Alumni Citations & Awards
It is an honor to annually recognize deserving Maryville College alumni, highlighting their immense contributions to the College, their communities, and/or their professions. Below are the winners of the 2026 Alumni Citation Award and Kin Takahashi Young Alumni Award, and Distinguished Service Award. If you would like to nominate an alumnus for an Alumni Award, learn more about the process and complete the form. Names of the alumni award winners since 1999 are also included on this page.
Alumni Citation
This award may be made to any alumnus/a of Maryville College who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, initiative, or service in his/her community, church or profession. Alumni Citations are presented at Founder’s Day during Homecoming weekend.
2026 Award Recipient
Dr. Michael Roberts ’85
Dr. Michael Roberts ’85 is Chief Scientific Officer of the International Space Station National Laboratory and Vice President at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS). As managers of the ISS National Laboratory in partnership with NASA, CASIS is responsible to the nation for enabling access to the International Space Station for research, technology development, STEM education, and commercial innovation in space as a public service to foster a scalable and sustainable low Earth orbit economy.
Research on the International Space Station has already led to drug and therapy breakthroughs for cancer patients on Earth, with more advancements ahead. NASA is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and researchers across the federal government to help cut the nation’s cancer death rate by at least 50% in the next 25 years, a goal of the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot. Michael has been actively involved in related research aboard the ISS and presenting findings in presentations to the scientific and greater communities.
Before joining CASIS in 2013, Michael worked as a microbial ecologist, principal investigator, and research group lead in the NASA Advanced Life Support program at the Kennedy Space Center. Prior to arriving at NASA-KSC in 1999, Michael completed an undergraduate degree in biology at Maryville College, a doctorate in microbiology at Wesleyan University and post-doctoral research at the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University and the RIKEN Institute in Wako-shi, Japan.
Michael and wife Michele, a native of Connecticut, make their home in Cocoa, Florida. They have two adult sons, Connor and Jackson. In their free time, the Roberts enjoy the nature and activities of the Space Coast region, as well as gardening, reading, and traveling.
Watch Alumni Citation Honoree Video >- 2025 – Jonika Dhima Hoomes, 2002
- 2024 – Jill Kinsinger Koss, 1980
- 2023 – Denise Hinds, 1980, and Adam McCall, 1999
- 2022 – Dr. James H. Laster*, 1956, and Dr. Madlon Travis Laster, 1956
- 2021 – Dr. Karla Beard Heildelberg, 1988, and K.C. Cross, 1990
- 2020 – Carey Coghill, 1972, and Jeff Coghill, 1970
- 2019 – Arthur Masker, 1969
- 2018 – William Heird*, 1958
- 2018 – Betty Hammers Wiley *, 1953
- 2017 – Richard Henderson, 1957
- 2017 – Melissa Barker Johnson, 1990
- 2016 – James Cummings, 1956
- 2016 – E. Ross Hamory, 1970
- 2015 – Steven Diggs, 1988
- 2015 – George Poland, 1961
- 2014 – William DeWeese*, 1964
- 2014 – C. Randy Massey, 1981
- 2013 – Paul Elliott, 1963
- 2013 – George Schember, 1963
- 2012 – Alvin Baker*, 1972
- 2012 – Thomas Jones, 1952
- 2011 – T. Bryson Struse, 1961
- 2011 – Melissa Walker, 1985
- 2010 – G. Donald Hickman, 1970
- 2010 – Carl McDonald, 1963
- 2009 – Alvin Nance, 1979
- 2009 – Elizabeth Welsh*, 1959
- 2008 – Terry Dick Dykstra, 1961
- 2008 – Roger Nooe, 1962
- 2007 – George Carpenter*, 1953
- 2007 – James McCall*, 1957
- 2006 – Corita Erwin Swanson, 1958
- 2006 – Mary Lee Witherspoon, 1956
- 2005 – Martha Hess, 1967
- 2005 – Robert Shelton*, 1955
- 2004 – George Ogle*, 1951
- 2004 – Kenneth Tuck*, 1954
- 2003 – Sue Anthony Dawson, 1969
- 2003 – Penny Proffitt Piper, 1969
- 2003 – Sharon Youngs, 1979
- 2002 – Harold Cones, 1965
- 2002 – Sheridan Greaser, 1960
- 2002 – John Shew*, 1951
- 2002 – Susie Shew*, 1952
- 2002 – Sarah McNiell*, 1953
- 2001 – Frank Cross*, 1942
- 2001 – Clifford Henry*, 1950
- 2001 – Stanley Shields*, 1937
- 2000 – James Fisher, 1955
- 2000 – Clyde Flanagan, 1962
- 1999 – Boydson Baird*, 1941
- 1999 – Joseph Dawson, 1969
- 1999 – Henry Van Hassel*, 1954
* = Deceased
Kin Takahashi Award for Young Alumni
This award shall be given to any alumnus/a who has, within 20 years of his/her graduation of Maryville College, lived a life characteristic of College legend, Kin Takahashi, Class of 1895, who in his 36 years of living, worked tirelessly for the betterment of his alma mater, his church and his society. This award is presented at Founder’s Day during Homecoming weekend.
2026 Award Recipient
Dr. William “Denney” Zimmerman ’09
Dr. William Denney Zimmerman ’09 graduated Summa Cum Laude from Maryville College with a mathematics/teacher licensure degree. He completed his student teaching requirement at Maryville High School.
At the beginning of his senior year, Denney realized he wanted to be a physician. Following graduation, he became an adjunct professor of mathematics at Pellissippi State Community College, where he completed his pre-med and MCAT science prerequisites while teaching. In time, he was admitted to and enrolled at Lincoln Memorial University’s Debusk School of Osteopathic Medicine. He graduated from medical school in 2016.
Denney completed his residency in neurology at Georgetown University which he followed with further study of traumatic brain injury at the University of Maryland. Individuals and groups at both institutions formally recognized his devotion to care and medicine. At Georgetown, he was named Intern of the Year. In 2018, Georgetown medical students elected him as one of their String of Pearls recipients, recognizing residents who exhibit “humanism and dedication to teaching” and are noted for passing along the “String of Teaching Pearls” to their students. Each year, one of the String of Pearls recipients is chosen to receive the “Mother of Pearl” Award. Dr. Denney Zimmerman was the “Mother of Pearl” honoree in 2018. Stroke nurse responders at Georgetown honored him with their Stroke Hero Award. At University of Maryland, the nursing staff named him Most Supportive Provider at the UM Neurocritical Care Unit. Over the years, Denney participated in a number of medical education programs including one at Harvard Medical School and the Medical Education Leadership Academy in Baltimore.
In 2023, Denney was invited to apply for a position at Blount Memorial Hospital. In January 2024, he returned home to East Tennessee with his wife Katelyn Hodge Zimmerman (a Maryville native) and their daughter Sophie (they have since welcomed son, Jack), as he joined the Blount Memorial staff as a critical care physician and head of the BMH ICU. One of the goals he hopes to promote in Maryville is to strengthen the connection between the College and the hospital, especially for premed students.
Watch KT Award Honoree Video >- 2025 – LeSean “Seanny” Brannon, 2011, and Dr. Jerica Johnson-Hall, 2013
- 2024 – Molly Ridgeway Anderson, 2018, and Joshua Anderson, 2018
- 2023 – Mark Libell, 2003
- 2022 – Cory Howard, 2010
- 2021 – Dr. Adam Prichard, 2003
- 2020 – Valerie Malyvanh Jansen, 2001
- 2019 – Mathew Murrill, 2008
- 2018 – Frank Twum-Barimah, 2004
- 2017 – Shaun Hayes, 2006
- 2016 – Marissa McInnis, 2004
- 2015 – Joshua Phillips, 2008
- 2014 – William Gavin Lodge McCammon, 1999
- 2013 – Smith Jean-Philippe, 2000
- 2012 – Christie Latimer Knapper, 2004
- 2011 – Preston Fields, 2003
- 2010 – John Trotter, 1995
- 2009 – Yvette P. Franklin, 1998
- 2008 – Kristi Falco, 2001
- 2007 – Kristine Renee Tallent, 1996
- 2006 – Erin Palmer Polly, 1999
- 2005 – Adriel McCord, 2000
- 2004 – Julie Walker Danielson, 1994
- 2003 – Christen McCammon Khym, 1996
- 2002 – William F. Lukens, 1991
- 2001 – John Francis Heidelberg, 1987, and Karla Beard Heidelberg, 1988
- 2000 – Jonathan A. Allision, 1990
- 1999 – Kandis Schram, 1995
Distinguished Service Award
This award may be made to any alumnus/a of Maryville College who has rendered unusual service in any capacity on behalf of the College. This award is typically presented at Convocation at the beginning of the fall semester. Note: In 2020, the criteria of the Distinguished Service Award was changed to limit awardees to alumni or former students.
2026 Award Recipient
Dr. John W. Nichols ’65
Dr. John Nichols ’65 began his career at Maryville College as a freshman experiencing orientation to the liberal arts curriculum.
“They had the whole freshman class in Wilson Chapel, and Dean [Frank] McClelland talked with us,” Nichols remembered. “He said, ‘This is a liberal arts college, and we are going to liberate you from previous prejudices and things you may have picked up from your families or communities. We’re going to educate you, free you up, liberate you’ — he emphasized liberate — ‘to make your own decisions in life.’ And that I have never forgotten. A liberal arts education opened my mind.”
As an undergraduate, Nichols’s plan was to become a high school math teacher, but student teaching revealed that was not the path for him. Teaching at the college level, however, did interest him, and a teaching assistantship at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville confirmed his plans. Following graduation from Maryville College in 1965, Nichols earned a master’s degree in 1967 at UTK. He then returned to his alma mater as a faculty member and, except for two years off to earn his doctorate, taught continuously for the next 44 years.
Nichols was instrumental in the development of programs and curricula offered by the current Math and Computer Science Division. Soon after he joined the faculty, he and colleague Dr. William Dent ’57 established a dual-degree engineering major with Georgia Tech that eventually expanded to other universities. They also collaborated on new majors in computer science and courses in statistics that were available to all majors. In addition to teaching and advising in the fall and spring semesters, his Interim (three-week) experiential courses explored Colonial Williamsburg, taught students basic car mechanics, and showed students how to build a dulcimer.
He chaired his division from 1999 until 2010, hiring many of the faculty who now teach math, computer science and statistics inside Sutton Science Center. He devoted years to collecting and analyzing data regarding faculty salaries and student retention, then wrote reports that empowered administrators to make informed decisions about resources.
Nichols also wrote or helped write grant proposals that provided funds for research, professional development and much-needed technology. And in what must have repeatedly felt like a full-circle moment, he coordinated the Section E-6 testing for the TMTA’s annual state-wide high-school math contest (the same one that introduced him to Mac Tolar) for several years.
He described Maryville College as his “second home” and is grateful for it. He was proud to see daughter Melissa Nichols McLaughlin ’93 follow in his footsteps as a Scot, and he enjoyed friendships with faculty and staff colleagues across the campus.
Now, preparing for his 60th class reunion in 2025, the 82-year-old, who retired from MC in 2012 as professor emeritus of mathematics and computer science, decided to make a donation in support of an institution that is still committed to opening minds.
“It just helps you deal with life in the world and all the issues that you face,” he said of his liberal arts education. “I had the freedom to be a learner.”
He said he hopes the Dr. John Nichols Award for Excellence will reward high-achieving sophomore and junior students in math, computer science, and statistics with a scholarship that gives them the encouragement and financial assistance to persist to graduation.
The first Dr. John Nichols Awards for Excellence will be announced at the Celebration of Student Achievement in April 2026, with tuition dollars dispersed to winners’ accounts for the following fall semester.
Maryville College President Dr. Bryan F. Coker led the applause for Nichols during the October 2025 Founder’s Day Showcase, when the endowment was publicly announced and the professor emeritus was recognized for his donation.
“Throughout his 44-year career at Maryville College, John Nichols was incredibly generous to his alma mater with gifts of time, talent and treasure, and it is humbling to see that, years after his retirement, John remains as committed to this place,” Coker said. “The establishment of the Dr. John Nichols Award for Excellence will result in financial assistance to deserving students, and I hope recipients will also be inspired by John’s own career in mathematics and his passion for the liberal arts.”
The Distinguished Service Award was presented at Convocation on August 18, marking the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year. Photos from the event can be seen here.
- 2024 – Margaret “Peggy” Maher, 1978
- 2023 – Bruce Guillaume, 1978
- 2022 – Austin Coleman “Cole” Piper*, 1968
- 2020 – Alvin C. Baker*, 1972
- 2020 – Gail Bradley Hafner, 1960
- 2020 – Elizabeth Walton Blackburn, 1958
- 2020 – Judy Pike Woods, 1971
- 2020 – Robert Kennedy, 1971
- 2010 – C. Charlton Mabry*, 1950
- 2005 – John J. Duncan, Jr.
- 2003 – Roy F. Kramer*, 1951
- 2002 – Darrell Akins
- 1999 – John C. McQueen, Jr.*, 1934
- 1998 – Margaret A. Cooper*
- 1997 – Lindsay Young*
- 1994 – James A. Haslam
- 1993 – Duncan S. Ferguson
- 1991 – Stanley B. Shields*, 1937
- 1991 – Irma K. Young*
- 1991 – Price Gwynn, III*
* Deceased
MC Medallion Award
The Maryville College Medallion is the highest award presented by the College. Awarded since 1990, it recognizes those individuals who have helped immeasurably toward perpetuating the College as a distinctive educational and cultural institution and who have had a profound influence on the future course of Maryville College.
2025 Award Recipient
C. Michael Davis
“Mike’s tenure as board chair will be remembered as a notable one in the College’s history — from managing the COVID19 pandemic to opening the Downtown Center to joining the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) — we were doing anything but sitting still,” said Maryville College President Dr. Bryan Coker, who selected Davis to receive the Medallion after Davis announced his retirement as board chair earlier this year.
“Mike stepped up for the chair of the board role when we needed strong and experienced leadership the most,” Coker said. “He then led the board with a steady hand, always focused on the College’s future in a disruptive period for higher education. No board meeting ever started late during Mike’s time as chair. Even if no one else was in the room yet, the meeting was going to start on time.”
Davis earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and spent most of his career working for Harrison Construction, serving as president from 2005 until 2009.
During his tenure as a member of the MC Board of Directors, which he joined in 2012, he served on the Building, Grounds and Technologies Committee, the Audit and Risk Management Committee, and as chair of the Finance and Investment Committee. Davis became chair in 2021 after the sudden death of Austin Coleman ‘Cole’ Piper ’68. At that time, he had already served nine years on the board of directors, and over the next four years, he provided steady leadership grounded in his long ties to the College.
Davis’s wife, Ibby Shelley Davis ’68 attended Maryville College and served on the board of the Maryville College Alumni Association. Their son, Todd Davis ’00, is also a Maryville College graduate. Mike and Ibby have one other son, Chris.
Watch Medallion Award Honoree Video >- 2021 – Mary Kay Sullivan, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Management
- 2015 – Steve T. West
- 2012 – Terry A. Bunde, B.S., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Chemistry
- 2010 – Kenneth D. Tuck, M.D., 1954
- 2009 – Martha Hess, 1967
- 2006 – Dean Boldon*, Ph.D.
- 2005 – Sheridan H. Greaser, 1960
- 2004 – Harold D. Lambert*, 1950, and Jean T. Lambert
- 2003 – Joseph J. Copeland*, B.D., D.D., LL.D.
- 2002 – Diane Humphreys-Barlow, 1970
- 2001 – Boydson H. Baird*, 1941
- 2000 – Arthur S. Bushing*, LITT.D., 1943
- 1999 – Richard E. Ragsdale
- 1998 – Harry H. Harter*, D.S.M.
- 1997 – Elizabeth H. Bradford*
- 1996 – Algie Sutton*, LL.D., 1929
- 1995 – Arda S. Walker*, Ph.D., 1940
- 1994 – Dan M. McGill*, Ph.D., LL.D., 1940
- 1993 – Tutt S. Bradford*, LL.D.
- 1992 – Carle M. Davis* & Connie F. Davis*
- 1991 – Carolyn L. Blair*, Ph.D.
- 1991 – James N. Proffitt*, M.D.
- 1990 – Harwell W. Proffitt*
* Deceased
Wall of Fame
The Maryville College Wall of Fame, located within MC’s Cooper Athletic Center, was established by the Honaker Club in 1975. Today, it is an ongoing project sponsored by the Maryville College Athletic Department. Its purpose is to recognize outstanding individuals who have contributed to the tradition of MC Athletics. Over the years, more than 200 Maryville College student-athletes and supporters of the athletic department have been honored for their accomplishments. Learn more about the 2025 honorees at mcscots.com.
Make A Nomination
The privilege of submitting nominations for any alumni award is given to alumni, past and present faculty and staff members, and friends of Maryville College. Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis for consideration by the Maryville College Alumni Association. To nominate an outstanding alumnus/a, please read the award descriptions and determine the best fit for your nominee. Then, complete the online nomination form. You may submit additional supporting materials via the nomination form or by emailing the Alumni Office.
Note: The Wall of Fame honorees are determined by a committee governed by the Maryville College Athletic Department. Wall of Fame nominations can be submitted for consideration via this online nomination form.