Hannah Holborn Gray

The only daughter in a family of academic achievers, Hanna Holborn Gray was charged with upholding the distinguished legacy of her family’s academic tradition. Determined not to disappoint, she followed a path that led her to become the first female president of a coeducational university.
At age 15, Gray entered Bryn Mawr College and graduated, summa cum laude, in 1950. A Fulbright Scholar at St. Anne’s College of Oxford University from 1950 to 1952, she interrupted her doctoral studies and returned to America to teach history at Bryn Mawr from 1953-54.
After completing the Ph.D. program at Harvard in 1957, she taught on Harvard’s faculty through 1960. A distinguished historian, she joined the history faculty at the University of Chicago in 1961 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1964. After a number of fellowships at schools throughout the country, she continued to teach at Chicago until 1972.
Named Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at Northwestern University in 1972 — the first woman to hold that position — she was elected provost of Yale University — another first — in 1974. She served as acting president of Yale from 1977 to 1978.
In 1977, she was elected to serve as the 10th President of the University of Chicago, a position she held for 15 years. Gray remains Harry Pratt Judson Professor Emeritus at the University and continues to offer advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in history. She currently serves as the chair of the Board of the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
BLACKWELL RECIPIENTS
May 16, 2021
Librarian of Congress Carla HaydenFebruary 3, 2021
Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgJanuary 22, 2015
Dr. Janet L. YellenNovember 10, 2013
The Most Reverend Doctor Katharine Jefferts SchoriOctober 27, 2011
Eunice Kennedy Shriver-
April 23, 2009
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand -
April 24, 2008
Dr. Wangari Maathai Sc.D.'94, P '94, P '96 -
April 27, 2007
Dr. Priscilla A. Schaffer '64, Sc.D. '94 -
September 7, 2004
Bishop Barbara Clementine Harris September 9, 2003
Loretta C. FordSeptember 4, 2001
Madeleine K. AlbrightMay 15, 1998
Billie Jean KingFebruary 10, 1996
Wilma MankillerSeptember 23, 1993
Barbara JordanSeptember 27, 1991
Margaret Chase SmithFebruary 22, 1991
Dr. Antonia C. NovelloFebruary 19, 1988
Barbara Aronstein BlackOctober 9, 1985
Cicely SaundersMarch 8, 1985
Sandra Day O’ConnorFebruary 11, 1984
Hannah Holborn GrayFebruary 26, 1982
Agnes George de MilleFebruary 15, 1980
Mary Douglas LeakeySeptember 30, 1977
Mary S. CalderoneOctober 3, 1975
Antonia BricoJanurary 23, 1974
Frances Keller HardingMay 28, 1973
Judith Graham PoolJune 8, 1972
Marian AndersonApril 10, 1972
Mary LaskerJune 13, 1971
Mina ReesJune 14, 1970
Helen Brooke TaussigJune 15, 1969
Georgiana SibleyJune 16, 1968
Constance Baker MotleySeptember 8, 1967
Catharine MacfarlaneJuly 10, 1966
Fe del MundoJune 13, 1965
Annette LeMeitour-KaplunJune 14, 1964
Margaret MeadJune 9, 1963
Marty MannJune 10, 1962
Frances PerkinsJune 18,1961
Leona BaumgartnerJune 12, 1960
Miki SawadaJune 14, 1959
Elisabeth Luce MooreSeptember 27, 1958
Gwendolyn Grant Mellon