Kayla Clark, a public program coordinator and educator at UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, is the most recent Public Service and Outreach Employee Spotlight awardee.
“We are so proud of your work and its impact. Both really embody the spirit of this award,” PSO Vice President Jennifer Frum said in presenting the award at the start of a Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant Zoom meeting.
A framed certificate and a box of treats were delivered to Clark, who is based at the Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant office on Skidaway Island.
Clark was nominated for the award by Anne Lindsay, associate director of Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant. In her nomination Lindsay cited Clark’s role in researching, creating and implementing virtual activities for the summer, when the UGA Aquarium was closed because of the pandemic.
“The result of her leadership has provided the public with a series of exciting online explorations that show the world the work of our unit and the impact Public Service and Outreach has on the State,” Lindsay wrote in her nomination.
“Kayla makes us proud to be her colleague each and every day, but especially so over the last several months,” Lindsay wrote. “She sets the bar higher for all of us! Her foundational work now provides us with a springboard for developing and implementing virtual programming through the school year.”
Clark came to UGA in 2015 for a one-year Sea Grant Marine Education Fellowship. She was hired as a public programs coordinator when she completed her fellowship in 2016. She earned a bachelor of arts degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and is working on a master’s degree in biology from Miami University of Ohio in Oxford, Ohio.
Clark is the sixth PSO employee to receive the spotlight award since it was launched by the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach in November 2019.