On June 5, 2010, the University celebrated the achievements of the 2010 Alumni Award winners. All alumni and friends were invited to attend. Hosted by the Alumni Board of Governors, the awards ceremony took place at Rockefeller Chapel during Alumni Weekend. Alumni and faculty were honored for their tremendous contributions to society, to the University, and to their professions. Read below to learn more about the 2010 Alumni Award winners.
The Alumni Medal recognizes achievement of an exceptional nature in any field, vocational or voluntary, covering an entire career. It is the highest honor the Alumni Association can bestow.
Gary Becker, AM’53, PhD’55
Gary Becker received the 2010 Alumni Medal for his extraordinary contributions as University Professor in economics, sociology, and the Booth School of Business, and for his research that illuminates how economic decisions influence people's lives. Mr. Becker received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992, the National Medal of Science in 2000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2007.
Alumni Service Medal
The Alumni Service Medal honors a lifetime of achievement in service to the University.
Pat Rosenzweig, AB’61
Pat Rosenzweig received the 2010 Alumni Service Medal for her dedication to students and alumni and for her years of tireless volunteerism. Some of Ms. Rosenzweig’s most prominent contributions have been to Career Advising and Planning Services, helping countless students and alumni professionally by volunteering every week throughout the year. As well, she played a pivotal role in founding UC2MC, the Chicago alumni club, and volunteers in support of her College Reunion class.
Alumni Service Award
The awards for Alumni Service are awarded for outstanding volunteer work on behalf of the University and for efforts made to ensure the welfare of the institution.
Paul McCudden, AB’83
Paul McCudden received the 2010 Alumni Service Award for his loyal service as an effective and innovative chair of one of the University’s largest Alumni Schools Committees and for his leadership in Los Angeles–area alumni club activities.
James McQuaid, SB’60
James McQuaid received the 2010 Alumni Service Award for his commitment to his College reunion class in serving as gift chair and class agent, and for his dedication to students in establishing the James D. McQuaid Scholarship Fund. As well, he has distinguished himself by serving as international president of Delta Upsilon, and for his leadership in alumni volunteer activities.
Coleman Seskind, AB’55, SB’56, SM’59, MD’59
Coleman Seskind received the 2010 Alumni Service Award for his leadership and numerous contributions to the Biological Sciences Division and Medical Center, including serving on the Visiting Committee, the Alumni Senate, and the BSD Alumni Association Executive Committee; chairing the Editorial Committee for Medicine on the Midway;and serving asclass chairman of the Pritzker School of Medicine Class of 1959.
Young Alumni Service Award
The awards for Alumni Service are awarded for outstanding volunteer work on behalf of the University and for efforts made to ensure the welfare of the institution.
Tak Lo, AB’02
Tak Lo received the 2010 Young Alumni Service Award for his creative contributions to the Washington, DC, alumni club, leadership as vice president, and efforts in planning and organizing events. He also has served on his College Reunion committee, as a CAPS Metcalf Internship application reviewer, as Alumni Schools Committee chair, and as a leader in young alumni participation efforts.
Mary Tang, AB’00
Mary Tang received the 2010 Young Alumni Service Award for her relentless support of the University of Chicago through her efforts on behalf of the alumni community in Washington, DC. This includes serving as the Alumni Schools Committee chair and showing a strong commitment to her College class by serving as class correspondent and on her Reunion committee.
Professional Achievement Award
The awards for Professional Achievement were established in 1967 to recognize alumni who have brought distinction to themselves, credit to the University, and benefit to their communities through their vocation.
Bruce Beutler, MD’81
Bruce Beutler received the 2010 Professional Achievement Award for his important achievements in medical science. Dr. Beutler’s research on isolating tumor necrosis factor led to his invention of a drug that is now used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. His work also solved a basic scientific problem about how we perceive infections, which led to one of the greatest discoveries in the history of immunology. Overall, his contributions have dramatically improved the practice of medicine in the fields of infectious disease, rheumatology, ophthalmology, dermatology, and gastroenterology. Thomson Reuters named him a “citation laureate” in 2008, predicting that he will soon win a Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
Lisa Fruchtman, AB’70
Lisa Fruchtman received the 2010 Professional Achievement Award for her accomplishments in filmmaking. Ms. Fruchtman is an Academy Award–winning editor who has worked in both feature film and television. Among her many film projects are Apocalypse Now, The Right Stuff, Children of a Lesser God, The Godfather Part III, The Doctor, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Dance with Me, A Love Song for Bobby Long, and The Woodsman. Her awards and honors include an Oscar for The Right Stuff, Academy Award and BAFTA nominations for best editing for both The Godfather Part III and Apocalypse Now, and an Emmy nomination and a Cable ACE Award for Truman. She was also sole editor of Children of a Lesser God, which was nominated for best picture.
Cristián Larroulet, AM’80
Cristián Larroulet received the 2010 Professional Achievement Award for his critical role in public policy and economic transformation in Chile. Together with a small group of Chicago-influenced professionals, he created Libertad y Desarrollo, one of the most prestigious think tanks in Latin America, which has come to serve as a model for many others. Mr. Larroulet is also a founder of Universidad del Desarrollo, which is ranked internationally as the top institution for entrepreneurship in Latin America and is a leader among Chile’s universities. He has served as dean of the university’s School of Economics and Business since its creation. In 2010, President Sebastian Piñera named him secretary general to the president, a cabinet-level position.
Nell Minow, JD’77
Nell Minow received the 2010 Professional Achievement Award for her transformative work in the field of corporate governance. Ms. Minow has authored more than 200 articles and coauthored three books on securities law, shareholder rights, and the modern corporation, including the leading business school text. She is editor and co-founder of the Corporate Library, an independent corporate governance research and analysis organization. She has testified before Congress on several occasions and played a role in drafting some of the key legislation that affects all American corporations today. Ms. Minow was named one of the 20 most influential people in corporate governance by Directorship magazine in 2007 and was dubbed "the queen of good corporate governance" by BusinessWeek Online in 2003.
Myron Scholes, MBA’64, PhD’70
Myron Scholes received the 2010 Professional Achievement Award for his significant contributions to economics, including co-authoring the Black–Scholes equation. In 1997, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for this model, which provides the fundamental conceptual framework for valuing options. It has become the standard in financial markets globally. During his career, Mr. Scholes also worked closely with the University of Chicago’s Center for Research in Security Prices, helping to develop and analyze the center’s important database of high frequency stock market data. His later research interests have concentrated on the economics of investment banking and tax planning in corporate finance.
Warren Winiarski, AM’62
Warren Winiarski received the 2010 Professional Achievement Award for his historic role in elevating the prestige of the fledgling American wine industry to global significance, which transformed how Californian wines are viewed worldwide. During graduate school at the University of Chicago, Warren spent a year studying in Italy, and it was there that he discovered winemaking. In 1976, a bottle of Mr. Winiarski's second vintage from his Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was selected for competition in the historic Paris Wine Tasting, where it won first place among the ten French and California red wines. The story has been documented in the 2006 book: Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine.
Public Service Award
The awards for Public Service honor those alumni who have fulfilled the obligations of their education through creative citizenship and exemplary leadership in service in ways that benefit society and reflect credit on the University.
Ann Goodman, AB’72, AM’73, PhD’81
Ann Goodman received the 2010 Public Service Award for her pioneering global efforts on behalf of women in business, corporate responsibility, and sustainable development and for her work with governments and NGOs in making a wide and lasting impact in these enterprises.
Roy Prosterman, AB’54
Roy Prosterman received the 2010 Public Service Award for his research, teaching, and field work (in 27 developing countries) on legal issues in land reform and economic development—all toward the goal of alleviating world poverty. Twice-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Mr. Prosterman has received the Gleitsman Foundation International Activist Award at Harvard University (he was selected by a Board of Judges that included former United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Shimon Peres, Mairead Maguire, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Adolfo Perez Esquivel).
Norman Maclean Faculty Award
Named for Professor Norman Maclean, PhD’40, who taught English at the University for 40 years, the awards recognize emeritus or very senior faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to teaching and to the student experience of life on campus.
Amy Kass, AB’62
Amy Kass, Senior Lecturer in the Humanities Collegiate Division, received the 2010 Norman Maclean Faculty Award.
In support of her nomination for this award, her former student Agnes Callard, AB’97, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Philosophy, wrote: “I arrived as a physics major … I was interested in physics because I was interested in truth, and I thought that the natural world was the place to find it … What Mrs. Kass showed me, as a freshman in her Common Core Human Being and Citizen class was that there is another kind of truth—there are truths about how shame and courage are related, what death means for life, why eating matters—not to our bodies, but to our souls … Mrs. Kass taught me this—she taught me that there was such a thing as the study of human truths, or ‘the humanities.’ She changed my intellectual orientation, and thereby, my life.”
Frank Reynolds, AM’63, PhD’71
Frank Reynolds, Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions in the Divinity School and in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, received the 2010 Norman Maclean Faculty Award.
A former student, John Clifford Holt, PhD’77, now the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Religion and the Humanities at Bowdoin College wrote: “Frank Reynolds was a veritable institution for more than a generation of graduate students in history of religion and Buddhist studies at the University of Chicago. Frank had an extraordinary career shaping the lives of scores of Divinity Students. I can’t think of another individual who could be more deserving of this award than Frank.”
