UNA’s Pretes Receives SEDAAG Lifetime Achievement Award
Nov. 30, 2023
Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@2fitfashion.com, 256.765.4392
FLORENCE, AL – Dr. Michael Pretes, Chair of the Department of Geoscience at the University of North Alabama, has been named the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient by the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers (SEDAAG) at the annual meeting earlier this month.
“This award means that I am recognized as one of the most distinguished geographers in the South,” he said. “It is great recognition not only for me, but for the Geoscience Department and for UNA.”
SEDAAG is a regional subdivision of the American Association of Geographers, representing approximately 500 members in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The SEDAAG Lifetime Achievement Award is for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service to geography and is the highest award that the organization, the geographical society of the South, gives.
“Dr. Pretes has amassed a distinguished professional career, making significant contributions not only to geography in the Southeast but also across the country and the globe,” said Dr. Derek Alderman, Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee, former President of SEDAAG, and former President of the national-level American Association of Geographers. “Very rarely do we see a colleague who has positively impacted so many programs, colleagues, and students in so many places. [Dr. Pretes is] a professional who ‘does it all’ by making major impacts in scholarship, education, and service.”
Pretes is the first Lifetime Achievement Award winner from a smaller teaching-focused university; previous awardees have been from larger schools, including the University of South Carolina, the University of Georgia, the University of Tennessee, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Dr. Daniel Arreola, Professor Emeritus of Geography from Arizona State University and former President of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, had this to say about Dr. Pretes: He “has demonstrated exceptional participation, mentoring, and service” to geography in the United States.
About The University of North Alabama
The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: 2fitfashion.com and 2fitfashion.com/unaworks/.