After Distinguished Careers at University and Beyond, Three Earn Harvard Medals

UPDATED: May 17, 2013, at 8:20 a.m.

An international ambassador for Harvard, a trailblazing judge and policymaker, and a seasoned College administrator will receive the 2013 Harvard Medal for “extraordinary service” to the University, the Harvard Alumni Association announced Wednesday.

University President Drew G. Faust will award the medals to James V. Baker ’68, William T. Coleman, Jr., and Georgene B. Herschbach at HAA’s annual meeting during Commencement on May 30, the organization wrote in a press release.

The press release stated that the Harvard Medal, awarded for the first time in 1981, recognizes contributions to the University in a variety of forms, including administration, fundraising, or volunteer work.

Baker, a graduate of the Business School who spent his career at Goldman Sachs, was the first international president of HAA and a former president of the Harvard Club of the United Kingdom.

He has also worked as HAA’s regional director for Europe, where, according to the press release, he organized a European Leadership Conference that included clubs from 13 countries. Since, the event has become an annual occurrence, and its format has been adopted by Harvard Clubs on other continents.

“He has always maintained an eye toward strengthening Harvard’s relationship with international alumni,” HAA wrote in its announcement.

Coleman also brings a distinguished record to the list of Harvard Medal winners. After graduating first in his class at the Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, Coleman went on to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, making Coleman the first African-American to clerk at the nation’s highest court.

After working with Thurgood Marshall to contribute to Marshall’s arguing of the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, Coleman served as president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and secretary of transportation under President Gerald Ford, making him the second African-American member of a presidential cabinet. In addition, Coleman received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995.

Coleman has also stayed connected to Harvard, formerly serving as a member of the Board of Overseers, the University’s second highest governing body. He currently sits on the Law School Dean’s Advisory Board.

The third Harvard medalist, Herschbach, has served in a number of administrative roles at Harvard, including Co-Master of Currier House, registrar of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and dean of administration.

With a background in chemistry, Herschbach also co-founded the Harvard College Program for Research in Science and Engineering, which allows undergraduates to collaborate with faculty on scientific research during the summer.

In an email, Herschbach wrote that winning the medal was an “enormous surprise” and a “great honor,” and that she was grateful to have served in fulfilling positions at Harvard that allowed her to work with skilled and passionate colleagues. She wrote that the founding of PRISE was likely her most rewarding contribution to Harvard.

“In my experience as a woman scientist I witnessed and personally experienced quite negative attitudes toward women in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] fields,” Herschbach wrote. “But the PRISE program, which offers Harvard undergraduates the opportunity to work with faculty on projects at the frontiers of science, is welcoming to students of all backgrounds.”

Herschbach added that female students have made up about half of PRISE’s enrollment since its founding in 2006, with minorities being represented in high numbers as well.

She also wrote that her background in science was conducive to using data in administrative roles like FAS registrar.

“As a trained scientist I naturally turned to data to help understand patterns in student life in Harvard College, and to inform administrative decisions in many different areas,” Herschbach wrote.

—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @syweinstock.