Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia will recognize outstanding students, faculty, staff and alumni at various events during Honors Week, April 16-20.
Honors Week allows individuals at UGA to be acknowledged for achieving excellence in scholarship, teaching, research and public service as well as those who have made exemplary contributions to the university. The traditional campus-wide Honors Day ceremony has been updated to a luncheon format that will recognize top graduating students and will be called the Presidential Honors Day Luncheon. In addition, various other events during the week will acknowledge accomplishments in individual schools, colleges and academic units and by UGA alumni.
“Honoring the success of our students as well as our faculty, staff and alumni allows us to focus on the stellar work being done at the University of Georgia,” said Jere Morehead, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “This is the second year that we have organized these various annual recognitions to all occur during Honors Week at UGA.”
The following events are scheduled throughout the week. Unless noted, all events are by invitation only. Classes will remain in session with no cancellations for Honors Week events and activities.
April 16
Faculty Recognition Banquet – 5:45 p.m., Magnolia Ballroom of the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. Sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, the event will recognize the winners of this year’s awards for teaching excellence, including the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorships and Richard B. Russell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, as well as faculty and staff who will be acknowledged as outstanding advisers and mentors.
Public Service and Outreach Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon – 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Georgia Center. Vice President Jennifer Frum will deliver the State of Public Service and Outreach address. Awards to be presented include Staff Awards for Excellence, the Scholarship of Engagement Award, Walter Bernard Hill Awards and Fellows. Vice Admiral Robert Harward, deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command, will be the keynote speaker, and Matt Hauer, a demography specialist with the Carl Vinson Institute, will speak on the changing face of Georgia as well as past, present and future population trends. To register, see http://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/uga-hotel/conferences-events/register/21st-annual-public-service-outreach-meeting. For a list of award winners, see http://outreach.uga.edu/index.php/programs/faculty_programs/pso_awards/pso_award_recipients/.
April 18
Terry College Honors Day – 9 a.m., the Chapel. The Terry College of Business will recognize students with high scholastic achievements and demonstrated excellence in their academic endeavors. Each year, graduate and undergraduate recipients of named scholarships are honored at this event as well as inductees into Sigma Iota Epsilon and Beta Gamma Sigma business societies. For more information, email honorsday@terry.uga.edu.
Presidential Honors Day Luncheon – noon, Grand Hall of the Tate Student Center. Sponsored by the Office of the President, the event will honor recipients of national and international scholarships, first honor graduates, the Student Government Association president and vice president and outstanding students in their final year of study from each of the colleges and schools.
Sigma Lambda Alpha Honor Society Induction – 4 p.m., Demosthenian Hall. During the ceremony, sponsored by the College of Environment and Design, students will be inducted into the landscape architecture honor society. A reception will follow.
Honors Program Graduation Banquet – 5:30 p.m., The Classic Center. This event will celebrate the achievements of those Honors Program students who have graduated in summer or fall of 2011 or who will graduate in May 2012. In addition, the Lothar Tresp and Hatten Howard Outstanding Professor Awards will be presented as well as the Jere W. Morehead Award to an exceptional friend of the Honors Program.
April 19
College of Education Faculty Awards Celebration – 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Magnolia Ballroom in the Georgia Center. The College of Education will recognize several outstanding faculty members, an academic adviser and an Honors student. Awards include the Aderhold Distinguished Professor, Ira Aaron Award for Teaching Excellence, Carl Glickman Faculty Fellow, Russell H. Yeany Jr. Research Award, Faculty Diversity Award, Donald O. Schneider Award for Mentoring and the D. Keith Osborn Award for Teaching Excellence.
English Department Honors Day Ceremony – 4 p.m., room 265 of Park Hall. The event will honor award-winning graduate and undergraduate students and recognize those inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. A reception on the front patio of the Park Hall annex will follow the ceremony.
UGA Research Foundation Annual Creative Research Awards Banquet – 5:30 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. dinner and program, Mahler Auditorium of the Georgia Center. The Research Awards Program, sponsored by the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., recognizes excellence in research and scholarly creativity. Awards recipients are faculty and graduate students.
April 20
Alumni Association Awards Luncheon – noon, Grand Hall of the Tate Student Center. During the 70th annual awards program, sponsored by the UGA Alumni Association, three awards will be presented to distinguished graduates and faculty in appreciation of and admiration for their demonstrated commitment to bettering the university. The Alumni Merit Award, the Alumni Association’s oldest honor, will be presented to Robert E. Argo. The Faculty Service Award, created in 1966, will be presented to William P. Flatt, the D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Foods and Nutrition. The Alumni Family of the Year Award will be presented to the Seiler family, who has been responsible for raising eight generations of Ugas, the university’s mascot. Reservations may be made online at www.alumni.uga.edu/alumniawards.
Two other UGA colleges are hosting honors programs after Honors Week. They are the:
School of Social Work Awards program – April 26, noon, Trumps Ballroom. The ceremony will recognize outstanding faculty, staff, students and alumni.
Honors Day for the College of Family and Consumer Sciences – May 1, 3:30 p.m., Dawson Hall. The recognition event will honor students and faculty.
Prior to Honors Week, several other ceremonies were or will be held. They are as follows.
The School of Law held a faculty awards ceremony, March 23. Recipients included Christian Turner, John C. O’Byrne Memorial Award for Significant Contributions Furthering Student-Faculty Relations; Lonnie T. Brown Jr., Student Bar Association Professionalism Award; and Erica J. Hashimoto, Professor C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Sigma Pi Kappa inducted students into the College of Environment and Design’s historic preservation society March 30.
The H. Gordon and Francis S. Davis Student Organization Achievement and Recognition Awards will be held April 11 at 7 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Tate Student Center. Sponsored by the Center for Student Organizations in the Office of the Dean of Students, the event recognizes the university’s student leaders, student organizations and advisers.
81st Annual Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources Spring Awards Banquet – April 12, 6-9 p.m. in the Georgia Center. The event acknowledges the achievements of students and faculty.
UGA Honors Week builds on a tradition initiated by UGA Chancellor S.V. Sanford when he created Honors Day in the 1930s to recognize outstanding student academic achievement. By grouping the many awards events for students, faculty and staff, the university is able to focus appropriate recognition on those who have achieved excellence in their respective areas.
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