Hillary Clinton to Receive Radcliffe Medal for Impact on Society

For Immediate Release

Contact: Jane F. Huber, jane_huber@radcliffe.harvard.edu

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 8, 2018) — Today, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (www.radcliffe.harvard.edu) announced that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will receive the prestigious Radcliffe Medal on May 25, 2018, during Harvard’s commencement week.

Awarded on Radcliffe Day, an annual gathering to celebrate Radcliffe’s commitment to excellence and inquiry, the Radcliffe Medal honors individuals whose life and work have had a transformative impact on society.

Radcliffe Institute Dean Lizabeth Cohen called Secretary Clinton a “champion for human rights” and the welfare of all, a “skilled legislator,” and “an advocate of American leadership to create a world in which states live up to their responsibilities.”

Previous Radcliffe Medalists include U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, among other distinguished recipients.

“Hillary Clinton’s life and career are an inspiration to people around the world,” said Dean Cohen, who is the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies in Harvard’s Department of History. “We commend Secretary Clinton for her accomplishments in the public sphere as a champion for human rights and the welfare of all, as a skilled legislator, and as an advocate of American leadership to create a world in which states—to quote Secretary Clinton—‘have clear incentives to cooperate and live up to their responsibilities, as well as strong disincentives to…sow discord and division.’ We salute her commitment to a life of public service and the resilience it takes to live and work in the public eye.”

“Whether in Arkansas, Washington, DC, New York State, or traveling around the globe as secretary of state,” Cohen said, “Secretary Clinton has provided a model of what it takes to transform society, often under scrutiny—tireless effort, toughness amid the political fray, and an enduring capacity to envision a better future.”

About the Radcliffe Day 2018 program

Radcliffe Day will feature a personal tribute to Secretary Clinton delivered by the global affairs trailblazer, former secretary of state, and 2001 Radcliffe Medalist Madeleine Albright, followed by a wide-ranging keynote conversation between Secretary Clinton and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

The day’s program will open with a panel titled “Toward a New Global Architecture? America’s Role in a Changing World.” In 2009, then–Secretary of State Clinton outlined a vision for a global architecture “in which states have clear incentives to cooperate and live up to their responsibilities, as well as strong disincentives to sit on the sidelines or sow discord and division.” Nearly a decade later, the United States is still grappling with complex questions about its role in global affairs. Nicholas Burns, the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School and a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and under secretary of state for political affairs, will moderate a discussion exploring these issues with the foreign policy experts Michèle Flournoy, David Ignatius, Meghan O’Sullivan, and Anne-Marie Slaughter.

About the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study is a unique space within Harvard—a school dedicated to creating and sharing transformative ideas across all disciplines. Each year, the Institute hosts 50 leading scholars, scientists, and artists from around the world in its renowned residential fellowship program. Radcliffe fosters innovative research collaborations and offers hundreds of public lectures, exhibitions, performances, conferences, and other events annually. The Institute is home to the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library, the nation’s foremost archive on the history of women, gender, and sexuality. For more information about the people and programs of the Radcliffe Institute, visit www.radcliffe.harvard.edu.