The College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences soon will have a scholarship honoring the late Georgia Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell.

The scholarship was announced two weeks ago at the Second Annual National Symposium on the Future of American Agriculture, which was held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. Coverdell started the conference last year.

‘I can’t imagine a better way to preserve the legacy of a person

who had a great commitment to Georgia and agriculture,’ said Gale Buchanan, dean and director of the college.

‘It is wonderful that his colleagues wish to remember him this way.’

Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, said the decision to create the scholarship primarily was made by a group of agriculture organization leaders and executive directors.

‘In the Senate, he was a champion for agriculture,’ Hall said.

‘People who had worked with Paul Coverdell wanted to do something in his honor.’

He said the symposium was ‘very close to Coverdell’s heart’ and

was the appropriate place to announce the scholarship.

Hall said the University was chosen for the scholarship because of Coverdell’s interest in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and his strong support of agriculture.

‘UGA is a flagship for students studying in agriculture,’ Hall said.

Louise Hill, coordinator of development and alumni relations for the college, said the process of fund-raising for the scholarships is just getting under way.

Funding for the scholarship will come from agriculture businesses

and associates across the state.

Hill said $10,000 already has been committed to the scholarship fund — the goal is $75,000.

She also said no wide solicitation has taken place yet, but there

has been a positive response.

‘We are very excited to see that the agriculture commission has decided to do this — it’s a fitting tribute

to Sen. Coverdell,’ Hill said.

She said the earliest possible time the scholarship would be available is next fall and will be awarded to a student in the College of Agriculture

and Environmental Sciences every

year.

Hill said one of the reasons the University was chosen for the scholarship is because it is the only place

in Georgia where students can get

an undergraduate degree in

agriculture at a public institution.

‘Sen. Coverdell was a tremendously important person — not just for agriculture — for Georgia,’ Hall said.