Athens, Ga. – A conference at the University of Georgia last year that examined the presidency of Jimmy Carter has received the top award from a professional organization for educational advancement.
“The Carter Presidency: Lessons for the 21st Century” won the Grand Award for institutional relations projects from District III of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
UGA was a finalist for three other Grand Awards and received five additional awards in the competition for colleges and universities in District III, which includes nine southern states. The awards were presented at the recent CASE III annual conference in Atlanta.
Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, former Vice President Walter Mondale and key members of the Carter administration attended the three-day conference along with current government officials, scholars and media figures. Held on the 30th anniversary of Carter’s inauguration, the conference was designed to apply the lessons of the Carter presidency to issues facing America and the world today.
John Maltese, professor of political science, was conference director, and Kathy Pharr, assistant vice president for finance and administration, was overall conference chair. Dozens of faculty and staff members worked for months to plan and stage the event, which attracted widespread press coverage.
Three other UGA entries were finalists for Grand Awards: a book published by the UGA Alumni Association titled “If I Only Knew Then: Advice for the College Years from UGA Alumni,” produced by Amber Mangle and The AdSmith; a planned giving campaign in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences developed by FACS staff members Katrina Bowers and Janet Jones Kendall; and an article in Georgia Magazine written by Allyson Mann of the public affairs office.
Mary Andrews of the public affairs office received an Award of Excellence for improvement in visual design.
The following received Special Merit Awards: Tami Gardner, Alumni Association, for constituency organization programs; Kelly Simmons and Sam Fahmy, public affairs, for excellence in magazine feature writing; and Bill Evelyn and Geof Gilland, public affairs, for television production.
Matt Winston, assistant to UGA President Michael F. Adams, received a District III Special Recognition Award for outstanding commitment to professional development. Winston has filled a number of volunteer roles with District III over the past 10 years including serving on the board of directors and the programming board and speaking at conferences. He was cited for “working quietly behind the scenes as a champion for numerous key initiatives, identifying and developing talent (and) challenging fellow volunteers and colleagues to do better and to be better.”
