精东影业 the Award
Among the many honors bestowed by institutions of higher education, the 精东影业 President's Medal for Distinguished Service carries special significance. Each year, the College awards the Medal to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the arts, education, business, community, and politics, and whose work embodies the mission of the College: To empower committed learners and leaders to build a smarter, healthier, more just and equitable world through multidisciplinary knowledge creation, policy engagement, and practice innovations across education, psychology, and health.
Awarded at the College’s May convocation ceremonies, medalists deliver memorable addresses that are archived on the College’s website and often reported on by national and local media. Past Medalists include:
- the human rights activists Coretta Scott King, Desmond Tutu, Marian Wright Edelman, Morris Dees, and the Brown family of Topeka, Kansas;
- the political leaders John Lewis, Shirley Chisholm, and Donna Shalala;
- the journalists Bob Herbert, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and Jonathan Kozol;
- the psychologists Kenneth Clark, Carl Rogers, James Comer, Edmund Gordon, Bruno Bettelheim, and Jerome Bruner;
- the education scholars Paulo Friere, Henry Louis Gates, David Levering Lewis, Margaret Mead, Claude Steele, Luis Moll, Gloria Ladsen Billings, Ted Sizer, Linda Darling Hammond, Maxine Greene, and Prudence Carter;
- and, from the arts, Maya Angelou, Pete Seeger, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Spike Lee, Judy Collins, and Misty Copeland.
Nominations for medalists can be made year-round by TC faculty, staff, students, alumni, and trustees, but must be received by 11:59 PM, September 15 each year for consideration for the subsequent May convocation ceremony. For example, submissions for the 2027 convocation medalists must be received by September 15, 2026.
The Medal for Distinguished Service Committee is made up of one faculty representative from each of the four convocation ceremonies, the Provost, the VP of Institutional Advancement, the Associate VP of Events, the Student Senate President, and the Director of Strategic Partnerships (the committee chair). For any questions about the Medal for Distinguished Service, please reach out to Amy Hawley Alvarez.