2024 Northwestern Alumni Medal
Three distinguished alumni will receive the NAA’s highest honor for exceptional achievement in their careers and service to Northwestern.
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Willard S. Evans Jr. ’77,
’81 MBAThe retired president of Peoples Gas and dedicated Northwestern volunteer has held numerous leadership roles in the public and private sectors, including at the University.
Learn more about him -
Renetta McCann ’78,
’12 MSThe award-winning global strategist specializes in leadership and organizational change, and is known as an influential force in the advertising, marketing, and media industries.
Learn more about her -
William Osborn ’69,
’73 MBA, ’18 HThe former Fortune 500 CEO and prominent civic leader chaired Northwestern’s Board of Trustees during the University’s historic fundraising initiative, We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern.
Learn more about him
President’s Alumni Panel: My Northwestern Direction
About the Northwestern Alumni Medal
Since 1932, the Northwestern Alumni Medal has celebrated alumni who have had a transformative impact on their fields, performed exemplary volunteer service to society, or demonstrated an outstanding record of service and support to the University. Distinguished recipients—ranging from innovative entrepreneurs and Supreme Court justices to award-winning writers and a Nobel Prize recipient—truly exemplify the ideals of the University through their life, work, and service.
You are welcome to nominate—or write a letter of support for—any alum who meets our eligibility criteria for consideration as a future Alumni Medalist.
Past Northwestern Alumni Medalists
| 2023 | Roberta Buffett Elliott ’54 (’09, ’13, ’17, ’21, ’24, ’26 GP) Chris Galvin ’73, ’77 MBA (’11 P) Charles S. Modlin Jr. ’83, ’87 MD |
| 2022 | Cindy Chupack ’87 David Louie ’72 Jeff Ubben ’87 MBA (’20 P) |
| 2020- |
Judy Belk ’75 Andrew C. Chan ’80, ’80 MS Christopher B. Combe ’70 (’99, ’09 P) Gordon Segal ’60 (’93 P) |
| 2019 | Lisa M. Franchetti ’85 Bridgette Proctor Heller ’83, ’85 MBA Yie-Hsin Hung ’84 (’22 P) |
| 2018 | Louis A. Simpson ’58 (’96 P) Johnnetta B. Cole ’59 MA, ’67 PhD, ’92 H Douglas R. Conant ’73, ’76 MBA (’09 P) Courtney D. Armstrong ’93, ’97 JD, MBA |
| 2017 | Mara Brock Akil ’92 John “Mac” McQuown ’57 Milton “Chip” Morris ’92, ’04 MBA Kelly O’Donnell ’87 |
| 2015 | Nicholas D. Chabraja ’64, ’67 JD |
| 2014 | Dennis H. Chookaszian ’65 (’02 P) (’19, ’24 GP) |
| 2013 | Patrick G. Ryan ’59, ’09 H (’97, ’00 P) Shirley Welsh Ryan ’61, ’19 H (’97, ’00 P) |
| 2012 | Thomas Z. Hayward Jr. ’62, ’65 JD (’89, ’90, ’94 P) (’24 GP) |
| 2010 | William J. White ’60 (’84 P) (’17, ’19, ’19 GP) |
| 2009 | Neil G. Bluhm ’62 JD (’95 P) |
| 2008 | Carole Segal ’60 (’93 P) |
| 2007 | Raymond F. Farley ’51 (’80 P) |
| 2006 | Patricia Buehler Blankenship ’53 (’80, ’90 P) |
| 2005 | Howard S. Traisman ’43, ’46, ’47 MD (’77, ’79, ’81 P) (’18 GP) |
| 2004 | Eric Jay Gleacher ’62 (’91, ’12 P) |
| 2003 | Art Pancoe ’51 MS (’08, ’13 GP) |
| 2002 | Lester Crown ’46 (’93, ’21 P) (’11, ’13, ’20 GP) |
| 2001 | Richard S. Pepper ’53 |
| 2001 | Roxelyn Miller Pepper ’53 |
| 2000 | Judd A. Weinberg ’47 |
| 1999 | Louis D. Boshes ’31, ’36 MD, ’38 MS, ’40 GME |
| 1998 | Ivan D. Combe ’33, ’36 JD (’65, ’70 P) (’94, ’99, ’09, ’27 GP) |
| 1997 | Ardis Krainik ’51, ’84 H |
| 1996 | Howard J. Trienens ’45, ’49 JD, ’95 H (’79 P) (’98, ’03, ’07 GP) |
| 1995 | Ruth R. Whitney ’49 |
| 1994 | Richard B. Stolley ’52, ’53 MS (’81, ’85 P) |
| 1993 | Morris A. Kaplan ’35 (’93, ’03 GP) |
| 1992 | George A. Cohon ’61 JD (’89 P) (’23 GP) |
| 1991 | Georgie Anne Geyer ’56, ’93 H |
| 1990 | David Shoch ’39 MS, ’43 PhD, ’46 MD |
| 1989 | Theodore W. Van Zelst ’45, ’48 MS (’89 P) |
| 1988 | Saul Bellow ’37, ’62 H |
| 1987 | Stanton R. Cook ’49, ’85 H (’87, ’98 P) |
| 1986 | Thomas E. Starzl ’50 MS, ’52 MD, PhD, ’82 H |
| 1985 | Garry K. Marshall ’56 (’86, ’90, ’91 P) (’18 GP) |
| 1984 | Orion H. Stuteville ’31 DDS, ’33 MS, ’39 MD |
| 1983 | Richard C. Christian ’49 MBA (’75 P) |
| 1982 | Chester Gould 1923 |
| 1981 | Richard M. Paget ’34 (’65, ’67 P) |
| 1980 | Howard H. Hanson 1916 |
| 1979 | Charlton Heston ’45 (’19 GP) |
| 1978 | Newton N. Minow ’49, ’50 JD, ’65 H (’71, ’12 P) |
| 1977 | Hon. John P. Stevens ’47 JD, ’77 H |
| 1976 | John A. D. Cooper ’43 PhD, ’51 MD, ’72 H (’74 P) |
| 1975 | Hon. James R. Thompson ’59 JD, ’79 H |
| 1974 | Raymond T. Carhart ’34 MA/MS, ’36 PhD |
| 1973 | Creed C. Black ’49 |
| 1972 | Cynthia Clark Wedel 1929, 1930 MA |
| 1971 | Maurice H. Stans 1929, ’60 H |
| 1971 | Richard H. Young ’30 MD (’61, ’63 P) |
| 1970 | Edwin C. Austin 1915 JD, 1917 MA/MS |
| 1969 | Donald M. Graham ’33, ’36 JD (’71 P) |
| 1968 | Moody E. Prior 1923, 1924 MA |
| 1967 | Arthur J. Goldberg ’30 JD, ’63 H |
| 1966 | George W. Ball ’30, ’33 JD, ’64 H |
| 1965 | James F. Oates Jr. 1924 JD (’50 P) |
| 1964 | Lloyd Griffin ’32 (’60, ’61 P) (’88 GP) |
| 1964 | Charles Cranston Spray 1920, 1923 JD |
| 1963 | Vernon R. Loucks 1908, 1910 JD (’93 GP) |
| 1962 | George H. Tomlinson 1898 |
| 1961 | Carl I. Johnson 1924 |
| 1961 | C. Lysle Smith 1917, 1920 JD |
| 1960 | Nina Shumway Knapp 1899 |
| 1960 | James L. Allen 1929 (’81, ’83, ’87, ’96, ’00 GP) |
| 1959 | Harold F. Whittle 1914 |
| 1958 | Byron S. Coon 1925 (’60 P) |
| 1958 | Harold A. Smith 1921 JD |
| 1957 | Edwin Oscar Blomquist 1915 |
| 1957 | Willis Donald Gale 1923, 1924 MA/MS |
| 1956 | Isabelle Drew Fowler 1894, 1895 MA/MS |
| 1956 | Albert Rueben Jones 1899 |
| 1955 | Herbert J. Taylor 1917 (’42, ’50 P) (’68, ’80 GP) |
| 1955 | George Ives Haight 1902 JD |
| 1954 | Edward Rixon Ladd 1904 |
| 1953 | Horace Greeley Smith 1905 |
| 1953 | Eric Oldberg 1923, 1926 MS, 1927 MD, 1928 PhD, ’91 H |
| 1952 | J. Roscoe Miller ’30 MD, ’31 GME (’53, ’58, ’63 P) |
| 1951 | Harold H. Anderson 1924 (’55 P) |
| 1951 | Thomas A. Harwood 1915 |
| 1950 | Winifred L. Ward 1905 |
| 1950 | Andy Hall 1890 MD (’62, ’82 GP) |
| 1949 | Harry L. Wells 1913 (’42, ’45 P) |
| 1948 | Emma Boose Tucker 1901 MD |
| 1947 | Nathan W. MacChesney 1902 JD |
| 1946 | Charles William Ward 1903 MA/MS |
| 1945 | Loyal Davis 1918 MD (’51 P) (’74 GP) |
| 1944 | John A. Wolfer 1908 |
| 1942 | Dean Ralph Brownell Dennis 1901, 1915 H |
| 1942 | Owen Lewis Coon 1915, 1919 JD (’44 P) (’69 GP) |
| 1940 | James Franklin Oates Sr. 1893 (1924 P) (’50 GP) |
| 1939 | George Craig Stewart 1902 |
| 1938 | Bertram Joseph Cahn 1896, 1899 JD |
| 1937 | Arthur D. Black 1900 DDS |
| 1937 | Allen Buchner Kanavel 1896, 1899 MD |
| 1935 | Mark Winfield Cresap 1898 |
| 1934 | Anna Marcy Miller Scott 1895, ’52 H |
| 1934 | Walter Dill Scott 1895 (’49, ’53 GP) |
| 1932 | William A. Dyche 1882, 1890 MA/MS |