Dickinson Announces Recipients of 2026 Distinguished Alumni Awards
Five alumni honored for service to the college and professional and civic accomplishment
Dickinson is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Awards. Bestowed by the Alumni Council, the awards recognize outstanding Dickinson alumni who demonstrate exemplary service to the college, accomplishment in their professional and civic lives and strength of character.
Moreover, the award recognizes alumni who live out Dickinson’s deep commitment to the education of ethical citizen leaders and the grounding of the Dickinson education in a strong sense of civic duty and service to one’s community, however that community is defined.
This year, five award recipients will be honored during an Alumni Weekend ceremony in June:
- Walter E. Beach Award for Distinguished Service: Mark Burgess ’81
- Professional Achievement Award: Komozi Woodard, Ph.D. ’71
- Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Anthony Bush '11
- Community Impact Award: Albert Alley ’60 and Mary D. Glasspool ’76
Walter E. Beach Award for Distinguished Service: Mark Burgess ’81
Mark Burgess '81 poses with his wife, Lisa, in front of a reproduction of their Founders' Society plaque. Photo by Dan Loh.
Mark Burgess '81 has long believed that a liberal-arts education is the foundation of exceptional leadership—and he has put that conviction into action.
At Dickinson, Burgess majored in economics, served as an officer in Theta Chi, competed on the NCAA men's golf team and was inducted into the Omicron Delta Epsilon honors society. He went on to earn an M.B.A. at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and has served as president and CEO of Mauser Packaging Solutions since 2020.
Burgess joined Dickinson's Board of Trustees in 2011, and it was through that work that he identified an opportunity to connect liberal-arts learning to real-world professional impact. His vision led to the creation of the Burgess Institute for the Global Economy—an academic and co-curricular accelerator for business and financial fluency, global leadership and professional impact, grounded in liberal-arts values. The Institute offers hands-on learning, mentorships and networking opportunities to students in any major, and more than 200 alumni and parents have engaged with it since its founding.
"I’m honored to receive this award. It took me time to realize it, but my Dickinson experience provided me with a great foundation that helped me find the confidence, curiosity and drive that shaped my career and grounded me in critical thinking and a global perspective. And to top it off, the friendships developed at Dickinson have been equally important in keeping me sane, motivated and energized.”
—Mark Burgess '81
Professional Achievement Award: Komozi Woodard, Ph.D. ’71
For more than three decades, Komozi Woodard '71 has shaped how students, scholars and the broader public understand African American history, culture and the Black Freedom Movement.
At Dickinson, Woodard was a standout political science and history student, a founding member of the college's Afro-American Students Organization and a central voice in campus activism of the era. He went on to earn his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Since 1989, Woodard has been the Esther Raushenbush Professor of American History, Public Policy and African Studies at Sarah Lawrence College, where he received the Lipkin Family Prize for Inspirational Teaching. He is the author of A Nation Within a Nation: Amiri Baraka and Black Power Politics and editor or co-editor of six additional books. He served as editorial consultant for the PBS documentaries Eyes on the Prize II and America's War on Poverty and has been sought out by CNN, NPR, the New York Times and ABC News, among others. He has delivered guest lectures at Princeton, the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and elsewhere—and has maintained deep ties to Dickinson through campus lectures, Clarke Forum appearances and contributions to the college's Black Students Organizing archival project.
“Dickinson College prepared me for a life of learning, and Professor V.K. Kavolis in sociology had the greatest influence on my intellectual life. After graduation, I returned to Dickinson regularly to talk to him—and he never ceased to give me good counsel, even when I entered graduate school.”
—Komozi Woodard '71
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Anthony Bush '11
Anthony Bush '11 has dedicated his career to dismantling the systemic barriers that keep vulnerable people on the margins—first in education, now in housing.
Bush attended Dickinson as a Posse Scholar, majoring in American studies with a focus on race, gender and sexuality. After graduation, he served as director of diversity and inclusion at St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia, where he developed a racial equity strategic plan and built programming to strengthen cultural competency around race, privilege and oppression.
He later joined the City of Philadelphia's Department of Homelessness Services and Housing as its inaugural chief equity officer—a role he built from the ground up. Bush developed a framework for achieving racial equity within Philadelphia's homelessness response system and led the city's first internal racial equity training focused on the systemic drivers of homelessness. In 2024, he received the Posse Ainslie Alumni Achievement Award, given annually to a Posse alum who exemplifies leadership and service to community.
"Dickinson taught me to approach social justice with intellectual rigor, global awareness and deep curiosity. I’m especially grateful for the community of friends, mentors and the unwavering support system I gained through Posse and the broader Dickinson network. Their guidance and fellowship have sustained me across my career in education and local government, continually fueling my commitment to advancing racial justice even through the most challenging chapters.”
—Anthony Bush '11
Community Impact Award: Albert Alley '60
Albert Alley '60 has spent his career restoring sight—and in doing so has brought light to tens of thousands of lives around the world.
At Dickinson, Alley was a member of Circle K, Alpha Chi Rho and the band. He went on to become an ophthalmologist based in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, serving as a former president of the medical staff of Good Samaritan Hospital and a clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology at Penn State's Hershey Medical Center, where he trains residents in surgery.
His international work began through Rotary International, which took him on surgical eye-care missions to the Philippines, Nigeria and India in 1989 and 1990. What he witnessed moved him to found World Blindness Outreach later that year. Since then, he has led 100 international medical missions to 26 countries, where teams have performed more than 10,000 cataract surgeries and other operations, often under challenging conditions. The organization has also distributed tens of thousands of dollars of donated equipment to eye clinics in underserved areas and helped train dozens of local medical professionals.
At home in Lebanon, Alley helped organize Mission Cataract Lebanon Valley, which provides free eye surgery to patients who cannot afford care, and he has served on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lebanon County and the Susquehanna Association of the Blind and Vision Impaired. He joined with that organization to establish the Alley Center for the Blind in Lebanon.
Alley has been very active in Rotary International, having served as president of his local club and as district governor for District 7390. Also, he was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 1998, which recognizes Eagle Scouts who achieve extraordinary national-level recognition and have a strong record of voluntary service to their community. He also served on the Executive Board of the Pennsylvania Dutch Council, Scouting America, for many years, retiring just this past year.
“It was my honor and privilege to follow my five siblings to Dickinson College for my undergraduate education. Dickinson was the only college I applied to because it was the only college I wanted to attend. I knew I would be provided with a good foundation to enable me to take advantage of every opportunity to succeed in order to fulfill my goal of becoming a doctor. It gave me not only knowledge but confidence, purpose and lifelong connections. The experience shaped who I am today, and for that I’m deeply grateful.”
—Albert Alley '60
Community Impact Award: The Right Reverend Mary D. Glasspool ’76
The Right Reverend Mary D. Glasspool '76 has spent her life in service to others—as a priest, a bishop and a trailblazer in the life of the Episcopal Church and the global Anglican Communion.
At Dickinson, Glasspool's love of music flourished under the mentorship of Professor Truman Bullard and found expression with her classmates in the Barbershop Quartet of the Class of ’76. She earned her M.Div. from Episcopal Divinity School in 1981 and went on to serve as a parish priest, canon to the bishops of Maryland, bishop suffragan of Los Angeles and, until her retirement in June 2025, bishop assistant in the Diocese of New York.
Glasspool made history as only the 17th woman bishop and the first openly lesbian bishop in the Anglican Communion—a milestone covered by the Wall Street Journal, CNN and others. In the Diocese of New York, she led the church's engagement in global missions, reparations and ecumenical and interreligious life. In retirement, she continues her reconciliation work with the Interfaith Center of New York and the Anglican Diocese of Cuernavaca.
"When I first arrived at Dickinson in the fall of 1972, I fell in love. I fell in love with the wonderful people I met: fellow students, faculty, administration; I fell in love with the beautiful campus itself; and I fell in love with music and sang my way through college. That experience of falling in love has motivated me ever since. Thank you, Dickinson College!”
—Mary D. Glasspool '76
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Published May 12, 2026