Janet Yellen to Receive Radcliffe Medal in May

Janet L. Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will receive the Radcliffe Medal in May in recognition of her work in guiding the nation’s economy.

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study gives the award each year to an “honoree whose life and work have made a significant impact on our society,” according to the Radcliffe Institute’s press release.

“As Chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen is skillfully charting the nation's course in unpredictable and sometimes rough economic seas,” wrote Lizabeth Cohen, dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, in an emailed statement. “The Radcliffe Medal honors her for extraordinary leadership and her commitment—as our morning panel will explore—building an economy for prosperity and equality.”

Yellen, the first female chair of the Federal Reserve, will receive the medal on May 27, Radcliffe Day. The annual celebration honors the Institute’s mission and commitment to “excellence and inquiry,” according to the Radcliffe Day website.

During a luncheon, Yellen will discuss her work at the Federal Reserve, along with Ben S. Bernanke ’75, former Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw.

The event will begin with a panel, titled “Building an Economy for Prosperity and Equality,” which features four economic and public policy experts. Cecilia E. Rouse ’86, an economics professor and Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, will moderate the panel.

“The conversation is not exclusively a tribute to the honoree —rather it is intended to illuminate the complex [worlds] in which our honorees navigate and make progress,” wrote Radcliffe spokesperson Alison Franklin, in an emailed statement.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg served as last year’s honoree. Other past medalists include Harvard President Drew G. Faust, former tennis professional Billie Jean King, and actress and arts advocate Jane Alexander.

Staff writer Jesper Ke can be reached at jesper.ke@thecrimson.com. Follow him on twitter @jesper_ke.