UGA Columns Feb 29, 2016

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Fulfilling the Dream Award recipients focus time, efforts on giving back to others CAMPUS NEWS

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The University of Georgia Former state Supreme Court chief justice to give Women’s History Month keynote address

February 29, 2016

Vol. 43, No. 27

‘Enduring impact’

www.columns.uga.edu

By Samantha Kiett and Stan Jackson

By Camie Williams

skiett@uga.edu, ugastan@uga.edu

camiew@uga.edu

See MEIGS on page 8

5

UGA Miracle raises more than $1M for Children’s Healthcare

Five UGA faculty members named Meigs Professors

Five UGA faculty members have been named Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors, the university’s highest recognition for excellence in instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

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, sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, includes a permanent salary increase of $6,000 and a one-year discretionary fund of $1,000.

“Our Meigs Professors are exemplars of the University of Georgia’s commitment to providing students with unparalleled learning experiences,” said Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “They have made enduring impacts on their students as well as on the institution as a whole.”

The 2016 Meigs Professors are: • Tim Foutz, a professor in the College of Engineering; • Stephanie Jones, a professor of educational theory and practice in the College of Education; • Karen Whitehill King, a professor of advertising and the Jim Kennedy Professor of New Media in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication; • Rodney Mauricio, a professor of genetics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; and • Tim Smalley, an associate professor of horticulture in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Foutz, who joined UGA in 1988, treats his classroom as a think tank to lead students toward viewing engineering as a mindset. He has played a dynamic role in the expansion of UGA’s engineering offerings.

He transformed the engineering curriculum by developing a series of courses on design theory and an integrated curriculum for biological engineering. His research on how to incorporate the humanities into engineering education has become a national model, and he has worked with K-12 teachers on blending engineering topics in mathematics, science and the social studies, helping increase student interest in STEM. Foutz was the inaugural director of the First-Year Odyssey Seminar Program and previously served as director of academic programs for the College of Engineering. He is a recipient of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education-Southeastern Section Outstanding Teaching Award.

Jones uses interdisciplinary approaches to help students better understand social class, gender and race within educational contexts where both inequality and equality can be produced. She has collaborated in the development or redesign of multiple courses and programs since she joined the faculty in 2007 and has partnered with university and community-based colleagues for projects involving writing, art, geography, food literacy and other topics. She has been widely published on the topic of teaching and learning, including three books that have become staples on syllabi across the nation.

Jones has received many accolades, including the 2015 First-Year Odyssey Seminar Teaching Excellence Award and the College of Education’s 2011 Ira E. Aaron Award for Teaching Excellence and Collegiality.

She has participated in the Lilly Teaching Fellowship and is currently a UGA Teaching Academy Fellow.

King has worked to create innovative experiential learning opportunities for students, including the development of the Grady PHD Worldwide Scholars Program; the Performics AdWords Certification program; the Moxie Social Media Strategy Bootcamp; and the Grady/ Turner Broadcasting partnership. She also led the development of the advertising and public relations 4 + 1 master’s program and has been involved in the development of international and online programs for the college and portions of the LG/Grady PR certificate and social media certificate programs.

King received the Charles H. Sandage Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Academy of Advertising in 2015 and the Donald G. Hileman Award as Educator of the Year for the Seventh District of the American Advertising Federation. She is a former Lilly Teaching Fellow and an inductee into the UGA Teaching Academy.

Mauricio brings a variety of active teaching methods to his introductory evolutionary biology classroom and other courses in genetics. He led an interdisciplinary team in creating a National Science Foundation-funded program that couples rigor in genetics with language and cultural training to prepare students for scientific work in China. He served as the

UGA GUIDE

Tim Foutz

Stephanie Jones

One organization at UGA strives to make sure all children— those with childhood illnesses and those without—are afforded the same opportunities for fun.

The university’s largest studentrun philanthropy, UGA Miracle, works annually to raise money and awareness for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, specifically Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

For 21 years, UGA Miracle has hosted Dance Marathon as its annual fundraising finale. The 24-hour event is a symbolic gesture in support of children who have had to sacrifice much more of their own

See MIRACLE on page 8

ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Groundbreaking held for new Indoor Athletic Facility

By Stephanie Schupska schupska@uga.edu

Karen Whitehill King

time to combat illness in hospitals.

Since its inception, the student organization has raised nearly $6 million for Children’s Healthcare, with more than $2 million of that total coming in the last three years.

From 10 a.m. on Feb. 20 to 10 a.m. the following morning, students, faculty and staff filled all three levels of the Tate Student Center, dancing, playing games and sharing stories. More than 2,100 UGA students raised a record-setting $1,068,358.16 for Children’s Healthcare.

UGA Miracle’s efforts not only benefit children with life-­ threatening illnesses, but also children who need stitches, have a concussion or just need a checkup.

Mounds of red clay peeked over paneled construction fences Feb. 16 as the official start of the UGA Indoor Athletic Facility was marked with a ceremonial groundbreaking.

The weather forecast the day before—of icy rain and freezing temperatures—accentuated the need for a building where UGA athletes of all types—from the baseball players going through warmup exercises on Foley Field to the UGA football team preparing for the upcoming season—can practice without concern for the weather.

Construction on the $30 million facility began in December and is scheduled for completion

in ­January 2017. It will include a 100-yard football practice field, a 65-meter track runway, jumping pits, a netting system, four retractable batting cages and other features that will maximize its use for UGA sports.

“This new state-of-the-art facility represents the University of Georgia’s commitment to providing our more than 550 talented student-athletes with the tools they need to succeed at the highest levels of competition,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead.

He specifically thanked donors of the Magill Society for going above and beyond to raise private funds for the project. Greg McGarity, the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, echoed his sentiments,

See GROUNDBREAKING on page 4

GRADY COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION Rodney Mauricio

Grady Sports students to cover 2016 Olympic Games in Rio

By Stephanie Moreno s.moreno@uga.edu

Tim Smalley

Two UGA students in the Grady Sports Media certificate program will travel to Rio de Janeiro in August to cover the 2016 Olympic Games.

Nicole Chrzanowski and Jaylon Thompson were selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee to report on the Games for the USOC’s various information channels, including its website, TeamUSA.org.

“It’s going to be a huge undertaking to basically be a member of the press corps at the Olympics,

Nicole Chrzanowski

Jaylon Thompson

which is one of the events that most sports journalists aspire to cover,” said Vicki Michaelis, the John Huland Carmical Distinguished Professor in Sports Journalism and director of Grady Sports at the See GAMES on page 8

2 Feb. 29, 2016 columns.uga.edu

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH

Around academe

South Georgia State president to retire Virginia Carson, president of South Georgia State College, will retire June 30.

Carson was appointed interim president of the former South Georgia College in 2008 and named permanent president in 2009. She became president of South Georgia State College with the consolidation of South Georgia College and Waycross College in 2013.

During her tenure, South Georgia was approved by the board of regents to become a “state college” and offer bachelor degrees. The first cohort of bachelor of science in nursing students graduated in 2014. The first cohort of bachelor of science in biological sciences students will graduate this year.

Study: Freshman focus on geography

A study suggests that geography is an important aspect to college enrollment. According to the study commissioned by the American Council on Education, a majority of incoming freshmen enrolling in four-year public colleges and universities stay within 50 miles of their home.

According to Inside Higher Ed, authors of the study suggested that the geography-based decision-making leads to disadvantages for students living in “education deserts,” where higher education options are limited.

Coursera offers project-based courses

Coursera, the online education platform, has introduced a series of project-based courses for immediate enrollment. The launch dovetails with research that suggests students who apply skills to an extended project improve problemsolving abilities and are more engaged in the learning process.

Of the 12 new courses offered, the University System of Georgia is presenting the business course, “Writing Professional Emails and Memos.”

News to Use

Surplus listserv created

A new UGA listserv has been created for departments to post surplus equipment and supplies they no longer need.

This listserv provides an easy way to reach other university departments that might need an item before it is transferred to UGA’s Surplus Warehouse.

Anyone with a UGA email address may ask to join the new listserv. Posted items are property of the university and can only be used for official university business.

To join the listerv, email property@uga.edu with your name and email address.

UGA also has a general listserv for all staff members. The UGASTAFF list provides a forum for UGA staff to communicate about relevant issues within the university community.

Each message sent to the listserv must include the author’s full name. Messages about events on campus are encouraged, but business advertising isn’t allowed.

For more information about the rules of the staff listserv, go to http://t.uga.edu/25U. To subscribe, email listserv@listserv.uga.edu.

Good counsel UGA’s College of Education ranked No. 5 in a list of the 50 best online master’s in psychology programs for 2016. The college offers two master’s degrees related to psychology. The top 10 schools are:

Rank Institution

1.

2.

3.

4.

Marist College U. of Southern California Penn State California Baptist

5. UGA 6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Source: Super Scholar

Missouri S&T Harvard U. of Missouri Mercy College U. of Alabama Janet Beckley

Fanning Institute hosts inaugural Community Leadership Conference

By Christopher James chtjames@uga.edu

Jennifer Frum welcomed 110 attendees from 46 cities and 45 counties in three states to the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development’s inaugural Community Leadership Conference on Feb. 10.

Frum, the vice president for public service and outreach at UGA, opened the two-day conference at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. Attendees from Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee had the ­opportunity to pick from a menu of 16 workshops. Instructors included community practitioners as well as experts from the Fanning Institute and other PSO units.

“Why does the University of Georgia invest in a unit that focuses on community leadership development?”

Frum said.“Well we know—and you all know—what the data says about Shannah Montgomery the importance of communities having Jennifer Frum, vice president for public service and outreach at UGA, discussed the strong leaders and a pipeline of strong importance of strong community leaders at the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership leaders,” Frum said. “We know that Development’s inaugural Community Leadership Conference. communities with strong leaders are “The Fanning Institute has been 2016 attendee list shows there is great better able to attract industry and eco- working with communities for more interest in Georgia for programs like nomic development. They have better than three decades,” said Matt Bishop, this, he added.

“This conference is a great opquality of life. There’s greater diversity. Fanning director. “We are hosting this conference as a way to bring people portunity for our faculty to hear what We have more ­engaged citizens.”

Other speakers included Matt interested in community leadership is working in communities across the Hauer, a demographer with the Carl development together to talk about best state as well as to convey the resources Vinson Institute of Government; practices and the challenges involved and expertise we have to offer,” Bishop UGA Student Government Associa- in effectively developing community said. “Being part of the public service and outreach mission of the Univertion President Johnelle Simpson; and leaders.”

Bishop said the new conference will sity of Georgia positions us to work Dublin residents Jimmy and Kathy Allgood, who have been involved in be an annual event for leaders across the throughout Georgia to build leaders region to learn from each other. The and communities.”

Leadership Georgia since 1993.

HOLMES-HUNTER LECTURE

UGA LIBRARIES US congressman discusses power of Biographer to give political process to effect social change talk March 16

By Erica Hensley

By Jean Cleveland

Sanford Bishop, U.S. congressman from Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, delivered the Holmes-Hunter Lecture Feb. 18 at the Chapel.

“We were pleased to host Congressman Bishop as the 2016 keynote speaker for the Holmes-Hunter lecture series,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “The lecture continues to serve as an important opportunity for our university to celebrate the legacy of Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault.”

Currently serving his 12th term, Bishop talked about the value of the path paved by Holmes and Hunter-Gault, the first two black students to enroll at UGA. “Who, what and where I am today is largely in part to what they did,” Bishop said.

Bishop recalled the time he was sitting at the kitchen table with his father in 1954 and he first heard the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. He said the decision informed his lifelong commitment to ensuring social justice.

Bishop said the work done by those seeking social justice is tiresome and tense—but it also is rewarding to those who are committed and courageous.

Bishop worked as an attorney before serving in Congress. His first case addressed the poor living conditions in a Georgia state prison. Bishop detailed the more than 10 years it took to alleviate the conditions but recalled the positive impact his commitment had on ­prisoners’ lives. But, it was then he said that he r­ ealized lasting change that affects more than a few people could only come through legislative policy.

“I realized if I passed one good bill in

Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett, author of Carolina Israelite: How Harry Golden Made Us Care about Jews, the South, and Civil Rights, will talk about the book March 16 at 1 p.m. in the auditorium of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. Open free to the public, the presentation will be followed by a reception.

A Jewish writer and humorist, Harry Golden was a fearless advocate for civil rights. He exposed racism and antiSemitism in all guises, and he did so with wit and originality, according to Hartnett.

After his immigrant childhood on the Lower East Side and a stint on Wall Street in the 1920s (closely followed by prison time in Atlanta for fraud), Golden landed in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the 1940s.

There he launched his quirky newspaper, the Carolina Israelite, which led to his first book, Only in America, a record-breaking best-seller in 1958. More than 20 popular books followed, along with a syndicated column and an enormous national audience from the 1950s to the 1970s.

“Golden was a pop-culture star, unabashed self-promoter, very funny and essentially a blogger before the Internet existed—and was recognized by many of the civil rights movement’s leaders as an effective ally,” Hartnett said.

In the 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. cited Golden as one of a small number of white people who wrote in “eloquent, prophetic and understanding terms” about the civil rights struggle.

Golden’s papers are housed at the ­University of North Carolina-­Charlotte’s J. Murrey Atkins Library and the ­Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library.

jclevela@uga.edu

erica.hensley25@uga.edu

During the Holmes-Hunter Lecture Feb. 18, Sanford Biship, U.S. congressman from Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, spoke about his inspiration to focus on social justice issues.

the legislature, it would help the whole state,” he said.“Utilization of the political process is the way to effect social change.”

Bishop said it was ultimately Martin Luther King Jr.’s death in 1968 that inspired his lifelong commitment to civil rights.

“He made a tremendous impression, and I really wanted to follow in his footsteps,” Bishop said. “I was determined that I would keep his dream alive and use my life as he did to improve the lives of (African-Americans) in the southern United States.”

Bishop said that his tenure in the legislature has been a continuous commitment to civil rights that those before him sparked. He strives to pass bills that make King’s dreams of unity and equality a reality.

“We owe gratitude to Holmes, Hunter-Gault and others on whose shoulders we stand,” he said.

RESEARCH NEWS

columns.uga.edu Feb. 29, 2016

3

Digest University System of Georgia plans to freeze tuition for 2016-17 academic year

Cal Powell

Jamie Cooper, an associate professor in the FACS foods and nutrition department, found that vacations can have an impact on weight.

Her study found that adults going on a one- to three-week vacation gained an average of nearly 1 pound during their trips.

Leisure time baggage

College of Family and Consumer Sciences study finds that vacations can lead to weight gain

By Cal Powell

jcpowell@uga.edu

A week’s vacation may leave many adults with a heavier midsection—extra weight that can hang around even six weeks post-vacation.

A faculty member in UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences found that adults going on a one- to three-week vacation gained an average of nearly 1 pound during their trips. With the average American reportedly gaining 1-2 pounds a year, the study’s findings suggest an alarming trend.

“If you’re only gaining a pound or two a year and you gained three-quarters of that on a one- to three-week vacation, that’s a pretty substantial weight gain during a short period of time,” said Jamie Cooper, an associate professor in the college’s foods and nutrition department.

The study supports the notion of “creeping obesity,” the common pattern of adults gaining small amounts of weight over long periods of time, leading to increased health problems later in life.

Cooper’s study involved 122 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 who went

on vacations ranging from one to three weeks in length between the months of March and August.

While previous studies have analyzed and confirmed significant weight gain during the holiday season, no data previously existed on weight gain during short-term vacations.

Study participants agreed to three lab visits for height, weight and body mass index recordings, in addition to blood pressure and waist-to-hip ratio measurements. The first measurements were taken one week prior to vacation, then again one week and six weeks post-vacation.

The study found that 61 percent of the participants gained weight while on vacation, with an average gain of 0.7 pounds, and that the weight gained throughout the entire study averaged 0.9 pounds.

There was a large variation, however, with some participants losing weight and some gaining as much as 7 pounds.

The vacation weight gain occurred despite a trend for slightly increased physical activity during vacation. The study also showed a decrease in physical

activity in the weeks following vacation.

One of the factors that likely contributed to weight gain for study participants was increased caloric intake, especially from alcohol consumption. The average consumption prior to vacation was eight drinks a week. That number went up to an average of 16 per week for study participants, which accounts for a significant increase in calories.

“One of the challenges people face is, unless you’re diligent about weighing yourself before and after vacation, usually you’re not going to notice a pound of weight gain,” Cooper said. “People don’t realize it’s happening, and that’s why they don’t lose weight following a vacation.”

Cooper noted there were some benefits to vacations. Study participants showed significantly reduced stress levels and a slight reduction in systolic blood pressure that lasted even six weeks post-vacation.

Cooper said future studies may be able to provide more data by examining food intake during vacation as well as the effectiveness of targeted interventions for cutting back on certain foods and drink.

ODUM SCHOOL OF ECOLOGY

Ecologists create new model that uses statistics to signal when disease elimination is imminent

By Beth Gavrilles bethgav@uga.edu

UGA ecologists have developed a model showing that public health surveillance data can be used to signal when a disease is approaching eradication.Their research, published in Theoretical Ecology, lays the groundwork for a potential tool in the fight against infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases like malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes, take a serious toll worldwide.

“Billions of dollars are spent annually on various interventions to stop diseases like malaria, and the investments have made a difference,” said the study’s lead author Suzanne O’Regan, who was a postdoctoral fellow in the UGA Odum School of Ecology and is now at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis. “Government

and public health agencies need the will to continue making these investments after the initial reduction of cases has occurred.”

Malaria has been eradicated from 79 countries since 1945. Where it remains, mortality rates have been reduced by 60 percent since 2000 due to the increased use of prevention and control methods, according to the study authors.

But to sustain these gains, the interventions have to continue until the disease is eradicated, according to John Drake, associate professor in the UGA Odum School of Ecology and the study’s senior author.

“If you push malaria almost all the way to elimination, and then you say, ‘We don’t have too many cases around here anymore,’ and you let up, it’s just going to come back,” he said.

The researchers based their model on

the theory of “critical slowing down,” a term that describes telltale statistical patterns that appear when a system under stress is nearing a tipping point—the point after which it is doomed to eventual extinction.

Using public health surveillance data for malaria, they looked for evidence of critical slowing down with four commonly used prevention and control methods.

They found that while the strength of the signal varied depending on the control tactic and the statistical method used to analyze the data, their model did indeed reveal the patterns characteristic of approaching tipping points.

Drake described the model as the “scientific backbone” for producing new algorithms and statistical methods for monitoring progress toward disease elimination.

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia announced Feb. 16 that there will be no tuition increase for the 2016-2017 academic year.

The announcement applies to all USG students, including those at UGA, and means the same tuition will be paid at all 29 USG institutions for the 2016-2017 academic year as the current 2015-2016 academic year.

“We have heard from students, parents and legislators regarding year-over-year tuition increases citing concerns about the rising costs of a college education in Georgia,” said Chancellor Hank Huckaby.

“We recognize and share their concerns about college affordability. (This) announcement demonstrates we are listening to students, their families and legislators and taking meaningful action.”

The board’s action ensures the USG will continue to offer some of the lowest tuition rates among peer state public higher education systems. Out of the 16 states that make up the Southern Regional Education Board, the USG is the seventh lowest in tuition and fees for four-year institutions.

Office of Sustainability awards grants

The Office of Sustainability has awarded $40,000 to fund 10 interdisciplinary student projects through its annual Campus Sustainability Grants Program.

Funded by student green fees and a Sustainability + Arts partnership with Ideas for Creative Exploration, the program provides financial and staff resources to implement student-initiated projects that further the university’s sustainability goals.

The Office of Sustainability received proposals from students in multiple academic disciplines across campus. A selection committee made the final recommendations for projects to be awarded in 2016.

All student projects that received funding align with UGA’s 2020 Strategic Plan to promote stewardship of natural resources and advance sustainability research, education and service at UGA and beyond.

Recipients of the 2016 Campus Sustainability Grants are Kelsey Brown, a theatre and communication sciences and disorders major from Lexington, Kentucky; Brittany Whitlock, a biology and psychology major from Johns Creek; John Derosa, an environmental engineering major from Lilburn; Thalika Saintil, a student in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Kollin Adams, a computer science major from Atlanta; David Balinsky, a student in the College of Veterinary Medicine from Annapolis, Maryland; Sean Dunlap, a student in the College of Environment and Design from Winterville; Xuan Zhang, a geography master’s student from Wuhan, China; Matt Siegel and Anna Trakhman, both from Marietta and students in the Terry College of Business and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, respectively; and Julie Delose, a doctoral candidate in psychology from Orlando, Florida.

UGA basketball player Merritt Hempe named to SEC Community Service Team

Merritt Hempe, a senior forward on the women’s basketball team at UGA, has been named to the 2016 SEC Community Service Team.

A native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, Hempe has participated in and led a long list of community service efforts, including Special Olympics Homeruns for Hometown Rivals baseball game, Toys for Tots, writing holiday cards for deployed soldiers, helping provide safe routes to school by partnering with Barrow Elementary, providing toiletries collection for the homeless, visiting Stroud Elementary throughout the year to encourage and mentor children, being a volunteer for Alzheimer’s Walk and Ath-Half as well as a volunteer AAU coach and operations staff member. A 2016 WBCA AllState Good Works Team nominee, Hempe, who is majoring in marketing, has also been on the SEC Academic Honor Roll three times.

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4 Feb. 29, 2016 columns.uga.edu

INSTRUCTIONAL NEWS

UGA innovators receive life sciences industry awards from Georgia Bio

By Terry Marie Hastings thasting@uga.edu

Companies and innovators with scientific roots at UGA were recognized by Georgia Bio, the state’s life sciences industry association, at its annual awards dinner in January.

“The Georgia Bio annual awards recognize industry leaders, key innovations and strategic financing deals that highlight the rapidly growing life science industry in Georgia,” said Derek Eberhart, director of Innovation Gateway, which oversees UGA’s licensing and startup program. “The bioscience industry is vital to Athens and Georgia, it generates jobs for university graduates and catalyzes industryuniversity research partnerships, which lead to new products and companies that benefit not only the citizens of Georgia, but of the nation and the world.”

The life sciences industry and university research, together with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have a $20 billion annual economic impact in Georgia and employ more than 94,000 people, according to Georgia Bio. Meredian Holdings Group and UGA were honored with the 2016 Phoenix Award, sponsored by the Metro Atlanta Chamber and Georgia Bio to recognize industry-academic partnerships that make outstanding contributions to the growth of the state’s bioscience industry. Georgia-based MHG, which has a long-standing collaboration with UGA’s College of Engineering, develops sustainable and renewable bioplastics to improve peoples’ lives at work and home. MHG recently expanded its research and development capabilities in Athens through a partnership with UGA, which allowed the company to open a specialty lab in UGA’s Innovation Gateway incubator.The enhanced partnership will facilitate broader collaboration across campus through increased funding for graduate assistantships and research that will lead to new innovations and products.

Three other awardees had ties to UGA research.Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Synageva BioPharma Corp. were among the Georgia companies receiving “Deal of the Year” recognition for 2015. Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. completed the acquisition of UGA startup company Synageva BioPharma in June 2015. Synageva, which graduated from UGA’s Innovation Gateway startup incubator in 2013, was founded as Avigenics by UGA Emeritus Professor of Genetics Robert Ivarie. Alexion has received approval in the U.S. and EU to market Kanuma, a rare-disease therapy produced using technology originally discovered at UGA. Abeome Corp., a resident company in the Innovation Gateway startup incubator, was honored with the Innovation Award, which recognizes unique technological breakthroughs. The company was founded on technology developed by Distinguished Research Professor Richard Meagher, genetics department, and licensed from the UGA Research Foundation.

Kausar Samli, associate founder and chief executive officer of Glycosensors & Diagnostics, was named one of two 2016 Emerging Leaders of the Year. Samli was recognized for his leadership in managing Glycosensors & Diagnostics, an Innovation Gateway resident company, to develop enabling technologies for applications in glycoscience. Samli, who received his doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from UGA, volunteers with the UGA-based Thinc. initiatives.

Joachim Walther

Students in an engineering design class assess stakeholders’ viewpoints as part of a joint research project between the College of Engineering and the School of Social Work at UGA.

Science and consideration UGA researchers build empathy into engineering program

By Mike Wooten and Laurie Anderson mwooten@uga.edu, laurie@uga.edu

When Mark Hain decided to leave his job as an emergency medical technician to pursue a degree in environmental engineering at UGA, he assumed he would immediately get his hands dirty designing and building projects. Instead, he found himself in a design course analyzing and discussing in detail how his work as an engineer might impact others—and questioning whether certain projects should be built at all.

The class was one of the first in the UGA College of Engineering designed to introduce students to empathy as a learned skill. Researchers in the college and in the School of Social Work are investigating how engineering students can best develop empathic skills to enhance their approach to professional practice. The work is supported by a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation.

“I felt like I was an empathetic person before the class, but I never thought about applying empathy to engineering and projects that I might be designing,” Hain said. “It made me think about things in greater depth and challenged me and the other students to understand the direct and indirect impact of our work.”

Empathy—being sensitive to another person’s perspective—is as necessary for engineers as it is for social workers, according to Shari Miller, an associate

dean in the School of Social Work and co-principal investigator on the project.

“Just because a project may be expertly crafted on a technical level doesn’t mean it will be the right solution in the context of a community and its needs,” she said.

Although future engineers get a thorough grounding in technical skills, their curriculum does not typically provide much exposure to considering how a project might affect various stakeholders or how those stakeholders might contribute to a project. Once in the workplace, however, engineers often encounter challenges that require an empathic orientation. They may be asked to develop projects with a diverse group of partners or design projects that require extensive federal or state impact assessments.

“As issues of sustainability and other global problems emerged in the 1990s, educators began to realize that fundamental changes were needed in the way engineering was taught,” said Joachim Walther, an associate professor in the College of Engineering and co-principal investigator on the project.

While an increasing number of scholars believe empathy training should be a crucial component of engineering education, they lack evidence-based teaching models that can be used in classrooms.

Drawing from the longstanding practice of teaching social work students how to keep the client’s viewpoint in mind, the research team—which also

includes engineering faculty member Nicola Sochacka—will develop various methods of teaching empathy and will research their impact on engineering students’ learning. The team will use the data to build a model for incorporating empathy into engineering education and other disciplines.

“This project has the potential to transform engineering education and practice by making the field accessible to a more diverse range of students, and, at the same time, it can provide students with practical skills that may enrich their professional performance,” Miller said.

The team’s work is part of a larger interdisciplinary research program between social work and engineering and builds on a pilot project developed by Miller and Walther in 2012 while they were both Lilly Teaching Fellows in the UGA Center for Teaching and Learning. The pair created a series of lesson modules that taught empathy through activities that emphasized interpersonal communication,engagement with diverse stakeholders, role-playing, self-reflection and collaborative problem solving. The activities were integrated into an engineering design course that challenged students’ usual approaches to problem solving.

“Students were far outside their comfort zones at first,” Walther said. “But by the end of the semester, many students came around to appreciate the exercise.”

GROUNDBREAKING from page 1 noting that donors and friends of UGA have responded at an amazing pace, with signed pledges in hand for $20.3 million as of Feb. 16.

“This is a first-class facility, and it’s going to enhance our ability to prepare and compete at a championship level,” said head football coach Kirby Smart. “... I want everybody to understand that we will be good keepers of this investment. We will utilize this facility all year long to train and develop our team.”

He joked that he is able to keep very close watch on the building’s progress—his office and its window directly overlook the construction site—“so that the progress I get to see every day is both seen, felt and heard on a firsthand basis.”

Kendall Williams, a three-time national track and field champion, represented student-athletes at the ceremony. She told attendees that “the facility puts an exclamation point” on the Athletic Association’s backing of student-athletes.

“We can’t wait until it’s ready,” she said.

The new facility will be connected to the Butts-Mehre building addition and stretch north and south along the edge of Rutherford Street. Full dimensions of the football practice field will be 140 yards long and 80 yards wide. When completed, the Woodruff practice field complex will include the new indoor facility with artificial turf and two grass practice fields in the same location as the current artificial turf fields.

During construction this spring and fall, the football team will practice at a location off South Milledge Avenue near the UGA soccer-softball complex. The temporary practice area is currently part of the UGA club sports complex and will feature two full-length natural grass fields and one full-length artificial turf field.

When the indoor facility is completed, the Athletic Association will return the significantly upgraded complex to the UGA club sports program.

Dorothy Kozlowski

Construction on the $30 million Indoor Athletic Facility began in December and is scheduled for completion in January 2017. It will include a 100-yard football practice field, a 65-meter track runway, jumping pits, a netting system, four retractable batting cages and other features that will maximize its use for UGA sports.

UGAGUIDE

columns.uga.edu Feb. 29, 2016

For a complete listing of events, 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.

EXHIBITIONS

Georgia’s Diverse Flora. Through March 6. State Botanical Garden.

706-542-6014, connicot@uga.edu

Tools of the Trade. Through March 16.

Georgia Museum of Art. hazbrown@uga.edu Lucy Hargrett Draper Center and Archives Exhibit. Through March 31.

Gallery hallway, special collections libraries. ­706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu Pictures of Us: Photographs from the Do Good Fund Collection. Through March 31. Hargrett Gallery, special collections libraries. 706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu Cherokee Basketry: Woven Culture.

Through April 17. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1817, hazbrown@uga.edu David Ligare: California Classicist.

Through May 8. Georgia Museum of Art. hazbrown@uga.edu Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the ­Modern South. Through July 30. Special collections libraries. ­706-542-5788, jhebbard@uga.edu

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29 WORKSHOP “Engaging Diverse Students.” 3 p.m.

Center for Teaching and Learning.

706-542-6603, ehoran@uga.edu SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS SEMINAR “Beyond Fetishizing Food: Landscape and Political Perspectives on Food in Panama,” Julie Velasquez Runk, anthropology. 3:30 p.m. 101 Lumpkin House.

706-542-8084, sustainag@uga.edu ANIMAL VOICES FILM FESTIVAL FILM Shark Girl. 7 p.m. 148 Miller Learning Center. 706-224-3796, sos@uga.edu FACULTY RECITAL David Starkweather and Evgeny Rivkin. 8 p.m. Ramsey Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center. 706-542-4752, ccschwabe@uga.edu

TUESDAY, MARCH 1 SPRING SEMESTER MIDTERM WORKSHOP “Mentoring FYO Students.” 10 a.m.

372 Miller Learning Center.

706-583-0067, tchagood@uga.edu LUNCHTIME TIME MACHINE* “Are Women Citizens or Mothers of the Nation in Africa?” 2:30 p.m.

221 LeConte Hall. 706-583-8180, jhrobert@uga.edu ECOLOGY SEMINAR “Resolving the Dual Paradoxes of Nitrogen Limitation and Nitrogen Richness,” Duncan Menge, Columbia University.

4 p.m. Ecology building auditorium.

706-542-7247, bethgav@uga.edu

Women’s rights center to be rededicated during Women’s History Month

By Jean Cleveland jclevela@uga.edu

The rededication of the Lucy Hargrett Draper Center and Archives for the Study of the Rights of Women in History and the Law will kick off a slate of activities at the UGA Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library to commemorate Women’s History Month.

Toby Graham, university librarian and associate provost, and Lucy Hargrett Draper will make remarks at the March 5 ceremony, which begins at 1 p.m. in the Gallery Hallway of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

A reception will follow, as will tours of the annual exhibit of materials from the collection. The exhibit uses rare books and archival materials, photographs and propaganda to examine the changing world of women from 1632 when the first treatise on women’s legal status and rights was published, to the 19th and early 20th centuries in the U.S. and Great Britain, a period of major social transformation.

The transformation can be illustrated by A Vindication of the Rights of Women, a rare book from the collection. Written in 1792 by Mary Wollstonecraft, the book argued, to considerable controversy, that the educational system of the time deliberately trained women to be frivolous and incapable.

BASEBALL vs. Charleston Southern. $5-$8. 5 p.m.

Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

DISNEY ‘FANTASIA’ LIVE IN CONCERT Fantasia (1940) and Fantasia 2000 will be shown. $38-$64. 7:30 p.m. Classic Center, 300 N. Thomas St. 706-542-4400.

CONCERT The Hodgson Wind Ensemble. $10; $5 with a UGACard. 8 p.m. Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center.

706-542-4752, musicpr@uga.edu

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 WORKSHOP “Keeping It Real: Integrating Authentic Tasks in Your Courses.” 10 a.m.

Center for Teaching and Learning.

706-583-0067, tchagood@uga.edu GUEST LECTURE* Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa will discuss her creative process and debut novel Daughters of the Stone. 1:25 p.m.

141 Tate Student Center.

706-542-5197, lferacho@uga.edu STAFF COUNCIL MEETING 2:30 p.m. 267 Miller Learning Center.

GUEST LECTURE “Martin Luther’s Gospel,” Phillip Cary, Eastern University. 4:30 p.m. 214 Miller Learning Center. 706-542-3663, german@uga.edu BASEBALL vs. Charleston Southern. $5-$8. 5 p.m.

Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

GUEST ARTIST RECITAL Laura Nocchiero. 8 p.m. Ramsey

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 on the Web at calendar.uga.edu/.

Former justice to give address

By Terri Hatfield

In recognition of the 2016 national Women’s History Month theme “Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government,” the Institute for Women’s Studies will be sponsoring numerous events in March.

Leah Ward Sears, former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, will give this year’s keynote address March 31 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 271 of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. A reception will follow the lecture. Both the lecture and reception are open free to the public.

The Institute for Women’s Studies will continue its tradition of hosting a Women’s History Month film festival featuring documentaries Leah Ward Sears highlighting stories of women whose government leadership and public service helped shape America’s history. All of the film screenings are open to the public and will take place at 6:30 p.m. in Room 271 of the Russell Special Collections Building.

This year’s festival will kickoff March 14 with Chisholm ’72: Unbought and Unbossed. A screening of Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority will take place March 21. The film festival will close March 28 with Mountains that Take Wing: Angela Davis and Yuri Kochiyama—A Conversation on Life, Struggles and Liberation.

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

BASEBALL vs. Wright State. $5-$8. 5 p.m. Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

THURSDAY, MARCH 3 WORKSHOP “Early Experiences with Interprofessional Education in the College of Pharmacy.” Noon. 265G pharmacy building.

706-583-0067, tchagood@uga.edu WORKSHOP “The Fine Art of Writing in Academia.”

12:30 p.m. 479 Tate Student Center.

GUEST LECTURE “Carracci’s ‘Butcher Shop As If It Were a Church,’” Gail Feigenbaum. 5 p.m.

S150 Lamar Dodd School of Art. peb32050@uga.edu FILM Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present.

Part of the Behind-the-Scenes Film Series. 7 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu CONCERT Mark Cedel and the UGA Symphony Orchestra will offer a performance. $10; $5 with a UGACard. 8 p.m. Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center.

706-542-4752, musicpr@uga.edu

FRIDAY, MARCH 4 EXHIBIT OPENING* The Feminism Photo Project. Through March 31. 11:30 a.m. Memorial Hall ballroom. Part of International Student Life’s coffee hour.

MEN’S TENNIS vs. Mississippi State. 2:30 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex. 706-542-1621.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5 DRAPER CENTER REDEDICATION* 1 p.m. Special collections libraries. (See story, above left).

EXHIBIT The annual exhibit of the only surviving copy of the Confederate Constitution.

8 a.m. Hargrett Gallery, special collections libraries. 706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu GUEST LECTURE Krishnendu Roy, Georgia Tech. 1 p.m.

S141 Coverdell Center. 706-583-0071.

WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Alabama. 4 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex. 706-542-1621.

BASEBALL vs. Lipscomb. $5-$8. 4 p.m. Foley Field.

706-542-1231.

SATURDAY, MARCH 12 BASEBALL vs. Lipscomb. $5-$8. 2 p.m. Foley Field.

706-542-1231.

SUNDAY, MARCH 13 DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS 2 a.m.

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

706-542-1231.

EXHIBIT OPENING Portraits of the Working Class: Trees.

Through May 1. Visitor Center’s Greatroom, State Botanical Garden.

706-542-6014, connicot@uga.edu WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Auburn. 1 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex. 706-542-1621.

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

MONDAY, MARCH 14

MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Alabama. $15. 4 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum. 706-542-1231.

GUEST LECTURE “Truth, Justice and Eyewitness,” Steven E. Clark, University of California, Riverside.

11 a.m. Larry Walker Room, Dean Rusk Hall. 706-542-7079, mariana@uga.edu

LECTURE “Fun With Fonts: Mathematical Typography,” Erik Demaine, MIT. 5:15 p.m. Tate Student Center Theatre.

SUNDAY, MARCH 6 MEN’S TENNIS vs. Alabama. 1 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex. 706-542-1621.

BASEBALL vs. Wright State. $5-$8. Noon. Foley Field. 706-542-1231.

MONDAY, MARCH 7 STUDENT SPRING BREAK No classes March 7-11; offices open.

Classes resume March 14.

THURSDAY, MARCH 10 FILM Le Mystere Picasso. Part of the Behind-the-Scenes Film Series. 7 p.m.

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.

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

FRIDAY, MARCH 11

tlhat@uga.edu

Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center.

706-542-4752, ccschwabe@uga.edu

5

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, News Service, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Campus Mail 1999.

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH FILM SCREENING* Chisholm ’72: Unbought and Unbossed.

6:30 p.m. 271 special collections libraries. 706-542-2846, tlhat@uga.edu (See story, above left).

PERFORMANCE The Salzburg Marionette Theatre will perform. $30-$40. 8 p.m. Hugh Hodgson Concert, Hall Performing Arts Center. 706-542-4400.

COMING UP DONALD L. HOLLOWELL LECTURE March 17. “‘The Civil Rights Queen’: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Racial and Gender Equality in America,” Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Harvard University. Part of the Signature Lecture Series. 7 p.m. Fine Arts auditorium, Fine Arts building. *PART OF WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES March 2 (for March 14 issue) March 9 (for March 21 issue) March 16 (for March 28 issue)

6 Feb. 29, 2016 columns.uga.edu

CAMPUS CLOSEUP

No challenge

A Miami Herald article explored the lack of a Democratic challenger to contest the seat held

by Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson.

In the story, M.V. Hood, a political science professor in UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs, explained the Democrats’ conundrum.

“To even have a chance to unseat (Isakson), they would need to run someone that’s a quality challenger,” Hood told the Herald. “Someone that’s got political experience, elected office-holding experience­—and it doesn’t look like they have anyone who wants to jump into the fray.”

Costs of loneliness

Loneliness is a “public health hazard” with long-term consequences for those who suffer from it, according to a story from The Washington Post.

Scientists are even finding that loneliness can affect the human genome. Kerstin Gerst Emerson, an assistant professor of health policy and management at UGA’s Institute of Gerontology, said it’s time for the U.S. to pay more attention to this issue.

“In public health, we talk all the time about obesity and smoking and have all these interventions but not about people who are lonely and socially isolated,” Emerson told The Washington Post. “There are really tangible, terrible outcomes. Lonely people are dying, they’re less healthy and they are costing our society more.”

Early prevention

A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that both boys and girls exposed to violence at home are more likely to be victims of dating violence. The study’s authors said the findings highlight the need for teachers and doctors to be aware that “boys and girls alike can be victims and perpetrators of dating violence.”

Pamela Orpinas, a professor of health promotion and behavior in UGA’s College of Public Health, did not participate in this study but is a specialist on family and school violence.

Orpinas told Reuters, “From a very young age we need to talk about what is violence and how to deal properly with each other.”

Produce problem

The recent E. coli outbreak with Chipotle restaurants highlights the dangers of fresh ingredients, according to a story by The Wall Street Journal. Although health officials could not identify the source of the outbreak, they said produce was probably the cause.

Throughout the outbreak, several leading news sources turned to Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety on UGA’s Griffin campus, for his expertise.

“Produce is the leading vehicle of single-source, food-borne outbreaks in the U.S.,” said Doyle, who also is Regents Professor of Microbiology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ food science and technology department.

“Even if the contaminant was something else, like a spice, they still need to get it right with produce.”

Twice a day

Jeffrey Dorfman, a professor of agricultural and applied economics in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, frequently critiques President Barack Obama’s economic policies in his regular columns in Forbes.

However, Dorfman recently offered a preliminary endorsement of the president’s proposed changes to the unemployment insurance program, which would offer incentives for the unemployed to find a job quickly—even if their pay would drop slightly from their previous job—rather than collecting a full unemployment benefit.

Dorfman wrote, “...The early review from this columnist is that, while not perfect, this is one of the President’s few good ideas and conservatives should take a careful look at it and support it if they deem it worthy. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day; if President Obama has a good idea, I am with him.”

Dorothy Kozlowski

Ryan Carty, director of experiential learning in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, helped secure two exclusive internships for Grady students to work for NBC Universal at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Grady College staff member connects students, experiential opportunities

By Matt Chambers mattdc@uga.edu

It was his senior year at UGA, and Ryan Carty wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life.

His plans for a career as a TV producer had been dashed after some time in the field made him realize it wasn’t the right path for him.

In a scramble to find a new career, Carty added an ecology minor to his bachelor’s degree requirements and planned to work in wildlife management.

But, it turned out that he was allergic to the animals.

Luckily, Carty’s mentor had forwarded an email soliciting applications for the then-new Georgia College Advising Corp. Launched in 2008 and based in UGA’s Institute of Higher Education, the initiative was recruiting college graduates who would be trained to work alongside professional high school guidance counselors. The program’s goal is to increase the number of high school students who enroll in and graduate from college.

“That was the beginning of my career in higher education, and I’ve loved it ever since,” Carty said.

Now, as director of experiential learning for the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Carty works to make sure other UGA students don’t find themselves in the situation he was in as a senior.

“Part of my job is to encourage students to explore their future career choices,” he said. “Hopefully they’re exploring in the earlier days of college rather than the end like I did.”

To ensure that students are exploring, Carty works with a variety of people from business professionals to Grady College alumni to a career services professional in the UGA Career Center. Carty describes his job as part career services, part experiential learning.

It was his time in the Advising Corp at Meadowcreek High School in Norcross that helped Carty find his passion for encouraging student success.

“When I first realized how much fun working with students was and how much I enjoyed developing students and connecting them to opportunities, I knew this is what I wanted to do for a long time,” he said.

One of Carty’s biggest goals is increasing the employment rate for Grady graduates. For the class of 2014, 92 percent of job-seeking graduates found jobs within six months.To increase that percentage, Carty offers classroom presentations, works with employers to get them to hire from the college, plans an annual career fair, acquires clients for senior capstone class projects and meets with students one-on-one. This year’s Grady Career Day was the largest ever, with more than 72 companies on hand, up from 45 in 2015.

FACTS

Ryan Carty

Director of Experiential Learning Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication M.Ed., Professional Counseling, UGA, 2013 ABJ, Telecommunications, UGA, 2009 At UGA: 2 years

Recently, Carty helped secure two exclusive internships for Grady students to work for NBC Universal at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (see story, page 1). Carty promised the media giant it would get “top quality students” in return for holding the slots. He and others worked to review the more than 170 applications and narrowed them down to the 14 Grady students who they passed on to NBC. “Success for our students is all about getting their foot in the door and putting their work out there,” he said.

Carty said he enjoys his job and finds it incredibly fulfilling, especially when he sees students head out into the field he once aspired to join.

“Here, I’m able to combine both my interest in relationships and career development with journalism and mass communication,” he said. “It’s a blessing to be able to help the students who are in the position I was in once.”

GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART

Art museum hires heads of development, security

By Hillary Brown

hazbrown@uga.edu

The Georgia Museum of Art at UGA has filled two crucial positions for its future, hiring Heather Malcom as director of development and Keith Thalhamer as director of security and facilities.

Malcom has spent almost 17 years in UGA’s Division of Development and Alumni Relations. Most recently, she was senior director of donor relations and stewardship. She previously served as director of development at Kennesaw State University’s Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program, as director of corporate and community relations at UGA’s Terry College of Business, at Synovus Financial Corp. in Columbus and as development and

Heather Malcom

Keith Thalhamer

special events coordinator at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

Malcom has a master’s of science from UGA and a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer science and journalism, also from UGA. Thalhamer is a newcomer to Athens and was most recently commander of special operations at the National Gallery

of Art in Washington, D.C., which has a security staff of more than 125 employees.

In that position, Thalhamer not only planned staffing for day-to-day security posts and special events, but also crafted policies, developed training, audited security systems and processes and served as a project manager for administrative initiatives and security upgrades.

Prior to his work at the National Gallery, where he held progressively more responsible positions from 2004 to 2015, he served as a cavalry scout in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

Thalhamer has a bachelor’s degree in international relations with a minor in Middle Eastern studies from California State University, Chico, and an associate’s degree in sociology from Butte College in Oroville, California.

2016 PRESIDENT’S FULFILLING THE DREAM AWARD

columns.uga.edu Feb. 29, 2016

William Kisaalita

7

Darren Anglin

Award recipients focus on giving back Dorothy Kozlowski

Dorothy Kozlowski

By Leigh Beeson

By Erica Hensley

After leaving Uganda, William S. Kisaalita knew he wanted to give back. But at first he wasn’t sure how to do so.

“For me, it started out with this idea that I am from Africa, particularly Uganda, and Uganda perhaps gave me this opportunity to come here and work and be better off in a way, comparatively,” he said. “But the question always is at the back of the mind … What have you done for them?

“Then you say, ‘Well I’m a professor. I determine what I do,’ ” he also said.“ ‘Why don’t I devote a small percentage of my time to doing things that are going to make their lives different?’ ” Kisaalita was familiar with a problem in the so-called Cattle Corridor of Uganda, where dairy farmers would have to dispose of excess milk because they had no way of preserving it for the next day.

That’s money down the drain.

So Kisaalita developed a cooler that could be used to preserve the milk with the goal of saving the already-poor farmers money. He calls it EvaKuula, “Eva” meaning mother or Mother Earth and “Kuula” meaning cool or cooler. Fermented cattle waste is used to create biogas, which powers the evaporative cooling that keeps the milk in the coolers chilled.

His community service and dedication to improving the earnings of African farmers earned Kisaalita the President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award at this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Breakfast on Jan. 22. The awards are given annually to community members and UGA faculty, staff or students whose community service is bringing King’s dreams of racial equality and justice to fruition.

“This award is very special to me for what it stands for: ‘dedication to building bridges of unity and understanding within the community,’ ” Kisaalita said. “I feel like it touches everything I am about and highly value as a UGA professor.”

Kisaalita has earned many awards during his time in academia, including the UGA College of Engineering Instructional Award, which he won multiple times; the UGA First-Year Odyssey Seminar Program Teaching Award; and the Superior Teaching Honor from the UGA Student Government Association.

For Kisaalita, though, the awards come second to the difference he is making in the lives of people living in poverty and in the lives of his students.

In his classes, he emphasizes service-based learning. In one class, students work on what he calls a “poverty project,” during which some students try to live on $5 a day or serve in soup kitchens. The goal is to get them to realize what it is like to be poor.

“What started as what I thought to be just another school assignment ended up being an eye-opening experience that realigned my priorities and view of the world and those in need, especially how it relates to me being a Christian,” one of Kisaalita’s students wrote in a paper on the project.

“You hear a statement like that, wouldn’t you go and do more of it?” Kisaalita said.

Kisaalita said he and his students will.

Darren Anglin is a busy man. The senior advertising major holds leadership positions in five campus organizations and has worked part time as a student advocate for University Housing throughout college. He’s also made a commitment to mentoring students.

It’s a commitment that comes from the knowledge that others already have paved a path for him to succeed.

“You have been paid for,” Anglin said, paraphrasing a Maya Angelou quote. “So you have to pay for people coming after you.”

UGA provides him with that opportunity to give back, he said.

In January, Anglin was awarded the President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award at the 13th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Breakfast for his community service and efforts to embody and promote King’s vision of unity. For Anglin, representing King’s dream is all about having the courage to stand for his own convictions while providing support to those who might not be able to stand alone yet.

Anglin said his commitment to service comes naturally. It’s a part of him that dovetails with his perseverance and individuality.

He mentors other UGA students through the Black Educational Support Team and does the same off-campus through the Sigma Beta Club. He also serves as vice president for the Zeta Nu chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and vice president of finance for the National Pan Hellenic Council.

Anglin admits that it is a challenge to handle his school, work and service, but he said UGA has fostered his resilience and taught him that it’s not a question of if, but how, he will lead.

Anglin said his drive to lead stems from his deeply held convictions that diversity and inclusion are important community ideals.

King’s courage to effect change is what inspires Anglin.

“The dream is coming alive every day,” he said.

Anglin, who also is working on a minor in consumer economics and communications, wants to foster the sort of world that he wants to live in, the kind of world King and others paved the road for.

Anglin believes the best way to convey his ideals is through action.

“I can’t just tell (my mentees) to do x,y and z and be great—it’s not that easy,” he said. “Your colors shine when you are challenged and have to make a conscious decision to be who you are.”

As a BEST mentor and an advocate for the LGBT community, he works to inspire students to accept themselves and their identity, even if others haven’t yet.

Anglin is quick to acknowledge the foundation from which he stands, both familial and social.

The people he relies on when the pressures of school and leadership seem unbearable—his mother and friends—give him the resolve to continue, he said.

Although there is also evidence of his busy life.

“You should see my room right now,” he joked. But seeing others succeed “makes the long nights worth it.”

lbeeson@uga.edu

erica.hensley25@uga.edu

WEEKLY READER

Franklin professor pens historical romance

Golden Mary: A Historical Romance Novel

By John M. Brewer iUniverse Paperback $12.95 E-book $2.99

In the book Golden Mary,there’s a bad history between Master Henry Barrowby and nobleman Lord Lavenham. Barrowby was once engaged to Mary Swanford.

But Lavenham stepped in and seduced Mary, leaving Barrowby heartbroken in this historical romance novel by John Brewer, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

When Barrowby later meets Mary Easterling, she is being courted by Lavenham. Barrowby warns Mary of Lavenham’s past romantic dalliances and shenanigans.

Barrowby and Mary later become lovers. But Lavenham is not to be deterred. His henchmen and hirelings lure Barrowby out for repeated attacks, abduction and murder in a contest of wits over church lands and the love of Golden Mary.

ABOUT COLUMNS

CYBERSIGHTS

Columns is available to the campus 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 Art Director Janet Beckley

ISL launches redesigned website

Photo Editor Dorothy Kozlowski

isl.uga.edu

International Student Life enhances the student learning environment through programs and services that internationalize the campus experience. The department’s new website organizes its efforts into three areas—transition and support, programming and outreach, and leadership and engagement.

Senior Reporter Aaron Hale

“Our goal for the redesign is to promote the excellent programming of ISL to international and domestic students, and the campus community, in the clearest, most intuitive way possible,” said Stan Jackson, director of communications for the Division of Student Affairs.

Reporter Matt Chambers 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.

I

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8 Feb. 29, 2016 columns.uga.edu

MEIGS from page 1 chair of the 2010 Quality Enhancement Plan committee that led to the creation of the First-Year Odyssey Seminar Program, and he has served on the University Curriculum Committee since 2006.

Mauricio is a recipient of UGA’s 2005 Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the 2011 Provost’s Outstanding Faculty Service Award, among other honors. He has served as a Lilly Teaching Fellow, a Center for Teaching and Learning Fellow and a member of the UGA Teaching Academy.

Smalley, who is known for teaching horticulture classes under the Meigs white oak tree, has revamped courses to engage students with learning experiences in and out of the classroom. His Art and Gardens of the Grand Tour study-abroad program has heightened students’ horticultural

and cultural appreciation since 2001. Via leadership positions in curriculum, global programs and strategic planning, Smalley has shepherded changes to his departmental and college educational endeavors.

Smalley received the 1994 D.W. Brooks Award for Teaching Excellence, is an eighttime recipient of the horticulture department’s Outstanding Teacher Award and is a member of the UGA Teaching Academy. He received the National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture’s Teaching Award of Merit in 1995 and the American Society for Horticultural Science’s Outstanding Educator Award in 2014.

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.

GAMES from page 1 Photos by Chad Osburn

Students celebrate after seeing the total amount of funds raised by UGA Miracle. A record-setting $1,068,358.16 was raised for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

MIRACLE from page 1 “It means a lot that (UGA Miracle) can benefit so many kids,” said Alexa Crow, UGA Miracle’s marketing director.

Crow joined UGA Miracle during her freshman year and was paired with Allison Johnson, who is now 12 years old. As an infant, Johnson fell out of a two-story window, fracturing her skull. Her parents rushed her to the hospital, and doctors told them she would not make it through the night. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta was able to save her, and she recovered fully.

Johnson’s story is not the outlier for UGA Miracle. The children and their families benefit both from the money raised by the organization and the love and support the UGA students, known as miracle makers, give.

Henry Shephard, a rambunctious 10-year-old, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in December 2014. His family joined UGA Miracle after being contacted by miracle maker Rob Hardell.

Shephard’s father, Scott Shephard, appreciates the love his family has been afforded because of UGA Miracle.

“It is overwhelming how much these students care,” he said. “They are aware of our situations and have gotten behind us.”

The passion these students have for UGA Miracle families is powerful, said June Gossling, mother of Grant, a young boy diagnosed with neuroblastoma.

“My family pals, Brandy, Alexis and Collin, have become a part of our family,” she said. “They are truly older brothers and sisters to our five kids.”

UGA Miracle contacts over 60 families throughout the year, and this year almost every family was able to make it to Dance Marathon. At the event, families had the opportunity to share their stories, and UGA students spoke about the love they have for these families and the excitement they feel when a child gets better because of the money they help raise.

“These families need people who care,” said Aliya Nurani, a third-year communication studies major. She and many students

at the event raved about being able to see how their efforts are helping kids get better.

Around the nation, college students are witnessing how their fundraising efforts can benefit so many people.

“People become healthier and live better lives because of your efforts,” Izabella Zucker, UGA Miracle executive director, told the students participating in Dance Marathon.

Zucker, along with the rest of the executive board, came up with this year’s fundraising goal of $1 million. They decided that this was the year to be bold, take a leap and set a goal that got their members excited about and “shatter expectations” of what people think college students are capable of.

“There is no greater example than Dance Marathon of what happens when college students who are passionate come together and unify for a common cause,” said Zucker, a public relations and international affairs double-major from Johns Creek. “When we do that, the sky is the limit.”

The Miracle bug has infected over 450 universities and colleges around the country, raising a collective total of over $100 million.

According to Crow, this program is a rapidly growing movement. It is getting people involved, changing their college experience and allowing them to become a part of something bigger than themselves.

UGA Miracle offered several events throughout the past year, including a Michael Ray concert at the Georgia Theater in downtown Athens, the annual Doughnut Dare 5K and a $100 day, which raised more than $215,000 in a single day.

Victor K. Wilson, vice president for student affairs, conveyed the university administration’s pride in the students.

“UGA has the most amazing students,” Wilson said. “Seeing the impact they’re able to make on our communities now—just imagine the good they can do after graduation for years to come. The future looks to be in excellent hands.”

Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. “It’s a 17-day experiment in sleeplessness and constant deadlines.They’ll be in that same crucible as all of the professional journalists around them, and these are two students that I’m confident can handle that.”

Michaelis was the lead Olympics reporter for USA Today through six Olympic Games and worked as a freelancer with Team USA during the 2012 Games in London. That same year, she and Malcolm Moran, director of the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, worked with the USOC to formalize a student assistant program for the 2016 Olympics.

“I’m deeply appreciative of the unique opportunity that the USOC is giving these students,” Michaelis said.

Through a competitive selection process, 14 applicants from the Grady Sports program were narrowed down to four finalists by the USOC. The finalists completed a second round of assignments, including deadline coverage of a UGA women’s basketball game.

The USOC announced its selection of Chrzanowski and Thompson. The two selections from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis have not yet been named.

“This opportunity means everything to me,” said Thompson, a junior majoring in digital and broadcast journalism, who plans to be a

Bulletin Board Columns publication break

Because of spring break, Columns will not be published March 7. Regular weekly publication resumes March 14. Send announcements for that issue to columns@uga.edu by 5 p.m. on March 2.

‘Listening sessions’ UGA is exploring an update of its visual brand identity and logo system and invites members of the UGA community to participate in a series of open, public input meetings in March.

The meetings will be structured “listening” sessions led by the Division of Marketing & Communications that will explore the preferences and needs of faculty, staff, students and alumni and discuss opportunities to establish a university-wide system for logos and to make it more relevant for digital media use.

To sign up to attend, go to http:// goo.gl/forms/ko7ph97ySb .

Network, Web outages

From 10 a.m. on Feb. 20 to 10 a.m. the following morning, students, faculty and staff filled all three levels of the Tate Student Center, dancing to raise funds.

sports reporter for a prominent media outlet.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to go to an Olympics. I am really honored to have the chance to cover athletes I grew up watching, like Serena Williams.”

Chrzanowski, a junior public relations major, plans to pursue a graduate degree in statistics and a career in sports analytics.

“This opportunity will give me invaluable real-life experience and teach me communications tools in practice,” she said.

“Grady Sports has provided me every single tool I need going into the Olympics,” Chrzanowski said. “Professor Michaelis and professor (Welch) Suggs have taught me professionalism, sports journalism from head to toe and how to be an invaluable asset to a team. I am grateful for all they’ve done for this program and Grady.”

Thompson echoed Chrzanowski.

“I think that learning the proper techniques of conducting an interview, preparing for games and writing on deadline has helped me prepare for the next step,” he said.

There are so many learning experiences awaiting these two students, said Michaelis.

“The learning curve is going to be steep,” she said. “But by the end of the Games, they’ll both have a lot more confidence in what they can do as sports journalists and sports communicators.”

A major, planned EITS maintenance project is scheduled from 10 p.m. March 4 to 7 a.m. March 5.

The work will result in a disruption to many UGA IT services and impact people accessing UGA technology services both on and off campus.

Those on campus may experience disruptions accessing external, non-UGA Web services such as the Internet and UGAMail.

Those off campus may experience

disruptions accessing UGAMail, websites hosted by UGA, the main UGA website (www.uga.edu), the Virtual Private Network, ArchPass and Web services hosted by EITS. They also may experience disruptions to UGA’s Central Authentication System.

Additional details and progress reports will be posted to status.uga.edu .

University Woman’s Club

The University Woman’s Club will meet March 8 at 11 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Central Presbyterian Church, 380 Alps Road.

Wayne Crowell, professor emeritus of veterinary pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine, will discuss “First Weekend in May—Run for the Roses.”

For more information, email Kim Argo at argo1230@att.net .

Free golf clinics

Staff at the University Golf Course will host free, hourlong clinics for UGA staff and faculty March 15 and 22 at 5:30 p.m. with a make-up day on March 29. Spouses of UGA faculty and staff members are encouraged to participate.

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

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