2020 Honorees
Dr. Pamela Ross, ’87
2020 Distinguished Alumni Award
Lindsey Cochran, ’10
2020 Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Richard Buhrman, ’63
2020 Outstanding Service Award
Six graduates of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will be recognized for personifying excellence through their professional achievements and community efforts.
The UTC Office of Development and Alumni Affairs’ Legends and Leaders award celebration for 2020 and 2021 honorees will take place Thursday, April 7, in the University Center Tennessee Room.
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Erika Milczek, a 2005 chemistry graduate and founder and CEO of Curie Co, returns to campus to receive the 2021 Outstanding Young Alumni Award. She has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Emory University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Chemistry Department at Princeton University.
Albert Woodard, a 1974 industrial engineering graduate and one of the founders of KaZee, Inc., a leading provider of health IT products and services to the correctional healthcare industry, is the recipient of the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award. He has devoted his professional career to expanding the use of technology in healthcare and public health.
Mike Costello, a two-time graduate of the Gary W. Rollins College of Business (1975, 1996), is the 2021 Outstanding Service Award recipient. He has been able to see first-hand the value of philanthropy and service as a longtime member of the UC Foundation, where he is the immediate past chair.
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The 2020 award recipients, Dr. Pamela Ross, Lindsey Cochran and Richard Buhrman, were set to be honored during UTC Founder’s Week in September 2020. The reception was postponed due to COVID-19 precautions.
Ross, an emergency room physician and founder and CEO of Holistic Medical Consultants in Troy, Virginia, received the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award—the highest annual commendation presented to a UTC graduate. This award recognizes alumni who demonstrate extraordinary service to their alma mater, their field and their community.
Ross earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from UTC in 1987, becoming the first African-American graduate of the Brock Scholars program.
Cochran, a 2010 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, will receive the 2020 Outstanding Young Alumni Award, which recognizes alumni 40 years of age or younger who have made significant contributions to their community and accomplishments that “reflect glory upon UTC.”
From UTC, Cochran went on to earn a master’s degree in anthropology from the University of West Florida (2013) and a Ph.D. in anthropology from UT Knoxville (2019). She has been a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Georgia Laboratory of Archaeology.
Buhrman, the 2020 Outstanding Service Award honoree and a 1963 graduate of the University of Chattanooga, will be honored posthumously. He passed away on Aug. 9, 2021, at the age of 80.
“The award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exemplary personal service and commitment to UTC and the community,” its criteria states. “Award winners rise above the ordinary standard of service. Their loyal actions better our present and shape our future.”
Buhrman graduated with honors from UC with a degree in English and a minor in mathematics. As a battalion commander in Army ROTC and a distinguished military graduate, he received a regular Army commission in Armor upon graduation.
After serving in the Army and receiving a law degree from George Washington University, Buhrman returned to Chattanooga to begin a 50-plus year legal career. He practiced law at the Buhrman Law Firm, founded in 1974, until his death.
