J.W. Fanning, vice president-emeritus for services of The University of Georgia, died July 27, 1997, at the age of 91. Regarded as one of the "giants" of UGA's commitment to public service and outreach, Fanning, and his work, bettered the lives of Georgians, through his 74-year relationship with UGA (he enrolled in the College of Agriculture in 1923).
Fanning served UGA's Cooperative Extension Service and helped develop the "100 Better Farms Program" for Cason Callaway in the 1940s. In the 1950s (1954-1956), Fanning served as associate director of the Division of Community Services at the just-forming Georgia Center for Continuing Education. In 1956, he became department head and division chair of agricultural economics for UGA's College of Agriculture. In 1961, he founded and served as the first director of UGA's Institute for Community and Area Development (ICAD). In 1965, Fanning became UGA's first vice president for services, the position from which he retired in 1971.
After "retirement," Fanning helped found Leadership Georgia, one of the first statewide leadership programs in the country. To commemorate and continue his work and his ideals of leadership, UGA named its leadership center for him in 1985. The "Introduction" from a recent publication about the Fanning Leadership Center begins:
Georgia's past, present, and future are embodied in the life and work of J.W. Fanning and the Fanning Leadership Center of The University of Georgia. John William Fanning, born in 1905 in Wilkes County, Georgia, is credited by many as the individual who made the greatest positive contribution to Georgia's economy in the 20th century through his leadership and commitment to rural and community development. Considered the father of community leadership development in Georgia, Fanning's pillars of leadership and vision for the future provide the foundation for the Fanning Leadership Center . . . .
Of the many adages attributed to Fanning, one of the most well-known was: "Stay alive as long as you live!"
As mentioned, Fanning served as associate director for the Division of Community Services at the Georgia Center from 1954 to 1956, in the Center's "pre-building" stages (opening in 1957). Through his other posts at UGA, Fanning was always involved with the Georgia Center, helping in any way he could, as related in the following by S. Eugene Younts, UGA's vice president for public service and outreach, who shared a few thoughts with the Georgia Center Quarterly about Fanning.
J. W. Fanning was closely associated with the developments that led to construction of the first phase of the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, and he served as one of its first associate directors in the area of community services and development. O. C. Aderhold, president of the University in the early 1950s, gave Fanning and M.W.H. Collins, Jr., a professor of political science, the challenge of recommending a design for the building, as part of the University's overall effort to involve the constituents of the Georgia Center--the Center staff, University staff and faculty, and various groups throughout the state--in the planning of the Georgia Center.
The two of them traveled all over Georgia telling of the plans for the Center and seeking input from the citizens of the state about what they thought the components of such a facility should be. As a result of this people-to-people journey, the Center began as a product of the people, an intimacy that is very much alive today. President Aderhold admonished the two faculty members, and the Georgia Center planning committees, to bring forth a plan that would last for a 100 years.
The Kellogg Foundation advised the planners that they were not interested in just another continuing education building. What they were seeking was a University that had both strong liberal arts and agricultural programs so as to unite these in a broad continuing education program. A key factor was to emulate what Cooperative Extension had done throughout the nation in a broader liberal arts extension.
A major contribution of Fanning in the early days of the Center was as a liaison with the agricultural extension people, who were somewhat wary that this new Center might invade their territory. Fanning helped develop a modus vivendi between the two elements. (In March of 1954, when Fanning was appointed the Center's associate director for the Division of Community Services, Collins was also appointed as an associate director, for the Division of Evaluation.) The notion of community development and services as an educational outreach program at the University was born at the Georgia Center. It was not until the early 1960s that this activity was transferred largely to the Institute of Community and Area Development, also founded by Fanning.
The contributions of Fanning to the growth and development of continuing education at the University and throughout the state were many and over a long period of time. He was dedicated to the concept that the Center is the window through which the faculty meets its sponsoring society, and the Center should never lose sight of its responsibility to provide continuing education opportunities for citizens from all walks of life. Fanning loved the Georgia Center, being a frequent visitor until he passed away.
There is an interesting story about Fanning and the Center told by Collins. This occurred the first time the dining room was opened to the public. The crowd was much larger than anticipated, resulting in a shortage of persons to serve the customers! Just before pandemonium set in, Fanning and two other administrators donned aprons...and saved the day.
Web administrator: webmaster@gactr.uga.edu All contents copyright © 1997 University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education. All rights reserved. Last revised: Thu, Sep 18, 1997, 2:15 PM URL: http://www.gactr.uga.edu/GCQ/gcqsum97/fanning.html