TIFTON—Director of Academic Support Nicholas Urquhart has been selected as the recipient of the E. Lanier Carson Leadership award for the 2021-22 academic year at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
As Director of Academic Support, Urquhart oversees the Academic Support Counselors, Accommodations and Disability Services, the Counseling Center, the Tutoring Center, and the Testing Center.
Urquhart received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Mathematics from Mercer University and a Master of Science degree in Counseling from Springfield College. He is scheduled to complete his doctorate in higher education from Georgia Southern University this month.
Established in 1973, the purpose of the E. Lanier Carson Leadership Award is to recognize leadership contributions of an ABAC administrator who is not eligible for one of the faculty or staff awards. Each year the recipient is selected by a campus-wide committee. Carson is a longtime ABAC supporter.
When presenting the award, ABAC President David Bridges said Urquhart “provides vision and direction in planning, organizing, and leading Academic Support to ensure student success both inside and outside the classroom.”
An ABAC staff member and administrator since 2009, Urquhart believes his team’s most significant accomplishments over the past several years all came about because of the Covid Pandemic.
“Everyone in Academic Support had to adapt to different modalities to help students navigate the changing landscape of higher education,” Urquhart said. “It was tough all over the campus, but Academic Support had some particularly trying challenges.”
Through Urquhart’s leadership, Academic Support has led the charge in streamlining and making process improvements to assist ABAC students.
Some of these improvements include submitting an online single course withdrawal form, an online accommodation testing sign-up for students, secure online exam submittal for faculty, and simplifying and digitizing the Accommodation and Disability process for students.
“I realize that I represent ABAC every time I’m out in public,” Urquhart said. “Conversations and questions tend to find me when I’m out, and I always take the time to converse, answer, and follow-up as appropriate.”
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