Sidley Austin LLP as a summer associate, where Obama met his future wife Michelle Robinson. Minow pursued Obama on the recommendation of his daughter Martha, who was Obama's law professor. According to Michelle Obama's book Becoming, Minow and his wife "busted" then Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama - both still associates at Sidley Austin - on their first date, greeting them "warmly" in the popcorn line at the Water Tower Place cinema, before the new couple saw Spike Lee's movie, Do The Right Thing. Robinson and Obama had wanted to keep their relationship a secret from colleagues at the firm; Minow only "smiled" and "made no comment" at the fact they were together. Awards and corporate work Minow has sat on the Board of Directors at Foote, Cone & Belding Communications Inc.; Tribune Co.; Manpower, Inc.; AON Corp.; CBS, and Sara Lee Corporation. He has been Chairman of the Board at RAND Corporation. He was trustee of the Chicago Orchestral Association as well as with the Mayo Foundation, which operates Mayo Clinic. He is a life trustee of Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame, where he was the first Jewish member of the board, and he is currently Chairman of the Board of the World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance. He co-chaired the 1976 and 1980 presidential debates and is a vice-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates. He has served on numerous presidential commissions and was chair of a special advisory committee to the Secretary of Defense on protecting civil liberties in the fight against terrorism. His book on the history of the presidential debates was released in 2008. Minow is the recipient of 12 honorary degrees. He was a recipient of the Peabody Award in 1961 and the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service. He was also a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1963 to 1976. Minow was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2014 in the area of Government & Law. Between 2015 and 2018, Newton Minow served as a member of the Executive Advisory Council of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB), after which, his daughter Mary Minow joined the Council. In 2020, the AAPB launched the 'Broadcasting in the Public Interest: The Newton Minow Collection' to honor