The 2026 Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony was held on Friday, October 23, at Georgetown College’s James A. & Martha R. Brown Conference Center. Every other year, during Homecoming, GC recognizes alumni whose professional achievements, leadership, character, and service bring distinction to their alma mater. This year’s award recipients exemplify the qualities we hope to see in every GC student: individuals who apply their passion, purpose, talents, and opportunities to make a positive difference in others’ lives.
Jay Butler ’80
Retired educator, rancher, and community leader from Douglas, Wyoming. After 25 years in the classroom, Butler returned to his family’s five-generation Robinson Ranch. He and his family have worked intentionally to preserve and improve the land entrusted to them, incorporating conservation practices to ensure the ranch remains healthy and productive for future generations. These efforts earned Butler the 2025 Wyoming Environmental Stewardship Award. The inaugural recipient of Wyoming’s Cowboy Kindness Award, Butler has devoted decades to education, youth programs, and fighting childhood hunger. And his commitment to education has brought his story back to Georgetown. Butler and his wife, Linda, established the Linda and Jay Butler Biology Award, supporting and encouraging another generation of Georgetown College students in the sciences. His life reminds us that stewardship means caring for what has been entrusted to us — our land, our communities, our institutions and, perhaps most importantly, the generations that will follow us.
His father, Dr. John Lawrence Butler, served as academic dean of Georgetown College during the 1970s, and Jay himself became deeply involved in campus life as a member of Phi Kappa Tau.
Andi Johnson ’03
Johnson majored in political science, was a member of Kappa Delta, and stood out on the Georgetown College women’s basketball team, where she earned All-American honors and helped lead the Tigers to the 2003 NAIA National Tournament. She was inducted into Georgetown College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2025 (check date).
After Georgetown, Johnson earned a master’s degree in diplomacy from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce and built a career in public policy, government, and community leadership. Today, she serves as Chief Policy Officer and Director of Regional Engagement for Commerce Lexington, where her work focuses on public policy and bringing communities together to strengthen our region. She has earned recognition across Kentucky and nationally, including being named among the chamber industry’s Top 40 Under 40 and one of Kentucky’s notable women in politics and government. Most recently, she earned the Certified Chamber Executive designation, the highest professional designation in the chamber profession. Perhaps the best way to describe Johnson’s career is that she continues to practice that lesson she learned as a Georgetown student-athlete: meaningful progress happens when people work together.
Judge Gerald Parker ’04
Parker graduated with a degree in English, received a President’s Award, played on two NAIA National Championship teams, and served as team captain during his senior year. After Georgetown, he earned his law degree from Northern Kentucky University’s Chase College of Law and began his career as an assistant prosecuting attorney. In 2018, he became the first African American man elected to the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court bench. Parker has used his position to find innovative ways to change lives, creating Kushinda Court, a specialized docket addressing substance abuse and gun violence, with particular attention to young men from underserved and under-resourced communities. Parker’s commitment to service extends beyond the courtroom. He has served numerous community organizations and is board president of Building Bridges, a nonprofit serving at-risk youth. His community work has earned him honors including Dayton’s Top 10 African American Male Award and WHIO-TV’s Making a Difference Award.
The Distinguished Service to Georgetown College Alumni Award recognizes extraordinary service and commitment to Georgetown College and its alumni community.
Laura Owsley ’92
Owsley graduated magna cum laude with a degree in marketing and finance and a minor in communication. She was president and vice president of sisterhood for Sigma Kappa, served in student government and Phi Beta Lambda, and was a member of Alpha Lambda Delta and Eta Delta Phi.
A longtime champion of Georgetown College and its alumni, Owsley served the College for 15 years as Director of Annual Fund and Director of Alumni Relations and continues to return each year to volunteer during Homecoming. A dedicated Sigma Kappa volunteer, she was named Georgetown College’s 2026 Sorority Advisor of the Year. She served as National Vice President for Collegiate Chapters and later as National President of Sigma Kappa, becoming the first member of Georgetown’s Greek community to serve as the organization’s national president.
THE BROCK AWARD
New this year is the Brock Award, named after J. Herb Brock II ’71, a respected Kentucky journalist who spent nearly four decades reporting on Central Kentucky. The award allows Georgetown College to posthumously recognize alumni whose lives and accomplishments merit the College’s distinguished alumni recognition and to continue Brock’s legacy of storytelling. As such, it is fitting that the inaugural recipient of the Brock Award is J. Herb Brock II ’71.
J. Herb Brock II ’71
At Georgetown College, Brock was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and met the woman who would share his life and his connection to this College, fellow 1971 graduate Jerry Cruse Brock. Brock built a distinguished career in journalism, beginning at The Cynthiana Democrat and then at The Advocate Messenger in Danville, where he spent about 36 years as a reporter and columnist. He chronicled the life of his community — its government and politics, its schools and churches, its history, and, most importantly, its people. In 2011, Herb received the Kentucky Press Association’s Lewis Owens Community Service Award, recognizing outstanding community service by a Kentucky newspaper professional.
But perhaps the best measure of Brock’s career is not simply how many stories he wrote. It is the community whose story he helped preserve. For nearly four decades, Herb Brock made a career of ensuring that other people’s lives, accomplishments, and experiences were recorded and remembered.
Rev. Jeremy Shoulta ’06
A pastor and community leader whose ministry took him to congregations across the South and Midwest, Shoulta most recently served as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Georgia. A religion major and member of President’s House Association at Georgetown, he later earned his Master of Divinity from Baptist Seminary of Kentucky and later his Doctor of Ministry from Gardner-Webb University.
Along the way, Jeremy served as pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, whose congregation included former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter. He believed the church should be a compassionate presence in its community. He cared deeply about people who were vulnerable or overlooked. He sought unity in times of division and worked to create spaces where people knew they were welcomed and valued.
In so many ways, Jeremy lived the mission we hold dear at Georgetown College—a life rooted in Christian love and service, devoted to making a positive difference in the world. Jeremy’s life reminds us that the measure of a life is not simply its length, but the lives touched along the way. His wife, Valarie, and daughters, Maggie and Macy, will carry Shoulta’s generous, giving spirit forward.