KNOXVILLE – The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s College of Engineering honored the recipients of the program’s most prestigious award, the Nathan W. Dougherty Award, at a special reunion event held Sept. 11-12.
Fourteen recipients attended the event. Although the award has been given since 1957, this week marked the first time the alumni were brought together as a group. The event included a walking tour of the College of Engineering, a celebration dinner hosted by Dean Wayne Davis that included a keynote address from Interim President Jan Simek and on-field recognition with Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek at the UT-UCLA game.
Dougherty Award recipients are world renowned in their respective fields. Recipients have changed medicine and the way cancers are discovered; were integral in developing personal computers; transformed commercial and space flight; developed new materials and new methods of processing and production; and have led business and industry. Collectively, Dougherty Award recipients represent an extraordinary echelon of engineering.
Named in honor of UT football legend and Dean Emeritus Nathan W. Dougherty, the award annually recognizes an engineer whose accomplishments bring distinction to the college through his or her achievements and contributions to the engineering profession.
Nathan Sam Dougherty Jr., who earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering from UT, also attended the reunion and spoke to the group about the professionalism and commitment of his grandfather.
Dougherty Award recipients who attended the reunion were:
- Everett Bloom (Knoxville), retired director of the Metals and Ceramics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Donald Borst (Vonore, Tenn.), retired president and CEO of Millennium Inorganic Chemicals
- Don Brock (Chattanooga), chairman and CEO of Astec Industries Inc.
- Howard Chambers (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.), vice president and general manager of Boeing Co.
- Nancy Cole (Fernandina Beach, Fla.), president of NCC Engineering
- Joe Cook (Nashville), principal and co-founder of Mountain Group Capital LLC
- Ron Green (Charlotte, N.C.), chairman of Advatech LLC
- Robert Hart (Kingsport), retired president of the Tennessee Eastman Company
- Chad Holliday (Wilmington, Del.), chairman of DuPont
- Raja Jubran (Knoxville), CEO of Denark Construction Inc.
- Ronald Nutt (Friendsville, Tenn.), CEO of Advanced Biomarker Technologies
- Richard Ray (Alcoa, Tenn.), retired Tennessee Operations Manager of ALCOA
- Charles Scott (Oak Ridge), retired director of the Bioprocessing Research and Development Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- William Snyder (Knoxville), chancellor emeritus at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville
In 1909, Nathan W. Dougherty, a senior studying civil engineering at UT, was captain of the football team and named All-Southern guard on the Grantland Rice-Heisman mythical team. After graduating from UT, Dougherty studied at Cornell University and received his master’s degree in civil engineering in 1914. He taught at The George Washington University for two years until returning to his alma mater in 1916 as an associate professor in civil engineering. He spent the next 40 years shaping both the athletics department and the college. He was named dean in 1940.
Throughout his career, Dougherty served as a consulting engineer to many organizations and state agencies and devoted a significant amount of time to advancing engineering education in Tennessee, with an emphasis on scholarship and professionalism. He chaired the UT Athletics Board from 1917 to 1956 and played a key role in the design of Shields-Watkins Field. As chairman, he also hired Robert Neyland to coach football.
In 1964, the University of Tennessee named a new building on The Hill the Nathan W. Dougherty Engineering Building.
UT’s College of Engineering is the fourth oldest engineering college in the nation and has more than 20,000 alumni.
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C O N T A C T :
Kim Cowart (865-974-0686, kcowart@utk.edu)
Adlai Hurt (865-974-2779, ahurt3@utk.edu)