Three UT Martin alumni will be recognized with awards during Homecoming festivities on Oct. 21.
Those earning alumni awards are:
• Brandon Anderson, Outstanding Young Alumni Award – Anderson is a 2019 UT Martin graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Performance. He is a financial planner with Prudential Advisors and is a resident of Frisco, Texas. Among the awards in his field, Anderson has earned the Million Dollar Round Table Award, Emerging Planner of the Year, recognizing him as one of the top 1% of financial services professionals who are committed to providing exemplary client service while displaying the highest standard of ethics and professional knowledge. Other awards he received include Sophomore of the Year, Junior of the Year and 2022-23 Master’s Council. Anderson was a panel member for the 2023 Conference of African-American Financial Professionals.
• Dr. Julie Basler, Outstanding Alumni Award – Basler is a 1995 UT Martin graduate with a bachelor’s degree in English, earning her master’s degree in English from Murray State University and a doctorate in English from Middle Tennessee State University. A resident of Aurora, Colorado, she is the president of Platt College in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and the author of three Pearson writing workbooks and several national articles. She has gained a national reputation for her expertise in accreditation and compliance practices. For serving as a commissioner and commission chair of the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, Basler received the President of the United States’ Volunteer Service Award under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. In December 2022, she was named among the Top 20 People Changing Career Education in the United States and Canada. Basler currently serves as a University of Tennessee Promise Scholar Mentor, helping undergraduate students pursue a career in higher education throughout the University of Tennessee System.
• James Wingett, University Service Award – Wingett is a 1983 graduate of UT Martin with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He also attended the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at the University of Delaware. A resident of Memphis, Wingett has 40 years of experience in financial services, encompassing commercial banking, insurance, investment banking and investment management. He co-founded Wolf River Capital Management in 2008 after leading FTN Financial’s structured and corporate finance groups. He pioneered FTN’s pooled trust preferred capital program and led the collateral origination and underwriting efforts that raised $22 billion in capital for more than 1,000 bank holding companies and more than 200 insurance companies. Wingett received the Distinguished Fellow of the Life Management Institute award and is the chair of the UT Martin Chancellor’s Roundtable.
These awards will be presented during the annual invitation-only Chancellor’s Brunch and Alumni Awards Program at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21, prior to the opening of Quad City at 10:30 a.m. These award winners will be recognized after the first quarter of the Homecoming football game against Charleston Southern. The game begins at 2 p.m. in Hardy Graham Stadium, and tickets are available in advance through the Skyhawk Ticket Office and at the gate on game day.
More information about UT Martin’s 2023 Homecoming Week can be found at alumni.utm.edu/homecoming.
