UGA Columns Feb. 25, 2019

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Food scientist helps develop DNA search engine that identifies genes in real time RESEARCH NEWS

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Vienna Boys Choir set for Feb. 28 performance at Hodgson Concert Hall Vol. 46, No. 26

February 25, 2019

www.columns.uga.edu

UGA GUIDE

4&5

Career outcomes rate 11.7 percent higher than national average

By Laura Bayne

endeavors, and the consistency of statistics from last year to this year demonstrates that the university is providing career readiness skills through professional programming, academics and experiential learning,” said Scott Williams, executive director of the UGA Career Center. Nearly 3,000 unique employers hired UGA graduates from business to government, nonprofit to education. Some of the top employers for the Class of 2018 include Amazon, Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot and Teach for America. Of those full-time

lbayne@uga.edu

HowLao Photography

Members of UGA’s women’s tennis team are (kneeling from left) Alee Clayton, Lourdes Carle, Meg Kowalski, Marta Gonzalez and (standing from left) head coach Jeff Wallace, student coach Mariana Gould, Katarina Jokic, Morgan Coppoc, Vivian Wolff, Elena Christofi and associate head coach Drake Bernstein.

National champions

Women’s tennis team defeats North Carolina for title The fifth-ranked Georgia women’s tennis team defeated No. 3 North Carolina, 4-3, on the last remaining court in a third-set tiebreaker to win the 2019 ITA National Team Indoor Championship Feb. 12. The event was held in Seattle at the University of Washington’s Nordstrom Tennis Center. The Bulldogs’ (7-0) run to the title started with a sweep in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend two weeks ago and continued over five days with victories over No. 14 NC State, No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 1 Stanford

and No. 3 North Carolina (9-1). The latter was against the defending indoor champions and redemption from the 2015 ITA Indoors final in which the Tar Heels prevailed against Georgia. The Georgia women’s tennis program now boasts four USTA/ ITA National Team Indoor Championships and two NCAA Championships (1994, 2000). The 2019 squad joins members of the 1994, 1995 and 2002 teams in winning the National Indoors. “It is exciting,” said Georgia

head coach Jeff Wallace. “I’m really proud of this team, the coaches and the support staff who were here. It was a total team effort, which makes it really special. Drake (Bernstein, associate head coach) and I spent a lot of time talking to the team about the importance of supporting each other and being a true team and then to see them pull together like they have and lift each other up in tough situations and come back in these tough matches that we are able to get in close fashion—really, really says a lot.”

HONORS PROGRAM

UGA receives its highest Fulbright student program ranking with 16 participating students, alumni By Stephanie Schupska schupska@uga.edu

The University of Georgia’s record-breaking number of acceptances for the Fulbright U.S. student program this year earned the university its highest ranking yet on the student list of Fulbright Top Producers. The university tied for 16th—along with Stanford University, University of Virginia, University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Villanova University—in its third time on the student list. Sixteen UGA students and recent graduates are participating in the 2018-2019 Fulbright U.S. student program. They are teaching English, conducting research and studying in countries spread around the globe. UGA previously made the top student list in 2012-2013 and 20162017, with 13 students accepting Fulbright awards in both of those competitions. “I am pleased that the University of Georgia is once again among the top producers of Fulbright students and that our ranking

continues to rise,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “UGA is proud of the students and alumni who will represent the university as they pursue their academic and career goals and build relationships with communities around the world.” The Fulbright U.S. student program offers research, study and teaching opportunities in more than 140 countries to recent college graduates and graduate students. As the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Fulbright is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and countries worldwide. “As a top producer, UGA is positioned among an elite group of institutions,” said Maria de Rocher, campus Fulbright U.S. student program adviser and assistant director of the Honors Program. “This is a campus-wide accomplishment. Our 16 Fulbrighters represent a diversity of backgrounds and areas of study, and include undergraduates, both within and outside the Honors Program, and

graduate students.” Seven UGA students and recent alumni received Fulbright academic and creative grants. They are with their study concentrations and host countries: Jennifer Alexander, waste management strategies, Vietnam; Katherine Cheng, microcredit and cash transfer programs, Brazil; Kristen Gleason, environmental theory and aesthetics in the contemporary arctic, Norway; Jonathan McCombs, urban geography, Hungary; Michelle Paterick, curriculum of Finnish public schools, Finland; Keysa Rosas-Rodriguez, effects of palm oil expansion on freshwater resources, Mexico; and Nicholas Twiner, syntactic theory and sociolinguistics, United Kingdom. Nine alumni received Fulbright English teaching assistantship awards. Listed alphabetically by their host countries, they are Brazil: Lilian Zhu; Colombia: Shornima KC; Malaysia: Kara Pemberton; South Korea: Rachel Kelley and Maggie Little; Spain: Elizabeth Jennings, Laura Moeller and Rachel Tepper; and Vietnam: Caroline Beadles.

University of Georgia graduates, for the second year in a row, are employed or attending graduate school within six months at a rate of 96 percent—11.7 percent higher than the national average. Of those students: • 63 percent were employed full time; • 19 percent were attending graduate school; and • Approximately 12 percent were self-employed, interning full time or were employed part time. “UGA students continue to excel in their post-graduate

See CAREER on page 8

COMMIT TO GEORGIA CAMPAIGN

First-generation law students at UGA aided by $3 million gift By Lona Panter lonap@uga.edu

Thanks to a $3 million gift— the largest outright donation in school history—the University of Georgia School of Law will be able to continue transforming the legal education experience for many of its first-generation college graduates. The First-Start Scholars Program, created by a lead gift from 1982 alumna Kathelen V. Amos and the Daniel P. Amos Family Foundation, will begin awarding scholarships in fall 2019. Students will receive a partial-tuition scholarship as well as a professional

development stipend. “With roughly 15 percent of each entering class representing the first person in his or her family to attend college, this program is a transformational commitment to first-generation college graduates,” School of Law Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge said. “At its core, these scholarships provide financial assistance but beyond that tuition aid, they also will give additional support in vital areas such as financial planning advice, network development and acquisition of business attire and bar preparation classes.”

See LAW on page 8

COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

Georgia’s first lady tours UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital By Heather Skyler

heatherskyler@uga.edu

Georgia’s first lady Marty Kemp toured the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Georgia on Feb. 18, along with her daughter Lucy Kemp, UGA President Jere W. Morehead and several others. Kemp, who has loved animals ever since getting her first horse, Flare, at a young age, is no stranger to the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine hospital. In 2006, she brought in a foal named Loula, who had reared up, fallen back and broken her tailbone. “It made her drag her left back leg,” recalled Kemp. “The vet came and said you need to get this foal to the vet school immediately or she’s going to die.” They brought her in and she was

there for five or six weeks. Kemp would come and see her every day. During her stay at the teaching hospital, her care team discovered that the foal had a blood disorder, one that would have killed her if she hadn’t been brought in for the tailbone. Today, Loula is alive and well on the Kemps’ farm. Horses are her therapy, said Kemp. “I can tell them things and they won’t tell anyone,” she said with a laugh. “I certainly wouldn’t have made it through politics without them. Anybody who loves horses knows exactly what I’m talking about. Whatever stress you have, they take care of it. That’s the beauty of them.” Kemp has also brought two animals to zoological medicine: a bunny she rescued from the mouth

See KEMP on page 8


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