The Gainesville-Hall County Community Council on Aging will honor Martha Nesbitt with its 3rd Annual Quality of Life Award later this year.
Nesbitt was chosen because of her commitment to improving the quality of life for residents throughout Gainesville and Hall County, according to a City of Gainesville press release.
In 1997 Nesbitt became president of Gainesville College, now known as the University of North Georgia Gainesville. She had already distinguished herself in higher education through her work in the University System of Georgia, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and while serving as president of the Georgia Association of Women in Education and the American Association for Women in Community Colleges.
As the collage president, she presided over significant growth such as the opening of a second campus in Oconee County and the transition of the two year college to a state college offering select baccalaureate degrees. One of her proudest achievements was the fact that the college became the first in Georgia and one of the first in the country to become tobacco-free.
Nesbitt continued her professional activities after coming to Gainesville by serving on the board of the American Council on Education, Art Institute of Houston, John Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education as well as chairing Visiting Teams for SACS. She also became involved in many community activities, serving on several boards, chairing the Fund Drive for United Way and serving as president of the Northeast Georgia History Center.
Her awards include the Outstanding Woman of the Year awarded by AAWCC, President of the Year by AAWCC, the Silver Shovel Award from the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce, Business Woman of the Year by the American Business Women’s Association, Meritorious Service Award from SACS, Turknet Leadership Character Award in Education, named the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia’s Woman of Distinction, the Northeast Georgia Boy Scouts’ Ralph Cleveland Distinguished Citizen, and Gainesville Rotary Club’s Woman of the Year.
Even after retirement, Nesbitt has remained active by serving as chairman of the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission, serving on the Executive Committee of the Northeast Georgia Health System’s Board, serving on the boards of Lakeview Academy and Elachee Nature Science Center and is active in the Wisdom Keepers, especially the ITNLanier project.
The 2017 Quality of Life Ceremony will be held at the First Baptist Gainesville Banquet Hall on Thursday September 14 at 6:00. For sponsorship and ticket information, contact Phillippa Lewis Moss at 770-503-3340.
