Dr. Anne Price Earns Blazer Creed Award for Citizenship

Dr. Anne Price, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthroplogy, and Criminal Justice, Undergraduate Sociology Program coordinator, and Graduate Sociology Program coordinator, is pictured here with Dr. Richard A. Carvajal, president of VSU.

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University recently recognized an elite group of students, faculty, and staff for their steadfast commitment to uphold The Blazer Creed in everything they do, both on campus and in the community — and Dr. Anne Price, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, was one of them.

As the Blazer Creed states, VSU is a learning environment based on trust and mutual respect, in which open dialogue, vigorous debate, and the free exchange of ideas are welcome. The university is dedicated to the core values of community, including a commitment to practice the following:

Civility — A Blazer shows courtesy and compassion as well as respect for the dignity of every human being.

Integrity — Each Blazer is responsible for his or her own actions, and our community is stronger when we contemplate the context of our decisions and uphold the principles of trust and honesty.

Citizenship — Every Blazer has an interest in the wellbeing of the community and, therefore, a duty to stay informed, to make positive contributions, and to offer support to those who need help.

Price serves as a shining example of what it means to be a Blazer, to treat others with good manners, to act with honesty and have strong moral principles, and to work hard and help others.

BLAZER CREED AWARD FOR CITIZENSHIP

Dr. Anne Price, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, Undergraduate Sociology Program coordinator, and Graduate Sociology Program coordinator

VSU News: Who nominated you for this award?

Dr. Anne Price: I was nominated for this award by two colleagues in the sociology program — AJ Ramirez, lecturer in sociology, and Ellis Logan, assistant professor in sociology.

VSU News: What does being a good citizen mean to you?

Dr. Anne Price: To me, being a good citizen is more than a mindset; it is something that we have to actively practice and prioritize in all of our routine interactions. Good citizens seek to make positive contributions in all of their communities by assessing what the needs are and how they can best be of service. In terms of the university community, good citizens are cooperative, attentive listeners, and skilled at taking on alternative perspectives, whether they are a student in a classroom or an instructor. They may lead and serve on committees, provide feedback (to their students, or as students, to their instructors), and they maintain an awareness of the challenges facing their communities and global society. Good citizens identify problems and take on tasks that need to be done, even if they are not explicitly their responsibility, and they make time for meaningful interactions. VSU has a strong culture of citizenship, and I love to see our students notice this. In sociology, they see the way in which our faculty support our students and each other, and I have been told, “I love the way y’all are always talking each other up.”

VSU News: What went through your mind when you learned you had won this award?

Dr. Anne Price: I was honored to learn that I had received an ethics award, but I didn’t know who had nominated me. At the award ceremony I had a chance to hear one of the letters a colleague had written nominating me for the award. When I learned that I had been nominated for my service work coordinating our sociology programs, I felt very grateful to work with such supportive faculty. It was very special to hear that my colleagues recognized and appreciated my work to support our programs.

The Nominations

Dr. Price’s influence in the community has been evident from the outset of her career. With a background in sociology, Dr. Price has demonstrated her natural skills for community cohesiveness and higher education throughout her career. Joining the faculty and staff of Valdosta State University in 2013, she expanded her experience in working with classroom experiential learning and conducting outreach with stakeholder communities. In 2016, she started her current position as the sociology and anthropology coordinator for graduate studies and then agreed to step up once again and take on the role of coordinator for undergraduate studies in 2019.

Dr. Price is frequently putting others above herself, such as department and university needs as well as student needs. She is frequently seen in her office working with students and making accommodations to promote student success at both the micro and macro levels. Her willingness and leadership far exceed the standard, and you will never hear Dr. Price mention that the load is too much or too hard. She is a colleague that I deeply respect and value on our campus.

Dr. Price leverages both her energy and her communication skills to create environments of trust and collaboration and encourage innovation. Just this year, on top of her exemplary work and service on our campus, Dr. Price was elected vice president of the PTO for one of the city schools. She serves to help children and their parents navigate within the education system while building strong relationships with our community and the city school system. She has also been a champion of building bridges and connections between our campus and the greater Valdosta area. I cannot think of finer recipient of the Blazer Creed Award for Citizenship than Dr. Anne Price. She makes our campus shine by her deep commitment to community engagement.

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When I think of the employment of citizenship according to the Blazer Creed, Dr. Anne Price stands above all the rest. She exemplifies what it means to be a good university citizen. She has been the coordinator for the graduate program for five-plus years, and she has coupled that with the undergrad coordinator for three years. Thus, she has been serving as both coordinators for some time, which is certainly a large task in normal circumstances, but took on an even larger time commitment during the pandemic. She met the challenges with a smile and a positive attitude. A good coordinator is vital to a healthy department, and during her time in this role, she was able to oversee growth in our major enrollment and the development of our successful 4+1 master’s program. She has overseen graduate research projects and saw several of the students she mentored win awards at the research symposium in 2020. Much of the work she does for our department flies under the radar, and she never seeks recognition or promotes herself. She is the model of citizenship as these tasks, to her, are part of being a good steward for our program. She is an exemplary citizen even when no one else is looking.

Anne is a role model to her students, as she provides excellent teaching and goes about her work the right way. She is cheerful, supportive, empathetic, gracious, and diligent. She is also a role model to junior faculty like myself and always willing to help mentor and guide me as a young professor. She doesn’t just speak of change and social justice; she shows it daily in her dedication to our students and addressing social inequalities. Specifically, her applied sociology course focuses on community betterment by addressing issues related to food access and walkable communities. Gandhi said that to make the world more just we should be the change we wish to see in the world. Anne Price conducts herself in this manner, and this quality is recognized by all who interact with her.

Anne interacts and engages will all members of the campus community equally. She is respectful, courteous, and kind to all Blazers from our dean to our custodian, from our first-year students to our finishing master students. Her door is always open, she will never turn down an opportunity to help her students or colleagues, and she provides guidance and mentorship to junior faculty like myself.  

As a former winner of the Blazer Creed Award for Citizenship, I believe Dr. Anne Price really should be recognized. Quite frankly, while I aim to always conduct myself with the highest level of citizenship on campus, my model is Dr. Price. As a society we need to recognize the people doing great work who do not tend to recognize/promote themselves. Dr. Price is one of the humblest and gracious people I have ever met, and I cannot imagine someone who exemplifies the traits of a good community citizen more than Dr. Price.