John Sanders, former director of the Institute of Government at UNC, was honored Feb. 21 by the North Carolina Bar Association as the 2008 recipient of the John McNeill Smith Jr. Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section Award.

The award honors a person who has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the ideals embodied in the constitutions of the United States and the state of North Carolina. Sanders was the principal staff person for the 1968 North Carolina State Constitution Study Commission, which produced the state’s present Constitution.

Michael Crowell, a professor at the school, presented the award and had submitted the nomination. Crowell said of Sanders, “For decades he has been recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people in the state on the history and meaning of the state Constitution.”