The Omicron Delta Kappa Society and Educational Foundation Board of Trustees have presented Warden of Rhodes House and CEO of the Rhodes Trust Elizabeth Kiss (Davidson College, 1982) as the 2024 recipient of the Laurel Crowned Circle Award. First presented in 1980, the Laurel Crowned Circle Award is the highest individual honor awarded by Omicron Delta Kappa. Recipients are exceptional leaders in their respective fields or noted for their service in advancing leadership development. Award winners also demonstrate the highest ideals of the Society: scholarship, service, integrity, character, and fellowship.
The award was presented on Monday, August 24, 2024, in a ceremony held at The City Club of Washington in Washington, D.C.
Kiss currently serves as the Warden of Rhodes House and CEO of the Rhodes Trust. Previously, Kiss served as the President of Agnes Scott College (2006-2018), where she led the transformation of the curriculum to focus on leadership development and global learning that resulted in an increase in enrollment of 21% and a retention rate of 87%.
Kiss has a long and distinguished career in education. She has served as a faculty member at several institutions, led Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, and has been dedicated to moral education, human rights, and justice. She exemplifies the qualities of leadership, collaboration, and service throughout her life and work that make her an exceptional Omicron Delta Kappa Laurel Crowned Circle Award recipient.
Kiss earned her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Davidson University. As the first female Rhodes Scholar from Davidson College, she earned a BPhil and DPhil in Philosophy at the University of Oxford.
Past recipients of the Laurel Crowned Circle Award include business leaders, scholars, heads of large nonprofit organizations, journalists, academic administrators, and philanthropists, including former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, President of the United Negro College Fund Michael Lomax, former Congresswoman Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Former Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, and a host of university presidents and philanthropists.
Omicron Delta Kappa Society, the National Leadership Honor Society, was founded at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA., on Dec. 3, 1914. The Society seeks to recognize and advance leadership. The headquarters are located in Lexington, VA.
