Outstanding Senior Awards

Every year, students are selected to receive the title of “Outstanding Senior” based upon excellent academic credentials, significant campus involvement, and volunteerism through academic and/or extra-curricular contributions. Nominations for our outstanding senior awards are accepted from the entire campus community during the spring semester of each academic year. Outstanding Senior Award recipients are announced during the annual President’s Leadership Reception and recognized during commencement.

Margaret Young Award

Outstanding senior award

     The Margaret Young Award is presented each year to an outstanding senior female student at Arkansas Tech University. This award is part of a rich heritage for the Young family on the Tech campus.

     The Young family’s contributions are remembered through William O. Young, Margaret’s husband, who oversaw the business affairs of Arkansas Tech from 1917 to 1941 and for whom the William O. Young Student Center was named. Their son --- Robert A. Young, Sr. --- also worked at Arkansas Tech from 1941 to 1984 and was inducted into the Arkansas Tech Hall of Distinction in 1973.

     Mrs. Young remained active in the Arkansas Tech community following her husband's passing in 1941. She was a dorm mother on campus and a member of the Arkansas Tech Dames Club. Her prominence at Arkansas Tech is underscored by the fact that former ATU President Dr. Kenneth Kersh was among her active pallbearers after she passed away on January 1, 1976.

     The Young family also holds a special place in Tech history as the owners of the original Jerry the Bulldog during the 1930s. Dr. Robert A. Young, Jr., an ardent supporter of Tech in the Russellville community, helped restore the tradition of Jerry the Bulldog when our first modern Jerry, Jerry Charles Young I, was introduced during Homecoming on October 26, 2013. Jerry the Bulldog now serves as the campus ambassador for Arkansas Tech University.

Alfred J. Crabaugh Award

Outstanding senior award

     The Alfred J. Crabaugh Award is presented to an outstanding senior male student at Arkansas Tech University. Dean Crabaugh, for whom the award is named, served on the Arkansas Tech faculty from 1929 to 1969. He is the only person in the history of the University to hold the title of academic dean, and he was a central figure in the transition of Arkansas Tech from a junior college to a four-year institution of higher learning.

     In May 1948, under Dean Crabaugh’s guidance, the Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees approved a recommendation that the school (then a junior college) should become a four-year, degree-granting institution. His efforts to build the academic reputation of Arkansas Tech truly came to fruition in March 1951 when the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools accredited the four-year program at Arkansas Tech.

     That critical step provided Tech with unprecedented credibility as a four-year school and paved the way for Arkansas Tech to become the modern university that today serves almost 10,000 students on campuses in Russellville and Ozark. As a result of his innovation, leadership, and steadfast commitment to student access and success, Dean Crabaugh is remembered as the father of the modern intellectual tradition at Arkansas Tech. 

Jill Lestage BROWN sERVICE LEADERSHIP aWARD

SERVICE LEADERSHIP Outstanding senior award

     The Jill Lestage Brown Service Leadership Award is recieved by a senior who seeks to improve society through unselfish voluntary service to others as demonstrated by past and current leadership roles, service hours completed, and volunteer programs in which the student has participated.

     The award is named in honor of Mrs. Jill Lestage Brown, who served as first lady of Arkansas Tech from July 1, 1993, until the retirement of her husband, Dr. Robert C. Brown, as president of the University on June 30, 2014.

     When the Browns moved from Joplin, Missouri, to Russellville, Mrs. Brown stepped down from her career as an elementary school teacher to act as a volunteer ambassador and hostess for Arkansas Tech. She also volunteered her time to benefit organizations such as the Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce, National Women in the Arts, the Arkansas Tech Wesley Foundation, Shelter of Sunshine, the River Valley United Way, and Junior Auxiliary of Russellville. When referencing his wife, Dr. Brown shared that she was “an advocate for the Arkansas Tech student body, the single most supportive fan of Tech Athletics,” and an individual who “exercised influence on the Office of the President on behalf of all student causes.”