Monday, July 11, 2011

The Honors Scholars Program and Randall Library at the University of North Carolina Wilmington seek nominations from the Cape Fear region for the 2011 Albert Schweitzer Honors Scholar Award. The program recognizes the recipient's contributions to the region and/or communities within the region. Award recipients exemplify the attributes and ideals of Nobel laureate Albert Schweitzer by making a difference in the areas of medicine, music or humanitarian efforts and reflecting Schweitzer's philosophy of "reverence for life."

Schweitzer said, "Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and that to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil." A missionary doctor who established a hospital in French Equatorial Africa, where he spent much of his life, Schweitzer received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1952.

To submit a nomination for this year's award, send an e-mail with the nominee's name and contact information, your own contact information and a brief description of the nominee's contributions to the community and region to honors@uncw.edu. The nomination deadline is
Aug. 5. For more information, contact the Honors Scholars program at 910.962.4181.

As part of the award, the recipient will be invited to deliver the 2010 Schweitzer Lecture to the Honors Scholars Program freshman class in November.

Past recipients of the Albert Schweitzer Honors Scholars Award are:

2002: Gerald Shinn, Ph.D.: Professor emeritus of philosophy and religion, University of North Carolina Wilmington, founder of the Albert Schweitzer International Prizes

2003: Kenneth White, M.D.: Wilmington physician and board certified plastic surgeon, leader of numerous medical mission trips to the Dominican Republic

2004: Margaret Weller-Stargell: President and CEO of Coastal Horizons Center, providing crisis intervention and substance abuse prevention outreach services in the Wilmington area

2005: Susan Dankel: Former general manager, WHQR Public Radio, dedicated to enhancing the experience of music for the residents of southeastern North Carolina.

2006: Mary Isaac Koenig, S.U.: Humanitarian and committed social activist with St. Mary Social Outreach Program, serving the needy of the Wilmington area

2007: Jock Brandis: Author, film technician, inventor of the Malin Peanut Sheller, and founder of the Full Belly Project, a non-profit organization that designs and distributed unique appropriate technologies to improve the lives of people in developing countries

2008: Jean Beasley: Founder and executive director of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center at Topsail Island, NC

2009: Reverend Don Skinner, Founder of Phoenix Employment Ministries, a non-profit that empowers the homeless to become job ready and maintain employment and self-sufficiency

2010: Jimmy Pierce, founder and director of Kids Making It, a non-profit program to empower at-risk youth and help them grow into responsible, employed, law-abiding citizens

Media contacts:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.508.3127 or fischettid@uncw.edu

Kate Bruce, UNCW Honors Scholars Program, 910.962.4181 or honors@uncw.edu