Past Awardees
1982
The Honorable Paul Simon
U.S. Representative, IL
1983
The Honorable Carl Perkins
U.S. Representative, KY
1984
Russel G. Mawby
Chairman of the Board
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The Honorable Terrel H. Bell
Secretary of Education
1985
The Honorable William D. Ford
U.S. Representative, MI
1986
The Honorable Claiborne Pell
U.S. Senator, RI
1987
The Honorable Nancy L. Kassebaum
U.S. Senator, KS
1988
The Honorable Mark O. Hatfield
U.S. Senator, OR
The Honorable G.V. Montgomery
U.S. Representative, MS
1989
Barbara Bush
First Lady
1990
The Honorable Augustus F. Hawkins
U.S. Representative, CA
Arlon Elser
Program Officer
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
1991
The Honorable Daniel Inouye
U.S. Senator, HI
1995
Samuel Halperin
Director
America Youth Policy Forum
1996
Thomas Curley
President and Publisher
USA Today
1997
The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton
President of the United States
1998
Richard Stanley
Chair
Stanley Foundation
Zig Ziglar
President
Zig Ziglar Corporation
1999
Roberts Jones
President
National Alliance of Business
2000
Peter Cary
Special Projects Editor
U.S. News & World Report
2001
Richard Riley
Secretary of Education
2002
The Honorable Howard “Buck” McKeon
S. Representative, CA
2004
Phyllis Eisen
Vice President, Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers and Executive Director, Center for Workforce Success
2005
The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
S. Senator, MA
2006
The Coca-Cola Company
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation
2007
The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor of the City of New York
The Honorable Jeb Bush
Former Governor of Florida
2008
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
2009
Leah Meyer Austin
Senior Vice President, Program Development and Organizational Learning
Lumina Foundation for Education
2010
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
2011
Martha J. Kanter
Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education
2012
Hilary Pennington
Director of Education, Postsecondary Success, and Special Initiatives, United States Program, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
2013
Anthony P. Carnevale
Director and Research Professor of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
2014
The Honorable Penny Pritzker
S. Secretary of Commerce
2015
Vincent Tinto
Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University
2016
John E. Roueche
President, Roueche Graduate Center, National American University
2017
The Obama Administration
2020
Eduardo Padrón
President Emeritus of Miami Dade College