Douglas D. Alder, president of Dixie College, has received the Governor's Award in the Humanities for 1991.
The Utah Humanities Council chose Alder because of his many years of public service and teaching, which have promoted the humanities in the public arena. He has organized conferences, lectures and book groups dealing with history and literature and public issues throughout the state. Alder served as chairman of the Utah Council for the Humanities from 1984 to 1986 after being a board member for the four preceding years. Previous recipients of the award are Obert C. Tanner, Sterling McMurrin, Edwin Firmage and Helen Papanikolas.The presentation was made on Nov. 8 by Lt. Gov. Val Oveson during a meeting at the Doubletree Hotel.
Personal experiences with great books motivated Alder to help organize book reading groups throughout the state under the sponsorship of the Utah Humanities Council. The council has a collection of books, in multiple copy sets, that reading groups can borrow for their members. This project, began while Alder was on the Humanities Council, has spread widely. Southern Utah has several such groups.