Dr. Richard Oates, interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Georgia, was awarded the 2016 Distinguished Administrator Award from the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education during the association’s 2016 conference last month in San Diego.

Oates has also served as vice provost, associate provost, interim dean of UNG’s Mike Cottrell College of Business and associate dean of UNG’s College of Education.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in health, physical education and recreation from Erskine College, plus a master’s degree in physical education and doctorate in physical education curriculum and instruction from the University of Georgia.

In 2015, Oates was elected to serve as vice president of NAKHE and provided oversight for the year’s conference in Orlando.