2012 Distinguished Service Award

Sharon Nickols, "Sustained Leadership within AAFCS"

Dr. Sharon Y. Nickols has served the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences in numerous and notable ways. She served as President of AAFCS from 2002-2003. She has been involved in discussions and scholarly debates regarding the future of the profession and the professional association. In 2005, she was an active participant of the Future Search Summit and on the Steering Committee from 2004-2005. As the profession and the professional association have changed and evolved over time, Dr. Nickols has participated and led discussions focused on the task of defining who we are and what we do. Two examples include her service in the role as Chair of the Body of Knowledge Task Force since 2002 and facilitator of the Conference on the Family and Consumer Sciences Body of Knowledge in 2000.

She has maintained the academic integrity of FCS programs across the country as a participant on site accreditation teams. Dr. Nickols has a wide breadth of international experience as she has presented at conferences around the world and participated in the Fulbright program as a lecturer in the Department of Home Economics at the University of Malawi. She is actively involved in the International Federation of Home Economics serving as a keynote speaker and research presenter at multiple conferences. In 2010, she received the Nellie Kedzie Jones Lifetime Achievement Award from the Board on Human Sciences, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

Dr. Nickols has made significant scholarly contributions through her writings and presentations. In 2001, she gave the Commemorative Lecture along with Dr. Carol Anderson at the AAFCS Annual Meeting entitled “The essence of our being: Head, heart, and soul” which captured the mission of the profession and practicing professionals. She served as one of the editors for the 2001 publication Themes in Family and Consumer Sciences: A Book of Readings containing a compilation of writings influencing the profession now and in the future. During the Centennial Celebration, Dr. Nickols’ wrote and spoke about the history of the profession in multiple ways by examining the contributions of previous leaders and how we can learn from history to influence our public policy efforts in present times.

Dr. Nickols served as Dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia from 1991-2006. She currently serves as the Janette M. Barber Distinguished Professor in the Department of Housing and Consumer Economics at the University of Georgia. Some of her professional memberships include the Georgia Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, the International Federation for Home Economics, the Association of Administrators of Human Sciences, Council of Administrators of Family and Consumer Sciences, the National Council on Family Relations, Kappa Omicron Nu, and Phi Upsilon Omicron.

Dr. Nickols is a distinguished scholar and member of the profession. She has attained superior achievements, made outstanding contributions to the profession, and sustained leadership within AAFCS.

AAFCS is proud to honor Sharon Nickols as a Distinguished Service Award Recipient.