University of Georgia Magazine Summer 2018 by University of Georgia Alumni Magazine

summer 2018

Wish you

were here

Pac k and your aro take bags a u UG nd th trip As tud e wor ent ld w s st i udy th ing abr

oad .

CONTENTS

University of Georgia students put their stamp on study abroad. p. 28

the magazine of the university of georgia summer 2018

INSIDE 5

The Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pen President Jere W. Morehead JD â&#x20AC;&#x2122;80 on student learning and success.

A disease is ravaging Georgia's shrimp population, but UGA researchers are committed to saving them. p. 22

UGA to Z Accomplishments and accolades from across the UGA community.

peter frey

Bulldog Bulletin

On the Bulldog Beat

News and events from the UGA Alumni Association.

FEATURE

ON THE COVER

16 Miracle Workers

When it comes to service, UGA students put in a 24-hour day.

A quick tour of the Founders Memorial Garden.

Class Notes You've seen Ken and Anita Corsini on HGTV. Now meet them in Georgia Magazine (and find out their favorite Athens restaurant).

Faculty Focus Get to know Gregory Robinson, UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

18 Cyber Ready

How UGA is helping the state and the nation fight cybercrime.

22 A Sea of Questions

Researchers at UGA's Skidaway campus are hunting an aquatic killer.

28 Wish You Were Here

Looking for a semester-long experience that lasts a lifetime? Study abroad.

Cover photo by Peter Frey

Our summer cover includes a variety of items a UGA student might pack for studying abroad. The postcards were submitted by students and the map is of Italy, home to UGA's first study abroad center in Cortona. p. 28

and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

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Living Legend it’s not too often that a speaker gives a lecture that’s named after her. But few have meant more to the University of Georgia than Charlayne Hunter-Gault ABJ ’63. K-12 students from around the area helped her celebrate her UGA homecoming on Feb. 15. The Peabody Award-winning journalist delivered the Holmes-Hunter Lecture to a standingroom-only crowd in the UGA Chapel. The lecture is named for Hunter-Gault and the late Hamilton Holmes BS ’63, the first African-American students to attend UGA. She used the opportunity to encourage the many students in attendance to get involved in their communities. “I want to share a little of my life with you today in the hope that you will be inspired to make sure that your armor is fitted and polished so that you can help bind wounds and defeat the kind of divisions that are tearing at the fabric of our nation,” she said. Afterward, Hunter-Gault greeted the students with handshakes, hugs, selfies, and even more encouragement.

“I want to share a little of my life with you today in the hope that you will be inspired to make sure that your armor is fitted and polished so that you can help bind wounds and defeat the kind of divisions that are tearing at the fabric of our nation.”

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dorothy kozlowski

—charlayne hunter-gault

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summer 2018

VOLUME 97

ISSUE NO. 3

georgia magazine

Editor · Eric Rangus MA ’94 Associate Editor · Aaron Hale MA ’16 Writers · Kellyn Amodeo ABJ ’09, Leigh Beeson MA ’17 Art Director · Jackie Baxter Roberts Advertising Director · Pamela Leed Office Manager · Fran Burke UGA Photographers · Peter Frey BFA ’94, Rick O’Quinn ABJ ’87, Andrew Davis Tucker, Dorothy Kozlowski BLA ’06, ABJ ’10, Chad Osburn Editorial Interns · Katherine Costikyan, Rachel Floyd, Mara Weissinger

marketing & communications Vice President · Karri Hobson-Pape Executive Director · Janis Gleason Brand Strategy Director · Michele Horn

administration President · Jere W. Morehead JD ’80 Senior VP for Academic Affairs & Provost · Pamela Whitten VP for Finance & Administration · Ryan Nesbit MBA ’91 VP for Development & Alumni Relations · Kelly Kerner VP for Instruction · Rahul Shrivastav VP for Research · David C. Lee VP for Public Service & Outreach · Jennifer Frum PhD ’09 VP for Student Affairs · Victor Wilson BSW ’82, MEd ’87 VP for Government Relations · J. Griffin Doyle AB ’76, JD ’79 VP for Information Technology · Timothy M. Chester

Change your mailing address by contacting e: records@uga.edu or ph: 888-268-5442 Find Georgia Magazine online at ugamagazine.uga.edu Submit Class Notes or story ideas to gmeditor@uga.edu

advertise in Georgia Magazine by contacting Pamela Leed at e: pjleed@uga.edu or ph: 706-542-8124 fine print

Georgia Magazine (issn 1085-1042) is published quarterly for alumni and friends of UGA. postmaster | Send address changes to: University of Georgia 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North Athens, GA 30602

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andrew davis tucker

The University of Georgia does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or military service in its administrations of educational policies, programs, or activities; its admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other University-administered programs; or employment. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the Equal Opportunity Office 119 Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Telephone 706-542-7912 (V/TDD). Fax 706-542-2822. https://eoo.uga.edu/

THE PRESIDENT’S PEN

Learning and Succeeding at UGA An Update on Student Learning and Success

UGA students are learning and succeeding at the highest levels seen in our institution’s long history. Four-year and six-year completion rates have reached all-time highs at 66 percent and 85 percent, respectively. UGA’s freshman retention rate also is at an all-time high at 96 percent. These numbers are especially compelling when compared to those from other institutions. The average four-year completion rate for Southeastern Conference (SEC) institutions is 45 percent; the six-year rate is 71 percent; and the average SEC freshman retention rate is 88 percent. The most recent survey conducted by the UGA Career Center shows that 96 percent of our graduates are employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation—a placement rate 11 percent higher than the national average.

“UGA students are learning and succeeding at the highest levels seen in our institution’s long history.”

To advance UGA’s longstanding commitment to excellence in undergraduate education, I convened the Presidential Task Force on Student Learning and Success last year. The 20-member task force took a fresh look at UGA’s undergraduate learning environment to identify opportunities to further enhance the educational experience for our students—both inside and outside of the classroom. The university has launched several new initiatives in response to their recommendations, including: • Strengthening the writing requirement for undergraduates and making data literacy a cornerstone of undergraduate education to meet the changing needs of our society. • Transforming select traditional classrooms into active learning spaces and establishing a summer institute to help faculty incorporate active learning strategies into their courses. • Creating a Council on the First-Year Experience to foster collaboration among various offices that offer first-year programs and services and to provide a centralized information resource for students and their families. • Expanding support for transfer students through enhanced information, resources, and outreach prior to orientation and during enrollment, and increased collaboration with other University System of Georgia institutions. • Creating the ALL Georgia Program to support students from rural areas of the state by combining financial and academic resources with mentorship and leadership opportunities. • Establishing a pilot program to award small completion grants of up to $2,000 to seniors who are at risk of dropping out due to financial hardship. • Making the monthlong residential Freshman College Summer Experience more accessible to first-generation, Pell Grant-eligible, and rural students. As these and other initiatives to enhance the learning environment take shape, I am confident they will help our outstanding students gain more than ever from their UGA education.

Jere W. Morehead President

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FIND YOUR CHAPTER BULLDOGS NEVER BARK ALONE!

310,000+

living alumni worldwide

79 chapters in the United States,

83 total chapters

including Puerto Rico

Find your chapter today. alumni.uga.edu/find-chapter

4 chapters outside of the U.S.

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, London, and Thailand

17 chapters in Georgia

Get news + invitations from your local chapter by updating your contact information: alumni.uga.edu/myinfo/gm

UGA Z to

News, accomplishments, and accolades from the UGA community

NATIONAL CHAMPS

Title Track The Georgia women’s track and field team won its first national title at the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas, on March 10. Leading the way was senior Keturah Orji, who won an individual national championship (her third indoors and sixth overall) in the triple jump. Orji was also part of a historic podium sweep in the long jump. Junior Kate Hall won the event, followed by Orji in second, and freshman Tara Davis in third. Georgia scored a program-record 61 points on the way to victory, far outpacing the 49 points of second-place Arkansas. This is the 43rd overall team title for the University of Georgia—30 of them have been won by women’s teams.

kirk meche

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UGA to Z NAMESAKE

House of Payne UGA’s state-of-the-art Indoor Athletic Facility, a symbol of the future of UGA athletics, now honors two of its biggest supporters, Billy Payne AB ’69, JD ’73 and his father, the late Porter Payne BSEd ’50. The official name of the facility is now the William Porter Payne and Porter Otis Payne Indoor Athletic Facility. The naming opportunity is the result of gifts totaling $10 million secured from friends of Billy and Porter Payne. Billy (right) is the former CEO of the Atlanta Olympic Games and former chairman of Augusta National. Both he and his father lettered in football at UGA, Billy from 1966-68 and Porter, captain of the ’49 squad, from 1946-49. andrew davis tucker

SKY HIGH HIGH HONORS

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Discovering the Hidden Coastal Ecosystem Mary Ann Moran PhD ’87, a Franklin College faculty member and renowned marine sciences researcher, has been named Regents’ Professor by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Moran’s research explores marine ecosystems and the roles of the ocean microbiome. “By asking fundamental questions about the unseen microbes of the oceans, Dr. Moran has revealed insights into global processes that impact life on Earth,” says Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. “Her commitment to discovery puts her at the forefront of her field and sets an extraordinary example for students.” Moran, also a Distinguished Research Professor, has served on the UGA faculty since 1993 and in that time has received the UGA Creative Research Medal and been recognized by the UGA Career Center for her impact on students. Regents’ Professorships are bestowed by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents on faculty members whose scholarship or creative activity is recognized nationally and internationally as innovative and pacesetting.

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dorothy kozlowski

Mary Ann Moran was named a Regents' Professor for her innovative research on the ocean microbiome.

The Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources has taken flight with drones. This isn’t some fun class exercise says assistant professor Tripp Lowe BS’96, MS’02, PhD’13. It’s teaching students about a valuable new technology that could one day change how they manage forestland. For example, a forester assigned to monitor an ongoing operation could deploy drones to capture photographs or videos of the forest’s current state to identify what has been harvested, the remaining sites to harvest, and existing or new areas of concern. “Most of our students realize the importance of fresh data in the natural resource management workflow,” Lowe says, “and they recognize that these aircraft can be an excellent source for this information.”

UGA to Z ENHANCING DIVERSITY

UGA Law School Creates New Scholarship The University of Georgia School of Law has created the Benham Scholars Program, which will help maintain and increase diversity in the legal profession. The program is named in honor of Georgia Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham JD ’70, who was a first-year law student 50 years ago and became the law school’s second African-American graduate. “Throughout our state and nation, there are young people who work hard and dream about success but have difficulty overcoming certain obstacles, financial or otherwise,” Benham says. “If this program can help even a fraction of them attend law school and have the chance for a successful legal career, we will have made an impact.” The program, supported by private funding from the Office of the President and the law school, will focus on four key areas: recruitment, preparation for law school, academic support, and career planning. The first Benham Scholars will be admitted to the law school in August 2018.

Mrs. Hassam in Monet's Garden, oil on canvas by Frederick Childe Hassam from the Collection of Deen Day Sanders

Bloom Where You're Planted

The Collection of Deen Day Sanders Georgia Museum of Art May 19 through July 29

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham is the namesake of a new scholarship through the UGA School of Law.

ON DISPL AY

Summer Blooms

BUSINESS LEARNING COMMUNITY

Leaving a Legacy The next building to become part of the Business Learning Community will be named for Sanford and Barbara Orkin of Atlanta. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved naming one of the two buildings currently under construction in the third and final phase of the Business Learning Community for the Orkins in recognition of their longstanding support of UGA, including a $5 million gift to the Terry College of Business. The building to be named Sanford and Barbara Orkin Hall (located at the corner of Baxter and Hull streets) will include a large auditorium, undergraduate classrooms, a behavioral lab, a computer lab for marketing research, interview suites, and faculty and administrative offices.

See page 14 for more on Sanford and Barbara Orkin's legacy of giving to UGA.

Deen Day Sanders is well known to the UGA community for her philanthropy and her commitment to the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in particular. Over the years, she’s also built one of the finest art collections in the state of Georgia, and now the public is invited to see it in a special exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art this summer. “Bloom Where You’re Planted: The Collection of Deen Day Sanders” will be on display May 19 to July 29. The exhibition highlights an impressively cohesive collection that touches on every major trend in American art from the 19th to the early 20th century, with works by Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, and many more. The museum will publish an exhibition catalogue including full-page color illustrations of every work on display, which will be available for purchase in the museum shop.

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UGA to Z LEADING THE WAY

PREPARE FOR L AUNCH

Committed to Diversity

UGA and Beyond

UGA is America’s No. 1 public flagship university for awarding doctorates to African-American students. Over the five-year period covered in the latest National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctordorothy kozlowski ates, UGA awarded 143 doctoral degrees to AfriUndergraduate students Caleb can-Americans. Overall, UGA Adams and Graham Grable work is ranked 32nd among all U.S. on their satellite in the UGA Small universities in the number of Satellite Research Lab. doctoral degrees it awards. The university is second only to Columbia University Teachers College in the number of doctoral degrees in education it awards. It ranks 13th among all universities for doctoral degrees awarded in the life sciences and 20th in psychology and social sciences.

GOING NUTS

Unraveling the Genetic Code of Peanuts An international group of agricultural scientists, including University of Georgia and USDA scientists, have mapped the genetic code of the peanut. Results of the five-year research project give scientists around the world andrew davis tucker a map for unlocking the genetic potential of the peanut plant. The discovery by the Peanut Genome Consortium, a group of international scientists from five continents, gives scientists the ability to find beneficial genes in cultivated and wild peanuts to use in breeding new peanut varieties. “Study of peanut genome structure and order makes a great detective story, where many clues are found and linked together to unlock mysteries of genetics and gene regulation,” says Scott Jackson, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Plant Functional Genomics and co-chair of the consortium.

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The UGA Small Satellite Research Laboratory is one step closer to launching a satellite into space. One of two Air Force Research Lab competition winners, the student-led team has two years to turn its winning design into a physical satellite for integration and testing. “This review puts the University of Georgia on the map in regards to space systems, and we are pushing for an even larger goal of getting a UGA-made satellite to space,” says David Cotten, a research scientist in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ geography department and advisor on the project. Supported by faculty from both Franklin and the College of Engineering, the more than 45-member team is working to build two CubeSats, a specialized class of miniature satellites for low-Earth orbit. The lab’s winning design captures images of the Earth’s surface, and these images are used to create 3-D models of structures on Earth.

MEDICATION DELIVERY

Targeting Cancer with Magnets

Scott Jackson is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Plant Functional Genomics.

With the goal of reducing the toxic side effects of chemotherapy, UGA researchers have developed a noninvasive way to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to tumors using magnetic forces. Chemo patients frequently experience hair loss, fatigue, and appetite changes, among other unwanted side effects of pumping poison through their veins to destroy tumors. Led by family and consumer sciences graduate student Andrey Zakharchenko, researchers from UGA and Clarkson University in New York first created nanoparticles that can act as drug carriers or enzymes. When a weak magnetic field is applied, the nanoparticles merge, releasing the drugs directly at the site of the tumor The study, published in Nature Catalysis, is the first in vitro experiment to use magnetic forces to deliver cancer-killing medication without causing harm to surrounding healthy cells.

UGA to Z WITH HONORS

Students Earn National Recognition Four UGA students were selected for prestigious national scholarships. • Trisha Dalapati, Guy Eroh, and Stephan George were among 211 students from across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars, the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. • Laurel Hiatt was one of 59 undergraduates from across the nation to be named a 2018 Truman Scholar, a highly competitive graduate scholarship program for aspiring public service leaders in the U.S. • Eroh was also one of 50 undergraduates from across the nation selected as a 2018 Udall Scholar, awarded to sophomores and juniors on the basis of their commitment to careers in the environment, Native American health care, or tribal public policy.

From left to right: Trisha Dalapati, Guy Eroh, Stephan George, and Laurel Hiatt.

UNDER PRESSURE cal powell

Regulating Hypertension One in every three American adults has high blood pressure, costing the U.S. almost $50 billion a year and more than 1,000 lives every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. University of Georgia researchers recently identified several new genes that influence how the body regulates blood pressure, a finding that could help scientists develop new treatments and tailor prevention strategies for the deadly condition. Using data from more than 1,800 participants, researchers pinpointed areas within the human genome that were previously unknown to be involved in regulating blood pressure. Hypertension is a complex disease that can be caused by multiple factors. By better understanding genetic factors, researchers are better equipped to tackle this common condition.

Emilie Smith is the Barber Distinguished Professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

CHILD'S PL AY

Game Reduces Bad Behavior Using a game that encourages good behavior through positive reinforcement and self-regulation can keep children on task and out of trouble, according to research from a five-year collaboration between UGA and Pennsylvania State University. Emilie Phillips Smith, the Barber Distinguished Professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, led the UGA portion of the project. Smith, who also heads the college’s human development and family science department, and her team worked with 72 community-based after-school programs in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The staff and children in the after-school programs played the Pax Good Behavior Game, or PaxGBG, a game that allows teams of children to earn privileges to be more active and expressive at given times. The study found that the game decreases hyperactivity among children, encourages teamwork, and promotes self-regulation.

GOOD AS GOLD Emily Giambalvo (left) and Cat Hendrick lounge in the Olympic Rings in PyeongChang.

Grady Students Cover the Olympics While the rest of us were watching the drama from the Winter Olympics unfold from home, two UGA students got to witness it live in PyeongChang, South Korea. Emily Giambalvo and Cat Hendrick, both Grady Sports Media students, reported on the Games for TeamUSA.org, documenting memorable moments like Jamie Anderson defending her Olympic title in women’s snowboard slopestyle, the dramatic U.S. gold medal win in men’s curling, and the U.S. women’s hockey team’s path to its first gold medal in 20 years.

special

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UGA to Z READY FOR ANYTHING

Training Nontraditional First Responders

andrew davis tucker

PREPARED FOR BUSINESS

Terry Rolls Out a New Grad Program

The courtyard of the Business Learning Community is UGA's newest student gathering spot.

A new graduate program from the Terry College of Business will prepare students for high-demand jobs in today’s data-centric economy. The Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) will combine courses on big data and strategic decision-making with project management and leadership development to form a complementary focus. The courses will include hard and soft skills that are very attractive to data-driven businesses, says Terry College Dean Benjamin C. Ayers. The 10-month program will help students develop expertise in collecting, storing, analyzing, and interpreting data. Graduates of the MSBA Program will be ready for jobs in business analytics, statistical modeling, and data science, helping to fill the growing demand for workers who can interpret big data in a business context. The MSBA degree will also be part of the university’s Double Dawgs Program, which allows students to earn both an undergraduate and a graduate degree in five years or less.

IN MEMORIAM

Zell Miller, 1932-2018 The former governor, senator, and founder of the HOPE Scholarship died March 23 at the age of 86. A native of Young Harris, Miller AB ’57, MA ’58 was a strong supporter of education throughout his more than 50 years in the public eye. In 2008, the Zell B. Miller Learning Center at UGA was named in his honor. “The University of Georgia would not be the world-class institution it is today without his vision and dedicated leadership,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. paul efland

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After a year that saw three major hurricanes, out of control wildfires, flooding, mudslides, and two of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, a UGA disaster management expert is calling for regular citizens to be prepared to help others if disaster strikes. Curt Harris, associate director of UGA’s Institute for Disaster Management in the College of Public Health, suggests training people who are not traditional “first responders” to help injured people get to a safer place or perform life-saving interventions to minimize casualties from future disasters. Harris and co-authors of a paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health propose adding a universal disaster response training and education curriculum to existing first aid curriculum in high schools. “I think disasters have become so ubiquitous in our culture that it’s necessary to learn these skills at an early age so they can be put into practice when the time comes,” Harris says.

support the

DAWGS SUIT UP SCHOLARSHIP

The UGA Career Center, in partnership with JCPenney, will host the 2nd annual Dawgs Suit Up in September. Your donation will provide students in need with the chance to shop for professional attire for interviews and career fairs – at no cost to them.

Donate to the Dawgs Suit Up Scholarship Fund give.uga.edu/suitup/gm

[GOT FOMO?] FO·MO /fōmō/ n. anxiety that an interesting event may be happening somewhere you’re not

Suffer no more, Bulldogs! Update your email and mailing addresses to ensure you get news + information from the University of Georgia. alumni.uga.edu/myinfo/gm

c o m m i t t o g e o r g i a c a m pa i g n

SOLVING GRAND CHALLENGES

committed At the University of Georgia, we are

to research that changes lives. Sanford and Barbara Orkin attended UGA in the 1950s and have been longtime supporters of the university. In 2000, the Orkins endowed the Barbara and Sanford Orkin GRA Eminent Scholar Chair in Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases to strengthen UGA’s efforts to combat tropical and emerging global diseases by increasing research activities in the biomedical field. In addition to that endowed professorship, their UGA legacy includes a $1 million scholarship fund for low-income students.

WHAT IS AN ENDOWED POSITION? These are faculty and staff positions on campus that receive supplemental support generated from private donations. Endowed positions are essential to recruiting and retaining leading faculty members who are committed to world-changing research and preparing the next generation of problem-solvers, pioneers, and leaders. Learn more about supporting UGA’s leading faculty at give.uga.edu/gm.

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oberto Docampo is renowned for his efforts to find therapies to treat potentially fatal parasitic infections, including Chagas disease and African sleeping sickness. Chagas disease and sleeping sickness kill more than 10,000 people every year in Latin America and Africa, respectively. Millions are living with the diseases, and tens of millions more are at risk of being infected. With numbers like those, you’d expect more people to be paying attention. But neither Chagas nor sleeping sickness receives much press. With generous funding from Barbara and Sanford Orkin that has endowed his position at the University of Georgia, Docampo is better poised to help reduce the impact these diseases have on populations around the world. The Orkins’ $750,000 donation in the early 2000s was matched by the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), which seeks to grow the state of Georgia’s economy by expanding university research capacity and shaping startup companies around inventions and discoveries. Today, the Orkins’ generosity supports Docampo’s efforts to save lives by combatting infectious diseases around the world. The funding provides Docampo with greater resources as he conducts his scientific work, and allows him to hire and train outstanding undergraduate lab workers, graduate and postdoctoral students, and research personnel who, in turn, gain invaluable experience in their fields of study. The Orkins’ funding also can be used to cover professional travel expenses to gather data or share findings, memberships, and other needs that enhance Docampo’s lab’s effectiveness in solving this grand challenge.

WHEN THE WORLD CALLS, BULLDOGS ANSWER.

i i i : s o lv i n g g r a n d c h a l l e n g e s

SANFORD & BARBARA ORKIN “We believe in the University of Georgia and in the opportunities our university has to impact the world around us. That is why we were proud to endow this position nearly 20 years ago, and it is why we made another strong commitment to the Terry College of Business earlier this year.”

dorothy kozlowski

ROBERTO DOCAMPO BARBARA AND SANFORD ORKIN GRA EMINENT SCHOLAR CHAIR IN TROPICAL AND EMERGING GLOBAL DISEASES “Our research has applications beyond the treatment of infectious diseases. These are fundamental discoveries about cellular function and life. We will continue to investigate these structures and pathways in the hope of finding new therapies to treat these diseases that affect so many people.” peter frey

Through the Commit to Georgia Campaign, the Bulldog family can help fund groundbreaking research and service that will improve lives across the state and the world. | Support infectious disease research – GIVE.UGA.EDU/IDR. | Learn more about Roberto Docampo’s battle against deadly diseases and other life-changing research taking place at UGA – GREATCOMMITMENTS.UGA.EDU

UGA Miracle is still dancing (and supporting Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) 20 years after its founding. andrew davis tucker

MIRACLE WORKERS When it comes to service, UGA students put in a 24-hour day. by katherine costikyan

or University of Georgia students, Saturdays in Athens take many forms. Exciting football games. Late-night dinners downtown. Trips outside the city to soak up the limited time free from school and responsibilities. But for one weekend in February every year, UGA’s Tate Student Center is filled with the sound of music, laughter, and the energy of 3,000 people working toward one common goal: to make a difference.

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A STRONG START As UGA Miracle’s 2018 Dance Marathon kicks off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17, droves of students wearing body paint, matching T-shirts, and glitter arrive eager to participate in the non-stop, 24-hour dance party to benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Since its debut in 1998, UGA Miracle, the university’s chapter of the national Miracle network, has grown into the largest student-run organization on campus. Dance Marathon is the culmination of a year’s worth of fundraising efforts, the product of thousands of dedicated members raising as much awareness and money as possible for a cause greater than themselves. Every detail of the event, from the six catered meals donated by local restaurants to the bands that give free performances, is planned solely by students who have donated hundreds of hours of their time in the year leading up to Dance Marathon. The organization’s executive board includes 31 students, all of whom meet with their committees at least once a week to encourage them to contribute their portion to the cause. “UGA Miracle has completely changed my outlook on UGA and the world in general,” says Maddie Dill, a fourth-year student and executive director of UGA Miracle. “Through this organization, I’ve been inspired by the compassion of my peers on this campus because I know that our student body is so dedicated to helping others.”

PUSHING THROUGH As Saturday morning turns to afternoon, dedicated dancers remain on their feet, visiting with Miracle kids (former or current Children's Healthcare patients who have been paired with the organization) and participating in activities like talent shows and haircutting challenges to keep their spirits high. Words of encouragement to keep dancing are everywhere, from organization executives to students to Miracle families who have journeyed to Athens to participate in the marathon. For some UGA students, Dance Marathon is a fun, one-time opportunity to raise money for a good cause while hanging out with friends. For others, it is just another day in a life that has been committed to serving the community. Service is prevalent among students across all organizations, majors, and class years. Many encounter service organizations within their first few days on campus, encouraging a continuation of lifelong service for some and igniting a fresh desire to give back in the same way as their peers in others. And there is no shortage of resources provided by the university to connect students with service projects; the Center for Leadership and Service in Student Affairs is one such resource. “We’re always looking at service through the lens of not only contributing to the community but also to student learning,” says center director Jen Rentschler. “I want students to learn from their experiences by engaging in meaningful and ongoing service, not just feel like they can swoop in and fix something with one project.” One program that upholds this model is ServeUGA, which connects student ambassadors with local nonprofit organizations. Emily Stone, fourth-year student and director of outreach for ServeUGA, found a passion for service in participating organizations like UGA Miracle and now devotes her college career to service. “I think it’s important for students to find the right form of service for them and make a deeper connection with giving back,” Stone says. “It’s so easy to get caught up in your own world in college, and I think participating in service helps connect people back to the world around them.” ServeUGA makes volunteer opportunities accessible for all students, hosting annual events like the Dawg Day of Service and Interfaith Service Day alongside its Serve Athens initiative, which provides ongoing service opportunities within the Athens community. And these connections have paid off. Between fall 2015 and fall 2017, with the help of programs like ServeUGA, the Center for Leadership and Service has recorded more than 50,000 hours of student service—equivalent to one person working eight hours a day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year for 24 years.

katherine costikyan

HOME STRETCH As day turns to night and then early morning at Dance Marathon, exhaustion sets in: Participants lie side-by-side on the floor, coffee consumption spikes, and last-minute fundraising initiatives are met with renewed urgency. But as Sunday dawns, the dancers are re-energized with the knowledge that when the clock hits 10 a.m and the final fundraising total is revealed, all their effort will be worthwhile. It’s not just about raising money, though. The theme for the 2018 Dance Marathon, “Miracles Beyond Measure,” emphasizes the organization’s mission to make not just a financial impact but an emotional and personal one as well. For many participants, service is about building relationships, making meaningful connections, and ultimately feeling a part of something larger than oneself. Kelly McKibbin, a fourth-year Miracle member and co-chair of the Dance Marathon Event Planning Committee, poured herself into Miracle because of the depth of these connections. “You don’t really realize the impact that a group of people can have until you’re at Dance Marathon,” McKibbin says. “Seeing how this passionate and caring group's work affects other people is the most rewarding part of all.” There is no shortage of emotion as Dance Marathon comes to an end: joyous laughter at accomplishment, unabashed crying from exhaustion and the inspirational stories of young survivors. Miracle kids fill the stage, lifting the 2018 fundraising total above their heads to a chorus of screams. Exhausted dancers sob on each other’s shoulders as they finally see the fruit of their labor: $1,261,077, all for the kids. GM

andrew davis tucker

Learn more at

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Roberto Perdisci, peter frey

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founding member of the Institute of Cybersecurity and Privacy

How UGA is helping the state and the nation fight cybercrime

by aaron hale ma ‘16 photos by peter frey bfa ‘94

ybercrime takes one of our society’s great strengths—the Internet—and exploits its weaknesses. The threat seems inescapable, no matter where you are. In 2017, a cyberattack forced the cancellation of thousands of medical operations and appointments at hospitals in the United Kingdom, a blackout in Ukraine was traced to malicious software, and Uber disclosed that hackers had breached a database with personal information of more than 57 million drivers and users. It hit closer home this March when cybercriminals held the City of Atlanta’s municipal network for ransom. And that doesn’t even include the thousands of attempts per day to steal information and money through people’s personal devices. According to government estimates, cyberattacks cost the U.S. economy between $50-$100 billion a year, and threats from cyberterrorism could put lives at risk. That’s why advancing cybersecurity is one of the University of Georgia’s great commitments. In 2016, the university pooled its strengths in this field and formed the Institute of Cybersecurity and Privacy (ICSP), housed in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and part of the Georgia Informatics Institutes. The following year, the university was named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research, a designation that underscores the role UGA plays in strengthening America’s cyber defense capabilities. The institute’s research is funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Air Force, Department of Homeland Security, and several corporations. “The University of Georgia is making great strides and is doing things very systematically to increase our cybersecurity research and engagement with the community, with the federal government, and internally,” says Kyle Johnsen, director of the Georgia Informatics Institutes and an associate professor of engineering.

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THREE WAYS UGA IS TACKLING CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGES. Kevin Warrick computer science doctoral student

Kyle Johnsen

director of the Georgia Informatics Institutes

Kang Li

director of the Institute of Cybersecurity and Privacy

“In the old days, you had people robbing banks. Now the way to steal money is from people's electronic accounts or from the Bitcoin wallet.”—Kang Li

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LOOKING FOR LONGTERM SOLUTIONS THROUGH RESEARCH Perhaps what makes cybercrime feel so threatening is that few of us understand how it works, much less how to fix it. But beneath all of the jargon about coding, viruses, and hacking, the concept is really nothing new. “In the old days, you had people robbing banks,” says Kang Li, director of ICSP. “Now the way to steal money is from people's electronic accounts or from the Bitcoin wallet.” Cybercrime will never go away completely, says Roberto Perdisci, associate professor of computer science and ICSP member, but it can be mitigated. Security experts must anticipate how cyber criminals quickly adjust their tactics as technology evolves. Research universities like UGA are key to staying ahead of the most harmful attacks. “Our goals are longer term,” says Perdisci, who has developed new tools in network security. Typical antivirus software scans downloaded files and then determines whether they are malicious based on the file’s behavior. But Perdisci says malware developers are getting craftier at hiding the harmful elements from security scans. Perdisci’s software, named AMICO, takes a different approach. It uses machine learning tools to examine the network activity of thousands of individual users and pinpoint downloads from suspicious sources. If AMICO finds a problem—say a download from a website that has only recently registered—network security is alerted. Designed for large open networks, AMICO is now being used by UGA to help protect its robust network; the University of Alabama at Birmingham is using it too. Meanwhile, Perdisci is exploring whether AMICO could be adapted for small corporate networks or other industry uses.

PREPARING THE NEXT GENERATION OF DEVELOPERS While ICSP faculty are developing new ideas to combat cybercrime, they’re also teaching the next generation of programmers to create a more secure cyberspace. That’s important, Li says, because the demand for security-savvy professionals currently exceeds the supply. “One reason we have so many problems in cyberspace is that computer scientists don't know how to write a secure code,” Li says. “We need to improve that.” Sometimes the best way to figure out if a program is secure is to try to break it. The challenge of breaking, repairing, and fixing programs is what drew Kevin Warrick BS ’11 into cybersecurity. As an undergrad, Warrick (now a computer science doctoral student at UGA) took Li’s computer science security course: a semester-long competition in which classmates jockey for the most points in security challenges. These challenges include finding bugs, fixing problems, or battling classmates in capture the flag (in which teams try to hack and break opponents’ programming while protecting their own). “You’re learning something new every time,” Warrick says. “You want to be the first to solve a challenge and get more points.” Li says the games teach students how to create defensive code and pinpoint vulnerabilities. “I’m a believer that if you want to succeed in cybersecurity, you need to get your hands dirty. If you want to train students to work in the cybersecurity field, you have to get them to work on the real thing.” He used this approach in developing security courses for the National Science Foundation.

SHARING INFORMATION WITH THE COMMUNITY If multinational corporations and federal agencies with extensive resources fall victim to cybercrime, then what chance does anyone else have? And where can people turn for direction? For the state, UGA is taking steps to play a leading role in creating a security-savvy public. “I think people are looking to the University of Georgia for guidance into how to protect themselves,” says Johnsen, who, along with other UGA faculty, is working hard to help local governments and small businesses in Georgia bolster their defenses. The newest and most ambitious of these programs is CyberArch. Organized through UGA Public Service and Outreach (PSO), CyberArch is being piloted to share customized cybersecurity resources with Georgia communities. Already, UGA PSO units, such as the Small Business Development Center, the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, and the UGA Center for Continuing Education, offer help with cybersecurity. But CyberArch is taking it further by tailoring information to individual community needs. “We want the communities to tell us what their issues are, and we’ll help facilitate getting the right information to them,” says Paul Brooks, associate vice president for UGA Public Service and Outreach. Hart County and Griffin/Spalding County (participants in UGA’s Archway Partnership) are the first communities to pilot the program. In late 2016 and early 2017, outreach and cybersecurity representatives from UGA, including Johnsen, Li, and Warrick, met with community leaders in local businesses, law enforcement, education, and government to begin talking about those needs. Now, UGA experts are working on ways to offer solutions. It’s just the first step in equipping citizens to face the challenges of cybercrime. GM

TWO EASY STEPS EVERYONE CAN TAKE TO BE MORE CYBER READY: No one piece of technology is going to solve the issues of cybersecurity, says Kyle Johnsen, director of the Georgia Informatics Institutes. Instead, consumers need to make a habit of being more secure with their computers and devices, just like they take the time to lock the front door in the morning. Allow the updates that your phone and computer operating systems ask you to download. They’re not just offering new features; often, they’re plugging gaps in your device’s security. Use different passwords on every site. If your main password is exposed, then all of the other sites are exposed as well. If you have trouble remembering all of your passwords (and who among us doesn’t?) use one of the password management services available for download.

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EA OF A S

QUE S T ION S Researchers at UGA’s Skidaway campus are hunting an aquatic killer. by leigh beeson

aptain wynn gale knew it was bad. He’d been commercial fishing off the coast of Darien, about 50 miles south of Savannah, since he was 12, and his decades of shrimping told him the industry was in trouble. Again. First, it was the regulations requiring specific gear, mandating licenses, and prohibiting trawling in the sound. All reasonable and

MA ’17

arguably needed restrictions, but they cost fishermen like Gale not only time but buckets of money. Then came the mounting costs of repairing crumbling equipment. The never-ending battle to find experienced and trustworthy crew in the aging industry. Not to mention the younger generation leaving the coast in waves to find more stable office jobs.

nick bragg and peter frey

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But this time, off the coast of Georgia in the 1990s, there weren’t as many shrimp to catch, and the ones Gale and other commercial fishermen were pouring onto the decks of their boats had something wrong with them. They weren’t flopping around like normal; in fact, they barely moved. And their gills were black, a stark contrast to the milky clear color of Georgia’s famously sweet white shrimp. “You could go out there and drag around all day for five pounds of shrimp,” Gale recalls. “Every week, it got worse and worse. It went from 10 percent showing up with black gill to a quarter to a third to a half. We missed five days to have the boat motor repaired, and when we went back out there—zero shrimp. It's like they all just died or disappeared. Gone.” Gale gave up, docked the boat, and went off to a temporary construction job. A season that typically runs from June through January, shrimping season was over. It was only October. Gale wasn’t alone in thinking the shrimp he was pulling in didn’t look healthy. As early as the late 1980s, fishermen up and down the Georgia and Carolina coasts began complaining about smaller catches and saying the shrimp they did catch were lethargic on deck. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) would officially record the first instance of what would become known as black gill in 1996 when the condition was reported off the coast of Cumberland Island. Back then, no one knew what this mysterious condition was, what caused it, or how to stop it. And every year it got worse. The worst year on record for shrimping, 2013, proved a breaking point. “Black gill seemed to be a lot more prevalent. A lot of fishermen were noticing it in their catches,” says Bryan Fluech, associate director of Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, a public service and outreach unit at UGA that focuses on improving the environmental and economic health of coastal Georgia. “Even if shrimp have black gill, they’re safe to eat. It doesn’t affect their taste. But shrimping has traditionally been our most valuable fishery, and black gill is definitely impacting

Black gill (seen on the gills of some of the shrimp below) is a parasitic infection that is killing off Georgia shrimp and endangering the livelihood of shrimpers like Wynn Gale (right).

peter frey

Bryan Fluech (above, foreground), associate director of Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant’s Brunswick facility, and professor Marc Frischer (below) are working together to solve the black gill problem in the shrimp industry.

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Georgia shrimp.” Industry partners soon brought it to the attention of extension agents, who quickly realized this unnamed condition had the potential to be catastrophic. “One of the first questions was, ‘What is this?’” Fluech explains. “Was it being caused by pollution? Was it being caused by an invasive species? One of the first steps was just identifying it.” Faculty from Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant contacted UGA’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, asking researchers for help in identifying the culprit. That’s where professor Marc Frischer came in. He discovered the black spots were actually the shrimp’s desperate attempt to fight off an attack by a microscopic parasitic creature. “The shrimp recognizes that there’s a foreign invader in its body, takes its version of blood cells, and encapsulates it in melanin, which is the dark color,” Frischer says. But for shrimp, that incredibly useful immune defense mechanism comes with a cost: The melanin makes it harder for them to breathe by restricting gas flow across the gills. As a result, many either suffocate

or get eaten by predators. The lucky ones survive until they molt, shed their old gills, and get new ones. But they often get infected all over again. It’s a vicious cycle—one UGA experts are eager to break. UGA’s Skidaway Island campus is the ideal place to find answers to complex ecological questions, like those facing the shrimping industry. The campus has a trifold mission: research, education, and outreach. The Skidaway Institute focuses on much of the scientific research and training of the next generation of marine scientists, and Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant takes research to coastal communities to solve problems in environmentally sustainable and economically feasible ways. Research at the institute ranges from studies on phytoplankton, the base of the marine food web, to physical oceanography and marine robotics. Education and outreach includes the popular, open-to-thepublic UGA Marine Education Center and Aquarium, an oyster hatchery, and support to coastal industries through workshops, field and lab studies designed for K-12 students, public programming, and more. Where Skidaway truly excels, though, is at the intersection of research and outreach, using science to make an immediate impact on industry. “What Skidaway Institute and the UGA Department of Marine Sciences provide is a base understanding of our marine ecosystem,” says Elizabeth Harvey, an assistant professor of marine microbial ecology. “As the environment changes and as we have more economic consequences to that change, the institute is in a good position to help people figure out the ways to overcome issues they’re having and better understand them.” For shrimping, that means determining how rising ocean temperatures might quicken the spread of black gill.

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andrew davis tucker

During the two-plus decades black gill has been on the DNR’s radar, summer typically signaled a resurgence in the condition. But with the warmer winters of recent years comes an earlier emergence of the deadly parasite and the disease it causes each year. It’s another hit for the struggling industry that makes up a chunk of Georgia’s $16.8 million in commercial fishery

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sales. And while shrimpers can still make a decent living, many are having to diversify their crops, trawling for cannon ball jellyfish or other marine animals in the off season to make ends meet. No one can blame shrimpers for jumping ship, not with the flood of cheap imported seafood lowering their prices and the increased price of everything from insurance to fuel jacking up the

cost to fish. Black gill certainly isn’t making it any easier to make a living off shrimp. But researchers hope that being able to better predict expected harvests of shrimp can at least mitigate some of the damage. “We're not going to be getting rid of black gill,” Fluech says. “There's nothing to indicate that it's going to disappear. One of our ultimate goals is to have a

a nd t he u g a ma r in e ext e n s io n a nd g eo rg i a se a g r a n t f u n d GACOAST.UGA .E D U / G I V E /

S K I DAWA Y dorothy kozlowski

SKIO.UGA.ED U / J O I N / SUPPORT-UGA-SKID AWAY- I N S T I T U T E /

peter frey

h elp p rot ect o u r wat e rways t h ro u g h r ese a rch a nd serv ic e t h ro u g h t h e associ at es o f ski daway in st it u t e f u n d

OTHER SIDE

peter frey

better understanding of how bad it'll get so we can be more predictive in what the season will be like.” Frischer was the first to find the culprit of the disease: a ciliate, a single-celled microorganism. But nobody knows which one. And even if researchers did, no one knows how to eliminate it. “Everybody understands, if you have a disease in an open system like the ocean, there’s not a lot you’re going to be able to do to fix it,” says Frischer. “You can’t put antibiotics in the water. You can’t just treat the ocean like that. But you can understand it, and understanding leads to improved forecasting and management.” Even if there is no permanent fix, making shrimping season more predictable in the future may mean adjusting the season to when shrimp are still healthy and the microorganism that causes black gill is dormant, says Fluech. In the meantime, more accurate predictions may salvage what’s left of the industry. Fishermen are now using an app, developed by UGA associate professor of engineering Kyle Johnsen, to collect data on black gill in real time and help monitor the locations of outbreaks. Marine extension agents are there to address issues as they arise. “Now that I've got the app on my phone, if I start seeing one with black gill, I go back there and inspect every catch,” Gale says. “I want to get to the bottom of it.” Researchers are confident the fishermen’s data are helping develop a more well-rounded picture of what the industry is facing, especially now that black gill is being reported off the coast of Louisiana and elsewhere throughout the Gulf. “Again, we’re not going to get rid of black gill,” Fluech says. “Researchers alone aren't going to be able to get it done, and managers by themselves aren’t either. It's going to take everybody's involvement to make sure that we can come to some common ground to see if we can find some answers.” GM

E TH

ocated about 30 minutes southeast of downtown Savannah, Skidaway Island’s 17.9 square miles include a state park, several luxury golf courses, and more than 8,000 people. The island is also home to the University of Georgia’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant. Founded 50 years ago, the Skidaway Institute serves as a gateway to coastal and marine environments for programs throughout the University System of Georgia. Led by professor of marine sciences Clark Alexander, the primary goals of the institute are advancing the understanding of marine and environmental processes, conducting cutting-edge research, and training the next generation of great scientists. Skidaway Island also houses one of three UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant’s campuses. The public service and outreach unit provides ap-

plied research, education and training (bottom), and science-based outreach to advance coastal and marine communities and industries. The Marine Education Center and Aquarium (above left), part of UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, is Georgia’s first saltwater aquarium, with 16 exhibition tanks featuring animals from off the Georgia coast and a touch tank where visitors can pet horseshoe crabs and starfish. The Shellfish Research Lab, also part of Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, focuses on research, training, and developing technology to make aquaculture industries more environmentally and economically sustainable. It also features the state’s first oyster hatchery, launched in fall 2015. The hatchery is expected to produce between 5 and 6 million spat, or baby oysters, per year (top right), starting this year.—LB

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for a Looking r-long e t s e m e s asts l t a h t e c experien broad. a y d u t e? S a lifetim

by eric rangus MA ’94

Senior anthropology and genetics major Prabhjot Minhas spent her summer break in 2017 in Riobamba, Ecuador, at the Cachamsi Medical Spanish and Clinical Shadowing Institute.

hen she was a little girl, Kaneisha Smith would listen with wonder to her grandmother’s stories of doing mission work at orphanages in Zimbabwe. She dreamed of accompanying her one day. Sadly, the trip wasn’t meant to be. When she was a senior in high school, her grandmother died of breast cancer, and her hopes of traveling to Africa appeared gone. Three years later, Smith got another chance. During her junior year at UGA, she learned that one of her professors, Sandra Whitney, was on the faculty for the university’s Maymester study abroad program in Tanzania. The monthlong program’s itinerary included visits to local orphanages. Smith couldn’t apply for her passport fast enough. “It’s one thing to hear about something, but to experience it firsthand, that’s amazing,” says Smith, a Rome, Georgia, native who graduated in May. “This is what my grandmother meant when she was telling me stories. My favorite thing about college has been UGA giving me the opportunity to go abroad.”

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An outdoor classroom in Costa Rica. peter frey

For nearly 50 years, UGA has provided students with study abroad opportunities. Every year, more than 2,500 UGA students study outside the U.S. More than one-quarter of the Class of 2018 studied abroad at some point during their college career. If you ask one of those students or alumni about their experiences, you’d better get comfortable. “People who study abroad, they just can’t stop talking about their experience,” says Yana Cornish, UGA’s director of education abroad, as the program is formally known. “It’s something that stays with them their entire lives. And if you talk to someone who didn’t study abroad, frequently they list it as one of the biggest regrets of their college years.” UGA’s study abroad program has a presence in more than 60 countries and on all seven continents, anchored by three year-round centers located in the medieval Tuscan town of Cortona, Italy; Oxford, England, the oldest English-speaking seat of learning in the world; and the mountainous region of San Luis de Monteverde, in Costa Rica. They host students whose study abroad trips range from several weeks to multiple semesters. There are on-site UGA faculty and staff on the ground to serve the needs of students in all three center locations. Courses are taught by a mixture of UGA faculty and faculty from other institutions at both the Cortona and Costa Rica centers. UGA at Oxford courses are

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taught by a combination of UGA faculty and Oxford University faculty using the traditional tutorial teaching method. In addition to the centers abroad, there are more than 100 programs available through UGA Education Abroad. In areas where UGA does not offer a faculty-led program, staff in the Office of International Education, which runs study abroad, connect students with local universities to guide their work. Most universities offer some kind of education abroad package, but what separates UGA is its diversity (with seven continents to choose from, students can tailor their experiences to any interest), its popularity (UGA ranks in the top 13 universities nationally for students studying abroad both short and long term), and its place within UGA’s dedication to experiential learning, specifically how students understand contemporary cultures outside the U.S. “You have the opportunity to apply your academic studies in a new setting,” Cornish says. “Students are in an environment where they are learning constantly. You are exposed to new people, new food, often

a new language, new currency, new ways of getting around, and new learning and professional environments. That’s not something you can get from an internship in your hometown.” UGA Cortona celebrates its 50th anniversary next year, and it’s seen a lot of change in that half century. Cortona started as a summer art program but has expanded to 17 offerings, ranging from viticulture to business. Program director Christopher Robinson MFA ’01, who has worked at Cortona for more than 15 years, has experienced many of those changes and seen how they have increasingly enriched the student experience over the years. “Generally speaking, students rely on connectivity and social media. This seems to soften the shock of being in a different culture,” Robinson says. “That said, students today are open to new ideas, environments, and situations. I consistently see students develop a sense of self and confidence, a broader perspective, and greater understanding of the world we live in.”

You are exposed to new people, new food, often a new language, new currency, new ways of getting around, and new learning Exploring Italy with SPIA.

and professional environments. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not something you can get from an internship in your hometown. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;yana cornish, director of education abroad

The last day in Barcelona, Spain.

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Service learning in Ecuador. peter frey

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The reasons why students study abroad are as numerous as dots on a map. For accounting major Victoria Petuhova, a thirdyear student from Lexington, Georgia, the strength of UGA’s study abroad program is one of the reasons why she attended the university. “When I learned about the Terry program at UGA Oxford, I knew there was no reason not to go abroad. It’s a perfect fit,” she says. Petuhova, who is studying international business, adds that she also picked England for the opportunity to take classes with University of Oxford faculty. “They’ll be able to offer a different perspective on the material that I’d hear in the U.S. I’m really excited.” Petuhova will be in England for six weeks this summer. “I wanted an opportunity that pushed me outside of what I was used to,” says second-year student Lindsay McSwigan, who found such an opportunity as part of a UGA Discover Abroad experience in Australia and New Zealand. The travel-based Discover Abroad program took McSwigan and her fellow UGA adventurers to eight locations Down Under, including the Great Barrier Reef and the Australian Outback, while giving them opportunities to explore concepts ranging from environmental sustainability to public health. As an extracurricular activity, McSwigan also got to experience the thrill of skydiving, an outside-the-box adventure that was available to her there. Discover Abroad was such a life-changing experience for her that she now works for the study abroad program as a student advisor, leading presentations at study abroad info sessions. Kaneisha Smith, too, pushed herself to new heights—19,341 feet above sea level to be exact. After the academic portion of her course was completed, including visits to a Tanzanian orphanage, Smith stayed an extra week for a course extension to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. Mission accomplished. GM

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A caravan in Morocco.

Monte Fischer, John Kolb, Nicole Googe, Maggie Russo, and Rebecca Buechler, now third-year students at UGA, studied at the University of Oxford during Maymester and went punting on the River Thames.

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Visiting Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto, Japan.

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Zoe Li, front, now a fourth-year student, ventured out on a safari in the Serengeti during a 2017 spring break trip to Tanzania with David S. Williams, associate provost and director of the Honors Program, and Taylor Smith, now a UGA graduate.

To help support scholarships for students studying abroad, please visit INTERNATIONAL.UGA.EDU/ABOUT/DONATIONS

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THE NATION

news and events

from the uga alumni association

81ST ANNUAL ALUMNI AWARDS

Each year, the UGA Alumni Association honors alumni and friends who have demonstrated outAlumni Merit standing commitment William D. Young Jr. BBA ’78 to the university. This Partner, General year’s honorees are Wholesale Company among UGA’s most loyal supporters and were recognized April 20 during the annual Alumni Awards Luncheon. Ed Benson BBA ’42, who died March 31, was honored as well. More at Young Alumni alumni.uga.edu/alumniawards/gm.

Alumni Merit Steve C. Jones BBA ’78, JD ’87 U.S. District Judge

Faculty Service Jean E. Chin BS ’78 Executive Director, University Health Center, Retired

Student Alumni Council Member of the Year Thomas J. Callaway IV BBA ’07 Ja'Kyra Austin CEO + Founder, Class of 2018, Biochemistry Onward Reserve

Family of the Year The Benson Family Ed BBA ’42 and Larry BBA ’74 Benson

Friend of UGA Delta Air Lines

A BULLDOG BARK TO ...

justin evans

In March, Ruthie Crider BS ’99 hosted a “Dinner with a Dozen Dawgs” in Athens for 11 students interested in careers in the medical field. Crider is an ER surgeon at Georgia Emergency Associates in Savannah and volunteered her time to host this free meal for UGA Student Alumni Association donors.

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uga alumni association

The Raleigh and Philadelphia Alumni Chapters hosted dinners for UGA students participating in the IMPACT Service Break Program in March. The program offers students an affordable, weeklong, experiential service learning project that encourages an understanding of the country’s pressing social issues. The Raleigh Chapter treated the student groups volunteering in Durham and Pembroke, North Carolina, to a group dinner. The Philadelphia Chapter (shown above) provided student volunteers with a cheesesteak dinner and an Old City Walking Tour.

DON’T MISS OUT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20

FRIDAY, JUNE 22

UGA in Washington Reception

Young Alumni Night at SweetWater Brewing Co.

UGA alumni, friends, and elected officials from Georgia will get together from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Union Station for this annual gathering in the nation’s capital. alumni.uga.edu/calendar/gm

Join hundreds of young alumni for this annual event in Atlanta hosted by the UGA Young Alumni Leadership Council. alumni.uga.edu/youngalumni/gm

For more events, visit alumni.uga.edu/calendar/gm.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Stay connected with @ugaalumniassoc on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

In February, UGA hosted a reading and book signing with New England Patriots wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell AB ’15. He recently released a newly illustrated edition of his book, The Magician’s Hat. Featured here are Boston Alumni Chapter leaders alongside Mitchell (center); Kelly Kerner, vice president for development and alumni relations (Mitchell's right); and Executive Director of Alumni Relations Meredith Gurley Johnson BSFCS ’00, MEd ’16 (Mitchell's left).

This spring, Katia Howard BS ’01 wrote personal notes welcoming newly admitted students into the Bulldog family through the Give That Dawg a Bone card-writing campaign, a collaboration between the UGA Alumni Association and the UGA Office of Admissions.

Kim Bearden BSEd ’87, co-founder and executive director of the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, rocked her signature “chair stand” while speaking at a Women of UGA Mentorship Monday in January. Mentorship Mondays is a sold-out series of professional development breakfasts that feature successful alumnae offering advice and wisdom.

@katiahow

@ugaboston

@womenofuga

contact us: Have you moved? Changed your name? Keep your record up to date at alumni.uga.edu/myinfo/gm. For more information: (800) 606-8786 In March, the Women of UGA Affinity Group hosted a wine tasting and networking event at Vino Venue, the Bulldog 100 business founded by the late Michael J. Bryan BBA ’89.

alumni.uga.edu

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2.5

ON THE BULLDOG BEAT

Nestled between Lumpkin Street and North Campus is the Founders Memorial Garden, a living tribute to a group of gardeners from Athens. The brainchild of Hubert Owens, the founder and first dean of the landscape architecture program at UGA, the garden was named one of the top 100 landscapes of significance in the first 100 years of the American Society of Landscape Architects organization. The garden is a piece of living history in the heart of campus, filled with stories and memories.

acres of living history by kellyn amodeo ABJ ’09 photos by peter frey BFA ’94, dorothy kozlowski BLA ’06, ABJ ’10, and robert newcomb BFA ’81

I. VARIETY OF PLANTS AND DESIGN STYLES FOR TEACHING

Dean Owens included a variety of garden styles and used the steeply sloping site to host multiple plant species not normally found in Athens. This created a diverse teaching area for students of landscape architecture. The garden is still used for teaching and serves as the perfect outdoor study or classroom space, a place for relaxation, even the ideal spot for a marriage proposal.

II. WWII MEMORIAL

During the garden’s construction, Pearl Harbor was bombed and the United States entered World War II. Construction halted and did not resume until 1946. The northern end of the garden, an arboretum, was dedicated to those lost in the war.

II. I.

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III. THE LUMPKIN HOUSE

In the center of the garden stands the Lumpkin House, home to offices and classrooms. Built in 1857, it was the first house on Lumpkin Street and has been used as faculty residences, a cafeteria, and offices. It was also home to Mary Lyndon, the first dean of women, and home to the first sorority on campus, Phi Mu, in the 1920s. From 1963 to 1998, it served as the headquarters for the Garden Club of Georgia.

The map of the Founders Memorial Garden below was drawn under the direction of Hubert Owens in 1969.

V. TIME CAPSULE

IV. BOXWOOD GARDEN SUNDIAL

The Founders Memorial Garden was built in honor of the Ladies Garden Club of Athens, America’s first organized garden club which first met in 1891. In honor of its centennial celebration, the club buried a time capsule under granite pavers in front of the Lumpkin House. It is set to be opened in 2091.

In the center of the Boxwood Garden stands a sundial, but sadly, it’s not the original. In the 1960s, the original sundial was stolen. It was found almost 20 years later in the basement of an Atlanta home. After being returned to its original space in 2013, the sundial was stolen again the next year when vandals entered the garden. It’s never been found, but an almost-exact replica was cast by a local metal sculptor, Barbara Mann, and rededicated in 2015.

VI. OWENS ARBOR

In 1991, the Garden Club of Georgia built an arbor and planted camellias in memory of Dean Owens. Since the garden’s construction, efforts have been made to maintain his original design to preserve its history and intentions. Foxgloves, Owens’ favorite flower, are planted throughout the garden in his memory.

IV.

III.

VI.

class notes

Whisperin' Bill Anderson waves to the Sanford Stadium crowd on Nov. 4, 1972. This photo and many more can be found in his autobiography (below) published by the University of Georgia Press in 2016.

Compiled by Katherine Costikyan, Rachel Floyd, and Mara Weissinger.

1950-1954 William Kibler BS ’51, MSA ’53 was inducted into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service’s Hall of Fame. 1960-1964 Diane Haley Toney ABJ ’60 wrote It Was What It Was: My Memoir, which tells her story of growing up in a small Georgia town in the 1940s and ‘50s. Diane Cole BSEd ’64 conducts estate sales through her business, Cole’s Collectibles, in Martin, Georgia. John B. Prince III BBA ’64 was honored with the Outstanding Eagle Award from the South Georgia Council of the Boy Scouts of America. William Warlick AB ’64, LLB ’65 joined Turner Padget law firm in the company’s expansion within the Central Savannah River Area. Milton “Buddy” Coleman Jr. BSF ’65 is the owner and operator of Coleman Forest Land Services in Valdosta. He has been a practicing forester in the state of Georgia for 50 years.

1965-1969 Mark Warren BS ’69 published his debut novel, Adobe Moon, the first of his trilogy, “Wyatt Earp: An American Odyssey.” 1970-1974 Ty Butler Jr. AB ’70 is secretary of the Ossabaw Island Foundation Board of Trustees in Savannah. Judi Reiss BBA ’70, MEd ’72 was elected prothonotary of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. J. Cliff McCurry BBA ’71 received the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award from Georgia Southern University - Armstrong campus in Savannah. Maxine Burton BSEd ’72, MEd ’78 was featured in the February 2018 issue of Florists’ Review in its women leaders section. She is the founding president of burton + BURTON. Garon Hart BFA ’74 published “The University of Georgia: Images and Recollections”; a book featuring vivid color photographs of the major buildings and landmarks on UGA’s main campus. Ronnie Higgins BSPh ’74 is the deputy director of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency.

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special

CL ASS ACTS

Hall of Fame Songwriters The Songwriters Hall of Fame has announced its class of 2018, and two Bulldogs are on the list. UGA alumni Bill Anderson ABJ ’59 (above) and Steve Dorff ABJ ’71 (not pictured) are two of the 10 songwriters and musicians to be welcomed into the hall of fame this year, alongside household names like Alan Jackson and John Mellencamp. The inductees will be celebrated at the Hall of Fame’s 49th annual induction and awards ceremony in New York. Anderson, who grew up outside of Atlanta, is not only an accomplished songwriter but also a worldrenowned country singer, earning the famed nickname “Whisperin’ Bill” for his soft vocal style. His songwriting credits include collaborations with artists like Conway Twitty, Kenny Chesney, and Brad Paisley. Dorff is a popular songwriter and composer who has written songs for artists like George Strait and Kenny Rogers. His career has included both country and popular music credits, alongside many compositions for film and television. He is a three-time Grammy and six-time Emmy nominee.

CLASS NOTES APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

Art, History

Nina Goodall AB ’17

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n sept. 9, “corot: women,” an exhibition highlighting the work of the 19th century French painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot opens for a nearly fourmonth run at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Nina Goodall AB ’17 wrote the book on it. Her work makes up the exhibition historical materials that will appear online and as part of a digital publication. The project was the centerpiece of an eight-month internship at the National Gallery she completed in May. Goodall was one of six emerging museum professionals chosen from an international group of applicants for the job. “This opportunity is special because being able to put together an exhibition history is required for any curator, and my dream is to become a curator,” Goodall says. The dream came along relatively recently, but it’s one Goodall is well on her way to fulfilling. Upon entering UGA, the Marietta native intended to major in international affairs before a freshman art history course introduced her to a new path.

“I felt like art history was more of a visual experience,” she says. “Through art you can understand different time periods and cultures.” After switching her major to art history, Goodall didn’t limit herself to any particular time period or genre, and she pursued every learning opportunity she could find. Goodall interned at the Georgia Museum of Art, working in the African American collection. Her honors thesis was an exploration of concrete art and fascism in 1940s Argentina. And she earned a multiyear fellowship at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, which was her introduction to curating. Most curators have their doctorates, so Goodall isn’t done with school yet, but with the breadth of experience she has collected less than one year out of UGA, she is well positioned for a long museum career. “At the National Gallery, curators are really valued because they are public servants,” she says. “I hope that when I’m a curator I’ll be able to express my love of art and encourage the public to get excited about it, too.”

written by eric rangus MA '94

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From Little Italy to HGTV

peter frey

en and anita corsini weren’t looking to become HGTV stars. They had already launched a successful house-flipping business in 2005 that saw them purchasing, renovating, and selling more than 100 houses a year. “You would never imagine that both of us would be on a network like HGTV given our backgrounds,” says Anita BS ’99, who majored in math at UGA. Ken BBA ’99 has a bachelor’s degree is in risk management. “This wasn’t necessarily anything we were seeking,” she continues. “It’s something that fell in our laps.” Their dedication to getting the job done and getting it done well paid off. Premiering last July, their spinoff of the popular HGTV series Flip or Flop was renewed after only five episodes had aired. But the Corsinis’ path to Flip or Flop: Atlanta was definitely a circuitous one. The two met during their third year at UGA when Anita was leading a Bible study that included Ken’s roommate. She’d call their room, and Ken would chat her up

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Ken BBA ’99 and Anita BS ’99 Corsini

peter frey

before handing over the phone. When they started dating—downtown pizza joint Little Italy was their go-to spot—Ken and Anita quickly knew they’d found their partner, both in life and in future business endeavors. Anita was teaching high school math when Ken started his residential development company, Georgia Residential Partners, after five years in corporate insurance. A year later when the couple was expecting their first child, Anita originally planned to stay home with the baby, but Ken had other ideas. “Ken said, ‘Why don’t you get your real estate license?’” Anita says. “And I said, ‘No.’ Then he said, ‘Yeah, you need to do it now because you won’t do it once the baby comes.’” Realizing he was right, Anita quit teaching and got her license all in the same month, officially making theirs a family business. Anita serves as the designer while Ken is the contractor, and they tend to (mostly) stay in their lanes. “I have no business making design decisions,” Ken says. “The only thing I’ll

contribute to design wise is floor plans.” “He still has very strong opinions,” Anita interjects, smiling. “Just about floor plans,” Ken replies. “And colors,” Anita adds. Over the years, they’ve rehabbed a lot of distressed homes, finding everything from animal skulls to antique Singer sewing tables and a North Face sleeping bag that Ken now calls his own. But few topped one of the houses from the show’s upcoming season. “One of the houses we’re doing this year, the people didn’t live in the house,” Ken says. “They inherited it and decided it was going to be their own personal landfill. For years on end, they would go to the house and just throw their trash in the house. I kid you not, you could not open the front door because the trash—no exaggeration—was piled that high.” Spoiler alerts aside, that house is no longer a garbage dump now that the Corsinis have their hands on it.

CLASS NOTES 1975-1979 Dana Clarke ABJ ’75, MBA ’81 received the Winners Circle Award at the 365 State Tourism Conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Clarke currently holds the Dwayne Daggett Endowed Professorship in the John A. Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University. Luke Morgan BBA ’75 received the 2017 Volunteer of the Year award from the Georgia Economic Developers

Hospital in Cordele after retiring in December. Kathleen McAnally BS ’77, DVM ’81 was selected as a Face of Food Safety at the USDA-FSIS for her dedication to preventing food-related hospitalizations and deaths in the United States and abroad. Peter Stoddard BBA ’79 is owner of Stoddard Media, a marketing content agency. Paul W. Williams BBA ’79 was appointed by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to serve as vice-chair-

Appreciation Gift Ideas From The Pros.” Walter Cromer BSAE ’82, MS ’84 is the chief idea officer and founder of Eden Concepts, a technology and development consulting firm based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bill Walker BBA ’82, MAcc ’83 is the author of Chicago Pits, a story about a man involved with the Chicago Commodities Exchange. Jamie Morrison AB ’83 is a producer for NBC News and

Savannah. Robert H. Snyder AB ’88, JD ’08 was elected partner with the law firm of Butler Wooten & Peak. Stephanie Bradshaw BSHE ’89 is a co-owner of The Stitchery, a fabric and sewing shop in Rome, that was featured in the fall/winter issue of Quilt Sampler magazine. The Stitchery was also named a 2018 Bulldog 100 honoree.

Association. He retired from the Douglas-Coffee County Economic Development Authority after serving as chair for 23 years. Patti Hunt BSPH ’76 became an operator at Crisp Regional

man of the State Charter School Commission.

The Weather Channel.

Mary Hartzog BSEd ’90 and her husband Scott Hartzog BSPh ’90 own Seminole Hartzog Pharmacy in Donalsonville. Richard Mandell BLA ’90 received the 2017 BoardRoom Award for Golf Course Archi-

1980-1984 Sharon Fisher BSEd ’80 was featured in the Fit Small Business article “Top 25 Employee

1985-1989 John C. Helmken II BBA ’85 was elected for a second term on the Ossabaw Island Foundation Board of Trustees in

1990-1994

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Living Her Calling

catmax photography

or condace pressley ABJ ’86, the field of journalism is much more than a job. It’s a calling. And for her, journalism came calling in middle school. “My parents’ nickname for me was Miss Big Ears because I was always listening,” she laughs. “I was very nosy as a child. My inquisitive nature made journalism seem like a natural career path for me.” A Marietta native, Pressley wrote for the Marietta High School newspaper and co-edited the yearbook. She fondly remembers her first time on stage as the narrator for her second grade Christmas play where she discovered her love for public speaking. When she enrolled in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, she thought she would go into television. “Any young black girl growing up in Atlanta wanted to be Monica Kaufman Pearson,” she says, recalling the legendary WSB-TV anchor, UGA alumna, and now personal friend of Pressley. written by kellyn amodeo ABJ '09

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Condace Pressley ABJ ’86

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But Pressley's path at UGA led her to a career in radio instead of television. She volunteered at the campus radio station, WUOG, working her way up from reporter to news anchor. She loved the control she had over her stories. She chose to cover the local county commissioner meetings and school board meetings, which taught her to dig for the interesting angle. “The news is about people,” she says. “Whatever the subject matter, it’s going to affect someone. The challenge is to find the people and find the story.” Today, Pressley is a well-known voice across the Atlanta airwaves, hosting multiple radio shows on WSB Radio and Kiss 104.1 interviewing decades of newsmakers, like Bert Lance, above. On her hit show Perspectives, she interviews local celebrities and authors. The show celebrates its 30th anniversary next year. From political races to the 1996 Olympics, Pressley has covered multiple spectrums of

storytelling—even those that were tough to cover as a lifelong Atlantan. “I covered the Braves’ trek from worst to first and the World Series in 1991. It was devastating when they lost, but I was on the field when they won in 1995,” she says with a smile. Pressley’s storied career has landed her in the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame and on the 2017 list of Atlanta’s Top 100 Black Women of Influence. She joined the Centennial Class of Fellows of the Grady College in 2015. More than 30 years after graduating from the university, she now appreciates her calling even more. “Journalism is more important today than it ever was. Facts are facts, despite those who will choose their ‘facts,’” she says. “It is rewarding work. Some people do very well at it and others live the struggle. This is a calling, not a job.”

CLASS NOTES

RACING THE WIND

Beloved Pastime Inspires First Novel Jay Jacob Wind’s life is thoroughly entrenched in the running world. Not only has he run in more than 185 marathons, he directs four marathons each year in Washington, D.C.; writes a sports column for Arlington, Virginia’s Sun Gazette; and serves as director of various local running clubs. In January, he contributed to the field in a new way, publishing his first novel, entitled The Man Who Stole the Sun. The techno-thriller is based on the challenging Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, a marathon Wind MBA ’77 knows quite well—he’s finished it 35 times. The novel follows the story of a threatened terror attack on a marathon, the people who try to stop it, and its effect on them. Influenced by the Boston Marathon bombing and his own running career, Wind wants readers to witness the redemptive power of love and running through the novel.

tect of the Year from BoardRoom magazine. William Chew AB ’91 joined Turner Padget law firm in the company’s expansion within the Central Savannah River Area. Matt Luke BBA ’91 is a partner at Clenney & Luke, where he oversees the tax division. Scott Weiss AB ’91 merged practices with Ortale Kelley Law Firm in Nashville. He is Tennessee’s first and only College of Community Association Lawyers Fellow. Kelly M. Smith BSPH ’92, PharmD ’93 received the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation’s 2018 Outstanding Alumna Award.

She is an associate dean at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. Stephanie Vandiver BS ’92 is a registered nurse at Union General Hospital in Blairsville. Paul Dueringer AB ’93, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, is chief operations officer at the 65th Medical Brigade in South Korea. Stephen Jones BFA ’94 was named president of the Georgia Professional Photographers Association’s board of directors. 1995-1999 Christopher Barnes AB ’95 has a commercial mediation

practice in Los Angeles. Kim Eilers BSEd ’95, MEd ’97 is a real estate agent and member of the Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, East Cobb office. Brett James AB ’95 is a school improvement specialist and science and social studies consultant at North Georgia Regional Service Agency in Ellijay. Heather Jordan BSEH ’95 is a custom design studio manager with Shaw Industries in Cartersville. She has worked with the company for 20 years. Jennifer Morrell ABJ ’95 is executive editor of Pro Construction Guide and Pro Masonry

Guide magazines in Atlanta and coaches cheerleading in Forsyth County. James Parks AB ’95 served in the Surge Capacity Force Preparedness Call Center in Denton, Texas, taking calls during Hurricane Harvey. He is an immigration services officer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Application Support Center in Grand Junction, Colorado. Dorna Taylor AB ’95 is senior vice president of business and legal affairs for Dr. J Enterprises and general counsel for basketball hall-of-famer Julius “Dr. J” Erving. Aaron Edelheit BBA ’96 wrote

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Fashion Forward

Amy Smilovic ABJ ’89

peter frey

written by leigh beeson MA ’17

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our words describe amy smilovic’s personal aesthetic and also that of Tibi, the worldwide fashion company she founded 20 years ago: clean, feminine, modern, relaxed. But prior to her move to Hong Kong in 1997, she didn’t know she and her line would become fashion industry staples. “I had always wanted to start my own business,” Smilovic ABJ ’89 says. “I didn’t know that it would be a clothing business. But I knew that I loved design, and I knew that I loved art.” Mere days after arriving in the fast-paced, vibrant city, she launched her now-famous brand with only a few sketches and a lot of determination to make her business a success. “I started out with really some very shoddy drawings of what I wanted,” she says. “And I can’t even believe that I was able to show these drawings and have people on the design side say, ‘Sure, that sounds great.’ But they did.” The brand was small to start with—just two dresses, one skirt, and a pair of pants—and print heavy. But it was an immediate hit among expats in Hong Kong, and department stores in the U.S. came calling soon after. With Tibi’s popularity growing and a baby on the way, Smilovic and her husband, Frank, who joined the Tibi team as CEO, moved the company’s headquarters to New York in the early 2000s. They also established an outlet store in her hometown of St. Simons Island and Tibi’s own shipping warehouse, something other fashion lines outsource, in Brunswick. The Smilovics rebranded around 2010, with a focus on sleeker, more modern clothing, and by all appearances the new look struck a chord with women around the globe. Tibi now does more than $50 million in sales every year and employs 85 people, with online sales accounting for about 30 percent of its revenue. “When I first started, I had imposter syndrome for, like, 15 years because I didn’t have a design background,” she says. “But I had fun with it.” And now the line she launched with only a vague idea of how to run a fashion company, shows at New York Fashion Week, with international editors and celebrities clad in Tibi lining the front row.

CLASS NOTES The Hard Break: The Case for a 24/6 Lifestyle, a book making a business case for the sabbath and taking breaks from work life. He is the CEO of Mindset Capital in Santa Barbara, California. Jeffery Monroe BA ’96, JD ’00 was sworn in as a judge for Bibb County State Court. Jon Williams BLA ’96 is the president and CEO of W&A Engineering, which donated $50,000 in support services to the Northeast Georgia tri-county, multiuse trail project, Firefly Trail. Heather Humann AB ’98 wrote Another Me: The Doppelganger in 21st Century Fiction, Television and Film, which explores the role of the doppelganger in modern literature and entertainment. She teaches composition and American literature at Florida Gulf Coast University. Lisa C. Tolliver BBA ’98, MEd ’05 is the community development manager with Bank of the Ozarks in Atlanta. 2000-2004 Kristin Hampson BS ’00 opened Hampson Family Law, a private family law firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. Kelly Smith AB ’00 was named director of membership and business development at the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants. Kristy Geoghan ABJ ’01 was appointed as director of development for New Jersey SEEDs, a nonprofit that works with motivated, high-achieving students from low-income families. Cindy Fulenwider Greene BS

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House of PR

f you had asked a young ted donath ABJ ’03 what he’d be doing now, he would’ve guessed anchoring the news. He loved that the news helped broaden his worldview and connected him with places beyond his hometown of Marietta. Although he didn’t follow the broadcasting path, he did find a job with a worldwide reach. Donath works as a public relations director at Netflix, serving the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. With more than 118 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix is the world’s largest Internet entertainment service and Donath and his team tell stories to media to get the public excited about it. But what really gets people excited is talking to Donath about his job. “No matter where I go, I mention the written by kellyn amodeo ABJ '09

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Ted Donath ABJ ’03

dorothy kozlowski

company I work for, and suddenly everyone’s telling me a story about what they’re watching, what they love, and what they hate,” he says. “Entertainment serves a lot of purposes. It can make you laugh, cry, think, and feel things. It helps people connect. That’s really important, no matter how you receive your information.” Before he landed at Netflix, Donath bounced around different industries, using his storytelling talents to promote businesses in fashion, beauty, travel, and technology. He even helped with campaigns at the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics and helped facilitate the live broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “I was fortunate enough to be able to work on some of the world's larg-

est events,” he says. “The scale of those events and the joy they bring to people is immeasurable.” Today he lives in Los Angeles and wakes up each day ready for a new challenge in the unpredictable world of public relations, basing his storytelling on the ever-changing culture and outside world. “That’s an exciting thing. Everything moves, and you’re always adjusting and pivoting.” Through the chaos, Donath has fallen in love with his position, and the company he now calls home. “I love working at Netflix. I have the opportunity to work with some of the smartest and most inspiring people I have ever met,” he says. “We are all working together to influence culture. And we have really good breakfast burritos.”

CLASS NOTES ’01 was awarded Dentist of the Year by the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce for her work and charitable contributions to cancer patients within the community. She practices at BGW Dental in Gainesville. Ricky Harris BS ’02 was named to the Memphis Business Journal 40 Under 40 for 2017. Harris is a gastroenterologist in Germantown, Tennessee, and a member of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital board of directors and governors. Jennifer Kerr BSFCS ’02 joined

study in South Africa in July. Steve Sanders ABJ ’03 was promoted to partner at the Fulcher Hagler law firm in Augusta. Cameron Schwabenton BSFCS ’03 was named a Traditional Home Rising Star of Design, and sells midcentury couture pillows through her store, The Mommy Pop Shop, which has been featured in House Beautiful and New England Home magazines. John Manly AB ’04, JD ’08 is chair elect of the Ossabaw Island Foundation Board of Trustees

Turner Padget law firm in the company’s expansion within the Central Savannah River Area. Emily Robinson AB ’03, MEd ’05 was selected to be a Global Learning Fellow by the National Education Association Foundation. She will

in Savannah. 2005-2009 Nicole Cavanagh AB ’05 is the coordinator of the Western Judicial Circuit Felony Drug Court in Athens.

UNDEFEATED

‘Who's Next’ for the Hall of Fame From the field to the ring, you can teach an old Dawg new tricks. Just ask Bill Goldberg M ’89, a former UGA football player who was inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)’s Hall of Fame on April 6. Though Goldberg is internationally renowned for his career in wrestling (and his catchphrase “Who's next?”), he got his start in Athens between the hedges. He spent his college years as defensive tackle for the Georgia Bulldogs, followed by professional stints with the Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons. He made his wrestling debut in 1997, picking up the sport while rehabilitating from a football injury. He soon became one of pro wrestling's most popular, successful, and charismatic figures. Over the course of his career, Goldberg has been a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He is recognized by the WWE as being professional wrestling’s first undefeated world champion. Now retired, Goldberg has several acting credits, as well as a host of television appearances under his belt. special

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Gifts of Sisterhood

Katherine Lucey ABJ ’81

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fter spending 20 years in the banking industry specializing in energy investment, Katherine Lucey ABJ ’81 (pictured above, right) saw a need. Working with a family foundation, she traveled to Uganda and saw the impact solar energy had on rural parts of that country and others where many people don’t have access to network electricity and have to rely on burning kerosene and candles for light. Seeing the impact of replacing those toxic and expensive fuels with clean, safe solar lights inspired her to start her own nonprofit organization, Solar Sister. While electricity was a need in these

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rural areas, Lucey also realized the potential to empower women. She began marketing solar lamps to the women of the households. Selling directly to them saved the daily trip into town to pick up kerosene for their lamps. “We decided the best way to reach them was through a network of women entrepreneurs working in their communities,” Lucey says. “That became the genesis of Solar Sister. Now we help them start businesses where they sell the solar lamps, solar home systems, and solar phone chargers.” By having this door opened, the women in these communities are able to provide for their families and become more inde-

pendent. They control their own inventory and marketing while also meeting monthly with other women in the organization to train and share best practices. While these women face challenges being entrepreneurs in rural Africa, Lucey says having the support of other women facing the same challenges is what makes the organization special. “It can be very discouraging when everyone around you is saying you can’t do this,” she says. “But they have this sisterhood, these other women, who are telling them you can do this, you can succeed, and we believe in you. That makes all the difference in the world.”

CLASS NOTES Peter Courtney BA ’05 studied foreign influence efforts as a research fellow at the U.S. National Intelligence University for the 2016-2017 academic year. He works for the FBI and presented his research at the American Political Science Association’s 2017 annual meeting in San Francisco. Stephanie Sweeney BS ’05 is owner of Savannah Dental in Savannah. Allison Yarrow AB, ABJ ’05 is the author of 90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality, a book focusing on how the women of the 1990s shaped cultural views of girlhood. Stephanie Earley ABJ ’06 is an assistant editor at Critical Content in Los Angeles. James Gibson ABJ, AB ’06 was elected partner in the law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White in Birmingham, Alabama. Charlie Hartman BSFR ’06 is a shareholder at Maynard Cooper & Gale. Ashley Thompson BSEd ’06, AB ’08 is a spanish teacher at Georgia Cyber Academy and coaches gymnastics in Thomaston. Gini Bell BSEd ’07, MEd ’08 is the assistant principal at Blue Ridge Elementary in Fannin County. Rebecca Creasy BSA ’07 is a lecturer in the department of nutrition and food science at Texas A&M University. Andrea Pearson BS ’07, JD ’10 is an associate at the practice of Bloom Sugarman in Atlanta. Adam Kazinec BBA ’08 is a finacial advisor at his own practice within Prudential. Stephen BBA ’08, Guyton AB ’11,

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CLASS NOTES

our georgia commitment keeping uga academically competitive

special

Allison Ausband ABJ ’83 and her husband, Eddie BBA ’82, embrace the idea that giving comes in many forms and enhances the academic prestige of their alma mater.

hen she enrolled at uga, Allison Ausband was an aspiring journalist. But the telecommunications major decided that she most wanted to be part of a large company with a respected corporate culture. Allison leveraged what she learned in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication to build a successful career at Delta Air Lines. “Thirty-four years later, I still use what I learned at UGA every day—from my journalism classes to my network of friends,” Allison says. “Communica-

GIVE.UGA.EDU

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tion carries tremendous influence. UGA taught me the fundamentals of what great communication is all about.” After graduation, Allison joined Delta as a flight attendant. Today, she is the senior vice president for in-flight service for Delta Air Lines and is responsible for the company’s 23,000 flight attendants and its onboard culinary experience. As their careers progressed and two of their children enrolled at UGA, Allison and Eddie engaged with the university’s academics. Allison became a member of the UGA Board of Visitors and a UGA Foundation Trustee. “Serving in these roles has given me a deeper understanding of student needs, and I have had the chance to meet university leaders,” says Allison. “I’ve learned how competitive the world of higher education is—from classrooms, labs, and

dining halls to attracting and retaining top faculty. I know athletics is competitive, but the educational experience is no different.” The Ausbands now regularly give to the Terry College of Business, where Eddie earned his bachelor’s degree, and to Delta Hall, UGA’s residential facility in Washington, D.C., named for a $5 million grant from the Delta Air Lines Foundation in 2015. “Eddie and I share a philosophy that you should be passionate about who you support and have confidence in the organization,” Allison says. “My advice to fellow alumni is to give—that might be of your time or a monetary donation. President Morehead’s leadership is transformational. There is a clear mission for students to be enriched through their time on campus and to then go forth and share that with the world.”

Join the Ausbands by showing your financial support for an area of campus about which you’re passionate. give.uga.edu/gm

CLASS NOTES

COFFEE ART

Sleeve Design Honors Family, Veterans Meghan Moser MFA '07 is the designer and creative director of Patternseed Design Studio in Wilmington, N.C. In 2017, her original hand block printed artwork was featured nationwide on a limited edition Starbucks coffee cup sleeve honoring U.S. military veterans and their families. The project has special meaning for Moser, whose father, Thomas, retired after 29 years as a Navy SEAL captain. The sleeve, which was part of a national campaign, featured a backdrop of Moser’s hand block printed coffee bean pattern in a camouflage design, recognizing the veterans and military spouses who have been hired by Starbucks. After earning her master’s in fabric design from UGA, Moser worked in the textile industry. She founded Patternseed Design Studio in 2010, where she creates hand block printed textile art for apparel, home furnishings, and various other surface pattern design applications. “I’m truly honored. I never imagined that my father’s career as a military officer and my career as a textile designer would intertwine like this,” Moser says. “It’s an amazing opportunity.”

DISCOVERING THE KEY TO LONGER, HEALTHIER LIVES When Karen Norris learned otherwise healthy people were contracting pneumocystis pnemonia, she knew something was very wrong. So the infectious disease expert decided to do something about it. Norris developed a vaccine to prevent immunocompromised people from contracting the potentially deadly fungus, helping them live longer, healthier lives.

It's our great commitment.

To read more, visit greatcommitments.uga.edu

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Motor City Makeover

Marcus Jones BSES ’09

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n 2009, months after the financial market crashed and as the housing crisis was at its worst, people were fleeing Detroit in droves. That same year, Marcus Jones BSES ’09 was getting drawn in. Over time, he committed to helping the city and its residents recover. As a UGA student from Decatur, Jones had studied environmental sciences while working toward a career in Georgia real estate, but the housing crisis forced him to alter his plans. He enrolled in graduate school at the University of Michigan and focused his research at the intersection of urban planning, environmental science, and real estate. The city of Detroit, about 45 minutes from Ann Arbor, became his classroom. “I started to become fascinated by Detroit,” Jones says. “The real estate market was depleting, and the city was at the lowest of the low. It created an incredible environment for me to learn.” This was Detroit’s landscape: too many written by aaron hale MA '16

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abandoned houses, too many people out of work, and so much work to be done. As a student of urban planning, Jones knew the city would have to be strategic in its efforts to come back. Detroit has a lot of existing infrastructure and a lot of abandoned houses—many of them salvageable. Jones explored how to consolidate resources to create clusters of activity and start developing from those clusters. One answer was to deconstruct—rather than simply demolish—abandoned houses in neighborhoods unlikely to come back. That means safely removing any environmental hazards like asbestos and keeping the other materials for reuse before leveling the structure. After he presented his thesis and earned his master’s degree, Jones followed his studies into unexpected territory: workforce training. Rebuilding Detroit couldn’t start until there were more jobs. So, he helped found a vocational school, the Detroit Training Center, to help provide

that. At the beginning, the center focused on training workers in demolition and deconstruction. Many of the trainees came through the correctional system. The program eventually moved into areas of maintenance and heavy equipment training. “We created programs where people who are willing to work hard can get licensed in these areas,” he says. By the time Jones left the center late last year to focus on his burgeoning real estate business, it had trained over 7,500 workers. Detroit is making a comeback. The city’s unemployment has dropped, but it is still well above the national average. For his part, Jones is looking for his next opportunity to create a better Detroit. “I really want to combine my experience from the last five years of workforce development with my experience in real estate and really start to change how our neighborhoods here in Detroit are being rebuilt and redeveloped,” he says.

Asa AB ’12, and Inman BBA ’12 Porter are the founders of SupPorter, a company using blockchain technology to help organizations fundraise more effectively. Jessica Avery BBA ’09 is engaged to Jonathan Jackson AB ’09. 2010-2014 Stephanie Landrum BS ’11 is a licensed professional counselor in private practice in Peachtree City. Guyton AB ’11, Asa AB ’12, Inman BBA ’12, and Stephen BBA ’08 Porter are the founders of SupPorter, a company using blockchain technology to help organizations fundraise more effectively. Kirby Cobb BFA ’12 is an assistant creative director at Marina Maher Communications, a PR/Advertising agency in New York. James Smithson II BS ’12 married Morgan Smithson BBA ’15 in October and is now an analyst at Navigator Management Partners. Alex Vautin BS ’12 started a new company, Southeast Civil Group, which offers engineering, consulting, and contracting in the field of heavy civil construction. Will Walton AB ’13 wrote I Felt a Funeral In My Brain, his second young adult novel. Megan Strecker ABJ ’14 is the public relations coordinator at LSU Health Shreveport.

2015-2017 Morgan Castleberry BS ’15 is a student at Mercer University School of Medicine. Joshua Eskew BS ’15 is a student at Mercer University School of Medicine. Isaac Hopkins AB, AB ’15 married Hannah Robbins AB, BSEd ’16 in June 2017. Both are graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin. Jeff Lanier Jr. AB, BS ’15 is

attending Emory School of Medicine and will receive his degree in 2019. Morgan Smithson BBA ’15 graduated from Fisher College of Business in May 2017 with a master of human resources management degree. Smithson married James Smithson II BS’12 in October. Ashley Anderson AB, BBA ’17 is a graduate researcher at Johnson & Johnson. She is also a

master of marketing research candidate at UGA. Fredo Avelar BBA ’17 is working with the Vanguard Group in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kyle Hawkins AB ’17 is an associate banker at Barclays Bank in New York.

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CLASS NOTES APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

Harvesting Leaders

Lauren Ledbetter Griffeth BSA ’05, MEd ’08, PhD ’13

n a “4-h at uga day” football game in the sixth grade, Lauren Ledbetter Griffeth, who grew up in Cochran, watched the UGA cheerleaders run down the sidelines, saw the spirit of the fans, and fell in love with Georgia. At the time, she didn’t know that she would one day be one of those cheerleaders and also go on to receive three degrees from the university and work there. Griffeth BSA ’05, MEd ’08, PhD ’13 is an extension leadership specialist with the UGA Cooperative Extension and the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. She works with professionals both inside and outside the college to build and improve leadership skills. While heading these programs, she researches leadership development, specifically of women in agricultural leadership. “We’re learning about how to empower women in the male-dominated field of agriculture to be better leaders,” she says. “I know everyone’s an individual, but I think we need to recognize that men and women are fundamentally different in how we see the world in some ways. We have different needs and that’s OK, and we shouldn’t be afraid to discuss it.” Working with extension programs such as UGA’s Advancing Georgia’s Leaders in Agriculture and Forestry allows Griffeth to get direct feedback from her students on what they want to learn about leadership and about the effectiveness of current programs. This research has also allowed her to closely observe how women fundamentally change the conversation in agriculture and leadership in general. Griffeth is currently working on a book about how women in agricultural leadership roles can bring new perspectives on how to solve world hunger. Although her many different roles can make it hard to find time to write, she’s no stranger to balancing a hectic schedule. As a master’s and doctoral student, she worked full-time and took classes at night to finish her degrees with the guidance of her professors. “Some of the faculty, some of the professors that I had, truly made me see the world differently,” she says. “And I really appreciated that, just because, in order to really develop your own perspective, you have got to have your worldview challenged.” peter frey

written by mara weissinger

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CLASS NOTES

gradnotes

leader for Florida and the Caribbean.

arts & sciences

education

Manuel Barragan MA ’11 became a coordinator for the UGA in España program after moving back to his homeland of Sevilla, Spain in 2016.

business Greg Becker MBA ’94 joined Newmark Knight Frank Valuation & Advisory as senior managing director and market

Joanna Free MEd ’86 is the founder of “Kick Butts Take Names,” an online community dedicated to helping people quit tobacco. Lindsey Steele Jr. MA ’99 is an active duty Naval Flight Surgeon. Russell Brock MEd ’00, EdD ’03 is the principal at Anita White Carson Middle School in

Greensboro, Georgia. Lisa Sims PhD ’12 is the coordinator of consultation and outreach services for counseling and psychological services at Clemson University.

Area. Puja Patel Lea JD ’09 was elected partner at Troutman Sanders law firm in Atlanta.

law

Chris Rodriguez MPA ’09 was named one of the 2018 Counselors That Change Lives by Colleges That Changes Lives.

Dan Tate Sr. JD ’69 is the founder and president of Dan Tate LLC in Washington, D.C. James Murray JD ’94 joined Turner Padget law firm in the company’s expansion within the Central Savannah River

public & international affairs

want to reach the bulldog nation? advertise in Georgia Magazine Published quarterly and mailed to the household, your advertising message reaches your audience directly, giving you one of the strongest demographic buys in the region. For information on advertising in the award-winning Georgia Magazine, contact Pamela Leed at 706-542-8124 or pjleed@uga.edu.

send us your notes Help UGA and your classmates keep up with what’s happening in your life—both personally and professionally—by sending Class Notes items to one of the addresses listed below. And please include your hometown to help us keep our alumni database up to date. If you send a photo, please make sure it is a resolution of 300 dpi. Class Notes is the first section we work on, so keep these deadlines in mind: for the Spring (March) issue, submit by December 1; for Summer (June), submit by March 1; for Fall (September), submit by June 1; for Winter (December), submit by September 1.

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FACULTY FOCUS

Gregory Robinson UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry Franklin College of Arts & Sciences

“The task of effectively teaching science at the university level is uniquely challenging. The professor should not only possess a foundational understanding of complicated scientific concepts—often acquired from work in the laboratory— but also the capability to convey those issues in simple terms. In my experience, the best teachers have frequently been active researchers.” One of the world’s most notable synthetic inorganic chemists, Robinson and his team of researchers discovered new bonding techniques that revolutionized the scientific community’s understanding of chemical bonds. His dedication to the field, however, doesn’t stop at award-winning research. Robinson is committed to imbuing the next generation of great scientists with a passion for chemistry and the ability to think critically, ensuring that the university’s legacy of developing leaders lives on. peter frey

Endowed chairs, positions that receive supplemental support generated from private donations, are essential to recruiting and retaining leading faculty who are committed to world-changing research and preparing the next generation of problem-solvers, pioneers, and leaders. Learn more about supporting UGA’s leading faculty at give.uga.edu/gm.

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