Celebrating Community
The Middle Path Medal
Awarded during the annual Founders' Day ceremony, Middle Path Medals commend significant, or long-term history of contributions to the Kenyon community.
The Middle Path Medal
Initiated by President Sean Decatur and first awarded in October 2014, the Middle Path Medal recognizes recognizes significant contributions to the life of the Kenyon, Gambier,and Knox County communities.
The Middle Path Medal is awarded to Kenyon employees, volunteers and others who have made extraordinary efforts to achieve a qualitative difference in the character of our local environment through job-related or volunteer activities. This difference may be either tangible or intangible; it may, for example, be related to the creation of a more welcoming atmosphere for an under-represented group or to improvements in accessibility of facilities or programs. The medals are usually awarded at the end of the recipient’s career or in proximity to a work anniversary or some other signal event in the recipient’s, or the College’s, life. Recipients may be administrators, alumni, faculty members, parents, staff members or trustees; they may also be members of the local community who are not officially affiliated with Kenyon. The Middle Path Medal honorees are selected by Kenyon's Honorary Degree Committee.
The medal itself is cast in bronze, with an embossed design by Knox County artist Nanette "Nan" Black. The design on the medal's front depicts Middle Path leading to the central door of Old Kenyon.
Recipients of the Middle Path Medal are as follows:
2019
S. Joyce Klein
Susan Spaid
2018
M. Beverly Morse
Peter T.C. Smith
Alice Cornwell Straus '75
2017
Gloria Reiss Edwards
John "Jack" Finefrock
Susan Palmer
2016
Charles "Charlie" Jacobs
2015
Elizabeth R. Forman '73
E. Jane Martindell
2014
Jacqueline Elliott Robbins '73
Tracy W. Schermer
Karen Sheffield