Four alumni with CCI ties were honored at the UT Alumni Awards and 225th Anniversary Gala on September 6.
Editor and cartoonist Marshall Ramsey (Marketing ’91) received the Alumni Professional Achievement Award. Former Microsoft Corporation General Manager of Government Affairs and CCI Board of Visitors member Ed Ingle (PR ’83) was honored with the Alumni Service Award.
Olympian and softball pitching star Monica Abbott (CS ’08) and SEC Network basketball analyst Dane Bradshaw (JEM ’06) received the Alumni Promise Award.
The UT Knoxville Alumni Board of Directors presents awards annually (since 2008) in four categories: Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna, Alumni Professional Achievement, Alumni Service, and Alumni Promise.
For more on the four CCI associated award winners (note: Monica Abbott could not be present to accept her award in person):
Marshall Ramsey (Marketing ’91)
Alumni Professional Achievement Award
Known for his quick wit, sharp pen, and touching memorial tributes, Marshall Ramsey is editor-at-large of Mississippi Today, following a 22-year career at the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.
Ramsey is the author of three cartoon collections, two short story collections, and a children’s book. He is also the illustrator of Financial Peace Junior, a personal finance book for children written by his cousin and fellow UT alumnus Dave Ramsey. He has appeared on national broadcast and cable news networks and served as a radio talk show host for Mississippi Public Broadcasting, enjoying strong ratings for his former radio show, The Marshall Ramsey Show.
Well-deserved praise has been given to Ramsey. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist (2002 and 2006) and has received UT’s Accomplished Alumni Award and the Gannett Chairman’s Award, recognizing him as one of the top 100 employees of Gannett. His work has appeared in some of the world’s top media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today. Additionally, his cartoons are syndicated nationally by Creative Syndicate. He received acclaim for two companion cartons memorializing President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, in 2018.
Ramsey graduated from UT in 1991 with a BS in marketing, though he has become a legend in the College of Communication and Information, where he created editorial cartoons for the Daily Beacon during his time as a student. In 2015, he presented his mentor in the college, Faye Julian, with a special tribute cartoon to CCI. He is an avid fan of Coach Pat Summitt, who connected with him during his time at UT. Following his history of donating artwork for auctions benefiting nonprofits, he offered his Coach Summitt tribute cartoon to the Pat Summitt Foundation to raise funds in its battle to end Alzheimer’s.
Ed Ingle (PR ’83)
Alumni Service Award
R. Edward Ingle graduated from UT in 1983 with a degree in journalism focused on public relations from the College of Communication and Information. In 1985, he earned his MPA in public policy and finance at Indiana University.
Directly out of his master’s program, Ingle began working in the White House as a budget and program examiner. His storied career took him to Wexler and Walker, a DC-based lobbying firm at which he served for nearly 12 years as a senior vice president and principal. He was director of cabinet coordination for the Bush-Cheney presidential transition in 2000 and served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy cabinet secretary from 2001 to 2003. After his time in the White House, Ingle worked 16 years in Microsoft’s Office of Government Affairs as senior director (2003-05), as managing director (2005-16), and as general manager (2016-19). He is currently working on several writing projects before embarking on his next adventure.
Ingle has contributed his time, energy, and resources to UT. He serves on the CCI Board of Visitors, where he has been both chair and vice chair, and CCI’s Join the Journey Campaign Steering Committee. He is a former member of the UT Knoxville Alumni Board of Directors.
Ingle has graciously hosted many student networking trips, alumni receptions, and admissions events at Microsoft’s offices in Washington, DC. He is one of CCI’s most generous donors, as well as a guest lecturer and student mentor.
He has taught classes as an adjunct professor in New York University’s graduate program for corporate communications and has served as a guest lecturer for Wharton’s Executive Fellows program and Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He serves on the board of Operation Hope, the Board of Governors for the Bryce Harlow Foundation, and is a principal of the Council for Excellence in Government. He is a member of the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs Distinguished Alumni Council and was presented with the Alumnus of the Year award from the IU School of Public Policy in 2002.
Monica Abbott (CS ’08)
Alumni Promise Award
An Olympian, professional softball player, and supporter of CCI, Monica Abbott (’08) is an incredible individual who has taken softball from the sandlot to the big leagues. She will represent Team USA in 2020 when softball returns to the Tokyo Games.
Abbott made a name for herself at UT, propelling the softball team to the Women’s College World Series three times. She became the first pitcher in NCAA Division I history to record 500 strikeouts in all four years of her college career. Upon graduating, she competed for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, winning a silver medal. She went on to National Pro Fastpitch, playing for the Toyota Red Terriers in Japan. She has also played for the Chicago Bandits and currently plays for the Houston Scrap Yard Dawgs, garnering a $1 million a year contract in 2016, the highest salary in the history of women’s team sports.
In her career, Abbott has become one of the most lauded female athletes in history. She became the World Championship gold medalist in 2010 and was the Japan Softball League MVP for three years in a row. She has been an NPF league champion three times and in 2012 set an NPF speed record with a pitch of 77 miles per hour.
Abbott has placed great emphasis on training the next generation of softball players. Since 2004, she has operated the Abbott Academy, which provides clinics and training programs to grow players’ skills. She established the Monica Abbott Scholarship Fund in 2012, which is administered by the Community Foundation for Monterey County and awards scholarships to two graduating high school female athletes. She continues to support her alma mater and is a generous donor to the College of Communication and Information.
Dane Bradshaw (JEM ’06)
Alumni Promise Award
Dane Bradshaw, an SEC Network analyst and former Vol captain, is part of a long line of UT athletes who have made a permanent impression on university sports.
A talented student, Bradshaw earned his BS in journalism in just three years, graduating in 2006. He immediately followed it with a one-year master’s program in sport studies. He was a VOLScholar and was consistently on the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Bradshaw began playing for the men’s basketball team as a point guard before moving to forward. In his junior year, he made more than 100 assists, despite playing with a wrist injury. That same season, he was elected team captain, a position he held during his junior and senior seasons, the latter of which saw UT take a spot in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. He was honored with the basketball program’s Team Before Self Award and Burchfield-Moss Most Courageous Award.
After graduating, Bradshaw played for one year in the Netherlands and authored Vertical Leap: Inside the Rise of Tennessee Basketball. He then began his career at Thunder Enterprises, a land development company in Chattanooga at which he has risen through the ranks to become president and COO. In 2014, he began a new position as a studio and game analyst for the SEC Network’s coverage of men’s basketball.
Giving back runs in Bradshaw’s blood as evidences by his service on the board of United Way of Greater Knoxville and Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee. He also co-chaired the American Heart Association’s 2018 Tennessee Valley Heart Walk in Chattanooga.