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Students in service-learning course design housing for recovery program graduates OUTREACH-INSTRUCTIONAL NEWS
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See Silkroad Ensemble perform March 29 at 8 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall
March 25, 2019
Vol. 46, No. 29
www.columns.uga.edu
UGA GUIDE
4&5
UGA prepares STEM students for rapidly changing future
By Aaron Hale
aahale@uga.edu
Lonnie Brown Jr.
George Contini
Shelley Zuraw
Gary Green
Ronald Pegg
Best of the best
Five UGA faculty members honored as Meigs Professors By Camie Williams camiew@uga.edu
Five University of Georgia faculty members have been named Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors, the highest university recognition for excellence in instruction. “Our 2019 Meigs Professors represent a range of fields, but they share a commitment to engaging students and challenging them to apply their knowledge in creative and meaningful ways,” said Interim Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Libby V. Morris, whose office sponsors the award. “They are exemplary educators at a university with a national reputation
for offering students extraordinary learning experiences.” The 2019 Meigs Professors are: • Lonnie T. Brown Jr.,A. Gus Cleveland Distinguished Chair of Legal Ethics and Professionalism in the School of Law, • George Contini, professor of theatre and film studies in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, • Gary T. Green, professor and assistant dean for academic affairs in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, • Ronald B. Pegg, professor of food science and technology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and • Shelley E. Zuraw, associate professor of art in the Franklin
College of Arts and Sciences. Brown animates his courses in civil procedure using examples from his own experience in practice as a commercial litigator prior to joining the School of Law faculty in 2002. Through case study and discussion, Brown’s lessons are designed to encourage students to look beyond a single circumstance to gain a deeper understanding of abstract topics, and he incentivizes students to apply their training by helping people and organizations in the community, such as the Northeast Georgia Food Bank. Brown, who previously served as associate dean for academic affairs, is a Senior Teaching Fellow and See MEIGS on page 8
AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY/UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA MEDICAL PARTNERSHIP
Match Day: AU/UGA Medical Partnership students headed to 17 states and institutions By Mary Kathryn Rogers mk.rogers@uga.edu
Resident applicants at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership gathered on March 15 at noon in George Hall on the UGA Health Sciences Campus for Match Day, an event marking the next step in their medical careers. Sealed envelopes addressed to each member of the class of 2019 and delivered by faculty were opened at noon, and inside each envelope was a personal letter revealing where the student will pursue postgraduate medical education.This year’s Match
Day was celebrated with a red-carpet theme and many were dressed in their formal attire. An annual event, Match Day takes place after students participate in interviews and visits to residency programs in Georgia and across the country. To determine the postgraduation assignments, the students ranked residency programs where they would like to complete their training, and the residency programs ranked the student applicants. The lists are then submitted to the nonprofit organization National Resident Matching Program in Washington, D.C., which uses an algorithm that aligns the choices
of the applicants with those of the residency programs. The final pairings are announced simultaneously across the U.S. at noon on the third Friday in March. “This is the sixth successful match in Athens at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership,” said Shelley Nuss, campus dean. “The accomplishments of the 42 MCG students who spent the majority of their time learning medicine at the Medical Partnership have landed them at top-tier residency programs across the United States. The students will be going to 17 different states in See MATCH on page 8
The number of University of Georgia undergraduate students in STEM disciplines has risen approximately 20 percent over the past five years, with 11,832 (40 percent of the student body) declaring a major in science, technology, engineering or mathematics in the fall of 2018 alone. Combine this surge with the recent launch of UGA’s Innovation District and construction beginning on the I-STEM Research Building, and you can feel the STEM momentum on campus. The increase in STEM-related
majors matches national trends. According to the Education Commission of the States, STEM jobs in the U.S. are expected to grow 13 percent from 2017 to 2027. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates that 93 percent of all STEM occupations provide wages (average salary is $87,570) above the national average and more than twice the national average of non-STEM jobs. Such trends indicate that the world is looking to STEM professionals to address its grand challenges. “We have more complex problems in our world,” says Timothy Burg, director of UGA’s Office
See STEM on page 8
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Beautiful Briny Sea wins Flavor of Georgia contest’s grand prize By Merritt Melancon jmerritt@uga.edu
Suzi Sheffield and Atlanta’s Beautiful Briny Sea have taken the grand prize at the University of Georgia’s 2019 Flavor of Georgia Food Product Contest with their product Gunpowder Finishing Salt, a tangy mix of Hawaiian volcanic salt, chipotle, black pepper, garlic, onion, sumac and some other secret ingredients. The annual contest, conducted by the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development, is a chance for food businesses to showcase their new products. A team of food industry experts and grocery buyers chose Beautiful Briny Sea, an artisan dry goods company that makes small-batch salt blends, sugars and other culinary products, as the best of
33 finalists. They rated the products on qualities including innovation, use of Georgia theme, market potential and flavor. In addition to the grand prize, Beautiful Briny Sea also won first place in the Sauces and Seasonings category. UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Dean and Director Sam Pardue congratulated the category and grand prize winners March 19 during Flavor of Georgia Day, part of Georgia Agriculture Awareness Week, at the Georgia Freight Depot in Atlanta. In just over a decade, the Flavor of Georgia has had more than 1,400 entries from every corner of the state. “These small starts and big dreams have become big business. See FLAVOR on page 8
OFFICE OF RESEARCH
UGA alumna Beth Shapiro will deliver 2019 Boyd Lecture By Michael Terrazas
michael.terrazas@uga.edu
In her upcoming George H. Boyd Distinguished Lecture, to be held April 4 at 1 p.m. in the Georgia Center’s Masters Hall, UGA alumna and renowned evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro will likely deliver a short, direct response to the implicit question raised by the title of her award-winning 2016 book, How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction. Her answer to the unspoken question? You don’t. “It’s a topic that fascinates people —whether it’s possible to bring
back these megafauna— and people get excited about bringing back big dinosaurs and woolly mammoths. Most people expect Beth Shapiro the book will make this great argument for why we should do this, when in fact it does the opposite,” said Shapiro, professor in the ecology and evolutionary biology department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “My book
See LECTURE on page 8
2 March 25, 2019 columns.uga.edu
WILLSON CENTER FOR HUMANITIES AND ARTS
CAES
Two CAES faculty members receive National Science Foundation CAREER grants By Clint Thompson cbthomps@uga.edu
Two University of Georgia researchers have been awarded Faculty Early Career Development Program grants from the National Science Foundation. Brian Kvitko and Gaelen Burke, both faculty members in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, were awarded the five-year grants this year. Both Burke’s and Kvitko’s teams will use the CAREER grants, which have a greater emphasis on education compared to other grants, to develop research-based learning materials to distribute to local middle schools. Kvitko is a plant pathologist whose research focuses on plants and how their immune systems respond to potential diseases. His long-term objective is to understand the bacterial mechanisms that are targeted by the plant’s immune system. One of the areas of focus is sulfur, an essential element for life. When plants activate their immune systems, it appears to limit available sulfur, Kvitko Brian Kvitko said. This blocks the bacteria’s ability to grow in plant tissue. “We know that plants have specialized receptors that let them detect invaders and pathogens. We know they can activate a defense response that protects them. What we don’t know is exactly what that means. What is the defense response, and how does it suppress microbes?” Kvitko said. “Those Gaelen Burke are some of the objectives we want to really focus on during this research.” Kvitko will teach plant and plant-disease science to students from all backgrounds, not just science majors, to enhance students’ knowledge of plant pathology. Burke, an entomologist, focuses her research on the parasitoid wasp, a natural enemy of agricultural pest insects. She studies the relationships the wasps have with certain viruses that help the wasp kill insect pests to learn how those relationships originate and how they function. Once the five-year grant research period is over, Burke believes her team might be able to manipulate these viruses to better kill pest insects. “If we didn’t have grants from the National Science Foundation or other funding sources, we wouldn’t be able to hire the people to do the work. We wouldn’t be able to afford the reagents (substances used for chemical analysis) that we need. If you compared the lab to a small business, this would be like the bread and butter to keep us going,” Burke said. The funding for both scientists totals nearly $1 million, which will help fund postdoctoral and graduate students to enhance their education, gain valuable research experience and help develop these important projects. “NSF CAREER awards recognize university faculty with strong potential to become research leaders,” said Allen Moore, CAES associate dean for research. “To have two awardees in this college reflects the exceptional quality of scientists we are attracting to the University of Georgia. The future of agricultural research in CAES is in good hands.” NSF provides about one-fourth of the total federal support academic institutions receive for basic research.
UGA hosts humanities symposium By Allyson Mann tiny@uga.edu
UGA hosted the inaugural Georgia Humanities Symposium on March 8, providing a platform to discuss the public humanities with researchers and academics from across the state, including representatives from Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse College. The event, part of the Global Georgia Initiative of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and co-hosted by Georgia Humanities, brought together about 80 humanities research leaders at the state, regional and national levels, including representatives from the National Humanities Alliance and the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes. This was the first of three annual meetings designed for sharing experiences of projects, grants and innovations in humanities research and teaching. “It’s critical in the state of Georgia that we get to know each other better,” said Nicholas Allen, Franklin Professor of English, Willson Center director and founder of the Global Georgia Initiative. “It’s a tremendously rich place, with tremendously rich and complicated cultures, and the humanities do the work of engaging with the diversity of voices that I think no other set of disciplines does.” The symposium is one facet of the
Lamon Carson/Thrasher Photo
Panelists discuss the state of humanities at the Georgia Humanities Symposium.
Global Georgia Initiative’s expansion, made possible by a $500,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. During the event, three panels of experts discussed the state of the humanities in Georgia, exploring what works and what doesn’t, making connections within communities and considering what the future holds. Ann McCleary is co-director of the West Georgia Textile Heritage Trail, a project that highlights historic communities that played a vital regional and sometimes national role in the cotton, hosiery, apparel, chenille and carpet industries. She found that not all
communities were ready to acknowledge all of their history. “We really want to delve into the nitty gritty of this industry, but it’s hard because people are sometimes afraid to talk about it,” said McCleary, also a professor at the University of West Georgia. Although challenges remain, Allen is optimistic about the future of the humanities in Georgia, and he left the attendees with a question to ponder. “What can we do not just today but over the next two years to make a real change in our own communities and in our institutions?” he asked.
COMMIT TO GEORGIA CAMPAIGN
SunTrust foundations gift to launch idea accelerator By Kate Lovin
kate.lovin@uga.edu
A $500,000 gift from the SunTrust Foundation and the SunTrust Trusteed Foundations will support the University of Georgia’s Entrepreneurship Program. The gift helped launch a student incubator/accelerator space and also will provide support for the student-led UGA Kickstart Fund. The renovated UGA Student Entrepreneurship Center, Studio 225, which opened last week and is located at 225 W. Broad St. in downtown Athens, will serve as a focal point for student innovation. Providing student support for the entrepreneurial ecosystem at UGA, the dynamic space will help students in all majors cultivate original ideas, propel business startups and engage with industry partners. It will house Entrepreneurship Program faculty and steer students toward an understanding of best practices as they develop their ideas. The UGA Kickstart Fund is a student-led and privately funded program providing seed grant money for student and faculty startups. Students and faculty can apply to receive grant support for entrepreneurial pursuits. This gift will supply students with the hands-on experience of managing, investing and tracking investments in a controlled environment. A program of this nature equips tomorrow’s leaders with the skills necessary to run revenue-generating companies. “SunTrust Foundation and SunTrust Trusteed
Foundations are pleased to join with the UGA Entrepreneurship Program to build out the UGA Entrepreneurship student incubator in the newly designated Innovation District of Athens, while also enhancing the student-led Kickstart Fund,” said Jenna Kelly, president, SunTrust Bank Georgia Division. “We share a common purpose of Lighting the Way to Financial Well-Being for all students enrolled at UGA. This grant is another example of our dynamic partnership with UGA and how our teams collaborate in deliberate ways to benefit the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.” The Entrepreneurship Certificate Program has grown from 33 students in 2015 to more than 420 students this past spring. “This momentum will continue thanks to this generous gift,” said Jill Walton, executive director of corporate and foundation relations at UGA. “The SunTrust Foundation and the SunTrust Trusteed Foundations’ gift will provide students the opportunity to lay the groundwork for building a new business, all while still attending UGA.” This gift highlights the growing momentum surrounding innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Georgia. UGA President Jere W. Morehead recently announced plans to establish a vibrant innovation district at the interface of North Campus and downtown Athens. The district will include an interconnected set of facilities offering a broad range of spaces and amenities to expand innovation, entrepreneurship and technology-based economic development. Studio 225 represents the first phase of this new development.
WILLSON CENTER FOR HUMANITIES AND ARTS
Delta Visiting Chair Rebecca Rutstein returns to UGA for March 28 presentation By Dave Marr
davemarr@uga.edu
Rebecca Rutstein, an artist whose work spans painting, sculpture, installation and public art and explores abstraction inspired by science, data and maps, is UGA’s Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding for 2018-2019. Rutstein will visit the university for the second time this academic year following her keynote discussion at November’s national conference of the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru). Rutstein will again give a public presentation with the widely known oceanographer Samantha Joye, Athletic Association Professor in Arts and Sciences in the marine sciences department of UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. The conversation, titled “Expeditions, Experiments and the Ocean: Adventures and
Discoveries,” will be held March 28 at 7 p.m. in the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium of the Georgia Museum of Art. It will be moderated by Nicholas Allen, Franklin Professor of English and director of the Willson Center. Prior to the event, a public reception will begin at 6 p.m. The Delta Visiting Chair, established by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts through the support of The Delta Air Lines Foundation, hosts outstanding global scholars, leading creative thinkers, artists and intellectuals who participate in public events at UGA and in the Athens community. Since Rutstein’s November visit, she and Joye have completed an expedition to Mexico’s Guaymas Basin in the Sea of Cortez that included a deep-sea dive aboard Alvin, a submersible vessel able to withstand the crushing pressure of the extremes of the deep ocean. While scientists explored hydrothermal
vents and carbon cycling processes in the basin, Rutstein set up her studio on the ship and created new works inspired by the data collected in real time. Rutstein’s 64-footlong interactive sculpRebecca Rutstein tural installation with laser cut steel and LED lights, and a monumental four-part painting, remain installed at the Georgia Museum of Art through October. A mural-sized banner is also on display at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. The sculpture, with its hexagonal forms and reactive lighting, and the shapes present in the paintings were inspired by the hydrocarbon structures and bioluminescence present in Guaymas Basin. In the process of creating works inspired
by geology, microbiology and marine science, Rutstein has previously collaborated with scientists aboard research vessels sailing from the Galapagos Islands to California, Vietnam to Guam, and in the waters surrounding Tahiti. Prior to her expedition with Joye, she made her first descent in Alvin to the ocean floor off the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica with a team of scientists from Temple University in October 2018. Rutstein has exhibited in museums, institutions and galleries, and has received numerous awards including the prestigious Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Joye’s research examines the complex feedback that drive elemental cycling in coastal and open ocean environments, and the effects of climate change and anthropogenic disturbances on critical environmental processes to gain a better understanding of how changes will affect ecosystem functioning.
OUTREACH-INSTRUCTIONAL NEWS
columns.uga.edu March 25, 2019
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Digest UGA Night at Six Flags set for April 12
Shannah Montgomery
Students, led by Lilia Gomez-Lanier, assistant professor in the department of textiles, merchandising and interiors, will complete a semester-long design project to re-imagine the space to house four men and create a homey, recovery-friendly space for them to live before they transition back to independent living.
‘Make someone’s life better’ UGA class helps design alumni housing for recovery program graduates
By Aaron Cox
aaron.cox@uga.edu
When the first alumni housing for the Athens Acceptance Recovery Center is open, it will have a student touch. Sixteen College of Family and Consumer Science students are helping renovate an apartment, which will house men who have graduated from the ARC’s recovery program. For Lilia Gomez-Lanier, an assistant professor in textiles, merchandising and interiors, the service project allows students to put into practice their academic lessons and benefits the Athens community. “I am constantly looking for those projects [that give back to the community],” said Gomez-Lanier. “I think it’s so important that the students have a real client. They have talent, why not share it? Make someone’s life better.” More than 200 unique servicelearning classes, with 430 course sections, were taught during the 2017-18 academic year, reaching 6,369 individual undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Students in those
classes provided more than 275,000 hours of community service to Athens and other communities, with an estimated value of $6.9 million. “Service-learning provides an opportunity for students to experience learning outside the classroom in a way that can make a tangible impact in the community,” said Shannon Wilder, director of the Office of Service-Learning. “At the same time they are developing professional skills they take with them after graduation.” During a recent visit to the apartment, the FACS students took detailed measurements, made initial drawings and spoke with ARC staff about what the space needed to include. The class will continue to refine its designs through the summer, with finished drawings going to the ARC. “I think it’s great that we’re doing [the project] in Athens and it’s for a good cause,” said Emily Flournoy, a sophomore majoring in furnishing and interiors. “We’re just now learning about construction and building codes and all this stuff that you need to think about, so I think this project is actually
going to use those.” The students bring fresh eyes to the project and can picture different layouts for the room, said Holly Barker, an ARC board member. “Logistically, we’re going to end up with really great [digital] drawings and elevation drawings for this property that I don’t think are even in existence,” said Barker. “We can make this space really work for these guys and feel like a home—a safe, comfortable home environment.” Barker is also hopeful that the project will serve as a window into a different world for the students. “I think the bigger umbrella connection is just having a connection with the school,” she said. “There’s definitely still a stigma around people who have addictions and what exactly that means, and not everybody understands. I’m excited to kind of open people’s eyes and hearts a little bit to sort of better understand what this actually looks like and not be so fearful of it. But also celebrate these kids and give them a real-world scenario, a real-life helping somebody scenario.”
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Poor sleep becomes a problem for foster children By James Hataway jhataway@uga.edu
Children living in foster care may have a higher risk of developing insomnia, and this can lead to long-term mental and physical health problems, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Georgia. The researchers conducted indepth interviews with 24 adults who lived in foster care to learn more about their sleep patterns before entering care, while living in care and after they entered adulthood. They published their findings in Children and Youth Services Review. Poor sleep can make it difficult for children to pay attention in school or form healthy social relationships, but it also can contribute to chronic health problems like depression, obesity, diabetes and heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “A lot of children in foster care have experienced physical or mental abuse
prior to entering care, and we know that this can lead to insomnia caused by post-traumatic stress disorder,” said Rachel A. Fusco, an associate professor in UGA’s School of Social Work and lead author of the study. “But foster care also may involve moving into new homes multiple times, and that can make children feel unsafe…they begin to associate bed time with fear and uncertainty.” They found that a substantial number of study participants suffered from poor sleep during their time in foster care, experiencing nightmares or a pervasive fear of darkness. “People who didn’t grow up in foster care may remember sleeping at a friend’s house or in a relative’s home, and we often don’t sleep well in those places because they’re filled with unfamiliar sights and sounds,” Fusco said. “Even when a foster child is placed in home with kind and loving foster parents, the strange new surroundings can be difficult to overcome, especially if they change homes frequently.”
Many foster children also do not experience bedtime rituals like having a bath or reading a book, so they don’t have the benefit of calm and comforting patterns before they go to bed, she said. “I would do anything I could to stay awake,” said one study participant. “I just didn’t like being asleep. I was always afraid I would die in my sleep and never would see my mom again. I would make myself sit up against the wall so I wasn’t comfortable. I would do all kinds of stuff to keep from falling asleep.” And these problems can persist into adulthood. Many of the study participants reported using marijuana or alcohol to induce sleep. While the importance of quality sleep is well-established in medical literature, it has not been extensively studied in the context of foster care, Fusco said. But she does see opportunities to help. “I think the positive here is that if we help people improve their sleep, we can help them improve so many other aspects of their lives,” she said.
UGA Night at Six Flags Over Georgia will be held April 12. During the event, UGA students, faculty, staff, alumni and their families will have exclusive access to the theme park from 6 p.m. until midnight. Tickets purchased by April 11 will be $33.50; fees-paying students with valid UGACards who purchase their tickets at the cashier’s window of the Tate Student Center will receive $5 off the purchase price. The first 400 students to purchase their tickets at the Tate cashier’s window will receive a free T-shirt. All attendees will receive a voucher for a free return visit anytime in June 2019. Parking for UGA Night is free. Tickets may be purchased at the Tate Student Center’s cashier window, open weekdays from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., online at http://tate.uga.edu/sixflags or by calling 706-542-8074. Student ticket prices are honored at the cashier’s window only. Tickets ordered online or by phone are subject to the nonstudent rate. Bus transportation for students is available at a cost of $15. A limited number of bus passes will be available for purchase at the cashier’s window only. The Center for Student Activities and Involvement is a unit within the Tate Student Center, a department of UGA Student Affairs. For more information, call 706-542-8074 or see http://tate.uga.edu/sixflags.
Georgia Debate Union wins tournament
The Georgia Debate Union won the American Debate Association national championship tournament earlier this month in Athens. Nearly 100 teams from around the country attended the American Debate Association’s end of the year championship tournament, hosted at the University of Georgia. Seniors Advait Ramanan and Swapnil Agrawal won the American Debate Association’s varsity division national championship and finished the tournament undefeated. Ramanan was also recognized as the top overall speaker in the varsity division. Seniors Nathan Rice and Johnnie Stupek finished in third place. All four UGA students finished in the top five speakers in the varsity division. In addition to winning the ADA National Tournament, the Georgia Debate Union won the season-long award for best Varsity Debate Program in the American Debate Association, another first for the debate program at UGA.
McGill Medal goes to reporting team
A reporting team that shed light on the civil war in Yemen will receive the 2019 McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage. Now in its 10th year, the award is part of the McGill Program for Journalistic Courage at the University of Georgia’s Grady College. Associated Press investigative reporter Maggie Michael, along with visual journalists Maad al-Zikry and Nariman el-Mofty, traveled across Yemen to cover the war, resulting in a series of stories that have shaped the world’s image of the war and the role of America’s allies in it. Many of the stories broke new revelations, such as torture in prisons run by U.S. ally United Arab Emirates and the secret deals struck between the Saudi-led coalition and al-Qaida. Many of these deals have led to hundreds of militants incorporating into coalition forces to fight the rebels. Other stories brought home the struggles of Yemenis to survive. In 2018, the reporting team worked through a grant they received from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting to shed light on “Yemen’s Dirty War.” They reported on famine, revealing secret deals with al-Qaida militants and examining the impact of the U.S. drone war against al-Qaida.
PERIODICALS POSTAGE STATEMENT Columns (USPS 020-024) is published weekly during the academic year and
biweekly during the summer for the faculty and staff of the University of Georgia by the Division of Marketing & Communications. Periodicals postage is paid in Athens, Georgia. Postmaster: Send off-campus address changes to Columns, UGA Marketing & Communications, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Athens, GA 30602-1999.
For a complete listing of events at the University of Georgia, check the Master Calendar on the web (calendar.uga.edu/). The following events are open to the public, unless otherwise specified. Dates, times and locations may change without advance notice.
UGAGUIDE
EXHIBITIONS
Stony the Road We Trod. Through April 28. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. gmoa@uga.edu. Fighting Spirit: Wally Butts and UGA Football, 1939-1950. Through May 10. Special collections libraries. 706-542-8079. jclevela@uga.edu. Nevertheless, She Resisted: Documenting the Women’s Marches. Through May 17. Hargrett Library Gallery, special collections libraries. 706-583-0213. jhebbard@uga.edu. Life, Love and Marriage Chests in Renaissance Florence. Through May 26. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. gmoa@uga.edu. (See story, bottom right.) Under the Big Top: The American Circus and Traveling Tent Shows. Through July 5. Special collections libraries. 706-583-0213. jhebbard@uga.edu. Out of the Darkness: Light in the Depths of the Sea of Cortez. Through Oct. 27. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1817. hazbrown@uga.edu.
MONDAY, MARCH 25 DISCUSSION Join the College of Education’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to discuss Claudia Rankine’s book, Citizen. The book lays bare moments of racism that often surface in everyday encounters. Participants will be invited to write their own reflections on past experiences with microaggression and/or micro-validation. Copies of Citizen will be given out (one per household) to event attendees while supplies last. Noon. 119 Aderhold Hall. 706-583-8127. cahnmann@uga.edu. LECTURE “Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: The Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report,” Daniel J. Dye, senior deputy attorney general in the Criminal Prosecutions Section of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. Presented by the The Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic. Register at http://www.law.uga.edu/wilbanks-lecture-rsvp. 3 p.m. Larry Walker Room, Dean Rusk Hall. peden@uga.edu. LECTURE “10 Newish Things in Digital Design,” Stephen Ervin, assistant dean for information technology at the Harvard School of Design. 4:30 p.m. 123 Jackson Street Building. 706-542-9886. sramos@uga.edu. WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH FILM SCREENING Dolores documents the life of Dolores Huerta, who was an equal partner in founding the first farm workers union with Cesar Chavez. 6:30 p.m. 271 special collections libraries. 706-542-2846. tlhat@uga.edu.
TUESDAY, MARCH 26 MARY FRANCES EARLY LECTURE Chris Emdin will deliver the 19th annual Mary Frances Early Lecture. Emdin is an associate professor in the mathematics,
UGA’s Hodgson Wind Ensemble welcomes composer John Mackey By David Jackson Stanley david.stanley@uga.edu
The University of Georgia’s Hodgson Wind Ensemble will welcome composer John Mackey to campus for a March 28 concert. Mackey will attend ensemble rehearsals, meet with student composers and address the concert audience during his stay. The concert program includes his 2014 symphony for band, Wine-Dark Sea, based on Homer’s The Odyssey. The performance will feature the SouthJohn Mackey eastern Conference premiere of Mackey’s newest work, Places we can no longer go. Written to honor Mackey’s mother and others suffering from dementia, Places we can no longer go is a story told in reverse. “It starts in the present, or maybe even in the future, and over the course of 22 minutes, goes in reverse, as confusion turns to clarity, and grief turns to comfort,” Mackey said. Soprano Lindsay Kesselman of Charlotte, North Carolina, is the guest soloist. Immediately following the performance, the audience is invited to the front of Hodgson Hall for a brief post-concert reflection with Mackey and Kesselman, moderated by Cynthia Johnston Turner, director of bands. His visit to UGA is supported, in part, by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. The performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall. Tickets are $6-$12 and are available online at pac.uga.edu or by phone at 706-542-4400. Streaming is available at www.music.uga.edu/ live-streaming for those who are unable to attend.
science and technology department at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also serves as director of the science education program and associate director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education. Sponsored by the Graduate School, Graduate and Professional Scholars and the Office of Institutional Diversity. 3 p.m. Mahler Hall, Georgia Center. ECOLOGY SEMINAR “The Role of the Environment in Shaping Host Resistance, Life History and Vector-Borne Disease Transmission,” Courtney Murdock, assistant professor with a joint appointment in the UGA Odum School of Ecology and the College of Veterinary Medicine’s infectious diseases department. Reception follows seminar at 4:30 p.m. in the ecology building lobby. 3:30 p.m. Auditorium, ecology building. 706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu.
ESPANA EN CORTO Through March 27. Enjoy the seventh annual Spanish Short Film Festival. Espana en Corto, started by UGA students, showcases award-winning Spanish short films. A different selection of films will be shown each night. Cosponsored by the UGA Romance languages department. 7 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu. LECTURE “Religious Afterlife: Race, Gender and Religion among Black Undergraduates,” Keon M. McGuire, assistant professor of higher and postsecondary education in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and a faculty affiliate with the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. His talk is part of Religion and the Common Good, a seminar organized by Robert L. Foster of the religion department and Joshua Patterson of the Institute of Higher Education. 7 p.m. Peabody Hall.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27 INNOVATION FOR UGA, FOR ALL OF UGA UGA innovators—and the people who support them—must ensure that innovation and entrepreneurship are not options only for the few. Join the conference to learn from each other, make new connections and plan a collective vision. 8 a.m. Special collections libraries. 706-542-1404. gateway@uga.edu. TOUR AT TWO Join Nelda Damiano, Pierre Daura Curator of European Art and in-house curator of the exhibition, for a special tour of Life, Love and Marriage Chests in Renaissance Florence. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu. (See story, bottom right.) WORKSHOP In “Active Learning in eLC,” participants will learn some of the tools and techniques available within eLC to integrate active learning techniques into their hybrid or flipped classrooms. This workshop will explore the role that eLC can play in fostering student engagement, tools available for building active learning assignments and the measurement of student engagement in the eLC environment. 3 p.m. 372 Miller Learning Center. 706-542-0538. philip.bishop@uga.edu. CREATURE COMFORTS GET ARTISTIC COMMUNITY LECTURE This Delta Visiting Chair event is presented in partnership with the Get Artistic initiative of Creature Comforts Brewing Co. in Athens. Rebecca Rutstein, the 2018-2019 Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding, will give a public talk about establishing and sustaining a career as a visual artist. She will be joined by fellow visual artist Christine Lee. 4 p.m. Tasting Room, Creature Comforts. FACULTY LECTURE College of Environment and Design faculty lecture series featuring David Spooner. 4:30 p.m. 123 Jackson Street Building. SOFTBALL vs. Georgia Southern. $1 hot dogs. 6 p.m. Jack Turner Stadium.
THURSDAY, MARCH 28 GARDEN EARTH EXPLORERS Also March 30. Join the State Botanical Garden of Georgia’s education team as they bring a new program to the Alice H. Richards Children’s Garden called Garden Earth Explorers. Families can enjoy a morning of adventure discovering Garden Earth through songs, puppets, stories, hikes, activities or games. The Garden Earth Explorers program is an informal way to give young naturalists a better understanding about the importance of this planet. Thursday mornings will be geared towards ages 3-6, and Saturday mornings will capture the interest of more advanced learners ages 7-10. Note that this event will not take place during inclement weather or a scheduled festival. 10:15 a.m. Alice H. Richards Children’s Garden, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6156. cscamero@uga.edu. OPENING RECEPTION Field_Forest_Flora: Paintings by Susan McAlister opening reception and gallery talk. 5 p.m. Circle Gallery, Jackson Street Building. STOP THE BLEED: BLEEDING CONTROL TRAINING CLASS No matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, bystanders will always be first on the scene. Within 5 minutes, a person who is bleeding can die from blood loss, therefore it is important to quickly stop the blood loss. Those nearest to someone with life-threatening injuries are best positioned to provide first care. This free course teaches participants the basic life-saving medical interventions, including bleeding control using a tourniquet, wound packing and direct pressure with gauze. Skill demonstration is a part of the class. Each participant will receive a certificate for the training in the mail. 6:30 p.m. 137 Tate Student Center. 706-542-5845. prepare@uga.edu.
FRIDAY, MARCH 29 WOMEN’S STUDIES FRIDAY SPEAKER SERIES “Dismembered and Forgotten Bodies: The Lynching of Black
Calendar items are taken from Columns files and from the university’s Master Calendar, maintained by Marketing & Communications. Notices are published here as space permits, with priority given to items of multidisciplinary interest. The Master Calendar is available at calendar.uga.edu/.
columns.uga.edu March 25, 2019
4&5
Silkroad Ensemble to perform March 29 concert By Bobby Tyler btyler@uga.edu
UGA Presents is bringing the Grammy Awardwinning Silkroad Ensemble to Athens on March 29 for an 8 p.m. performance in Hodgson Concert Hall. The Silkroad Ensemble was conceived by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998 as a reminder that even as rapid globalization resulted in division, it offered extraordinary possibilities for collaboration. He brought together musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to co-create a new artistic idiom, a musical language founded in difference. Today, the musicians of the Silkroad Ensemble continue Yo-Yo Ma’s vision by working together to model the power of radical cultural collaboration. Tickets for the concert start at $40. They can be purchased at the Performing Arts Center box office, online at pac.uga.edu or by calling 706-542-4400. A limited number of discounted tickets are available to current UGA students for $6 and $10 with a valid UGA ID (limit one ticket per student). A pre-performance talk will be given by a member of the Silkroad Ensemble at 7:15 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall. Hodgson Concert Hall and Ramsey Concert Hall are located in the UGA Performing Arts Center at 230 River Road in Athens.
Silkroad Ensemble brings its style of world music to the Hodgson Concert Hall stage at 8 p.m. March 29.
Haimovitz to perform series of Bach Suites By Bobby Tyler btyler@uga.edu
UGA Presents is bringing cellist Matt Haimovitz to Athens to perform Bach’s complete suites for unaccompanied cello in a two-day event he calls “Bach Suites: A Moveable Feast.” On April 3 and 4, Haimovitz will perform pop-up concerts in locations around Athens, culminating in a Hodgson Concert Hall performance on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. For his Moveable Feast, Haimovitz has commissioned preludes from contemporary composers to accompany each of Bach’s suites. The April 4 Hodgson Hall concert will feature Bach’s Suite I with prelude by Philip Glass, Suite III with prelude by Vijay Iyer and Suite VI with prelude by Luna Pearl Woolf. Haimovitz has been praised by The New Yorker as a “remarkable virtuoso” and by The New York Times as a “ferociously talented cellist who brings his megawatt sound and uncommon expressive gifts to a vast variety of styles.” “Bach Suites: A Moveable Feast” includes a performance of Bach Suite IV with a prelude by Roberto Sierra on April 3 at noon on UGA’s North Campus on the sidewalk near the Chapel steps; a performance of Bach Suite V with a prelude by David Sanford on April 3 at 5 p.m. at the opening of the Farmer’s Market next to Creature Comforts, 271 W. Hancock Ave.; a performance of Bach Suite II with a prelude by Du Yun on April 4 at noon at the atrium of the Tate Student Center; and a performance of Bach Suite I, Suite III Women,” Angela Hall, narrative writing, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. 12:20 p.m. 250 Miller Learning Center. 706-542-2846. tlhat@uga.edu. 2019 GENE BRODY LECTURE The Owens Institute for Behavioral Research welcomes Dr. Karen Matthews, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as the keynote speaker. 2 p.m. 313 Correll Hall. PHILOSOPHY COLLOQUIUM Julia Annas, University of Arizona, will speak on virtue and moral reasons. 3:30 p.m. 115 Peabody Hall. 706-542-2823. MEN’S TENNIS vs. Alabama. 5 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex. FRIENDS OF THE GARDEN ANNUAL MEETING Mark Weathington’s lecture, “Gardening in the South,” is based on his new book with the same title. Weathington, director of the JC Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University, is passionate in his work to connect plants to people. Register at botgarden.uga.edu. Sponsored by the Friends of the Garden. $10; free for Friends of the Garden. 6 p.m. Visitor Center, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6138. lpbryant@uga.edu. CONCERT Founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Silkroad Ensemble features musicians and composers from many countries and draws on traditions to create a new musical language. The ensemble’s performances feature a mix of classical music, traditional sounds and new work by composers from across the globe. Tickets start at $40. 8 p.m. Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center. 706-542-4400. uagaarts@uga.edu. (See story, top right.)
SUNDAY, MARCH 31 MEN’S TENNIS vs. Auburn. 1 p.m. Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
MONDAY, APRIL 1 MEETING AND AWARDS LUNCHEON The 28th annual Public Service and Outreach Meeting and Awards Luncheon. 9 a.m. Georgia Center. 706-542-6045. laveatch@uga.edu.
and Suite VI with preludes by Philip Glass, Vijay Iyer and Luna Pearl Woolf on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Hodgson Concert Hall. Tickets for the Hodgson Hall concert start at $25 and can be purchased at the Performing Arts Center box office, online at pac.uga.edu or by calling 706-542-4400.A limited Matt Haimovitz number of discounted tickets are available to current UGA students for $6 and $10 with a valid UGA ID (limit one ticket per student). The concert will be recorded for broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, the most popular classical music program in the U.S. A pre-performance talk will be given by David Starkweather, professor of cello in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.The talk begins at 6:45 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall. Patrons are invited to make it an evening with a tour and free dessert at the Georgia Museum of Art at 5:30 p.m. Hodgson Concert Hall and Ramsey Concert Hall are located in the UGA Performing Arts Center at 230 River Road in Athens. UGA RED CROSS FACULTY AND STAFF BLOOD DRIVE Help the community and save lives. Donate blood and enjoy free food and prizes. See which college can donate the most in this blood drive competition. 9 a.m. Reception Hall, Tate Student Center. FACULTY RECOGNITION BANQUET Annual faculty awards event. By invitation only. 5:45 p.m. Mahler Hall, Georgia Center. 706-542-0415. staciaf@uga.edu. CLASS In “Spring Wildflowers of Upland Deciduous Forests of Georgia,” students will learn the botanical terminology to identify and describe plants and will learn a variety of tools to identify spring-blooming plants. They will visit the Dunson Native Flora Garden and learn a number of spring ephemerals and other early blooming plants. This is an elective course in the Certificate of Native Plants series. $50. 7 p.m. Visitor Center, Classroom 2, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6156. cscamero@uga.edu.
COMING UP ECOLOGY SEMINAR April 2. “Data-Driven Aquatic Conservation,” Seth Wenger, assistant professor in the UGA Odum School of Ecology and director of science in the UGA River Basin Center. Reception follows seminar at 4:30 p.m. in the ecology building lobby. 3:30 p.m. Auditorium, ecology building. 706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu. TOUR AT TWO April 3. Tour of highlights from the permanent collection led by docents. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu. PEABODY-SMITHGALL LECTURE April 3. Eric Deggans, television critic for National Public Radio, will deliver the seventh Peabody-Smithgall Lecture, “Decoding Media’s Coverage of Race, Gender and Differences.” Deggans is the first African American to chair the Peabody Board of Jurors, which he has served on since 2013. The Peabody-Smithgall Lecture is named in honor of Lessie Bailey Smithgall and her late husband, Charles Smithgall. Their efforts led to the establishment of the George Foster Peabody Awards at UGA in 1940. 4 p.m. Chapel. 706-542-2902. mblanch@uga.edu.
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Any additional information about the event may be sent directly to Columns. Email is preferred (columns@uga.edu), but materials can be mailed to Columns, Marketing & Communications, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Campus Mail 1999.
See examples of Italian Renaissance cassoni, or marriage chests, on display at the Georgia Museum of Art through May 26.
Museum examines love in Renaissance Italy By Micah Hicks
micah.hicks25@uga.edu
Marriage chests from Renaissance Italy are on display at the Georgia Museum of Art through May 26. The exhibition Life, Love and Marriage Chests in Renaissance Italy is organized by Contemporanea Progetti in collaboration with the Stibbert Museum in Florence. The curator is Martina Beccatini, curator of decorative arts and paintings at the Stibbert. During the Italian Renaissance, cassoni, as the elaborately decorated wedding chests of the time are known, were an important part of marriage rituals and were perhaps the most prestigious furnishing in the house of newlyweds. Typically, they were commissioned in pairs by the bride’s father as part of her dowry and to hold her trousseau. They were very much an expression of the family’s wealth and position in society. It is truly a rare occasion for Italian authorities to permit the temporary export of these precious Renaissance wood paintings because they are some of the most delicate and sensitive works of art to preserve. This exhibition offers an extremely limited opportunity to view exquisite panel paintings from this genre. The exhibition focuses on the various functions of the wedding chest in early Renaissance life, such as their expression of an alliance between the political and financial interests of elite families. Courtship and marriage had precise protocols at the time, many of which are illustrated. Related events at the museum include: • a public tour with Pierre Daura Curator of European Art Nelda Damiano on March 27 at 2 p.m.; • a lecture by art historian Louis Waldman on April 18 at 5:30 p.m.; • a tarot workshop led by Serra Jagger on April 18 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. ($25; register at callan@uga.edu or 706-583-0111); • a performance of Florentine wedding music by students and faculty from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music on April 19 at 4 p.m.; • a “Shakespeare and Love” film series including Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet (May 2 at 7 p.m.), Shakespeare in Love (May 9 at 7 p.m.) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (May 16 at 7 p.m.); • a gallery talk by Steven Grossvogel, associate professor of Italian, UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, on May 8 at 2 p.m.; • and an Artful Conversation with Sage Kincaid, associate curator of education, on May 22 at 2 p.m. All programs are open free to the public unless otherwise indicated.
NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES March 27 (for April 8 issue) April 3 (for April 15 issue) April 10 (for April 22 issue)
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FACULTY PROFILE
Evaluating engagement
Sundar Bharadwaj, professor of marketing at the Terry College of Business, was quoted in Forbes about tracking engagement in marketing. Engagement metrics are expected to shorten sales cycles, forecast customer lifetime value, cement loyalty and address other marketing objectives. Setting unattainable or flawed engagement objectives comes from bad or inappropriate data. Bharadwaj said marketers need to identify the appropriate metrics for their business. Customers do not engage in a onesize-fits-all experience, and marketers need to focus on personalizing experiences to better meet individual customer expectations. Whatever behaviors data shed light on, engagement ultimately depends on the perceived value of the marketing content. “Collecting data is a journey and not a destination,” said Bharadwaj, who holds the Coca-Cola Company Chair of Marketing. “Data is a perishable commodity, so the cost of collection and curation needs to be considered. Doing it infrequently or with too many changes, limiting the ability to analyze the data, is another risk.”
Credit due date
Mary Bell Carlson, an adjunct faculty member in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, was quoted in WalletHub about credit card payments. WalletHub’s recent survey about credit cards found that 16 percent of respondents believe they will miss at least one credit card due date in 2019. Nine in 10 people who have tried to get a credit card late fee waived were successful, and women are 17 percent more likely to have tried to get a fee waived than men and are also 2 percent more likely to have been successful. People ages 18-44 are most worried about missing credit card payments, while the 45-59 demographic is most concerned about their mortgage, and those older than 59 put tax payments as their biggest worry. People with high income are twice as likely to miss a payment due to forgetfulness as people with low income. Retirees are five times less likely than full-time employed people to think they will miss a credit card payment in 2019. Carlson, who is in the college’s financial planning, housing and consumer economics department, had advice for those worried about missing a payment. “Make at least the minimum payment,” she said. “If you can’t make even that amount, call the credit card company and work out an option that you can afford. Be proactive. Don’t wait until after the due date to call; you are more likely to have better results if you call before the due date.”
Sibling rivalry
Linda Campbell, a faculty member in the College of Education, was quoted in Southern Living about younger siblings being more laid back. A poll from YouGov asked 1,783 British adults to rate different aspects of their personality based on where they fall in their family order. The results revealed that youngest siblings are more likely to think they are funnier than their older brothers and sisters, and they may be the most laid back out of all the siblings. By the time the youngest kid enters the picture, parents aren’t nervous first-timers anymore and tend to have given up their strictest rules and anxious hovering. Their parents’ relaxed supervision tends to make youngest children turn into more laid-back adults, who are less concerned with rules, deadlines or strict adherence to codes of conduct that others consider good manners. Other studies have shown that the baby of a family tends to be more social and fun loving and generally more creative than their older siblings. While older children may dream of growing up with less strict parents hovering over their every move, youngest children may wish they had a little more of their parents’ boundaries. “Some babies resent not being taken seriously,” said Campbell, who is a professor in the college’s counseling and human development services department. “They might become very responsible, like the oldest, or social, like the middle.”
Peter Frey
Jenay Beer, an assistant professor and researcher at UGA’s Institute of Gerontology, works in the field of assistive robotics. She is pictured above on the monitor of an immersive telepresence display.
Assistant professor studies the ways robots can help an aging population By Lauren Baggett lbaggett@uga.edu
Jenay Beer has been thinking about how people interact with robots since she was a kid. She grew up watching Star Wars, fascinated by the way R2D2 “beepbooped” his way through conversations with other characters, and The Jetsons, where Rosie wheeled about, frenetically managing the family’s futuristic home. Now, as an assistant professor and researcher at UGA’s Institute of Gerontology, Beer studies how robots can best meet the needs of an aging population. It turns out that assistive robotics is catching up to the imagination of Hollywood, and Beer is at the forefront of the field, discovering how to best adapt robots for home and health care settings. “At the heart of every technological advance is a human programming the device,” she said, “so it’s important to make sure the person remains the focus.” An engineering psychologist by training, Beer asks a lot of questions about the suitability of robots designed for human interaction—what might drive a person to want to adopt a robot? What tasks should, could and will the robots perform? How might robots be used and potentially misused? For older people, who are
experiencing cognitive decline or physical impairments, these questions are particularly important. In Beer’s latest project, she is working with colleagues at the Institute of Gerontology to deliver a unique form of memory support to older adults with dementia. “We’re programming a robot to deliver cognitive training in the form of piano lessons,” she said. Learning to play a musical instrument can help boost brain function, but some older adults may have trouble accessing traditional piano lessons, said Beer, “so a robotic agent may be able to open the door to access this learning opportunity.” Throughout her career, Beer has worked with colleagues in psychology, computer science, engineering, social work and gerontology. And her role at UGA is no exception. In addition to being a faculty member in the Institute of Gerontology, she holds a joint position in the College of Public Health and the School of Social Work. The interdisciplinary nature of her appointment reflects the collaborative spirit of her research and her teaching style. Beer teaches graduate-level interdisciplinary courses on smart technology and aging where students are encouraged to bring their diverse knowledge and skill sets to the table.
FACTS
Jenay Beer
Assistant Professor, Institute of Gerontology Joint Appointment, College of Public Health and School of Social Work Ph.D., Engineering Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013 M.S., Engineering Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010 B.A., Psychology, University of Dayton in Ohio, 2006 At UGA: Two years
“It gives me an opportunity to constantly learn, particularly from my students who may have a different perspective on technology and aging,” she said. Students in her “Smart Technology in an Aging Society” course work in teams to develop prototypes for devices or apps for older adults. Last semester, one group designed a sneaker that could predict a fall. Another group proposed an app for tele-veterinarian care for older adults who couldn’t drive their pets to the vet’s office. Beer says she’s inspired every day by her students, and she hopes they are gaining the skills and confidence to think outside the box both in the classroom and in their future careers.
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Extension Academy program graduates 15 new leaders By Sharon Dowdy sharono@uga.edu
Fifteen University of Georgia Cooperative Extension employees graduated this month from the 2018-2019 UGA Extension Academy for Professional Excellence, an internal program aimed at developing the next generation of leaders. The program is designed to teach leadership skills to early- and mid-career UGA county Extension agents, state specialists and personnel from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Ultimately, the training is an effort toward fulfilling UGA Extension’s mission of helping Georgians become healthier, more productive, financially independent and environmentally responsible individuals.
Extension Academy participants completed three leadership institutes offering intensive, three-day personal and professional development training facilitated by the CAES Office of Learning and Organizational Development. Participants in the leadership program have been identified as potential leaders for the organization, or are current leaders, who are interested in enhancing their leadership skills. This year’s Extension Academy participants are Leigh Anne Aaron, family and consumer sciences agent, Oconee and Morgan counties; Kelle Ashley, 4-H agent, Oconee County; Stephanie Benton, 4-H agent, Early County; Pam Bloch, 4-H agent, Gwinnett County; Kasey Bozeman, county Extension coordinator and 4-H agent, Liberty and Long counties; Paul Coote, director, Burton 4-H Center; Tim Davis, county
Extension coordinator and agriculture and natural resources agent, Chatham County; Clark MacAllister, county Extension coordinator and agriculture and natural resources agent, Dawson and Lumpkin counties; Merritt Melancon, public relations coordinator, UGA Extension, Office of Communications and Creative Services; Susan Moore, family and consumer sciences agent, Laurens County; Justin Shealey, county Extension coordinator and agriculture and natural resources agent, Echols County; Heather Shultz, 4-H livestock programs coordinator, UGA Extension; Cindee Sweda, family and consumer sciences agent, Spalding County; Trish West, county Extension coordinator and 4-H agent, Bryan County; and Tripp Williams, county Extension coordinator and agriculture and natural resources agent, Columbia County.
PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH
columns.uga.edu March 25, 2019
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WILLSON CENTER, FRANKLIN COLLEGE
Lecture looks back at reconstruction By Dave Marr
davemarr@uga.edu
Shannah Montgomery
Kiisa Wiegand, business analyst with GDOT’s Office of Transportation Data, and Angela Wheeler, computer services specialist in Information Technology Outreach Services, a division of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, are responsible for the state map.
Partnership between UGA, GDOT helps Georgia travelers find their way with official state map By Roger Nielsen nielsen@uga.edu
Even with sophisticated GPS systems, many Georgians still like the look and feel of a crisply folded state road map, veined with red and blue highways. For two decades, the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government and the Georgia Department of Transportation have produced the official state road map, available in many government offices, visitors and welcome centers, and rest stops along Georgia interstates. The latest map was issued in January, after a year-long review and revisions by Institute of Government cartographers and GDOT graphic designers. Maps are revised and reissued every two years. “People come in here specifically for maps because they like them so much,” said Alex Perschka, director of the Oconee County Tourism Department. Travelers stop at the county visitors center in downtown Watkinsville for maps and tourist information, Perschka said. He also includes them in information packets he prepares for real estate agents and tucks them into recruitment folders for economic developers. GDOT printed almost 1 million copies of the 2019-2020 map. This edition includes new color coding that depicts coastal water depths rendered by Institute of Government cartographer Angela Wheeler and artistic representations of state symbols created by GDOT business analyst Kiisa Wiegand. Additions, corrections and design changes to the map are submitted by employees in Georgia’s seven GDOT district offices, by other state agencies and by transportation
officials in other states. The 2019-2020 map includes new branding by GDOT, municipalities that have formed since the last map— Peachtree Corners, South Fulton and Stonecrest—and a welcome from Ann R. Purcell, GDOT board chair. The new map also shows the location of camping shelters along the Appalachian Trail, with its southern trail head in Springer Mountain. This year, there were 200 revisions to the map, said Wheeler, who has worked on GDOT road maps since 2010. “It’s a real collaborative process,” Wheeler said. “I send drafts to GDOT to review and suggest changes. Once they’re happy with the way everything looks, Kiisa will send it to the printer to do the proofs.” In January, 990,025 maps arrived at GDOT headquarters for shipment to district offices and the Georgia Department of Economic Development, which delivers maps to welcome centers throughout the state. Producing the road map is just one of the UGA Institute of Government’s dozens of partnerships throughout Georgia, said Laura Meadows, director of the institute. “We work with state, local and regional agencies on dozens of initiatives that improve Georgians’ lives and strengthen our communities from rural economic development to helping drivers get to their destination without missing a turn,” Meadows said. While more and more motorists depend on GPS systems for directions, people still love maps, Wiegand said. “There is still a demand,” she said.“They’re really interesting. They show changes in geography, how the road system changes over time, and they give users a more accurate sense of direction.”
WEEKLY READER
“In the new age of global history,” Stephanie McCurry believes, “there is something to be said for adopting the human-scale perspective, not the global one: for reversing direction and seeing massive events from the perspective of a single life and a single place.” McCurry, a Columbia University historian, did just that in her Feb. 22 lecture in the Seney-Stovall Chapel, “Reconstructing: A Georgia Woman’s Life Amidst the Ruins.” The talk considered the institutions and legacies of slavery from the point of view of Gertrude Clanton Thomas, whose 41 years of diaries offer a unique and deeply personal account of her life as mistress of a plantation near Augusta, and her experience of emancipation and reconstruction after the Civil War. McCurry, who visited UGA for the history department’s Ferdinand Phinizy Lecture, an event in the Global Georgia Initiative of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and in the university’s Signature Lectures series, is preparing a book based on her research of 1,600 pages of Thomas’ diary manuscripts and other contemporaneous accounts and documents. After the emancipation of some 4 million enslaved African Americans at the end of the Civil War, “people like Gertrude Thomas did not simply accept the loss of their racial privilege or surrender their possessive claims on the people they had owned,” McCurry said. “As everything was wrenched away, her response mixed grief, loss and rage in dangerous measure. Her personal history tells a larger story.” Thomas’ greatest fear “was that her eldest son, deprived of education and put to field work like any ex-slave, ‘would now find as his equal or his better his father’s son by a woman a shade darker than his mother.’ ” Thomas’ expression of that fear was a not-too-oblique acknowledgment of one of the unspoken horrors of slavery, McCurry said. “All over the American South, African American parents had to fight their old owners’ claims of possession and go to court to reclaim their children.” These contests over family belonging could carry hidden freight. “Every case [was] shot through with the power relations of masters and slaves, and sometimes generations of sexual violence,” McCurry added. It was this particular dynamic of slavery that, as McCurry put it, “unmoored” Thomas at slavery’s end. After her father’s death in 1864, his will had made it clear that he had fathered a long line of children with at least one of the women enslaved by the family. “There was nothing abstract about Gertrude Thomas’ crisis,” McCurry said. The enslaved woman’s sons and daughters were her half-siblings: “her father’s children by another woman a shade darker than her mother.” As she put it early in her talk, “In dismantling slavery, emancipation showed just what it had been.” And in presenting world historic events from one woman’s intimate, unguarded perspective, McCurry illuminated their human devastation with unusual clarity.
CYBERSIGHTS
ABOUT COLUMNS
Book details history of snakes in urban US
Landscape with Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World By Thomas Palmer University of Georgia Press Paperback: $24.95 Ebook: $24.95
In this authoritative and entertaining book, first published in 1992, Thomas Palmer introduces readers to a community of rattlesnakes nestled in the heart of the urban Northeast, one of several such enclaves found near cities across the U.S. Recognizing the unexpected proximity of rattlers in urban environs, Palmer examines not only Crotalus horridus but also the ecology, evolution, folklore, New England history and American culture that surrounds this native species. Landscape with Reptile celebrates the rattlesnake’s survival with a multifaceted journey through nature, literature and history. It includes a spirited defense of an outlaw species, an investigation of the hazards of snakebite, an account of a multimillion-dollar development project halted by Crotalus, a collection of tall tales and a meditation on the spectacle of life on Earth. Like the best nature writers, Palmer lives and breathes his landscape, but unlike most nature writers, he finds his landscape is his own backyard.
Columns is available to the community by subscription for an annual fee of $20 (second-class 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
USG website offers well-being information
usg.edu/wellbeing
The University System of Georgia is working to create a system-wide culture and environment of well-being. As part of its comprehensive approach to achieving well-being that engages and empowers the entire USG community, a wellbeing section has been added to the USG website. Among the topics discussed
are financial well-being, health management, healthy eating, stress management, physical activity and being tobacco and smoke free. The site also includes a video of success stories and a trending section with links to information on flu shots, LiveHealth online psychology, well-being coaching and ESPRY, the USG Employee Assistance Program.
Communications Coordinator Krista Richmond Art Director Jackie Baxter Roberts Photo Editor Dorothy Kozlowski Writers Kellyn Amodeo Leigh Beeson The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. The University of Georgia is a unit of the University System of Georgia.
8 March 25, 2019 columns.uga.edu STEM
from page 1 for STEM Education, “and we’re expecting effective, ethical, sustainable, equitable solutions.” At UGA, there has been a focus on invigorating STEM education to better prepare students to solve these big, complex problems, said UGA’s Vice President for Instruction Rahul Shrivastav. “STEM education at UGA is more than just learning facts,” said Shrivastav. “It’s a holistic approach, where students develop a broad set of skills that enable crossdisciplinary collaboration along with expertise in a given area.” To create this holistic approach, the university has worked to elevate the curriculum, the learning opportunities and the facilities on campus. For example, UGA’s Active Learning Initiative, which promotes evidence-based teaching practices and encourages greater interaction between students and instructors, has raised the bar for in-class instruction. The active learning push has worked in tandem with the university’s Small Class Initiative and the construction of the Science Learning Center, both of which have enhanced the learning environment, Shrivastav said. When it comes to STEM education, UGA instructors and researchers aren’t just employing best practices, they are establishing how to make those practices even better. Faculty in introductory STEM classes are exploring the use of peer mentors to enhance classroom activities in a three-year grant from the University System of Georgia. Funded by a $3 million National Science Foundation grant, teams of UGA faculty are collaborating on an implementation and research project that seeks to transform STEM education on campus. Through the project, known as the Department and Leadership Teams for Action, or DeLTA, faculty and administrators are working at the course, departmental and university levels to create, implement and
MEIGS assess teaching materials and practices that support evidence-based teaching in STEM. UGA also has been a national leader in experiential learning, bridging in-class theory with practical experience. STEM majors have the opportunity to work in faculty members’ labs, conduct their own research with faculty mentors and intern in the private sector. Andrew Potter, UGA’s new director of experiential learning, said these opportunities aren’t just about practicing what students have learned in the classrooms. It’s about developing the skills that will enable them to compete and collaborate in a rapidly evolving world. “Technology is changing faster than the curriculum,” Potter said. “The ability to develop skills through these kinds of immersive, real-world experiences impacts learners cognitively and affectively. Although the world is becoming more technical, these emotive skills are becoming increasingly important.” Ultimately, the university’s enhancements in STEM education parallel its overall approach to preparing students for an evolving world. For example, the university’s Curriculum Committee is now developing proposals to incorporate data literacy as well as writing and communication competencies into the undergraduate curriculum for all students. These proposals, which are among those recommended in the 2017 President’s Task Force on Student Learning and Success, are designed to prepare graduates who are ready for future success as citizens and professionals. “In today’s world, you need to be an effective communicator, have the ability to work with a team and be data literate,” Shrivastav said. “It’s not about moving through a predetermined curriculum and being done. It’s about creating a well-rounded education that helps ready graduates for the next step of their lives.”
from page 1 member of the UGA Teaching Academy and a recipient of the C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has received the Student Bar Association’s Professionalism Award 11 times. Contini creates a learning environment based in applied creative research, bringing his experience as a professional actor, director and playwright to his classroom and productions. He guides students through his specializations of characterization, acting on camera, solo performance and queer theatre in classes that are collaborative and experiential. He is head of the acting area of theatre and film studies and serves as director of the department’s London study abroad program. He has directed 16 mainstage University Theatre productions, operas for the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and overseen many undergraduate and graduate students’ creative activities and research. Contini, who joined the UGA faculty in 2001, is a member of the UGA Teaching Academy and a recipient of the Beaver Award and the Russell Award. Green teaches courses related to parks, recreation and tourism management, and seeks to ignite students’ interest and facilitate their learning through real-world examples and service-learning approaches. For example, students in his “Environmental Interpretation” course engage with natural resource agencies to apply their knowledge to presentday problems. Green also created an online version of the large, popular “Natural Resources Conservation” course that many faculty members use as a template for their own online courses. Green, who joined the faculty in 2004, has received awards from Xi Sigma Pi, a forestry honors society, the UGA Student Government Association and the Warnell School. He is a recipient of the Russell Award, a First-Year Odyssey Seminar Teaching Award, the Graduate School’s Outstanding Mentoring Award and a UGA Teaching Academy member. Pegg created a “virtual laboratory” funded by a UGA Learning Technologies grant to allow students to script, film and edit food
MATCH
FLAVOR from page 1 Flavor of Georgia winning products are now found not just around the Southeast, but across the nation as well,” Pardue told the Flavor of Georgia awards audience. “They are a critical part of the innovative work that helps the state’s (food and fiber) industry employ more than 850,000 people in Georgia each year—that’s a little over 14 percent of the state’s total workforce.” For more information about Beautiful Briny Sea, visit www.beautifulbrinysea.com. The winners are listed below by prize name, product name, company name and town. • People’s’ Choice Award: AubSauce, Aubs
Company, Decatur • Barbecue Sauces: Byne Blueberry Farms Inc., Blueberry Barbecue Sauce, Waynesboro • Beverages: Montane Sparkling Spring Water, Grapefruit/Peach Flavor, Atlanta • Confections: Pie Provisions, Georgia Blueberry Pie Filling, Kennesaw • Dairy Products: Smith Family Dairy Farm, Silly Goat Cheese, Norman Park • Honey and Related Products: Classic City Bee Company, Smoked Honey, Athens • Jams and Jellies: Savy Confections, Black Cherry Pecan Jam, Fairburn • Meat and Seafood: Pouch Pies, Chicken, Leek and Thyme Pie, Athens/Norcross
Bulletin Board Food truck availability
effect on April 1. Cart rates will equate to $10 (a $0.50 increase) for nine holes and $17.75 (a $1.25 increase) for 18 holes. Student cart rates will equate to $8.50 (a $0.50 increase) for nine holes and $16 (a $1.00 increase) for 18 holes. Spectator cart rates will equate to $26.50 (a $1.50 increase).
New golf carts
Bone health study
Taqueria 1785, the official food truck of UGA, is available for on- and off-campus events, and special menu packages are available. Learn more about Taqueria 1785 and request the food truck at https://dining.uga.edu/foodtruck. The UGA Golf Course has a new fleet of golf carts equipped with GPS and IntelliBrake™ technology. The golf carts will be available in April. The GPS technology will provide golfers with valuable course information such as their distance from the hole and photos of the course. The golf carts’ IntelliBrake™ system will provide a more responsive, efficient and safer ride. In addition to the new technology, the overall fleet will grow by five carts. A cart rate increase will go into
analysis laboratory exercises; the ensuing videos then provide a tool to assist students with issues that might arise in an analysis. Pegg, who joined the UGA faculty in 2006, co-coaches the Institute of Food Technologists’ Student Association College Bowl Team, which won the National Championship in both 2010 and 2018. Pegg is a recipient of the Russell Award, and has received six teaching awards from the Food Science Club and in 2014 an inaugural First-Year Odyssey Seminar Teaching Award. In 2016, he received IFT’s prestigious William V. Cruess Award for excellence in teaching food science and technology as well as the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Educator Award. Zuraw joined the UGA faculty in 1993 and has designed and taught more than 30 courses in the history of Renaissance and Baroque art in the Lamar Dodd School of Art, including 15 writing intensive courses that help students learn and apply communication skills. In her former role as area chair for art history and as associate director of the Dodd School, Zuraw revamped the school’s art history offerings. She previously held the title of Sandy Beaver Teaching Professor, which is bestowed on the top instructors in the Franklin College. She is a member of the UGA Teaching Academy, earned a UGA Honors Program collaborative teaching grant and was named a Center for Teaching and Learning Senior Teaching Fellow. The Meigs Professorship was established to underscore the university’s commitment to excellence in teaching, the value placed on the learning experiences of students and the centrality of instruction to the university’s mission. The award includes a permanent salary increase of $6,000 and a one-year discretionary fund of $1,000. More information about the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorships is available at provost.uga.edu/resources/facultyresources/professorships/josiah-meigsdistinguished-teaching-professorships/.
Researchers at the UGA Bone and Body Composition Laboratory and Clinical and Translational Research Unit are conducting a research study in 8-17 year old boys with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder to assess the roles of diet, physical activity and the gut microbiome on bone health. For more information, call 706-542-4918 or email bone@uga.edu.
Grant proposal deadline
The Center for Teaching and Learning is accepting proposals until
• Miscellaneous: Olive Orchards of Georgia Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Quitman • Condiments and Salsas: Pine Street Market Bacon Jam, Avondale Estates • Snack Foods: Hardy’s Peanuts Inc., Delicious Dill Pickle Party Peanuts, Hawkinsville. The Flavor of Georgia Food Product Contest is organized by the UGA CAES Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development with support from the Office of the Georgia Governor, Georgia Department of Agriculture, Georgia Grown, Gourmet Foods International, the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Nadine’s Classic Cuisine and Georgia CEO.
April 19 for its 2019-2020 Learning Technologies Grants Program. Projects must focus on the innovative use of technology to assist students in meeting the educational objectives of their academic programs. This year, projects must employ the use of active learning and/or open educational resources. Grant award recipients will be announced by late June. Funds will be available after July 1. Complete details about the program, including proposal requirements, are at http://ctl.uga.edu/ltg. Submit completed proposals to the Learning Technologies Grant survey. Send questions to Philip Bishop, senior coordinator of learning technologies, at philip.bishop@uga.edu. Bulletin Board is limited to information that may pertain to a majority of faculty and staff members.
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15 different specialties, with 69 percent staying in the southeastern United States and 45 percent joining primary care programs. Thank you to the faculty, administrators, staff and mentors in our community who have devoted their time to educating our future physicians.” Editor’s note: Because of space constraints, the list of residents and their appointments could not be included in the print version of Columns. The list is available online at https://news.uga.edu/medical-partnershipmatch-day-19/.
LECTURE from page 1 argues that bringing back extinct species is both not possible and a terrible idea.” Still, the 1999 Double Dawg (B.S. and M.S. in ecology) and MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (aka,“genius award”) recipient believes the technology behind “de-extinction” has tremendous potential. She simply believes scientists’ time will be much better spent exploring that potential for living species rather than dead ones. Cloning a dinosaur or woolly mammoth is impossible, Shapiro says, because cloning technologies require DNA extracted from living or preserved cells. She said a group in Spain has employed the process of somatic cell transfer (the same technology behind the famous “Dolly” sheep clone) to clone the Pyrenean ibex, which went extinct only in 2000.Using cells that had been cryo-preserved with nitrogen, the team managed to produce a small number of individuals through birth, but those animals did not survive past infancy. “We don’t have to argue about whether we can bring extinct species back to life—because we can’t—so let’s talk about what we can do,” said Shapiro. The Boyd Distinguished Lecture Series, supported the Office of Research and the William S. and Elizabeth K. Boyd Foundation, brings national leaders and policymakers to UGA in science, education and related fields to discuss applications of research to contemporary issues in education. The lectures are free and open to all.