 In October 2010 he received an "accomplished alumnus" award from the University of Tennessee, his alma mater, where he has funded more than 180 full scholarships.Whittle has been criticized, including by Jonathan Knee, a Columbia Business School professor and author of , for large expenditures at his companies.Whittle served on the board of EdisonLearning (formerly Edison Schools), the company he founded with Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. in 1992.