Five to receive Distinguished Alumni Award honors

The Wisconsin Alumni Association is honoring five University of Wisconsin–Madison graduates next week with the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Awards.

All 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees will be in Madison and take part in the awards ceremony on Thursday, April 22 at 5 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater at Memorial Union. Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend.

The event will feature welcome remarks from Chancellor Biddy Martin as well as an a cappella performance by UW–Madison student group, Redefined. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

Background about each recipient is available here. To schedule time to talk with any of the honorees before the event or while they are on campus, please contact WAA’s Kate Dixon at news@uwalumni.com.

The Distinguished Alumni Award honorees are:

• Robert Barnett ’68 and Rita Braver ’70: Barnett is a leading Washington, D.C. attorney who represents authors, television news anchors and producers, and government officials, and has worked on eight presidential campaigns. Braver is an award-winning senior correspondent for CBS News, where she reports on topics ranging from arts and entertainment to politics and foreign policy for Sunday Morning.

• Haynes Johnson MS’56 and Kathryn Oberly ’71, JD’73: Johnson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, one of America’s leading voices on current politics, and the author of more than a dozen books of political analysis and modern history. Oberly is an associate judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals; her first official act was to swear in Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.

• Arnold Weiss ’51, LLB’53: A German-Jewish immigrant and decorated World War II U.S. intelligence officer, Weiss discovered Adolf Hitler’s last will, now in the National Archives. Having witnessed the war’s destruction, Weiss dedicated his career as an investment-bank attorney to building, and his efforts brought social and economic progress to many developing nations.

Tickets to the evening’s dinner are still available at uwalumni.com/daa.

The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Wisconsin Alumni Association. The award celebrates outstanding UW–Madison graduates whose professional achievements, contributions to society, and support of the university exemplify the Wisconsin Idea.