About | About Dr. Schweitzer| Dr. Gerry Shinn, Professor Emeritus | Award Recipients
The purpose of this award is to recognize a person in the Cape Fear area who exemplifies the attributes and ideals of Albert Schweitzer. The UNCW Honors Scholars Program nominates an individual each year to deliver a lecture to the Honors Scholars Freshman Seminar class in the fall semester. This person will also be recognized at that time for his or her contributions to the region or community and named the “Albert Schweitzer Honors Scholar.”
First awarded in 1975, the Albert Schweitzer International Prizes were presented at UNC Wilmington to individuals who reflected Dr. Schweitzer's philosophy of “reverence for life” and who excelled in his areas of expertise, namely medicine, the humanities, and music. Prizes were awarded from 1975 to 1993.
Although the prizes were discontinued, the Albert Schweitzer International Prizes Board of Directors wanted to create a legacy for these awards. In 2002, Randall Library and the UNCW Honors Scholars Program proposed the Albert Schweitzer Honors Scholars Awards to continue the spirit of the Albert Schweitzer International Prizes.
Physician, lover of animals, minister, scholarly theologian, environmentalist, accomplished organist and musical scholar, anti-nuclear activist, philosopher, husband, father, friend -- these are the many facets of Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Born in Germany in 1875, Albert Schweitzer based his personal philosophy on the ideal of “reverence for life.” As a medical missionary, he spent years of his life in French Equatorial Africa, establishing a remarkable hospital in Lambarene, Gabon. Albert Schweitzer received numerous awards for his humanitarian efforts-including the Nobel Prize in 1952 and Britain’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Merit, in 1955.
In the words of his friend Albert Einstein, Schweitzer "did not preach and did not warn and did not dream that his example would be an ideal and comfort to innumerable people. He simply acted out of inner necessity."
Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principal of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and that to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil. Affirmation of the world--that is, affirmation of the will-to-live which appears in phenomenal form all around me--is only possible for me in that I give myself out for other life. Without understanding the meaning of the world, I act from an inner necessity of my being so as to create values and to live ethically. For in life-affirmation and in ethics, I fulfill the will of the universal will-to-live which reveal itself to me.” (attributed to Albert Schweitzer , September 1965, a week before his death)
A self-described teacher of "young-uns" (an affectionate term he used for his students), Gerald Shinn taught in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at UNCW from 1967 to 1995. He came to UNCW after receiving his Ph.D. from Duke University in Mediaeval Church History in 1964.
While at UNCW, Dr. Shinn won numerous teaching awards: Outstanding Teacher of the Year, UNCW Board of Trustees Teaching Excellence Award, Professor of the Year Award (Silver Medal) from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education in Washington, D.C., the UNCW Student Government Association Teaching Award, and the UNCW Distinguished Teaching Professorship. Dr. Shinn also received the O. Max Gardner Award in 1994. It is the University of North Carolina’s highest honor for faculty who have “made the greatest contributions to the welfare of the human race.” To date, Dr. Shinn is the only UNCW faculty member to be so honored.
Dr. Shinn has been recognized for his service to the local, national, and international communities. In addition to establishing the Albert Schweitzer International Prizes, he created the UNCW Museum of World Cultures, the North Carolina Living Treasure Program, the National Living Treasure Program, and the North Carolina Educational, Historical, and Scientific Foundation.
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 chief executive officer of Coastal Horizons Center, Inc., dedicated to providing crisis intervention and substance abuse prevention outreach services in the Wilmington area
2005: Susan Dankel
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 and many other worthy causes.
