Faculty Who Inspire
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culty Who Inspire Libby V. Morris
Published online: 1 June 2010 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
At the end of each academic year, the University of Georgia (UGA), like countless other colleges and universities across the nation, celebrates the outstanding performance of faculty, staff, and students. Here at UGA the ceremonies of honorary societies and individual colleges and units began in March and concluded with graduation in May 2010. In mid-March the University of Georgia Research Foundation presented the 31st annual research awards. An elaborate dinner launched the evening at which 19 faculty members and 5 graduate students received creative research awards, medals, and other named designations for their outstanding accomplishments in research. These kinds of events provoke me to thinking about the inspirational models we have around us in the academic mileau. My good friend and colleague, historian James C. Cobb, received the Albert Christ-Janer Award. Professor Cobb is widely recognized as one of the foremost scholars of Southern history and culture. He has written more than 40 articles and 12 books, mostly about the impact of changing economic conditions on the South. Two of his books, Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity and The Most Southern Place on Earth, his book about the Mississippi Delta, are considered classics in the field. I point to Dr. Cobb’s award because of the broad appeal of his work to academics and the public alike. The video summarizing Dr. Cobb’s award may be seen at http://www.creativeresearch.uga.edu/index. php/recipients/detail/cobb-james-c/. To see all of the 2010 research awards, visit http:// creativeresearch.uga.edu/. The award winners are inspiring faculty members. Each year in early April, the University hosts Honors Day, a campus-wide event, which recognizes outstanding teachers, the top students, and exemplary faculty advisers and mentors. In 2010, 15 first honor graduates with perfect 4.0 averages were honored, along with other students who had graduated in the top 5% of their colleges. With more than 6000 undergraduate and 2000 graduate degrees conferred annually, the competition for student awards is stiff; and the story is the same for faculty members, who number over 1800. Faculty awards at Honors Day include the Richard B. Russell Undergraduate Teaching awards for early career faculty and the naming of outstanding teachers in L. V. Morris (*) Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia, 102 Meigs Hall, Athens, GA 30602-6772, USA e-mail: [email protected]
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Innov High Educ (2010) 35:215–216
the individual colleges and schools. The University’s highest recognition in teaching is the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor designation (http://provost.uga.edu/index. php/resources/awards/josiah-meigs-distinguished-teaching-professorships/). Meigs, the successor to Abraham Baldwin (UGA’s first president), was the sole professor in 1801, and I assume faculty governance was less complicated then. Meigs award winners receive a permanent
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