Names in the news: Doar '44, Morrison receive Medal of Freedom, new appointments for a pair of '84 alums, and more

Published in the April 25, 2012, Issue

John Doar '44, right, helps to escort University of Mississippi student James Meredith, center, in 1962. Doar received the Presidential Medal of Freedom last week. (Photo: Wikipedia/Library of Congress/U.S. News & World Report Collection)

Civil rights attorney John Doar ’44, pictured at right, and Toni Morrison, the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities emeritus, were among 13 men and women honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom April 27. [Superior (Wis.) Telegram]

The Federal Trade Commission team investigating antitrust allegations against Google added a key member: Beth Wilkinson ’84, a former Justice Department lawyer who played a prominent role in prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. [New York Times]

John Armstrong ’84, a former trauma surgeon and current chief medical officer at the University of South Florida Health Center, will become Florida’s surgeon general in May. [Miami Herald]

Thirteen early paintings by artist Frank Stella ’58 are featured in a new, critically acclaimed exhibition at L&M Arts, a gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. [New York Times]

Consumers tend to manage their everyday expenses but overspend on purchases that they view as “exceptional,” according to a new study by New York University professor Adam Alter *09 and Princeton Ph.D. student Abigail Sussman. [Wall Street Journal]