Economics Concentrator Wins Top Radcliffe Honor

Her family knew. Her roommates knew. But Jennifer Y. Wu '90 was thoroughly surprised when Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson announced yesterday that she had won the 1990 Fay Prize--the highest honor bestowed upon an undergraduate by Radcliffe College.

Wu, an economics concentrator from Bethesda, Md., was given the award yesterday at the Radcliffe Garden Party for senior women in Radcliffe Yard. Wu will receive a monetary prize and a special Latin diploma to recognize her outstanding academic achievement and community service.

"Her leadership and service to the Harvard-Radcliffe community and Cambridge-Boston community is unparalelled," Wilson said during the ceremony.

Wilson added that Wu "truly excelled in her academic accomplishments," and praised her as a "true scholar."

Wu, who has earned almost straight As, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year and will be studying at Oxford University next year on a Marshall Scholarship. Wu said she plans a career in business and public policy.

Wu was the public service coordinator for the House and Neighborhood Development (HAND) program at North House and coach and captain of the North House women's crew team. In addition, Wu was co-president of the North House Music Society and performed with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, the Bach Society Orchestra and the Radcliffe Choral Society.

"Her sense of social responsibility is an integral part of the activities which she chose to fill her time," Wilson said.

Wilson also awarded the first Levi Prize yesterday to Jacqueline Sloan '90, a social studies concentrator from Toledo, Ohio. The prize was established this year to recognize the undergraduate women who has "demonstrated the best combination of talent and energy with an oustanding enthusiasm for musical theater and for Radcliffe."