March 17, 1999
Contact: Anne Bromley
(804) 924-6861


REBECCA RIMEL, HEAD OF PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, 
NAMED U.VA. WOMEN'S CENTER'S 1999 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNA

	Rebecca Rimel, president and chief executive officer of the Pew
Charitable Trusts, one of the nationÕs largest philanthropies, will
receive the 1999 Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of
VirginiaÕs WomenÕs Center. She will be honored at a benefit dinner
in the fall.
	A 1973 graduate of the School of Nursing and a Charlottesville
native, Rimel became in 1975 the first nurse to join the Medical School
faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery. A specialist in head injury,
she also served as head nurse of the Medical CenterÕs Emergency
Department and as coordinator of out-patient facilities.
	She earned a MasterÕs of Business Administration from James
Madison University in 1983 and soon after, began working for the Pew
Charitable Trusts as a manager for health programs. Rising through the
foundationÕs ranks, she became president and chief executive officer
in 1994.
	ÒRebeccaÕs leadership at the Pew Charitable Trusts has
been revolutionary,Ó said Jeanette Lancaster, dean of the School of
Nursing. She has led a traditional family foundation to achieve new
heights of civic engagement through awards designed to improve the
quality of the media and how other areas such as health care and
education envision, and indeed, design their futures, she said.
	Throughout her evolving career, Rimel has maintained ties to the
Nursing School and the University of Virginia. She currently serves on
the Executive Committee of the Campaign for the University, which is
working toward a $1 billion fund-raising goal, and she chaired the
Nursing Advisory Board from 1992-1997. Last year she joined the Alumni
Association Board of Managers. In addition Rimel has served on the board
of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation (Monticello) since 1993. 
	As president and chief executive officer of the Pew Charitable
Trusts, based in Philadelphia, Rimel acts as liaison between the board
and the foundationÕs program directors, grantees and the broader
public -- including the media, government officials, the civic community
and other foundations. With approximately $4.7 billion in assets, the
foundation invested over $213 million in 298 nonprofit organizations in
1998. The Pew Trusts award grants in a number of areas -- culture,
education, environment, health and human services, public policy,
religion -- and supports a broad range of strategically targeted
investments designed to advance knowledge and to translate it into
effective action in the public interest.						
	Rimel is the author or co-author of more than 100 articles and
book chapters on health and other foundation issues. In 1991 she was
elected a member of the UniversityÕs Raven Society, and in 1988 she 
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received the Distinguished Nursing Alumna Award. She serves on a number
of other boards, including the Foundation Center, the Gilder Lehrman
Institute of American History Advisory Board and the National Park
Foundation.
	The University of VirginiaÕs WomenÕs Center provides a
variety of services to the University and local community, including an
information helpline, mentoring, counseling, child care referral
resources and support groups. The center offers a full calendar of
events, bringing in artists and scholars to lead discussions and promote
awareness of issues facing women and men locally and throughout the
world.
	Rimel will be the ninth recipient of the Distinguished Alumna
Award, established in 1991 to honor a female U.Va. graduate who has
demonstrated excellence, leadership and extraordinary commitment to her
field, and who has used her talents as a positive force for change. The
previous honorees are: 
¥ 1998 -- Elaine R. Jones (J.D., Law Õ70), director of the NAACP
Legal Defense and Educational Fund; 
¥ 1997 -- Valerie Ackerman (B.A., Political and Social Thought
Õ81), president of the WomenÕs National Basketball Association; 
¥ 1996 -- Mariann Stratton (M.S.N., Nursing Õ81), Rear Admiral
(ret.), Nurse Corps, U.S. Navy; 
¥ 1995 --Hanan Ashrawi (Ph.D., English Õ79), human and civil
rights activist in the Middle East;
¥ 1994 --Kathryn Thornton (Ph.D., Physics Õ79), NASA astronaut; 
¥ 1993 --Katherine Couric (B.A., English Õ79), NBC ÒToday
ShowÓ anchor;
¥ 1992 -- Vivian Pinn (M.D., Medicine Õ67) director, National
Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health;
¥ 1991 -- Linda Fairstein (J.D., Law Õ72) deputy chief, Sex Crimes
Prosecution Unit of New York City.

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