President Joe DiPietro formed the President’s Council in 2013, as “a constituency of alumni and friends who understand and support higher education broadly in Tennessee.” It is the university system president’s “core volunteer leadership group charged with advancing the System’s mission to serve the people of Tennessee and beyond through the discovery, communication, and application of knowledge necessary to create a cohesive, consistent and unifying system model of advancement.” At its inaugural awards dinner on October 10, 2014, the council awarded the following: Dr. Joseph Johnson, Lifetime Achievement Award; Mr. Worrick Robinson IV, UT Alumni Association Past Presidents Council Inductee; Dr. Philip Wenk, President’s Council Service Award; Mr. and Mrs. Donald Smith, Philanthropists of the Year; and the late Hank Lauricella, Jim and Natalie Haslam Presidential Medal.