Alumni awards
Accepting nominations
The Alumni Council is currently accepting nominations for the 2027 Alumni Awards. Please submit your nomination by Dec. 31 to be considered for the following year’s awards ceremony.
The Earlham College Alumni Council gives up to three alumni awards each year to Earlhamites who have demonstrated excellence or achievement in a chosen career, and/or active service to Earlham College.
The Recognition Committee will review each nomination and make recommendations to the Alumni Council for final approval. Awards are presented at a ceremony held during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend.
The nominator may be contacted by the Recognition Committee for additional information. Nominations must be received by December 31 to be honored in the following year and will be considered for up to three years. The nomination will then become defunct unless renewed by the nominator or a member of the Recognition Committee.
2026 Honorees
The College is pleased to honor Brent Smith and Nancy Taylor with the Distinguished Service Award, Sally Abed ’15 with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award, and Mary “Shorty” Friedman Birenbaum ’61 and Georges Birenbaum ’63 with the Outstanding Alumni Award. Read their bios below.
Distinguished Service Award
Brent Smith and Nancy Taylor
Brent and Nancy arrived at Earlham in 1981 — Brent in biology and Nancy as a reference librarian and part-time art instructor.
Brent taught ecology and environmental courses while devoting thousands of hours to trail development and forest stewardship, helping shape the Earlham Nature Reserve System. Nancy moved into full-time fiber arts teaching, building the weaving studio from Runyan Center to Carpenter Hall and ultimately the Center for Visual and Performing Arts. Both chaired departments and served on major committees; Nancy also served as Clerk of the Faculty.
Experiential education was central to their work. Brent mentored small-group field research leading to independent studies, conference presentations, and student co-authored publications. Nancy emphasized collaborative learning in library research and studio practice and has published widely in fiber arts journals.
Nancy and Brent are grateful for their many opportunities to see and learn about the world with Earlham students, first on multiple August Mountain Wilderness trips, then in a career of off campus leadership. Nancy and Brent led 10 semester-long off campus programs, most to Kenya and Tanzania, and Brent led a great number of shorter student programs around the world. In retirement, they are continuing to explore the world, leading Earlham Alumni trips.
Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Sally Abed ’15
Sally Abed grew up in Mi’ilya, an Arab village in the western Galilee, and came to Earlham in 2011. She majored in economics and political science, graduating in 2015 before returning to her home country.
Upon her return, Sally became involved with the Standing Together movement, where she found both a platform for activism and a community aligned with her aspirations as a Palestinian citizen of Israel. By 2021, she had emerged as a leader within the organization, and in 2024 Sally was elected to Haifa’s city council as the first Palestinian woman to ever lead a represented joint slate in Israel.
Outstanding Alumni Award
Mary “Shorty” Friedman Birenbaum ’61 and Georges Birenbaum ’63
Mary “Shorty” Friedman Birenbaum ’61 and Georges Birenbaum ’63 met at Earlham College and have remained closely connected to the College ever since.
Shorty grew up near Philadelphia and entered Earlham directly after high school. Georges, a Holocaust survivor, emigrated from Belgium in 1957, learned English in night school, and enrolled at Earlham in 1959. After three years of study, he was accepted to the University of Kentucky College of Medicine despite having no high school diploma, college degree, or U.S. citizenship. Earlham later awarded him his bachelor’s degree.
Georges is a retired ophthalmologist who continues to perform sight-restoring surgeries worldwide with SEE International and Volunteers Without Borders. Shorty frequently serves as his operating room assistant. She has dedicated her life to volunteer leadership with the Girl Scouts and in Portland, Oregon, with Central City Concern and the Letty Owings Center, supporting pregnant women and new mothers.