UGA Columns July 14, 2014

Page 1

Periodicals Postage is PAID in Athens, Georgia

News Service University of Georgia 286 Oconee Street Suite 200 North Athens, GA 30602-1999

®

Faculty member using graphic design to address changes, improve lives CAMPUS NEWS

2

The University of Georgia Georgia Museum of Art displays ‘growing cubes’ in new garden exhibition

July 14, 2014

Vol. 42, No. 1

www.columns.uga.edu

UGA GUIDE

UGA researchers receive $1.8M to fight deadly parasite By James E. Hataway jhataway@uga.edu

Christy Fricks

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton gathers with a group of townspeople from Tierra Muscady, Haiti, where he and philanthropist Frank Giustra launched the new Acceso Peanut Enterprise Corp. UGA is leading peanut research and training efforts in Haiti through its Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Peanut and Mycotoxin.

Growing good

UGA received a five-year $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes the diarrheal disease cryptosporidiosis. Severe diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children under the age of 5, killing approximately 760,000 children every year, according to the World Health Organization. Cryptosporidium, commonly known as crypto, and three other pathogens—rotavirus, Shigella and E. coli—are the most common causes of diarrhea worldwide. While scientists have made great progress in combating these other pathogens, research on crypto has been slow.

3

“There is no fully effective drug or vaccine for crypto,” said Boris Striepen, Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator in Boris Striepen the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator for the grant. “This project will develop the technology to genetically analyze and modify the organism so we better understand what we need to do to treat and prevent disease.” Unlike other common pathogens, crypto is notoriously difficult to study in a laboratory. Cultures of the parasite generally only last for

See GRANT on page 4

UGA innovation lab participates in launch of commencement Alumnus Abit Massey to Clinton Foundation’s Haiti peanut depot directly to the new Acceso Peanut and sat in on a training session for address summer graduates By Christy Fricks Enterprise Corp. launched by farmers. christyfricks@uga.edu Peanut research and supply channels in Haiti were boosted recently through an initiative developed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and philanthropist Frank Giustra, who spent June 29 touring peanut research projects in Haiti with representatives from UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Peanuts are an important source of food in countries like Haiti, where demand for the legume continues to grow. UGA is leading peanut research and training efforts in the country through its Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Peanut and Mycotoxin. The lab’s work is contributing

the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, an initiative of the Clinton Foundation. The supply chain enterprise is designed to improve the livelihoods of more than 12,000 smallholder peanut farmers. The goal of the project, Clinton said, is to “empower farmers to meet the nutritional needs of people.” The rural Acceso depot in Tierra Muscady is one of 35 planned throughout Haiti’s central plateau and northern regions. It functions as a site for training, point of sales for seed and other inputs, storage and distribution for the community’s peanut farmers. During the visit, Clinton participated in the depot launch, toured a peanut farm and storage facility

UGA staff on hand for the tour were Dave Hoisington, the lab’s director, and Jamie Rhoads, incoming assistant director. Known as PMIL, the innovation lab is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and is part of the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative called Feed the Future. The Acceso project supports some of the main goals of PMIL and Feed the Future: scaling up local agriculture, increasing food safety and improving nutrition. “We are working to improve the production, quality and marketability of peanuts as a crop,” said Hoisington, who is also a senior

See HAITI on page 4

By Stephanie Schupska schupska@uga.edu

Francis “Abit” Massey, a 1949 UGA graduate and president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation, will give the summer Commencement address at UGA’s combined undergraduate and graduate ceremony Aug. 1 at 9:30 a.m. in Stegeman Coliseum. Tickets are not required. Doors open at 8 a.m. “Welcoming back an alumnus like Abit Massey, who is a living legend in the world of Georgia agribusiness, is an honor for the university,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “He is one of the most respected and influential

leaders in the agricultural industry, and he has given to his alma mater with tremendous devotion and generosity. The university is a far better Abit Massey place because of his contributions.” For 48 years, Massey led the Georgia Poultry Federation, a nonprofit trade association that represents the state’s poultry industry. In 2009, he was named president emeritus and continues to work full time supporting Georgia’s

See COMMENCEMENT on page 4

Office of the Vice President for Research

2014 Southeastern Conference Symposium to focus on challenge of obesity By Terry Marie Hastings thasting@uga.edu

The 2014 Southeastern Conference Symposium will bring faculty, administrators and students from all 14 member universities to Atlanta Sept. 21-23 for an academic symposium on “Prevention of Obesity: Overcoming a 21st Century Public Health Challenge.” Registration now is being accepted. Members of UGA’s Obesity Initiative will join scholars from every SEC university to discuss the development and implementation of an effective national effort to reduce obesity rates and promote better health.

Leann Birch

Deborah Murray

Faculty from UGA’s Obesity Initiative who will present include Leann Birch, the William P. “Bill” Flatt Childhood Obesity Professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences’ foods and nutrition department; Deborah Murray, associate dean for Extension and outreach in the College of Family and

Bradley Phillips

Patricia Thomas

Consumer Sciences; Bradley Phillips, the Millikan-Reeve Professor in the College of Pharmacy’s clinical and administrative pharmacy department; Patricia Thomas, holder of the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication; and Mark Wilson, a health

Mark Wilson

promotion and behavior professor in the College of Public Health. Obesity prevention and treatment are popular topics among media, lawmakers, health care professionals and others. And, while the subjects have gained attention during the past decade, the U.S. has not seen a significant reduction in

population-level obesity rates over the same 10-year span. Researchers at the SEC Symposium hope to identify ways to markedly reduce America’s obese and overweight populations through prevention. This year’s topics range from genetics to technology and media to environmental influences.The symposium is divided into eight sessions of formal presentations and includes informal breakout sessions intended to foster interaction and discussion among participants. In addition to university presenters, there will be two keynote speakers. On Sept. 21, Nancy Brown, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association, will open the

See SYMPOSIUM on page 4


2 July 14, 2014 columns.uga.edu

Digest ‘Georgia Review’ to hold release party July 18 for summer 2014 issue The Georgia Review will celebrate the release of its summer 2014 issue with readings by poet Alice Friman, prose writer John Brown Spiers and poet Thibault Raoult July 18 at 7 p.m. at Ciné, 234 W. Hancock Ave. Open free to the public, the event will include a collaborative poetry activity called an exquisite corpse, which is a parlor game where everyone is invited to contribute a line to a poem while only being allowed to see the directly preceding line. Complimentary snacks will be served, and beverages will be available for purchase through Ciné. Friman, nationally known author of numerous collections and a regular contributor to The Georgia Review, has new work in the summer issue. Spiers and Raoult join the event as Review assistants to the editors—Spiers as the outgoing and Raoult as the incoming for 2014-2015. Both are associated with UGA’s doctoral creative writing program. Copies of the new issue will be available for purchase at the event, as will select back issues at special sale prices. For more information, see www.thegeorgiareview.com or call 706-542-3481.

Skidaway Institute part of international project to sample the world’s waters

Scientists at the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography participated in Ocean Sampling Day—an ambitious, international project to produce a single-day snapshot of microbial populations around the world. On June 21, researchers collected water samples at 185 global sites, ranging from Antarctica to the Arctic Ocean and from New Zealand to Iceland. This was the first global simultaneous sampling of microbes in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes waters. The sampling program will support international missions to provide information on the diversity of microbes, their functions and their potential economic benefits. Skidaway Institute scientists collected water at two locations. One team collected and processed samples from the Skidaway River. A second group teamed up with scientists from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary and collected samples from Gray’s Reef. The 14,000-acre marine sanctuary is located approximately 17 miles off the coast of Georgia’s Sapelo Island.

Career Center wins national award

The UGA Career Center received a national award for its newly created Angry Dawgs game for iPhone and iPad. The National Association of Colleges and Employers gave the UGA Career Center the Technology Excellence Award at the June 2014 NACE annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. The award is presented for excellence in best practices using technology and/or social media outlets. The award recognizes the outstanding ­achievements of college career services and human resources professionals for 1,800 colleges and more than 900 employers who hire college graduates. Angry Dawgs was created to help promote the Career Center’s array of resources and services to UGA students and alumni.

UGA researchers win writing award from national forestry association

Three UGA researchers won a national writing award for their analysis of how the timber harvesting industry in two states changed over the past 25 years. Dale Greene and Shawn Baker, both from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, accepted the 2014 National Technical Writing Award from the Forest Resources Association. Samantha Marchman, lead author of the paper and a graduate student in Warnell when the research was conducted, is now a resource forester for Plum Creek in Crossett, Arkansas. The trio conducted their award-winning project in 2012, publishing an analysis of a quarter century of timber harvesting activity in Georgia and more recently in South Carolina.

office of the vice president for public service and outreach

Designing with a purpose Faculty member using graphic design to address changes, improve lives By Maegan Snyder mrudd@uga.edu

Julie Spivey has spent most of her graphic design career working directly with other designers or clients to solve visual communication problems. Over the past few years, she began seeking more meaningful experiences through “public interest design” and “social design.” Public interest design is focused on promoting social, economic and environmental change to meet the growing needs of communities. Social design is the use of design to create social change that will improve lives. An associate professor of graphic design at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art, Spivey recently was named one of three Public Service and Outreach Fellows. The fellows program, created by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach in 2011, is designed to create more service and outreach opportunities for tenured and tenure-track faculty. Since last fall, Spivey has worked with Georgia Sea Grant, Marine Extension and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government—all public service and outreach units—as they address sea-level rise issues and hazards related to extreme weather events in coastal communities in Georgia and North Carolina.The project, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, helps government officials create plans, assess weaknesses in their communities, educate the public and adapt policies to better prepare for economic and environmental change. As part of the project team, Spivey uses visual design to help residents in

Jill Gambill

Julie Spivey, an associate professor of graphic design in the Lamar Dodd School of Art, takes a photo. Spivey recently was named one of three Public Service and Outreach Fellows.

the affected coastal communities understand complex messages. “Through this project, it is my goal to create effective visual designs to help build trust in the communication Julie Spivey between government entities and the governed,” Spivey said.“Trust emerges from understanding, and design is a critical intermediary in making the complex clear and enhancing understanding.” So far, much of Spivey’s work on the project has involved visualizing information like sea-level rise so that it can be easily understood by a nonscientific audience—particularly local government staff and elected officials who will make decisions about how their communities will prepare for increased coastal hazards. Another benefit of the fellowship,

Franklin college, college of engineering

she said, is having the opportunity to work with other faculty members across campus in a variety of disciplines. “An obvious benefit of working in a large, research institution should be the ability to collaborate with experts in other disciplines, but the university’s large size can make it challenging to connect with faculty outside one’s immediate area,” Spivey said.“A major benefit of the fellows program has been being able to establish such relationships that might provide the potential to work collaboratively in my research. “Unlike other arts areas, design is never about itself,” she also said. “There must be a problem to solve that is not of the designer’s own making.” Spivey and her team will continue the visual communication components of the project over the next few years. “The projects are ongoing, and there is still much work to do,” said Spivey, who has assisted with a similar project in Tybee Island.

spia

NSF grant will support scholarships Political science in engineering and physics at UGA department to the College of Engineering.The mentor By James E. Hataway host conference will guide pupils through the program jhataway@uga.edu UGA received a $638,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support select incoming freshmen interested in the study of engineering or physics, laying the groundwork for a new generation of scientists. The program, Developing Excellence in Engineering and Physics, or DEEP, will provide approximately 20 scholarships to academically talented students with demonstrated financial need so they may pursue degrees in physics or a variety of engineering tracks, including agricultural, biochemical, biological, computer systems or environmental engineering. “We need more students and professionals in these fields both here in Georgia and throughout the country,” said Steven Lewis, principal investigator for the grant and associate professor of physics in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “There are tremendous workforce needs, and we need to prepare our students to fill those positions.” A key goal of the DEEP Scholars program is to recruit and retain students from groups traditionally underrepresented in physics and engineering, including women, African-Americans, Hispanics and first-generation college students. Each incoming student will be assigned a faculty mentor from either the physics and astronomy department or

of study, help solve any problems they encounter along the way and facilitate meetings with professionals who currently work in academia or industry. “We want our students to network and interact with working scientists and engineers as much as possible,” Lewis said. “Simply talking with different working professionals will let students see the variety of career options they can pursue and what skills they need to be successful in those positions.” DEEP students will participate in and plan several seminars throughout the academic year and an annual symposium, giving them the opportunity to present scientific research and engineering design to an audience of their peers and mentors. The program will fund eight students during the first year, followed by another class the following year. Assuming the students meet high performance standards, their funding will last four years. Each cohort will take key classes together and participate in weekly study sessions led by upper-level undergraduates, which will help ensure that no one falls behind in their studies. The DEEP leadership team will monitor student progress throughout the program to determine if each project component contributes to student success, and they will present their findings to fellow educators at regional and national meetings.

By Caroline Paczkowski cparis@uga.edu

The UGA School of Public and International Affairs will hold the 31st annual meeting of the Society for Political Methodology July 24-26 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. The meeting is being hosted by UGA’s department of political science. This summer’s conference will bring together some 180 political science faculty and graduate students from across the U.S. and abroad. Of note, David Nickerson of Notre Dame will be reporting the results of a field experiment from Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign. His study found that receiving a personal phone call from a campaign volunteer bumped a voter’s support by 3.5 percentage points. John Maltese, head of the political science department, said that bringing the prestigious conference to UGA is a major coup. “This conference will provide national exposure to our department, school and university,” Maltese said. “It also will be a remarkable opportunity for our graduate students to interact with leading scholars in our field and meet graduate students from other institutions.” Faculty members Keith T. Poole, Ryan Bakker and Jamie Monogan of SPIA’s political science department have organized the conference with the help of other faculty and students.


For a complete listing of events I 7 8 5 at the University of Georgia, check the Master Calendar on the Web (calendar.uga.edu/­). The following events are open to the public, unless otherwise specified. Dates, times and locations may change without advance notice.

GUIDE UGA

to allow for utility and infrastructure work that will serve Correll Hall. Vehicle and pedestrian access to the Hull Street parking deck will be maintained.

“Terra Verte,” an exhibition of six “growing cubes,” is on display in the Jane and Harry Willson Sculpture Garden through the end of May 2015.

Georgia Museum of Art installs ‘growing cubes’ in garden By Jess Hennenfent jesslh21@uga.edu

The Georgia Museum of Art’s Jane and Harry Willson Sculpture Garden has art in it once again.The exhibition Terra Verte, consisting of works by Scottish artist Patricia Leighton, is on display through the end of May 2015. Terra Verte consists of six “growing cubes,” elevated frameworks of steel filled with living vegetation, situated throughout the three tiers of the outdoor space. Inspired by the interaction of art and site, Leighton works in tandem with a diverse creative team of ecologists, engineers, architects and landscape architects to produce large-scale commissions that relate to the history of a given site and relevant natural conditions. “Patricia Leighton’s work is a captivating combination of architectural, geometric structures and organic, supple forms,” said Annelies Mondi, deputy director of the museum and curator of the

Campus construction Baxter street at Lumpkin Street Through July 18. The blocks of Baxter and Lumpkin streets adjacent to the new Bolton Dining Commons construction site will be repaved. Motorists should expect delays. The dates for this work could shift due to weather. Bolton Dining Commons Through July 31. Construction is nearing completion on the new Bolton Dining Commons on Baxter at Lumpkin streets. Intermittent lane closures on the adjacent streets may be necessary from time to time. The pedestrian bridge over Tanyard Creek at the site is closed during construction as are sidewalks adjacent to the site along Baxter and Lumpkin streets. Pedestrians should

exhibition. “The contrast of the bright stainless steel cubes and the delicate sedum plant material make Leighton’s sculptures famously bold and gentle, fixed and variable. Over the course of the year each work will transform subtly as the plants grow, bloom and change color with the seasons.” This fusion of environment and public art is at the heart of all of Leighton’s designs. “Not only did Leighton pay close attention to the details of the individual sculptures, but she spent considerable time studying the layout of our sculpture garden,” Mondi said. “She thoughtfully placed every work so that the visitor is invited to walk through the various levels of the courtyard and find something unique about each interior space.” Stone Levity, a sculpture by Leighton’s husband, Del Geist, is in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex quad, in front of the Performing Arts Center. follow signage and use crosswalks to move to the opposite sides of Lumpkin and Baxter streets away from the construction site. The facility will be open for the start of fall semester, and a dedication ceremony is set for Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. Stegeman Coliseum Through Aug. 7. There will be intermittent lane and sidewalk closures on Carlton and Smith streets on either side of Stegeman Coliseum weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Some access points along the perimeter of Stegeman Coliseum will be closed temporarily at times. Hull Street Through Aug. 8. The portion of Hull Street immediately adjacent to the Correll Hall construction site will be closed

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/.

Science Learning Center Through Aug. 25. Preparatory work for construction of the Science Learning Center is underway. The site is bounded by Carlton Street, D.W. Brooks Mall, Pharmacy South and the McPhaul Center parking lot. The central crossdrive in the current parking lot was fenced off May 19, and two rows of parking spaces closest to Carlton Street between the greenhouses and the Coliseum Training Facility were closed off. The remaining parking spaces between the greenhouses and the Coliseum Training Facility are available only from the Sanford Drive entrance. On July 25, the entire area will be fenced in for the duration of the SLC construction project, which is scheduled to be completed by July 31, 2016. Foley Baseball Stadium Through Jan. 31, 2015. East Rutherford Street adjacent to Foley Field will be closed to all traffic through August. One lane of East Rutherford Street will open, and the lane closest to the stadium will be closed September through October. Sidewalks adjacent to the stadium will be closed throughout the construction period. Veterinary Medical Learning Center Through Jan. 31, 2015. Minimal disruptions for traffic and pedestrians are expected at the project site on College Station Road at Barnett Shoals Road. Correll Hall Through May 31, 2015. The site is bounded by Lumpkin, Baxter and Hull streets. Pedestrian access from the area of Lumpkin Street at Baldwin Street will be rerouted.

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. Bernd Oppl: Inhabited Interiors. Through Sept. 16. Alonzo and Vallye Dudley Gallery, Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu. The Prints of Mary Wallace Kirk. July 19 through Oct. 12. The exhibition features approximately 30 of Mary Wallace Kirk’s works, including watercolors, etched plates and drawings as well as printed etchings. Kirk, who was born and lived most of her life in Tuscumbia, Alabama, produced finely detailed renderings of the countryside for about a decade, between the 1930s and 1940s. She is known for her reliably sun-filled works. (See story, right).

columns.uga.edu July 14, 2014

JULY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8

9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 26 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Shapes That Talk to Me. Through Oct. 19. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu. Terra Verte. Through May 2015. Features six “growing cubes,” elevated frameworks of steel filled with living vegetation, situated throughout the three tiers of the outdoor space. Jane and Harry Willson Sculpture Garden, Georgia Museum of Art. (See story, left).

WEDNESDAY, JULY 16 Blood Drive 2 p.m. Ramsey Student Center. Tour at Two Led by docents. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

THURSDAY, JULY 17 Midterm, Withdrawal Deadline for Summer Short Session II Drawing in the Galleries No instruction provided. Pencils only. 5 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu. Film Screening Native Land. (1942, NR, 80 minutes). Part of the Picturing America Film Series. 7 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

Friday, JULY 18 Poetry reading The Georgia Review will celebrate its summer 2014 issue release with readings by poet Alice Friman, prose writer John Brown Spiers and poet Thibault Raoult. 7 p.m. Ciné, 234 W. Hancock Ave. (See Digest, page 2).

SATURDAY, JULY 19 Family Day Learn about the history of the U.S. from Colonial times to the mid-20th century by looking at works of art in Picturing America: Signature Works from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and participating in interactive gallery stations. Then head down to the Michael and Mary Erlanger Studio Classroom to create a work of art inspired by the exhibition. 10 a.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 23 Artful Conversation Join Carissa DiCindio, curator of education, for an in-depth discussion of F. Luis Mora’s painting “Tale of Cinderella.” 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu.

THURSDAY, JULY 24 Museum Mix To include refreshments, access to all the galleries and DJ Michael Lachowski.

29

30

31

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

Coming Up Classes End for Thru Term July 29. Classes End for Extended Summer Session, Summer Short Session II July 30. Extended Summer Session Final Exams July 30-31. Thru Term Final Exams July 30-31. Summer 2014 Commencement Aug. 1. This is a combined ­undergraduate and graduate ceremony. Speaker: Francis “Abit” Massey, a 1949 graduate of UGA and president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation. 9:30 a.m. Stegeman Coliseum. (See story, page 1).

Georgia Museum of Art to highlight works of little-known artist By Samantha Meyer sam610@uga.edu

The Georgia Museum of Art will bring to light the works of a virtually unknown female artist in its exhibition The Prints of Mary Wallace Kirk, on display July 19 through Oct. 12. Independent scholar Stephen J. Goldfarb, who researched Kirk’s life and work extensively, served as curator. Kirk, who was born and lived most of her life in Tuscumbia, Alabama, produced finely detailed renderings of the countryside for about a decade, between the 1930s and 1940s. She is known for her reliably sun-filled works. The exhibition features approximately 30 of her works, including watercolors, etched plates and drawings as well as printed etchings. “This exhibition, like many before it at the museum, highlights the work of a lesserknown Southern printmaker,” said Hillary Brown, director of communications at the museum. “As an academic museum, fostering research is one of our most important missions, and Dr. Goldfarb’s efforts in tracking down information on Kirk have been formidable. In addition, visitors will be able to see the delicacy of her line in these tiny etchings.”

To submit a listing for the master calendar and columns: Use the Master Calendar website: calendar.uga.edu/ or send by campus mail to Master Calendar, Public Affairs, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Campus Mail 1999.

3

Send additional information, beyond Master Calendar listing, directly to Columns. Email is preferred (columns@uga.edu); or mail to Columns, News Service, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Campus Mail 1999.

Next Columns copy deadlines: July 16 (for July 28 issue), July 30 (for Aug. 11 issue).


4

July 14, 2014 columns.uga.edu

Chuck Murphy

Robert Clements, a retired professor at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, created a sculpture that is on display in front of the Athens-Clarke County Library.

Retired professor’s art on display at ACC Library By Jessica Luton jluton@uga.edu

Drivers traveling past the Athens-Clarke County Library on Baxter Street will notice a new, large, colorful structure just near the road. Red, white and blue, this 15-foot sculpture is the latest public artwork by retired UGA Emeritus Professor of Art Robert Clements. Clements, whose work is installed as public art at sites around the country, has extended that legacy to Athens. His work features four metal figures—a mother reading, a child holding books, a teen doing acrobatics while flipping through a book and a mythical figure known as the “Muse of Learning,” which is represented by a winged person holding a laptop.The muse’s implied movement guides people into the library while white “book-birds” representing the ideas that can come from books float above the figures. Following a competition, the

sculpture was funded by the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission. It was installed in a May ceremony attended by Athens Mayor Nancy Denson and other public officials. “Public art defines the quality of a city,” Clements said. “We’re very fortunate in Athens to have the university here. UGA gives artists a chance to spark off one another and pursue creativity for a lifetime.” Clements’ ties to Athens and UGA remain vibrant, despite his retirement from the university 18 years ago. Clements was a professor at the Lamar Dodd School of Art from 1969-1996. During that time he won several teaching awards and research grants. Clements’ sculptures have been exhibited around the country— from the Smithsonian American Art Museum to the Indian Creek MARTA Station in Atlanta. His paintings, alongside art by his wife, Claire, were on display at Ciné.

Bulletin Board Pet photo contest

The UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital is accepting submissions for its 2014 Picture Your Pet Photo Contest. This competition is open to any current or former client of the teaching hospital, field services or community practice clinic. Photo submissions will be accepted until Aug. 29 at 5 p.m. Winners will be announced in early October, and the winning photographs will be on display in the new hospital when it opens in spring 2015. All entries will be critiqued by a panel of judges based on overall photo quality, creativity and sense of emotion and/or personality exhibited. Complete the online form at www.vet.uga.edu/photo-contest or download, print and complete

the PDF version of the form. Printed forms may be dropped off at the hospital’s front desk or mailed—along with a nonreturnable disk containing photos—to the UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Attn: Picture Your Pet, 501 D.W. Brooks Drive, Athens, GA 30602. For entry forms submitted electronically, photos may be uploaded through the online form, mailed to UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Attn: Picture Your Pet or dropped off at the hospital’s front desk. Photos also may be emailed to cindyh@uga.edu.

Wimba support to end

UGA will end support of new sessions of Wimba Classroom, a Web conferencing tool, effective Aug. 1. Blackboard

HAITI from page 1

GRANT from page 1

SYMPOSIUM from page 1

research scientist in the UGA crop and soil sciences department. “We do this by developing high-yielding varieties of mold resistant peanuts and then training smallholder farmers on best practices for producing and marketing healthy crops.” The new Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership is using technical advice and training in peanut production provided by PMIL scientists, particularly Tim Brenneman and Bob Kemerait of the UGA plant pathology department. Scientists with the partnership also evaluated improved peanut varieties, many of which were bred by UGA crop scientists and made available for farmers to grow and sell in markets through the Acceso depots. PMIL is continuing to test peanut varieties for performance in Haiti and working to solve existing production problems and providing further training so that farmers can supply the needed peanuts to the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership. The Acceso depots—there are currently five—will supply peanuts primarily to regional buyers that include Meds and Food for Kids and Partners in Health, which are both manufacturers of peanutbased nutrition supplements for children. Among those participating in the launch were Bryan Sobel and Dorvil Weldenson of Meds and Food for Kids, an in-country partner of PMIL.

a few days, and model organisms like mice are not readily infected by the species of crypto that most commonly affects humans. Striepen and his colleagues will develop new ways to detect the organism in cultures and animals by developing reporter genes, which are specially designed pieces of genetic code that trick the parasite into emitting light or producing a color. This technique makes crypto stand out against normal cells, which allows researchers to study the infection as it spreads and determine how it responds to different drug treatments. “Many pharmaceutical companies are interested in testing compounds they have developed, but only if there is a reasonable method to evaluate their efficacy,” said Striepen, who is a member of UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases. “These kinds of tests and detection methods are an entry ticket into greater industry participation.” Genetic modification of crypto also may open the possibility of new vaccines that could immunize small children, who are at greatest risk for life-threatening diarrhea and dehydration. Children develop a natural immunity to the disease after exposure, indicating that the immune system may be trained to recognize and eliminate crypto.

event. A second keynote address by Michael Lauer, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, will begin the program the following day. Established by SEC presidents and chancellors, the annual SEC Symposium is led by an SEC university and focuses on an issue of global interest. It also showcases the academic excellence and underscores the educational and economic contributions of the SEC’s members to the vitality of the Southeast region, nation and world. Faculty, postdoctoral students, graduate students and undergraduate students are invited to submit abstracts for the 2014 SEC Symposium poster exhibition. Abstracts must be submitted online by July 21 at 8 p.m. Categories include community and environmental influences on weight status; genetics and physiology of obesity prevention; early life and family influences on obesity prevention; interventions targeting children and youth; school, worksite and community interventions to prevent obesity; technology interventions to prevent obesity; obesity prevention policies; and other. From the accepted abstracts, a group of finalists will be identified and awards for first and second places will be given to undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students. Only registered attendees may submit an abstract, and prior to submitting, registered attendees must enter their username and password.

COMMENCEMENT from page 1

largest agricultural commodity. The poultry federation works to protect and improve the competitive position of the poultry industry in Georgia on behalf of growers at the farm level, the poultry companies and the allied businesses that support the industry. Through his work, Massey formed a close relationship between the poultry federation and the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences that led to advances in poultry research. He also established a poultry research project at the Georgia Institute of Technology that is now more than 40 years old. Before working for the Georgia Poultry Federation, Massey was head of the former state Department of Commerce—now the Georgia Department of Economic Development—where he created the tourist division and built the first welcome station. Massey graduated from UGA

with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and has served his alma mater in a variety of capacities since then. He was president of the UGA Alumni Association, trustee of the UGA Foundation, president of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Association and chairman of the College of Veterinary Medicine advisory board. He currently is on the board of directors for the UGA Research Foundation and is a past board member of the UGA Real Estate Foundation and the Terry College of Business Alumni Association. UGA’s Commencement ceremony will be for students who complete degree requirements at the end of the summer 2014 semester. The ceremony will be broadcast live on Channel 15 of the university cable systems and Channel 181 on Charter. It also will be streamed live at http://www.ctl.uga.edu/.

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

Editor

Juliett Dinkins Art director

Kris Barratt

PHOTO EDITOR

Paul Efland

SENIOR REPORTER

Aaron Hale REPORTER

Matt Chambers

How to reach us News Service 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200N The University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602-1999 Phone 706-542-8017 Fax 706-542-9492 Email columns@uga.edu Website columns.uga.edu/

Bulletin Board is limited to announcements from campus-based organizations whose membership includes UGA faculty and/or staff. Collaborate will replace Wimba Classroom as the centrally supported tool for instructional Web conferencing at UGA. New Wimba Classroom live sessions at UGA cannot be created as of Aug. 1. The company that supports Wimba Classroom will end support of the product at the end of 2014. Instructors may download previously recorded Wimba Classroom sessions until Dec. 19. Downloading instructions are available at http://ctl.uga.edu/ web-conferencing/faculty. Instructors are encouraged to begin downloading their desired archived Wimba Classroom sessions well in advance of December. Currently, both Wimba Classroom and Collaborate

are available within eLearning Commons and outside eLC as freestanding sessions. After Aug. 1, only Collaborate will be available both within and outside of eLC. Wimba Voice tools, including Voice Boards, Voice Podcaster and Voice Presentation, will remain available in eLC. Collaborate is supported jointly by the Center for Teaching and Learning and Enterprise Information Technology Services. Login details and more information about using Blackboard Collaborate for instruction are at http://ctl.uga. edu/web-conferencing/faculty. Users also can contact Sherry Clouser at sac@uga.edu for more information.

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

7 8 5

The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.

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.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.