Dr. Karl E. Peace, professor of biostatistics and Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar, at the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health Georgia Southern University, recently established the Elsie Mae Cloud Peace Awards for Academic Excellence at Baker County High School in Newton, Georgia. Three students from each from the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades who have the highest grades across all subjects will be recognized with a monetary prize on an annual basis.
The Awards, which honor Dr. Peace’s Mother, were established to serve as an impetus for students to strive for high academic achievement. Mrs. Peace faced many hardships and challenges throughout her life and was able to attend school for only three years. She completed the sixth grade in the three years that she attended school. She became an avid reader throughout her life, reading literally everything she could get her hands on, and she was a major influence to her son in his educational pursuits. Toward the end of her life, she remarked: “There are few places that I’ve visited physically, but there are fewer places I haven’t visited in my mind.”
In 1994, Dr. Peace established The Elsie Mae Cloud Peace Scholarship at Georgia Southern University to honor his mother. Recipients of the scholarship are rising seniors who have demonstrated strength of character amidst hardships. Thus far 59 students have been recipients of the scholarship.
In 2004, Dr. Peace established five scholarship endowments to assist students from his native Baker County to attend Georgia Southern University. These are: The Joe Vines and Bill Tom Reeves scholarships in statistics or computer science; The Christopher K. Peace Scholarship in Political Science; The Mitchell E. Peace Scholarship in Journalism; and The Emily Joan Peace Godbee Scholarship in Nutritional Science. Mr. Vines and Mr. Reeves were Dr. Peace’s high school principal and mathematics teacher, respectively; Christopher, Mitchell, and Joan are Dr. Peace’s Son, Brother and Sister, respectively.