Vinson Institute faculty member Ed Jackson, who specializes in civic and legislative education, received the 2007 President's Award from the Georgia Council for Social Studies (GCSS) during their annual conference held recently in Athens, Georgia. More than 700 educators attended the event.

The GCSS President's Award is given annually to an individual who has displayed an outstanding commitment to furthering social studies education in Georgia and has actively supported the organization with his or her time, talent, and service. Special note was given to Jackson's work in helping bring the GCSS constitution up to date in order to be more effective as a working document and assisting with the production of numerous teacher materials related to the new state social studies curriculum. Jackson is also the co-author of The Georgia Studies Book: Our State and the Nation, the eighth grade social studies textbook published by the Vinson Institute.

In other GCSS conference news, Mary Stakes, director of the Institute's civic education program, presented a teacher workshop around use of the Project Citizen national instructional program and facilitated a session featuring the three teachers who attended the Jimmy Carter presidential commemorative conference held earlier in the year at the University of Georgia.