The UGA Foundation elected new trustees and added an additional scholarship fund in honor of a staff member at their annual meeting this past month.
From June 8-10, the UGA Foundation Board of Trustees met at their annual convention in Washington D.C. to work towards implementing these changes to their platform going to serve the UGA community, according to a press release from the University of Georgia Media Relations.
The new scholarship comes after establishing a Distinguished Service Award program last fall to provide $100,000 of allocated funds to go towards a new student scholarship. The annual award given to a long-serving UGA employee or volunteer who the board believes conducts selfless service to others to make an impact on their community establishes a scholarship in the honorees name.
Karin Lichey Usry, UGA director of board relations, was named the second recipient of the Distinguished Service Award at this year’s meeting, creating a need-based scholarship with preference to students studying entomology, which is a focus of Usry’s family business, Southland Organics.
The first recipient of this award was Kathy R. Pharr this past fall, who is UGA’s vice president of marketing and communications as well as the chief of staff to President Jere W. Morehead.
“Kathy has been very successful in every position she has occupied throughout her career, and her work ethic and extraordinary intellect have served UGA so very well,” said UGA Foundation Chairman Neal Quirk in an excerpt from the press release. “Kathy is a great role model to set the standard for recognition of the Distinguished Service Award.”
The scholarship in honor of Pharr provides need-based funds, giving preference to students from Northeast Georgia, particularly Rabun County, members of the Redcoat Band and students enrolled in the Jere W. Morehead Honors College.
These new scholarship funds help make up the over $7 million of funds allocated by trustees to support student scholarships, faculty professorships, facility projects and more.
“We are grateful for these trustees who have unselfishly given their time and personal resources to help us support the university’s academic mission, which has strengthened the Foundation and university immensely,” Quirk said.
The board’s meeting also brought a number of changes and new elections to the foundation’s board positions, unanimously electing Seth Knight III as the operational vice chair and E. Howard Young as the strategic vice chair.
The board also unanimously voted in four new trustees, Middleton “Al” Parker Jr., Michael Patrick, Elizabeth Reid and John Turner Jr., who will join current members to comprise a 49-member board.
Two advisory trustees, Edward Castro and Mark Jennings, were also elected to assist foundation committees in implementing strategic goals.
Five members, David Battle Jr., Richard Courts IV, Hillel Feinberg, John Mangan Jr. and Steve Jones, joined the group of trustees with emeritus status.
