Alumni Awards

Each year, Friends School is proud to honor alumni who have distinguished themselves with outstanding professional and personal achievements and those who have loyally dedicated their time and service to the School.

Reminder: Graduates are nominated in years in which they are celebrating a Reunion. This year we will be celebrating reunion classes that end in 1 and 6.

2026 Alumni Award Recipients

2026 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

Barbara Entwisle ’71

Barbara is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Fellow of the Carolina Population Center, with additional adjunct and affiliate faculty positions in Geography and the Environment, Energy, and Ecology program. Her current research examines migration processes across the life course, focusing on how household dynamics and community contexts shape patterns of mobility and immobility in different regions of the world. She also studies population health by linking electronic health records with U.S. Census Bureau data to better understand the social determinants of health. Barbara previously served as Vice Chancellor for Research at UNC Chapel Hill from 2010 to 2016, overseeing a campus-wide research program with nearly $1 billion in annual expenditures and supervising numerous research centers and support offices. Earlier, she directed the Carolina Population Center from 2002 to 2010. Since returning to full-time faculty in 2016, Barbara has published influential work on topics such as climate change and migration, energy poverty and mobility in Southern Africa, life-course determinants of migration, and health inequalities. Her contributions to sociology and demography have been recognized through leadership roles and honors, including serving as President of the Sociological Research Association and the Population Association of America, and being elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A dedicated mentor, she has supervised numerous doctoral and postdoctoral scholars and received multiple awards for mentoring and teaching.

Click here to learn more about Barbara, her work and publications.

Lisa Corinne Davis ’76

Lisa is a Brooklyn-based painter best known for paintings and works on paper that resemble multilayered maps with encoded narratives. She says her practice explores the complex relationship between “race, culture and history” and, with it, ideas about classification and contingency, the rational and irrational, and chaos and order. Lisa received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MFA from Hunter College. Her paintings have been exhibited across the United States and in Europe and have been received positively by the press including The Telegraph, Art News, Art in America, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Hopkins Review, The New York Times and The Brooklyn Rail. Lisa is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, and three Artist Fellowships from The New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2017, she was inducted as a National Academician at the National Academy Museum & School. Lisa is a renowned professor, having taught at the Yale University School of Art, and currently as Professor of Art, and Co-Director of the MFA, at Hunter College. She has lectured widely on her work and other art-related subjects, and her essays on art and culture have been published in several magazines.

Click here to learn more about Lisa, her work and upcoming exhibits.

2026 Outstanding Alumni Service Award Recipient

Dahira Lievano-Binford ’81

Dahira’s enduring commitment to Friends School reflects a deep belief in the power of community and lifelong connection. For 18 years she has served as Alumni Class Secretary for the Class of 1981, fostering meaningful engagement among classmates and strengthening ties between alumni and the School. Her eight years of service on the Alumni Association Board further demonstrate her commitment to advancing Friends’ mission through alumni volunteerism. In addition to these roles, Dahira has contributed her time and energy to numerous Phonathons, reunion planning, and alumni giving initiatives, helping to cultivate a culture of generosity and sustained involvement. Her service extends beyond alumni engagement, having also served on the Friends School Parents Association Board. Through nearly two decades of consistent volunteerism, Dahira has played an instrumental role in building relationships, encouraging participation, and reinforcing the strong bonds that define Friends School.
 

2026 Honorary Alumni Award

Thomas Binford

Tom, or as many people around campus know him, Señor Binford, has been a cornerstone of the Friends School community for the past 37 years. He started teaching at Friends back in 1988, then met his wife Dahira (who happens to be a Friends School alum), sent his children to Friends, and even after retirement can still be found at a local alumni event. One might think that Señor Binford is already an alum given the circumstances! Tom taught at Friends for 36 years and touched the lives of many in the community with his expertise and passion for lifelong learning. His dedication to the Spanish program, leadership in cultural immersion trips (he was a part of 17!), and guidance to clubs like UNICEF and Hunger Committee have inspired generations of students. Additionally, Tom has made it a point to stay involved with Friends alumni and has always been willing to attend receptions and events, whether in New York, Boston, or here in Baltimore. (If you’re lucky, you might catch him and Mr. Buck at an alumni outing to the O’s game still!) Always willing to go the extra mile, Tom has been an exceptional educator, colleague, and friend, and we are incredibly honored to welcome him (officially) into the alumni community.