Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Writer: Larry B. Dendy, 706/542-8078, ldendy@uga.edu
Contact: Tom Jackson, 706/542-8090, tjackson@uga.edu

UGA to present honorary doctoral degree to Jane Willson
           
Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia will award an honorary degree to Jane Seddon Willson, an Albany businesswoman who, along with her late husband Harry, has provided significant financial assistance and volunteer service in support of  UGA academic programs.
           
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents today approved a request from UGA President Michael F. Adams to present Willson the honorary Doctor of Laws degree at UGA’s spring semester undergraduate commencement exercises May 13.  She will be the 76th recipient of the degree which, after the earned doctorate, is the highest recognition UGA can bestow.
           
The university awards honorary degrees for “exemplary and broad contributions to society.”  Recipients must demonstrate a “sustained record of achievements of lasting significance” in their field.
           
Willson is president of Sunnyland Farms in Albany, which she and Harry founded in 1953 after they moved to Atlanta in 1946.  The company, which specializes in selling pecans, candy and nuts, is the largest pecan mail order business in the country.
           
Jane Willson graduated from Wellesley College and Harry, who died in 2004, was a graduate of Emory and Harvard.  The couple always placed a high value on education and made a decision years ago to provide resources to advance academic excellence at UGA.
           
“We’re Georgians, so we want our flagship institution to be the best public research institution in the country,” Jane Willson has said. 
           
Their gifts have funded scholarships and study abroad programs for students, endowed professorships, assisted arts and humanities programs and supported professors and students working in the areas of international trade and security.  Jane has also served in a number of volunteer roles.
           
“Jane has always believed that education is the most powerful force for building a global community based on understanding, respect and cooperation,” said Adams.  “Her remarkable generosity, along with that of her late husband, has had a deep and enduring impact on the University of Georgia, and no one is more deserving of this honor than Jane.”

The Willsons traveled throughout the world and had a strong interest in international affairs. They enjoyed art, music and other cultural pursuits, and were leaders in civic and charitable endeavors in Albany.
           
Jane Willson has long been a major supporter of UGA’s Honor Program, which provides specialized study opportunities for academically superior students.  She made a gift to create the Willson International Honors Scholars Program that enables honors students to travel and study in other countries.  She has funded Foundation Fellowships, UGA’s top scholarship for honors students, and also helped establish the Ramsey Honors Scholarship. 
           
She serves on the Honors Program Advisory Board and was on the Foundation Fellows Committee of the UGA Foundation.
           
“Jane Willson will have a special place in the history of undergraduate education at UGA,” said Jere Morehead, vice provost for academic affairs and former director of the Honors Program.  “Without (her) support, I can state with great conviction that the university’s success in producing Rhodes, Marshall, Truman and Goldwater scholars would have been far less.”
           
UGA’s Center for Humanities and Arts was named the Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts in 2005.  The center promotes scholarship and creative activity through faculty research grants, lectures, publications, visiting artists, exhibitions and performances and special professorships.
           
Betty Jean Craige, director of the center, said Willson has “a great knowledge of the planet’s diverse societies and a great appreciation for international cooperation. She gave to our center because, as she said, humanities and the arts enable people to understand each other across national borders. She is doing all she can to contribute to a more peaceful global society.”
           
Willson also created the Willson Endowment for International Relations in UGA’s Center for International Trade and Security.  The fund enables the center to bring international scholars and leaders to UGA and develop international internships for students.
           
Gary Bertsch, director of the center, said Willson’s gift was unsolicited and came as a surprise following her attendance at a symposium sponsored by the center. “I later learned that she had been quietly following the work of our center and concluded that our efforts were contributing to the research and learning, and peace and security, required in the 21st century,” Bertsch said. 
           
Willson recently made a major gift for construction of an addition to the Georgia Museum of Art at UGA.  Jane and Harry previously have endowed professorships in the humanities and in the Terry College of Business, and provided support for the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at UGA.

Jane Willson has served as a trustee of the UGA Foundation and the University of Georgia Research Foundation, and is on the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences board of advisors. She is a member of the UGA Presidents Club and Heritage Society.  In 2004, she received the Blue Key Service Award from the UGA chapter of Blue Key Society, and this month she will receive the Friend of UGA Award from the UGA Alumni Association.
           
Willson also has served on the boards of the Albany State University Foundation, the Darton College Foundation and Albany Technical College.  She has been president or chair of the Albany Area Arts Council, the Albany Museum of Art, the Boys/Girls Club of Albany, Albany United Way and the Albany/Dougherty Inner City Authority. 
           
She has been a board member of the Albany Chamber of Commerce and was Albany’s Woman of the Year in 1983.

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