Distinguished
Our highest alumni honor.
Dedicated to the spirit of the Volunteer, the Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award is reserved for alumni who have excelled at the national or international level.
The purpose of this award is to recognize an alumnus or alumna of UT who has attained extraordinary distinction and success in his or her field of endeavor, whose achievements have brought credit to university and benefit to his or her fellow citizens.
Previous Recipients
2023
- Dwight Nathaniel Hutchins (’86)
- Robert B. Lewis III (’81)
- Hon. Heath Shuler (’01)
- Charles Wharton (’65)
2022
- Samuel E. Beall II (’42)
- Tamika Catchings (’00, ’05)
- Sara Croley (’00)
- Donald E. Frieson (’90)
- Ronald Earl Frieson (’81)
- Sharon G. Lee (’75, ’78)
2021
- Leslie Benmark (’67, ’70)
- Charles Davis (’86, ’89)
- Wayne T. Davis (’73, ’75)
- Dane (’97) and Meg Scism (’92)
- Michael Strickland (’77)
2019
- Cheri Beasley (’91)
- James L. and Judith A. Herbert (’62, ’63)
- Joe Johnson (’60, ’68)
- Scott Kelly (’96)
- Larry Pratt (’73)
- Theotis Robinson Jr. (’65)
2018
- Patricia Bell-Scott (’72, ’73, ’76)
- Chris Grabenstein (’77)
- General Mike Holmes (’81)
2017
- Michael C. Crabtree (’73, ’75)
- Cristen Garrett Haslam (’85)
- Wilma Hacker Jordan (’70)
- Margaret Scobey (’71, ’73)
- Peyton Manning (’97)
2016
- Robert Edward Kirkland, posthumous (’60)
- Sharon Price John (’86)
- Jerry H. Summers (’66)
2015
- Kim C. Bush (’73)
- Senator Bob Corker (’74)
- Amy Miles (’89)
- Alan D. Wilson (’80)
2014
- Randy Boyd (’79)
- Terry Douglass (’65, ’66, ’68)
- Alan Greenberg (’72)
- Kim Greene (’88)
- Clayton Jones (’71)
- Tom Lauria (’82, ’86)
2013
- Charles C. Anderson, Jr. (’76)
- Dee Bagwell Haslam (’86)
- Jimmy Haslam (’76)
- James J. Powell, Sr. (’59)
2012
- Mark Dean (’79)
- W. Larry Patrick (’73)
- Pat Head Summitt (’75)
- John D. Tickle (’65) and Ann Tickle (’65)
2011
- John C. Compton (’83)
- Joseph C. Cook Jr. (’65)
- John W. Fisher (’38)
- David L. Ramsey (’82)
2010
- John C. Cullum (’53)
- Nancy-Ann DeParle (’78)
- Joel A. Katz (’69)
- William B. Stokely III (’63)
2009
- Howard H. Baker Jr. (’49)
- Clarence L. Brown (1919)
- James A. Haslam (’52)
- Natalie Haslam (’52)
2008
- Chad Holliday (’70)