Commons and West Campus.

Fox Commons is a downtown Appleton redevelopment project that’s been ongoing since 2023. Lawrence is a long-term tenant in Darkhorse Development’s reimagining of the former City Center Plaza. Lawrence joins gener8tor, a business startup accelerator, Mosaic Family Health, and Prevea Health in the redeveloped mixed-use space that is now a centerpiece of the city’s rapidly evolving downtown. The third floor of the development, featuring a Pre-Health Commons and student apartments, will be open when students return for Fall Term 2025. The opening follows the unveiling last fall of the Business and Entrepreneurship Center and the first grouping of student apartments, all on the second level.Ěý

West Campus, meanwhile, is a four-story building at the corner of E. College Avenue and Drew Street on the western edge of Lawrence’s campus—housing the Trout Museum of Art on the first floor, Lawrence academic spaces on the second floor, and apartments on the upper two floors. It is set to open in time for Fall Term. The teaching spaces and technologies on the second floor will elevate collaboration across campus and with the wider community and will strengthen the humanities curriculum, Conservatory programming, and the teaching in math, computer science, and data science.

Alumni Awards

Seven Lawrentians were honored with LUAA’s annual Alumni Awards—Katherine (Wroblewski) Diop ’00, Rebecca Doyle-Morin ’00, Michael Johnson ’75, Marjorie Liu ’00, Steven Wereley ’89, and Charles ’75 and Janice ’75 Woodward. Read more about the recipients here.

Diop, who was unable to attend, was presented with the inaugural Joseph F. Patterson Jr. ’69 Service to Society Award, honoring the legacy of the late Joseph F. Patterson Jr. ’69, whose leadership and advocacy led to the establishment of the LU Black Alumni Network (LUBAN).ĚýPatterson family members were in attendance.Ěý

Each of the honorees received a special medallion designed by Lexi Ames ’17, a studio art and biology double degree graduate. The design was inspired by the original medallion presented in 1956 and celebrates the rich history and tradition of the awards.

“Alumni Awards reflect the college’s deepest held values and are given to alumni who have made outstanding contributions and achievements in a career field, provided exceptional service to their alma mater, and have gone above and beyond to serve their communities on the local, national, and international level,” Schmidt told the gathered alumni. “Recipients are nominated by you and selected by the Alumni Association Board of Directors.”

Alumni College

It was back to the classroom for many of the alumni as they sat in on Alumni College presentations delivered by Lawrence faculty or fellow alumni.

Timothy X. Troy ’85, the J. Thomas and Julie Esch Hurvis Professor of Theatre and Drama and professor of theatre arts, presented a session that detailed how he used a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2022-23 to research and write a play in Ireland about Dan Stapleton, an Irish revolutionary whose covert actions before and during the Irish War of Independence (1919-21) are mostly unknown outside of his family.

He told those gathered in the Warch Cinema that during an earlier teaching assignment in Ireland he struck up a friendship with Stapleton’s great-granddaughter, Lucy. She eventually shared the family stories of Stapleton’s heroics—a mild-mannered pharmacist by day and an explosives operative by night. It’s a story that hadn’t been told in any significant way, and Troy set out to tell the story, researching it during the first half of his year-long stay in Kilkenny, then writing it and eventually bringing it to a staged reading after returning to Lawrence.

The title, Run with the Hare (…and Hunt with a Hound), Troy said, is a reference to Stapleton’s double life.

He called the Fulbright Scholar experience one of the most fulfilling adventures of his academic career. In addition to teaching and developing the play, the year in Ireland delivered new insights on his own family’s Irish history.

Other faculty who presented Alumni College sessions included Kurt Wilson, assistant professor of anthropology,Ěýon the relationship between humans and their environment in the Central Andes, Greg Milano, assistant professor of history,Ěýon global history explored through coffee, and Allison Fleshman, associate professor of chemistry and co-owner of McFleshman’s Brewing Co.,Ěý.Ěý

Alumni presenters included Brienne Colston ’15 on being a values-driven leader; Megan Walsh ’00, a visiting assistant professor of law and director of the Gun Violence Prevention Law Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School, on the Second Amendment; Najja Gay ’15, a quality control microbiologist, on microbial contamination; and Terry Holt ’75, an emeritus professor of geriatric medicine and teaching professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, on narrative medicine.

Scott is an accomplished actor of stage and film who first rose to prominence in 1990, seven years after graduating from Lawrence, when he starred in the groundbreaking film Longtime Companion, netting him a feature in Rolling Stone and a bevy of new film offers. He has since crafted an impressive career as an actor and director, starring in such films as Dying Young, Singles,ĚýThe Amazing Spider-Man,ĚýRoger Dodger, Secret Lives of Dentists,Ěýand Jurassic World Dominion,Ěýand the television series Royal Pains. Most recently, Scott starred in Millers in Marriage (2024) and is in the upcoming comedy, Nonnas (2025).

On the directing front, Scott teamed with Stanley Tucci in 1996 to direct Big Night, winning both the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best New Director. Other directing credits include Off the Map ˛š˛ÔťĺĚýCompany Retreat.

Lawrence previously honored Scott in 1998 with its Nathan M. Pusey Distinguished Achievement Award, and he later served on the Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2008.

Scott is the son of acting royalty—his parents are the late George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst. His mother attended Milwaukee-Downer for two years before embarking on her acting career.Ěý

Scott has often said he didn’t fall in love with acting until he was an undergraduate at Lawrence. His parents never pushed him into the business.

“We never talked about it, really; I went to school to be a teacher and started acting in college,” Scott told Interview magazine in 2011. “Neither of them talked about craft; they were pretty instinctual. I learned, especially from my mother, to respect the profession and take it seriously, but not take yourself too seriously.”

Scott told The Lawrentian in 2002 that his student experience at Lawrence set him on an unexpected path in theater and film.

“When I first got here, I didn’t even approach the theater area,” he said. “My senior year, I was directing, writing, and I was comfortable over there, and I loved it.”

Scott will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree during Commencement.

Robert McDonald

McDonald has been a sought-after pianist for decades, performing in concerts and presenting masterclasses around the world. He has performed and recorded with Isaac Stern and Midori, as well as with numerous high-profile ensembles.

He is on the faculty at The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he holds the Penelope P. Watkins Chair in Piano Studies. He has been the recipient of the gold medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition, the top prize at the William Kapell International Competition, and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award. In addition to being the artistic director of the Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico, he has participated in the Bergen, Lucerne, and Salzburg festivals in Europe, the Four Seasons, Marlboro, and Brevard festivals in the United States, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, as well as at the Banff Center in Canada and the Music Academy of the West.

McDonald holds degrees from Lawrence, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Juilliard. He has taught at Juilliard since 1999 and the Curtis Institute since 2007. He was honored by Lawrence in 1990 with the Nathan M. Pusey Distinguished Achievement Award and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music in 2018.

In advance of a 2022 performance at Bowling Green State University, McDonald talked about how his Lawrence experience prepared him for what was to come. It was the first time, he said, that he had role models for a life in music.

“The Lawrence experience set me on the right path,” he said.

He continues to stay connected to Lawrence. When the Conservatory of Music took its 150-year celebration to New York City during the recent spring break—11 students spent four days in NYC attending masterclasses, one-on-one sessions, and performing at Manhattan School of Music—McDonald was among the alumni working with the students.Ěý

“I found my time with Robert McDonald to be the highlight of the trip,” sophomore Isaac Epley said. “His experience teaching at the piano was fascinating and inspiring.”

McDonald will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degree during Commencement.