Actor Bruce McGill to Receive Distinguished Alumnus Award, Actress and Entrepreneur Felicia Day to receive Young Alumna Award
Longtime College of Fine Arts supporter and Advisory Council member Mary Bartholow (1925–2018) will be honored with the 2019 E. William Doty Award, the highest honor bestowed by the College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. The Doty Award, now in its 23rd year, is named for the founding dean of the College of Fine Arts and recognizes individuals or organizations who have distinguished themselves through extraordinary professional achievement and/or demonstrated a productive dedication to the college.
This year, the college will also honor actor Bruce McGill (B.F.A., Drama, 1973) with the E. William Doty Distinguished Alumnus Award and actress and internet pioneer Felicia Day (B.S., Mathematics, 1998) with the E. William Doty Young Alumna Award.
Mary Bartholow, who died last year at the age of 93, leaves a great legacy of generosity in the College of Fine Arts. Bartholow was a tireless advocate for the college and had a deep personal connection to The University of Texas. During the 30 years she served on the Fine Arts Advisory Council, she created four endowed scholarships, which have collectively supported more than 100 students.
“Mary Bartholow was genuine, warm, dedicated, strong and—in a word—extraordinary,” said College of Fine Arts Dean Doug Dempster. “We’re proud to honor her legacy in the College of Fine Arts with the E. William Doty Award, our college’s highest honor.”
Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient Bruce McGill is perhaps best known for his work with director Michael Mann in the movies The Insider (1999), Ali (2001) and Collateral (2004). McGill's other notable film roles include Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day in John Landis' Animal House, Com. Matuzak in Timecop, Rev. Larson in Shallow Hal, Gene Revell in The Sum of All Fears and Lt. Brooks in Ride Along and its sequel Ride Along 2. McGill's television roles include Jack Dalton on MacGyver (1985–1992) and Det. Vince Korsak on Rizzoli & Isles (2010–2016). He also had recurring roles as Captain Braxton on Star Trek Voyager (1999) and voicing Lloyd Waterman, the owner of Waterman cable, on The Cleveland Show (2012–2014).
Young Alumna Award recipient Felicia Day attended The University of Texas at Austin on a full violin scholarship. Day is a professional actress who has appeared in numerous television shows and films, including the CW show Supernatural, and the SyFy series The Magicians. However, Day is best known for her work in the web video world, behind and in front of the camera. She co-starred in Joss Whedon’s Internet musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which was ranked in the “Top 10 Best TV of 2008” by Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine and won an Emmy in 2009. She also created and starred in the seminal web series The Guild, which ran for six seasons. The Guild won numerous awards for web video excellence, garnering a PGA nomination for best web series in 2011. In 2011, Day created a web production company with YouTube called Geek & Sundry that produces all manner of digital content. It was sold to Legendary Entertainment in 2014. Since writing her New York Times bestselling memoir, You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost). Day has worked on her own creative projects as a producer, writer and actor.
Bartholow, McGill and Day will be honored at a private event in February.