Winter 2016 Chairman's Letter

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER / WINTER 2016

Dear Friends: Happy New Year!

I trust that your holidays were joyous and that 2016 brings renewed optimism for peace and prosperity. I am truly excited by the year ahead and for our collective efforts in supporting the University of Georgia’s campaign. The first half of the fiscal year produced excellent results in fundraising, and come June 30, I am optimistic that we will be hearing great news with regard to our final total.

We are in an environment where our alumni and friends are enthused by the upward trajectory of the institution and have stepped up with increasing levels of financial support. As a foundation, we have stated publicly over the years that within the parameters of our mission, helping the university attract the best and brightest students is of paramount importance.

When one considers the academic credentials of all UGA freshmen who just completed their first semester on campus, (3.91 GPA and 1301 SAT) and the achievements of elite high school students qualifying for fall 2016 early admissions (4.11 GPA and 1395 SAT), I believe we are fulfilling that goal.

Our task ahead is to help the university maintain the momentum, which we can do by redoubling our efforts and affirming our commitment to working with the development team in 2016 to reach new and greater heights.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the University of Georgia. Let’s make the year ahead the best ever for the university and the foundation!

Sincerely,

Ken Jackson Chairman

MacKenzie Tobin, a senior at Schley County High School in Ellaville, was the first student to be offered admission to UGA's class of 2020.

President’s Office welcomes Arthur Tripp, Jr. University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead recently welcomed Arthur Tripp Jr. (pictured below) to his staff as assistant to the president. Tripp comes to Athens from Washington where he served as senior policy adviser for Rep. David Scott, who represents Georgia’s 13th Congressional District.

A 2009 graduate of UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs, Tripp was part of the inaugural class of students participating in the Washington Semester Program. While working toward his bachelor’s degree, he served as a member of the Student Government Association, Student Alumni Council and Student Academic Honesty Council. While in Washington he served as a member of the UGA School of Public and International Affairs board of directors and as president of the Georgia State Society board of directors.

“Arthur’s extensive involvement as a student leader at UGA and his significant professional experience on Capitol Hill have prepared him well for this important position,” said Morehead. “He will be an outstanding addition to the president’s office, and I look forward to his contributions.”

In his new role as assistant to the president, Tripp’s primary responsibilities will be focused on student affairs and diversity relations. He also will serve as the liaison to the Staff Council, Retirees Association and the UGA Board of Visitors.

Honoring The Coca-Cola Foundation’s continued generosity The University of Georgia recently recognized The Coca-Cola Foundation for its legacy of supporting academics at the state’s flagship institution of higher education and for the foundation’s most recent gift of $1 million.

Attending an on-field presentation before the season’s final home football game were (from left) Kelly Kerner, UGA vice president for development and alumni relations, Coca-Cola First-Generation Scholars Angel Hogg and Michael Williams, UGA President Jere W. Morehead, and Coca-Cola representatives Kirk Glaze, Gene Rackley and Scott Williamson.

The money was added to an existing endowment for the Coca-Cola First Generation Scholars Program.

Those funds are earmarked for support of deserving students from Georgia who are seeking to become the first in their respective families to earn college degrees.

The scholarship, which provides $5,000 per year – in complement to the HOPE Scholarship – is renewable for an additional three years for students who maintain a 2.8 GPA during their first year of enrollment and a 3.0 GPA in subsequent years.

The First-Generation Scholars Program is but one of many UGA initiatives supported by Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Foundation has funded scholarships for more than 100 students since the program’s inception at UGA. With this new award, 48 additional scholarships will be fully funded.

Orkin gift will support scholarships for students from low income families UGA Foundation Emeritus Trustee Sanford Orkin and his wife Barbara recently established a fund to provide scholarship support for low-income students. The couple’s latest gift of $1 million will be used to provide financial support for tuition, books, room and board, and other living expenses incurred by outstanding, academically talented UGA students who come from low-income families.

In many instances, scholarship recipients come from families where no current or past member has ever attended college.

Former UGA star receiver endows scholarships A.J. Green, who spent fall Saturdays wowing UGA football fans with his spectacular athleticism, returned to Sanford Stadium in November to give back to the institution that helped him launch a successful NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Green and wife Miranda endowed three scholarships; one to support a student-athlete on the football team, and two for need-based UGA students. ''I'm very excited and thankful that we were in a position to give back to the University of Georgia,'' Green said. ''My time at UGA is still close to my heart. It was definitely important for me to give back while I'm still playing professionally and I'm fortunate that we are able to do that.''

“A secure source of funding that helps students meet their housing, food and educational requirements, we hope, will help these remarkable young people stay at the university through graduation and on the road to successful careers and full lives,” Sanford Orkin said. “Barbara and I are truly honored to be able to give back to a university we both love deeply and that has given so much to us.”

New gift funds UGA Law School program UGA alumnus Marlan Wilbanks (AB ’83, JD ’86), a senior partner in the Atlanta law firm of Wilbanks & Gouinlock, made a significant pledge to the School of Law recently for the purpose of launching the nation’s first legal clinic to assist victims of child sexual abuse.

The Wilbanks Center for Child Sexual Assault and Exploitation Survivors will assist adult survivors of child sexual abuse in filing civil suits, and help children to gain protection from their abusers.

Wilbanks has, for years, been an active supporter of children’s causes in Atlanta, including Prevent Child Abuse and the Big Brother Program. He plans to take an active role in the clinic, which will complement the law school's experiential learning offerings by giving students opportunities to serve as advocates for Georgians who may not have access to adequate legal resources.

(L-R) Miranda and A.J. Green, with A.J.’s parents, Dora and Woodrow Green, were recognized on the field during UGA’s game vs. Kentucky

UGAF Professor in Choral Music named Best wishes to Daniel Bara, director of choral activities and professor in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. He has been named the John D. Boyd UGA Foundation Professor in Choral Music.

The professorship honors the late John D. Boyd, who was a professor in the department of English at UGA. Boyd was an accomplished pianist and longtime member of the Athens Master Chorale.

UGA researcher receives funding from NIH

I hope you can make time in your schedule to join the UGA Board of Visitors at their quarterly luncheon on February 11 in Atlanta. The group will convene from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Piedmont Driving Club (1215 Piedmont Ave., NE) where the day’s program will focus on the Diverse Impact of UGA’s Public Service and Outreach.

Congratulations to Jorge C. Escalante, the UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor in Microbiology in the Franklin College (pictured below in the laboratory to the right of senior graduate student Norbert Tavares).

In addition, at this meeting, the Board of Visitors will welcome new members and recognize those who have completed their terms.

All UGA Foundation trustees are cordially invited and encouraged to attend this and all Board of Visitors meeting.

UGA Honors student earns major award

Foundation Fellow Meredith Paker was recently named winner of a prestigious Marshall Scholarship which she will use to pursue graduate studies in the U.K. at Oxford University.

Meredith is scheduled to graduate from the Terry College of Business in May with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Welcome Professor Karen Burg Karen J.L. Burg, a bioengineer whose cutting-edge work centers on absorbable polymers, biofabrication and tissue engineering, joined the faculty of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine this month. She is the Harbor Lights Chair in Small Animal Studies, which is funded through an endowment managed by the UGA Foundation.

Burg is one of five professors to be hired under UGA President Jere W. Morehead’s Presidential Extraordinary Research Faculty Hiring Initiative, which launched in 2014 to help bring internationally recognized scholars to UGA.

The National Institutes of Health Institute of General Medical Sciences has awarded a fiveyear extension to continue funding a study he leads into the biosynthesis and anaerobic metabolism of vitamin B-12 in salmonella. The award is an extension of $2.1 million to an initial five-year award announced in 2010. It will support Escalante's research through 2020.

Two UGA professors join elite group The National Academy of Inventors has named two University of Georgia faculty members to its current class of NAI Fellows. David Chu (left), Distinguished Research Professor in the College of Pharmacy, and Wayne Hanna (right), professor of crop and soil sciences, join an elite group of 582 innovators representing more than 190 prestigious research universities and governmental and nonprofit research institutions.

Earning status as an NAI Fellow is a professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

Construction underway on University of Georgia’s new Center for Molecular Medicine The University of Georgia broke ground last month on the Center for Molecular Medicine, a 43,000-square-foot facility that will continue to advance the institutions efforts in human health research. When finished, the building on Riverbend Road will house up to 10 research groups whose collective goal will be to conduct translational studies designed to help modern medicine achieve new and positive outcomes in human health. The facility will include laboratories, faculty offices, shared cell culture facilities and other common spaces that support research.

“I’m excited about what this project will do for the state of Georgia,” said University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby, who led the construction of the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center while serving as UGA’s senior vice president for finance and administration, a role he held until 2006. “It will be an important factor in the land-grant university here doing what it should do, and needs to do, to serve the people of this state, to bring more economic development and also improve the health of our population.”

University of Georgia and state officials participated in the groundbreaking for the Center for Molecular Medicine. (Pictured left to right) Ryan Nesbitt, Tim Chester, Rahul Shrivastav, Pamela Whitten, Rep. Chuck Williams, Chancellor Hank Huckaby, President Jere W. Morehead, Stephen Dalton, Alan Darvill, Griff Doyle, UGA student Miranda Hayworth, Michael Cassidy of the Georgia Research Alliance, David Lee and Victor Wilson.

The center has operated in various locations on UGA’s campus since its founding in 2012.

The new facility will give the researchers better opportunities to collaborate with each other and with faculty housed in the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center.

Funding for the facility came from two primary sources: Governor Nathan Deal and the Georgia General Assembly approved $17 million in state funds for the new building, which were matched by $8 million from non-state sources.

Ten UGA Honors students and alumni offered Fulbright awards

Ten University of Georgia Honors students and alumni have been awarded international travel-study grants from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Eight accepted the grants, which offer students, scholars and professionals opportunities to pursue advanced research projects, graduate study and teaching assistantships in more than 160 countries.

Six of UGA’s Fulbright Scholars received English teaching assistantship grants, while two received public policy research grants.

Aaron Sayama, who received his bachelor’s degree in international affairs in 2010 and his master’s in public administration and policy in 2013, received the Hillary Rodham Clinton Fellowship. The Columbus native will serve in Timor-Leste as a special assistant in the Southeast Asian nation’s Ministry of Justice.

Emily Horton, who is pursuing a doctorate in anthropology and integrative conservation, received a research grant to Brazil. She will live and conduct research with island-based communities that practice small-scale fishing in a marine extractive reserve.

UGA’s recipients of English teaching assistantships are the following: • McKinley Alden, Decatur, who recently earned a degree in German and Slavic languages and linguistics, will serve in Bulgaria.

• Tiffany Chu, Lilburn, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and English education, will serve in South Korea.

• Maggie Johnston, Chattanooga, who received her bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2013, will serve in South Korea.

• Pete McDonald, Decatur, who received his bachelor’s degree in mass media arts in 2012, will serve in Greece.

• Ashleigh Starnes, Grayson, who received her bachelor’s degree in English and linguistics in 2014, will serve in Turkey.

• Adrienne Winzer, Villa Rica, who recently received her bachelor’s degree in English, will serve in South Korea.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program, awarding about 1,900 grants each year in all fields of study.

First Chambliss Fellows program dinner raises $350,000-plus for UGA student scholarships

Students at the University of Georgia will have the opportunity to intern as Chambliss Fellows in Washington, D.C., thanks to scholarship funds raised during the first Chambliss Leadership Forum dinner held in Atlanta.

Founded in 2014, the Chambliss Leadership Forum encompasses three programs: the annual fundraising dinner, the Chambliss Fellows Program and a campus lecture series. Chambliss Fellows – five UGA students competitively selected each semester – will be provided with financial and academic assistance to live, work and pursue their passion in our nation’s capital. A number of students and influential policymakers joined the celebration of former Georgia Congressman and Sen. Saxby Chambliss and his wife, Julianne, both of whom are UGA alumni and have been public servants since Chambliss was elected to office in 1994.

The event, which raised more than $350,000 to help endow the fellows program, included a panel discussion with Chambliss, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and former Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. The discussion was moderated by former WSB-TV and current Georgia Bulldogs network announcer Chuck Dowdle, and included questions from the audience on issues ranging from entitlement reform to national security.

UGA students who have worked in Washington, D.C., in a variety of positions joined former Sen. Saxby Chambliss for the Chambliss Leadership Forum dinner. Future Chambliss Fellows will be provided with financial and academic assistance to live, work and pursue their passion in the nation’s capital.

UGA remains a best value in public colleges according to Kiplinger The University of Georgia continues to rank as one of the nation’s top values in higher education, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, which placed UGA 12th on its list of 100 best values among public colleges and universities for 2016.

Kiplinger assesses value by measurable standards of academic quality and affordability. Quality measures include the first-year retention rate, the student-faculty ratio and four-year graduation rate. Cost criteria include sticker price, financial aid and average debt at graduation. UGA was only one of two universities from the SEC (the other being the University of Florida) that made the top 20 and the only school from the state of Georgia.

“The University of Georgia takes pride in its commitment to offering a world-class education at an affordable cost,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “We are pleased that our commitment is once again being recognized on a national level.”

Washington Monthly ranked UGA as the third “Best Bang for the Buck” school in the Southeast in 2015, and The New York Times ranked UGA tenth among public universities doing the most for low-income students in its 2015 College Access Index.

The newest rankings will appear in the February 2016 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

DATES TO REMEMBER January 18, 2016

Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday University of Georgia closed

January 20, 2016

State of the University Address President Jere W. Morehead University Chapel 3:30 PM Athens, GA

January 30, 2016

Bulldog 100 Celebration Atlanta Marriott Marquis 265 Peachtree Center Ave 6:00 PM Atlanta, GA

February 11, 2016

UGA Board of Visitors Winter Meeting Piedmont Driving Club 1215 Piedmont Ave NE 11:30 AM Atlanta, GA

February 25-26, 2016

UGA Foundation Winter Board Meeting Various Campus sites Athens, GA

February 26-27, 2016

Foundation Fellows Interview Weekend Various Campus sites Athens, GA

May 11, 2016

UGA Board of Visitors Spring Meeting Buckhead Club 3344 Peachtree Rd NE 11:30 AM Atlanta, GA

May 13, 2016

Spring Commencement Graduate Ceremony 10:00 AM – Stegeman Coliseum Undergraduate Ceremony 7:00 PM – Sanford Stadium

June 16-17, 2016

UGA Foundation Spring Meeting St. Simons Island, GA

University of Georgia Foundation 394 South Milledge Ave., Suite 100 Athens, Georgia 30602-5582 Telephone (706) 542-6677 www.ugafoundation.org