The Gold & White Honors, the most prestigious awards given by the Alumni Association, are awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions on campus, in communities and in the world at large.

The 2011 winners are leaders and innovators, but more importantly they are hardworking volunteers and philanthropists. The award recipients will be recognized for their accomplishments and generosity during a Feb. 17 dinner and awards ceremony.

The Joseph Mayo Pettit Alumni Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Alumni Association in recognition of exceptional and outstanding support of the Institute and a lifetime of professional and philanthropic leadership. The 2011 recipients are:

Joel Cowan, IM 58, of Peachtree City, Ga., chairman and president of Habersham & Cowan Inc. and an adjunct professor in the Georgia Tech College of Management. He is a trustee emeritus of the Georgia Tech Foundation board of trustees. He formerly was a member of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, the Ivan Allen College advisory board, the College of Management Center for Ethics advisory board, the Ivan Allen College development council and the Georgia Tech Research Institute external advisory board. Cowan was inducted into the College of Management’s Hall of Fame in 2006, and in 2003 he received the Alumni Association’s Dean Griffin Community Service Award.

Bill Goodhew, IM 61, of Atlanta, vice president of Intelligent Systems Corp. He is a past chair of the Alumni Association board of trustees and the Roll Call Leadership Circle gift club. He has served on the Georgia Tech Foundation board of trustees, the Georgia Tech Research Corp. advisory board, the Alexander-Tharpe Fund board and the Georgia Tech campaign steering committee. In 1995 Goodhew was inducted into the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame. The Southeastern Software Association has named him Entrepreneur of the Year and Software Executive of the Decade. He also served in the Marine Corps.

Hubert “Herky” Harris, IM 65, of Atlanta, retired CEO of INVESCO, North America. He is a past president of the Alumni Association board of trustees and past chair of the Georgia Tech Foundation board of trustees. He is a member of the Alexander-Tharpe Fund board and a College of Management distinguished alumnus. Harris served on the Georgia Council on Economic Education and is the director of the St. Joseph’s Translational Research Institute, a member of the Carter Center Board of Councilors and a trustee of SEI Mutual Funds.

Recipients of the Dean Griffin Community Service Award, presented for positively impacting the quality of life of others while serving as a role model in the process, are:

Robert Shelley Blount, Text 71, of Moore, S.C., vice president of Jocassee Designs. He was the 1999 Ramblin’ Wreck Volunteer of the Year for his contributions to the Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., Georgia Tech Club, for which he formerly served as president. He is a past member of the Alumni Association board of trustees and was named a distinguished alumnus by the College of Engineering in 2001. Blount was named the 2008 Small Business Person of the Year by the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

Goodman “G.B.” Espy, ME 57, of Atlanta, an obstetrician/gynecologist. He delivered about 500 babies in one year while an Army doctor at Fort McPherson, Ga., and has gone on to deliver 12,000 in his career. He traveled to Kosovo in 1998 to deliver babies and perform surgeries on refugees. In recent years, he paid for a 7-year-old Iraqi boy to come to Atlanta for a bone-lengthening operation, which enabled the child to walk. He has started a mammography clinic in Iraq and travels to the country to train physicians. In 2004, the Medical Association of Georgia presented him the Jack A. Raines Humanitarian of the Year Award. He also is a distinguished alumnus of the College of Engineering and the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

The Outstanding Young Alumnus/Alumna Award goes to a high achiever under age 40 who has contributed to Georgia Tech, the community and the business world. The recipients are:

Errika Mallett, ISyE 96, of Stone Mountain, Ga., human resources manager and consultant for Southwire. She is president of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization and has participated in Mentor Jackets and Pi Mile. She is a member of the Alumni Association board of trustees and vice chair of the steering committee for the 50th anniversary of the matriculation of black students.

Fred Carlson, CE 01, MBA 04, of Tampa, Fla., founder and chief operating officer of Ice House USA Inc. He is vice president of the Suncoast Georgia Tech Club and a member of the Co-op Affinity Group. As a student, he was active in the Student Foundation, Wreck to Riches, the Student Alumni Association and Omicron Delta Epsilon. He won the 2003 outstanding first-year MBA student award and the 2004 MBA student of the year award.

Honorary Alumni status is presented to someone who did not attend the Institute but has provided outstanding service to Georgia Tech. The recipients are:

Kathy Betty, of Atlanta, owner of the Atlanta Dream and widow of Garry Betty, ChE 79, who died in 2007. She serves on the Alexander-Tharpe Fund board and the Campaign Georgia Tech steering committee. She is CEO of the Garry Betty Foundation, which pledged $750,000 to co-fund the Garry Betty and V Foundation Chair in Cancer Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech. The Bettys established three trusts, two to fund scholarships at Tech and another for a chair in chemical engineering.

Dorothy Cowser Yancy, of Atlanta, Georgia Tech faculty member from 1972 to 1994. A history professor, she was the first African-American tenured faculty member and eventually served as associate director of the School of Social Sciences. The Student Government Association named her the outstanding teacher of the year and undergraduate faculty member of the year during her career. She also was named an honorary member of ANAK. Yancy currently serves as the honorary chair of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization’s scholarship endowment initiative.