Distinguished Alumni Awards

The Distinguished Alumni Awards honor Arts & Sciences graduates who exemplify the ideals of a liberal arts education, and in so doing bring honor to Washington University through their lives, work, and service.

Each year, Arts & Sciences recognizes a few extraordinary alumni for significant achievements in three different categories: the Distinguished Alumni Awards, the Early Career Achievement Award, and the Dean’s Medal. The annual Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner is hosted by the dean of Arts & Sciences and the National Council.

  • The Distinguished Alumni Awards honor alumni from Arts & Sciences' undergraduate and graduate programs who exemplify the ideals embodied by Washington University through their lives, work, and service.
  • The Early Career Achievement Award recognizes Arts & Sciences alumni 40 years of age or younger.
  • The Dean’s Medal honors a friend whose dedication and support have been exceptional and whose leadership, advice, and inspiration have served to place Arts & Sciences at the heart of one of the world’s premier universities.

During our awards ceremony, the honorees share personal stories of their educational experience and the impact it had on their lives and accomplishments.

Reach out with any questions to artsci.events@wustl.edu or submit your nomination using the webform. 

2024 Recipients

Distinguished Alumni Awards

The recipients were Lisa Sharkey, AB '80, John Solenberger, PhD '69, Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, AB ’91.

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Early Career Achievement Award

The recipient was Brittany Packnett Cunningham, AB '06.

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Dean’s Medal

The recipient was Richard G. Engelsmann.

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Nominate Accomplished Alumni

All Arts & Sciences graduates are eligible for the Distinguished Alumni Awards and are selected by a committee on the basis of their professional achievement, service to Washington University, and/or service to society.

Submit Your Nomination

Previous Award Recipients

  • 2024 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Richard G. Engelsmann, Lisa Sharkey, John Solenberger, Rochelle Walensky

  • 2023 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Morgan DeBaun, Thomas W. Gilligan, Kathy Garber Kartalis, Georgie Lewis, Carolyn Werner Losos

  • 2020 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    T.R. Bynum, John Green, Gayle Jackson, Joan Kelly, Kristina Olson, Larry Robinson

  • 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Ralph Gonzales, William Siedhoff, Sydney Smith Hicks, Kimberly Templeton, Phillandas Thompson (Early Career Achievement Award), Barbara Schaps Thomas (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2018 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Kate Bloch, Joanne Bober, Freida Brown, Valerie Davisson, Keneth Karmin, Eric Schultz (Early Career Achievement Award), David Ulevitch (Early Career Achievement Award), and Professor Martin Israel (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2017 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Joanne Kohn, Geoffrey Ling, Joe Madison, Ron Saks, Joe Wayland, Rochelle Sims (Early Career Achievement Award), and Mike and Tana Powell (Dean's Medalists)

  • 2016 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Reginald D. Dickson, Michael P. Pacin, Paul E. Pariser, Cho-Yee To, Andrew Solomon (Early Career Achievement), and Andrea Grant (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2015 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    David P. Conner, Alice E. Conway, Stephen H. Lockhart, Monique M. Williams (Early Career Achievement Award), and Wilfred R. Konneker (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2014 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Gayle Jackson, Hank Klibanoff, Ken Makovsky, Carol Epstein, Joseph Daniels (Early Career Achievement Award), and Murray Weidenbaum (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2013 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    James Burmeister, Ann Johanson, James Schiele, Darrell Williams, Nicole Kaplan (Early Career Achievement Award), and Marie Oetting (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2012 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Robert A. Ansehl, Samuel Halperin, Naomi G. Lebowitz, Susan Fisher Sterling, Mark Steinberg Weil, and Robert L. Virgil (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2011 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Robert C. Adler, Michael R. Cannon, Deborah A. Freund, Stephanie L. Riven, and Earle H. Harbison, Jr. (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2010 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    David W. Detjen, Richard S. Eckaus, Eugenie S. Kleinerman, Barbara D. Newmark, Gary H. Stern, and Dan Storper (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2009 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Joel W. Abramowitz, Yvette Drury Dubinsky, Shelby L. Jordan, Martin K. Sneider, Pamela L. Tremayne, and Edward S. Macias (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2008 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Andrew M. Bursky, Sherman A. James, Ira J. Kodner, Horace Mitchell, Chezia Thompson Cager Strand, and Robert E. Thach (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2007 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    M. Patricia Barrett, Mel F. Brown, Ronald J. Himes, Lawrence Kahn, Alvin Rabushka, Ronald M. Rettner, Pepper Schwartz, William Jay Smith, and Harriet K. Switzer (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2006 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Alan R. Bender, Barbara Levy Landes, Sanford C. Loewentheil, Kate Hilliker Murashige, Jill Evans Petzall, and John A. Berg (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2005 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    John P. Dubinsky, Flint W. Fowler, Henrietta W. Freedman, Diane D. Jacobsen, William B. Pollard, III, and John H. Biggs (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2004 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Michael Isikoff, Harry S. Jonas, Constance Kling Levy, Jerome T. Loeb, Sally K. Silvers, and David T. Blasingame (Dean's Medalist)

  • 2003 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Lois J. Blackwell, William E. Cornelius, Dennis C. Dickerson, Sr., Mark J. Ginsburg, Marion E. Horstman, Mark E. Mason, Robert M. Senior, and Susan Ekberg Stiritz

  • 2002 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Frank S. Buzard, Leslie F. Loewe, Marylen Mann, Melvin Lee Oliver, Russell Schwartz, and James W. Davis (Dean’s Medalist)

  • 2001 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    John Michael Clear, Doris A. Graber, Maurice A. Harris, Marie Prange Oetting, Harold Ramis, Barbara Schaps Thomas, and Margaret Bush Wilson (Dean’s Medalist)

  • 2000 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Ted Drewes, Carol Tucker Foreman, John L. Gianoulakis, Winifred Bryan Horner, Jeffrey H. Mantel, Elizabeth Gentry Sayad, and Richard A. Roloff (Dean's Medalist)

  • 1999 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Gordon S. Black, Charles A. Ingene, Carolyn Werner Losos, Jacqueline S. Schapp, and John F. McDonnell (Dean’s Medalist)

  • 1998 Distinguished Alumni Awards

    Judith Spector Aronson, Kenneth L. Fox, Earle H. Harbison, Jr., John P. Heinz, Marvin E. Levin, and William H. Danforth (Dean's Medalist)

"I'm quite honored and humbled by this award that comes from an institution that I feel deeply obligated to and to the extent that the achievement reflects anything I've done. It all began here—my intellectual base is here. And everything that came after it is built on that."

―Joe Wayland, AB ’792017 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient