In recognition of his years of leadership in academia and philanthropy, Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Gregorian has held teaching or leadership positions at eight major universities, including Brown, where he served as president from 1989 to 1997, and was president and CEO of the New York Public Library during its renaissance in the 1980s. Gregorian is the third Carnegie Corporation president to receive the award.

The Winter Park-based Florida Philanthropic Network has appointed Pamela Peters as executive director. Peters, formerly executive director of the Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Center at Rollins College, began her professional life as a social worker for the American Red Cross and served as an adviser and consultant for physician practices, foundations, and hospitals. She has also served as vice mayor of Winter Park and has held leadership positions on the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations.

Spicer Bell has been named president of the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, in Salisbury, Maryland, replacing David Michaud, who leaves on August 13 to pursue studies for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Bell, previously executive director of Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore, also served as superintendent of public schools in Dorchester County, where he earned the 1997 Maryland Superintendent of the Year award.

In other news, the Wisconsin Historical Society has appointed Ellsworth H. Brown as director. Brown previously headed the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Chicago Historical Society, the Tennessee State Museum, and the American Association of Museums, and served in an advisory and/or management capacity at the Smithsonian Institution, J. Paul Getty Trust, and the American Association for State and Local History.