Inaugural Schelling and Neustadt Awards given to scholar, judge

A federal judge and a respected social policy writer and scholar were recently honored during the inaugural Richard E. Neustadt and Thomas C. Schelling Awards ceremonies at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. The Kennedy School of Government (KSG) hosted the event.

Judith M. Gueron (Ph.D. ’71), immediate past president of the Manpower Demonstration Research Corp. (MDRC), was presented with the Richard E. Neustadt Award, to be bestowed annually to an individual “who has created powerful solutions to public problems, drawing on research and intellectual ideas as appropriate.”

Judge Richard A. Posner (Harvard Law School ’62), who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago, was presented with the Thomas C. Schelling Award. This award is given to an individual “whose remarkable intellectual work has had a transformative impact on public policy.”

The David Rubenstein Fund for Kennedy School Excellence provided funding for the $25,000 awards.

“These awards are designed to recognize people who achieve the highest standard of excellence and public service. We honor people who use reason, exceptional wisdom, and evidence to understand and solve public problems,” said KSG Dean David Ellwood.

Gueron joined MDRC as founding research director in 1974, and served as its president from 1986 through 2004. A visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, Gueron is a nationally recognized expert on employment and training, poverty, and family assistance.

Posner was appointed judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in 1981, and served as chief judge from 1993 to 2000. He also currently serves as senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.

Richard E. Neustadt, the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government Emeritus, and Thomas C. Schelling, Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy Emeritus, are considered founding fathers of KSG. An eminent presidential scholar and adviser to three U.S. presidents, Neustadt, who served as associate dean of KSG until 1975, died in November 2003. Schelling, a founding faculty member of the School in 1969, is now Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.