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Winter 2024

Testudo turtle mascot with open arms. Vintage mascot photos in background

Features

January 12, 2024
From Turtlenappings to TikTok Shenanigans, How an Unassuming Reptile Evolved to Represent Terp Spirit
rainbow turtle, turtle with pink and light blue pattern, "Support #TransTerps" pin. "Debilitating Queerness", "they" pin

Features

January 16, 2024
Twenty-five years ago, the LGBTQ+ Equity Center opened to support queer Terps who felt invisible, isolated and harassed. Some of the founders recount its humble start and hard-won victories.
View of low, tan buildings against a large sky. Dessert terrain.

Features

January 12, 2024
American Indians have long been denied fair access to homes, health care, schooling and jobs. For Joseph Kunkel M.Arch. ’09, the mission to change that is personal.
Gold star on red backgroud

Post-Grad

January 12, 2024
The Alumni Excellence Awards
McKeldin Mall at sunrise

Parting Shot

January 12, 2024
Testudo Watches Over McKeldin Mall From Perch of Nearly 60 Years
"Testudo II" wheels near stands at football game

Post-Grad

January 12, 2024
An ‘Underexposed’ Photo of UMD History
Alex Kin ’08 and Sarah Tostanoski ’09 on wedding day

Post-Grad

January 12, 2024
Alums Celebrate Wedding at Homecoming Tailgate
Cheese board with M in middle; Kara McGrath inset portrait

Post-Grad

January 12, 2024
5 Tips for Making a Board Bursting With Flavor and Color
Zebrafish stamp

Post-Grad

January 12, 2024
Image Chosen by Postal Service Opened New Avenues to Treat Brain Diseases
Bonnie Bernstein portrait and "She Got Game: Inspiring Women, Inspired by Sports" illustration

Post-Grad

January 12, 2024
Sports Journalist’s Podcast Links Women’s Success in Careers to Experiences on the Field and Court
John Kelly at desk

Post-Grad

January 12, 2024
Departing Washington Post Columnist Shares 20 Years of Family Tales, Reader Favorites
three people sit on stage at PROGRESS launch

Explorations

January 12, 2024
Initiative to Offer Research, Solutions to National Crisis
group installs Mesonet tower

Explorations

January 12, 2024
Maryland Mesonet to Provide Early Weather Warning in a Changing Climate
adult and baby bald eagles in nest

Explorations

January 12, 2024
Bald Eagle Expert Joins Legendary Explorers Club Honorees
Arlington House perched atop Arlington National Cemetery

Explorations

January 12, 2024
At Robert E. Lee’s Former Residence, Researcher Opens Door to Overlooked Legacies

Class Notes

News on Friends and Classmates

See all Class Notes from this issue

Passings

Jackson Yeager ’52, ’59

Jackson Yeager ’52, ’59 died on Dec. 14, 2023, in Silver Spring, Md. He was 98. Yeager attended Montgomery Blair High School and earned degrees in German and electrical engineering at UMD. He served in the U.S. Navy and worked for McGraw Hill Publishing…

10s

Monica McNutt M.Jour. ’13

Monica McNutt M.Jour. ’13 became the primary New York Knicks radio analyst, calling most of the team’s games on 98.7FM ESPN New York. She continues her duties as a pre- and postgame analyst for select MSG Networks’ Knicks telecasts.
Steve Elliott headshot

00s

Steve Elliott MFA ’03

Steve Elliott MFA ’03 was named president of Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D. He was previously vice president of academic affairs at Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb. He held various positions there, including faculty member, department…
Joseph B. Gildenhorn headshot

Passings

Joseph B. Gildenhorn ’51

Joseph B. Gildenhorn ’51, of Washington, D.C., a lawyer, real estate developer and former U.S. ambassador to Switzerland who supported the performing arts at the University of Maryland and established its Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel…

70s

Daniel Goldberg ’70

Daniel Goldberg ’70 joined the Institute for Defense Analyses as an adjunct research staff member in its Systems and Analyses Center. He earned his master’s degree in Soviet and East European studies from the George Washington University and is a member…
Vernon Mason Briggs Jr. headshot

Passings

Vernon Mason Briggs Jr. ’59

Vernon Mason Briggs Jr. ’59 of Ithaca, N.Y., died on Oct. 1, 2023, after a short illness. He was 86. Briggs was president of his senior class at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and at UMD, where he majored in economics and received the Algernon Sullivan…
David Stern Kimmel headshot

Passings

David Stern Kimmel M.Ed. ’65

David Stern Kimmel M.Ed. ’65 died Nov. 14, 2023, at his Bowie, Md., home at age 87. He was born in Gray, Pa., and served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1957. Kimmel earned a bachelor's degree in education from the California University of Pennsylvania and…

70s

Pia Marie Winters Jordan ’78

Pia Marie Winters Jordan ’78 wrote the book “Memories of a Tuskegee Airmen Nurse and Her Military Sisters,” focusing on the years during World War II when up to 28 Black women from the Army Nurse Corps—including her mother—staffed the station hospital on…