Walter Barnard Hill Award
About the Award
Since 1992, the Walter Barnard Hill Awards have recognized distinguished achievement in public service and outreach by University of Georgia faculty members and service professionals. Each recipient is judged to have made contributions to the improvement of the quality of life in Georgia or elsewhere of an order that greatly exceeds the normal accomplishments of a productive faculty member. A maximum of five Hill Awards may be presented each year. Each awardee receives a permanent salary increase of $2,000 beyond the raise provided through the normal allocation process, a medallion and framed certificate. Only Hill Award winners are eligible for appointment as a Walter Barnard Hill Distinguished Public Service and Outreach Fellow.
The award is named in honor of Chancellor Walter Barnard Hill, who led the University of Georgia from 1899 until his death in 1905. Hill first articulated the university’s moder public service and outreach mission. He admired the close relationship that existed between the University of Wisconsin and the state of Wisconsin and led a pilgrimage of nearly 100 Georgians to see the “Wisconsin Idea” in action. As a result of this journey and the power of Hill’s vision, Georgia’s leadership endorsed Hill’s plan for a modern, public-service-oriented university and backed that endorsement with increased support for the institution.