Furman celebrates award recipients at 2025 Bell Tower Ball

Furman celebrates award recipients at 2025 Bell Tower Ball

Furman University presented a number of major awards at its annual Bell Tower Ball Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.

Under the glow of Paladin-purple lights at the Greenville Convention Center, the event celebrated alumni, a community partner and other honorees for their generosity, service and leadership to the university, the community and beyond.

Gordon L. Blackwell Alumni Service Award
J. “Chris” Brown ’89
Greenville, South Carolina

The Blackwell Award recognizes an individual who has dedicated extraordinary service to Furman University or the greater community, advancing Furman’s position as a private institution with a public mission.

A Greenville native, Brown has been an integral part of the Upstate legal community for more than 25 years. He is currently the managing attorney for Blair, Cato, Pickren & Casterline, a firm that provides real estate legal services in Columbia, Lexington, Greenville, Camden and Spartanburg.

Brown is an active member of the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors and the Mauldin Chamber of Commerce, a Meals on Wheels volunteer and a former board member of Friends of Senior Action. He has volunteered many hours in the community presenting legal topics to organizations such as the Alzheimer’s Association, the Greenville Area Parkinson’s Society and The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Furman. Brown has also been selected as a speaker for legal classes through the South Carolina Bar Association and has served as a contributing writer to several local publications. As a Sigma Chi, Brown has given back to the fraternity at the local and national levels. He served as the Furman University chapter advisor for 20 years, mentoring members, strengthening relationships with alumni and connecting fraternity members across generations.

Tom A. Triplitt Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Jessica Taylor ’07
Alexandria, Virginia

The Triplitt Award recognizes an alumnus or alumna who graduated in the past 20 years and who has brought honor or recognition to Furman through individual accomplishments or as a volunteer.

Taylor is the senate and governors editor for The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. Before joining Cook, she was a political reporter for National Public Radio for five years. She was also a contributing author to the 2020 edition of The Almanac of American Politics and was promoted to a senior author for the 2022 edition, becoming the first woman to hold that position in the book’s 50-year history.

Taylor was previously a senior analyst and reporter for The Rothenberg Political Report (now Inside Elections). She has reported for several prestigious news outlets over the past decade, including NBC News Political Unit, National Journal, Politico and The Hill, where she served as campaign editor. Her quotes and analysis have been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. She has also appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN and CNN, and she contributed expert analysis to election night coverage at CBS in 2012 and C-SPAN in 2020. Taylor remains connected to Furman as a Pathways mentor and through her involvement with FurmanWIN events. She has also contributed to The Riley Institute’s panel discussions on immigration, politics and cybersecurity.

Carl F. Kohrt Distinguished Alumni Award
Cynthia “Cindy” Davis ’84
Bend, Oregon

The Kohrt Award is presented in recognition of significant professional or personal accomplishments and in gratitude for continued loyalty to Furman University.

Davis served as vice president of Nike Inc. and as president of Nike Golf. During her tenure, Nike Golf’s endorsement roster was led by two No. 1 golfers – Tiger Woods and later Rory McIlroy – and expanded to include over 50 professional players. Prior to Nike, she was senior vice president at Golf Channel, chief executive officer of Arnold Palmer Golf Company and vice president of the LPGA. In 2013, Davis was named to Sports Illustrated’s “50 Most Powerful People in Sports.”

She currently serves on the board and chairs the nominating, governance and compensation committees for public companies Deckers Brands (owner of UGG, HOKA, Teva and Ahnu footwear and apparel brands), Brinker International (owner of Chili’s and Maggiano’s restaurants), and Kennametal Inc., a leading industrial manufacturer.

She has been a member of the Furman Board of Trustees since 2021 and is currently serving in the role of vice chair. She is also a founding member of FurmanWIN (Women’s Impact Network). She recently partnered with golfer Brad Faxon ’83 to fund the Davis and Faxon Training Center at REK, which was dedicated in February 2022. In spring 2022, Davis was the featured speaker at Furman’s commencement ceremony.

Honorary Alumni Award
Gilles “Gil” Einstein
Daniel Island, South Carolina

The Honorary Alumni Award commends individuals who are not graduates of Furman University but who have made significant contributions to its welfare, reputation, prestige and pursuit of excellence.

Einstein is a professor emeritus of psychology at Furman where he taught from 1977 until his retirement in 2019. He was deeply committed to providing undergraduate research opportunities, guiding several of his students to coauthor publications and present their findings at conferences.

He has more than 100 publications, including six books. His research has been published in psychology’s top journals and has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Institutes of Health and others. Einstein has served on the editorial boards of several major journals, including Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition; Memory & Cognition; and Psychology and Aging.

Einstein is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. He received Furman University’s Meritorious Teaching Award in 1985 and the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities Association Excellence in Teaching Award in 2006. In 2008, he was named the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology at Furman University. In 2010, he was designated a fellow by the Council on Undergraduate Research, one of only 14 across all science disciplines in the country. Einstein’s other accolades include the 2010 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Distinguished Mentors Award, the 2013 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Science, the 2014 Association of Psychological Science Mentor Award and the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Conference on Prospective Memory.

Einstein and his wife, Patty, recently moved to Daniel Island, South Carolina, to be closer to their two daughters and grandchildren.

Wayne and Rubye Reid Alumni Career Services Award
Carmen Ashley ’96
Atlanta, Georgia

The Reid Award is named in honor of Wayne ’68 and Rubye Reid and recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions to the career development of Furman students.

Ashley is chief of the Program Development and Services Branch in the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Prior to her current position, Ashley worked across CDC divisions to address health risks among adolescents.

Before joining the CDC, Ashley was the associate director for Programs and Operations in the Applied Public Health department at Emory University. For more than 20 years she has worked on school-based adolescent issues for public health agencies such as the American Cancer Society, the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Ashley is an active member of the American Public Health Association, the American Society for Public Administration and the American School Health Association. She serves on the board of the Georgia and South Carolina chapter of Breakthrough T1D. In 2024, Ashley served as a panelist for an Institute for the Advancement of Community Health event featuring women in healthcare dedicated to transforming health across populations. Ashley also hosted Furman students during a Paladin Career Trek to Atlanta in 2023.

University Partnership Award
Michelin North America

The University Partnership Award honors an individual or organization who has worked with Furman to meaningfully contribute to the local or broader community by engaging citizens, promoting public scholarship and working for the betterment of society.

Michelin North America and Furman University share a vision of improving communities through innovative approaches to mobility and sustainability. This alignment of values has catalyzed transformative collaborations in academics, career engagement and research, creating opportunities that benefit students, faculty and the broader community.

One notable example is a logistics and warehousing project led by four Furman business students in partnership with Michelin North America. Through rigorous analysis and innovative thinking, the students developed actionable solutions that they presented to a Michelin North America leadership team. As a result of their exceptional work, each student was offered an internship and two secured full-time positions. This is just one of many ways Furman students gain real-world experience and career advancement through the partnership with Michelin North America.

Michelin North America also engages with Furman by participating in the university’s Career and Internship Fair, connecting students with meaningful employment opportunities. The company supports events like Data Analytics in the Upstate, promoting industry-academia collaboration to solve critical challenges. Most recently, Furman and Michelin North America launched the Intrapreneurial Professional Certificate program, which equips Michelin North America Innovation Lab members with the skills to lead with creativity and resilience, underscoring their shared goal of driving professional excellence and organizational growth.

Michelin North America’s commitment to diversity and inclusion further strengthens its connection with Furman. Through its longstanding support of the Riley Institute, Michelin North America has enabled over 170 employees to graduate from the Diversity Leaders Initiative, a program dedicated to cultivating inclusive leadership. The company also sponsors some of Furman’s signature events, including the Riley-Wilkins OneSouthCarolina Legislative and Civic Awards Banquet and the MLK Community Breakfast, fostering a culture of equity and understanding on campus and in the broader community.

In 2024, Michelin North America celebrated a significant milestone—50 years of manufacturing in South Carolina. Headquartered in Greenville, the company employs nearly 24,000 people across the region, including numerous Furman alumni, and operates 35 production facilities in the United States and Canada.

Engaged Parent Award
Washington, D.C.
Noel & Cynthia Francisco P’23

The Engaged Parent Award is presented to the parent or parents of a Furman student or graduate in appreciation of their commitment to education and leadership as volunteers.

Noel, an attorney, is currently the partner-in-charge of the Washington D.C. division of Jones Day. He served as associate counsel to the president of the United States from 2001 to 2003 and was the 47th solicitor general of the United States from 2017 to 2020, where he argued landmark cases before the Supreme Court. His cases often have significant public policy implications, including in the areas of global climate change, opioids, asbestos, tobacco, firearms, health care, administrative law, free speech, religious liberty and separation of powers. Among his accolades, he was appointed by former President George W. Bush to the District of Columbia’s Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure, and he was recognized in The Legal 500 US Hall of Fame for his expertise in dispute resolution.

Cynthia is a retired attorney and an active member of the Furman community. She is a founding and active member of FurmanWIN and has previously volunteered to call and welcome the parents and families of incoming first-year students.

Cynthia and Noel have two daughters, Caroline ’23 and Maggie. While Caroline was a student at Furman, Noel and Cynthia served on the Parent & Family Council.

Release is online:
https://tinyurl.com/3pxv3ymp