UGA Columns Oct. 31, 2016

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Dual-language immersion program offers UGA students hands-on learning experience INSTRUCTIONAL NEWS

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Thursday Scholarship concert will give listeners ‘An Evening in Paris’

October 31, 2016

Vol. 44, No. 15

Phaedra Corso

Lisa Donovan

Shari Miller

Erin Richman

Lori Ringhand

Shelley Hooks

Julie Moore

Sheneka Williams

Leading the way

Second class of Women’s Leadership Fellows named camiew@uga.edu

Nine UGA faculty members will sharpen their leadership skills as members of the second class of the university’s Women’s Leadership Fellows Program.

The 2016-2017 cohort, which includes representatives from eight schools and colleges as well as the Division of Student Affairs, will attend monthly meetings where they will learn from senior ­administrators on campus as well

as visiting speakers from academia, business and other fields.

The program, which was created in 2015 as part of the university’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, also features a concluding weekend retreat in June for more in-depth learning.

“The members of this extraordinary class of Women’s Leadership Fellows come into this crucial program with an amazing set of talents and experiences,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. “They

will leave it ready to tackle even greater leadership roles at the University of Georgia and throughout academia.”

The 2016-2017 Women’s Leadership Fellows are: • Phaedra Corso, UGA Foundation Professor in Human Health in the College of Public Health and associate director of the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research.

Corso is a two-time recipient of the College of Public Health’s Outstanding Teaching Award and See FELLOWS on page 8

COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Conference highlights research on global, national and state public health issues

By Elizabeth Fite ecfite@uga.edu

Researchers in the College of Public Health and other UGA departments shared their expertise alongside public health leaders from across the state during the fifth annual State of Public Health Conference held Oct. 18 at UGA. Dr. Jose Cordero, the Patel Distinguished Professor of Public Health and head of the college’s epidemiology and biostatistics department, delivered an update on the Zika in Infants and Pregnancy or ZIP study, a multi-country NIH study of pregnant women in areas hit hardest by the Zika virus.

UGA GUIDE

4&5

Four-year rate for graduation at UGA jumps to record level

Charlotte Mason

By Camie Williams

columns.uga.edu

Cordero, a principal investigator for the study, has been on the front lines of the outbreak in Puerto Rico, following study participants throughout their pregnancies.

Currently, of the 29,084 confirmed cases of Zika in Puerto Rico, 2,231—almost 10 percent—are in pregnant women. But, Cordero said, the number of cases could be as high as 150,000 and 7,000, respectively, due to the asymptomatic nature of the disease. Zika, he noted, is “like a silent epidemic.”

The disease is generally mild in healthy adults, and 80 percent of those infected show no symptoms, meaning people can readily and unknowingly transmit the virus.

The great concern, however, is what happens when it infects pregnant women.

Zika can reach a developing fetus through an infected mother and cause massive destruction of brain cells, which Cordero referred to as “brain disruption syndrome.”

The syndrome may cause microcephaly, a smaller than normal head, but also major developmental delays, hearing and vision defects, inability to swallow, seizures and pregnancy loss.

“These defects are only the tip of the iceberg of what’s actually been observed. As we follow more of these children over time, the See CONFERENCE on page 8

By Sam Fahmy

sfahmy@uga.edu

A concerted effort at UGA to help students earn their degrees in a more timely manner has catapulted the institution’s four-year graduation rate to a record level.

Sixty-six percent of UGA students who enrolled as freshmen in the fall of 2012 graduated within four years, a 3 percentage point increase from the previous year.

For comparison, the most recent data available shows an average four-year graduation rate of 49 percent for UGA’s peer institutions, 70 percent for its aspirational institutions and 44 percent for Southeastern Conference ­institutions.

“This outstanding achievement

reflects the dedication of many individuals across campus—over many years—to putting students first at the University of Georgia,” said President Jere W. Morehead.

“While we still have work to do, our progress in this area sends another strong signal of UGA’s upward trajectory.”

The university’s six-year graduation rate remained at its record level of 85 percent, which is 11 percentage points above the average six-year graduation rate of 74 percent for UGA’s peer institutions and approaches the 87 percent average graduation rate for its aspirational institutions. UGA’s 85 percent sixyear graduation rate greatly exceeds the 70 percent average for

See GRADUATION on page 8

CENTER FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

USG leads nation in providing access to free online textbooks

By Aaron Hale

aahale@uga.edu

The University System of Georgia has been a nationwide leader in helping students save money through free online textbooks. UGA has been at the forefront of those efforts, helping its students save more than $2 million in textbooks since 2013.

Rice University-based publisher OpenStax (openstax.org) recently named USG the No. 1 system nationwide at saving students money through adoption of OpenStax free digital college textbooks in the 2015-16 academic school year. USG institutions helped nearly 36,000 students save $3.5 million. That same year,

UGA helped save students over $986,500 through the use of Open Educational Resources. OERs are free teaching, learning and research resources.

“The University of Georgia is working with faculty to adopt OERs by providing faculty members, especially those who teach large-enrollment courses, with resources and assistance to transition away from expensive textbooks to open e­ducational resources,” said Eddie Watson, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, which is leading campus efforts to implement the use of OERs. “It’s about increasing the quality of the course and saving students money.”

See TEXTBOOKS on page 3

2016 D.W. BROOKS LECTURE

Veteran journalist will discuss fight to end childhood hunger

By J. Merritt Melancon jmerritt@uga.edu

Roger Thurow, a veteran foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and anti-hunger activist, will visit UGA Nov. 7 to deliver the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ D.W. Brooks Lecture at 3:30 p.m. in the UGA Center for Continuing Education.

Thurow’s work, explaining and personalizing the global challenge of feeding a growing population, explores the ways that science, trade, government policies and

armed conflict all impact food scarcity and nutrition security around the world.

“Feeding t h e w o r l d ’s growing population is perhaps the greatest global challenge of our time,” said Sam Pardue, UGA Roger Thurow College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences dean. “We only have ­limited time to develop the ­technologies

See HUNGER on page 8

2 Oct. 31, 2016 columns.uga.edu

PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH

Around academe

2015 Georgia graduates owe less in student loans than national average

Student loan debts for college graduates in 2015 were up 4 percent from 2014, with the average graduate owing a little more than $30,000, according to a report from the Institute for College Access & Success.

In Georgia, 61 percent of the class of 2015 graduated with student loan debt. The state’s graduates owe slightly less than the national average at around $28,000.

At 43 of the more than 2,000 colleges that reported average student debt figures for 2015 graduates, 90 percent or more of their new alumni graduated in debt.

New research campus will further scientific discoveries at U. of Oregon

A $500 million donation to the University of Oregon is being used to create a new science and research campus with a focus on research and innovation, according to Around the O, the university’s website.

The half-billion dollar gift comes courtesy of longtime supporters Penny and Phil Knight, an alumnus of the university and co-founder of Nike. It is the biggest lead gift ever given to a public flagship university.

The new campus will have a research staff of 300, 250 graduate students, 150 postdocs and 150 undergraduates, which the university believes will increase research activity by at least 30 percent annually.

Lead paint could be lurking on your latest thrift-store find

News to Use

Vintage furniture and salvaged architectural details can add character to any decor. However, thrift-store treasures might be adding more than whimsy to Georgia homes—they could be carrying unsafe levels of lead.

Lead paint was used in houses and on household items in the U.S. until 1978. The 1920s farmhouse door that gets turned into a coffee table or the worn porch corbels that get incorporated into a kitchen island were probably treated with lead paint.

Lead exposure can cause serious developmental delays and brain abnormalities in children and can affect cognitive abilities in adults as well. Lead’s sweet taste often lures children into putting lead-painted surfaces into their mouths.

“Using vintage and antique furniture in our homes is a great way to avoid buying new pieces, and it keeps furniture out of our landfills,” said Pamela Turner, an associate professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and UGA Cooperative Extension housing and environment specialist. “Those are both great things for the environment, but we need to be mindful about what we’re bringing into our homes and minimize or eliminate any contact that our families have with lead.”

Source: UGA Cooperative Extension

Source: discover.uga.edu

Janet Beckley

Plugging away: Botanical garden completes its first prairie planting

By Lee Redding

leeredd@uga.edu

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a UGA public service and outreach unit, completed its first major planting of native grasses and wildflowers as part of a Piedmont prairie restoration project.

I n S e p t e m b e r, m o r e t h a n 10,000 plugs grown from seed at the Mimsie Lanier Center for Native Plant Studies at the UGA garden were planted at a site named Prairie on the Hill.

“This planting actually represents the last stage of a five-year cycle,” said Heather Alley, conservation horticulturist at the botanical garden. “We first had to determine the species to use. Then, we had to find the plants, collect the seeds from wild population, figure out how to grow them and then increase the seeds each year. It really takes a village.”

All the plants are native to the Georgia Piedmont and are critical as migration corridors for the birds and insects that are essential pollinators for this region of the state.

Faculty and staff from the botanical garden worked alongside employees from the Gainesville Fockele Garden Co. on the project, which was funded by a three-year grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

“This habitat also supports ground nesting birds, such as turkey, quail, grouse and snipe,” said Jennifer Ceska, conservation coordinator at the botanical garden. “We have seen declines in those populations over the last 50 years, and these species are considered to be high priority for conservation managers.”

As part of the garden’s commitment

Shannah Montgomery

The site dubbed Prairie on the Hill will be used as a teaching and demonstration area for those who want to learn more about native habitat restoration.

to education, the Prairie on the Hill will be used as a teaching and demonstration area for those who want to learn more about native habitat restoration. Ceska’s hope is that landowners, particularly large land-holding organizations, will incorporate what they learn into their environmental practices.

All of this work feeds into the goals of the Georgia Native Plant Initiative, established in 2010. By using the growing knowledge base of native habitat restoration and the types needed to sustain them, those working at the Center for Native Plants can partner with landscapers, land and roadside managers, and commercial property owners to transform landscapes.

The botanical garden’s habitat restoration program goes beyond the Prairie on the Hill. While one project involves

FRANKLIN COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

the removal of invasive species from the understory of its floodplain forest, another has been a source of research for Lauren Muller, a graduate assistant studying horticulture. Muller’s project is determining the best way to prepare a site for establishing milkweed, an important host plant for rapidly dwindling populations of monarch butterflies.

The project concluded with a planting in October at Panola Mountain State Park in Stockbridge.

“Our habitat restoration program, and particularly our Prairie on the Hill, feed into the research, education and display efforts we promise to fulfill here at the garden,” said Jim Affolter, director of research. “And at the end of the day, we are guiding the research of our students and providing the public with a beautiful prairie meadow to explore.”

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

African Studies Institute to host Southeastern Model African Union

UGA to co-host summit for women in STEM

By Alan Flurry

By Mike Wooten

aflurry@uga.edu

mwooten@uga.edu

The UGA African Studies Institute will host the 20th annual Southeastern Model African Union Nov. 3-5 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. Students representing colleges and universities from across Georgia and the Southeast will participate in the competition, which is designed to give them an opportunity to learn about diplomacy, leadership and governmental organization through a unique simulation experience.

The event is modeled on the African Union, the international organization founded as the Organization of African Unity to promote cooperation among the independent nations of the continent.

The main purpose of the UGA event is to bring Africa as close to the students as possible by simulating the activities of the African Union. The regional competition is a precursor to the national Model African Union held in Washington, D.C., in February.

The SEMAU conference and competition includes cultural events, opening and closing ceremonies featuring visiting dignitaries and a Nov. 2 reception for participants hosted by Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson at the Lyndon House Arts Center.

The simulation is designed to enrich and enhance students’ understanding of the political, economic and cultural dimensions of different African countries and their relationship to each other and the rest of the world as members of the African Union.

“Originally, organizers targeted political science students, but then they realized the issues are not only about politics but also human rights, economics and cultural matters,” said Jean Kidula, a professor of music in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Hugh Hodgson School of Music and one of the co-directors of the 2016 conference.

Students participate in roles at every level, including an executive council where they imitate heads of state, and committees on democracy, governance, human rights; economic matters; social issues; peace and security; pan-Africanism and continental unity.

The Model African Union is a twofold educational experience. The first phase of learning begins in the classroom or study sessions where the participant gathers information, conducts research and learns about issues relating to a specific country.

The second phase takes place in the simulated meetings of the actual commissions of the African Union, which will be held at UGA’s Hotel and Conference Center.

Women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, fields will gather in Atlanta for a unique leadership development summit that’s supported by UGA. Organized by Takoi Hamrita, a professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering, the Global Women in STEM Leadership Summit will be held Nov. 2-4 at the Loews Atlanta Hotel. The event is supported by the Women in Engineering organization of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers as well as the Office of the President, the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and the College of Engineering at UGA. In addition, several corporate, economic development, nonprofit and higher education partners are helping sponsor the event including AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Baldor, Southern Company and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The summit will bring together 400 women with diverse backgrounds in entrepreneurship, academia and business, according to Hamrita. More than 60 influential thought leaders, primarily women, from academia, business, industry and nonprofits are scheduled to speak.

The summit is designed for women in all career paths and stages and will cover topics including personal and professional growth, leadership development, team building, STEM outreach and innovation. The detailed agenda for the summit is available at www.wielead.org/summit-agenda.

The summit’s keynote speakers include Jennifer Van Buskirk, regional president, AT&T Mobility Northeast Region; Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and dean, Morehouse School of Medicine; Parisa Khosravi, former senior vice president, CNN Worldwide, and CEO, Payam Global Strategies; Alicia Philipp, president, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta; Jill S. Tietjen, past president, Society of Women Engineers; Jeff Hoffman, co-founder of priceline.com; and Rachel Schutt, senior vice president and senior chief data scientist, News Corp.

INSTRUCTIONAL NEWS

columns.uga.edu Oct. 31, 2016

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Digest Early voting to be held at Tate Center

UGA students, faculty, staff and community members registered to vote in Athens-Clarke County may cast their ballot in advance of the Nov. 8 election at the Tate Student Center in Room 137 Nov. 1 and 2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Voting guidelines are at ugavotes.com.

Author, humorist Roy Blount to give keynote at UGA’s 2017 Alumni Seminar

Andrew Davis Tucker

Lou Tolosa-Casadont, a clinical associate professor in the College of Education, works with students in Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School’s dual-language immersion program.

Talking the talk

Students experience real-world teaching through new dual-language immersion program

By Kristen Morales kmorales@uga.edu

UGA senior Summer Willingham smiled at the wiggling kindergarteners as she pointed to a picture on the classroom computer screen.

The lesson that day was about the sense of taste, and the children had several samples on paper plates in front of them: Something dulce, something salado and something amargo—an M&M, a pretzel and a piece of bitter chocolate. Now it was time to sample something agrio—a lemon slice.

This lesson for the children at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School in Athens did more than give them a tour of their taste buds. Taught by Willingham and fellow senior Matthew Christmas, both students in the College of Education’s World Languages program, the lesson contributed to the school’s new dual-language immersion program.

Once a week, Willingham and Christmas create an original lesson for the kindergarten class, one of three classes in the school taught 80 percent in Spanish and 20 percent in English.

“Last year we were taking upperlevel Spanish classes but no education classes. So this year so far has been a big transition” said Willingham.

“I love learning and teaching languages.

TEXTBOOKS from page 1

This effort is helping some i­ndividual students save as much as $300 in textbook costs per course.

UGA’s success with OERs comes from the backing of the USG. The Center for Teaching and Learning has received four USG grants to help fund free textbook implementation, including grants through Affordable Learning Georgia, a USG initiative that promotes the use of lower cost alternatives to traditional textbooks.

There are many types of free educational material on the web, including YouTube videos, Wikipedia and Google Books as well as a wealth of materials offered through the UGA libraries.

However, the biggest savings come from using free textbooks, especially for

I also have a passion for education and working with kids. This program is exactly what I was looking for because it combines both. I’m so excited about what we’ve been doing so far and what’s coming up.”

The kindergarten class is the practicum portion of “Methods for Elementary School (K-8),” a class taught on-site at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary. Lou Tolosa-Casadont, a clinical associate professor in the college’s language and literacy education department, said the class has undergraduate and graduate students at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School teaching in Spanish as well as Latin, French, German and Chinese and ESOL (English speakers of other languages) classes. In addition to teaching Spanish in the duallanguage immersion and English-only kindergarten classes this fall, she said other UGA students are placed around the school.

“We are offering Latin to thirdgraders, Chinese to two first-grade classrooms, French and German to fourth- and fifth-grade Spectrum students and ESOL to fifth-graders,” said Tolosa-Casadont.

The first few weeks of the semester are spent laying the groundwork—learning educational theory and how students in that age range learn, ­observing and getting to know

the children with whom the teacher candidates will work. It’s a big learning curve for students, some of whom have never taught their own class before.

The experience of teaching in a duallanguage environment is also new to many students.

“For many of them, it’s the very first time they find out that dual language exists,” said Tolosa-Casadont, who is also the professor-in-residence at Oglethorpe and supports the new duallanguage program, which launched in one prekindergarten class and two kindergarten classes. Next year it expands into two first-grade classes, she said, with the goal of retaining enough children each year to add two classrooms every year going forward.

Each day, 80 percent of the lessons are in Spanish and 20 percent are in English, she said, with the goal of increasing dual language literacy among all students, no matter their native language.

Christmas is gaining confidence in his Spanish and also knows some Turkish; being able to teach in Spanish helps.

“I’m definitely interested in language—I have been for a long time,” he said. “But mostly just through working at camps for kids and being in classroom situations and coaching, I just knew that I would be, at some point, in a school.”

large-enrollment introductory courses.

“When we’re thinking about how to save students the most money, it’s a simple equation: Which courses have the highest enrollment and use an expensive textbook?” Watson said.

While “free” can be synonymous with low quality, many of these textbooks are written and peer-reviewed by faculty experts. The OER nonprofit publisher OpenStax uses a process similar to for-profit academic publishers for ensuring quality.

The advantages of OER adoption go beyond cost savings. CTL helps faculty who adopt free textbooks redesign the course with research-based pedagogy in mind.

Peggy Brickman, Meigs Professor

of Plant Biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and her colleagues teach nonmajors biology courses that seat nearly 2,000 students a year. She adopted a free electronic OpenStax textbook in 2013 and has been using it ever since.

Through a USG grant, CTL provided a graduate assistant who helped Brickman redesign her course for the new textbook. Realigning her class with the new material was hard work, Brickman said, but her students have expressed appreciation.

“It has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars for students,” Brickman said, “and the course is much better after we redesigned it to align with our new textbook.”

UGA’s 2017 Alumni Seminar, “A Sense of Place,” will be held on Feb. 17-18. The keynote speaker is Roy Blount Jr., author, humorist and panelist on NPR’s “Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me.” The author of 24 books, Blount also is a former president of the Authors Guild, a member of the Fellowship of Southern Authors and a usage consultant with the American Heritage Dictionary.

From Decatur, he now splits his time among Massachusetts, New York City and New Orleans. He is a 2016 inductee of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame (see special section inside this issue). An annual two-day educational gathering, the Alumni Seminar allows attendees to reconnect with alumni and friends while enjoying lectures by UGA leading faculty and exclusive campus tours. For more information or to register for the seminar, visit alumni.uga.edu/seminar.

UGA’s Fanning Institute for Leadership Development to sponsor ILA conference

UGA’s J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, a public service and outreach unit, is a sponsor of this year’s International Leadership Association’s 18th Global Conference, which will be held Nov. 2-5 in Atlanta.

ILA is the global network for those who practice, study and teach leadership. More than 1,200 people from around the world are expected to attend this year’s event. Janet Rechtman, a senior public associate at the Fanning Institute, is the conference chair.

The conference will feature more than 200 peer-reviewed presentations by leadership scholars and practitioners as well as multiple opportunities to network and share experiences with leadership researchers, practitioners, scholars, coaches, consultants, administrators, and business and public leaders.

Key conference speakers include Derreck Kayongo, chief executive officer of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta; Ajay Bramdeo, African Union ambassador to the European Union; Ron Heifetz, founding director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; and George A. Papandreou, prime minister of Greece from 2009-2011. During the conference, ILA will present its Legacy of Leadership Award posthumously to Robert Greenleaf, founder of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership in Atlanta. Registration information and conference details are at http://ila-net.org/Conferences/2016/.

Georgia Museum of Art will host its first Toddler Tuesday program Nov. 8

The Georgia Museum of Art at UGA will host its first Toddler Tuesday Nov. 8 from 10-11 a.m. A new addition to the museum’s family programs, Toddler Tuesday is open free to the public but requires reservations because of limited space.

The 40-minute program is for families with children 18 months to 3 years. Parents will be able to enjoy time with their children without having to worry about the constraints of bringing their younger family members to public spaces. The event is designed for a smaller and more intimate experience in the galleries to help introduce young ones to the museum and works of art. The program will focus on color as a theme and will consist of storytelling followed by a tour tailored to a younger audience and a hands-on activity.

To reserve a spot, email callan@uga.edu or call 706-542-8863.

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

Icon of Modernism: Representing the Brooklyn Bridge, 18831950. Through Dec. 11. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu The Stands: Environmental Art by Chris Taylor. Through Dec. 13.

The Circle Gallery, Jackson Street Building. 706-542-8292.

Keep Your Seats, memorabilia celebrating the 110-year history of the UGA Redcoat Marching Band. Through Dec. 23. Special collections libraries. 706-542-8079.

Gifts and Prayers: The Romanovs and Their Subjects. Through Dec. 31. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@ uga.edu Living Color: Gary Hudson on the 1970s. Through Jan. 8. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu Driving Forces: Sculpture by Lin Emery. Through April 2. ­Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662. hazbrown@uga.edu On the Stump—What Does it Take to Get Elected in Georgia?

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

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31 PUBLIC PRESENTATION Finalists for the Office of Online Learning directorship will share how their backgrounds have prepared them to be successful as the director and to take the online learning program where they believe it needs to be in four years. 9:30 a.m. 480 Tate Student Center. 706-542-3588. shawnh@uga.edu BROWN BAG INFORMATION SESSION: UGA LOGO Bring your lunch and hear more about guidelines for use of the new logo and what to expect during the transition. Noon.

Peabody Board, Room Administration Building. 706-542-8083.

kaleidoscope of student performances and presentations by the arts programs at UGA, from dance to music, theater, creative writing and art. 7:30 p.m. Performing Arts Center.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3 NATURE RAMBLE Learn more about the natural areas, flora and fauna of the garden. 8 a.m. Shade Garden Arbor, State Botanical Garden. garden@uga.edu SOUTHEASTERN MODEL AFRICAN UNION $300 for one delegation with up to six members. 8 a.m. Georgia Center for Continuing Education. tanndunc@uga.edu (See story, page 2).

OPERATION SAFE DRIVE 10 a.m. Tate Center parking deck. 706-542-7275. parking@uga.edu (See Bulletin Board, page 8).

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS: STUDENT SPOTLIGHT* 10 a.m. Tate Plaza.

MASON PUBLIC LEADERSHIP LECTURE Speaker: William P. “Billy” Payne, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and chairman of Centennial Holding Co. LLC. Part of the Signature Lecture series. Sponsored by the Terry College of Business’ Institute for Leadership Advancement and supported by a contribution from Terry alumnus and lawyer Keith Mason.

11 a.m. Chapel.

SIGNATURE LECTURE “A Conversation with Jacknife Lee,” music producer. Willson Center/Terry College Music Business Program Visiting Fellow.

Part of the Signature Lecture series. Sponsored by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the Terry College Music Business Program. 4 p.m. Chapel.

READING LeAnne Howe, Eidson Distinguished Professor in American Literature, presents a reading and talk with Pamela Uschuk, poet and founding editor of Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts. 4:30 p.m.

350 Miller Learning Center. 706-542-2659. cwp@uga.edu GUEST ARTIST CONCERT A performance by the Fortunato Ensemble (D’Anna Forunato, Peter Bloom and Mary Jane Rupert). Supported by a Willson Center for Humanities and Arts Distinguished Visiting Artist grant. 6:30 p.m. Ramsey Concert Hall. ccschwabe@uga.edu HOCKEY vs. Clemson University. $2, student tickets; $10, general admission; $15 reserved seats. 7 p.m. Akins Arena, Classic Center, 300 N. Thomas St. jeb@ugahockey.com MEN’S EXHIBITION BASKETBALL vs. Fort Valley State. 7 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum. Call 706-542-1231 for ticket information.

THURSDAY SCHOLARSHIP SERIES* “An Evening in Paris” is a musical tour of the City of Light by way of French chamber music of the ’20s and ’30s performed

by UGA faculty and graduate students. $20; $6 for UGA students with ID. 7:30 p.m. Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall. 706-542-4752. ccschwabe@uga.edu (See story, below.)

UNIVERSITY THEATRE* Polly Teale’s inventive adaptation of Jane Eyre. Runs at 8 p.m.

Nov. 3-5 and 9-11 and 2:30 p.m. Nov. 13. $16; $12, students.

8 p.m. Fine Arts Theatre. 706-542-4400.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4 SPEECH AND HEARING SCREENINGS Free speech and hearing screenings for members of the UGA

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2 GLOBAL WOMEN IN STEM LEADERSHIP SUMMIT The Global Women in STEM Leadership Summit is designed to empower women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. $400, non-IEEE members; $380, IEEE members; $200, nonmember student; $180, student WIE member; $170 student IEEE member. Loews Atlanta Hotel.

706-542-1973. thamrita@uga.edu (See story, page 2).

BROWN BAG: BIOINFORMATICS Brown Bag Bioinformatics lunch tutorials are informal gatherings that bring people together to learn, share and discuss bioinformatics. This session, “RNA-Seq Data Analysis,” will be led by Magdy Alabady, plant biology and Georgia Genomics Facility. 12:20 p.m. 2401 Miller Plant Sciences.

LECTURE “Overexploitation of Fruit-eating Fishes Disrupts Seed Disperals in Vast Neotropical Wetlands,” Jill Anderson, genetics department and the Odum School of Ecology. 1:25 p.m. 201 ecology building. cpringle@uga.edu ARCHIVE FEVER This hour-long event features visiting artists, professors and students discussing their current research in 15-minute slidepresentations. 2:30 p.m. Suite Gallery, Lamar Dodd School of Art. 773-965-1689. kgeha@uga.edu STAFF COUNCIL MEETING 2:30 p.m. 213 Miller Learning Center. mmoore10@uga.edu SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS OPENING CELEBRATION* Open free to the public, the Opening Celebration for the 2016 Spotlight on the Arts festival will be an hour-long

The UGA Performing Arts Center will present the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall. Music director Robert Spano will conduct as the orchestra performs an array of “Fire” works.

The innovative program will include Oliver Knussen’s Flourish with Fireworks, Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire (Symphony No. 5) and Igor Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird. The concert also will include Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Atlanta Symphony concertmaster David Coucheron as soloist.

and Athens communities. 9 a.m. 593 Aderhold Hall.

706-542-4598. sbhicks@uga.edu LECTURE “Preservice Elementary Teacher Perspectives of Feminism, Sexism and Gender Identity Development,” Elizabeth Saylor.

12:20 p.m. Part of the Women’s Studies Friday Speaker Series.

214 Miller Learning Center. 706-542-2846. tlhat@uga.edu

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5 STATE BOTANICAL GARDEN FALL FESTIVAL Ready to play in the leaves? Listen to stories? Make apple cider? Create art out of nature? Celebrate the beginning of many seasonal festivals in the Theater-in-the-Woods and the space that will become the Forest Play Area of the Children’s Garden. 10 a.m. Theater-in-the-Woods, State Botanical Garden.

706-542-6156. garden@uga.edu

POE-TOBER: POETRY READING Author of eight collections of poetry, Kimiko Hahn reads from her most recent collection, Toxic Flower (W.W. Norton, 2010), illustrating connections between scientific study and poetry. The Consul General of Japan will provide introductory remarks before the poetry reading. This event is part of the NEA Big Read: Poe-tober. 2 p.m. Smith Griffith Auditorium, Georgia Museum of Art. kathleen.mcgovern25@uga.edu

SIGNATURE LECTURE “The Russian Imperial Awards and Their Recipients,” Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm, advisory council member of the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and CEO emerita of A. Tillander Jewelers in Helsinki and London. Sponsored by the Georgia Museum of Art and supported by a contribution from Mr. and Mrs. C.V. Nalley III. 5:30 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art.

btyler@uga.edu

ENSEMBLE CONCERT The UGA Symphonic Band, directed by Director of Athletic Bands Michael Robinson, will perform works from the classic band repertoire as well as new music. 8 p.m. Hodgson Concert Hall. ccschwabe@uga.edu

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1

SEMINAR “Diversity and Function of the Gut Microbiota in Mosquitoes,” Mike Strand, Department of Genetics. Host: Pej Rohani. Reception precedes seminar in lobby at 3:30 p.m. 4 p.m. 201 ecology building. 706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu

By Bobby Tyler

HOCKEY vs. Auburn University. $2, student tickets; $10 general admission; $15 reserved seats. 7:30 p.m. Akins Arena, Classic Center, 300 N. Thomas St. jeb@ugahockey.com

ENSEMBLE CONCERT The UGA Bassoon Studio will present a recital of bassoon quartets and ensemble music with a special John Williams theme for Halloween. Costumes are encouraged. 6:30 p.m.

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

Connie Frigo, associate professor of saxophone at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, will share works from Paris in the ’20s and ’30s in the Nov. 3 Thursday Scholarship Series concert, “An Evening in Paris.”

‘An Evening in Paris’ will give listeners snapshot of chamber music from ’20s, ’30s

By Clarke Schwabe ccschwabe@uga.edu

The City of Light and the Classic City become one when the Thursday Scholarship Series’ November concert, “An Evening in Paris,” comes to Hodgson Concert Hall at the UGA Performing Arts Center Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m.

The performance, the fourth in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s flagship concert series, includes works from Paris in the ’20s and ’30s, a vibrant era of collaboration and innovation.

“I’m excited about the musical program because it’s a snapshot of a time in chamber music when popular music styles were blending with classical styles and forms,” said Connie Frigo, associate professor of saxophone at the School of Music. “The result is a cross-pollination of music that represents the cultural dynamic of the world at this time.”

During this period, American jazz had made its way into Paris at the same time that many European composers were traveling to the U.S. and hearing jazz in the setting where it was born, Frigo said.

A masterwork from that period, and the inspiration and centerpiece of this program, is Darius Milhaud’s “Creation du Monde,” written in 1923.

“It was the first work of its kind to truly blend musical elements of jazz and popular music with Western art music,” Frigo said.

Its instrumentation features instruments prominent in American jazz bands: saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, piano and a complex array of percussion.

“Add strings and wind orchestral instruments to that, along with jazz harmonies and rhythms, and

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/.

suddenly there are musical colors and a blended style not yet heard before in the concert hall,” she said.

Once Frigo had this piece in mind, the rest of the program fell into place: an all-French chamber music concert with “Creation” and woodwind trios from Francis Poulenc and Milhaud. Frigo knew a special ensemble would be necessary to perform these works, so she pulled together a rare assembly of Hodgson School talent that includes nearly two dozen faculty members.

“Because of everyone’s individual performance schedules nationally and internationally, it’s remarkable that 20 faculty members will share the stage in one evening,” she said. “It’s not often we have the opportunity to collaborate like this alongside one another in a larger ensemble. A few of our top graduate students will be joining us on stage as well.”

And while the musicians’ performance will guide audience members through the era’s art, the concert’s examination of Paris doesn’t stop at the music.

“The audience is going to be transported to Paris in the 1920s and 1930s via a dynamic storyteller who will usher them back to the musical and cultural landscape of that time,” said Frigo.

Washington Isaac Holmes, a doctoral candidate in vocal performance, will pepper the performance with background and commentary about the French capital during the early 20th century.

This performance is also part of the Spotlight on the Arts festival (see special section inside this issue).

Tickets are $20 or $6 with a UGA student ID and are available at pac.uga.edu or the PAC box office.

Those unable to attend can watch the concert streamed live on the School of Music website at music.uga.edu/streaming.

FAMILY DAY: BUILDING BRIDGES* Children and families are invited to explore works of art in the Icon of Modernism: Representing the Brooklyn Bridge, 1883-1950 exhibition with interactive stations in the galleries then put their design skills to the test as they create their own bridges with unique materials. Be sure to check out spaghetti bridges made by students from UGA’s civil engineering program on display in the lobby and create your own journal at a station hosted by The Georgia Review. 10 a.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662.

Robert Spano will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Nov. 13 at Hodgson Concert Hall.

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

A pre-concert lecture will be given by Ken Meltzer, author of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s program notes and host of the weekly radio show “Meet the Classics” on Atlanta’s AM-1690. The lecture, which will begin at 2:15 p.m., will be held in Ramsey Concert Hall in the Performing Arts Center.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concert is part of Spotlight on the Arts, a 12-day festival celebrating the arts at UGA (see special section inside this issue).

collections libraries. 706-542-8079. jclevela@uga.edu SIGNATURE LECTURE “1,000 Days to Change the World: Stories from the Fight Against Early Childhood Malnutrition,” Roger Thurow, senior fellow in global food and agriculture for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. D.W. Brooks Lecture and Awards. Part of the Signature Lecture series. Sponsored by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. 3:30 p.m. Mahler Auditorium, Georgia Center. (See story, page 1.)

BRASS CHAMBER RECITAL Students from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s Brass area will play a variety of chamber music works. 5 p.m.

Edge Recital Hall, Hugh Hodgson School of Music. ccschwabe@uga.edu

COMING UP FAMILY DAY SPECIAL EVENT: TODDLER TUESDAY* Nov. 8. Enjoy a special tour and story time in the galleries and an art making activity just for little ones. This free, 40-minute program is designed for children ages 18 months to 3 years.

Email callan@uga.edu or call 706-542-8863 to reserve a spot.

10 a.m. Georgia Museum of Art. (See Digest, page 3).

TUESDAY TOUR* Nov. 8. A free, guided tour of the exhibit galleries of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. Participants should meet in the rotunda on the second floor of the special collections libraries. At the end of the tour, visitors will be allowed to visit the normally closed-to-the-public subterranean vault as part of 2016 Spotlight on the Arts festival. 2 p.m.

706-542-8079. jclevela@uga.edu SEMINAR Nov. 8. Nicole Gottdenker in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s pathology department will speak. Reception precedes seminar in lobby at 3:30 p.m. 4 p.m. 201 ecology building. 706-542-7247. bethgav@uga.edu

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS: FAMILY DAY* A day full of performances and activities for children and families. 10 a.m. Performing Arts Center.

READING* Nov. 8. The Creative Writing Program will host a reading featuring one current Ph.D. student and one faculty member.

Doctoral candidate Gabrielle Fuente’s first novel, The Sleeping World, is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster. Faculty member Magdalena Zurawski’s poetry collection Companion Animal was awarded the 2016 Norma Farber First Book Award by the Poetry Society of America. 7 p.m. Cine, 234 W Hancock Ave.

FAMILY FOLK DAY A Family Day with craft demonstrations, making crafts and oldtime music in conjunction with the exhibit 50 Years of Foxfire.

1 p.m. Special collections libraries. 706-542-8079. jclevela@uga.edu

ENSEMBLE CONCERT* Nov. 8. One of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s large wind bands, the UGA Wind Symphony, will perform the finest standard and new repertoire for wind bands. 8 p.m. Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall. ccschwabe@uga.edu

ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE The Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s contemporary chamber ensemble, Rote Hund Muzik, conducted by Director of Bands Cynthia Johnston Turner, will perform a special concert of bold, modern music. 6:30 p.m. Leebern Band Hall, Hugh Hodgson School of Music. ccschwabe@uga.edu

LECTURE Nov. 9. “Effects of Climate Change on the Greenland Ice Sheet: Latest Findings and Why It Matters to Outside the Arctic,” Thomas Mote, Distinguished Research Professor and chair of the UGA geography department. 1:25 p.m. 201 ecology building. cpringle@uga.edu

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6

SYMPOSIUM: SHAKESPEARE IN IRELAND Nov. 9. This afternoon symposium will celebrate the richness of Irish literature informed by Shakespeare and the often political role that Shakespeare has played in Ireland. It features director Tom Magill, Shakespeare scholar Nicholas Grene and a staged reading of Lady Augusta Gregory’s plays by Fran Teague’s students. 1:30 p.m. Auditorium, special collections libraries. iyengar@uga.edu

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ENDS 2 a.m.; set clocks back one hour.

ATHENS FLUTE CHOIR FALL CONCERT The Athens Flute Choir will present “Music Inspired by the British Isles” with works inspired by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 2 p.m. Visitor Center, State Botanical Garden.

706-542-6156. garden@uga.edu SIGNATURE LECTURE* “Where I’m Coming From,” Roy Blount Jr., author. Georgia Writers Hall of Fame event. Part of the Signature Lecture series.

Sponsored by the UGA Libraries. 5 p.m. Auditorium, special collections libraries.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7 GEORGIA WRITERS HALL OF FAME* Five new members, including the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, have been elected to the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame at the UGA Libraries. 10 a.m. Auditorium, special

TO SUBMIT A LISTING FOR THE MASTER CALENDAR AND COLUMNS Post event information first to the Master Calendar website (calendar.uga.edu/). Listings for Columns are taken from the Master Calendar 12 days before the publication date.

Events not posted by then may not be printed in Columns.

4&5

ASO to light up Hodgson Hall with explosive ‘Fire’ works

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE* A New Renaissance Artist primarily working in the sonic medium, Elizabeth A. Baker will perform original works for toy piano, Indian harmonium and electronic instruments. 2:15 p.m.

M. Smith Griffith Grand Hall, Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662.

SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS INITIATIVE SEMINAR “A Multidimensional Analysis of Global Food Security,” Maria Navarro, agricultural leadership, education and communication.

This monthly seminar series, sponsored by the Sustainable Food Systems Initiative, is designed for UGA faculty to share their related research and activities with other faculty, staff and students. 3:30 p.m. 103 Conner Hall. 706-542-8084. sustainag@ uga.edu

columns.uga.edu Oct. 31, 2016

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.

TOUR AT TWO* Nov. 9. Jenny Gropp, managing editor of The Georgia Review and curator of Storytelling: The Georgia Review’s 70th Anniversary Art Retrospective, will give a special tour. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662.

HORN STUDIO RECITAL* Nov. 9. The students of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s horn studio will put the versatility of their instrument on display with their annual fall recital. 5 p.m. Edge Recital Hall, Hugh Hodgson School of Music. ccschwabe@uga.edu *Part of UGA’s 2016 Spotlight on the Arts festival; see special section inside this issue of Columns. Bill Shipp’s Signature Lecture, scheduled as part of the festival, has been cancelled.

NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES Nov. 2 (for Nov. 14 issue) Nov. 9 (for Nov. 28 issue) Nov. 16 (for Dec. 5 issue)

6 Oct. 31, 2016 columns.uga.edu

FACULTY PROFILE

Voting, vaccine patterns

Parental politics could play a role in whether teens get recommended vaccinations, according to a U.S. study.

In 2012, Democratic-voting “blue states” had a median of 63 percent coverage for girls and 47 percent coverage for boys for the HPV shot, compared to 56 percent of girls and 34 percent of boys in Republican-voting “red states.” For the Tdap shot, blue states had a median of 90 percent vaccine coverage for teens, compared to 85 percent in red states. And the American Journal of Public Health reported that for the MCV4 shot, almost 80 percent of teens in half of blue states had been vaccinated compared to 73 percent in red states.

“Remember that Democratic-leaning states tend to be on the coasts and by and large have higher incomes,” W. David Bradford, the Busbee Professor of Public Policy at UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs, told the Reuters news service. “The surprising part is that the authors actually control for many of the things that one would first think of as explaining differences in healthy behaviors (median income, education levels and insurance, for example) and yet even then the impact of political preferences still mattered.”

Diverse messages

According to UGA’s Selig Center for Economic Growth, the fastest-growing ethnic consumer group is Asian-Americans.

In fact, Asian-Americans had an estimated buying power of $825 billion in 2015, and that is expected to reach $1.1 trillion in 2020. That’s a growth of 199 percent in the last 15 years. Among that group, Indians are the most affluent, with an estimated $212 billion to spend.

Jeffrey Humphreys, director of the Selig Center in the Terry College of Business, points out that the diversity of Asian-Americans, which includes people from India, China, Vietnam, Korea and the Philippines, means that one message will not reach everyone in this group. “These are very, very different cultures, with different languages, so it makes it quite hard to deliver a culturally sensitive message,” Humphreys told The Atlantic.

‘Perfect Renaissance duo’

In an interview with Widewalls, Margaret Morrison, an associate professor at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art, reflected on her first UGA teaching experience.

“Back in 2009, I was invited for the first time to teach painting for the University of Georgia Cortona Study Abroad Program in Tuscany, Italy,” Morrison said. “Our beautiful campus in Cortona is housed in an ancient convent that overlooks the valley where Hannibal battled the Roman Legion.

“My husband, Richard, accompanied me as my guest for the entire summer. As luck would have it, when the book arts teacher found out that Richard was the director of organic chemistry at the University of Georgia, she asked him to present a lesson to her students on the chemistry behind paper making. It was a huge hit, so he and I started considering the possibilities. We realized that we could teach all the basics of a general chemistry course through the generation of artwork. We are the perfect Renaissance duo: my husband directs the chemistry and I direct the art making.”

Making moves

A growing number of Atlanta police officers are moving into neighborhoods they patrol, according to a story in The Christian Science Monitor.

The hope is that the moves will help heal relations between the police departments and the African-American community.

“Atlanta is very emblematic of the persistence of racial problems that really are plaguing all of the United States, and in particular metro areas,” said Steven Holloway, professor and interim head of UGA’s geography department, which is part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Mixed neighborhoods “are part of what the civil rights movement has been and is continuing to be: If you don’t interact with people and understand each other as humans and the human condition, you’re going to spiral away from one another, and things are not going to get better,” Holloway also said.

Sharon Dowdy

The newest member of UGA’s turfgrass team, David Jespersen researches varieties of turfgrass that are heat and drought tolerant.

Researcher on the hunt for grasses that can thrive in Georgia summers

By Sharon Dowdy sharono@uga.edu

Like most college students, David Jespersen was unsure of what he wanted to study. At first, he was intrigued by psychology, but the required biology and science classes drew him to plant sciences. As a result, he’s now the newest member of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ turfgrass research team.

“Something about the plant sciences grabbed my interest as being practical and underappreciated,” said Jespersen, who now conducts research on the UGA campus in Griffin. Jespersen earned a doctorate in plant biology with an emphasis in turfgrass physiology from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

A native of New Jersey, Jespersen is adjusting to life in the South and the relentlessly intense heat of Georgia summers.

“Summers (in New Jersey) are kind of hot. It hits the 90s (degrees Fahrenheit) and there’s an occasional heat wave hitting 100 (F),” he said, just a few days after sharing his research results in humid, near-100-degree weather at the outdoor UGA Turfgrass Field Day, a research event held biennially in August.

He is also adjusting to working on a smaller extended university campus.

“Everyone on the Griffin campus is very friendly, but it’s not as lively as a large campus,” he said. “It’s definitely a lot easier not to get distracted and to focus on research.”

Ninety percent of Jespersen’s time will be spent conducting research, with 10 percent allotted for teaching.

At Rutgers, he enjoyed being a teaching assistant and head teaching assistant for general biology laboratory classes.

Jespersen was hired to fill the position of retired turfgrass physiologist Bob Carrow based in part on his research on the effects of heat stress on creeping bentgrass. “(Creeping bentgrass) is one of the most widely grown grasses for golf courses, and it’s one of the preferred grasses because of its fine texture,” he said. “A huge majority of golf courses in the Northeast use it, and a decent amount of courses in Georgia have it because it has a higher quality that golf course superintendents are looking for.

You just have to baby it a lot more, especially in the summer.”

While at Rutgers, Jespersen worked on a collaborative project with UGA CAES turfgrass breeders Paul Raymer and Brian Schwartz. Together they screened a collection of creeping bentgrass varieties for heat and drought resistance. Their research will aid in the development of new turfgrass

FACTS David Jespersen

Assistant Professor Crop and Soil Sciences College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Ph.D., Plant Biology, Rutgers University, 2015 B.A., Psychology, Rutgers University, 2009 At UGA: Three months

varieties that can thrive better in Georgia summers.

As the new UGA CAES turfgrass physiologist, Jespersen’s focus is on abiotic stresses.

“I’m looking at the effects of drought, heat, salinity and environmental stresses on turfgrasses to understand which turfgrasses are more tolerant.

Then I’ll determine which underlying mechanisms are responsible for those traits,” he said.

Once Jespersen finds these resistant plants, he will share his findings with UGA turf breeders, like Raymer and Schwartz.

“These are experimental turfgrass varieties, so they may be aesthetically unappealing or lack other traits you want, but have some beneficial traits that can be combined with other grasses to create a superior grass,” he said.

RETIREES October Seventeen UGA employees retired Oct. 1. Retirees, their job classification, department and years of service are: Ramona Welmaker Adams, public service assistant, UGA Cooperative Extension-Northeast district, 22 years; John M. Brewer, professor, biochemistry and molecular biology, 50 years; Edith Labau Bryan, business manager II, anthropology, 22 years; Stephen H. Bryant, associate director, athletics, 34 years; Doreen P. Cooper, building services worker II, FMD-Building Services, South campus, 28 years;

Sandra Giles Gilley, food operations manager, UGA Cooperative Extension4-H and Youth, 12 years; Marvin Kent Grovner, utility worker II, Marine Institute, 30 years; Rosemary B. Huckaby, accountant, Business Office, Griffin campus, 36 years; Valerie Kilpatrick, administrative associate II, mathematics and science education department, 29 years; Cynthia K. Rhodes, administrative assistant II, Admissions Office, 18 years; Marilu R. Sanchez, assistant housekeeper, Georgia Center-auxiliary operations, 17 years; Venda Kemp Sapp, county

secretary, UGA Cooperative Extension, Southeast district, 13 years; Anne M. Shenk, public service associate, State Botanical Garden, 31 years; Elizabeth B. Stich, animal facilities supervisor, VP Office for Research, 27 years; Kenneth I. Storey, senior graphics designer, Bulldog Print + Design, 30 years; James E. Worley, automotive mechanic II, field research services, Griffin campus, 25 years; and Elizabeth C. Wynn, building services supervisor, FMD-Building Services, South campus, 28 years.

Source: Human Resources

HUMAN RESOURCES

columns.uga.edu Oct. 31, 2016

7

‘Whole person coming to work’ Work/life balance coordinator helps employees be more productive

By Krista Richmond krichmond@uga.edu

For Kizmet Adams, work/life balance really isn’t about balance at all. It’s about creating harmony in the four domains of a person’s life—self, work, home and community.

“It will never be even, and it will never be balanced. In fact, there are times when it’s going to be very imbalanced,” she said. “[Work/ life balance] is like a symphony where all the notes work together to make a beautiful melody, which is a well-lived life. The horns don’t stand out over the strings.”

Adams, UGA’s work/life balance coordinator, started her position in February. The position came out of the Women’s Leadership Initiative, started in March 2015, to address issues such as recruitment and hiring, career development, work-life balance and leadership development.

“To me, it’s not about balancing at all. It’s about integrating,” she said. “What you really want is a whole person coming to work, because those people are happier, and more focused, productive and engaged at work.”

So far, Adams has identified two main areas that go hand-in-hand that she’ll help people address— managing stress and taking care of themselves. To do that, she’s partnering with experts at UGA. “I hope to partner with other departments on campus,” she said. “I know that I’m sitting in the middle of a land of experts on anything that I could possibly need or want.”

Adams already has partnered with a service-learning course in the College of Public Health and foods and nutrition students from the College of Family and Consumer Sciences on the 12-week “Fuel Your Life” wellness program for Transportation and Parking Services employees. The program’s goal is to help employees in jobs

Dorothy Kozlowski

Kizmet Adams leads a weekly Pilates class in the Dean Rusk International Law Center. Adams, UGA’s work/life balance coordinator, works to create a supportive work environment where faculty and students feel focused and productive.

that have fewer opportunities for movement throughout the day make healthier choices. Students act as accountability partners, checking in with the participants once a week for lessons, guidance and assessments. If this program proves to be successful, it may be expanded to other employees.

After taking the position, Adams realized that the majority of UGA’s workforce is between the ages of 45-55, the so-called “sandwich” generation that cares for both children and aging parents at the same time. For these employees, Adams coordinated two eldercare workshops through HR’s training and development department. From that experience, she discovered a need for a caregiver support group and partnered with the Franklin College’s Psychology Clinic for weekly meetings held on campus during lunch. For more

WEEKLY READER

information about the caregiver support group, call the Psychology Clinic at 706-542-1173.

Adams also is helping make offices a little more like home by partnering with the textiles, merchandising and interiors department in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences on an “Extreme Office Makeover” contest. Nominations for the “ugliest office on campus” were submitted, and judges chose five winners whose offices will become design projects for students enrolled in Lilia Gomez-Lanier’s studio design course. They will come up with five designs for each office, and Gomez-Lanier will select one winning design for each office.

UGA’s Office of Service-Learning, Chastain’s Office Furnishings and Supplies, Fowler’s Office Supply, and McGarity’s Business Products provided sponsorship

funds to implement the winning design. Sherwin-Williams also is donating new paint for the offices, and Patcraft will donate new carpeting.

Another way Adams is helping make life just a little easier is through the employee/student job network. Co-sponsored by the Career Center, the network is a link between employees and students for the convenience of managing work/life responsibilities. Employees who need help with projects and chores like baby-sitting, pet care, lawn maintenance, etc., can post their jobs to a secure job board.

Students can then apply for those part-time jobs. To learn more, visit www.hireUGA.com.

Adams also is partnering with UGA’s Cooperative Extension and its Walk Georgia program. In the spring, they’ll start a walking initiative to encourage employees

CYBERSIGHTS

ABOUT COLUMNS

Book details state’s earliest rural churches

Historic Rural Churches of Georgia

By Sonny Seals and George Hart University of Georgia Press Hardcover: $39.95

Aspects of Georgia’s unique history can only be told through its extant rural churches.

As the Georgia backcountry rapidly expanded in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, churches erected on this newly parceled land became the center of community life. These early structures ranged from primitive outbuildings to more elaborate designs. They often were constructed with local, hand-hewn materials to serve the residents who lived nearby. From these rural communities sprang the villages, towns, counties and cities that informed the way Georgia was organized and governed and that continue to influence it today.

Published by the University of Georgia Press, Historic Rural Churches of Georgia presents 47 early houses of worship from all areas of the state. Nearly 300 color photographs capture the simple elegance of these sanctuaries and their surrounding grounds and cemeteries. Of the historic churches that have survived, many are now in various states of distress and neglect and require restoration to ensure that they will continue to stand.

to take a break from their desk and get fresh air during quick walks around campus. Maps with walking routes around campus designed by university architects are available online on the work/life balance website.

Adams is no stranger to balancing work and life at UGA herself, having been involved with the university for more than 30 years as a student and employee. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Grady College in 1983 and her Juris Doctor from the School of Law in 1989.

She worked in the law school and taught the first-year legal research and writing course for several years. In addition to taking time to raise her own family, she also took other positions at the School of Law in admissions, academic support programs and summer programs. Most recently, she was the school’s graduate coordinator.

“I saw this position advertised in fall 2015, and when I read it, I thought, ‘This is perfect for me.

It combines everything that I am interested in,’ ” she said. “Lawyers aren’t particularly known for work/ life balance, but I’ve lived this.

I have four children, and every position that I’ve had with the university, I’ve juggled working with having a family and going to school.”

Adams works with individuals and groups. To find out more about available training and other resources or to make suggestions, visit www.hr.uga.edu/ work-life-balance or contact Adams directly at 706-542-7319 or worklifebalance@uga.edu.

“I wanted to do something that would have a positive impact on the work environment at UGA, and that’s exactly what this position is supposed to do,” she said. “It’s supposed to help faculty and staff find resources to help them be less stressed and be more productive, happy, fulfilled and satisfied in their work.”

Columns is available to the community by ­subscription for an annual fee of $20 (secondclass delivery) or $40 (first-class delivery).

Faculty and staff members with a disability may call 706-542-8017 for assistance in obtaining this publication in an alternate format.

Columns staff can be reached at 706-542-8017 or columns@uga.edu

Editor Juliett Dinkins

Access Lynda.com for online training eits.uga.edu/learning_and_training/lynda/ Lynda.com is an online learning company that helps anyone learn software, creative and business skills to achieve personal and professional goals. All UGA students, faculty and staff have unlimited access to lynda.com’s library of highquality and current video tutorials taught by top industry leaders.

Popular courses include those

in InDesign, Excel, HTML, Final Cut Pro and WordPress. Lynda.com offers videos for all skill levels that can be viewed a few minutes at a time or longer.

Part of UGA’s online training program, lynda.com complements current EITS online training programs such as Microsoft IT Academy.

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

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

8 Oct. 31, 2016 columns.uga.edu

GRADUATION

FELLOWS from page 1 a recipient of the UGA Creative Research Medal, among other honors. Her research involves the economic evaluation of public health interventions, primarily in the areas of violence, substance use and childhood obesity prevention.

• Lisa Donovan, Distinguished Research Professor and head of the plant biology department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Donovan is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association of University Women. In addition, she is a recipient of the UGA Creative Research Medal and the Stebbins Medal from the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. Her research interests involve plant evolutionary ecophysiology.

• Shelley B. Hooks, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy. Hooks is currently serving as interim director of the UGA Center for Drug Discovery, as well as graduate coordinator for the pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences department. Her research involves the molecular mechanisms that regulate cell function and how these signaling mechanisms go awry in cancer and central nervous system disorders.

• Charlotte Mason, the C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry Professor of Business Administration and head of the marketing department in the Terry College of Business.

Mason also is director of the Coca-Cola Center for Marketing Studies. She is a recipient of Terry College’s Outstanding Faculty Service Award and was named MBA Teacher of the Year in 2010, among other honors.

Her research focuses on marketing analytics and customer relationship management.

• Shari Miller, associate dean and associate professor in the School of Social Work. Miller is a recipient of the Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and has been named the Bachelor of Social Work Teacher of the Year four times, among other honors.

Miller’s scholarship focuses broadly on social work education and the workforce with specific areas including self-care, professional socialization, interdisciplinary and inter-professional educational innovation and practice, and theory development.

• Julie Moore, professor of infectious diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine and associate vice president for research.

Moore also directs the NIH-funded Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP@UGA) and is a member of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases. Her research in the

CONFERENCE

field of malaria pathogenesis is nationally ­recognized, and she is a recipient of the UGA Creative Teaching Award.

• Erin Richman, director of academic partnerships and initiatives in the Division of Student Affairs. Richman is an adjunct professor of psychology in the Franklin College and an affiliate faculty member in the Institute for Women’s Studies. Richman manages the Pillars for Student Success initiative, which aligns with the experiential learning initiative at UGA, and created the Student Affairs Faculty Fellows Program to increase partnerships for research and extracurricular programming.

• Lori Ringhand, associate dean of academic affairs and a J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law in the School of Law. Ringhand is a two-time recipient of the school’s highest teaching honor, the C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the former faculty director of the Georgia Law at Oxford study abroad program. She is a nationally recognized Supreme Court scholar.

• Sheneka Williams, an associate professor in the College of Education. Williams is program coordinator for the educational administration and policy program and associate director for policy and advocacy of the University Council of Educational Administration, a consortium of higher education institutions committed to advancing the preparation and practice of educational leaders. She is a two-time recipient of the university’s Sarah Moss Fellowship. Williams’ research focuses on equitable educational opportunities.

“This program continues to play an important role in the university’s efforts to expand leadership capacity across campus,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead.

“We congratulate the members of this new class and look forward to the exciting professional development opportunities that lie ahead for them.”

The Women’s Leadership Fellows were chosen from nominations from deans and other senior administrators as well as from self-nominations. The program is administered by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and coordinated by Meg Amstutz, associate provost for academic programs.

The Women’s Leadership Fellows Program is a part of the Women’s Leadership Initiative, which was launched in spring 2015 by Morehead and Whitten. In addition to creating new opportunities for leadership development, the initiative is addressing recruitment, retention and hiring.

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more we’re going to find,” Cordero said.

“We are bracing for a major epidemic of serious birth defects in the months to come.”

The first babies from the ZIP study in Puerto Rico are due next month. Cordero believes the birth cohort will provide answers to key questions related to the risk of infection in pregnant women, risk of infection to the fetus and the risk of birth defects.

The study is also trying to evaluate if risk to the fetus differs from symptomatic to asymptomatic mothers, the impacts of gestational age and environmental factors, and how long the virus remains present in body fluids.

Cordero said that addressing Zika requires an integrated public health approach that includes strong community engagement, disease and vector surveillance and vector control, but birth defect monitoring is an important missing piece of emerging disease preparedness.

“Zika is really a wake-up call; it’s a message about emerging diseases and re-emerging diseases globally,” he said.

“As we speak, there are hundreds of other emerging diseases.”

Other highlights of the conference included an afternoon workshop with Carolyn Lauckner, assistant professor, and Nathan Hansen, associate professor,

from the College of Public Health’s health promotion and behavior department. Their research team presented findings from the Smartphone, Health and Relationship or SHARE study, which found significant gaps in health resources for gay men in rural areas.

E l i z a b e t h We e k s L e o n a r d , a J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law at UGA, outlined laws that provide limited protection against health discrimination and the need to address trends of employers, insurers, corporations, courts and providers unfairly favoring healthy individuals.

This year’s conference, which was the largest to date, featured numerous keynote speakers, including Alonzo Plough, vice president for research and evaluation and chief science officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health and state health officer. Research posters from attendees representing organizations and universities across the state addressed topics ranging from tobacco use to telemedicine.

“Our speakers emphasized the need for multiple disciplines and agencies to partner for the improvement of public health,” said Marsha Davis, associate dean for outreach and engagement in the College of Public Health and conference organizer.

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SEC institutions.

Other key measures of student success at UGA remained strong, as well. The university’s freshmen retention rate—which measures the percentage of first-time, firstyear undergraduates who continue at UGA the next year—tied last year’s record of 95 percent and matches the 95 percent retention rate for UGA’s aspirational institutions.

The average retention rate is 89 percent for UGA’s peer institutions and 88 percent for SEC institutions.

“Students at the University of Georgia are extraordinarily talented, and they are succeeding like never before,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. “To position them for even greater success in the future, we’ve launched several initiatives that help them make the most out of their UGA experience.”

The university has created 35 new academic advisor positions since 2014 to enable more personalized advising that is tailored to each student’s unique goals and aspirations.

This fall, the university opened a center in the heart of campus that houses 13 advisors specially trained to support students with undeclared majors, as well as intended business and journalism majors. By helping students decide on the major that’s right for them early in their college career, advisors in the Exploratory Center help reduce time-to-degree and, by extension, the cost of a college education for students and their families.

The university recently completed a small

class size initiative that has brought more than 50 new faculty members to campus and enabled the creation of 319 new course sections, the majority of which have fewer than 20 students. The new course sections were chosen based on enrollment trends and with an eye toward challenging courses where students would benefit from more personalized instruction.

To give students more opportunities to earn credit hours during the summer months, UGA has added more than 250 new online courses since 2013. The result has been a dramatic increase in summer online enrollment, from nearly 1,500 students in 2013 to more than 6,200 in 2016. Overall summer enrollment has increased by nearly 10 percent in the past year to reach nearly 15,800.

This fall, UGA also became the nation’s largest public university to ensure that each of its students engages in experiential learning. Hands-on learning experiences such as undergraduate research and internships have been shown to positively impact retention and graduation rates by promoting student engagement with the course material as well as with faculty members.

“The university has made significant progress over the past several years, and I’m confident that the best is yet to come,” said Vice President for Instruction Rahul Shrivastav.

“Our investments in personalized advising services, smaller class sizes and unrivaled hands-on learning opportunities are fostering unprecedented levels of student success.”

HUNGER from page 1 and policies that will make it possible for the food supply and water resources to keep pace with that growth.”

The D.W. Brooks Lecture is held each year in honor of college alumnus and Gold Kist Inc. founder D.W. Brooks. The lecture will be held this year in conjunction with the D.W. Brooks Awards for Excellence, which recognize college faculty and staff who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the college’s mission of research, instruction and extension.

“The D.W. Brooks Lecture is our opportunity to bring in change-makers who are having an impact on hunger and malnutrition in the real world and to inspire and challenge ourselves to meet the goal of feeding the world’s growing population by the year 2030,” said Amrit Bart, director of global programs for the college.

Thurow’s 20 years covering political conflict and famine in Europe and Africa for the

Wall Street Journal fueled his interest in agricultural development and fighting hunger.

Today he serves as a senior fellow for global food and agriculture at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, but he still sees himself primarily as a journalist and storyteller.

His coverage of famine in Africa earned him a place as finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting in 2003 and accolades from the United Nations. He has written three books on the role of food security in developing nations, the latest focusing on the stories of mothers and children across the globe during the first 1,000 days of the child’s life, a vital window when nutrition can determine a child’s health and ability.

In his talk, “1,000 Days to Change the World: Stories from the Fight to End Early Childhood Malnutrition,” Thurow will discuss what is working in the fight to end maternal and childhood malnutrition and challenges that are left to tackle.

Bulletin Board #UGASafeDrive

This year’s Safe Drive event will take place Nov. 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

All UGA card holders are invited to the Tate Student Center parking lot where mechanics from Transportation and Parking Services and the Facilities Management Division will top off fluids, check belts and wiper blades, pressurize tires and do a quick visual inspection of vehicles free of charge. The UGA Office of Sustainability, BikeAthens and Bulldog Bikes also will offer free bicycle safety inspections and tune-ups.

USG award nominations

The Center for Teaching and Learning is accepting nominations until 5 p.m. on Nov. 7 for the University System of Georgia’s 2017 Teaching Excellence Awards, which recognize excellence in teaching, online teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. CTL will coordinate an independent, faculty review of the nominations and, subsequently, partner with UGA’s candidate to ensure a competitive nomination packet is prepared to meet the university system’s Dec. 5 deadline.

Details about UGA’s selection

­ rocess are at http://ctl.uga.edu. For p more information, contact Eddie Watson, CTL director, at edwatson@uga.edu.

University Woman’s Club

The University Woman’s Club will meet Nov. 8 at 11 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Central Presbyterian Church, 380 Alps Road. Guest speaker Trina von Waldner, director of postgraduate ­continuing education for emergencies, disasters and outreach in UGA’s College of Pharmacy, will discuss the types of disasters that could occur in this area and describe what should be in a home emergency kit.

Capital campaign kickoff

All members of the UGA community are invited to attend a celebration Nov. 10 to kick off the public phase of the university’s comprehensive capital campaign. The drop-in event will be held in the Tate Student Center Grand Hall from noon-2 p.m. No registration is required.

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