UA Alumni Association Names Award Winners

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama National Alumni Association recently announced the winners of its outstanding student and alumni awards.

The NAA acknowledged and honored an alumna and alumnus of UA for their contributions to the University and the NAA. Selection for the Distinguished Alumni Awards is based on loyalty and service to the University and the NAA, character and personal life, professional achievement or success in a chosen endeavor and community service on the local, state or national level.

The 2009 Distinguished Alumna Award winner is Ann Patton Payne of Knoxville, Tenn., and the 2009 Distinguished Alumnus Award winner is Philip Baker Young of Montgomery.

Payne is a 1963 UA graduate who received her degree in education in only three years and then moved to Knoxville, Tenn., to attend graduate school. She retired after 31 years as principal and teacher at the Tennessee School for the Deaf.

She has been involved in the UA Alumni Association of East Tennessee as an ambassador for the University by engaging prospective students at college fairs and recruitment receptions to share the benefits UA has to offer.  In 2005, she was elected to serve as the regional vice president for the National Alumni Association

Payne and her husband, Lanny, met at UA; they have two sons (who are also UA graduates), four grandsons and one granddaughter.

Young is a former National Alumni Association president who came to the University in 1969 and returned to earn a bachelor’s degree through New College in 1981.

Today he serves as vice president and financial adviser for UBS Financial Services in Montgomery. He is a member of the Presidential Cabinet that served on the University Presidential and Athletic Director Search Committees. He has also been a leader in the National Alumni Association as the Montgomery chapter president, district vice president, member of the NAA Executive Committee, and as a former president.

He and his wife, Angie Crockett Young, have two children.

Both Payne and Young are devoted members of the University community and their respective communities where they are very involved in public service activities.

The NAA also recognized and honored students in the senior class. The students have excelled in academics and extracurricular activities, shown strength of character and maturity and displayed exceptional hospitality toward guests and friends of the University.

The recipients of the 2009 Alumni Student Award included Sara Kristin McDonald from Birmingham and Alexander Flachsbart from Concord, Calif.

The 2009 Alumni Outstanding Senior Award winners included Caroline A. Ball of Glenview, Ill., Marcus Dewayne Bishop of Birmingham, Katie Davis of Snellville, Ga., Steven Bryce Donaldson of Richmond, Ky., Laura Alda Godorecci of Tuscaloosa, Caroline Gwaltney of Alexander City, Paul Hanninen of Tuscaloosa, Adam Knight of Los Angeles, Calif., Hylan Elizabeth Noble of Jackson and Cody Brian Smith of Haleyville.