Athens, Ga. – The Edward T. and Sarah Laurent Kassinger Scholarship board has awarded 2013 Kassinger Scholarships to the University of Georgia’s Sgt. Lance Tipton and John Newton, both of Athens.
The scholarships are given to graduates who recently finished academic degrees while employed full time as a UGA police officer, as a working student in the criminal justice studies program at UGA or as an employee in the UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness.
Tipton, who works in the UGA Police Department, received the undergraduate scholarship. Newton, an emergency operations manager with the Office of Emergency Preparedness, was awarded the graduate scholarship.
Tipton has been employed by the UGA Police Department since 1999. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from January 2000 to July 2004, when he was medically retired after being injured serving a tour of duty in Iraq. In December 2012, Tipton received a bachelor’s degree from Valdosta State University.
Newton has worked for the Office of Emergency Preparedness since July 2007. Prior to his employment at UGA, he was with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department. In August 2012, Newton received his doctoral degree in political science from UGA.
The Kassinger Scholarship is named for Edward Kassinger, who was director of the UGA Public Safety Division from 1969-1983, and his late wife Sarah. The award was established in 1984 by former employees and friends of the Kassingers who believed that students who work to help pay educational expenses should be recognized.
The award is administered and maintained by the UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness.
