President Obama to Award National Humanities Medal to Ron Chernow H’05

On September 13, 2016, President Barack Obama announced the recipients of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. Awardees include authors, a poet, physician, historian, chef, and a higher education program. Included in the awardees is author Ron Chernow, who received an honorary degree from Marymount Manhattan College in 2005.

Ron Chernow will receive the Medal “for bringing our Nation’s story to life.  Through his examination of America’s successful giants and titans, he also invites his readers to discover their failures and foibles, uncovering enduring lessons that inform our modern era.”

President Obama will award the Medals with the National Medal of Arts during a White House ceremony on September 22, 2016.

For a full press release: http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2016-09-14


Ron Chernow is the author of best-selling books that illuminate the lives of American political and financial titans. His 2010 biography, Washington: A Life, won a Pulitzer Prize and his 1990 book, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance,received a National Book Award for Nonfiction. His 2004 biography, Hamilton, carried Chernow into a new category of fame after inspiring the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name, for which Chernow served as historical consultant to the play’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Chernow is currently working on a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. 

About the National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizen’ engagement with history and literature or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources.

Each year NEH invites nominations from individuals and organizations across the country. The National Council on the Humanities, NEH’s presidentially-nominated and Senate-confirmed advisory body, reviews the nominations and provides recommendations to the President, who selects the recipients.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities
Celebrating its 50th anniversary as an independent federal agency in 2015, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at:www.neh.gov and at 50.neh.gov

 

Published: September 16, 2016