2025 Sower Recipient: Mary C. López

Humanities Nebraska selected a local leader in community service to receive the 2025 Sower Award in the Humanities. Both professionally and as a volunteer, Mary C. López has been involved in many different Omaha and statewide organizations since she moved to Omaha in 1980.

“Mary López exemplifies the spirit of the Sower Award in the Humanities in many ways, particularly in the realm of volunteering her time and talent in support of the humanities,” said Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, Ph.D. in his nomination letter. López and Benjamin-Alvarado previously worked together at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and served on the HN board of directors at the same time.

Benjamin-Alvarado continued, “As a friend and colleague, I saw a kind and considerate soul who made it a point to serve the needs of each of the students she encountered so that they could identify and own the ‘best versions’ of who they were as they embarked on their professional journeys. This is not something that Mary set out to do, rather it is a part of her DNA…We are all the better for it.”

A lifelong Midwesterner, López began volunteering for various community organizations shortly after beginning work as an educational therapist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).

Currently, as president of AmeriSphere Companies, Mary oversees the operations of Capitol Place, a mixed-use mid-rise building in downtown Omaha. Prior to this, she served as Career Services Director for the UNO School of Public Administration. UNO is especially dear to her as Mary received masters degrees from both the College of Education and the School of Public Administration. She serves on the UNO Chancellor’s Internship Advisory Board and a number of committees related to the School of Public Administration and College of Public Affairs and Community Service.

López serves on the Munroe-Meyer Institute and Hattie B. Munroe Foundation boards, Kids Can Advisory Council and is a founding member of United Way’s Women United. She is a member of UNMC’s Board of Counselors. Previous board service includes the Omaha Housing Authority, the United Way of the Midlands, Catholic Charities and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment
Officials. She served as Vice Chair of Governor Benjamin Nelson’s Task Force on Welfare Reform and Mayor PJ Morgan’s Master Plan Committee. She has also been a volunteer for The Salvation Army, Sienna Francis House, Community Alliance, Habitat for Humanity and the Durham Museum. 

Mary and her husband Rodrigo were named United Way of the Midlands’ Citizens of the Year in 2020. The UNO College of Public Affairs and Community Service recognized them as the Hubert Locke Distinguished Service Award recipients in 2022. In 2023 UNO Chancellor Joanne Li honored them at commencement with the Order of the Tower Award for their service to the University. Mary López has been named and received the Arthritis Foundation Woman of the Year Award in fall of 2025.