Alumni Award Nominations
Since 1959, the Pfeiffer Alumni Association has recognized the extraordinary contributions of alumni by presenting two annual awards to deserving individuals. In 2015, the Office of the President created the Presidential Merit Award to recognize young alumni. These awards are presented during the Annual Alumni Gathering at Homecoming.
We encourage all alumni to nominate those deserving of recognition. The submission deadline for award nominations is April 30th, each year. Click below to download nomination forms. Please note that individuals may only be nominated for one award per year. The Alumni Board of Directors reserves the right to determine which award category is most appropriate/applicable for nomination in the case of an alumnus being nominated for both Outstanding and Distinguished Awards.
- Distinguished Alumni Award Download here
- Outstanding Alumni Award Download here
- Presidential Merit Award Download here
Print and mail nomination forms to Pfeiffer University Advancement Office, P.O. Box 960, Misenheimer, N.C. 28109, or email forms to advance@pfeiffer.edu.
2024 Alumni Award Recipients
Kathy Kennedy ’74 Named 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient
In 1976, Kathy Kennedy ’74, the recipient of this year’s Pfeiffer University Distinguished Alumni Award, took the FBI Special Agent entrance exam. She never learned how she fared because shortly thereafter, the U.S. government imposed a hiring freeze. So, she pursued employment elsewhere and fell off the FBI’s radar.
Or so she thought.
About seven years later, she received a coveted phone call from the agency, which hires between 500 and 750 Special Agents each year, drawing from an annual pool of 10,000 applications. Was she still interested in becoming a Special Agent? If so, would she come in for an interview?
Awarded by the Alumni Association Board of Directors to honor excellence in one’s profession or community service.
Joy Melton ’77 Receives 2024 Outstanding Alumni Award
The famed author Maya Angelou once said: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
The Reverend Joy Thornburg Melton, J.D. ’77, the recipient of this year’s Pfeiffer University Outstanding Alumni Award, likes to cite this quote and has taken it to heart. Her work has been a groundbreaking response to the collective awareness of the potential for the abuse of children in settings of the United Methodist Church (UMC). This risk awareness has become far greater than it was about 20 or 30 years ago, and thanks to Melton, there’s been a marked improvement in policies and resources designed to reduce the risk of abuse from occurring.
Awarded by the Alumni Association Board of Directors to honor one’s significant contributions to Pfeiffer University.
Katie Collins ’15 Receives 2024 Presidential Merit Award
The vast majority of Americans do not exercise, even though the benefits of exercise are widely known. Why? And more to the point, what can be done to turn this situation around?
Dr. Katie Collins ’15, the recipient of this year’s Pfeiffer University Presidential Merit Award, has begun uncovering some intriguing answers as a researcher in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the prestigious Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. The answers support a general philosophy proclaimed on her Duke web page: “The first rule of getting in shape: Don’t quit.”
Awarded by the President of Pfeiffer University to alumni who are 35 years of age or younger, who have excelled early in their careers, and who show potential for continued success.
1962 Rev. Lloyd G. Lowder ’42
1963 Dr. Garmon B. Smith ’40
1964 Rev. Dr. William K. Quick ’52, ’72 (Hon.)
1965 Rev. Dr. Ernest A. Fitzgerald ’43, ’86 (Hon.)
1966 Edwin W. Woodhouse ’58
1967 Rev. Herbert E. Blackmon ’36
1967 Dr. Earl W. Vaughn ’47, ’83 (Hon.)
1968 Dr. Samuel H. Johnson ’46, ’94 (Hon.)
1969 J. Walt Braxton, Jr. ’63
1970 Dr. Joseph A. Ross ’48
1971 J. Keith Crisco, Sr. ’64
1971 Rev. W. Kirk McNeill ’59
1972 Dr. L. Gordon Clarke ’44
1972 Dr. D. Larry Crumbley ’63
1972 Dr. Maeburn B. Huneycutt ’42
1972 Dr. H. Mitchell Simpson ‘64
1974 Rev. Fred Falls, Jr. ’61
1974 Dr. Franklin D. Martin ’66
1974 Dr. Samuel H. Johnson ’46, ’94 (Hon.)
1976 Joseph R. Kluttz, Jr. ’60
1977 Dr. Thad Woodard ’68
1978 J. Russell Helderman ’27
1979 Dr. Edward B. Tyson ’64
1980 Dr. R. Andrew Murphie ‘66
1982 Frank E. Watson, III ’71
1983 Dr. Juanita Lee Long ’46
1984 Dr. Lee W. Kinard, Jr. ’50
1985 The Honorable Don Maddox ’64
1987 Dr. Richard B. McKenzie ’64, ’01 (Hon.)
1988 M. Jane Williams ’66
1991 Rev. Dr. William K. Quick ’52, ’72 (Hon.)
1992 Dr. Mary Nell Saunders ’70
1993 Dr. Gerry D. Martin ’63
1995 Dr. Wilbur S. Avant, Jr. ’63
1997 Carl M. Hill ’58
1997 Dr. Thad Woodard ’68
1998 Henry E. Farmer, Sr. ’60
1999 Dr. Monteic A. Sizer ’93
2000 Rev. Dr. James B. Long, Jr. ’63, ’93 (Hon.)
2000 Dr. Lawrence J. Wheeler ’65, ’12 (Hon.)
2001 Dr. Joseph D. Armstrong ’82
2002 Herman A. Stone, Sr. ’64
2006 Betty Coates Mar ’69
2006 Thomas M. Grady ’63
2007 Annabeal Waller Lefler ’66
2007 Rev. Cecil E. Donahue ’77
2007 Rev. Julianne Brittain ’77
2008 James G. Griffith, Jr. ’58
2009 Richard W. Thames ’75
2009 E. Jack Ingram, Jr. ’74
2010 April Jones Havlin ’76
2010 Sharon K. Bard ’79
2011 Kevin G. DeSanctis ’74
2011 Harold M. Eagle, Jr. ’63
2011 Mary Earnhardt Eagle ’64
2012 Thomas D. Lewis ’68
2013 Dr. Russell H. Sharples ’75
2013 W. Craig Estep ’83
2013 Dr. Samuel J. Chewning ’08
2014 Albert L. Rose ’63
2014 John K. Boggs ’75
2015 P. Duane Dunston ’97, ’99 MSOM
2015 David B. Miller ’04
2016 George E.J. Singleton ’68
2016 Rev. H. David Melton ’76
2018 Dr. Margaret Earley Whitt ’68
2018 R. Lawrence Monaghan, Jr. ’68
2019 Gary R. Weart ’71
2019 Frank W. Lea, III ’68
2020 Dr. D. Matthew Gianferante ’05
2020 Barry L. Roberson ’80
2020 Dr. David W. Barham ’11
2021 Dr. Reggie L. Hudson ’74
2021 Robert C. Gulledge ’68
2021 Christopher A. Matthews ’12 MSL, ’16 MFT
2022 Robert J. Brietz ‘65
2022 Jimmy D. Molina ’16, ’19 MBA, ’19 MSL
2023 Wayne Davis ’70
2023 David Smith ’70
2023 Charles Ingram ’11, ’14 MBA