Jerry Adams, associate director for Residence Life in University Housing, was recently awarded the Southeastern Association of Housing Officers (SEAHO) Founders Award, one of the most prestigious awards given by the association.
Jerry Adams – SEAHO Founders Award 2021
Jerry is a graduate of Appalachian State University. He has dedicated much of his career at UTK to University Housing, serving in various roles, including hall director, area coordinator, assistant director, and associate director.
“SEAHO has been my professional home since I attended my first conference as a young professional,” said Jerry. “I have had the opportunity to serve the organization over almost three decades through many different roles. Each role has given me the opportunity to work with and learn from housing professionals throughout the southeast. The SEAHO Family is a wonderful network of colleagues and friends who are always an email or phone call away. To receive the Founder’s Award from SEAHO has been a very humbling experience because it represents living the values that our organization’s founders believed. I appreciate my professional colleagues from around the southeast nominating me.”
The SEAHO Founders award gives special recognition to an individual within SEAHO who, through dedicated service and initiative to SEAHO, has epitomized the work and endeavors of the founders of the Southeastern Association of Housing Officers.
“There are few people more deserving of this honor than Jerry Adams,” said Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Life & Executive Director for University Housing, Chandra Myrick. “I am so excited he has been recognized for the amazing service he has provided SEAHO through the years. Jerry has not only served in various leadership roles within the association, but he truly values the history of SEAHO. Jerry has made lasting contributions by celebrating those who came before him, working to better the association today, and building a legacy that will benefit the next generation of housing professionals. I am very proud of Jerry for this remarkable accomplishment.”
In a nomination letter by Kathy Bush Hobgood, assistant VP and executive director of University Housing & Dining at Clemson University shared the following in a nomination letter: “Having spent much of the last decade studying association history and reading the words of our founders, in their original bad handwriting, I feel uniquely qualified to vouch that Jerry Adams is a professional whose experience, service, and spirit is absolutely worthy of this honor.”
Similar sentiments also came from Gavin Roark, of Residential Life and Housing at Virginia Commonwealth University, stating “His legacy within the association will stand for years to come. He is a staple at the annual conference and can often be seen walking the rows of the exhibit hall or program area in his traditional University of Tennessee orange. The Founders Award is about recognizing the person that has epitomized the work of the founders. I can without a doubt state that Jerry Adams fits that description in every way imaginable.”
SEAHO is affiliated with the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International (ACUHO-I), the largest organization for housing and residence life professionals.