Alumni Boards & Distinguished Alumni

Representing Alumni & USN Alumni Board

Inspiring PDS/USN GraduatesDistinguished Alumni

The Distinguished Alumni Award was established in 1978 to honor a graduate of PDS/USN who has made outstanding professional or civic achievements on a local, national, or international level. Recipients have included authors, educators, researchers, musicians, and volunteer leaders. In addition to honoring these individuals, the award brings them to the attention of the PDS/USN community and the city at large. Their accomplishments serve as an inspiration to students and graduates and as a reminder to the citizens of Nashville of the high-quality education that has long been a tradition at our school. 

Nominations for future recognition are encouraged and should be addressed to Alumni Director Leigh Ivey Hicks '05, 2000 Edgehill Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212.

Recipients of the PDS/USN Distinguished Alumni Award:

1979 - Stanford Moore '31 Scientist and recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. (deceased)
1980 - Ethel Walker '27 Pediatrician from 1943-1993. Vanderbilt School of Medicine's first woman Founder's Medalist, 1936. (deceased)
1981 - Merrimon Cuninggim '27 Educator and former President of the Danforth Foundation. Former President of Salem College. Rhodes Scholar. (deceased)
1982 - Louis Rosenfeld '29 Surgeon. Clinical Professor of Surgery at Vanderbilt University. (deceased)
1983 - Robert K. Massie '46 Author. Recipient of the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Biography of Peter the Great. Author of Nicholas & Alexandra. Rhodes Scholar. (deceased)
1984 - Lucius Burch '30 Attorney. Civil rights activist and conservationist. (deceased)
1985 - Bruce Henderson '32 Business leader. Retired Founder and Chairman of the Board, Boston Consulting Group. (deceased)
1986 - J. Andrew Brown '31 Rear Admiral (Ret.), United States Navy. (deceased)
1986 - Mary Phillips Edmonds Gray '31 Medical Educator. Experimental Pathologist, Vanderbilt School of Medicine. (deceased)
1987 - Willis D. Weatherford '33 Educator. Former Dean of Carleton College. Former President of Berea College. (deceased)
1988 - Peggy Weil Steine '37 Civic leader. Dedicated to community service and volunteerism. (deceased)
1989 - Vernon H. Sharp '24 Business leader, naturalist, and conservationist. (deceased)

1990 - John W. Taylor '24 Educator. Former President of the University of Louisville, and former Deputy Director General of UNESCO. (deceased)
1991 - Kay George Roberts '68 Violinist and conductor. First woman to receive a doctorate in orchestral conducting from Yale University.
1992 - David A. Vise '78 Journalist and author. Recipient of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for excellence in business journalism.
1993 - Olaf Grobel '52 Senior Foreign Service Officer dedicated to European affairs and arms control, US Department of State. Rhodes Scholar. (deceased)
1994 - Elden Gatwood, Jr. '44 Musician. First oboist in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Developed degree program in Bagpipe at Carnegie Mellon University. (deceased)
1994 - Ann Festerwald Eisenstein '37 Volunteer. Dedicated to public education, children's health and welfare issues. (deceased)
1995 - Russ Freeman '78 Musician, songwriter, and producer. Founder and leader of contemporary jazz group, The Rippingtons, started his own record label, Peak Records.
1996 - Margaret Gooch Duffy '30 Retired. Red Cross volunteer. (deceased)
1997 - May Werthan Shayne '52 Research Associate for Public Policy Studies. Co-author of two books. Chairman of the Board of WPLN Educational Foundation. (deceased)
1998 - Henry S. Nelson '39 Global Physician, Missionary, Author who dedicated his life to humanitarian contributions to his community, both local and international. (deceased)
1999 - Ned Davis '63 Technical stock market analyst. Founder of Ned Davis Research, Inc.; author of several investment guides.

2000 - MacRae Fort Linton '74 Physician and researcher.
2001 - Heather Anne Warren '77 Nashville's first female Rhodes Scholar and Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. 
2002 - Huell Howser '63 Producer/Host of the Public Broadcasting System's California's Gold, featuring travel and local interest programming and shown nationwide on local PBS stations. (deceased)
2003 - James Coddington '70 Agnes Gund Chief Conservator, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, NY, NY.
2004 - Mary Lee McCharen DiSpirito '56 Lifelong Community Volunteer.
2005 - Amy Kurland '73 Owner of the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, pioneering contributor to the vitality of music in Nashville.
2006 - John Trice Nixon '51 Judge, US District Court since 1980, Chief Judge from 1991-1998, Senior Judge 1998-Present. (deceased)
2007- John Medwedeff '80 Sculptor and metalsmith, Murphysboro, Illinois.
2008 - Kate Ransom '75, president of the Wilmington Music School/Delaware Music School and violinist with the Serafin String Quartet, and William Ransom '76, Emerson Professor of Piano at Emory University and Artistic Director of the Emory Chamber Music Society. 
2009 - Luther Harrell '68, Chief Physician for the Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Neighborhood Services Division.

2010 - Greg Downs '89, award-winning fiction writer and historian.
2011- Gideon Yu '89, former CFO of Facebook and YouTube.
2012 - Michael Puett '82, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.
2013 - Jenny Boucek '92, WNBA pioneer and coach.
2014 - Del R. Bryant '66, former President of BMI.
2015 - Kimberly Steadman '93, co-director of the Brooke Charter Schools
2016 - Edward J. Masuoka '70, Chief of Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
2017 - Lisa Gurevitch Cohen '84, Senior Supervising Producer at CNN International.
2018 - Marshall Moutenot '09, co-founder of Upstream Tech
2019 - Kenneth Jost '65, author and journalist, 3 decades compiling the CQ Supreme Court Yearbook. 
2023 - Jane Buchanan, '92, international leader in human rights advocacy and activism.

Ted Jones '77
Susan Corney Van Allen '80
Diane Esstman Sacks '81
Chrissy Havens Spigel '87
J. Sheats '89
Rachel Fisher Robinson  '90
Sarah Lubow Fried '91
Murrey Smith '92
Ellie McCarley Keiper '95
Beth Finch and Meghan Hovey Kawecki '02
Shelley DuBois '03
Daniel Finney '06
Polly Shepard Roffwarg '07
Kayla Miller '10
Natalie Loventhal '11
Angel Jones '14
Hannah Moore '18