About

Dr. Paul Matthews has been a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of the Classic City of Athens since 1997, serving as President in 2003-04 and in many Board roles and as part of its Vic Chesnutt Songwriter of the Year awards committee. In District 6910, Paul was Assistant Governor from 2006-09 and served as district chair for Group Study Exchange, International Services, Foundation Alumni, Interact, Foundation Global Grants, Global Grants Scholarships, and as the overall Grants chair. Paul also led a Group Study Exchange team to Argentina in 1999 and a Friendship Exchange with Turkey in 2005, and he and Michele represented District 6910 in the multi-district Friendship Exchange to Serbia in 2025.

Professionally, Paul served in various faculty roles at the University of Georgia from 1994 until his retirement in 2025, including teaching Spanish, training teachers statewide in the College of Education, and, since 2010, as an administrator with UGA’s Office of Service-Learning, focusing on campus- community engagement. Paul received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from UGA and a master’s in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas.

Paul is married to Michele, also a member of Classic City Rotary, who is retired from commercial construction and from UGA office administration. They have two adult sons (Forest and Sean) and three cats, and keep busy with “extreme DIY” home renovation on their 1913 bungalow in Athens and their 1930s cabin in Franklin, NC.

In addition to Rotary, both Paul and Michele are also long-time Scout leaders for different Boy Scout troops in the Athens area; 120 Scouts achieved the rank of Eagle Scout under Paul’s leadership as
Scoutmaster from 1994 to 2024. He also plays pennywhistle with the Irish music session in Athens.

Paul is a past Commissioner on the Georgia Commission for Service and Volunteerism, was named to the National Hall of Leadership in the Boy Scouts of America in 2010, and was presented the key to the City of Athens by then-Mayor Nancy Denson in 2018. Paul has also been recognized with The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service (2006) and its Distinguished Service Award (2021). Paul and Michele are life members of the International Fellowship of Scouting Rotarians and are multiple Paul Harris Fellows and Major Donors. Paul is also part of the Rotary Foundation’s Polio Plus Society, Paul Harris Society, and Bequest Society.