Loyola announces 2022 Commencement honorees

Along with celebrating the accomplishments of the graduating members of the Class of 2022, Loyola University Maryland will bestow the following awards during the University’s 169th Commencement Exercises on May 14, 2022: 

The Carroll Medal: Mount Saint Agnes College Alumnae Association

The Mount Saint Agnes College Alumnae Association, which includes all the graduates of Mount Saint Agnes College, will receive the Carroll Medal, given each year to recognize distinguished graduates for noteworthy and meritorious service on the University's behalf. The award, which was established in 1939, was named in honor of Archbishop John Carroll, founder of the See of Baltimore and the Catholic Hierarchy in America. Mount Saint Agnes College, a women’s college founded in 1890 and run by the Sisters of Mercy, merged with Loyola College in 1971 to form the coeducational institution that Loyola is today. During the 2021-22 academic year, Loyola is honoring 50 Years of Women, marking the 1971 merger of Loyola with Mount Saint Agnes and all the contributions made by women throughout Loyola’s history. 

The President’s Medal: Nick and Suzie Simon

Nick, MBA ’84, and Suzie Simon, M.Ed. ’81, whose contributions helped create and advance Loyola’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, will receive the President’s Medal. The Simons’ investment helped launch an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the University, which continues to grow exponentially. The President’s Medal shows appreciation and gratitude to cherished friends and benefactors who have performed some signal service for the University’s advancement and prestige, or who have demonstrated loyalty in a notable manner.

The Newman Medal: Amanda M. Thomas, Ph.D.

Amanda M. Thomas, Ph.D., who has served Loyola as a leader, professor, scholar, and mentor for 30 years, will receive the Newman Medal. Thomas, who was the interim president from July through December 2021, was previously provost and vice president for academic affairs. After decades as a faculty member in the psychology department, Thomas moved into academic leadership and became dean of Loyola College of Arts and Sciences. After a sabbatical during the 2022-2023 academic year, she plans to return to the psychology faculty at Loyola. The John Henry Newman Medal recognizes individuals whose intellectual attainments, contributions to education, and steadfast commitment to the ideals of scholarship and service distinguish them as exemplars of Loyola’s Jesuit tradition.

The Milch Award: The Loyola School

The Loyola School, located in Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood and encompassing the five-year-old Loyola Early Learning Center and a new elementary school, will be honored with the Milch Award. The Milch Award is conferred annually on an individual or group who has contributed significantly to the betterment of the intellectual, cultural, social, or commercial life of Greater Baltimore. The Loyola School offers full scholarship, year-round preschool and elementary education programs to a diverse group of young learners from low-income Baltimore City families during the critical early years of development. The early learning center opened in 2017, and the school’s kindergarten is now in its first year. One new grade level will be added each year until 2025, when the school will enroll about 200 students in pre-K through grade 4.

More about this year’s Commencement

The Loyola University Maryland Commencement Exercises will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at 11 a.m. at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.
The University will also honor Anisya Thomas Fritz, Ph.D., ’85, entrepreneur and founder of the Fritz Institute, who will deliver the 2022 Commencement address. Fritz will receive a doctor of humane letters, honoris causa.

More information about Loyola’s 2022 Commencement Exercises is available at loyola.edu/commencement.