The University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government’s Scott King was honored with a Public Service and Outreach Staff Award for Excellence at a fall appreciation event held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and Hotel.
Issued by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, the award acknowledges individuals for their exceptional job performance, workplace creativity and innovation, and commitment to service. It is the highest honor given to a PSO staff member. The honoree receives a certificate, a cash award, and an engraved crystal memento.
“Scott has played a critical role in pioneering our data analytics and visualization work. His strong technical skills are complimented by his deep commitment to public service,” said Institute of Government Director Rob Gordon. “Scott’s contributions represent the best of who we are at the University of Georgia and Public Service and Outreach, and I am excited for him to receive this recognition for the positive impact he is making across our state.”
King joined the Institute of Government in 2019 as a scientific computing professional associate. In this role, he serves as a teacher, analyst, programmer and problem solver. King creates tools, conducts data analysis and develops innovative data visualizations that inform critical decisions made by Georgia families and policy makers.
In 2022, he developed the Georgia Degrees Pay website, which provides students and their families with the information they need about degree attainment, student success, costs and affordability at the University System of Georgia’s 26 public colleges and universities.
He has also created multiple applications used by University System of Georgia campuses as they develop new academic program applications, track student performance and evaluate graduate incomes.
King leads client training sessions and served as the primary instructor for a 10-month data analysis certificate program for the UGA Finance and Administration division. In addition, he helps student workers and other colleagues improve their coding and visualizations by sharing new techniques in data analysis and statistical programming.
“Scott is the ultimate utility player and an invaluable asset to our team. Because of his versatility, adaptability, flexibility, and team-oriented mindset, Scott can fill in knowledge and technical gaps and adapt roles and skills to meet the team’s needs,” said James Byars, manager of the institute’s Data Analysis and Visualization Unit.
Prior to joining the Institute of Government, King taught math at Athens Technical College. He has a master’s degree in statistics and has built upon his foundational knowledge to master data visualization tools including Qlik and Microsoft Power BI.