UGA Columns August 18, 2014

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Senior VP for Academic Affairs and Provost Whitten discusses her vision for UGA QUESTIONS&ANSWERS

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UGA Libraries to celebrate 75th anniversary of ‘Gone With the Wind’ premiere Vol. 42, No. 4

August 18, 2014

www.columns.uga.edu

jhataway@uga.edu

Andrew Davis Tucker

From left: Freshman Molly Vinesett of Spartanburg, South Carolina, along with four- year-old Emily James of Savannah and her older sister, freshman Kaitlyn James carry belongings to a room in Brumby Hall Aug. 12 on the first day of residence-hall move-in, known as during Hunker Down with Housing.

Fresh start

Incoming class of first-year students sets academic criteria records tgiese@uga.edu

UGA will open its doors today to a first-year class that has broken the high ceiling on academic criteria set by previous classes. The 2014 class begins UGA with the highest average GPA to date in the most challenging courses. The class also has earned the highest test scores for entering freshmen and continue the upward trajectory in the academic qualifications of students at the nation’s first state-chartered university.

The entering freshman class has set records for academic criteria, attaining an average GPA of 3.9.

The mid-50 percentile GPA range is 3.79-4.06. Additionally, this class has the highest SAT average in UGA history with combined mean

4&5

$7M in NIH grants to fund UGA health research projects

By James E. Hataway

By Tracy Giese

UGA GUIDE

critical reading and math scores of 1289 plus an average writing score of 624, for a total of 1913 on the 2400 scale—16 points higher than last year’s incoming class. The mid-50 percentile of the class scored between 1840 and 2110.

This year’s mean score for students who took the ACT was 29, with a mid-50 percentile range of 27-31.

The Honors Program will enroll 525 new students in the firstyear class who have accomplished an average high school GPA of 4.09.

Incoming Honors students have an average SAT score of 1465 or an average ACT score of 33.

The rigor of students’ high school curriculum continues to be a key factor in admissions decisions, with some 95 percent of the students having enrolled in College Board Advanced Placement or

International Baccalaureate classes while in high school. Many students earned enough credits to be classified as sophomores and several as juniors during their first term of enrollment. Thirteen percent of students dually enrolled in college while attending high school.

“Our first-year students have broken records across multiple areas and represent the strongest academic class by all standards,” said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management. “We are pleased that these students chose to come to UGA, as most have multiple options for college.

Not only do they have the highest grades and test scores, but they also have faced the most rigorous high school curriculum of any See CLASS on page 8

A team of scientists in the UGA Center for Family Research has received two grants from the National Institutes of Health providing more than $7 million to lay the foundation for prevention programs designed to improve the health and well-being of young rural African-Americans in Georgia.

Young African-Americans in the rural South are more likely to experience greater burdens of disease and poorer health outcomes compared to other populations in the U.S., and researchers hope that careful analysis of the unique problems these youth face will lead to new family and community-based solutions.

“The science that will come out of both projects will be important in terms of understanding health disparities and developing new strategies

to improve the quality of life for AfricanA m e r i c a n s ,” said Gene Brody, founder and codirector of the UGA Center for Family Gene Brody Research.

One grant supports ongoing work in the Strong African American Families Healthy Adult Project, or SHAPE, which has followed 493 African-American youths since they were 11 years old. The SHAPE project will continue to work with the young people and their families as they enter early adulthood.

The extraordinary scope of the SHAPE project is rooted in the idea that many of the most dangerous chronic diseases are caused in part

See GRANTS on page 8

UGA Arts Council

Third annual Spotlight on the Arts festival set for Nov. 6-14

By Camie Williams camiew@uga.edu

A Tony Award-winning playwright, a Grammy Award-winning soprano, art-making robots and a music composition performed on Google Glass are among the more than 40 events on tap for UGA’s 2014 Spotlight on the Arts festival.

The third annual festival is scheduled for Nov. 6-14 and will feature performances by British baroque quartet Red Priest, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra and Grammy Award-winning soprano

Kathleen Battle.The 2014 Spotlight on the Arts festival also includes events featuring Academy and Tony award-winning playwright Alfred Uhry, who will be inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. A University Theatre production of The Great Gatsby will run throughout the festival.

“Each year, the Spotlight on the Arts festival shines a light on the breadth and the quality of arts programming at the University of Georgia,” said Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “This year’s festival truly offers something

See FESTIVAL on page 8

Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Black Faculty and Staff Organization Athletic Association Professor in Social Sciences named environmental superhero by Captain Planet Foundation Atlanta City Council president

By Alan Flurry

aflurry@uga.edu

UGA’s J. Marshall Shepherd officially is a superhero.

Shepherd, the UGA Athletic Association Professor in the Social Sciences, was named Captain Planet Protector of the Earth by the Captain Planet Foundation, which recognizes outstanding real-life environmental superheroes.

Shepherd will receive the award at the annual Captain Planet Foundation Benefit Gala Dec. 5 at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta

hotel. Other 2014 honorees include renowned primatologist Jane Goodall and Carter and Olivia Ries of the nonprofit Marshall Shepherd O n e M o r e Generation.

Broadcast journalist Larry King will be master of ceremonies.

The Atlanta-based Captain Planet Foundation was founded in 1991 by Ted Turner and now

is chaired by his daughter Laura Turner Seydel. The foundation supports high-quality, hands-on environmental stewardship projects that have enabled more than 1.1 million youth around the world to make significant environmental improvements to their schools or communities.

Past recipients of the award include Erin Brockovich and former EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

“It is wonderful to be honored for something that I would do without fanfare at all,” Shepherd said.

See SUPERHERO on page 8

will speak at BFSO luncheon

By Matt Chambers mattdc@uga.edu

Ceasar C. Mitchell, president of the Atlanta City Council, will deliver the keynote address at UGA’s Black Faculty and Staff Organization’s 12th annual Founders Award Scholarship Luncheon Sept. 30.

“We’re really excited about Ceasar Mitchell speaking at the event,” said Cedric Miller, BFSO president. “He is a University of Georgia law school graduate who has been instrumental in the Atlanta

Beltline Project and other initiatives that improve communities for the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia.”

The luncheon will be held from noon until 1:30 p.m. in Mahler Hall at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and will be followed by an opportunity for attendees to network.

Tickets are available for purchase until Sept. 26. Prices are $35 per ticket or $280 for a table of eight.

Proceeds from the luncheon benefit

See LUNCHEON on page 8

2 Aug. 18, 2014 columns.uga.edu New plan makes returning to college easier for 1.1 million Georgians

Around academe

Gov. Nathan Deal, University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby and Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Ron Jackson announced Georgia’s “Go Back.

Move Ahead.” campaign July 29. The initiative will encourage many of the more than 1 million Georgians who have completed some college to return and complete their degree requirements.

According to a University System of Georgia news release, approximately 1.1 million workingage adults, or 22 percent of the state’s population, attended college for some time but did not graduate. “Go Back. Move Ahead.” will offer Georgians a simpler enrollment process, more flexible ways to transfer earned college credits, additional course schedule options and a personal academic adviser.

Interim KSU president accepts lower salary to give 24 workers raises

Raymond Burse returned to Kentucky State University as interim president under the condition that his annual salary be adjusted so other employees would get raises.

Burse, who headed the public land-grant institution from 1982 to 1989, was slated to receive roughly $350,000, but he asked to make his annual salary just under $260,000, according to CBS News.

The $90,000 originally slated for his compensation package now will be used to boost the pay of 24 workers at the school. Some of those workers earned the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

News to Use

Young children need ‘play time’

A full after-school schedule may keep your children occupied, but it’s not necessarily the healthiest option. It turns out children need a little unstructured “play time” for healthy development as well.

Research has shown that children can develop a lot of necessary skills, such as working with others and learning how to make decisions, through child-led or unstructured play time.

Parents should pay attention to cues such as their child’s stress levels during the school year, according to Diane Bales, a child development specialist with UGA Extension. When children go from school to T-ball practice to a youth group meeting and then to soccer camp all within a few hours’ time, they don’t get the needed break. Parents today feel pressure to enroll their kids in as many activities as possible, Bales said, most of it out of good intentions of wanting to expose their children to a variety of options. The key is to seek balance. Structured activities are fine within reason, but make time for individual or group play dates where children get to decide what to play.

When children play, they get to make all the decisions themselves, which is a valuable skill that they need to learn.

Source: UGA Extension

Public Service and Outreach

President visits Archway Partnership projects in Sandersville, Augusta

By Kelly Simmons

simmonsk@uga.edu

Government, business and community leaders in Washington County welcomed UGA President Jere W. Morehead to Sandersville July 29 and shared highlights of the ways the university has helped them address critical issues in the community.

Through the Archway Partnership, which was launched in Washington County in 2007, UGA has provided resources to help establish an after-school and summer program for teens, launch collaborations with nearby colleges and universities to improve health care in the community and lay the groundwork for building a tourism industry.

Faculty, staff and students from a number of UGA colleges and schools, including the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, the College of Environment and Design and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, have provided services to the county since the partnership was established.

“We have a true partnership, we feel,” said Chris Hutchings, Washington County Board of Commissioners administrator. “We really (benefit from) the students of UGA who come down here and do the projects. Students value real world experience, and we are the real world down here in Washington County.”

Following his trip to Sandersville, Morehead traveled to Augusta that same

Eli Truett

Dr. Geoffrey Sheen, left, demonstrates new technology for UGA President Jere W. Morehead during a visit to the Mustard Seed Dental Studio in Augusta.

day to visit a dental office and lab that has benefited from services provided by the UGA Small Business Development Center.

Dr. Geoffrey Sheen, owner and operator of the Mustard Seed Dental Studio, said he has had a 10 percent increase in revenue this year over last. Gross profit is up by 28 percent for the year, he said.

The Augusta office of the Small Business Development Center has helped Sheen and the studio, which employs 18 people, with strategic planning, human resources and financial analysis. The

SBDC also helped Sheen secure loans that enabled him to buy new equipment, lower expenses and increase profit by hiring employees for in-house technical work that previously had been outsourced.

He also was able to purchase a second building to expand the lab and plans to increase his workforce to 50 employees in the future.

Both the Archway Partnership and the SBDC are units of the UGA Office of Public Service and Outreach, which helps create jobs, develops leaders and addresses the state’s most critical challenges.

UGA Skidaway Institute of oceanography

Public Service and Outreach

Skidaway Institute researchers complete ‘26 Hours on the Marsh’

Georgia Sea Grant helps coastal areas plan for port expansion

By Michael Sullivan

By Jill Gambill

mike.sullivan@skio.uga.edu

Pitching a tent in the woods and fighting off mosquitoes may not sound like the logistics of a typical oceanography experiment, but that is how researchers at UGA’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography recently completed an intensive, round-the-clock sampling regimen.

The project, dubbed “26 Hours on the Marsh,” was designed to investigate how salt marshes function and interact with their surrounding environment—specifically how bacteria consume and process carbon in the marsh.

The team set up a sampling station and an outdoor laboratory on a bluff overlooking the Groves Creek salt marsh on the UGA Skidaway Institute campus.

The scientists collected and processed water samples from the salt marsh every two hours, beginning at 11 a.m. July 16 and running through 1 p.m. July 17.

“We wanted to be able to compare not only what is happening to the carbon throughout the tidal cycle, but also what the microbes are doing at high and low tides and also during the day and night,” said Zachary Tait, a UGA Skidaway Institute research technician. “So we had to have two high tides and two low tides and a day and night for each. That works out to about 26 hours.”

The research team ran more than 30 different tests on each sample. The samples will provide data to several ongoing research projects. A research team from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville also participated in the sampling program. Their primary focus was to identify the bacterial population using DNA and RNA analysis.

This sampling project is one of many the researchers conduct during the year. They use an automatic sampling

system for most of the other activities.

The automatic system collects a liter of water every two hours and holds it to be collected and processed at the end of the 26-hour cycle. The team could not use the auto sampler this time for several reasons: the scientists needed to collect much more water in each sample than the auto sampler could handle, and the auto sampler tends to produce bubbles in the water, so it is not effective for measuring dissolved gases.

“The UT scientists wanted to conduct enzyme analysis as well as RNA and DNA tests on the samples, and for those, the samples must be very fresh,” said Megan Thompson, a UGA Skidaway Institute research technician.

“You can’t just go out and pick them up the next day.”

About a dozen scientists and students were involved in the project, including Thompson,Tait, a group of undergraduate students completing summer internships at UGA’s Skidaway Institute and a similar group from the University of Tennessee.They split their time between the tent and outdoor laboratory on a bluff overlooking Groves Creek and UGA Skidaway Institute laboratories a mile away.

“It was an interesting experience, and I think it went very well,” Thompson said. “However, when we wrapped it up, we were all ready to just go home and sleep.”

“26 Hours on the Marsh” is supported by two grants from the National Science Foundation totaling $1.7 million that represent larger, three-year, multiinstitutional and multi-disciplinary research projects into salt marsh activity.

These projects bring together faculty, students and staff from UGA’s Skidaway Institute, the University of Tennessee and Woods Hole Research Center.

jgambill@uga.edu

As the $706 million Savannah Harbor Expansion Project begins, UGA and Georgia Sea Grant are poised to help coastal residents adapt to changes that are expected to bring additional jobs and prosperity to their communities.

“Most of the regional attention to the Savannah Harbor deepening has focused on the ecological effects to the river and adjacent wetland ecosystems,” said Charles Hopkinson, Georgia Sea Grant director. “We want to shift the focus to local communities so that they are prepared to handle the secondary impacts that are likely to accompany the port expansion, such as new transportation and parking needs or the school and housing needs of an expanded workforce.”

As the country’s fourth busiest container port and creator of $18.5 billion annually in personal income from portrelated jobs, much is riding on the success of Savannah’s port expansion. Plans include dredging 32 miles of the harbor’s navigation channel to allow the port to accommodate supersized freighters from Asia and the Pacific coast of Latin America that will come to the East Coast through the newly expanded Panama Canal, due to be completed in 2015.

During the construction phase of the project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that 3,700 one-year jobs will be created within Georgia and South Carolina. Stephen Ramos, an assistant professor in the College of Environment and Design, will investigate the best ways for communities to accommodate the temporary workforce and study whether it could translate into long-term job creation. He also will look at whether local communities need to invest in infrastructure improvements.

RESEARCH news

‘Surprised losers’ Grady College study finds that unexpected election results tend to erode trust in government

By April Reese Sorrow aprilr@uga.edu

When asked who is going to win an election, people tend to predict their own candidate will come out on top. When that doesn’t happen, according to a new study from UGA, these “surprised losers” often have less trust in government and democracy.

The news media may be partly to blame, according to Barry Hollander, author of the study and UGA professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“You need the trust of those in a democracy for democracy to be successful,” Hollander said. “We have become more fragmented in our media diet and that leads to hearing what we want to hear and believing what we want to believe despite all evidence to the contrary, such as polls. Our surprise in the election outcome makes us angry, disappointed and erodes our trust in the basic concept of democracy; and that can threaten our trust in government.”

Based on the theory of wishful thinking—the idea that people tend to predict their favorite sports team or candidate will win—Hollander analyzed 5,914 survey responses conducted by the American National Election Study before and after the 2012 presidential election. He examined people’s pre-election predictions, their news media consumption habits and ultimately their trust in government and democracy.The results were published in the Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly in July.

He found that “surprised losers,” those who predicted their candidate would win but who eventually lost, are more skeptical of government, democracy and the election process than are expected losers, or those who favored the same candidate but expected to lose.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, 78 percent of Mitt Romney supporters during the 2012 election believed he would win. Nearly all polls showed President Barack Obama leading throughout the campaign.

“When predicting an election outcome, people sample themselves, friends, family and Facebook friends,” Hollander said. “You draw a sample of those people like yourself, and we are drawing a very

Paul Efland

Barry Hollander, a professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, found that unexpected election results can erode trust in government.

biased sample. In this way, our own preferences have enormous weight.”

In addition to sampling people much like themselves, the media that people draw from can influence their perception. Previous research from Hollander studied the effect of news consumption on political knowledge.

“In theory, greater news consumption should lead to greater political knowledge,” he said. “Therefore, you should become aware of who is winning or losing, and this should reduce wishful thinking. That worked for those who read newspapers, but not for other news media. Also, the stronger you care about the outcome or feel about a candidate, the more likely you are to think that candidate is going to win, regardless of the polls.”

Among Romney supporters, watching Fox News Channel had a unique effect. Controlling for factors such as age, education, race, gender, party identification and exposure to other news, the study found that those who watched Fox

News Channel were even more likely to predict Romney would win, and this in turn had an effect on whether or not they thought government posed a threat.

In this election, the results suggested if someone watched Fox News Channel, he or she was less trusting of the government.

“The more fragmented our media have become, the more people are hearing what they want to out of their news and the more surprised they are when the outcome doesn’t turn out as they’ve expected, which could further erode trust in elections, democracy and government,” Hollander said. “As a journalist, I didn’t give any thought to my effect on people.

The danger is if our media continue to become more fragmented, the more and more we tend to hear only what we want to hear and believe what we want to believe.

But when the outcome surprises us, that can have very real consequences—not only in people’s own perception but also in the stability of democracy and government.”

Professor’s research pinpoints three keys to slogan likability mweeks@uga.edu

New work published by a UGA researcher helps explain why consumers gravitate toward “Got milk?” rather than “I’m lovin’ it.”

Slogans convey information about products and brands in pithy, bite-sized bits designed to be memorable and functional. Yet slogans offer companies another opportunity: to demonstrate likability. While marketers have long understood the inner workings of memorable slogans, research on slogan likability is just emerging.

“When you look at it from a brand manager’s perspective, they want three things to happen: They want people to remember the slogan. Recall is important.

They want people to like the slogan, because if people like the slogan they’re likely to like the brand.And they also want

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Digest 2014-2015 single tickets for Performing Arts Center tickets go on sale Aug. 25

Single tickets for the UGA Performing Arts Center’s 2014-2015 season will go on sale Aug. 25.

Tickets can be purchased at the Performing Arts Center box office, which opens at 9 a.m., online at pac.uga.edu or by calling 706-542-4400.

The upcoming season features some of the finest performers from around the world, including Grammy-winning soprano Kathleen Battle, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Japanese drumming sensation Kodo and Van Cliburn International Piano Competition gold medalist Vadym Kholodenko.

The season opens Sept. 24 with renowned storyteller and award-winning author Garrison Keillor. The host of public radio’s popular A Prairie Home Companion returns to the Performing Arts Center following his sold-out performance in 2012.

UGA Costa Rica names faculty facility after alumnus, longtime supporter

Terry College of Business

By Matt Weeks

columns.uga.edu Aug. 18, 2014

there to be a nice fit between the brand and the slogan,” said Piyush Kumar, a professor of marketing at the UGA Terry College of Business and co-author of the study. “Between the first and the second, there seems to be a discrepancy between what makes people remember slogans and what makes them like slogans.”

For years, advertisers have relied on rules of thumb when crafting slogans: keep it short, add a jingle, make it rhyme, etc. But these standards don’t always influence likability.

In fact, the research shows that out of 14 possible characteristics of slogans, only three count when trying to determine likability: creativity of phrasing, clarity of message and inclusion of a benefit. The other factors, such as including a brand name and the consumers’ familiarity with the product and/or the brand, matter very little in terms of likability.

The research was the first large-scale

study on customers’ responses to slogans of brands that already exist in the marketplace. More than 500 people were asked to recall as many slogans as they could.

The top 150 slogans were selected and shown in small sets to a large sample of respondents who were asked to indicate how much they liked each one of them. A new model of slogan likeability was then used to assess which of 14 common slogan characteristics determined why people liked some slogans more than others.

“From a cognitive point of view, if there is a clear message from the brand, people tend to like it,” Kumar said. “And if it’s being said creatively, people tend to like it as well. So both sides of the picture seem to matter.”

Because slogans are one of the three components of brand identity, alongside brand name and logo, the new findings have significant implications for brand managers and slogan designers.

The newly constructed faculty residence facility on UGA’s campus in San Luis, Costa Rica, was dedicated July 26 by a group of local dignitaries as well as university administrators and staff.

The new facility was named in honor of Paul A. Gross, a 1961 UGA alumnus and longtime supporter of the international residential center and the UGA Costa Rica Program in general.

Gross endowed the Paul A. Gross Undergraduate Student Support Fund in the UGA Foundation with a primary objective to raise awareness of UGA Costa Rica and the opportunities it provides for students, faculty and the adjoining communities.

He also established the fund with an eye toward attracting gifts from other donors to support UGA Costa Rica’s educational endeavors and associated activities.

As part of a second gift to UGA Costa Rica, Gross offered an incentive whereby he will match the first $50,000 in donations to the Friends of Costa Rica Endowment on a dollar-for-dollar basis through year’s end.

Gross and his wife, Roni, were present for the ribbon cutting and dedication along with a host of government and business leaders from Costa Rica.

Holland Award for college journalism goes to California State University paper

The Daily Titan at California State University, Fullerton is the 2013-2014 winner of UGA’s Betty Gage Holland Award for excellence in college journalism. The award was announced July 29 at the 19th annual Management Seminar for College News Editors, a weeklong workshop at UGA led by educators and industry professionals.

The Holland Award recognizes campus journalists and their publications for distinguished service to honor and protect the integrity of public dialogue on America’s college campuses. The award is presented by the Cox Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership, which is part of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Student Press Law Center. It is named for Betty Gage Holland, a longtime friend of journalism at the Grady College.

“The Food Report,” the winning entry from the Daily Titan, is a series of investigative reports about the requirement at Cal State Fullerton that all students purchase an on-campus meal plan and how California state law allows an exemption from this program—a little-known fact among the student body and administration.

The series features articles about inspection ratings, suspected illness reports as a result of eating at on-campus establishments and poor maintenance at concession stands and vending machines.

Many of the features also include videos as part of the multimedia report.

PERIODICALS POSTAGE STATEMENT Columns (USPS 020-024) is published weekly during the academic year and biweekly during the summer for the faculty and staff of the University of Georgia by the UGA News Service. Periodicals postage is paid in Athens, Georgia. Postmaster: Send off-campus address changes to Columns, UGA News Service, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Athens, GA 30602-1999.

For a complete listing of events 7 8 5 at the University of Georgia, check the Master Calendar on the Web (calendar.uga.edu/­).

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The following events are open to the public, unless otherwise specified.

Dates, times and locations may change without advance notice.

UGAGUIDE 2014-2015 University Theatre season to include ‘Great Gatsby,’ Shakespeare

By Aaron Kelly

aaronlk@uga.edu

Vivien Leigh on set during the filming of Gone With the Wind. The special collections libraries will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the film’s premiere with events on Aug. 23 beginning at 2 p.m.

UGA Libraries to celebrate the 75th anniversary of ‘Gone With the Wind’ premiere The special collections libraries will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the premiere of Gone With the Wind with events on Aug. 23, including the opening of a major exhibit, an afternoon of talks and a reception.

The anniversary observance begins at 2 p.m. in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries with exhibit tours led by Mary Ellen Brooks, director emeritus of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Brooks also is the curator of the exhibit on the life of Margaret Mitchell, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

The UGA Libraries has the largest collection in the country of Mitchell’s personal papers and other materials, donated by her brother, Stephens Mitchell.

The exhibit will remain on display through the end of the year.

Other events scheduled:

• “These Movie People are Crazy as Bedbugs,” a talk by John Wiley, author and editor of the The Scarlett Letter, a Gone With the Wind periodical published quarterly, 3 p.m.

• “Look what The Wind Blew In! Behind the Scenes Letters of Margaret Mitchell and Her Friends,” a glimpse into the private life of the Atlanta author, 4 p.m.

• Wiley and Brooks also will offer tributes to the late Herb Bridges of Coweta County, who, at one time, had the largest collection of Gone With the Wind movie memorabilia and was a popular speaker on the topic, 5 p.m.

• A reception will be held at 6 p.m. and will conclude the celebration.

All events will be held in Room 271 of the Russell Special Collections Building. Cost for the event is $50 per person. Register at http://t.uga.edu/Pt or by calling Leandra Nessel at 706-542-3879.

University Theatre has announced its 2014-2015 lineup, which includes the 2012 Tony Award-winning A Raisin in the Sun spinoff Clybourne Park, a stage adaptation of literary and film classic The Great Gatsby presented as part of the UGA Spotlight on the Arts Festival, Shakespeare’s classic comedy Much Ado About Nothing and the biting satire Mein Kampf.

The season consists of four UniversityTheatre Mainstage productions and three Studio Series presentations that offer live theater in a vibrant, strippeddown format. Tickets for Mainstage productions are $16 for the public and $12forUGAstudents.StudioSeriestickets are $12 for the public and $7 for UGA students. Subscriptions, which save 25 percent off single ticket prices, are on sale now through the Performing Arts Center. Tickets and subscriptions are available by calling 706-542-4400 or going to www.drama. uga.edu.

This year’s season contains new offerings, such as Catherine ­Trieschmann’s Hot Georgia Sunday and George Tabori’s Mein Kampf, a satirical sendup of Adolf Hitler’s failure as an artist that led him to pursue his other dream—of taking over the world. A Lesson Before Dying, based on the Ernest Gaines novel examining the life of an innocent man on death row in 1948 Louisiana, rounds out the pack.

“In one of the most exciting and diverse seasons we’ve ever presented, we’re striking a balance between well-known and beloved titles—such as Gatsby, Hedda Gabler and Much Ado—and really fantastic plays that many people probably have never encountered,” said David Saltz, head of the theatre and film studies department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “In addition, we’re featuring Trieschmann, a UGA alumna with a growing national reputation, and George Tabori, who is renowned in Germany as one of the major 20th-century playwrights but almost unknown here in the United States.”

Mein Kampf will be presented in conjunction with the international conference, “George Tabori and the Theatre of the Holocaust,” hosted by UGA in honor of the 100th anniversary of Tabori’s birth.

The 2014-2015 University Theatre Mainstage productions include:

aflurry@uga.edu

State Botanical Garden to display new exhibition

The State Botanical Garden will display an art exhibition by Ginny McLaren Aug. 24 through Oct. 5.

An opening reception will be held Aug. 24 at 2 p.m. McLaren paints to remember a special time or a place, using sketches and photographs to help achieve realism. Her paintings will be on display inside the Visitor Center and Conservatory Great Room. McLaren’s works have been exhibited in galleries in New Jersey, California, Nevada and West Virginia.

The Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series in the Lamar Dodd School of Art kicks off with the 2014 Dodd Professorial Chair lecture by Zoe Strauss Sept. 2 at 5:30 p.m. The lecture is open free to the public.

Strauss is a Philadelphia-based photographer born in 1970. Between 2001 and 2011, Strauss’ photographic work culminated in a yearly Under I-95 show, which took place beneath the interstate in south Philadelphia.

She displayed her photographs on concrete pillars under the highway and sold them for $5 each. Strauss received a Seedling Award from the Leeway Foundation in 2002, a Pew Fellowship in 2005, and in 2006, her work was included in the Whitney Biennial. Her book America was published in 2008 by AMMO Books.

Strauss will spend the academic year at UGA as the holder of the Lamar Dodd Professorial Chair.

The lecture series continues throughout the academic year. Each lecture will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Room S151 of the art school unless otherwise noted. The remainder of the series will include lectures by: • Ry Rocklen, a contemporary artist based in Los Angeles who works primarily in sculpture, Sept. 9.

• Lauren Fensterstock, a Maine artist, critic and curator, Sept. 30. Fensterstock’s site-specific installation work and wall pieces depict nature by incorporating meticulously cut and curled paper, charcoal and Plexiglas to create

Calendar items are taken from Columns files and from the university’s Master Calendar, maintained by University Public Affairs. Notices are published here as space permits, with priority given to items of multidisciplinary interest. The Master Calendar is available on the Web at calendar.uga.edu/.

floral and garden scenes.

• Katherine Schwab, art historian, will deliver the Shouky Shaheen Lecture on the Parthenon Oct. 2 at 5:30 p.m. in the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium of the Georgia Museum of Art. Schwab is art history program director at Fairfield University. Her areas of expertise and interest encompass Greek and Roman art and archaeology as well

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EXHIBITIONS

Picturing America: Signature Works from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Through Aug. 24. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Women, Art and Social Change. Through Aug. 31. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Shapes That Talk to Me. Through Oct. 19.

Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Terra Verte. Through May 31, 2015. Jane and Harry Willson Sculpture Garden, Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

From left, UGA students Ashley Ware as Wendla, Connor Brockmeier as Melchior and Caleb Huett as Moritz perform a scene from the University Theatre’s Spring Awaking in April.

• Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris; guest director Paul Pierce; Cellar Theatre; Sept. 25-26 and 30 and Oct. 1-3 at 8 p.m.; Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 at 2:30 p.m. Winner of the 2012 Tony Award for best play, an Olivier Award and the Pulitzer Prize, this satiric comedy about race and real estate spins off Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun to follow one house over 50 years—from the era of segregation to gentrification.

• The Great Gatsby adapted by Simon Levy from the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald; directed by T.Anthony Marotta; FineArtsTheatre; Nov. 6-8 and 12-14 at 8 p.m.; Nov. 9 and 16 at 2:30 p.m. A special matinée will be held for area schools Nov. 11 at 10 a.m. A self-made millionaire and the socialite he loves personify the Jazz Age in this new adaptation of Fitzgerald’s famous novel of glamour, greed and excess.

• Mein Kampf by George Tabori; guest director Del Hamilton; Cellar Theatre; Feb. 19-21 and 24-28 at 8 p.m. and March 1 at 2:30 p.m. This bold, hilarious farce, penned by one of Germany’s greatest 20th-century playwrights, portrays Adolf Hitler as a young, struggling artist secretly yearning to take over the world and whose life is changed by a chance encounter with a Jewish Bible seller.

• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare; directed by Kristin Kundert-Gibbs; Fine Arts Theatre; April 9-11 and 15-18 at 8 p.m.,

April 19 at 2:30 p.m. A special matinée will be held for area schools April 14 at 10 a.m. Shakespeare’s beloved comedy features romantic hijinks and misunderstandings when soldiers return from war to the women who are charmed by men in uniform—or who, like the wittily disdainful Beatrice, profess to be immune to their charms.

The 2014-2015 UniversityTheatre Studio Series productions include: • Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; directed by Ray Paolino; Cellar Theatre; Oct. 14-19 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 19 at 2:30 p.m. This drama features one of the most fascinating and complex characters in dramatic history, Hedda Gabler, who yearns for independence and passion in a repressive world—no matter the cost to anyone in her way.

• A Lesson Before Dying by Romulus Linney based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines; directed by George Contini; Seney Stovall Theatre; Feb. 3-8 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 8 at 2:30 p.m. The wrenching and inspiring story is about an innocent man condemned to death by electric chair in 1948 Louisiana.

His failed defense portrayed him as less than human, but he learns to die like a man.

• Hot Georgia Sunday by Catherine Trieschmann; directed by Geoffrey Douglas; Cellar Theatre; March 24-29 at 8 p.m. and March 29 at 2:30 p.m.

This dark comedy tells a tale of lust, betrayal and the limits of faith in a small Georgia town from a fierce and theatrical new voice.

as South Asian and Asian art.

• Janice Kerbel, a London-based Canadian artist, Nov. 4. Kerbel’s projects have taken many forms, ranging from a manual for robbing a branch of a London bank for Bank Job in 1999 to Deadstar (2006), a detailed map of an invented “ghost town.”

• Carol Armstrong, a faculty member in the art history department at

Zoe Strauss, a Philadelphia-based photographer, will kick off the Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series Sept. 2 at 5:30 p.m. In The Billboard Project, photos by Strauss were displayed on 54 separate billboards, traversing dozens of neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

Yale University, Jan. 29. Armstrong teaches and writes about 19th- century French painting, the history of photography, the history and practice of art criticism, feminist theory and the representation of women and gender in art and visual culture.

• Julie Heffernan on Feb. 9. Heffernan’s lush self-portraiture uses myriad art historical references to present a sensual interior narrative, a selfallegory whose half-hidden political agenda is the literal background of the paintings.

• Keith Wilson, a California-based painter whose work is dedicated to architecture that is “no longer conceived or constructed,” March 24. Wilson’s work also represents his continuous study of architectural form and the history of the place of buildings in paintings.

• John Hatfield, executive director at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, April 14. A resident of New York City for the past 23 years, Hatfield was assistant vice president for memorial, cultural and civic programs at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. from 2002 to 2003, working on the 9/11 memorial design competition and selection process. Additionally, he has held positions at the World Financial Center and Arts and Events Program, been a consultant on public art projects and architecture, worked for a commercial art gallery and been a visiting critic at Yale School of Architecture.

More information on the Visiting Artist and Scholars Lecture Series is at art.uga.edu.

MONDAY, AUGUST 18 Fitness and Wellness Free Week Through Aug. 24. Sample more than 100 fitness classes for free. From boxing to belly dancing, there is something for everyone. Must be a Ramsey member to participate. Ramsey Student Center.

706-542-5060.

Post event information first to the Master Calendar website (calendar.uga.edu/). Listings for Columns are taken from the Master Calendar 12 days before the publication date.

Events not posted by then may not be printed in Columns.

Fall Semester Classes Begin

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19 musical Performance Nashville-based Americana-folk band Judah and the Lion. Part of Big Dawg Welcome 2014. Sponsored by the University Union Student Programming Board. $5. 7 p.m.

Legion Field.

Dawgs After Dark “A Red and Black Carpet Premiere.”

Hollywood-themed activities will include inflatables, interactive games and free food.

Part of Big Dawg Welcome 2014. Sponsored by the University Union Student Programming Board. $5. 10 p.m. Tate Student Center.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 Family Day “Exploring Color.” Investigate the many ways artists use color with a fun gallery guide and interactive stations in the permanent collection, then play with color to create a multicolored sun catcher in the Michael and Mary Erlanger Studio Classroom. 10 a.m.

Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Gone With the Wind Exhibit Opening This exhibit celebrates the 75th anniversary of the premiere of Gone With the Wind. The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library is home to the largest collection of Margaret Mitchell materials in the country, including a vast trove of letters, telegrams, photographs and other materials about the making of the movie and its premiere in Atlanta. $50.

2 p.m. Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries auditorium.

706-542-3879, lnessel@uga.edu. (See story, left).

Art Exhibit opening Through Oct. 5. Ginny McLaren paints to remember a special time or a place, using sketches and photographs to help achieve realism. Her works have been exhibited in galleries in New Jersey, California, Nevada and West Virginia. There will be an opening reception Aug. 24 from 2-4 p.m. State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6156, ckeber@ uga.edu. (See photo, bottom left).

Soccer vs. UNC Greensboro. 2 p.m. Turner Soccer Complex. 706-542-1621.

MONDAY, AUGUST 25

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20 “Union and You” Members of University Union’s eight programming divisions will be on hand to offer information and recruit potential members.

Part of Big Dawg Welcome 2014. Sponsored by the University Union Student Programming Board. 11 a.m. West lawn, Tate Student Center.

Tour at Two In conjunction with the exhibition Picturing America: Signature Works from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Led by Laura Valeri, associate curator of European art. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21 Drawing in the Galleries Visitors are invited to sketch in the galleries.

No instruction provided. Pencils only. 5 p.m.

Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Teen Studio “Picturing America.” Teens are invited to participate in a special art workshop led by local artist Hope Hilton. Participants will tour the exhibition Picturing America: Signature Works from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and then create their own works of art inspired by the exhibition.

Pizza and drinks will be served. This program is free, but space is limited. Email callan@uga.edu to reserve a spot. 5:30 p.m.

Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Third Thursday An event devoted to art in the evening hours, on the third Thursday of every month. 6 p.m.

Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu. comedy Performance Comedy duo Frances Callier and Angela Shelton, known collectively as Frangela, will perform. Part of Big Dawg Welcome 2014.

Sponsored by the University Union Student Programming Board. $5. 7 p.m. Grand Hall, Tate Student Center.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22 Lunch and Learn UGA faculty and staff are invited to learn about the work of composer and programmer Tristan Perich with curator Lynn Boland. Lunch will be provided, but space is limited. Contact Carissa DiCindio, curator of education, at cdicindi@uga.edu to reserve

Any additional information about the event may be sent directly to Columns. Email is preferred (columns@uga.edu), but materials can be mailed to Columns, News Service, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Campus Mail 1999.

a space. 12:30 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24

Drop/Add for Fall Semester For undergraduate-level courses (1000-5999) and graduate-level courses (6000-9999). Through Aug. 22.

To submit a listing for the master calendar and columns

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The Prints of Mary Wallace Kirk. Through Oct. 12. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

John Kundert-Gibbs

4&5

AUGUST

Bernd Oppl: Inhabited Interiors. Through Sept. 16. Alonzo and Vallye Dudley Gallery, Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Photographer to kick off Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series

By Alan Flurry

columns.uga.edu Aug. 18, 2014

faculty workshop “How to Foster Deep Approaches and Achievements in Learning,” Ken Bain. This workshop is for faculty members only.

10:30 a.m. Dogwood Room, Georgia Center.

706-583-0067, tchagood@uga.edu.

coming up Science Learning Center Groundbreaking Aug. 26. Gov. Nathan Deal and Chancellor Hank Huckaby are scheduled to attend.

11:30 a.m.

Fall Tobacco Cessation Session Aug. 26. Offered by students in the College of Pharmacy. Open to UGA employees and the Athens community. Weekly meetings, which will be held Tuesdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m., run through Sept. 30.

Register by Aug. 25. 5:30 p.m. Training and Development Center. 706-542-5328, beatthepack@rx.uga.edu.

Sunflower Concert Series Aug. 26. Grogus returns to the garden to perform upbeat Latin jazz, traditional Cuban and Caribbean styles, and funk versions of jazz standards. Steve Dancz will open. $15; $5 for children ages 6-12. 7 p.m. Terraced Flower Garden, State Botanical Garden.

706-542-9353, mmccoy1@uga.edu.

Pedagogy Workshop Aug. 28. “Creative Thinking in the College Classroom: Interdisciplinary Strategies for Enhancing Creativity and Innovation,” Bonnie Cramond and Sarah Sumners.

1 p.m. Instructional Plaza. 706-583-0067, tchagood@uga.edu.

Guest Lecture Aug. 28. "Newcomb’s Designers: A Conscious Revolution," Sally Main, senior curator at the Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University. Main will deliver this lecture in connection with the exhibition Women, Art and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise. 5:30 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Lecture Aug. 28. Part of the Anthropocene Lecture Series. “Extinction in a Changing World,” Mark Farmer, a professor and director of the Division of Biological Sciences. 7 p.m.

Chapel. 706-542-1693, mfarmer@uga.edu.

Football Aug. 30. vs. Clemson. To be televised by ESPN. 5:30 p.m. Sanford Stadium.

706-542-1231.

Next columns deadlines Aug. 20 (for Sept. 2 issue) Aug. 27 (for Sept. 8 issue) Sept. 3 (for Sept. 15 issue)

6 Aug. 18, 2014 columns.uga.edu

Stefan Eberhard, a research professional in the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, was recognized recently for his outstanding microscope image at the 2014 Wellcome Trust Image Awards in London, an international competition celebrating the best in science imaging talent and techniques.

His winning image, taken with a scanning electron microscope, features an extraordinarily detailed closeup of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, commonly known as thale cress.

Eighteen winners were chosen by seven judges for the 2014 competition, and their images were displayed across the United Kingdom at four major science centers as well as in a window display at the Wellcome Trust’s headquarters in London.

Nicole Lazar, a professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ statistics department, was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.

To be recognized as a 2014 ASA Fellow, honorees must have made outstanding professional contributions to and have exhibited leadership in the field of statistical science. Lazar was honored for foundational statistical contributions to the area of empirical likelihood; for the development of new statistical methods for the analysis of functional resonance imaging data; and for developing, reforming and enhancing statistical education.

Lazar was awarded a certificate Aug. 5 at a ceremony during the annual Joint Statistical Meetings in Boston, Massachusetts.

Phillip Williams, dean of the College of Public Health, was appointed to the board of scientific counselors at the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Created in 1985, the ATSDR focuses on minimizing human Phillip Williams health risks associated with exposure to hazardous substances. Its functions include public health assessments of waste sites, health surveillance and registries, emergency response, as well as health consultations, education and training concerning specific hazardous substances.

The ATSDR’s 16-member board of scientific counselors advises the U.S. secretary of health and human services and the directors of the CDC and NCEH/ATSDR about the program goals, objectives, strategies and priorities needed to fulfill these agencies’ mission to protect and promote people’s health.

James Zhang, a professor of sport management in the College of Education, was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology.

Coordinator of the sport management program in the kinesiology department, Zhang teaches and studies sport consumer and organizational behaviors. He James Zhang teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in sport management and is leading the development of an international center for sport management education and research at UGA. To become a Fellow in the Academy, a faculty member must make significant scholarly contributions to the field and take leadership roles in professional associations for more than 10 years.

There have been only 533 members elected to the Academy since its inception in 1926. Zhang will be UGA’s 10th member. He will be inducted in September at the Academy’s annual meeting in Austin, Texas.

Kudos recognizes special contributions of staff, faculty and administrators in teaching, research and service. News items are limited to election into office of state, regional, national and international societies; major awards and prizes; and similarly notable accomplishments.

faculty profile

Sharon Dowdy

Dario Chavez, an assistant professor of horticulture in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has been listening to Georgia peach growers and planning projects to meet their needs.

Listen and learn: Extension specialist helps growers with peach concerns

By Sharon Dowdy sharono@uga.edu

As UGA’s new peach specialist, Dario Chavez’s first order of business is to listen.

Since joining the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Griffin campus March 1, Chavez has been hearing what Georgia peach growers have to say and planning projects to meet their needs.

“I’m trying to learn as much from the growers as I can. I want to know what they are doing [because], after all, they know more about the peach industry in Georgia than anyone else,” Chavez said.

“Experience is the best knowledge.”

A member of a fourth-generation Ecuadorian farm family, Chavez learned a lot about raising dairy cows and beef cattle and growing potatoes by watching and listening to his father and grandfather.

So far, Chavez said Georgia peach growers seem to have the same concerns that all farmers have.

“They want to reduce their costs and increase their profit margins,” he said.

“They also want to know how to keep the peach trees alive and producing longer.”

Chavez is developing a relationship with the Georgia Peach Council and the Georgia Peach Commission and creating a website and blog to share information with farmers and the public.

To help guide Georgia peach farmers, Chavez is working with the UGA Peach Team that includes UGA plant

pathologists, entomologists, horticulturists and USDA stone-fruits breeders.

“Weather in the Southeast is not very friendly to peaches. Growers fight a lot of insects and diseases,” Chavez said. “And, in the winter, they worry about peach blossoms freezing and their future crop being damaged as a result.”

For now, he is applying for grants to fund peach research projects and installing 60 varieties of peaches on the Griffin campus’s Dempsey Farm. Chavez earned an undergraduate degree in agricultural science and production from Zamorano University.

He had no idea in 2005 when he took an internship with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Distance Diagnostics through Digital Imaging Laboratory that he would one day be working as the college’s peach expert. Chavez helped the DDDI system develop a Spanish manual for its partnership in Central America.

He left Georgia for Ohio State University where he studied the interaction between soil microbes and plants. His internship there was cut short when he was accepted into the master’s program at the University of Florida.

Chavez earned a master’s degree in plant breeding and genetics in the blueberry breeding program under the direction of Paul Lyrene. He continued studying at Florida and also earned a doctorate in plant breeding and genetics in the stone fruit breeding and genetics

Facts

Dario Chavez Assistant Professor of Horticulture College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Griffin Campus Ph.D., Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Florida, 2013 M.S., Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Florida, 2008 B.S., Horticulture, Pan-American School of Agriculture El Zamorano, 2005 At UGA: Five months

program under the direction of Jose Chaparro. When the peach research and Extension position at UGA became available, Chavez was well prepared for the position and quickly applied.

Unlike Georgia’s 11,029 acres, Florida has about 3,000 acres devoted to peaches.

“Peaches are more of a specialty crop there,” he said. “There are a few growers with less than 300 acres, and the fruit they grow is different.”

The difference between Georgia and Florida peaches includes the types and ways they are marketed.

“Georgia peaches are usually melter peaches, which means they break away from the stone,” Chavez said. “Florida peaches aren’t melters. They are clingstones.”

Retirees July

Twenty-six UGA employees retired July 1. Retirees, their job classification, department and length of employment are: Harold Chris Adcock, director, communication/technology services, 30 years, 1 month, Joyce E. Allen, professor, language and literacy education, 27 years, 9 months; Ronald Lynn Bogue, professor,comparative literature,38 years, 10 months; Bruce E. Borders, professor, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, 32 years, 9 months; Gloria D. Burgess, administrative associate II, Georgia Center for Continuing Education-Director’s Office, 30 years; Gary R. Burton, electronics technician III, College of Veterinary Medicine-Dean’s Office, 29 years, 2 months; Stephen E. Cramer, senior academic professional, IREHD, 21 years, 10 months; James A. Daniels, public service assistant, Center for Agribusiness and Economic

Development, 13 years, 4 months; Shirley L. Grant, administrative associate I, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, 18 years, 11 months; Maureen Grasso, dean, Graduate School, 11 years, 9 months; Rebecca Hendren, academic advisor I, language and literacy education, 32 years; Valerie Hepburn, visiting professor, Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, 5 years, 5 months; Betty J. Hudson, public service associate, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, 19 years; David R. Kamerschen, professor, economics, 40 years; Thomas S. Landrum, vice president, Office of the Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations, 37 years, 7 months; Sara C. Lorusso, administrative specialist I, Office of Special Events, 11 years, 3 months; Michael G. Moran, department head, English, 26 years; Marsha M. O’Connor, staff, GRU/UGA Medical Partnership,

17 years, 11 months; Paul Hal Peteet, staff physician, University Health Center, 26 years, 9 months; James L. Robinson, building services worker II, Facilities Management Division-Building Services, South Campus, 18 years, 11 months; Teresa B. Shirley, administrative specialist, UGA Extension, Northeast District, 20 years, 1 month; William D. Shurley Jr., professor, UGA Extension, agricultural and applied economics, 23 years, 9 months; Beverly Sparks, associate dean, UGA Extension, 25 years, 5 months; Janet E. Truluck, academic professional, lifelong education, administration and policy, 14 years; Dennis Michael Ward, vending and solicitation manager, Vending Services, 11 years, 4 months; and David W. Wright, associate professor, human development and family science, 13 years, 11 months.

Source: Human Resources

Questions&Answers

columns.uga.edu Aug. 18, 2014

Helping take UGA to the next level

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Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten discusses her vision for the university

By Sam Fahmy

also expanding opportunities for students to have internships and participate in research with faculty through the new CURO Research Assistantship Program so that students will be fully prepared for careers or graduate school.

We’re also asking leaders from across campus to step up and help strengthen our research culture and increase our research funding.

Deans are playing a bigger role and department heads will be playing a bigger role to enhance research productivity so that we increase the impact of the research that we conduct.

sfahmy@uga.edu

Pamela Whitten joined the University of Georgia as its senior vice president for academic affairs and provost in February 2014 following a national search. She recently sat down with Columns to discuss her first few months as provost and her vision for UGA. Columns: What attracted you to UGA? Whitten: UGA enjoys a reputation of having a meteoric rise over the last couple of decades, so it’s been exciting to watch the tremendous growth of the university in terms of the quality of education that it offers and the reputation that it enjoys, both nationally and internationally. The other piece that was attractive is that once you have had the chance to visit the university, you appreciate that it is far from done—that UGA is very ambitious in propelling itself to new heights.

Columns: What are some of the things you noticed about the university in your first few weeks and months here?

Whitten: Though the university has been through tremendous challenges, as have most public institutions in higher education, in general there’s a real spirit of optimism here. The faculty, staff and students are justifiably very proud of the work that they do and of their contributions to the state and nation, and they’re very enthusiastic about moving ahead and doing even more exciting things.

United States. To do that, we need to build upon the outstanding undergraduate education we provide, but we also need to really step up our funded research and graduate education.

Columns: Tell me about your vision for the University of Georgia.

Whitten: I think President Morehead and I are kindred spirits in our ambition to take some giant steps to move UGA from its current status as an excellent university into the ranks of the elite universities of the

Columns: Why is it important for UGA to reach that next level?

Whitten: Universities change lives.

Taking the university to the next level means that we can be more effective in offering education to both undergraduates and graduates that prepares them to go out and

weekly reader

West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776

By Claudio Saunt W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. $26.95

Andrew Davis Tucker

Pamela Whitten joined the University of Georgia as its senior vice president for academic affairs and provost in February 2014 following a national search.

Book details other revolutions in 1776

West of the Revolution is a panoramic account of other revolutions that unfolded across North America in 1776. It is written by Claudio Saunt, a professor and head of the history department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, In 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, the Continental Congress declared independence and George Washington crossed the Delaware River. And while Americans are familiar with these famous moments in U.S. history, most know little about the extraordinary events occurring that same year far beyond the British colonies. In this distinctive history, Saunt tells the intriguing, largely untold story of an immense and restless continent connected in surprising ways.

be leaders around the state and the nation and to come up with solutions that impact the way people around the globe live.

Taking the university to the next level means our faculty will play an even greater role in conducting research that addresses and answers those sticky problems that impact people’s health and quality of life.

We want to have an even more significant role in moving Georgia—as well as the nation and the world—forward economically, culturally and socially.

Columns: Tell me about some of the things that you have put in place toward your vision for UGA. Whitten: The president and I launched a series of educational enhancements that are about not only ensuring a very high quality of education for students, but also facilitating their ability to get the education they need in a timely way.

We have increased the total number of advisers, for example, and are preparing to launch new advising programs for transfer students and are integrating career planning into the advising process earlier. We’re

Columns: Is there anything else you’d like to add or say in summary?

Whitten: We’ve got some heavy lifting to do to get ourselves to the next level, and all of us have to be patient and helpful and trust each other and know that we’re motivated by doing the very best for the university. We have constraints that drive some of the decisions we make, but foremost in our mind is always the student—always, always the student—and an understanding that world-class faculty are what make a world-class university.

ABOUT COLUMNS

Cybersights

PMIL using Twitter to provide news, info Twitter.com/Ftfpmil

A new Twitter account has been launched for the USAIDfunded Feed the Future Peanut and Mycotoxin Innovation Lab hosted by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

With a focus on reducing hunger and poverty, the account shares

Columns: What do you want our faculty to know about you in your role as provost?

Whitten: I came to this job through the route of being a faculty member, and I think being a faculty member is one of the best and most important jobs there is. I think it’s important that faculty participate and have a voice in all that we do at the university while also recognizing that we are operating in a time of unique resource constraints and that we have to be pragmatic.

I also understand the challenge of balancing the great teaching and scholarship that faculty do with the need that we have for them to play leadership roles around campus.

global news about peanut science, productivity, safety, nutrition and mycotoxin mitigation.

There also are links to international agriculture news and opportunities of interest to graduate students and researchers.

Columns is available to the campus community by ­subscription for an annual fee of $20 (second-class delivery) or $40 (first-class delivery). Faculty and staff members with a disability may call 706-542-8017 for assistance in obtaining this publication in an alternate format.

Columns staff can be reached at 706-542-8017 or columns@uga.edu

Editor Juliett Dinkins Art Director Kris Barratt Photo Editor Paul Efland Senior Reporter Aaron Hale Reporter Matt Chambers The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.

The University of Georgia is a unit of the University System of Georgia.

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SUPERHERO from page 1

Photos by Peter Frey

DIGGING IN—Top: Victor Thompson, an associate professor in the Franklin College of Arts

and Sciences’ anthropology department and director of the Center for Archaeological Science, discusses an artifact with Matt Golsch and Jessica Hall at the archaeological field methods school at Ossabaw Island. Above left: Mary Porter shifts excavated dirt while looking for artifacts.

Above right: Taylor Davis takes measurements of a pit. At the site, students were exposed to a variety of techniques and instrumentation used in archaeology. In addition to working with traditional archaeological tools like trowels, shovels and line levels, they also worked with ground penetrating radar, magnetic survey and resistivity survey instruments.

CLASS from page 1 prior class. This is a strong predictor that our retention and graduation rates, which are already among the highest in the country, will improve over the long run. More than 94 percent of students return for their second year at UGA, while more than 83 percent of UGA students graduate within six years.”

UGA received a record number of 21,300 applications for fall 2014 admission, with an admittance rate of 54 percent of all applicants. Since 2003, the number of freshman applications has increased by almost 80 percent. UGA anticipates that approximately 5,285 first-year students—slightly more than the target class size of 5,200—and around 1,400 transfer students will begin classes Aug. 18.

In addition to being the most academically qualified, the 2014 freshman class also is one of the most diverse in UGA history, with more than 28 percent of the entering freshmen

self-identifying as other than Caucasian. More than 400 first-year African-American students have enrolled for fall 2014 (7.6 percent of the class), and more than 276 entering first-year students have self-identified as Hispanic (5.2 percent of the class). Six percent of the incoming freshmen will be the first in their immediate family to attend college.

The university continued to strengthen ties throughout the state, with students coming from over half of the nearly 800 Georgia high schools and 140 of the 159 counties, up from 137 counties in 2013. Of all Georgia high school students who graduated in spring 2014, one in 21 is enrolling at UGA. About 13 percent of the class comes from other states and countries, with the top feeder states outside of Georgia being North Carolina, Texas, Florida,Virginia,Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Bulletin Board Wireless installation subsidy

To expand faculty and staff access to the PAWS-Secure wireless network, the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology is offering a 50 percent subsidy toward installation of new PAWS-Secure wireless access.

The university offers PAWS-Secure throughout campus to areas primarily used by students through funds provided by the Student Technology Fee. For faculty and staff areas, wireless service is charged to departments.

To qualify for a subsidy, PAWSSecure must be in areas primarily used by faculty and staff offices or meeting and collaboration spaces. A total of $100,000 will be made available through the program in fiscal year 2015 and will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

Departments should request a quote

“I am passionate about ensuring that the state of Georgia, our nation and the planet are in good shape for my two kids. It is truly humbling to be mentioned in the same breath with many of the previous honorees.”

Shepherd was notified of the award in a letter from Ted Turner, who commended Shepherd’s “ongoing and exceptional contributions to the future of our planet and your tireless commitment to speaking out about climate change.”

Shepherd, director of UGA’s atmospheric sciences program in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences geography department, served as president of the American

Meteorological Society in 2013. He was a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for 12 years prior to joining UGA. Shepherd serves as host on the new Weather Channel Sunday talk show, Weather Geeks.

“From his outstanding scholarship and international engagement in the field of atmospheric sciences, Dr. Shepherd brings broad expertise as well as a calm voice to one of the most serious issues of our day,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “We are very proud to have him on our faculty, and I congratulate him on this award, which recognizes his important contributions to the public discourse.”

GRANTs from page 1

FESTIVAL from page 1

by stress. Higher stress levels create inflammation in the body, which is linked to the development of coronary heart disease, hypertension, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

“At the end of this project in 2019, the youths in these families will be 30 years old,” Brody said. “You could say that we’ve grown up together.”

Researchers regularly analyze blood and urine samples from SHAPE participants to determine levels of inflammation-related stress. What they’ve found is that high levels of inflammation can be reduced when youths develop strong relationships with family and community members.

“We find time and time again that strong emotional support in the immediate family, extended family and the community can prevent stress from creating these biological changes that give rise to chronic diseases,” Brody said.

Over the next five years, the SHAPE project will continue to work with participants as they face new stresses caused by entering the job market and striking out on their own.

The second grant provides renewed funding for the Center for Translational Prevention Science. Much like the SHAPE program, CTAPS researchers work to better understand the negative effects of stress on the lives of African-American youth, but with a particular focus on risks of drug use and HIV infection.

“Chronic stress not only affects inflammatory pathways, it also affects important neurocognitive systems that may influence the development of drug abuse problems or risky sexual behaviors,” Brody said.

The CTAPS program will sponsor new research on the relationships between stress and behavior to develop preventive interventions for youth in general and rural AfricanAmericans in particular.

These long-running projects involve partners and participants across the nation.

“The success of these programs is a testament to the superb relationships that my colleagues at the Center for Family Research have formed with families and the families’ trust in what we do,” Brody said. “We have fabulous professionals on our team who make this research possible.”

for everyone, and it’s shaping up to be the best one yet.”

The festival, presented by the UGA Arts Council, kicks off on Nov. 6 with the first of many free curator-led tours of the Georgia Museum of Art as well a concert by the UGA Jazz Band and an opera performance of Hansel and Gretel. A free concert on College Square on Nov. 8 called Spotlight • Slingshot will feature five musical acts co-presented by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the music business program of the Terry College of Business in association with the Slingshot festival of music, electronic art and technology. Other highlights include a family-friendly birthday celebration for the Georgia Museum of Art, a documentary film series, a book talk and dance performances.

In addition to the Google Glass performance of “Adwords/Edward” commissioned

by Cynthia Johnston Turner, the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s new professor of conducting and director of bands, the festival highlights the age of technology in two more events: a Skype conversation with documentary film director Jason Miller, whose film The Past is a Grotesque Animal was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, and a chance for the public to experiment with art-making machines called Artbots.

More information on the 2014 Spotlight on the Arts festival, including a schedule of events, can be found at www.arts.uga.edu, the Arts Council Facebook page(https:// www.facebook.com/UGAarts) and Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/UGA_arts).

Many of the performances are free or discounted for students. Tickets for events presented by the Performing Arts Center, dance department, Hugh Hodgson School of Music and University Theatre will be available for purchase online at www.pac.uga.edu, at the box office or by phone at 706-542-4400, beginning in late August.

Bulletin Board contains announcements that are of general interest to the university community. It is limited to information that may pertain to a majority of faculty and staff members.

for PAWS-Secure wireless service by using the form at http://t.uga.edu/Rl. After a quote is received from EITS, it should be forwarded to the VPIT office with a memo seeking a 50 percent subsidy.

For more information about this program, contact Mike Lucas at mlucas@uga.edu.

the lower right corner, which will tell occupants where to shelter in case of severe weather or where the fire evacuation location is for that particular building.

The posters are available free for use in UGA buildings. For information about acquiring the posters, contact prepare@uga.edu.

Classroom emergency posters

New Athena email policy

The Office of Emergency Preparedness is distributing customizable posters and podium cards for classrooms and hallways to advise of directions in case of emergency in UGA buildings.

These new resources provide quick instructions on what to do in a variety of emergencies such as severe weather, fire, a chemical spill, active shooters or medical emergencies.

Each poster and podium card comes with building specific information in

Effective Aug. 1, email communication from the new Athena system to faculty, staff and students goes only to official UGA email addresses. The preferred external email address for faculty and staff will not be used by Athena.

The new policy is available at http://connectuga.uga.edu. For questions about UGA MyID (Athena log-in ­issues, forgotten passwords, etc.), ­contact the EITS Help Desk at 706-542-3106 or helpdesk@uga.edu.

LuNCHEON from page 1 BFSO’s scholarship program, which awards a $750 scholarship to a current undergraduate, graduate and professional student at UGA. “We’re very excited about this year’s luncheon; we definitely think it will be one of the best,” Miller said. “Each year, the luncheon brings together deans, senior administrators, community leaders and the university president in a very nice setting that allows us to recognize students who are working diligently to give the best academically.”

Mitchell is the seventh president of the Atlanta City Council. Mitchell served two terms as a Citywide Post 1 councilmember from 2001 to 2009. As a public official, he has advocated for safer communities. He also has championed legislation to facilitate economic revitalization in underdeveloped areas by authoring measures to create four of the city’s 10 Tax Allocation Districts. He supported legislation for community input in the Atlanta Beltline Project, a comprehensive transportation and economic development project that includes public parks, multi-use trails and transit.

“Council President Mitchell has been working with some great organizations to convert blight areas into greenspace multi-facet communities, something that can be done in many neighborhoods and cities,” Miller said.

“When inviting a keynote speaker, we look for individuals who are making a huge impact on the state of Georgia, and we feel he’s doing that.”

Contact Mark Dawkins at 706-542-3632 or mdawkins@uga.edu to purchase tickets.