UNA’s Pretes Receives SEDAAG Lifetime Achievement Award

Nov. 30, 2023

Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@una.edu, 256.765.4392

FLORENCE, AL – Dr. Michael Pretes, Chair of the Department of Geoscience at the University of North Alabama, has been named the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient by the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers (SEDAAG) at the annual meeting earlier this month. 

“This award means that I am recognized as one of the most distinguished geographers in the South,” he said. “It is great recognition not only for me, but for the Geoscience Department and for UNA.” 

SEDAAG is a regional subdivision of the American Association of Geographers, representing approximately 500 members in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The SEDAAG Lifetime Achievement Award is for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service to geography and is the highest award that the organization, the geographical society of the South, gives. 

“Dr. Pretes has amassed a distinguished professional career, making significant contributions not only to geography in the Southeast but also across the country and the globe,” said Dr. Derek Alderman, Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee, former President of SEDAAG, and former President of the national-level American Association of Geographers. “Very rarely do we see a colleague who has positively impacted so many programs, colleagues, and students in so many places. [Dr. Pretes is] a professional who ‘does it all’ by making major impacts in scholarship, education, and service.” 

Pretes is the first Lifetime Achievement Award winner from a smaller teaching-focused university; previous awardees have been from larger schools, including the University of South Carolina, the University of Georgia, the University of Tennessee, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. 

Dr. Daniel Arreola, Professor Emeritus of Geography from Arizona State University and former President of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, had this to say about Dr. Pretes: He “has demonstrated exceptional participation, mentoring, and service” to geography in the United States.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering credential, certificate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs in the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. The first-choice University for more than 10,000 on-campus and online students, UNA is on a bucolic campus in Florence, Alabama, part of the historic and vibrant Shoals region. Lions Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I’s ASUN Conference. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: www.una.edu and www.una.edu/unaworks/