The University and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation announced the winners of this year's Thomas Jefferson Medals March 8.
The medals were awarded to Cecil Balmond OBE, Judge John Gleeson, Marian Wright Edelman and Gordon Moore in Architecture, Law, Citizen Leadership and Global Innovation, respectively.
Leslie Greene Bowman, president and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, said these awards recognize leaders in four of the academic fields Jefferson held in the highest esteem.
“By any measure and in any age, Jefferson was a brilliant mind, and the founding father who best embodied the American spirit of ingenuity in multiple fields,” Bowman said in a press release. “His vast contributions to science, architecture, academia, diplomacy and culture reflect an insatiable appetite for useful knowledge and dedication to improving life in a new nation.”
Because the University does not award any honorary degrees, the Thomas Jefferson Medals are the highest external honor the University grants to individuals.
Previous recipients include architect I.M. Pei, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
The medals are presented annually April 13 — Thomas Jefferson’s birthday — and are awarded to the winners by the presidents of both the University and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
This year’s ceremony will commemorate Jefferson’s 273rd birthday.
Each winner will give a lecture, which will be free and open to the public, and there will be a formal dinner held in the recipients’ honor.
University President Teresa Sullivan said the recipients are proven leaders in their fields.
“This year’s recipients of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals bring a remarkable range and depth of achievement to these prestigious awards,” Sullivan said in an email statement. “All of them have made profoundly influential contributions in their fields and all of them carry forward in their work Jefferson’s commitment to inquiry, creativity and leadership.”
Cecil Balmond is an architect, artist, writer and engineer. He has helped run multiple notable engineering firms and has received an Order of the British Empire for Services to Architecture.
Judge John Gleeson, a University Law School alumnus, is a former federal judge for the Eastern District of New York. He is an advocate for criminal justice reforms and was the lead prosecutor in a successful case against Mafia leader John Gotti.
Marian Wright Edelman was the first African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar Association and founded the Children’s Defense Fund, which has become one of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations to specialize in child advocacy and research.
Gordon Moore is known for his observations and predictions on the growth of the semiconductor components industry, which were later called “Moore’s Law.” He is also a co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Intel Corporation.
“We are honored to welcome the 2016 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal recipients, each of whom has had, and will continue to have, a profound impact on our world,” Bowman said.
Edelman will speak at the public commemoration of Jefferson’s birthday at Monticello April 13. She will also speak at Nau Hall later in the day.
Gleeson and Balmond will also appear at events on Grounds on Founder’s Day.
Update: Marian Wright Edelman will be speaking in the Newcomb Hall Theatre instead of Nau Hall.
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