The Joseph W. Gordon Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Arts and Sciences
The Joseph W. Gordon Award is given annually by the Yale chapter of Phi Beta Kappa to a graduate of Yale University in recognition of her or his distinguished contributions to the arts and sciences. With the award, the recipient is also inducted by the chapter into Phi Beta Kappa if she or he is not already a member.
This award was established in 2015 in recognition of Dean Gordon’s extraordinary service to Phi Beta Kappa, both to the Yale chapter and to the national society. A longtime member of the Board of Graduate Advisers for the Yale chapter, he also served as Graduate Secretary for the chapter from 1988 to 2000. For the national society, he served as Senator from 1994 to 2012, Vice-President from 1997 to 2000, and President from 2000 to 2003. In 2009, he received the Judith F. Krug Medal from the Phi Beta Kappa Society as the recipient of the President’s Award in recognition of his long and distinguished years of service to the Society.
- 2016 David McCullough, Class of 1955
- 2017 Elizabeth Alexander, Class of 1984
- 2018 Richard H. Brodhead, Class of 1968
- 2019 J. D. “Sandy” McCatchy, Class of 1974
- 2023 Karin Gosselink