The Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Professor Award was established on October 31, 1979, at both Randolph-Macon College and Virginia Wesleyan College by the late Mrs. Virginia Clarke Gray Backus (and her children, Samuel Nelson Gray, Jr. and Virginia Lee Clay) in memory of her husband, an alumnus and former trustee of R-MC and former trustee of Virginia Wesleyan. Mrs. Gray was the sister of former Virginia Wesleyan President Lambuth Clarke.
Although called the Distinguished Professor Award, this prize was established to honor the faculty member or senior administrator selected by the president as the person who has made a distinguished contribution to the institution. Intended to be each institution's highest honor, the president solicits nominations and reviews nominees with the vice president for academic affairs and former recipients of the distinguished award.
Recipients
2024
Dr. Craig Wansink
2023
Terry Lindvall
2022
Deirdre Gonsalves-Jackson
2021
Linda Ferguson
2020
Susan Larkin
2019
Travis Malone
2018
Taryn Myers
2017
Paul Ewell
2016
William McConnell
2015
Clayton Drees
2014
Aubrey L. Westfall
2013
Victor R. Townsend
2012
Sara A. Sewell