Harvard Centennial Medal
Encyclopedia
The Harvard Centennial Medal is an honor given by the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
to recipients of graduate degrees from the School for their "contributions to society."
The Medal was established in 1989 on the 100th anniversary of the Graduate School's founding. Seven individuals were recognized for their achievements that year, and between two and four graduate degree recipients have been honored every year since then. Nominees are evaluated by university officials and alumni, and the winners are selected by the Harvard Corporation.
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the academic unit responsible for many post-baccalaureate degree programs offered through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University...
to recipients of graduate degrees from the School for their "contributions to society."
The Medal was established in 1989 on the 100th anniversary of the Graduate School's founding. Seven individuals were recognized for their achievements that year, and between two and four graduate degree recipients have been honored every year since then. Nominees are evaluated by university officials and alumni, and the winners are selected by the Harvard Corporation.
Winners
- 2006 Daniel CallahanDaniel CallahanDaniel Callahan was born July 19, 1930. Callahan is a philosopher widely recognized for his innovative studies in biomedical ethics.·In high school Callahan was a swimmer and choose to attend Yale University because of its competitive swimming program. While at Yale, he was drawn to...
, Sandra Faber, Robert SolowRobert SolowRobert Merton Solow is an American economist particularly known for his work on the theory of economic growth that culminated in the exogenous growth model named after him...
, and Kevin StarrKevin StarrKevin Starr is an American historian, best known for his multi-volume series on the history of California, collectively called "Americans and the California Dream."-Life:Kevin Starr was born in San Francisco, California.... - 2005 Michael ArtinMichael ArtinMichael Artin is an American mathematician and a professor emeritus in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology mathematics department, known for his contributions to algebraic geometry. and also generally recognized as one of the outstanding professors in his field.Artin was born in Hamburg,...
, H. Robert HorvitzH. Robert HorvitzHoward Robert Horvitz is an American biologist best known for his research on the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.-Life:Horvitz did his undergraduate studies at MIT in 1968, where he joined Alpha Epsilon Pi...
, Elaine PagelsElaine PagelsElaine Pagels, née Hiesey , is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she is best known for her studies and writing on the Gnostic Gospels...
, and Michael SpenceMichael SpenceAndrew Michael Spence is an American economist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, along with George A. Akerlof and Joseph E. Stiglitz, for their work on the dynamics of information flows and market development. He conducted this research while at Harvard University... - 2004 John AdamsJohn Coolidge AdamsJohn Coolidge Adams is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer with strong roots in minimalism. His best-known works include Short Ride in a Fast Machine , On the Transmigration of Souls , a choral piece commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks , and Shaker...
, Susan FiskeSusan FiskeSusan Tufts Fiske is Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology at Princeton University's Department of Psychology. She is a social psychologist known for her work on social cognition, stereotypes, and prejudice...
, Richard Hunt, and George Rupp - 2003 Agnes GundAgnes GundAgnes Gund , is an American philanthropist, art patron and collector, and advocate for arts education. She is founding trustee of the Agnes Gund Foundation and President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and Chairman of its International Council. She is also Chairman of MoMA PS1 Contemporary Art...
, Amy GutmannAmy GutmannAmy Gutmann is the eighth President of the University of Pennsylvania and the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Communications, and Philosophy...
, Leon KassLeon KassLeon Richard Kass is an American physician, scientist, educator, and public intellectual, best known as proponent of liberal education via the "Great Books," as an opponent of human cloning and euthanasia, as a critic of certain areas of technological progress and embryo research, and for his...
, and William SchneiderWilliam SchneiderWilliam Schneider or Bill Schneider may refer to:*William Schneider , the attorney general of Maine*Bill Schneider , bassist, guitar tech, and tour crew manager*Bill Schneider , political commentator for CNN... - 2002 Lewis BranscombLewis M. BranscombLewis M. Branscomb is an American physicist, government policy advisor, and corporate research manager. He is best known as former head of the National Bureau of Standards and, later, chief scientist of IBM; and as a prolific writer on science policy issues.Following World War II service in the...
, Madhav GadgilMadhav GadgilMadhav Gadgil is an Indian ecologist.-Biography:He was born in Maharashtra studied biology at University of Poona and University of Bombay before doing a Ph.D. thesis in the area of mathematical ecology at Harvard University...
, Joanne Martin, and Allen Puckett - 2001 Bernard BailynBernard BailynBernard Bailyn is an American historian, author, and professor specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He has been a professor at Harvard University since 1953. Bailyn has won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice . In 1998 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected...
, Carolyn Bynum, Elliott CarterElliott CarterElliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
, and Walter KohnWalter KohnWalter Kohn is an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist.He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the understandings of the electronic properties of materials... - 2000 Harold AmosHarold AmosHarold Amos was an American microbiologist and professor. He taught at Harvard Medical School for nearly fifty years and was the first African American department chair of the school. He also inspired hundreds of minorities to become medical doctors.Amos was born in Pennsauken, New Jersey. He...
, Stanley CavellStanley CavellStanley Louis Cavell is an American philosopher. He is the Walter M. Cabot Professor Emeritus of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University.-Life:...
, and Jill Ker ConwayJill Ker ConwayJill Ker Conway is an Australian-American author. Well known for her autobiographies, in particular her first memoir, The Road from Coorain. She was also Smith College's first woman president, from 1975–1985, and now serves as a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology... - 1999 Frances Fergusson, Nguyen Xuan OanhNguyen Xuan OanhNguyễn Xuân Oánh was Prime Minister of South Vietnam in 1964 and 1965.Professor Nguyễn Xuân Oánh was trained as an economist, receiving his doctorate from Harvard University. He subsequently worked for the International Monetary Fund before returning to Vietnam as an economic adviser...
, Carl Schorske, and Edward Wilson - 1998 Sissela BokSissela BokSissela Bok, born 2 December 1934, is a Swedish-born philosopher and ethicist, the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners: Gunnar Myrdal who won the Economics prize with Friedrich Hayek in 1974, and Alva Myrdal who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982....
, I. Bernard CohenI. Bernard CohenI. Bernard Cohen was the Victor S. Thomas Professor of the history of science at Harvard University and the author of many books on the history of science and, in particular, Isaac Newton....
, and Richard ZareRichard ZareRichard Neil Zare is an American physical chemist. He is Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University.-Education:Zare earned his B.A. in 1961 and his Ph.D... - 1997 Richard KarpRichard KarpRichard Manning Karp is a computer scientist and computational theorist at the University of California, Berkeley, notable for research in the theory of algorithms, for which he received a Turing Award in 1985, The Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science in 2004, and the Kyoto...
, Stuart Rice, Henry RosovskyHenry RosovskyHenry Rosovsky is an American economist and university administrator. From 1973 to 1984 and 1990 to 1991, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. At Harvard, where he was a Professor of Economics, he also served as Acting President in 1984 and 1987...
, and Ruth Simmons - 1996 Leon BotsteinLeon BotsteinLeon Botstein is an American conductor and the President of Bard College . Botstein is the music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director and principal conductor from 2003-2010...
, Victor FungVictor FungVictor Fung Kwok-king , GBS , is the Group Chairman of Li & Fung group of companies. Together with his brother William, he owns a controlling stake of 32% in the business, which was founded by his grandfather....
, Paul GuyerPaul GuyerPaul Guyer, a Professor of Philosophy and F.R.C. Murray Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the world's foremost scholars of Kant. Guyer also serves on the Graduate Groups for both Germanic Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature...
, and Maxine KuminMaxine KuminMaxine Kumin is an American poet and author. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1981-1982.-Early years:... - 1995 Philip AndersonPhilip AndersonPhilip Anderson may refer to:* Phil Anderson , cyclist* Philip Carr Anderson, , professor of medicine* Philip W. Anderson , film editor* Philip Warren Anderson , physicist-See also:...
and Zbigniew BrzezinskiZbigniew BrzezinskiZbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski is a Polish American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.... - 1994 Hanna H. Gray, Roald HoffmannRoald HoffmannRoald Hoffmann is an American theoretical chemist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He currently teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.-Escape from the Holocaust:...
, and Rosalind Krauss - 1993 Renee FoxRenee FoxRenée C. Fox is an American sociologist and writer. She graduated summa cum laude from Smith College and earned her Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University in 1954. She was a member of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, 1969–1999 as Annenberg Professor of the Social Sciences...
, Marilyn French, and Rolf LandauerRolf LandauerRolf William Landauer was an IBM physicist who in 1961 argued that when information is lost in an irreversible circuit, the information becomes entropy and an associated amount of energy is dissipated as heat... - 1992 Edward Bernstein, Stanley KunitzStanley KunitzStanley Jasspon Kunitz was an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000.-Biography:...
, Alice RivlinAlice RivlinAlice Mitchell Rivlin is an economist, a former U.S. Cabinet official, and an expert on the budget. She has served as the Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the first Director of the Congressional Budget Office...
, and Saul Cohen - 1991 Eleanor Lansing DullesEleanor Lansing DullesEleanor Lansing Dulles was an author, teacher and United States Government employee. She was a member of a diplomatic dynasty which spanned three generations. Her grandfather, John Watson Foster, served as United States Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison...
, Caryl Haskins, Wesley PosvarWesley PosvarWesley Wentz Posvar was the fifteenth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh.-Biography:Posvar was born September 14, 1925 in Topeka, Kansas. He attended West Point, graduated first in his class in 1946, and after graduation he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, which later became the U.S. Air...
, and Susan SontagSusan SontagSusan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:... - 1990 Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, Samuel H. Beer, and Leo KadanoffLeo KadanoffLeo Philip Kadanoff is an American physicist. He is a professor of physics at the University of Chicago and a former President of the American Physical Society . He has contributed to the fields of statistical physics, chaos theory, and theoretical condensed matter physics.-Biography:Kadanoff... - 1989 Thomas EisnerThomas EisnerThomas Eisner was a German-American entomologist and ecologist, known as the "father of chemical ecology."He was a Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Chemical Ecology at Cornell University, and Director of the Cornell Institute for Research in Chemical Ecology...
, Jesse Greenstein, Robert MotherwellRobert MotherwellRobert Motherwell American painter, printmaker and editor. He was one of the youngest of the New York School , which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Philip Guston....
, David Woodley PackardDavid Woodley PackardDavid Woodley Packard, Ph.D. is a former professor and noted philanthropist; he is the son of Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard. A former HP board member , David is best known for his opposition to the HP-Compaq merger and his support for classical studies, especially in regards to the...
, Reginald Phelps, James TobinJames TobinJames Tobin was an American economist who, in his lifetime, served on the Council of Economic Advisors and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard and Yale Universities. He developed the ideas of Keynesian economics, and advocated government intervention to...
, and Margaret WilsonMargaret WilsonDame Margaret Wilson DCNZM is a New Zealand academic and former politician. She was Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives during the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand. She is a member of the Labour Party.-Early life:...