Alumni Awards - University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

Lab Alumni Awards

Each year, during Alumni Weekend, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools honors the contributions of alumni through the Lab Alumni Awards ceremony. This annual event recognizes and celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of Lab alumni across various domains and sectors, including academia, arts, science, technology, business, public service, and humanitarian efforts, among others. These awards serve as a testament to the values instilled in Lab students and the exceptional caliber of individuals who have passed through the hallowed halls of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

Award Winners

Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna

The Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award is Lab’s highest alumni honor. It celebrates the accomplishments of alumni across spheres of professional and personal achievement, public and civic service, and philanthropic and volunteer engagement.

The 2026 Disinguished Alumna Award Winner

Emily Mann ’70

Emily Mann ’70 is an acclaimed playwright and director whose leadership helped shape American theater for more than three decades. A Tony-nominated playwright and director and a Tony Award-winning artistic director, she has led the McCarter Theatre Center for thirty years. There, she has directed fifty productions, written fifteen plays and adaptations, and premiered the work of Athol Fugard, Tarell McCraney, Edward Albee, Danai Gurira, Nilo Cruz, among others. Mann’s plays—seen on and off Broadway, regionally and internationally—include Having Our Say; Execution of Justice; Annulla, An Autobiography; Still Life; Betsey Brown, an R&B musical; Hoodwinked; Greensboro, A Requiem; Meshugah; Mrs. Packard; Gloria: a Life, and The Pianist. On Broadway, she directed her plays Having Our Say and Execution of Justice; Nilo Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics; and A Streetcar Named Desire. She is currently in development for her new play, Code Red. Mann is a recipient of a Peabody Award; a Guggenheim Fellowship; seven Obie Awards; the Hull-Warriner Award; an NAACP Theatre Award; the Margo Jones Award. She has also received Lifetime Achievement honors from the Lilly Awards, the Gordon Davidson Awards, and the Hull-Warriner Award from Dramatists Guild and has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Theater Hall of Fame.

W. Ian Lipkin ’70

2025

María Hinojosa ’79

2024

Ralph H. Hruban, ’77, AB’81

2024

Erwin Chemerinsky ’71

2023

XinQi Dong ’90, AB’94

2022

Charis Eng ’80, AB’82, PhD’86, MD’88

2021

Rising Star Professional Achievement

The Rising Star Achievement Award recognizes an alumnus or alumna age 40 or younger whose accomplishments reflect a strong positive trajectory, promise, or significant impact. The individual should be striving for excellence in their career, philanthropic work, or other area of focus.

The 2026 Rising Star Professional Achievement Award Winner

Gabriel Bump ’09

Gabriel Bump ’09 is a rising voice in contemporary American fiction, known for his sharp insight, wit, and deeply human portrayals of race, belonging, and ambition. Gabriel Bump grew up in South Shore, Chicago. His debut novel, Everywhere You Don’t Belong, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2020 and has won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award for Fiction, the Heartland Booksellers Award for Fiction, and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s First Novelist Award. His second novel, The New Naturals, was a Washington Post, Boston Globe, and New York Times Notable Book of 2023, further establishing his place among a new generation of influential writers. His third novel, Don't Stop Snowing, is forthcoming in November 2026. He teaches in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst, his alma mater.

Alicia Zhou ’02

2025

Zachary Z. Kleiman ’06

2024

2023

2023

2022

2021

Alumni Service

The Alumni Service Award recognizes alumni who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the Laboratory Schools and the alumni community.

The 2025 Alumni Service Award Winner

Sarah Abella ’93

Sarah Abella ’93 has devoted more than twenty-five years to educational leadership, strengthening schools and guiding communities through moments of growth and challenge. She began her career teaching elementary education in the Chicago Public Schools before founding and leading two schools—Gan Chaverim and KIPP: Youth Village Academy—and later serving as a teacher and school administrator at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. At Lab, she helping strengthen and sustain the community through periods of growth and change, including the pandemic, while supporting hundreds of students and families. She has been active over the years supporting her class reunion and is the class representative as well. Sarah holds a BA from Washington University in St. Louis and is a graduate of the KIPP Fisher Fellowship at the Haas School of Business as well as the University of Chicago Booth School’s Executive Program for Emerging Leaders.

Harry Bims ’81

2025