The Thomas W. Briggs Community Service Award

In 1985, the Board of Directors established the Thomas W. Briggs Community Service Award to be given annually as a memorial to Mr. Briggs. The award benefits the work of a local Memphis organization in the field of community service. Its purpose is to recognize outstanding leadership provided by an individual in an organization whose creativity, effort, commitment, professionalism and exceptional initiative have enabled the organization to excel in its special mission. Recipients are nominated and chosen by the Board of Directors. It is the hope of the Directors that the recognition from the award will inspire others to reach higher and achieve more than they thought they could.

2018 Community Service Award

Cordell Walker & Alpha Omega Veterans Services

Alpha Omega Veterans Services was founded in 1987 by a mother whose two sons returned from service in Vietnam suffering from what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After finding nothing to help them, she opened Alpha Omega in a humble duplex in south Memphis. It was one of the first facilities in the United States to offer supportive services to displaced and disabled veterans.

One year later Chicago native, Cordell Walker was hired as Alpha Omega’s first Executive Director. He had received his bachelor’s degree in Counseling at the University of Iowa and completed his graduate studies in Counseling at Penn State University. Cordell understood this need – several of his friends returned from Viet Nam forever altered by their wartime experiences including exposure to Agent Orange; others did not return at all.

When Cordell came to this upstart program, it housed only eight veterans. Over his thirty years at the helm Alpha Omega has become a progressive six-facility agency that has served nearly 11,000 veterans. All are assisted in their recovery from debilitating mental and physical conditions and supported in their reintegration into society.

Today Alpha Omega provides supportive housing for 120 male and female veterans in several programs of which 3 are permanent housing facilities; many others are served on a daily basis. Each program offers an integrated system of services including food, clothing, housing, transportation and counseling that has been designed to meet the veterans’ needs. The intensive individual and group counseling sessions help them deal with service-related conditions such as anger management, substance abuse, combat stress, PTSD and other mental health disorders. Of those served, 95% graduate to live healthily and independently in their own secure permanent housing

Over his 31 years at the helm, Cordell Walker has led Alpha Omega by the grace of God into the 21st century with vision, dedication and love. Under his watchful eye as a good steward of limited resources, Cordell leads Alpha Omega Veterans Services to this day with the humility and grace of a great leader.

Past Recipients

2017 Todd Richardson and McLean Wilson with Chris Miner of Crosstown Arts for the Crosstown Concourse Development
2016 Ken Steorts, Visible Music College
2015 David Montague, Memphis Teacher Residency
2014 Nancy Coffee, New Memphis Institute
2013 Dorothy Gunther Pugh, Ballet Memphis
2012  Jackie Nichols, Playhouse on the Square &  Circuit Playhouse
2011 Jim Duncan, Memphis Botanic Garden
2010  Richard Nathaniel Donlon, M.D., Christ Community  Health Services
2009  25th Anniversary Celebration, Honoring All Previous Recipients
2008  Beverly Robertson, National Civil Rights Museum
2007  David Loebel, Memphis Symphony Orchestra
2006  Margaret Craddock, MIFA
2005  Kaywin Feldman, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
2004  James R. Boyd, BRIDGES
2003  Kenneth R. Bennett, Streets Ministries
2002  Colenzo J. Hubbard, Emmanuel Episcopal Center
2001  Larry B. Lloyd, D. Min., Hope Christian Community Foundation
2000  Douglas R. Noble, D.P.A., The Pink Palace Family of Museums
1999  Brad F. Baker, Young Life
1998  Jeffrey D. Nesin, Memphis College of Art
1997  Patrick W. Lawler, Youth Villages
1996  Josephine H. Walt, The Neighborhood School
1995  Michael J. Labonia, WKNO-TV/FM
1994  Eleanor Prest, Thomas W. Briggs Foundation
1993  Roger T. Knox, Memphis Zoological Society
1992  Gid H. Smith, Community Foundation of Greater Memphis
1991  JoeAnn Ballard, Neighborhood Christian Center
1990  John E. Buchanan, Jr., The Dixon Gallery and Gardens
1989  G. Scott Morris, M.D., Church Health Center Memphis
1988  Patricia C. Howard, Girls Incorporated of Memphis
1987  James C. Carlile, Boys Club of Memphis
1986  Virginia L. Dunaway, Memphis Food Bank
1985  Father Donald Mowery, Youth Service USA

University of Memphis Awards

Scholarships

For over forty years the Thomas W Briggs Foundation Inc. has supported the University of Memphis. The Foundation began this relationship by establishing The Eleanor O’Neill Scholarship to assist deserving students with their educational goals. The scholarship is named in memory of Ms. O’Neill who was a long standing Welcome Wagon employee and University of Memphis Foundation Trustee.

Based on academic merit, each year a student in the University of Memphis journalism program concentrating in public relations and a marketing student in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics are selected.

Teaching Awards

In 1995 the foundation established the Thomas W. Briggs Foundation Excellence in Teaching Awards to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching, and the first awards were given in 1997. In 2018 the award was given for outstanding teaching to Phillip Babin.

Philip Dean Babin, CPA, CMA, FPC, is an Instructor in the School of Accountancy at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. He joined the faculty after 31 years as a practicing Certified Public Accountant working in accounting, payroll and federal and state tax positions at Arthur Andersen, Perkins Restaurants, FedEx, and CBIZ MHM. He teaches Financial Accounting to sophomore business students of all majors in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics and serves as course coordinator for this introductory accounting course. He also teaches in the Honors College, and the MBA and Executive MBA programs and is Department Aide for the School of Accountancy. He recently was awarded the university-wide 2017-2018 Honors Faculty of the Year Award from the Helen Hardin Honors College. Mr. Babin married his childhood sweetheart, Susan, and they are proud parents of 3 grown children and 2 grandchildren. He loves teaching Sunday School for adults at his home church. Mr. Babin received his Bachelor’s Degree at Christian Brothers College and his MBA from the University of Memphis.

Past Recipients

1997

Mr. Kevin Hagopian English

Dr. Phillip Kolbe Finance, Insurance & Real Estate

1998

Dr. Ruthbeth Finerman, Anthropology

Dr. Thomas R. Caplinger Mathematical Sciences

1999

Dr. Jack Grubaugh Biology

Dr. Mark Timmons Philosophy

2000

Dr. Julia Heath Economics

Dr. David Mason Political Science

2001

Ms. Candace Justice Journalism

Dr. Robert Marcini Physics

2002

Dr. Melvin Beck Biology

Dr. Charles Camp Civil Engineering

2003

Dr. Kantaylieniere Hill-Clark Education

Dr. Nele Hemple Foreign Languages/German

2004

Stephen W. Hancock Theatre and Dance

Dr. Charles J. Biggers Biology

2005

Dr. John Hanneken Physics

Dr. William Jerman Electrical and Computer engineering

2006

Dr. Robert Frankle History

Dr. Lawrette Axley Nursing

2007

Dr. Dennis Laumann History

Ms. Margaret Quinn Family and Consumer Sciences

2008

Dr. Joe Hayden Journalism

Dr. Nancy Mardis Accountancy

2009

Dr. Anna Bess Sorin Biology

Dr. Fred Albertson Art

2010

Dr. Phillip Franceschetti Physics

Dr. Irvin Tankersley Accounting

2011

Ms. Charlotte Spiceland Accounting

Dr. John Haddock Mathematics

2012

Dr. Mark Freilich Chemistry

Mr. Kriangsiri Milasri Computer Science

2013

Dr. Angela Grant Mathematics

Leonard Jackson Hospitality and Resort Management

2014

Ms. Nataliya Doroshenko Mathematics

Jacob Allen Communication & Fine Arts

2015

Dr. Douglas Campbell Economics

Dr. Shirleatha Lee Nursing

2016

Denis Grele French

JoAnne Rhodes Physics

2017