UGA Columns Feb. 18, 2019

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Scientists use machine learning to identify source of Salmonella outbreaks RESEARCH NEWS

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Amsterdam’s Camerata RCO to perform Feb. 22 concert on campus Vol. 46, No. 25

February 18, 2019

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UGA GUIDE

4&5

$1.5 million initiative goes to upgrade labs across UGA’s campus

By Sam Fahmy

sfahmy@uga.edu

Infographic by Lindsay Robinson

Changes in information-based infrastructure have made a significant impact at the University of Georgia.

‘Gigantic leaps’

Improvements to information-based infrastructure have far-reaching impact

By Krista Richmond krichmond@uga.edu

Over the last few years, the University of Georgia has made significant improvements to its information-based infrastructure.

While these improvements might not be as visible as new roads or buildings, their impact is just as far-reaching.

“The transformation we have experienced in the capacity of our information systems over the last several years has been extraordinary,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “This massive effort has required a significant investment of time and resources, but most importantly, the diligent work of staff members across campus. Thanks to their commitment, the university is well positioned for further success.”

“This institution has big

aspirations, and behind each of those goals has been a new information system or a new technology resource that our staff and leadership have been able to use as tools to reach them,” said Timothy Chester, vice president for information technology.

The most recent of these changes was the final stages of the OneSource project, which aligns the university’s systems with those used by the University System of Georgia.

All core accounting, budget, human resources, payroll, payment, travel, asset management and grants accounting systems changed as a result of the OneSource project. The new budget management system went live in January 2018, and the new financial management system went live in July 2018. OneUSG Connect, the new HR/payroll

system, went live in December 2018.

“The change has been transformational, not only from a business process and data perspective, but also to watch how our organization teams up and works together,” said Holley Schramski, Finance Division associate vice president.

In addition to replacing aging systems, the purpose of the OneSource project is to integrate, streamline and enhance business processes; improve data collection and reporting capabilities; enhance data privacy and security; and standardize and align business processes across the University System of Georgia.

“These systems now collect so much more data for us. As an organization, we are going to be far more data-rich than we ever have been before,” Schramski said. “The See INFRASTRUCTURE on page 8

UNIVERSITY SYSTEM BOARD OF REGENTS

Labs and research support spaces across campus will be getting an upgrade, thanks to a $1.5 million presidential initiative that seeks to build on the university’s dramatic growth in research activity.

Presidential renovation funds have been distributed to nine schools and colleges and will be used to upgrade labs and replace core equipment that enables faculty members to conduct research and be more competitive in seeking grant funding. Proposals were solicited from deans and chosen based on links to college and university strategic

priorities, as well as implications for faculty recruitment efforts and grant funding opportunities.

“To advance the research mission of the university and attract and retain outstanding faculty, we must support state-of-the-art facilities that assist the faculty with their groundbreaking work,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “I am pleased the institution has been able to help several faculty with critical needs, thanks to this initiative.”

In the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, an upgrade to an insectary that will be used to rear mosquitoes will enable Regents’ Professor and National

See LABS on page 8

DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS

UGA Alumni Association to host Alumni Weekend March 21-23 The University of Georgia Alumni Association is inviting alumni and friends to participate in its 2019 Alumni Weekend March 21-23 in Athens. Faculty and staff are invited to attend and can help spread the word to others.

“This entire weekend is going to make you feel like a student again,” said Meredith Gurley Johnson, executive director of the UGA Alumni Association. “Our alumni look back fondly on their time at UGA, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to host Alumni Weekend to allow them to relive those great years when they were exploring their passions, making new friends and setting the foundation for the rest of their lives.”

Alumni Weekend will introduce attendees to campus life today and allow them to recall memories of their own time as a student. The

weekend will include: • March 21 “Orientation Reception and Dinner” with UGA President Jere W. Morehead; • March 22 breakfast and lunch at Bolton Dining Commons; • Classes with UGA faculty members; • Time to explore campus and the surrounding Athens area; • March 22 evening reception at Wall & Broad in downtown Athens; • TEDxUGA; and • March 23 “Commencement Brunch” in the Sanford Stadium SkyClub.

Attendees are encouraged to customize their weekend on the afternoon and evening of March 23 by participating in optional, selfselected activities such as a UGA vs. LSU baseball game, a Georgia See ALUMNI on page 8

COLLEGE OF FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES

Two faculty members honored by USG for their Students help rural Georgians innovative teaching and mentorship efforts file taxes, get bigger refunds

By Camie Williams camiew@uga.edu

Two University of Georgia faculty members who are leading efforts to educate the next generation of scientists have been honored for innovative teaching and mentorship with awards from the University System of Georgia.

Tessa Andrews, assistant professor of genetics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is one of two faculty members in the system to receive a Regents’ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. In addition, James E. “Jeb” Byers, Josiah Meigs Distinguished

Teaching Professor in the Odum School of Ecology, has been named the sole research and comprehensive university recipient of the Felton Jenkins Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award, which recognizes a faculty member with a strong commitment to teaching and student success.

“The University of Georgia congratulates Dr. Andrews and Dr. Byers on these well-deserved awards,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “They are exemplary faculty members who reflect UGA’s increasing role as a national leader in STEM education and our commitment to student learning and success in all disciplines.”

By Ellen Hallman

ellen.hallman25@uga.edu

Tessa Andrews

Jeb Byers

Andrews and Byers received their awards at the Regents’ Scholarship Gala earlier this month. Both awards come with a $5,000 prize.

Andrews is a nationally recognized STEM education researcher who has established evidence-based See TEACHING on page 8

For more than a decade, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, program offered through the University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences financial planning, housing and consumer economics department has offered free tax help to Georgians with low-to-moderate incomes, persons with disabilities, the elderly and limited-English-speaking taxpayers.

In 2017, with help from UGA Cooperative Extension, the program expanded to offer online services to reach eligible taxpayers

in more rural areas of Georgia.

Joan Koonce, UGA Extension financial planning specialist, is looking forward to watching the program grow again this year after overseeing the progress of the online program with UGA Extension.

The program began in 2017 with agents from southwest Georgia and now includes agents from all four districts.

“We only did it a few days each week for one month in the first year,” Koonce said. “We saw what worked well and what didn’t work well. Really, we had greater demand than we could actually keep up with.”

See TAXES on page 8

2 Feb. 18, 2019 columns.uga.edu

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART

‘Stony the Road We Trod’ exhibition shows works by African American artists

By McKenzie Peterson mhp27167@uga.edu

The Southern identity is one of continually contested and changing character. The exhibition Stony the Road We Trod, on view at the Georgia Museum of Art through April 28, examines how African American artists redefined and reimagined southern identity. Their works of art contributed to cultural memory and changing culture in the South and commented on themes of personal and collective struggle.

Organized by Shawnya L. Harris, the museum’s Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art, the exhibition contains works from a variety of artists and time periods, from “Spring Flowers,” painted by Claudia Clark in 1945, to “Signs of Confinement,” finished by Leo Twiggs in 2018. These decades represent years of collective struggle and community action. The works in this exhibition grew out of significant movements in African American history like the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement. The exhibition title comes from the Negro national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” written by James Weldon Johnson. The national theme for Black History Month, “Black Migrations,” also puts these artists in dialogue with one another in communicating the African American experience, filled with its share of both literal and metaphorical travels.

Unique individual experiences also appear. The artists represented include teachers, soldiers and both self-taught and professional artists. Archie Byron worked for the sheriff in Atlanta. His work reflects his unique perspective on gender, ethnic and personal identity. James Hiram Malone painted a picture of the bathroom that he cleaned at his job but was not allowed to use in the 1940s. The work on view also includes a variety of materials, like Amalia Amaki’s use of beads, buttons and mirrors to piece together works on African American life and culture. The variety of time periods, experiences and objects represented communicates the cultural diversity of the African American experience.

Stony the Road We Trod also highlights the work of the 2019 Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Award winner, Leo Twiggs. A nationally known artist born and still living in South Carolina, he was the first African American to receive a doctorate in art education from the University of Georgia. His work frequently focuses on the Confederate flag, reimagining it through the traditional African dyeing process of batik. More recent images examine the murders at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

Work by Camille Billops is on display the same dates in the museum’s Alonzo and Vallye Dudley Gallery. Billops has been a pivotal figure in African American art for more than five decades.

Related events include a tour with Emily Hogrefe-Ribeiro, assistant curator of education, on Feb. 27 at 2 p.m.

Pearson roots out history during annual Holmes-Hunter Lecture How does the root of racism grow, and what feeds it?

Veteran television journalist and broadcaster Monica Kaufman Pearson, the first African American to anchor an Atlanta-area evening newscast, posed those questions during the 2019 Holmes-Hunter Lecture, held Feb. 7 at the Chapel.

“It’s finally time for us—and you young people are going to be the ones to do it—to get to that root of racism, yank it out of our culture and destroy it,” she said.

According to Pearson, the roots continue to grow when those messages are passed down from generation to generation, when people don’t admit their biases, when people embrace the stereotypes they see in movies and television and when people aren’t sensitive to the feelings of others.

Getting to know each other on a personal level—eating, working, studying and playing together—is a way Pearson suggests to overcome those issues.

“Being a teammate doesn’t always mean you’re really part of the team,” she said. “How you see yourself may not be how your teammates see you, and that can be a problem and cause misunderstandings.”

An open and honest dialogue is key to preventing those misunderstandings. That means explaining why something was hurtful and not allowing stereotypes to filter into conversations.

“Be aware, and understand the consequences of racism,” she said. “Ask yourself if it’s fair to judge an entire race—an entire community—based on the actions of one person.”

The lecture, named in honor of Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes, the first African American students to attend the University of Georgia, also was designated a Signature Lecture. It is sponsored by the Office of the President and focuses on race relations, civil rights and education. It has been held annually since 1985. Holmes’ widow, Marilyn, and his children were in attendance, as was Mary Frances Early, the first African American to graduate from UGA. In addition to giving the lecture,

WILLSON CENTER, FRANKLIN COLLEGE

Historian to visit for Global Georgia series

By Dave Marr

davemarr@uga.edu

Columbia University historian Stephanie McCurry will visit the University of Georgia to give the history department’s Ferdinand Phinizy Lecture, an event in the Global Georgia Initiative of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts.

McCurry’s talk, which takes place Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. in the Seney-Stovall Chapel, is also part of the university’s Signature Lectures series.

McCurry is the R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History in Honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower at Columbia. Her areas of research include the U.S. in the 19th century, the American South, the American Civil War, and the history of women and gender. She is the author of Masters of Small Worlds: Yeoman Households, Gender Relations and the Political Culture of the Antebellum South Carolina Low Country (1995) and Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, (2010), a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for history.

“McCurry’s first book, Masters of Small Worlds, was a stunning recreation of the lives of poor and middling white Southerners in the decades before secession,” said Scott Nelson, professor of history and Athletic Association Professor in the Humanities. “McCurry

suggests how slaveholders’ cries of liberty and autonomy occasionally appealed to white South Carolinians who were just scraping by. Her pathbreaking second book, Confederate Reckoning, a study of the whole Stephanie McCurry South in the year before secession, shows that the rush to war was as much a planters’ coup as a popular uprising.”

“Stephanie McCurry is a brilliant author and a fabulous speaker,” said Cindy Hahamovich, the B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of Southern History at UGA. “She finds big meaning in the daily affairs of ordinary people, revealing how the huge changes wrought by the Civil War affected family, faith, work and more.”

Professor B. Phinizy Spalding, a descendant of the lecture’s namesake and professor of history at UGA, organized the Ferdinand Phinizy Lectureship for over 25 years, bringing nationally recognized speakers in the sciences, arts, and politics to the university. The lectureship was established and endowed by Dr. Ferdinand Phinizy Calhoun Sr. of Atlanta, a member of the UGA Class of 1900, as a memorial to his grandfather, Ferdinand Phinizy II of Athens.

Monica Kaufman Pearson delivered the Holmes-Hunter Lecture on Feb. 7.

Dorothy Kozlowski

Dorothy Kozlowski

Monica Kaufman Pearson, second from left, poses for a photo with Clarke County School District students after giving the 2019 Holmes-Hunter Lecture.

Pearson had an opportunity to meet with students from the Clarke County School District and metro Atlanta.

Students gathered at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication to hear from Early, then toured different parts of Grady such as the Virtual Environment Room and Gaming Experience (VERGE) lab and the Grady Newsource studio.

They also heard from TEDxUGA

students about how to use their ideas to transform the community before going to the Chapel to meet Pearson and hear her lecture.

In her address, Pearson noted that people need to truly listen in order to learn from one another.

“We must educate people and awaken their sensibilities,” she said.

“Speak up, ladies and gentlemen, when you see racism.”

OFFICE OF GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

UGA to host Mandela Washington Fellows The University of Georgia is one of 27 U.S. colleges and universities chosen to host 25 Mandela Washington Fellows for an Academic and Leadership Institute this summer.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is a flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative, created in 2014 to further America’s commitment to invest in the future of Africa.

UGA was selected to host the Fellows by the U.S. Department of State and IREX, a global development and education organization.

Twenty-five Mandela Washington Fellows, all between the ages of 25 and 35, will travel to UGA this summer to participate in a six-week institute centered around civic engagement. The UGA Mandela Civic Engagement Institute will provide Fellows with a deep understanding of pivotal issues impacting U.S. civic engagement through academic sessions, group discussions, living case studies, and site visits.

“UGA has developed considerable expertise in both civic engagement and international development practice,” said Brian Watkins, director of international initiatives at the UGA Office of Global Engagement and administrative director

for the institute. “The UGA Mandela Institute for Civic Engagement represents a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on this expertise and to expose UGA students and faculty to the diverse experiences of leaders from across Africa.”

During the institute, Fellows will hear from influential community leaders and grass roots activists as they travel to various cities across the South. In Atlanta, they will visit local civic organizations to learn about organizational development, and advocacy skills will be reinforced with a visit to Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the U.S. civil rights movement.

In New Orleans, the Fellows will explore the complex intersection of civil society and government through the lens of postKatrina reconstruction efforts.

“Helping these carefully selected and highly qualified young African leaders identify their personal leadership styles and strengths and refining their leadership skills is key to them becoming more effective vehicles for civic engagement in their home communities,” said Matt Bishop, director of the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, a UGA public service and outreach unit.

The UGA Mandela Institute for Civic Engagement will take place June 19-July 29.

RESEARCH NEWS

columns.uga.edu Feb. 18, 2019

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Digest Southern literature expert to give 2019 Barbara Methvin Lecture

Andrew Davis Tucker

Xiangyu Deng is working to find quicker ways to determine the source of Salmonella outbreaks.

‘Smarter food safety’ Scientists use machine learning to ID source of Salmonella

By Sharon Dowdy sharono@uga.edu

A team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety in Griffin has developed a machine-learning approach that could lead to quicker identification of the animal source of certain Salmonella outbreaks.

In the research, published in the January 2019 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Xiangyu Deng and his colleagues used more than a thousand genomes to predict the animal sources, especially livestock, of Salmonella Typhimurium.

Deng, an assistant professor of food microbiology at the center, and Shaokang Zhang, a postdoctoral associate with the center, led the project, which included experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Minnesota Department of Health and the Translational Genomics Research Institute.

The researchers trained the “machine,” an algorithm called Random Forest, with more than 1,300 S.Typhimurium genomes with known sources. After the training, the “machine” learned how to predict certain animal sources of S. Typhimurium genomes.

For this study, the scientists used Salmonella Typhimurium genomes from three major surveillance and monitoring programs: the CDC’s PulseNet network; the FDA’s GenomeTrakr database of sources in the United States, Europe, South America, Asia and Africa; and retail meat isolates from the FDA arm of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System.

Overall, the system predicted the animal source of the S. Typhimurium with 83 percent accuracy. The classifier performed best in predicting poultry and swine sources, followed by bovine and wild bird sources. The machine also detects whether its prediction is precise or imprecise. When the prediction was

precise, the machine was accurate about 92 percent of the time, Deng said.

“I’d call this approach a proof of concept. It will get better as more genomes from various sources become available,” he said.

In tweets about the study, Frank Yiannas, deputy director of the FDA, called the machine learning of whole genome sequences project “a new era of smarter food safety and epidemiology.”

To the average person, the success of this project means strains of Salmonella Typhimurium could be traced back to the source faster. Identifying what causes a foodborne illness outbreak is key to stopping it and preventing further illnesses.

“Using our method, investigators can better link cases of the same outbreak and better match isolates from food or food processing environments to isolates from sick people,” Deng said. “This will give investigators more confidence to implicate a specific source that is behind the outbreak.”

SAVANNAH RIVER ECOLOGY LAB, WARNELL SCHOOL

Study reveals wildlife is abundant in Chernobyl

By Vicky L. Sutton-Jackson vsuttonj@srel.uga.edu

A scavenger study that used fish carcasses as bait provides additional evidence that wildlife is abundant in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, University of Georgia researchers said.

A one-month camera study prompted the sighting of 10 mammal and five bird species, according to James Beasley, an associate professor at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

“These animals were photographed while scavenging fish carcasses placed on the shoreline of rivers and canals in the CEZ,” he said.“We’ve seen evidence of a diversity of wildlife in the CEZ through our previous research, but this is the first time that we’ve seen whitetailed eagles, American mink and river otter on our cameras.”

Beasley is referring to a 2015 study that provided the first evidence that wildlife—including gray wolves—exists in abundance in this ecological zone of about 1,000 square miles that was

abandoned by humans after the 1986 nuclear accident.

The new results, published in the journal Food Webs, provide evidence that aquatic nutrient resources can flow to terrestrial landscapes and become available to terrestrial as well as semiaquatic wildlife, like otter and mink.

Lead investigator Peter Schlichting, an SREL postdoctoral researcher at the time of the study, said previous studies reported that scavenging activity can connect various food webs, but scientists don’t fully understand how this occurs.

In the current study, fish carcasses were placed at the edge of open waters at the Pripyat River and in nearby irrigation canals, mimicking the natural activity that occurs when currents transport dead fish carcasses to the shore, according to Schlichting, now a postdoctoral research associate at Arizona State University.

The results show that 98 percent of the fish carcasses were consumed within one week by a multitude of scavengers.

“This is a high rate of scavenging, and given that all our carcasses were consumed by terrestrial or semi-aquatic

species, it verifies that the movement of nutritional resources between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems occurs more frequently than often recognized,” Beasley said.

“We tend to think of fish and other aquatic animals as staying in the aquatic ecosystem,” he also said.“This research shows us that if a reasonable proportion of dead fish make it to shore, there is an entire group of terrestrial and semi-aquatic species that transfer those aquatic nutrients to the terrestrial landscape.”

The team compared scavenger activity at the river with scavenger activity at the canals, evaluating parameters including the percent of carcasses consumed and how quickly they were consumed; the number of species that showed up; and how frequently each species was detected.

The team found that scavenger efficiency was higher in the river because the limited shoreline cover increased the visibility of the fish carcasses, making them easier to find.

But, as the team predicted, richness was higher in the canals.

The university’s 2019 Barbara Methvin Lecture will be delivered Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 265 of Park Hall. A reception will follow in Room 261 of Park Hall.

The lecture, “ ‘Courage to Look’: Authenticity, Class and Pragmatic Discourse in Southern Literature and Culture,” will be given by Taylor Hagood, a professor at Florida Atlantic University.

A Southern literature expert, Hagood is the author of four books and many essays dealing with Faulkner, disability studies, the Harlem Renaissance and the history of Southern literature.

The Barbara Methvin Lecture is sponsored by John Wharton Lowe, the Barbara Methvin Distinguished Professor of English in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Georgia Museum of Art wins two statewide awards at conference

The Georgia Museum of Art received two awards Jan. 25 for its exceptional work at the 2019 annual conference of the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries.

The awards presented by GAMG included museum professional of the year to Dale Couch, the museum’s curator of decorative arts, and patrons of the year to Larry and Brenda Thompson for their generous donation of African American art and creation of an endowed curatorial position.

The awards ceremony took place at the Georgian Terrace in Atlanta.

Couch’s work in the decorative arts program has established the program on firm footing and strengthened its position at the museum, according to William U. Eiland, director of the museum.

Larry and Brenda Thompson have been instrumental in pushing the museum to represent a more inclusive art history.

GAMG is a private, nonprofit museum and gallery association dedicated to serving and maintaining a diverse membership of museums across the state. It establishes a responsive network, serves as a resource base and promotes professionalism to uplift the Georgia museum community.

Nearly 300 UGA student-athletes named to 2018 fall semester Honor Roll

A total of 284 University of Georgia studentathletes received a grade point average GPA of 3.00 or higher for the fall 2018 semester and were named to the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll for the fall term.

Out of the 284 on the honor roll, 10 studentathletes garnered Presidential Scholar honors for finishing fall semester with a 4.0 GPA while taking 14 or more hours. This year’s list of Presidential Scholars includes women’s swimmers Ellie Crump (Dunwoody) and Jordan Stout (St. Louis, Missouri); women’s tennis player Elena Christofi (Athens, Greece); equestrian riders Jessica Blum (Gormley, Ontario), Sarah Finkel (Walnut Creek, California), Emma Mandarino (Bedminister, New Jersey) and Alexis Mougalian (Richland, Michigan); and baseball player Ryan Avidano (Peachtree City).

Eleven Georgia student-athletes completed the 2018 fall semester with a perfect 4.0 GPA, including women’s track and field members Jessica Drop (Durham, Connecticut), Samantha Drop (Durham, Connecticut), Kayla Smith (Indianapolis, Indiana) and Tiffany Yue (Lawrenceville); baseball player Christian Ryder (Acworth); equestrian rider Stella Martin (Marietta); soccer team members Mollie Belisle (Atlanta) and Caroline Chipman (Atlanta); softball player Amanda Ablan (Lawrenceville); women’s swimmer Eva Merrell (Newport Beach, California); and volleyball player Kendall Glover (Phoenix, Arizona).

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

EXHIBITION

Put a Bird on It. Through March 3. Visitor Center, State Botanical Garden.

The Reluctant Autocrat: Tsar Nicholas II. Through March 17.

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

Education of the Negro: A Depression Era Photographic Study by Dr. Horace Mann Bond. Through March 25. Special collections libraries. 706-542-5788. washnock@uga.edu.

Stony the Road We Trod. Through April 28. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. gmoa@uga.edu. (See story, page 2.)

Fighting Spirit: Wally Butts and UGA Football, 1939-1950.

Through May 10. Special collections libraries. 706-542-8079. jclevela@uga.edu.

Nevertheless, She Resisted: Documenting the Women’s Marches. Through May 17. Hargrett Library Gallery, special collections libraries. 706-583-0213. jhebbard@uga.edu.

Under the Big Top: The American Circus and Traveling Tent Shows. Through July 5. Special collections libraries.

706-583-0213. jhebbard@uga.edu.

Out of the Darkness: Light in the Depths of the Sea of Cortez.

Through Oct. 27. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1817. hazbrown@uga.edu.

MONDAY, FEB. 18 PRESIDENTS DAY Classes in session; offices open.

FILM SCREENING The End of Meat is a documentary film envisioning a future where meat consumption belongs to the past. Filmmaker Marc Pierschel embarks on a journey to seven different countries to discover what effect a post-meat world would have on the environment, the animals and humans. Discussion led by Janet Frick, UGA psychology professor. Sponsored by Speak Out for Species and the UGA Office of Sustainability as part of the Animal Voices Film Festival. 7 p.m. 150 Miller Learning Center.

706-224-3796. sos@uga.edu.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Ole Miss. $5. 7 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.

TUESDAY, FEB. 19 THE MASON PUBLIC LEADERSHIP LECTURE Alana Shepherd will deliver the Mason Public Leadership Lecture, which features prominent business leaders who have contributed significantly to their communities or spend time in a public service role. Shepherd and her family co-founded Shepherd Center in 1975 in Atlanta to treat spinal-cord injuries.

Sponsored by the Terry College of Business and supported by a

contribution from Terry alumnus and lawyer Keith Mason. 2 p.m.

Chapel. 706-542-7990. leadership@terry.uga.edu.

ECOLOGY SEMINAR “Landscape Vegetation Dynamics in a Changing World,” Kai Zhu, assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Reception follows seminar at 4:30 p.m. in the ecology building lobby. 3:30 p.m. Auditorium, ecology building. 706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 20 SPRING INTO GROUP FITNESS Purchase a Spring into Group Fitness multi-visit pass and get 30 classes for $30. This promotion will only be available between Feb. 20 and March 8, and passes expire after 30 visits or 45 days from date of purchase, whichever comes first. Ramsey Student Center. 706-542-8023. lisawilliamson@uga.edu.

ARTFUL CONVERSATION Join Callan Steinmann, curator of education, for a session of slow looking and conversation about the newly-acquired painting “Twilight Confidences” by Cecilia Beaux. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

LECTURE Under the auspices of the Franklin College International Faculty Exchange Program, the linguistics department will host Lars Meyer from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. The visit includes a lecture titled “The Neural Oscillations of Language Processing: Examples from German.” 4 p.m. 150 Miller Learning Center.

706-542-2846. gordy@uga.edu.

MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Mississippi State. $15. 6:30 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.

READING The Creative Writing Program and the University of Georgia Press present a reading by the Georgia Poetry Prize winner Rosa Lane. Lane’s collection, Chouteau’s Chalk, was chosen by Magdalena Zurawski, English department and Creative Writing Program professor. Lane is the author of Tiller North and Roots and Reckonings. 7 p.m. Cine. 706-542-2659. cwp@uga.edu.

PHILOSOPHY COLLOQUIUM “Life in Art: Hegel on the Organic in Architecture,” Lydia Moland, Colby College. 7:30 p.m. 115 Peabody Hall.

THURSDAY, FEB. 21 WORKSHOP In “On Commenting Well: How to Provide Effective Feedback on Student Writing,” participants will learn, discuss, practice and develop strategies for responding to student writing. 9:30 a.m.

372 Miller Learning Center. lharding@uga.edu.

WORKSHOP During this second workshop for “Crafting an Academic

Camerata RCO to perform Feb. 22 concert

By Bobby Tyler btyler@uga.edu

UGA Presents is bringing Camerata RCO to Athens Feb. 22 for a 7:30 p.m. performance in Hodgson Concert Hall.

Formed by members of Amsterdam’s famed Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO), Camerata RCO performs chamber music in multiple formations. The ensemble’s Athens program will feature Schubert’s Octet in F Major and Dvorak’s Czech Suite, arranged for wind octet.

Praised by The New York Times for their “warm, glowing performance,” Camerata RCO has enjoyed tremendous success in the Netherlands and abroad and now performs more than 50 concerts a season internationally in music capitals such as Vienna,

Tokyo, Seoul, Madrid, Rome and New York.

The Athens concert will be recorded for broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, the most popular classical music program in the U.S. A pre-performance talk will be given by Patrick Castillo from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The talk begins at 6:45 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall and is open to the public.

Tickets for the concert start at $30 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 $6 to $10 with a valid UGA ID (limit one ticket per student).

Hodgson Concert Hall and Ramsey Concert Hall are located in the Performing Arts Center at 230 River Road in Athens.

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/.

4&5

UGA Opera Theatre to perform ‘Don Pasquale’

By Camille Hayes musicpr@uga.edu

The University of Georgia Opera Theatre, along with several guest artists, will command the Fine Arts Theatre stage as they take on the opera Don Pasquale

by Gaetano Donizetti.

The opera is set to run Feb. 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 24 at 3 p.m. Don Pasquale epitomizes Italian opera buffa, so audiences should come prepared to have a good laugh.

This production will be unique because it is set in the 1950s and not in the original time setting of the early 19th century by Donizetti. Don Pasquale lends itself well to “time travel” since its story, and cast of characters, is timeless and relevant in any era. The cast includes a smart leading lady who can play multiple roles, her young admirer, a deceptive physician who aids the lovers and an old buffoon who gets what he deserves in the end.

This opera comes out of the Bel Canto era of music, which focuses on beautiful singing foremost and gives the singers the opportunity to impress audiences with the highest level of vocal skills. Donizetti wrote a number of comedic operas based on life situations often around love triangles along competing relationships and disguised identities. Don Pasquale is all these, and the humor evolves from all of the deception.

The audience will have the opportunity to experience the work of several guest artists, including two Don Pasquales. Stefano de Peppo, who recently appeared at the Atlanta Opera in leading roles, will

Diversity Statement,” participants will receive peer feedback on diversity statements, and instructors will discuss how the statement is situated within the larger teaching portfolio. It is not required to have attended to the first workshop. 2 p.m. M.A.L.L., Instructional Plaza. 706-542-0534. zoe.morris@uga.edu.

FILM SCREENING In 1961, artist Camille Billops made a painful decision: to put her 4-year-old daughter, Christa, up for adoption. In Finding Christa, Billops is both filmmaker and subject as she tells the story of their separation and ultimate reconciliation. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Stony the Road We Trod. 1991, NR, 55 min. 7 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Arkansas. $5. 7 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.

FRIDAY, FEB. 22 DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION CONFERENCE “No Body and No Mind Left Behind: Disability, Justice and Collective Intersectional Action” focuses on increasing awareness, knowledge, skill development and action on issues of disability and ableism and its intersections with other identities and experiences. Sonya Renee Taylor will deliver a keynote address titled “Your Body is Not an Apology: Radical Self-Love and Disability Justice,” followed by breakout sessions and a closing panel. $49 for non-College of Education attendees. 8:30 a.m. Georgia Center.

Stefano de Peppo will play the lead role in the UGA Theatre’s production of Don Pasquale.

be singing the title role, which he has performed numerous times around the world.

As a native-born Italian, he will bring a natural affinity to both the language and the character.

The second Don Pasquale will be guest stage director John Stephens, who has also performed the title role numerous times in opera companies throughout the U.S. and returns to the stage for

his fourth opera at UGA. Returning as guest international conductor will be Hilary Griffiths of Cologne, Germany. Griffiths returns to Athens after his previous performances of Le Nozze de Figaro and Don Giovanni with the UGA Opera Theatre.

Deciding to bring Don Pasquale to the UGA campus fits in with the personal goals of Frederick Burchinal, the Wyatt and Margaret Anderson Professor in the

SYMPOSIUM The symposium features Mary Hoffschwelle, Joyce PerdueSmith and Walter Allen Jr. The keynote address will be given by Hoffschwelle, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University.

Her publications include The Rosenwald Schools of the American South, New Perspectives on the History of the South and “Preserving Rosenwald Schools,” part of the Preservation Book series, National Trust for Historic Preservation. Perdue-Smith, chairman of the Fairview-E.S. Brown Heritage Corporation, will speak about efforts in Cave Springs, Georgia, to restore a Rosenwald school, ensure its addition to the National Historical Registry and develop a permanent museum exhibit. Allen, publisher of Zebra magazine, will speak about his independent research on Rosenwald schools in the greater-Athens area.

1 p.m. Auditorium, special collections libraries. 706-542-5788. washnock@uga.edu.

SOFTBALL vs. UMass. 1 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.

WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Georgia Tech. 1 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

SOFTBALL vs. Belmont. 3:30 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra returns to UGA Feb. 24 for a 3 p.m. performance in Hodgson Concert Hall. Music director Robert Spano will conduct the program, which opens with Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus will join the orchestra to perform Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces.

Spano is known worldwide for his artistry as a conductor, pianist, composer and teacher. He is in his 18th season with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and has announced his plans to retire as music director after the 2020-2021 season.

Spano has led ASO performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Ravinia, Ojai and Savannah Music Festivals. Internationally, he has conducted the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, BBC Symphony, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira, Orquestra Sinfonica Estado Sao Paulo, the Melbourne Symphony in Australia and the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Japan.

Spano has won six Grammy Awards with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and he is one of two classical musicians inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. He serves on the faculty at Oberlin Conservatory and has received honorary doctorates from Bowling Green State University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University and Oberlin.

A pre-performance talk will be given by Ken Meltzer, author of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s program notes and host of the weekly radio show Meet the Classics on Atlanta’s AM-1690. The talk begins at 2:15 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall and is open to the public.

Tickets for the concert start at $20 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 $6 to $10 with a valid UGA ID (limit one ticket per student).

Hodgson Concert Hall and Ramsey Concert Hall are in the Performing Arts Center at 230 River Road in Athens.

SOFTBALL vs. Belmont. $1 nachos. 1 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.

BASEBALL vs. UMass Lowell. $5-$8. 5 p.m. Foley Field.

VANILLA SUNDAY Celebrate the vanilla bean orchid with delicious treats and cooking instructor, author and food writer Rebecca Lang. $25 per person or $40 per couple. 5 p.m. Visitor Center, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-1244. garden@uga.edu.

SUNDAY, FEB. 24

MONDAY, FEB. 25 MEN’S TENNIS vs. Florida Atlantic. 2:30 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

FILM SCREENING Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story is a film about the plight of Asian elephants and the people who work tirelessly to save them. Discussion led by UGA student Grace Boothby and Athens citizen Nancy Hunter who have both volunteered at Lek Chailert’s Elephant Nature Park sanctuary in Thailand. Sponsored by Speak Out for Species and the UGA Office of Sustainability as part of the Animal Voices Film Festival. 7 p.m. 150 Miller Learning Center. 706-224-3796. sos@uga.edu.

SATURDAY, FEB. 23

COMING UP

CLASS “Natural Communities of Georgia: Certificate in Native Plants” covers Georgia’s diverse natural communities and their plants.

Participants will discuss the environmental factors that influence the vegetation of natural communities, their ecology and how climate change affect their composition and distribution over time. $105, general admission; $94.50, members.

9 a.m. Visitor Center, Classroom 2, State Botanical Garden.

706-542-6156. cscamero@uga.edu.

DANCE MARATHON 2019 Dance Marathon 2019 is a 24-hour celebration of the miracles happening within UGA Miracle. This event showcases Miracle families, a Morale Dance, silent disco, local bands, food and

ECOLOGY SEMINAR Feb. 26. “From Dance Moves to Dispersal: Rainfall and the Ecology of Tropical and Grassland Birds,” Alice Boyle, assistant professor of biology at Kansas State University. Reception follows seminar at 4:30 p.m. in the ecology building lobby. Hosted by the Odum Graduate Student Association. 3:30 p.m. Auditorium, ecology building. 706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu.

WORKSHOP Feb. 27. In “Teach Students to Problem Solve vs. ‘Answer Get’ in STEM Courses,” instructors will demonstrate and discuss how and why STEM faculty embed real-world problems that are authentic to their field in their courses. 9:30 a.m. M.A.L.L., Instructional Plaza. 706-542-1713. ckuus@uga.edu.

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.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus return to Athens Feb. 24

By Bobby Tyler

SOFTBALL vs. Bryant. 3:30 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.

SOFTBALL vs. UMass. 6 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will be joined by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus for a concert on Feb. 24 at 3 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall.

BASEBALL vs. UMass Lowell. $5-$8. 2 p.m. Foley Field.

BASEBALL vs. UMass Lowell. $5-$8. 1 p.m. Foley Field.

GLOBAL GEORGIA INITIATIVE/ FERDINAND PHINIZY LECTURE “Reconstructing: A Georgia Woman’s Life Amidst the Ruins,” Stephanie McCurry, R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History in Honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower at Columbia University. 5:30 p.m. Seney-Stovall Chapel. 706-542-3966. wcha@uga.edu. (See story, page 2.)

Arts and opera director, and Kathryn Wright, principal opera coach. They want to bring all of the best of the standard operatic repertoire to Athens for the purpose of educating the student singers with repertoire that they would sing for a lifetime. “[I want] to bring to our audiences operas that would only be available in major opera houses, and I search every year to find the ideal selection which suits our singers’ abilities and will entertain and enlighten,” said Burchinal.

Burchinal said that Don Pasquale was one of the first major operas that he had the pleasure of performing.

He played the part of the deceptive physician and friend to the young lovers, Dr. Malatesta, under the direction of Gian Carlo Menotti while at the Juilliard American Opera Center.

“Don Pasquale has always been a favorite,” he said.

Since the opera will be performed in its original language of Italian, the UGA Opera Theatre will provide a simultaneous translation in English called supertitles above the stage. The supertitles are generally word for word translations of the sung text so everyone can follow the story line, not miss any of the jokes and have the ability to enjoy the beautiful singing.

“Opera is the ultimate art form combining all aspects of music, scenic art, literature, dance, singing, orchestra, drama and acting, fashion through costumes and architecture,” said Burchinal.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $6 for students and children and can be purchased online at pac.uga.edu or by phone at 706-542-4400.

more. 10 a.m. Grand Hall, Tate Student Center. 706-542-4612. juliana.abel82@gmail.com.

WOMEN’S STUDIES FRIDAY SPEAKER SERIES “‘Let’s Netflix and Chill’: How College Students Negotiate and Communicate About Sex,” Adrienne Baldwin-White, School of Social Work. 12:20 p.m. 250 Miller Learning Center.

706-542-2846. tlhat@uga.edu.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH AWARDS AND DINNER This dinner and awards ceremony features the presentation of the Larry D. and Brenda A Thompson Award. Visit bit.ly/gmoa-bhma19 to sponsor and receive guaranteed tickets. Call 706-542-4199 with additional ticket inquiries. $60, members; $80, nonmembers. 5:30 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art.

Camerata RCO performs its style of chamber music around the world, including a performance in Athens on Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall.

columns.uga.edu Feb. 18, 2019

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.

btyler@uga.edu

NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES Feb. 20 (for March 4 issue) March 6 (for March 18 issue) March 13 (for March 25 issue)

6 Feb. 18, 2019 columns.uga.edu

Bhabesh Dutta, UGA Extension vegetable plant pathologist, and Shane Curry, Appling County Cooperative Extension agent, were honored by being named to the first class of Fruit and Vegetable 40 under 40 award winners during the recent Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Savannah. The 40 under 40 recognition was made

by Great American Media Services, publishers of Fruit Growers News and Vegetable Growers News.

Since joining the vegetable Bhabesh Dutta pathology program at UGATifton in 2012, Dutta has been part of multiple research projects that have impacted Georgia vegetable producers. He provides growers with management options for multiple fungal, bacterial and viral diseases in vegetables, as well as leading a national effort on center rot, an important bacterial disease of onions.

Shane Curry Dutta also led a project to improve the management of botrytis leaf blight in onions through early- and late-season fungicide spraying.

Curry, who has worked in UGA Extension for 12 years, has participated in blueberry research that has helped propel Georgia to the top of the national rankings in blueberry production. Appling County, where Curry has worked for the past seven years, is the third-largest blueberry-producing county in Georgia.

Through research trials with UGA specialists in Appling County, Curry found that using soil fumigants and the addition of pine bark mulch when blueberry bushes have to be replanted helps to fight pests, especially nematodes, microscopic parasites that attack plant roots.

Curry also is part of a coordinated effort between Extension agents and specialists to research blueberry leaf rust, a foliar disease that causes small spots to appear on blueberry leaves.

Julianne Schmidt, an assistant professor in the kinesiology department of the College of Education, recently received the Local Achievement Award for Athletic Trainers from the Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine Society.

Schmidt studies the effects of concussions and head injuries and has received numerous national grants Landon Lempke and to study the issue Julianne Schmidt both on and off the playing field.

The Local Achievement Award for Athletic Trainers is awarded for “exemplary clinical care” from a professional who has made great contributions in the education of providers in the field of youth sports medicine in the metro Atlanta area.

The organization also gave the Promising Career Award to Landon Lempke, a second-year doctoral student and research assistant in the UGA Concussion Research Lab, which Schmidt co-directs with Rob Lynall. Lempke received the award based on his abstract, “Comparison of Head Impact Biomechanics Between Tackle and Flag Youth Football.”

The Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine Society is a national organization representing a range of professional members, doctoral fellows and students from a cross-section of medical disciplines. The awards were given during the organization’s recent annual meeting in Atlanta.

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

FACULTY PROFILE

Kenneth White carries forward the lessons he learned from his parents and shares them with his students.

Dorothy Kozlowski

Faculty member credits parents with teaching him valuable life lessons

By Cal Powell

jcpowell@uga.edu

Kenneth White learned the value of education from his mother, a secretary for the Detroit public schools who challenged him to excel.

He learned the value of a dollar from his father, a technician for Michigan Bell with a penchant for maximizing limited resources.

“He would always tell me ‘Make sure you save some money!” White said, smiling at the memory.

Looking back, those dual influences had a profound impact on White’s career path.

After an early adulthood that saw White hold positions from high school math teacher to tax accountant to IRS agent, he was hired as an assistant professor in the financial planning, housing and consumer economics department within the College of Family and Consumer Sciences in 2016.

White’s chief interests, appropriately enough, include retirement planning, budgeting and taxes, as well as issues involving diversity and inclusion within the growing financial planning industry.

White said his upbringing in Detroit, with its large African American population and issues related to poverty, also informed his research interests.

“Understanding how families in those situations could improve their resource management and their financial well-being has shaped the things I want

to research,” White said. “That lived experience has been valuable for me.”

Equally valuable, particularly in the classroom, has been White’s varied work experience. White has held positions at large institutions such as Vanguard, Chrysler and the test prep company Kaplan, in addition to working with the IRS. “Just being able to relate information we are covering in class to my own lived experience has been really valuable,” White said. “I try to use every opportunity I can to let the students know that this is not just so you can pass the next exam—it’s something you’re actually going to have to do.”

Of particular interest among his students, White said, are stories of his time with the IRS. “Auditing self-employed individuals and small businesses, you get some wild stories,” he said, laughing.

Teaching has become a passion, White said, particularly since he recently completed UGA’s Active Learning Institute, the Service-Learning Fellows Program and the Lilly Teaching Fellowship.

“I like the engagement with the students, and I feel an obligation to do my very best with them,” he said. “I enjoy working with the grad students on research and especially when the research involves how we can be better in the classroom.”

Another of White’s passions involves addressing the “big diversity gap” within the financial planning field. According

FACTS Kenneth J. White

Assistant Professor College of Family and Consumer Sciences Ph.D., Consumer Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2016 M. ACC., Accounting, Belmont University, 2005 B.A., Mathematics, Wayne State University, 1995 At UGA: Two years

to a recent survey by the CFP® Board Center for Financial Planning, less than 4 percent of the 80,000 Certified Financial Planners in the U.S. are black or Latino.

White recently received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s New Connections program to explore factors related to financial stress and interventions that lessen the effects of financial stress, including the role racial differences may play in those stressors.

While his role comes with great responsibility, White said, it’s one he embraces.

“Clearly we need to do something to help close that diversity gap,” he said. “One of the ways you can effect change is by having somebody at the front of the classroom who looks like the students you want to attract. Another thing we can do is make sure that our African American students are great job candidates.”

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Specialist helps improve production of vegetables

By Bryce Ethridge

Bryce.Ethridge@uga.edu

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable specialist Andre da Silva will improve vegetable production in Georgia through irrigation—and fertilizer-based research—on the UGA Tifton campus.

A native of Brazil, da Silva began working at UGA-Tifton last semester, when he began developing his research and extension program. Since the fall, he has been conducting field experiments related to fertilizer and irrigation management.

“My objective is to provide our growers critical information on irrigation and crop nutrient requirements. From there I can help growers reduce fertilizer inputs and irrigation costs while maintaining yields for better profits over all seasons,”

da Silva said.

To do this, da Silva is studying cabbage and carrot varieties and their fertility requirements.

This spring, he will begin researching cucumbers, eggAndre da Silva plants, squashes, watermelons and bell peppers.

He will investigate the use of plastic mulching and its effects on plant growth and yield. His goal is to identify the point when multicropping in the same plastic mulching is no longer beneficial for crop production.

“I saw the large amount of vegetable production here (in Georgia),” said da Silva of his decision to accept a position at UGA-Tifton. “[I also saw that] there

was a need to improve their irrigation scheduling and fertilizer management.”

Part of da Silva’s assignment is to discuss his vegetable research with Georgia farmers. Vegetables had a farm gate value of $1.14 billion in 2016 in Georgia, according to the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development, but the commodity incurred $480 million in direct losses following Hurricane Michael in October.

Wind and heavy rain from the hurricane-damaged squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, sweet corn and eggplants.

“About 40 to 60 percent of those crops were affected, except sweet corn where 90 to 100 percent of fields were damaged,” da Silva said. “There wasn’t much that growers could do.All we could tell them was ‘Harvest as much as you can and try to store it.’ ”

2019 PRESIDENT’S FULFULLING THE DREAM AWARD

columns.uga.edu Feb. 18, 2019

‘Forming bonds’

TERRY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

Faculty recipient of 2019 Dream Award works to make university an inviting place for current and future students

By Emily Webb

sew30274@uga.edu

For Paige Carmichael, the division between teaching and mentoring is nonexistent.

“Teaching and mentoring overlap,” said Carmichael, a professor in the pathology department at the College of Veterinary Medicine. “They’re both about forming bonds.”

As an undergraduate, Carmichael wanted to be a clinician. She went into veterinary medicine because the profession has more than 20 animal specialties that translate to their human counterparts. She wanted to study disease to understand what caused it.

As an undergraduate in the early 1980s, Carmichael learned that the HIV outbreak was serious. Cats had a similar disease that caused immune suppression and cancer, and Carmichael first planned to study cats, thinking that a cure in cats could translate to a cure in humans. But her career goals changed, which is what inspired her to become a mentor.

“If I had known then what I know now, the journey would have been easier,” she said. “I want to help people who want to go down a similar pathway with their own goals.”

Carmichael received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Tuskegee University’s School of Veterinary Medicine in 1987. She became a temporary instructor at UGA’s Tifton campus. There, her co-workers convinced her she was capable of getting her doctorate, and she entered a combined pathology residency/Ph.D. program. She earned the doctorate from UGA in 1993 and became a board certified pathologist in 1995.

“I knew I could make a living and enjoy doing it, since I was following a passion,” she said.

Teaching, Carmichael said, satisfies more than research or receiving tenure. She gets what she refers to as a “teacher’s high” when she witnesses her students learning.

“It’s rewarding when they’re learning because they want to, and when they come to class with something new that I haven’t talked about because they want to learn on their own,” she said.

Carmichael’s outreach takes her out into the Athens community. She has visited different schools to attract underrepresented students to the university.

“We want to make UGA an inviting place for them,” she said. “We want to get students into the pipeline of rural veterinary medicine and send them back out into underserved areas so they can inspire others to go to school.”

She has won many awards throughout her career, including the Lilly Teaching Fellowship, the Carl Norden-Pfizer Distinguished Teaching Award, the Tyler Award for Teaching Innovation, the Iverson Bell Award, Tuskegee University’s Outstanding Alumnus Award and many others. She was the first African American professor at UGA to receive the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship. Most recently, Carmichael was awarded the 2019 President’s

Dorothy Kozlowski

Paige Carmichael’s involvement at UGA extends beyond the College of Veterinary Medicine. Active in several organizations on campus, she also visits schools in the community to attract underrepresented students to the university.

Fulfilling the Dream Award.

“It was a dream in itself,” Carmichael said. “I attend the banquet every year. It’s a way to give back. The university has close ties in the Athens community, and it’s wonderful to see that commitment to the university recognized.”

Carmichael’s involvement at UGA extends beyond the College of Veterinary Medicine. She is on the board of the UGA Athletic Association and the board of the Georgia Museum of Art. She helped with the museum’s Black History Month dinner, which has grown to accommodate 230 people.

She co-started the Teaching Academy Fellows Program to help early career faculty become more effective teachers.

“We wanted to make sure that students are not just taught by the best on paper, but that they’re taught by the best person, period,” she said. “We want to make UGA the best.”

Carmichael believes people misunderstand the meaning of diversity. It requires more than just representing a diverse population.

“It’s bringing people who are different together and making them comfortable together, so they can understand each other,” she said. “You create empathy and respect when you actually listen to the other side.”

WEEKLY READER

UGA gridiron great thrives after accident that changed his life

By Matt Weeks

mweeks@uga.edu

Mohamed Massaquoi is a man of action. An All-Southeastern Conference wide receiver for the Georgia Bulldogs, he was a second-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2009 NFL draft. His talent catching footballs defined his career, life and identity.

Until an ATV accident changed everything.

Massaquoi, 32, told Terry students at a Diversity and Inclusion Lecture Series event Jan. 16 about the injury that led to the amputation of four fingers on his left hand and how the 2017 incident changed his life. The event was hosted by Terry’s Institute for Leadership Advancement.

“Adversity is just a part of life. Everybody’s going to have challenges and things they struggle with.

But you learn there’s a reward on the other side of adversity,” he said. “There’s a huge reward if you give yourself the time to persevere and push through.”

Today, Massaquoi is enrolled in Harvard University’s Program for Leadership Development. He’s also an entrepreneur and philanthropist, focusing on helping children with prosthetics. The success comes from actions he’s taking now—the kind that didn’t come from a playbook.

He started therapy, and also hit the gym, determined to gain back the 20 pounds he lost after the accident.

“I started by focusing on my mental health. People feel they can compartmentalize. They think if they just have status or finances, then everything’s going to be correct. That’s not necessarily the case,” he said. “I knew I functioned best at a certain weight, so I had to do different things to get my body back to performing where it needs to be. That meant I had to wake up at 6 o’clock. I had to eat right. I had to take care of myself.

“People don’t think about that, either,” he said.

“They think if they’re really smart or have their résumé filled out the right way, things will be all right. But your body is your temple. It gives you the ability to have energy and be clear and sharp to do the things you need to do.”

He left students with two insights he learned from his accident and recovery.

“Know where you are and know where you’re supposed to be,” he said.

Closing his talk, Massaquoi returned to building a great foundation.

“You’re going to need a very good foundation when you leave this place and go into the work world because you’re competing against so many people from all over the world,” he said. “Make sure you have a great foundation in place, and great people around you who will help you. Nothing in this world is accomplished without great relationships.”

CYBERSIGHTS

ABOUT COLUMNS

Book explores health-based discrimination

Healthism: Health-Status Discrimination and the Law

By Jessica L. Roberts and Elizabeth Weeks Cambridge University Press Hardback: $99.99 Paperback: $34.99 eBook: $28

Can an employer refuse to hire someone who tests positive for nicotine or alcohol? Can an airline or movie theater require overweight customers to purchase two seats? Can a health insurance company refuse to sell policies to those most in need of medical care? Can the government condition public assistance on wellness program participation or work activity?

In Healthism: Health-Status Discrimination and the Law, Jessica L. Roberts of the University of Houston Law Center and UGA’s Elizabeth Weeks consider these and similar questions, offering readers a nuanced analysis of when and why discrimination based on health status, or “healthism,” should be allowed, and when it should not.

Weeks, associate dean for faculty development in the UGA School of Law, will host a panel discussion on the book and health status discrimination Feb. 27 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Classroom A (120) of Hirsch Hall. A reception will follow the discussion.

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

Georgia Museum of Art redesigns website

http://georgiamuseum.org/

The Georgia Museum of Art has redesigned its website.

In addition to the website content being optimized for display on mobile devices, other key improvements are real time “we’re open/ closed” status and a location map link on the very top of every page, the use of larger images and text and streamlined navigation and content,

including the collections database.

Additionally, the museum’s blog, previously available via Blogger, is now hosted on the site as are a gallery of visitors’ social media posts and the popular “You in the Museum” Instagram section.

The museum also has launched a touchscreen kiosk for visitor feedback at the front desk.

Communications Coordinator Krista Richmond Art Director Jackie Baxter Roberts Photo Editor Dorothy Kozlowski Writers Kellyn Amodeo Leigh Beeson 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.

7

8 Feb. 18, 2019 columns.uga.edu INFRASTRUCTURE

TEACHING

from page 1

systems allow us to process transactions, but more importantly, they also allow us to focus on what the data is telling us so that we can be better decision-makers.”

What is unique about the three-year project is that it enhanced services for every UGA employee. And nearly 1,100 employees had a hand in the transitions serving as team members, Change Champions, project coordinators, trainers or volunteers.

“It has taken a tremendous amount of effort from staff and faculty from every corner of the university to get us this far,” said Ryan Nesbit, vice president for finance and administration.

“We are deeply grateful for the engagement, the collaborative spirit and the dedication, as well as the patience of the entire university community. Together, we are achieving the ambitious goal of transforming our business processes as we complete this move from legacy systems to more modern systems.”

These new systems certainly create efficiencies, such as transitioning the pay date for salaried biweekly and hourly biweekly employees to the same day, but they also provide benefits to end users. Through OneUSG Connect, employees can now create model sample paychecks, change tax exemptions, and change and add direct deposit accounts. In addition, the processes for requesting leave and travel reimbursements have been streamlined and are now paperless and fully automated.

“Continuing to improve our systems in ways that allow people to more easily fulfill their roles in turn helps the university fulfill its missions,” Schramski said.

Athena, also known as Banner, the university’s student information system, was implemented in 2014 and went through another upgrade in fall 2018. Banner consolidated databases from admissions, financial aid, the registrar and the bursar into one system, allowing for better data.

“We get better answers about basic questions such as how many students are here, what classes are they enrolled in and others,” Chester said.

Together with Technolutions Slate, the program UGA uses in its admissions process, financial aid is awarded more quickly and accurately. According to Chester, the sooner UGA can tell an admitted student what their financial aid award is going to be, the more likely that student is to enroll. As a result, the university continues to admit the most

academically-qualified classes each year, which in turn helps raise graduation rates.

At the core of all of these changes, Chester said, are the significant network improvements the university has invested in since 2011. At that time, the university had a total bandwidth capacity of 1 gigabit. That was expanded to 20 gigabits in 2013 and now is at 40 gigabits.

“That’s been the foundation behind almost everything else,” Chester said.

Not only do these network improvements help support the exponential growth in the number of wireless devices on campus, but they also play a significant role in supporting research by allowing them to more easily collaborate and share their findings.

As bandwidth has expanded, so have UGA’s information security efforts. Chester pointed out that UGA has not experienced a breach for several years since ArchPass was implemented. It started with financial systems, but now several other systems, including email, are protected by ArchPass.

The university also expanded its online learning offerings with the suite of tools, including eLearning Commons (eLC), an online learning management system, and Kaltura, a media storage and streaming solution. These online and blended teaching opportunities allow students, as well as the faculty and staff using them, more flexibility in how, when and where they learn. In particular, Chester said these additions have helped boost online course and summer enrollment numbers.

“Students really like having the ability to travel but still grab those one or two classes they need,” he said.

All of these improvements help build a stronger university by creating efficiencies and providing more opportunities to remove barriers for students, enhance the learning environment and solve grand challenges. But Marie Mize, Staff Council president, points out another advantage.

“Anything that can make our work a little bit better is definitely worthwhile,” she said.“It also frees people up to do things they might want to do and allows us to be more creative, which makes people more excited.”

Chester said any future improvements will continue to support research and innovation and align with the strategic plan.

“The university is moving in some really important directions and really making some gigantic leaps,” he said.

Bulletin Board Service-Learning Fellows

Applications for the 2019-2020 Service-Learning Fellows program are due March 20.

Up to nine faculty members will be selected for participation in this year-long program and will receive a $2,500 faculty development award.

All permanent, full-time UGA faculty members with an interest in service-learning are eligible.

Complete application materials, along with examples of previous Fellows projects, are available at https://bit.ly/2WWrJo3.

Flu vaccine study

Do you still need a flu vaccine?

The UGA Clinical and Translational Research Unit is enrolling new participants for a study of immune system response to the flu vaccine, using FluMist, the nasal spray flu vaccine.

Adults ages 18-49 who have not yet received a flu vaccine this season but would like to get one can call the CTRU at 706-713-2721 for eligibility screening and more information.

Participants can earn up to $90 for participating in the study.

Parenting study participants

The UGA Clinical and Translational Research Unit is now enrolling parents of young toddlers (ages 12-18

months) for a study on how parenting beliefs may affect health and relationships. Couples who are parenting their first child (ages 12-18 months) can call the CTRU at 706-713-2721 for eligibility screening and more information. Couples can earn up to $100 for participating in the study.

WIP proposal deadline

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

The WIP aims to enhance undergraduate education by emphasizing the importance of writing in the disciplines by offering “writing-intensive” courses throughout the college.

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 10. Direct questions to Lindsey Harding, WIP director, at lharding@uga.edu.

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

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strategies to engage her students and promote scientific thinking skills. She has redesigned introductory biology courses to make the course material more relevant to students by focusing on real-world problems such as antibiotic resistance and climate change.

She uses small-group learning and other innovative teaching strategies to help students develop deep understanding.

Andrews, who joined the UGA faculty in 2013, has worked as a senior advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is a member of the steering committee of the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research. She has been a Center for Teaching and Learning Innovative Teaching Fellow, a Lilly Teaching Fellow and was a founding member of the Scientists Engaged in Education Research Center. Andrews also is part of a team of more than 100 UGA faculty who are engaged in a five-year, $3 million National Science Foundation grant-funded project that seeks to transform STEM education on campus and serve as a model for research universities across the nation.

Byers is an internationally recognized ecologist whose courses include immersion strategies and role playing, and his engagement goes beyond the classroom to include mentoring students participating in research

and field work. His dedication to exemplary instruction has earned him the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship, the university’s highest teaching honor, as well as the Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the inaugural FirstYear Odyssey Teaching Award and a Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award.

In addition to supporting students, Byers has worked to inspire and engage fellow faculty members in active learning strategies as an inductee to the UGA Teaching Academy and a frequent participant in Center for Teaching and Learning programs. He co-facilitated a CTL Faculty Learning Community called “Nexus Classroom: Where Teaching and Research Coalesce” and has presented best teaching practices at UGA’s New Faculty Orientation for the past three years. He also serves as associate dean for administration and research in the Odum School of Ecology.

“Dr. Andrews and Dr. Byers are the kind of professors who transform the learning experiences and lives of students,” said Libby V. Morris, interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.“They exemplify the quality of instruction that students and their families have come to expect from the University of Georgia.”

LABS from page 1 Academy of Sciences member Michael Strand and several of his colleagues in the department of entomology to expand their research on infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. “We’re going to be able to do a whole series of experiments that we currently can’t do,” Strand said, adding that the upgraded facility opens up new opportunities for grants.

Upgrades to the Sensory Evaluation and Product Development Lab in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences will enable assistant professor Ginnefer Cox to develop and evaluate new food product formulations more efficiently while also giving students hands-on experiences and facilitating industry partnerships.“This new space is going to have equipment that helps train students to be the next product developers,” Cox said. “The upgrades also create more opportunities to collaborate in research with food companies, which opens up opportunities for students to interact with them and obtain internships and permanent employment.”

In the department of physics and astronomy, part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, renovation funds will aid in faculty recruitment by modernizing an

ALUMNI

outdated laboratory. “We’re really excited to have received this funding,” said department head Phillip Stancil. “The space has been unused for the last several years, and with this renovation it’ll be ready for a new experimentalist to move in.”

Other schools and colleges that have received funding through presidential renovation funds are the College of Engineering, College of Environment and Design, Odum School of Ecology, College of Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

Interim Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Libby V. Morris noted that the lab renovation funds come at a time when sponsored research awards have increased by 34 percent over the past five years. It also coincides with recruitment initiatives that will bring up to 25 new faculty members to campus.

“Research activity at the University of Georgia has grown significantly in recent years, with strategic investments in faculty and facilities enabling discoveries that point the way to a healthier and more promising future,” Morris said.

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Museum of Art tour, musical performance, tour of the renovated West End Zone in Sanford Stadium, a self-guided campus tour and more.

Faculty members participating are: • K. Paige Carmichael, professor, College of Veterinary Medicine; • Gary T. Green, assistant dean of academic affairs and professor, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources; • Jenna R. Jambeck, associate professor, College of Engineering; •Loch K. Johnson, Regents Professor of Public and International Affairs, School of Public and International Affairs; •Juanita Johnson-Bailey, director, Institute for Women’s Studies;

• Vicki Michaelis, the John Huland Carmical Chair in Sports Journalism and Society, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication; • Maria Navarro, associate professor, UGA Honors Program; and • Kim Skobba, director of UGA’s Housing and Demographics Research Center, College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

The cost to attend Alumni Weekend is $150/person or $250/couple. This includes four meals, classes, a reception, TEDxUGA ticket and spirited giveaways, but not accommodations.

Learn more about Alumni Weekend at alumni.uga.edu/weekend. Registration closes March 4.

TAXES from page 1 To develop the online program, Koonce worked with Lance Palmer, financial planning professor and director of VITA for UGA, and Andrea Scarrow, director of UGA Extension’s Southwest District, who was the district’s FACS program development coordinator at that time.

“I wanted to expand as much as we possibly could to serve as many people as possible,” said Koonce, adding that agents completed 115 tax returns in 2017.

With the help of numerous county Extension agents, taxpayers from every district in Georgia received assistance in 2018 and the service more than doubled the number of tax returns completed to 387.

Like last year, the service will be offered

throughout the tax season, from Feb. 1 through April 12, when taxpayers from districts all over Georgia will be able to go to select county Extension offices to meet with county agents who conduct a brief interview and gather the required documents.

Afterward, the county agents return the required documents to Koonce using an encrypted email service and an email set up specifically for the program.

Students on UGA’s Athens campus prepare the tax returns early each week, then hold virtual meetings with individual taxpayers later in the week to discuss the returns.

“The students are a big part of this,” Koonce said. “It’s a lot of work, but it is so rewarding.”