{"id":4684,"date":"2013-12-12T14:44:44","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T19:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/dev-mag\/?p=1360"},"modified":"2016-02-02T12:01:25","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T17:01:25","slug":"inspired-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2013\/12\/12\/inspired-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspired Giving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brannen\"<\/a>George K. Brannen has a passion \u2014 helping to make great students better.<\/p>\n

And in an effort to fulfill his goal of helping young people excel, Brannen has created the George K. Brannen English Scholar’s Award and the George K. Brannen Department of Writing and Linguistics Award for students interested in pursuing careers in English and writing.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he established the George K. Brannen Center for Addiction Recovery Endowment for students working to obtain their degree through the University\u2019s Center for Addiction Recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have waited until I passed on to endow these scholarships, but there is just a part of me that would like to see results from it,\u201d he said. And he has, by sitting in a classroom with the students who benefit from these awards.<\/p>\n

Brannen isn\u2019t a professor, but a student, well on his way to completing degrees in English and writing and linguistics that he began working on at Georgia Southern 40 years ago. He is also retired after working many years in oil fields out west and in Canada. His first attempt as a student was unsuccessful after he began experimenting with alcohol and other substances, he said, which is why he felt it important to help students struggling with similar problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I failed out of Georgia Southern in 1973 is because of that exact problem \u2014 addiction. I think that people who really want to work to overcome that deserve a second chance,\u201d he said. \u201cIt definitely affected me, but I came out okay, and it doesn\u2019t mean other people can\u2019t do that. Sometimes they just need a little help, and I see this program as a giant step forward for students here at Georgia Southern.\u201d<\/p>\n

The endowment is even more personal for Brannen after not only overcoming addiction, but also surviving cancer and a liver transplant. He made the award official on the 10th anniversary of his transplant.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen years ago I had cancer, and that had a lot to do with 1973 because of the direction I chose to go in with certain substances. I ended up having a liver transplant, and I try to tell people maybe they don\u2019t need to go that route,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And while helping students who struggle with addiction gain a second chance at an education is important to him, Brannen believes even more in inspiring students who are interested in English and writing to become future educators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s really important to encourage students who are interested in becoming English teachers because I can\u2019t fathom going through my life not being able to read or write. I\u2019ve worked with people in my life that are totally illiterate \u2014 adults who can\u2019t read or write,\u201d he said of his decision to endow the awards in the Department of Literature and Philosophy and in the Department of Writing and Linguistics. \u201cPeople do it every day, and I just don\u2019t see how they manage. So if I can help that issue in some way, I just think that\u2019s a good deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd another reason I do this is because I know there are a lot of colleges and universities that center scholarships around sports \u2014 and that is very important,\u201d Brannen continued. \u201cBut truth be known, nothing would get done if you didn\u2019t have reading, writing, arithmetic, science and those basic subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n

But most of all, Brannen said he enjoys knowing his contribution will impact future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what I\u2019m trying to do here is make my life count for something. I don\u2019t want to come into the world and leave and not have done anything,\u201d Brannen said. \u201cAnd if I can help change someone\u2019s life, then that\u2019s a good deal. If that person can go on to help someone learn to read or write, that\u2019s an even better deal.\u201d – Crissie Elrick<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Brannen has Overcome to Give Back<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-4684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundation","tag-fall-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684","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=4684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}