Jack Averitt joined the faculty at then Georgia Southern Teachers College in 1949. He was part of the transition to Georgia Southern College in 1959 and remained a professor emeritus of History following his retirement from Georgia Southern in 1979, and later dean emeritus of the Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies, until his passing in 2007.

On Monday, Georgia Southern University graduate student Janely Lopez spoke to members of the Bulloch County Historical Society at their monthly meeting inside the Pittman Park UMC Fellowship Hall about her research into the iconic figure entitled – “More Than a Teachers College: Dr. Jack N. Averitt’s Influence on GSU.”

Lopez was assigned to look more closely into Dr. Averitt’s impact on Georgia Southern and has the official title of Averitt Oral History graduate assistant. Dr. Averitt and his wife Addie kept detailed scrapbooks of their work, civic and personal lives and Lopez became the first to look at them from a historical perspective.

“When I first began, I was told to go read Dr. Averitt’s autobiography and go from there,” she said.

She then began going through the more than 20 scrapbooks that are kept at the Statesboro home in Woodlawn subdivision that the Averitt’s lived in and is now preserved as part of Georgia Southern’s and the city’s historical record and as “a learning classroom of local history.”

Lopez said she has gone through 14 of the scrapbooks, so far.

“I continue to be amazed as I learn more about his life and how he helped the university and the community,” she said. “I think I have only researched about one-fifth of what Dr. Averitt accomplished.”

Lopez said her ultimate goal is to digitize her research and much of the information in the scrapbooks so it can be used as an online resource for future research and for anyone just wanting to learn about the Averitt’s.

During her talk Monday, Lopez spoke briefly about a number of Averitt’s accomplishments at Georgia Southern, including the college’s first Master’s degree program.

“In 1969, Dr. Averitt became the dean of the graduate school, which was the only school among Georgia colleges that wasn’t a university to have a graduate school,” she said. “The first degree offered was a Master's in education.”

Rotary Summer in Language Institute

One of Averitt’s proudest accomplishments was his work through the Rotary Club and Rotary Foundation, Lopez said. Beginning in 1974, Averitt brought Rotary Fellowship students to Georgia Southern

“Dr. Averitt started the Rotary Summer in Language Institute that hosted 1,057 students from 49 different countries under his supervision,” she said. “Dr. Averitt described the students as being him and Ms. Addie's children.

“The students who attended the program were all students of the Rotary Foundation who studied English at Georgia Southern, that proceeded them then moving on to their respective universities. They lived on campus and got to spend time together.

“Dr. Averitt did not only put the program together, but went out his way to ensure that all the students were prepared and on campus on time. He rented a van from the athletic department to pick up students from the Savannah airport for a big welcome dinner and made sure he spent time with each student.

“He even traveled to the Immigration and Naturalization Office in Atlanta to get all the right information for each student and ensure all their forms and visas were done right.”

For his longtime commitment to Rotary, Rotary International presented him with the Distinguished Service Award. At the time of the award, Averitt was one of only five Service Award winners in the entire world. The honor recognized his leadership in academics, as well as his civic and cultural pursuits at the community, state, national and international levels.

Jack N. and Addie Averitt Lecture Series

Though he retired from Georgia Southern in 1979, Averitt remained an active and involved supported of the school. In 1990, he and his wife launched the Jack N. and Addie Averitt Lecture Series.

“This was a joint project with the English department where they took turns hosting lectures for students,” Lopez said. “The lecturers would come from other institutions and receive a book deal with the University of Georgia Press.”

The lecture continues to this day – staged since 2010 by the Bulloch County Historical Society and funded in large part by the Jack N. and Addie D. Averitt Foundation.

In fact, the Historical Society receives much of its yearly funding from the Foundation for its mission of helping all local citizens better understand and appreciate the area’s history.

After Averitt’s death in November 2007, Dr. Bruce Grube, then president of Georgia Southern said: "His devotion and dedication to this institution were unparalleled."

Lopez concluded her presentation by thanking Historical Society members for allowing her to share her report with the group and her excitement about learning more about Averitt as her research continues.