Radcliffe Institute names ’06 alumnae award winners

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has named 12 recipients of its annual alumnae awards. Among others, this year’s honorees include Susan Faludi ’81, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author; Amy Gutmann ’76, president of the University of Pennsylvania; and Elaine Pagels ’70, author of “Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas” and “The Gnostic Gospels.” The awards will be presented and the recipients will speak at the Radcliffe Awards Symposium, “Women, Power, and Change: How Far Have We Come?” to be held Friday (June 9) at Agassiz Theatre, 10 Garden St., Cambridge, Mass., from 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“Through their diverse and extraordinary accomplishments, these alumnae exemplify Radcliffe’s mission to extend the boundaries of knowledge and to advance women in society. For their achievements and for their dedication to Radcliffe, we express our sincere gratitude by honoring them with this year’s alumnae awards,” said Drew Gilpin Faust, dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and Lincoln Professor of History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Selected by the Alumnae Recognition Awards Committee, winners have distinguished themselves both in their service to Radcliffe and in their careers. The awards are broken into four categories and presented during Harvard/Radcliffe Commencement Week. Listed below are the 2006 award winners in their respective categories. More extensive biographical information on the winners is available at http://www.radcliffe.edu/alumnae.

Alumnae Recognition Award recipients

Alumnae Recognition Awards are presented to Radcliffe and Harvard alumnae “whose lives and spirits exemplify the value of a liberal arts education.”

Susan Faludi ’81 is a Pulitzer Prize – winning journalist and author of the best-selling books “Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man” (William Morrow & Company, 1999) and “Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women” (Crown, 1991). She is a contributing editor for Newsweek and a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, where she won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory journalism. She has also written for the New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Nation, among other publications.

Amy Gutmann ’71, Ph.D. ’76 is the president of and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She formerly served Princeton University for 25 years, most recently as provost. A world-renowned political philosopher, Gutmann also holds numerous national leadership positions. She is the award-winning author of seven books, including “Color Conscious” (Princeton University Press, 1996), co-written with Kwame Anthony Appiah. She has also published more than 100 articles, essays, and book chapters in publications such as the New York Times Book Review and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Jane Roland Martin ’51, Ed.M. ’56, Ph.D. ’61, BI ’81 is a philosopher of education, an award-winning author, and a professor emerita of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her publications include “Reclaiming a Conversation: The Ideal of the Educated Woman” (Yale University Press, 1985).

Graduate Society Awards

Graduate Society Medals are awarded to alumnae of Harvard and Radcliffe graduate schools and Radcliffe’s fellowship programs for outstanding contributions to their professions.

Judith Lewis Herman ’64, M.D. ’68, BI ’85, RI ’02 is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; a staff psychiatrist for the Cambridge Hospital; and the author of “Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror” (Basic Books, 1992) and “Father-Daughter Incest” (Harvard University Press, 1981).

Elaine Pagels Ph.D. ’70 is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University and the author of numerous books on religion, including “The Gnostic Gospels” (Random House, 1979), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award.

Jane Rainie Opel ’50 Young Alumna Award

The eponymous Jane Rainie Opel ’50 Young Alumna Award, named for the former Radcliffe College Alumnae Association executive director, is presented to an alumna in the 10th reunion class for an outstanding contribution to the advancement of women, to her profession, or to the Radcliffe Institute.

Jehane Noujaim ’96 is the award-winning filmmaker of “Control Room” (2004), the controversial documentary that features events at Al Jazeera from the onset of the Iraq war. Noujaim left for Qatar two weeks before the U.S. invasion and gained access to both Al Jazeera and the U.S. Military Central Command. She also produced and directed “Startup.com” (2001).

Distinguished Service Awards

Distinguished Service Awards will be presented to Joan Harvey Burns ’56, Ann Farist Butler ’51, Paula Budlong Cronin ’56, Ann Myers Hershfang ’56, Katharine F. Mack ’46, and Sheila Brown Rice ’51.