Former UGA Public Service and Outreach Vice President Grover J. Andrews died March 26, 2021. He was 91.
Andrews was associate vice president for Public Service and Outreach and interim director of the Georgia Center from 1998 until he retired in 2001. From 1989 until 1998 he was director of instructional services for the Georgia Center. He also served as adjunct professor of adult education in the UGA College of Education from 1989 through 1996.
As interim director, Andrews oversaw the Georgia Center’s continuing reorganization, which began in FY 97.
In FY 2000, the center completed a strategic plan that called for “sweeping initiatives that will greatly enhance UGA’s ability to serve the people of Georgia and beyond.” Among those initiatives was to transform the Georgia Center into a Center for the 21st Century and to expand distance education activities to interface with the Global Learning Online for Business and Education (G.L.O.B.E.) Initiative of the University System of Georgia. The Web version of Principles of Marketing Research, implemented in July 2000, was UGA’s first Web course to offer continuing education credits.
Over the next year, before Andrews retired, the center added a Conference Services Area and hired an assistant director to oversee it; expanded distance education, particularly Web-based programming; and expanded efforts in campus and state outreach.
Andrews’ career in higher education began after his service in the U.S. Navy and spanned more than 40 years with six institutions, where he was dedicated to teaching, research and practice in the field of adult education and accreditation.
He also served as an associate executive director for the Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. There he directed the research project that produced the first comprehensive accreditation standard for continuing education programs within colleges and universities. He also conducted research and developed guidelines for the use of the Continuing Education Unit and was instrumental in establishing the International Association for Continuing Education and Training, for which he then served as president.
Andrews was inducted into the inaugural class of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame (IACEHF) in 1996. The IACEHF, based at the University of Oklahoma College of Continuing Education, recognizes men and women who have made distinguished contributions to the field of adult and continuing education.
His many honors include being selected for the Julius Nolte Award given by the National University Continuing Education Association (1995) and the Southern Association of Colleges Meritorious Service Award (2003).
According to his obituary, Andrews’ greatest legacy may be his dedication of hours and years to mentoring colleagues young and old. “They surely benefited from his graciousness, support, and wisdom beyond what any award could possibly measure. As one colleague stated, he will also be remembered as a true southern gentleman.”
Born in Batesville, Arkansas, Andrews was preceded in death by his parents Grover Jones and Ruth Burlie Andrews, and his three siblings.
Memorial gifts may be directed to the UGA Foundation, Development and Alumni Relations, Athens, Georgia 30602 with memo designating gifts to the benefit of the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.