Brokaw to Receive 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Tom Brokaw, a graduate of the University of South Dakota, will receive AASCU’s Distinguished Alumnus Award on November 25 at the Annual Meeting awards brunch. Brokaw served as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News beginning in 1983. He retired from this position in 2004. He is the author of four best-selling books including The Greatest Generation and The Greatest Generation Speaks. Brokaw has received numerous awards including a Peabody Award and seven Emmy Awards.
Read Tom Brokaw's complete bio
List of Recipients
1972 President Lyndon B. Johnson; Southwest Texas State University
1973 Julian Goodman, Former President, National Broadcasting Company; Western Kentucky University
1974 James A. Michener, Author and Pulitzer Prize Winner; University of Northern Colorado
1974 Leslie H. Warner, Former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, General Telephone and Electronics Corporation; Wichita State University, Kansas
1975 The Honorable Philip Sanchez, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Honduras; California State University, Fresno
1976 The Honorable Val Peterson, Former Governor of Nebraska and Former Ambassador to Denmark and Finland; Wayne State College, Nebraska
1977 Marvin L. Stone, Former Editor, U.S. News & World Report; Marshall University, West Virginia
1978 Ruth Chickering Clusen, Former President of the League of Women Voters and Assistant Secretary for Environment, U.S. Department of Energy; University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
1979 Wilson Riles, Former Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of California; Northern Arizona University
1980 Donald F. McHenry, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Illinois State University
1981 Merze Tate, International Scholar, Historian, and Former University Professor; Western Michigan University
1982 John F. O’Connell, Former Chairman, California State University Board of Trustees, and Former President, Bechtel, Inc.; California State University, Chico
1983 Paul Woodring, Distinguished Service Professor, Western Washington University, and Former Editor, Education Supplement, Saturday Review; Bowling Green State University, Ohio
1984 Barbara Jordan, Lyndon B. Johnson Public Service Professor, University of Texas, Former Congresswoman from Texas; Texas Southern University
1984 Val Fitch, James H. McDonnel Distinguished Professor of Physics, Princeton University, 1980 Nobel Prize Winner; Chadron State College, Nebraska
1985 The Honorable Robert Dole, U.S. Senator from Kansas; Washburn University of Topeka, Kansas
1985 Jim Davis, Cartoonist; Ball State University, Indiana
1986 The Honorable Edith Green, Educator and Former Congresswoman from Oregon; Western Oregon State College
1986 James M. Bowen, Professor of Virology and Vice President for Academic Affairs, The University of Texas System Cancer Center; Midwestern State University, Texas
1987 Rosalynn Carter, mental health advocate, author and former First Lady; Georgia Southwestern College
1987 Claude E. ZoBell, Professor of Marine Microbiology Emeritus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Idaho State University
1988 Shirley Chisholm, Former Congresswoman; City University of New York, Brooklyn College
1989 James M. Buchanan, Professor, Center for the Study of Public Choice, George Mason University and recipient of Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences; Middle State University, Tennessee and George Mason University, Virginia
1989 Jaime A. Escalante, Teacher; California State University, Los Angeles
1990 Katherine Davalos Ortega, Treasurer of the United States; Eastern New Mexico University
1990 Eva Marie Saint, Academy Award-Winning Actress; Bowling Green State University, Ohio
1991 Mary Lowe Good, Chair, National Science Board, and Senior Vice President, Technology, Allied Signal, Inc.; University of Central Arkansas
1991 Douglas J. Heir, world champion wheelchair athlete, legal advocate for senior citizens and persons with disabilities and chairman and chief executive officer, Access, Inc.; Ramapo College of New Jersey
1992 General Colin L. Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; City College of the City University of New York
1992 Eudora Welty, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author; Mississippi University for Women
1993 R.C. Gorman, Artist and Sculptor; Northern Arizona University
1993 Dan Rather, Journalist and CBS News Anchor; Sam Houston State University, Texas
1994 Sook He Kim, Minister of Education, Republic of Korea; Texas Woman’s University (recipient of the International Distinguished Alumnus Award)
1995 Leon M. Lederman, Director Emeritus, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Pritzker Professor of Science, Illinois Institute of Technology; City University of New York, City College
1996 Gertrude Belle Elion, Biochemist and Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine; City University of New York, Hunter College
1997 Antonia Coello Novello, Visiting Professor of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health and Special Director for Community Health Policy, former Surgeon General of U.S. Public Health Service; University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus
1998 The Honorable Griffin B. Bell, former United States Attorney General; Georgia Southwestern State University
1999 General Henry H. Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Auburn University at Montgomery
2000 The Honorable Tom Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate (D-SD); South Dakota State University
2000 Robert A. Ingram, Chief Executive, Glaxo Wellcome, plc; Eastern Illinois University
2002 Amy Tan, Author, San José State University, California
2004 Marvin Hamlisch, composer and conductor, Queens College, City College of New York
2005 General Tommy Franks, Ret. Commander-in-Chief, United States Central Command, The University of Texas at Arlington
2006 Julius H. Jacobson, II, Dr. Emeritus of Vascular Surgery and Distinguished Service Professor of Surgery at Mt. Sinai Medical in New York City
2007 Nancy Aossey, President & Chief Executive Officer, International Medical Corps (IMC), The University of Northern Iowa
Purpose
The AASCU Distinguished Alumnus Award is presented to an individual, known nationally or internationally, who has made a significant contribution to the public, intellectual or cultural life of the nation.
Through this award AASCU directs national attention to the value of society’s investment in its state colleges and universities. The person’s life and accomplishments should epitomize the leadership and distinguished service exemplified by former award recipients.
Eligibility
The nominee must be a graduate of an AASCU member institution and be nominated by a president or chancellor. Presidents and chancellors may nominate graduates from any AASCU member institution, not only graduates of their institution. (Honorary degree recipients and graduates of nonmember institutions that are part of an AASCU system member are not eligible).
Selections are made two years in advance of the award presentation to accommodate honoree’s schedule.