Augusta University’s President Brooks Keel has recently awarded a prestigious award to a lifetime literacy advocate in honor of her outstanding support and philanthropy to the university.
The 2024 President’s Award, the highest award given each year to friends and supporters of Augusta University, has been dedicated to the late Paulette P. Harris, the founding director of the Dr. Paulette P. Harris Literacy Center.
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A devoted philanthropist, Harris generously started donating time and resources to Augusta College in 1974, before the legacy institution became Augusta University.
For four decades, Harris helped raise funds to support the Literacy Center, located at 631 Chafee Ave, prior to her passing in 2021.
“We are forever grateful for the contributions of Dr. Harris to Augusta University and this community, and today we acknowledge her philanthropy through the President’s Award,” Keel said.
On May 2, Steve Ruby accepted the president’s award on behalf of his late wife.
“Paulette put so much of her life into the literacy center. She started from zero and grew the oak tree and, despite any complications, always managed to come out on top,” Ruby said.
Harris first began helping the community in 1990, in a small building on Magnolia Drive near the university’s Forest Hills Campus. Within this building, she assisted adults struggling with literacy by providing them with a facility that provided free resources and support.
“Paulette had such a passion for learning, and she strived to make certain that everyone she encountered had the skills they needed to succeed,” Ruby said.
She soon began instructing children as well, and her 31 years of effort grew to impact thousands, according to a press release from Augusta University.
During her career at AU, Harris served as a faculty member, a director and chairperson of clinical/field experiences, a certification officer and interim dean of the then College of Education.
Harris also served as the distinguished Cree-Walker Professor of Education Chair for more than 20 years, and was the longest-serving tenured faculty member of the University System of Georgia at the time of her death.
In remembrance of Harris’ community contributions, Ruby named AU’s literacy center the Dr. Paulette P. Harris Literacy Center to commemorate her legacy.
“Dr. Paulette Harris understood that literacy would not just open books, but it would also open doors of opportunity for thousands of children, adolescents and adults,” said Keel. “Her memory lives on through the center’s mission and name.”
For more information about AU’s literacy center, visit: https://www.augusta.edu/education/literacy-center/
