Former president S R Nathan receives Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award from NUS

Former president S R Nathan received a Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award (Lifetime Achievement) from the National University of Singapore on March 2, 2015. The award is being given out for the first time this year. -- PHOTO BH FILE&
Former president S R Nathan received a Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award (Lifetime Achievement) from the National University of Singapore on March 2, 2015. The award is being given out for the first time this year. -- PHOTO BH FILE 

SINGAPORE - Former president S R Nathan has received a Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award (Lifetime Achievement), which is being given out for the first time this year by the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Mr Nathan, 91, belongs to the pioneer batch of social work students who graduated with a Diploma in Social Studies in 1954 from the University of Malaya- which NUS was then known as.

After graduating, he served for more than 50 years in the Singapore civil service, notably in the Foreign Affairs and Defence ministries. He was also a diplomat and from 1999 to 2011, the President of Singapore.

The Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Awards were established this year by NUS to recognise outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions towards Singapore's nation-building, the growth of the university and the faculty, and the betterment and promotion of the arts and social sciences. These individuals have also shown excellence in various fields locally and internationally.

The Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award has also been presented to seven other outstanding individuals who are alumni of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at NUS.

They are:

Academic and diplomat Professor Maurice Baker (Class of '41)

Prominent historian Professor Wang Gungwu (Class of '53, '56)

Former top civil service administrator Herman Ronald Hochstadt (Class of '58)

Pioneer educator Mrs Tan Suan Imm (Class of '61)

Ambassador Chan Heng Chee (Class of '64, '74')

Public relations professional Yap Boh Tiong (Class of '69, '73)

Dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Professor Kishore Mahbubani (Class of '71)

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