The Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach has selected six faculty and three staff members to receive awards in honor of their service to UGA. The awards will be presented during Honors Week ceremonies at the 20th annual Public Service and Outreach meeting and awards luncheon on April 12, 2011. One faculty member will be presented with the coveted Walter Barnard Hill Distinguished Public Service Fellow Award while five others will receive the Walter Barnard Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in University Public Service and Outreach. In addition, three staff members will be honored with the Public Service and Outreach Staff Award for Excellence.
Distinguished Public Service Fellow
The Walter Barnard Hill Distinguished Public Service Fellow Award, UGA’s highest award in public service and outreach, recognizes sustained, distinguished and superb achievement in university public service that improves the quality of life in Georgia, the nation or abroad. The Hill Fellow is named in honor of Chancellor Walter Barnard Hill, who led UGA from 1899 until death in 1905 and first articulated the university’s modern land-grant mission.
Lawrence Risse
The 2011 Hill Fellow is Lawrence Mark Risse. A professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences where he has been a faculty member for the past 16 years, Risse is also the Georgia Power Professor of Water Resources Policy in the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
As a professor of biological and agricultural engineering, his public service and outreach program has had major impacts on the quality of life, both economic and environmental, across the U.S. Recently, his work has focused on water resource management and bioenergy environmental impacts. He is continuing his assistance to the state in developing long-term management plans to protect and conserve water.
Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement
This year, five faculty members and service professionals will receive the Walter Barnard Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in University Public Service and Outreach, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the improvement of the quality of life in Georgia or elsewhere.
This year’s Hill Award recipients are Judy Ellis Hibbs, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences-Cooperative Extension; Louise Hill, Fanning Institute; Richard Curtis Lacy, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Claude Walton McBride Jr., Carl Vinson Institute of Government; and Karen A. Payne, Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
Judy Ellis Hibbs
Hibbs, a senior public service associate, serves as the Athens-Clarke County Extension coordinator and area agent for the Extension Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program. This program targets underserved, low-income families with children, and provides basic education in nutrition, meal planning, cooking skills and food budgeting. She is assigned to Clarke, Walton, Gwinnett and Hall counties.
Louise Hill
Hill, who serves as public service associate with the Fanning Institute, administers the institute’s community leadership programming. With a career based on building leadership capacity within individuals and communities, her responsibilities include program design, curriculum development and evaluation of leadership programming.
Richard Lacy
Lacy, an associate professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has undertaken numerous public service and outreach endeavors within his specialization as an Extension economist with a focus on livestock. He has been a faculty member with the department of agricultural and applied economics for nine years.
With an emphasis on beef cattle, swine and forages, Lacy conducts educational programming and applied research in production economics, livestock and forage economics, farm management and marketing.
Claude McBride Jr.
McBride is a public service associate with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government where he has been a faculty member with the institute’s Governmental Training, Education and Development Division since 1998. He has extensive experience as a county Extension agent, county manager and staff member for a combined program of the Georgia Municipal Association and the Association County Commissioners of Georgia.
Karen Payne
Payne is a senior public service associate and geographic information specialist with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, Division of Information Technology Outreach Services. Her service program utilizes her expertise in geospatial technologies in a range of environmental and humanitarian applications. Payne oversees the Vinson Institute’s humanitarian information management program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Staff Award for Excellence
The Public Service and Outreach Staff Award for Excellence honors outstanding effort, encourages workplace creativity and innovation, and celebrates the achievements of public service and outreach staff. The 2011 recipients are Stephanie Edgecombe, Marine Extension Service; Lisa Lynn Kesler, Carl Vinson Institute of Government; and Larry Welborn, Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel.
Stephanie Edgecombe
Edgecombe serves as Marine Education Center and Aquarium events coordinator at the Marine Extension Service’s Skidaway Island facility in Savannah. She provides educational experiences to pre-school, K-12, collegiate and adult groups on subject matters related to the coastal, estuarine and marine environment.
Lisa Kesler
Kesler has served the Carl Vinson Institute of Government for the past eight years. As senior event coordinator, she is the primary contact for the Local Financial Management Program throughout the state. Kesler coordinates training for financial programs and courses geared toward accountants and financial management personnel.
Larry Welborn
Welborn is the banquet supervisor for the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. Throughout his 27-year career, he has served the center’s banquet area in numerous capacities. In his current position, he is directly responsible for customer service during visitors’ dining experiences. Welborn leads a team in preparing for events, providing service during dining and is in charge of post-event clean-up and preparation for the next banquet activity.
