President Jake B. Schrum with Linda Scarborough and Clark Thurmond of The The Williamson County Sun

Southwestern has presented its first-ever Georgetown College Award to the Williamson County Sun.

The award was created this year to recognize citizens, organizations or businesses that have worked to make Georgetown seem more like a college town.

"Traditionally, Georgetown has been thought of as a town with a college in it, but not a 'college town,'" said Southwestern University President Jake B. Schrum. "For many years, The Williamson County Sun has made Southwestern University feel like it is part of this town and that Georgetown is a college town."

Linda Scarborough and Clark Thurmond, the co-owners and co-publishers of the paper, accepted the award Feb. 17 at a ceremony held during halftime of the men's basketball game featuring Southwestern versus Centre College.

Fostering better relations with the citizens of Georgetown is one of 22 initiatives of Southwestern University's Strategic Plan for 2010. Last semester, Southwestern students volunteered nearly 11,000 hours to community service work. This year, the University has taken on the challenge of building an entire house for Habitat for Humanity. Southwestern faculty members, administrators and staff members also serve in leadership roles in a wide range of boards, commissions and non-profit organizations in Georgetown.

"Southwestern University has been a vital member of the Georgetown community, in large part because in the 1870s local citizens sacrificed and contributed money to attract the Methodist college to the city," Schrum said in presenting the award. "Later, when there were efforts to relocate the institution to Dallas, again the leaders and citizens of Georgetown worked to keep the college in their town. This award expresses Southwestern's deep and profound appreciation for the legacy of those leaders. We intend to continue the tradition of recognizing the strong mutually rewarding relationship between Southwestern and the Georgetown community."

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