Periodicals Postage is PAID in Athens, Georgia
Division of Marketing & Communications University of Georgia 286 Oconee Street Suite 200 North Athens, GA 30602-1999
Researchers manipulate poplar tree genes to produce better plants for biofuel RESEARCH NEWS
3
UGA Opera Theatre brings ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ to stage Feb. 23-25
February 19, 2018
Vol. 45, No. 25
www.columns.uga.edu
UGA GUIDE
4&5
Terry College names building for Sanford and Barbara Orkin
By David Dodson ddodson@uga.edu
Claire Jordan
School of Social Work and School of Law students participated in an interdisciplinary mock trial as part of the CEASE Clinic conference. The Trauma Informed Termination of Parental Rights Mock Trial allowed the students to gain new perspectives about challenging cases.
Trial run
School of Social Work and School of Law partner to create trauma-informed courtroom By Claire Jordan sswpr@uga.edu
Ten graduate students stood in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom as Judge Jerry Bruce called the court to order. A fictitious but alltoo-familiar case commenced. A 10-year-old boy had been taken from his parents after alleged abuse by the father and neglect from the mother. Although the students had studied child maltreatment, the setting was new for six of them. They were the first master’s degree candidates from the School of Social Work to participate in a mock trial in which they played key roles. Each client brought an earnest perspective to the table. The state petitioned for termination of parental rights, the mother for sole custody and the father for
full custody for both parents. The attorneys began calling expert witnesses. One by one the students took the stand—one as a case manager from the Department of Family and Child Services, one as a forensic interviewer, others as the child’s therapist and the mother’s therapist. Their testimony was meticulously examined and crossexamined. Some attorneys— played by law students—attempted to cloud their expert opinions, while others sought to prove their legitimacy. The event was a first in Georgia, where nearly 14,000 children are currently in foster care. Of that number, an estimated 50 percent will receive a termination of parental rights ruling from the juvenile court system. Social workers play a key part in those rulings because they are often called to testify as
expert witnesses. However, this is an area few social work programs touch upon in their curricula, and few new social workers understand what is expected of them. Similarly, mock trial programs in law schools rarely focus on cases involving juvenile court. As a result, too often collaboration between lawyers and social workers fails families. An innovative partnership between the UGA School of Law and School of Social Work aims to strengthen lines of communication and better prepare future professionals. The partnership is led by Emma Hetherington, the director of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation, or CEASE, Clinic and Jennifer Elkins, an associate professor at the School of Social Work and an expert in child maltreatment and See TRIAL on page 8
OFFICE OF RESEARCH
The next building to become part of the UGA Terry College of Business will be named for Sanford and Barbara Orkin of Atlanta. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents has approved naming one of the two buildings currently under construction in the third and final phase of the Business Learning Community for the Orkins in recognition of their longstanding support of UGA, including a $5 million gift to the Terry College of Business. “Sanford and Barbara Orkin’s tremendous generosity will leave an
enduring legacy at the University of Georgia,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Their latest gift, which will further enhance the learning environment on our campus, demonstrates their unyielding commitment to supporting the endeavors of our students, faculty and staff.” The building to be named Sanford and Barbara Orkin Hall— at the corner of Baxter and Hull streets—will include a large auditorium, undergraduate classrooms, a behavioral lab, a computer lab for marketing research, interview suites, and faculty and administrative offices. “Throughout this building
See ORKIN on page 8
DIVISION OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION
Payroll changes will go into effect in December as part of transition By Krista Richmond krichmond@uga.edu
As UGA transitions to the University System of Georgia’s OneUSG Connect system, several important payroll changes will occur in December 2018. • All monthly and academic pay dates will move to the last business day of the month. • Pay dates for hourly biweekly and salaried biweekly payrolls will be synced and standardized. • The work week will change from Thursday through Wednesday to Sunday through Saturday. The move to OneUSG Connect, which allows HR/payroll systems at all USG schools to be standardized and helps streamline business processes, will affect all of the approximately 5,200 salaried biweekly, 5,200 hourly biweekly,
6,500 monthly and 3,800 academic employees at UGA. More than 400 volunteers across all of UGA’s campuses, including about 150 Change Champions, are working on the transition, which at UGA is part of the OneSource Project. “The volunteers who have brought their voices to the table to provide input and insight and help make decisions have really been amazing,” said Sarah Fraker, change management lead on UGA’s OneSource Project. “Those partnerships bring such value both to the project as well to their units and departments.” Approximately half of USG schools already are usng this system, which is built on Oracle’s PeopleSoft. The other half will transition through 2019. Georgia See PAYROLL on page 8
FRANKLIN COLLEGE
Industry Express licensing program will foster collaborations, new ways to license technologies Institute for Women’s Studies sets By Crystal Leach at UGA. During this time, industry- Derek Eberhart. “Our goal is to Women’s History Month events csleach@uga.edu
The University of Georgia now offers companies sponsoring research three additional ways to license intellectual property developed in the course of their research collaborations. The new program, Industry Express, makes negotiating research agreements a faster and more transparent process and eliminates uncertainty about licensing costs. Over the past five years, more than 350 companies in industries ranging from pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to solar energy and field crops have sponsored research
funded research expenditures at UGA have increased sevenfold. To build on this momentum, the Industry Express program was developed by the Office of Research Industry Engagement team and led by Innovation Gateway. As the university’s licensing and startup arm, Innovation Gateway licenses UGA discoveries with commercial potential—such as new vaccines, therapeutics or engineering technologies—to industry. “This new program benefits our industry partners by streamlining the processes of contracting and licensing sponsored research,” said Innovation Gateway Director
get technologies that arise from UGA research into the hands of people who can develop them into products for the greatest impact.” In addition, Eberhart said, Industry Express benefits UGA researchers by making it easier for companies to collaborate by sponsoring research. The three Industry Express agreements offer companies an exclusive license in each case, with flexibility for the duration of the license and the payment terms. Each alternative includes a defined-upfront license fee set at a percentage of the total sponsored
See LICENSING on page 8
By Terri Hatfield tlhat@uga.edu
In recognition of the 2018 national Women’s History Month theme “Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,” the Institute for Women’s Studies at the University of Georgia will be sponsoring numerous programs in March. This year’s keynote address will be presented by Andrea J. Ritchie, Researcher-in-Residence on Race, Gender, Sexuality and Criminalization at the Social Justice Institute of the Barnard Center for Research on
Women. Her lecture, “Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women o f C o l o r,” named for her Andrea Ritchie recently published book examining police brutality of women of color, will take place March 1 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 271 of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. A See WOMEN on page 8