This Woodrow Wilson Award* was established in 1956 during the centennial year of Woodrow Wilson’s birth and has been conferred annually upon an alumnus or alumna of the undergraduate college whose achievements exemplify Woodrow Wilson’s memorable phrase “Princeton in the nation’s service.”  A winner is chosen annually in the fall and is presented at Alumni Day.

Make a nomination for the Woodrow Wilson Award.

Previous Award Recipients

• 2024 - Fei-Fei Li ’99
• 2023 - General Christopher Cavoli ’87
• 2022 - Maria A. Ressa ’86
• 2021 - Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the award was not conferred.
• 2020 - Anthony Romero ’87
• 2019 - Mellody Hobson ’91
• 2018 - Charles Gibson ’65
• 2017 - Eric Schmidt ’76
• 2016 - Mark Milley ’80
• 2015 - Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan (the former Lisa Halaby ’73)
• 2014 - Sonia Sotomayor ’76
• 2013 - Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. ’71
• 2012 - Robert S. Mueller III ’66
• 2011 - Denny Chin ’75
• 2010 - James A. Leach ’64
• 2009 - Rajiv Vinnakota ’93
• 2008 - John Rogers ’80
• 2007 - Paul S. Sarbanes ’54
• 2006 - George E. Rupp ’64
• 2005 - Thomas H. Kean ’57
• 2004 - Joseph S. Nye Jr. ’58
• 2003 - William H. Frist ’74
• 2002 - David J. Remnick ’81
• 2001 - J. Stapleton Roy ’56
• 2000 - Forrest C. Eggleston ’42
• 1999 - John C. Bogle ’51
• 1998 - Eric Lander ’78
• 1997 - Neil L. Rudenstine ’56
• 1996 - Don Oberdorfer ’52
• 1995 - Douglas I. Foy ’69
• 1994 - Sidney D. Drell ’47
• 1993 - Wendy S. Kopp ’89
• 1992 - James H. Billington ’50
• 1991 - Laurance S. Rockefeller ’32
• 1990 - James M. Stewart ’32
• 1989 - T. Berry Brazelton Jr. ’40
• 1988 - Frank C. Carlucci ’52
• 1987 - William W. Bradley ’65
• 1986 - William H. Hudnut III ’54
• 1985 - Donald H. Rumsfeld ’54
• 1984 - William D. Ruckelshaus ’55
• 1983 - James A. Baker III ’52
• 1982 - John A. McPhee ’53
• 1981 - Lewis Thomas ’33
• 1980 - Paul A. Volcker Jr. ’49
• 1979 - Robert F. Goheen ’40 *48
• 1978 - Henry R. Labouisse Jr. ’26
• 1977 - Thomas P. F. Hoving ’53
• 1976 - George F. Kennan ’25
• 1975 - John M. Doar ’44
• 1974 - Claiborne deB. Pell ’40
• 1973 - John D. Rockefeller III ’29
• 1972 - Ralph Nader ’55
• 1971 - George P. Shultz ’42
• 1970 - John B. Oakes ’34
• 1969 - Walsh McDermott ’30
• 1968 - Harlan Cleveland ’38
• 1967 - Eugene C. Blake ’27
• 1966 - William F. Ballard ’27
• 1965 - Nicholas de B. Katzenbach ’43
• 1964 - Henry DeW Smyth, Class of 1918
• 1963 - Adlai E. Stevenson, Class of 1922
• 1962 - Clinton T. Wood, Class of 1921
• 1961 - Raymond B. Fosdick, Class of 1905
• 1960 - Bayard Dodge, Class of 1909
• 1959 - Charles L. House, Class of 1909
• 1958 - Allen O. Whipple, Class of 1904
• 1957 - Norman Armour, Class of 1909

*The Woodrow Wilson Award, unlike either the College or the School, is the result of a gift. When the University accepted the gift, it took on a legal obligation to name the prize for Wilson and honor his “conviction that education is for ‘use’ and … the high aims expressed in his memorable phrase, ‘Princeton in the Nation’s Service.’”  The University will continue to recognize extraordinary public service by conferring the award as currently named. The award explicitly honors specific and positive aspects of Wilson’s career, and it, unlike the School or the College, does not require students to identify with the Wilson name in connection with their academic or residential programs.