UGA Columns Jan. 23, 2017

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Terry study: Referral networks in labor market may perpetuate inequality RESEARCH NEWS

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Vocalosity will give a cappella performance in Hodgson Concert Hall

January 23, 2017

Vol. 44, No. 22

www.columns.uga.edu

UGA GUIDE

4&5

2017 State of the University President Jere W. Morehead will deliver the 2017 State of the University address to the campus community Jan. 25 at 3:30 p.m. in the Chapel. The speech will be broadcast live on Charter channel 181 and president.uga.edu/nextchapter.

Graduate School expands support for training grants

By Sam Fahmy

sfahmy@uga.edu

Photo illustration: Lindsay Bland Robinson

The birthplace of

PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN AMERICA How UGA sparked a movement that continues to shape our nation

If our newly formed nation had to pick a Founding Father to transform higher education across America—and create a critical pillar of our fledgling democracy— Abraham Baldwin would have been an unlikely choice.

The son of a Connecticut blacksmith, Baldwin was only 30 years old when he crafted one of the most groundbreaking documents in our nation’s early history—the charter that established the University of Georgia as the birthplace of public higher education in America.

“Our present happiness joined to pleasing prospects should conspire to make us feel ourselves under

the strongest obligation to form the youth, the rising hope of our Land,” Baldwin wrote in the charter, which was adopted 232 years ago this week by the Georgia General Assembly on Jan. 27, 1785.

“Think about it—they couldn’t even pay off their Revolutionary War debts, but they were looking for ways to provide public education for our students,” said Sylvia M. Hutchinson, a professor emerita of reading education and higher education who serves as a senior adviser in the UGA Division of Academic Enhancement. “These people were far-reaching in their thinking.”

The establishment of UGA as America’s first public university sparked a movement that continues to shape this nation—creating tens of millions of informed citizens, new scientists and innovative entrepreneurs every generation.

Today, public colleges and universities across the United States educate about 15 million students each year. This includes the more than 300,000 students throughout the public colleges and universities that make up the University System of Georgia.

According to data provided by the American Association of State See BIRTHPLACE on page 7

TERRY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

Economic Outlook forecast predicts bright economy for 2017 and beyond

By Matt Weeks

mweeks@uga.edu

The Athens-area economy will continue an upward trajectory this year and beyond, according to the Georgia Economic Outlook forecast from UGA’s Terry College of Business.

Employment in the Classic City will rise by 2.5 percent or about 2,400 jobs in 2017, thanks to companies such as Voxpro and Caterpillar as well as an increase in the budgets of state and local governments.

Other industries, like health care and biotechnology also will be a boon for the Athens area.

Athens will benefit from its role as the Benjamin Ayers regional medical service center for northeast Georgia, one that’s reinforced by the establishment of a medical school campus at UGA in partnership with Augusta University. A

cluster of biotechnology industries with links to UGA is gradually developing critical mass in the Athens metro area, which should boost prospects for additional growth in the life-sciences employment.

The area also will benefit from the trends that will buoy the state as a whole, said Terry College Dean Benjamin C. Ayers.

“Many of the same forces that contributed specifically to Georgia’s growth in the past two years will be even stronger in 2017,” Ayers said. “First, Georgia has even See OUTLOOK on page 8

The University of Georgia is stepping up the support that faculty members receive as they apply for training grants that help attract the world’s most promising graduate students.

Karen Young recently joined the Graduate School as the university’s first training grants coordinator, and she works with faculty and grants coordinators across campus to identify funding sources and to facilitate the submission of training grants.

“Training grants provide students with the resources they need to pursue a graduate degree, and

they also elevate the reputation of programs and the entire u n i v e r s i t y,” said Graduate School Dean Suzanne Barbour. “They’re marks of excellence that recognize programs that have been thoroughly evaluated and judged to be among the best in the nation.”

The university administers several long-standing training grants, including an NIH-funded predoctoral training grant in genetics that has been funded for more than See TRAINING on page 8

COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH

CDC grant to boost prevention efforts in high-obesity counties

By Rebecca Ayer alea@uga.edu

UGA has been awarded a twoyear, $1.25 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to boost obesity prevention efforts in Georgia’s most impacted rural counties: Calhoun and Taliaferro.

There, UGA will work with county leaders and local stakeholders to improve nutrition and increase physical activity.The projects are called Healthier Together

Calhoun and Healthier Together Taliaferro.

Land-grant colleges and universities, located in states with counties with an adult obesity prevalence of over 40 percent, were able to apply for the special funding available through the CDC’s Programs to Reduce Obesity in High Obesity Areas.

“To have a major impact on ­obesity, we must involve multiple community sectors—elected officials, churches, businesses, grocery

See GRANT on page 8

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, TERRY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

MBA-engineering dual degree program to launch at UGA

By Mike Wooten

mwooten@uga.edu

UGA is launching a new dual degree program that will allow students to earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering and an MBA within five years. The program, offered through the university’s Terry College of Business and its College of Engineering, is the first and only combined Bachelor of Science and MBA degree offered at an institution in the University

System of Georgia.

“We are pleased to add the new engineering and MBA dual degree combination to our innovative educational offerings to provide motivated engineering students with the business skill set that will equip them to excel in today’s workforce,” said Terry College Dean Benjamin C. Ayers.

Students enrolled in the program will begin with bachelor’s degree courses in the College of

See DEGREE on page 8

2 Jan. 23, 2017 columns.uga.edu

2017 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. FREEDOM BREAKFAST

Around academe

Regents approve institutional mergers for four USG members

At its Jan. 11 meeting, the board of regents approved Chancellor Steve Wrigley’s recommendation for two consolidations within the University System of Georgia: Georgia Southern University and Armstrong State University, and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Bainbridge State College.

According to a news release from the USG, the two new institutions, respectively, will be named Georgia Southern University, to be led

by President Jaimie Hebert, and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, to be led by President David Bridges. The consolidation timelime calls for the consideration of both new institution’s plans by the board of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges by the end of this year, followed by board of regents consideration of the new institutions in early 2018.

Report: Anxiety, depression increasing among college students

A new report from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health found college students continue to struggle with anxiety, depression and stress, and the number of students who report experiencing these conditions has gradually increased every year for six years. However, most students did not take psychiatric medications at the time they sought help.

More than 400 institutions contributed to the report, which analyzed information collected by college counseling centers on students who seek mental health services.

Four ways to be healthier in 2017

News to Use

Alison Berg, an assistant professor in the foods and nutrition department at the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and an extension specialist with UGA Cooperative Extension, offers four tips to help you keep your resolution to be healthier in 2017: 1. Eat the rainbow.

Eat a variety of vegetables. If you eat a lot of green beans and spinach but you never touch butternut squash or beets, give them a try.

2. Eat protein for breakfast.

Eating breakfast is important, but eating protein for breakfast is just as important. Protein at breakfast seems to help people feel fuller and stay satisfied longer.

3. Eat some fat (the good kind).

Healthy fats, like those found in fish, avocados, nuts and healthy oils like olive and canola oil, are good for our hearts and brains, and they also help our meals have staying power. Fats help us feel full, so don’t try and cut too many calories by leaving out the fats.

4. Move more.

We all need to find a great exercise routine, but just getting more physical activity throughout the day will help your body ward off disease and will likely help your mood. Get up from your desk and take a lap around the building.

Source: UGA Cooperative Extension

Virtual best

The master’s degree program in education at UGA ranked sixth on a list of the best online graduate education programs in the U.S. The top universities that made the list are: 1. U. of Florida 2. U. of Houston 3. Florida State U. 4. N. Illinois U. 4. U. of Nebraska-Lincoln

6. UGA

6. U. of Albany-SUNY 8. Michigan State U. 9. Penn State U.-World Campus

Speaker calls for continuation of work on King’s ‘unfinished business’

By Krista Richmond krichmond@uga.edu

Martin Luther King Jr. ended his most famous speech by talking about a dream, but he began that same speech by talking about America’s unfinished business. The Rev. Raphael Gamaliel Warnock, senior pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, encouraged attendees at the 14th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Breakfast Jan. 13 to take on that work.

“Dr. King loved Schubert’s unfinished symphony. It is a classic, but unlike most symphonies, it only has two movements,” Warnock said. “If you think about it, all of our lives are like an unfinished symphony. We die with a project unfinished. While we celebrate his work, let us not cash in the dream for sentimental memories. He understood that this work builds one block upon another.”

The breakfast commemorates the life of the late civil rights leader and honors the exemplary community service work of individuals in Athens and the university community. The event, held at the Grand Hall of the Tate Student Center, is sponsored by UGA, the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and the Clarke County School District.

Warnock told the estimated 600 people in attendance that “we must become allergic to bigotry.”

He also reiterated the importance of investing in people, particularly children, calling them “the most important resource we could ever have.”

At the breakfast, UGA also recognized four people who are taking steps to promote equality and justice.

Elizabeth Louis, a doctoral candidate in psychology; Barbara McCaskill,

Janet Beckley

professor of English and co-director of the Civil Rights Digital Library Initiative; and Fred O. Smith and Lee E. Zimmerman Smith, co-founders of the Creative Visions Foundation, received the President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award for their efforts to make King’s dream of equality and justice a reality.

Louis works as a graduate assistant in UGA’s Office of Institutional Diversity.

Her research interests include ethnic minority and immigrant mental health and trauma; the influence of culture, religion and spirituality in coping with traumatic experiences; and disaster mental health and humanitarian psychosocial interventions.

McCaskill, who has been on the UGA faculty for 25 years, helped develop and implement the English department’s Multicultural American literature curriculum. She has published four books and scores of essays and book chapters on African-American literature and literary subjects. In the Athens community, she has taught classes about the literature

PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH

Animated video educates public about need for green infrastructure An animated video on sustainability produced by UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant and undergraduate students at the Savannah College of Art and Design may soon be in a film festival, workshop or classroom near you.

The educational video on green infrastructure and stormwater management already has been selected for screening at the annual Gray’s Reef Film Festival, Feb. 2-5. It has been submitted to 34 film festivals around the world.

The tranquil video, which runs almost five minutes, begins with a man navigating a canoe along a creek and then follows the water past birds, fish and reptiles that live in forests, marshes, parks and backyards. As rain begins to fall, the narrator talks about the way plants and soil naturally slow down rainwater, causing it to spread and allowing water to soak into the soil. This process filters the rain, which eliminates pollutants before the water feeds into aquifers, wetlands, rivers or oceans.

“We want people who watch this to better understand why it’s important to have green infrastructure throughout our communities; it plays an important role in managing rainwater while protecting healthy ecosystems that provide us vital services such as clean air and water, habitat, food and flood control,” said Keren Giovengo, program manager for the Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant EcoScapes program.

The video was a collaboration between Giovengo, Savannah College of Art and Design Collaborative Learning Center class, and Mark McClellan, forestry specialist for the Georgia Forestry Commission’s Sustainable Community Forestry Program. The project was funded by the Georgia Forestry Commission, a state agency responsible for providing leadership, service and education in the protection and conservation of Georgia’s forest resources.

VIEW THE VIDEO

U.S. News & World Report

Dorothy Kozlowski

Keynote speaker the Rev. Raphael Warnock, right, congratulates the 2017 President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award recipients, from left, Barbara McCaskill, Lee E. Zimmerman Smith, Fred O. Smith and Elizabeth Louis.

https://vimeo.com/193902038

and film of the civil rights movement for UGA’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

The Smiths have been active in many organizations. In 1989, they started the Creative Visions Foundation, a community-based nonprofit organization that provided after-school, weekend and summer educational enrichment to Athens-area youth. In 2012, they created the first Athens Area Black History Bowl, aimed at connecting youth to their history through questions specifically about local and regional African-American history.

In addition, Kerry Miller, Mary Diallo and Harold Black, the first African-Americans to enroll at UGA as freshmen, were recognized at the breakfast on the 50th anniversary of their graduation as part of the Class of 1966. (See photo, page 8.)

The Freedom Breakfast and the President’s Fulfilling the Dream Awards are coordinated by the UGA Office of Institutional Diversity.

SCHOOL OF LAW Wilbanks Conference to address child endangerment, sexual exploitation issues

By Heidi M. Murphy hmurphy@uga.edu

The UGA School of Law will host the inaugural Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic Conference Jan. 28.

The daylong conference will bring together legal experts, psychologists and child advocacy leaders from across the country to discuss important issues related to child sexual abuse and those professionals who assist them.

Panel discussions will examine the intersection of civil, criminal and juvenile courts in child sexual abuse cases; trauma/compassion fatigue for those representing child sexual abuse survivors; and understanding the psychology of child sexual abuse and using experts effectively.

The keynote address will be delivered by Ross Cheit, a Brown University professor and author of The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children, published by the Oxford University Press.

Other speakers include Marlan B. Wilbanks, a 1986 Georgia Law alumnus; Peter Janci, a partner with the law firm Crew Janci; and Paul Mones, an advocate for survivors of child abuse who has obtained tens of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for his clients from entities such as the Boy Scouts of America.

As part of the conference, the documentary film Off the Record: Justice Denied to Child Sex Abuse Survivors will have its debut showing, which will be followed by a questionand-answer session with filmmakers Valerie Gibson and Neil Jaffee.

For more information and to register for the conference, visit https://t.uga.edu/2Ut before Jan. 24. Registrations will be taken thereafter on a space availability basis only. The cost is $75 and includes a light breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and the documentary premiere dessert reception. For those seeking continuing legal education credits, the cost is $180 for five credits including one ethics hour. Attendance for members of the UGA community is free, but registration is required.

RESEARCH NEWS

columns.uga.edu Jan. 23, 2017

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Digest UGA law school to present symposium on 21st century policing Jan. 27

Who you know

Ian Schmutte’s research looks at how “job-referral networks” may help perpetuate inequality in job searches.

Terry College of Business study: Referral networks in labor market may help perpetuate inequality

By Matt Weeks

mweeks@uga.edu

Half of all workers say they found their current jobs through a friend or social acquaintance, but “job-referral networks” may help perpetuate inequality, according to new research from UGA. “Workers who get hired through referrals almost always tend to keep their jobs longer, which suggests that referral can be a way of improving the match between the worker and the firm,” said Ian Schmutte, author of the study and an assistant professor of economics at UGA’s Terry College of Business.

“So referrals lead to better jobs, where both sides are happier and the jobs last longer. For firms, it’s more profitable because they don’t incur the cost of turnover. For employees, there is some evidence those hired through referral earn higher wages.”

Because they can enhance productivity, firms may increasingly use referrals to recruit talented workers, Schmutte said. But because referral networks tend

to be concentrated around people who look and act a lot like current employees, referrals can pose problems for diversity.

“On the one hand, referral networks exist to solve information problems in the labor market. If you’re an employer, you don’t have all of the information you want about a potential worker, you want to know about their character, if they show up to work on time or are they going to be good at this particular type of task, are they going to fit in with the team, that kind of thing,” Schmutte said. “Referrals can answer some of those questions and reduce the information problems, so economists tend to think that makes the labor market more efficient.

“On the other hand, if this is how most people find jobs, it means that they’re relying on social networks, which tend to be constructed on the basis of social and economic hierarchies that can be based on historic patterns of racial or class stratification. As a result, they can perpetuate inequality or have an ‘old boys club’ character to them. So

referral networks can be both efficiency enhancing and also lead to particular types of inequalities.”

Schmutte’s synthesis of recent research, published in the IZA World of Labor, argues that while good workers tend to know other good workers, most people are confined to fairly homogenous social spheres.

“It’s clear that job referrals are a large share of total employment and their relevance surprisingly seems to be increasing, rather than decreasing, over time,” he said. “In spite of the fact that there are lots of other ways to get information about people, firms are increasingly utilizing job-referral networks. That means they’re important.

But it’s hard to quantify how much they’re enhancing efficiency versus how much they’re increasing inequality.”

The ramifications of job-referral networks aren’t clean cut, Schmutte said. He isn’t certain what consequences could emerge from a policy that limits or encourages firms’ use of job referrals.

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

Study: Chronic illness and depression increase likelihood of problem drinking in older adults

By Laurie Anderson laurie@uga.edu

Older adults suffering from multiple chronic health conditions and depression are nearly five times as likely to be problem drinkers as older adults with the same conditions and no depression, according to researchers at UGA. Their study is the first to document the connection between multiple chronic illnesses, depression and alcohol use in seniors.

This information could help health care providers identify which older adults are most likely to experience problem drinking and lead to better preventive care for this segment of society.

The study, conducted by researchers from the UGA School of Social Work, utilized data from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, a nationwide survey of older adults that is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers looked at more than 1,600 individuals aged 57 to 85 who identified as active alcohol ­consumers.

Among problem drinkers, or

individuals who reported a high amount of negative consequences associated with alcohol use, the researchers found that more than half—66 percent—­ reported having multiple chronic health conditions, or MCC, and 28 percent reported having symptoms of depression. The researchers also found that older adults who experienced MCC combined with depression were those who experienced the highest likelihood of problem drinking.

“These findings suggest that effective training in screening and referral for mental health and alcohol use issues for health care providers of older adults may better serve the approximate 4 million older adults who currently experience problem drinking in the U.S.,” said Orion Mowbray, an assistant professor at the UGA School of Social Work and lead author of the study.

Previous efforts to prevent and manage disease in older adults have focused on a single disease at a time, said Mowbray. Few physicians consider the combination of multiple chronic conditions in connection with depression as

a potential sign for increased alcohol misuse, although screening and followup counseling for behavioral problems is known to help.

“There is sufficient evidence that even brief interventions delivered in medical-related settings can have a positive influence on reducing problem drinking among most older adults,” said Mowbray. “These interventions can include screening for signs of depression in individuals with long-term health problems, engaging the individual in a conversation about the risks of problem drinking and providing a referral for brief alcohol-related treatment.”

Other contributors to the paper include Tiffany Washington, assistant professor of social work; Greg Purser, social work doctoral candidate, and Jay O’Shields, a 2015 UGA alumnus.

The study was published in the the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, and will be presented this month at the Society for Social Work and Research’s annual conference in New Orleans. It is available online at http://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jgs.14479/full.

The UGA School of Law’s student-edited legal journal, the Georgia Law Review, will present the conference “Protect and Serve: Perspectives on 21st Century Policing” Jan. 27 in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall.

During this daylong conference, which begins at 8:30 a.m., scholars from across the country will discuss the current and future state of policing and its convergence with criminal law.

The symposium keynote address will be given at 3:15 p.m. in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom

by Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Chemerinsky is the founding dean and a distinguished professor for the law school.

The conference is open to the public and free to attend for UGA students, staff and faculty. Members of the public may attend for a cost of $12, which includes lunch. For attorneys, six continuing legal education credits, including one ethics hour, are available at a total cost of $80. Registration is required at https://t.uga.edu/2SD.

UGA, high school students take top prizes in State Botanical Garden’s student art contest

Two UGA students and one Locust Grove High School student were chosen as the top three winners in the annual student art contest held by the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach.

The winners of the 2016 art contest are Mikaila Guerra of Kathleen, first place; Benjamin Thrash of Athens, second place; and Tania Sturm of McDonough, third place. Guerra, a third-year UGA student majoring in fine arts, created a piece with permanent markers titled “At the Botans.’ Thrash, a third-year UGA student majoring in fine arts and art education, created a watercolor and gouache piece titled “Costa Rica Plant.” Sturm, a student at Locust Grove High School, created a piece with watercolor and colored pencils titled “Blue Elegance.”

In December, a panel of judges selected the winners and certificate of merit recipients from about 90 entries. Students from grade nine through college were eligible to enter the contest and could use any media of their choice to represent the garden.

Winning artwork will be used to create signature items in the garden’s gift shop, and first, second and third place winners will receive $1,000, $500 and $250, respectively.

The winning entries from the past 10 years will be on display at the State Botanical Garden’s Visitor Center until Feb. 12. The garden is located at 2450 S. Milledge Ave. The winning entries and a list of those entries receiving certificates of merit are at http://statebotgardenga.blogspot.com.

Two UGA Rec Sports students named All-American officials at tournament

Kaulin Andric and Jessica Gilbert, student officials in UGA’s Department of Recreational Sports, were named All-American officials Jan. 8 at the National IntramuralRecreational Sports Association National Flag Football Tournament at the University of West Florida.

Both Andric and Gilbert officiated games throughout the three-day series, where 56 collegiate intramural teams competed for three division championships, men’s, women’s and co-rec.

A total of 50 officials were invited from state and regional flag football tournaments. From those, 10 were selected as All-American officials. In addition to Andric and Gilbert, the group also included officials from Georgia Southern University, Ohio State University, Angelo State University, Ohio University, Campbell University and Indiana University.

Gilbert was the only woman selected as an AllAmerican this year.

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

Storytelling: The Georgia Review’s 70th Anniversary Art Retrospective. Through Jan. 29. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu.

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 Advanced and Irascible. Through April 30. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu (See story, below.)

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, JANUARY 23 2017 FOUNDERS DAY LECTURE Charles Bullock, the Richard B. Russell Professor of Political Science in the School of Public and International Affairs, will present this year’s lecture, “The Highs and Lows of the 2016 Presidential Election,” to mark the 232nd anniversary of the establishment of UGA as America’s first state-chartered

Exhibition features works of well-known abstract expressionists

By Sarah Dotson sdotson@uga.edu

The Georgia Museum of Art at UGA showcases the work of well-known abstract expressionist artists in the exhibition Advanced and Irascible: Abstract Expressionism from the Collection of Jeanne and Carroll Berry, on view until April 30.

Organized by the museum’s curator of American art, Sarah Kate Gillespie, the exhibition features Jeanne and Carroll Berry’s efforts to gather one work by each of the so-called “Irascible” painters of abstract expressionism. The Irascibles earned their nickname after sending a signed, open letter to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to protest the lack of what they called “advanced” art in its exhibition of contemporary artists in 1950. A photograph of them that appeared in Life magazine in 1951 became the defining image of the abstract expressionists.

In their letter, the artists wrote, “For roughly a hundred years, only advanced art has made any consequential contribution to civilization.” This collection of works embodies what they thought contributed to the advancement of art.

Advanced and Irascible includes 19 works by 18 different artists, all borrowed from the Berrys’ collection. Artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, Willem de Kooning, Hedda Sterne and Ad Reinhardt are represented.

Characterized by large, gestural paintings, this group of painters defined the abstract expressionist movement and influenced the trajectory of modern art. This exhibition includes mostly smaller works, many of which are on paper, as well as a charcoal drawing by Armenian artist Arshile Gorky, who was not a member of the Irascibles but was a strong influence on the group.

Gillespie also is teaching a split-level undergraduate and graduate art history course on abstract expressionism at the Lamar Dodd School of Art this semester. The class will make heavy use of both Advanced and Irascible and its companion exhibition, Artists of the New York School, allowing students to study original works of art in person rather than reproduced art in a textbook.

Related events include a film series beginning Jan. 26; a gallery discussion with associate curator of education Callan Steinmann Feb. 8 at 2 p.m.; 90 Carlton: Winter, the museum’s quarterly reception (free for members, $5 for nonmembers) Feb. 10 from 5:30-8:30 p.m.; a Family Day focused on abstract valentines Feb. 11 from 10 a.m. to noon; and a public tour with Gillespie Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. All events are open free to the public unless otherwise indicated.

Student soloists join UGA Symphony Orchestra for January concert

By Clarke Schwabe ccschwabe@uga.edu

Five of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s most talented students, winners of the UGA Symphony Orchestra’s annual Concerto Competition, will perform as soloists alongside the orchestra in Hodgson Concert Hall Jan. 25 at 8 p.m.

A long-standing tradition at the Hodgson School, the Concerto Competition lets students from all of the school’s areas choose a concerto, then learn and perform it for a panel of faculty judges each fall semester. A small group is chosen, and those students get to perform with the orchestra the following spring semester.

This year’s winners are Geneva Stonecipher, piano; Diogo Baggio, double bass; Rachel Eve Holmes, soprano; Charlie Young, saxophone; and Ksenia Kurenysheva, piano. The group spans a variety of backgrounds and experience levels, and their chosen works stretch across centuries and a multitude of styles.

“The thing about this one is it’s so eclectic,” said Mark Cedel, director of the UGASO. “Each year, I tell the orchestra it’s 88 minutes of music, and those 88 minutes could be anything.”

In this way, the concert is as much a showcase of the orchestra as the soloist. The soloist must learn to play an intricate, difficult part for a single work, and the orchestra has to learn anywhere from four to six works that could be dramatically different from one another.

“This concert is different from our others because of how we have to adapt to whatever the competition winners choose,” said Cedel. “It could be something we’ve done before, it could be something that’s only been done once before, it could be anything.”

Cedel, too, is faced with unique challenges in

Diogo Baggio, Geneva Stonecipher, Ksenia Kurenysheva, and Charlie Young stand in Hodgson Concert Hall following a rehearsal for their Jan. 25 concert.

preparing for this concert. The musicians might have to learn a particularly difficult or unusual piece of music, but Cedel has to program a concert for which he didn’t choose the works and then procure the music for the orchestra.

“It can be like a treasure hunt sometimes,” said Cedel. “Some of these pieces are very hard to find.

This year, in fact, one of the pieces was only available from one place in the world.”

Tickets to the concert are $12 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.

MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Alabama. $15. 9 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum. 706-542-1231.

LECTURE Rob Stein, NPR health correspondent and senior editor, has covered global infectious diseases since the early days of the AIDS pandemic, also reporting on emerging pathogens such as SARS and perennial threats such as influenza. Stein will talk about his journey as he opens the 2017 Global Diseases: Voices from the Vanguard lecture series. 5:30 p.m. Chapel.

706-542-1210. pthomas@uga.edu LECTURE Connie Cottingham, a staff member at the State Botanical Garden, will transport attendees to three very different gardens in three very different settings, and perhaps along the streets of a few charming towns in France and Monaco in this lecture. Light reception before the talk provided by Friends of the Garden.

6:30 p.m. Visitor Center, Gardenside Room, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6014. connicot@uga.edu

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BOOT CAMP Join UGA Innovation Gateway and the law firm of Smith Tempel, an Atlanta- and Athens-based law firm practicing intellectual property and patent law, for an informal, interactive discussion of intellectual property law and its role at a research university.

10 a.m. 175 Coverdell Center. 706-542-8969. tduggins@uga.edu TOUR AT TWO Join Hillary Brown, director of communications and in-house co-curator of the To Spin a Yarn, Distaffs: Folk Art and Material Culture exhibition, for a special tour. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662.

2017 STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS UGA President Jere W. Morehead will deliver the annual report to the faculty and community. 3:30 p.m. Chapel.

UGA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA $12; $6 with a UGA student ID. 8 p.m. Hugh Hodgson Concert

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/.

CONFERENCE Georgia Law’s inaugural Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Conference. $180 includes registration fees and CLE credit (non-UGA faculty/student/staff), $75 includes registration fees (non-UGA faculty/student/staff), $15 UGA faculty/staff lunch, $15 UGA faculty/staff film screening, $15 UGA student film screening, $15 UGA student lunch. 9 a.m.

Classroom A (120) Hirsch Hall. sehlers@uga.edu (See story, page 2.)

COPACABANA Enjoy dessert and dancing featuring DJ Mahogany at the afterparty for Elegant Salute. Tropical attire encouraged. $50 for members; $65 for nonmembers. 9 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662.

SEMINAR “Extreme Events: Climate Change and the Energy Food Water Nexus,” Marshall Shepherd, geography. Sustainable Food Systems Initiative Seminar Series. 3:30 p.m. 307 Conner Hall.

706-542-8084. sustainag@uga.edu

LECTURE The UGA Division of Student Affairs annually hosts a leader in higher education to engage staff throughout the division in exploring current topics. Ajay Nair, senior vice president and dean of Campus Life at Emory University, is this year’s visiting practitioner. Nair will give a lecture on navigating your position, professional and personal identities while advocating for change. 1:30 p.m. Chapel. 706-542-8229. asd@uga.edu

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28

ELEGANT SALUTE The Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art host the biennial black-tie gala featuring cocktails, music, dinner and dancing.

Proceeds provide crucial support for exhibitions, outreach and year-round educational programming at the museum. $300 per person for members; $350 per person nonmembers.

6 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu

Hall. 706-542-4752. ccschwabe@uga.edu (See story, above.)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24

4&5

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

institution of higher education in the U.S. 1:30 p.m. Chapel. lbcook@uga.edu

FACULTY CONCERT Featuring Michael Heald, violin, and guest artist Timothy Lovelace, head of collaborative piano at the University of Minnesota. 8 p.m. Ramsey Hall. ccschwabe@uga.edu

columns.uga.edu Jan. 23, 2017

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26 WORKSHOP The newest addition to eLC, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, can be used to engage students in a number of learning activities.

This workshop will be held online via Collaborate Ultra.

12:30 p.m. sac@uga.edu MAKE IT AN EVENING Enjoy coffee, dessert and a gallery tour at the museum prior to the performance in Hodgson Hall by the Spanish Brass. Jittery Joe’s Coffee and Cecilia Villaveces’ cakes. Purchase tickets for the concert at pac.uga.edu. 6 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662.

STUDIO WORKSHOP: BIOMORPHIC ACRYLICS Join Athens-based artist and educator Erin McIntosh for a fourpart series of studio-based courses that will focus on biomorphic abstraction and acrylics as expressed through various techniques and acrylic mediums, including applications for both abstract and representational works. The cost of the course is a $15 materials fee. Space is limited; call 706-542-8863 or email callan@uga.edu to reserve a spot. 6:30 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. IRASCIBLES FILM SERIES Painters Painting. The definitive documentary on the New York School of painters. Among the artists interviewed in their studios are Robert Rauschenberg, William de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, Barnett

Newman, Hans Hofmann, Jules Olitski, Philip Pavia, Larry Poons, Robert Motherwell and Kenneth Noland. 1973, 116 mins. Sponsored by UGA Parents and Families Association. 7 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu READING LeAnne Howe, UGA’s Eidson Distinguished Professor in American Literature, in conjunction with the Creative Writing Program, will present a reading by writer and poet Dean Rader. Rader has published widely in the fields of poetry, American Indian studies and popular culture. 7 p.m. Cine, 234 W. Hancock Ave. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. South Carolina. $5. 7 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.

706-542-1231.

CONCERT Spanish Brass performs works by works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Giuseppe Verdi, Tomas Breton, Enrique Granados and Isaac Albeniz. $26-$41; $6 with valid UGA ID, limit one ticket per student. 8 p.m. Hodgson Concert Hall. 706-542-4400.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27 SYMPOSIUM The 32nd annual Odum School Graduate Student Symposium is a chance to hear the latest research from graduate students and view posters by undergraduate researchers in the Odum School. This year’s keynote address, “From Rocks to Spiders: Geologic Controls on Trace Metals Affect Aquatic-Riparian Linkages in Rocky Mountain Streams,” will be given by David Walters, a research scientist with the U.S.G.S. and an affiliate faculty member at Colorado State University. Auditorium, ecology building. 706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu GEORGIA LAW REVIEW SYMPOSIUM “Protect and Serve: Perspectives on 21st Century Policing.”

8:30 a.m. Larry Walker Room, Dean Rusk Hall. ann.carroll25@uga.edu (See Digest, page 3.)

INTERNATIONAL COFFEE HOUR 11:30 a.m. Memorial Hall Ballroom. 706-542-5867. isl@uga.edu CTRU OPEN HOUSE Learn more about clinical and translational research pilot grants, CTRU services available to investigators, opportunities for expanding research and collaboration through the CTRU, clinical and translational science experience and education for trainees. 3 p.m. Clinical & Translational Research Unit, 109 Bowstrom Rd. 706-713-2722. schmitzk@uga.edu (See story, page 7.)

GYMNASTICS Blackout Meet vs. Missouri. All fans invited for autographs post-meet. $10 adults; $6 youth. 7 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.

706-542-1621.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 CLASS It is time to think about fruit production. Gareth Crosby will teach Orchard Fruit Production/Pruning Session 1 attendees the best ways to expand fruit production in orchards. $25 per session. 1 p.m. Visitor Center, Classroom 2, State Botanical Garden.

706-542-6156. ckeber@uga.edu

MONDAY, JANUARY 30 WORKSHOP In the Promoting Active Learning Using eLC workshop, participants will explore an eLC course, including a checklist, selfenrollment groups, single-user groups, discussions and quizzes.

As a group, participants will select several of these tools to learn step-by-step. 1:30 p.m. 372 Miller Learning Center.

706-542-0525. sac@uga.edu

COMING UP WORKSHOP Jan. 31. “Teaching Naked Techniques: A Practical Workshop for Designing Better Classes” will provide new insights into how we learn as well as practical advice abouot how this information can be applied in the college classroom. 10 a.m.

N6 Instructional Plaza. edwatson@uga.edu SEMINAR Jan. 31. “Translating Ecology: From Public Art to Climate Action,” Timothy Carter, president of Second Nature. A reception follows the seminar at 4:30 p.m. in the Ecology lobby, hosted by Laurie Fowler, executive director for Public Service and External Affairs at the Odum School of Ecology and director for Policy of the UGA River Basin Center.

3:30 p.m. Auditorium, ecology building. 706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu PERFORMANCE Jan. 31. Paula Vogel’s experimental play The Long Christmas Ride Home uses a contemporary version of bunraku puppetry in its haunting deconstruction of an “All-American” family’s road trip to their grandparent’s house for Christmas. Runs at 8 p.m. Jan. 31- Feb. 5 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 5. $12; $7 for students. Seney-Stovall Chapel. 706-542-4400.

SWING DANCE NIGHT IN THE GARDEN Jan. 31. Learn new dance steps, dance under the palms or watch talented and enthusiastic dancers. 8 p.m. Visitor Center, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6014. connicot@uga.edu RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES Feb. 1. “Recognition and Inhibition of Protein N-terminal Methyltransferases,” Rong Huang, Virginia Commonwealth University. 11 a.m. 201 Pharmacy South. 706-542-7385. meganjs@uga.edu

Performing Arts Center to present Vocalosity in concert Jan. 30

By Bobby Tyler btyler@uga.edu

The UGA Performing Arts Center will present Vocalosity Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall. Created by Deke Sharon, music director of the Pitch Perfect movies, Vocalosity is the concert event that takes a cappella to a whole new level.

The fast-paced production features an all-star ensemble of diverse young vocalists singing some of today’s chart-topping hits in brand new arrangements, combined with choreography from Sean Curran, an original cast member of STOMP. Tickets for the performance, which range in price from $41-$47, 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.

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.

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.

NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES Jan. 25 (for Feb. 6 issue) Feb. 1 (for Feb. 13 issue) Feb. 8 (for Feb. 20 issue)

6 Jan. 23, 2017 columns.uga.edu

CAMPUS CLOSEUP

Reality on screen

Virtual reality is getting a natural twist. Scientists are using immersive experiences to help people understand environmental issues by experiencing the world as a cow destined for market or a piece of dying coral.

A recent study found that these immersive experiences led people to feel more connected with nature than those who simply watched the simulation play out on a screen.

“One of the biggest problems with environmental issues is that there’s a huge temporal gap, so it seems like whatever you do in the present doesn’t really connect to the environmental problems in the future,” study co-author Grace Ahn, an assistant professor of advertising in UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, told The Guardian. “Virtual reality is an amazing tool in terms of being able to show you the really solid causal relationships—this is what you do today, and here’s what might happen 100 years down the road.”

Working it out

There may be a genetic reason some people are pumped to go the gym while others avoid exercise, according to a new study of 3,000 adults.

Many people experience higher levels of dopamine after exercise, giving them a sort of mental reward for their physical work. For some, that benefit doesn’t happen because genes interfere with the release of dopamine.

“Variation in genes for dopamine receptors, as well as some other neural signaling genes, help explain why about 25 percent of the participants drop out of exercise or don’t exercise the recommended amount,” Rodney Dishman, a professor of kinesiology in UGA’s College of Education, told healthday. com. “Combined with personality measures, we think these genes may help explain why some people have a natural urge to be active while others never do.”

Dishman suggests two strategies for building habits around exercise. First, find an activity you enjoy.

Second, find others who enjoy that same activity to provide positive encouragement.

Looking for a cause

Fusarium wilt, a pathogen that causes damping off of young seedlings and wilting of mature plants, has become a concern for Southeastern U.S. watermelon growers.

Bhabesh Dutta, an assistant professor of plant pathology in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and his fellow researchers are looking at the impact micronutrients in the soil have on Fusarium wilt.

“What we have seen with other diseases is that soil fertility and the concentration of micronutrients in the soil did affect certain diseases,” Dutta told growingproduce.com. “We have tried this concept on peppers for the last four years and discovered it holds true for bacterial spot disease.”

In addition, they have been comparing plants with severe cases and plants with lesser symptoms.

“I hope to see differences,” Dutta said. “The genotype of the host determines the resistance of the pathogen. Certain watermelon cultivars have resistance to one or few races of this pathogen, and depending on that interaction, we’ll see different disease reaction or symptoms.”

Maintaining numbers

Studies in Maine and Nova Scotia indicate that coyotes can have a significant impact on deer populations by running them into deep snow.

“Results from several Midwestern and Northeastern studies indicate that coyotes are responsible for taking, on average, 10 to 20 percent of fawns,” Karl V. Miller, a professor of wildlife ecology and management in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, told American Hunter. “This level of fawn predation likely has minimal impact on the overall recruitment rates, particularly in highly productive herds.”

In the Southeast, however, biologists have found that coyotes tend to go after fawns, causing a major impact for whitetail herds, and terrain could be the reason. With a heavy concentration of pine trees, there is little undergrowth, and they are planted in rows, which makes it easier for coyotes to track fawns.

Dorothy Kozlowski

Margaret Bolton enjoys the interactions with students, faculty and other staff members in the geography-geology building.

Staffer helps make geographygeology building feel like home

By Jim Lichtenwalter

james.lichtenwal25@uga.edu

It isn’t hard to find Margaret Bolton when walking through the geography-geology building. All you have to do is follow the sound of cheery conversation.

Bolton is a well-known and beloved presence to many faculty, staff and students in the building.

“I love to talk; that’s just part of my nature,” Bolton said. “When I’m out of the building, everybody knows it.”

A UGA employee for nearly 20 years, Bolton is one of the geography-geology building’s two service workers. Her job varies from cleaning the restrooms and hallways to dusting off the giant, revolving globe in the building’s entrance.

“This is our home,” she said, gesturing around the foyer. “We are here eight hours, so we want to keep it presentable.”

However, Bolton finds her dayto-day interactions with the students, faculty and other staff members to be the most rewarding part of her job.

“I’m a people person, so I always try to be friendly and outgoing to people,” she said. “I love talking to the students

PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH UGA alumna named State Botanical Garden director

By Kelly Simmons

simmonsk@uga.edu

Jennifer M. Cruse-Sanders, vice president for science and conservation at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, has been named director of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at UGA, effective Feb. 15.

Cruse-Sanders’ senior administrative experience managing botanical garden programming and personnel, her track record of raising funds to support those programs and her energy and commitment to public gardens made her the top candidate.

“Jenny’s strong record of outstanding leadership at the Atlanta Botanical Garden makes her ideally suited to lead Georgia’s State Botanical Garden,” said

and the professors. They aren’t strangers to me in this building.”

During all her time at UGA, Bolton has been incredibly impressed by the students coming in and out of the building she cleans.

“They have always been so respectful and so nice,” she said.

Before she began working at UGA, Bolton was a certified nursing assistant mainly being responsible for taking care of elderly patients either in retirement facilities, hospice care or their homes.

In 1997, she stopped working as a full-time CNA to take care of her three young children. That was when she began working as a building service worker for UGA, beginning first at the River’s Crossing building. Her hard work over the years has paid off.

In 2014, 2015 and 2016, Bolton was a finalist in the UGA Customer Service Award.

While this certainly sounds like quite a career change, Bolton finds many similarities in the two jobs.

“The jump wasn’t too different because either way I’m dealing with people,” she said.

Now that her children are grown, Bolton also works part time as an in-home care provider every

Jennifer L. Frum, UGA vice president for public service and outreach, which oversees the garden.

“I am confident that working closely with the board of advisors and the Friends of the Garden, she will Jennifer Cruse-Sanders be in a position to raise the profile of and support for the State Botanical Garden of Georgia throughout the Southeast and the country.”

Cruse-Sanders has worked at the Atlanta Botanical Garden since 2008.

She was director of research and conservation before becoming a vice president.

Prior to Atlanta, she spent nine years as a research associate at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. She has an M.S. and a doctorate in botany from UGA. She earned her B.A. in biology at Boston University.

Cruse-Sanders joins the State

FACTS

Margaret Bolton

Building Services Worker II Facilities Management Division of Finance and Administration At UGA: 19 years

other weekend.

Bolton has been married for 31 years to Vernois Bolton, a carpenter in Facilities Management at the university. She has three adult children—one of whom, Sentel Bolton, works in UGA’s recycling center—and three grandchildren.

In her spare time, Bolton tends her garden and is involved with a community group that helps its members in financially difficult times. She and her husband like to attend concerts and go to movies.

She is incredibly appreciative of all the people she gets to meet through her job at UGA. “It makes me feel good that these people recognize me here, not only to clean the building,” she said, “they also recognize me as a human being here.”

Botanical Garden as it prepares to break ground in October on the Alice H. Richards Children’s Garden, named for a charter member of the advisory board and a key feature of the garden’s master plan.

So far, UGA, in partnership with the garden’s board of advisors, has raised over $4.2 million for the Children’s Garden and has received authorization from the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia to seek bids for a design professional and construction manager. The 2.5-acre educational environment will include a wheelchairaccessible canopy walk in the trees, a tree house, creature habitats, garden plots, an underground laboratory, edible landscapes, and a bog garden and pond.

One component, an amphitheater in the woods, was completed in 2015.

Cruse-Sanders follows Wilf Nicholls, who will retire Jan. 31 after more than six years at the garden. Associate Director John Graham will serve as interim director from Feb. 1-14.

OFFICE OF RESEARCH

columns.uga.edu Jan. 23, 2017

BIRTHPLACE

Elizabeth Fite, a Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate student, volunteered to be a participant in a clinical trial investigating immune response to influenza vaccine.

Major milestone

Clinical and Translational Research Unit at UGA to mark one-year anniversary

By Terry M. Hastings thasting@uga.edu

The UGA community is invited to attend the Clinical and Translational Research Unit’s anniversary celebration and open house Jan. 27 from 3-5 p.m. on UGA’s Health Sciences Campus.

The event celebrates the success of CTRU as a resource for investigators at UGA conducting clinical and translational research that advances the understanding, prevention and treatment of human disease. Tours and refreshments will be available.

“This is a great opportunity for the UGA community to learn more about CTRU pilot grants, services available to investigators, opportunities for expanding your research and collaboration through the CTRU as well as clinical and translational science experience and education for trainees,” said Brad Phillips, CTRU director.The Millikan-Reeve Professor, Phillips also is head of the clinical and administrative department in the College of Pharmacy.

In the last year, more than 250 participants have enrolled in a variety of studies conducted by principal investigators at UGA, the Augusta University/UGA Medical Partnership and physicians in the Athens medical community. UGA investigators using the facility represent the College of Public Health, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, the College of Pharmacy, the College of Engineering, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Elizabeth Fite, a student in the health and medical journalism master’s program in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, is one of the many campus and community

members who have volunteered to be part of a CTRU clinical trial.

“This year was the first year in a while that I hadn’t received a flu shot,” said Fite. ctru.edu.edu “When I heard about the clinical trial on influenza vaccine it appealed to me because I could get a free flu shot while helping further important research.

“I feel strongly about supporting researchers and know that sometimes it can be difficult to find study participants,” she said.

“Participating was a surprisingly simple process and everyone was so nice; it really made me feel like I was helping a good cause.”

Six studies are in progress, including four that are currently recruiting patients: • Immune Response to Influenza Vaccine. Principal investigator: Dr. Ted Ross, UGA Center for Vaccines and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine. Participants ages 65-90 who have not yet received the flu vaccine are especially needed.

• Investigation of Epigenetic Regulation of Body Weight and Heart Disease among Individuals with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Principal investigator: Brad Phillips, clinical and administrative pharmacy, College of Pharmacy.

• Investigation of Self-Regulation as a Predictor of Transition Readiness in College Students With and Without Medical Conditions. Principal investigators: Cynthia Suveg and Ronald Blount, psychology department, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

• Computed Tomographic Evaluation of Atherosclerotic Determinants of Myocardial Ischemia (CREDENCE). Principal investigator: Dr. Erick Avelar, AU/UGA Medical Partnership.

ON THE WEB

WEEKLY READER

from page 1

Colleges and Universities: • More than 70 percent of all college and university students across the nation—and more than two-thirds of all first-generation students—attend public institutions.

• More than half of all the bachelor’s degrees conferred in this country in engineering, the biological and physical sciences, math and agriculture are awarded by public institutions.

• Public institutions conduct 66 percent of all university-based research.

• The median earnings of college graduates with a bachelor’s degree are 67 percent higher than workers who only completed high school.

“In a global economy that requires both an educated citizenry and a robust national research enterprise, public higher education is not a luxury; it is the foundation of our competitiveness,” according to a recent report by the Lincoln Project, a bipartisan advocacy group of educators, business executives and political leaders.

And it all started here.

Because the University of Georgia was the first college supported by a state government, getting the charter right was important. There were no useful models; the nation’s few existing colleges, which had strong religious affiliations, were all private.

Baldwin’s background gave him the wide range of skills necessary to meet the challenge.

A graduate of Yale, an elite private college, Baldwin was from a middle-class family, believing that all citizens in a democracy have a right to an education.

A theologian and Christian preacher, Baldwin was also a licensed lawyer who crafted language that specifically forbade religious tests for students wishing to enroll.

It’s unclear why Baldwin decided to move to Georgia. One motivation may have been a plea from Georgia’s governor, Lyman Hall, a fellow Yale alumnus.

Baldwin, who had declined to take a Yale faculty position, knew that Georgia’s new college needed a broad intellectual capacity that could support agriculture and commerce while developing administrative and management skills.

In short, Baldwin gave the people of Georgia the framework for a productive college that could adapt to and support the expanding needs of a growing state.

The adoption of UGA’s charter was soon followed

by North Carolina, which approved its charter in 1789 and opened its doors for students in 1795. This allows both states to claim “firsts”—the University of Georgia as the nation’s birthplace of public higher education, and the University of North Carolina as the nation’s first public college to admit students.

Baldwin, one of only two Georgians to sign the U.S. Constitution in 1787, served without pay as UGA’s president until 1801, during the institution’s formative years. Baldwin died in 1807 while a U.S. senator from Georgia.

Shortly after his death, a Washington newspaper praised Baldwin: “He originated the plan of the University of Georgia, drew up the charter, and with infinite labor and patience, in vanquishing all sorts of prejudices and removing every obstruction, he persuaded the assembly to adopt it.”

CYBERSIGHTS

ABOUT COLUMNS

Alumna chronicles history of 4-H center

Rock Eagle: Centerpiece of Georgia 4-H

By Ina Cook Hopkins Taylor Specialty Books $65

Rock Eagle: Centerpiece of Georgia 4-H details how the Rock Eagle 4-H Center, which started as a dream of then-Georgia 4-H leader Bill Sutton, grew into a place where millions of past Georgia 4-H’ers and unknown numbers of future 4-H members create lifelong memories.

Ina Cook Hopkins, the book’s author and a 1977 graduate of UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, spent more than nine years compiling data, interviewing key subjects, writing the text and working with designer Carol Williamson to complete the book.

A former Walton County 4-H’er, Hopkins refers to the history book as her last 4-H record book and a “tangible way to give back to the organization that means so much” to her.

“The names of the buildings at Rock Eagle (4-H Center) now represent real people.This campus is not about bricks and mortar. It’s about people,” Hopkins said of the 900-page book, which includes almost 900 photos and resembles a college ­textbook.

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

Site details forestry impact of the South

http://forestryimpacts.net/

The Southern Regional Extension Forestry office, which partners with UGA Cooperative Extension, and the Southern Group of State Foresters maintain a site containing the economic impact reports of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.

The impact reports, which include values such as employment numbers, employee compensation, total industry output, indirect and induced impacts, etc., date back to 2012. The website includes environmental information about each state.

Also, there is an “Economic News” tab that contains information about various economic developments in each of the 13 states.

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 Jan. 23, 2017 columns.uga.edu

TRAINING

Campus Scenes Chad Osborn

From left: Valerie Babb, Franklin Professor of English and director of the Institute for African American Studies, moderated a Jan. 12 talk with Kerry Miller, Mary Diallo and Harold Black about their undergraduate experiences at UGA. The first African-Americans to enroll at UGA as freshmen, the three are members of UGA’s Class of 1966. Miller (mathematics) had a 29-year career in telecommunications. Diallo (French literature) is a faculty member at Florida A&M University.

Black (business administration) is a professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee.

Chad Osborn

As part of the 2017 King Day of Service, 99 UGA students worked with volunteers from the United Way of Northeast Georgia to plant 30,000 daffodils on the Loop 10 Prince Avenue on-off ramps.

Bulletin Board Income tax prep assistance

The Georgia United Credit Union is partnering with UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the Internal Revenue Service to provide the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.

VITA offers free income tax preparation to low- and middleincome individuals who do not have depreciable property or extensive stock or asset transactions.

Sessions will be offered at the credit union’s 190 Gaines School Road branch by appointment Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from Jan. 24-April 13, and Saturdays from Jan. 28-April 8.

For a list of available dates and times or to schedule an ­appointment, visit gucu.org/membership/vita-tax-prep.

For those without internet ­access, phone reservations may be made at 888-493-4328, ext. 1486.

Knauss Fellowship

The Georgia Sea Grant College Program is taking applications for the 2018 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, which places graduate students for a year in various executive and legislative branch offices throughout Washington, D.C. The fellowship period begins Feb. 1, 2018, and ends Jan. 31, 2019.

Any graduate student, regardless of citizenship, who on Feb. 10, 2017, is enrolled in an academic institution in Georgia, is eligible to apply. Applica-

tion materials and additional information on eligibility are at http://tinyurl.com/zb39xka. Applications must be submitted to Georgia Sea Grant by 5 p.m. on Feb. 10 via its online submission system eSeaGrant at http://eseagrant.uga.edu/index.php.

Prospective applicants are also encouraged to contact Mona Behl, associate director of UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, at 706-542-6621or mbehl@uga.edu to discuss application content and submission. For more information, visit https://t.uga.edu/2MX.

Student employee recognition

The UGA Career Center, in coordination with the National Student Employment Association, is accepting nominations until Feb. 7 for the university’s Student Employee of the Year.

The top 100 student employees will be invited, along with their nominating faculty/staff member, to an awards luncheon April 12 at the Tate Student Center. All undergraduate students enrolled at UGA and employed on campus and all graduate students who are on the student employee payroll and are performing student employee jobs can be nominated.

Visit bit.ly/SEOTYUGA for more information. Contact Aaron Brown at agb@uga.edu or 706-583-5475 with questions.

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

from page 1

40 years. The university has three additional NIH-funded training grants in the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and College of Veterinary Medicine.

In recent years, UGA faculty members have received additional, high-profile training grants, including a $3 million National Science Foundation award for an interdisciplinary program in disease ecology, a $495,000 NSF award for a leadership training program known as GS-LEAD and a nearly $1.5 million NIH award for a program focused on tuberculosis and HIV in Uganda.

Barbour noted that the amount of research funding that UGA faculty members receive has increased dramatically in recent years, and that a vibrant and productive research environment makes the institution better positioned to garner highly competitive training grants. Training grants further raise the visibility of the institution, making it easier to attract outstanding students who in turn support the research mission. She noted that while research grant proposals focus on a specific researcher’s record of accomplishment and potential for the future, training grant applications require faculty members to think more holistically.

“You’re looking for a critical mass of faculty in a given area of study who can provide students with outstanding research opportunities,” Barbour said. “Programs also need to demonstrate positive student outcomes and placements.”

Young supports the entire grants process, from mining databases to search for funding sources to providing institutional statistics and developing proposal ideas and budgets. In the

future, she also will assist with post-award requirements, such as progress reports and effort compliance.

“I view my role as being that of a partner who supports the needs of the faculty member,” said Young,who previously worked with 27 agencies and local governments as a Georgia Department of Community Affairs grants specialist.

Provost Pamela Whitten noted that the enhanced training grant support for faculty members is part of a broader effort to elevate graduate education at UGA. To boost the recruitment of students in fields that align with its Signature Research Themes and the needs of Georgia’s knowledgebased economy, the university recently created two new graduate fellowship programs. The Georgia Research Education Award Traineeship,or GREAT Fellowship,provides an annual compensation of $27,000 and a tuition waiver to 10 elite doctoral students, while the Georgia Impact Now fellows program, or GAIN Fellowship, provides $20,000 and a tuition waiver to 10 elite master’s students.The university also has expanded its Research Incentive Assistantships Voluntary Incentive Program, which offers matching funds for additional doctoral research assistants when faculty members are awarded grants or contracts that pay the cost of full-time, in-state tuition for one or more graduate research assistants.

“Graduate students are on the front lines of our research enterprise, pursuing knowledge and making discoveries that advance health and economic vitality,” Whitten said. “The very best graduate students have many universities to choose from, and our goal is to ensure that they choose the University of Georgia.”

DEGREE

GRANT

from page 1 Engineering during years one through three. In their fourth year, students will continue their engineering coursework while completing statistics and data analytics courses in Terry College. At the end of their fourth year, students will complete an internship in either a business or engineering setting. Students will be fully immersed in Terry’s MBA program during year five.

“We try to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in our students as they work to solve problems,” said Donald J. Leo, dean of the College of Engineering. “We want them to be able to turn their innovations into products that can have an impact on people’s lives, and the partnership with the Terry College will provide them with the business skills they need to do this.”

In addition, leaders of the two colleges believe engineering graduates equipped with an MBA will have the technical, analytical and business skills necessary to lead strategic initiatives in high-tech, operations and manufacturing companies.

“Engineering graduates with an MBA will be better able to understand business decisions and transition into management roles earlier in their careers,” said Santanu Chatterjee, director of Terry’s Full-Time MBA Program.

While other universities in Georgia and the Southeast offer programs that combine an MBA with master’s degrees in various disciplines, UGA’s new dual degree is unique in that it allows students to pair an MBA with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

In addition to earning a bachelor’s and MBA in five years instead of the customary six, administrators believe early-career engineering students in the program will benefit from sharing the classroom with experienced business students.

The program will be available to students in all eight of the College of Engineering’s undergraduate degree programs: agricultural, biochemical, biological, civil, computer systems, electrical and electronics, environmental, and mechanical engineering.

“Many students coming to us aspire to be not only design innovators and entrepreneurs but also business leaders,” said Ramana Pidaparti, associate dean for academic programs in the College of Engineering.

ON THE WEB

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from page 1 stores and local health departments—and use multiple strategies,” said Marsha Davis, principal investigator of the project and associate dean of outreach and engagement at the UGA College of Public Health.

The project will be led by the College of Public Health and UGA Cooperative Extension, an outreach unit of the university supported by specialists in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Additional partners include UGA’s J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, a public service and outreach unit; local, district and state UGA Extension offices; local community organizations; and local, district and state public health departments.

The primary goal of the project is to implement environmental changes to promote healthy eating and physical activity in places where children, youth and families spend their time. Proposed interventions involve working with schools, community organizations, local government and businesses to serve healthy food, sell healthy food and create places to be physically active.

OUTLOOK from page 1 more projects in its economic development pipeline. Second, Georgia’s economy will get more leverage from the housing recovery than the national economy. Third, Georgia’s manufacturers will continue to do better than U.S. manufacturers. Fourth, Georgia will see faster population growth.”

Thanks to a pro-business political climate that has brought major relocation and expansion projects to the state, Georgia’s economy is expected to grow 3.2 percent in 2017, ahead of the nation’s 2.6 percent GDP growth rate, Ayers said. He also predicted that nominal personal income will increase 5 percent and non-farm employment will climb 2.1 percent.

The establishment of UGA’s College of Engineering will contribute directly to the region’s growth through its operating budget, its personnel budget and student spending.

Ayers will deliver the forecast, prepared by the college’s Selig Center for Economic Growth, Feb. 1 at the Classic Center. Individual and group tickets, as well as the complete Georgia Economic Outlook forecast, are available for purchase online at terry.uga.edu/selig.