On Friday, May 9, Radcliffe College President Linda S. Wilson received the Distinguished Alumni Award at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. This award, the highest bestowed by the Wisconsin Alumni Association, recognizes Wilson for her contributions to higher education and to the University of Wisconsin.

A graduate of Sophie Newcomb College, Tulane University, Wilson earned her doctorate in inorganic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She taught and conducted research at the University of Maryland and the University of Illinois, before pursuing a career devoted to the fostering and oversight of research. At the University of Illinois, Wilson served as associate vice chancellor for research from 1975 to 1985 and associate dean of the graduate college from 1978 to 1985. Wilson was vice president for research at the University of Michigan from 1985 until she assumed her position at Radcliffe in 1989.

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes Wilson for being a "strong voice for women in science and for women's education." Among her accomplishments at Radcliffe, the award cites: the establishment in 1993 of the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute, with its mission to engage women as full partners in shaping policy on important social issues and in governing society and for establishing the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies at Radcliffe College, an interdisciplinary and graduate-level consortium serving seven area colleges.