Home » Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame 2024 Induction Ceremony & Celebration

Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame 2024 Induction Ceremony & Celebration

Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024 | 6-8 p.m.
Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, Detroit

It’s the highest honor a Michigan woman can achieve — induction into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. Seven women will join this illustrious group of amazing women in 2024. Join us as we celebrate them and the trails they’ve blazed.

Our 2024 contemporary inductees

U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell represents Michigan’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Natural Resources Committee, where she leads on critical issues including affordable and accessible health care, clean energy and water, domestic manufacturing and supply chain resilience, and protecting our wildlife and natural resources. Dingell, who co-chairs the Great Lakes Task Force, has always been an advocate for the outdoors and commits her work in Congress to protecting the environment for generations. Dingell is focused on bringing people together – in Congress and in her communities – to support Michigan’s families and the economy. 

Julia Donovan Darlow

Julia Donovan Darlow was made the first woman president of the State Bar of Michigan in 1987. Darlow joined the Detroit-based law firm of Dickinson Wright PLLC after graduating from law school and was made a partner seven years later. While practicing law in the corporate setting, Darlow observed first-hand the sexual bias and prejudice that women lawyers face. Women, she observed,  were promoted within law firms at a rate significantly slower than men and were leaving law firms at a rate significantly faster than men. In an effort to help other women lawyers overcome these barriers, Darlow personally created a turnover plan to ensure that younger women in the firm would assume her corporate clients. She has also served as Chairperson of the Michigan Supreme Court Task Force on Gender Issues in the Courts. Darlow has used her success in the legal field to assist young women who are pursuing their career goals and has placed them within their reach.

Janice K. Means

Janice K.  Means is a professor emerita at Lawrence Technological University with a background in engineering and sustainability. Means has more than 40 years of experience as a registered engineer in areas such as HVAC, solar energy, and facility maintenance. She has also consulted on energy efficiency, solar energy design, and pipeline blasting effects. Means has held leadership positions at the local, regional, and international levels, including as the past Chair of the Engineering Society of Detroit’s (ESD) Affiliate Council. Means is an international speaker and advocate for historic buildings, climate change, energy standards, and encouraging women and minorities to pursue STEM/STEAM-related careers. 

Hon. Bridget Mary McCormack

Bridget M. McCormack is the president and CEO of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution® (AAA-ICDR®), the preeminent global provider of alternative dispute resolution services. She has an extensive background in judicial service, court administration and scholarship and a track record of advocacy for innovation and technology in dispute resolution. Before her tenure at AAA-ICDR, which commenced in February 2023, McCormack served as the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 2019 to 2022 after being an associate justice since 2013. Her leadership led to pioneering reforms in Michigan’s court system, notably the launch of the state’s first online dispute resolution platform and an eviction diversion program, both crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. She co-founded the Michigan Innocence Clinic, the first non-DNA innocence clinic in the country, which has led to the exoneration of 41 individuals as of April 2024.

Geneva Smitherman

Geneva Smitherman is a University Distinguished Professor Emerita of English and co-founder of the African American and African Studies doctoral program at Michigan State University. Smitherman co-founded the Malcolm X Academy within Detroit Public Schools, the first public African-centered elementary school in the country. The oldest of seven children, Smitherman started her education in a one-room schoolhouse. She graduated from Detroit’s Cass Technical High School and earned a B.A. and M.A. in English and Latin from Wayne State University and a PhD in English, with a specialization in sociolinguistics and education, from the University of Michigan. Smitherman’s book, Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America, published in 1977, contributed to shifting public and academic perspectives towards the value of African-American Vernacular English. This work has been widely referenced by teachers, legal scholars, sociologists, and policy analysts.

Our 2024 historical inductees

Anne Parsons

Anne Parsons was president and chief executive of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2004-2021. She led the orchestra through a six-month strike that threatened its existence and strengthened it for future generations. To raise the DSO’s profile, Parsons recruited revered conductor, Leonard Slatkin, director of the National Symphony Orchestra. She implemented modern programming with special guests to expand the reach of the DSO. Her goal was to make the Detroit Symphony Orchestra the “most accessible orchestra on the planet.” In that effort, she implemented a streaming service of DSO concerts (one of the first orchestras to do so), planned DSO concerts throughout Metro Detroit, and oversaw a program to expand music education in the region by having orchestra players perform at public schools. During her tenure, the orchestra emerged from a financial deficit to a surplus.

Elizabeth Whitney Williams

Elizabeth Whitney Williams was one of the longest-serving lighthouse keepers in American history. Williams was born on Mackinac Island in 1844. Her first husband Clement Van Riper, whom she married in 1860, was appointed keeper of the Beaver Island Harbor Light in St. James. She assisted her husband in his duties winding the heavy clockwork mechanism and cleaning and polishing the lighthouse’s Fresnel lens. When her husband was lost at sea, she was given his position. Later, when she remarried, she transferred to keep Little Traverse Light near Harbor Springs. Over the years, Williams earned widespread acclaim and attention for her work as a keeper. By 1897, she was one of only four female keepers stationed at lighthouses in the Great Lakes region. In 1904, the Detroit Free Press captured the challenges and significance of Williams’ lifesaving role on behalf of maritime transportation. “For more than three decades she has been in charge of one of Uncle Sam’s lighthouses on the Great Lakes, doing daily and nightly work which only the hardiest of men have been accustomed to do.”

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