Mercer Times

Princeton University has announced that its prestigious alumni awards will be presented to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and Nobel Prize-winning economist David Card. The awards, the Woodrow Wilson Award and the James Madison Medal, respectively, will be given during Alumni Day on February 22, 2025.

Elena Kagan, who graduated from Princeton in 1981 with a degree in history, is set to receive the Woodrow Wilson Award. This accolade is annually awarded to an undergraduate alum whose career exemplifies service as articulated by Woodrow Wilson in his 1896 speech "Princeton in the Nation’s Service." Kagan's distinguished career includes roles as U.S. solicitor general, dean of Harvard Law School, and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Elena Kagan is a blazing legal intellect who has dedicated herself to the rule of law at every stage of her formidable career," said Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber.

David Card, who earned his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton in 1983, will receive the James Madison Medal. This award honors a graduate alum for a distinguished career or outstanding public service. Card is recognized for pioneering work using natural experiments to study economic issues such as minimum wage and immigration.

“David Card’s brilliant scholarship has advanced the world’s understanding of important policy issues and basic principles of economics,” Eisgruber stated.

Card was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 2021 for his innovative research methods that have influenced not only economics but also other fields like medicine and social sciences.

The ceremony at Richardson Auditorium will also acknowledge student winners of other university honors and feature traditional events like an alumni luncheon and a remembrance service at Princeton Chapel.