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By Sharron Hannon
Two faculty members have been named Senior Faculty Fellows for the Foundation Fellows Program, the university’s premier undergraduate scholarship program.
 Susan Wessler, a professor of botany and genetics and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and David Puett, head of the biochemistry and molecular biology department, will begin four-year terms serving as mentors and role models to Foundation Fellows.
They join a group of seven other Senior Faculty Fellows that includes Conrad Fink, journalism; Peter Jorgensen, Germanic and Slavic languages; Paul Kurtz, law; Janet Westpheling, genetics; Betty Jean Craige, comparative literature; Ed Larson, history and law; and Tom Polk, art. Faculty Fellows meet with their assigned Foundation Fellows individually and as a group throughout the year.
“Being invited to be a Senior Faculty Fellow is a singular honor,” says Jere Morehead, associate provost and director of the Honors Program and the Foundation Fellows Program. “The Faculty Fellows are among the most distinguished scholars and teachers at the University of Georgia.”
The number of Senior Faculty Fellows will grow as the Foundation Fellows Program grows, says Steve Elliott-Gower, associate director of the program. Currently, there are 60 Foundation Fellows, including 18 freshmen.
The Foundation Fellows Program was established by University of Georgia Foundation trustees in 1972 and is supported by a $47 million endowment. Foundation Fellowships were created to attract students with outstanding academic credentials to the university. The current Foundation Fellows have an average SAT score of 1492, and three Fellows scored a perfect 1600. The group includes 16 valedictorians, two co-valedictorians and eight salutatorians.
Two Foundation Fellows have been named Rhodes Scholars within the past four years. Other recent national honors attained by the group include five Barry M. Goldwater Scholars, two Truman Scholars, three Phi Kappa Phi National Graduate Fellowships, two Fulbright Grant recipients, two Morris K. Udall Scholars, an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship, an SEC Post-Graduate Fellowship, two Rotary Scholars and a Mellon Fellowship.
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