Ms. Mary Liz McNamara

Class of 1974
Career Pathway: Arts & Communications

Mary Liz McNamara was valedictorian of her class and appeared in all the plays and musicals, including the title role in Hello, Dolly! She was a cheerleader and also participated in forensics, where she placed at the state level.

Ms. McNamara earned a bachelor of arts degree from the Honors College at the University of Michigan with majors in English and theatre. At New York University, she completed coursework to receive certification as a rehabilitation counselor. She then earned a master's in education degree with certification at Rutgers University. She is a certified rehabilitation counselor, a certified case manager and is certified in the practice of cognitive rehabilitation. She is the clinical coordinator and senior cognitive rehabilitation therapist at the Neurobehavioral Institute of New Jersey.

Ms. McNamara has also received awards for her original musical compositions. She was one of three finalists for the 2005 Nightlife Award for musical comedy, an award voted on by critics in New York for the previous year’s best performances in the areas of cabaret, jazz and comedy. Her song “Bacon” won the 2004 Manhattan Association of Cabarets award for best special material, and her song “Haiku” was a finalist for the same award in 2003. She also received an ASCAP Plus Award in 2004 in recognition of her songwriting. She was selected to perform in this year’s sold-out ASCAP songwriters' evening as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. She was an invited fellow at the 2003 Sundance Festival/Johnny Mercer Society Weekend. Her songs are being sung by cabaret and theatre artists across the country. She last performed as an actor in her own play, Why I Quit the Theatre.

Mary Liz McNamara will be performing in Grayling on September 22 to kick off the Entertainment Series sponsored by the Grayling Promotional Association.

She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Eric Schlosser, and their two sons, Casey and Noah.