Premier Awards for Scholarship, Leadership Announced at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Recipients of the 2011 Premier Awards – the top individual honors for scholarship, leadership and service at The University of Alabama – were announced by UA President Robert E. Witt at an awards ceremony and dinner Feb. 24.

The 2011 UA Premier Award recipients, who will also be recognized at UA during Honors Week in April, include:

The William P. Bloom Scholarship Award –  Seema Kumar

The William P. Bloom Scholarship Award honors a junior who has improved intergroup relations within the University community; this year’s winner is Seema Kumar of Shreveport, La.

Kumar has shown a commitment to promoting collaboration, interaction and understanding on campus. A top student with plans to attend medical school, she serves as an Ambassador for the College of Arts & Sciences where she is double majoring in biology and Spanish. Kumar has excelled in campus involvement and service to the community as a University Fellow within the Honors College working to improve lives in rural Alabama, as a Creative Campus intern supporting collaborative arts, and as a tutor and mentor in underserved schools. As part of the Honors College initiative First Friends, she has partnered with international students coming to UA to extend a welcoming hand and to introduce the new students to University life.

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award – Marshall Raymond Houston, Meg McCrummen and Louis C. “Pat” Whetstone Jr.

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is presented to one man and one woman of the graduating class and one non-student who has been helpful to, and associated with, the University. The Sullivan Award recognizes excellence of character and service to humanity. Student winners of this year’s Sullivan Award are Marshall Raymond Houston of Birmingham and Meg McCrummen of Mobile. Louis C. “Pat” Whetstone Jr. is the non-student recipient.

Marshall Raymond Houston – Houston has been described as being gifted with a “unique humility” to give completely of himself while asking for nothing in return. As a member of Documenting Justice, a selective class run by UA’s Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility, he created short films on Foster Auditorium’s place in UA history and peaceful integration, and on El Paso, Texas, to document the ongoing border crisis there due to drug violence. He was one of three students who worked more than 16 months to develop, organize and implement the “Alabama Gubernatorial Debate,” bringing candidates together in Tuscaloosa and Auburn for televised debates. An economics and English major, Houston also helped lead his fraternity to the top national chapter ranking.

Meg McCrummen – McCrummen exemplifies the ideals of character, commitment to service and outstanding leadership. She has held various leadership positions in the Student Government Association, and she served as the sole student representative on the DegreeWorks Implementation Team, which introduced the University’s new degree audit program. As a University Fellow, she teaches a freshman honors seminar called “Current Events: What you Need to Know” focusing on important state, national and global issues. As president of Phi Beta Kappa, her academic record speaks for itself, yet she also has a commitment to serving others through efforts that range from giving tax preparation assistance to low-income, working families to mentoring elementary school students. She is a history and French major.

Louis C. “Pat” Whetstone Jr. – Whetstone has been the face and guiding force of Alumni Affairs for the past 20 years. Receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics from UA in 1966, he was a Dean’s List student and participated in the swim team and Sigma Nu fraternity. Colleagues describe him as the “leadership mentor” they always hoped to have. Whetstone knows thousands of UA graduates, donors and partners on a first-name basis. He knows their career paths, their families, their pets, their favorite football stories. Whetstone has truly never met a stranger, one of his nominators said, and once he talks to you, he’ll remember everything about you, even years later. Colleagues say Whetstone doesn’t just represent The University of Alabama, he is The University of Alabama. He will retire from Alumni Affairs this spring.

The Catherine Johnson Randall Award – Darryl A. Outlaw

The Catherine Johnson Randall Award, named for the former director of UA’s innovative Computer-Based Honors Program, is given to one graduating senior. The Randall Award recognizes the most outstanding student scholar at UA, based on GPA, rigor of course study and extraordinary scholarly or creative endeavor. Darryl A. Outlaw of Birmingham is this year’s recipient.

An exceptional student who has maintained a GPA above 4.0 while taking some of the University’s most rigorous courses as a chemical engineering major, Outlaw has combined the highest level of undergraduate research with public service and leadership. His scholarly research, accomplished as part of a computational chemistry research group, focuses on the development of new materials for the chemical storage of hydrogen for use in fuel cells. A previous winner of the Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award and the Computer-Based Honors Program Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, Outlaw is also a University Fellow and a founding member of the Black Belt Experience, a program he says “taught me invaluable life lessons outside the classroom and gave me a passion to enter a career in service to others.”

The John Fraser Ramsey Award – Lindsay Jones Lindsey

The John Fraser Ramsey Award, named in honor of the late University history professor emeritus, recognizes in a junior the versatility of gifts and attainments, as well as the breadth of excellence in mind and character that have traditionally been the goals of a liberal education. The recipient of the Ramsey Award is Lindsay Jones Lindsey of Madison.

Sculptor, computer scientist, toxicology researcher, aspiring surgeon, arts advocate and visionary are all words that can describe Lindsey. She is a sculpture major with three minors – biological sciences, Computer-Based Honors and the Blount Undergraduate Initiative. Her ultimate goal is to become a doctor, specializing in facial reconstructive surgery. In combining her interests in biology and sculpture, she has gone one step further and woven in her passion for computer science in the Fibonacci Project. She is working on a very large sculpture of a Fibonacci spiral model in this project that brings together the sciences, art, math, music and engineering. Lindsey is planning a Fibonacci Field Day at UA to connect this work to the community and introduce science to young children.

The Morris Lehman Mayer Award – Ellyn Louise Hamm and Dr. Frank M. Thompson Jr.

The Morris Lehman Mayer Award is named in honor of the late Morris Lehman Mayer, business professor emeritus. For three decades, Mayer was a beloved UA teacher and a guiding force in student life. The award recognizes integrity, selfless service and leadership at UA and in the community among those also making significant contributions to student life. Dr. Frank M. Thompson Jr. is the non-student recipient of the Mayer Award, and Ellyn Louise Hamm of Huntsville is the student recipient.

Ellyn Louise Hamm – A music therapy major, Hamm has combined her passion for music and her desire to benefit others by providing music therapy services to everyone from infants to children with disabilities to senior citizens. Recognizing that many parents would not have access to music therapy for their premature infants when they went home from the hospital, she sought and received a Daniel Foundation Community Scholars Grant to create “Baby Beats,” a recording of appropriate songs to play at home. As the first-ever intern in the American Music Therapy Association’s national office, she had an opportunity to train hundreds of music therapists on the importance of advocacy at a national conference. A professor has described her as “the epitome of the type of student we would want to represent The University of Alabama.”

Dr. Frank M. Thompson Jr. – As coach of The University of Alabama’s Forensics team for more than 30 years, Thompson’s national championships, at 16, outnumber those of the Crimson Tide football team. He is the only forensics director in the nation who has had a student on the American Forensics Association All American Team every year since it was introduced. His teams’ numerous successes have made his name well-known in forensics circles nationally, but it is his caring commitment to students that will be his legacy on campus. Former students have described his influence on their lives, saying “his integrity shines through in his refusal to give up on any student,” and “he has taught me important principles about life, family, teamwork and education that I will carry on into every stage of my life.” He plans to retire at the end of this academic year.