The 2022 Alumnae Association Award Winners

Each year at Reunion, Barnard honors exceptional alumnae celebrating a milestone graduation anniversary with five awards bestowed on behalf of the Alumnae Association of Barnard College (AABC). Honorees are carefully selected by the AABC Awards Committee after receiving nominations from the alumnae community. 

In 2022, six extraordinary recipients were recognized for their service and accomplishments.

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Kimberly Aleah ’17, Young Alumna Award

Kimberly Aleah is the head of video at Rolling Stone, where she oversees all series and short-form documentaries on RollingStone.com and uses the medium of film to amplify marginalized voices. In 2020, Kimberly published a series of videos and articles highlighting youth activists of color across the country who are mobilizing for change following George Floyd’s murder. At Barnard, she completed a bachelor’s degree in film studies. While carrying a rigorous course load, she sought out creative opportunities and internships to aid in her pursuit of filmmaking. Following her graduation in 2017, Kimberly wrote and directed the screenplay for her short film, Woke, which received international official selection status and 11 awards across the festival circuit. Kimberly’s work highlights intersectional narratives, focusing on the experiences of women of color.

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Carol S. Dweck ’67, Distinguished Alumna Award

Carol Dweck is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Her pioneering work on fixed and growth mindsets has shown the effects of believing that human attributes, such as intelligence, are malleable and not fixed. Specifically, her research shows how these mindsets affect the motivation, achievement, and well-being of both children and adults in many cultures around the globe. The research has also led to important innovations in schools and businesses worldwide, which have increased diversity, equity, and inclusion. Carol has published landmark theoretical papers, including her two most recent ones, focused on motivational foundations of personality and how the brain integrates motivation and strategic thinking to make intelligent decisions. In addition to 12 lifetime achievement awards for her research — including the Atkinson Prize in Psychological and Cognitive Science from the National Academy of Sciences — she has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Her widely acclaimed book Mindset (published by Random House) has been translated into 40 languages.

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Nancy Gertner ’67, Woman of Achievement Award

Nancy Gertner was a United States District Court judge (D. Mass.) from 1994 until 2011. Prior to 1994, she was a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer in Massachusetts. Her practice was chronicled in her memoir, In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate. Named one of the “Most Influential Lawyers of the Past 25 Years” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Nancy had an impressive career as a trial lawyer, encompassing criminal and civil cases, trials and appeals, federal and state. After 17 years as a federal judge, she retired to join the faculty at Harvard Law School. More recently, she served as a commissioner on President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. She has also published widely on everything from forensic evidence to the Supreme Court. She is a regular op-ed contributor to The Boston Globe, and occasionally, The Washington Post and The New York Times. She also provides legal commentary on MSNBC, CNN, and National Public Radio. Nancy has received numerous awards, including the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award and the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the American Bar Association Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession. 

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Daedre E. Levine ’92, Millicent Carey McIntosh Award for Feminism

Daedre (Dae) Levine is an experienced communications and campaign strategist. She is currently Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti’s chief communications officer. She previously served as senior vice president of Revolution Messaging, working with political and nonprofit campaigns on expanding their membership, communications, and outreach. Notably, Dae led the successful initiative of the Courage Campaign to flip red seats to blue in California in 2018. She spent nearly 12 years living in Sydney, Australia, where she worked in politics and human rights advocacy, among other fields. Prior to that, she served as director of media relations for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and executive director of Vote for America. As a consultant, she has worked with the Democratic National Committee as well as on federal election candidate campaigns, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for Senate. In 2003-2005, Dae was a faculty member at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, teaching courses in marketing and communications. Early in her career, she established Dae Levine Group, a political fundraising firm for Democratic candidates and progressive causes. Dae has been a commentator on numerous media outlets, including ABC, CNBC, and NY1. She is also an avid photographer and a published poet and author.

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Sigrid Nunez ’72, Distinguished Alumna Award

Sigrid Nunez, whose work has been published in 30 countries, has published eight novels and Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag. The Friend, a New York Times bestseller, won the 2018 National Book Award and was a finalist for the 2019 Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Nunez’s other honors include a Whiting Award, the Rome Prize in Literature, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Last year, she was inducted as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Sigrid has contributed to The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, and The Paris Review, among other publications. Her work has also appeared in several anthologies, including four Pushcart Prize volumes and four anthologies of Asian American literature. One of her short stories was selected for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories 2019. Nunez has taught at Columbia, Princeton, and the New School, and has been a visiting writer or writer-in-residence at numerous colleges and universities. She is currently teaching in the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing at Hunter College and is also on the faculty of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. 

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Frances Sadler ’72, Award for Service to Barnard

Frances Sadler served as president of the Alumnae Association of Barnard College (AABC) from 2008 to 2011. She has been active on numerous committees and task forces, was instrumental in creating the Alumnae of Color Dinner at Reunion, raised funds to establish the Zora Neale Hurston ’28 Scholarship for Black students, and is the first Barnard alumna to be honored by the Black Alumni Council of Columbia University (BAC) with the Black Alumni Heritage Award. Frances has served as the networking chair and class fund chair and is currently a Class Agent. She served on the nominating committee, which she eventually chaired, and as a member of the AABC Board. In 2012, Frances was elected to the Barnard College Board of Trustees, where she had served as part of her role as president of the AABC since 2008. Frances served on the steering committee that hosted the successful 2016 BC-CC JAM and Reunion to bring disaffected alumnae/i of color to active participation in the Columbia University Alumni Association. In 2020, she was appointed as a Barnard Trustee Emerita. Concurrent with her service to Barnard, Frances built a 40-year career as a well-respected change agent in the New York State home healthcare industry.