Michael “Mike” Davis Jr. will be presented the Maryville College Medallion during the College’s annual Founder’s Day celebration on October 10, 6 p.m. in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts on the MC campus as part of Homecoming 2025. The event is free to attend and will be preceded by the President’s Welcome Reception in the William Baxter Lee III Grand Foyer of the CCA. Tickets to the reception are $20 and can be purchased on the Homecoming website.
The most distinguished award presented by MC, the Maryville College Medallion has been awarded since 1990 to individuals who have helped immeasurably toward perpetuating the College as a distinctive educational and cultural institution, and who have had a profound influence on the future course of the institution.
Davis has served four years as chair of the Maryville College Board of Directors, “Mike’s tenure as board chair will be remembered as a notable one in the College’s history — from managing the Covid-19 pandemic to opening the Downtown Center to joining the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) — we were doing anything but sitting still,” said Maryville College President Dr. Bryan Coker, who selected Davis to receive the Medallion after Davis announced his retirement as board chair earlier this year.
Davis became chair in 2021 after the sudden death of Austin Coleman ‘Cole’ Piper ’68. At that time, he had already served nine years on the board, and over the next four years he provided steady leadership grounded in his long ties to the College.
The family history is rooted in generations serving Maryville College. Davis’s wife, Ibby Shelley Davis ’68 attended Maryville College and served on the board of the Maryville College Alumni Association. Their son, Todd Davis ’00, is also a Maryville College graduate (the couple has one other son, Chris). Ibby Davis’s parents, the late Ed Shelley ’31 and Elizabeth Cannon Shelley ’31, both graduated from the College, and Ed Shelley served on the Maryville College Board of Directors as well.
Davis’s brother, Lee Davis, taught in the College’s English Department for six years. Their late mother, Connie Davis, taught physical education at the MC from 1963 until 1972, and their late father, Carle Davis, also served as chair of the College’s Board of Directors.
Davis earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and spent most of his career working for Harrison Construction, serving as president from 2005 until 2009. His community involvement has long been prolific, and over the years, he’s served as campaign chair for United Way of Blount County; president of Mountain Homes Inc.; and chair of the Blount County Chamber of Commerce. He served as vice president of the Blount Memorial Hospital Board of Directors from 1991 to 2006 and as regional director of First Horizon Bank.
Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville. Maryville College offers more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”
Karen Eldridge, executive director of communications: karen.eldridge@maryvillecollege.edu.
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