Established with the generous support of alumna Penny W. Stamps, the Speaker Series brings respected emerging and established artists/designers from a broad spectrum of media to the School to conduct a public lecture and engage with students, faculty, and the larger University and Ann Arbor communities.

Photographer Mary Ellen Mark is one of the most respected and influential image makers of our time. Her work photographing diverse cultures across the globe has become iconic in the field of documentary photography and portraiture. Mark has received a Cornell Capa Award , the Infinity Award for Journalism, the Photographer of the Year Award from the Friends of Photography; the World Press Award for Outstanding Body of Work Throughout the Years; the Victor Hasselblad Cover Award; two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and three National Endowment for the Arts awards. Her photo essays and portraits have exhibited globally, featured in such publications as LIFE, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair, and published in eighteen books. In addition, Mark has photographed advertising campaigns for Barnes and Noble, British Levis, Coach Bags, Eileen Fisher, Hasselblad, Heineken, Keds, Mass Mutual, Nissan, and Patek Philippe.