Appalachian environmental activist Maria Gunnoe will receive the 22nd University of Michigan Raoul Wallenberg Medal. After the medal presentation, Ms. Gunnoe will deliver the Wallenberg Lecture.

From her home in Boone County, West Virginia, Maria Gunnoe has fought for years to protect communities from devastating mountaintop removal coal mining and valley fill operations. Despite threats and intimidation Ms. Gunnoe works to educate and build citizen advocacy, and to rally communities that face the destruction of their natural environment. Through her extraordinary work and personal engagement, she exemplifies the courage and commitment to the humanitarian values of Raoul Wallenberg.

A 1935 graduate of the University of Michigan College of Architecture, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews near the end of World War II. The University of Michigan Raoul Wallenberg Endowment was established in 1985 to commemorate Wallenberg and to recognize those whose own courageous actions call to mind Wallenberg's extraordinary accomplishments and values.