Christopher K. Peace Scholarship in Political Science

In 1959, with a loan of $532 from a businessman in a neighboring county, Karl E. Peace enrolled at Georgia Southern University, prepaying his tuition for the first two quarters. In the third quarter, he obtained a Georgia State Teacher?s scholarship that, in addition to his seven part-time jobs, helped him complete his bachelor?s degree in chemistry while supporting his siblings and cancer-stricken mother. He went on to earn a master?s degree in mathematics from Clemson University, teach at several colleges and universities, and earn a PhD in biostatistics from the Medical College of Virginia (MCV).Peace approached Georgia Southern University officials in 1998 with a plan to establish a biostatistics center at the university, a corresponding program of study in biostatistics at the graduate level, and a school of public health. He returned to the Statesboro, Georgia, campus in the fall of 2000, when Georgia Southern began to offer the masters of public health degree in biostatistics that he and Charles Hardy developed. In 2004, his endowment to honor his late wife led to the creation of the Jiann-Ping Hsu School of Public Health (JPHSOPH), the first school of public health in the University System of Georgia (USG). In creating the JPHSOPH, the board of regents also named the center for biostatistics the Karl E. Peace Center for Biostatistics. The scholarship was established in 2006 to honor Dr. Peace’s son, Christopher, who was elected as the youngest delegate in history to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2006. The scholarship is available to students from Baker County pursuing a degree in Political Science. The student must maintain a grade point average of 3.0.