Nancy Margolis has spent decades doing the hard, unglamorous work of building community by organizing across lines of race, religion, and class long before it was widely valued. She co-founded Jewish Family Services and the Corner Health Center, led the Jewish Community Center and Jewish Community Foundation, and chaired the Inter-Faith Coalition of Congregations. Her most recent chapter: founding Embracing Our Differences Michigan, a juried public art program that puts billboard-size works by local and international artists in parks across Washtenaw County to spark real conversations about diversity. Her degrees are from Northwestern University and the University of Michigan School of Social Work. She has been recognized with a Woman of Achievement Award from the Anti-Defamation League, an Award of Merit from Washtenaw Community College, and the Visionary Award from the Ypsilanti Gateway Community, among others.    

Susanne Stephenson has been working in clay for more than six decades, and her work is still being exhibited in 2026. Trained at Carnegie Mellon University and Cranbrook Academy of Art, she spent her career rooted in Washtenaw County: teaching ceramics at Eastern Michigan University from 1963 until earning emeritus status in 1991, and making work in her Ann Arbor studio alongside her late husband, ceramist John Stephenson. Her sculptures and vessels, known for their gestural energy and painterly use of color, are held in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and more than a dozen other major institutions worldwide. She is a Fellow of the American Craft Council, an elected member of the International Academy of Ceramics, and holds an honorary doctorate from Grand Valley State University.

David Fair has spent more than three decades waking up Washtenaw County. A fixture at 89.1 WEMU since 1994, he served as the local host of NPR's Morning Edition and, from 2012, as the station's News Director. Over the years he built a body of work that went well beyond reading the news, developing Washtenaw United, the award-winning Issues of the Environment, Cinema Chat, and First Friday Focus on the Environment, and conducting in-depth interviews with elected officials, environmental activists, local newsmakers, authors, and entertainers. He also co-hosted creative:impact with Creative Washtenaw's Deb Polich. Fair will retire from WEMU at the close of the station's 60th anniversary year, on June 30, 2026, after 32 years on air.

   Michael Jewett has hosted music programs on WEMU since the mid-80's. He's currently heard weekdays from 10AM to noon and again from 2 to 4PM. Michael is equally comfortable with Jazz and Blues formats. So, if your tastes run from Billie Holiday & Miles Davis to B.B King & Muddy Waters...Mr. Jewett has got you covered! Among the many things he values about the work WEMU does is the stations' commitment to programming the work of local music artists. 

 A lifelong resident of Washtenaw County, his family roots go back to the post-Civil War years in Ann Arbor. Jewett is quick to credit the impact the teaching community has had in his life. In the last few years Michael has gotten involved in community theatre, becoming a member of a local Shakespeare company. 

Judy Dow Rumelhart and Don Rumelhart have spent decades quietly shaping the cultural and civic life of Washtenaw County. Judy's roots in Ann Arbor run deep: the daughter of Margaret Dow Towsley and Dr. Harry Towsley, she grew up in a family with a long tradition of community investment. Her own career has spanned performing arts, philanthropy, and civic leadership, including serving as chair of the Michigan Theater Foundation's board during its historic capital restoration campaign, as a founding member of Concerned Citizens for the Arts in Michigan, and as Chair Emeritus of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. She was Associate Producer of the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Sweeney Todd. Don Rumelhart has been a committed supporter of the arts across Washtenaw County, including as a charter member of The Ark, Ann Arbor's legendary folk and roots music venue. Together, they represent a sustained, generous investment in the creative and human fabric of this community.