The recipients of the 2005 Walter Barnard Hill Awards and the Hill Distinguished Public Service and Outreach Fellow were announced by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach on Jan. 27. The winners were honored during a luncheon ceremony at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education as part of the annual Public Service and Outreach Conference. President Michael F. Adams and Provost Arnett Mace assisted Vice President Art Dunning in distributing the awards.
“Each recipient is judged to have made contributions to the improvement of the quality of life in Georgia and elsewhere of an order that greatly exceeds the normal accomplishments of a productive faculty member,” said Dunning, vice president for public service and outreach.
Recipients are awarded a permanent salary increase and become eligible to be selected in subsequent years as a Hill Distinguished Public Service and Outreach Fellow. This fellowship is the highest award offered in public service and outreach and is similar to a distinguished professorship.
The awards are named for Chancellor Walter Barnard Hill, who led the University of Georgia from 1899 until 1905. Hill championed the idea that the university should be as active in the application of knowledge as it was in the instruction of students.
This year’s Hill Fellow is Elizabeth Andress, a professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. The Hill Award recipients are Jorge Atiles, College of Family and Consumer Sciences; Steven Dempsey, Carl Vinson Institute of Government; Mark Foster, Carl Vinson Institute of Government; Gordon Maner, Carl Vinson Institute of Government; and John McKissick, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Elizabeth Andress is a professor in the department of foods and nutrition and an extension food safety specialist. She is responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of extension programs in food safety and quality, including home food preservation. She is the director of the USDA-funded National Center for Home Food Processing and Preservation. The Web site she created based on applied research has received national and international acclaim.
Her publications on food preservation have been adopted by extension programs across the United States as their standard reference materials in food safety and preservation.
Jorge Atiles is an associate professor and extension housing specialist in the department of housing and consumer economics. In 2004, he was appointed associate dean for outreach and extension in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and carries the responsibility for Latino program development in extension.
He has been prolific in the production of educational resources for use by extension agents. He has developed programs that educate the public about housing affordability, indoor air quality, and water and energy issues.
Steve Dempsey has served as a full-time faculty member in service and outreach for over 15 years. He has distinguished himself through significant contributions in several public service and outreach units and also internationally with his involvement in the work of the International Center for Democratic Governance. Through his expertise in recreation and parks and participatory policy design, Dempsey has developed unique approaches to solving problems and creating direction and vision for dozens of recreation and park departments.
Mark Foster has been developing a solid program of employment testing services and technical assistance for public sector organizations such as law enforcement and fire departments across the state of Georgia since 1989. He has worked with more than 30 state and local public safety agencies and has evaluated more than 10,000 law enforcement applicants for leadership positions. In addition to publishing numerous refereed articles, book chapters, and papers for practitioner-oriented handbooks and manuals, Foster has authored and co-authored 139 technical reports.
Gordon Maner has an outstanding record of leadership, program management, teaching and commitment to UGA over the past 14 years. He has been an integral part of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government’s management team, and his work has touched every city and county elected and appointed official in Georgia.
Maner has also been involved in broader Vinson Institute activities through his work with emerging democracies as part of the institute’s International Center for Democratic Governance. He presents the institute’s nationally recognized training programs, concepts and methods to numerous foreign delegations each year, most notably from China, the Republic of Georgia and Ukraine.
John McKissick has been an extension economist for the past 27 years. McKissick began as a special extension agent at the university in 1976 and is currently a professor and extension economist. He also serves as director of the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development.
McKissick has developed and delivered unique and award-winning educational programs in agribusiness risk management and has conducted applied research in how Georgia products can be best promoted.