UGA Columns January 26, 2016

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UGA researchers: Fish may hold the key to more efficient wireless networks

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RESEARCH NEWS

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Author to give Odum Environmental Ethics lecture Jan. 29

January 25, 2016

Vol. 43, No. 22

www.columns.uga.edu

2016 State of the University

UGA GUIDE

4&5

UGA President Jere W. Morehead reports on the state of the university.

University’s online programs ranked among nation’s best

By Kristen Morales and Matt Weeks kmorales@uga.edu mweeks@uga.edu

Andrew Davis Tucker

Karri Hobson-Pape, UGA’s new vice president for marketing and communications, has two main goals for the coming year. The first is to help facilitate a strategic branding initiative to guide marketing efforts. The other goal is to set up marketing infrastructure to help activate effective communication across the university.

Smart storytelling

New vice president for marketing and communications aims to share the story of UGA’s impact

By Aaron Hale

aahale@uga.edu

There is something special about the UGA experience and its impact on Georgia and beyond. Faculty and staff know it; so do students and alumni.

That something special is what makes Karri Hobson-Pape, UGA’s new vice president for marketing and communications, so eager to share the university’s story with the state and the nation.

“It’s so evident that there is a

deep passion associated with the University of Georgia,”said HobsonPape, previously the co-founder and partner of Inflexion Point Marketing Group in Atlanta. “I believe something very special exists at this university. It’s more than loyalty. It’s more than a place to go to college.

There’s a deep commitment that people share for generations at the University of Georgia.”

Hobson-Pape is leading efforts to define that special something—and find effective ways to tell that story.

In the coming months,Hobson-Pape

and the Division of Marketing & Communications will collaborate with faculty, staff, students and alumni as the university begins to roll out new marketing and branding strategies.

On Jan. 1, Hobson-Pape succeeded former Vice President for Public Affairs Tom Jackson in the renamed Division of Marketing & Communications. Under HobsonPape’s leadership, the division will continue to serve as the central communications office for the university See MARKETING on page 8

UGA has some of the best online degree programs in the nation, according to the 2016 U.S. News & World Report Best Online Programs rankings. UGA is ranked No. 3 among all universities for best online graduate programs in education and No. 5 for best online bachelor’s programs overall.

“These latest rankings from U.S. News reflect our commitment to delivering a world-class learning experience, whether on our campuses

or online,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Through our growing number of online degree programs, working professionals and other nontraditional students have opportunities to advance their careers by earning a degree from Georgia’s flagship university.”

Administered through UGA’s Office of Online Learning, a unit of the Office of the Vice President for Instruction, the online degree programs incorporate new and innovative teaching methods implemented through the pairing of faculty with staff who are formally trained in instructional design and

See RANKING on page 8

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Signature Lectures to feature scientists and thought leaders

By Camie Williams camiew@uga.edu

Trailblazing scientists, heralded historians and influential leaders in higher education, business and law are set to visit UGA this spring as part of the Signature Lecture series.

“The University of Georgia is proud to have truly distinguished speakers addressing our students,” said Meg Amstutz, associate provost for academic programs. “The Signature Lecture Series highlights a variety of topics across the

disciplines. By announcing this series at the beginning of each semester, we hope that UGA students, faculty and staff will mark their calendars in advance to attend and explore new topics of interest.”

UGA’s Signature Lecture series is in its second year. The designation is given by the Office of Academic Programs to events featuring speakers with broad, multidisciplinary appeal and compelling bodies of work.

Many of the lectures are

See LECTURES on page 8

DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS

UGA to celebrate 231st anniversary with weeklong series of Founders Day events

By Elizabeth Elmore eelmore@uga.edu

UGA will observe its 231st anniversary in 2016, and the UGA Alumni Association will celebrate the occasion by hosting a weeklong series of events, including the 14th annual Founders Day Lecture Jan. 27 at 1:30 p.m. in the Chapel.

Thomas C. Reeves, professor emeritus of learning, design and technology in UGA’s College of Education, will present the lecture “So You Think You’re Smarter than a Robot: The Race Between Human Learning and Deep Learning.”

“For over two centuries, the University of Georgia has prepared

its students to be productive members of society,” Reeves said. “Recently, there has been an increasing focus on preparing students for specific careers. But how should a university prepare young people to live in a world where many of them may never have a career in the traditional sense because of the advances being made in ‘deep learning’? What will it mean when computer algorithms and robots eliminate swaths of currently desirable careers? I hope to stimulate interest in these questions related to what I see as a race between human learning and machine learning.”

Reeves arrived at UGA in 1982 and retired in 2010. He was a Fulbright Lecturer in Peru, and he

has been invited to speak in more than 30 countries. He has written several books, including Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation, A Guide to Authentic E-Learning and Conducting Educational Design Research.

The student response will be given by Brian Heredia, a secondyear history and social studies education dual major from Athens.

The Founders Day Lecture recognizes the date the university was established—Jan. 27. On this day in 1785, the Georgia General Assembly adopted a charter establishing UGA as the country’s first state-chartered institution of higher education.

See ANNIVERSARY on page 8

President’s Medal to be presented to Abit Massey, family of late Jane Willson

By Stephanie Schupska schupska@uga.edu

UGA will bestow one of its highest honors on two influential Georgians this year as it presents the UGA President’s Medal to Francis “Abit” Massey and the family of the late Jane Seddon Willson during Founders Day activities on Jan. 27.

The President’s Medal recognizes extraordinary contributions of individuals who are not current employees of UGA who have supported students and academic

Abit Massey

Jane Willson

programs, advanced research and inspired community leaders to enhance Georgians’ quality of life.

“We are honored to recognize

See MEDAL on page 8

2 Jan. 25, 2016 columns.uga.edu Study: Female economists less likely to receive collaboration credit

Around academe

A recent study shows that female economists who co-author papers are statistically less recognized for their equal contribution than male collaborators, according to The New York Times.

Heather Sarsons, a doctoral candidate in economics at Harvard University, crunched data from top-ranked universities over the last 40 years and found that women in the field publish just as often as men but were half as likely to receive tenure.

The study suggests that if a female faculty member co-authors a study with a male faculty member, it is the man who reaps the credit for the work.

Sarsons performed a parallel study in the field of sociology and found there was no difference in how men and women got credit for collaborative work.

News to Use

Choose good sources of fats and lean protein to promote heart health

To support heart health, the American Heart Association recommends choosing heart healthy sources of fats, which can help maintain healthy cholesterol levels and promote overall heart health.

In general, this means choosing mono- and polyunsaturated fats, usually found in oils such as olive, canola, peanut, sesame and safflower, and foods such as avocados, nuts and seeds, nut butters and fatty fish.

Try having a fatty fish in the place of other protein for dinner one or two nights per week. Or, to reduce saturated fat and boost fiber, try adding beans or lentils instead of beef to a soup or stew, or try a black bean burger on a whole grain bun.

As part of American Heart Month, the University Health Center will offer cholesterol screenings (blood lipid panels) at a free or reduced rate and free blood pressure screenings Feb. 8-11 and 15-18 from 8 a.m. to noon and 1-3 p.m.

Screenings are free for health-fees paid UGA students and $10 for non-fees paid UGA students, UGA faculty/staff, spouses, domestic partners, and UGA retirees. No appointment is necessary, but participants must have no food or drink except water after midnight the night before they are screened.

Current guidelines recommend that beginning at age 20, cholesterol levels be checked regularly, every five years.

Source: University Health Center

Correction

The information in the Jan. 19 Columns about the third phase of the Terry Business Community should have read: At its Jan. 6 meeting, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved design and planning for Phase III of the Terry College of Business’ Learning Community.

We regret the error.

SCHOOL OF LAW, TERRY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

UGA offers dual J.D./M.B.A. degree

By Lona Panter lonap@uga.edu

UGA now is offering an option for students to graduate with both a law degree and a Master of Business Administration in three years.

The J.D./M.B.A. program, a joint effort between the School of Law and the Terry College of Business, equips students with the skills needed for successful careers combining law and banking, entrepreneurship, finance, international business or commercial interests.

“Students participating in this three-year dual degree will have a distinct competitive advantage when they graduate,” said Georgia Law Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge. “In only three years, students will earn a law degree and an M.B.A., saving both time and money while gaining the necessary knowledge to succeed in today’s marketplace. This program is another way that UGA is demonstrating its commitment to leadership in higher education and to

with hands-on learning through courses such as Lean Six Sigma and innovative business projects. The new dual-degree program is a tremendous opportunity for highly motivated students to advance their careers.”

The law school has noted a recent increase in the percentage of its graduates securing employment in the business sector. Since 2008, the percent of law school graduates in business-related employment has approximately doubled.

“I believe this new offering will be a game changer,” said Carol E. Morgan, law school’s business law and ethics program instructor. “Georgia Law’s collaboration with the Terry College offers students the chance to work with two nationally recognized programs and to earn two marquee graduate degrees in three years that will give them a great advantage when moving into the workplace. Lawyers need more than ever to understand their clients’ businesses and what affects their bottom line. This dual degree positions our students to do just that.”

FACS

Diversity Inclusion Week to kick off with Jan. 25 keynote

By Cal Powell

jcpowell@uga.edu

Planting goodwill

Chad Osburn

Yasmin Johnson, a junior in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was one of hundreds of students who helped plant 30,000 daffodil bulbs at the intersection of highways 10 and 78 for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH

Gift to UGA leadership institute named for former gymnastics coach

By Kelly Simmons

simmonsk@uga.edu

Read more about UGA’s economic impact on the state at discover.uga.edu.

serving our students in a world-class manner while maintaining our commitment to overall value.”

UGA is one of the pioneers in higher education by offering a three-year J.D./M.B.A. option. Students enrolled in the program will have one year devoted exclusively to legal studies, one year focused primarily on the business school curriculum and the third year will be comprised mainly of law school courses.

“While UGA will continue to offer the four-year program for students who seek broader training in the law, the three-year J.D./M.B.A. is ideally suited to meet the needs of the highly differentiated student whose career aspiration is corporate law,” said Suzanne E. Barbour, dean of the Graduate School.

“This program is an excellent opportunity for students to take advantage of two exceptional programs at UGA,” said Terry College Dean Benjamin C. Ayers. “Our M.B.A. students benefit from an experiential curriculum that focuses on leadership development

A $500,000 gift to the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at UGA will create the Suzanne Yoculan Leebern Fund to support students through the Embark program.

The gift, made by UGA alumnus and University System of Georgia Board of Regents member Don ­Leebern Jr., specifically will provide support for UGA students who have been orphaned, placed in foster care, are under court protection or legal guardianship or who are identified as homeless.

“Students in these situations have faced significant obstacles in their lives and, impressively, have attained the academic credentials to attend the University of Georgia,” said Suzanne Yoculan Leebern. “We wanted them to have somewhere to turn for help.”

Funds can be used for orientation expenses, meal plans, travel, housing, furnishings, books, supplies, social opportunities, campus mentoring, emergencies/crises or any other expense deemed appropriate by the director of the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, a unit of the Office of Public Service and Outreach.

“Don and Suzanne are both l­ ongtime friends of the university, and I am pleased they are helping us to increase funding and leadership development opportunities for this deserving group of students,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “Their generous gift will help the university to ensure that talented students from all backgrounds have the support they need to succeed at UGA and beyond.”

Embark, a program within the Fanning Institute, provides leadership training throughout the state for students who are homeless or who have been in foster care and have no immediate support system.

These students face significant challenges when pursuing a postsecondary education due to diminished access to financial resources, instability while in high school and significantly reduced social capital. Students who are able to enroll in a postsecondary educational institution have earned the credentials against great odds and represent the future leaders of Georgia.

The vision of Embark is that any person who has experienced foster care or homelessness will have ample academic, financial, social and emotional support to access, navigate and complete a postsecondary education.

The College of Family and Consumer Sciences will kick off its Diversity and Inclusion Week Jan. 25 with a keynote presentation from Erik Malewski, the chief diversity officer for Kennesaw State University.

Malewski’s address represents the official rollout of the diversity plan the college has begun to implement this year after a three-year process that included focus groups, surveys and planning sessions.

The plan will be phased in through 2018.

“Diversity and inclusion is a critical component of our college’s overall mission to advance the well-being of individuals and families over their life span and strengthen communities,” said FACS Dean Linda Kirk Fox. “I applaud the work of the Faculty Advisory Committee members who worked so diligently on this plan going back to 2012, and for all of our faculty, staff and students for embracing and supporting this important initiative.”

The college will host several diversitythemed events throughout the week as part of the celebration.

Prior to Malewski’s speech, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in Room 110 of Dawson Hall, several students will give a “PechaKucha” presentation involving dialogue and slides to draw attention to diversity issues.

The textiles, merchandising and interiors department will host an exhibition in the Barrow Hall gallery showcasing garments from around the world beginning Jan. 25.

On Jan. 26, the financial planning, housing and consumer economics department will host a presentation by Kenneth White Jr., a doctoral candidate at Ohio State University, at 3:30 p.m. in Room 310 of Dawson Hall.

The foods and nutrition department will display and provide culturally diverse foods on Jan. 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Room 216 of Dawson Hall.

Melissa Landers-Potts from the human development and family science department will lead a panel discussion on teaching for diversity on Jan. 29 from 12:15-1:15 p.m. in Room 208 of Dawson Hall.

The FACS diversity plan can be viewed at http://t.uga.edu/20m .

RESEARCH NEWS

columns.uga.edu Jan. 25, 2016

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Digest Performing Arts Center to present 2 Saturday Morning Club events

Mable Fok, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering, is one UGA researcher exploring the possibility that small South American fish can solve the problem of jammed wireless networks.

JARring discovery UGA researchers: Fish may hold the key to more efficient wireless networks

By Mike Wooten

mwooten@uga.edu

As wireless networks become more crowded with devices and more taxed by the demand for anytime, anywhere access, these networks are susceptible to radio frequency interference and jamming. It’s a problem that potentially affects everything from personal smartphones to communications satellites.

An unlikely source—a small South American fish known as Eigenmannia that depends on electrolocation for survival—presents a potential solution, according to researchers in UGA’s College of Engineering.

“Eigenmannia (virescens) is a species of glass knifefish, and they locate objects by generating an electric field and detecting distortions in the field,” said assistant professor Mable Fok. “They have a neural circuit that can effectively sense the frequency emitted by other fish, and they use this sense to regulate their own emitting frequency so they don’t interfere with the others.”

In other words, the fish have

developed a natural system that prevents them from jamming each other’s signals.

Eigenmannia’s previously observed “jamming avoidance response,” or JAR, can serve as the model for an artificial neural network that improves the efficiency of wireless communications, Fok said.

Graduate research assistant Ryan Toole is a co-author of the article. Fok and Toole will present their research in March at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition in Anaheim, California, and their ongoing work was featured in the December issue of Photonics Society News, a publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

“If we can borrow the JAR circuit from the Eigenmannia and replicate it in our communications frequency bands, then we can create a communications system that allows automated interference mitigation,” Fok said.

To simulate the theory, Fok and Toole designed an artificial neural model using photonics technology that mimics the way the JAR circuit behaves in the fish.

Photonics is the science of generating, controlling and detecting photons, which are particles of light. Photonic technology is found in a range of applications, from consumer electronics—barcode scanners, DVD players and remote TV controls—to defense and security—infrared cameras and remote sensing equipment. The technology allows systems to complete complex, real-time categorization and decisionmaking tasks.

In the researchers’ computer simulation, photonic interconnections mimic the neural function in the fish’s nervous system. The ultimate idea is to design a photonic nervous system that allows wireless devices to automatically seek an unused frequency when they detect interference from other devices.

Fok said the next steps in the project include building a physical prototype of the JAR circuit. The researchers also need to evaluate the best way to handle a large number of competing wireless devices in the system.

Fok and Toole have been awarded a provisional patent for the work.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

UGA review finds coffee may improve athletic endurance

By Molly Berg

mberg14@uga.edu

The caffeine in a morning cup of coffee could help improve athletic endurance, according to a new UGA review study.

Authored by Simon Higgins, a thirdyear doctoral student in kinesiology in the College of Education, the study was published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.

To research the issue, Higgins reviewed more than 600 scholarly articles and screened them for those that focused only on caffeinated-coffee conditions, measured the caffeine dose and measured an endurance performance. Of these, nine randomized control trials specifically used coffee to improve endurance.

“Previous research has focused on caffeine itself as an aid to improve endurance,” Higgins said. “Coffee is a popular source of caffeine, so this paper looked at the research surrounding its ergogenic benefits.”

Looking at the nine trials, Higgins found that between 3 milligrams and 7 milligrams per kilogram of body weight of caffeine from coffee increased

endurance performance by an average of 24 percent. The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee can vary from 75 mg to more than 150 mg, depending on the variety and how it’s roasted and brewed.

“This is helpful for athletes because coffee is a naturally occurring compound,” Higgins said. “There’s the potential that getting your caffeine by drinking coffee has similar endurance benefits as taking caffeine pills.”

In the nine trials, participants either cycled or ran after drinking coffee. They then exercised vigorously and the results were measured. In a majority of cases, endurance was noticeably improved after the use of coffee.

When researching the effects of caffeine from coffee, Higgins found two important discoveries: that caffeine from coffee has ergogenic benefits—that it enhances physical performance—and that more research is needed on the use of caffeine from coffee versus pure caffeine use.

“While there is a lack of high-quality research on coffee as a source of caffeine, there is an abundance of research on pure caffeine,” he said. “It’s surprising how little we know about caffeine from coffee

when its endurance effects could be just as beneficial as pure caffeine.”

Higgins said that coffee shouldn’t be dismissed as less beneficial for endurance.

He found that coffee appears to be just as helpful as taking caffeine in the form of powder or tablets.

“There’s a perception that coffee won’t give you the same benefits as pure caffeine,” he said. “New research could mean that athletes could have a cup of coffee versus taking a pill.”

Higgins said that more research is needed before giving official recommendations to athletes, especially since the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee can vary depending on how it’s prepared.

“There is a caveat to athletes using coffee: Be careful because you don’t know how much caffeine is in some coffee, especially when it’s prepared by someone else,” he said. “Athletes should run their caffeine use through their sports dietician as the NCAA lists it as a banned substance.”

Co-authors of the paper are Richard D. Lewis, UGA Foundation Professor in Family and Consumer Sciences, and Chad R. Straight, previously a graduate student at UGA.

The UGA Performing Arts Center will present two Saturday Morning Club events in February.

The first will take place Feb. 6 at 10 a.m. in the New Dance Theatre with CORE Concert Dance Company and Aerial Dance Company. The family event will include performances on silks, sling hoops and bungee cords along with interactive dance activities for the entire audience.

The second Saturday Morning Club will be held Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. in Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall. It will feature student performers from the UGA theatre and film studies department.

The Saturday Morning Club is designed for children ages 4 through 12 and their parents and grandparents. All Saturday Morning Club events are presented free of charge.

For more information, call the Performing Arts Center box office at 706-542-4400.

Forestry program at UGA’s Warnell School reaccredited for 10 years

UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources once again has received full accreditation from the Society of American Foresters, marking nearly 90 years of continuous accreditation for its Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources degree.

The SAF also put its seal of approval on the school’s Master of Forest Resources degree in the first year the Warnell School applied for accreditation for the program.

The school continues to be the only one in Georgia that offers SAF-accredited bachelor’s and master’s degrees in forestry. Forestry graduates from Warnell have enjoyed 100 percent job placement for the past two academic years and appear to be on pace for a third such year, said Dale Greene, dean of the Warnell School.

The SAF’s Committee on Accreditation approved the Warnell School’s B.S.F.R. accreditation effective Jan. 1, extending it to Dec. 31, 2025. It also granted initial accreditation of the M.F.R. degree program effective Jan. 1 for both a forestry and a forest business option.

UGA traffic safety team receives grant from Governor’s Office of Highway Safety

Researchers from the College of Public Health received a grant from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to evaluate over 100 educational and law enforcement focused programs funded by the office.

For the 12th straight year, the Traffic Safety Research and Evaluation Group, led by principal investigator Carol Cotton, will systematically review and analyze grantee effectiveness and, ultimately, determine the overall effectiveness of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in managing grant-funded projects. To date, the group has received $3.8 million in grant money from GOHS for this ongoing project.

The current grant runs through Sept. 30.

GOHS is charged with educating the public on traffic safety issues while assisting communities and safety advocates in implementing programs that reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities on Georgia roadways. Its programs include Operation Zero Tolerance, Click It or Ticket and 100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T. Using funding from the GOHS, Cotton’s evaluation group has conducted in-depth evaluations of all of the state’s traffic safety grantees over the past decade. These analyses have empowered GOHS to identify the programs that are most effective and either continue or expand them, according to Cotton.

In addition to program evaluation, researchers in the Traffic Safety Research and Evaluation Group also respond to requests from GOHS to examine a variety of traffic safety issues, such as distracted pedestrians, school bus safety laws, bicycle crashes, injuries and fatalities and the implementation and enforcement of legislation restricting cellphone use while driving.

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 UGA News Service. Periodicals postage is paid in Athens, Georgia. Postmaster: Send off-campus address changes to Columns, UGA News Service, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Athens, GA 30602-1999.

For a complete listing of events 7 8 5 at the University of Georgia, check the Master Calendar on the Web (calendar.uga.edu/­).

I

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

Dates, times and locations may change without advance notice.

GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART

UGAGUIDE The artistic power of Cherokee culture

SYMPOSIUM ON INTEGRATIVE CONSERVATION

By Hillary Brown

hazbrown@uga.edu

For hundreds of years, the Cherokee people wove beautiful baskets that were both functional and decorative. When they encountered European settlers in the 17th century, the newcomers remarked on the quality of these woven objects and carried some back across the Atlantic Ocean. In celebration of this craft tradition, the Georgia Museum of Art is presenting the exhibition Cherokee Basketry: Woven Culture through April 17.

The exhibition was organized by co-curators Dale Couch, the museum’s curator of decorative arts, Mary C. Scales English, a student in UGA’s master’s of historic preservation program, and Janice Simon, Meigs Professor of Art History in the Lamar Dodd School of Art. The exhibition includes 45 objects, dating from the early 19th century to the late 20th century. Some belong to the museum’s collection. Others are promised gifts, including the many contemporary examples Simon lent to the exhibition. Still others are on loan from private collections in Georgia and from the Wachovia Historical Society, through Old Salem Museums and Gardens.

The range of woven objects in the exhibition includes not only traditional baskets, but also a quiver, a woven mat and a slat-back chair made in north Georgia that features a woven seat with Cherokee influence. Most of them are fashioned from rivercane (or “i-hi” in Cherokee), a plant that is almost extinct due to overgrazing and changes in water levels. Natural dyes such as walnut, butternut and bloodroot add vibrant color to the complex decorative patterns that run across their surfaces.

“It is a paradox that Americans romanticized the Cherokee while simultaneously nearly destroying their nation and removing them from their native lands,” Couch said.

“These baskets represent a people’s cultural strength and persistence, the artistic power of Cherokee culture as well as the cultural confluences that created our present world, and they are visually among the great works of craft in our region.”

Related events include the museum’s quarterly reception, 90 Carlton: Winter, on Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m., $5 or free for members of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art and attendees of the Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts; public tours led by Simon (Feb. 24 at 2 p.m.) and Scales English (March 9 at 2 p.m.); and a Family Day on March 26, at 10 a.m. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Sustainable Natalie Chanin

By Dave Marr

davemarr@uga.edu

The Willson Center and the Athens Fashion Collective will present a weekend of sustainable fashion events Jan. 28-30, featuring Natalie Chanin, founder and designer of Alabama Chanin, and Georgia Sewn, a one-day expo of the regional fashion design industry.

Chanin is an internationally recognized leader in the sustainable fashion movement. Based in Florence, Alabama, Chanin’s garments and other goods are produced with organic cotton along with repurposed and reclaimed materials.

Chanin will be 2016’s first guest in the Willson

EXHIBITIONS State Botanical Garden Art Competition Winners. Through Feb. 14. Visitor Center, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6014, connicot@uga.edu Stirred Fiction. Through Feb. 26. Circle Gallery.

Center’s Global Georgia Initiative, a speaker series that presents global problems in local context with a focus on how the arts and humanities can intervene.

The weekend’s events begin Jan. 28 with a 2 p.m. sewing workshop led by Chanin in the first-floor atrium of the Lamar Dodd School of Art. At 7:30 p.m., Community will present a screening of the film Cotton Road at Cine in downtown Athens.

Chanin will give her Global Georgia talk at 5 p.m. Jan. 29 in the Chapel. Athens photographer Rinne Allen, who has documented Alabama Chanin’s process and products for publications including The New York Times and, most recently, Bitter Southerner, will introduce Chanin.

PERFORMANCE The Second City, comedy improv troupe. $40. 8 p.m. Additional performances Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Ramsey Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center. 706-542-4400.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26

btyler@uga.edu

The UGA Performing Arts Center will present the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. in Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall in the program “Romantic Masterworks.” The concert will feature works by three of the most important composers of the 19th century: Schubert, Smetana and Brahms.

Tickets for the concert are $40 and are discounted for UGA students. Tickets can be purchased at the Performing Arts Center box office, online at pac.uga.edu or by calling 706-542-4400.

The concert is part of a season-long partnership between the UGA Performing Arts Center and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, establishing the greatest presence in one location for the Chamber

FOUNDERS DAY LECTURE Thomas C. Reeves, UGA professor emeritus of learning, design and technology, will present this year’s lecture to celebrate the 231st anniversary of the establishment of America’s first statechartered institution of higher education. 1:30 p.m. Chapel. lbcook@uga.edu (See story, page 1).

LUNCHTIME TIME MACHINE “How Did Iraqi Poets Spark a Revolution?” 12:30 p.m.

221 LeConte Hall. 706-583-8180, jhrobert@uga.edu

TOUR AT TWO Led by docents. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu

Cherokee Basketry: Woven Culture. Through April 17. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1817, hazbrown@uga.edu (See story, top left).

TUESDAY TOUR 2 p.m. Special collections libraries. 706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu

Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the Modern South. Through July 30. Special collections libraries.

706-542-5788, jhebbard@uga.edu

FHCE DIVERSITY WEEK SEMINAR “Social Capital, Financial Planning and Black Men,” Kenneth White Jr., Ohio State. 3:30 p.m. 213 Dawson Hall.

706-542-4856, sworthy@uga.edu (See story, page 2).

CONCERT The Georgia Woodwind Quintet, the faculty woodwind quintet at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, will perform its first concert of 2016. 8 p.m. Ramsey Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center.

706-542-4752, ccschwabe@uga.edu

EXHIBITION OPENING Lucy Hargrett Draper Center and Archives Exhibit. Through March 31. Gallery hallway, special collections libraries.

706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu EXHIBITION OPENING Pictures of Us: Photographs from the Do Good Fund Collection.

Through March 31. Hargrett gallery, special collections libraries.

706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS INITIATIVE SEMINAR “Transforming Food Systems: Feeding the World Without Eating the World,” Elizabeth Kramer, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. 3:30 p.m. 103 Conner Hall. 706-542-8084, sustainag@uga.edu

By Dave Marr

davemarr@uga.edu

David Haskell, a professor of biology at the University of the South, will give the Odum Environmental Ethics lecture Jan. 29 at 11:30 a.m. in the Odum School of Ecology auditorium. Haskell will speak on “The Forest Unseen: Ecology, Ethics and Contemplation.”

Among many other awards, Haskell’s book The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature won the 2013 Best Book Award from the National Academies and was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program and the Integrative Conservation Ph.D. Program. Haskell’s lecture is the keynote for the third annual Symposium on Integrative Conservation.

A book-signing event will follow Haskell’s talk.

Haskell’s work integrates scientific and contemplative studies of the natural world. His research and teaching examine the evolution and conservation of animals, especially forest-dwelling birds and invertebrates. In its review of The Forest Unseen, The New York Times noted that Haskell “thinks like a biologist, writes like a poet and gives the natural world the kind of open-minded attention one expects from a Zen monk rather than a hypothesis-driven scientist.”

In addition to numerous scientific articles, Haskell has published many essays and poems about science and nature.

Haskell is a 2014 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in the category creative arts, science writing. His classes have received national attention for the innovative ways in which they combine scientific exploration, contemplative practice and action in the community. In 2009, the Carnegie and CASE Foundations named him Professor of the Year for Tennessee, an award given to college professors who have achieved national distinction and whose work shows “extraordinary dedication to undergraduate teaching.” The Oxford American featured him in 2011 as one of the Southern U.S.’s most creative teachers.

By Bobby Tyler

Georgia’s Girlhood Embroidery: “Crowned with Glory and Immortality.” Through Feb. 28. Georgia Museum of Art. hazbrown@uga.edu

MONDAY, JANUARY 25

4&5

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

fashion featuring

Author to give Odum Environmental Ethics Lecture

columns.uga.edu Jan. 25, 2016

WORKSHOP “Botanically Inspired Silk Scarf Creations.” Inspired by the rich colors and patterns of nature, participants will dye their own silk scarves. Two decorating techniques will be taught. $35. 6 p.m.

Visitor Center’s Classroom 2, State Botanical Garden.

706-542-6156, ckeber@uga.edu

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27 BLOOD DRIVE 11 a.m. Memorial Hall.

WORKSHOP “What Can Open Educational Resources (OER) Do for You? Personal and Professional Advantages.” Limited to 15 participants. 1 p.m. Center for Teaching and Learning. 706-542-6603, ehoran@uga.edu

Calendar items are taken from Columns files and from the 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/.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28 WORKSHOP A sewing workshop led by Natalie Chanin, founder and designer of Alabama Chanin. 2 p.m. (See story, above left).

VISITING ARTIST/SCHOLAR LECTURE Rashaad Newsome’s work is hinged on the sampling and the recontextualizing of contemporary cultural elements in traditional frameworks. 2:15 p.m. S151 Lamar Dodd School of Art. 706-542-1636.

SIBLEY LECTURE Georgia Law’s 113th Sibley Lecture will be delivered by Harvard Law School’s David B. Wilkins, who currently serves as the school’s Kissel Professor of Law, its director of the Center on the Legal Profession and its vice dean for global initiatives on the legal profession. 3:30 p.m. Part of the Signature Lecture series.

Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom, Hirsch Hall. (See story, page 1).

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Auburn. $5. 7 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.

Music Society outside of New York City.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is the nation’s premier repertory company for chamber music. The artists performing on the “Romantic Masterworks” program include violinist Arnaud Sussman, violist Matthew Lipman, cellist David Finckel and pianist Juho Pohjonen.

The concert will be recorded for national broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, heard by 1.4 million listeners around the country.

Patrick Castillo from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln will give a pre-concert lecture 45 minutes prior to the concert. The lecture takes place in Ramsey Concert Hall and is free and open the public.

FILM SCREENING Cotton Road. 7:30 p.m. Cine. (See story, above left).

ROMANTIC MASTERWORKS CONCERT In this concert, four of the leading artist members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center bring to the stage music of a group of 19th-century composers who might be called the “Three S’s”—Schubert, Schumann and Smetana. $40. 8 p.m.

Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center.

706-542-4400. (See story, above).

FRIDAY, JANUARY 29 JOLLE CONFERENCE Through Jan. 31. This conference is intended for teachers, researchers, students and community members who are interested in language and literacy education issues. The theme is “Lived Words and Worlds: Community Engaged Literacies.”

The sessions will be interactive and engaging for audience members. Sj Miller, Michael Wenk and David E. Kirkland will be the keynote speakers. Georgia Center. heleneh@uga.edu GUEST LECTURE “The Forest Unseen: Ecology, Ethics and Contemplation.,” David Haskell. 11:30 a.m. Ecology building. (See story top right).

WOMEN’S STUDIES FRIDAY SPEAKER SERIES LECTURE “Sexual Harassment and Assault on Campus: The Legal Side of Gender Equity,” Lisa Anderson and Elaine Woo, Atlanta Women for Equality. 12:20 p.m. 248 Miller Learning Center.

706-542-2846, tlhat@uga.edu GLOBAL GEORGIA INITIATIVE LECTURE Natalie “Alabama” Chanin is the owner and designer of Alabama Chanin. Chanin’s talk is part of the Willson Center’s Global Georgia Initiative, which brings world-class thinkers to Georgia.

5 p.m. Chapel. davemarr@uga.edu. (See story, above left).

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

SATURDAY, JANUARY 30 CHILLY DAWG 5K RUN/WALK The 8th annual event benefiting student programs and scholarships hosted by the College of Family and Consumer Science Alumni Association. 9 a.m. Sandy Creek Park. 706-542-3386, vidorsey@uga.edu SWIMMING & DIVING vs. Wisconsin. 10 a.m. Gabrielsen Natatorium, Ramsey Student Center.

EXHIBITION OPENING Tools of the Trade. Through March 13. Georgia Museum of Art. hazbrown@uga.edu WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Clemson. 4 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex. 706-542-1621.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1 FACULTY RECITAL Liza Stepanova, an associate professor of piano at the UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music, will perform. Stepanova will be joined by fellow School of Music faculty members Michael Heald on violin, Maggie Snyder on viola and David Starkweather on cello. 8 p.m. Ramsey Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center.

706-542-4752, ccschwabe@uga.edu

COMING UP UGAALERT TEST Feb. 3. A statewide severe weather drill and UGAAlert test will occur in conjunction with Severe Weather Awareness Week.

9 a.m. 706-542-5845, prepare@uga.edu STAFF COUNCIL MEETING Feb. 3. 2:30 p.m. 267 Miller Learning Center.

NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES Jan. 27 (for Feb. 8 issue) Feb. 3 (for Feb. 15 issue) Feb. 10 (for Feb. 22 issue)

6 Jan. 25, 2016 columns.uga.edu

George Engelhard, a professor in the College of Education’s educational psychology department, received the 2015 Qiyas Award for Excellence in Educational Assessment (outstanding scholarly work) in December at the National Center for Assessment’s second interGeorge Engelhard national conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Qiyas Award was established in 2014 to promote excellence in the field of educational measurement, assessment and evaluation. The National Center for Assessment selected Engelhard for the award based on his contributions to the field of education, his scholarly work and for his book Invariant Measurement: Using Rasch Models in the Social, Behavioral and Health Sciences.

During the conference’s opening ceremony, Engelhard—the only scholar honored at the event—officially accepted a certificate of merit, as well as a monetary award of over $25,000 from Prince Dr. Faisal bin Abdullah Al-Mishari Al Saud, president of NCA. Lance Haynie, associate director for programs in the department of recreational sports, was chosen as president-elect of the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education. He will serve as president-elect this year, and president next year.

Kellie Gerbers, assistant director for outdoor recreation, also was elected to serve on AORE’s board of directors.

Lee M. Pierce, an adjunct faculty member in the communication studies department of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, received the National Communication Association’s 2015 Stephen E. Lucas Debut Publication Award.

Given annually, the award honors an author publishing his or her first scholarly book or monograph. Pierce was recognized for her article, “Rhetoric of Traumatic Nationalism in the Ground Zero Mosque Controversy,” published in 2014 in the Quarterly Journal of Speech. The work addresses a controversy that is central to an understanding of a post-9/11 U.S., providing insight into the immediate responses as well as the lingering effects of the “rhetoric of traumatic nationalism.” It is an exemplar of rigorous rhetorical scholarship.

The National Communication Association advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching.

Zolinda Stoneman, director of the Institute on Human Development and Disability in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, received the 2015 Award for Advocacy from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council.

The award recognizes StoneZolinda Stoneman man’s contributions toward the founding of the Georgia Disability History Alliance.

Hank Huckaby, chancellor of the University System of Georgia, presented the award to Stoneman in October.

Stoneman also was presented with the Easter Seals Southern Georgia Distinguished Service Award in 2015 for her numerous contributions to the disability community.

Kudos recognizes special contributions of staff, faculty and administrators in teaching, research and service. News items are limited to election into office of state, regional, national and international societies; major awards and prizes; and similarly notable accomplishments.

FACULTY PROFILE

Dorothy Kozlowski

Itai Himelboim, an associate professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, examines social media networks through Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to identify unique patterns of social interactions, key influential users and emerging communities, and to track information flow.

Associate professor researches interaction patterns on social media

By Sarah Freeman freemans@uga.edu

Many people in today’s culture are familiar with social media and use various platforms to network with one another.

Few people, however, really understand the complexity of social media networks like Itai Himelboim.

A majority of Himelboim’s research examines social media networks through Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to identify unique patterns of social interactions, key influential users and emerging communities, and to track information flow.

“Almost anything you do on social media, you display engagement with people, and network analysis examines the structures of these patterns of engagement,” Himelboim said. “If you engage by following someone, information flows to you. If you engage by retweeting, information flows through you to others. And, that’s really what I believe is the core of understanding social media activity: patterns of social interactions.

Network analysis puts the ‘social’ back in social media.

“When we interact with others on social media, we open channels for information flow, and therefore determine where we receive information from,” Himelboim also said. “By mapping how people interact, we are tracking content flows, and more importantly, the boundaries of information flow.”

Himelboim’s research focuses on

information flows among individuals and between organizations and the public, primarily in conversations about politics, international affairs and commercial brands.

“Studying the networks formed by elections-related conversations, we clearly see the information silos we all create: we primarily interact with likeminded others and consume information from like-minded news sources,” he said. “This is far from the marketplace of opinions and ideas that was once expected of the Internet.”

Himelboim, who came to the U.S. from Israel as a Ph.D. student, got interested in network analysis while he worked on projects with a computer science and molecular biology colleague.

In those early days of social media, they gathered data from Newsgroups’ discussion boards. These projects led him to an internship with Microsoft Research.

“That’s what really got us started,” Himelboim said. “Using network analysis, we mapped the relationship and patterns of information flow among individuals talking about politics. A small minority of people were found to be located in unique positions in the network, attracting large and disproportionate number of replies. When most people posted content, almost nothing happened, but when these few discussion catalysts posted, a conversation was evoked. They played a key role in terms of information flow and setting the agenda for political discourse.”

FACTS

Itai Himelboim

Associate Professor Department of Advertising and Public Relations Ph.D., School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota, 2008 M.A., Department of Political Science (emphasis on political communication), Tel-Aviv University, 2003 B.A., Department of Communication and Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, 1999 At UGA: 8 years

In addition to his research, Himelboim is motivated by teaching students how to understand big social media data, analyze it, report it, find the stories and engage in real time.

“We need to remember that our graduates today are expected to know about social media, but just because you use it, doesn’t mean you understand it,” he said.

His newest project is designing the new SEE Suite at Grady College—a cutting-edge social media monitoring space—where students can examine big, cross-platform, social media data; use a variety of software to analyze it and identify key actionable insights; interact with agencies via teleconferencing; and present their work.

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

APLU recognizes ag lawyer for teaching excellence

By J. Merritt Melancon jmerritt@uga.edu

Agricultural lawyer Terence Centner’s focus on current issues and his cultivation of thoughtful debate have made him a favorite instructor in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Late last fall, his engaging teaching style also won him national recognition. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities recognized Centner with its national award for excellence in college and university teaching for food and agricultural sciences.

Centner received the award at the 128th APLU annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The award recognizes faculty members with outstanding scholarship, exemplary pedagogy and dedication to instruction. Only two national awards were given for 2015.

Terence Centner The other went to Garey A. Fox, a professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering at Oklahoma State University.

“To be recognized as one of the top teachers in all American colleges of food, agriculture, natural resources, human sciences and related fields is a tremendous honor,” said Josef Broder, interim dean and director for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “Dr. Centner’s dedication to

teaching excellence and his personal commitment to student success are most appreciated by the college and university.”

Since joining the UGA faculty in 1982, Centner’s teaching has focused on engaging students through rigorous reading assignments, discussion and assignments.

He employs the Socratic method in his agricultural and environmental law classes, which requires students to learn how to formulate responses to questions, observe how others handle challenging inquiries and prepare themselves for their future careers.

A leader in curriculum development, Centner proposed and helped develop three majors, three minors, one certificate and an accelerated bachelor’s and master’s program. He has presented seminars at 27 foreign universities.

ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

columns.uga.edu Jan. 25, 2016

7

STUDENT AFFAIRS

The Intersection offers place on campus to discuss tough issues

By Sydney Devine srdevine@uga.edu

Ted Mayer

Women’s basketball head coach Joni Taylor, center, said her vision is to “help impact the lives of young women in a positive manner.”

Player development

Head women’s basketball coach works to make her team successful student-athletes

By Aaron Hale

aahale@uga.edu

For Joni Taylor, the UGA women’s basketball head coach, success isn’t only measured by games won. It also includes what happens off the court. Ultimately, Taylor defines her success by the mentorship she gives her student-athletes.

“My vision is to help impact the lives of young women in a positive manner, and basketball is my tool to do that,” she said.

No doubt, Taylor’s competitive spirit drives her to build on the basketball team’s winning tradition. Taylor has 13 seasons of coaching experience at the Division I level, the last seven in the Southeastern Conference. The Meridian, Mississippi, native joined the UGA staff in 2011 and spent one season as an assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach.

Throughout her career, Taylor has displayed the ability to sign premier prospects and then help those recruits develop into highly successful players.

“Her appreciation for the total development of young women is second to none and her past experiences have prepared her for the challenges ahead,” said Andy Landers, who retired as head coach at the end of last season.

To develop successful student-athletes,Taylor said there must be focus on areas beyond hoops.

“We want to win and play at the highest level, but while we’re doing that, we have a great opportunity to be role models and continue to shape the lives of these young women whether it’s through community service, speaking engagements with media or in the community,” she said. “We try to give them opportunities—so when they graduate, they’re not just basketball players,

they are also well-rounded student-athletes.”

Part of Taylor’s commitment to her players’ development comes from her upbringing, in which she was raised in a household of educators. Her father was a high school social studies teacher; her mother, a biology teacher who went on to become an administrator in the school system. Her older brother became a history teacher. Taylor said that genealogy put pressure on her to succeed in a variety of areas of her life. And she delivered.

She played basketball at the University of Alabama, where she was named to the SEC’s Community Service team for women’s basketball in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

She received her bachelor’s degree in secondary education planning to follow in the footsteps of her parents. Instead, an opportunity to serve as a student assistant for Alabama men’s basketball team got her interested in coaching at the collegiate level. That path of coaching has led to great success, but she’s maintained the heart of an educator.

Now as head coach, Taylor is working to sustain the team’s outstanding record of academic success and increase its work in the community.

Last month, just before the holidays, the team helped build bicycles for Athens-area children in need, and she intends to find more opportunities like this for the basketball team.

But overall, Taylor stresses that team members are students before athletes.

“Academics is No. 1,” she said. “Our student-athletes know that they have a very tough schedule. They are asked to do a lot between the classroom, workouts and community service. They don’t have a lot of time, but they understand one place where time is not going to get cut is with academics.”

WEEKLY READER

Book explores rise of Chenille fabric

Southern Tufts: The Regional Origins and National Craze for Chenille Fashion

By Ashley Callahan University of Georgia Press Hardcover: $39.95

Southern Tufts highlights the garments produced by northwestern Georgia’s tufted textile industry.

Though best known now for its production of carpet, in the early 20th century the region was revered for its handtufted candlewick bedspreads.

Soon after the bedspreads became popular, enterprising women began creating hand-tufted garments.

By the late 1930s, large companies offered machine-produced chenille beach capes, jackets and robes. In the 1940s and 1950s, chenille robes became an American fashion staple. At the end of the century, interest in chenille fashion revived, fueled by nostalgia and an interest in recycling vintage materials.

Ashley Callahan, an independent scholar and former curator of decorative arts at the Georgia Museum of Art, tells the story of chenille fashion and its connections to stylistic trends, automobile tourism and U.S. history.

UGA now has a spot that can be reserved on campus where any student, faculty or staff member can go and engage in dialogue about issues of social justice.

The Intersection, a new room located on the third floor of the Tate Student Center across from Tate Print and Copy, opened in the fall for all university members. It provides a safe and dynamic learning environment where individuals can talk about issues of equity, access, social justice or any other challenging issue.

In fall 2013, several students and faculty organizations were the target of hate via Facebook. They were being attacked for various values and other issues.

Victor Wilson, vice president for student affairs, realized there was no safe environment on campus where victims of this hate, or others concerned, could talk together about what they were feeling at the time.

“The situation caused some very hurt feelings on campus,” he said. “It hit me at that time that there was a lot of dialogue we needed to have, but there was really nowhere to do that.”

As a result, Wilson teamed with the Multicultural Services and Programs, a part of UGA’s Student Affairs Division, and challenged them to find a place on campus where people can advance the work of diversity and inclusion at UGA. “I wanted to find a place on this campus where we could talk about tough issues. Period,” Wilson said.

“They don’t have to be about race, gender or anything in particular. But just any tough issues.”

The Intersection gives individuals a place where they are free to talk about anything challenging them—particularly subjects that tend to get swept under the rug.

Previously, the room was home to “The Dawg Pen,” which was a sports lounge area that had several television screens and a variety of seating options.

“In repurposing the space, the goal was to create a central and intentional space that would advance the conversation on social justice and inclusion,” said Megan Pendleton, an assistant director of Multicultural Services and Programs.

Pendleton was a part of the implementation team responsible for creating the mission, vision and values of the Intersection.

The space also has a selection of books related to social justice, equity, access and experiences to assist Intersection visitors with their discussions.

It encourages people from all walks of life to come together in discussion, and the spot honors all identities, perspectives and worldviews of the campus community.

“The Intersection is a free space on campus,” Pendleton said.

Any department, organization, office or person can reserve the space. To learn more about the Intersection or book the room, visit msp.uga.edu.

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 Photo Editor Dorothy Kozlowski

UGA Mobile App updated The UGA Mobile App has been updated with more user-friendly features. A separate module for UGAMail has been added, so students, faculty and staff can access their Web-based university email directly through the app.

Users with iOS devices with Touch ID also can sign into CASauthenticated modules on the app,

such as eLC and UGAMail, using the fingerprint scan on their device.

Single Sign-On will be extended to support Android devices with fingerprint readers soon.

The new version of the app also includes options to customize the home screen by adding and removing modules, as well as improvements to the bus tracker.

Senior Reporter Aaron Hale 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 Jan. 25, 2016 columns.uga.edu MARKETING

from page 1 but also will be implementing marketing strategies for the university as it gears up for a comprehensive fundraising campaign.

With 20-plus years in the field, HobsonPape describes marketing as a combination of art and analytics.

“It’s really the craft of beautiful and powerful creative work married with smart planning and metrics,” she said.

Hobson-Pape has always been attracted to the intersection of the humanities and numbers. As an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, Hobson-Pape studied anthropology and communications before finding a career in marketing. She would go on to work with major companies like IBM and GE Capital. After she went to Emory University’s Goizueta Business School to get her M.B.A., she became the school’s executive director of external affairs and helped build the business school’s marketing capabilities.

Later, she co-founded a marketing consulting firm and remained plugged into academia—helping develop strategies for higher education institutions in Georgia. As executive director of the Sheth Foundation, which supports the academy of marketing, Hobson-Pape has been working with faculty at institutions across the nation.

What is special about public universities—particularly flagship universities—she said, is their capacity to improve their states and beyond. An eagerness to become part of shaping a better Georgia is what inspired Hobson-Pape to join UGA. “The reality is that all of us want to be part of something that’s bigger than ourselves,” she said. “We all want to stand for something that really matters. And all of us want to proudly proclaim the impact it is making on the world.”

As she engages in her job at UGA, Hobson-Pape has two main goals for the coming year.The first is to help facilitate a strategic branding initiative to guide marketing efforts.

Hobson-Pape likens a branding initiative to an ethnographic study to excavate the values and distinctive qualities of an organization.

“A brand describes the reason for being,” she said. “It has to be authentic to an organization. It has a full inventory of experiences of that organization, including history, traditions and a vision to the future.”

A committee of people from a diverse cross-section of the university community already has begun work on the branding initiative using previous marketing research to help guide the efforts.

The results, Hobson-Pape said, will help the university tell its distinctive story.

RANKING from page 1 “Building on the university’s existing strengths, loyalty and reputation, these branding efforts are aimed at elevating the national reputation of the university,” she said.

The progress of the initiative will be closely coordinated with the Division of Development and Alumni Relations in preparation for the public phase of UGA’s comprehensive campaign. But the results of the branding initiative will continue to be used for years to come.

“The purpose of this initiative is to create a positioning that can be used at the university level,” she said, “but is also customizable for individual colleges, schools and units.”

Hobson-Pape’s other goal is to set up marketing infrastructure to help activate effective communication across the university.

“We’re building upon the established foundation,” she said, “and adding the marketing functions of planning, research and analysis so that we can better implement communication channels and tactics.”

As a marketing insider, Hobson-Pape has been a participant in the rapidly evolving landscape in the field. Since the advent and rise of social media platforms, institutions can have greater interaction with their audiences.

To excel at telling UGA’s story, university communicators need to be innovative in how they connect with their audiences.

In collaboration with the university’s schools and colleges, Hobson-Pape said, the Division of Marketing & Communications will be moving to a position where it can pilot new strategies and measure what is working.

Those tools and best practices can be shared with communicators throughout UGA’s schools, colleges and units.

Once again, collaboration will be key.

“The greatest tools we have at a university—the greatest brand ambassadors—are faculty, staff, students and alumni,” HobsonPape said. “We need to make sure they are engaged in this process so they can help us share the story and share the message.”

There are a few strategies Hobson-Pape already believes will work.

Traditionally, universities promote themselves by touting their achievements, rankings and statistics. Those measures are important, said Hobson-Pape, but the university can go further.

“The transition is going to be sharing the impact we’re making in the world,” she said.

“The work UGA is doing today is changing the world. It’s changing future generations.

And we’re going to tell that story in a way that resonates with audiences.”

Bulletin Board Free tax return help

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

This year’s VITA site is at Georgia United Credit Union’s 190 Gaines School Road branch. Sessions will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings Jan. 26 through April 13 and on Saturdays, Jan. 30 through April 19.

To see the complete list of available dates and times or to schedule an appointment, visit https://www.gucu. org/membership/vita-tax-prep. For those without Internet access, phone reservations can be made 706-227-5400, extension 6486.

Service-learning workshops

The Office of Service-Learning’s spring workshop series will begin Jan. 28 with “Introduction to ServiceLearning Course Design.” To be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in the conference room of the Public Service and Outreach annex (behind the Office of Service-Learning), the workshop will

be repeated April 4. The workshops are free but pre-registration is required.

Sign up at https://www.surveymonkey. com/r/SLWorkshopsSpr16.

For more information, contact Susan Parish by email (sparish@uga.edu) or phone (706-542-8924).

Research participants sought

The kinesiology department in the College of Education is conducting a research study to learn more about how blood sugar lowering medications affect health.

Researchers are seeking men and women ages 18-75 who currently are taking blood sugar lowering medications, but are not on insulin.

The two-part study will be completed in one to two weeks.

Study participants will be provided information about their body composition and health. They also will receive a financial incentive.

For more information or to find out which drug classes qualify for the study, contact Melissa Erickson at melissa9@uga. edu or 706-829-2560.

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

distance education. Over the past three years, UGA has more than doubled its number of online degree and certificate programs to bring the total to 29.

“These rankings reflect the quality of our faculty and the innovations used in creating online courses, as well as the collaboration between UGA schools and colleges and the Office of Online Learning,” said Keith Bailey, director of the Office of Online Learning.

The College of Education offers 11 master’s or specialist degrees online, plus another 11 graduate certificates or teaching endorsements. Nearly 90 courses at the college are taught online every year, with the College of Education leading the university in the number of degrees available online.

UGA offers two undergraduate degree

LECTURES from page 1

completion programs, which are for students who have earned some college credits and seek to earn their diploma. The online Bachelor of Business Administration program, offered through the Terry College of Business, is designed for working professionals, military personnel and others interested in furthering their business knowledge.The program operates on a cohort model, admitting students each fall, spring and summer semester. A typical student will complete two courses each semester and graduate in three years.

Announced every January, the U.S. News survey weighs factors such as student engagement, diverse learning technologies, admissions and faculty credentials. The College of Education launched UGA’s first online degree program, a master’s in adult education, in 2001.

supported by endowments, while others honor notable figures and milestones in the university’s history.

Ken Kendrick, managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, opened the lecture series Jan. 22. The remaining lectures in the lineup include: • Founders Day Lecture—Thomas C. Reeves, UGA professor emeritus, will speak Jan. 27 at 1:30 p.m. in the Chapel (see story, page 1).

• Sibley Lecture—David B. Wilkins, vice dean for global initiatives in the legal profession, director of the Center on the Legal Profession and Lester Kissel Professor of Law at Harvard University will discuss “The Accountants are Coming—Again!: The Rise and Transformation of the Big 4 Accountancy Firms and What it Means for the Global Market for Legal Services.” The lecture will take place Jan. 28 at 3:30 p.m. in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom of Hirsch Hall.

• Holmes-Hunter Lecture—Sanford Bishop, U.S. Congressman representing Georgia’s 2nd District, will speak Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. in the Chapel.

• Global Georgia Initiative Series—William R. Ferris, the Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will discuss “The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists” Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. in the Griffith Auditorium of the Georgia Museum of Art. • Donald L. Hollowell Lecture—Tomiko Brown-Nagin, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law and professor of history at Harvard University, will discuss “ ‘The Civil

Rights Queen’: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Racial and Gender Equality in America” March 17 at 7 p.m. in the Fine Arts Theatre.

• George H. Boyd Distinguished Lecture— Richard J. Roberts, chief scientific officer of New England BioLabs, will give the lecture “Exploring Bacterial Methylomes” March 22 at 3:30 p.m. in Masters Hall of the Georgia Center.

• Louise McBee Lecture—Earl Lewis, president of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, will speak March 24 at 11 a.m. in the Chapel.

• Mary Frances Early Lecture—Johnnetta B. Cole, director of the National Museum of African Art, will discuss “The Case for Diversity and Inclusion in American Higher Education” March 29 at 3 p.m. in Mahler Hall of the Georgia Center.

• Women’s History Month Lecture—Leah Ward Sears, former Georgia Supreme Court chief justice, will give the keynote address for Women’s History Month March 31 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

• Sponsored Lecture—Tess Davis, an affiliate researcher at the University of Glasgow, will discuss “Tomb Raiders and Terrorist Financing: Cutting off the Islamic State’s Illicit Traffic in ‘Blood Antiquities’ ” April 20 at 4:30 p.m. in the Griffith Auditorium of the Georgia Museum of Art. • Joe L. Key Symposium—David Baulcombe, Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge, will speak May 12 at 8:30 a.m. in the Griffith Auditorium of the Georgia Museum of Art.

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The lecture is sponsored by the UGA Alumni Association and the Emeriti Scholars, a group of retired faculty members known for their teaching abilities, who continue to be involved in the university’s academic life through part-time teaching, research and service assignments.

In conjunction with the lecture, the UGA Alumni Association will host an invitationonly luncheon on Jan. 27 during which the President’s Medal will be presented to Frances “Abit” Massey, president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation and a UGA graduate, and the family of the late Jane Seddon Willson, one of the university’s most generous benefactors (see story, page 1). The President’s Medal recognizes extraordinary contributions from individuals who have supported students and academic programs, advanced research and inspired community leaders to enhance Georgians’ quality of life.

The UGA Student Alumni Council will sponsor a series of free events for students in the days surrounding the lecture.The schedule of those events is as follows: • Jan. 25, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Founders Week T-shirt giveaway in the Tate Center Plaza.

• Jan. 26, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., canned food drive in the Tate Student Center Plaza to educate students about the Let All the Big Dawgs Eat Food Scholarship.

• Jan. 27, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., UGA’s 231st birthday celebration in the Tate Student Center Plaza.

• Jan. 28-29, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., 100 Days Until Graduation in the Tate Student Center Grand Hall.

See more at www.alumni.uga.edu/saa.

two great Georgians for helping to improve our state and strengthen the university,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Through their influential vision and tremendous generosity, both Abit Massey and the late Jane Willson have had a profound impact on UGA, and their contributions will continue to benefit the university for generations to come.”

Massey graduated from UGA in 1949 and received his Juris Doctor from Emory University. Known to many as the “dean of the poultry industry,” he became the executive director of the Georgia Poultry Federation in 1960. He served in this role until 2009 when he became president emeritus.

Prior to his work in the poultry industry, Massey was head of the Georgia Department of Commerce, now Economic Development, where he created the tourist division and built the first welcome center.

Massey and his wife, Kayanne, a former Miss Georgia, have more than 18 family members who attended UGA. The Massey family was named the UGA Alumni Association Family of the Year in 2014.

Willson died in November 2015 at the age of 92. Together with her late husband, Harry, she established a tradition of giving at the university that spanned more than six decades.

One of the most visible and direct results of her philanthropy is the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, which was named in honor of an endowment established by Jane and Harry Willson in 2005. The couple also funded the Jane and Harry Willson Professorship in Humanities and the Jane Willson Professorship in the Arts.

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Peter Frey

Dorothy Kozlowski

2016 STATE of the UNIVERSITY preparing leaders, tackling grand challenges, fulfilling our promise to serve Thank you, David, for that introduction and for your continued service as Chair of the Executive Committee of University Council. I also want to thank the many UGA students, faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters who are joining me this afternoon in the Chapel or by live stream. I am honored to be with all of you today to discuss the state of the University of Georgia.

Let me start by sharing one of my core beliefs as President of this great institution: there are few organizations more important to the vitality of our communities, to the strength of our democracy, and to the health of our economy than the American research university.

Dr. Frank H. T. Rhodes, President Emeritus of Cornell University, captured this notion perfectly when he stated that these unique academic communities, “represent the crucible within which our future will be formed.”

A case in point can be found right here—at this special place—the University of Georgia: our nation’s first statechartered institution of higher education; a land-grant and sea-grant university with international reach; a dynamic knowledge-based enterprise driven by the pursuit of academic excellence.

After all, it is here that students are being prepared to lead in a global society. And it is here that grand challenges are being tackled to improve the human condition. And it is right here that an unwavering promise is being fulfilled to serve the state of Georgia and the world beyond.

These three indispensable functions of preparing leaders, addressing grand challenges, and fulfilling our promise to serve will provide the outline for my address today. As we reflect on our many accomplishments from the past year and look forward to new opportunities that lie ahead, a clear image will emerge of an institution succeeding in every facet of its mission.

Preparing Students to Lead in a Global Society The foundation of any great public research university most certainly is undergraduate education. Teaching and learning at the undergraduate level inspire excellence in every other aspect of academic life—from graduate and professional education to research, scholarship, and public service.

Delivered by

President Jere W. Morehead January 20, 2016 The Chapel at the University of Georgia

Without a doubt, this maxim holds true at the University of Georgia, where undergraduate education is truly flourishing and students are being prepared to lead in a global society.

Of one thing we all can be certain: the world awaiting today’s college undergraduates is changing rapidly. Technology is allowing unprecedented levels of integration among economies, cultures, and governments. The economy of this nation continues to gravitate toward innovation and knowledge production as primary drivers. The challenges facing humankind are becoming ever more complex—demanding

new, interdisciplinary and multi-institutional approaches.

As the world changes, so must the University of Georgia, and it is. In this setting one year ago, a proposal was unveiled to provide all undergraduate students at UGA with an experiential learning opportunity prior to graduation.

This proposal was approved by the University Council in April and will go into effect for incoming first-year students this fall, making UGA the largest public university in the nation to provide each of its students with a high-impact, experiential learning opportunity.

Through undergraduate research, internships, study abroad, service-learning, and other significant learning experiences, UGA students will learn to leverage course content against pressing issues beyond the classroom walls; they will enhance problem-solving and critical thinking skills; and they will become better prepared for graduate school and careers in the 21st century. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our faculty and to the many campus leaders who have worked tirelessly during the last year to design and implement this transformational initiative.

I am grateful to the Athletic Association, which not only supports our more than 550 student-athletes but also made a lead gift to advance experiential learning. I hope others will follow in that example because this initiative will require both public and private support to succeed.

I noted that undergraduate research was a key component of expanding experiential learning on campus. In the fall of 2014, we introduced the CURO Research Assistantship Program to offer stipends for outstanding students across schools and colleges to conduct research alongside faculty.

I am pleased this program—under the leadership of Associate Provost Dr. David Williams—exceeded expectations in its first year.

In light of this success, today, I am directing funds to increase the program’s annual budget up to a total of $500,000 annually—to allow many more students to participate in this enriching educational opportunity. I would like to point out that every UGA student who has won a major national academic scholarship—including Meredith Paker, who was named recipient of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship this past fall—has participated in CURO. This fact reveals the strength of the undergraduate research program at the University of Georgia, and we intend to enrich it even more.

The experiential learning initiative, however, represents only one of several academic enhancements that have occurred in undergraduate education during the past year.

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UGA is succeeding in preparing students to lead in a global society, addressing grand challenges to improve the human condition, and fulfilling its promise to serve Georgia’s citizens. Top left: Marshall Scholar Meredith Paker participates in the University’s CURO Program. Top center: Dr. Vanessa Ezenwa is developing an interdisciplinary graduate training program in disease ecology. Top right: UGA Extension director Laura Perry Johnson and Dr. Stanley Culpepper are part of the vast Cooperative Extension network that uses research-based solutions to solve problems in local communities.

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and angel investment capital—among other measures. A campus-wide certificate program will be offered in fall 2016 as part of this initiative.

The University also has launched another faculty hiring initiative to promote further student learning and success.

More than $4 million was allocated to hire 56 new faculty members, creating more than 300 new course sections across a number of majors. The objective behind this significant investment is simple: to create greater levels of faculty-student interaction and mentorship by reducing class sizes in a number of places. The majority of the new course sections created through this initiative will have fewer than 20 students.

In addition to these exciting academic initiatives, the University also advanced a number of capital projects in 2015 to enhance the learning environment for students.

Delta Hall—named in honor of a lead gift by the Delta Air Lines Foundation—opened in Washington, DC, providing a premier residential learning facility to support UGA’s many successful academic and internship programs.

Construction on the new Science Learning Center remains on track, with classes scheduled to open in this superb facility later this year. The renovation and expansion project for Baldwin Hall will significantly improve the learning environment in one of our historic buildings on North Campus.

Correll Hall, Phase I of Terry College’s Business Learning Community, opened its doors last semester, thanks in large part to a leadership gift by distinguished UGA alumni Pete and Ada Lee Correll, for whom this state-of-the-art building is named.

Construction now is underway on Phase II of the Business Learning Community; Amos Hall—which honors a major gift by UGA alumnus and Aflac CEO and Chairman Dan Amos—will rest at the center of the second phase when construction is completed in 2017. And, with the support of Chancellor Hank Huckaby and the Board of Regents, we will begin the planning and design of the third and final phase of the Business Learning Community this spring.

In addition, the University is seeking state support for a proposed project to renovate Clark Howell Hall. This aging facility houses UGA’s Career Center, which provides a comprehensive set of career services to our students and functions as the principal interface between them and prospective employers. The Disability Resource Center and University Testing Services also are located in Clark Howell Hall and would benefit greatly from the renovation. I have been discussing the value of this strategic project during the General Assembly session now underway.

As we pause to consider all of these accomplishments, it should be no surprise that the University’s first-year retention rate reached an all-time high of 95.2 percent this year and that the six-year graduation rate climbed to a record 85.3 percent. Nor should it be surprising that, for the third year in a row, the University enrolled the most academically talented class of first-year students in its long history—a class that arrived with an average GPA of 3.91, an average SAT score of 1301, and an average ACT score of 29. And, it should be no surprise that UGA was ranked once again among the very best public research universities in the nation by Forbes and U.S. News and World Report.

In addition, UGA was ranked tenth among public universities in the 2015 New York Times College Access Index, which measures an institution’s commitment to supporting students from low-income backgrounds. The University also received the INSIGHT Into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award for the second year in a row, recognizing outstanding efforts and success in the areas of diversity and inclusion.

While we all should take pride in receiving these accolades, opportunities remain for UGA to become a more open and welcoming academic community. For that reason, we launched a Women’s Leadership Initiative in 2015, with the inaugural class of Women’s Leadership Fellows being named in November. We also conducted in the fall a comprehensive survey to assess our campus climate—the first of its kind at this institution. I am grateful to the committee, led by Associate Provost and Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Michelle Cook, for coordinating this important project.

During the State of the University Address last year, I established, from private support, a $250,000 endowment in the Office of Institutional Diversity to expand diversity training opportunities and initiatives focused on the recruitment and success of underrepresented faculty and students.

Today, I am doubling that endowment support to provide an additional $250,000 in private resources for Dr. Cook and other University leaders to invest further in these critical areas.

Working together—with sustained effort—I am convinced that we can continue to cultivate the kind of intellectual climate at the University of Georgia where the values of inclusion, diversity of thought, and freedom of speech are reflected in all of our academic endeavors.

As the University continues to advance in so many areas, we must never lose sight of our obligation to keep costs low and quality high for students and their families. Our commitment to affordability has been recognized nationally again this year: Washington Monthly ranked UGA third in its 2015 list of best values in the Southeast, and Kiplinger

Dr. Ted Futris

Dr. David Williams

Dr. Michelle Cook

professional education. The symbiotic relationship between the quality of graduate and professional education and the quality of the research enterprise cannot be overstated: the two functions are highly interconnected and complementary.

This relationship is well understood by our faculty, including Dr. Vanessa Ezenwa, associate professor in the Odum School of Ecology and the College of Veterinary Medicine, who received a grant of nearly $3 million last year to develop an interdisciplinary graduate training program in disease ecology.

As another example, the School of Law will be establishing a Distinguished Law Fellows Program to provide the best and brightest applicants with full tuition and a series of enriching professional development opportunities. This innovative program, inspired by UGA’s Foundation Fellows Program, is being launched by a $2 million gift from the Goddard Foundation that will create the first law fellows named after the late Philip H. Alston Jr. To enhance graduate and professional education campuswide, however, a more extensive and coordinated approach is required. Toward that end, Provost Pam Whitten is working closely with the deans and other senior administrators to develop a three-pronged strategy to advance the University in this crucial area.

The first prong will establish internationally recognized graduate fellowships to recruit outstanding master’s- and PhD-level students. The second prong will elevate the role of the Graduate School in fostering new and innovative programs under the leadership of Dean Suzanne Barbour. The Graduate School will begin incubating new interdisciplinary programs and offering tailored professional development opportunities to students—among other steps. The third prong will focus on expanding enrollment by establishing a financial incentive plan to reward schools and colleges for increasing the quality and quantity of graduate and professional students.

Provost Whitten and Dean Barbour will provide more information regarding this evolving plan in the coming months as they work with administrators and faculty to operationalize it. This initiative—in conjunction with efforts already taking place within our schools and colleges—will help the University of Georgia to achieve its strategic goals of growing graduate and professional education and expanding the research enterprise in key areas of strength.

Dr. Ted Ross

Andrew Davis Tucker

Correll Hall, Phase I of Terry College’s Business Learning Community, opened last fall. Above: Dr. David Mustard leads a discussion with students in one of the classrooms there on the first day of fall semester.

Fulfilling our Promise to Serve Georgia

Peter Frey

A multifaceted plan is being developed to enhance graduate and professional education. Above: Dr. Mable Fok supervises student research programs in the College of Engineering.

ranked UGA twelfth in its most recent list of best values among public colleges and universities.

In the interest of affordability, I am pleased to announce that the University will extend the freeze on food services rates for a third year in a row and also extend the ongoing freeze on parking rates. Moreover, for a third consecutive year, no mandatory student fees will be increased, except for the phased fee increase to support UGA’s new student information system. And the adoption of open educational resources across campus is expected to save students nearly $2 million in textbook costs by the end of the current academic year. These actions have been implemented to help ensure that the world-class education offered at the University of Georgia remains as affordable as possible.

Launching transformational academic initiatives, hiring additional faculty to reduce class sizes, building premier facilities to maximize student learning and success—these are the kind of bold steps the higher education community has come to expect from America’s first state-chartered university, and these are the kind of bold steps we must continue to take in order to prepare the graduates of this great institution to lead in our global society.

Tackling Grand Challenges to Improve the Human Condition Let me now turn to the second subject of today’s address: tackling grand challenges to improve the human condition.

Dr. Clark Kerr, former President of the University of California System, wrote in his seminal book on the function of the modern research university that, “as society goes, so goes the university; but, also, as the university goes, so goes society. The progress of knowledge remains so central to the progress of civilization.”

In this passage, he appropriately correlates the future of humankind with the strength of our nation’s research universities. His statement still rings true today, and it reminds us of our obligation to extend the frontiers of knowledge through research that shapes the world for the better.

Peter Frey

Delta Hall in Washington, DC—named in honor of a lead gift by the Delta Air Lines Foundation—provides a premier residential learning facility for undergraduates participating in UGA’s many successful academic and internship programs in the nation’s capital.

The influence of our vital research enterprise can be seen clearly across three signature research themes unveiled in the fall after a yearlong, data-driven process involving the faculty, the deans, and many other administrators.

These broad themes illustrate the great magnitude of the challenges being addressed by research and scholarship of UGA faculty and include: 1) inquiring and innovating to improve human health; 2) safeguarding and sustaining our world; and 3) changing lives through the land-grant mission.

As just one example of the first theme, improving human health, imagine for a moment a world in which we were protected by a universal vaccine from all strains of seasonal and pandemic influenza—no more annual shots; no more attempts to reformulate vaccines to match dominant strains of the virus; and no more widespread and life-threatening flu outbreaks. That is exactly the world that Dr. Ted Ross is diligently striving to create as GRA Eminent Scholar of Infectious Diseases and Director of UGA’s newly developed Center for Vaccines and Immunology.

With the support of nearly $18 million in external funding, Dr. Ross plans to begin clinical trials on a universal flu vaccine platform within the next two years. Dr. Ross is one of three GRA Eminent Scholars recruited to UGA last year and one of a number of faculty members at this institution engaged in grant-funded research to fight influenza and other infectious diseases of global significance.

The work of Dr. Samantha Joye comes to mind with regard to the second theme, safeguarding and sustaining our world. As UGA Athletic Association Professor in Arts and Sciences and professor of marine sciences, few are more committed to protecting our precious natural resources than Dr. Joye. She now is leading a project involving 29 investigators from 14 institutions to continue assessing the impact of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill on blue water ecosystems.

The project is being funded by a three-year grant worth nearly $19 million. As a sea-grant institution, located in a state whose future economic prosperity is heavily intertwined with the vitality of its coastal communities, it is imperative

Andrew Davis Tucker

Dedicated in February of last year, the Veterinary Medical Center is one of several facilities projects advanced by the University to expand research capacity in areas related to the institution’s signature research themes.

Rick O’Quinn

Research conducted by UGA faculty helps safeguard and sustain the world. Above: Dr. Samantha Joye is leading a project with investigators from 14 institutions to continue assessing the impacts of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill on blue water ecosystems.

that the University of Georgia remain at the forefront of research on marine and coastal systems and resources.

Changing lives through the land-grant mission, the third signature research theme, demonstrates UGA’s commitment to conduct research and scholarship to enhance the vitality of the communities in this state. Take, for example, a new project being led by Dr. Ted Futris, associate professor in the department of human development and family science and a UGA Extension family life specialist.

With the support of an $8.2 million grant, Dr. Futris and his team are helping to create positive and stable homes by integrating research-based services designed to improve healthy marriage and relationship skills and to promote economic stability. This project will touch nearly 1,500 families in a 13-county region of northeast Georgia.

Improving human health; safeguarding and sustaining our world; changing lives through the land-grant mission—these themes depict an ambitious research agenda with global impact, a faculty inspired by a greater good, and a University whose future is increasingly interlocked with the future of the world around us. To borrow from Dr. Kerr once again, “as the university goes, so goes society.”

Of course, one of the greatest threats to our thriving research enterprise is stagnation. For this reason, we must continue to invest strategically in faculty, facilities, and graduate and professional education—all keys to a vibrant research enterprise.

The Presidential Extraordinary Research Faculty Hiring Initiative was completed last year, bringing five world-renowned scientists to campus. To complement that effort, the University announced another presidential hiring initiative to create up to nine new tenure-stream positions in the rapidly growing field of informatics.

The Information Age is generating massive amounts of data that can be harnessed to address grand challenges in disciplines ranging from the humanities to political science to engineering and beyond. Plans are now moving forward to establish the Georgia Informatics Institute for Research and Education at the University of Georgia, with the goal

of further elevating and integrating informatics research and education across campus.

Even after implementing a number of major hiring initiatives, the fact remains that our greatest barrier to recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty is the salary gap between this University and our peers. However, important steps are being taken to close this gap. For the past two years, we have been able to offer merit-based raises to faculty and staff.

Governor Nathan Deal has proposed a merit-raise pool for faculty and staff for the upcoming fiscal year, and I am emphasizing the critical importance of this proposal with members of our General Assembly.

In 2015, the University secured funding to establish 13 new endowed chairs and professorships, bringing the total number of endowed faculty positions to 260. It is a point of pride that 33 new chairs and professorships have been created since July 2013—a 15 percent increase. Our research expenditures also increased seven percent last year, and early quarterly reports indicate that this positive trend will continue through the current fiscal year.

The institution also advanced a number of facilities projects in 2015 to expand research capacity in areas related to our signature research themes. The Veterinary Medical Center opened, for example, allowing plans to move forward to repurpose space vacated in the former facility on South Campus to accommodate the Center for Vaccines and Immunology. Portions of the Chemistry and Biological Sciences buildings also will be vacated once the Science Learning Center opens this fall, and some of that space will be converted into modern research laboratories.

Over the summer, the University broke ground on turfgrass research and education facilities on the Athens, Griffin, and Tifton campuses, and just last month we broke ground on the new home of the Center for Molecular Medicine next to the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center. Given these facilities enhancements, it is no wonder that UGA is becoming a magnet for talented faculty.

To continue to strengthen our position as a leading public research university, we also must enhance graduate and

Woven throughout my remarks today is a special thread, a thread that illuminates the unbreakable bond between the University of Georgia and the state of Georgia. During the 2014 Louise McBee Lecture, Dr. Mary Sue Coleman, President Emerita of the University of Michigan and incoming President of AAU, rightly observed that, “public universities have an extraordinary compact with society, and especially the citizens of our states.”

This University, with land- and sea-grant missions, exists in large part to serve the state we proudly call home—to expand leadership capacity, to promote prosperity, to address pressing challenges. This is our sacred promise, and the final part of today’s address will reveal our steadfast commitment to ensuring that promise is fulfilled.

The University of Georgia long has been a catalyst for economic development in Georgia. Consider for a moment the University’s Small Business Development Center—born 40 years ago as one of the first centers of its kind in the nation and now boasting 17 offices across the state. The performance metrics associated with this program are staggering. In just the last 10 years, the SBDC has helped nearly 3,400 entrepreneurs start their own businesses. Over the same period, SBDC clients have created more than 20,000 new jobs and obtained access to over $800 million in capital.

These statistics make it clear: the small business community throughout Georgia—arguably the backbone of the state’s economy—relies heavily on the expertise and resources of the University of Georgia. With highly effective service and outreach programs, such as SBDC, strategically positioned around the state, it is easy to understand why UGA’s estimated annual economic impact on Georgia now reaches $4.4 billion.

To expand the University’s leadership role in economic development, I am pleased to announce today that the Carl Vinson Institute of Government is launching a new state-wide certification for economic development professionals—called the Georgia Certified Economic Developer Program. The new initiative features a three-year curriculum created by experts from across the state, who intimately understand Georgia’s unique business landscape.

From this point forward, economic development professionals no longer will be forced to leave this state and pay excessive rates to receive high-quality training in an area so central to the vitality of Georgia’s communities. Again, we find the Vinson Institute swiftly adapting to address emerging needs of the state.

The University’s J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development is no different in this regard. Finding a void in CONTINUED on page D

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Robert Newcomb

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advanced training on community leadership development, Fanning is coordinating UGA’s first-ever Community Leadership Conference next month, bringing together industry experts with local practitioners to discuss emerging trends and best practices. Training more than 4,500 individuals in 2015 alone, Fanning continues to build leadership capacity in communities across Georgia.

Developing renewable energy sources as part of a balanced energy mix is a priority in this state and across the nation.

The University of Georgia and Georgia Power have teamed up to advance solar energy research and development. A solar tracking demonstration project was dedicated recently near the Club Sports Complex. The new facility will push clean energy into the state’s electric grid, while providing research and experiential learning opportunities for our students in the field of renewable energy.

Last year, the University and Georgia Power also worked together to close the old coal-fired boiler on campus and replace it with a new high-efficiency electrode boiler, a move projected to save the institution approximately $500,000 annually.

Today, I am pleased to announce another private-sector partnership aimed at enhancing campus sustainability. Since 2002, Lake Herrick—the centerpiece of a 284-acre watershed on South Campus—has been closed for public use because of poor water quality. We are excited that Southern Company has agreed to help fund steps toward the improvement of Lake Herrick, creating new avenues for sustainability research and education.

Southern Company and its subsidiary Georgia Power have been among our strongest partners in advancing research and development. Our many corporate partnerships showcase the tremendous innovation and impact that can occur when higher education and private industry combine resources to

Shannon Ferguson

Partnerships showcase the innovation and impact that can occur when higher education and private industry combine resources.

Left: Georgia Power officials visited UGA to dedicate a new solar tracking demonstration project. Center: Southern Company will help fund steps toward the improvement of Lake Herrick. Right: Dr. Sherri Lawless is one of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government faculty and staff members who provide high-quality training to the state’s economic development professionals.

achieve a common end for the benefit of this state.

Of course, it is not possible to discuss the service arm of UGA without highlighting Cooperative Extension. Every year, a vast network of extension specialists and agents, serving every county in Georgia, bring research-based solutions to bear on difficult problems facing our local communities.

The research of Extension Agronomist and Professor of Crop and Soil Sciences Dr. Stanley Culpepper provides an excellent example. Invasive plants represent one of the biggest challenges facing the agricultural industry in Georgia right now. Georgia cotton growers alone spend more than $100 million each year to manage this issue—which negatively affects production, yield, and profit. Today our farming community relies on Dr. Culpepper to provide the latest scientific information on invasive plants affecting nearly 50 commercially relevant crops.

As you can see, the University of Georgia is—and will forever be—Georgia’s university, helping to advance this state through a far-reaching array of programs and services that supports every major facet of community life, from our natural resources to our human resources. Although the mission of the University of Georgia is becoming increasingly international in scope, the state’s flagship institution remains firmly rooted at home.

Conclusion I want to close today simply by saying thank you. To our students—your passion and your desire to serve others give energy to our beloved University and supply hope to all of us for a better world to come. To find these qualities exhibited among our student body, look no further than the nearly 4,500 students who are actively involved in campus organizations focused on philanthropy and service.

To our faculty—you are the lifeblood of UGA and the prime mover of knowledge creation and knowledge transfer; the positive impact of your work is beyond measure and beyond compare, and I thank you.

To our staff—I am reminded daily of the vital role you play in this institution’s success. To imagine a university without a library, or academic support services, or research laboratories is to imagine a university without staff. I am grateful for all that you do to support UGA, and I look forward to celebrating your many contributions during the second annual Staff Appreciation Day this May. Finally, to our loyal alumni and friends, your support is helping to usher in a new era of greatness at the University of Georgia—one defined by a superior learning environment, discoveries that change the world for the better, and public service and outreach programs second to none. I am especially grateful to the tens of thousands of individuals who led UGA in 2015 to our best fundraising year ever— donating more than $144 million in new gifts and pledges to advance the University, a 14 percent increase over last year’s record total of $126 million. And we are on track to break that remarkable record for the third consecutive year.

To be clear: the many accomplishments outlined in today’s address are the accomplishments of an interconnected and vibrant university community, a community that is more unified than ever before in the pursuit of academic excellence. While the full potential of the University of Georgia is far from being realized, outstanding students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends have positioned this great institution as a leader among the very best public research universities in America.

Our mission is profound; our influence is global; and our future is bright. Thank you for being here today and for all that you do to support the University of Georgia.

preparing leaders, tackling grand challenges, fulfilling our promise to serve

Andrew Davis Tucker

Student-athletes represent the University both on and off the playing field. Football player Malcolm Mitchell visits a fifthgrade class as part of his “Reading With Malcolm” program.

Andrew Davis Tucker

Students have the opportunity to work with top research faculty as they seek answers to questions that will have an economic and social impact in Georgia and throughout the world.

Peter Frey

Undergraduate research, study abroad, service-learning, internships, and other learning experiences let students leverage course content against pressing issues beyond the classroom.