Alumni of the Year

This award honors prominent alumni who exemplify the very best of Berkeley, whose professional leadership and contributions have led to extraordinary advances that benefit the greater good of society, who give back to the community and university, and who inspire others in their careers and personal lives.

Year	Recipient
1943	James H. Doolittle ’22
1944	Joseph Erlanger ’95
1945	Earl Warren ’12, J.D. ’14
1946	Robert Gordon Sproul ’13
1947	Monroe E. Deutsch ’02
1948	Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D. ’37
1949	James D. Zellerbach ’13

1950	Kenneth Pitzer, Ph.D. ’37
1951	Stephen D. Bechtel ’23
1952	Horace M. Albright ’12
1953	William F. Dean ’22
1954	Lillian Moller Gilbreth ’00, M.A. ’02
1955	Walter A. Gordon ’18, J.D. ’22
1956	William F. Knowland ’29
1957	Herman Phleger ’12
1958	James B. Black ’12
1959	H. Rowan Gaither Jr. ’29, J.D. ’33

1960	John A. McCone ’22
1961	Robert S. McNamara ’37
1962	George Frederick Reinhardt ’33
1963	Willard F. Libby ’31, Ph.D. ’33
1964	Ralph L. Edwards ’35
1965	John W. Gardner, Ph.D. ’38
1966	Stanley N. Barnes ’22, J.D. ’25
1967	Rudolph A. Peterson ’25
1968	Edgar F. Kaiser ’30
1969	Emil M. Mrak ’26, M.S. ’28, Ph.D. ’37

1970	Walter A. Haas ’10
1971	Irving Stone ’23
1972	Newton B. Drury ’12
1973	Roger J. Traynor ’23, M.A. ’24, Ph.D. ’26, J.D. ’27
1974	John S. Najarian ’49
1975	Frederick C. Weyand ’39
1976	Donald H. McLaughlin ’14
1977	Daniel E. Koshland ’13
1978	W. Michael Blumenthal ’51
1979	Eugene E. Trefethen Jr. ’30

1980	Joan Didion ’56
1981	Clark Kerr, Ph.D. ’39
1982	Philip C. Habib, Ph.D. ’52
1983	Walter A. Haas Jr. ’37
1984	Michael N. Chetkovich ’39, M.B.A. ’40
1985	John Kenneth Galbraith, M.A. ’32, Ph.D. ’34
1986	Kenneth A. Kragen ’58
1987	Yuan-Tseh Lee, Ph.D. ’65
1988	David P. Gardner, M.A. ’59, Ph.D. ’66
1989	Robert D. Raven, J.D. ’52

1990	Mimi Silbert, M.A. ’65, D. Crim. ’68
1991	Daniel E. Koshland Jr. ’41
1992	Allen E. Broussard ’50, J.D. ’53
1993	Walter E. Hoadley ’38, M.A. ’40, Ph.D. ’47
1994	Tung Yen Lin, M.S. ’33
1995	Marian Diamond ’48, M.A. ’49, Ph.D. ’53
1996	Peter E. Haas ’40
1997	Gordon E. Moore ’50
1998	Adrian A. Kragen ’31, J.D. ’34
1999	Alice Waters ’67

2000	Maxine Hong Kingston ’62, C.Ed. ’65
2001	Norman Y. Mineta ’53
2002	William T. Bagley ’49, J.D. ’52
2003	F. Warren Hellman ’55
2004	Lee P. Brown, M.A. ’68, D.Crim. ’70
2005	Skipped due to awarding changes
2006	Karl S. Pister ’45, M.S. ’48
2007	Donald G. Fisher ’50
2008	Thelton E. Henderson ’55, J.D. ’62
2009	Robert D. Haas ’64

2010	Richard N. Goldman ’41
2011	Steven Chu, Ph.D. ’76
2012	Eric Schmidt, M.S. ’79, Ph.D. ’82
2013	Frank Davis, Ph.D. ’55
2014	William Powers Jr. ’67
2015	Steve Wozniak ’86
2016	James “Jim” Simons Ph.D. ’62
2017	Paul Jacobs ’84, M.S. ’86, Ph.D. ’89
2018	Barry C. Barish ’57, Ph.D. ’63, P ’86
2019	Kevin Chou ’02

2020	Freada Kapor Klein ’74
2021	Not awarded
2022	Cher Wang ’82
2023	John C. Mather Ph.D. ’74

UC Berkeley Achievement Awards

The Berkeley community is filled with people pushing the edges of what’s possible — business leaders whose achievements have shaped entire industries and benefited humankind; alumni whose dedication to Berkeley has had a profound and lasting impact on students and faculty; and young alumni whose early achievements are already showing great promise for their fields or communities. Each year, the university honors forward-thinking business leaders, gifted faculty, and dedicated and promising alumni with the Achievement Awards, co-presented by the UC Berkeley Foundation and the Cal Alumni Association.

About the Awards

Stay Connected to Cal

Upcoming Event

Lair Open House & Pregame Fun Zone

Let’s camp

Summer shines brighter at the Lair!

Latest Issue

2025 Fall/Winter

Benefit of the Week

The Graduate Wine Collective