UGA President, Vinson Institute Employee Honored

Michael Adams, president of the University of Georgia, and Mary Stakes, a retiring senior public service associate from the Carl Vinson Institute of UGA, recently received 2009 Governor’s Awards in the Humanities and were honored at the 24th Governor’s Awards in the Humanities luncheon, in Atlanta.

Adams received the award for his dedication to humanities based programs and projects at the University of Georgia and in the state. He was recognized for his leadership in historic preservation of the UGA campus and the impact that preservation has had in the campus culture and in the broader community. Stakes received the award for her continuing efforts to educate classroom teachers about Georgia history, government and civics.

Adams has been a champion for a variety of humanities activities since arriving in Athens in 1997 to serve as the president of UGA. He has revived the intercollegiate debate program, supported UGA’s involvement in the development of the New Georgia Encyclopedia and emphasized writing as critical to the undergraduate curriculum.

He has guided the development and implementation of a Campus Master Plan that emphasizes historic preservation and the creation of a learning environment that promotes intellectual curiosity. Under his leadership, restored buildings and green spaces serve as teaching tools for history, architecture, landscape design and related disciplines. Students, faculty, staff and visitors see Georgia’s history through these facilities.

For 30 years, Stakes has organized learning opportunities and summer teacher institutes for Georgia Teachers. She has obtained grant funding to enable teachers to attend conferences, such as “The Carter Presidency: Lessons for the 21st Century.” She has volunteered with the Georgia Council for the Social Studies and for the past five years has coordinated the Center for Civic Education’s “We the People: Project Citizen” program. She also is the co-author of The Georgia Studies Book, a textbook for the 8th grade, now in its third edition, and has published many teaching manuals, lesson plans and multimedia resources to assist teachers in meeting curriculum standards.

Adams and Stakes were among 10 award recipients. A complete list of recipients is available at http://www.georgiahumanities.org/programs/gov/awards.html.