Barbara E. and Richard J. Franke '53, M.A.H '87, L.H.D '01

Barbara E. Franke received her BA in English Literature from Northwestern University in 1954.  Barbara is a Sustaining Fellow and Trustee at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she co-chairs the public phase of the campaign for the new Modern Wing.  She is a member of the Court Theatre Board of Trustees and the Visiting Committee of the Wineberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern, as well as the Women's Board and the Visiting Committee to the Division of Humanities at the University of Chicago. Richard J. Franke was chief executive officer of the John Nuveen Company in Chicago for 22 years. Widely regarded as the business community's leading advocate of the humanities, he has championed the value of a liberal arts education and the humanistic tradition. In 1988 Franke helped found the Chicago Humanities Festival, which brings together artists and culture critics from all over the world. In 1997, he received the National Humanities Medal from the White House for "bringing the pleasure of art and ideas to the people of the great city of Chicago." In 2000, he received the Phi Beta Kappa Society's National Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities. Franke's lifelong interest in the humanities was prompted by his studies at Yale, where he received a B.A. in 1953. He later earned an M.B.A. at Harvard. Franke was a fellow of the Yale Corporation for 12 years, serving as its senior fellow for six years. He received the Yale Club of Chicago’s William McCormick Blair Distinguished Service Award in 1996. He received the Trustee Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Governing Boards in 1998. He was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1996. He received the Phyllis Franklin Award for Public Advocacy of the Humanities, Modern Language Association in 2007. At the John Nuveen Company, he built a successful business and a corporate culture that encouraged self-improvement, civic participation, and philanthropy. Locally, he created the Chicago Humanities Festival to delight and enrich your fellow citizens. Nationally, he has become the business community's most visible and effective public advocate for liberal education and the humanities.