People
Jeanne Gang
2026 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medalist in Architecture
Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals
Announcing the 2026 Medalists
Overview
The University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello present their highest honors, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals in Architecture, Law, and Citizen Leadership annually during their joint Founders Day activities.
The awards are presented jointly by UVA, which Thomas Jefferson founded in Charlottesville in 1819, and by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the independent, nonprofit organization that owns and operates his home, Monticello.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals are the highest external honors bestowed by the University, which grants no honorary degrees. They recognize achievements of those who embrace endeavors in which Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third U.S. president, excelled and held in high regard.
List of Medal Recipients through 2026
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Recent recipients
2026 Jeanne Gang
2025 Walter J. Hood
2024 Kate Orff
2023 Andrew Freear
2022 Kenneth Frampton
2021 Francis Kéré
2020 Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi
2019 Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa
2018 Sir David Adjaye OBE
2017 Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara
2016 Cecil Balmond OBE
2015 Herman Hertzberger
2014 Toyo Ito
2013 Laurie Olin
2012 Rafael Moneo
2011 Maya Lin
Recipients 1966-2010
1966 Mies van der Rohe
1967 Alvar Aalto
1968 Marcel Breuer
1969 John Ely Burchard
1970 Kenzo Tange
1971 Jose Luis Sert
1972 Lewis Mumford
1973 Jean Labatut
1974 Frei Otto
1975 Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
1976 I.M. Pei
1977 Ada Louise Huxtable
1978 Philip Johnson
1979 Lawrence Halprin
1980 Hugh A. Stubbins
1981 Edward Larrabee Barnes
1982 Vincent Scully
1983 Robert Venturi
1984 H.H. The Aga Khan
1985 Leon Krier
1986 James Stirling
1987 Romaldo Giurgola
1988 Dan Kiley
1989 Paul Mellon
1990 Fumihiko Maki
1991 John V. Lindsay
1992 Aldo Rossi
1993 Andres M. Duany & Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
1994 Frank O. Gehry
1995 Ian L. McHarg
1996 Jane Jacobs
1997 Jaime Lerner
1998 Jaquelin T. Robertson
1999 Lord Richard Rogers
2000 Daniel Patrick Moynihan
2001 Glenn Murcutt
2002 James Turrell
2003 Tod Williams & Billie Tsien
2004 Peter Walker
2005 Shigeru Ban
2006 Peter Zumthor
2007 Zaha Hadid
2008 Gro Harlem Brundtland
2009 Robert Irwin
2010 Edward O. Wilson -
2026 Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
2025 Edwin S. Kneedler
2024 Roger L. Gregory
2023 Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju
2022 Stephen Breyer
2020 Sonia Sotomayor
2019 Carlton W. Reeves
2018 Frank H. Easterbrook
2017 Loretta Lynch
2016 John Gleeson
2015 Joan E. Donoghue
2014 Kenneth R. Feinberg
2013 Robert S. Mueller III
2012 George Mitchell
2011 Cynthia D. Kinser
2010 Janet Napolitano
2009 Peter J. Neufeld and Barry C. Scheck
2008 Antonin Scalia
2007 Anne-Marie Slaughter
2006 Ronald M. Dworkin
2005 Patricia M. Wald
2004 J. Harvie Wilkinson III
2003 Anthony M. Kennedy
2002 Seth P. Waxman
2001 Mortimer M. Caplin
2000 Guido Calabresi
1999 Elaine R. Jones
1998 Alan K. Simpson
1997 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1996 Rex Lee (posthumously)
1995 Lloyd N. Cutler
1994 Richard A. Posner
1993 William H. Rehnquist
1992 Marian Wright Edelman
1991 Robert M. Morgenthau
1990 Collins J. Seitz
1989 Sam Nunn
1988 Edmund S. Muskie
1987 Sandra Day O'Connor
1986 William H. Webster
1985 Warren E. Burger
1984 Griffin B. Bell
1983 Lord Justice Scarman
1982 Warren M. Christopher
1981 Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.
1980 Erwin N. Griswold
1979 Paul Abraham Freund
1978 Henry J. Friendly
1977 Carl McGowan -
2026 Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
2025 Bryan Stevenson
2024 Julieanna L. Richardson
2023 Jason Rezaian
2022 Sherrie Westin - View Westin's remarks
2020 Dr. Rajiv J. Shah - Read more about Dr. Shah
2019 Sylvia Earle - View Earle's remarks
2018 Morgan Carrington "Cary" Fowler Jr. - View Fowler's remarks
2017 Alice Waters - Read Waters's remarks
2016 Marian Wright Edelman - View Edelman's remarks
2015 John Lewis - View Lewis's remarks
2014 James H. Webb, Jr. - Read Webb's remarks
2013 Wendy Kopp - View Kopp's remarks
2012 Jessica Tuchman Mathews - Read Mathews's remarks
2011 Peter G. Peterson - View Peterton's remarks
2010 Joseph Neubauer - Read Neubauer's remarks
2009 Warren M. Christopher
2008 John W. Warner
2007 Alan Greenspan -
2020 Ted Turner
2017 N.R. Narayana Murthy
2016 Gordon Moore -
2026 Olivia Brown on Behalf of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society
2025 Martize Tolbert, on behalf of The Fountain Fund
2024 Dr. Andrea Douglas, on behalf of Jefferson School African American Heritage Center
2023 Angilee Shah, on behalf of Charlottesville Tomorrow
2022 Harriet Kuhr, on behalf of the International Rescue Committee, Charlottesville-Richmond
Thomas Jefferson Foundation Award in Citizen Service
The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society (ACHS)
The 2026 recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Award in Citizen Service is the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society (ACHS). The award will be accepted by ACHS Executive Director, Olivia Brown.
