Georgia State University Magazine Q2 2014

Tennis All-American Abigail Tere-Apisah (B.S. ’14) leaves more than a champion’s resume

Honors College Founding Dean Larry Berman tells the untold stories of the Vietnam War

After more than 60 years, the Atlanta Streetcar returns to Georgia State’s backyard

Long live this

q ua rte r 2 . 2 0 1 4

M A G A Z I N E

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! ch Pea Georgia State scientists

have discovered a perfectly natural way to delay the ripening process of fruits and vegetables. The breakthrough could revolutionize our food system and improve public health.

m aga z i n e. g s u. e d u

DE VE LOPME NT & A LU M N I A F FA I R S

MEET JOHNNY MAJORING IN

Chemistry

PROUDEST MOMENTS

Being named

a Netzel Scholar; spending a summer interning at Great Lakes Solutions-Chemtura and contributing to research into new flame-retardant materials; getting accepted to the University of

AD

California, Berkeley for grad school CAMPUS CONTRIBUTION

Chartering

the Undergraduate STEM Research Society, giving undergrads in scientific fields a forum to discuss current issues and prepare themselves for the next steps in their careers L I F E LO N G G OA L

Earn a Ph.D. and become

a professor, with an emphasis on mentoring minorities and students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the sciences

Because of a generous planned gift to the Netzel Scholarship Fund, Johnny Truong is on track to join his brother, also a Georgia State student, and sister as the first generation in their family to earn college degrees.

Have you considered including GSU in your estate plans? As little as 2 percent of an IRA can create a future for students who otherwise may not be able to afford a four-year research university.

CONTACT LAURA M. SILLINS, J.D., AT 404-413-3425 OR LSILLINS@GSU.EDU TO DISCUSS A PLANNED GIFT TODAY.

G E O R G I A STATE U N I V E R S IT Y F O U N DATI ON / P. O. B OX 3 9 8 4 / ATLA NTA , GA 3 0 3 0 2 - 3 9 8 4 / G I V I N G . G S U. E D U

Contents 10 Frozen Foodie Nick Carse (J.D. ’08) and his brothers run King of Pops, a gourmet ice pop operation and an Atlanta institution.

11 Swimming with the Sharks Aaron Simpkins (B.A. ’99) is the underwater photographer at the Georgia Aquarium.

14 Shine On Katherine Lucey (MBA ’84) and her nonprofit, Solar Sister, are empowering women one solar lamp at a time.

16 the future of food Georgia State scientists have discovered a natural way to keep fruits and vegetables fresh for longer. •

22 the dean of his trade

28 rail redux

Honors College Dean Larry Berman has penned biographies of two intriguing figures from the Vietnam War.

The streetcar, once the preferred mode of transit in the city, returns to Georgia State’s backyard.

“Simply put, this [discovery] can affect every person who walks into a supermarket.” cover and this page photography by ryan hayslip, food Styling by tami hardeman

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from the president “We’re committed to fostering an environment where taking risks and pushing boundaries — something you, our alumni, know is written into our DNA — are rewarded.”

economic development Georgia State is educating industry’s future leaders and transitioning its research into the marketplace as a member of the Metro Atlanta Cham-

ber’s Business Higher Education Council, I’m often asked about what universities are doing to help Atlanta grow. What are we doing to jump-start our region’s economy, build collaborative relationships with the business community and go beyond classroom learning to make the city and region a more vibrant hub for innovation?

Here at Georgia State, we’re sending more of our bright students out into the job market than ever before, awarding 7,500 degrees annually, a 30 percent increase over numbers just five years ago. We’ve set records for sponsored research funding, surpassing $71 million in 2013. We are helping to transform downtown Atlanta by expanding our real estate footprint. And our economic impact? More than $1.6 billion annually, with more than 13,000 jobs.

But we can and will do more.

We’re focused on working with our university partners such as Georgia Tech and Emory to build the talent pipeline for

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growing industries. We’re expanding our internship and entrepreneurship opportunities for undergrads, paving the way for signature experiences that will make them even more marketable upon graduation. And we’re committed to fostering an environment where taking risks and pushing boundaries — something you, our alumni, know is written into our DNA — are rewarded.

We recently appointed our first chief innovation officer, Phil Ventimiglia, to help us define new strategies using technology to advance the university. Ventimiglia, formerly vice president for innovation and new product development at NCR Corporation, will look for creative new ways to help us grow.

We’re expanding our relationships with business and industry and continuing to look for ways to take our research out of the lab and into market. In this magazine, you’ll read about the incredible discovery made by biology professors George Pierce and Sid Crow. By using common bacteria

found in soil in a new way, they’ve discovered the secret to keeping fruits and vegetables fresher longer. In our Institute for Biomedical Science, researchers are tackling topics from measles to cancer, looking for new therapies and drugs that could save and extend lives.

When we say Georgia State is a campus without boundaries we are talking about our physical environment and our intellectual reach. Our impact extends well beyond the classroom, affecting the vibrancy of downtown Atlanta, the economy of our region and state and enhancing the quality of life for people around the world.

Sincerely,

Mark P. Becker President

SUMMER 2014, Vol 5, Number 2 Publisher Don Hale Executive Editor Andrea Jones Editor William Inman Contributors Ashton Brasher, H. M. Cauley, LaTina Emerson, Sarah Gilbreath, Charles McNair, Lauren Montgomery Creative Director José Reyes for Metaleap Creative MetaleapCreative.com Designer Harold Velarde Contributing Illustrators Jordon Cheung, Adam Cruft, Bob Daly, Andy Friedman, Owen Gatley Contributing Photographers Ryan Hayslip, Josh Meister, Ben Rollins Send address changes to: Georgia State University Gifts and Records P.O. Box 3963 Atlanta Ga. 30302-3963 Fax: 404-413-3441 e-mail: update@ GSU.edu Send letters to the editor and story ideas to: William Inman, editor, Georgia State University Magazine P.O. Box 3983 Atlanta Ga. 30302-3983 Fax: 404-413-1381 e-mail: winman@GSU.edu Georgia State University Magazine is published four times annually by Georgia State University. The magazine is dedicated to communicating and promoting the high level of academic achievement, research, faculty scholarship and teaching, and service at Georgia State University, as well as the outstanding accomplishments of its alumni and the intellectual, cultural, social and athletic endeavors of Georgia State University’s vibrant and diverse student body. © 2014 Georgia State University

G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S ummer 2 0 1 4

Illustration by Andy Friedman

LETTERS • Download a PDF of the magazine to your favorite tablet or device by visiting magazine.gsu.edu

“ I’m a retired school psychologist and appeared in three episodes of “The Walking Dead” as one of the Governor’s soldiers and later as a zombie. I didn’t know that one of the executive producers is Tom Luse from Georgia State. Glad to be a grad!”

Vern Swygart (B.A. ’73, M.Ed. ’75, Sp.Ed. ’78)

@steveyeun one of the many amazing people who help make this show. tom luse. magazine.gsu.edu/article/behind -phenomenon…

Steven Yeun (“The Walking Dead” actor) via Twitter

@Kristin__D @GeorgiaStateU I’m really impressed with the design work and rich content in the #georgiastate Q1 magazine!

Kristin Donaldson (B.B.A. ’11) via Twitter

Read more letters at magazine.gsu.edu

Sam He Is established to provide voter information It was with great enthusiasm and admira- about candidates running for Atlanta city tion that I read Charles McNair’s excel- offices. His positive, upbeat attitude was lent article on Sam Massell. I can’t think amazing. Anytime I called Sam, he always of a better subject to profile than “Mayor would comment how the “sun is shining in Massell,” and McNair did it so well. I have Buckhead,” even if it was raining cats and had the pleasure of looking up to Sam for dogs outside. Your story was a joy to read almost 20 years through Rotary and the about a great man that continues to give Buckhead Coalition, and that pales com- back to his community. pared to his long tenure bringing value to Carlotta Franklin Ungaro (MBA ’03) Atlanta. I was proud to be in atPresident, Morrisville, N.C. tendance in 2011 when Sam was Chamber of Commerce Visit us online at inducted into the J. Mack Robmagazine.gsu.edu inson College of Business Hall Zombie U of Fame. It is hard to imagine I enjoyed the article on Tom one man making such an imLuse of “The Walking Dead.” pact on a city like Atlanta, but Warning, there are more of us it could not be truer than in the Georgia State zombie grads out Follow us on case of Sam Massell. Finally, it there! I was in the original group Facebook at also is worth noting the great of zombies featured in seasons facebook.com/ look and readability of your reone and two of “The Walking GSUMagazine cently revamped magazine — Dead.” I was also one of eight well done! zombies picked for a photoCharles B. Crawford Jr. (MBA ’97) shoot promoting season one.

President, CEO and Chairman Incredibly, I still receive fan mail Private Bank of Buckhead from all over the United States Follow us on and several foreign countries.

Twitter at Thank you for your story on Jack Byrd (B.S. ’77) twitter.com/ Sam Massell. I had the honor gsumagazine and pleasure of working with Thumbs up Sam when I was at the AtI am really impressed with the lanta Chamber from 2000 to most recent issue of the maga2005. He was always generous zine. The layout and graphics with his time and counsel and of the magazine as well as the Follow us on helped me maneuver the polistories are cutting edge, relInstagram at tics of Atlanta. Part of my job evant and inspiring. Glad to be instagram.com/ was managing Committee for part of Georgia State and stand georgiastateunia Better Atlanta, a group that with impressive alumni. versity Sam Massell and Sam Williams Meghan Bowden (B.A. ’12) M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U

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in the City campus Campus South Georgia State hopes to redevelop Turner Field and surrounding property Georgia State wants to redevelop the property around Turner Field for multiple uses, including athletics, retail and student housing. The university and Carter, one of the country’s leading real estate, development and advisory firms, have plans to transform the stadium site and surrounding parking lots, a 77-acre area just south of Georgia State’s campus that has become available because of the Atlanta Braves’ pending departure to Cobb County.

The $300 million redevelopment would be funded by public and private sources.

Carter’s preliminary proposal includes a 30,000-seat football, soccer and track and field stadium on the Turner Field site and a Georgia State baseball stadium that would incorporate the wall from Atlanta Fulton County Stadium over which Hank Aaron’s 715th home run ball flew in 1974.

In addition, residential and student housing, retail businesses, green space and plazas would be added, making it a walkable, downtown neighborhood.

“We are excited about being partners in the proposed plan,” said President Mark Becker. “I believe it holds great promise for the neighborhoods near our campus, and it’s important to Georgia State that we are contributors to the growing vitality of downtown.”

Education Innovation

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Phil Ventimiglia, former vice president of applied innovation at NCR Corporation, is Georgia State’s new chief innovation officer. The newly created position will oversee Information Systems and Technology and work across divisions to assist them with innovative problem-solving solutions that use technology. cont’d on p.09 Ventimiglia will lead the G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S ummer 2 0 1 4

Higher Ed Hardware

The symbols, traditions and artistry of ceremonial graduation gear

Heavy Medal: The President’s Medallion symbolizes the re-

sponsibilities of the university’s highest office. The sterling silver, 14-karat gold ornament bearing the university seal is passed from president to president upon inauguration and is an integral part of ceremonial regalia.

The Artist: Julia Woodman (M.F.A. ’90) designed the medallion. She studied with third- and fourthgeneration Fabergé masters while on a Fulbright grant in Finland and is the first American certified as a Master Silversmith there. Her work is in the permanent collections of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Since Medieval Times : The Mace is a traditional symbol of sover-

eignty that dates back to antiquity. It’s carried in front of the processional during commencement and other significant university events.

Illustration by jordon cheung

Abigail Tere-Apisah  First tennis

All-American in Georgia State history  Highest national ranking in singles (No. 8) and doubles (No. 16) in program history  M ost wins in women’s tennis history (85, and still going!)  First women’s tennis player to be invited to the NCAA Singles Championship and NCAA Doubles Championship  2 013 Georgia State Student-Athlete of the Year  2 013 All-Sun Belt First Team in singles and doubles

Leaving a Legacy

While All-American tennis player Abigail Tere-Apisah preps for the pros, her little sister, Marcia, is ready to make her mark. By William Inman photos by josh meister

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Leaving a Legacy A

bigail Tere-Apisah, Georgia State’s first All-American tennis player and by far the most decorated female athlete in school history, hasn’t quite settled in to her new life as an aspiring professional tennis player. ¶ “I love competing with the team, and I will miss that,” she says. ¶ Forgive her for harkening back to her glory days so soon. For the native of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea — almost 9,000 miles from Atlanta — the women on the Georgia State tennis team are like family. She enjoyed her experience here so much she encouraged her little sister, Marcia, to become a Panther. Marcia just wrapped up her first season on the team.

marcia Tere-Apisah  Teamed with fellow

frosh Tarani Kamoe to rank No. 89 in the country  The team beat the No. 2 doubles team in the country last fall

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Since finishing her career with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament to compete in singles and doubles competition, the elder Tere-Apisah has been training in preparation for the leap into the professional ranks.

“She’ll have to play some smaller tournaments to get points to get invited into larger ones,” said her former coach, Robin Stephenson, who knows well the grind Tere-Apisah is up against. Stephenson is a former professional tennis player, and like Tere-Apisah, a former collegiate AllAmerican.

“She’s going from being Top 10 in the country to starting from scratch,” Stephenson said. “But she’s got what it takes, that’s for sure.”

At age 10, Tere-Apisah left home for the Oceania Tennis Development Centre in Fiji where she lived, studied and practiced tennis. A few years later, she moved to the tiny town of Albury in New South Wales, Australia. There, she quickly established herself as a top junior player and American college coaches took notice. Despite being recruited by powerhouse tennis programs, Tere-Apisah picked Georgia State.

“It didn’t really matter to me if the school was top-ranked. I lived in a small country town in Australia — I wanted to be in a bigger city,” she said.

Marcia hopes to follow in her sister’s successful footsteps, and, in many ways, she already has. She, too, left home at age 10 for the same tennis academy in Fiji, and shows much of the same promise her big sister had at her age.

“We are excited about where her game can go,” Stephenson said.

“It’s been exciting to be on the same team as Abby,” Marcia said. “She’s been the number one player on the team, so it makes you want to do better.

“But I want to be better than her,” she said, drawing a laugh from big sister.

• Wrights of Passage Brothers Adam (B.B.A. ‘97) and Matt Wright, magazine publishers and vintage auto

10,000

Miles from which Georgia State’s six-telescope array of the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy can spot a nickel. university’s strategy to find the next model for higher education beyond just the online class portals of today.

“Right now there is a lot of experimentation with new modes of education,” said Ventimiglia, who was the vice president for innovation and new product development for NCR. “A lot of those will fail, but at sometime, just as occurs in the development of any new market, we’re going to come to a point where a new paradigm emerges. We want to be ahead of that curve.”

The strategy might not be completely technological, either.

“My approach is not to come at it from a ‘we need these technologies’ point of view,” he said. “It’s what is the experience and what are the benefits that we want to bring to the learning process.”

Mission for Health Nursing students provide care to underserved Nicaraguan communities Set up on the porch of a rural home outside Leon, Nicaragua, 19 senior nursing students got their first taste of medical mission work. This makeshift clinic, complete with wandering barnyard animals, provides the community of El Pozo Quezalguaque with its only opportunity for healthcare. In March, under the supervision of nursing and respiratory faculty, three local physicians and two nurse practitioners, the students served 383 patients during the four-day clinical practice and gained valuable experiences in healthcare.

“The students demonstrated what can be the hardest thing to teach, true compassion and caring for those in need,” said Kristen Lingle, clinical assistant professor of nursing and team leader. “They were compassionate, well prepared and hardworking, working long hours in difficult circumstances with nothing but gratitude for the opportunity to help others.”

The students earned 60 community clinical hours for their work.

“I think the most rewarding part of our experience was being able to provide aid to groups of people who receive very little medical attention,” said nursing student Jennifer Meagley. “Everyone welcomed us with such gratitude and respect. I simply could not have asked for a better experience.”

restorers, recreate an old family photo in Library Plaza.

Visit magazine.gsu.edu for more.

Study Abroad India For the first time, Georgia State students will experience academic life there Georgia State will send students to study in India this fall and will create a new study abroad model. The semester will be split into two “mini-mesters” and will allow students to take a full course load.

“This is a part of the world that students have a lot of interest in, but there’s not a lot of opportunity,” said S. Rashid Naim, director of undergraduate studies for Political Science and director of the program. “It’s a very important part of the world to which we are not getting enough exposure, and which students will really enjoy.”

The first part of the semester will be spent in Atlanta, where students will study the history, politics and religion of India.

Then they will spend six weeks traveling in India.

While abroad, students will spend time at three universities (higher education in India is taught in English) and will get to visit some of the country’s best-known landmarks.

“We’ll be visiting monuments like the Taj Mahal and Mother Teresa’s mission, we’ll be going into national forests and to tiger and bird sanctuaries,” said Naim.

“And we’ll be there in October and November, which has the best weather.”

As an added incentive, Georgia State’s study abroad office is offering scholarships to the first 10 qualifying students who sign up for the program.

discovery Better Mobility Center for Pediatric Locomotion Sciences helps children with movement disorders For adults, the ability to walk from point A to point B is often an unconscious means to an end.

This isn’t always the case for kids, as College of Education professor Mark Geil and assistant professor Jerry Wu can attest.

“For a child, locomotion is an adventure.

It’s an opportunity to explore life, to imagine, to create a journey,” Geil said.

Got the Flu? Try Ginseng Ginseng can help treat and prevent influenza, according to research

by scientists in the new Institute for Biomedical Sciences. Visit magazine. gsu.edu for more.

Geil and Wu study different aspects of children’s movement. Geil examines prosthetic knees in children while Wu tackles the effects of physical interventions with people with disabilities. The two are the principal investigators at the new Center for Pediatric Locomotion Sciences, which focuses on improving the lives of children and adolescents with movement disorders.

The center is conducting exploratory locomotion research in four primary areas challenging to children.

Their work could lead to changes in the way health care providers treat children who face movement challenges.

“Establishing this center will bring researchers and clinicians together to work on projects with a huge impact on the quality of life for children with movement disabilities,” Wu said. “We’re looking forward to conducting more groundbreaking research and finding new treatment options and services we can provide to children with disabilities.”

Visit magazine.gsu.edu for more on the work at the Center for Pediatric Locomotion Sciences.

Center of Support Nicole Patton Terry understands helping children in urban schools means more than just evaluating a child’s teacher or assessing academic performance.

“Children living in urban communities face complex challenges, and to address their needs, you need to work with their teachers, their neighborhoods and their families,” said Patton Terry, College of Education professor and director of the newly formed Urban Child Study Center.

“We must focus on their entire lives and their entire contexts, and that means the programs we have, the research we do and the initiatives we put forth will be just as focused on the children as their communities, their families and their schools.”

The college’s location in downtown Atlanta and its emphasis on interdisciplinary research make it an ideal setting for the Urban Child Study Center, which promotes the overall development and school success of children and youth in urban contexts through innovative research that informs policy and practice.

Leveraging the college’s and university’s talent and resources, the center focuses on a number of issues, including achievement gaps and associated risk factors, learning and health disparities, language and literacy development, and teacher knowledge. The center will also serve as a model for educators in other major U.S. cities, Patton Terry said.

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in the City

• Share Your Success!

Class Notes are shareable through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter! Post your good

news and share with your network by visiting magazine.gsu.edu/ add-class-notes.

Young Explorers Research at Georgia State isn’t just for Ph.Ds. Undergrads are also making valuable discoveries

Frozen Foodie In 2010, Nick Carse (J.D. ’08) was a prosecutor in Gwinnett

The eighth annual Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference this April was a perfect place for ideas, discoveries and creativity to come alive.

“Research or creative work as an undergraduate enriches students’ educational experiences, promotes critical thinking and writing, and provides students with the opportunity to present scholarly thought in public,” says Sarah Cook, associate dean of Georgia State’s Honors College.

Besides the hard sciences like biology, there were artistic displays, and even a critical look at a famous musical, “Oklahoma,” and marriage right after World War II. “I wondered what was there in our culture that led women to get married so young,” sophomore Alison Dees said. “It’s all written into it. It’s rhetorically written so you want to fall in love.”

County. Today, he and his brothers run King of Pops, a gourmet ice pop operation and Atlanta institution.

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How did King of Pops get started?

It’s a pretty cool story, actually. It started as a daydream, or rather a beach-at-nightin-Mexico dream, but wasn’t realized for years later. In 2005, Steven, my younger brother and business partner, and I traveled from Panama up through Mexico eating all kinds of delicious frozen treats along the way — it’s hot! In Mexico we discovered the paleta, a fresher version of a popsicle. We ate a ton of them and talked about starting our own Mexican paleta pushcart business. Steven got laid off in 2009 during the financial craziness and moved onto my couch. Somehow we talked him into spending his meager life savings to buy a paleta freezer. We plugged it in and started making pops. We voted on the name, painted a mural on a wall at Buddy’s gas station in Poncey Highland and decided that April 1, 2010 was going to be the day it all started.

When did you know that you could quit your day job and make popsicles?

I was helping Steven nights and weekends but still had a full-time job. I quit my job only about two months in and haven’t looked back. It was tough. I quit when we couldn’t keep up with demand. We didn’t get paid the first year but survived off of pop mistakes.

How many pops have you sold to date? And in what cities can we find a King of Pops cart?

We’ve sold a lot, over a million all in. King of Pops operates carts in Atlanta, Charleston S.C., Richmond, Va., Charlotte, N.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., Athens, Ga. and starting in Greenville, S.C. and Savannah, Ga. this year. You never know where we’ll pop up!

What are some of your best, and worst, recipes?

Crowd faves are chocolate sea salt, raspberry lime, banana puddin’ and whatever “special” pops we have going on. My favorite is probably blackberry ginger lemonade or Mexican chocolate — cinnamon, cayenne and vanilla.

All of the recipes are good for someone, just not everyone.

We did a really horrible coconut curry and a really bad fig and goat cheese. Those never saw the light of day. All the others are winners in their own way, all my children.

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What are some flavors we can look forward to this summer?

It’s always changing, but we just came up with a box of pretty fab Girl Scout cookie pops with Thin Mint, Samoa, Do-si-do and Trefoil. We also just had our semi-annual kitchen summit and got to play with a lot of great stuff like black sesame, orange blossom and honey, vegan chocolate coconut, lemon poppy, et cetera.

Interview by Lauren Montgomery (B.A. ’14)

creativity Compelling Argument Georgia State debaters tap into personal experience, take home title “Thank God for the woman on the end of my call at 3 a.m. on a Monday night,” said Luke Floyd. “I awoke to the sound of a gunshot, bolting up in my bed. I grabbed the pistol I keep loaded by my pillow to check the door, I noticed my dog was still asleep.

Was it all in my head? Was I going crazy?”

So he began the last speech of the final round of the Southeast Cross-Examination Debate Association Championship Tournament.

Floyd, a veteran of the Iraq War, was making a very personal argument for including the experience of war veterans in public policy decisions. Less than half an hour after he spoke, Floyd and his partner, John Finch, were declared the champions of the Southeast Cross-Examination Debate Association cont’d on p.12 Championship Tournament.

Illustration by bob daly

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alking through the Georgia Aquarium, you might not realize how much of the experience is created by the design of the building itself or the visual pieces on the walls. You may not consider how the exact placements of the text and images on an infographic shapes the way you learn about the animals or about the ecological issues facing the globe today.

Aaron Simpkins (B.A. ’99) is the man behind the camera For Aaron Simpkins these thoughts reat the Georgia Aquarium. By Ashton Brasher (B.A. ’15) photo by ben rollins peat through his head all day.

As the manager of exhibits and graphics, Simpkins manages a team of artists, designers and photographers. He signed on as a graphic designer seven years ago and quickly rose to a leadership position on his team. Connected “There’s nothing quite like swimming next to a whale shark,” he with each department in the aquarium, Simpkins produces work said. “You have to capture the perfect moment with some of these that touches each corner of the operation. creatures, and when you do, it’s really fulfilling.”

A day at work for Simpkins always guarantees variety, which is part Apart from photography, Simpkins dabbles in all of the visual of why he loves his job. Some days might mean donning a wetsuit aspects of the aquarium. and photographing a giant manta ray, or meeting with the market“I like that the work I do leads to the educational advancement ing team to discuss visual strategies. One thing is for sure — he gets of our visitors in addition to creating a positive, friendly atmoto exercise his talents for art and design in a unique environment. sphere,” he said.

Swimming with the Sharks

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in the City Floyd and Finch had reams of good oldfashioned evidence as well, in the form of academic and policy research. But Floyd’s ability to bring experience into the argument was seemingly a key part of the team’s victory over top-seeded teems from Emory University and Wake Forest University.

Floyd and Finch are the first team from Georgia State to win the championship.

Village Living Photography class documents life in New Urbanist community

The real monuments man

Professor’s new book chronicles the life of the scholar who stood up against Napoleon’s big art heist

Long before Hitler began stealing great

works of art, another famous leader was pillaging paintings: Napoleon. During his conquest of Europe, Napoleon stole hundreds of pieces of art and took them back to Paris to display as the spoils of war. But one famous art scholar, Antoine Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy, had the courage to oppose him.

“He was jailed for six months, he was sentenced to death, he was forced to flee the country, but he was still the most famous art historian in Europe,” said Louis Ruprecht, the William M. Suttles Chair of Religious Studies.

In his new book, “Classics at the Dawn of the Museum Era: The Life and Times of Antoine Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy,” Ruprecht takes a closer look at Quatremère’s life. His relationship with the French government was often strained, and he frequently

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spoke out against the regime’s attitude toward art.

“In the late 18th century,” Ruprecht said, “the Vatican had a huge collection of art.

Then, in 1796, Napoleon took 100 works.

They were listed out in the peace treaty he forced the pope to sign.”

Ruprecht’s book follows Quatremère’s life and work throughout Europe, and takes a detailed look at each of his published pieces.

The book’s publication also coincides with the release of “The Monuments Men,” a film that follows a team of soldiers in World War II as they attempt to recover art being stolen by the Nazis. Ruprecht wanted his book released at the same time as the film because both works cover artistic imperialism in times of political upheaval. ­

By Sarah Gilbreath

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Serenbe may be only 45 minutes south of Atlanta, but it’s a world away from life in the big city. The planned community advocates regionalism, environmentalism and a pedestrian lifestyle. Encompassing 1,000 acres, more than 70 percent of the land is uninhabited and forested with bike paths and hiking trails. The buildings were designed with sustainability in mind, and the farm-to-table restaurants use primarily local ingredients grown within the community.

Serenbe recently asked Georgia State to collaborate on a photographic project to document life there.

“This is a signature experience,” said photography professor Nancy Floyd. “This is the kind of thing that students would never get to experience in the classroom.”

Floyd’s students are each working on a separate photography series, with topics covering everything from female leaders in the community to comparative architecture.

“It’s been an amazing experience,” said student Consuela Boyer. “I’ve absolutely loved working in this community.”

athletics Hoops Honors The honors have continued to stream in for the Panther men’s basketball team following a record-setting 25-9 campaign that ended with Georgia State’s fifth postseason berth, and second in three years.

Since the Panthers clinched the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title in Illustration by Owen gatley

• Meet the Board The Alumni Association added new members to its board of directors. Visit magazine.gsu. edu for more.

Students at risk notified to see an adviser

Students making Earlier Decisions on a major

39,979 Visits

by Students since program started

Students at risk are advised based on

6,536

10 Years 2.5 Million

students Advised that they may be better suited for another major

of Student Data

70%

who changed to a major with a lower risk

Grades database

700 alerts for Students at risk

Students Who Reduced Risk Term Over Term

More students Lowering risk

Dinner With 12 The Student Alumni Association’s Dinner with 12 Panthers offers students a chance to break bread and converse with successful alumni

Students Who Increased Risk Term Over Term

2011

57%

43%

2012

55%

45%

2013

71%

29%

and industry leaders. Visit magazine. gsu.edu for more.

February, four players and head coach Ron Hunter have earned postseason awards, the most prestigious being R.J. Hunter’s nod as an Associated Press honorable-mention All-American. It was the third All-American honor for a Panther in program history.

The younger Hunter also was the league’s player of the year while his father was the coach of the year. R.J. Hunter and Ryan Harrow, who return in 2014-15, were each first-team all-league selections, while graduating seniors Manny Atkins (second team) and Devonta White (third team) also were honored.

Statistically Speaking Georgia State student-athletes notch a stellar spring With senior Nic Wilson swatting 12 home runs, good for third in the country, the Panther baseball team ranked in the top five nationally in home runs through April 15. Chase Raffield was also in the national top 10 for runs batted in (7th, 43). Taylor Anderson was the softball team’s power provider with 11 home runs.

The top honors this spring have gone to Maria Palacios (women) and J.J. Grey (men), who swept the Sun Belt Conference Golfer of the Month awards for March, while Georgia State student-athletes won the first three weekly female track awards of the outdoor season.

Overall, 15 weekly or monthly Sun Belt honors and two conference championships — women’s tennis and men’s golf — have been collected by Panthers competing this spring.

BIG DATA

It’s no coincidence that Georgia State’s novel new student tracking system is called GPS for short. In the same way your car’s navigation system pulls huge amounts of data to map your way, Georgia State’s Graduate Progression Success advising system is culling through 10 years of student data — 2.5 million grades — to find pathways to graduation for thousands of students.

Using predictive analytics for each student’s success in individual majors and courses, the system uses the decade of data to identify 700 alerts for risk factors for students who wander off course. The university has drastically reduced the number of students each adviser sees — from 700 to one to 300 to one, meaning students are getting more individual attention. In the first year of GPS, visits to the new student advising center topped 34,000, almost unheard of at a major university. Georgia State is leading the national charge on upping graduation rates, and the road map for success has never been clearer.

alumni Smells that Sell After making his dollars in scents, Steve Tanner (B.B.A.’66) gives back Steve Tanner has what’s probably the best-smelling warehouse in America.

Tanner is president and chief executive officer of Marietta-based Arylessence cont’d on p.15 Inc., a manufacturer of M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U

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Shine On

Katherine Lucey (MBA ’84) is empowering women one solar lamp at a time. By Ashton Brasher (B.A. ’15) photo by josh meister

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ore than 1.5 billion people lack access to electricity. For the most part, they rely on kerosene lanterns and candles for light, and spend up to 40 percent of their family income on energy that is inefficient and hazardous. When Katherine Lucey took notice of this, she got to work.

Lucey is the founder of Solar Sister, a non-profit company dedicated to changing the lives of women and girls living in energy poverty.

Solar Sister trains, recruits and supports female entrepreneurs in East Africa to sell affordable solar lighting and other green products such as solar lamps and mobile phone chargers. The women use their community networks of family and neighbors to build their own businesses, earning a commission on each sale.

Lucey says engaging women to distribute clean energy is effective change and a solid investment.

“Investing in women is not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do,” she said. “Women are primarily responsible for energy usage at the household level. Clean-energy technology will not be adapted on a widespread basis if women are not part of the solution.”

Solar Sister has changed the lives of women and families in remarkable ways.

One woman, Rebecca, a rural farmer in Uganda, put a solar light in her chicken room. By increasing the hours of light, the chickens ate more and were healthier.

They laid more eggs, which improved the economics of her operation and provided extra income to buy seeds, and eventually, a goat, pigs and a cow.

Rebecca built a school where she teaches children to read and write, and also how to farm.

“The strength of our enterprise solution comes from the women themselves,” Lucey said. “It is their own ingenuity and commitment that builds their business.

We are just offering them the opportunity to help themselves.”

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30 percent reduction in household expenses when customers use solar lamps to replace expensive kerosene

Three hours more study time for children every day when their families replace kerosene with solar light

84,379 people are benefiting from solar light through Solar Sister

780 million women and children breathe kerosene fumes, inhaling the equivalent of smoke from two packs of cigarettes a day

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1.6 billion people live in energy poverty. That’s 25 percent of the world’s population

in the City

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U.S. Olympians whom Dan Benardot, professor of nutrition and director of the Laboratory for Elite Athlete Performance at Georgia State, has worked with since 1996. fragrances for everything from air fresheners to colognes to household cleaners.

The company has also branched out into composing flavors for sauces, beverages and beauty products.

Tanner’s business acumen helped grow the company from only 14 employees when he joined in 1986 to more than 100 today, supplying fragrances to more than 1,000 companies around the world.

Before he began his career in business, Tanner served five years in the Army.

That’s what inspired him to endow the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program at Georgia State.

“I have a lot of respect both for the people who serve and for those who provide opportunities for our former service personnel,” he said.

In addition to the ROTC Endowment, Tanner has also made significant contributions to Georgia State’s Fund for Business and the Herman J. Russell Center for Entrepreneurship. But his support isn’t limited to dollars: He educates and mentors business students in the classroom and at his own company.

“We have programs going with the Institute of International Business,” he said, “and since we’re looking at international markets for expansion, why not have some of these MBAs come in and help us, and we’ll help them at the same time?”

Nation Rebuilding Wais Said (B.A. ’84) returns home to Afghanistan to rebuild its tech infrastructure Wais Said always dreamed of going back to Afghanistan with the knowledge he gained at Georgia State. In 1978, Said’s family was forced to flee his home country at the onset of the Soviet War. “I’ll never forget the immigration officer in New York who said ‘Welcome home!’” Said said. “We came to Atlanta in August that year and Georgia State accepted my credentials and SAT score. The rest is history.”

Since graduating with a degree in math and information systems, Said has worked as a systems architect in the information technology sector. Three years ago, he received a call from USAID with an offer to finally reach his dreams.

Illustration by adam cruft

Wais Said (B.A. ’84)

“The efforts that went into building this fragile democracy have not been in vain.”

“In the past three years,” he said, “we have accomplished the impossible in Afghanistan, specifically in terms of capacity building, revenue generation and most significantly, gender and outreach in southern Afghan municipalities — the toughest area by far.”

Said began working as a systems architect and then moved to the principal program adviser position to build governance and democracy, outreach Years that Georgia and productivity.

State has held a Said’s work focommencement cuses on the promoceremony. The tion of e-governance 100th commencein Afghanistan by ment ceremony will connecting municibe this fall. palities across the

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nation to the central government in Kabul.

This was the first time in Afghani history technology was used to contain corruption, to connect citizens with their government and to create a system of transparency and accountability.

Said’s story was unimaginable only a few years ago. However, Said sees these accomplishments as an indicator American efforts in the nation have already started to pay off in many ways.

“Contrary to what you often hear in the media,” he said, “the efforts that went into building this fragile democracy have not been in vain. The efforts behind our work and the growing success story are proof of that.”

Got a promotion? A new addition to the family? Go ahead, brag a little. Visit magazine.gsu.edu for news from your classmates and fellow Georgia State alumni.

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Georgia State scientists

fut

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have discovered a safe and natural way to delay the ripening process in fruits and vegetables.

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ure But the invention doesn’t stop there.

The same science has been found to prevent Colony Collapse Disorder in bees and stave off a fungus found to be a killer of bats.

of food by w i l l i a m i n m a n a n d L at i n a E m e r s o n p h oto g r a p h y by rya n h ay s l i p fo o d st y l i n g by ta m i h a r d e m a n

i t’s peach season in georgia 18

From now until Labor Day, George Pierce figures he and the scientists in his lab will eat dozens of the state’s most famous fruit — it’s part of their research.

“We eat a lot of peaches this time of year. Our hands get sticky,” he says.

That’s a sweet perk of some very significant science.

All summer long, Pierce will bring bushels of Georgia peaches and other produce to his lab to continue testing a patented process that has shown, with incredible efficacy, to naturally delay the ripening process in fruits and vegetables.

Pierce and his longtime colleague Sid Crow, both professors of biology, have been studying Rhodococcus rhodochrous, a bacterium common in soil. They’ve found that, under the right conditions, the tiny bacteria can keep all those peaches — or apples, or bananas, or spinach, or even recently cut flowers — fresh for a longer period of time. The process they use to treat the plants is totally natural, without genetic modification and it doesn’t even have to touch the produce to work.

Their discovery has been shown to double the shelf life of certain fruits and vegetables, and it’s also proven to be effective at room temperature, meaning it can save on the cost of refrigeration.

There are other breakthrough applications.

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Chris Cornelison (M.S. ’11, Ph.D. ’13), a postdoctoral researcher in Crow’s lab, is using the same science to inhibit the growth of fungi responsible for the deadly Chalkbrood disease in honeybees and White-Nose Syndrome that’s ravaging North American bats. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says one out of every three bites of food in America rely on the diligent work of bees. Bats play a crucial role in pest control. A single brown bat will eat the equivalent of its body weight in insects in one summer night, Cornelison says.

By preventing waste, improving the consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables, allowing companies to ship produce longer distances and keeping our natural pollinators and pest-eaters healthy, this discovery has the potential to completely change our entire food system, and public health, for the better.

“Simply put, this can affect every person who walks into a supermarket,” says Chester Bisbee, director of technology commercialization and industry relations at Georgia State.

Like tomatoes in a paper bag

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s ripening begins, many fruits and vegetables produce ethylene, a naturally occurring gas responsible for changes in texture, softening and color during the ripening process. So, when you want to ripen tomatoes, you take five or six and put them in a paper bag.

“This keeps all the gas close,” Pierce says, “and what you find is they all respond in an even, and quicker, way.”

Based on earlier studies, Pierce reckoned that by conditioning Rhodococcus rhodochrous it would produce certain enzymes that would stem the release of ethylene and other gases that signal the ripening process. A few years ago before the winter break, he set up a handful of experiments placing the enzyme-induced Rhodococcus rhodochrous near different types of fruit to test his theory.

“It worked,” he says. “It worked the first time. And, in scientific experiments, that almost never happens.”

Pierce says the bacteria are part of the beneficial micro-flora that make a healthy and robust plant. In addition to the ability to delay ripening, beneficial microorganisms such as Rhodococcus are capable of inhibiting undesirable molds and plant pathogens.

“All we’ve done is trick it so it overproduces certain enzymes that heighten its ability,” he says.

The bacteria aren’t being nice. It’s to their benefit, says Pierce. If they can preserve the peach, they can take advantage of this beneficial relationship.

“We’re causing them to work out their own physiology,” he says. “They’re being conditioned to respond.”

Unlike genetically modified organisms, which have had their DNA altered in a way that cannot occur in nature, this process tweaks how the wild organisms grow to encourage them to express certain enzymes. In other words, in the lab, they’ve created the perfect condition for the bacteria to thrive.

“They’re happy, not stressed. It’s like a spa for bacteria,” Pierce says, laughing.

“It really is like conditioning an Olympic athlete,” adds Crow.

Food supply chain

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he Rhodococcus rhodochrous “spa” is on the fourth floor of the Natural Science Center annex. Inside three stainless steel, computer-controlled fermentation tanks are, perhaps, some of the happiest bacteria in the world. They’re fed a steady diet of sugars, proteins and pure oxygen, and in about three days a suspension of café au laitcolored super Rhodococcus rhodochrous is harvested. Freezing the suspension into bricks then stabilizes the bacteria.

The final application is a catalyst based on those enzymes. Pierce explains the safest way to apply the catalyst is by killing the bacterial cell so it’s not capable of growing or replicating. Killing the bacteria doesn’t affect the activity of the all-important enzymes.

“So now all we’re dealing with is the gases,” Pierce says. “Thus, the catalyst does not have to touch the fruit to work. ” On the wall in Pierce’s office are side-byside photos of two wax-lined cardboard shipping boxes, each holding about 20 peaches. The photo on the left shows the fruit in various shades of grayish-brown and covered in mold. The peaches on the right look ready for a Fourth of July picnic table.

Smiling, Pierce says, “Guess which one has the catalyst in the wax?”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates about 40 percent of harvested produce never makes it to the dinner table because of spoilage, contamination or damage during transport. All along the supply photo by ben rollins

Unlike genetically modified organisms, which have had their DNA altered in a way that cannot occur in nature, this process tweaks how the wild organisms grow to encourage them to express certain enzymes.

In other words, in the lab, they’ve created the perfect condition for the bacteria to thrive.

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“Food grown for people to eat that isn’t consumed is a dead loss. We are working on a safe, efficacious way to prolong the life of fruits and vegetables so that people have better nutrition cheaper.” chain — from the farmer, to the wholesaler, to the distributor and to the retailer — the price includes that loss.

Not only can the catalyst be incorporated into the wax coating in individual boxes, it can be sprayed inside of the giant modular shipping containers used when moving produce by truck or rail. And because the catalyst allows for the storage of produce at room temperatures rather than refrigerating it, it can potentially save enormous amounts of energy while the produce is in transit.

There is interest in the invention from businesses all along that supply chain, especially from transportation companies.

Pierce says his lab is aggressively moving forward, testing the catalyst before taking it to market, and there are a number of expanded field trials underway.

“Our food system is limited by how far you can ship something,” Pierce says.

“Slower ripening means that the food

is less susceptible to injury — you bang around peaches in transport, they get moldy. I want people in Minneapolis to eat the tastiest Georgia peaches this summer.

“Food grown for people to eat that isn’t consumed is a dead loss. We are working on a safe, efficacious way to prolong the life of fruits and vegetables so that people have better nutrition cheaper.”

The university has six patents on the discovery, and six more are in the pipeline.

Bisbee and the newly formed technology commercialization and industry relations group at Georgia State have met with several large corporations to discuss licensing.

“This has far-reaching applications and could have tremendous impact in industry,” Bisbee says.

Pierce, Crow and the scientists in their labs are working to identify those applications. Pierce notes that the catalyst not only delays the ripening of fruits and vegetables, it also inhibits the development of mold and the growth of many fungi.

The labs are investigating its effectiveness preventing the growth of mold on corn and grain, as well as how it can fight the highly contagious banana wilt disease that, in the last decade, has been devastating banana plantations in Africa.

But a grave and unprecedented threat to North American bats might thrust Rhodococcus rhodochrous into action sooner rather than later.

Saving bats and bees

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S

ince 2006, White-Nose Syndrome has killed an estimated 6 million bats in the eastern United States.

Last year, the deadly fungal disease was discovered in Georgia. White-Nose Syndrome is named for the way it bleaches bats’

muzzles and wings, and kills its victims by creating enough discomfort to wake the bats during hibernation — when body fat is low and food is scarce — causing them to starve to death. The plague is responsible for the steepest wildlife decline in the past century in North America, according to Bat Conservation International.

By eating bugs that destroy crops and spread disease, bats save the country’s agriculture industry between $4 and $50 billion a year, says the U.S. Geological Survey.

They are also voracious predators of mosquitos and pollinators of certain plants.

“If we continue to see declines, we’re going to lose their ecological services and there may be consequences for agriculture and human health,” Cornelison says.

Cornelison, who worked alongside Pierce and Crow throughout development of the catalyst, earning his master’s degree and Ph.D. along the way, is using their discovery to learn how to use antifungal treatment based upon Rhodococcus rhodochrous that might be able to save these animals.

Cornelison says his research is ready to go to trial with live, wild bats.

He’s found the bacteria slowed fungal growth and permanently eliminated spore germination on the bats. Like with fruit, it works to prevent the spread of fungi on bat skin without ever touching the animal.

This fall, Cornelison will work with the Tennessee Nature Conservancy to treat bats in abandoned military bunkers and mine shafts.

In addition, he’s learned that Rhodococcus rhodochrous is effective in fighting Chalkbrood disease, a fungal disease that infects bees in the larval or juvenile stage. Chalkbrood disease in bees has contributed to the number of managed honeybee colonies in the U.S. being cut in half, a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder.

Cornelison is seeking a benign alternative to anti-fungal drugs, which are expensive and can make honey inedible. So far, he has achieved positive results in cell studies, and no negative effects were found in toxicity trials exposing bees to the bacteria in the air or in their honey.

Pierce and Crow see Cornelison’s work as just one bootstrap from their potentially world-changing invention, and they’re taking steps to pass along that knowledge, one generation of scientists at a time.

“We’re training a whole new group we hope will inherit this, run with it and populate this industry,” says Pierce.

Visit magazine.gsu.edu for a video on Cornelison’s work fighting Colony Collapse Disorder in bees.

this discovery has the potential to completely change our entire food system, and public health, for the better.

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intrigue Honors College Founding Dean Larry Berman uncovers the political secrets of the Vietnam War and tells the stories of two of the war’s most fascinating figures M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U

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Georgia State introduced its Honors College in January 2012. Founding Dean Larry Berman and other Georgia State planners dreamed into being an institution that would directly expose bright, talented undergrads to experiences that transform them into citizens who can make a difference. ¶ So far, the program brings ringing endorsements from student scholars. ¶ “It’s hard to fathom the full impact of the Honors College on my academic career,” says Shelby Lohr, a senior on her way to a post-graduate scholarship at the University of Chicago. (Last year, Lohr became Georgia State’s first finalist for a prestigious Sophomore Hannah Basta set a lofty Marshall Scholarship.) “I look goal: She wants to be a Rhodes Scholar. at my resume, and I see more She feels the Honors College could pave her path to Oxford. than half of what’s there is “People in the Honors College are seen due to the Honors College.” as distinguished students,” she said. “I re-

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ally wanted to be part of that, to be with really driven, motivated fellow students.”

Berman guides hundreds of honors students, Georgia State’s best and brightest, its stars. He can barely contain his enthusiasm for the college and its ambitions.

“We want to become a national model for a public university Honors College,” he says. “We want to develop undergraduate scholars into global citizens. And we want their accomplishments to be recognized with prestigious fellowships, scholarships and awards throughout their lives.”

Berman understands at a personal level the rewards of such accomplishments. His own studies and works have given him a remarkable life.

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Cross-over scholar

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erman started college in turbulent 1969 at American University in Washington, D.C. The Vietnam War dominated American discourse then, and society seemed engaged in a great collective nervous breakdown, trust and values called into question, protesters in the streets.

He went to Princeton for a Ph.D. The Vietnam War and its howling side-effects especially intrigued him.

It became his life’s work.

In 1977, Berman joined the University of California, Davis, to teach political science and carry on research. For the next three decades, Berman would seek answers for why America sent more than half a million soldiers to a small Asian country, losing nearly 60,000 lives without achieving its political or military goals. Berman also wanted to understand the war from the Vietnamese perspective. His search required years of research, countless interviews with political, military and cultural figures, and more than a little self-discovery.

In 1982, Berman wrote his first book on Vietnam — still in print and in classrooms — based on previously classified documents from the National Security Council.

“Planning a Tragedy: The Americanization of the War in Vietnam” established Berman as a scholar, historian, political scientist and writer.

He kept at it, taking risks. To gain access to the classified wartime briefs of President Lyndon Johnson, Berman brought suit under the Freedom of Information Act against the CIA. Though he lost his case on appeal in California’s Ninth Circuit Court, his insistence on the right to read these important documents would eventually open the way for his own research and the work of many others.

He’s proud of his work’s relevance.

“A lot of political science digs down into the science … sometimes a little too much,” he says. “It makes little contribution to the real world. I think of myself as a cross-over scholar, a political historian. I’m dealing with policies, personalities and decisions that make a difference.”

Domino theory made real

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merica’s Vietnam-era leaders,

most notably President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, ascribed to a strategy of containment and a belief in the domino

theory. It held that if Vietnam fell to the communists, all the other small nations in Southeast Asia would tumble too, one by one, like dominoes in a row.

Vietnam did fall, but Southeast Asia didn’t turn out as predicted. Vietnam today is an increasingly important strategic and bilateral partner with the United States.

Americans trade in and tour the region.

A kind of domino theory, however, did affect Berman’s own career. It happened with his books.

If “Planning a Tragedy” put him on the map, the publication in 1989 of “Lyndon Johnson’s War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam” stretched the map borders. In 2002, “No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger and Betrayal in Vietnam” brought Berman’s research into the national dialogue.

Then, like a tipped domino, “No Peace, No Honor” led directly to two more important Berman volumes. These biographies concern two figures from the Vietnam era, one high and one low, one who served in secretive shadows, another who served under the brightest spotlights.

Berman began writing “No Peace, No Honor” as a 1998-’99 fellow-in-residence at

the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. His year of research and work there brought him into contact with Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, the charismatic former chief of naval operations during the Vietnam War and the man dubbed Father of the Modern Navy for social and technological reforms he championed in that branch of the service.

While Berman worked, cable TV channel C-SPAN selected him as subject for a

“Book TV” segment on the process a nonfiction writer uses to create a book. For an entire year, as Berman researched and wrote, the camera followed him. It accompanied him to the National Archives and Library of Congress.

C-SPAN wanted Berman to interview a prominent political or military figure for the TV special. Berman asked Zumwalt, formerly chief of naval operations and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The two men bonded. Their meetings became more frequent. Berman felt a biography taking form in his head, a next book about leadership.

But another domino fell first.

Pham Xuan An

O

n a visit to Southeast Asia in

summer 2000, Berman found himself at dinner on his last night in Saigon in a crowded seafood restaurant.

Only one seat remained empty, directly across the table.

A man entered the restaurant. Every Vietnamese person in the room rose.

“It was like a great dignitary had walked in,” Berman says. “He came to my table and sat down. He spoke to my colleagues in English, and I introduced myself and we didn’t stop talking for four hours.”

The thin, intelligent, aging man at the table turned out to be Pham Xuan An, a legendary spy for the North Vietnamese. Ho Chi Minh’s government sent An to the U.S. in 1957-’59, where he enrolled at Costa Mesa College in California to study journalism. Ironically, his sponsor, Edward Geary Lansdale, would serve in the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency and became legendary as one of the most ardent anti-communists of the era. (In 1957, Lansdale headed the Saigon Military Mission.)

Lansdale mentored An, never suspecting that his eager young charge had been preselected by the Viet Minh, the government in Hanoi, to infiltrate Lansdale’s shop. With amazing foresight, the communists in the north positioned An so he could get sponsorship — and political cover — and make his way to the U.S. to study journalism. All of it was a cover for his real mission — to learn about the character and soul of the Americans, whom the Vietnamese foresaw as their next invader.

An eventually became a Vietnam War reporter for Time magazine where he worked

as a spy for North Vietnam. He was a brilliant spy, with access to the highest-ranking American and South Vietnamese officials during the conflict, and claiming as his friends and confidants the most respected American journalists of the day.

After the war, Vietnam recognized An as one of the great war heroes of his nation.

At that Saigon dinner, Berman told An he was writing a book about the secret Paris negotiations between Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the Vietnamese diplomat who eventually brokered a cease-fire that would allow America to exit the war. An, with a sly smile, told Berman he knew a lot about the topic, and he offered to speak with Berman the next day.

After the meal, Berman learned An’s history from a friend. Stunned at the potential scholarly value of a relationship with this unusual, significant source, Berman returned to his hotel that evening.

He faced a choice.

If he followed his plan, Berman would be on a flight to Cambodia the next morning to sight-see at the famous ruins at Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. He would either be on that flight or sipping coffee with the most important spy of the Vietnam era, a man almost forgotten in the West.

“That night, I couldn’t sleep,” Berman says. “I tossed and turned. I just … had a hunch. I could be a tourist some other time. I went with my heart.”

He stayed and met An. Eventually, Berman found himself having discussions in the An home, poring over documents and materials. The two men corresponded, and their friendship deepened. Sensing a great biography in the making, Berman endlessly beseeched his friend, but An would not commit to authorize a writing of his life story.

At one point, An grew gravely ill, cigarettes finally doing what American bullets never could. (“An smoked five packs of cigarettes a day for 50 years,” Berman says, “and because he was very superstitious, he chose Lucky Strikes, feeling they would help keep him alive.”) Berman wrote his friend a personal goodbye note and “mailed it to An’s house,” he says.

An didn’t die that time. It took several more years for the Lucky Strikes to lose their luck. In the last two, An finally granted Berman the story of his life. Literally.

Berman heard the exclusive, exhaustive, nearly unbelievable tale of one of the great spies in the history of espionage.

In 2007, “Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time MagaM A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U

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Berman envisions every student in the Honors College undertaking a global experience. He has now focused his energies on raising scholarship dollars to make the dream a reality.

zine Reporter & Vietnamese Communist Agent” revealed the experiences of this remarkable Vietnamese version of James Bond. The book topped the best-seller list in Vietnam, and now is in development there as a lengthy television miniseries. Berman holds out hope it will be developed as a major motion picture in the U.S. as well.

And then a second domino fell.

“A professor always has to write another book,” says Berman.

Zumwalt

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fter “Perfect Spy,” Berman learned certain classified papers from Zumwalt’s service had been released through the “byzantine declassification process,” as he puts it. This was an important win for Berman who, just as with the Johnson briefs and the Freedom of Information Act proceedings against the CIA years before, had sued for the documents.

This time, on appeal to the military’s legal organ, the Judge Advocate General, or JAG, he won the right to see them.

He began assiduously piecing together the life story of a very different kind of hero. Zumwalt rose as high as a soldier can go, and courageously fought for principles that kept him in headlines and often in political dire straits.

Berman learned that Zumwalt’s accomplishments as a sailor, for all the medals and glory, felt hollow. In a tragic irony, Zumwalt’s son, who commanded a swift boat patrolling the rivers in Vietnam during the war, grew ill soon after his service and died. The culprit? Agent Orange, a defoliant used widely over areas of Vietnam to restrict hiding places for unfriendly Vietnamese guerrillas. In one of the war’s great scandals, revelations after the conflict showed chemical companies knew full well from laboratory tests the chemical could cause deadly cancers and other serious physical problems.

Zumwalt himself, after asking all the right questions and hearing the assurances of the prevaricators, approved the use of Agent Orange. The commander believed the lies of chemical companies and issued fatal orders for its use.

The chemical killed his own son. It killed and sickened tens of thousands of other Americans exposed to it, as well as their unborn children. It killed or robbed the health of uncountable numbers of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians.

Zumwalt spent his final years finding out the truth about Agent Orange and using his reputation, influence and many powerful connections to bring restitutions, medical treatments and settlements to those affected by the deadly chemical.

That honorable work earned Zumwalt the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Bill Clinton, for tireless efforts on behalf of his sailors and their families. Zumwalt never stopped caring for those under his command. It was a lifetime commitment.

Berman’s 2012 biography, “Zumwalt: The Life and Times of Admiral Elmo Russell ‘Bud’ Zumwalt Jr.,” arrived as the first major biography of a man with a single word on his gravestone: Reformer.

A high point of Berman’s scholarly career came in April of this year. He attended the christening ceremony for a new ultramodern Navy guided missile destroyer, USS Zumwalt, in Bath, Maine. Zumwalt’s surviving son, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Zumwalt, spoke at the christening. He singled out Berman, of 6,000 people in attendance, for the biographer’s portrayal of his father.

“He said he felt I’d really captured the soul of the man. I really felt like I’d written a book that mattered,” Berman says.

Bill Moyers included Berman on the PBS series “The Public Mind” in a notable episode, “The Truth About Lies.” David McCullough used Berman’s work to ballast a television special, “American Experience.”

Stanley Karnow made Berman part of “Vietnam: A Televised History.”

There’s more. Berman appears on CSPAN and The History Channel, lectures internationally and does high-level advisory work with veterans’ groups, most notably the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation’s new Education Center at the Wall.

The work has brought Berman distinguished awards.

A Guggenheim Foundation fellowship.

An American Council for Learned Societies fellowship. The Faculty Research Lecturer Award, the highest recognition bestowed on a faculty member at UC Davis. He earned a teaching award — the Outstanding Mentor of Women in Political Science Award — from the Women’s Caucus for Political Science. He received the Navy’s Vice Admiral Edwin B. Hooper award. Berman

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held the position as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and another as scholar-in-residence at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Center in Bellagio, Italy.

All the accolades and achievements merely whetted Berman’s appetite for something more. A career capstone. A legacy.

A role as founding dean of an Honors College.

Blueprint for tomorrow

T

he blueprint for what’s possible

at the Honors College sprawls far into the future.

Berman has a recruitment plan in place to cherry-pick high school stars. (Students can also “walk on,” as he puts it, joining the program once they’re enrolled, already into their studies.) A new, energetic alumni outreach keeps the program alive for students already in their careers, already making a difference in the world. Berman envisions every student in the Honors College undertaking a global experience. He has now focused his energies on raising scholarship dollars to make the dream a reality.

“We are dedicated to creating an environment where students can imagine a future they once thought unattainable,” Berman says. “As students engage in the Honors experience, they gain essential credentials and tools to achieve their career goals and leave a positive mark on the future.”

Pending partnerships with other schools at Georgia State promise even more — and more fascinating — interdisciplinary classes. The Honors College offers a new track on leadership studies. Beautifully designed Centennial Hall houses the Honors College and Berman’s offices. The complex bustles with youthful energy.

Berman seems everywhere at once — Asia today, London or D.C. tomorrow. He somehow remains accessible, mentoring, familiar to students.

The door to his office stays wide open.

Berman’s open-door policy evokes a line from the writings of William Blake.

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”

Berman’s lasting legacy, Georgia State’s Honors College, will open many doors, to many souls and many good works.

Charles McNair is the author of the novels “Pickett’s Charge” and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Land ‘O Goshen” and has been books editor at Paste Magazine since 2005.

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Atlanta Streetcar Close-up Cost of cars

$3.6 million each

Cost of ride

$1.00

*

Capacity per car

60 seated, 200 standing Expected schedule

every 15 minutes, every day

Number of cars

0004

Length of track

2.7 miles

* Proposed one-way fare to be decided by the Atlanta City Council.

Total cost

$98.9 million

Rail Redux

By H.M. Cauley Photography by Ben Rollins

The Atlanta Streetcar, once the preferred mode of transit in the city, is resurrected in Georgia State’s backyard M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U

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those torn-up roads, blocked sidewalks and the incessant drone of drills that have been part of the Georgia W State campus for the last year are finally coming to an end.

There’s another point to ponder: Will riders realize they are putting a new twist on an old story?

Tracking the Trolley

This summer, the city of Atlanta expects to wrap construction on its new streetcar line,

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an ambitious, and somewhat controversial, project that will bring transit down Edgewood and Auburn avenues.

City officials expect that the almost three-mile streetcar loop will spawn a number of significant changes to a corridor that has long suffered from lack of retailers, connectivity and, until the late 1990s, residents. Economic growth and improved east-west mobility are two of the primary goals for the streetcar, with the long-range plan to link into additional transit connections along the BeltLine, the city’s ongoing transportation and redevelopment project along a historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown.

Projections estimate each streetcar will take 177 autos off the road, lessening the congestion on the area’s crowded surface streets. For the Georgia State community, the line could mean a steady stream of visitors, office workers and downtown residents passing daily through the campus.

“The streetcar will give Georgia State incredible visibility, as well as access,” says President Mark P. Becker. “It will run through the heart of campus along both Auburn and Edgewood avenues, with five of its 13 stops within Georgia State’s downtown footprint.”

There’s no way of knowing how many students, staff and faculty will become regular streetcar riders, but Becker expects it will happen if the right elements are in place.

“One route that looks particularly well-suited for students living in university housing runs along Auburn Avenue from Piedmont to Woodruff Park,” he says.

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hile the 2014 streetcar is designed to keep things moving around the city’s core, the first such cars helped people get out of town. In the early 1870s, when the trolleys were powered by horses and mules, city dwellers hopped aboard for trips to the countryside. At the end of one line, near presentday Ponce City Market (the former City Hall East), were springs and parks. At the end of another, Brisbine Park boasted a baseball diamond, grandstand and fields for races and exhibitions.

Tim Crimmins, professor of sociology and the director of Georgia State’s Center for Neighborhood and Metropolitan Studies that for 10 years has scrutinized urban community issues, says back then the trolleys were a means of getting people out of the city for recreation.

“They began as a major way of getting people to and from events,” Crimmins says. “But by the 1880s, the trolleys were subsidized by the sale of suburban land.

Investors who were developing land on the periphery provided access to the property they owned. That was a driving force for growth, not just in Atlanta, but around the U.S.” The present-day streetcar marks another quirk in Atlanta history: The debut of the new route will come close to coinciding with the 125th anniversary of the city’s first eclectic streetcar line. It rolled out on Aug 23, 1889, when real estate developer Joel Hurt unveiled a power-driv-

 Downtown Five Points, circa 1940s

en trolley to transport Atlantans to his new neighborhood, Inman Park. The community on the eastern end of Edgewood Avenue was a suburb in progress, and getting residents back and forth to the city center was a key concern. (Hurt’s cars are long gone, but their home, the aptly named Trolley Barn at 963 Edgewood Ave., still stands as a reminder of those early transit options.)

Hurt wasn’t the only entrepreneur to kick-start a transit company back then.

The Metropolitan line, a trolley pulled by a small steam engine, was the quickest way to get from downtown to new communities south and east of town as far as Decatur.

The principal investor was Lemuel Grant, whose mansion still anchors the Atlanta neighborhood (and park) that bears his name. But it wasn’t long before the engine gave way to electric lines, and by the turn of the 20th century, the trolleys were the biggest consumers of electrical power. It quickly became clear someone was going to have to oversee the new industry.

A struggle erupted over who would

consolidate the various lines, provide the power and establish the infrastructure to handle both. The winner: the Georgia Power and Electric Trolley Company, the forerunner of the modern company that lights up the city.

“Georgia Power won because it had the best capacity to generate electricity,” says Crimmins. “It had developed lakes in north Georgia to create hydroelectric power that was transmitted to Atlanta. It was also the point when electric power was introduced into residences, even though the trolleys remained the major users.”

Atlanta wasn’t alone in developing an intricate web of trolley lines, and by the beginning of the 20th century almost every major American city had such a network.

At home, the streetcars meant an easier commute to the Georgia Institute of Technology Evening School of Commerce, the forerunner of present-day Georgia State.

“One of the advantages of the school was that it was accessible by the trolley,” says Crimmins. “But the trolley’s primary rider-

Photo courtesy of the Georgia State University Library Special Collections

ship was men coming into town to work.”

In the era of Jim Crow, the system was as segregated as the rest of Atlanta.

“There was a serving class who rode the trolley from African-American neighborhoods to middle- and upperclass white neighborhoods for jobs,” says Crimmins. “It was common practice for employers to pay a daily wage, plus car fare. But a bill from 1891 that segregated railroad cars was extended to the trolleys, even though Hurt testified at a hearing that it would be too expensive for the companies to have two cars or a permanent division between a white and black section. So it fell to the conductors to enforce the separation of the races, with the whites in the front and the African-Americans in the back, where even there they could be ordered to give up their seats to white riders.”

It wasn’t long before the trolley systems were threatened by the popularity of the automobile. New infrastructure that catered to cars was built, and by the time World War II ended, trolleys were well on their way to becoming impractical modes of transportation.

“The creation of the interstate highway system caused a decline in ridership,” says Crimmins. “Georgia Power remained in control, but after the war, it converted from electric to bus systems.

There were buses with electric motors still tied to the trolley lines, which were more flexible because they could pull right up to a curb. But by the 1950s, Georgia Power divested itself of the transit lines, and the system went to regular buses.”

Downtown Train

F

ast-forward to 2014, when the contemporary Atlanta streetcar is set to take on a role reversal. Instead of shuttling people out of town, city officials see a downtown trolley as a magnet that will draw locals and visitors alike. The line will be dotted with art galleries, retail shops and restaurants that riders can enjoy between the destinations such as the Martin Luther King Jr. historic M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U

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centennial park MLK Center

law school (fall ’15) The University Commons

aderhold

Langdale Hall Student Center

 Inman Park trolley

Sports Arena

 New streetcar interior  Trolley construction, Marietta and Broad street, 1891

Atlanta StreetCar Streetcar Track Streetcar Stop GSU Facilities Future GSU Facilities

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site, Centennial Olympic Park, the World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium.

“I think there’s a sort of nostalgia for the trolley, but that isn’t going to bring people from Marietta to downtown,” says Crimmins. “What you can argue is the business plan. It’s something that connects a major convention facility at the World Congress Center with hotels and various sites and offers relatively easy access through the downtown district. The city hopes it will disperse some of the concentration of convention business along the route and create enough of a market for shops at street level. It’s a reverse of the development the trolleys supported in the 1880s.”

The trolley also holds some appeal for curious students, says Joseph Hacker, who teaches transportation planning and economic development in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

“They’re very interested in it,” he says.

“One of the big assumptions is that students will use it, and as the university expands eastward, I think there’s an opportunity that they will. There are also a lot of apartments being built not far from the line, and if more students live in them it might be a nice way to get to and from campus.”

The streetcar does have the potential of revitalizing the areas adjacent to campus, Hacker adds.

“I think it could make the Fairlie-Poplar area come alive in the evenings,” he says, “but there also needs to be events and rea-

sons to draw people downtown. Until there is that connection, there may be problems getting people to come to where people aren’t. But it is quaint.”

Part of the charm is the nostalgia trolleys create in a generation who, like Atlantans 125 years ago, never saw or rode one.

“There is that historical tradition of having street cars as part of urban life,” says Cathy Liu, associate professor of public policy and a specialist in planning issues. “Now they’re part of that general idea of making our downtown more livable and pleasant for visitors and residents. We have been having suburban development for a long time. Now people have realized the importance of downtown areas as centers of cities, and more development and investment are going in. I see the streetcar as one piece of that overall shift.”

For its part, the city is jump-starting the economic revival by creating a program of pop-up shops and offering incentives such as a few months’ free rent to business owners and entrepreneurs who locate along the trolley line. Those shops and restaurants

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will give riders options along the route.

“The trolley is definitely appealing for workers who can hop on and off and stop at different places and for tourists who want to see the downtown area,” says Liu. “It can certainly help downtown’s image.

It’s appealing, and it’s a part of history.”

That history hasn’t escaped Mayor Kasim Reed, one of the project’s leading supporters.

“The streetcars are an integral part of the story of Atlanta,” he said. “It’s about revisiting our ‘routes,’ as it were. These days, streetcar systems are being used to help revitalize cities in the U.S. and throughout the world. And these are not experiments.

They are proven to work.

“Building the Atlanta Streetcar now is not about nostalgia. It’s about accommodating growth and planning for the future.”

H.M. Cauley is an Atlanta-based freelancer and au-

thor of three travel books about the region. Along with being a regular contributor to the Atlanta JournalConstitution, the Atlanta Business Chronicle and other local publications, she is working toward a Ph.D. in Georgia State’s English Department.

Photos courtesy of the Georgia State University Library Special Collections

These days, streetcar systems are being used to help revitalize cities in the U.S. and throughout the world. And these are not experiments.

They are proven to work. atlanta mayor Kasim Reed

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inside insight Mid-Century City • A mosaic overlay of 124 stitched-together aerial photographs from 1949 depict Atlanta as it was transitioning to an

automobile-centered city. The project, created by University Librarian Joe Hurley, can be viewed in Google Maps and Google Earth, and here, on the large-scale, high-resolution visualization wall in the Petit Science Center. Visit magazine.gsu.edu to see more.

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photo by ben rollins

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