Student Honorary Presents Prestigious Award to President

The Garnet and Gold Key student leadership honorary presented the 2009 Ross Oglesby Award to The Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell at the FSU Alumni Association’s Homecoming Awards Breakfast on Oct. 31.

Garnet and Gold Key, the university’s oldest honorary, presents the award each year during Homecoming to a nominated member of the faculty or staff who has served students and the university with exemplary commitment and integrity for a decade or more. In keeping with tradition, the honorary keeps the identity of the winner a closely guarded secret until the award presentation.

Wetherell, who earned three degrees from FSU including his doctorate in education administration, was both surprised and honored, said Arielle Haynes, president of Garnet and Gold Key.

“T.K Wetherell is one of the most vocal and high-spirited presidents this university has ever seen,” Haynes said, citing his advocacy of the university during his prior service as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and the launch of one of Wetherell’s crowning achievements as president: the innovative and ambitious Pathways of Excellence initiative. It focuses on hiring additional faculty in interdisciplinary clusters, renovating and building new facilities -- including $400 million of new construction during his tenure -- and investing in graduate programs with an emphasis on creating new interdisciplinary doctoral programs.

William Woodyard, a College of Business research associate in business law and real estate and Garnet and Gold Key’s faculty adviser, said it is appropriate that Wetherell receive the prestigious award.

“Dr. Wetherell’s service is punctuated by his unwavering commitment and leadership to the university and its students during a time of exponential digital and economic change,” he said. “He is a man who has not chosen a life of ease but a life of hard work and toil, service and commitment.”

Wetherell, who became FSU’s 13th president in January 2003, announced in June his intention to resign the presidency. A national search is currently under way for a new president, and Wetherell will be appointed as a tenured professor in the College of Education and president emeritus when his successor takes office.

A career educator, Wetherell will leave the presidency after more than 35 years of experience in higher education. Wetherell previously served as president of Tallahassee Community College from 1995 until 2001. Under his leadership, TCC doubled its enrollment and the gross square footage of the main campus. He pioneered innovative academic programs and led the college into the top 25 community colleges in the nation in awarding associate’s degrees. Before assuming the presidency at TCC, he was president of Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida; served as provost and dean of instruction at Daytona Beach Community College; and as an associate professor of education at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach.

He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1980 to 1992, the last two years as House Speaker. During his tenure in the House, he served as chairman of the appropriations committee and the higher education committee, and the Miami Herald named him one of the Top Ten Legislative Leaders in the House each year from 1987 through 1992.

Florida State’s Oglesby Award was established in honor of Ross Oglesby, a member of the leadership honorary, who served as dean of students and professor of government before he died in 1973.