Recipients of The Medal of Distinction
The Barnard Medal of Distinction is the College's highest honor.
1977
- Joan Mondale
1978
- Samuel R. Milbank
- Richard Rodgers
- Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger '14
1979
- Adelyn Dohme Breeskin
- Helen Gahagan Douglas '24
- Eleanor Thomas Elliott '48
- William Am Marstellar
- Toni Morrison
- Francis T.P. Plimpton
1980
- Dorothy Height
- Julius S. Held
- Mary Dublin Keyserling '30
- Margaret Mahler
- Alan Pifer
- Henriette H. Swope '25
1981
- Robert L. Hoguet
- Elizabeth Janeway '35
- Beverly Sills
1982
- Carol Bellamy
- Raymond J. Saulnier
- Twyla Tharp '63
1983
- Mario Cuomo
- Vernon Jordan, Jr.
- Mirra Komarovsky '26
1984
- Arthur Altschul
- Annette Kar Baxter '47 (posthumous)
- Joseph G. Brennan
- Anna Hill Johnstone '34
1985
- Marian Wright Edelman
- Sidney Dillon Ripley
- Elizabeth Man Sarcka '17
1986
- A. Bartlett Giamatti
- Frances Lehman Loeb
- Helen M. Ranney '41
1987
- Judith Kaye '58
- Sally Falk Moore '43
- Rev. James Parks Morton
- Ellen Stewart
1988
- Augusta Souza Kappner '66
- Ntozake Shange '70
- Maxine Singer
1989
- Joan Kaplan Davidson
- Eugene Lang
- Bernice Segal (posthumous)
- Lottie L. Taylor-Jones
1990
- Jacqueline Barton '74
- Robert L. Bernstein
- Jean Blackwell Hutson '35
- Julie V. Marsteller '69
1991
- Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum '50
- Tisa Chang '63
- Mamphele Ramphele, delivered the 2002 Commencement address
1992
- Ingrith Deyrup-Olsen '40
- Fred W. Friendly
- Millicent McIntosh
- Frank Stella
1993
- Arthur Ashe (posthumous)
- Elizabeth B. Davis '41
- Helene Lois Kaplan '53
- Bette Bao Lord
- Cyrus Vance
1994
- Walter Cronkite
- Ellen V. Futter '71
- Barbara S. Miller '62 (posthumous)
- Arthur Mitchell
- Sheila E. Widnall
1995
- Madeleine Albright
- Rosemary Park Anastos
- Derek Bok
- Sissela Bok
1996
- Rita R. Colwell
- Kitty Carlisle Hart
- Maya Lin
- Dame Anne Warburton
1997
- Sarah Brady
- Merce Cunningham
- Charlayne Hunter-Gault
- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
1998
- Mary L. Good
- Joan Ganz Cooney
- David Aaron Kessler
1999
- Zoe Caldwell
- Abby Joseph Cohen
- Esther Dyson
- William T. Golden
2000
- Doris Kearns Goodwin delivered the 2000 Commencement address
- Hanna Holborn Gray
- Annie Leibovitz
- Kathie L. Olson
2001
- Morris Dees
- Susan Hendrickson
- Maxine Greene '38
- Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ms. Reagon delivered the 2001 Commencement address
2002
- Barbara Novak '50
- Alice Rivlin
- Harold E. Varmus
2003
- Susan Band Horwitz
- Judith Miller (journalist) '69, delivered the Commencement address
- Martha Nussbaum
2004
- Sylvia Earle
- Louise Glück
2005
- Carla D. Hayden
- Amartya Sen
2006
- Linda Greenhouse
- Audra McDonald
- Francine du Plessix Gray '52
2007
- Joan Didion
- Nicholas D. Kristof
- Mary Patterson McPherson
- Muriel Petioni
- Anna Deavere Smith
2008
- Thelma C. Davidson Adair
- Michael Bloomberg delivered the 2008 Commencement address
- Billie Jean King
- David Remnick
- Judith Shapiro
2009
- Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered the 2009 Commencement address
- Kay Murray
- Indra Nooyi
- Irene J. Winter '60
2010
- Thelma Golden
- Olympia J. Snowe
- Meryl Streep delivered the 2010 Commencement address
- Shirley M. Tilghman
2011
- Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
- Sylvia Rhone
- Roberta Guaspari
- Jenny Holzer
2012
- Barack Obama, President of the United States. Delivered the 2012 Commencement address
- Sally Chapman, Barnard Professor of Chemistry
- Helene D. Gayle '76, President and CEO of CARE, USA
- Evan Wolfson, Founder and President of Freedom to Marry
Read more about this topic: List Of Barnard College People
Famous quotes containing the words recipients of the, recipients of, recipients and/or distinction:
“The proclamation and repetition of first principles is a constant feature of life in our democracy. Active adherence to these principles, however, has always been considered un-American. We recipients of the boon of liberty have always been ready, when faced with discomfort, to discard any and all first principles of liberty, and, further, to indict those who do not freely join with us in happily arrogating those principles.”
—David Mamet (b. 1947)
“The proclamation and repetition of first principles is a constant feature of life in our democracy. Active adherence to these principles, however, has always been considered un-American. We recipients of the boon of liberty have always been ready, when faced with discomfort, to discard any and all first principles of liberty, and, further, to indict those who do not freely join with us in happily arrogating those principles.”
—David Mamet (b. 1947)
“The proclamation and repetition of first principles is a constant feature of life in our democracy. Active adherence to these principles, however, has always been considered un-American. We recipients of the boon of liberty have always been ready, when faced with discomfort, to discard any and all first principles of liberty, and, further, to indict those who do not freely join with us in happily arrogating those principles.”
—David Mamet (b. 1947)
“... the structure of our public morality crashed to earth. Above its grave a tombstone read, “Be tolerant—even of evil.” Logically the next step would be to say to our commonwealth’s criminals, “I disagree that it’s all right to rob and murder, but naturally I respect your opinion.” Tolerance is only complacence when it makes no distinction between right and wrong.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 2, ch. 2 (1962)