J. Faith Peppers

Faith Peppers was born and raised in Madison, Ga., the heart of the state’s peach and dairy belt. She grew up working in her mother’s hardware store, The Farmer’s Hardware, the oldest hardware company in the nation.

Peppers, a Georgia Master 4-H’er, graduated from Morgan County High School in 1981, then attended Middle Georgia College, earning an AA degree in journalism.

In 1983, she moved to Atlanta to work for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution while pursuing bachelor and masters degrees in journalism at Georgia State University. She left the newspaper business in 1993 to become an Extension news editor at the University of Georgia, where she was the university’s first fulltime telecommuting employee, working from her home in Atlanta. She has remained a telecommuter throughout her UGA career.

In 1999, Peppers was promoted to team leader of public affairs for the UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, managing a team of news editors across Georgia. In 2011, she was promoted to director of public affairs, a new cabinet-level position created for her to foster an era of strategic communication and issues management for the college.

Peppers graduated in the inaugural class of the ACE Leadership Institute (2007-2008). She was the Southern Region Pioneer Award Winner (2000), received Awards of Excellence in Media Relations and Marketing, and the ACE Service Award. In addition to ACE, she is active in the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists and served as president of the SAAS communication section (2001-2002).