Distinguished alumni honored with Wilbur Cross Medal
Four distinguished alumni of Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences were awarded 2025 Wilbur Cross Medals on October 20. This year’s honorees include an acclaimed cultural historian, a pioneer in modern linguistics, a leader in personalized cancer medicine, and a noted physicist.
Philip J. Deloria ’94PhD (American studies), the Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History at Harvard University, was honored for his research and teaching on the social, cultural, and political histories of the relations among American Indian peoples and the United States, as well as the comparative and connective histories of indigenous peoples in a global context.
Samuel J. Keyser ’62PhD (linguistics) was recognized for his contributions to the field of linguistics. He is the founder and long-serving editor in chief of the journal Linguistic Inquiry, a premier publication in the field, and the Linguistics Inquiry Monographs, which recently published its 90th volume.
Andrew J. Lankford ’72, ’78PhD (physics), is a particle physicist who has searched for new fundamental particles and new phenomena at colliding beam accelerators around the world. He was honored for his many achievements, including being part of the team that discovered the Higgs boson, a long-sought-after fundamental particle.
Jeffrey E. Settleman ’89PhD (genetics) was recognized for his leadership in molecularly targeted cancer therapeutics, the epigenetics of cancer drug resistance, and personalized cancer medicine. He is the chief scientific officer for oncology research and development at Pfizer and previously taught at Harvard School of Medicine for 18 years.
The Wilbur Cross Medal honors the legacy of service and excellence inaugurated by Wilbur Lucius Cross (1889PhD), who served as dean of the Graduate School from 1916 to 1930 and as governor of Connecticut from 1931 to 1939. The award is the highest honor that the Graduate School bestows on its alumni.
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