Dr. William Van Davidson ’62 received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Rhodes, a master’s degree in geography from The University of Memphis, and a doctorate in geography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After a few years of undergraduate teaching at Arkansas State University in the 1970s, Davidson landed a position at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. During his tenure in LSU’s geography and anthropology department, he served as department chair for three terms, won a Fulbright Research Scholarship in 1991 and a Distinguished Faculty Award in 2002, and was recognized in Rolling Stone for his Geography of Jimmy Buffett course.
Devoted to field studies, Davidson has traveled extensively in Latin America, conducting research for his many publications and leading student field research. In 2011, the Geographical Review described him as “the leading historical-cultural geographer of Central America.” After his retirement from LSU in 2002, Davidson researched and published a comprehensive historical atlas of Honduras that is, as one reviewer put it, “an outstanding piece of scholarship that only a lifetime of research and reflection could have produced.”
___________
Established in 1983, the Distinguished Alumnus/a Award recognizes an alumnus or alumna who has brought honor to Rhodes through extraordinary achievement in his or her profession and community. Recipients enter the Alumni Hall of Fame, which is located outside of Hardie Auditorium in Southwestern Hall. The Distinguished Alumnus/a Award is presented at the Annual Convocation of the Rhodes College Alumni Association during Homecoming each October,
Eligibility and Nominations
All living alumni who are members of a class that graduated at least 10 years prior to the nomination date are eligible, with the exception of:
- Members of the Rhodes Board of Trustees
- Current faculty and staff
- Members of the Alumni Executive Board
- Recipients of a Rhodes honorary degree
Nominees for the BSA Distinguished Alumni Award will also be considered for the Distinguished Alumnus/a Award. Nominations are invited from any Rhodes alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents or friends of the college. Make your nomination today by filling out the online Awards Nomination Form or by sending a letter or email to the Alumni Relations Office at alumni@rhodes.edu.
Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
2018 Dr. Herbert Hill ’67
2017 Dr. Joe McCord ’66
2016 Mike Cody ’58
2015 Vicki Gilmore Palmer '75
2014 Mary Frances Files Silitch '57
2013 Harry L. Swinney '61
2012 Sidonie Sansom '82
2011 Brian R. Wamboff '96
2010 Dr. William O. Coley ’50
2009 Raymond E. Bye, Jr. ’66
Jocelyn D. Wurzburg ’62
2008 Robert S. Edington ’50
2007 Martha Ellen Maxwell ’51
Robert H. Crumby ’53
2006 William Cleage Threlkeld ’53
2005 Jason Turnbow Pettigrew ’96
Louis Ruffin Pounders ’68
2004 Ray U. Tanner ’54
2003 Katherine Hinds Smythe ’53
William Hamilton Smythe ’52
2002 Margaret Rose Gladney ’67
Sidney Strickland ’68
2001 W. Henry Mosley ’55
R. Susan Wood ’70
2000 Jacquelyn Dowd Hall ’65
1999 Arthur L. Kellermann ’76
1998 Pauline Jones Hord ’29
1997 C. Stratton Hill, Jr. ’50
1996 William G. Mankin ’62
1995 Richard B. Dixon ’50
1994 James T. Robertson ’53
1993 James H. Fall, III ’65
1992 Mary Jane Smalley Roberts ’58
1991 Charles J. Ping ’51
1990 S. Shepard Tate ’39
1989 Susan Burnside Fleming ’73
1988 John B. Ricker, Jr. ’38
1987 J. Thayer “Toto” Houts ’37
James G. Hughes ’32
1986 Ada Jane Walters ’56
J. Russell Perry ’33
1985 Elder L. Shearon, Jr. ’42
Margaret Boisen Nash ’50
Jere B. Nash, Jr. ’50
1984 Judith Deavenport Mitchener ’56
Steven J. Schmidt, Jr. ’72
Robert K. Armstrong ’37
1983 Lewis R. Donelson ’38
James F. Gladney, Jr. ’38