Graduate School to present its highest honor to four accomplished alumni

This fall, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences will present its Wilbur Cross Medal for Alumni Achievement to four graduates who have demonstrated exceptional scholarship, teaching, and public service.  

This year’s honorees are: 

• Carol Carter ’72 PhD (Microbiology), whose research on HIV helped identify treatments for it and other viruses. 
• James Dieterich ’68 PhD (Geology/Geophysics), who investigates the physics of earthquakes. 
• Amy Richlin ’78 PhD (Classics), whose books have illuminated the lives of women and the enslaved in ancient Rome. 
• James Robinson ’93 PhD (Economics), who received a Nobel Prize for his studies on the impact of institutions on the world economy. 

On October 19, the honorees will return to campus for a series of events, including free public lectures. See details about the talks below. 

Presented annually by the graduate school and the GSAS Alumni Association, the Wilbur Cross Medal celebrates the legacy of service and achievements of Wilbur Lucius Cross (1889 PhD, English Literature), who was dean of the Yale Graduate School 1916–1930 and served as Connecticut’s governor from 1930 to1939. The award was established in 1966 to honor PhD alumni of Yale Graduate School for outstanding achievements. 

Carol Carter ’72 PhD (Microbiology) 

Carter is internationally recognized for her study of retroviruses spanning many decades. Her work on HIV at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s helped reveal the structure of the virus; how it reproduces by hijacking hosts’ cells; and how the hosts’ cells respond to this invasion. Her studies of HIV, Epstein-Barr Virus, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Virus-2 continue to reveal new pathways for anti-viral drug development. Carter is Distinguished Professor of Microbiology & Immunology in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Her awards include the Stony Brook University Presidential Award for Promoting Diversity and Academic Excellence, the Suffolk County NY Martin Luther King, Jr Commission Public Service Award, Long Island Innovator Award, and the David Derse Memorial Award in Retrovirology. 

Carter’s lecture, “Blocking the Exits: Targeting Viral Budding for Antiviral Drug Design,” will take place on Oct. 19 at 3:30 p.m. in Room 216, Jane Ellen Hope Building, 315 Cedar St. 

James Dieterich ’68 PhD (Geology/Geophysics) 

James Dieterich is one of the world’s most renowned scientists in the field of earthquake physics. Beginning in the 1980s, he established what became known as the rate and state variable friction law for rock friction and showed how this law could explain the range of earthquake phenomena known at that time, such as aftershocks. This work established the modem model of earthquake physics and has helped identify ways to mitigate earthquake hazards. Dieterich conducted earthquake studies and held several leadership positions at the U.S. Geological Survey 1969–2005. He joined the faculty of the University of California, Riverside, in 2005, and is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geophysics. A fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Dieterich chaired or served on several international committees related to earthquake research. He received the U.S. Department of Interior’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, in 2007 and the AGU’s Bucher Medal in 2000. 

Dieterich’s lecture, “Earthquakes: From the Lab to the California Fault System, ” will take place on Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. in Room 123, Kline Geology Laboratory, 210 Whitney Avenue 

Amy Richlin ’78 PhD (Classics) 

Amy Richlin is an internationally renowned scholar of ancient Roman poetry, sexuality, social history, and culture. She was among the first generation of feminist scholars in the Classics field and has been called one of the most influential classicists of her generation. Richlin’s work focuses on outgroups and muted groups in the Roman empire: women, slaves, sexual minorities, and indigenous peoples in the provinces. Her first book, “The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor” (1983), was a groundbreaking study at a time when gender and sexuality studies were only beginning to take hold in the Classics. Her “Slave Theater in the Roman Republic: Plautus and Popular Comedy” (2017) received the C.J. Goodwin Award of Merit from the Society for Classical Studies. She has also published several books of essays and translations, including a volume of love letters to Marcus Aurelius before he became an emperor. Richlin taught at several universities over a 45-year academic career, culminating in her retirement in 2022 from the University of California, Los Angeles, as Distinguished Research Professor of Classics. 

Richlin’s lecture, “Yale, Cradle of the History of Sexuality,” will take place on Oct. 19 at noon in Room 401, Phelps Hall, 344 College St. 

James A. Robinson ’93 PhD (Economics) 

James A. Robinson works at the intersection of economics, history, and political science to understand why there are such extreme differences in the standard of living in countries and societies around the world. In 2024, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (with Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson) for their work on how institutions are formed and affect prosperity. Robinson has published numerous influential studies and best-selling books, including “Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Why Nations Fail” (2012), coauthored with Acemoglu, which has been translated into 51 languages. He does extensive fieldwork in all parts of the world and meets with governments and organizations around the globe, providing insights for economic development. Robinson taught at Harvard University 2004–2015. He is currently University Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy of the University of Chicago, where he led the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts.  

Robinson’s lecture, “Wealth in People,” will take place on Oct. 19 at 3 p.m. in Room 101, Henry R. Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. 

Nominate a GSAS alum for the Wilbur Cross Medal