President Shapiro Receives National Institute of Social Sciences Gold Medal

New York, N.Y. (Dec. 5, 2002) – The National Institute of Social Sciences has honored Barnard President Judith Shapiro for her contributions as a leader in higher education. Presenting its annual Gold Medal Award to Shapiro, the Institute recognized her outstanding leadership at Barnard and in the education of women overall.

The award was presented on Monday, Dec. 2 at the Institute’s annual dinner, held at the Union Club in New York City.

Other honorees this year included William J. McDonough, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, John Negroponte, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and Bruce Babbit, former Interior Secretary and Governor of Arizona.

Shapiro, a cultural anthropologist and president of Barnard since 1994, became the fourth leader of Barnard to receive the Gold Medal, following Virginia Gildersleeve in 1946, Millicent McIntosh in 1960 and Ellen Futter in 1993.

The Gold Medal Award has been presented annually since 1913 to individuals who have made significant contributions toward improving society in diverse fields, including government, education, the arts, sciences, literature and philanthropy. Recent winners include Madeleine Albright, John Kenneth Galbraith, Enid Haupt, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

In accepting the award, Shapiro noted her good fortune in being associated with three universities that have special strength in the social sciences: Brandeis, where she majored in history as an undergraduate; Columbia, where she earned the doctorate in anthropology, and the University of Chicago, where she was the first woman faculty member in the Department of Anthropology.

Although her academic career has led from teaching to administration she told the gathering her training as an anthropologist often guides her thoughts and actions. "That is the kind of benefit that all of us here enjoy: once a social scientist, always a social scientist," Shapiro said. "It is a way of being in the world. We work unendingly to cultivate what C. Wright Mills called ‘the sociological imagination,’ connecting our personal circumstances to wider social forces, locating ourselves in history."

The Institute was incorporated by Congress in 1899 to promote study and research in the social sciences and today holds discussions on social issues.

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, Barnard Office of Public Affairs, (212) 854-7583, strimel@barnard.edu