Johnnetta B. Cole was awarded the Alumnae of Northwestern University Award on Thursday for her prestige and accomplishments in anthropology and humanitarianism.

In the award presentation, Dee Hanlon, Alumnae of Northwestern University president, highlighted Cole’s 61 honorary degrees and appointment in 2009 as director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.

“We felt that her position at this point made it a very important time to recognize her,” Hanlon said.

Cole accepted the award before a crowd of about 100 NU alumnae and administrators at Evanston’s Hilton Garden Inn, 1818 Maple Ave. She thanked everyone “not from the top, not from the middle, but from the bottom of (her) heart.”

Before her job as director of the museum, Cole held positions on the boards of Coca-Cola and United Way of America. She has served as president at Bennett College for Women and at Spelman College, where she was the first black woman to occupy the position.

Cole graduated from Northwestern with a master’s degree in 1959 and a Ph.D. in 1967, both in anthropology. She attributed her success in life to her experiences at NU.

“My days at NU clearly prepared me for my major professional positions I had in academics and now at the museum,” Cole said. Hanlon and the alumnae organization’s 60-person board chose Cole as a standout among notable graduates who encompass Northwestern’s diverse schools and fields of study. Previous winners have included distinguished journalists, engineers, doctors and actresses.

Now in its 37th year, the award is given annually by the organization to an “outstanding alumna who has made significant contributions in her field and who has attained national recognition,” Hanlon said.

Alumnae of Northwestern University has contributed more than $6 million to the University since the group’s birth in 1916. University President Morton Schapiro praised the organization’s initiatives and involvement with NU, calling the list of award winners “staggering.”

“It’s testimonial in good sense … that if you close off school to one gender, everybody loses,” he said at the event.

Cole returned to the campus before the awards presentation to visit to Melville J. Herskovits Library, which contains a massive collection of Africana artifacts and archives. Hershkovits was the professor who founded NU’s African studies program, as well as the professor who led Cole’s studies in anthropology when she attended.

Cole remembered him as a role model, someone who was “greatly admired and sometimes even feared” by students. She said he was responsible for turning her toward African American and gender studies, which Cole went on to teach at universities nationwide. She called her time at Northwestern a “defining moment” in her life.

Before receiving the award, Cole shared a popular adage with the audience and explained how it applied to her life.

“You don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been,” Cole said. “And I am so glad that I was at Northwestern University.”

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