[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8285-8286]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL F. ADAMS

 Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today I wish to pay tribute to Dr. 
Michael F. Adams, president of my alma mater, the University of 
Georgia, which is the first State-chartered university in America. Dr. 
Adams is stepping down as president on June 30, 2013, after 16 very 
successful years leading Georgia's flagship university.
  Dr. Adams was named president of UGA on June 11, 1997, and 
immediately focused on making the university one of America's best. 
Under his leadership, student quality has risen dramatically, research 
production has increased significantly, and UGA is serving the people 
of Georgia and our Nation in new and innovative ways. As a result, U.S. 
News & World Report has ranked it as one of America's top 20 public 
research universities in 8 of the past 10 years.
  The UGA campus has been transformed during Dr. Adams' presidency, 
with more than $1.2 billion in new construction, renovation, and 
infrastructure undertaken. He created the UGA Real Estate Foundation as 
a funding mechanism for much needed campus projects. His dedication to 
making UGA's campus one of the most breathtaking in the country is 
apparent. When approaching Sanford Stadium from the west end, two of 
the capital projects that Dr. Adams has undertaken are visible. Not 
only are the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries and the 
expansion of the Tate Center a testament to the growth of the 
university's physical campus, but they also show the president's 
commitment to ensuring that UGA's students have access to state-of-the-
art facilities. It is ``a place of the quality to which we aspire 
should look the part,'' as he has said.
  Dr. Adams has also overseen the construction of the Paul D. Coverdell 
Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, a new Lamar Dodd School of 
Art, an expansion of the Georgia Museum of Art, and the first new 
residence halls on campus in more than 30 years, the East Campus 
Village.
  There has been an expansion of the infrastructure and physical 
footprint under Dr. Adams, and he has also directed an increase in 
growth and diversity of the academic program. Five new colleges or 
schools have been established during his tenure: the School of Public 
and International Affairs, the College of Environment and Design, the 
College of Public Health, the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology, and the 
College of Engineering. Additionally, the UGA Health Sciences campus on 
the former campus of the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School houses the 
College of Public Health, as well as the Georgia Regents University-
University of Georgia Medical Partnership, granting medical degrees in 
Athens for the first time.
  Understanding, appreciating, and sharing the passion with which 
Georgians cheer for the ``Dawgs,'' Dr. Adams has also made sure that 
UGA

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athletics continue the tradition of fielding the most gifted and 
dominant teams and athletes in the country. UGA athletes have won 27 
national championships, 58 Southeastern Conference titles, and 125 
national individual titles while Dr. Adams has been president. He also 
understands that the balance between academics and athletics is not a 
zero-sum game but that each plays a unique role in defining the 
identity of the university.
  Dr. Adams has been an outstanding leader of this institution. During 
his tenure, he has personally or on behalf of the university received 
more than 50 awards in higher education, including the Knight 
Foundation Award for Presidential Leadership and the James T. Rodgers 
Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Southern Association of 
Colleges and Schools.
  I would like to thank and recognize University of Georgia president 
Michael F. Adams for his extraordinary service to the University of 
Georgia and our great State.

                          ____________________