Peabody Distinguished Alumnus

Each year during Commencement, Peabody College honors an outstanding graduate with the Peabody Distinguished Alumnus/a Award. These alumni have received recognition on national or international levels for significant achievements in their chosen fields or in endeavors outside their professions.

We encourage you to submit a nomination for a future honoree.

Previous Honorees

2009 William Troutt
President of Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee
2008 Terry B. Grier
Superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, San Diego, California
2007 Melvyn I. Semmel
Professor of Special Education Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara
2006 Christopher Jeffrey Barbic
Head of Schools for YES College Preparatory Schools, Houston, Texas
2005 Arthur Jerry Benson
Dean, James Madison University's College of Integrated Science and Technology
2004 O.L. Davis
Professor of Curriculum & Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin
2003 Harold Dean Propst
Retired Chancellor of the University System of Georgia
2002 Chong Moon Lee
Chairman and CEO, AmBex Venture Group
2001 Rune Siemonsson
Co-Principal Investigator, Office of Disability and Health
2000 Imogene Forte
President, Incentive Publications
2000 Logan Wright
posthumous
1999 Charles Allen
Owner, Authentique
1998 Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola
Associate Professor of Psychology
1997 Tipper Gore
Wife of Vice President Gore, mental health advisor to the President
1996 Hal Ramer
President, Volunteer State Community College
1995 Diane Becker
Professor, University of Oregon; President, Pembroke State University
1994 Howard Warf
Tennessee Commissioner of Education
1993 Charles Smith
Chancellor, Tennessee Board of Regents
1992 Jack Allen
Professor of History Emeritus, Peabody College; President, National Council for the Social Studies
1991 Walter Washington
President of Alcorn State University, Lorman, Mississippi
1990 Young Shik Kim
Chairman, The Korean Teachers Mutual Funds, Minister of Education, South Korea
1989 Alfred Baumeister
Professor of Psychology; Director, John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
1988 Natalie Barraga
Professor Emerita, Department of Special Education, The University of Texas at Austin
1987 E. Bruce Heilman
Chancellor, University of Richmond; former President, Meredith College
1986 Phillip Bacon
Professor of Geography, University of Houston; Director, New Mexico Geographic Alliance
1985 William M. Alexander
"Father of the Middle School in American Education"
1984 Susan Gray
Former Professor Emerita, Peabody College, early research led to foundation of Head Start program
1983 Christine Coe
Former Washington Post reporter and McCall's editor; author of Children in the White House and America's First Ladies
1982 Edward Boling
President Emeritus, University of Tennessee