The 2008 Northwestern Alumni Association Alumni Awards dinner.
Under the newly restored Tiffany dome in the Chicago Cultural Center, Northwestern alumni, faculty, staff and friends gathered to honor 20 distinguished alumni at the 76th annual Northwestern Alumni Association Alumni Awards ceremony, held Sept. 26.
Carole Browe Segal (WCAS60), Crate & Barrel co-founder, received the Alumni Medal, the highest distinction the NAA grants to Northwestern graduates. The award recognizes her success as an entrepreneur and her generosity as a volunteer and philanthropist.
The evening ended with a surprise tribute to President Henry Bienen and his wife, Leigh Buchanan Bienen (see "The Bienen Years"). Tom Hayward (WCAS62, L65), former NAA president and vice chair of the University Board of Trustees, announced that the NAA board recently voted to grant alumni status to the Bienens. To close the celebration, the couple received the Alumni Medal.
Rives Collins, associate professor of theater and chair of the theater department at the School of Communication, served as master of ceremonies, while undergraduates in Northwestern's Music Theatre Certificate Program treated guests to original songs honoring the award recipients.
