The University of Michigan Alumnae Council (UMAC) is pleased to honor University of Michigan professor and legal analyst Barbara McQuade with the 2025 University of Michigan Alumnae Council Athena Award.
Started in 1973, the award is bestowed on outstanding alumnae who have distinguished themselves in professional and humanitarian endeavors. It’s a natural extension of the Alumnae Council’s mission of “women helping women pursue higher education at the University of Michigan since 1917.” These outstanding alumnae are examples of accomplished women in fields that may be considered difficult or inaccessible for young female students; they’re asked to return to campus to engage with students and the wider university community.
A Trailblazer and Advocate
Barbara McQuade (LSA’87 and Law’91) is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, and national security. A legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, Ms. McQuaade is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. She is also a co-host of the podcast #SistersInLaw. In each of these endeavors, she remains a champion for women’s rights and equal rights for all.
From 2010 to 2017, Ms. McQuade served as the U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Her office brought cases involving public corruption, terrorism, white collar crime, and civil rights violations, among others. Ms. McQuade was appointed by President Barack Obama and was the first woman to serve in her position. During her career, Ms. McQuade has also served as an assistant U.S. attorney, an attorney in private practice, a law clerk to a federal district court judge, and a sportswriter. Ms. McQuade has been recognized by the Detroit News with its Michiganian of the Year Award, the Detroit Free Press with its Neal Shine Award for Exceptional Leadership, and Crain’s Detroit Business as one of Detroit’s Most Powerful Women. UMAC is pleased to add Barbara McQuade to the list of University of Michigan women whom it recognizes as making a difference in professional and humanitarian endeavors. She is a proven trailblazer and has shown her willingness to share her considerable knowledge with others.
Past Athena Award recipients – representing such fields as the sciences, government, education, and law include former Surgeon General of the United States Antonia Novello; former editor of the Chicago Tribune Ann Marie Lipinski; ecologist and author Sandra Steingraber; researcher and architect, Lorissa MacAllister; and pediatrician and whistleblower, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha.
Past Athena Award Recipients
- 2023 Denise Ilitch — University of Michigan Board of Regents
- 2021 Cheryl Soper — Finance (first woman comptroller for U-M)
- 2019 Emily Sioma — Advocacy
- 2018 Coach Carol Hutchins — Sports
- 2017 Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha — Medicine, Children’s Health
- 2014 Lorissa MacAllister — Architecture
- 2011 Sandra Steingraber — Ecology
- 2009 Ann Marie Lipinski — Journalism
- 1998 Dorothy Sampus — Foreign Service
- 1996 Ashley Putnam — Metropolitan Opera
- 1995 Dr. Alexa Canaday — Medicine
- 1994 Ilse Lehiste — Linguistics
- 1993 Antonia Novello — Surgeon General of the United States
- 1992 Martha Rumayne Seger — Economist, Federal Reserve
- 1991 Dr. Gwen Baker — Education
- 1990 Anne Stevenson
- 1989 Dr. Nancy Sabin Wexler — Neuropsychology
- 1988 Jo Eleanor Elliott — Nursing
- 1987 Helen Wilson Nies — Law
- 1986 Nancy Landon Kassebaum — Politics
- 1985 Dr. Paula J. Clayton — Psychiatry
- 1984 Dr. Karen Uhlenbeck — Mathematics
- 1983 Dr. Elise Boulding — Sociology
- 1982 Nancy Hays Teeters — Economics, Government Service
- 1981 Barbara Nissman — Performing Arts
- 1980 Dr. Marjorie Horning —Chemistry
- 1979 Dr. Wu Yi-Fang — Education
- 1978 Robin Wright — News Reporting
- 1977 Dr. Mary Frances Berry — Education, Government Service
- 1976 Dr. Matina S. Honer — Education
- 1975 Clara Stanton Jones — Library Science
- 1974 Rafaelito Soriana — Government
- 1973 Dr. Joan Goebel — Medicine