UGA will recognize exceptional students, faculty, staff and alumni during its inaugural Honors Week, April 11-15.
Honors Week introduces a new approach for recognizing individuals who have achieved excellence in scholarship, teaching, research and public service, and who have made exemplary contributions to the university, said Susan Landrum, executive assistant to the provost. In addition to the traditional Honors Day ceremony on April 13, the university will highlight accomplishments within its core missions of teaching, research and service, in individual schools, colleges and academic units, and by alumni.
“Honors Week builds on a tradition begun by UGA Chancellor S.V. Sanford when he created Honors Day in the 1930s to recognize outstanding student academic achievement,” Landrum said. “By grouping the many awards events for outstanding students, and for faculty and staff, the university is seeking to focus appropriate recognition on those who have achieved excellence in their respective areas. We anticipate and welcome increased participation campus-wide in this expanded approach in the years to come.”
The April 13 Honors Day program is free and open to the public. Other institution-wide events (below) are by invitation unless otherwise noted.
Honors Week Schedule of Events
APRIL 11
• Undergraduate Research Week Celebration. Sponsored by the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities. CURO staff and students will be available for information from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and posters from the CURO Symposium will be on display through April 15 in the second floor rotunda of the Miller Learning Center. Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jere Morehead will speak at 5 p.m. in the rotunda.
• Faculty Recognition Banquet. Sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, 5:45 p.m., Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. For winners of this year’s awards for teaching excellence as well as faculty and staff who are being recognized as outstanding advisers and mentors.
APRIL 12
• Public Service and Outreach Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Grand Hall, Tate Student Center. The event will feature a workshop led by Bob Johansen, distinguished fellow of the Institute for the Future and author of Leaders Make the Future.
APRIL 13
• Terry College of Business Honors Day Ceremony. 9 a.m., Chapel. The event will recognize graduate and undergraduate recipients of named scholarships as well as inductees into the Sigma Iota Epsilon and Beta Gamma Sigma business societies. The ceremony will be followed by a reception at Herty Field.
• School of Social Work Awards Luncheon. 11:30 a.m., Trumps Catering, 2026 S. Milledge Ave. The event will recognize outstanding faculty, staff, students and alumni.
• Honors Day Ceremony. 2 p.m., Hodgson Hall, Performing Arts Center. The event will honor recipients of major student scholarships, such as the Rhodes, Gates Cambridge and Mitchell scholarships, as well as graduating seniors who have maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average and those who will graduate in the top 5 percent of their schools and colleges. The ceremony will recognize this year’s winners of faculty awards and recognitions, such as the University Professor and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors, as well as winners of awards for excellence in academic advising and mentoring.
Parking for the Honors Day ceremony is available free of charge at the Performing Arts Center parking deck (E20) off River Road. The Honors Day 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/. Betty Jean Craige, University Professor of Comparative Literature and director of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, will deliver the keynote address.
• Honors Program Graduation Banquet. 5:30 p.m., Classic Center.
• The H. Gordon and Francis S. Davis Student Organization Achievement and Recognition Awards. 7 p.m., Grand Hall, Tate Student Center. The event, sponsored by the Department of Campus Life, will recognize the
university’s student leaders, student organizations and advisers.
APRIL 14
• UGA Research Foundation Annual Creative Research Awards Banquet. Reception at 6 p.m., dinner and program at 7 p.m., Mahler Auditorium, Georgia Center.
• Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources Spring Awards Banquet. 6:30 p.m., Georgia Center.
APRIL 15
• UGA Alumni Association Awards Luncheon. Noon, Grand Hall, Tate Student Center (see story).
• College of Environment and Design Alumni Weekend and Honor Society Induction. 10 a.m., Sigma Pi Kappa Preservation Honor Society induction at Demosthenian Hall followed by a presentation in the Chapel by Donovan Rypkema, a nationally recognized economic developer specializing in historic preservation.
