University of Georgia professor Michael Dirr will receive the
prestigious D.W. Brooks
Award for Excellence in Public Service for teaching Oct. 2 in
Athens, Ga.
Dirr has a distinguished teaching record at the university
that has spanned more than
two decades. He has been cited by students for his passion and
enthusiasm for his subject
and his encyclopedic knowledge of woody ornamental plants. The
recipient of more than 20
awards for teaching and research, Dirr has been recognized for
his outstanding
contributions to horticulture, both in and out of the
classroom.
Nationally Known Teacher,
Author
He was named the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences Outstanding
Teacher in 1998. He also won the L.C. Chadwick Educator’s Award
from the American Nursery
and Landscape Association and the American Horticultural
Society’s Teaching Award.
Dirr’s text, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, is
used in more than 90 percent
of landscape materials classes taught in the United States. He
has written six other books
and authored or co-authored more than 50 research papers and 300
articles. He is widely
recognized as a preeminent expert in the landscape industry. He
was instrumental in
establishing the UGA Campus Arboretum and in preparing materials
for the Walking Tour of
Trees.
D.W. Brooks Awards,
Lecture
The annual Brooks awards are presented to UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences faculty who excel in teaching, research, extension and
international agriculture.
The awards include a framed certificate and a $5,000 cash award.
Other honorees this year
are: Eddie McGriff, county extension programming; Steve L. Brown,
extension; John Ruter,
research; and Manjeet Chinnan, international agriculture.
Before the awards ceremony, William F. Kirk, vice president of
DuPont Biosolutions
Enterprise, will deliver the D.W. Brooks Lecture: “The 21st
Century — An
Agribusiness Odyssey.”
The lecture and awards are named for the late D.W. Brooks,
founder and chairman
emeritus of Gold Kist, Inc., and founder of Cotton States Mutual
Insurance Companies.
Brooks was an advisor on agriculture and trade issues to seven
U.S. presidents.
