Mares named winner of Sullivant award By Mick Hinton Staff Writer                            (Scroll Down for Picture) NORMAN — The first Otis Sullivant Award for Perceptivity at the University of Oklahoma has been awarded to Michael A. Mares, the director of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. OU President David Boren announced the selection Monday on behalf of the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the selection committee, which is made up of faculty and staff members, students and alumni. The late Edith Kinney Gaylord of Oklahoma City established the $500,000 Sullivant Prize endowment shortly before her death in January 2001. The award, which carries a $20,000 prize, honors the late Otis Sullivant, a longtime Oklahoma journalist who was chief political writer for The Oklahoman for 40 years. Edith Kinney Gaylord was an OU alumnus and a pioneering journalist. The award is presented to a faculty or staff member at OU who exhibits “keen perceptivity.” “I know that the late Edith Kinney Gaylord would be pleased to see Dr. Mares receive this award,” Boren said. “Because of his vision, tenacity and hard work, generations of Oklahomans will be inspired and enriched by having the opportunity to learn from seeing first-hand important exhibits that represent the heritage of our people.” Mares, who also holds the titles of curator of mammals and professor of zoology at OU, is credited with initiating the fund-raising drive and developing and overseeing the project that resulted in $44.5 million to construct the new 198,000-square-foot museum facility. The facility includes archeological exhibits. In nominating Mares for the award, one colleague wrote: “A very small handful of people throughout history have had the intuition to determine future needs and directions and make the kinds of decisions necessary to make spectacular things happen. Dr. Mares is one of those people.” Otis Sullivant Award 2002 Presentation Bill Ross, Chairman of the Board EEJF; Lynn Mares; Michael Mares (Recipient); Mary Jane Noble; David Boren, President Oklahoma University; Molly Shi Boren < back to press releases