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Moxley Carmichael’s Alan Carmichael earns prestigious alumni award from University of Tennessee

October 25, 2021

Moxley Carmichael President Alan Carmichael has received the University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information’s most prestigious alumni award for notable contributions in the field of communication and information.

Carmichael received the 2021 Donald G. Hileman Distinguished Alumni Award – which is named for the college’s first permanent dean – at the UT College of Communication and Information’s (CCI) recent annual awards banquet.

“Alan Carmichael is one of the most talented and prolific individuals in his field,” said Joe Mazer, dean of the college. “He’s had a remarkable professional career and generously supports CCI and the Knoxville community. The Hileman Award is fitting recognition for everything he has accomplished and all he has done and continues to do to pay it forward.”

Carmichael thanked the college for the award and congratulated the other honorees. He told the audience the two major challenges facing the communications field are transparency and disinformation.

“Disinformation campaigns are causing great damage to our democratic society,” Carmichael said. “The news media and communicators everywhere must stick to their guns and focus on digging for the facts and presenting them fairly. They must also continue to expose the purveyors of deliberate misinformation.

“I encourage students to take what they learn from CCI about accuracy and fairness and take on these challenges.”

Carmichael is a former reporter and assistant city editor at The Tennessean in Nashville, former senior vice president of communications at TVA, and, for 23 years, president of Moxley Carmichael public relations in Knoxville.

Previous winners of the Hileman Award include former Tennessee and NFL quarterback Peyton Manning; John Noble Wilford, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer for The New York Times who covered the first moon landing in 1969; and Richard Marius, former UT professor and historian and teacher of writing and English literature at Harvard University.

About Moxley Carmichael

East Tennessee’s premier public and media relations firm, Moxley Carmichael provides strategic communications services to leading local, regional and national companies and organizations. Utilizing its team’s talent and experience, Moxley Carmichael excels at raising client visibility in the marketplace and community. Moxley Carmichael, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2017, provides a full range of services, including public, government, media and community relations; corporate communications; branding; research; graphic design; advertising; digital media; video; web design; media and networking training; and more. Moxley Carmichael is located in the historic Miller’s Building on Gay Street in downtown Knoxville. For more information, visit moxleycarmichael.com.