National Institute of Social Sciences Honors Jennifer J. Raab

Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab last night was honored by the National Institute of Social Sciences with a 2022 Gold Honor Medal for distinguished service to society and humanity — one of the nation’s premier academic-service awards.

President Raab and two other honorees — world-renown astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson and Mount Sinai epidemiologist Dr. Philip J. Landrigan — were feted by the Institute at its 108th Annual Gold Medal Gala, held at the Metropolitan Club in New York City.

The Institute recognized President Raab for her more than 20 years leading Hunter College, during which she recruited distinguished professors and artists, modernized and strengthened its fiscal management, and increased standards. Her work resulted in Hunter “winning new levels of government awards, private grants, and philanthropic contributions and launching its first capital campaign in its history.”

President Raab said she was honored and grateful to receive the honor from such a prestigious organization.

“The National Institute of Social Sciences serves as a crucial convener of the best and brightest minds in America,” she said. “I am so proud to be standing here with my fellow awardees, and even prouder of what we have accomplished at Hunter.”

During her time at the College, President Raab — the longest-serving president at CUNY — has led its successful transformation from an open-admissions institution to a selective, highly ranked college. Under her leadership, graduation and retention rates have risen markedly, and hundreds of Hunter students have earned prestigious awards — including two Rhodes, two Marshall, two Truman, five Schwarzman, five Luce, and seven Goldwater scholarships along with six Soros Fellowships. The college routinely has been named a Fulbright Scholarship Leader by the State Department, having produced 88 Fulbright Scholars during her tenure, and is called the “crown jewel of the CUNY system” by the Princeton Review.

The timing of the award was bittersweet for President Raab, who this week announced that she is stepping down from her position at Hunter — the largest college in the CUNY system, with more than 24,000 students, five schools, and an annual operating budget of more than $250 million — in June.

Sharing the stage with President Raab were Tyson, one of America’s best-known authorities on science and the Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, and Landrigan, a public-health physician recognized as one of the world’s leading advocates of children’s health.

Previous awardees of the Gold Medal include historian and avid baseball fan Doris Kearns Goodwin, “Finding Your Roots” host Henry Louis Gates Jr., biographer Robert Caro, and figure skater Michelle Kwan.

The 111-year-old National Institute of Social Sciences is a Congressionally chartered not-for-profit that offers direct financial support to social-science scholars while allowing members to discuss pressing issues with thought leaders and change-makers.