Endowment Fund #: 8365-P | Expendable Fund #: 8365-T | Type: Lectureship | Area: Medical College of Georgia | Department: Anatomy
To honor Dr. G. Lombard Kelly and his manifold contributions to MCG and to the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy (CBA), a lectureship has been established (The Dr. G. Lombard Kelly Lectureship) and the CBA seminar room (CB1801) will be named the Dr. G. Lombard Kelly Seminar Room. The yearly lectureship is coordinated by CBA graduate students and features a scientist of international renown. The CBA seminar room hosts weekly seminars invited by CBA faculty that advance our understanding of cellular function and disease as well as education in the anatomic sciences. Fund distributions may be used to support expenses related to the G. Lombard Kelly Lectureship and for expenses related to CBA graduate student conference travel and attendance. Established by Dr. Sylvia B. Smith, chair of the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, and her husband, Mr. Kenneth Smith, in honor of Dr. G. Lombard Kelly who served as dean and president of the Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University) from the 1930s to the early 1950s, an era of growth for the institution and political challenges to its continued existence in Augusta. This Augusta native and 1924 MCG graduate chaired the anatomy department, became dean of the medical school and then MCG’s first president. In the 1940s, Dr. Kelly worked tenaciously to ensure that the medical school would become an independent entity within the University System of Georgia; in 1950 this change was approved. The Medical Department of the University of Georgia became the Medical College of Georgia, and Dr. Kelly’s title changed from dean to president. In 1951, Dr. Kelly realized accomplishment of one of his major goals when the Georgia legislature approved construction of the Medical College of Georgia’s own hospital. Dr. Kelly retired from the Medical College of Georgia in 1953, becoming president emeritus. Donate Now >