Four honored with 2024 Davie Awards for service
The winners are a businessman, state senator, congresswoman and media executive.
The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees has given four individuals its highest honor, the William Richardson Davie Award, which celebrates individuals who have given extraordinary service to the University or society.
The 2024 recipients are W. Frank Dowd IV, Virginia Ann Foxx, Walter E. Hussman Jr. and Paul R. Newton.
Davie, a Revolutionary War hero who introduced and won passage of a 1789 General Assembly bill to charter the University of North Carolina, is considered the University’s father. The awards were first given in 1984.
W. Frank Dowd IV is president of the Dowd Foundation and chair of the board at Charlotte Pipe and Foundry. Born and raised in Charlotte, he graduated from Carolina as a Morehead Scholar in 1978. Dowd joined Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, his family’s company, in 1984 and was named chair and CEO in 1998, serving as CEO until 2011. He helped propel the century-old company to prominence, ensuring its status as a leading producer of plumbing products and castings. As president of the Dowd Foundation, he channels his philanthropic efforts into supporting causes related to education, health care and the arts. In addition to his business and philanthropic roles, Dowd has served on numerous boards, demonstrating his broad influence and commitment to community development.
Virginia Ann Foxx is a double Tar Heel, earning a bachelor’s in English in 1968 and a master’s in sociology in 1973. She began her career as a secretary and research assistant at Carolina, and later taught at Caldwell Community College and Appalachian State University, where she also held several administrative roles. She later served as president at Mayland Community College. Foxx spent a decade in the N.C. Senate after serving as the deputy secretary for management in the N.C. Department of Administration. In 2004, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 5th Congressional District, which spans a large portion of the state’s northwest counties. She has served on many boards, including the executive committee of North Carolina Citizens for Business, and was elected to three terms on the Watauga County Board of Education.
Walter E. Hussman Jr. is a media executive and philanthropist dedicated to journalism and media integrity. His first job in the industry was at age 10, working at Camden News. He majored in journalism at Carolina and graduated in 1968. He later became publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and currently serves as chairman of WEHCO Media Inc., where he leads an array of newspapers, magazines and cable television systems across six states. Under Hussman’s leadership, the company has grown substantially, adding the Chattanooga Times Free Press and Missouri’s Jefferson City News Tribune. In 2019, the Hussman Family Foundation made a transformative $25 million commitment to name the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, marking the single largest commitment ever received by the school. He’s served as chair of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and on the boards of the Associated Press and C-Span. He was inducted into the N.C. Media and Journalism Hall of Fame in 2014.
Paul R. Newton was born in Smithfield, grew up in Eden and earned a bachelor’s in business administration from Carolina in 1982, followed by a law degree in 1985. He practiced law in New Mexico for five years before returning to North Carolina to serve as a lawyer for Duke Power Company, now Duke Energy. He served as the company’s senior vice president and then its state president before retiring in 2015. He’s served on several boards, including the Carolina Alumni Board. In 2016, he was elected to the N.C. Senate to represent District 34, in Cabarrus County. He has since served four terms and is currently Senate majority leader.
