MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s alumni continue to embody their vibrant True Blue spirit long after departing their campus home. 

The university’s Alumni Association celebrates these successes annually with the Alumni Association Awards, recently naming this year’s recipients for demonstrating excellence and ability in the areas of education, community service and military service along with comprehensive recognitions of a junior and an overall distinguished alumni. 

Established in 1960, the association awarded its top honor the Distinguished Alumni Award to two winners for 2025-26: Hal Hardin (Class of 1966), of Nashville, and Keel Hunt (Class of 1971), also of Nashville.

Hardin’s more than 50-year career in law includes a successful nomination by President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. attorney for Middle Tennessee, playing a key role in the ousting of Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton in 1979 and multiple judge positions throughout Davidson County.

Hunt’s 50 years as a writer includes work across The Tennessean newsroom; as a political blogger and founder; as a columnist for The Tennessean and larger USA Today Tennessee network; and as a four-book author, one of which, coincidentally, details the 1979 ousting of Blanton. 

The 2025-26 Young Alumni Achievement Award winner, given to a graduate age 35 or younger making a positive impact on the world, is Grammy-winner Julien Baker (Class of 2019), of Memphis. Baker is a solo artist, was a member of the Grammy Award-winning band Boygenius and now performs as a country duo with fellow musician Torres.

Launched in 2013, the association’s True Blue Citations of Distinction honorees include: 

• Achievement in Education (MTSU faculty) — Chaney Mosley (Classes of 2000 and ’04), of Nashville, an associate professor in MTSU’s School of Agriculture, who has dedicated his career to promoting agriculture education through years in the classroom, extensive research and publications, and professional leadership. 

• Achievement in Education (non-MTSU faculty) — Scott Cook (Class of 2001), of Dyersburg, president of Dyersburg State Community College, who has an over 20-year career in post-secondary education spent in both the classroom and administration. 

• Service to Community — Deidra Goins (Class of 1999), of Manchester, who both teaches at Manchester’s Westwood Elementary School and gives back to the community through fundraising events, mental health education and a ministry providing food for children in need. 

• Military Service — Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. William “Bill” Roper (Class of 1976), of Stafford, Virginia, who had a highly decorated, 28-year military career that spanned across the country and world along with 24 years in public service in the Department of Homeland Security. 

“The Alumni Association is thrilled to celebrate the achievements of seven remarkable alumni,” said Ginger Freeman, Office of Alumni Relations director. “Their success highlights the diverse paths our graduates pursue, both personally and professionally. We’re excited to honor and recognize them as part of this year’s homecoming festivities.”

The association will honor the alumni first at the Alumni Awards ceremony at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, followed by a ride in the Sept. 20 Homecoming Parade and recognition at the game later that same day.

Distinguished Alumni

Hal Hardin (’66), Pre-Law/Department of Political and Global Affairs

Hardin’s parents, harkening from humble beginnings, insisted he and his siblings attend college, and he described MTSU as the place he was “first exposed to a larger sense of self and purpose.” 

Hardin took that sense from campus to the Peace Corps, law school, Nashville’s District Attorney Office and a prolific private practice career interspersed with stretches in city, county and regional-level courts — most notably as the presiding judge of all Nashville’s courts in 1975 and his appointment to the U.S. attorney for Middle Tennessee in 1977. 

During the latter’s tenure, the FBI informed Hardin that then Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for pardons with several more on the horizon. Hardin knew the Tennessee powers that be had legal precedent to swear in Governor-elect Lamar Alexander early — in hopes to prevent further pardons — and helped successfully swear in Alexander on Jan. 17, 1979, three days before his Jan. 20 inauguration.

Hardin remains a member of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys, formerly serving as president, continues work with several legal associations and is a professor emeritus at Nashville School of Law.  

Keel Hunt (’71), English/College of Liberal Arts

Keel Hunt’s passion for story arcs through his 50-year career from his time in The Tennessean newsroom as a reporter, editorial writer, correspondent, and city editor and work in politics for former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander to his current positions as a columnist for The Tennessean and larger USA Today Tennessee network, as a founder and blogger of political blog “Field Notes,” and as an author with four books, his most recent “A Sense of Justice” released in 2023. 

Hunt also worked in public affairs, has been involved in multiple community service projects and served on several boards from being a trustee of the Country Music Foundation to a member of the MTSU Honors College’s Board of Visitors. 

Young Alumni Achievement Award

Julien Baker (’19), English/College of Liberal Arts

Baker was pursuing her English degree at MTSU with future plans to teach when she first “(tucked) herself into one of the School of Music’s piano closets,” composed and released her debut album “Sprained Ankle” in 2015 — to critical acclaim — and followed it with “Turn Out the Lights” in 2017, all in the midst of her studies. 

The 29-year-old musician has yet to slow down, taking the indie rock scene by storm both as a solo and collaborative artist, the latter most notably with the three-member, indie rock supergroup Boygenius that earned three Grammys for their second album, “The Record,” in 2024. Simultaneously, Baker has released multiple singles, her third studio album and launched a joint act with fellow musician Torres in January 2025. 

Baker has also maintained her True Blue roots, taking time to catch up with University President Sidney A. McPhee and Beverly Keel, dean of the College of Media and Entertainment, at the 2024 Grammys and has also been recognized as an honorary professor of recording industry by her alma mater. 

True Blue Citations of Distinction

Achievement in Education (MTSU Faculty)

Chaney Mosley (’00 and ’04), Agribusiness/School of Agriculture

Mosley’s arrival on campus in 1996 marked not only academic success in agricultural education but the beginning of a longstanding relationship. After graduating with the university’s top student honor, he came back to earn his master’s degree before setting out and then returning to campus in 2018 as an associate professor of agricultural education, the position once held by his own mentor. 

Before his homecoming, Mosley served 15 years in the military and began his rise as a leader in forwarding the field of Career and Technical Education — courses offering specific academic and technical skills to better prepare students for work in hands-on careers such as agriculture — from the front lines of the classroom, school-district-level administration and the Tennessee Department of Education. He has also further bolstered his work by his involvement in the funding, research and publication of over 45 articles on CTE education and workforce development. 

Mosley shows no signs of reining it in, stating his hope to continue serving the university that helped to shape him.

Achievement in Education (Non-MTSU Faculty)

Scott Cook (’01), Department of Political and Global Affairs

Cook has dedicated his life to higher education, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science at MTSU, a master’s degree in liberal studies and a doctorate in education. 

He has lived out his values for students and the larger community through his over 20 years in the classroom and administration at two-year college institutions across multiple states, helping those student populations succeed whether at their home colleges, through transferring to four-year schools — such as MTSU — or transitioning into careers. 

He has held several top-tier positions such as provost at Madisonville Community College in Kentucky and full professor, program director, assistant vice president and vice president at Motlow State Community College before taking on his current role as president at Dyersburg State Community College in 2022. 

Service to the Community

Deidra Goins (’99), Interdisciplinary Studies

Goins’ life has always embodied service — between her 25 years as a fifth grade teacher, charitable outreach to veterans, and co-founding of the All God’s Children ministry to supply food and support to children in need. 

When she lost one of her three sons to suicide in 2016, she turned that same spirit of service toward suicide prevention by participating and partnering with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She fundraised and took part in her first AFSP “Out of the Darkness Walk” in 2020, organized the inaugural walk in her hometown of Manchester in 2021, and has gone on to organize several more, raising well over $100,000 for suicide prevention to date. Goins also joined the Tennessee Chapter of the AFSP and was recently named board chair. 

Goins said she hopes her efforts in suicide prevention extend all the way from Coffee County to her alma mater and that her All God’s Children graduates enroll in a higher education institution like MTSU some day. 

Military Service

Bill Roper (’76), College of Behavioral and Health Sciences

Roper’s 28-year military career began when he was 18 with a deployment to Vietnam before he came home to Murfreesboro for his MTSU degree in physical education through the ROTC program. Roper went on to serve as acting battalion commander and task force commander in the Gulf War before returning to the U.S. to oversee large-scale programs at the Pentagon, including surviving the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 

After his military service, Roper continued public service for 24 more years in the Department of Homeland Security — totaling 53 years of federal government service. Roper worked with the Federal Air Marshal Service in the security of airspace, mass transit and airport security operations. 

Roper continues to be an advocate for veteran’s causes and active in community service. In addition to being a member of MTSU’s Alumni Association, he is part of the Murfreesboro Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the acting vice president of the Bradley Academy Historical Association, a school that served as an important keystone for the expansion of Black public education in Murfreesboro.

— Stephanie Wagner (Stephanie.Wagner@mtsu.edu)