Frances Johnson Lentz '45 selected as 2019 Alumnae/i Public Service Award recipient

The Alumnae and Alumni of Goucher College (AAGC) is proud to award Frances Johnson Lentz ’45 the Excellence in Public Service Award for her mental illness advocacy and her role as a social worker, an honor well deserved for someone so humble and dedicated to helping others.

Lentz helped create the Baltimore chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), starting in 1982 with a group that grew from five people to 70 almost overnight. Her work to educate people about mental illness stemmed from her own need for resources when her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 20. "There was a great need," Lentz says of that time. "It was a great vacuum—there was no help at all for families experiencing mental illness."

While at Goucher, Lentz earned a full-tuition scholarship in her senior year and then pursued her master's in social work at Smith College. Lentz worked for a year before having four children and then resumed social work after her children were all in school.

“I feel honored,” Lentz says, to receive the Excellence in Public Service Award. “I’m glad that someone thought what I did was worthwhile.”

Lentz will officially accept her award on May 4, 2019 at the AAGC Annual Meeting over Alumnae/i Weekend.

Discover more information on the AAGC Public Service Award, including award requirements, the nomination process, and a full list of past recipients here.