UNA Pressroom

Alumni and Friends Celebration to Honor Homecoming Award Winners

Oct. 02, 2024



Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@una.edu, 256.765.4392

FLORENCE, AL – The third Alumni and Friends Celebration is set for Friday, Oct. 11, from 6-9 p.m. at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center, and this year’s Homecoming award winners will be honored as part of the event.

“The Alumni Celebration is a relatively new event in our schedule, but it has quickly become a favorite of our alumni and friends,” said Justin “Bishop” Alexander, UNA’s Director of Alumni Relations. “In addition to honoring our Homecoming Award winners, this is also an opportunity for those in different graduating decades to gather, to mix and mingle with each other, and to enjoy celebrating this amazing University.”

This year’s Homecoming Award winners are:

  • Lifetime Achievement: Pat Burney, ’88, of Florence;
  • Alumni of the Year: Dawn Victor-Herring, ’92, of Burlington, N.C.;
  • Friend of the University: UNA’s Lion Crew;
  • Young Alumni: Hannah Hopkins, ’17, Huntsville;
  • Military Service: Capt. Christina M. Hicks, ’00, Columbia, Md.;
  • Public Service: Kerry L. Underwood, ’90, Tuscumbia;
  • Educator of the Year (Higher Education): Dr. Thomas Chase Hagood, ’04, Salt Lake City, Utah;
  • Educator of the Year (K-12): Jennifer S. Herrmann, ’00, Florence;
  • Community Service: Lawrence Davis Jr., ’80, Orlando, Fla.;
  • Faculty Alumni Service: Dr. Wendy Darby, ’84, Florence;
  • Staff Alumni Service: Laurie L. Holder, ’10, Florence.

Tickets to the Alumni and Friends Celebration are still available and may be purchased at this link. The event is presented by The Florence-Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.