UGA Columns Aug 15, 2016

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Franklin College study: Definition of moderate ­eating varies by individual RESEARCH NEWS

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Havana Cuba All-Stars will open Performing Arts Center’s 2016-2017 season Vol. 44, No. 4

August 15, 2016

columns.uga.edu

Science Learning Center dedication to be held Aug. 17

By Sara Freeland freeland@uga.edu

Shannah Montgomery

Before leaving for a five-day tour of Georgia, 36 new faculty learn the UGA tradition of “calling the Dawgs.”

Ride and seek New UGA faculty members tour state from mountains to coast

Starting with a lesson on the growing agritourism industry at Jaemor Farms near Gainesville to hearing about the state’s first oyster hatchery at UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant in Savannah, 36 new faculty from 13 schools and colleges saw the economic engines that drive the state during the 2016 New Faculty Tour.

At the State Capitol in Atlanta, the faculty members got a crash course in Georgia politics from Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, who talked about the changing demographics of the state and how that could affect voting patterns in coming years.

In Senoia, where The Walking Dead television series is filmed, tour participants were surprised to see “walkers” wandering the streets downtown and stunned when

UGA GUIDE

people stepped into the street and killed the zombies. Actors from Georgia Tours, who offer walking tours of Senoia to visitors, provided the drama.

In West Point the faculty members visited Kia Motors, the automotive company’s first North American plant, where an assembly line of robots assemble Sorentos, Optimas and Sedonas among other models of Kia cars as well as some Hyundai models.

Roosevelt’s Little White House in Warm Springs, the Carnegie Library in Americus, the UGA campus in Tifton and the CSX Rice Yard, the largest train transfer station in the Southeast, in Waycross, were among the stops where new faculty learned about the economy, culture, history and people of Georgia.

Scott Nelson, a UGA Athletics Association Professor of History, appreciated the history of the Little White House, built as a retreat for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt first visited Warm Springs in 1924 when he traveled there to see if the natural warm mineral springs would help his polio-related paralysis. Roosevelt died at the house on April 12, 1945, while sitting for a portrait, which was later completed and is displayed at the site.

“I knew that it was in the South but I didn’t realize it was in Warm Springs, Georgia,” Nelson said. “It was fascinating to see it.”

On the last evening of the fiveday tour, faculty members visited the Savannah base for UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, See TOUR on page 8

UGA’s Science Learning Center is now open for student instruction.

The three-story, 122,500square-foot building was tailormade for teaching undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics with the goal of increasing the number of students who pursue careers in the STEM fields.

A dedication ceremony will be held Aug. 17 at 10 a.m. The event will include state officials, university administrators and others. The ceremony will include remarks from University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby; UGA President Jere W. Morehead; Gregory Robinson, UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor in

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Chemistry; and Hayley Schroeder, an undergraduate student majoring in ecology and entomology.

Supported by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and funded by Gov. Nathan Deal and the Georgia General Assembly, the center cost $48 million and includes 33 instructional labs designed specifically for interactive learning in core undergraduate science courses, two 280-seat lecture halls, two 72-seat SCALE-UP classrooms as well as spaces for informal student collaboration. The space is designed to foster communication between instructors and students as well as between students and their peers.

The goal is for the building’s

See DEDICATION on page 8

GEORGIA RESEARCH ALLIANCE

Infectious disease researcher named GRA Eminent Scholar

By James Hataway jhataway@uga.edu

One of the nation’s leading infectious disease researchers will join the UGA faculty this fall as its newest Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

Karen Norris, currently a professor of immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, will join the faculty of UGA’s department of infectious diseases of the College of Veterinary Medicine and the newly developed Center for Vaccines and Immunology Sept. 1 as the GRA Eminent Scholar in Immunology and Translational Biomedical Research.

The Georgia Research ­Alliance has partnered with Georgia’s

research universities to recruit worldclass scientists who foster science- and technologybased economic development since Karen Norris 1990. GRA also invests in technology for research labs, helps commercialize university-based inventions and facilitates collaboration among academia, business and government. Norris will be the 16th active GRA Eminent Scholar at UGA. “I am pleased that Dr. Norris will be joining UGA,” said

See SCHOLAR on page 8

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Informatics Initiative at UGA brings new faculty, learning opportunities

By Sam Fahmy

sfahmy@uga.edu

A new informatics course open to students from across campus is just one sign of a far-reaching initiative to create new learning opportunities related to data analysis and security while building on UGA’s record of using big data to advance knowledge and discovery.

Eight new faculty members will join UGA this year following the completion of the Presidential Informatics Hiring Initiative, and a proposal to create a campus-wide Georgia Informatics Institute for Research and Education is being submitted to University Council.

On Oct. 11, the university

will host its first interdisciplinary informatics workshop, which will include opportunities for networking among faculty and students across a range of disciplines as well as interdisciplinary speakers.

“The explosion of digital information has created new opportunities in so many fields—from the sciences to engineering and the humanities,” said Kyle Johnsen, an associate professor of engineering who is directing the campus-wide initiative to establish the GII. “Our goal is to help faculty use informatics as a tool to help answer research questions while making it easier for them to incorporate informatics into their instruction.”

The new informatics course, which is listed as special topics in engineering (ENGR 4900) but in the future will be listed under a proposed INFO course prefix, will introduce students to data analysis and help them develop evidence-based decision-making skills that can be applied to any field. The course is the foundation of a proposed undergraduate certificate program in informatics, and planning for a graduate certificate program in informatics is currently underway, as well.

A committee with representation from six units across campus developed recommendations that

See INFORMATICS on page 8

Big investment in big data: Presidential Informatics Hiring Initiative completed

By Sam Fahmy

sfahmy@uga.edu

Eight new faculty members in the rapidly growing field of informatics have joined the university following the completion of the Presidential Informatics Hiring Initiative.

“I am pleased to welcome these outstanding new faculty members to our campus,” said President Jere W. Morehead.

“This successful hiring initiative

reflects the university’s strong commitment to expanding research and education in areas of strategic importance to our state and nation.”

The new hires build upon the university’s longstanding leadership in informatics. UGA has more than 160 faculty members whose work involves the analysis of massive data sets, and plans are underway to create a See INITIATIVE on page 7

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Around academe

Study: One-fifth of undergraduates don’t apply for financial assistance

One in five undergraduate students don’t apply for financial aid, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Education. That rate was higher at public two-year institutions, where 30 percent of students did not apply for financial aid. At public four-year institutions, 18 percent said they did not apply, according to the report.

Canada’s SFU gets US accreditation

Simon Fraser University, of British Columbia, became the third Canadian university to gain accreditation by a U.S. accreditor—and the first research university to gain such accreditation. After a seven-year process, SFU was accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. According to Insider Higher Ed, two other Canadian universities, Athabasca University and Capilano University, also have been accredited by American accreditors.

News to Use

UGA Mobile App gets new features

The official UGA Mobile App has been updated with a fresh design and revamped functions to help students, faculty, staff and visitors navigate resources available at the University of Georgia.

The mobile app, available for iOS and Android devices, includes updated bus trackers for UGA Campus Transit and Athens Transit with greater insight on bus arrivals based on specific routes and stops. The app also allows users to save their favorite bus routes and get walking directions from their current location to buildings on campus.

To date, the UGA Mobile App, which was launched in 2013, has been downloaded more than 50,000 times. The app is a partnership between the Student Government Association and Enterprise Information Technology Services.

The updated app better integrates navigation between the bus trackers and parking options on campus. It also includes more information about specific parking lots and decks, such as rates and nearby buildings and bus stops. Users can also select specific buildings to display nearby print kiosks, parking, bike racks and electric vehicle charging stations.

The UGA Mobile App features access to UGAMail, eLearning Commons and more.

The app is free in the App Store and Google Play.

Visit mobileapps.uga.edu for more information about the updated app.

Source: Enterprise Information Technology Services

Why I Give Name: Mindi Shattah Miller

Georgia Fund 2016

Position: Clinical associate professor in the College of Pharmacy At UGA: 17 years

Mindi Shattah Miller

Beneficiary of her gift to the university: The Beth Goldman Block Scholarship Fund at the pharmacy college and the UGA Honors Program

Why she contributes: “Beth was my friend and sorority sister at UGA. A great student and a wonderful person, she was only able to practice as a pharmacist for one year before her untimely death. As a faculty member at the College of Pharmacy, I work directly with many of the students who benefit from this scholarship. I can’t think of a better way to honor Beth’s memory.

“I also give to the UGA Honors Program.

My daughter is a second-generation Honors student at UGA. I am proud to support this incredible program.”

To make your contribution to the Georgia Fund, please contact the Office of Annual Giving at 706-542-8119.

HUGH HODGSON SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Majorettes, feature twirlers win top awards at national championships UGA’s majorettes and feature twirlers’ competition team won the National Open Half-time Show Twirl Championships at the 2016 America’s Youth on Parade USA and World Twirling Championships held July 26-30 in South Bend, Indiana.

In addition to the team event, UGA’s feature twirlers, Jameson Kenerly and Miranda Williams, won the top two titles for individual collegiate competitors. Kenerly is the 2016 National Collegiate Twirling champion, and Williams is the 2016 National Downfield champion.

The UGA twirlers competed in two team events: a half-time routine, which is judged based on artistry and a dance-twirl routine, which emphasizes difficulty and intricacy of tricks. With these routines, the UGA twirlers are the 2016 Open Collegiate Half-time Show Twirl Team Champion and WOW award recipients for best choreography among collegiate teams.

UGA also was awarded the Michael Moore Choreography Memorial Award for outstanding choreography among all competition routines in the senior age division, the first time this award has ever gone to a collegiate team.

The UGA twirlers also placed first and third runner-up in large and small divisions of the senior dance twirl competition. The majorettes competed against teams from across the nation.

Kristina Howell, senior captain of the UGA Majorette line, won the Team Member of the Year award for

UGA won the National Open Half-time Show Twirl Championships at the 2016 America’s Youth on Parade USA and World Twirling Championships.

leadership and performance among other competition teams.

Members of the majorettes and feature twirlers’ competition team include Carly Baker, a May graduate from Peachtree City; Kristina Howell, a senior from Monroe; Adeline Kenerly, a senior from Jesup; Jameson Kenerly, a senior from Jesup; Maisie Macknight, a sophomore from Calhoun; Jolie Meyen, a senior from Oglethorpe County; Valerie Miller, a senior from Monroe; Mikayla Moran, a sophomore from Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Mary Elizabeth Nipper, a junior from Jesup; Molly Pierson, a senior from Calhoun; Hallie Smith, a junior from Hazlehurst; Blake

SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

SPIA ramps up its research enterprise

Terrell, a sophomore from Monroe; and Miranda Williams, a senior from Jesup.

Coaches Ashley Clark, Maureen Brannen, Julie Thacker Hayes, ­Colleen Murphy and Taylor Brown helped choreograph routines and prepare the twirlers for competition.

Kenerly and Williams competed against more than 70 other college twirlers for their titles.

The UGA majorettes and feature twirlers will perform Sept. 3 in the Georgia Dome with the Redcoat Marching Band at the first football game of the season against the ­University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

National search begins for next dean of SPIA

By Sam Fahmy

By Sam Fahmy

Research expenditures in UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs increased by an astounding 126 percent over the past two years, and several faculty members have recently been awarded significant grants for projects with national and international impacts.

The extraordinary increase in research funding under the leadership of departing Dean Stefanie Lindquist underscores her emphasis on attracting and retaining world-class faculty members and the creation of a grants coordinator position to help faculty members successfully compete for external funding.

“The recent surge in grant funding at SPIA reflects the faculty’s commitment to scholarly excellence and the salience and compelling nature of their research,” Lindquist said. “We are obviously proud of these accomplishments.”

Some examples of recently funded projects include a National Science Foundation grant to associate professor Christina Boyd, professor Scott Ainsworth and assistant professor Michael Lynch to explore why approximately half of the disability determinations made by the Social Security Administration that are reviewed by federal trial courts are either reversed or remanded. The team anticipates that its findings will have significant cost implications for one of the nation’s largest entitlement programs and for individuals seeking disability benefits.

In another NSF-funded project, assistant professor Jamie Monogan is developing software that uses a spatial modeling approach to better understand public sentiment and opinion. Assistant professor Chad Clay and his colleagues have been awarded an NSF grant to construct a dataset that captures instances of political repression at the sub-national level. Meigs, Richard B. Russell and University Professor Charles Bullock has received funding from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to evaluate the costs and benefits of using traditional runoff elections versus instant runoff elections with the goal of better understanding the circumstances under which each election type is most effective.

Outreach programs led by SPIA faculty have recently received significant funding, as well. A team of five faculty members led by professor J. Edward Kellough has received funding from the U.S. Department of State to conduct a series of training seminars for faculty members at ­universities

UGA Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten has appointed a committee to begin a national search to fill the position of dean of the School of Public and International Affairs.

Charles N. Davis, dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, will chair the 19-member search committee, which includes faculty, staff, alumni and students.

Additional search committee members are Christina Boyd, associate professor of political science; Charles S. Bullock III, Meigs, University and Richard B. Russell Professor of Political Science; Briana Campbell, a Master of Public Administration student; Griff Doyle, UGA vice president for government relations; Maryann Gallagher, lecturer in the department of international affairs; Robert Grafstein, Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Political Science; Olivia Haas, an undergraduate student pursuing an international affairs degree; Susan Haire, professor of political science; Kevin James, academic adviser in SPIA and Staff Council member; Loch K. Johnson, Meigs and Regents Professor of Public and International Affairs; J. Edward Kellough, professor of public administration and policy; Keith Mason, an alumnus who is a UGA Foundation emeritus trustee, a founding member of the SPIA Advisory Board and senior counsel at Dentons global law firm; Amanda Murdie, Dean Rusk Scholar of International Relations; Rebecca Nesbit, associate professor of public administration and policy; Tyler Scott, assistant professor of public administration and policy; Shane Singh, associate professor of international affairs; Julie C. Smith, an alumna who serves on the SPIA Board of Visitors and is a vice president of external affairs for Verizon; and Brian N. Williams, associate professor of public administration and policy.

The committee will be assisted by the UGA Search Group in Human Resources.

SPIA Dean Stefanie Lindquist announced in May that she has been named deputy provost and vice president for academic affairs at Arizona State University. She also has been named Foundation Professor of Law and Political Science at ASU, and both appointments are effective Sept. 1.

Grafstein has agreed to serve as interim dean and has indicated that he is not seeking the position permanently.

sfahmy@uga.edu

See RESEARCH on page 8

sfahmy@uga.edu

RESEARCH NEWS

columns.uga.edu Aug. 15, 2016

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Digest Vinson Institute of Government launches new Certified Public Manager program

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Patrick O’Connor, a faculty member in the College of Education, is working on research which shows that short workouts can consistently increase feelings of energy in adults with elevated symptoms for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

‘Mood booster’

College of Education study: Single bout of exercise can help adults better cope with ADHD symptoms

By Kristen Morales kmorales@uga.edu

Exercise, even a small amount, can help alleviate symptoms of ADHD in adults, according to a new study by UGA researchers.

The study, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, found a single bout of exercise has psychological benefits for adults with these elevated ADHD symptoms.

About 6 percent of American adults report symptoms consistent with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which lead to anxiety, depression, low energy and motivation, poor performance at work or school and also increased traffic accidents.

“Exercise is already known as a stress reducer and mood booster, so it really has the potential to help those suffering with ADHD symptoms,” said the study’s senior author, Patrick O’Connor, a professor in the College

of Education’s kinesiology department.

“And while prescription drugs can be used to treat these symptoms, there’s an increased risk of abuse or dependence and negative side effects. Those risks don’t exist with exercise.”

The study tested 32 young men with elevated ADHD symptoms who cycled at a moderate intensity for 20 minutes on one day, and on another day sat and rested for 20 minutes as a control condition. They were asked to perform a task requiring focus both before and after the different conditions, and researchers noted leg movement, mood, attention and self-reported motivation to perform the task.

As a result, researchers found that it was only after the exercise when the participants felt motivated to do the task; they also felt less confused and fatigued and instead felt more energetic. Interestingly, leg movements and performance on the task did not change after the exercise; rather, the exercise

helped the young men feel better about doing the task. These findings are consistent with prior research that shows a single bout of exercise helps people feel more energetic, said O’Connor, who also is co-director of the UGA Exercise Psychology Laboratory. The results suggest that young men who have symptoms of ADHD can benefit psychologically from the short workouts, similar to the benefits enjoyed by typical adults who work out.

“The reduced feelings of confusion and increased motivation to perform a cognitive task suggest that other types of acute exercise also may benefit cognitive performance,” said study co-author Kathryn Fritz, a UGA doctoral candidate who completed the study as part of her master’s thesis. “We speculate that a different mode or duration or intensity of exercise, other than a boring cycle ride in a sterile lab, may show larger cognitive effects for those suffering from ADHD symptoms.”

FRANKLIN COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Psychology researcher challenges theory that good communication leads to marital satisfaction

By Leigh Beeson lbeeson@uga.edu

One of the top reasons couples seek counseling is communication issues, so does better communication predict a more satisfying relationship?

The answer may not be that simple, according to a study by UGA’s psychology department published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

“Although communication and satisfaction were correlated, communication wasn’t a good guide for determining partners’ satisfaction with their relationships over time,” said the study’s lead author Justin Lavner, an assistant professor in UGA’s clinical psychology program in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Although communication practices could predict satisfaction to some extent for some couples, the lack of a definitive causal relationship calls for additional attention to other factors that influence marital satisfaction, such as environmental stressors, what

a­ctivities and interactions a couple has, and the personality traits of the individual partners.

Previous research and theories emphasized communication—or the lack thereof—as a predictor of marital satisfaction and even divorce. Lavner and his co-authors decided to look at whether communication was really a cause or if communication was a consequence of being satisfied, or was simply connected to it instead.

More than 400 low-income newlywed couples in Los Angeles participated in the three-year study, during which they were assessed four times. At each meeting, conducted in a couple’s home, participants would first complete three different tasks to gauge communication and then fill out a report on their satisfaction with their marriage.

“In general, the correlational findings were pretty strong, showing—as we kind of expect—the more satisfied you are, basically, the better you communicate with your spouse,” Lavner said. “What those results showed was

that couples who were more satisfied also demonstrated higher levels of positivity, lower levels of negativity and more effectiveness.”

The authors were surprised, however, to see that there wasn’t a strong causal link showing that good communication caused satisfaction. There was some evidence of communication being a predictor of satisfaction, but it wasn’t “as strong as it should have been given how central that assumption is in theory as well as practice,” Lavner said.

Indeed, in the majority of cases, communication did not predict satisfaction, nor did satisfaction predict communication.

“It was more common for satisfaction to predict communication than the reverse,” Lavner said. “The other thing that was surprising is that when one effect was stronger than the other, satisfaction was a stronger predictor of communication. These links have not been talked about as much in the literature; we have focused on communication predicting satisfaction instead.”

UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, a public service and outreach unit, is launching a Certified Public Manager program to strengthen leadership skills for local and state government managers in Georgia.

The 26-day program engages p ­ articipants in 300 hours of study focusing on areas such as selfawareness, collaboration and ­process improvement.

The program offers professional development opportunities for local and state public employees while developing more productive staff who are better positioned to serve citizens. UGA is the sole provider of this CPM program in Georgia.

The inaugural class will begin this month in ­Fulton County. A state program will begin in ­October. Classes for both programs will take place at the UGA campus in Gwinnett.

Associated with the National CPM Consortium, the CPM program is designed to improve the quality and efficiency of government agencies by developing the effectiveness and professionalism of its managers. Individuals completing the program earn the Certified Public Manager credential from UGA. Enrollment for state employees is currently ­available at www.cviog.uga.edu/cpm.

Ten named CURO Honors Scholars

The class of 2020 at UGA includes 10 undergraduate students who have been awarded the CURO Honors Scholarship, the university’s top undergraduate research scholarship. These students are enrolled in UGA’s nationally recognized Honors Program.

The 2016 CURO Honors Scholars, their high schools and hometowns are Ruth Barrow, Clarke Central High School, Athens; Samuel Driggers, Glynn Academy, St. Simons Island; Morgan Geiser, Clarke Central High School, Athens; Stephan George, Brookwood High School, Lawrenceville; Grace Ingham, Edgewood High School, Madison, Wisconsin; Alyssia Mitchell, Spring Valley High School, Blythewood, South Carolina; Rachel Reines, Athens Academy, Athens; Nyree Riley, John S. Davidson Fine Arts School, Hephzibah; Sachi Shastri, Putnam County High School, Eatonton; and Kevin Williams, Fayette County High School, Fayetteville.

CURO Honors Scholars receive $3,000 in annual funding renewable for up to four years; enjoy mentoring and community support; and attend special seminars, workshops, events and activities.

Eight students named Ramsey Scholars

UGA has awarded eight Bernard Ramsey Honors Scholarships to high-performing students in the Class of 2020.

The eight scholarship recipients bring the current number of Ramsey Scholars on campus to 26.

Listed with their high school, hometown and major, they are Evan Chandler Barnard, Johns Creek High School, Johns Creek, ecology; Sara Elizabeth Cagle, Morgan County High School, Madison, genetics; Benjamin Thomas Giebelhausen, Bennington Public High School, Bennington, Nebraska, biochemistry and molecular biology; Emma Danielle Hope, Cherry Creek High School, Englewood, Colorado, genetics; Sarah Aven Hartwell Jones, Collegiate School, Richmond, Virginia, art; Grant Harrison Mercer, Harrison High School, Marietta, biology and international affairs; Carl Thomas Miller III, Grovetown High School, Grovetown, computer science; and Benjamin Crawford Starks, Celebration High School, Celebration, Florida, international affairs.

Administered by the UGA Honors Program, the Ramsey Honors Scholars program was created by UGA Foundation trustees in 2000 and recognizes the university’s most generous individual benefactor to date, Bernard Ramsey, the former chairman of Merrill Lynch and a 1937 graduate of UGA’s Terry College of Business.

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4 Aug. 15, 2016 columns.uga.edu

RESEARCH NEWS

HONORS PROGRAM

University awards Foundation Fellowships to 17 in Class of 2020

By Stephanie Schupska schupska@uga.edu

UGA has awarded 17 Foundation Fellowships to highperforming undergraduate students in the Class of 2020.

Administered by the UGA Honors Program, the Foundation Fellowship is the university’s premier academic s­cholarship; the recipients were selected from among 1,100 applicants.

They have an average SAT score of 1564 (math and verbal) and an average ACT score of 35, as well as an average high school grade point average of 4.22 on a 4.0 scale; extra points indicate advanced placement courses.

Through the fellowship, in-state students receive an annual stipend of $12,300 and the Zell Miller Scholarship. Out-of-state students receive an annual stipend of $20,000 and out-of-state tuition waivers. In addition to group travel-study experiences, including a Maymester study abroad at Oxford University and three spring trips, Fellows also receive $9,000 in individual travel grants and $1,750 to fund research and academic conference attendance and enroll in the UGA Honors Program.

The 17 Foundation Fellows in the Class of 2020 are: • Avni Sheel Ahuja, Alpharetta High School, Alpharetta, biochemistry and molecular biology.

• McKenna Aliya Barney, Indian Springs School, Venetia, Pennsylvania, environmental economics and ­management.

• Rebecca L. Buechler, Greater Atlanta Christian School, Duluth, mathematics.

• Claire Martha Drosos, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, Cincinnati, Ohio, finance.

• Montgomery Lloyd Fischer, Henry Sibley High School, South St. Paul, Minnesota, mathematics.

• Emma Marie Goldsmith, Deerfield-Windsor School, Albany, journalism.

• Nicole Marie Googe, Clarke Central High School, Athens, mathematics.

• Griffin Scott Hamstead, West High School, Knoxville, Tennessee, journalism.

• Mackenzie Rose Joy, Sequoyah High School, Woodstock, physics.

• John Gabriel Kolb, Atherton High School, Louisville, Kentucky, biology.

• Aditya Krishnaswamy, George Walton Comprehensive High School, Marietta, statistics.

• Nicolas Leis, Cambridge High School, Milton, ­economics.

• Jessica Yan Ma, Northview High School, Johns Creek, biology.

• Jon Mallory McRae III, Grace Christian Academy, Bainbridge, chemistry.

• Nina P. Reddy, Lambert High School, Suwanee, management.

• Margaret Grace Russo, Blue Valley North High School, Overland Park, Kansas, English.

• Andrew Dunivin Schmitt, Brighton High School, Rochester, New York, biochemistry and molecular biology.

Michelle vanDellen, an assistant professor in the department of psychology, led a study that found that the more people like a certain food, the more forgiving they are of their definitions of moderation.

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Bite size

Defining moderate eating varies by individual, Franklin College study finds

By Alan Flurry

aflurry@uga.edu

Though eating in moderation might be considered practical advice for healthy nutrition, a new UGA study suggests the term’s range of interpretations may make it an ineffective guide for losing or maintaining weight.

The more people like a food, the more forgiving their definitions of moderation are, said the study’s lead author, Michelle vanDellen, an assistant professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences psychology ­department.

“Moderation is a relative term,” she said. “When people talk about eating in moderation, it doesn’t allow them a clear, concrete way to guide their behavior.”

Viewing moderation through their own objective lens, people—both thin and overweight—tend to err on a looser definition of moderation, according to

the research, published in the journal Appetite. The findings are based on the results of different studies the team conducted in the lab and online.

Researchers asked people to define moderation in terms of quantity. For instance, the research team asked participants to specify how many cookies would be moderation, how many would be indulgence and how many would be considered what you should eat.

“People do think of moderation as less than overeating, so it does suggest less consumption,” vanDellen said. “But they do think of it as more than what they should eat. So moderation is more forgiving of their current desires.”

In other words, vanDellen said, “The more you like a food, the more of it you think you can eat in moderation.”

The study adds to the growing body of literature that suggests people are poor judges of the amounts of food they’re eating. And in terms of the rising rates of obesity, vanDellen notes a

general backlash against dieting.

“People are now saying, ‘Diets don’t work; you shouldn’t go on a diet. You should just live by the rule of moderation,’ ” she said. “This is an increasingly popular belief. There are entire healthy eating movements oriented toward this idea of moderation.”

She cites the many stigmatizing features associated with judging people for being overweight as one possible source of this reaction. These movements are very sensitive to the negative effects of those stigmas.

“But those movements assume people can actually be good judges of what they’re eating and what constitutes an appropriate amount,” vanDellen said. “The fact that those movements are gaining in popularity at the same time we are learning people are not good at estimating things like moderation suggests there’s a lot of room to be concerned about growing rates of obesity.”

WARNELL SCHOOL OF FORESTRY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

New hybrid sweetgum trees could boost paper, bioenergy production

By Sandi Martin

smartin@warnell.uga.edu

Sweetgum trees thrive under diverse conditions, grow as fast as pine trees and provide the type of fiber needed for specialty papers, and they’ve long been desired by paper and bioenergy producers.

But there’s a hitch: Harvesting mature sweetgums can often be too costly or even ill-advised because they typically grow best on the edges of swamps and in river bottoms, which are often inaccessible during wet, winter months.

UGA researchers may have solved this problem.

They’ve crossed American sweetgums with their Chinese cousins, creating hybrid sweetgum trees that have a better growth rate and denser wood than natives, and can produce fiber year-round.

The hybrid sweetgum trees have enormous potential for the production of bioenergy and paper, said Scott Merkle, a professor in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

“The very best hybrid sweetgums are being propagated to produce elite varieties so that landowners will be able to plant trees that produce more biomass in a shorter time than the top-rated native sweetgum trees,” he said.

The new hybrid varieties already are being sold commercially by ArborGen Inc., which began offering the new

varieties in 2015. This important step came after ArborGen’s extensive field testing of the trees produced from tissue cultures in Merkle’s lab in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

The tests showed these new hybrids outperform each of the parent species by 20 percent in both growth rate and wood density. The hybrid varieties are co-owned by ArborGen, a forest seedlings company headquartered in South Carolina, and the University of Georgia Research Foundation.

The new hybrid has been well accepted by forest landowners, particularly in the western areas of the Southeast, including Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. ArborGen officials say they produced 300,000 seedlings this year and sold out before the hybrid could even be marketed.

“We were testing the viability of this tree in the marketplace and are pleased to say it was received even better than expected,” said John Pait, vice president of sales and marketing for ArborGen. “We are now taking orders for next year with anticipation that we will see the same, if not greater demand, than this year. There will be a limited supply so we are asking customers who are interested to contact us as soon as possible.”

A number of other hybrid trees have been produced for forest crops, including hybrid poplars, eucalyptus and pines. But they haven’t been that popular in the Southeast’s

forestry industry, said Merkle, who is also Warnell’s associate dean for research. Hybrid poplars haven’t performed well in the Southeast because they don’t tolerate drought well, he said, and hybrid eucalyptus can’t grow north of Florida because they’re not cold tolerant enough to survive freeze damage. And the only commercially available hybrid pine trees, he added, are crosses between loblolly and pitch pines, which are really best suited to grow in the mountains of West Virginia.

But sweetgums, including hybrids, already have adapted to grow in the region in a variety of sites.

Merkle decided to combine hybrid breeding with somatic embryogenesis, the process of mass propagating trees from somatic cells—essentially propagating the embryos from seeds produced from crossing the two sweetgum species.

Combining the hybridizing and propagating techniques sped up testing that could have taken much longer, Merkle said. It also allowed them to more accurately test the quality of the new trees than by growing one tree from one seed and then waiting.

After planting the seedlings, researchers simply watched to see which ones fared the best, ultimately narrowing it down to four varieties that showed the best growth rate and the densest wood. ArborGen then picked out those trees with the best traits, produced thousands more by rooted cuttings and began selling them last year.

UGAGUIDE

columns.uga.edu Aug. 15, 2016

For a complete listing of events, 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.

Hugh Hodgson School of Music revamps its Thursday concert series for 2016-2017 season

By Clarke Schwabe ccschwabe@uga.edu

The UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music has revamped its concert series for the 2016-2017 season.

Formerly the Second Thursday Scholarship Series, the Thursday Scholarship Series will offer audiences new ways to engage with the world-class music they’ve come to expect from the school.

Concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall, and attendees are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy activities surrounding the performances and to explore East Campus, including the Georgia Museum of Art and Lamar Dodd School of Art. The series will open Aug. 25 with “A Golden Age Band Concert,” which will assemble School of Music faculty members and students to re-create the “Golden Age” of music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The UGA Symphony Orchestra, d ­ irected by Mark Cedel, will open its season Sept. 8 with Martha Thomas, the School of Music’s Despy Karlas Professor of Piano.

On Oct. 20 and 21, the Opera Theatre will partner with the UGA Symphony Orchestra and the School of Music’s choral area to create another opera production, semi-staged with English supertitles.

An all-star faculty ensemble will take the stage Nov. 3 for “An Evening in Paris,” a musical tour of

the City of Light by way of French chamber music of the 1920s and 1930s. This event will be part of UGA’s 2016 Spotlight on the Arts festival.

School of Music musicians will take to the stage of Hodgson Concert Hall Dec. 1 and 2 for the UGA Holiday ­Concerts.

Evgeny Rivkin, professor of piano, will perform a solo recital Jan. 12 of works from Chopin and other iconic composers. On Feb. 9, the 2017 Piano Extravaganza will showcase the piano area and its Steinway pianos, faculty-led talks on the history of the instrument, a behind-the-scenes look at the piano selection process and a special opportunity for an audience member to become a one-note soloist.

On March 2, the Hodgson Wind Ensemble will perform several of George Gershwin’s masterworks, including “Rhapsody in Blue” with soloist Rivkin and “Catfish Row” with School of Music alumni Washington Isaac Holmes and Monica Murphy singing the title roles of Porgy and Bess.

The Thursday Scholarship Series will close April 13 when some of the School of Music’s best, including the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, perform works by Bach, Schnittke and Stravinski. They will be led by Regents Professor and Franklin Professor of Violin Levon Ambartsumian, Director of Bands Cynthia Johnston Turner and UGA Wind Symphony Director Jaclyn Hartenberger.

EXHIBITIONS

Paper in Profile: Mixografia and Taller de Grafica Mexicana. Through Aug. 21.

Georgia Museum of Art. hazbrown@uga. edu.

THURSDAY TWILIGHT TOUR Highlights from the permanent collection, led by docents. 7 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu

John Abbot, Early Georgia’s Naturalist Artist. Through Aug. 31. Hargrett Library Galleries, special collections libraries.

706-542-8079.

FULL MOON HIKE $5; $15 per family. 8 p.m. State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6156, ckeber@uga.edu

Practice, Practice, Practice: Four ­Landscape Architects at Work. Through Sept. 30. Circle Gallery, College of ­Environment and Design.

MONDAY, AUGUST 15 COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE 10 a.m. 230 Hodgson School of Music.

706-542-2894, ugacms@uga.edu LGBT RESOURCE CENTER OPEN HOUSE 4 p.m. 221 Memorial Hall. ­706-542-4077, rsmall@uga.edu GUEST ARTIST CONCERT Jack Unzicker, assistant professor of double bass, University of Texas at Arlington. 5 p.m. Edge Recital Hall, Hugh Hodgson School of Music. ­706-542-4752, ccschwabe@uga.edu

TUESDAY, AUGUST 16 CANDIDATE PUBLIC ­PRESENTATION: ASSOCIATE VP FOR FACILITIES PLANNING 9:30 a.m. 135 Tate Student Center.

CENTER FOR INTEGRATIVE ­CONSERVATION RESEARCH SEMINAR “Recovery and Transitions in Pastoral Socio-Ecological Systems: Case Studies from Western Sahara and Kenya,” Gabriele Volpato, a visiting scholar and CICR postdoctoral researcher. 4 p.m. 200B Geography and Geology. 706-542-0458.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17 The Havana Cuba All-Stars will celebrate a new era in Cuban-American relations with their U.S. debut tour.

Havana Cuba All-Stars to open Performing Arts Center’s 2016-2017 season on Sept. 21

By Bobby Tyler btyler@uga.edu

The UGA Performing Arts Center’s 2016-2017 season will include soprano superstar Renee Fleming, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Romeros Guitar Quartet, the Chieftains, the Capitol Steps, the Ten Tenors, the Time Jumpers featuring Vince Gill, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and the Orchestre National de Lyon with Leonard Slatkin conducting.

One very special event will be the Athens premiere of the Mike Mills Concerto. Mills, a founding member of R.E.M., collaborated with violinist and Georgia native Robert McDuffie to compose the Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra. Mills and McDuffie will perform the concerto with the Wordless Music Orchestra in Hodgson Concert Hall on Oct. 24.

The UGA Performing Arts Center will continue its partnership with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will perform five concerts during

Calendar items are taken from Columns files and from the university’s Master Calendar, maintained by Marketing & Communications. Notices are published here as space permits, with priority given to items of multidisciplinary interest. The Master Calendar is online at calendar.uga.edu/.

the season, including a December performance of The Messiah with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and a return visit on Dec. 31 for a New Year’s Eve concert.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will perform six concerts on the Franklin College Chamber Music Series, once again establishing UGA as home to the greatest presence for the Chamber Music Society outside of New York City. Throughout the season the musicians of CMS will take audiences on a musical journey to destinations around the world, culminating in America with Aaron Copland’s original 1944 version of Appalachian Spring.

The 2016-2017 season will open Sept. 21 with a performance by the Havana Cuba All-Stars, celebrating a new era in Cuban-American relations with their U.S. debut tour.

Subscription packages are now on sale. For a free brochure stop by the Performing Arts Center box office, call 706-542-4400 or visit pac.uga.edu.

SCIENCE LEARNING CENTER ­DEDICATION CEREMONY 10 a.m. Science Learning Center. (See story, page 1).

UGA PART-TIME JOB AND INTERNSHIP FAIR FOR STUDENTS 11 a.m. Grand Hall, Tate Student Center.

TOUR AT TWO For the Paper in Profile exhibition. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. ­706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu

THURSDAY, AUGUST 18 CANDIDATE PUBLIC ­PRESENTATION: ASSOCIATE VP FOR FACILITIES PLANNING 9:30 a.m. 135 Tate Student Center.

EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION Practice, Practice, Practice: Four Landscape Architects at Work. 4:30 p.m. Main floor, Jackson Street Building.

CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM NEW STUDENT READING 7 p.m. Cine, 234 W. Hancock Ave.

TO SUBMIT A LISTING FOR THE MASTER CALENDAR AND COLUMNS 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.

5

Additional details about the event may be sent to Columns.

Email is preferred (columns@uga.edu), but materials can be mailed to Columns, Marketing & Communications, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Campus Mail 1999.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 19 CANDIDATE PUBLIC ­PRESENTATION: ASSOCIATE VP FOR FACILITIES PLANNING 9:30 a.m. 135 Tate Student Center.

INTERNATIONAL COFFEE HOUR 11:30 a.m. Ballroom Memorial Hall. ­706-542-5867, cheeia@uga.edu IDD@UGA PROFESSIONAL ­CONFERENCE Through Aug. 20. $49 for UGA faculty, staff and students. Georgia Center for Continuing Education. ­706-542-4556, mbar@uga.edu; 706-542-8799, bmassey@uga.edu ; or 706-542-0466, gclinton@uga.edu PHILOSOPHY LECTURE “Antianarchia: Interpreting Political Thought in Plato,” Melissa Lane, Princeton University. Kleiner Colloquium Series.

Reception will follow lecture. 3:30 p.m.

205S Peabody Hall. 706-542-2823.

WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Oklahoma State. 7 p.m. Turner Soccer Complex. 706-542-1621.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 20 FRIENDS GIGANTIC FLEA MARKET 8 a.m. Visitor Center and Conservatory State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6138.

HUMMINGBIRD TRAIL RAMBLE 9 a.m. State Botanical Garden. ­706-542-6156.

PERMANENT COLLECTION ­REOPENING CELEBRATION 10 a.m. Georgia Museum of Art. ­706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu 2016 EDUCATION ABROAD OPEN HOUSE 10 a.m. Office of International Education Building. 706-542-2900, laparis@uga.edu

COMING UP RESEARCH ORIENTATION FOR FACULTY Aug. 23. 3:30 p.m. Also Aug. 24, 9 a.m.

S175 Coverdell Center. 706-583-0599, amyware@uga.edu SUNFLOWER MUSIC SERIES. Aug. 23. Rock band Five Eight. $15; $5 children ages 6-12. 7 p.m. Flower Garden Lawn (Conservatory in inclement weather). State Botanical Garden. garden@uga.edu EXPLORATORY CENTER DEDICATION Aug. 24. 3 p.m. Reception Hall, Tate Student Center.

NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES Aug. 17 (for Aug. 29 issue) Aug. 24 (for Sept. 6 issue) Aug. 31 (for Sept. 12 issue)

6 Aug. 15 , 2016 columns.uga.edu

CAMPUS CLOSEUP

Scavenger hunt

Medium-sized carnivores like coyotes, foxes, badgers and jackals are often viewed as threats in urban areas. But they can provide ecological benefits, said James Beasley, an assistant professor of wildlife biology at UGA’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, in the New Scientist.

A recent study by University of Belgrade scientists in Serbia found that European jackals mostly subsisted on discarded animal flesh and small rodents, essentially aiming in waste management services.

“They (medium-sized carnivores) are particularly important in areas where there are no more apex predators—lions, bears, crocodiles—or obligate scavengers, like vultures,” said Beasley, who was not directly associated with the Belgrade study. “They provide a valuable ecosystem service by removing dead animal material and potentially limiting disease transmission.”

Canadian exceptionalism?

As other Western nations are seeing a surge in nativism and Islamophobia, Canada and its prime minister, Justin Trudeau, are proving an exception to the rule, said Cas Mudde, an associate professor of international affairs in UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs, in Vox. “The only real outlier (to the nativist trend) is Canada,” Mudde told Vox: “(Trudeau) has handled, so far, the Syrian refugee crisis incredibly well, having taken in 25,000 Syrian refugees against the majority will. Initially, he wasn’t supported by the ­majority— but when they finally arrived, a majority of Canadians did support it. That’s one of the few encouraging lessons that we have seen over the last several years: that if you have a positive campaign, which is supported by a large portion of the media, that you can actually swing public opinion in a positive direction.”

‘Cannonball king’

Although cannonball jellyfish may not appear on many American plates, Georgia fishermen are catching it for consumers in Japan and China, according to an article in Garden & Gun. Yao-Wen Huang, a professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Science’s food science and technology department, developed a more efficient process for preparing the jellyfish. In the Garden & Gun article, Huang recalled the reaction of others when he proposed catching the jellyfish—which are a nuisance to some industries­—for market. “ ‘This guy is crazy,’ ” Huang recalled his colleagues saying. “They called me the cannonball king.

They were teasing me then, but I didn’t mind.”

Now, according the magazine, “shredded Georgia jellyfish top salads and appetizer plates thousands of miles from their native waters.”

Huang said, “In China, they appreciate the quality.

The (jellyfish) species over there are mostly much bigger, and the texture is not as firm. Also, of course, the product is from the United States and they market that. We have better food safety here.”

Measuring threat

Wind speed is the primary judge for classifying a typhoon’s strength, but that classification doesn’t account for a storm’s greatest threat to humans, Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in Atmospheric Sciences, told Wired.“It worries me that we focus on scale and category when what we know from hurricanes and tropical cyclones in general we see most of deaths from water,” said Shepherd, who is director of UGA’s atmospheric sciences program. “No scale has a way to capture the water threat.”

RETIREES June Thirty UGA employees retired June 1. Retirees, their job classification, department and length of employment are: Dana L. Ambrose, laboratory manager II, infectious diseases, 32 years, 11 months; Francis B. Assaf, Distinguished Research Professor of French, Romance languages, 34 years, 11 months; Gina E. Bishop, research professional II, crop and soil sciences, 28 years, 9 month; John H. Blackstone Jr., professor, management, 33 years; Charles B. Cross, professor, philosophy, 24 years, 8 months; Gregory Scott Derda, IT manager, EITS-research computing, 23 years, 5 months; Charles C. Doyle, associate professor, English, 41 years, 9 months; Mattie R. Few, building services worker II, Facilities Management Division-Building Services (second shift), 18 years, 3 months; Christine Annette Franklin, senior

Dorothy Kozlowski

Recently named the College of Pharmacy’s Employee of the Year, Katie Smith creates digital course modules with instructional videos and computer simulation programs to help pharmacy students learn to make complex decisions when caring for patients.

Instructional designer uses digital tools to collaborate, create, educate

By Aaron Hale

aahale@uga.edu

As UGA instructors continue to move toward active-learning approaches to teaching, instructional design technology specialists like Katie Smith are playing a key role in helping make digital teaching tools accessible for faculty and students.

Smith, recently named the UGA College of Pharmacy’s 2015 Employee of the Year, works with a team to create active-learning materials for the college’s classes.

“We support faculty in facilitating learning,” Smith said of her team. “We help faculty when they see a gap or an opportunity to try something new.

We help them think through that. It’s a collaborative process.”

Smith is a member of the pharmacy college’s instructional design and technology office, which works to support teaching and learning through instructional design services, integration and support of technical systems in learning spaces, faculty training, multimedia development, and research and development of instructional technologies.

With a background in media production and instructional technology, Smith’s role is to create digital course modules with instructional videos and computer simulation programs designed to help pharmacy students learn to make complex decisions when caring for patients.

For Smith, this process is creative, and the results are functional.

“I think of myself as a ‘maker.’

I like making things and putting things together,” she said. “It’s neat to see

creative stuff have a purpose and go beyond an entertainment purpose.”

Smith has been interested in the intersection of media, creativity and education since she was a child. Her dream job once was to help produce Sesame Street.

She followed that dream by getting a bachelor’s degree in telecommunication arts from the Grady College at UGA. She then earned master’s degrees in instructional design from the College of Education and ecology from the Odum School.

But first, Smith pursued work in educational TV in New York, Los Angeles and Reno, Nevada, before returning to UGA to specialize in instructional technology.

After working at UGA’s Center for Teaching and Learning for several years, Smith joined the pharmacy college’s instructional design team in 2012.

Pharmacy college faculty prepare their students to make quick, but effective, decisions for patients, and the team in the instructional design and technology office helps support that goal.

As part of that process, Smith and Russ Palmer, a fellow College of Pharmacy instructional designer with a rich understanding of education theory, work with faculty to define instructional needs. Working with Palmer, Smith takes those needs and finds solutions with her digital toolbox.

“I get to do all of the fun stuff. That’s how I look at it,” she said.

Her experience in video production work is paying off to this end. Part of her job includes directing local actors as well as pharmacists in producing

lecturer, statistics, 26 years, 8 months; Paul-Henri Gurian, associate professor, political science, 29 years, 8 months; Talmadge C. Guy, associate professor, lifelong education, administration and policy, 22 years, 11 months; Molly M. Kimler, county extension program assistant, Cooperative Extension, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, 21 years, 5 months; Martha Virginia Lyman Benedict, director of finance, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, 25 years, 8 months; Cecile L. Martin, associate professor, College of Environment and Design, 9 years, 9 months; Robert K. Newcomb, digital imaging specialist, Marketing & Communications, 15 years, 10 months; Raymond Noblet, department head, entomology, 18 years, 10 months; Christina Maddox Owen, IT professional associate, 4H and Youth-UGA Cooperative Extension, 29 years, 3 months; Clodagh M. Phair-Miller, student affairs professional II, College of Engineering, 9 years, 8 months; Stephanie

FACTS

Katie Smith

Instructional Technology Design Professional Specialist College of Pharmacy M.S., Ecology, UGA, 2011 M.ED., Instructional Technology, UGA 2004 A.B.J., Telecommunication Arts, UGA 2001 At UGA: 13 years

instructional videos for class.

For example, Smith has created videos in which pharmacists interact with a patient describing an ill-defined problem without an obvious solution.

At the point when the pharmacist has to make a decision based on the information gathered, the video stops, and an active-learning exercise begins.

Pharmacy students talk through what they would do in that situation, applying what they’ve learned in class and their readings into an exercise that simulates the kind of tough decisions that pharmacists face.

The instructional videos that Smith produces aren’t exactly like those of her childhood dream job. Unlike Sesame Street, Smith doesn’t get to work with Muppets, and the content she creates is more complex than anything you would find on the beloved TV show. But Smith is happy with her job because it affords her the opportunity to collaborate, to create and to educate.

“We do important work, and we’re valued for what we do,” she said. “I don’t know that I could have found anything more fulfilling than what I do.”

Pierce, lecturer, Hugh Hodgson School of Music, 19 years, 8 months; James W. Porter, professor, Odum School of Ecology, 38 years, 9 months; Gabriel Ruhumbika, professor, comparative literature, 23 years, 8 months; Deberah Marable Sickles, administrative associate II, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, 18 years, 2 months; Kathy Jean Simpson, associate professor, kinesiology, 28 years, 8 months; Georgia Kay Strange, professor, art, 9 years, 9 months; Chi N. Thai, associate professor, College of Engineering, 31 years, 4 months; Thomas J. Tucker, skilled trades worker, College of Veterinary Medicine animal resources, 14 years, 10 months; Robert Varley Jr., professor, mathematics, 34 years, 9 months; Cathleen S. Wharton, instructor, School of Law, 32 years, 9 months; Rebecca H. White, professor, School of Law, 27 years; and John Mark Williams, senior academic professional, anthropology, 35 years, 8 months. Source: Human Resources

7

CENTER FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

columns.uga.edu Aug. 15, 2016

INITIATIVE from page 1

In addition to strengthening instruction, Faculty Learning Communities also bring together faculty from a variety of disciplines to talk about what works in their classrooms.

‘Interdisciplinary interaction’

Faculty Learning Communities offer in-depth conversations about instruction

By Aaron Hale

aahale@uga.edu

Amid busy schedules of teaching classes, grading assignments, conducting research, writing papers and attending meetings, it can be difficult for faculty to find the time to stop and think deeply about effective ways to teach students, much less talk about tips and best practices with colleagues.

To offer a format for digging into pedagogical topics, UGA’s Center for Teaching and Learning hosts annual faculty learning communities as a way to get faculty talking with each other about instruction. A faculty learning community, or FLC, is a specifically structured community of practice that includes the key goals of building community and engaging in scholarly teaching.

“I like to think of a faculty learning community as a place and time for faculty to slow down and have a conversation—based in research—on pedagogical practices and what works well in instruction,” said Chase Hagood, CTL’s assistant director for faculty development and recognition.

UGA FLCs, which can range in topics from instructional technology and techniques to issues of diversity and sustainability, meet regularly throughout an academic year with the goal of completing a product, report or presentation about what the FLC discovered. FLCs began

at UGA in 2007 and since then have had 1,300 faculty participants.

Registration is open until Aug. 26 for 21 faculty learning communities at http:// ctl.uga.edu/flc/future-flc. Groups will start meeting this fall about their given subject, each with the ultimate goal of “fostering excellence in teaching and learning.”

In addition to strengthening instruction, FLCs have the added benefit of bringing together faculty from a variety of disciplines to talk about what works in their classrooms.

A 2015 study by UGA researchers published in the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education documented the benefits of this shared experience for faculty.

Study co-authors Leslie Gordon, associate director of the executive Ed.D. program in higher education management in the Institute of Higher Education, and Tim Foutz, Meigs Professor of Engineering, conducted a study on an FLC designed for faculty teaching in the inaugural year of the First-Year Odyssey Seminar Program in 2011.

“We wanted to learn what happens when diverse faculty come together to meet a shared teaching challenge,” Gordon said.

What they found is that the learning community provided valuable information needed for preparing future faculty to teach FYO seminars.

WEEKLY READER

“Faculty began their FYO courses excited to show students the full mission of the university through the lens of their disciplines,” Gordon said. “They encountered challenges and, within the FLC, helped each other adjust techniques and find new resources. The result was that participants grew as teachers and understood more about their students.”

The fortuitous by-product of this community was that it promoted collaboration beyond the discussion of the FYO Seminar Program.

Several faculty members continued to collaborate after the faculty learning community ended, including collaboration between Gordon and Foutz on their study.

Gordon and Foutz said instructors from across disciplines were able to share experiences and lessons in teaching, which improved individual instruction but also allowed the faculty to build relationships with each other. In turn, they became involved in interdisciplinary research with members of the cohort.

“I think a lot of faculty need that interdisciplinary interaction,” Foutz said. “There’s so much you can learn from looking outside your own area.”

For additional information about the FLC program, contact Chase Hagood at tchagood@uga.edu.

c­ ampus-wide Georgia Informatics Institute for Research and Education.

“The University of Georgia is on the leading edge of one of today’s most promising fields, giving students new learning opportunities and using big data to promote health, security and sustainability, and economic vitality,” said Provost Pamela Whitten.

UGA’s new informatics faculty members, who begin this fall unless otherwise noted, are: • L. Jason Anastasopoulos, an assistant professor in the departments of political science and public administration and policy in the School of Public and International Affairs.

Anastasopoulos develops software and statistical tools to study political behavior and communication, as well as the politics of migration and immigration.

• Steven E. Bellan, assistant professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics in the College of Public Health. Bellan uses mathematical and statistical models to better understand and control infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola.

• Alexander Bucksch, an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the department of plant biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the UGA Institute of Bioinformatics and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Bucksch develops imaging methods and software to quantify how plants adapt to increasingly resource-limited environments, with implications for crop breeding.

• Dale E. Green, an associate professor in the department of health policy and management in the College of Public Health.

Green has developed a comprehensive set of population health analytics tools used to drive quality and efficiency improvements in the delivery of healthcare.

• Jaewoo Lee, assistant professor in the department of computer science in the Franklin College. Lee develops new computational and statistical techniques for data mining, with a focus on enhancing data privacy and security.

• WenZhan Song, the Georgia Power Mickey A. Brown Professor in the College of Engineering. Song works to enhance the security of smart electric grids and explores the use of sensor networks for monitoring the environment and promoting health.

• Steven E. Wheeler will join UGA’s faculty in January as an associate professor of chemistry in the Franklin College. Wheeler and his team have developed computational tools to screen and design new catalysts. Their work has implications for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and the creation of organic electronic materials.

• Zhong-Ru (Paul) Xie, assistant professor in the College of Engineering. Xie creates computational models and tools that predict and simulate how biologically important molecules bind, with the ultimate goal of informing work to develop new drugs.

ABOUT COLUMNS

CYBERSIGHTS

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

New book maps effective leadership

The Map: Your Path to Effectiveness in Leadership, Life, and Legacy Keith Eigel and Karl Kuhnert Baxter Press Hardcover: $24.99

Leadership isn’t about winning. It’s not about your title. It’s not about making people like you.

It’s about knowing who you are, what you stand for and making the authentic contribution only you can make, according to a book by Keith Eigel, who received his master’s and doctorate in psychology from UGA, and Karl Kuhnert, a UGA associate professor of organizational and industrial psychology.

Great leaders have a measurably different level of developmental maturity that explains their effectiveness. In The Map, Eigel and Kuhnert spell out that measurable journey. Based on decades of research, they shed light on why people often feel stuck and offer the tools to greater effectiveness in leadership, life and legacy.

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

Editor Juliett Dinkins

Corporate Relations debuts new website corporate.uga.edu

The new UGA Corporate Relations website boasts a clean, simple layout that will allow busy corporate visitors to cut through the clutter quickly.

The responsive design easily guides visitors through the benefits of partnering with UGA, success stories and contact information for the Office of Corporate and

Foundation Relations, a unit of the Division of Development and Alumni Relations. The site’s primary goal is lead generation, so all interactions on the site lead visitors to contact information for the CFR team. The former CFR website will transition in the coming months to solely focus on UGA’s foundation engagement efforts.

Art Director Jackie Baxter Roberts Photo Editor Dorothy Kozlowski Senior Writer Aaron Hale Communications Coordinator Krista Richmond 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.

8 Aug. 15, 2016 columns.uga.edu

SCHOLAR from page 1

Freshman Welcome First-year students kick off their

collegiate careers at Sanford Stadium

Peter Frey

Chad Osburn

Chad Osburn

Members of UGA’s Class of 2020 gathered in Sanford Stadium on Aug. 10 for the Freshman Welcome, the night before fall classes began. As part of the annual tradition hosted by the Student Alumni Association and the Student Government Association, incoming students learned traditions for cheering at UGA football games and got encouraging advice from campus leaders. UGA President Jere W. Morehead congratulated the students on being the most academically qualified class in the university’s history.

“The next four years is up to you,” he said. “I’m here to encourage you to enjoy every moment at this great university.”

New UGA head football coach Kirby Smart encouraged the students to savor what will become “the greatest years” of their lives. The event ended between the hedges with a class photo in the form of the “Power G.”

Bulletin Board New UGAAlert desktop app

An updated version of UGAAlert desktop notification software is available on the EITS software page (software.uga.edu) under the section for UGAAlert. To receive UGAAlert notices on a computer, the updated version must be installed as previous versions no longer work.

If a UGAAlert notice is distributed, computers with the new app will display the alert as a large pop-up message on the screen as well as an audio notification. More information about the emergency will be posted at emergency.uga.edu.

The UGAAlert desktop app is another means of being notified in addition to voice phone calls, text messaging and emails. It is ideal for classrooms or meetings where a computer is used to project information on a screen. Everyone in the room can be notified through the pop-up message.

The app is available for Mac and PC for the Athens and Gwinnett campuses. Instructions on how to install the app are available on the UGAAlert page on the EITS website.

Some UGA departments require an IT professional to install software on university-owned computers.

Any UGA employees who need help installing the UGAAlert desktop app should contact their department’s IT staff for assistance.

For more information about the UGAAlert Desktop Program, contact the Office of Emergency Preparedness at 706-542-5845 or prepare@uga.edu.

TEDxUGA nominations

​Do you have an idea worth ­spreading?

Since 2013, ​TEDxUGA has been engaging the campus community in an exploration of ideas worth spreading and is currently seeking dynamic faculty and staff presenters to take the stage for TEDxUGA 2017. ​Visit tedxuga.com/nominate to submit a nomination for a faculty or staff member by Sept. 30. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged. Email tedxuga@uga.edu with any questions.

Bulletin Board is limited to information that may pertain to a majority of faculty and staff members.

President Jere W. Morehead. “Her innovative work will expand the outstanding infectious disease research already being conducted here and will contribute significantly to the university’s efforts to translate research into treatments for some of the world’s most deadly diseases.”

Norris’ research focuses on infectious and chronic diseases, including HIV, pulmonary diseases, inflammatory diseases and diabetes. She has developed a number of highly relevant disease models, which she uses to understand the basic mechanisms of disease susceptibility and progression, and to test interventions that treat or prevent disease.

One of the many accomplishments her laboratory is known for is an animal model of Pneumocystis pneumonia, or PCP, one of the most frequent and severe opportunistic infections in people with weakened immune systems.

She also was the first to demonstrate that PCP is a co-factor in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a progressive lung disease and the third leading cause of death in the U.S. The Norris laboratory led the development of a vaccine to protect against PCP, which has

shown great efficacy in a pre-clinical model of the disease.

Norris also is developing models of respiratory syncytial virus infection, a respiratory virus that infects the lungs and breathing passages. While most healthy people with RSV only experience mild cold-like symptoms, it can be serious for infants and older adults.

Her disease model may be particularly useful for vaccine and therapeutic testing, work that she will pursue with other UGA infectious disease researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine, including GRA Eminent Scholars Ted Ross and Ralph Tripp as well as GRA Distinguished Investigators Biao He and Don Harn.

Provost Pamela Whitten said Norris comes to UGA during a period of extraordinary growth in sponsored research activity and growing interest in STEM fields among students.

“At a time when women remain underrepresented in the sciences and many other fields, Dr. Norris will be a superb mentor and role model for the next generation of researchers,” Whitten said. “Her record of accomplishment speaks for itself, and she is a critical addition to an extraordinary faculty.”

TOUR

DEDICATION from page 1

from page 1

where they went out on a trawl in the Skidaway River and learned about the key drivers of the coastal economy: shrimp, jelly balls, freeze-dried at a nearby processing plant and shipped to Asia, where they are a culinary delicacy, blue crabs and clams.

On the way back to Athens, the bus stopped in Sandersville, where faculty members learned about the Archway Partnership, another public service and outreach unit, and kaolin, a white, alumina-silicate clay used in hundreds of products, including paper and cosmetics. Sandersville, in Washington County, is known as “the Kaolin Capital of the World.”

“Not being a Georgia native, I’ve learned a lot about Georgia and what it has to offer,” said new faculty member Jennifer Tucker, an assistant professor of animal and dairy science in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “I have learned a lot of interesting things and areas that I would like to go back and visit at some point.”

The New Faculty Tour was launched in 1977 after the Georgia business community indicated it wanted to see more understanding and collaboration between Georgia industry and higher education. More than 1,400 UGA faculty members have made the tour, which has been held all but seven years since it first began. Those years—1991, 20032004 and 2009-2012—tours were canceled because of budget constraints.

The tour is coordinated by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach and is made possible by major support from the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost. It also receives support from the UGA Alumni Association as well as numerous other units and supporters of the university. Faculty members who have been at UGA for less than two years are eligible to participate.

RESEARCH from page 2 in the Republic of Georgia to build their capacity to conduct research.

In addition to significant advances in research under Lindquist’s leadership, SPIA developed a new certificate program in Applied Politics and Public Affairs Communications in 2015 in conjunction with the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, a reflection of the high degree of interdisciplinary collaboration that Lindquist has encouraged. In 2015, SPIA also established a new polling center to conduct survey research.

“UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs has long had a national and international reputation for excellence, and it has flourished under the leadership of Dean Lindquist,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. “With its extraordinary faculty, staff and students, it is well positioned for success in the future, as well.”

features, paired with effective instruction from UGA faculty, to enhance a strong foundation in the sciences.

With updated instructional spaces able to facilitate the most effective STEM teaching methods, the SLC is geared toward retaining and recruiting more STEM majors. In 2015, nearly 21 percent of degrees awarded to undergraduates at UGA were in the STEM fields, an increase from 15.1 percent a decade earlier.

• The labs—20 chemistry, 10 biology, two ecology and one physics—are designed to promote face-to-face interaction between students as they engage in hands-on learning.

• SCALE-UP classrooms, which stands for Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs, promote collaboration between students to discover solutions to problems in a team format.

• Tiered lecture halls have flexible seating with chairs that can be turned to promote active learning.

Located on the southwest corner of the D.W. Brooks Mall adjacent to Pharmacy South and across from the Miller Plant Sciences Building, the Science Learning Center houses numerous study areas for group projects and individual learning as well as a cafe.

In addition to the classroom space, the Science Learning Center will feature informal meeting rooms and study spaces that support learning and collaboration for all levels of students. Rooms for formal instruction will be used primarily for introductory courses in chemistry, physics, biological sciences and ecology.

Parking for the dedication ceremony will be available in the South Campus parking deck as well as the Carlton Street parking deck.

INFORMATICS from page 1 are serving as the framework for the proposal for the Georgia Informatics Institute for Research and Education, which would serve as a hub for informatics-related activities across campus and serve as a link to industry, government and community partners.

The Georgia Informatics Institute also would foster interdisciplinary collaboration by bringing faculty members with related interests together and providing workshops and other resources for researchers and scholars who are interested in incorporating the latest techniques in data mining, analysis and visualization into their projects.

“The Georgia Informatics Institute would be housed in the College of Engineering, but its mission is to serve the entire university,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. “It provides a framework and an opportunity to build new connections among faculty that can lead to significant advances in research, instruction and outreach.”