UGA Columns Feb. 10, 2020

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UGA disease ecologist is working on better ways to predict the next outbreak RESEARCH NEWS

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Kevin Cole to receive Thompson Award from Georgia Museum of Art Vol. 47, No. 23

February 10, 2020

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4&5

Delta Air Lines gives $5M to innovation, engineering efforts

By Clarke Schwabe ccschwabe@uga.edu

Photo illustration by Lindsay Robinson

Naomi and Guy Woodruff developed methods to grow, harvest and store crops that are still used today.

Feeding the world UGA’s agricultural research duo increased yields of peanuts, cotton and more

By Carolyn Crist

columns@uga.edu

This story is part of a series, called Georgia Groundbreakers, that celebrates innovative and visionary faculty, students, alumni and leaders throughout the history of the University of Georgia—and their profound, enduring impact on our state, our nation and the world.

As the story goes, the first time University of Georgia horticulturist Jasper “Guy” Woodroof saw his future wife Naomi Chapman in 1924, she was strolling among the rows of plants at the Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin, writing notes on leaves and walking around barefoot. That caught his attention.

The two began researching pecans together, specifically looking at the best ways to reduce diseases and blights that hindered

the crop. They published several papers about pecan root growth and development. Within two years of working together, they married.

During substantive careers and a marriage of more than 60 years, they developed methods still used today to grow, harvest and store crops. Also pioneers in their own right, they led major food science and plant pathology projects at UGA, faced Depression-era economic difficulties, and later traveled to underdeveloped countries around the world to teach others how to process and preserve food.

Expanding the bounds of plant pathology

Known as a “pioneer in agriculture,” Naomi Chapman landed the title of many “firsts.” Born on Feb. 5, 1900, she was one of the first two women in the U.S. to receive a degree in agriculture, the first

female graduate of the University of Idaho College of Agriculture, and the first woman scientist at both the Georgia Experiment Station and the Coastal Plain Experiment Station.

Chapman’s grit started early on her parents’ sheep and cattle ranch in Idaho—she rowed the Snake River twice each day to attend school in Asotin, Washington.

Then she pursued an animal husbandry degree at the University of Idaho. When she didn’t find any job opportunities for women after graduation, she continued her dogged quest and earned a master’s in plant pathology in 1924. Still struggling to find an open position that would accept her, Chapman took out a bank loan to embark on the long five-day train ride south from Spokane, Washington, to Griffin, See GROUNDBREAKERS on page 7

SIGNATURE LECTURE

Albany State University president to give Mary Frances Early Lecture on Feb. 25 Marion Ross Fedrick will deliver the 20th annual Mary Frances Early Lecture at the ceremony naming the College of Education in Mary Frances Early’s honor.

The event will take place Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. in Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall at the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center.

“I am honored to provide the keynote address for such a special occasion,” said Fedrick. “Ms. Mary Frances Early paved the way for myself and many others at the University of Georgia. Her courage and bravery continue to serve as an inspiration.”

Fedrick was appointed president of Albany State University on Aug. 14, 2018, after serving as interim executive vice president and interim president for the university. Prior to that, she served as vice chancellor for human resources at the University System

of Georgia. In this role, she led initiatives relating to university administration, leadership development and human resources planning. Fedrick Marion has led staff Ross Fedrick development efforts at Clark Atlanta University, Emory University and Emory University Hospitals. She also served in leadership roles in the state of Georgia’s Office of State Personnel Administration, AT&T and BellSouth.

During her tenure at ASU, the university has seen significant growth and improvement. Efforts have included restructuring academic colleges, evaluating the academic curriculum and making

needed changes to better serve students, as well as implementing a university-wide strategic effort to increase student retention and academic success.

Fedrick earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia. A believer in lifelong learning, Fedrick is currently pursuing a doctorate from the University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education.

The Mary Frances Early Lecture honors the first African American to graduate from UGA. Early earned her master’s degree in music education in 1962 and her specialist in education degree in 1967. In 2013, she was presented with an honorary doctorate from the university. The Mary Frances Early Lecture was established in 2001 by the Graduate and See LECTURE on page 8

The University of Georgia will take a major step forward in its Innovation District initiative and enhance the College of Engineering, thanks to a $5 million gift from The Delta Air Lines Foundation.

The Innovation District initiative brings together people, programs and places to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and experiential learning at UGA. The first step of the initiative established Studio 225, the home of UGA’s thriving Student Center for Entrepreneurship, and The Delta Foundation’s gift catalyzes the next step to grow research

commercialization and universityindustry collaboration.

“I want to express my deepest appreciation to our loyal friends at The Delta Air Lines Foundation for their ongoing and generous support of the University of Georgia,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “This gift will help us prepare our students to be successful leaders in the knowledge economy while enabling the research discoveries of our faculty to make the greatest impact on society.”

The gift includes $2.5 million to renovate the Spring Street Building, located just off Broad Street in Athens’ downtown area.

See DELTA on page 8

COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

UGA researcher sheds light on the coronavirus puzzle There remain many unanswered questions about the origins of the new coronavirus and what can be done to stop it, according to Mark Jackwood, a professor and infectious disease expert at the University of Georgia, who studies coronaviruses in bird populations.

Below, he shares some of his thoughts on the current outbreak, how people can protect themselves and what the future may hold for the coronavirus known as 2019-nCoV. Are certain populations more susceptible/at risk for complications?

“Like many diseases, the old,

the very young and immune compromised individuals are more at risk. Health care workers are also more at risk because of their work-related associations with sick people.”

What precautions should people take to limit exposure?

“Washing your hands is probably one of the most important things you can do. Also, staying away from large groups of people as well as people that are sick will limit exposure. There is no vaccine or cure. Treatment usually involves treating the symptoms until the

See VIRUS on page 8

COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Researcher gauges public health threat posed by novel coronavirus Wearing a surgical mask is unlikely to protect healthy people from the novel coronavirus that originated in China, and influenza likely poses a much greater threat to Americans, according to José Cordero, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health.

Below, Cordero shares some of his thoughts on the coronavirus outbreak and what people should do to protect themselves from 2019-nCoV and other respiratory diseases. He also shares his concern that the coronavirus could be particularly dangerous for vulnerable populations like pregnant women and people who are immunocompromised.

It is important to wear a mask if you’re ill and if you have a cough and a fever or you think you may have flu or another respiratory infection. It’s very important because you don’t want to spread your condition, your infection to others. But if you’re healthy, the fact is that using a mask is not going to necessarily protect you. So generally, the recommendation is if you’re sick, wear a mask, if you’re not, you don’t.

“Now there is one exception.

And there’s those individuals that are immunocompromised or that, for example, are on cancer treatment. There you need to talk to your doctor and get more specifics on whether or not to wear a mask.”

Does wearing a surgical mask keep you from catching the coronavirus?

Does all the focus on coronavirus See THREAT on page 8

2 Feb. 10, 2020 columns.uga.edu

Commit to Georgia 2020

Why I Give

Name: Sheri Worthy Position: Nickols Professor and Head, Department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics At UGA: 7 years

Sheri Worthy

Beneficiaries of her gift to the university: FHCE Fund, Financial Planning Fund, Residential Property Management Fund, Consumer Economics program Why she contributes: “As department head, I know firsthand the great need for foundation funds to increase and enhance opportunities for students. We have used funds from these three accounts to send students to academic and professional conferences, host student-alumniindustry networking events, pay part-time instructors and offer more meaningful experiences for our students.”

To make your contribution to the Commit to Georgia Campaign, please contact the Office of Annual Giving at 706-542-8119 or visit give.uga.edu.

Source: Office of Development

SCHOOL OF LAW

Conference to focus on environmental issues

By Heidi Murphy

hmurphy@uga.edu

The University of Georgia School of Law will host the 32nd Annual Red Clay Conference Feb. 21. “Overcoming Toxic Relationships” is the title of the daylong event, which will address coal ash disposal, brownfield redevelopment in Georgia and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in drinking water.

“We selected this theme because we wanted to cover emerging environmental issues affecting Georgia,” conference organizer and second-year law student Christopher J. “Chris” Bertrand said. “Also, to recognize the 40th birthday of Superfund, we included a panel on brownfield redevelopment. We encourage anyone interested in environmental issues and law in the Southeast to attend and contribute to important discussions with environmental experts, attorneys and practitioners as well as stakeholders and like-minded citizens.”

The Peter Appel Lecture will be delivered by environmental activist Lois Gibbs, who is known for her work with New York’s Love Canal. Her efforts led to the creation of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, also known as Superfund. Administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this fund is used “to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants.” Gibbs is the founder and executive director of the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (formerly known as the Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste) that trains and supports local activists with efforts to combat environmental crises in their communities.

Starting at 9 a.m., the conference will be held in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall on UGA’s North Campus.

Registration for the conference is required, and lunch will be provided. The event is free for members of the UGA community. For attorneys seeking four continuing legal education credits, the cost is $60. The fee for all other entrants is $12.

The annual Red Clay Conference represents the law school’s commitment to preparing its students for real-world practice by connecting them to policymakers, practitioners and legal leaders seeking to improve our state and society, according to law school Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge.

Organized by law students who are members of the Environmental Law Association, the Red Clay Conference aims to increase public awareness of environmental issues of regional, national and international significance through a series of educational presentations and open forum discussions. For more information please visit www.law.uga.edu/ environmental-law-association. Registration can be found under the Red Clay Conference tab.

This event is associated with UGA’s Earth Day 50th Anniversary Celebration.

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Holmes-Hunter speaker continues to ‘slay the dragon of injustice’

By Krista Richmond krichmond@uga.edu

For Justice Robert Benham, being a judge isn’t about punishing people. It’s about salvaging people.

“We need to give people a chance the do the right thing at the right time for the right reason,” he said.

Benham, the longest serving and first African American member of the Supreme Court of Georgia, talked about his journey in the justice system at the 2020 Holmes-Hunter Lecture, held Feb. 3.

Named in honor of Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes, the first African American students to attend the University of Georgia, the lecture is sponsored by the Office of the President and focuses on race relations, civil rights and education. It has been held annually since 1985 and is designated as a Signature Lecture.

Hunter-Gault made a surprise appearance to introduce Benham.

“The choices to speak at this podium at the Holmes-Hunter Lecture have been so amazing and have filled our hearts and our heads with wisdom,” she said. “I’m hoping that their messages will continue to resonate throughout the university and everywhere their words have landed.”

Benham shared childhood experiences that left an impression and eventually led to his career. His first experience with integration was when he went to a segregated library, picked the book he wanted off the shelf, checked it out and then walked out of the library. Nearly 30 years later, that librarian told him she let him go because it was the right thing to do. That visit to the library inspired other acts of integration, such as eating at a segregated restaurant.

Peter Frey

Shown, from left, are UGA president Jere W. Morehead; Marilyn Holmes, wife of the late Hamilton Holmes, namesake of the Holmes-Hunter Lecture; Charlayne Hunter-Gault, journalist and namesake of the Holmes-Hunter Lecture; and Justice Robert Benham, Supreme Court of Georgia.

“Since I was able to walk out of the library with a book, I started walking in a lot of other places,” he said. “I decided I could do my own demonstrations and Freedom Rides.”

According to Benham, it’s imperative that people challenge things they know are wrong. And his position as a judge allows him to have a direct hand in that.

“Lawyers put on the armor of the law to go out and slay the dragon of injustice,” he said. “As long as we’re able, we’ll keep on doing it, because that’s what the law is designed to do.”

Some of the cases Benham took on as a litigator include discrimination at carpet mills in northwest Georgia, proper medical care for AIDS patients and equal access to a skating rink for minorities.

“Believe it or not, that’s what I have fun doing—representing the

downtrodden, the put-upon and the oppressed and fleshing out the Constitution and the Bill of Rights so that it provides protection to all of our citizens,” he said.

After earning his Bachelor of Science from Tuskegee University in 1967, Benham became the second African American to graduate from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1970. In 1984, he was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Gov. Joe Frank Harris where he served for five years before being appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court in 1989. That same year, he earned his Master of Laws from the University of Virginia. Benham will be retiring from the bench next month.

In 2018, the UGA School of Law established the Benham Scholars Program to foster diversity in the legal profession, named in honor of Justice Benham.

PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH

UGA designated as a community engaged institution

By Kelly Simmons

simmonsk@uga.edu

The University of Georgia has been recognized for excellence in public service and outreach, being designated as a community engaged institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for a second time.

The classification was first awarded to UGA in 2010.

“Receiving this classification is a national recognition of the University of Georgia’s expansive outreach programs and their impact on Georgia, the United States and the world,” UGA President Jere W. Morehead said. “As the state’s land-grant and sea-grant university, working with communities to build a stronger, more prosperous Georgia is central to everything we do.”

The Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification recognizes public service and outreach activities such as service-learning and university-community partnerships.

This elective classification requires submission of extensive documentation and evidence of unique and distinctive university partnerships with local, statewide and global communities.

“The institutions that we are recognizing today are doing extraordinary work in addressing their societal responsibilities in and through community engagement and service. In doing so, they bring scholarship, knowledge and expertise to bear in the address of real challenges in our communal lives,” said Paul LeMahieu, senior vice president at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.“They inspire us, even as they instruct us how to be our best selves in service to our communities.

UGA’s application was coordinated

Shannah Montgomery

Thanks to work done by public service and outreach units like the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, UGA has been recognized by the Carnegie Foundation.

by the Office of Public Service and Outreach with contributions from UGA Cooperative Extension and colleges and schools across the university.

“We are very pleased that the Carnegie Foundation recognizes the University of Georgia’s vast partnerships with communities and organizations across Georgia and beyond,” Vice President for Public Service and Outreach Jennifer Frum said. “Everything we do is focused on helping to create jobs and prosperity, developing the state’s leaders and solving critical statewide challenges.To have this work and its impact recognized nationally is a tribute to the hard work of our faculty and staff.”

Since the initial classification in 2010, UGA has greatly expanded its outreach programs and opportunities for students.

Morehead’s focus on experiential learning has meant that every undergraduate

student now graduates with a meaningful, hands-on learning experience outside of the classroom setting. The number of service-learning courses at UGA has more than doubled since 2010, with 250 individual courses carrying the official “s” designation. In 2018-19, more than 7,150 students enrolled in at least one service-learning class, providing more than 300,000 hours of service and an estimated $7.7 million economic impact on Georgia communities.

In partnership with local communities, the university’s Small Business Development Center, with 17 locations around the state, helped create 450 businesses and more than 3,000 jobs last year alone. The university’s economic impact on Georgia is estimated at $6.5 billion annually, $973 million of which comes from the impact of UGA’s outreach programs.

RESEARCH NEWS

columns.uga.edu Feb. 10, 2020

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Digest Scholar on teaching philosophy to children to give lecture, lead workshops

GREAT COMMITMENTS Andrew Davis Tucker

John Drake, a Distinguished Research Professor in UGA’s Odum School of Ecology, is drawn to the puzzle-solving aspect of scientific study and the opportunity to discover something new.

Sounding the alarm

UGA disease ecologist is working to predict the next outbreak

By Aaron Hale

aahale@uga.edu

Think of Jenga, the game in which two players remove wooden blocks from the lower part of the tower and place them at its top.

After a few turns, the now skeletal tower becomes unstable. Just before it crashes and the game’s winner is determined, the tower wobbles back and forth. It’s reached its tipping point.

That wobble, the reflection of a physical phenomenon called “critical slowing down,” can happen in an ecosystem just before the emergence of a new infectious disease—at least in theory—says John Drake, a Distinguished Research Professor in UGA’s Odum School of Ecology.

When a devastating Ebola outbreak swept through West Africa, no one saw it coming. By the time it was contained, it claimed tens of thousands of lives. Other deadly outbreaks such as coronavirus, Zika and avian flu have the potential to take a catastrophic toll.

Researchers at UGA and other institutions are working tirelessly to develop effective treatments for these diseases. But what if health officials

could predict where outbreaks are poised to occur before they do—to find that wobble before everything comes crashing down—and establish preventive measures?

Drake believes predicting an ecosystem’s critical slowing down before an outbreak is the key. He and other researchers are working to devise an early warning system for infectious diseases, which could save lives and allow public health resources to be used more efficiently and effectively.

Such a system would take a holistic view of how a disease spreads within an ecosystem, keeping in mind that most emerging infectious diseases originate in animals. The system will use computers to analyze large amounts of data measuring environmental, epidemiological and other factors, looking for signs of trouble.

If the tipping point of an epidemic is like a wobbling Jenga tower, then constructing a system to detect disease outbreaks before they reach an epidemic is “a tricky scientific puzzle,” says Drake. The tricky part, or at least one of them, is figuring out which factors will be able to sound the alarm.

Of course, disease ecologists aren’t

building big jigsaw puzzles on a table top. They are creating intricate models in computers. These models attempt to encapsulate the key factors that lead to a disease outbreak: a change in climate or closer human contact with mosquitoes and other animals that spread diseases.

“We’re bringing in all kinds of observations and experimental results and seeking to synthesize those to develop a coherent picture of what’s going on,” Drake said.

As they’re built, the models can be tested for their ability to predict and study “what if” scenarios as researchers continue to hone the best data sources.

For Drake, the puzzle-solving aspect of this work and the opportunity to do something that no one has done before is what drew him to scientific study. But now he’s driven by a commitment to finding solutions for deadly diseases.

“It’s a puzzle for which it matters that we put it all together,” he said.

Editor’s note: This story is part of the Great Commitments series, which focuses on cutting-edge research happening on UGA campuses. Read more about UGA’s commitment to research that changes lives at greatcommitments.uga.edu.

COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH

UGA researcher scrutinizes aspirin’s health benefits

By Lauren Baggett lbaggett@uga.edu

Taking a baby aspirin every day to prevent a heart attack or stroke should no longer be recommended to patients who haven’t already experienced one of these events.

That’s according to a new study published in Family Practice.

Nearly one-quarter of Americans over the age of 40 have reported taking aspirin daily even if they don’t have a history of heart disease or stroke.

That’s a problem, said study author University of Georgia researcher Mark Ebell.

“We shouldn’t just assume that everyone will benefit from low-dose aspirin, and in fact the data show that the potential benefits are similar to the potential harms for most people who have not had a cardiovascular event and are taking it to try to prevent a first heart attack or stroke,” said Ebell.

Aspirin was first found to reduce the risk of fatal and nonfatal heart attacks 30 years ago, and subsequent studies

found evidence that aspirin may also reduce risk of stroke and colon cancer.

But aspirin use has always carried risks, said Ebell, namely bleeding in the stomach and brain.

More recent studies have begun to suggest that potential harms of taking aspirin may outweigh the benefits by today’s medical standards.

“If you look back in the 1970s and ’80s when a lot of these original studies were done, patients were not taking statin drugs to control cholesterol, their blood pressure was not as well controlled and they weren’t getting screenings for colorectal cancer,” said Ebell.

Ebell and his colleague Frank Moriarty of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland compared aspirin studies using patient data from 1978 to 2002 to four large-scale aspirin trials occurring after 2005, when statin use and colorectal cancer screenings had become more widespread.

They found that for 1,000 patients treated for five years, there were four fewer cardiovascular events and

seven more major hemorrhages. Ebell was particularly alarmed by the number of brain bleeds experienced by aspirin users.

“About one in 300 persons who took aspirin for five years experienced a brain bleed. That’s pretty serious harm. This type of bleeding can be fatal. It can be disabling, certainly,” he said. “One in 300 is not something that the typical doctor is going to be able to pick up on in their practice. That’s why we need these big studies to understand small but important increases in risk.”

Ebell cautions people who are concerned about their cardiovascular risk, but who haven’t had a heart attack or stroke, to talk with their doctors about other ways to prevent a major event.

These days, he says, treatment for blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes are more aggressive, and the rate of other risk factors like smoking has dropped.

“There are so many things that we’re doing better now that reduce cardiovascular and colorectal cancer risk, which leaves less for aspirin to do,” he said.

The UGA philosophy department and the Office of Service-Learning will present a lecture

by Tom Wartenberg, “Doing Philosophy with Frog and Toad,” on Feb. 13 at 3:30 p.m. in Room 115 of Peabody Hall.

A professor emeritus of philosophy at Mount Holyoke College, Wartenberg is one of the leading scholars in the U.S. working on teaching philosophy to children. The lecture, part of a weeklong visit, is free and open to the public.

Author of Big Ideas for Little Kids: Teaching Philosophy Through Children’s Literature (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), Wartenberg received the 2011 APA/PDC Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs and the 2013 Merritt Prize for Distinguished Service to the Philosophy of Education.

Wartenberg’s visit to UGA will include two workshops, “Philosophizing with Children,” on Feb. 12 at 5 p.m., and “Philosophizing with High School Students,” on Feb. 15 at noon. The workshops are free, but seating is limited.

Saturday Morning Club to present CORE Contemporary and Aerial Dance

The next installment of the Saturday Morning Club will feature CORE Contemporary and Aerial Dance performing on Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. in the New Dance Theatre. Students from the UGA dance department will present 30 minutes of contemporary and aerial dance, followed by 30 minutes of audience participation. Admission is free, and no tickets are required.

The Saturday Morning Club is a series of performances for young people by young people.

These fun, interactive events are designed for children from ages 4 through 12 and feature UGA student ensembles and other young performers. Parents and grandparents are encouraged to attend this family-friendly activity with their children. All ages are welcome.

The final event in the 2019-2020 Saturday Morning Club series will be a performance by the UGA Wind Symphony on March 21 in Hodgson Concert Hall.

All Saturday Morning Club events are free.

For more information, visit the UGA Presents website at pac.uga.edu or call 706-542-4400.

10 students earn UGA-Peace Corps Prep Certificate through training, coursework

Ten UGA students recently graduated from the UGA-Peace Corps Prep Certificate program.

The certificate program uses training and coursework to equip students with the necessary skills to become effective volunteers. Requirements include 50 hours of field experience in the community, coursework to build foreign language skills, intercultural competence courses and professional leadership development.

The goal of the partnership between UGA and the Peace Corps is to promote skills that the Peace Corps program deems critical for future volunteers by focusing on four main areas of discipline: foreign language proficiency, intercultural competence, professional savvy and leadership, and other sector-specific skills. Graduates of the program become strong contenders for Peace Corps service.

The University of Georgia, which “endeavors to prepare the university community and the state for full participation in the global society of the 21st century,” makes students ready to contribute positively to global society through respect and understanding of cultural differences and excellence in public service. These goals contribute well to the Peace Corps mission of promoting world peace and friendship through service and crosscultural understanding.

The Peace Corps Prep Certificate is available to UGA undergraduate students.

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 Division of Marketing & Communications. Periodicals postage is paid in Athens, Georgia. Postmaster: Send off-campus address changes to Columns, UGA Marketing & Communications, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Athens, GA 30602-1999.

For a complete listing of events 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.

UGAGUIDE

EXHIBITIONS

Beautiful and Brutal: Georgia Bulldogs Football, 2017.

Through Feb. 28. Rotunda Gallery, Special Collections Libraries.

706-542-6170. hasty@uga.edu.

Master, Pupil, Follower: 16th- to 18th-Century Italian Works on Paper. Through March 8. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

Rachel Whiteread. Through March 8. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

Hye Kyung Han. Through March 8. Visitor Center, Great Room, State Botanical Garden of Georgia. 706-542-6014. connicot@uga.edu.

Material Georgia 1733-1900: Two Decades of Scholarship.

Through March 15. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. gmoa@uga.edu.

The Monsters Are Due on Broad Street: Patrick Dean.

Through March 29. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

Kevin Cole: Soul Ties. Through April 19. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu. (See story, right.)

Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection. Through May 10. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

Experiencing Cortona: Celebrating 50 Years of UGA Study

UGA Opera Theatre guarantees fun, laughs in ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’

By Camille Hayes ceh822@uga.edu

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music University of Georgia Opera Theatre is starting off the new decade with fan-favorite Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) by Gioachino Rossini Feb. 21-23 in the Fine Arts Theatre.

UGA Opera Theatre will offer a very different experience from the fall production of Lucia di Lammermoor with the presentation of one of the most famous opera comedy in the world, with music many will recognize from TV commercials, children’s cartoons and sitcom background music.

“Now you will get to hear the original version, UGA Opera Theatre’s production of ‘Il Barbiere live and fully staged,” di Siviglia’ (The Barber of said Frederick Burchinal, the Wyatt and Margaret Seville) begins Feb. 21.

Anderson Professor in the Arts and director of UGA Opera Theatre.

Since the opera’s debut in 1816, it has become one of the 10 most performed operas in the world to this day with 509 performances worldwide in 2017-2018. The opera itself is an adaptation of a play from French writer Pierre Beaumarchais, who followed Il Barbiere di Siviglia with a continuation of the storyline with Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), which the UGA Opera presented in spring 2018. This version of Beaumarchais’ play was written by Rossini.

The leading lady singing Rosina will be Jaime Webb, who audiences heard last spring as Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. The other female role in the opera, Berta, Rosina’s maid, will be sung by both Emma Robertson and Tarryn Ballard on alternate performances.

Eleftherios Chasinidis will be returning to sing the purposely hilarious character of Don Basilio.

The cast is completed by Hugh Hodgson School of Music students. Jacob Martin will be singing the role of Figaro. Paul Gamble Jr. will perform as the befuddled, amusing Doctor Bartolo. Andrew Ellis takes on several “roles” singing the demanding and beautiful music of Rosina’s lover, Count Almaviva. Harrison Stenson will round out the cast as Fiorello.

The production will be led by the international conductor Hilary Griffiths, who will be returning from Germany for the fourth time to lead the opera orchestra. UGA Opera Theatre also welcomes stage director Nicholas Muni to the opera team.

Principal opera coach Kathryn Wright has been preparing the singers for their roles.

The opera is sung in Italian, but audiences will be able to “understand” every word through Supertitle translation in English clearly displayed above the stage for everyone to have a comfortable and enjoyable experience.

Tickets for the spring opera are $20 for adults and $3 for students and are available at pac.uga.edu. The Feb. 21 performance will be presented admission-free for all UGA students with a valid UGA ID. The Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. with a Feb. 23 matinee at 3 p.m. Parking is available at the Hull Street Deck near the UGA Fine Arts Theatre.

Abroad. Through May 29. Hargrett Library Gallery, Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries. 706-583-0213. jhebbard@uga.edu.

The Strategies of Suffrage: Mobilizing a Nation for Women’s Rights. Through July 2. Hargrett Library Gallery, Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries. 706-583-0213. jhebbard@uga.edu.

Drama and Devotion in Baroque Rome. Through Aug. 23.

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

Paving the Road to Progress: Georgia Interstate Highways.

Through Aug. 31. Russell Gallery, Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries. 706-542-5788. washnock@uga.edu.

MONDAY, FEB. 10 LECTURE The English department and the Franklin College Office of Diversity and Inclusion present the lecture, “Shakespeare and Academic ‘Redlining,’ ” given by 2020 Visiting Scholar Tripthi Pillai of Coastal Carolina University. Her public lecture on the topic of Shakespeare and “redlining” in the context of U.S. and global higher education spaces and culture will foreground the pedagogical and research practices that, she argues, institutions and disciplines must adopt to be inclusive of minoritized peoples, ideas and methodologies. 12:20 p.m. 144 Park Hall.

706-542-1261. iyengar@uga.edu.

BARBARA METHVIN LECTURE The English department presents the eighth annual Barbara Methvin Lecture, “Parade Coming! Segregation and Street Performances in the Photography of Eudora Welty,” given by Dr. Annette Trefzer, associate professor at the University of Mississippi. Drawing on her new book project Exposing Mississippi: Eudora Welty’s Photographic Reflections, her lecture will illuminate archival photographs of State Fair Parades in Jackson, Mississippi, of the 1930s. This event is sponsored by John Lowe, Barbara Methvin Professor in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. 4:30 p.m. 265 Park Hall. 706-542-9266. mherman@uga.edu.

ANIMAL VOICES FILM FESTIVAL: LONG GONE WILD Long Gone Wild is a new documentary focusing on the plight of captive orcas both in the U.S. and abroad. Picking up where the 2013 documentary Blackfish left off, this film highlights the intensifying controversy over confining orcas in barren concrete tanks in marine theme parks. It reveals the intelligence and majesty of the mighty orca. The film also showcases the visionary Whale Sanctuary Project, which is working to develop a seaside sanctuary for retired orcas and belugas. Discussion will be led by John Schacke of UGA’s Odum School of Ecology.

Sponsored by Speak Out for Species and Sustainable UGA as part of the Animal Voices Film Festival. 7 p.m. 350 Miller Learning Center. 706-224-3796. sos@uga.edu.

TUESDAY, FEB. 11 TOUR Take a closer look at the exhibit The Strategies of Suffrage: Mobilizing a Nation for Women’s Rights, on display in the Hargrett Library Gallery of the Special Collections Building.

Musician, UVA scholar meet in ‘DJ Summits’

By Dave Marr

davemarr@uga.edu

Composer, percussionist and DJ Val Jeanty will share the stage at Ciné with Ashon Crawley, associate professor of religious studies and African American and African studies at the University of Virginia, on Feb. 13.

Jeanty will give a musical performance at 6 p.m., followed by a conversation with Crawley at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Ciné is located at 234 W. Hancock Ave. in downtown Athens.

The evening with Jeanty and Crawley is the second in the series DJ Summits in the Val Jeanty Global South, an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant-funded research project in the Global Georgia Initiative of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. It is also part of the Global Georgia Initiative’s annual public events series.

Ed Pavlic, Distinguished Research Professor of English and African American studies at UGA, is the research project’s director and programs the summits with support from the Willson Center.

Jeanty is a Haitian-born New Yorker whose musical practice combines modern electronic and traditional acoustic instruments for improvised performances and installments she refers to as “Afro-Electronica.” She is featured as a turntabulist on Diatom Ribbons by Kris Davis, which was voted the top new album of 2019 in the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.

Crawley’s research and teaching focus on black studies, performance theory and sound studies, philosophy and theology, and black feminist and queer theories. He is the author of Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility (Fordham University Press, 2016) and the forthcoming The Lonely Letters (Duke University Press, spring 2020).

This event is presented in partnership with the Institute for African American Studies and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute.

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 available at calendar.uga.edu/.

columns.uga.edu Feb. 10, 2020

4&5

Participants should meet in the rotunda on the second floor of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

Reservations required. 2 p.m. Hargrett Library Gallery, Special Collections Libraries. 706-583-0213. jhebbard@uga.edu.

LECTURE “Using Art to Depict Philosophical Ideas,” Thomas Wartenberg, Mount Holyoke College of Massachusetts. 5 p.m. 115 Peabody Hall. nhines@uga.edu.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 12 LECTURE “American Land Use Regulation in Comparative Perspective,” Dean Sonia Hirt, College of Environment and Design. Part of CED Faculty Lecture Series. 4:30 p.m. 123 Jackson Street Building.

WORKSHOPS Thomas Wartenberg with Mount Holyoke College of Massachusetts will present two workshops. The first, “Philosophizing with Young Children,” will be held on Feb. 12 from 5-7 p.m., and the second, “Philosophizing with High School Students,” will be held on Feb. 15 from noon-2 p.m. 115 Peabody Hall. nhines@uga.edu. (See Digest, page 3.)

Works by artist Kevin Cole will be on display at the Georgia Museum of Art through April 19.

Kevin Cole to receive Thompson Award from museum

By Andrea Giordano

THURSDAY, FEB. 13

andrea.giordano@uga.edu

LECTURE “Doing Philosophy with Frog and Toad,” Thomas Wartenberg, Mount Holyoke College of Massachusetts. 3:30 p.m.

115 Peabody Hall. nhines@uga.edu. (See Digest, page 3.)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH FILM SERIES Daughters of the Dust. Set on the Sea Islands off the southeastern United States in the early 20th century, this film is a multigenerational matriarchal epic about the preservation of memory and the necessity of change. Written, directed and produced by Julie Dash, this is the first feature film directed by an African American woman distributed theatrically in the United States.

1991, NR, 112 min. 7 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

FRIDAY, FEB. 14 FACULTY BOOK TALK Celebrate the release of Cassia Roth’s forthcoming book, A Miscarriage of Justice: Women’s Reproductive Lives and the Law in Early Twentieth-Century Brazil (Stanford U Press, January 2020). Roth is an assistant professor of history and Latin American and Caribbean Studies in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Refreshments will be served. This is a history department Black History Month event. 4 p.m. 221 LeConte Hall. cassia.roth@uga.edu.

BASEBALL vs. Richmond. $8. 5 p.m. Foley Field.

GYMNASTICS vs. Ball State, Eastern Michigan. $10. 7 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.

Known for featuring voting rights in his art, artist Kevin Cole is receiving the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Award from the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia. An exhibition of his work will be on display through April 19.

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History chose “African Americans and the Vote” as this year’s national theme for Black History Month, as this year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, and the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, which franchised African American men.

Organized by Shawnya Harris, the museum’s Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art, Kevin Cole: Soul Ties will include several of Cole’s multimedia works.

“When My Scars Are My Testimony,” on view in the museum’s M. Smith Griffith Grand Hall, uses twisted neckties made of etched aluminum to confront the history of African American suffrage. Cole uses the motif of the necktie to represent masculine power through fashion and to symbolize the hundreds of African American males murdered by lynching and other racial violence while attempting to vote.

The tie motif is also visible in Cole’s other work in the exhibition, including “Spiritual Celebration with Miles, Dizzy and Coltrane” (1992), a mixedmedia work that addresses the rich and spontaneous history of jazz and blues music. Cole emphasizes the improvisational nature of these music genres with his collection. 3 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

SATURDAY, FEB. 15 FAMILY DAY: CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH Learn about and celebrate black history at the museum. Explore important works of art by artists of color in two exciting special exhibitions as well as in the permanent collection. Enjoy Art Cart activities in the galleries and create a work of art in the Michael and Mary Erlanger Studio Classroom. Family Day programs are sponsored by Heyward Allen Motor Co., Inc., Heyward Allen Toyota and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art. 10 a.m.

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

BASEBALL vs. Richmond. $8. 2 p.m. Foley Field.

MONDAY, FEB. 17 PRESIDENTS DAY Classes in session; offices open.

J.W. FANNING LECTURE Robert Johansson, chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will be the guest speaker at the 35th annual J.W. Fanning Lecture. His lecture is titled “U.S. Farm Outlook for 2020: Policy and Uncertainty.” 10:30 a.m. Room R, Georgia Center. eclance@uga.edu.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Alabama. $5. 1 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.

DISCUSSION The Certificate in Legal Studies hosts Andrew A. Pinson, solicitor general for the state of Georgia. He will give an overview of recent cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court that impact business. Pinson oversees the office’s appellate and multi-state litigation in state and federal courts. 4 p.m. B012 Amos Hall.

706-542-9677. tjhlaw@uga.edu.

SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT TOUR Tour, led by docents, of highlights from the permanent

READING Neil Hegarty was born in Derry in Northern Ireland and now lives

SUNDAY, FEB. 16 BASEBALL vs. Richmond. $8. 1 p.m. Foley Field.

use of colorful, painted mixed-media construction.

Cole is a painter and mixed-media artist from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who has grown prominent in Atlanta and nationally. He received a bachelor’s degree in art education from the University of Arkansas in 1982, a master’s degree in art education and painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1983 and a master of fine arts degree from Northern Illinois University in 1985. He then relocated to Atlanta to begin a 30-year teaching career in the Atlanta public school system, from which he is now retired.

The museum presents the Thompson Award annually to a living African American artist who has a strong connection to Georgia and has made significant but often lesser-known contributions to the visual arts tradition of the state. It is named for the couple who donated 100 works by African American artists from their collection to the museum and endowed Harris’ curatorial position. Cole will receive the award at the museum’s Black History Month Dinner and Awards Celebration, to be held Feb. 28.

Related events at the museum include a public tour with Harris on Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. , a Black History Month film series featuring Daughters of the Dust (Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.) and Selma (Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.), Family Day: Celebrating Black History Month on Feb.15 from 10 a.m. to noon, the Black History Month Dinner and Awards Celebration on Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m. ($85; $75 for Friends of the Museum and Friend + Supporters; $55 for current members; tickets and sponsorships at http://bit.ly/gmoa-bhma20); and a public talk by Cole on April 16 at 5:30 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. in Dublin. He holds a doctoral degree in English from Trinity College Dublin and has written a number of key works in cultural history, including the bestselling Story of Ireland (BBC Books), which accompanies the BBC television series; and London: The Secret History of our Streets (BBC Books). Of his latest novel, The Jewel, published by Head of Zeus in 2019, the Irish Times wrote: “Hegarty has gifted us a vital book for our time.” 7 p.m.

Fire Hall No. 2. davemarr@uga.edu.

COMING UP COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS Feb. 18. Connect with others and discuss important, compelling topics that are sometimes “swept under the rug.” Learn techniques that will help when discussing challenging topics, including issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. Open to faculty of all ranks. Facilitator: Anneliese Singh. 8:30 a.m. 479 Tate Student Center. mary.carney@uga.edu.

WORKSHOP Feb. 18. The CTL welcomes UGA professor Lindsey Harding for this workshop on citation practices. In this session, presenters will review citation practices at UGA, as well as research on citation practices across the disciplines. 9:30 a.m. M.A.L.L. N6, Instructional Plaza. 706-542-1355. jamie.adair@uga.edu.

UGA Presents to celebrate Valentine’s Day with Bel Canto Trio concert

By Bobby Tyler btyler@uga.edu

UGA Presents is bringing the Bel Canto Trio to Athens on Feb. 14 for a 7:30 p.m. performance in Hodgson Concert Hall. The trio of rising opera stars will pay tribute to the original Bel Canto Trio of the 1940s with a program showcasing opera’s most popular arias, duets and trios.

Over a 10-month period from July 1947 to May 1948, Mario Lanza, George London and Frances Yeend toured the U.S., Canada and Mexico as the Bel Canto Trio. The trio’s demanding repertoire proved extremely popular with audiences and critics alike, and it was at this time that Lanza’s career was launched into stardom.

The new Bel CantoTrio features soprano JulieAdams, tenor Joshua Guerrero and bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee with music director Christopher Allen. The trio will perform the original program from the 19471948 North American tour with selections from Rigoletto, Faust, La traviata, Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Die Zauberflöte, Tosca and more.

Adams is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the George London Award and the Elizabeth Connell Prize for aspiring dramatic

The current Bel Canto Trio, featuring soprano Julie Adams, tenor Joshua Guerrero and bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee, will perform a Valentine’s Day concert at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall.

sopranos. A former Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera, she most recently returned to San Francisco Opera for Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, singing Freia in Das Rheingold and Gerhilde in Die Walküre, conducted by Donald Runnicles.

Guerrero is a Grammy Award winner for his recording of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles with the Los Angeles Opera. In recent seasons, he has appeared with Washington National Opera as Alfredo in a new production of La traviata, with Houston Grand Opera as Arcadio in Florencia en el Amazonas and with the

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.

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

Canadian Opera Company as Rodolfo in La bohème and the Duke in Rigoletto.

Brownlee is a first prize winner of the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, winner of the Zarzuela Prize at Operalia and a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions grand prize winner. In the 2016-2017 season, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Salome, conducted by Johannes Debus.

Allen, a conductor and pianist, is the 2017 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award recipient and has been praised by Opera News magazine as “one of the fastestrising podium stars in North America.” Allen is also an award-winning pianist who has played at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Tickets for the Bel Canto Trio start at $35 and can be purchased at the Performing Arts Center box office, online at pac.uga.edu or by calling 706-542-4400.

A limited number of discounted tickets are available to current UGA students for $10 with a valid UGA ID (limit one ticket per student).

A pre-performance talk will be given by Theresa Chafin, a graduate of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. The talk begins at 6:45 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall and is open to the public.

NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES Feb. 12 (for Feb. 24 issue) Feb. 19 (for March 2 issue) March 4 (for March 16 issue)

6 Feb. 10, 2020 columns.uga.edu

FACULTY PROFILE

Diane Marie Amann’s lecture “Child Rights, Conflict and International Criminal Justice” has been published in the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law as part of its commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In her lecture, Amann, who holds the Woodruff Chair in International Law and is faculty co-director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center, discusses the particular harms that children endure in armed conflict and similar violence, and traces the developments in child rights that led to adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She also discusses parallel developments in international humanitarian law and international criminal law before closing by evaluating efforts to ensure the rights of the child by preventing and punishing international crimes against and affecting children.

The United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law hosts a permanent collection of lectures of enduring value on virtually every subject of international law given by leading international law scholars and practitioners from different regions, legal systems, cultures and sectors of the legal profession.

Amann, who has served as the International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s Special Adviser on Children in and affected by Armed Conflict since 2012, filmed the lecture at the U.N. headquarters in New York City in November.

Berna Gueneli, associate professor of German in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has a love for the college environment.

Sakeena Everett, an assistant professor in the College of Education’s language and literacy education department, developed a consequential literacy pedagogy to provide support for high-achieving young black men and their English language arts educators.

Her findings were published in Research in the Teaching of English, a flagship journal for English educators from the National Council of Teachers of English.

The article, “Untold Stories: Cultivating Consequential Writing with a Black Male Student through a Critical Approach to Sakeena Everett Metaphor,” is considered “the 2018-2019 Research in the Teaching of English article most likely to have an impact on educational practice.”

Everett received the Alan C. Purves Award from the NCTE in Baltimore, Maryland, in November.

Cain Hickey, viticulture researcher in the horticulture department of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was recently recognized for his contributions to Georgia’s burgeoning wine industry by the publishers of Fruit Growers News and Vegetable Growers News in their Fruit and Vegetable 40 Under 40 awards program.

The awards program was launched in 2018 to recognize young growers, Extension professionals, industry leaders and researchers who are contributing to the future of the fruit and vegetable industries. Honorees are nominated by their peers based on their early career accomplishments, according to Fruit Growers Cain Hickey News.

Hickey was recognized at the Great Lakes Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one of the top trade shows for U.S. fruit and vegetable growers.

Working mainly at test plots at the Durham Horticulture Farm in Watkinsville and in north and west Georgia’s wine-growing counties, Hickey has researched disease-resistant varieties of wine grapes, new trellising systems for Southern climates and cultivation best practices.

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

Dorothy Kozlowski

Faculty member accentuates teaching, research with international flavor

By Alan Flurry

aflurry@uga.edu

Franklin College faculty member Berna Gueneli brings a strong sense for study abroad—and broad study—to her classroom and her research.

Her own early travels as a student thinking about a career in medicine and her internships as a journalist led her to rich experiences and built a passion for sharing modern languages and culture.

“Even becoming a German professor was a reaction to my love for the college environment,” Gueneli said.

With a first degree in Spanish and English covering a broad spectrum of literature and culture, and preparing her inquiry on post-9/11 journalism, the need for further research took her to Texas Tech for graduate school.

Part of that fruitful period included organizing a film series with other graduate colleagues and a decision to show a film by the Turkish German filmmaker Fatih Akin.

“We showed that film, and the students were fascinated. I decided this was something I should look more into: minority cinema in Germany, minority cinema in Europe, and how it had been represented so far,” Gueneli said.“ It was always very cliché and stereotypical; but this filmmaker was different. He was just telling stories. He would give us a compelling narrative, with intriguing characters, people compared him to Scorsese, to Fassbinder. He was more nuanced and complex, I thought.”

Gueneli would later write her first book, published with Indiana UP in 2019, on Akin.

She pursued a doctorate at the University of Texas in German studies with an emphasis in film with renowned cinema scholar Sabine Hake.

“The Akin book is about the oeuvre

of one particular director in the context of German and European film after the Cold War,” Gueneli said. “I analyze one director to look at the broader phenomenon of transnationalism in German cinema.”

An even broader vision, her new research is focused toward orientalist visual media.

“It will look at the entire 20th century, film and cinema, but contextualized in the more expansive realm of visual media including photography, magazines, illustrated press, advertisements using orientalist imagery,” she said.

“Of course, all these media influence each other, reacting to our tastes and to sociopolitical contexts of colonialism, post-colonialism and the fears, fascinations and anxieties that were developed and formed toward people, mainly of northern Africa and the former Ottoman empire, Modern Turkey, but also some parts of the Soviet Union,” she also said.

The breadth of the project exemplifies Gueneli’s approach to teaching and how she brings contemporary cinema into the classroom.

“Most of my classes are not strictly on film or literature. They are a combination of various media, often with a thematic focus,” she said. “I try to bring in already established canonical voices, like a text by Thomas Mann or Günter Grass, but in the same class, I might also have equally important work by AfroGerman artists such as poet May Ayim or filmmaker Amelia Umuhire, as well as work by Turkish-German filmmakers like Ilker Çatak. Such classes create a juxtaposition of multiple voices in the art world—whether literature, film or music—to produce a diversification of German studies.”

In this vein, Gueneli also regularly brings scholars and artists to Athens in the hope of starting a conversation on

FACTS Berna Gueneli

Associate Professor of German Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Ph.D., Germanic Studies, University of

Texas at Austin, 2011 M.A., German, Texas Tech University, 2005 M.A., English, Indiana University Bloomington, 2002 At UGA: Three years

diversity across campus. In March, she will screen Oray at Ciné with the TurkishGerman director Mehmet Büyükataly in attendance, and in October she will host Nigerian-German filmmaker and actress Sheri Hagen at UGA. Germanic and Slavic studies courses are primarily in German, but Gueneli also teaches a survey course in English for majors and nonmajors on 20th-century German culture.

“The cultural studies course touches the history and the sociopolitical changes that took place over the turbulent 20th century in Germany, but using the arts to decipher people’s attitudes to certain changes,” she said.

It’s a compelling method for developing a critical sensibility in students that has a lot in common with how Gueneli herself developed from student to teacher.

“I love the college environment and the ways we share the power of learning,” she said. “Sometimes I tell my students that I still see myself as being on a study abroad, I just never ended it. Now it’s just a professional version.

I’m working here as a German professor, but I am a German still, so I’ll just continue the study abroad section of my life until I retire.”

RETIREES

December

Thirteen UGA employees retired Dec. 1. Retirees, their job classification, department and years of service are: Barry Bloom, director, FMDmaintenance engineering, 16 years, 9 months; Melissa D. Brock, administrative manager II, CAES-Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, 38 years, 1 month; Bambi G. Cumuze, retail food sales manager I, Auxiliary Services-Red Clay Café, 34 years, 7 months; Catherine C. Fite, program coordinator I, Office of the Senior Vice

President for Academic Affairs and Provost-Academic Programs, 10 years, 7 months; Lisa B. Lee, administrative specialist I, Development & Alumni Relations-UGA Foundation, 36 years, 2 months; Sherman Lucas, IT manager, CAES-information technology, 13 years; Tommie McCommons, building service worker II, University Housing-facilities-building services, 21 years, 9 months; D. Scott Nesmith, professor, CAES-horticulture department, 29 years, 5 months; Dorinda K. Peachey, systems administrator

principal, EITS-systems engineering, 34 years; Martha Peterson, bus operator, Auxiliary Services-transit operations, 28 years, 10 months; Janice Y. Ponder, county secretary, CAES-Cooperative Extension, Southwest District, 43 years, 8 months; Frankie J. Smith, electrician, FMDO&M Electric Shop, 18 years, 5 months; Patrick Michael Sullivan, senior public relations coordinator, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, 18 years.

Source: Human Resources

GROUNDBREAKERS from page 1 where the Georgia Experiment Station took a leap by hiring her as an assistant biologist.

Her first assignment with Dr. B.B. Higgins focused on the root disease of cotton seedlings, and she found the problem—and a solution.

“It speaks to a strength that came from her upbringing, energy and commitment to succeed.

“For women back then, the barriers were insurmountable, and she surmounted them all,” said Gerald Arkin, assistant dean of the UGA Griffin campus from 1987-2014. “Talk about a trailblazer coming all the way south to get a job in an area where women weren’t often hired.”

Then assigned to work on a pecan project, Naomi soon met Guy, and their partnership blossomed into several joint publications and courtship. After the Woodroofs married, Naomi raised their three children—Cade, Jane and Jasper—and turned down a doctoral fellowship from the Shaw Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, Missouri, to support her husband as he pursued his doctoral degree at Michigan State.

When he was named the first president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in 1933, they moved to Tifton, where UGA’s Dr. Higgins rehired her, and she published definitive research around peanut leaf spot disease. During her revolutionary years at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Naomi founded UGA’s plant pathology department, developed new peanut varieties and disease control methods that led to a five-fold increase in peanut yields and played an important role in transitioning peanuts from hog feed to a crop for human consumption, which transformed the peanut industry across Georgia and throughout the nation.

“She knew peanuts like the back of her hand,” said Frank McGill, a peanut specialist who worked at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station. “She walked barefoot in her plots, even when there were no chemicals then to control the sandspurs. In the summer, she enjoyed the freedom of walking down her rows, making notes, and talking about the research with the farmers. Nobody ever saw her get spurs in her feet.”

Although an “unsung hero” during her time, Naomi has been recognized in recent decades for her contribution to Georgia’s agricultural prowess, particularly with peanuts. She was the first woman inducted into UGA’s Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1977 and is on the Honor Roll of Distinguished Georgians. On the Griffin campus today, the pavilion that showcased Georgia’s agricultural products during the 1996 Olympics

columns.uga.edu Feb. 10, 2020 in Atlanta remains standing as the Naomi Chapman Woodroof Agricultural Pavilion.

“Every semester, we have a bricklaying ceremony for students who graduate to place bricks with their names around the floor in the pavilion,” said David Buntin, interim assistant provost and campus director in Griffin. “Although we’ve done some renovations to it during the last 20 years, we hope it’ll be here for a long time to come.”

Founding the food science frontier

Considered the “father of food science,” Jasper “Guy” Woodroof’s interests led to UGA’s programs in food science, food safety and food technology, and his seminal research contributed to monumental developments in the quality, safety and nutritional caliber of frozen foods. During World War II, he advised on the ways to develop and improve food rations for soldiers, which likely stemmed from his brief stint in the military before he became a researcher.

Born in Meriwether County on May 23, 1900, Woodroof intended to study agriculture at UGA before returning to the family farm. Before he could make much headway into the program, however, Woodroof and fellow students were inducted into the Army in 1918.

World War I didn’t keep him away for long. Once Woodroof was discharged at the end of the war, he reenrolled at UGA in 1919 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in horticulture three years later. He stepped into his first job as a horticulturist at the Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin, where he met Naomi and continued graduate studies in horticulture. He earned a master’s degree from UGA in 1926 and a doctoral degree at Michigan State University in 1932, when he returned to Georgia for the rest of his career until his retirement in 1967.

“Processing, engineering, nutrition and the microbiology of food—he was involved in all of these subdisciplines,” said Larry Beuchat, a distinguished research professor emeritus on the Griffin campus who worked at the Center for Food Safety.

“UGA’s programs have been elevated, in large part, by his contributions in the mid-20th century.”

Just two weeks shy of his 33rd birthday, Guy Woodroof became Georgia’s youngest college president when he was named the first college president of the newly formed Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in 1933. The college enrolled 99 students.

“The principal objective will be to educate the boys and girls back to the farm,”

WEEKLY READER

Book spotlights 48 multiday hikes in GA, TN

Backpacking Overnights: North Georgia Mountains and Southeast Tennessee Jim Parham Milestone Press, an imprint of the University of Georgia Paperback: $19.95

Backpacking Overnights: North Georgia Mountains and Southeast Tennessee by Jim Parham includes 48 suggested hikes with maps, complete driving and hiking directions, elevation gain, trail highlights, campsites, water sources and trailhead GPS coordinates. The book also includes invaluable information to help readers choose gear, pick a route and prepare for their backpacking adventure.

The Blue Ridge begins in North Georgia and is home to the southern terminus of the world-famous Appalachian Trail. Together with Southeast Tennessee, this region boasts thousands of miles of trails where backpackers can explore fabulous state parks, remote wilderness areas and everything in between.

Routes in this guide range from 3-mile hikes to a more intense 21-mile journey.

The guide highlights destinations like the historic stone shelter atop Blood Mountain; the remote waterfalls at Three Forks, which are located deep inside the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River corridor; and mile-high Stratton Bald, which sits along the Tennessee/ North Carolina line.

Choose a beginner-friendly trip with a clifftop view, rockhop across pristine mountain streams where swimming holes beckon on hot summer days or challenge yourself on steep summit ascents.

Parham grew up in North Georgia and is the author of numerous outdoor guidebooks.

Woodroof said at the time. Even then, when asked whether the new college would be co-ed, he said, “farm life without women would offer no attraction, and therefore ABAC will enroll both boys and girls.”

Stamped onto a plaque that now hangs next to his portrait in ABAC’s Tift Hall administration building, Woodroof’s words echo an important sentiment even today.

“Guy always said he married above himself, and the truth is, Naomi raised the kids and helped him analyze data, craft manuscripts and prepare presentations,” Arkin said. “For all of the great accomplishments that Guy was awarded, they shared in those recognitions. It was a remarkable partnership.”

After a year as ABAC president, Woodroof missed field research and stepped down from his position in 1934. He returned to the Georgia Experiment Station and organized UGA’s Department of Food Technology in 1938. He also directed food preservation research, which ultimately led to the university’s Division of Food Science, and worked closely with Clarence Birdseye of Birds Eye Frosted Foods on a flash-freezing method still used today. During his time as the first Food Science chair, Woodroof penned hundreds of bulletins and reports about food science, including several books, about processing peanuts, tree nuts and coconuts.

Also a horticulturist with the U.S. Resettlement Administration, which was established in 1935 under the New Deal, Woodroof aided Georgians who had lost their jobs and homes. Families were resettled on projects that allowed them to grow food for subsistence and earn income. Woodroof spent weeks on the road, traveling to projects around the South to help them get started.

He was part of the team that created a mountain station in Blairsville for canning and preserving foods.

“During the Depression, farming communities suffered, but north Georgia was in dire straits, and he’d wind his Model T up the steep switchback roads to get there,” Arkin said. “It speaks to his deep compassion.”

Continuing the legacy of agriculture

Naomi died in 1989, and Guy died in 1998, yet their work lives on, both through today’s research that builds on their early efforts and the processing methods of fruits, vegetables and nuts that remain largely the same today. Their developments played into Georgia’s strong agribusiness tradition, and their work feeds into UGA’s current research

on food safety, pests and urban agriculture.

Georgia’s agriculture community has responded in turn. The 400-acre J.G. Woodroof Farm at ABAC includes land for cotton, soybeans, peanuts and corn, as well as turfgrass plots for teaching and research.

Each year, their work is memorialized during UGA’s Dr. J.G. Woodroof Lecture.

“One year, I took him to Athens for the Woodroof lecture, and he saw a plant in the foyer that he liked. He got out his pocketknife and stuck a clipping in his jacket pocket to bring home. He always had a way with plants,” said Guy Woodroof III, one of 11 grandchildren. He now lives in the Griffin home the Woodroofs bought in 1946.

“They were ‘Grandma and Grandpa’ to me, but I remember them talking about their international trips and the big differences between those who ‘have’ and ‘have not,’” he said. “They saw how far behind other countries were with food processing, development and storage, and they helped them make do with what little they had.”

Once they retired in 1967, the Woodroofs began extensive travel to other countries, where they advised on increasing yield, controlling disease, processing, packaging, storing and shipping of foods. When China first opened its doors to Western tourists in the 1970s, the couple visited the country as part of the People-to-People program.

Naomi gave lectures about peanuts along the tour, which were well-received.

In Argentina, the couple worked with farmers to determine the best ways to ship pears, and in Russia, they worked with agriculture groups to transport leafy green vegetables by truck and train.

“Oftentimes, these groups would grow the most beautiful vegetables and special fruits, but they didn’t know how to get them to the market,” said the Woodroofs’ daughter Cade Smith, who now lives in Cullman, Alabama.

Despite the ongoing travel and work, the couple placed an emphasis on balance and leisure time, too. They’d often garden after supper and participate in civic groups around Griffin, including the Kiwanis Club and the American Legion. Sundays were reserved for the First Baptist Church of Griffin, where Guy served as a deacon.

“For 30 years, Mama took a bouquet of flowers to church every Sunday morning,” Smith said. “Even if it was nothing but berries or seed pods, she always had flowers 12 months of the year. My parents knew what to grow and when to grow it, and they wanted to share it.”

CYBERSIGHTS

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

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

Editor Juliett Dinkins Associate Editor Krista Richmond

‘Caribbean Voices’ podcast explores culture

caribbeanvoices.uga.edu/

A podcast, “Caribbean Voices,” created by Leara Rhodes and sponsored by the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in partnership with the Latin AmericanCaribbean Studies Institute, can be found online.

The podcast aims to share the lifestyles and traditions of the Caribbean Basin and serve as an outreach for the LACSI

7

community. The program includes music, interviews and discussions surrounding issues involving the Caribbean nations.

Topics presently on the “Caribbean Voices” podcast include four episodes of drumming: about community, building drums, entertainment and prayer.

The podcast is available for listeners to stream on the hosting website Podbean.

Art Director Jackie Baxter Roberts Photo Editor Dorothy Kozlowski Writers Leigh Beeson Hayley Major

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 Feb. 10, 2020 columns.uga.edu DELTA

VIRUS

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disease runs its course.”

Are you concerned that this could turn into a new pandemic?

“Yes. Coronaviruses are very good at changing rapidly and adapting to their host.

Now that it is in people and appears to be spreading from person to person, it could easily become more adapted to people with the result that it will be more contagious and more virulent. It will be extremely important to monitor and quarantine infected individuals

from page 1

or it could get out of hand very quickly.

“One big question yet to be answered definitively is the origin of this new virus.

This goes back to your question about limiting exposure. It appears it originated from animals in the market place in Wuhan, China. But the specific animal has yet to be identified. In the case of SARS, the virus originated from a bat, which passed to the palm civet and raccoon dog as intermediate hosts before infecting humans. It can be complicated to sort out.”

Bulletin Board TEDxUGA registration

Dorothy Kozlowski

Undergraduate students Cammi Chaves, left, and Amari Allen study inside Studio 225. The Delta Air Lines Foundation grant will continue to support UGA’s Innovation District.

The facility will provide flexible workspace, conference rooms and presentation areas to support faculty startup companies and enable students and industry partners to collaborate on company-based research and development projects.

“The Delta Air Lines Foundation is pleased to support the University of Georgia Foundation with a grant to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and foster leadership in collaboration, design and development,” said Tad Hutcheson, senior vice president of The Delta Air Lines Foundation.

The Office of Experiential Learning will receive $1 million from The Delta Foundation’s gift to launch the Student Industry Fellows Program. Students who participate in this program will complete training to develop innovation competencies, serve as campus ambassadors for the Innovation District and work alongside industry partners to solve real-world business challenges.

The remaining $1.5 million of The Delta Foundation’s gift will support the Student Success Center at Driftmier Engineering Center, home to the UGA College of Engineering. This center will provide space for academic advising, student support offices and experiential learning by way of spaces devoted to team projects and collaboration between students, faculty and industry partners.

The Student Success Center will also

THREAT

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distract us from other infectious diseases that people are more likely to encounter?

“I think one positive part of the coronavirus is that it’s providing great publicity to the challenge of respiratory viruses, which coronavirus is one. But it actually should remind us of what we can do today to protect ourselves against respiratory viruses, and we’re currently under the seasonal influenza virus that has caused over 8,200 deaths in the U.S. “Getting vaccinated is one of the steps you can do to protect yourself from influenza.

And you have a much, much higher risk of having influenza and having complications from influenza than you currently have from the coronavirus that actually has not dispersed in the U.S yet.”

How might the coronavirus impact more

LECTURE

house the Emerging Engineers Leadership Development program. The program was designed in partnership with the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development to provide undergraduate engineering majors with an opportunity to explore and cultivate leadership skills necessary for success as a professional.

This is the latest in a long line of significant contributions to UGA from The Delta Air Lines Foundation. Alongside this $5 million commitment, The Delta Foundation has pledged another $2.5 million to support UGA Athletics. In 2015, The Delta Foundation committed $5 million to the construction of the UGA Washington Semester Program’s residential facility, Delta Hall. The Willson Center for Humanities & Arts established the Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding thanks to an $800,000 gift in 1997. In recognition of The Delta Foundation’s many gifts and the long-standing relationship between the university and Delta, the airline received the 2018 Friend of UGA Alumni Award.

The Delta Air Lines Foundation’s gift is a significant step in enhancing the learning environment at UGA, a priority of the university’s Commit to Georgia Campaign, a record-breaking fundraising campaign that began in 2012 and will end in June.

The campaign surpassed its $1.2 billion goal in 2019 and is now the most successful fundraising effort in UGA history.

from page 1 Professional Scholars student organization to honor Early.

Approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on Oct. 16, 2019, the naming of the Mary Frances Early College of Education celebrates Early’s impact as a civil rights advocate and music educator. After helping integrate

sensitive populations?

“If we look at the experience with other coronaviruses like SARS or MERS—and in doing a very quick review of what has been published—there seems to be an increased risk of mortality for pregnant women but also a higher rate adverse outcomes in babies or pregnancies.

“So, we don’t know for sure what will happen with this coronavirus, but it would be a likely consequence that there might be a higher risk. Now having said that, it is important to just also look at influenza, and in influenza it’s clear that pregnant women have a much higher risk of mortality from having the infection. For example, for a woman who may be 21 years old and pregnant the risk of having very severe influenza or die from influenza is as high as that of if she were 65 years old.”

the university, she taught in Atlanta Public Schools, Morehouse College, Spelman College and served as head of the music department at Clark Atlanta University.

A livestream of the Mary Frances Early College of Education naming ceremony and Mary Frances Early Lecture will be available at https://maryfrancesearly.coe.uga.edu.

Registration for TEDxUGA 2020: Next Level is now open.

The eighth annual celebration of ideas worth spreading will be held on March 27 at 7 p.m. at the Classic Center Theatre. Individuals may register for $20 or $30 with a T-shirt.

For more information, visit TEDxUGA.com/register.

Additional details will be shared with registrants via email.

Service-Learning Fellows

The Office of Service-Learning is now accepting applications until March 20 for the 2020-2021 Service-Learning Fellows program.

This yearlong faculty development program provides an opportunity for participating faculty to explore best practices in servicelearning and community engagement while developing new servicelearning courses or considering ways to integrate service-learning into existing courses or programs.

Application materials and details are at https://bit.ly/2tGquzt.

Up to nine faculty members will be selected for participation and will receive a $2,500 faculty development award. UGA faculty members in any career track with an interest in service-learning are eligible to apply; previous experience with service-learning is not required.

Service-learning is an experiential learning method that provides opportunities for students to apply and more fully understand academic knowledge through course activities that address genuine community needs and benefit the public good.

Contact Paul Matthews, associate director of the Office of ServiceLearning, at pmatthew@uga.edu or 706-542-0892 with any questions.

The Office of Service-Learning is jointly supported by the Office of Instruction and the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach.

WIP course proposals

The Franklin College Writing Intensive Program invites proposals from arts and sciences faculty in all disciplines for innovative courses that encourage writing.

The Writing Intensive Program aims to enhance undergraduate education by emphasizing the importance of writing in the disciplines by offering “writing-intensive” courses throughout the college—from classics to chemistry, from music to microbiology.

Faculty who teach WIP courses are supported by a Writing Intensive Program teaching assistant, who is specially trained in writing-in-thedisciplines pedagogy. Visit www.wip.uga.edu to find proposal forms and guidelines, as well as information about the program.

The deadline for proposal submissions is March 7. Direct questions to Lindsey Harding, WIP director, at lharding@uga.edu.

Mentorship program application

The EITS Mentorship Council has extended the mentorship application window for the spring 2020 cycle from March through June.

The mentorship program is open to all University System of Georgia employees, which includes those at UGA. Since its inception, the program has helped connect more than 400 employees of various backgrounds, job roles and experiences.

The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. on Feb. 19. Mentor/protégé pairs will be contacted and officially announced shortly thereafter.

To learn more about the program, visit http://eits.uga.edu/ mentorship_program.

Questions about the program or the application process can be emailed to mentor@uga.edu.

The web-based application form can be found at https://bit.ly/2v258go.

Study participants needed

Participants are being sought for a study that will help investigate the impact of nut consumption on cholesterol profiles. Subjects who complete the study will earn $70-$145, depending on treatment groups.

The foods and nutrition department seeks men and women ages 30-75 years with high cholesterol levels or a “bigger build.” Subjects must not take cholesterol-lowering medications, thyroid medications or exercise more than three hours per week. Subjects also must not have diabetes or food allergies/intolerances to pecans, gluten, dairy or meat.

Subjects must not habitually eat tree nuts more than twice per week.

This study requires an eightweek commitment and four testing visits. Four visits require blood draws.

For more information, contact Liana Rodrigues at 423-596-7708 or liana.rodrigues@uga.edu.

Emergency assistance form

To be effective in the event of an emergency situation, the university seeks to identify and support students, faculty, staff and visitors with disabilities who need assistance during an emergency.

For this reason, the university encourages people with a disability, even if they have not otherwise selfidentified or asked for an accommodation, to complete an Emergency Assistance Referral Form.

The university’s emergency procedures for students, faculty, staff and visitors with disabilities and Emergency Assistance Referral Forms are online at https://bit.ly/2PPKLsE. For more information, contact the UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness at 706-542-5845 or by email at prepare@uga.edu.

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