UGA Columns Feb. 27, 2017

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Study: Intimate partner violence among youth linked to suicide, weapons, drug use RESEARCH NEWS

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The Chieftains perform March 13 show at Hodgson Concert Hall

February 27, 2017

Vol. 44, No. 27

www.columns.uga.edu

UGA GUIDE

4&5

Event sets record by raising $1.35M for Children’s Healthcare

By Stan Jackson ugastan@uga.edu

James Byers

Markus Crepaz

Annette Poulsen

John Maerz

Karen Miller Russell

Top teachers

Five UGA faculty members named Meigs Professors

By Camie Williams camiew@uga.edu

UGA has honored five faculty members with its highest recognition for excellence in instruction, the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship.

The Meigs Professorship underscores the university’s commitment to excellence in teaching, the value placed on the learning experiences of students and the centrality of instruction to the university’s mission. The award includes a permanent salary increase of $6,000 and a one-year discretionary fund of $1,000.

“This year’s Meigs Professors create experiences both inside and outside of the classroom that challenge students to apply their knowledge to real-world situations,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten, whose office sponsors the award. “Their commitment to students helps make the University of Georgia one of the nation’s very best public universities.”

The 2017 Meigs Professors are: • James “Jeb” Byers, professor and associate dean of administrative affairs and research in the Odum School of Ecology, • Markus Crepaz, professor and

head of the international affairs department in the School of Public and International Affairs, • John Maerz, professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, •Annette Poulsen, Augustus H. “Billy” Sterne Professor of Banking and Finance in the Terry College of Business, and • Karen Miller Russell, associate professor of public relations in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Byers uses role-playing games and team problem-solving exercises to engage students in how to apply See MEIGS on page 7

SCHOOL OF LAW International lawyers gather at university for conference Approximately 100 international lawyers from around the globe will come to the UGA School of Law March 2 and 3 for a conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of IntLawGrrls, a blog founded by Diane Marie Amann, a member of the law faculty.

Organized by the Dean Rusk International Law Center, the conference is part of the law school’s Georgia Women in Law Lead (Georgia WILL) initiative. Highlights on March 3 will include panels on topics such as international criminal law, human rights, women’s leadership in legal institutions, feminist legal

theories, corporate accountability, international economic law and dispute settlement, post-Cold War legacies, laws of war, counterterrorism, international environmental law and sexual violence crimes.

Participants include several UGA students, graduates and staff members—many of whom have contributed to the blog—as well as scholars from as far away as Japan and Kosovo.

Speaking at the plenary session, which will focus on women’s participation in international law and policy, will be Patricia A. Wald, the first woman to serve as chief judge of a U.S. Court of Appeals;

Lucinda A. Low, a partner at a Washington law firm and president of the American Society of International Law; Emory Law Professor Mary L. Dudziak, president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations; Fordham Law Professor Catherine Powell, a former White House and State Department official; Temple Law Professor Jaya Ramji-Nogales; and Stanford Visiting Law Professor Beth Van Schaack, a former State Department official.

The conference will begin March 2 with the screening of 500 Years, a Sundance-selected See LAWYERS on page 8

More than 3,000 UGA students gathered in Sanford Stadium Feb. 19 to celebrate a recordsetting $1,352,705.17 raised for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

This is the second year in a row that UGA Miracle, the university’s largest student-run philanthropy, has achieved a sevenfigure fundraising total.

Beginning at 10 a.m. on Feb. 18 and lasting until the same time Feb. 19, the entire Tate Student Center was filled with students, faculty and staff for Miracle’s annual

Dance Marathon. Throughout the night, participants danced, enjoyed live music, and took pictures with Hairy Dawg and the Aflac duck.

More than 60 of the “Miracle children,” Children’s Healthcare patients who interact with Miracle’s student members during the year and their families were in attendance, 35 of whom took the stage one at a time throughout the night to share their inspirational stories.

Kathryn Youngs, Miracle’s internal director, said Miracle is part of a philanthropic tradition that is a “blessing about being a

See EVENT on page 8

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Veteran educator, administrator named Veterinary Medicine dean

By Sam Fahmy

sfahmy@uga.edu

Dr. Lisa K. Nolan, a veteran educator, administrator and scholar of diseases that affect animal and human health, has been named dean of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine.

Nolan is currently professor and Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, and her appointment at UGA is effective July 1.

“Dr. Nolan is one of the nation’s most respected veterinary

educators and administrators, and I’m delighted that she has joined the University of Georgia’s leadership t e a m ,” s a i d Senior Vice Lisa Nolan President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. “She comes to our College of Veterinary Medicine at a time of growth in the scope and impact of its instruction, research See DEAN on page 8

ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Indoor Athletic Facility dedicated during ribbon-cutting ceremony Two days short of one year since the groundbreaking occurred, an official dedication of the UGA Indoor Athletic Facility was held Feb. 14 inside the 102,306-squarefoot structure.

Participants in the ceremony included UGA President Jere W. Morehead, J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Greg McGarity, head football coach Kirby Smart, and track and field Olympian and three-time national champion Keturah Orji.

“The Indoor Athletic Facility is a testament to the tremendous loyalty, passion and excitement that our alumni and friends feel for Georgia athletics,” Morehead said.

“Working together, we are fulfilling our commitment to provide our student-athletes with the tools and resources they need to succeed at the highest levels.”

The $30.2 million project was completely funded by private gifts and includes a 100-yard football practice field, 65-meter track runway and jumping pits, and a netting system that will provide indoor practice areas for other teams during inclement weather.

“This is a wonderful day of celebration for our entire athletic program,” McGarity said. “This new indoor facility will provide a first-class, state-of-the-art practice environment that will benefit our sports and student-athletes for decades to come. We are grateful to the members of the Magill Society for helping make this facility become a reality.”

The new facility is connected to Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall and stretches north and south along the western side of Rutherford Street.

See FACILITY on page 8

2 Feb. 27, 2017 columns.uga.edu

GLOBAL GEORGIA INITIATIVE

Around academe

Report: Universities enroll more international graduate students

International graduate student enrollment at U.S. universities grew by 5 percent between the fall 2015 and 2016 semesters, according to a new report from the Council of Graduate Schools.

More than one in three international enrollees were from China. India was a close second, accounting for 27 percent of first-time foreign grad student enrollees.

The majority of international graduate students applied for or enrolled in engineering, math, computer science or business programs.

Donations to colleges, universities in US top $41 billion in 2016

Donations to colleges and universities totaled almost $1 billion more in 2016 than in the previous fiscal year, a new report from the Council for Aid to Education shows.

U.S. institutions raised $41 billion, but inflation accounts for the majority of that difference.

Gifts from individuals decreased while organizations, foundations and corporations contributed more than in 2015, accounting for more than $23 billion in donations.

Tax season scams to watch out for as deadline to file approaches

News to Use

Because April 15 will fall on a Saturday and Monday, April 17, is a holiday in Washington, D.C., the tax deadline this year is Tuesday, April 18. Be alert to tax scams during tax season. They include: • Tax relief scams: If someone offers to reduce your taxes be wary—especially if money needs to be paid up front. (The scammers will take it and run.) If you need to use a tax relief business, check them out thoroughly first.

• Federal Student Tax: Did you receive a bill for the Federal Student Tax this year? No? Good, because it doesn’t exist. You may be contacted by scammers if you are a student or the parent of a student.

• Fake Affordable Care Act notices: Scammers send a fake notice designed to look like an official ACA bill. The IRS sends notices of adjustment, not ACA bills.

• Phishy Tax Preparers: Criminals may claim to be tax preparers to trick you into giving away personal information. If you get an unsolicited email from a tax preparer, avoid clicking on links or opening attachments. Just delete the message. Also, if any tax preparer asks you to pay cash for part or all of your taxes, that’s a huge red “it’s-a-scam” flag.

• Fake IRS Agents: Criminals pose as IRS agents to call and attempt to scare you into complying with their demands. Don’t be fooled. If there is a problem, the IRS almost always makes first contact by sending a letter through the U.S. mail.

Source: Enterprise Information Technology Services

In-state UGA alumni

More than 194,200 UGA alumni reside in Georgia’s 159 counties. The top 10 counties in which UGA 17,109 alumni lived as of 4,716 Sept. 23, 2016: 5,531

4,823 18,850

16,263

13,322 5,720

28,974

Source: 2016 UGA Fact Book

4,604

Pulitzer Prize winner discusses ethical memory at Craige Lecture

By Krista Richmond krichmond@uga.edu

According to Viet Thanh Nguyen, all wars are fought twice—first on the battlefield, then in the public’s memory.

“I think that’s true for all wars, and it’s certainly true for the Vietnam War,” he said. “We’ve been waging war in our memory since 1975 about how to interpret the significance of the Vietnam War.” Nguyen discussed the dual nature of his own memories of the Vietnam War and the role they play in his writing with a crowd of 300 people at the 2017 Betty Jean Craige Lecture, “Nothing Ever Dies: Ethical Memory and Radical Writing in The Sympathizer.”

Held Feb. 13 as part of the Signature Lecture Series, the lecture is named for Craige, University Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature and a former director of the Willson Center.

Born in Ban Me Thuot, Vietnam, in 1971, Nguyen and his family came to the U.S. as refugees in 1975 and settled in San Jose, California, in 1978. Those experiences shaped his memory of the war and his views on its depiction, adding that he watched “almost every movie Hollywood made about the Vietnam War” and wondered “who was I at that moment? Was I the spectator identifying with the American

soldiers? Or was I the Vietnamese? I recognized ... that I was both and that I was split in two.

“I knew it shaped me,” he said. “The Vietnamese people were not forgotten in the history of the Vietnam War in the United States. We were remembered and forgotten at the same time.”

His 2015 novel The Sympathizer, a Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction, tells the story of a double agent in the South Vietnamese army who flees with its remnants to America in 1975, continuing his efforts in the lost war amid the refugee community of Los Angeles.

The 2016 follow-up, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, examines how the memorialization of the Vietnam War by all of its participants helps to obscure important truths about war’s ravages of all humanity and to hinder the true reconciliation that might prevent future conflicts.

“Both sides of every conflict are complex and deserve the complex treatment of full and sophisticated stories,” he said.

Specifically, Nguyen talked about the three models of ethical memory.

The first is “remembering our own,” or nationalism, which leads people to believe “we” are human and “they” are inhuman. The second is “remembering others.” In the liberal sense, Nguyen said this model is the idea that we are

SCHOOL OF LAW

Federal judge to give School of Law’s annual Edith House Lecture

By Lona Panter

all human. The more radical version of the second model leads people to believe that “we” are inhuman and “they” are human. The third model is “remembering inhumanity,” or the idea that “we” are human and inhuman and “they” are human and inhuman.

Nguyen pointed out that this last model “doesn’t patronize or condescend to ‘others’ and it doesn’t idealize or demonize ‘us.’ Instead, it recognizes that both sides in any given conflict are equally capable of humanity and inhumanity.”

Nguyen’s visit, which also included a Feb. 14 public conversation, “Vietnam/ War/Memory/Justice: A Conversation with Viet Thanh Nguyen,” hosted by the Dean Rusk International Law Center, was co-sponsored by the comparative literature department, the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the Rusk Center, the President’s Venture Fund, the Office of the Dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of International Education and the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association. It is part of the Global Georgia Initiative, which presents global problems in local context with a focus on how the arts and humanities can intervene and is made possible by the support of private individuals and the Willson Center Board of Friends.

GRADUATE-PROFESSIONAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION

New interdisciplinary symposium seeks to connect researchers

lonap@uga.edu

By Leigh Beeson

U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will present “Reflections on My Journey as a Mother and a Judge” at the UGA School of Law’s 35th Edith House Lecture. Open free to the public, the lecture will be held March 2 at 3:30 p.m. in the school’s Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom.

Jackson has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 2013. She also served four years as a vice chair and commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a post she held until December 2014.

Ketanji Prior to her service on the SenBrown Jackson tencing Commission, Jackson worked as counsel at Morrison & Foerster, where she focused on criminal and civil appellate litigation in both state and federal courts. She previously served as an assistant federal public defender in the appeals division of the Office of the Federal Public Defender in the District of Columbia and as assistant special counsel at the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Jackson has served as a law clerk to three federal judges: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for the First Circuit Bruce M. Selya and U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Massachusetts Patti B. Saris.

She is currently a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University and the Council of the American Law Institute. She also serves on the board of the D.C. Circuit Historical Society.

Jackson earned her bachelor’s degree in government, magna cum laude, from Harvard-Radcliffe College, and earned her law degree from Harvard Law School, where she served as a supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review.

The Edith House Lecture is sponsored by the Women Law Students Association in honor of one of the first female graduates of Georgia Law. House, a native of Winder, was co-valedictorian of the law class of 1925, the first to graduate women.

This event is a part of the law school’s ongoing initiative, Georgia WILL (Georgia Women in Law Lead). Georgia WILL is a celebration of the centenary date on which the Georgia state legislature authorized women to practice law in Georgia.

For more information on the event and to RSVP, contact Emily V. Cox at emily.cox@uga.edu.

The Graduate-Professional Student Association is offering the UGA community a chance to see presentations on research from all over campus and across the Southeast at the inaugural Integrative Research and Ideas Symposium.

The all-day event will feature research talks, a poster session and keynote speakers Mike McHargue, best known for his podcast Ask Science Mike; Maarten Bos, a researcher at Disney Research; and J. Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences and director of the atmospheric sciences program in UGA’s geography department. The conference includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, and attendees can sign up in advance to share tables with others who share research interests at the meals.

“All graduate students benefit from the opportunity to present and receive feedback on their work,” said Suzanne Barbour, dean of UGA’s Graduate School.

Cross-disciplinary events like IRIS give researchers the opportunity to see what’s going on in other departments across campus and in other universities and potentially adapt research methods from other disciplines or collaborate on interdisciplinary projects.

“While most students are excited to discuss ideas with peers from different departments, it can be hard to find time to get together when we are literally spread all over campus,” said Jessica Chappell, outreach and social programs coordinator for GPSA. “Those of us helping to plan IRIS are ecstatic to be providing this space for conversations to occur and perhaps result in collaborations across disciplines.”

At research institutions like UGA, there’s an expectation that the university will hold large research events, said Michael Snell, president of GPSA and a key force in organizing the conference. Gatherings like IRIS offer a university-wide networking opportunity for student researchers.

Another hope is that the conference will prompt interdisciplinary research projects that may lead to more grants and awards in the future, Snell said.

The symposium will be held March 20 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Tate Center. Registration can be completed in person at the Tate Center cashier window or online until March 19 at http://graduatestudents.org/iris/. The $15 registration fee ($25 with parking) covers all meals and access to all events, including a post-conference gathering at The Foundry at 8:30 p.m.

lbeeson@uga.edu

RESEARCH NEWS

columns.uga.edu Feb. 27, 2017

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Digest International scholar to lead Feb. 28 Discussions without Borders forum

File photo

Pamela Orpinas’ research suggests that a “cluster of problem behaviors” may be evident as early as the sixth grade.

‘Problem behaviors’

Study: Intimate partner violence among youth linked to suicide, weapons and drug use

By Leigh Beeson lbeeson@uga.edu

Adolescents who are violent toward their romantic partners are also more likely to think about or attempt suicide, carry a weapon, threaten others with a weapon, and use drugs or alcohol than peers in nonviolent relationships, according to new research from UGA. The study, published recently in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, followed a randomly selected cohort of 588 Georgia students for seven consecutive years as they progressed through middle and high school. During that period, students self-reported instances of slapping, kicking, punching, scratching or shoving a romantic partner; slamming a partner against a wall; throwing something at a partner that could cause injury; or using an object to injure a partner.

“Intimate partner violence is a serious public health problem,” said Pamela Orpinas, lead author of the study and professor of health promotion and behavior in UGA’s College of Public Health. “It affects people in the moment because of the aggression, but it also has long-term consequences.”

In a previous study, the researchers identified two groups from their cohort: students who were not involved in dating violence during the seven years of the

study and students with an increasing probability of violence. Two-thirds of the students indicated low to nonexistent levels of physical violence, but one-third had an increasing probability of committing acts of physical aggression toward a romantic partner.

Students in this latter group were two to three times more likely to think about killing themselves and to attempt suicide than peers who reported low levels of physical violence in their romantic relationships.

More than half of the students in violent relationships reported carrying a weapon at least once during the study period while less than a third of the low- to no-violence group reported the same. Almost one out of every two students in abusive relationships reported threatening someone with a weapon; fewer than one in five of the students in the nonabusive group said they used a weapon to intimidate someone.

Both groups increased their levels of alcohol and marijuana use over the course of the study at the same rate.

However, students in violent relationships reported higher substance use levels overall. This group continued to use more marijuana and alcohol and report more instances of getting drunk throughout the seven-year study.

“It’s clear that this problem is not

an isolated event,” Orpinas said. “This study shows how dating violence relates to suicidal thoughts, to weapon carrying, and to alcohol and drug use. If you mix all that together, you have a very deadly combination.”

This “cluster of problem behaviors” was evident by the sixth grade, meaning that there were already different levels of violence, drug use, suicidal thoughts and carrying a weapon between students in violent relationships and their peers in nonabusive relationships in the first year of the survey.

“This study shows that we need to start very early, earlier than sixth grade, with prevention programs that target this complex group of behaviors,” Orpinas said. “Programs targeting one behavior are less likely to be successful. This is a complicated syndrome of behaviors.”

Lusine Nahapetyan, an assistant professor of kinesiology and health studies at Southeastern Louisiana University, and Natalia Truszczynski, a doctoral student in the health promotion and behavior department at UGA, co-authored the study, which is available at http://link. springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964017-0630-7. The study was funded by grants from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and the Centers for Disease Control.

COLLEGE OF FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES

Barriers limit households’ access to financial services

By Cal Powell

jcpowell@uga.edu

While black households see value in using financial planning services, most don’t pursue it due to barriers to entry including large gaps in income and net worth relative to other ethnic groups, according to a UGA researcher.

Black and Hispanic households have significantly fewer financial assets compared to white and Asian households, in addition to lower levels of education, less willingness to take financial risks and a shorter horizon for planning for the future.

All of these factors are predictors of the use of financial planning services.

Notably, when these variables were controlled, research showed that black households were actually more likely to consult a financial planner, suggesting usage rates might be higher if the playing field were more level.

“I believe our findings suggest that

black households understand there is value in financial planning and they’re more likely to use financial planners than other households, but they just have these barriers to entry,” said Kenneth White, an assistant professor in the financial planning, housing and consumer economics department in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Among those barriers, White said, is the low number of black financial planners in the industry and low levels of trust among black households for financial institutions.

Black households also have less net worth and fewer financial assets relative to whites and Asians, which makes them less attractive to providers operating under a traditional fee structure.

An analysis of the Survey of Consumer Finances, a cross-sectional, nationally representative data set published every three years by the Federal Reserve Board, showed black households had the

lowest mean net worth—$95,261—of the four ethnic groups studied.

By contrast, white households had the highest mean net worth at $678,737, followed by Asian households at $575,511.

Relative to those gaps, however, the income gap between white and black households was not as significant at $101,731 to $42,208.

White suggested a change in the fee structure to include hourly rates or a monthly fee rather than a model based on assets and net worth might make financial planning services more attractive to black households.

Although there are challenges with an hourly or monthly model, it still may make financial planning services more accessible to black households, White said.

The paper, “Financial Planner Use Among Black and Hispanic Households,” appeared in the September 2016 issue of the Journal of Financial Planning.

Debora Santo will lead the second Discussions without Borders forum at UGA with a talk describing her perspective of Western Europe and the U.S. as a Serbian scholar. The presentation, which is open free to the public, will be held Feb. 28 from 6-7 p.m. in the main conference room of the International Education building. Refreshments will be provided.

Santo was born and raised in Serbia, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in molecular biology. Santo said her passion always has been zoology, and some of her research focused on ants and bees, two examples of insects living in complexly regulated societies. During her studies, she was involved in biological research, zoology, work with nongovernmental organizations, environmental groups, sports and music.

In 2014, Santo began her doctoral studies in plant genetics at the University of Marche in Ancona, Italy, and interned at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Montpellier, France. She relocated to Athens in January to finish her research on the evolutionary processes of domestication in the common bean.

Sundance-selected documentary to screen at Cine and UGA with filmmakers’ Q&A

The Dean Rusk International Law Center and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts will present screenings of the new documentary 500 Years March 2 at 7 p.m. at Cine and March 3 at 12:15 p.m. in Classroom F of Hirsch Hall.

The screenings are part of the programming for the 10th anniversary conference of IntLawGrrls, an international law blog written primarily by women, which the Rusk Center is hosting. Director Pamela Yates and producer Paco de Oni will take part in audience discussions following each screening. Both screenings are open free to the public.

The 2017 film, Yates’ eighth to be selected for the Sundance Film Festival, continues the story of the struggle for human rights by the indigenous Mayan people of Guatemala that Yates began in her earlier films When the Mountains Tremble (1983) and Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (2011).

The screening, part of the Willson Center’s 2017 Global Georgia Initiative, is presented in partnership with the School of Law’s Georgia Women in Law Lead initiative, the Institute of Native American Studies, the Women Law Students Association and International Law Society, the American Society of International Law and its Women in International Law Interest Group, and the Planethood Foundation.

Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases to host symposium on April 27

Registration is now open for the 27th annual Molecular Parasitology and Vector Biology Symposium which will be held April 27 at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

This daylong regional conference, hosted by the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, on parasites and host/parasite interaction drew more than 150 attendees last year from many departments in at least four colleges or schools at UGA and colleagues from other institutions in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee.

This year’s keynote speaker is Rick Fairhurst from NIAID Malaria Pathogenesis and Human Immunity Unit. A physician who also holds a doctorate, Fairhurst studies the mechanisms of human resistance to malaria in Mali and parasite resistance to antimalarial drugs in Cambodia.

Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and other researchers are invited to present their research in either an oral or poster presentation. Abstracts for these presentations are due by April 13.

There is no cost to attend the symposium, or the full catered lunch, but registration is required.

For more information and to register, visit http://ctegd.uga.edu/events/symposium/. The registration deadline is April 24.

PERIODICALS POSTAGE STATEMENT Columns (USPS 020-024) is published weekly during the academic year and

biweekly during the summer for the faculty and staff of the University of Georgia by the Division of Marketing & Communications. Periodicals postage is paid in Athens, Georgia. Postmaster: Send off-campus address changes to Columns, UGA Marketing & Communications, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Athens, GA 30602-1999.

For a complete listing of events at the University of Georgia, check the Master Calendar on the web (calendar.uga.edu/­).

The following events are open to the public, unless otherwise specified.

Dates, times and locations may change without advance notice.

UGAGUIDE

EXHIBITIONS

Artists of the New York School. Through March 19. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu Driving Forces: Sculpture by Lin Emery. Through April 2. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu To Spin a Yarn: Distaffs, Folk Art and Material Culture.

Through April 16. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu Advanced and Irascible. Through April 30. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu Expanding Tradition: Selections from the Larry D. and Brenda A.

Hodgson Wind Ensemble to celebrate jazz, Gershwin in March 2 concert

Thompson Collection. Through May 7. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu

Equality Under the Law: History of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Through May 12. ­Hargrett Library Gallery, special collections libraries. 706-542-8079. jclevela@uga.edu Necessary Words & Images: 70 Years of The Georgia Review.

Through May 12. ­Hargrett Library Gallery, special collections libraries. 706-542-8079. jclevela@uga.edu Michael Ellison: Urban Impressions. Through May 21. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu (See story, below.)

The NCAA Tennis Tournament in Athens. Through May 30.

Rotunda, special collections libraries. 706-542-5788. hasty@uga.edu On the Stump—What Does it Take to Get Elected in Georgia?

Through Aug. 18. Special collections libraries. 706-542-5788. jhebbard@uga.edu

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27 MIDTERM For spring semester WRITE@UGA 2017 EXHIBIT This event will feature writing programs, initiatives and publications associated with UGA. This exhibit will be the culminating event of Write@UGA 2017. 11:30 a.m. Tate Student Center. lharding@uga.edu, eadavis@uga.edu

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 LECTURE “Home Court Advantage: Promoting Pro-Level Diversity in the Atlanta Hawks,” Nzinga Shaw, senior vice president of community and chief diversity and inclusion officer at the Atlanta Hawks and Phillips Arena Organization. Noon. G23 Aderhold Hall.

Cynthia Johnston Turner will direct the Hodgson Wind Ensemble in the next Thursday Scholarship Series performance March 2.

By Clarke Schwabe ccschwabe@uga.edu

The Hodgson Wind Ensemble, the premier wind band at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, embraces jazz for its Thursday Scholarship Series concert, performing works by Swedish trombonist and composer Christian Lindberg and American music icon George Gershwin in Hodgson Concert Hall March 2 at 7:30 p.m.

The concert begins with Lindberg’s Concerto for Winds and Percussion, written in 2003. Lindberg dedicated the piece to the Swedish Wind Ensemble and tailored each part to the players of that ensemble. Cynthia Johnston Turner, director of the Hodgson Wind Ensemble, believes her performers are equally suited to the task.

“It’s a tour de force for everyone—highly virtuosic and great fun,” said Johnston Turner.

The Lindberg performance will also give the Hodgson Hall audience a preview of a performance the wind ensemble will give two weeks later at the College Band Directors National Association in Kansas City. One of 10 college ensembles playing at the national event, the Hodgson Wind Ensemble was selected by blind audition to perform for musicians from around the country.

The remainder of the evening’s program consists of works by Gershwin, whom Johnston Turner calls “one of this country’s great musical treasures.”

“An American in Paris” is one of Gershwin’s more popular works and was written following his trip to the French capital in 1926. Gershwin scored the piece for the standard symphony orchestra instrumentation as well as celesta, saxophones and even automobile horns—the premiere used authentic Parisian taxi horns Gershwin had brought back to the U.S. “American” is full of the jazz influence that was present in much Parisian music of the time, but as it is meant to portray an American traveler in the French city, there is a moment where the music turns to more of a blues style, to show that “our American friend ... has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness,” as Gershwin described it.

Gershwin’s most popular work, “Rhapsody in Blue,” is the final piece of the program. This performance of Gershwin’s masterpiece will see the Hodgson Wind Ensemble joined by Evgeny Rivkin, professor of piano at the Hodgson School.

The piece, commissioned to be a concertolike work for an all-jazz concert and written and premiered in 1924, was initially met with mixed reviews from mainstream critics. But the public made its opinion clear immediately: The band that premiered “Rhapsody” performed the piece 84 times over the next three years, and the recording of the work sold a million copies in that span.

Tickets to the concert are $20 each or $6 with a UGA student ID and can be purchased at pac.uga.edu or the PAC box office. Those unable to attend can watch the concert live on the Hodgson School’s website at music.uga.edu/streaming.

ECOLOGY SEMINAR “The Politics and Research Behind Pollution, Climate Change, Disease and Biodiversity Declines,” Jason Rohr, University of South Florida. A reception will follow the seminar at 4:30 p.m. in the Odum School lobby. 3:30 p.m. Auditorium, ecology building.

706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu ROMANCE LANGUAGES COLLOQUIUM “Bridges Made of Water, Not Walls Made of Steel—Literary Translation,” Amanda Powell, University of Oregon. 4:30 p.m.

118 Gilbert Hall. lexjulia@uga.edu BASEBALL vs. Kennesaw State. $5-$8. 5 p.m. Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

REST OF THE STORY BOOK CLUB MEETING Visitors who want to learn more about the exhibitions and collections at the special collections libraries are invited to join this monthly book club with light refreshments and discussion on works connected to upcoming/ongoing exhibitions and programs. The monthly titles are selected (and discussions led) by special collections staff. 5:30 p.m. 258 special collections libraries. 706-542-5788. jhebbard@uga.edu DISCUSSIONS WITHOUT BORDERS “Westward from the Balkans: From Growing up in Serbia to Taking on the World,” Debora Santo. 6 p.m. Main conference room, Office of International Education building. 706-542-2900. immigration@uga.edu (See Digest, page 3.)

MUSIC THERAPY MUSICALE The Music Therapy Musicale will feature students and faculty from the UGA Music Therapy Program in performances of the many styles of music used in therapy, from pop and rock to blues and classical. 8 p.m. Edge Recital Hall, Hugh Hodgson School of Music. 706-542-4752. ccschwabe@uga.edu

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1 ASH WEDNESDAY Christian religious observance.

TOUR AT TWO Tour of the permanent collection led by docents. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu SOFTBALL vs. Kennesaw State. 6 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.

706-542-1621.

MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Auburn. $15. 6:30 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum. 706-542-1231.

CONCERT Maggie Snyder, violist in the UGA Franklin Quartet and a faculty member at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, will perform with guest artist Tim Lovelace. The recital features works from Schumann, Julius Rontgen, Garrett Byrnes and the world premiere of a solo viola piece by composer Libby Larsen. 8 p.m.

Ramsey Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center. 706-542-4752. ccschwabe@uga.edu

THURSDAY, MARCH 2 NATURE RAMBLERS Join Nature Ramblers and learn more about the natural areas, flora and fauna of the State Botanical Garden. This is a ramble not a hike; the group will stop to view interesting plants, insects, butterflies, mushrooms, etc., along the way. 9:30 a.m. Meet at Shade Garden Arbor, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6448.

35TH ANNUAL EDITH HOUSE LECTURE "Reflections on My Journey as a Mother and a Judge," U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The Edith House

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/.

Lecture Series brings outstanding female legal scholars and practitioners to Athens. 3:30 p.m. Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom, Hirsch Hall. emily.cox@uga.edu

LECTURE “Life and Death in Early Colonial American Settlements,” Douglas Owsley, division head of physical anthropology and curator at the Smithsonian Institution. The lecture will include information about his findings during the excavation of the historic Jamestown Colony. 7 p.m. M. Smith Griffith Auditorium, Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1395, 706-542-1480.

GLOBAL GEORGIA INITIATIVE: SCREENING OF ‘500 YEARS’ The Sundance-selected 2017 documentary 500 Years continues the story of the Guatemalan indigenous Mayan peoples’ human rights struggle that began in director Pamela Yates’ earlier films When the Mountains Tremble (1983) and Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (2011). Yates and Paco de Onis, producer of 500 Years and Granito, will take part in a discussion following the screening. 7 p.m. CAGTECH. (See Digest, page 3.)

THURSDAY SCHOLARSHIP SERIES CONCERT Join the Hodgson Wind Ensemble for a night of jazz-inspired fun as they share works by Christian Lindberg and George Gershwin, including “Rhapsody in Blue” with soloist Evgeny Rivkin, professor of piano. Tickets are available at pac.uga.edu. $20; $6 with a UGA student ID. 7:30 p.m. Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall. 706-542-4752. ccschwabe@uga.edu (See story, left.)

FRIDAY, MARCH 3 FRIENDS FIRST FRIDAY: GROWING DAHLIAS IN GEORGIA Henry Everett will show pictures and explain the steps of growing dahlias in Georgia. $12, includes breakfast. 9 a.m.

Gardenside Room, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6138. lpbryant@uga.edu MORNING MINDFULNESS WORKSHOP The Georgia Museum of Art invites participants into the galleries to take part in free guided mindfulness meditation sessions, held every other Friday during the spring semester. Sessions include instructor-led meditation followed by a period of reflection. Reservations are encouraged; call 706-542-0448 or email sagekincaid@uga.edu. 9:30 a.m. Georgia Museum of Art. INTERNATIONAL COFFEE HOUR 11:30 a.m. Memorial Hall Ballroom. 706-542-5867. isl@uga.edu

By Bobby Tyler btyler@uga.edu

The UGA Performing Arts Center will present The Chieftains March 13 at 8 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall. Six-time Grammy Award winners, The Chieftains are widely recognized for reinventing traditional Irish music on an international scale.

The Chieftains were the first Western musicians to perform on the Great Wall of China, and they were the first ensemble to perform a concert in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. In 2010, their collaborations reached new heights when Paddy Moloney’s tin whistle and Matt Molloy’s flute traveled with NASA astronaut Cady Coleman to the International Space Station.

During Pope John Paul II’s 1979 visit to Ireland, The Chieftains performed for a live audience of more than 1.3 million. In 2012, marking their 50th anniversary, The Chieftains were awarded the inaugural National Concert Hall Lifetime Achievement Award at a gala event in Philadelphia hosted by the American Ireland Fund, “in recognition of their tremendous contribution to the music industry worldwide and the promotion of the best of Irish culture.”

Tickets for The Chieftains’ concert are $31 to $72 and can be purchased at the Performing Arts Center, online at pac.uga.edu or by calling the box office at 706-542-4400. UGA students can purchase tickets for $6 with a valid UGA ID, limit one ticket per student.

The Chieftains will perform March 13 at 8 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall.

MONDAY, MARCH 6 STUDENT SPRING BREAK No classes March 6-10; offices open. Classes resume March 13.

BASEBALL vs. UAB. $5-$8. 1 p.m. Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

SOFTBALL vs. Central Connecticut State. 3:30 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.

706-542-1621.

SOFTBALL vs. Michigan State. 6 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium. 706-542-1621.

SUNDAY, MARCH 5

COMING UP TOUR AT TWO March 8. Join Annelies Mondi, deputy director and curator of the exhibition, for a special tour of works by Lin Emery in the sculpture garden. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu ANNUAL CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION DISPLAY March 10. The only surviving copy of the Constitution of the Confederate States will be on display. Due to its fragility, it is only displayed one day a year. 8 a.m. Hargrett Library galleries, special collections libraries. 706-542-8079. jclevela@uga.edu

BASEBALL vs. UAB. $5-$8. 1 p.m. Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

SOFTBALL vs. Michigan State. 1:30 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.

706-542-1621.

BASEBALL March 10. vs. Rider. $5-$8. 6 p.m. Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

GYMNASTICS vs. Alabama. Children-only autographs post-meet. $10 adults;

BASEBALL March 11. vs. Rider. $5-$8. 1 p.m. Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

Late Atlanta printmaker’s work on display through May 21 at Georgia Museum of Art

By Hannah McCollum hannahjm@uga.edu

The Georgia Museum of Art at UGA is showing the exhibition Michael Ellison: Urban Impressions through May 21.

Organized by Shawnya Harris, the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art, the exhibition features block prints and collage works on paper by the Atlanta-based printmaker. This exhibition is part of the museum’s commitment to presenting single-artist shows by under-recognized African-American artists.

Ellison was born in New York City but grew up in Collier Heights, a middle-class African-American neighborhood in southwest Atlanta. He studied art The work of Michael Ellison will be on display at the on the GI Bill at the Atlanta College of Art, where Georgia Museum of Art through May 21. he learned printmaking. The title of the exhibition comes from the way in which one of Ellison’s early artist. As he began to recover and relearn how to printmaking instructors, Norman Wagner, described make prints, he created works with striking colors Ellison’s subject matter, referring to his prints as focusing on scenes of isolation and community in “urban landscapes and/or impressions.” urban landscapes. The Coca-Cola Corp., the Federal Ellison continued his education at Georgia State Reserve, Georgia Pacific and the High Museum of University, graduating with a master’s degree in visual Art all collected Ellison’s work. He enjoyed success arts. In 1985, he moved to teach at South Carolina through the end of the decade, creating a mural in State College (now South Carolina State University) the Five Points district of Atlanta and producing solo and later started an artist-in-residence program and exhibitions at the Hammonds House Galleries and taught at Clafin College. His passion for printmaking Georgia Institute of Technology. Ellison passed away flourished, and he developed a style that layered ink in 2001 from heart complications at age 48. thickly enough to create texture as well as bright colors.

Related exhibition events include a public tour with “Michael Ellison’s work represents an important Harris March 15 at 2 p.m., an Artful Conversation piece to the discussion of not only African-American led by Sage Rogers, assistant curator of education, printmakers, but also the history of Georgia-based April 26 at 2 p.m., and a Toddler Tuesday May 9 at printmakers, their unique narratives and their con- 10 a.m. (register by emailing callan@uga.edu). All tributions to the medium,” Harris said. events are open free to the public unless otherwise In 1991, an electrical fire badly disfigured the indicated.

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.

4&5

The Chieftains plan performance

$6 youth. 2 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum. 706-542-1621.

SATURDAY, MARCH 4

columns.uga.edu Feb. 27, 2017

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.

Trailblazers honored during Women’s History Month

By Terri Hatfield tlhat@uga.edu

In recognition of the 2017 national Women’s History Month theme “Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business,” the Institute for Women’s Studies at the University of Georgia will be sponsoring numerous programs in March.

The Institute for Women’s Studies will partner with the Office of Institutional Diversity, the Institute for African American Studies, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the Atlanta branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and the Athens Area Black History Bowl to bring Evelyn Higginbotham, professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, to UGA as part of the Women’s History Month programming.

Higginbotham, who received the 2014 National Humanities Medal from former President Barack Obama, is a renowned historian whose work has influenced the inclusion of women’s perspectives and voices in the development of oral history reports.

Her lecture, “ ‘The Metalanguage of Race’: Then and Now,” will take place March 16 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 271 of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. A reception will immediately follow the lecture.

Christine L. Williams, professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, will present this year’s keynote address. Williams’ research focuses on gender, race and class inequality in the workplace. Her most recent book, Inside Toyland: Working, Shopping, and Social Inequality, exposes how the social inequalities of gender, race and class are embedded within consumer culture through an examination of low-wage retail work.

Williams’ lecture, “Diversity, Flexibility and Instability: How the New Economy is Shaping Leadership Opportunities for Women,” will take place March 28 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 271 of the special collections libraries. A reception will immediately follow the lecture.

The Institute for Women’s Studies will continue its tradition of hosting a film festival during March featuring documentaries highlighting the often-untold stories of women fighting for equal pay and respect in the workforce. All film screenings are open free to the public and will take place at 6:30 p.m. in Room 271 of the special collections libraries.

This year’s festival will include Maggie Growls March 13; No Job for a Woman: The Women Who Fought to Report WWII March 20; and Made in L.A. March 27.

A complete list of Women’s History Month programming at UGA is available at http://iws.uga.edu/.

NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES March 1 (for March 13 issue) March 8 (for March 20 issue) March 15 (for March 27 issue)

6 Feb. 27, 2017 columns.uga.edu

FACULTY PROFILE

J. Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences and director of the atmospheric sciences program in UGA’s geography department, was awarded the Charles Franklin Brooks Award from the American Meteorological Society in recognition of his visionary leadership as AMS president and his service as an outstanding ambassador for the organization through outreach in popular and social media.

Tisha Lewis Ellison, an assistant professor in the language and literacy education department of the College of Education, recently received the Early Career Achievement Award from the Literacy Research Association for her significant contributions to the field of literacy research and education.

Lewis Ellison was awarded a plaque and $500 during the 2016 LRA conference on Dec. 1 in Nashville. The LRA is a nonprofit professional organization comprised of individuals who share an interest in advancing literacy theory, research and practice.

Using a critical sociocultural approach, Lewis Ellison examines how African-American families and adolescents construct agency, identity and power when using digital literacies as mediating tools to make sense of their lives.

Peter Smagorinsky, the Distinguished Research Professor of English Education in the language and literacy education department, was recently invited to serve on the James S. McDonnell Foundation Advisory Panel for a new education research program.

Founded in 1950 by aerospace pioneer James S. McDonnell, the foundation was established to improve the quality of life for future generations through its support of research Peter Smagorinsky and scholarship. JSMF awards grants through a peer-reviewed proposal process to support scholarly research and collaboration.

As part of the advisory panel, Smagorinsky will advise on requests for admission, letters of inquiry and serve on the proposal review panel. Funded research teams will present their work and interact with representatives of other funded research projects as well as advisory panel members.

Darris Means, an assistant professor in the counseling and human development services department in the College of Education, was recently selected as an Emerging Scholar Designee by the American College Personnel Association, a comprehensive student affairs organization that engages students in learning and discovery.

The Emerging Scholars Program supports, encourages and honors early-career individuals who are emerging as contribuDarris Means tors to higher education scholarship and are pursuing research initiatives that align with the mission, interests and strategic goals of the organization.

In addition to receiving a $3,000 research grant from ACPA to fund an empirical investigation, Means will undertake two leadership commitments, including serving on the editorial board for the Journal of College Student Development, a premier research journal focused on college students, and participating in an ACPA-sponsored video-recorded presentation.

Means is the current director of research for ACPA’s Coalition for LGBT Awareness and has been involved with the organization for over 10 years.

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.

Andrew Davis Tucker

School of Law assistant professor Jason Cade, front, started the Community Health Law Partnership (Community HeLP).

School of Law faculty member looks for legal solutions to health issues

By Heidi Murphy

hmurphy@uga.edu

When Jason Cade was offered the opportunity to start the Community Health Law Partnership (Community HeLP) Clinic at UGA in 2013, he jumped at the chance. The clinic, which seeks to address health-harming legal needs of low-income individuals, provides a much-needed service in the Athens area.

“The whole idea behind this clinic is that both short- and long-term health outcomes can be related to legal problems,” Cade said. “Our goal is to reduce chaos in a family’s life, to bring stability and to maximize their income potential or their support. These are things that can make a really big difference in a family’s health especially when you are talking about very low-income persons.”

Cade and the law students, who gain client and work experience through the Community HeLP Clinic, primarily work with professionals at Mercy Health Center, which provides medical care and other support for low-income and uninsured people in Athens and the surrounding areas.

As an illustration, Cade offered the situation where a person has access to asthma medication but lives in a house with severe mold issues, noting the medication will not alleviate the source of the asthma.

“There is often a social circumstance that is connected to a person’s health, and sometimes those social circumstances have a legal solution,” Cade said.“Those are the kinds of cases we work on.”

Most matters addressed by the clinic involve helping clients navigate public

benefits—increasing access to food stamps, in particular—but the clinic’s docket also often includes advanced care directives, disability issues and humanitarian immigration cases. Typically, the immigration cases involve people who have been victims of serious crime or domestic violence.

“In those cases where we have been able to get a person into a more stable family and work situation, that obviously makes a big difference in their income potential and in reducing stress and chaos—and corresponding poor health outcomes—in the family home,” said Cade, who also teaches and researches in the area of immigration law, which he was drawn to in part because of the “pace of the work.”

An immigration law practice involves “lots of ups and downs, often in a compressed period of time,” Cade said.

“You sometimes can be really creative as an immigration attorney, and there is complex code to navigate. When you are successful in an immigration case, it usually brings a life-changing outcome for your client, which is very gratifying.”

The public benefits/food stamps cases Cade and his clinic students encounter provide a sense of satisfaction as well.

“Sometimes the outcome can seem relatively small, but the impact is huge to the client,” he said. “The magnitude of the results for individuals is often hard to measure because, frankly, sometimes we are dealing with embarrassingly small amounts of assistance.

“However, it still stretches a person’s monthly income and provides a little bit of breathing room that can make the difference between a crisis situation and

FACTS

Jason Cade Director, Community Health Law Partnership Clinic and Assistant Professor School of Law J.D., Brooklyn Law School, 2005 A.B., English/Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1997 At UGA: 3.5 years

something more manageable,” he also said. “These cases are great for law students because they can see them through to completion while gaining real-life experience in interviewing, counseling, and written and oral advocacy.”

Cade said he has always enjoyed working with students as a practicing attorney in New York City and in his fellowship post at the New York University School of Law before joining the Georgia Law faculty.

There is “that sort of promise of the future, that someone is learning about and interested in pursuing the kind of work you are doing and that they may want to continue it,” he said. “For the areas of law that I work and teach and write in, there is a tremendous need for smart and committed attorneys.

“There is not a lot of money to be made in most types of immigration law practice, and there is even less in public benefits law,” he also said. “But I love helping students who want to explore this area of great need, and I try to assist those looking for ways to keep working in these and related fields, whether full time or as part of their pro bono service.”

RETIREES February Sixteen UGA employees retired Feb. 1.

Retirees, their job classification, department and years of service are: Susan J. Archambault, county secretary, UGA Cooperative Extension-Northwest District, 21 years, 11 months; Steven Dale Boyer, IT professional specialist, microbiology, 26 years, 1 month; R. David Brooks III, postal services assistant I, Mail & Receiving Services, 26 years, 5 months; V. Renee Dotson, senior public service associate, UGA Cooperative Extension-Northeast District, 28 years, 1 month; James D. Dutcher, professor,

entomology research, Coastal Plain Station, 38 years, 7 months; Louise Estabrook, public service representative, UGA Cooperative ExtensionNorthwest District, 10 years; John D. Gonczy, assistant research scientist, biochemistry and molecular biology, 17 years, 8 months; Jan M. Hathcote, registrar, Registrar’s Office, 26 years, 4 months; Murray E. Hines II, director, Tifton Diagnostic Lab, 23 years, 1 month; Robert L. McCurley, steam plant foreman, Facilities Management Division-Energy Services-Steam Production, 29 years, 9 months; Mary Helen Menken, administrative spe-

cialist I, English department, 10 years, 3 months; Lisa K. Poterfield, business manager II, Libraries-general operations, 30 years, 6 months; Charles E. Pou, library associate II, Librariesgeneral operations, 33 years, 7 months; Susan D. Thornton, records center manager, Administrative Services Division, 28 years; James Larry Varnadoe, public service assistant, UGA Cooperative Extension-Southwest District, 10 years, 7 months; and Rosetta Walker, food service worker I, Marine Institute, 32 years, 10 months.

Source: Human Resources

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Unique ‘Reservoir’ CAES student building startup based on smart irrigation technology

By Merritt Melancon jmerritt@uga.edu

Remote moisture sensors and smart irrigation rigs are promising to revolutionize the way farmers use water, but soon this same technology may be available to landscape managers and, eventually, homeowners.

UGA horticulture student Jesse Lafian has received a $5,000 grant from the UGA Office of Sustainability to develop a solar-powered, automated irrigation controller. The novel system will be tested at the UGArden student-run vegetable farm and at the crescent-shaped flower bed by the Miller Plant Sciences Building on the university’s Athens campus.

The technology is being tested as part of Lafian’s startup, Reservoir LLC, a business he launched in early 2016 and plans to grow after his graduation in May. “I have been working on conservation-related projects since graduating from high school,” said Lafian, a fourthyear student from upstate New York studying at the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

“When I started this project, I wanted to create an accurate and affordable way for researchers to measure plant-available water in soil.

Fortunately, it has evolved into an opportunity to reduce irrigation and expenses for many different customers.”

Lafian moved to Athens to work as a research assistant in the UGA College of Engineering in 2014 after receiving his associate’s degree from Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, New York, and completing a National Science Foundation-funded

Jesse Lafian, a fourth-year horticulture student, is developing a new smart irrigation system with the help of a $5,000 grant from the UGA Office of Sustainability.

oceanography internship.

He began completing requirements for his bachelor’s degree in fall 2015.

Lafian has applied for a patent on his sensor, which measures soil moisture in a novel way. He plans to sell his technology to managers of high-end landscaping companies and then to other types of customers, such as farmers, golf course superintendents and homeowners.

“Jesse’s system works fundamentally differently from the sensors I have used in the past,” said Marc van Iersel, a professor of horticulture at UGA, smart-irrigation pioneer and Lafian’s adviser.

“The soil moisture sensors I have been using measure how much water is in the soil, but not how tightly that water is held in the soil. Some—or much, depending on soil type—of the water in the soil cannot be extracted by plants because the soil holds it too tightly. Jesse’s sensor measures exactly that: how

tightly the water is bound to the soil. That tells us whether the plants can actually use that water.”

Lafian’s sensor will be able to control irrigation automatically based on plantwater availability, meaning sprinklers will only engage when plants have restricted access to water and will only run as long as it takes to restore adequate moisture.

Today, most automated irrigation systems are controlled by timers, regardless of soil moisture conditions.

Lafian’s invention is a particular kind of soil moisture sensor called a “tensiometer.”

Conventional tensiometers can be used to control irrigation systems, but they require constant supervision, making them unsuited for large-scale commercial applications. Lafian’s tensiometer doesn’t require nearly as much upkeep.

“What makes my device different is that it is maintenance-free,” Lafian said. “Regular tensiometers

WEEKLY READER

are mostly used in laboratory settings. They are impractical for large-scale field use because they must be monitored every few days to make sure they are still working correctly.”

Lafian developed his idea for the tensiometer in fall 2015 while taking a “Soils and Hydrology” class as part of his horticulture degree coursework. In spring 2016 he turned his idea into a business, and in the fall he participated in the Idea Accelerator program run

by Thinc. UGA and Four Athens, a local technology incubator. This eight-week entrepreneurship program helped Lafian identify the initial target market for his sensor.

Several managers at leading landscaping companies nationwide have already asked if they can test his prototype when it is ready. Lafian is using the grants he secured in late 2016 to develop and test the technology so that field trials can begin.

Lafian has previously raised grant money for this project: $2,000 from UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities and $1,500 from the CAES FABricate entrepreneurship program. That money has gone into testing various materials for the sensor.

This new grant from the Office of Sustainability will allow Lafian to hire UGA students in computer science and engineering to help fine-tune the device’s electronics and user interface—a cellphone app that will allow customers to view soil moisture data remotely. It will also fund the production of several prototypes, which will be tested at the UGArden and in the Carlton Street flower bed.

columns.uga.edu Feb. 27, 2017

MEIGS from page 1 ecological concepts. He has revitalized several course offerings in the Odum School and initiated the creation of several new courses, including the popular “Ecosystems of the World.” He created a seminar course in cross-disciplinary ecology that has brought faculty members and graduate students together for intellectual engagement on cuttingedge material. He also immerses students in ecological research on the coast of Georgia. Byers formerly served as the Odum School’s graduate coordinator and as the cofacilitator of a Faculty Learning Community, and he is a member of the UGA Teaching Academy.

Crepaz teaches students to approach research questions like a puzzle-solving project while engaging them in coursework that spurs discussion and critical thinking.

He has been a leader in building experiential learning opportunities for students, including resurrecting a study abroad program in Italy and launching a new study abroad program in South Africa that includes a service-learning component. In his “Politics, Film and Literature” class, he uses the power of the artistic narrative to draw students into the story and help them understand international affairs in a visceral way. He is the author of European Democracies, a leading textbook in his field.

Maerz uses active learning approaches such as simulations, mock journals, facilitated peer review and reflection, and service projects to engage students and help promote independent learning. He has studied and published on student confidence with scientific writing and attitudes on autonomous learning models. He chaired the revision of Warnell’s senior thesis program, which serves as a capstone course that fulfills the university’s experiential learning requirement, and he serves on curriculum committees for the Warnell School and University Council. He also teaches and mentors graduate students pursuing UGA’s Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in University Teaching. Maerz is a UGA Teaching Academy member and an inaugural Center for Teaching and Learning Writing Fellow.

Poulsen helped develop a class that allows students to gain experience in financial investment by managing a $1.3 million fund for the UGA Foundation. She also has developed courses for the Terry College’s study abroad programs at Oxford and in China. She formerly served as head of the banking and finance department. Poulsen is a former member of the President’s Faculty Advisory Committee and currently chairs the Student Life Committee of University Council and represents the council on the UGA Athletic Association Board of Directors. She is managing co-editor of the Journal of Corporate Finance, a member of the UGA Teaching Academy and a former Senior Teaching Fellow.

Russell is an award-winning media historian who also uses 21st-century tools such as social media to prepare her public relations students for their careers. She developed a blog on teaching that became a resource for public relations students and faculty members around the globe. Russell has been hailed a “Top 40 Tweeter” by PRWeek, and her students have been commended by the Public Relations Student Society of America Bateman competition five times, winning a national championship in 2007. She created the popular campus-wide course “Online Reputation Management” and collaborated on the creation of an online continuing education social media certificate course.

Meigs Professors are nominated by their school or college and chosen by a committee consisting of 12 faculty members, two undergraduate students and one graduate student.

CYBERSIGHTS

ABOUT COLUMNS

Book analyzes high-performance fibers

Structure and Properties of High-Performance Fibers

By Gajanan Bhat Woodhead Publishing Hardcover: $265

Gajanan Bhat, Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Fibers and Textiles and a department head in UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences, has published a textbook that analyzes highperformance fibers and the properties that make them useful in the fiber and textile industries.

Structure and Properties of HighPerformance Fibers explores the relationship between the structure and properties of a range of high-performance fibers such as inorganic, carbon, synthetic polymer and natural fibers that can be used to create advanced textiles.

Separated into three sections, Structure and Properties of High-Performance Fibers includes contributions from an international team of authors. The book offers industry professionals, academic researchers and postgraduate students working in the field of fiber science up-to-date coverage of new and advanced materials for the fiber and textile industries.

It is available in print or as an e-book via Elsevier.com.

7

Columns is available to the community by ­subscription for an annual fee of $20 (secondclass 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

Grady College debuts redesigned website

grady.uga.edu

Grady College has unveiled its redesigned website.

The redesign was led by Red Clay Interactive under the direction of the college’s communications and IT teams. Using a WordPress platform, the redesign focuses on mobile responsiveness, strong visuals and incorporating social media.

Other features of the new site

include a Student Spotlight highlighting student work, an enhanced alumni news section, a social media aggregator on the home page, and an improved research section featuring faculty papers and links to media stories with faculty quotes.

A robust section with news features and an expanded page talking about, and linking to, the Peabody Awards programs are also included.

Art Director Jackie Baxter Roberts Photo Editor Dorothy Kozlowski Senior Writer Aaron Hale Communications Coordinator Krista Richmond The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.

The University of Georgia is a unit of the University System of Georgia.

8 Feb. 27, 2017 columns.uga.edu

FACILITY

from page 1 Full dimensions of the football practice field are 140 yards long and 80 yards wide.

The Woodruff practice field complex will now include the new indoor facility with artificial turf, two natural grass football practice fields and an outdoor artificial turf multi-purpose area.

“We are all grateful and appreciative of the many donors who stepped up and provided the entire funding for this facility,” said Smart. “This new indoor facility is a remarkable addition to our overall football footprint. It opens many new doors for the opportunities our student-athletes will have to practice not only in adverse weather

EVENT from page 1

conditions but also provides a first-class working environment for parts of our strength and conditioning and nutrition programs.”

During construction, the football team practiced at a location off South Milledge Avenue near the UGA soccer-softball complex. For the past year the football team has used a temporary practice area that is part of the UGA Club Sports Complex.

On that location, the Athletic Association constructed two new full-length natural grass fields and one full-length artificial turf field, which will now be returned to the UGA Club Sports program.

Chad Osburn

Students celebrate the announcement of UGA Miracle’s 2017 contribution of $1,352,705 to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

University of Georgia student.”

“The culture here of giving back is a huge emphasis,” she said. “When I first came to campus and saw the passion of the older students, that’s definitely something I wanted to strive to emulate.” $352,705.17—every dollar raised above $1 million—will support the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, specifically fellowships for oncology fellows at Emory University.

“How amazing to think that former Miracle members, who are students in that program now, could be one of those fellows one day,” said Caroline Brown, Miracle’s marketing director.

This was the 22nd annual Dance Marathon. The 24-hour event is a symbolic gesture in support of children who had to sacrifice much more of their own time to

combat illness in hospitals.

Since its inception, Miracle has raised more than $7 million for Children’s Healthcare—$3 million of that total from the last three years.

UGA Miracle offered several events throughout the past year, including the annual Doughnut Dare 5K and a $100 Day and More than 4 Percent Day, which raised more than $262,000 and $56,000, respectively. Greek Life organizations were responsible for nearly $1 million of the total.

Victor K. Wilson, vice president for student affairs, discussed the university’s admiration for the students.

“This is just one example of how our students impact the world in incredible ways before they even leave campus,” Wilson said.

“Just imagine what they will achieve in the future. I can’t wait to see.”

Bulletin Board University Woman’s Club

The University Woman’s Club will meet March 14 at 11 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Central Presbyterian Church, 380 Alps Road.

Guest speaker Mimi DuBose Gudenrath, a program specialist with the Georgia Department of Education, will discuss “A Journey with Glaucoma: My View of the World.”

A specialist in positive behavioral interventions and support services, Gudenrath travels the state and works with school systems to improve learning through behavioral techniques to facilitate learning for students. She will relate how glaucoma has affected her life and career.

Tickets for the spring luncheon will be available for purchase at the meeting.

Free golf clinics

Staff at the University of Georgia Golf Course will host free golf clinics for UGA staff and faculty March 16 and 23 from 5:30-6:45 p.m. with players from all skill levels welcomed to participate.

Each session will include long and short game instruction.

To reserve a space, email Clint Udell, PGA golf instructor, at cudell96@uga.edu and let him know if you would like to borrow golf clubs for the clinic.

TEDxUGA 2017 registration

Registration for TEDxUGA 2017 is now open.

The fifth annual celebration of “ideas worth spreading” will be held March 24 at the Classic Center.

Individuals may register for up

to two seats by providing a name and email address for each registrant. The registration fee, which is nontransferable and nonrefundable, is $15 per seat.

Organizers note that at TED events, there is no audience—only participants. For this reason, it is required that all individuals plan to attend the entire event, which will run from 1-5 p.m.

For more information, visit TEDxUGA.com. Additional details will be shared with registrants via email.

WIP course proposals

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

The WIP aims to enhance undergraduate education by emphasizing the importance of writing in the disciplines by offering “writingintensive” courses from classics to chemistry, from music to microbiology throughout the college.

Faculty who teach WIP courses are supported by a teaching assistant 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 14. Email questions to Lindsey Harding, program director, at lharding@uga.edu.

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

Andrew Davis Tucker

Head football coach Kirby Smart speaks to attendees inside the new Indoor Athletic Facility during the dedication ceremony.

LAWYERS

Andrew Davis Tucker

Hairy Dawg poses for a photo on the Super G in the middle of the field inside the new Indoor Athletic Facility after the dedication ceremony.

DEAN

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documentary, followed by a conversation with the filmmakers, including Pamela Yates, the director and an IntLawGrrls contributor. This Global Georgia Initiative event is co-sponsored by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the Institute of Native American Studies.

Other conference co-sponsors include Georgia Law’s International Law Society and Women Law Students Association, the American Society of International Law, Women in International Law Interest Group and the Planethood Foundation.

Registration and details are at http://www.law.uga.edu/intlawgrrls2016.

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and service, and I am confident that the best is yet to come under her leadership.”

Nolan has led the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University since 2011. She co-chaired a campus-wide “One Health-One Medicine” initiative that brought faculty members from across campus together to foster new collaborations that span animal, human and ecosystem health. The initiative has resulted in several faculty hires across campus and a significant enhancement of Iowa State’s research capacity.

To improve student learning outcomes, she oversaw a comprehensive curricular review, enhanced the assessment of teaching, and upgraded teaching labs and study spaces. The college met or exceeded all of its fundraising goals under her leadership, and it is now in the public phase of an ambitious campaign to increase scholarship support, enhance facilities and create additional endowed faculty chairs.

“Dr. Nolan has built an extraordinary career as a researcher, professor and administrator,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “We are fortunate to have such an outstanding alumna of the University of Georgia return to campus to lead the College of Veterinary Medicine to new heights of excellence.”

Prior to becoming dean of the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Nolan was founding director of the Great Plains Institute of Food Safety at North Dakota State University and chair of the department of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine at Iowa State. Her additional administrative experience includes service as associate dean of academic and

student affairs and associate dean of research and graduate studies.

Her research focuses on bacterial diseases that impact animal health, human health and food safety. She is the author or co-author of nearly 130 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, as well as private foundations. Her patents include a vaccine and a biomarker to assess avian E. coli virulence.

Nolan has received several honors over the course of her career, including being named a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and an honorary diplomate of the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society. She has received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Blue Key National Honor Society, the Philbro Animal Health Excellence in Poultry Research Award and the Academic Alumnus of the Year Award from the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, among other honors.

Nolan earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from UGA and also earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in medical microbiology from UGA. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Valdosta State College, now Valdosta State University.

“As a proud alumna, it has been thrilling to follow the College of Veterinary Medicine’s impressive growth and continuing excellence,” Nolan said. “I am honored to be able to partner with the college’s faculty, staff, students and alumni to further enhance the college’s impact on animal and human health.”