Alumni Association clubs honored for outstanding contributions
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 9, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Alumni Association recently recognized the outstanding contributions of its alumni clubs at the Alumni Service and Club Awards Banquet, held Friday, June 27, during the association’s annual Summer Workshop.
Alumni clubs play a vital role in connecting Wildcats across the country to their alma mater and to one another. This year’s awards celebrated clubs that demonstrated excellence in six key areas:
- Alumni Engagement – Honoring clubs that created opportunities for alumni to connect through in-person and virtual events such as dinners, luncheons, golf scrambles, game watch parties, bourbon and wine tastings, group outings and more.
- Community Service and Philanthropy – Celebrating clubs that gave back through UK’s Cats for a Cause program, including food and clothing drives, park cleanups, toy drives, and support for UK’s DanceBlue student teams.
- Most Improved – Acknowledging clubs that significantly increased alumni participation and strengthened engagement within their regions.
- New and Creative Programming – Recognizing clubs that reimagined traditional events and developed innovative programs to include more alumni in new ways.
- Scholarships – Highlighting clubs that raised funds to support local students attending UK. During the 2024-2025 academic year, clubs awarded 140 scholarships totaling $300,665 in financial assistance.
- Student Recruitment and Retention – Commending efforts to support future and current Wildcats through preview nights, book awards, send-off events and postcard writing campaigns.
Award recipients were selected by the Past Presidents’ Advisory Council. The following clubs were recognized:
In-State Awards
- Greater Ashland: Scholarships, Student Recruitment and Retention
- Big Sandy: Student Recruitment and Retention
- Christian County: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, Scholarships
- Cumberland Valley East: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, New and Creative Programming, Scholarships, Student Recruitment and Retention
- Fayette County: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, New and Creative Programming, Scholarships, Student Recruitment and Retention
- Fulton County: Alumni Engagement, Scholarships
- Hardin County: Community Service and Philanthropy, Student Recruitment and Retention
- Hopkins County: Scholarships
- Greater Louisville: Alumni Engagement, Community Service andPhilanthropy, Scholarships, Student Recruitment and Retention
- McCracken County: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, Most Improved, Scholarships
- Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, New and Creative Programming, Scholarships, Student Recruitment and Retention
- Warren County: Community Service and Philanthropy, Student Recruitment and Retention
Out-of-State Awards:
- Greater Atlanta: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, Most Improved, Scholarships
- Greater Birmingham: Community Service and Philanthropy, Scholarships
- Central Indiana: Alumni Engagement
- Central Virginia: Community Service and Philanthropy
- Charlotte: Alumni Engagement
- Chattanooga: Alumni Engagement
- Chicagoland: Scholarships
- Dallas-Fort Worth: Alumni Engagement, Scholarships
- Greater Dayton: Scholarships
- Greater Houston: Alumni Engagement, Scholarships
- Greater Jacksonville: Scholarships
- Greater Nashville: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, Most Improved, Scholarships, Student Recruitment and Retention
- New York City: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, New and Creative Programming
- Northern Alabama: Scholarships
- Northwest Ohio: Scholarships
- San Diego: Alumni Engagement, Scholarships
- Sarasota-Suncoast: Alumni Engagement, Community Service and Philanthropy, New and Creative Programming, Scholarships, Student Recruitment and Retention
- Triangle Area, North Carolina: Scholarships
- Upstate South Carolina: Alumni Engagement
- Vero Beach: Alumni Engagement
Learn more about UK Alumni Clubs and how to get involved at https://www.ukalumni.net/s/alumni-clubs.
The UK Alumni Association is committed to fostering lifelong engagement among alumni, friends, the association and the university. For more information about the UK Alumni Association, visit www.ukalumni.net or call 800-269-2586.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.