Tusculum College President Nancy B. Moody and Susan Vance, interim vice president for Institutional Advancement, recently visited with Dr. John (Jack) Hennessen ’45, and his wife, Yolanda in their Signal Mountain home in Tennessee.
While there, a ceremony was held with the Hennessens’ family and friends in which Jack received the 2009 Pioneer Award, awarded to him by the Tusculum College Alumni Association during this year’s Homecoming festivities. The Pioneer Award is the highest honor presented by the Alumni Association to an alumnus or alumna. The award was announced during the Annual Alumni Association meeting at Homecoming last year and accepted on Dr. Hennessen’s behalf by Jane Shanks Pilloni ’59 because he was not able attend.
The Hennessens were unable to attend the event; however, the framed certificate representing the award was brought to them by the College representatives.
Hennessen is a 1945 graduate of Tusculum College and a former Board of Trustee member. The Hennessens have long been supporters of the College and its students, and they have endowed a scholarship for pre-med students. In addition, Jack’s class ring is now part of the collections room in the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library. Hennessen states that he owes a great deal to Tusculum College, not least because the four years he spent here helped him to make the decision to become a physician.
