Ph.D., The University of Alabama, 2001. History.
M.A., The University of Alabama, 1996. History.
Ph.D., The University of Alabama, 1977. Higher Education Administration.
M.A., The University of Alabama, 1975. Educational Administration.
B.A., The University of Alabama, 1973. History with a minor in Computer-Based Honors.
Dr. Cathy Randall is the chairman of the Board of Pettus Randall Holdings, LLC, and is the former chairman of the Board of Randall Publishing Company, the former director of the University Honors Programs at The University of Alabama, and a former news anchor at CBS-affiliate WCFT-TV. She earned two Ph.D. degrees from The University of Alabama and has been named one of the top 31 women graduates of the century.
Immediate past chairman of the Alabama Academy of Honor (the 100 most outstanding living Alabamians), Dr. Randall has served as national president of Mortar Board, Inc. and as president of the Boards of Directors of the American Village. She is also a member of the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame, the David Mathews Center of Civic Life, and director of Alabama Girls State.
In addition to her continued membership on the board of the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame and the American Village, Dr. Randall serves boards of directors of Mercedes Benz USI, Alabama Power Company, the Alabama Archives and History Foundation, the David Mathews Center for Civic Life and has served on the boards of the National Collegiate Honors Council, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and the Alabama Law Foundation as well as the Alabama Governor’s Transition Team and the Governor’s Tornado Recovery Action Council. She is immediate past chairman of the board of Alabama Heritage magazine and has co-chaired Tuscaloosa’s Bicentennial Commission.
She has been honored with Tuscaloosa’s 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award for Women of Distinction, the 2002 E. Roger Sayers Award as the outstanding University of Alabama faculty/staff member, UA’s Living Legend Award in 2007, the Tuscaloosa County Civic Hall of Fame in 2012, 2004 Tuscaloosa’s Philanthropist of the Year and Pillar of the Community, one of two Birmingham Outstanding Civic Leaders in 2013, Tuscaloosa’s first Champion of Character in 2014, and the Bryan Lifetime Achievement Award from the North Central Girl Scouts in 2015, the Heart of an Eagle Award by the Boy Scouts of Greater Alabama 2019, Yellowhammer Woman of Impact 2018, Grand Marshal of the University of Alabama Homecoming Parade 2018 and Tuscaloosa’s 2019 Bicentennial Parade, and Achievement Award by the Association of the U.S. Army’s west/central Alabama chapter.
Cathy Randall’s contributions to UA are numerous. She has served the Capstone in various capacities throughout her career, including 25 years as director of the Computer-Based Honors Program. That program now bears her name — the Catherine J. Randall Research Scholars Program, a nationally recognized undergraduate research program that pairs students majoring in any field with professors to apply computer-based research to their projects.
She is the widow of H. Pettus Randall, III, and the mother of Jaynie Rogers Randall Lilley, A.B. Princeton 1999, M.B.A. Harvard Business School 2003, J.D. Yale Law School 2006; Kate Randall Danella, B.A. Vanderbilt 2001, M. Phil. University of Cambridge 2002, Harvard Business School 2008; and H. Pettus Randall IV, A.B. Princeton 2004, M. St. University of Oxford 2005, and Stanford Business School 2011.