Olene Walker - who, now 74, plans to teach at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., and serve an 18-month mission for the LDS Church - is the seventh such designee at the University of Utah institute.

The recognition is the institute's highest honor and is given to a Utah elected official who has made significant and exemplary contributions to politics and public service in the state, according to institute interim Director Ron Hrebenar.

Just before she was inducted Thursday, Walker got misty-eyed when Zions Bank President Scott Anderson announced that Zions would sponsor the Olene Walker Scholarship - an annual $4,000-$5,000 award that will be given yearly to a female student from Utah who is associated with the institute.

"This is a great honor and a special day," Walker told the standing-room-only audience packed with family members, students, community representatives, U. administrators and past and present elected officials from both sides of the political aisle.

An institute intern during her college days, Walker praised the organization for helping students understand what it means to live in a democracy.

"I hope this institution will continue to train men and women of integrity to serve in political office," Walker said. "Have them understand that the ultimate goal is to always maintain their integrity - no matter the political pressures."

Walker's portrait will soon hang on the institute's wall with those of former governors Cal Rampton, Scott Matheson Sr. and Norm Bangerter; former U.S. senators Wallace Bennett and Ted Moss; and former 1st District Rep. Jim Hansen.

In his tribute to Walker, Regent Chairman Nolan Karras said, "There isn't a person in this state who is better informed" about public policy and has "a balanced view" as how best to solve some of the tough issues.

"She made some decisions that hurt her during the [2004 Republican] campaign, but she did what I felt was honorable and right," said Karras, himself a gubernatorial candidate who lost in the primary election to the eventual winner, Jon Huntsman Jr.

In her reference to Walker as a "feisty grandmother," state Democratic Rep. Pat Jones added that the former governor was a "woman political pioneer" who tackled issues that were important to all Utahns.

"This is a woman who gets no more than three or four hours of sleep at night but is always at the top of her game," said Jones.

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, a Democrat who led the institute for 18 years, lauded Walker for being a "great governor, a great civic leader and a good friend."

Walker then gave the audience a sense of what politics should, and should not, be.

"Politics shouldn't be about money, power or fame. It should be about what's good, what's right, what's just and fair," she said.

She noted how she often remembers the definition of democracy given to her by a fifth-grade girl: Democracy, the youngster told her, "means the people rules . . . so everybody gotta do something."

As for her future, she and her husband Myron have yet to decide what she will do first: teach at Harvard or serve their church mission.

"We're going to try and do both," she said.

But before packing her travel bags, Walker will set the criteria for selecting the first Olene Walker Scholarship recipient.

"I am so very grateful for the honors given to me," she said.

sykes@sltrib.com