Release date: Sept. 30, 2004

Three Alumni to Receive Emory Medal

Three of Emory University's most distinguished alumni will be honored during the university's annual Homecoming Weekend when they are presented the Emory Medal. Designed and first cast in 1987, the medal is Emory's highest alumni honor.

The three medalists for 2004 are: The Right Rev. Frank Kellogg Allan, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta; Michael Lucius Lomax, former chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and current president of the United Negro College Fund; and Donna Keesler Schwartz, arts patron and community volunteer.

Emory President James Wagner will present the medals during a special ceremony at 8 p.m., tonight, Thursday, Sept. 30 at the Miller-Ward Alumni House, 815 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta.

Honorees are recognized for their accomplishments in at least one of the following areas: Distinguished service to Emory, the Association of Emory Alumni or a constituent alumni association; distinguished community or public service; or distinguished achievement in business, the arts, government, education or other professions.

The recognition of distinguished alumni began in 1946 with the predecessor of the Emory Medal -- the Alumni Association Award of Honor. Since that time, more than 150 alumni have been honored.

2004 Emory Medal Recipients

• The Rt. Rev. Frank Kellogg Allan is a native of Indiana and grew up in Atlanta. He graduated from Emory College in 1956 and earned his master of divinity degree in 1959 from the School of Theology at the University of the South, where he also received a master's degree in sacred theology and a doctorate in divinity. He also received a doctor of ministry degree from Emory's Candler School of Theology in 1977.

He was appointed bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta in 1989, and served in that position until his retirement in 2000. Prior to his consecration, Allan was rector of parishes in Georgia and Tennessee. Allan has served on the board of trustees at the University of the South and the General Theological Seminary in New York, and is a fellow of the College of Preachers in Washington, D.C. For several years, Allan has taught liturgy and church history at the Candler School of Theology, and became the Episcopal bishop-in-residence in 2000.

Allan also is the founder and president of The Work of Our Hands, a nonprofit organization that aims to "give voice, discover gifts and build community through art." This organization provides staffing and funding for two inner city art centers that serve poor children, youth and adults and mentally disabled adults. The organization also sponsors "folk schools" for both children and adults in the north Georgia mountains. Allan conducts seminars, workshops and retreats on the relationship between art and spirituality.

• Michael Lucius Lomax was appointed president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund this year, the country's oldest African-American higher education assistance organization. He leads the organization in enhancing the quality of education by providing student financial assistance, raising operating funds for member colleges and universities, and increasing access to technology for students and faculty at historically black colleges and universities.

Lomax, who received his doctorate from Emory's Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts in 1984, has had a distinguished career in higher education. He served as president of Dillard University in New Orleans from 1997–2004, and also taught literature at Morehouse and Spelman colleges, Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia.

Lomax also had a long career in politics, serving as chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners from 1981-93. His volunteer activities include founding Atlanta's National Black Arts Festival and serving on the boards of the Studio Museum in Harlem, The Carter Center, the United Way of America and Teach for America.

President George W. Bush appointed Lomax to the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert appointed him to the National Museum of African American History and Culture Plan for Action Presidential Commission.

• Donna Keesler Schwartz graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Emory College in 1962. She and her husband, Marvin, were the driving force behind the creation of the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory. Although she majored in English, Schwartz took numerous art history courses, which were held in old Army barracks at the time, and was inspired by these classes to create an arts center at Emory. The 90,000-square-foot facility opened in 2003, and includes a world-class concert hall, a dance studio and a theater lab for the development of new works.

After graduating Emory, Schwartz worked in the art reference library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Following a three-year tenure at the Met, she moved to a career in public affairs for Standard Oil Company (now Exxon), including oversight of the company's extensive and renowned photographic library collection.

Schwartz now is an active patron of the arts in New York and has volunteered with many organizations, including tutoring programs, Planned Parenthood, and public and private school organizations. She also has served 10 years as an advocate for children within the family court system.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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