On July 28, President Barack Obama presented Wm Theodore de Bary, the John Mitchell Mason Professor Emeritus and Provost Emeritus, with a 2013 National Humanities Medal for his work in the humanities. At Columbia, de Bary has served as chair of Columbia's Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures from 1960 to 1966; as the first to chair the executive committee to the newly created University Senate in 1969, and then as University Provost in 1971, a position he held until 1978. He is also the founder of the Heyman Center for the Humanities, the Society of Senior Scholars and Society of Fellows in the Humanities.

For the full list of awardees, visit the NEH website.