The Harvard Foundation has presented a prestigious medal recognizing Winona LaDuke's commitment to both Harvard University and the larger society. Dr. Allen Counter, Director of the Harvard Foundation, bestowed the medal, signed by Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, on LaDuke in an award ceremony in early April.
"Ms. LaDuke was the first student to work at the Harvard Foundation in l978, and has been a role model for many of the students who followed her footsteps. We are extremely proud of her work, and her history at Harvard University," said Faust.
LaDuke attended Harvard from l976 till l981, when she returned to the White Earth reservation to direct the Circle of Life School. She returned to Cambridge in l983 for one year of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before her masters degree in Rural Development from Antioch University. During LaDuke's time at Harvard, campus activism and the creation of more programs promoting multi-cultural education were underway. LaDuke was involved in many of these activities, while she completed her concentration in economics.