TOP HONORS -- UA President Robert E. Witt (far left) recently hosted an awards dinner for recipients of the University's 2004 Premier Awards, including (L-R) Jason M. Spruell, Thomas P. Davis, Dr. Sara Davis, Katherine McMinn, Robert N. Davis, Katie Boyd and William Zachary Riddle.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama has announced the top individual award recipients for scholarship, leadership and service to the University for 2004.

UA President Robert E. Witt announced the honors at the Presentation Dinner held Saturday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the University Club in Tuscaloosa. The recipients will also be recognized during UA Honors Week in an awards ceremony this spring.

The Morris Lehman Mayer Award is named in honor of 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 one faculty member and one member of the graduating class who exemplify integrity, selfless service and leadership at UA and in the community while making significant contributions to student life.

Katherine “Katie” Marie McMinn of Montevallo received the Mayer Award as the graduating recipient. McMinn has earned a 3.967 grade point average in her major of public relations and minors of communication studies and sociology. She has served as vice president and corresponding secretary of Capstone Men and Women, president of XXXI Women’s Honorary, vice president of Lambda Pi Eta and treasurer of Chi Omega sorority. McMinn received Intermediate Honors, placing her among the top 5 percent of the junior class and was awarded the Arnold M. Barban Award, which goes to the top student in the Advertising and Public Relations Department. She is also involved in extensive volunteer work with the Boys and Girls Club of Tuscaloosa and the Council on Youth Ministries. In addition, McMinn is a weekly tutor at Central Elementary School.

Dr. Sara Davis has been selected as the faculty recipient of the Mayer Award. Davis’s “selfless service to The University of Alabama and the College of Arts and Sciences is a model of what faculty service should be,” according to a nominator.

Davis has been a professor at UA since 1974. She has served as chairman of the department of English since 1993. In addition to her work for the English department, Davis has also served on the Blount Undergraduate Initiative Advisory Board, the Enrollment Management Task Force, the Legislative Agenda Committee, the UA Vulcan Scholarship Committee and the Faculty Senate. She is described by a nominator as having “a genuinely altruistic dedication to [UA], its students and faculty and to the citizens of the state.”

This year’s 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 Robert N. Davis of Montgomery and Katie Boyd of Enterprise.

Robert N. Davis has maintained a 3.861 grade point average as an aerospace engineering major with minors in the Computer-Based Honors Program and philosophy. He has served as president of Mallet Assembly and Tau Beta Pi and as secretary-general of Alabama Model United Nations. His honors include being named a 2003 Portz Scholar by the National Collegiate Honors Council – only three students per year, nationally, receive this award – selection to this year’s USA Today All-USA College Academic Team, taking first place among students from the entire UA system at Honors Research Day two years in a row and being named Outstanding AEM Senior by the Capstone Engineering Society. Davis has also done extensive volunteer work through the Blackburn Institute, Perry Hill United Methodist Church and the Anderson Society.

Katie Boyd is a senior with a major in political science and economics and a minor in Blount liberal arts. Her service to the University includes: president and vice president of student affairs of the Student Government Association, president of Chi Omega sorority, co-founder and student director of Alabama Youth Summit and historian of Phi Eta Sigma. In addition, Boyd has been named Outstanding Sophomore by Order of Omega, Blount Scholar by the Blount Undergraduate Initiative and Blackburn Fellow by the Blackburn Institute. She is also a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, Order of Omega, Blue Key, Mortar Board, the Anderson Society and XXXI Women’s Honorary.

Thomas P. Davis received the Sullivan Award as a non-student honoree. Davis graduated from Spring Hill College in 1964 and received his master’s from The University of Alabama in 1970. He taught high school history and math before becoming vice principal at the McGill Institute in Mobile. Davis joined UA in 1978 as the director of the Mobile Regional Office, a position that served as a liaison with local alumni chapters. In 1997, he was named the interim director of admissions and in 1998 became the senior associate director of admissions. According to one nominator, “Tommy does not embrace this work from a duty or wish to be considered ‘worthy.’ Tommy Davis acts from a deep seeded need to serve the community in which he lives, both the University and the greater educational community of the state of Alabama.”

The John Fraser Ramsey Award, named in honor of the late University history professor emeritus, recognizes in a junior the versatility or 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 Jason M. Spruell of Dothan. Spruell has maintained a 4.227 grade point average as a chemistry major, with minors in the Blount Undergraduate Initiative and the Computer-Based Honors Program. He serves as president of the Student Affiliates to the American Chemical Society and the Blount Residence Hall and as executive secretary to the Residence Hall Association. His academic achievements have been recognized with Intermediate Honors, Arts and Sciences Outstanding Sophomore Award and Computer-Based Honors Outstanding Sophomore and Outstanding Freshman. Spruell has also received an Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award in chemistry and a McWane Undergraduate Research Fellowship. In addition to these numerous accomplishments, Spruell volunteers with the Boys and Girls Club of America and as a Reading Buddy at University Place Montessori School.

The William P. Bloom Scholarship Award honors a junior who has improved intergroup relations within the University community; this year’s winner is William Zachary Riddle of Trussville.

Riddle embodies the characteristics of this award in many ways. As the founder of the Interfaith Council, his goal was to give a representative voice on campus to student religious organizations that had not previously been represented.

A member of all three University honors programs, Riddle has earned a 3.88 grade point average in accounting with a minor in the Computer-Based Honors Program. He has served as the president of Freshman Forum, the Wesley Foundation, Sigma Alpha Lambda and the Interfaith Council. He is a Faculty Scholar in the College of Commerce and Business Administration and received the 2003 Outstanding Sophomore Award from the Anderson Society. He has been a member of Alpha Lambda Delta, Cardinal Key, Phi Eta Sigma, Lambda Sigma and Beta Gamma Sigma honor societies.