The School of Education's Graduate Society last night presented medals to three alumnae: Margaret Atwood, novelist and poet; Rulan Chao Pian '44, professor of East Asian Languages and Civilization and of Music; and Alice M. Rivlin, director of the Congressional Budget Office.

"I think the award represents the really outstanding achievement of women," Marjorie Lees, an organizer of the Graduate Society's annual ceremony, said last night. "It's Radcliffe's way of recognizing her graduates," she added.

Point After

Atwood said last night of her latest award, "I think it's a great kick--I love to come back to Harvard and sound off. About anything at all."

The author of "Life Before Man," eight books of poetry and five novels. Atwood added that she decided she wanted to become a writer when she was 16 years old. She said she came to Radcliffe because "being a graduate student was a much better living than being a waitress."

Atwood has been on the faculty of several Canadian universities, including the University of Toronto, where she was writer-in-residence in 1972-73. Atwood has written several short stories and television scripts and has received the Governor General's Award, Canada's highest literary honor.

"I believe that I belong to an extinct species--the Radcliffe Ph.D.," Pian said last night, adding "I'm very proud of that."

Pian, who has taught at Harvard since 1947, was a visiting professor of music at Hong Kong's Chung Chi College last year and in 1975.

She has done extensive research on East Asian music and has written two books, one of which received the Otis Kinkeldy Award from the American Musicological Society in 1968.

LBJ and Me

Rivlin, an economist and the first director of the newly created Congressional Budget Office, joined the Brookings Institute in 1957 as a research fellow and later became a senior fellow. In 1966 she became deputy assistant secretary for program analysis in the Department of Health Education and Welfare, a position that she held until former President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her assistant secretary for planning and evaluation in 1968.

Author of "The Role of the Federal Government in Financing Higher Education and Systematic Thinking for Social Action," Rivlin has done numerous studies on the economics of education, public finance, population and the balance of payments.

Rivlin said last night she was attracted to Radcliffe by its graduate program in economics, adding, "I have a nice feeling about Radcliffe."