Lance Ozier of Carrollton, Ga. to Receive Young Alumnus of the Year Award from Oglethorpe University

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Lance Ozier

ATLANTA, GA (04/13/2010)(readMedia)-- Oglethorpe University will present Lance Ozier '01 with the Young Alumnus of the Year Award during the 175th Anniversary Gala and Awards Banquet on Friday, April 17, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at The Retreat of Dunwoody at Perimeter Summit in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Young Alumnus of the Year Award is given to a graduate of the last 10 years who has shown leadership and inspired other young alumni through participation in career, public service, volunteer, or continuing education activities.

A native of Carrollton, Georgia and a 2001 graduate of Oglethorpe, Lance Ozier is a research associate with the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching (NCREST), where he manages school improvement initiatives in some of the nation's most vibrant and complex urban districts, including Baton Rouge, Detroit, Atlanta, and New York. Since 1998, Ozier has also coordinated education programs for Project Morry, a youth development program offering 10 years of summer camp and school year support to inner city kids in the New York City area.

While a student at Oglethorpe, Ozier served as president of his freshman and junior classes, belonged to the University Singers and University Playmakers, was the student newspaper business manager, and was active in the Urban Leadership Program. He received the Leader in Action Award in 1999 for his work in the Lynwood Park Community near the OU campus. After graduating from Oglethorpe, Ozier deferred graduate school to pursue teaching in the Southeast's most diverse public elementary school.

For six years, Ozier worked as a founding advisor at the National Academy for Excellent Teaching which partnered with NYC middle and high schools to create a national professional development model now used in more than 300 schools across the country. He received the 2007 Excellence in Summer Learning Award from The Johns Hopkins University in the area of advancing rigorous summer inquiry and project-based learning experiences during out-of-school time.

Ozier now has Master's degrees in Sociology and Education and English Education from Columbia University and he is completing his doctoral studies, also at Columbia. He also is an instructor in teacher education at Teachers College, Columbia University and The City College of New York.

Oglethorpe University

Celebrating the 175th anniversary of its founding in 1835, Oglethorpe University enrolls over 1,000 students representing 34 states and 36 countries. The Princeton Review's The Best 361 Colleges 2010 edition ranks Oglethorpe in its prestigious list, and puts Oglethorpe at #20 for its Professors, #17 for Theatre and #10 for class/race interaction and also names it a Best Southeastern College. Oglethorpe University is Georgia's only coeducational member of the Annapolis Group, an organization of America's most selective liberal arts institutions. Since 2006, Oglethorpe has been named annually to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for commitment to and achievement in community service. The university plays in the NCAA Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Georgia Shakespeare is the professional theater-in-residence at Oglethorpe. Website: www.oglethorpe.edu