The 2020 Homer P. Rainey Award
will be awarded by the Board of Trustees
at Commencement in August.
Homer P. Rainey
Homer P. Rainey was a 1919 graduate of Austin College. He taught at Austin College from 1919 to 1922 before leaving to earn his doctorate at the University of Chicago. After several years as a faculty member, Rainey served presidencies at Franklin College of Indiana, Bucknell University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas. At the University of Texas, in the mid 1940s, he protested board actions that he believed threatened academic freedom. The UT regents fired Rainey in November 1944, which led to thousands of UT students marching to the Capitol and Governor’s Mansion in protest and Rainey becoming known as a symbol for academic freedom.
He took on the presidency of Stephens College in Missouri in 1947. He joined the education faculty at the University of Colorado in 1956, received an outstanding teacher award in 1964, and became professor emeritus that same year. In 1971 he wrote The Tower and the Dome, an account of his presidential experiences at the University of Texas. During his lifetime, Austin College honored Dr. Rainey with an honorary doctorate in 1932, the College’s Founders Medal in 1964, induction to the Austin College Athletic Hall of Honor in 1966, and recognition as a Distinguished Alumnus in 1973. This award honors his legacy of success.
Past Recipients
| 2019 – Nan Davis 2018 – Light Cummins 2017 – Roger Platizky 2016 – Ginger Chauncey and John West 2015 – Karen Spore and Carol Daeley 2014 – John Jennings 2013 – Mike Imhoff 2012 – George Diggs 2011 – Karen Nelson and John Williams 2010 – Phyllis Rieser and Dan Setterberg (posthumously) 2009 – Sheryl Bradshaw and Howard Starr 2008 – Cindy Bean 2007 – Bernice Melvin and Larry Caylor 2006 – Lawana Slaughter and E. Don Williams 2005 – Vickie Kirby 2004 – Dub Narramore 2003 – Jack Pierce 2002 – William H. Moore 2001 – Jerry Lincecum 2000 – Sig Lawson (posthumously) and Vicki Abbott 1999 – Roy Melugin 1998 – Shelton Williams 1997 – Richard Tappa and Jay Evans |
1996 – Nelda Lambert 1995 – Peter Lucchesi 1994 – Robert Bradshaw (posthumously) and Harry Smith 1993 – Kenneth Street 1992 – Paul Thomas 1991 – Goodloe Lewis 1990 – Bruce Lunkley 1989 – Bill Freeman 1988 – Ralph McCord 1987 – Myron Low 1986 – Mike Barry 1985 – Jack Jernigan 1984 – Bob Mason 1983 – Gene Day 1982 – A.J. Carlson 1981 – Carolyn Squires 1980 – Howard McCarley 1979 – Clyde Hall 1978 – Edward Phillips 1977 – J. Forrest Bryant 1976 – Virginia Love 1975 – John D. Moseley |