I wish your panel of judges reflected the University’s diversity. By my count, only two of the eight were women, and two represented racial minority groups. All appear to be of the same age group (50-plus), and all seem to be American born and raised.
I wonder if the panel had more women, more minorities, more internationals, and younger folks if you would have come to the same conclusions. As it is, I’m not surprised that a group largely composed of white males picked a group largely composed of white males to represent the most influential alumni today.
I think this was a missed opportunity. I get that the group would be dominated by white men when going back to the 18th century, but I would have thought PAW would have gotten a more diverse panel 10 years after its initial list to ensure amazing alumni were not excluded because they happen to be female, of color, or international.