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Edward Ayers (’74) recently was featured in the Accomplished Alumni program at an event in Richmond, Va. Ayers spoke to a group of UT alumni from the Richmond chapter, sharing stories about his years at UT, his career as a faculty member and administrator at the University of Virginia, and his current position as president of the University of Richmond.
Ayers assumed the presidency of the University of Richmond in 2007. He was named National Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2003. A historian of the American South, one of his books, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction, was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.