National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts, first awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1985, honors individuals or groups that have encouraged the arts in the United States and offered inspiration to others through distinguished achievement, support or patronage.
Mike Nichols
X. ’53
A television, stage, and film director, writer, and producer. Director of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, and Angels in America.
National Medal of Arts, 2001
Philip Roth
A.M. ’55
Author of Patrimony, Operation Shylock, Sabbath’s Theater, American Pastoral, and I Married a Communist
National Medal of Arts, 1998
Katherine Dunham (1909–2006)
Ph.B. ’36
Dancer, choreographer and anthropologist; pioneer in the use of folk and ethnic choreography; one of the founders of the anthropological dance movement.
National Medal of Arts, 1989
Saul Bellow (1915–2005)
X. ’39
Raymond W. and Martha Hilpert Gruner Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and the Department of English, 1962–1993; Chairman of the Committee on Social Thought, 1970–76.
Author of The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, Mr. Sammler’s Planet, Humboldt’s Gift, and Ravelstein
National Medal of Arts, 1988
Ralph Ellison (1913–1994)
Humanities Faculty, ’61
Author of Invisible Man, Shadow and Act, and Juneteenth. Accomplished sculptor, musician, photographer, and college professor.
National Medal of Arts, 1985