3/7/03

SULLIVAN AWARD NOMINATIONS DEADLINE MARCH 28 AT AU

AUBURN -- Auburn University is seeking nominations for its highest service awards -- the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards -- which are presented annually to one man and one woman from the graduating class and one non-student.

Nominations are due March 28 for the awards, presented at AU for more than half a century. Established by the New York Southern Society, the awards commemorate a New York lawyer who was known for his kindness to others.

Nominations for the AU awards should include a letter of nomination, a resume or curriculum vitae and newspaper articles or other appropriate documentation.

The nominations should be submitted to:

Sullivan Awards Committee Chair Wes Williams
Vice President for Student Affairs
Cater Hall, Room 200 
Auburn University 
Auburn, AL, 36849

"We need the help of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the university to ensure that deserving men and women are recognized with these prestigious awards," Williams said. "Algernon Sydney Sullivan is remembered for his ideas of heart, mind and conduct as evidenced by a spirit of love and helpfulness to others. We know there are many, many worthy recipients on the Auburn campus and in the Auburn community."

Williams added that two Sullivan Awards are restricted to a man and woman in the graduating class, but the third recipient is not required to have a direct connection to AU.

After his death, The New York Times wrote of Sullivan: "He was looked upon as a man of great ability, of a kindness of heart that could not be measured, of a never ending desire to promote such projects as were for the benefit of the people, and more than all, he was considered as a politician who was absolutely pure."

The New York Southern Society created the award 38 years after Sullivan's death in 1887 to perpetuate his excellence of character and humanitarian service by recognizing those qualities in others.

After his death, the Society sought to honor him and, in 1925, the first Sullivan awards were presented at Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn., now a part of Vanderbilt University

Auburn has been recognizing Sullivan Award winners since 1951. Past student winners include Jim Vickrey, former president of the University of Montevallo; Auburn athletic director David Housel and former Auburn quarterback Patrick Nix, now an assistant football coach at Georgia Tech. Non-student winners have included Roy B. Sewell, prominent Auburn supporter and namesake of AU's athletic dormitory, AU alumnus and retired astronaut Ken Mattingly and Katherine Cater, Auburn's longtime dean of women.

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mar03:AU-sullivan

CONTACT: 334/844-0700.