The John Fraser Ramsey Award honors a distinctive kind of excellence. It is not merely a service, leadership, or academic award – although recipients have, by their contributions to the University, their spirit of cooperation, and their academic achievements – demonstrated their abilities in these areas. Rather, the Ramsey Award is intended to recognize the versatility of gifts and attainments, as well as the breadth of excellence in mind and character that have traditionally been the goals of a liberal education.
A recipient receives $8,000 for winning the Ramsey Award. In 1994 the Ramsey Board began offering recipients the opportunity to supplement their academic education with a student-planned European travel experience. This facet of the award was named the Great Ideas Tour to commemorate John Ramsey’s signature course at the University, Great Ideas of Western Civilization. In addition to the cash award, a recipient is offered $4,000 in support of a Great Ideas Tour.
John Fraser Ramsey Award recipients
- 2023: Mae Farmer
- 2022: Corinne Baroni
- 2021: Jackson Foster
- 2020: Logan Goulart
- 2019: Emily Adams
- 2018: Asia Monet Hayes
- 2017: Charlotte Watters
- 2016: Rachel Ramey
- 2015: Derek Austin Carter
- 2014: Brian Kevin McWilliams
- 2013: Samuel Christian Lee Hand
- 2012: Hannah Elisabeth Hicks
- 2011: Lindsay Jones Lindsey
- 2010: Benton Atchison
- 2009: Dana Lewis
- 2008: Alex David Flachsbart
- 2007: Jack (Trey) Hayes, III
- 2006: Kristi Marie Wilcox
- 2005: Jon David Conolley
- 2004: Jason Michael Spruell
- 2003: Kristin Gail Robinson
- 2002: Andrew Christopher Todd
- 2001: Joshua Allen Moore
- 2000: Ryan Christopher King
- 1999: Katherine Elise Perrien
- 1998: Ethan Tyler Tidmore
- 1997: Scott Stephen Dickerson
- 1996: Mark David Nelson
- 1995: Darren Nathaniel Mowry
- 1994: Mallory Hayes Rottinghaus
- 1993: William H. Bearden, III
- 1992: Deane Walburn Strength
- 1991: Carl Stanley McGee
- 1990: William Harold Bolen, Jr.
- 1989: Anne Wainwright Brandon
- 1988: Winston Howard Gillum, Jr.
- 1987: Elane Lee-Isa
- 1986: Whitney Wilson Page
- 1985: Caroline Katz Pearlstein
- 1984: Bradley Steven Lapidus
- 1983: John Norman Bolus
- 1982: Richard Anderson Hamm
- 1981: Mary Katherine Kelton
- 1980: Marilyn Frances Drees
- 1979: Elizabeth Pringle Johnson
- 1978: Ann Blalock Lee
