{"id":4225,"date":"2011-03-18T13:03:22","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T17:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=4225"},"modified":"2014-06-02T14:54:39","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T18:54:39","slug":"deserving-of-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2011\/03\/18\/deserving-of-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"Deserving of Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"m_joiner\"<\/a>As a historian, Hew Joiner knows that conspiracy theories don\u2019t usually pan out \u2013 but there are exceptions.<\/p>\n

In 2002, a group of Bell Honors Program (BHP, now University Honors Program) graduates secretly planned to seize control of the annual alumni gathering. \u201cThe year that Hew Joiner was retiring, there were numerous BHPers who conspired to hijack the annual alumni get-together and turn it into an event honoring Hew \u2013 something he never planned it to be,\u201d said Program alumnus Lee Davis. \u201cAt the same time, we put out the word that we wanted to present him with a scholarship in honor of his devotion to the Honors Program and tireless service to its students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must say, that bit of fundraising was easy,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe worked with the development folks to send out a letter asking for donations in Hew\u2019s honor, and asking them not to let Hew know what was happening. Donations rolled in almost immediately, and by the time of the event, the scholarship was already endowed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no doubt how much the BHP alumni appreciated Hew,\u201d said Davis.<\/p>\n

Amid the roasts and toasts offered up that evening, one moment pleased Joiner beyond all the laughter: the unveiling of an academic award in his honor, the Dr. George Hewett \u201cHew\u201d Joiner, Jr. Scholarship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very pleased about that,\u201d said Joiner. \u201cA scholarship would have been my pick for memorials because that remains functional at the level that really matters \u2013 where students encounter their educations. The students were kind enough to let me set the criteria of selection, and the main criterion is that priority should be given to an international student who needs those funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Donations rolled in almost immediately…
\nThere was no doubt how much the BHP alumni appreciated Hew.” – Lee Davis<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of the purposes of the Honors Program is to enrich the mixture of undergraduate students on campus, he said. \u201cBut bringing in students from other countries is one way of ensuring that enrichment goes on. It means a lot to me to this day. I take a lot of interest in keeping an eye on the incumbents of that scholarship. I\u2019ve been very pleased with the choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honors alumnus Todd Deal is a chemistry professor and director of the Office of Student Leadership & Civic Engagement. \u201cI was privileged to be chosen a member of the initial class of 18 Bell Honors Scholars who entered Georgia Southern in the Fall of 1982,\u201d said Deal. \u201cIn a conversation many years later with Hew Joiner, he told me how the University administration had approached him with the idea of the program and asked if he would be willing to help create and then lead it. As I recall, Hew\u2019s words were something like \u2013 \u2018There is not a single administrative position on this campus that holds any interest for me – except that one.\u2019 That\u2019s Hew Joiner, always a rebel, but always focused on students and providing the best education possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the first three-plus years of my undergraduate career, I was pushed harder than I ever thought possible in a classroom by a cadre of excellent faculty including Hew Joiner,\u201d Deal said. \u201cThose faculty challenged, inspired, and motivated me to explore ideas, to think beyond my world, to look to the wisdom of the ages \u2013 to learn and to love learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to continuing his career-long dedication to historical research, Joiner and his wife, Martha, are heavily involved in monitoring populations of rare plants native to the Southeast. The two work as Ogeechee-Canoochee riverkeepers and were the first amateurs to serve as \u201cbotanical guardians\u201d of a five-mile stretch of land with numerous rare plants and pitcher plant bogs. They visit the site monthly to monitor the land\u2019s use and keep it clear of unwanted growth that would shade out the smaller rare plants.<\/p>\n

Joiner\u2019s past experiences in historical research were not usually outdoor exercises, so for him, a break with his decades-long habit of spending long hours in archives, libraries and classrooms has been a refreshing change. It has been like a return to the days of his youth when he was an avid camper, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have really come to enjoy it. I must say I\u2019ve not been bored one split second since I retired.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UHP Scholarship Endowment is a Tribute to Former Professor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-4225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundation","tag-spring-2011"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}