The university will recognize top students, superior teachers and outstanding faculty advisers and mentors at its annual Honors Day ceremony.
The program begins at 2 p.m. April 7 in Hugh Hodgson Hall in the Performing Arts Center. The event is open to the public, and undergraduate classes scheduled from 1:25-4:25 p.m. will be dismissed so students and faculty can attend. Parking for the ceremony is available free of charge at the Performing Arts Center parking deck (E20) off River Road.
The program will be televised live on UGA and Charter Cable channel 15 and will be streamed live on the university’s home page, www.uga.edu.
James Porter, Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Ecology, will be the keynote speaker. Porter, who serves as associate dean of the Odum School of Ecology, is a recipient of the Creative Research Award. His talk is entitled, “Sustainability and Multi-Cultural Wisdom: Lessons from the Rainforest.”
Among the students to be recognized for academic excellence are 15 First Honor Graduates, who have maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average, and 1,211 students who rank in the top 5 percent of their schools and colleges.
Honors Day also recognizes faculty members who are receiving awards for teaching excellence; faculty and staff who are being recognized as outstanding advisers and mentors; and graduate students who are receiving awards for teaching.
Milton Masciadri, a professor in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, will be recognized as the 2010 University Professor.
Five faculty members will be named Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors, the university’s highest recognition of superior instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels. They are Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, advertising and public relations; Allan Munro Armitage, horticulture; Tina Maria Harris, speech communication; Juanita Johnson-Bailey, lifelong education, administration and policy; and Naomi J. Norman, classics.
Recipients of the Richard B. Russell Undergraduate Teaching Award, which recognizes excellence in undergraduate instruction by faculty members early in their academic careers, are Tracie Costantino, art; Brock Tessman, international affairs; and Craig Wiegert, physics and astronomy.
Outstanding teachers, chosen by their respective schools and colleges are:
• Franklin College of Arts and Sciences: Edward A. Azoff, mathematics; Jerold Hale, speech communication; Nicole Lazar, statistics; Richard Morrison, chemistry; Edward Panetta, speech communication; Ray Paolino, theatre and film studies; Dennis Phillips, chemistry; Max Reinhart, Germanic and Slavic studies; Kathrin Stanger-Hall, plant biology; and Frances Teague, English.
• College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: David Berle, horticulture; Mark Compton, poultry science; Adam J. Davis, poultry science; James E. Epperson, agricultural and applied economics; Kari Turner, animal and diary science; and Michael Wetzstein, agricultural and applied economics.
• School of Law: C. Ronald Ellington, Lori Ringhand and Christian Turner.
• College of Pharmacy: Brian Buck, clinical and administrative pharmacy.
• Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources: Scott Merkle and Susan Wilde.
• College of Education: Betty Bisplinghoff, elementary and social studies education; April L. Peters, lifelong education, administration and policy; and Mark D. Vagle, elementary and social studies education.
• Terry College of Business: Edward Michael Bamber, accounting; Thomas Berry-Stoelzle, insurance, legal studies, and real estate; Bob Bostrom, management information systems; Roberto N. Friedmann, marketing and distribution; Mark W. Huber, management information systems; Melenie Lankau, management; Stacie O. K. Laplante, accounting; Henry J. Munneke, insurance, legal studies and real estate; David B. Mustard, economics; Christopher Reid Pope, banking and finance; Jason C. Rudbeck, economics; and Chris Stivers, banking and finance.
• Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication: James Biddle, telecommunications; Janice Hume, journalism; Dean Krugman, advertising and public relations; and Bryan Reber, advertising and public relations.
• College of Family and Consumer Sciences: Jerry Edward Gale, child and family development; Charles Gilbert, textiles, merchandising and interiors; Russell James, housing and consumer economics; and Mary Ann Johnson, foods and nutrition.
• College of Veterinary Medicine: Cynthia R. Ward, small animal medicine.
• School of Social Work: Thomas P. Holland, Shari E. Miller, Larry Nackerud, Stephanie Swann and Betsy Vonk.
• College of Environment and Design: Ashley Calabria and Ron Sawhill.
• School of Public and International Affairs: Audrey A. Haynes, political science.
• College of Public Health: Marsha Davis, health promotion and behavior; Steven R. Valeika, epidemiology and biostatistics; and Anne Marie Zimeri, environmental health science.
• Odum School of Ecology: Paul F. Hendrix and Jacqueline E. Mohan.
• Division of Academic Enhancement: Laura Leigh Evans.
• Division of Student Affairs Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member: Gerald J. Kowalski.
The recipient of the J. Hatten Howard Award, which recognizes faculty who exhibit special promise in teaching Honors courses during their first term as an Honors Program instructor, is Laura Mason, Franklin College, history.
Recipients of the Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor Award, which is given to Honors faculty based on course evaluations, are Jennifer J. Gaver, Terry College, J. M. Tull School of Accounting; John C. Inscoe, Franklin College, history; and Theodore Shifrin, Franklin College, mathematics.
The recipient of the Scholarship of Engagement Award, which honors tenured professors who advance civic engagement through scholarship and service-learning opportunities for students and whose scholarship has made significant contributions toward identifying or addressing issues of public concern, is Nancy Williams, School of Social Work.
Recipients of the Outstanding Academic Advising/Mentoring Award are Brian Fairchild, poultry science; and Clayton Foggin, Franklin College Office of Academic Advising.
The recipient of the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award is John C. Maerz, Warnell School.
Recipients of the Graduate School Outstanding Mentoring Award are Nathan Nibbelink, Warnell School; and Bram Tucker, anthropology.
Recipients of the Graduate School Excellence in Teaching Award for graduate students are Matthew Forsythe, English; Tony Gonzalez, comparative literature; Ren Hullender, art; Carly Jordan, cellular biology; and Noreen L. Lyell, microbiology.
