Giving back, in TERPetuity

Just three weeks into his freshman year, Rocky Lopes ’80 began his lifelong passion for the University of Maryland and the Alumni Association.

In the summer before enrollment, he received a letter from the director of campus activities, who was seeking volunteers to join student organizations.

“Because I wasn’t living on campus and I didn’t really know anybody, I wanted to find a way to connect with the university,” Lopes says. “I didn’t know this until later, but it was a form letter sent out to all incoming freshmen. I thought it was personally written to me. I found that gentleman’s office, walked in, and said, ‘Sir, I got this letter. How do I get involved?’”

Fate intervened. The student homecoming committee was meeting in 10 minutes a few doors down the Student Union hallway. The director escorted Lopes to the gathering, where he was introduced to members and, in short order, he was appointed to be student liaison to the Alumni Affairs Office.

“Getting involved in campus activities is what made the campus my home away from home,” says Lopes, who would end up leading five student organizations during his time at UMD. “I got to know students in different programs and classes, and I got to know campus leadership. It made a community for me.”

Nearly five decades later, Lopes continues to nurture that community. This year, he made the largest-ever gift to the Alumni Association. The contribution will support student educational programming by the Student Alumni Leadership Council (SALC).

SALC hosts popular events that include “Terps Under 30,” which honors young alumni who have made a major impact in their communities and careers. Next week, SALC is sponsoring the inaugural First Generation Terps Panel, in which UMD graduates who were the first in their family to attend college share their stories, challenges and successes with the current generation of first-generation Terps.

As an undergraduate dual microbiology and elementary education major, Lopes, of Silver Spring, founded SALC’s predecessor, then called the Student Alumni Board. His philanthropy extends beyond SALC; Lopes also funds two scholarships: the Lopes Scholarships for Leadership and the Lopes Scholarships for Education. To date, 42 students have received scholarships.

For Lopes, extending his philanthropy to the Alumni Association makes perfect sense. Working on the Student Alumni Board, he recalls, taught him valuable lessons beyond the classroom. They’re lessons that he hopes can be spread to new generations of Terps.

“I learned skills that made my career highly successful,” Lopes says. “I learned how to negotiate, how to budget, how to work with people from different backgrounds, and how to listen rather than tell. Simultaneously, I got a very good education in how to be a good communicator and an educator.”

Lopes, now retired, led a kaleidoscopic professional life. He was an elementary school teacher in Montgomery County, before hiring on at UMD as training manager for the Physical Plant Department. In that position, he developed a nationally recognized and award-winning apprenticeship skills training program for skilled trades workers.

In 1987, he began a 17-year career with the American Red Cross, for which he developed the Community Disaster Education Program. He’d go on to serve as a contractor for the National Weather Service Tsunami Program as administrator of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program, a role he performed from 2010-19.

Since the death of his husband, Chuck, in 2021, Lopes has kept busy. He holds a paramedic license, and he administers vaccinations at the Latino Health Clinic of Wheaton, Maryland. Lopes remains active with his alma mater; in 2023, he was appointed to serve a two-year term on the Alumni Association Board of Governors as well as a three-year term on the inaugural University of Maryland Student Affairs Alumni Group for Engagement.

Lopes also maintains a blog, in which he frequently highlights his involvement with the university.

“I thrive as a Terp,” he wrote in October. “No question, I am a loyal University of Maryland alumnus.”