UWG News Item
Contact: UWG Public Relations Office
Phone (678) 839-6464, FAX (678) 839-6645
ucm@westga.edu
Geoscience students recognized
March 27, 2006
CARROLLTON, GA - The Department of Geosciences at the University of West Georgia recognized geosciences students for their academic excellence in geology, geography and earth science at its annual awards ceremony.
Each
year the department honors the top four geosciences majors with commemorative
awards. This year’s most outstanding senior, geology major Patrick
J. Gilliland of Roopville, received the John Chambers Memorial Award.
The most outstanding junior geology major, Wesley Loveless of Gainesville,
received the Rodney Morrison Memorial Award. Top geography major, Tela
Dunagan of Moreland, received the Thomas Herndon Award. The James Emory
Boyd Award went to the top geology major, James Friedrich of Cochran.
The geosciences students who received cash scholarships for their academic success are Jennifer Beth Blaise, Keith Rice and Michael Adam Lanier of Carrollton, Thomas Boothe of Villa Rica, Eric Burger of Stockbridge, Zenas Dowdell of Lithonia, Lorrie Dukes of Douglasville, Doug Knight of Peachtree City and Dunagan, Gilliland, and Loveless.
The John Chambers Memorial Award was created in memory of
John Chambers, a 1992 West Georgia College graduate who was killed in
2001 by a hit and run driver while conducting geology fieldwork in Tennessee.
He was well known and respected by many UWG faculty and students in the
geology field.
The Rodney Morrison Memorial Award was established in memory of Rodney
Morrison, a 1971 West Georgia College graduate who was one of the first
students to graduate with a geology degree at the university. His long
and distinguished career in geological consulting included extensive work
on tunneling projects for MARTA. He died unexpectedly in 2001.
These awards and scholarships not only help fund education opportunities for students but also make undergraduate research activities possible. Academic departments, faculty, alumni and friends of the university have made donations to endowments and other scholarships in the Department of Geosciences. For more information on endowments, scholarships and memorial awards for students, call 678-839-6582.
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