List of Barnard College People - Recipients of The Medal of Distinction

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