UWG News Archive

History professor to receive Governor's Award

May 1, 2005

CARROLLTON, GA - Dr. Ann McCleary, associate professor of history at the University of West Georgia, has been selected to receive a 2005 Governor’s Award in the Humanities from the Georgia Humanities Council.

The annual award recognizes exemplary achievements that have fostered an understanding of the cultural traditions and values of Georgia and have thus strengthened community, character and citizenship in the state.

Gov. Sonny Perdue will present medallions to this year’s 12 recipients at a luncheon at noon on Thursday, May 12, at the Old Georgia Railroad Depot in Atlanta. The luncheon will follow the Georgia Humanities Council’s annual Humanities Lecture, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. The lecture is free; the luncheon is $30 per person.

McCleary is being honored at the Governor’s Awards for her work as the director of the UWG Center for Public History. The Center for Public History researches, documents, preserves and promotes public discussion of the history and cultural, architectural and folklife resources of the west Georgia region. The center has archived over 700 oral histories since its inception in 1999.

The center was nationally recognized in 2003 by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) for its compact disc and publication “Everybody’s Tuned to the Radio: Rural Music Traditions in West Georgia, 1947-1979,” which documents the local music of post-World War II Carroll County. The AASLH Awards Program is one of the most prestigious recognition programs for achievement in the presentation and interpretation of local, state and regional history.

In addition to preserving the region’s history, the Center for Public History also offers hands-on experience to students studying public history. Undergraduate and graduate history majors assist historical organizations throughout the region with a wide range of projects, specifically in planning and developing exhibits and interpretive materials. The public history projects become traveling exhibits to public libraries, schools and cultural arts centers throughout the west Georgia area.

The goal of the center, according to McCleary, is to introduce history to the public outside of the classroom.

“History does matter and we need to help people to understand it and how it relates to them,” McCleary stated.

Table sponsorships to seat 10 at the awards luncheon may be purchased for $500. Celebration sponsorships are available for $1,000. For ticket information, contact Sara Salley, program officer for the Georgia Humanities Council, at 404-523-6220, Ext. 17.

For more information about the Center for Public History, call 678-839-6141 or visit its website at www.westga.edu/~history/center.htm.

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