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Austin Peterson Earns Annie Powe Hopper Award at VSU

Austin Peterson of Homerville, Georgia, is the recipient of Valdosta State University’s 2023-2024 Annie Powe Hopper Award. He is pictured with Dr. Richard A. Carvajal, president of VSU, and Dr. Sheri Noviello, interim provost and vice president for the Division of Academic Affairs.

VALDOSTA — Austin Peterson of Homerville, Georgia, is the recipient of Valdosta State University’s 2023-2024 Annie Powe Hopper Award.

Peterson was recognized during VSU’s annual Academic Honors and Awards Dinner on April 25.

“Winning this award is truly the greatest single moment of my tenure,” he said.

Known as the highest honor bestowed upon a VSU student, the Annie Powe Hopper Award is presented annually to a senior who represents the university’s high academic standards and exemplifies its traditions of excellence. It was first presented on May 2, 1962, and is named in honor of the institution’s first dean of women, who arrived at what was then known as South Georgia State Normal College in 1920 as a teacher.

South Georgia State Normal College became a four-year institution in 1922 and the name was changed to Georgia State Womans College. In the role of dean of women, Hopper insisted on proper etiquette in all areas from behavior to dress. She believed that a college education afforded students the opportunity to engage in a higher level of knowledge and the pursuit of an advanced critical thinking process, and she guided her female students to make choices that were noble and worthwhile in their lives. She retired in 1943, seven years before the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia declared the institution a coeducational one and changed the name to Valdosta State College.

Peterson graduated May 4 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He plans to continue his education at VSU and pursue a Master of Public Administration.

Highlights of his time as a VSU student include the following:

- Participating in the Model United Nations trip to Washington, D.C.

- Presenting “Turnout Across the State: What Factors Predict Turnout Rates Across Georgia’s 159 Counties” and “The Bully Pulpit and Theodore Roosevelt: The Effectiveness of Spoken Word and Public Policymaking at VSU’s Undergraduate Research Symposium.

- Working as a tutor with the Academic Support Center and helping his fellow students succeed in their classes.

- Receiving word that his research was being published in Omnino, VSU’s Undergraduate Research Journal.

- Learning German under Dr. David Starling, director of the English Language Institute and lecturer of German and Public Administration, and gaining new friends.

When asked about his support system and the role that played in his academic and personal success, Peterson replied, “My friends, my family, and my community have taken major roles in helping me build as a person and as a student. High school friends like Charles Stephens and college friends like Hunter Norman and Steven Covington have allowed me to relax and step away from the academic stress of constantly working toward graduation.

“The VSU faculty has also played a major role, specifically Dr. Joseph Robins, head of the Department of Political Science, Dr. James LaPlant, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and professor of Political Science, and Dr. Marc Pufong, professor of public law and political science. Each one shaped the student that I am today, especially Dr. Pufong, who nominated me for the Annie Powe Hopper Award.

“My family, though, has been the greatest rock that I have used to center myself upon. My mother and father, Crystal and Winston Peterson, have done so much to provide an environment that fostered my desire to continue improving academically. The rest of my family further provided a sense of community through our weekly Sunday dinners. Though the person who has already had my back, through thick and thin, has been my partner, Andrew Bennet. I truly could not have been in this position, if any one of those mentioned above had not been in my life. Each of them has my thanks, and I am in their debt.”