Mon 12 Sep 2005
The Bicentennial Medal Presentation — Highly Recommended
Posted by admin under Bicentennial Medals, News
Posted at 9:25 pmOn Saturday, Williams will present Bicentennial
Medals to six alumni:
- Bernard Bailyn, Pulitzer Prize-winning
historian - Edgar M. Bronfman, president of the World
Jewish Congress - A. R. Gurney, Jr., playwright
- Glenn D. Lowry, director of New York’s
Museum of Modern Art - Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, artist
- Marisa E. Reddy Randazzo, threat assessment
expert
This ceremony will be special for me, as one of the major reasons I attended Williams was because Bernard Bailyn had gone there. I was quite a History aficionado in high school, and I figured if Williams could turn out great historians such as Bernard Bailyn and James MacGregor Burns, that was the place for me.
If you can make it, I would highly recommend
it. I’ve attended around six presentations so far, and it’s always fascinating to see what tortuous and interesting paths Williams graduates travel. Morty changed the venue last year — to Chapin during the day so students could attend, rather than at night in Lasell for alumni only — and the students seemed to take a lot of inspiration from what they heard and saw.
The college’s summary of the recipients’
accomplishments is
here;
following is further background on what they’ve done.
Bernard Bailyn: His
Harvard bio, a
lecture
he gave at The White House, an
appreciation
by one of his students,
Jack N. Rakove (a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian as well), and his
bio on Wikipedia.
Edgar Bronfman: A short
note from a local newspaper and his
bio on Wikipedia.
A.R. Gurney: a
write-up from a retrospective at a theatre festival in Kansas, his
entry in the Internet
Broadway Database, an
interview on XM Satellite Radio, and his
bio on Wikipedia.
Glenn Lowry:
Testimony
before a Congressional Committee about art stolen during World War II,
This
New House, an article talking about the new MOMA building and Lowry’s role,
an
interview on the Jim Lehrer News Hour about the new MOMA building,
greetings from him on the
MOMA Web site, and an article he wrote for the Gotham Gazette, entitled,
"Nothing
Matters More than the Collection."
Inigo Manglano-Ovalle:
notes from an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, a
listing
of exhibitions and museums that carry his work, and his
bio on
Artcyclopedia.
Marisa E. Reddy Randazzo: a copy of
Insider Threat Study: Illicit Cyber Activity in the Banking and Finance Sector
(co-author).
September 12th, 2005 at 10:05 pm
Thanks for posting this excellent summary.
1) There must be an interesting tale as to how Bronfman started out as class of 1950, but never graduated. What is it?
2) Perhaps it is rude of me to say so, but must the College use such other-the-top blather in its press releases?
“Uncountable”? Give me a break. Her work has done nothing of the sort.
Now, Randazzo seems like a sensible person. Indeed, her biography contains a lot of useful suggestions for current students. Read it. But, in looking at other Bicentennial winners, it is hard to see how she fits in. Would anyone really put her in the same category as Bernard Bailyn or Glenn Lowry?
Now, I am eager to stipulate that Randazzo is infinately more accomplished than, say, me or any of my Williams buddies. But, when I think about the other women in her class of 1989 that I know — and not just my lovely wife! — I would say that she is not unusual. There most be a dozen or more women in the class of 1989 who are more accomplised. (I realize that this is difficult to measure across fields.)
So, how did she get picked? I think that there is a story behind the story here . . .
September 12th, 2005 at 10:50 pm
Yes, Randazzo’s short bio is interesting. Another item of note: of the 18 law-psychology professionals profiled in the piece, two (over 10%) attended Williams: Marisa Randazzo ‘89 and Amy Bradfield ‘96, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Bates.