The University of Georgia Magazine June 2012

GEORGIA The University of

June 2012 • Vol. 91, No. 3

Magazine

In this issue: • Protecting the food supply • Bigger, better food... and more of it • Meals in Minutes • Exploring an enigma

The food chain From seeds to stores to sideboards, UGA is a strong link in Georgia and beyond

Visit the Mack Shop For Bulldog Gear BUILT LIKE A MACK TRUCK 速

MackShop.com 800.570.4820

Hats | T-shirts | Toys | Gifts | Ride-On Trucks | Collectibles | Bulldog Gear

UGA invites you to THE PERFECT WEDDING

The UGA Hotel, located in the heart of the University of Georgia campus in Athens, provides all the elements to transform your wedding dreams into reality. From the professional expertise of our wedding planners, to elegant ballrooms, private dining rooms, delectable catering options and stylish amenities, the UGA Hotel offers you the perfect wedding venue.

1197 S. Lumpkin St., Athens, GA 30602 • 706.542.2654 • 1.800.488.7827 Weddings@GeorgiaCenter.uga.edu • www.UGAweddings.com WEDDING RECEPTIONS BRIDESMAIDS LUNCHEONS ENGAGEMENT PARTIES REHEARSAL DINNERS ROOMS FOR OVERNIGHT GUESTS SPECIAL EVENTS

Follow UGAWeddings on:

ADMINISTRATION Michael F. Adams, President Jere Morehead, JD ’80, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Tom S. Landrum, AB ’72, MA ’87,

Senior Vice President for External Affairs Tim Burgess, AB ’77, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration PUBLIC AFFAIRS Tom Jackson, AB ’73, MPA ’04, PhD ’08, Vice President Alison Huff, Director of Publications GEORGIA MAGAZINE Editor, Kelly Simmons, MPA ’10 Managing Editor, Allyson Mann, MA ’92 Art Director, Lindsay Bland Robinson, ABJ ’06, MPA ’11 Advertising Director, Pamela Leed Office Manager, Fran Burke Photographers, Paul Efland, BFA ’75, MEd ’80; Peter Frey, BFA ’94; Dorothy Kozlowski, BLA ’06, ABJ ‘10; Robert Newcomb, BFA ’81; Rick O’Quinn, ABJ ’87; Dot Paul; Andrew Davis Tucker Editorial Assistants, Brittany Biddy and Emily Grant

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

Tom S. Landrum, AB ’72, MA ’87, Senior Vice President, ­External Affairs; Tom Jackson, AB ’73, MPA ’04, PhD ’08, VP, Public Affairs; Deborah Dietzler, ­Executive ­Director, UGA Alumni Association; Alison Huff, Director of Publications; Eric Johnson, ABJ ’86, Director of UGA Visitors Center How to advertise in GEORGIA MAGAZINE: Contact Pamela Leed: 706/542-8124 or pjleed@uga.edu Where to send story ideas, letters, Class Notes items: Georgia Magazine 286 Oconee St., Suite 200 North Athens, GA 30602-1999 E-mail: GMeditor@uga.edu Web site: www.uga.edu/gm or University of Georgia Alumni Association www.alumni.uga.edu/alumni Address changes: E-mail records@uga.edu or call 888/268-5442

JUNE 2012 • Vol. 91, No. 3

6

Closeup 12 The (many) flavors of Georgia UGA’s Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development helps locally grown and produced foods make it to market

Features 14 Protecting the food supply identify and prevent food-borne illnesses

18 Bigger, better food...and more of it UGA researchers explore ways to modify foods to get the highest quality products and the largest yield

24 Meals in minutes UGA’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program teaches busy families how to prepare quick, nutritious meals

28 Exploring an enigma Keith Delaplane leads a team of experts investigating the mystery

of honey bee decline

Class Notes 34 Alumni profiles and notes Azaleas bloom March 27 on North Campus as students relax in the warm weather that came with an early spring at the University of Georgia.

Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker

s

The image of the beehive is published with the courtesy of UGA’s Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. It is a detail of the woodcut illustration on the title page of Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum by Thomas Moffett, the first entomological book published in England, in 1634. The image was computer-altered by Georgia Magazine to include an image of a real honey bee.

Campus news and events

UGA’s Center for Food Safety is a national leader in helping

s

ON THE COVER

President Michael F. Adams on food modification and safety at UGA

Around the Arch

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 30602-5582

In compliance with federal law, including the provisions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the University of Georgia does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or military service in its administration of educational policies, programs, or activities; its admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other University-administered programs; or employment. In addition, the University does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation consistent with the University nondiscrimination policy. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the director of the Equal Opportunity Office, Peabody Hall, 290 South Jackson Street, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Telephone 706-542-7912 (V/TDD). Fax 706-542-2822.

Departments 5 Take 5 with the President

s s

Cecil Bentley, BBA ’70, UGA journalism staff; Valerie Boyd, UGA journalism faculty; Bobby Byrd, ABJ ’80, Wells Real Estate Funds; Jim Cobb, AB ’69, MA ’72, PhD ’75, UGA history faculty; Richard Hyatt, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer; Brad King, MMC ’97, BVK Communications; Fran Lane, AB ’69, MEd ’71, retired director, UGA Visitors Center; Bill McDougald, ABJ ’76, MLA ’86, Southern Living; Nicole Mitchell, UGA Press; Leneva Morgan, ABJ ’88, Georgia Power; Donald Perry, ABJ ’74, Chick-fil-A; Swann Seiler, ABJ ’78, Coastal Region of Georgia Power; Robert Willett, ABJ ’66, MFA ’73, retired journalism faculty; Martha Mitchell Zoller, ABJ ’79

Magazine

s

GEORGIA MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD VOLUNTEER MEMBERS

GEORGIA The University of

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

3

Nominations FOR THE CLASS OF 2013 ARE OPEN UNTIL JUNE 29!

The Bulldog 100 is a program that determines and awards the 100 fastest growing businesses that are owned or operated by UGA Alumni, each year.

To nominate visit alumni.uga.edu/b100

THE UGA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INVITES YOU TO KICK OFF FRIDAY!

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 Bulldog Breakfast Club with Coach Mark Richt 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Women of UGA Lunch with the Coaches’ Wives 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

.

Pricing: $20 for alumni and friends, $10 for students

www.alumni.uga.edu

5

TAKE

— President Michael F. Adams on food modification and safety at UGA

Q: Your grandfather was a lifelong farmer in Alabama and your father spent his entire career as an executive with Kraft Foods. How does that background shape your perspective on UGA’s role in food production, research and safety?

A: I literally grew up in the food and fiber industry. My grandfather owned a farm, some forestry acres and a sawmill in South Alabama. I remember that work, literally at the ground level, during summers as a child. Growing up, I watched my father’s career in the international food and agricultural industry as Kraft grew into one of the two or three biggest companies in that industry. I spent my summers in college in the food sector—I’ve done everything from warehouse work to driving delivery trucks to stacking crates to sales.

Q: Agriculture was one of the earliest fields of instruction at UGA, established as a college in 1859. How relevant is the college today?

Michael F. Adams

A: It’s more relevant than ever. I’m afraid that we sometimes take agriculture in Georgia for granted. Food doesn’t grow on shelves behind cellophane. I wish more of Georgia’s population understood the challenges faced by the people growing food and fiber in this state. Having spent my youth in Albany, I have known these people all my life and know that they are some of UGA’s most dedicated and conscientious supporters.

Q: In your opinion, what is the university’s biggest contribution to the agricultural community in Georgia in the past 20 years?

A: It’s two-fold. First is the explosion in relevant research that we are doing on everything from peanuts and cotton to poultry and forestry. Agriculture is still this state’s largest industry in dollar terms, and the research produced at UGA serves to enhance virtually every aspect of production. When you add in blueberries and pecans and soybeans and watermelons, all directly connected to UGA research, you get a full understanding of the breadth of our research in this area.

Second, we serve this state through the leadership of Dean Scott Angle and his advisory council, the most important convening body on agricultural issues in the state. Consumer groups, commodity producers, the legislature and the governor’s office talk to each other most effectively when the effort is led by the university.

Q: A lot of research being done on food in biological sciences is leading to better insights into disease prevention and cures, and pharmaceutical research. Do you see this as an area that will continue to grow at UGA? A: Absolutely. The coming together of pharmaceutical and agricultural research will continue. We need to study both plant- and animal-borne diseases more effectively and use researchers in agriculture, pharmacy, public health, veterinary medicine and medicine to combat disease and improve health. I don’t have the figures in front of me but my guess is that research-funding growth in these areas is probably the greatest at UGA in the past five years.

Q: Just about any time there is an outbreak of food-borne disease in the U.S., researchers from the UGA Center for Food Safety in Griffin are called in to help investigate and called by media to comment. How does the university, as well as the state, benefit by having such a high profile center?

A: It’s really simple—our food is safer and we have the capacity to ferret out problems when they occur. Remember the E. coli outbreaks and the problems with peanut butter a few years ago? Whenever these sorts of problems occur throughout the Southeast, UGA researchers in Griffin are the first professionals called. When the problems reach a national level, Mike Doyle is the first person called by congress to testify. Our entire food supply is safer because of that work, and I am happy that, with the governor’s support, we are about to begin a $4.5 million expansion of that facility.

DOT PAUL

Researchers in Tifton use tedious techniques as they genetically alter plants to produce a better variety of nuts.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

5

ARCH AROUNDTHE

PETER FREY

Top administrators (from right) Tom Landrum, senior vice president for external affairs; Jere Morehead, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs; Tim Burgess, senior vice president for finance and adminstration; and President Michael F. Adams prepare to cut the ribbon dedicating the new Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries on North Campus.

Grad schools make the grade UGA graduate programs continue to rank among the best in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2013 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools. UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs ranked fourth among graduate schools of public affairs; the College of Education ranked 38th, up from 46th last year; the School of Law ranked 34th, up one position from last year; and the Terry College of Business ranked 57th nationwide. SPIA is now alone in the fourth position, having surpassed Princeton University with whom it was previously tied. The only schools ranked above SPIA are Harvard (No. 3), Indiana (No. 2) and Syracuse (No. 1).

Other UGA colleges and schools ranked in the report include the College of Pharmacy at 26th and the School of Social Work at 37th. The rankings, with methodology used by U.S. News & World Report, are available at http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/ best-graduate-schools.

6 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Guided tours of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries, which was dedicated with a ribboncutting ceremony in February, are available to the public every Tuesday at 2 p.m. Visitors will get a tour of each of the galleries that store some of the most significant and treasured materials from the collections. Participants can explore interactive kiosks with access to oral history interviews, historical film, video and sound recordings. Documents and objects dating back to colonial times and beyond will be available for viewing. Faces from the state’s political history are featured in the mural “Doors” by UGA Professor Emeritus of Drawing and Painting Art Rosenbaum.

The $46 million building, named in honor of Sen. Richard Russell, who spent a half-century in public service, houses the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, and the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.

To join a Tuesday tour, visitors should meet in the second floor rotunda of the building at 300 S. Hull St. The building and galleries are open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For information on group tours call (706) 542-8079. Learn more about the new facility at www. libs.uga.edu/scl.

$1.3 million to continue research in gulf

The end of an era

ROBERT NEWCOMB

Two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, UGA researchers remain at the forefront of the investigation into the incident, this time with a $1.3 million grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative to study more thoroughly the ecosystem impacts of the disaster.

UGA marine scientist Samantha Joye, who is the Athletic Association Professor in Arts and Sciences, and UGA colleagues Patricia Medeiros and Christof Meile will work with scientists from 13 other institutions over the next three years to develop a way for researchers and emergency responders to better predict and respond to future spills.

Joye will serve as the associate science director for the project, “Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf.” Raymond Highsmith, executive director of the University of Mississippi’s National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology, is the lead investigator.

To learn more about the ECOGIG project, see http://niust.org/ griproject/.

Michael F. Adams will step down as president of the University of Georgia on June 30, 2013, after 16 years at the helm of the state’s flagship institution. Adams publicly announced his retirement in the UGA Chapel on May 3.

Under his leadership, UGA has increased the size of its student population as well as the academic stature of its students. Adams has overseen the creation of five new colleges or schools: the School of Public and International Affairs, the College of Environment and Design, the College of Public Health, the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology and, most recently, the College of Engineering. In partnership with the Georgia Health Sciences University, Adams also helped establish a medical school campus in Athens. UGA’s endowment grew from $249 million in fiscal year 1997 to more than $745 million in fiscal year 2011. Adams and his wife Mary plan to remain in Athens after his retirement, and he will serve on the university faculty.

PETER FREY

Celebrating 65 years The Georgia Review, a literary magazine published by UGA since 1947, celebrates its anniversary with the book Stories wanting only to be heard, a compilation of 28 of the most remarkable works of short fiction published in the journal over the past six and a half decades.

The 384-page soft cover book is available for purchase at www. ugapress.org/index.php/books/ stories_wanting_only_to_be_heard.

For more on The Georgia Review, go to http://garev.uga.edu.

Law students take top prize A team of students from the School of Law took first place in the Robert R. Merhige Jr. National Environmental Negotiation Competition, a two-day event that involves several rounds of negotiation centered on current issues in environmental law. Second-year Georgia law students Christopher A. Knapik and Christopher S. Smith defeated Georgetown University Law Center in the semifinals and Lewis and Clark Law School in the finals to take home the top trophy. Held at the University of Richmond, the contest was created in memory of the late U.S. District Court Judge Robert Merhige.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

7

AROUNDTHE

ARCH BEST IN SHOW A

BARK out to

… College of Education Professor JoBeth Allen, who was named a 2012 inductee into the Reading Hall of Fame, established by the International Reading Association. … Allan Cohen, director of the Georgia Center for Assessment and the Aderhold Professor of Research Methodology in the College of Education, who received the 2012 Award for Career Contributions to Educational Measurement from the National Council on Measurement in Education. … College of Education Professor Thomas Hébert, who won a 2011 Legacy Book Award from the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented, the nation’s largest state advocacy group of its kind.

ALLEN

Undergraduates take top honors Georgia undergraduates continue to win national acclaim, with four this year named 2012 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars and three awarded 2012 Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation Scholarships.

Goldwater recipients Victoria DeLeo, a sophomore from Davie, Fla., who is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biotechnology and genetics; Marianne Ligon, a sophomore from Clemson, S.C., who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in cellular biology; Theresa Stratmann, a junior from Irmo, S.C., who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in ecology; and Waring “Buck” Trible III, a junior from Fredericksburg, Va., who is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in ecology and entomology, will receive up to $7,500 a year to cover their education expenses.

UGA has had 43 Goldwater scholars.

Udall award winners Heather Hatzenbuhler, a junior from Lawrenceville, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in environmental ethics and management; Malavika Rajeev, a junior from Tifton, who is pursuing a joint bachelor’s/master’s degree in ecology, and Stratmann will receive $5,000 in scholarship money. Two other UGA students, juniors Ian Karra of Roswell and Rosemary Gay of Douglasville each received honorable mentions in the national scholarship competition.

Since 2003, UGA has had 10 Udall award winners.

… Julie A. Luft, the inaugural Athletic Association Professor of Mathematics and Science Education in the College of Education, who received a 2012 Journal of Research in Science Teaching Award from the National Association of Research in Science Teaching. … John Knox, associate professor of geography; Audrey Haynes, associate LUFT professor of political science; and Charles Kutal, professor of chemistry and associate dean of the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, who are listed among the Princeton Review’s best undergraduate college professors as determined by RateMyProfessors.com.

PETER FREY

Goldwater scholars, left to right, Ligon, DeLeo, Stratmann and Trible.

… Henry F. Schaefer III, Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry, who received the 2012 Southeastern Universities Research Association Distinguished Scientist Award.

SCHAEFER

… The UGA Career Center, which received the Outstanding Achievement Award for Innovative Programs in the College Career Services Field from the Chevron Corporation and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (the Chevron Award).

8 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

PETER FREY

Udall scholars, left to right, Hatzenbuhler, Rajeev and Stratmann.

Digitizing the past UGA Libraries, in partnership with the Atlanta History Center, the Georgia Historical Society and the Board of Regents’ GALILEO virtual library initiative, is part of a new project to digitize more than 80,000 documents relating to the American Civil War. Funding for “America’s Turning Point: Documenting the Civil War Experience in Georgia” has been provided by the National Historic Publications and Records Commission and is enabling archivists to digitize 81,319 letters, diaries, military records, account books, poetry, photographs and maps that document the American Civil War. Manuscripts and visual materials are available only in their original format, and the project partners are among the leading research institutions in the Southeast for the study of the Civil War, with hundreds of researchers visiting their locales annually.

As part of the two-year venture, a blog on the progress of the project will be available to scholars and the public. Access to the materials will be through websites at each institution.

The digitized documents will be available via the Digital Library of Georgia, a GALILEO initiative based in the UGA Libraries. The records also will become part of the recently launched Association of Southeastern Research Libraries Civil War portal at http://american-south.org.

David & Kevin Knoef

Gym Dog takes two national titles Senior Kat Ding capped her college career by winning NCAA titles on the uneven bars and floor exercise. The titles are the 39th and 40th in Georgia history, the most of any team. The Gym Dogs have won 14 individual NCAA titles in the last six years.

It was the second straight NCAA bars title for Ding, from Sparks, Nev., who becomes the eighth gymnast in Georgia history to win national titles in multiple years and the first to win back-to-back crowns on an individual event since 1993. Ding joins former gymnasts Courtney Kupets (2006, 2007, 2009), Kim Arnold (1998), Heather Stepp (1993), Hope Spivey (1991) and Corrinne Wright (1989) as the only Gym Dogs to win more than one national title in the same year.

Ding finishes her career at Georgia as a three-time NCAA champion, two-time SEC champion, six-time All-American and member of the 2009 national champion Gym Dogs.

One item in the collection is this Aug. 19, 1863, volunteer agreement to enlist in the Union Army for Giles Moore, a 35-year-old black former slave living in the Cherokee Nation. The signature includes an “x” and the note “his mark.” He enlisted in the 2nd Regiment of the Kansas Colored Volunteers for three years.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

9

AROUNDTHE

ARCH Loch Johnson inaugural SEC award winner

RICK O’QUINN

Loch Johnson, Regents Professor of Public and International Affairs and a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, is the inaugural winner of the Southeastern Conference Professor of the Year Award.

Johnson was selected from a field of 12 candidates each selected as the faculty achievement award winner from their university. The award honors a professor from an SEC school with superlative records in both teaching and scholarship who serves as role models for other faculty members and students. Johnson received $5,000 for his selection as the UGA award winner and $15,000 for the overall SEC award. Both honors are the first of their kind in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Making music for money Students and local musicians had an opportunity to learn from the pros at a conference on the music industry business sponsored by the School of Law Sports and Entertainment Law Society and the Terry College Music Business Program. At right, Music Business program director David Barbe, standing, leads a panel discussion that includes, Widespread Panic tour manager Steve Lopez; Nimbleslick booking agent Chad Denny; Eddie’s Attic talent buyer Eddie Owen; and Team Clermont public relations CEO Nelson Wells.

DOT PAUL

150 years of service to Georgia UGA celebrates its history as a land-grant institution this year, the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act, named for U.S. Rep. Justin Smith Morrill, who introduced the act. The legislation provided states with funding and direction to found land-grant universities and strengthen agricultural and engineering education at the newly founded institutions.

UGA became a land-grant institution in 1872.

For more on the Morrill Act and UGA, go to http://outreach.uga.edu/index.php/about_pso/ the_morrill_act_at_uga.

10 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

GOING GREEN Greek girls kick off green challenge UGA sororities kicked off their first Sorority Green Cup Challenge this spring in an effort to reduce energy, water and waste and to increase recycling. The challenge among the 12 Panhellenic sororities and their houses is an outgrowth of UGA residence halls’ annual Green Cup Challenge held each fall. To determine the winner of the Sorority Green Cup, the total energy and water usage from the month will be compared to each sorority’s average consumption for the past three years. The sorority that shows the most improvement will win the competition. Learn more about sustainability initiatives on the UGA campus at www. sustainability.uga.edu.

Second round of sustainability grants awarded Six students were awarded a total of $20,000 in grant money from the Office of Sustainability to fund projects aimed at advancing campus sustainability. Twenty-one grant proposals were submitted for this second round of grant funding.

Recipients are: • Brandi Bishop, a senior agricultural education major at the Tifton Campus, who will develop a recycling program there.

• Katie Shepard, a master’s student in crop and soil sciences, who will monitor the effectiveness of an East Campus rain garden at filtering pollutants from storm water runoff.

DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI

As part of their green cup challenge, sorority members held a “Trashion Fashion Show,” using recycled materals to design outfits, sponsored by ATHICA—the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art. Above, Gamma Phi Betas Jeanna Heard (left), an environmental economics and management major from Canton, Ga., and Kendall Forward, a journalism and international affairs major from Potomac, Md., tweak an outfit made of trash bags, kitchen gloves, cupcake wrappers, tinfoil, aluminum cans and newspapers prior to the show.

GMOA gets the gold The Georgia Museum of Art is the third UGA building to become certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), receiving its Gold PAUL EFLAND designation earlier this year. The other two LEED-certified buildings are the Tate Student Center expansion and residence hall Building 1516 on East Campus. LEED is an independent, third-party verification that a project is constructed using strategies and materials that promote sustainable development, water savings, energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

• Chris McDowell, a master’s student in the College of Environment and Design, who will demonstrate how construction and demolition waste products can be diverted from the landfill and converted into tangible communitybased improvements.

• JoHannah Biang, a master’s student in horticulture, who will construct a living wall planted with seasonal herbs and vegetables to research and demonstrate the effectiveness of vertical gardening.

• Graham Pickren, a doctoral student in geography, who is expanding a program that collects, donates and recycles unwanted items from student residence halls during move-out week.

• Zach Richardson, a senior landscape architecture student, who will create a prescribed grazing program using goats to remove exotic invasive plants and restore native forest adjacent to Tanyard Creek.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

11

CLOSE UP

The (many) flavors of Georgia UGA’s Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development helps locally grown and produced foods make it to market

by Kelly Simmons photos by Peter Frey Tim Forrest stands in front of a display for High Road Craft ice cream, swirling a creamy sweet spoonful of Brown Butter Praline in his mouth. He has nothing but praise for the sweet treat but questions the carton—a nondescript brown cardboard pint with pecans and caramel on its side.

“Is there anything on here about Georgia,” Forrest, a consultant in the food industry and a judge for the 2012 Flavor of Georgia food and beverage contest, asks owner Nicki Schroeder. “I’d put a big fat sticker on it, ‘Made in Georgia.’”

Schroeder, who began marketing the ice cream out of Chamblee 18 months ago, points to the small print, which boasts the “gently toasted sweet cream butter and Georgia pecans” used in the product.

“This is great feedback,” Schroeder tells Forrest, one of 17 judges, many from the food and beverage industry, who will select the best of the Flavor of Georgia finalists.

The next day, Schroeder learns her High Road Craft Brown Butter Praline ice cream has been selected the Grand Prize winner, following a 2011 win in the dairy products category for High Road Craft Caffeine and Cacao ice cream.

Sponsored by the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development in partnership with the Georgia Center of Innovation for Agribusiness, the governor’s office, Walton EMC, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the Georgia Agribusiness Council and the

College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Food Science and Technology, the contest provides Georgia food producers an opportunity to showcase their products and increase their sales opportunities.

Between 70 and 80 percent of the 2011 winners saw an increased interest in their products as a result of the contest, according to the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development.

“A lot of people have great ideas and great products,” center Director Kent Wolfe says. “They didn’t have any way to get exposure.”

Since its win last year, High Road has placed its ice cream and sorbet in Whole Foods stores throughout the Southeast.

Brown Butter Praline ice cream made by High Road Craft Ice Cream and Sorbet of Atlanta was the grand champion of the 2012 Flavor of Georgia Food Product Contest. (Below right) Laurie Jo Bennett shows off her Muscadine Pepper Jelly, which won the jams, jellies and sauces category.

12 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Also in the finals was Spice Rum Cake Musketball, from Olde Savannah Rum Cake LLC in Savannah. (Above right) Richard and Linda Byne’s family business, Bynes Blueberry Farm in Waynesboro, won the confections category this year with dark chocolate covered blueberries.

They expected to begin selling their product in area Fresh Market stores in April. High Road products are also in area hotels and restaurants, Scroeder says.

Lauri Jo’s Southern Style Canning products can be found in 38 states.

Lauri Jo Bennett (M ’86) launched the company three years ago in her hometown of Norman Park. Her Blueberry Pepper Jelly was the “people’s choice” award winner in the 2011 contest. This year her Muscadine Pepper Jelly placed first in the Jams, Jellies and Sauces category.

“It was just a hobby,” Bennett, a former schoolteacher, says of her foray into canning. “I had no idea I’d be doing this full time.”

The company’s motto is “Preserving the South one jar at a time.”

“We grow it, pick it and process it,” Bennett says. “We know what goes in every jar.”

The contest began seven years ago as a small event sponsored by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Costco. Ten to 15 Georgia food producers entered.

This year there were 115 entries, in six categories. Three to four finalists were selected for each category.

Joe Hynes, a food industry consultant who judges the annual contest, says he offers the finalists the same constructive criticism he offers the food chains and restaurants that hire him.

“It’s important to have a clear message and statement about ingredients and food safety,” he says. “Is it more of the same? Is

it something they make enough of to make it successful? Do they understand the product and are passionate about making it?”

Many producers were frustrated that they had nowhere to promote their product. So Hynes got one of his clients, the Buford Highway Farmer’s Market, to put the finalist’ products on its shelves for a week. Some are still there.

Dick Byne (BS ’76) is a Georgia farmer that has found success on the shelves. Blueberry jellies, jams, salsas, syrups and chocolates produced on his Waynesboro farm since 1980 can be found in Whole Foods, Williams-Sonoma, Earth Fare and other specialty shops around the South.

Byne’s Blueberry Farm won the confections category this year with its dark chocolate blueberries. Byne won in 2007 with his blueberry salsa and was a finalist in 2008 with his blueberry pecan glaze.

One of the earliest Georgia farmers to grow blueberries commercially, Byne has been in the business since 1980. The operation is a family affair. His daughters manage quality control, which he credits for his success.

Retailers “require high quality,” he says. “My product is just as good in the middle as in the top, bottom and outside.”

GET MORE For more on the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development go to www.caes.uga.edu/center/caed.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

13

Protecting

the

Food supply UGA’s Center for Food Safety is a national leader in helping identify and prevent food-borne illnesses

by Kelly Simmons photos by Andrew Davis Tucker

Mike Doyle pores over the letters and documents piled on his desk at the UGA Griffin campus. His research and extensive travel leave him little time to catch up on the paperwork.

14 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

M

ike Doyle is back in Griffin

for a rare day in his office. He’s spent the last 24 hours responding to media requests for comment on the elimination of the country’s only pathogen screening program for produce from the 2013 federal budget proposal. The Boston Globe, Washington Post and the Huffington Post are among the outlets that have come to him as an expert in the field.

“It’s the radar gun that keeps the industry aware of regulatory oversight and if that’s eliminated, we don’t have a program that will keep the industry in check,” Doyle says from behind a desk covered in stacks of papers, many from federal government agencies.

Without it, states or other federal agencies will have to find scarce resources to monitor foods for harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella and E. coli, which can cause severe illness and even death.

As director of the Center for Food Safety on UGA’s Griffin Campus, Doyle is a key player in the country’s effort to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria and parasites in the food supply. Researchers at the center work with federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to identify contaminants and trace them back to their sources. The majority of their work is in helping the food industry better protect itself from contamination, from the fields to the consumer.

It is a daunting task given the many types of harmful microbes that can contaminate the food supply in the field, during processing and even during transportation.

“Salmonella is carried in the intestinal tracts of animals,” Doyle explains. “It is transmitted through manure. Feces is sometimes used to fertilize soil. It can also get into the irrigation water.”

Ravi Jadeja, a post-doctoral research associate at the center, discusses his recent work in the lab with Doyle.

In recent years, a major problem

with food contamination has been in produce, not just meat and poultry, which were once the main culprits.

“People are eating more produce and there are riskier practices today,” Doyle says. “It’s being processed and marketed without all the interventions needed to ensure safety.”

According to the CDC, each year an estimated one in six Americans (about 48 million people) contract a food-borne illness. Of those, about 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.

A 2006 E. coli outbreak in prepackaged spinach left more than 200 people sick, 102 of them hospitalized.

Five people died as a result of the illness.

More recently, in the fall of 2011, 34 people died after eating cantaloupe contaminated with Listeria. It was the second deadliest outbreak of bacterial food-borne illness in the U.S., behind only the 1985 outbreak of listeriosis in cheese, which killed 52.

Doyle emphasizes that most people don’t die from food-borne illnesses.

Those who do are usually older adults or people with a compromised immune system. Still, E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria can leave victims violently ill, many requiring hospitalization.

And the number of cases associated with eating produce has increased in recent years as people have become more health conscious and are eating more fruits and vegetables.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

15

Larry Beuchat peers into a petri dish at a salmonella culture in his lab at the Center for Food Safety. Beuchat came back to work after retirement to do research on tree nuts.

Doyle and others at the Center for Food Safety work with the food industry to help keep its products safe. More than 50 major food processors, retailers and restaurant chains across the U.S. have contributed money to the center to help pay for the research. They often seek out Doyle when there is a potential problem with a product.

Rhona Applebaum, vice president, chief scientific and regulatory officer for the Coca-Cola Company, said she relies on the center because its recommendations are based on sound scientific evidence.

In 2004, the company had to defend itself against a nonscientific study that indicated fecal coliforms found in ice tea were E. coli bacteria. Though scientists at Coca-Cola knew that the coliforms were harmless and not E. coli, they called in Doyle to make their case. He had scientific data that proved the tea was not contaminated.

“We needed a good scientist and one that could talk to lay folk,” says Applebaum, who worked alongside Doyle at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1980s. “We had somebody with credibility, somebody who engendered confidence.”

The outbreak-associated with spinach in 2006, all of it from a single farm in California, was most likely contaminated by wild pigs that had gotten into the field rooting for grubs and defecating on the plants. Once the source was determined, spinach growers implemented deterrents such as fencing the fields.

16 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Coca-Cola’s Rhona Applebaum looks to the Center for Food Safety as a credible source when defending Coke products against misinformation.

But Doyle warns that finding solutions to the problem is becoming more difficult as more and more food is produced outside the U.S. In Mexico City, the largest city in a country that exported more than $4 trillion worth of produce to the U.S. in 2008, only 10 percent of the wastewater is recycled; 90 percent is dumped untreated into the river, which is sometimes used to irrigate crops.

More than half of the orange juice sold in the U.S. now comes from Brazil, while more than 60 percent of the apple juice consumed in this country is produced in China, Doyle says. While the FDA requires producers in other countries to adhere to the same standards as U.S. producers, Doyle says there is a question of who provides the oversight to ensure that equivalent food safety standards are being followed.

In addition to helping large corporations protect their products, the center also works with Georgia farmers to keep home grown foods safe.

Larry Beuchat, a distinguished research professor at the Griffin center, is back at work following retirement, looking at preventing Salmonella contamination in pecans.

There never has been a Salmonella outbreak associated with eating pecans, Beuchat says, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be. Beuchat began his work with pecans in the 1970s but left it because there didn’t seem to be much of a threat to the industry. However, he returned to his research in recent years after Salmonella outbreaks occurred from contaminated almonds and hazelnuts.

“That was a wake up call for the tree nut industry,” Beuchat says.

Much of his research of late has involved looking at how the pecans are processed once they are harvested. He has tested sanitizers that condition pecans in their shells with water before they are cracked. He also is investigating whether an organic material in the “pith” of the nut, which is toxic to Salmonella, can be used to protect the meat against contamination.

“We’ve learned a lot in the last three years,” he says.

Despite his familiarity with food-borne illnesses, Doyle says he eats most foods, but steers clear of those that that carry a higher risk of contamination—raw oysters, raw vegetable sprouts, raw milk and pre-cut, pre-packaged produce.

As for eating out, he recommends McDonald’s. After two E. coli outbreaks in 1982 the fast food giant worked closely with Doyle to develop practices that would better safeguard its food.

“McDonald’s wanted to bullet-proof its system from food-borne illnesses,” Doyle says. “From my perspective McDonald’s is one of the safest places to eat in the world.”

DOT PAUL

Mike Doyle addresses members of the Georgia Food Safety Defense Task Force at a recent meeting in Atlanta.

Get FIT® for safer produce One success story out of the Center for Food Safety in Griffin is the development in 2010 of a microbial wash for food that would greatly reduce the risk of food-borne illness.

Researchers Mike Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety in Griffin, and Tong Zhao, an assistant research scientist at the center, produced the wash, which kills pathogens on fruits and vegetables as well as on kitchen counters, cutting boards and food processing equipment in commercial settings.

Many times more powerful on foods than commercially available chlorine-based antimicrobials, the wash kills food pathogens one minute after application and has been deemed safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Union food industry. It does not affect the appearance, flavor or odor of foods, and it increases the shelf life of produce.

The technology, which was incorporated into FIT® Food and Vegetable Wash products by the UGA Research Foundation licensee this year, can also be used in food processing and transportation facilities, hospitals and restaurants—and potentially as a food additive in butters, creams and ground meats.

Doyle and Zhao received the 2010 UGA Inventor’s Award for their product. Learn more about FIT® and where to purchase it at www.tryfit.com.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

17

Muscadines ripen on the vine in a Georgia vineyard. Georgia grows more of the grape than any other place in the world. UGA crop breeders are working to improve disease resistance, yield and edibility.

PHOTO BY APRIL REESE SORROW

18 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Bigger, better food … and more of it UGA researchers explore ways to modify foods to get the highest quality products and the largest yield

by April Reese Sorrow (BS ’03) photos by Dot Paul

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

19

James Lee Adams stands under a center-pivot irrigation system in one of his fields. Adams makes his way around the 2,500-acre Camilla farm with his farmhand, a Jack Russell terrier named Doc.

20 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

J

ames Lee Adams stands tall. At 6 feet 3 inches he is dwarfed only by the massive irrigation system used to water the crops on his farm in southwest Georgia. Today, as most days, he is covered in soil. Dirty paw prints from his four-legged family member, Doc, hint that the two have been on their daily trek around the farm.

“She’s gonna get both of us,” he says, warning the Jack Russell terrier that his wife Sue will not be pleased with the state of their clothes.

“I’m one of the best there’s ever been,” he says of his career as a farmer.

“Dizzy Dean said if it’s the truth it ain’t bragging.”

Adams’ success as a farmer was recognized by the industry when he was named the Southeastern Farmer of the Year in 1992 and 2000.

Much of his success, Adams says, is due in large part to the plant breeding programs at the University of Georgia.

Research conducted by UGA peanut breeder Bill Branch has led to even healthier plants and increased yields for Georgia farmers. His newest runner variety, Georgia 06G, has a high resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus and has produced yields over 7,000 pounds per acre, which gives it an advantage over lower-yielding varieties.

“When I started farming in 1969, if you made a peanut yield of 2,000 pounds an acre that was outstanding,” Adams says. “In 2000 we harvested 6,000 pounds an acre.”

From the beginnings of plant breeding until a couple of decades ago, breeders modified crops by crossing many varieties together and conducting large field trials, looking for plants that were higher yielding or had better quality.

Today, breeders have an arsenal of new tools available, most of which are spinoffs from the Human Genome Project.

Breeders now use DNA sequencers, computers and other

Wayne Parrott checks on new cultures in a plant growth room. New plant material from his lab begins in a dish before being planted in soil and moved to a greenhouse.

molecular diagnostic tools that allow them to improve quality and boost yields more efficiently for Georgia farmers, which means more money for the state.

In Georgia, agriculture accounts for $65 billion of the state’s economy, making it the largest economic driver in the state.

“When you look at a seed catalog and see ‘new and improved’, we are the people who new and improved it,” says Wayne Parrott, a geneticist and professor of crop and soil science with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

“This is what new and improved does, it contributes to efficiency, profitability and sustainability.”

Adams has been farming since 1969 when he bought land in southwest Georgia from his father. Over four decades he and his family have grown pecans, peanuts, cotton, corn, soybeans and hay and raised cattle, poultry and even alligators on the more than 2,500 acres he owns in Camilla.

“I’d argue every one of our crops has been genetically modified for the last thousand years,” Adams says. “We have always selectively bred for traits.

All we’ve done is found an additional tool to more precisely modify the crop and control it and make sure it has the attributes we really want.”

The term “genetically modified“ can be confusing. Plant breeders and farmers consider genetic modification to be cross breeding within a species and gene selection. Often the public confuses genetic modification with genetic engineering, which means moving genes between species. Genetic engineering has been important to Georgia’s cotton, corn and soybean crops.

Nevertheless, says Parrott, “99.9 percent of genetic modification to plants does not involve genetic engineering at all.”

U

sing tweezers and a magnifying lens, Peggy Ozias-Akins removes the stamens from each flower on the peanut plant. She then collects the pollen from a desired mate to create new offspring. A molecular geneticist and professor with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences on the Tifton campus, OziasAkins is stopping the peanut from selfpollinating in hopes of creating a new

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

21

of pecans last year. With China’s increased interest in the nut, more Georgia farmers are starting orchards and looking for superior trees.

“Plant breeding, like most of science, is generally based on incremental gains which add up over time,” says Patrick Conner, an associate professor and pecan breeder based on the Tifton campus.

New pecan cultivars are chosen based on whether they produce a larger nut or mature more quickly. Conner’s program is searching for higher resistance to pecan scab so growers can spray less of the expensive fungicides needed to control the disease. The development of new cultivars with high levels of resistance will make the pecan industry more environmentally sustainable and more profitable for the grower.

Peggy Ozias-Akins gently removes the stamens from a peanut flower so she can fertilize the plant with the pollen from a desired male. Typically self-fertile, altering the mechanism will produce a new variety, perhaps one with fewer allergens.

variety that will be allergen free.

Most allergic reactions occur from the three seed storage proteins found in the legume.

She is collaborating with medical doctors to determine the human response to the new peanut type to see if the absence of the proteins eliminated the allergenicity.

Her hope is to breed peanuts with less of the storage proteins present so after several years the allergen will not exist. She also is searching for a natural mutation that silences the expression of genes causing the allergic reaction.

“We can look at a piece of a seed and determine what the seed will become,” Ozias-Akins says. “There are genetic markers—a piece of DNA that has been studied and shown to be linked to a particular trait. Rather than screen for a trait, which can be time consuming and destructive to the plant, we can screen for the marker from a seed chip.”

Research critical to the state’s pecan growers also is being conducted at the UGA campus in Tifton. Georgia farmers harvested 100 million pounds of pecans last year, bringing in $300 million. China bought 90 million pounds

22 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

A cabinet filled with pecan specimens from around the world sits in Patrick Conner’s office. Georgia’s primary pecan variety is Stuart. Conner is working to develop the next great nut—one resistant to pecan scab.

Aboard a self-guided bucket truck, Conner hand pollinates each bloom on the pecan trees in his orchard. The buds are bagged to protect them from wind-pollination. The process takes every minute of daylight from March to August.

“In traditional plant breeding you are doing what happens in nature, except you are selecting the parents instead of leaving it up to the wind and you are selecting the progeny instead of letting nature select,” Conner says.

Muscadine grapes are another area of research for Conner. Georgia is the world’s top producer of the sweet, thick-skinned grape, typically eaten fresh or made into jam, jelly, juice or wine. Muscadines have become popular in recent years as research has shown them to be high in Resveratrol, an antioxidant, which can stave off degenerative diseases.

Conner developed a self-fertile variety of the grape, called Lane, which is more productive than female varieties and ripens two weeks earlier. Conner now is attempting to create a variety without seeds and one with a thinner, tastier skin.

“I was always taught that plant breeding is an art and a science,” he says. “The science is the genetics. The art is being able to eyeball a crop and see the potential, to see the colors and taste the fruits just hoping the next one is going to be the one that is really special.”

G

enetic modification is not limited to plants. UGA researchers also look at ways to breed animals to become more disease resistant.

“Disease and death in livestock is a serious problem, particularly in underdeveloped countries,” says Steve Stice, a Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Eminent Scholar in Reproductive Physiology and UGA professor of animal and dairy science.

Stice and colleagues are developing cellular adaptive resistance, a term he coined for a process that incorporates stem cells and results in diseaseresistant livestock. The research team can perform genetic screening and testing of animal stem cells that are naturally resistant to a disease in a dish, speeding up the selection process for desirable disease-resistant genetic traits.

He is currently using the technology to combat Newcastle Virus, which kills about one-quarter of the chickens in sub-Saharan Africa every year.

“We want to provide a new way to create disease-resistant animals using new technologies to combat disease problems,” Stice says. “This process will produce animals with natural resistance to specific diseases

that will need less veterinary care and will significantly reduce livestock mortalities.”

Bovine diarrhea virus has a major economic impact on Georgia cattle farmers. A breed of cattle resistant to the virus would be better for farmers and the animals.

“The approach is a platform technology that will apply to all types of animals,” he says.

Genetically modified organisms can mean healthier food too—like a leaner cut of meat.

Sammy Aggrey, a quantitative and molecular geneticist in poultry science, is mapping the chicken genome to unlock the code for a better bird.

Chicken accounts for 40 percent of the meat produced in the United States. Obese birds yield less meat, and smaller breast muscles mean less money at the market. Reducing fat and increasing breast muscle could improve production efficiency while meeting consumer demand for a leaner cut of meat, Aggrey says.

“Feed constitutes 70 percent of production input,” Aggrey says. “If we could utilize less feed and yield the same or greater amount of protein we would increase efficiency. Animals that use feed more efficiently are less fat, so we will simultaneously correct two problems.”

Meanwhile, breeding work continues at UGA. U.S. farmers now produce 50 percent more food on the same amount of land as they did just 30 years ago. To meet projected food needs of the future, they will need to double yields on that land, and they will have to do so without additional water or pesticides.

“The challenges are great, but I am confident we will be up to task,” says Scott Jackson, a GRA Eminent Scholar in Plant Genetics and a UGA professor of crop science. “However, we will need all the tools available, and breeding is a major one.”

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

23

24 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Meals in Minutes UGA’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program

teaches busy families how to prepare quick, nutritious meals

by Allyson Mann (MA ’92) photos by Dot Paul

“M

iss Beffie, can I be your assistant today?”

Above, Beffie Morse prepares to make Famous Fried Rice for a class. Morse is a paraprofessional with EFNEP, a program that encourages participants to eat healthier by choosing more fruits and vegetables and using ingredients like fat free plain yogurt.

As Beffie Morse unpacks her car, a young woman asks this question and several others emerge from a condominium in north Athens to help carry supplies inside. There are plastic tubs full of bananas, rice, canned vegetables and graham crackers—everything Morse needs for today’s class.

During the next hour, Morse will show these women how to make two recipes—Famous Fried Rice and Amazing Banana Pudding—as part of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) offered by UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the Athens-Clarke County Extension Office. Through a series of weekly classes, EFNEP shows clients how to prepare healthy and inexpensive meals in 15 minutes or less.

Today’s recipes satisfy all the requirements of the MyPlate nutrition guide published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). First lady Michelle Obama would be proud, but she might also be surprised to learn that these recipes—and in fact all of EFNEP’s recipes—are developed with taste as one of several criteria.

“I’m a dietitian so I focus on nutrition and I want everything to be healthy, but the reason why most people choose their food is taste,” says EFNEP Coordinator Gail Hanula.

Hanula’s dissertation provided the basis for the EFNEP curriculum, and her family tested many of the original recipes. Her daughter, then a teenager, provided particularly honest feedback. If a recipe made it through the family, it then went to EFNEP staff members and selected clients for approval before making it into the program.

This rigorous testing has paid off. While Morse layers crushed graham crackers and banana pudding in cups, the women pass around plates of fried rice (it’s not actually fried). Reactions are subdued, but that’s because everyone’s focused on eating.

“This is good,” one young woman finally says.

“Uh huh,” someone replies.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

25

The USDA provides funding for EFNEP, so Morse and her colleagues collect data with every group. Clients provide a 24-hour diet recall at the beginning and end of the six-week program, illuminating changes that are made along the way.

In fiscal year 2011, 96 percent of clients who completed the EFNEP program improved their daily diets, consuming 0.7 additional cups of more fruits and vegetables and 0.3 cups of calcium-rich foods.

“They are more aware about reading labels on foods that they eat,” Morse says. “And food safety—I see a good change in that.”

Gail Hanula, dietitian and coordinator of UGA’s EFNEP program, provided the basis for the EFNEP curriculum with her dissertation. Recipes were tested first with her family.

Her daughter, then a teenager, provided particularly honest feedback.

UGA’s EFNEP program began

45 years ago with extension agents that went door to door and worked one on one with participants. Now EFNEP works primarily through agencies that serve clients with limited resources—65 to 70 percent receive some kind of food assistance.

Morse’s first class of the day is a group of young women participating in a residential substance abuse program with Advantage Mental Health. Hanula and her colleagues also have worked with groups at vocational schools, GED and ESL programs, food banks and charitable organizations. The program is free for the agency and the clients.

Although EFNEP classes are no longer held in family kitchens, the teaching is still centered around the cooking experience.

“We don’t do PowerPoint,” Hanula says. “It’s more like sitting around somebody’s kitchen table and just talking about food.”

The sessions are led by

26 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

paraprofessionals who are supervised and trained by county extension agents. And because they are hired from the communities that they serve, they relate well to their clients.

“We get just so many wonderful comments from the participants about how the paraprofessionals truly understand what they’re going through and how hard it is to stretch that food dollar and make ends meet,” Hanula says.

Morse is one of about 40 paraprofessionals armed with an electric skillet and a portable pantry.

Many of the recipes have familiar ingredients, but clients also are introduced to items they’ve never used like reduced fat cheese, plain yogurt and nonfat dry milk.

“We make Easy Cheesy Broccoli Soup, and we use the nonfat dry milk, and we have to show participants that we’re using it and mix it in front of them so that they believe that we’ve done it because it’s very, very good,” Hanula says.

Later that day Morse meets

for the first time with a group of teen mothers. With the nine young women are four children—the youngest nine days old—and a couple of young men. The focus of this meeting is healthy snacks. Before she begins preparing today’s recipes— Amazing Banana Pudding plus Fruity Parfaits—Morse pulls out some visual aids to help her discuss hidden salt, fat and sugar.

She holds up four test tubes of fat plus a really big one full of sugar.

This represents a meal at a fast food restaurant, she explains. The four test tubes of fat represent a hamburger (three test tubes) and an order of fries (one test tube). The larger test tube represents the amount of sugar in a 12-ounce soft drink.

“You drink that drink, and eat the fry and a hamburger, and look what you have—this is over 1,500 calories,” she says. “In one meal.”

Morse tailors her presentation to the teen mothers, suggesting while making the banana pudding that they cut the fruit into smaller pieces for younger children. She talks about making healthy choices when eating out, but she’s realistic.

“I don’t tell anybody not to eat cake and candy, ’cause I like cake and I like candy,” she says. “We just have to do it in moderation, and we have to make better choices in portion size. If I eat a piece of cake today, I know that I don’t need to eat cake tomorrow and the next day. And I need to get more exercise.”

Teens can be a tough audience, but Morse is not worried.

“Once they realize you care about them, it’s easy then,” she says.

Morse has a unique perspective—she graduated from the EFNEP program before becoming a paraprofessional 32 years ago. She still remembers what it felt like to be a client, so for each group of graduates she organizes a ceremony where friends and family can watch them receive a certificate and an EFNEP cookbook. Morse also invites local officials like former Athens-Clarke County Mayor Heidi Davison, who attended several of these ceremonies during her tenure.

“There are multiple benefits well beyond just the food part,” Davison says. “You can tell by listening to the women talk about their experiences.”

“It’s very touching and very moving to listen to how the class has changed their lives in so many ways.”

Morse remembers one client in particular.

“I gave [the certificate] to a lady, and she told me this was the first thing ever in her life that she had completed,” Morse says. “And she sat there and cried.”

EFNEP participants take home copies of recipes they learn in class. Data gathered from 2011 graduates demonstrates that 96 percent improved their diets by more closely following MyPlate recommendations, including an increase of 0.7 servings of fruits and vegetables and 0.3 cups of milk per day.

Graduates of the program receive a copy of the EFNEP cookbook, which includes more than 30 recipes plus sample menus. Morse organizes a graduation ceremony for her students, who are encouraged to invite friends and family to attend.

During the last fiscal year UGA’s EFNEP program reached more than 4,300 participants directly and more than 15,000 family members indirectly. This year it’s expanding to cover 25 counties, and program leaders would like to do even more.

But for now Hanula will settle for knowing that EFNEP is helping to reduce the number of people who find themselves without a dinner plan at 5:00 and choose to swing by the drive-through window at a fast food restaurant on the way home.

“We really want to encourage people to think ahead, to keep some foods on hand for a busy evening so that they can put a meal together quickly without spending a great deal of money,” Hanula says. “And of course all of the recipes are healthy, so that’s a good thing.”

“We are really trying hard to meet the needs of today’s busy families.”

GET MORE www.fcs.uga.edu/ext/food/efnep

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

27

A queen bee (center) crawls on a section of hive at UGA’s Honey Bee Laboratory in Watkinsville.

In today’s market, a queen is worth about $25.

28 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Exploring an enigma Keith Delaplane leads a team of experts investigating the mystery of honey bee decline

by Allyson Mann (MA ’92) photos by Peter Frey

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

29

I “If you take away everything a bee pollinated, you’re not left with much.”

t’s a beautiful spring morning in March, and Keith Delaplane is cracking open a hive at UGA’s Honey Bee Lab. He puffs smoke into the hive to “let them know we’re coming,” then uses a small metal tool to pry open the edges, which are sealed together with beeswax.

As he lifts frames from the hive—they look like small window screens hanging inside a wooden banker’s box— he plays tour guide.

“There’s a baby bee just emerged,” he says. “You can tell because she’s white, kind of pale. She’s probably only minutes old.”

He uses the corner of the hive tool to scrape honey from a cell, tastes it, and then points out the pollen.

“Do you see how they layer it?” he asks. “Each layer represents one bee trip. They unpack it in there, and then they use their little heads like battering rams and pack, pack, pack.”

He points out drone brood that are turning from larvae into pupae, a thorax and abdomen becoming visible, and young larvae, white grubs that look like a letter “c.”

After pulling out a few frames he finds the queen, who is noticeably larger than the rest.

“You can see all those eggs she’s cranking out,” he says. “That’s all those empty cells—the little white dot at the bottom of each one is an egg.”

Delaplane, who is not wearing protective gear, is relaxed despite just opening a hive of about 25,000 bees.

The sun is shining and skies are blue at the lab, which is tucked behind the university’s horticulture farm in Watkinsville. Although he shows no signs of stress, appearances can be deceiving. Delaplane is in his fourth and final year of heading a national consortium tasked with finding the source of honey bee decline. Both politicians and beekeepers are looking to him for answers, but what they really want is a smoking gun.

A few minutes later, Delaplane finds one dark spot that mars this lovely morning.

“Oh! There’s one. See that black dot?” he asks.

“That’s a Varroa mite. That is problem number one.”

n 2006 beekeepers began reporting that once-thriving Icolonies of honey bees were being abandoned overnight.

A Varroa mite crawls on the back of a honey bee at the UGA lab.

30 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

The phenomenon that became known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was unusual because no dead bees were found outside the hives—the bees simply vanished.

Beekeepers reported losing anywhere from 30 to 90 percent of their hives. Such dramatic losses spurred continuing press coverage, particularly when no single cause for CCD could be identified. But honey bees were already on the decline before CCD. The number of

Entomology Professor Keith Delaplane directs UGA’s Honey Bee Program and leads a team of researchers working to identify the cause of honey bee decline. The lab at UGA includes 30 to 40 hives, with more located in other Georgia counties.

managed honey bee colonies has dropped from 5 million in the 1940s to 2.5 million today, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

This decline is significant because honey bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops annually. That includes fruits, nuts and vegetables that humans eat as well as animal-feed crops, like clover that’s fed to beef and dairy cattle. The ARS estimates that one-third of our diet benefits directly or indirectly from honey bee pollination.

Delaplane puts it more succinctly. Look at a McDonald’s cheeseburger, he suggests.

“If you take away everything a bee pollinated, you’re not left with much,” he says.

What’s left is the bun. No burger. No cheese. No ketchup.

No mustard. No dill pickle. No onion.

We wouldn’t starve without honey bees, but our diet would be a lot less interesting, Delaplane says.

“At some level, mere survival of humanity, pollination is pretty superficial. However, once you move beyond survival, then you start invoking honey bee pollination. Let’s go beyond a bowl of rice. You don’t need bees for that,” he says. “What about the fruits and the vegetables? Well now you’re starting to talk about pollination. At this point you’re talking about the flower, which produces a fruit, and that can be anything from a succulent tomato to an almond nut.”

“That’s what’s at stake. It’s not human survival—that’s melodramatic. But it is the quality of food that we enjoy and the quantity of it. If you don’t have pollination to produce those things, you’re going to see supply go down and prices go up.”

Honey bees are not the only pollinators available, but they are the best option for an industry that requires enormous input. Consumers expect fruits and vegetables to be available

all the time, so every year commercial beekeepers haul their colonies across the country to pollinate everything from almonds in California to blueberries in Maine.

“Because we have such high concentrated food production needs, you’ve got to have high concentrated pollination inputs as well,” Delaplane says. “The honey bee remains the only pollinator that we can manage at a factory scale.”

But large-scale pollination means intermingling and potential exposure. Whatever honey bees are exposed to is taken back to their hive, making them vulnerable.

“It’s just a perfect recipe for disease transmission,” he says.

K

eith Delaplane was a 13-year-old boy growing up on an Indiana farm when his father bought him a beekeeping kit. It was an out-of-character move for the farmer, who expected his son to spend time helping with the corn, soybeans and hogs they were raising.

“The bees arrived, and I got totally caught up with it,” Delaplane says. “He could never understand why I’d be wanting to ‘fool around with them bees.’ He had more important work he needed me to do.”

But it was portentous, Delaplane says, because the bees came from Georgia.

“It was a sign,” he whispers conspiratorially, with a smile.

Delaplane earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science at Purdue University, then studied entomology at Louisiana State University, earning both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. In 1990 he arrived at UGA, where he is a professor of entomology and director of UGA’s Honey Bee Program.

Beverly Sparks, associate dean for extension at UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has watched Delaplane build a strong program that provides help JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

31

Beekeepers Ben Rouse (left) and Nicholas Weaver split a hive at UGA’s lab. Splitting hives prevents them from overpopulating and keeps bees from swarming to a new home.

for beekeepers in Georgia and beyond.

“He just stays right out there on the forefront of the problems, and then comes up with solutions for them,” she says.

ARS Research Scientist Jay Evans says Delaplane is well respected by scientists but also by the beekeeping community.

“Very few bee researchers and professors have been able to pull off a book [First Lessons in Beekeeping, published in 2007] that’s interesting for the beekeepers themselves,” he says.

Delaplane is the national director of the $4.1 million Managed Pollinator Coordinated Agriculture Project (CAP), funded by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The team involves 17 cooperators and institutions from coast to coast, a consortium of scientists and educators working to reverse honey bee decline.

He jokes that he’s the “janitor” of the project, spending all of his time on budgets and writing reports, but Evans— who’s a member of the CAP team—says that Delaplane conceptualized the 32 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

project, pulled the team together and continues to guide the big picture.

“It’s pretty tough to corral 20 scientists into doing something together, and I think he’s got a good gift for doing that,” he says.

And Delaplane easily describes some of the teams and their assignments.

At the University of Maine is the epidemiologist who’s coordinating all the experimental data and putting it into models. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts are looking at other pollinators, investigating the possibility of cross-species infection. Pennsylvania State University is handling the genetics of the Nosema parasite and taking the lead on toxicology. Purdue University is working on genetic selection for resistance to the mite known as Varroa destructor. The University of Tennessee is taking the lead on the project’s Bee Health website, a one-stop shop for the latest information.

Now in the final year of this project, Delaplane feels the weight of expectations.

“It’s expected that we will come

out with answers to actually help the beekeeping industry,” he says, but adds that the answer is likely to be just as complicated as the problem.

“From the beginning we knew that this was not going to be a smoking gun, single cause, simple model,” he says.

Delaplane believes that we’ve been conditioned by the medical field to expect a linear process—symptoms, causation, cure. But investigating honey bee decline, on the contrary, has led to the growing awareness of a multiplicity of factors.

“It’s still important for us to pick that puzzle apart, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” he says. “But it is inherently longer and more difficult to do those kinds of investigations.”

There are a number of people— politicians wielding purse strings and beekeepers with their livelihoods on the line—waiting impatiently for Delaplane and his team to come up with answers.

His father is not one of them.

“He still, to this day, doesn’t really understand what I do,” Delaplane says, chuckling. “He still thinks bees are kind of foolish.”

Tseems, he presence of Varroa mite in the hive opened this morning to borrow Delaplane’s word, portentous. Because he

believes there is no one single cause for honey bee decline, but he’s convinced that Varroa mite is at the top of the list of problems. He’s not alone. At least three international symposia on this topic have been called in the last 16 months.

Varroa destructor spreads and activates viruses, compromising the honey bee immune system. It’s native to Asia, but has been in the United States since 1988.

“I call it the snowball that starts the avalanche. It’s always at the top of the list,” he says. “If there was one thing I could wave my magic wand and cure, it would be Varroa mite. If we could get rid of Varroa mite, I think the headlines would cease.”

Some members of Delaplane’s CAP team are working to address Varroa mite by using RNA silencing technology, the process of inserting genetic material that blocks the production of proteins or other materials needed to live—killing the organism.

Others are narrowing down a list of viruses that may be problematic. They started with 10 and have narrowed it down to four. And the Nosema parasite, once thought to be a significant factor in honey bee decline, has been downgraded.

One of the team’s most significant findings involves what happens when hive chemicals—added by beekeepers to control parasites—interact with agricultural pesticides. One particular hive chemical is deadly when combined with a common agricultural fungicide.

“Both of these chemicals by themselves are innocuous to the honey bee, but you put the two together and this horrible synergy happens that’s just lethal to bees,” he says.

Here’s the question that keeps Delaplane up at night: What if his colleague had picked another chemical combination to test?

“What other combinations are out there that we’re blissfully ignorant of? That’s what we’re up against—trying to look at all the possible permutations in nature and agriculture and make this into some kind of recommendation,” he says.

“It’s more like forensic science than experimental science. It’s more like Sherlock Holmes on the scene of a crime than it is a scientist in a white lab coat.”

W

hen he was young, Delaplane read and enjoyed James Herriot’s books known collectively as All Creatures Great and Small. The stories were semi-autobiographical tales of an English veterinarian’s experiences caring for patients of every size in the Yorkshire countryside. In May, he traveled to York for a six-month study leave at England’s national honey bee lab.

It’s “almost like a pilgrimage to go back and see it,” he says.

While in York Delaplane is studying diagnostic techniques for viruses, catching up on the genomics revolution that has

DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI

Delaplane points out details of a hive to SPC Carl Chandler and Command Sgt. Maj. Randall Parker, members of the Agribusiness Development Team from Fort Gordon, Ga., during the Georgia National Guard Agricultural Training in February 2011.

happened since he finished grad school. And he continues to lead the CAP team toward a resolution that he suspects will be unsatisfying and even frustrating for some.

“When I talk in front of crowds, especially beekeepers, I say, ‘Well, you know, it’s a multifaceted issue,’ and you can just see their eyes glaze over,” he says. “And I can appreciate that.

Just because something is hard and multilevel doesn’t get us off the hook.”

Ultimately the answer to honey bee decline is going to be addressing a number of big issues like Varroa mite and viruses, but also making policy changes at the level of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), he says.

“We still have farmers that’ll go out and spray a crop that’s blooming. If it’s blooming the bees are coming from everywhere, and you get these massive die-offs,” he says. “Well, that’s an education issue, but it’s also an EPA issue—we’ve got to get that language on the label to make it unlawful to spray while a crop is blooming.”

And Delaplane knows that those kinds of changes won’t be easy.

“Changes like that… They’re very slow, very institutional,” he says. “It’s just not the stuff that a quick fix is made of.”

GET MORE UGA Honey Bee Program www.ent.uga.edu/bees Managed Pollinator CAP’s Bee Health website www.extension.org/bee_health

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

33

NOTES

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons cream of tartar Pinch of fine sea salt 1 cup low-fat or whole milk 1 large egg 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted 2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more if needed 2 to 3 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced

Sorghum, cane syrup, or maple syrup for accompaniment Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a bowl. Combine the milk, egg and butter in a large liquid measuring cup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat and lightly coat with canola oil. Add 2 peach slices, then ladle 1/4 cup of batter over the peaches for each pancake, cooking only a few at a time. Cook until the bubbles on top burst and the bottoms are golden brown, about 1 minute. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining peach slices and batter, adding more oil to the pan as necessary.

Honey Nut Butter Peaches and almonds have a natural affinity because they are related.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place 1 cup slivered almonds on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast, shaking the pan occasionally, until the almonds are golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Purée until very finely ground. Add 1 tablespoon honey. Makes 1 cup. To serve, scoop a dollop of the honey butter on top of the peaches. Top with syrup of your choice.

CLASS NOTES

Compiled by Brittany Biddy and Emily Grant

1940-1944

Cliff Kimsey Jr. (BBA ’42) of Cornelia was honored at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame ceremony in February as UGA football’s oldest living letterman.

1945-1949

Abit Massey (BBA ’49) of Gainesville, Ga., received the Harold E. Ford Lifetime Achievement Award from the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association during the 2012 International Poultry Expo.

Massey is president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Foundation.

34

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

1950-1954

Frank E. Craven (BSF ’51) and wife Millie celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary. Lester O. Thompson (BSF ’54) retired but is still doing his own prescribed burning and helping neighbors determine the height of a dead tree with his clinometer.

1955-1959

Neal L. Williams (M ’56) of Atlanta was honored as one of nine nationally known business men and women at Northwood University’s 32nd annual Outstanding Business Leader Awards. Williams is chairman of N.A. Williams Co.

Bon appetite again, y’all Epicurean Virginia Willis’ second book, Basic to Brilliant, Y’all, a follow-up to her inaugural cookbook, Bon Appetit, Y’all, features 150 recipes that rely on fine ingredients and French technique to turn a basic recipe into something brilliant. Willis (AB ’88), an Albany native who earned her degree in history, is a graduate of L’Academie de Cuisine and Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne, and has served as kitchen director for Martha Stewart Living Television and executive producer of the Discovery Channel’s “Epicurious.”

s

CLASS

Sweet Peach Pancakes

Recipe from Basic to Brilliant, Y’all

1960-1964

Fran Tarkenton (BBA ’61) of Atlanta was announced as the host of a live, weekly, call-in talk show on Sirius XM Radio. He was inducted into the professional football hall of fame in 1986 and the college football hall of fame in 1987. “The Fran Tarkenton Show” premiered Feb. 20.

1965-1969

Craig Barrow III (AB ’65) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Robert Meredith (BFA ’65) had his life’s artwork on display at the Marietta/ Cobb Museum of Art in an exhibit called “Robert Meredith—40 Years

ALUMNI PROFILE

Branding chikin Grady graduate has made a career of promoting America’s best-known chicken

by Brittany Biddy (ABJ, AB ’12) Chick-fil-A may be closed on Sundays, but Don Perry (ABJ ’74) still has a job to do.

“My expression routinely is ‘there are no dull days,’” he says. “You just don’t know what’s going to happen moment to moment.”

Perry grew up on a farm in Valdosta watching “Bewitched” and knew that he wanted a job that required a briefcase. He is now the vice president of corporate public relations for Don Perry Chick-fil-A and leads the public relations staff of eight members and supporting PR agencies.

When he started working for the family-owned company 28 years ago, he was the PR staff.

“I came on board in 1983 to literally start the public relations function here, because the company was young, growing and emerging,” he says. “The company was trying to move beyond just a small, regional family chain to become a national brand.”

And Perry has helped it do just that. His job has gone through what he describes as a cycle, evolving from building a positive brand to now concentrating most of his time on the issues management side of the business.

“We’ve seen Chick-fil-A certainly grow up and progress over the years, but now we’re into the phase of doing all the right things for the reputation management of that brand,” he says.

Some of these activities include Chick-fil-A’s support of the community and involvement through the WinShape Foundation. The foundation was created in 1984 to help “shape winners” through its summer camps and other programs that aim to cultivate college students. Other efforts from the foundation include a foster-care program and a scholarship program that provides up to $8,000 annually in a joint effort with Berry College in Rome.

The company also supports college athletics through the annual Chick-fil-A Bowl and Chick-fil-A Kickoff, which resonates with Perry since he had three sons—Brandon, Jason and Kristian—who played college football at Wake Forest University, Morehouse College and Florida A&M University, respectively.

Because of Chick-fil-A’s dedication to the community, it has garnered a reputation for being very generous. Not only does Don Perry support all of the company’s activities from a PR standpoint, but it has carried over into his personal life as well. He decided to become involved with his alma mater because UGA “was mirroring what I saw at Chick-fil-A—giving back and offering that helping hand.”

He has been a member of the board of trustees for the UGA Foundation since 2005 and in September 2011 received the Blue Key Service Award from UGA’s Blue Key Honor Society. Perry has also been involved in the classroom and frequently leads discussions in introductory public relations courses.

“At some point the Chick-fil-A days will come to an end, which is an emotional tug, but life runs its cycle,” Perry says. “I will be finding something to stay busy, and playing golf five days a week won’t be it.”

PETER FREY

Exhibition.” Pat Mitchell (AB ’65, MA ’67) was named one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century 2012 by Women’s eNews. Mitchell is the president and CEO of the Paley Center for Media.

Benjamin H. Underwood (BBA ’65) was awarded the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Gold Honor Award of Excellence during the GHA Annual Membership Meeting. He is the Talbott Recovery co-founder and CEO. Saxby Chambliss (BBA ’66) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Dr. Lawrence Goldman (BS ’66) retired as chief of medicine at the Roy L. Schneider Medical Center in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. He held the position for 12 years and will now concentrate on his gastroenterology practice. Johnny Isakson (BBA ’66) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Jack Brookner (BBA ’67) is a developer of affordable housing near Miami, father of twin daughters and a son, and husband of 20 years to a public school science teacher.

His son, Aaron, finished his freshman year at MIT majoring in math. James “Wank” Davis (BBA ’67) retired Sept.

30 from United Community Bank on St. Simons Island. Davis has been active mentoring at a local elementary school and teaching math and English at the Glynn County Adult Literacy Program since retiring. Henrietta McArthur Singletary (AB ’67) of Albany retired as chair of the Phoebe Foundation

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

35

CLASSNOTES

®

We have arrived at the conclusion of another successful academic year. I want to congratulate the new graduates and welcome them as members into the alumni association. As I looked out over the spring graduation class at the Commencement ceremony last month, I was reminded of the University of Georgia’s awesome impact.

Every year we send thousands of newly minted Bulldogs out into the world to achieve amazing things, each graduate eager to be positive change-agents in their communities. I am inspired by the passion and energy of these newest UGA alumni, and I know you share my excited anticipation Steve Jones of their accomplishments in the coming years.

Speaking of accomplished alumni, two of our signature recognition programs are approaching some important dates. The 2012 class of the 40 Under 40 will be unveiled in July, and we will celebrate those outstanding young alumni at an awards luncheon in Atlanta in September. Visit www.alumni.uga.edu/40u40 for more information.

The Bulldog 100 is wrapping up nominations for the 2013 class. The deadline is June 29, so you only have a few weeks left to nominate a Bulldog business! To submit a nomination, visit www.alumni.uga.edu/bulldog100.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the local chapter leadership teams in Rome, Albany, Columbus, Macon, Charlotte, the Golden Isles, Valdosta, Birmingham and Tampa for hosting UGA Day stops over the past couple of months.

UGA Days are presented by the Alumni and Athletic Associations to share the university’s academic, research and athletic successes. Each event was a wonderful opportunity for UGA alumni and friends to come together and celebrate our great institution, and it was impressive to see how well UGA is represented in cities and towns across the South. UGA Day in Atlanta is coming up on July 23, and we hope to see you there! Visit www.alumni.uga.edu/ugadays for more information.

The cities listed above are just a sampling of the dozens of alumni chapters across the country that are offering exciting programs tailor-made for UGA graduates like you. Visit our website at www.alumni.uga.edu to see what your local chapter has planned today! Go Dawgs!

—Steve Jones, (BBA ’78, JD ’87), president

UGA Alumni Association

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Deborah Dietzler, Executive Director ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS Steve Jones BBA ’78, JD ’87 President, Athens Tim Keadle BBA ’78 Vice President, Lilburn Ruth Bartlett BBA ’76 Treasurer, Atlanta Jennifer Chapman BBA ‘97, MA ‘98, JD ‘02 Assistant Treasurer, Athens Julie Reynolds BSHE ‘81 Secretary, Lawrenceville Vic Sullivan BBA ’80 Immediate Past President, Albany

36

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WEBSITE www.alumni.uga.edu 800/606-8786 or 706/542-2251 To receive a monthly e-newsletter, enroll at: alumni.uga.edu ADDRESS CHANGES E-mail records@uga.edu or call 888/268-5442

board of directors after 23 years, but will remain a member. The Phoebe Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Phoebe Putney Health System. Lynn Smith (BSEd ’68) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Stevan Crew (BBA ’69) of Dallas, Ga., was elected as president of the Technical College Directors’ Association of Georgia for 2012. Crew was most recently chairman of the board of directors at Chattahoochee Technical College. Reynold Jennings (BSPh ’69) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians.

1970-1974

Ellis G. Wood (BSAE ’70) was reappointed to the Board of Public Safety by Gov. Nathan Deal. William “Bill” R. Foisy (BBA ’71) of Red Lodge, Mont., was awarded the Richard L. Platt Career Achievement Award at the 2012 Annual Conference of the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association. William “Bill” F. Miller III (BSFR ’71) moved from Savannah to Fernandina Beach, Fla. Rita Pelot (BSEd ’71) of Marietta became a juried member of The Portrait Society of Atlanta. Larry O’Neal (BBA ’72) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Dan Amos (BBA ’73) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Henry Childs (AB ’73) of Warner Robins celebrated his seventh anniversary as pastor of North Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, which celebrated its 32nd anniversary in February. In 2004, Childs retired from the Air Force. Fred F. Manget (AB ’73) of Jasper retired from the Central Intelligence Agency after 26 years of service. He received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award and is a retired colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, U.S. Army Reserve. A. Middleton Ramsey (BBA ’73) was named chairman of the Georgia Student Finance Commission by the commission’s board of directors. The Commission manages the state’s Hope Scholarship program and administers student loan programs.

Robert S. Thompson III (BSEd ’73) was appointed by Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to the Indian Oil Valuation

ALUMNI calendar Tuesday, June 05, 2012 UGA Alumni Career Fair

UGA graduates from every degree program are invited to network with employers and fellow Bulldogs at this incredible career event serving Metro Atlanta. This career fair is open only to UGA graduates, so take advantage of this opportunity!

June 21 and August 23, 2012 Richmond, Virginia, Bulldogs After Business Hours

Mingle with UGA alumni and friends after a hard day’s work! This is a great opportunity to meet Bulldogs in the Richmond area and to get involved with the chapter.

June 21, 2012 Tallahassee, Florida, Bulldogs After Business Hours

Network and socialize with UGA alumni and friends in the Tallahassee area.

Join us in midtown to enjoy the weather and an evening of food, conversation and fun! Learn more about opportunities to get involved with the chapter.

July 2012 Freshmen Send-off Parties

Your local alumni chapter is gathering to celebrate the members of the Class of 2016 and their families before they head off to school this fall. Stay tuned to your chapter’s webpage for details about the event in your area.

August 12, 2012 Freshmen Welcome

The Student Alumni Association and UGA SGA officially welcome the Class of 2016 to the University of Georgia. New students are invited to Sanford Stadium for a class picture on the field, followed by food and fun in Reed Plaza.

August 31, 2012 Kickoff Friday

The Alumni Association invites UGA alumni and friends to the Tate Student Center Grand Hall on the Friday before the first home football game to get excited about the upcoming season. Start your day at the Bulldog Breakfast Club with Coach Mark Richt as he gives us updates on the upcoming football season. A captivating Women of UGA luncheon will be hosted by several UGA coaches’ wives.

For more information on these and other exciting programs for UGA alumni and friends, visit www.alumni.uga.edu, email alumni@uga.edu, or call (706) 542-2251.

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee representing the interests of the Western Energy Alliance. Katherine Callaway Caston (BSEd ’74) of Acworth stepped down as sports manager of the Cobb County Special Olympics after 32 years.

During this time, she also worked as an adapted physical education consultant.

1975-1979

Ronald C. Shaddix (BBA ’75) of Atlanta was named records and information management director for Crawford & Company, a global insurance company.

Judy Burke Bynum (ABJ ’76) of Spartanburg, S.C., was elected to the 14-member national board of directors of the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Bynum has served as a member of the statewide Humanities Council board of directors since 2005 and has spent the past two years as chairman.

Barry P. Harris IV (AB ’76) of Raleigh, N.C., has joined First Citizens Bank as its chief legal officer. He oversees legal matters for the company and assumes overall management responsibilities for the bank’s legal services group.

Kathy Stephens Palmer (BSHE ’76, JD ’79) of Swainsboro was awarded the Outstanding Service Award by UGA’s College of Family & Consumer Sciences.

Palmer is chief superior court judge for the Middle Judicial Circuit of Georgia.

Philip T. Raymond III (AB ’76) of Macon was chosen as the next Macon Judicial Circuit judge by Gov. Nathan Deal and will focus on family law cases.

In 1992, he co-founded a firm now known as Shaffer, Raymond & Dalton.

S. Craig Taylor (BS ’76) of Monroe became a fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry at the annual meeting in San Diego. Bob White (ABJ ’76) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Tommie Williams (BFA ’76) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Chuck Coley (BSA ’77) of Vienna was elected National Cotton Council (NCC) chairman for 2012. He served as NCC’s vice chairman in 2011.

Kevin Marsh (BBA ’77) was promoted to chairman and chief executive officer of Scana Corp., owner of South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. Stuart Wittner (BSEd ’77) led the Men’s United States

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

37

ALUMNI PROFILE

Getting fresh College sweethearts bring healthy alternatives to traditional vending machines

by Emily Grant (ABJ ’12)

The Baxter Street hill can be a miserable hike for freshmen at UGA, but Byron and Donna Marshall remember it fondly.

“We first met on the hill between Brumby and Russell,” Byron says.

“We both grew up in Columbus, Ga., and we knew a lot of the same people, but we had never met.”

Byron (BBA ’97) DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI and Donna (BS ’98) got Byron and Donna Marshall married in the summer of 2002 after Byron finished grad school at Rice University in Houston, Texas. The couple also lived in New York and Princeton, N.J., where Donna attended Rutgers University for grad school, before moving back to Athens to be closer to family.

Donna worked in research at the food and nutrition lab at UGA, but after giving birth to their second child, she decided to find a job where she could work from home. She read about Fresh! Healthy Vending and saw it as a great opportunity to make a difference.

Fresh! Healthy Vending works like a franchise where people can buy the rights to an area and a minimum of 10 machines. Donna and Byron own the rights to Clarke, Oconee and Gwinnett counties. Their first 10 machines are in such places as schools, dance studios and the YMCA. “It really depends on how fast you want to go,” says Byron, who is a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in Atlanta. “We are adding more machines. One will be at River Club Apartments [in Athens], and we are trying to discuss getting one at the hospital here. We would love to be at UGA!” There are over 600 products to select for the machines, all of them preservative, wheat and gluten free and processed in facilities that are free of peanuts and soy products. The machines can include cold products, like yogurt, smoothies and milk, as well as snacks like baked chips, pretzels and yogurt bars. Prices range from about $1 to $2.25.

“It’s really important to start kids with good eating habits,” says Donna, who runs the business. “More children are diagnosed with Type II diabetes than adults. It’s scary.”

“Continuing to give healthy options for kids and change their eating habits is the most important thing we can do with this job.”

38

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Basketball Team to a gold medal at the 2011 Pan-American Maccabi Games in the Open Division. Wittner is the former Pace University men’s basketball head coach. Richard Byne (BSA ’78) and his wife Linda Byne of Waynesboro were presented with the 2011 Small Business of the Year award from the Burke County Commission. Organic Byne Blueberry Farm was created in 1980 as the original organic blueberry farm in the region and is a supplier to Whole Foods Market and Earth Fare. Jack Kingston (AB ’78) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Kessel D. Stelling Jr. (BBA ’78) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians.

Stelling was also named the chairman of Synovus Financial Corp. Stelling has been with the company since March 2006 and was previously CEO and president.

Bill Young (BBA ’78) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians.

1980-1984

Gary W. Black (BSA ’80) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Jan Jones (ABJ ’80) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Debra Bloodworth Glass (BSPh ’81) of Tallahassee, Fla., was appointed to the Board of Pharmacy by Gov. Rick Scott.

She has been a pharmacy supervisor with CVS Caremark since 2006. J. Mark Mobley Jr. (M ’81) was appointed to the Board of Natural Resources by Gov. Nathan Deal. William Britt (AB ’82) was promoted to colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve in July and assumed command of the 12th Legal Support Organization at Fort Jackson, S.C. Robbin L. Gregory (BLA ’83) was named director of land development at RETTEW, a design firm providing engineering, transportation, environmental consulting and planning and surveying services. Marne Matthews (BBA ’83), AFB&T executive vice president and board member, was named chairman of the United Way of Northeast Georgia board of directors.

She was also named Volunteer of the Year for the United Way of Northeast Georgia for 2011. Stacy Beskind Mays (AB ’83) of Mequon, Wis., was named president of Aveta Inc.’s subsidiary, North American

A major win for Bubba

Alumnus Bubba Watson (BSFCS ’08) in April became the first former UGA golfer to win a major golf championship when he won the Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Watson got the win after besting South African Louis Oosthuizen on the second hole of a sudden death playoff.

It was his fourth PGA tour win since he went pro in 2001, leaving UGA just shy of completing his degree in housing and consumer economics. Watson later worked with administrators in the Holahan / The Augusta Bubba Watson Michael College of Family and Consumer Chronicle and Augusta.com Sciences to finish his degree, which he received in 2008. In 2011, Watson joined former UGA golfer Chip Beck (ABJ ’78) to co-chair the Nationwide Tour Stadion Classic at the UGA Golf Course.

While on campus, Watson presented a check to UGA for $50,000 for Play Golf America University, a PGA program designed to help college students learn to play golf and understand how golf can be used as a business tool in the professional world. The Masters win capped an already exciting year for Watson, who with wife Angie Ball Watson (BSEd ’01), a former UGA basketball player, adopted a month-old baby boy, Caleb, in March. You can follow Watson on Twitter @bubbawatson.

Medical Management of Illinois. Mays has served as interim president for the company since August 2011. Don Bailey (ABJ ’84) was named the president and publisher of The Times in Shreveport, La. Bailey previously served as president of The Augusta Chronicle.

1985-1989

Kyle Tibbs Jones (ABJ ’85) of Atlanta was honored at the 23rd annual American Craft Council show as one of 12 “style makers.” She owns her own boutique PR firm and is a board member with Georgia Shakespeare Festival. Tim Dixon (BSEd ’86) of Millwood was named 2012 Georgia Middle School Principal of the Year.

He is the principal of Waycross Middle School and was one of three finalists for 2012 National Middle School Principal of the Year. Elizabeth McBride (ABJ ’86) was named director of development at the Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dale A. Nagel (BBA ’86) of

VOLUNTEER TO ASSIST WITH GEORGIA’S DISASTER RECOVERY SERVGA is a statewide secure database of pre-credentialed healthcare professionals and other volunteers who want to help in case of a public health emergency.

Registering at www.servga.gov is quick and can be done within minutes. Name, address, contact information and occupation type completes the initial registration process. In order to be eligible, Responders are also encouraged to complete a Profile Summary.

SERVGA integrates governmentsponsored local, regional and statewide volunteer programs to assist emergency response and public safety organizations during a disaster.

To register for SERVGA, go online to:

www.servga.gov.

When you register, you will need to agree to the terms of service, and then will be asked to provide information specific to you and your skills.

This information will be used to establish your emergency credentialing level and to contact you in the event of an emergency.

PU

BL

TH

OF

DE

REGISTER TODAY . . . READY FOR TOMORROW RTMENT PA

L IC HEA

For additional information e-mail the SERVGA system coordinator at servga@dhr.state.ga.us

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

39

ALUMNI PROFILE

The Bikini Chef Cookbook author’s plan for healthy living is spread through a website, radio and soon, television

by Brittany Biddy (ABJ, AB ’12) Things may have changed since Susan Irby (ABJ ’88) graduated, but her bikini body definitely has not.

Irby has translated her love for cooking and healthy living into The Bikini Chef brand, which encompasses healthy living through an “everything in moderation” mentality.

Irby grew up with a foundation for cooking which she attributes to her mother, who was a culinary arts Susan Irby and nutrition major at the University of Alabama.

“I always had a passion for cooking, but never thought I would make a living doing that.” Irby says.

After graduating from UGA, she spent two years in Athens working in advertising sales for The Athens Banner-Herald and WRFC Radio. Irby says she loved those years because she got to know Athens as a community, which went beyond experiencing it as a college town.

Since her family was no longer living in Georgia, Irby decided to move to Los Angeles.

“I was driving around Athens’ perimeter one day and said ‘You know what—I think I’ll move to L.A.,’” Irby jokes.

Once in Los Angeles Irby went back into sales management for ABF Freight System, but started attending writing seminars and followed people’s advice to do what she knows. Because of her journalism background and knack for cooking, she decided to write a cookbook.

Irby self-published her first book, Cooking with Susan: Southern Family Favorites, in 2000. She even wrote her own press releases and organized her book tour.

She started bringing samples of recipes to book signings and readers wanted to know how she stayed slim. Irby talked about her healthy lifestyle, which included a lot of fish and vegetables.

While doing publicity for her first book, Irby told a reporter she liked to cook because it reminded her of water skiing all day at her parents’ house in Lake Martin, Ala. “We’d be starving and cook and eat in our bikinis. I guess you could call it Bikini Cooking. From then on, readers and fans who heard the story began calling me The Bikini Chef,” she says.

She wrote six more books including Substitute Yourself Skinny, The Giant $7 A Meal Cookbook and Boost Your Metabolism. Irby’s eighth book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide Quinoa Cookbook, is scheduled for release this summer.

In addition to her cookbooks, The Bikini Chef also hosts Bikini Lifestyles on 790 KABC radio in Los Angeles. She advises listeners to focus on fresh foods and ingredients by gradually incorporating them into their diet.

In the works is Bikini Lifestyles TV, which is the same format as her radio show—wine, dine and workout. She encourages people to not focus on weight as much as inches, so everyone can be bikini body ready.

Learn more about The Bikini Chef at http://susanirby.com.

40

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

SPECIAL

Granger, Ind., celebrated 25 years with the Liberty Mutual Insurance Group.

He and his wife, Susan, joined other Quarter Century Club inductees at the recognition event in Boston, Mass.

James Reinstein (BBA ’86) of Houston was appointed president and chief executive officer of Aptus Endosystems, effective Feb. 27. John Boles (AB ’87) of Springfield, Va., was named special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk division. Boles previously served as a special assistant to the National Security Branch (NSB) executive assistant director and as section chief of the NSB executive staff section. Brian Kemp (BSA ’87) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Chris Blalock (BBA ’88) of Bethlehem was named a member of the 2011-2012 board of governors for the Institute of Internal Auditors, Atlanta chapter. Blalock is senior vice president of internal audit for Equifax Inc. Anthony Chalker (BBA ’88, MAcc ’89) of Marietta was named as a member of the 2011-2012 board of governors for the Institute of Internal Auditors, Atlanta chapter. He is a managing director of Protiviti. Terry England (M ’88) of Auburn, Ga., was named a 2012 Legislator of the Year for his support of the life sciences industry and university research in Georgia.

Chan Caudell (AB ’89) was appointed to the Superior Court bench in the Mountain Judicial Circuit by Gov. Nathan Deal.

1990-1994

Charlton H. “Chuck” Bonham (BBA ’90) was named director of the California Department of Fish and Game in August. Amy Glennon (ABJ ’90) was named publisher of The Atlanta JournalConstitution. She was previously vice president of audience for the AJC. Bayne E. Smith (BS ’90) was named district engineer for the Georgia Department of Transportation. Anne Cain (BS ’91) of Fernandina Beach, Fla., was added to the TOUR Academy’s golf instruction staff. She has owned and operated the Anne Cain Golf Academy in Amelia Island since 1995. At UGA Cain won the Southeast Conference title and All-American honors before turning professional in 1991. Joel A. Howe (BBA ’91) of Macon was named a partner at the law firm of Martin Snow LLP. Howe practices in the litigation section. Sonja Gross (ABJ ’92) of Amarillo, Texas, was honored by Texas Business Women of Amarillo as one of three Texas Woman to Watch for 2012. She is the owner of Sonja’s Ink and district director assistant with Business Networking International for the Amarillo area.

Tracy White (BSEd ’92) of Dublin was selected head football coach at Bleckley County High School in Cochran.

He previously served 20 years in the Dublin City school system as a teacher and coach. Sandy Newman Ponder (ABJ ’93) of Murfreesboro, Tenn., was hired as vice president of workforce development for the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. She started the newly created position April 2.

Brad E. Barber (M ’94) of Moultrie was promoted to regional president of Commercial Banking Company. Barber was previously the Moultrie market president and has been with the bank for the past three years. Charles G. Briscoe (BSEd ’94) is the chief executive officer at Coliseum Health System.

Coley Bryant (BSFR ’94) was honored by the Georgia Forestry Association at the organization’s 2011 annual meeting as Logger of the Year. This award recognizes a logging contractor who consistently demonstrates exceptional qualities in business, environmental protection, safety and maintenance operations categories.

1995-1999

Morgan Law (AB ’95) of Centerville was named president of the Robins Regional Chamber of Commerce. For the past 11 years, Law was executive director of the Houston County Development Authority. Laurie Barron (BSEd ’96) of Newnan was named 2012 Georgia Middle School Principal of the Year for her work at Smokey Road Middle School.

Chris Cummiskey (BBA ’96) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Christopher G. Haddock (BS ’96) of Ringgold was named northwest Georgia’s best primary care doctor by the readers of the Chattanooga Times Free Press for the second year in a row. He and his wife, Rachelle Wade Haddock (AB ’98), have two sons, Grady, 3, and Landon, 1. Germonique Jones Ulmer (ABJ ’96) of Washington, D.C., became senior director of public affairs for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and she and her husband welcomed a son, Chinua Lee Ulmer, Feb. 24, 2011.

Leigh Majors Arwood (AB ’97) and Josh Arwood welcomed their daughter, Jacqueline “Alexis” Arwood, Oct. 7.

Tom Everett (ABJ ’97) of Thomasville was named chief executive officer of the Thomasville YMCA. Ebony Hall (ABJ ’97) of Calera, Ala., was promoted to co-anchor of “Good Morning Alabama” at WBMA, Birmingham. She was awarded Best Anchor for 2011 by the Alabama Associated Press. Bethany Marchman (AB ’97) was featured in an exhibition at WWA Gallery in Culver City, Calif. The exhibit, “About Face,” is a contemporary look at the classic genre of portraiture. Chris Mastrodicasa (BSA ’97) and Mike Pruitt (BLA ’98) won Storm Water & Erosion Control Top Projects for 2011 by Storm Water Solutions Magazine for their design of the San Jose Environmental Innovation Center. Amy Middlebrooks Tapley (ABJ ’97) of Duluth joined BFG Communications in Hilton Head Island, S.C., as an account executive for the Treasury Wine Estates account. Bradley Dehem (BBA ’98) was hired as varsity football coach for Brookstone School.

Stephen Murphy (AB ’99) was hired

by Loyola University New Orleans as emergency manager. He is responsible

Serving

GEORGIA

nourishment with culinary spirit 75 NATIONAL AWARDS

University of Georgia Food Services foodservice.uga.edu (706) 542-1256 JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

41

CLASSNOTES

Rice and simple A late-night run to a Taiwanese grocery store in 2005 inspired Jennifer Lee (MAcc ’86) to create Rice & Simple meals. She wanted something light and spotted a microwaveable Japanese rice dish among the frozen foods.

“The first bite hit me,” Lee says. “It was so surprising. It tasted like fresh cooked rice.”

SPECIAL She quit her job at IBM in Jennifer Lee Taiwan and moved back to the U.S. to start her new business, Gabby’s Choice.

The meals are made from Jasmine or brown rice, with soy, shiitake mushroom and teriyaki sauces. At $2.49 each, the meals are targeted to college students.

“I wish I had something like this when I was in college,” Lee says. “They’re easy to make, and they’re healthier than Ramen noodles.”

So far, consumer response has been favorable. Lee recalls a note she got from a woman with an inoperable stomach tumor who said that though her diet was limited, she could eat the Rice & Simple meals and enjoyed them.

“That really touched me,” Lee says.

Rice & Simple meals are available at Kroger stores and online, and Gabby’s Choice hopes to have them in other stores soon.

—Emily Grant (ABJ ’12) for managing university-wide emergency preparedness and business continuity programs, including training and guidance for emergency response. David Schnitzer (BSA ’99) of Dahlonega was selected as the new director of Camp Kanuga by Kanuga Conferences Inc. He started work for the summer camp in January. Schnitzer was previously program director for Camp Glisson in Dahlonega and brought 11 years of camping and young ministry experience to the program. Drew Slocum (BBA ’99) completed his first full Ironman Triathlon in November in Florida. He placed 123 out of over 2,800 participants.

Slocum has been with Merrill Lynch in Macon since graduating in 1999 and holds multiple nationally recognized designations.

2000-2004

Samantha Hayes Fisher (ABJ ’00) joined WKRN-TV in January, as coanchor of News 2 at 10 in Nashville, Tenn. Lucy Cartledge Gates (BBA ’00) of Chattanooga, Tenn., was promoted to tax manager of the Chattanooga

42

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

office of Decosimo, a top 100 public accounting and business advisory firm.

Gates is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Chattanooga Tax Practitioners and serves as a board member for the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants. Frank Hamrick (BFA ’00) was named one of Oxford American Magazine’s 100 under 100–The New Superstars of Southern Art for his work in photography. Cory Kampfer (BBA ’00) of New York City was named general counsel of On Deck Capital Inc. Brent Bradshaw (BBA ’01) of Thomasville was promoted to vice president of marketing of cake for Flowers Foods. Bradshaw joined the company in 2003 and is responsible for the marketing and sales of Flowers’ snack cake products. Paul Fulton Jr. (ABJ ’01) of Atlanta was named vice president of Duffey Communications, a PR agency. Emily Gray (BSEd ’02), a physical education teacher at Red Cedar Elementary School in Bluffton, S.C., was one of several teachers across the country representing their schools

at the HealthierUS School Challenge Celebration at the White House in October. Alec Poitevint (AB ’02) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Michael Tavani (ABJ ’02) was awarded Mobile Marketer of the Year by the Tech Marketing Awards. Tavani is co-founder of Scoutmob and leads their product strategy and operations effort. Jason Bragg (BBA ’03) joined the Georgia EMC government relations teams as government relations representative.

Bragg serves on the board of directors of the Georgia Professional Lobbyist Association and was named a Top Rising Star lobbyist by James Magazine in 2009 and 2010. Kevin Carmichael (ABJ ’03) of Dacula was promoted to vice president at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, where he manages the strategic partners team. Seth Alhadeff (BSEd ’04) and his wife, Alison, celebrated the birth of their son, William Sedgwick Alhadeff, on Sept.

4. “Liam” joins his brother Solomon, 2. Seth serves as a physical therapist and clinic director of ProTherapy’s office in Dahlonega. Lindsey Grant (AB ’04) is the program director for National Novel Writing Month, a web-based international nonprofit. This will be Grant’s third year in charge of the program. Billy Peppers (AB ’04), Woodstock’s director of economic services, was elected president of the Georgia Downtown Association.

Greg Sewell (AB ’04) of Savannah was chosen as a Georgia Rising Star.

Sewell, of Bouhan, Williams & Levy LLP, concentrates in civil litigation practice. Jeremy Alan Wicker (BSEd ’04) received a master’s of divinity from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in December. Wicker is a minister at Edgewater Baptist Church in New Orleans.

2005-2009

John Hagin (BSA ’05) of Upson-Lee High School was named Teacher of the Year by the Board of Education.

Douglas Harden (AB ’05) received a Congressional Commendation from the U.S. House of Representatives on behalf of Congressman Austin Scott for his work in the local community. Nicole

2012 UGA Alumni Association Awards Gina Pfleger (BSEd ’05) was selected by the American School Counselor Association as the 2012 National School Counselor of the Year. Pfleger works at Nickajack Elementary School. Deanne Smith Rosso (BSFCS ’05) of Bishop was selected as a 2011 Five Star Wealth Manager by Atlanta Magazine. She is a certified financial planner for Vickery Financial Services. Dean Roy (BBA ’05) of New Orleans was promoted to senior director of decision support for West Jefferson Medical Center and completed his first marathon in November in Savannah. Sarah Sullivan Austin (BBA ’06, BSFCS ’06) was elected assistant vice president of Athens First Bank & Trust. She started working for the company in 2007 as a management associate. Christy T. Bennett (BS ’06) of Atlanta was certified as a registered microbiologist in pharmaceutical and medical device microbiology by the National Registry of Certified Microbiologists. Adriana Sanchez Hall (AB ’06) of Atlanta completed her master of science in nursing degree from Emory University, specializing in acute care patients.

Matthew McKinney (BSFR ’06) lives in Starkville, Miss., and is pursuing a master’s degree in wildlife ecology at Mississippi State University. He married Megan Annette Ford Sept. 3. Benjamin Keith Peacock (AB ’06) was assigned to the litigation practice of Clifford Chance, New York. Timothy Justin Peacock (BBA ’06) was promoted to senior adjuster with Amica Insurance.

David Stein (AB ’06, AB ’06) of Atlanta took over Twain’s brew pub in Decatur in December. Laurie Barron (BSEd ’07) of Newnan was named 2012 Georgia Middle School Principal of the Year by the Georgia Association of Secondary School Principals. She will represent Georgia in the National Middle School Principal of the Year program. Kylie Amunda HamlinFilkins (BSFR ’07) works for UGA in the Northeast District 4-H office. She and her husband, Tim Filkins, bought a home in Danielsville. Nick Jones (BBA ’07) of Bowdon was named assistant football coach at Coastal Carolina University. Jones will instruct the tight ends and tackles. Mary Patton

Robert Argo (BBA ’50), William P. Flatt and the family of Frank “Sonny” Seiler (BBA ’56, JD ’57) were honored by the alumni association in April for their commitment to the University of Georgia.

Alumni Merit Award

Robert E. Argo

Robert E. Argo enrolled in UGA after serving in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. Argo represented Clarke County in the Georgia state legislature from 1976 to 1986, serving on the appropriations and higher education committees, and as chairman of the rules committee. He helped secure funding for many UGA projects including the Tate Student Center, the parking deck adjacent to the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and the Biological Sciences Building. He is an emeritus trustee of the UGA Foundation and has served as UGA Alumni Association president.

Faculty Service Award William P. Flatt is the D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Foods and Nutrition. Flatt has been at UGA since 1969, when he was recruited from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has received 10 national awards, including a presidential citation and the USDA Secretary’s Honor Award, one of the most significant recognitions the department can bestow. Flatt came to UGA as chairman of the Animal Sciences Division William P. Flatt but within a year was named director of the Georgia Experiment Stations. In 1981 he became dean of the College of Agriculture, which was later named the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He has been a major supporter of the university, having established multiple graduate and undergraduate scholarships and awards for outstanding seniors, including an endowment for the Bill and June Flatt Professorship of Foods and Nutrition.

Alumni Family of the Year Award The family of Frank “Sonny” Seiler has been responsible for eight generations of Uga, UGA’s white English bulldog mascot. The first Uga was a gift to Seiler and his wife, Cecilia, in 1956. The Seilers, with children Swann (ABJ ’78), Charles (AB ’83), Sara and Bess, have been involved in community and statewide affairs and have received many honors and awards.

In addition to serving on the Law School and Grady College Boards, respectively, Sonny and Swann Seiler each have served as president of the UGA Alumni Association. They are the only father and daughter to Frank “Sonny” Seiler have held the position. Both also have been active with the UGA Foundation and Athletic Association boards.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

43

once a Bulldog....

www.jwrjewelers.com 706.543.9800 196 Alps Road Athens, GA

DOWNTOWN

ATHENS.

YOURSUMMER DESTINATION.

Shopping, salons, day spas, great food, beautiful music… it’s all here!

Find us on

44

Gift certificates available – more than 75 retail and dining locations!

706.353.1421

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Mann (BS ’07) of Atlanta received the New Member Pillar Award from Sigma Theta Tau International, a nursing honor society, for her volunteer service.

Audrey Anne-Scarlett Irwin Marrow (AB ’07) and Jason Scott Marrow (AB ’05) of Cartersville celebrated the birth of their first child, daughter Joliet Parker Marrow, Nov. 29. Jean Pembleton (AB ’07) and Will Waterman (BSEd ’07) of Chicago were married in May 2011. Tyler P. Stevens (BBA ’07) joined the firm Burr & Forman LLP. Stevens practices in the firm’s corporate section, where he is a member of the banking and real estate practice group. Nataly Hart (ABJ ’08) is the host of Telemundo Atlanta’s community show, “Enlace Comunitario.” Tasha Humphrey (BSEd ’08) joined the “Jeff Owens Radio Show,” a sports-talk radio show on Nationwide Sports Radio. Patrick Work (BSFR ’08) and wife Avery welcomed their son, Owen Atticus Work, Aug. 30. Chandler Amerson (BBA ’09) was hired as a spring tax intern at the Atlanta-based accounting firm Moore Colson. Meghan M. Cline (BSA ’09) of Dalton is assistant director of communications for the National Pork Producers Council in Washington, D.C. Jeff Owens (BSFCS ’09) hosts the “Jeff Owens Radio Show,” a sports-talk radio show on Nationwide Sports Radio. Alex Shoer (BBA ’09) and Irving Steel (AB ’08) launched a social networking site called Yihua in Shanghai. Yihua is a network of likeminded professionals for those who lean green by interest, calling or profession.

2010-

Ashley Yeong Hart (BSA ’10) of Columbus, Ohio, graduated from Ohio State University with a master’s degree in food science and technology and will relocate to Minneapolis to work as a food scientist at General Mills.

Andrew C. Phillips (BS ’10) was hired as the weekend meteorologist for the CBS affiliate WBTW in Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C. Will Douglas (BBA ’11) of Athens was hired as a management associate for the National Bank of Georgia’s Athens office. Sarah Elizabeth Harrell (AB ’11) accepted a position in Osaka, Japan, with Jiburn Mirai Kyoiku to teach English to the

ALUMNI PROFILE Japanese population. Kelly Hopkins (BBA ’11) was hired as a business assurance spring intern at the Atlantabased accounting firm Moore Colson.

GRAD NOTES Agricultural & Environmental Sciences

Melvin Davis (BSA ’62, MAEx ’69) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Thomas Rodgers (BSA ’67, MS ’69) was inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, Md. Carl Pinkert (PhD ’83) of Auburn, Ala., was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Pinkert, associate vice president for research at Auburn University, was recognized for his efforts in advancing science and its applications in the field of agriculture, food and renewable resources. John Floros (PhD ’88) of State College, Pa., was named dean of Kansas State University’s College of Agriculture and director of KSU research and extension.

His appointment takes effect Aug. 1.

Matt Spangler (PhD ’06) was named one of the Top 10 industry leaders under the age of 40 by Cattle Business Weekly newspaper.

Arts & Sciences

Jack Crawford (BS ’59, MS ’60, PhD ’62) and wife Carol Barrett (MS ’62) live in Georgetown, Texas, after his retirement as professor of neuroscience at the University of Texas after 42 years.

Vincent Keesee (MFA ’65, PhD ’72) had his art showcased at the “Tea for Three” exhibit at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture Historic Village at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. Beverly Bindseil Hunter (MS ’71) of Greenville, S.C., received the 2012 Southern Early Childhood Association President’s Award.

Hunter, nominated by the South Carolina Early Childhood Association, is the first South Carolinian to receive the award.

Jack Schuenemeyer (PhD ’75) of Cortez, Colo., was selected to be a distinguished lecturer by the International Association of Mathematical Geosciences. Jay C. Moon (AB ’74, MPA ’76) was elected chairman of the board of the

One lucky duck Journalism graduate’s interest in food led him to top spot in one of Athens’ most popular restaurants

by Brittany Biddy (ABJ, AB ’12) Knowing how to butcher a duck might not seem like that helpful of a task, but it got Peter Dale (ABJ ’99) to where he is today. He can thank his father, who is a poultry science professor at UGA. “I was really familiar with chickens and could butcher PETER FREY one no problem. And ducks Peter Dale and chickens essentially are all birds, so the first job I got I just nailed it,” Dale recalls. “That gave me some credibility even though I knew nothing about anything else.”

Dale began his career in politics, working for then-U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, who is now Georgia’s governor.

“Every culture in the world is represented in D.C. with the restaurants there, so I ate really interesting food from all over. But after a year and a half I got burned out on politics,” Dale says.

He then came back to Athens to pursue higher education administration and worked as a recruiter and fundraiser for the UGA Honors Program. He enjoyed recruiting, which was similar to what he did as a student employee at the UGA Visitor’s Center, but he hated the fundraising aspect of his job.

“After about a year I felt as if there was this creative energy that I had that wasn’t being tapped at all,” Dale says. “I was just getting restless and I needed to do something creative.”

He left the university to travel in South America for a few months and came back with cooking on his mind. A cold call to Hugh Acheson, owner of the Athens restaurant Five and Ten, landed him an unpaid job in the kitchen shadowing the chefs.

The first job he was given was butchering a duck.

“I just got really lucky that I knew how to butcher a bird,” Dale says. “A lot of it is sheer luck and timing.”

He worked his way up the ranks and when Acheson opened The National in 2007, Dale was the perfect fit as head chef.

“A big part of what I’m doing is ordering and planning the menu—not only for that day, but also later in the week and even further out like planning special events a couple of months in advance,” Dale says.

He is a strong advocate for local food.

“Our dishes are determined by what’s in season because we try to buy a lot of local produce,” he says. “Fundamentally it just tastes better.”

“The National serves food that is unusual or influenced by other cultures and Athens is receptive of that in large part because the university people are open-minded.”

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

45

CLASSNOTES NEWBOOKS Wicked As They Come Pocket Books (2012)

By Delilah S. Dawson (AB ’99) Dawson’s debut drops her unsuspecting heroine into a strange faraway land for a romantic adventure that’s part paranormal, part steampunk.

About Lawrenceville Schools Southern Lion Lawrenceville Schoo out ls Books Inc. (2011) Ab

By Mary Frazier Long (BSEd ’54) An exploration of the local schools that were—and still are—a vital part of life in the town of Lawrenceville in northeast Georgia, written by an author who has served as student, teacher and chronicler.

M a ry Fr a zier Long

Blood in the Hills: A History of Violence in Appalachia The University Press of Kentucky (2011) Edited by Bruce E. Stewart (PhD ’07) Provides an in-depth historical analysis of hostility in the region, using detailed research and delving into social and political factors.

Animal Alliterati–An Alphabet Adventure PigassoPress (2012)

By Travis Tom (BFA ’92) An alphabet eBook fully illustrated with animals from A to Z, available on the iBookstore, B&N NOOK and Lulu.com.

46

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

How to Rock Braces and Glasses Little Brown Books Young Readers (2011)

By Meg Haston (MEd ’09) In this hilarious reversal of the cool crowd versus the nerd herd, a popular girl finds herself in Loserville and realizes it’s time she paid back all the bad karma she built up as Queen Bee. Chattooga County (Images of America) Arcadia Publishing (2012)

By Greg McCollum (ABJ ’75) One of Arcadia’s Images of America series, the book presents photographs of the northwest Georgia county selected from more than 60 sources and includes a brief history of the area.

Reunion in Thera & Other Stories St. Johann Press (2012)

By R. Cary Bynum (BFA ’62) Eleven stories set in the South, most of which take place in or around the fictitious university town of Thera.

The Menagerie: A Zoo Story CreateSpace (2012)

By J. Douglas Porter (MEd ’09) In Porter’s first novel, a humble menagerie evolves into a magnificent zoological garden in a tale of power and corruption, compassion and murder.

Agents of the Reaper The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House (2012)

By William j. Barry (BS ’07) In the sequel to Sebastian and the Afterlife, Sebastian, a 17-year-old boy in the spirit realm, is now training to be an agent of the Grim Reaper.

The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy: A Michael Bishop Retrospective Subterranean Press (2011)

By Michael Bishop (AB ’67, MA ’68); edited by Michael H. Hutchins Twenty-five stories from a distinguished career now in its fifth decade, including the Nebula Award-winning “The Quickening,” the World Fantasy Award finalist “Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana” and the Shirley Jackson Awardwinning “The Pile.”

The Atlanta Ripper: The Unsolved Case of the Gate City’s Most Infamous Murders The History Press (2011)

By Jeffery Wells (AB ’96) From 1911 to 1915, a killer whose methods mimicked Jack the Ripper murdered at least 20 black women— crimes that remain unsolved.

ONLINE Find more books by UGA graduates at www.uga.edu/gm SUBMISSIONS Submit new books written by UGA alumni to simmonsk@uga.edu. Please include a brief description of the book and a hi-res pdf or tiff of its cover.

ALUMNI PROFILE

King of Pops Alumnus brings the ice pop business to Georgia with the help of his brothers

by Emily Grant (ABJ ’12) It all started in Central America in 2005. The oldest of three brothers, Ashley Carse, was studying anthropology in Panama when his younger brothers, Steven and Nick, came to visit. They discovered paletas, a Latin American ice pop usually made with fresh fruit. From then on, the brothers talked about bringing the snack to the U.S. When Steven Carse (ABJ ’06) was laid off from his job at Rick O’Quinn Steven Carse AIG in 2009, he decided it was time to pursue the dream.

“We started to research the business and worked on getting a brand and recipes,” he says.

And so, King of Pops was born. A friend of Carse’s in New York came up with the name around the time Michael Jackson died. While the business doesn’t have anything to do with the late king of pop, Carse says the name made sense so they ran with it.

The first King of Pops cart was on the corner of North Avenue and North Highland Avenue on the east side of Atlanta. About three or four months after Steven started the business, his brother Nick (BBA ’02), who was a lawyer at the time, quit his job to join King of Pops full time.

The company now has four carts in Atlanta, two in Athens, one in Asheville, N.C., and one in Charleston, S.C. King of Pops frozen treats were expected to be sold in Atlanta-area Whole Foods stores beginning in March.

The carts are in business from early April through late October. But hours vary. If it rains, for example, they aren’t open. The company uses social media, like Twitter and Facebook, to keep customers aware of their locations, hours and flavors.

Selling the ice pops on the street promotes community, Carse says.

“People hang out for like 30 minutes not necessarily eating, just talking and hanging out,” he says. “Popsicles are fun, and they’re easier to walk around with than a bowl of ice cream.”

The pops are made fresh daily from local, seasonal fruit grown by state farmers.

“We want to deliver a high-quality product with organic and natural flavors, and we don’t use additional sweeteners or dyes,” Carse says.

The frozen treats are either fruit-based or cream-based. The most popular flavor is chocolate, but more adventurous eaters may prefer raspberry lime, tangerine basil, key lime, peach and coconut. Seasonal favorites include sweet potato soufflé, pumpkin pie and chocolate peppermint in the fall. The pops sell for $2.50 each.

“My favorite is banana pudding, which isn’t as healthy as some,” Carse says.

“If I’m being healthy I like the tangerine basil for a daytime snack.”

International Economic Development Council. Moon is president and CEO of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association. Andrew Farkas (MA ’73, PhD ’78) received the 2012 American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s S.S. Steinberg Award. Farkas is director and professor at the National Transportation Center at Morgan State University. Cynthia Baum (MS ’80, PhD ’82) of Gaithersburg, Md., was named president of Walden University by its board of directors. Before being named the ninth president of Walden, she was executive vice president and oversaw the university’s five colleges. Larry Hembree (MFA ’85) was named executive director of Trustus Theatre. Karen Eckert (PhD ’88) was nominated for the 2012 Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation. Eckert is the executive director of the Caribbeanbased Wilder Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network. Eric J. Fournier (MA ’90, PhD ’95) was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award by the southeastern division of the Association of American Geographers at their annual meeting in Savannah. Fournier serves as president of the National Council for Geographic Education. Blaine Williams (MPA ’93) was named Floyd County manager. Williams had served as assistant county manager since April 2007.

Corinne Martin (MA ’04) of Nashville, Tenn., was named to Nashville Post’s Law Leaders Rising list. She is an associate at Stites & Harbison and is one of 21 young lawyers who made the list. Christopher D. Moore (PhD ’08) was awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor at Lakewood College.

Business

Kenneth Don Van Meter (MBA ’79) of Pheonixville, Pa., has received two new patents related to using modern technologies to improve the diagnostics of energy in buildings. Van Meter is a principal with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he leads their energy business with utilities. Alex Andrianopoulos (MBA ’94) was named vice president of marketing for the Pasadena, Calif., company Guidance Software. Seth Abrams (BBA ’97, MAcc ’98) was named partner at Gifford Hillegass & Ingwersen

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

47

I

WHY give “I give to the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the 4-H Foundation as I am so appreciative of all that was offered to me during my student years. I want to give back and help others so they can have the opportunities and experiences that I had.”

—Lucy Reid (BSHE ’82, MS ’84)

Lucy Reid

Education

Special

Lucy Reid is a President’s Club level Annual Fund donor who gives to the Department of Food Science and Technology and to 4-H. As the director of scientific and regulatory affairs for Coca-Cola Refreshments, her life revolves around science, regulations, beverages, communications, family and Georgia football.

Reid’s interest in food started way before she attended UGA. A Mitchell County native who grew up on a peanut farm, Reid got involved with her local 4-H program in fifth grade. She knew she wanted to do something in food as a career but didn’t know about food science before 4-H. “4-H is what prepared me for my job here at Coke,” Reid says. “Without my 4-H communication skills, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Want to give? Go to www.externalaffairs.uga.edu/os/makegift.

48

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

LLP. Jon Ostenson (BBA ’02, MBA ’06) and his wife, Jenny, of Atlanta, welcomed son William Rhodes Ostenson May 25, 2011. Ostenson is vice president with Carter’s Inc. Wayne Akins (BSA ’85, MBA ’08) was named chief community banking officer of Synovus, the Columbus, Ga., financial services company.

John Redding (BSA ’64, MEd ’68) of Monroe received the Outstanding Business Leader Award from the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Alumni Association. Arthur Letchas (BSEd ’67, MEd ’71, EdS ’81) stepped down as mayor of Alpharetta in December. He was elected mayor in 2002. Gail Thaxton (MEd ’74) of Waycross was named the new president for North Georgia Technical College. Previously she was president of Okefenokee Technical College in Waycross. Ron Newcomb (AB ’71, MA ’78, EdD ’11) of Smyrna was selected as the president of Chattahoochee Technical College by the Technical College System of Georgia. Newcomb has served as the interim president of the college since October 2011.

Cathleen J. Blair (MEd ’79) retired from the Okeechobee County School Board after 39 years of service. Blair had served as director of exceptional student education since 1982. Nancy Gurley Jenkins (BSHE ’74, MEd ’79) of Moultrie received the Helen Brown Sasser Award from the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Alumni Association. Von Peavy (BSA ’79, MEd ’86, EdS ’90) of Moultrie received the J. Lamar Branch Award from the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Alumni Association. Richard Ludwig (BSA ’77, EdD ’91) of Gainesville, Ga., was named the first coach for Brenau University’s track and field program. From 1980 to 1985, Ludwig was the head track and cross country coach at North Hall High School and has volunteered with coaching local running clubs ever since. Randy Fiser (MEd ’93) was named executive vice president and chief executive officer for the American Society of Interior Designers. Fiser was vice president of

Doggone good chicken When Todd Graves (ABJ ’94) and Craig Silvey wrote a business plan for a restaurant that would serve only chicken fingers, Silvey’s business professor at Louisiana State University told him the concept would never work.

Raising Cane’s now has 120 locations in 16 states, including one on Baxter Street in Athens.

“That encouraged me,” Graves says of the professor’s remarks. “You tell someone not to do it and you just want to prove them wrong, so it’s actually motivation.”

Graves started the restaurant chain in 1996, after spending a couple of years working as a boilermaker in a Louisiana refinery and as a salmon fisherman in Alaska to raise money. The first restaurant was in a renovated special Todd Graves building near the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

At first, Graves thought he would name the company Sockeye’s Chicken Fingers, after the kind of salmon he had fished to raise money to start the business.

“Someone said, ‘You ought to name it after your dog; that’d be pretty interesting and different,’” Graves says. “And we thought that wasn’t a bad idea, so we named it Raising Cane’s and he became our mascot.”

The first Raising Cane, a friendly yellow Lab, has since passed away. But Raising Cane II, a yellow Lab given to Graves by his wife Gwen as a Christmas present, carries on as mascot for the chain and makes frequent appearances throughout the community, including the local children’s hospital.

—by Brittany Biddy (ABJ, AB ’12)

management, finance and operations for Achieve, a nonprofit education reform organization based in Washington, D.C. Hannah Harrison Smith (BSEd ’89, MEd ’93) was promoted to director of marketing and communications for the Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau, where she has worked since 1999. Emily Lembeck (EdD ’95) of Marietta was named the 2012 Georgia Superintendent of the Year by the Georgia School Superintendents Association. She is superintendent of Marietta City Schools and was a finalist for the award for the past three years. Mike Mattingly (EdD ’03) was honored with the Advocacy for Excellence in Literacy Award by the Billie J. Askew Reading Recovery and Literacy Institute. Mark A. Yuran (MEd ’03) of Atlanta was hired as Minnesota State University’s chief human resources officer. Yuran was previously a human resources officer in the Atlanta headquarters of the Technical College System of Georgia. Ron McAllister (MEd ’04) of Cumming was appointed as the principal of Kelly Mill Elementary, opening in August. Brian O’Neal Culp (BSEd ’99, EdD ’05) received the 2012

GO DAWGS! Shop the UGA Bookstore for the best selection of Bulldog apparel and gifts.

Check out the 2012 Nike Coaches Polo now in stock.

Find us on Facebook

facebook.com/calstudentstore /UGABookstore

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

49

SUPPORT YOUR UNIVERSITY. Give every year.

Make a difference every day. www.givingtouga.com

Mabel Lee Award from the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance for scholarship, teaching and professional leadership in the field of health and physical education. Culp is an assistant professor in the School of Physical Education and Tourism Management at Indiana University-Purdue University, Ind. Cassie Magee Moates (BSEd ’05, MEd ’06, EdS ’09) of Hoschton was named Bethlehem Elementary School’s Teacher of the Year. She joined Bethlehem Elementary School in 2006, where she teaches kindergarten. Bill Tyson (BSA ’92, MEd ’08) of Rincon received the Conservationist of the Year Award in Effingham County from the Ogeechee River Soil and Water Conservation District. He has served as the extension agent in Effingham County since 1999. Lea Hattaway Pacut (BSEd ’06, MEd ’09) of Bethlehem was selected as Holsenbeck Elementary School’s Teacher of the Year. She joined Holsenbeck Elementary School in 2006, where she teaches third grade.

Family & Consumer Sciences

Judy Bowers (MS ’73) of Gainesville, Ga., was selected as the Gainesville school system’s Teacher of the Year for 2013. Bowers teaches kindergarten at Centennial Arts Academy. Norman K. Pollock (BSEd ’98, BSFCS ’02, MS ’04, PhD ’08) is the lead author in a study, featured in the February issue of The Journal of Nutrition, reporting that fructose consumption may increase cardiovascular risk factors. Pollock is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Georgia Health Sciences University.

Claire Maust (BSFCS ’08, MS ’10) was appointed associate head coach for the women’s swim team at the University of Denver.

Forestry & Natural Resources

Lenise Lago (BSFR ’83, MS ’86) was named deputy chief of business operations for the U.S. Forest Service.

Lago was previously deputy regional forester in the Pacific northwest region for the federal agency. Emily Jo Williams (BSFR ’83, MS ’86) was named the chief of migratory birds department for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s

Southeast region in Atlanta. Andrew (BSFR ’05, MFR ’07) and Emily (BSFR ’05, MNR ’10) Saunders welcomed their first child, Riley Faith, on Aug. 6. Bobby Chappell (BSFR ’99, MNR ’09) relocated to Hood River, Ore., in the summer of 2009 to work with Substantial Travel International, where he is the director of standards development and eco-certification.

Daniel Farrae (MS ’10) works for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in Charleston as a wildlife biologist, focusing on fish population genetics of marine and freshwater species throughout the state. Ryan Sharp (PhD ’10) is assistant professor in the recreation and park administration department at Eastern Kentucky University. Garrett D. Mack (BSFR ’09, MFR ’11) is a resource-planning analyst for the resource support team for Hancock Forest Management office in Charlotte, N.C.

Journalism & Mass Communication

Richard L. Baxter (MA ’77) of Columbus, Ga., was named dean of the College of Arts at Columbus State University. Timothy Mescon (PhD ’79) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Tom Hagley Jr. (MMC ’92) and Juliet Laycoe Hagley of Vancouver, Wash., welcomed their daughter, Abigail Diane Hagley, Oct. 27.

Law

Isaac Jolles (LLB ’53) of Augusta will retire as a Richmond County probate judge at the end of 2012 to spend more time with his family. Sonny Seiler (BBA ’56, JD ’57) of Bouhan, Williams & Levy of Savannah was named a corporate Super Lawyer in the Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition. Otis A. Brumby Jr. (LLB ’65) was honored with the Cobb Country Lifetime Achievement Award. Brumby is publisher of the Marietta Daily Journal and Neighbor Newspapers. Edwin D. Robb (JD ’70) of Savannah was selected as a 2012 Georgia Super Lawyer. Robb, of Bouhan, Williams & Levy LLP, concentrates in the areas of admiralty, general casualty and transportation law.

B. H. Levy Jr. (JD ’73) of Savannah was selected as a 2012 Georgia Super Lawyer. Levy, of Bouhan, Williams & Levy LLP, concentrates in the areas of workers’ compensation and commercial transactions. Mike Bowers (JD ’74) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. William J. Self (BBA ’71, JD ’74) was installed as president of the National College of Probate Judges (NCPJ) at its fall 2011 conference on Jekyll Island in October. NCPJ is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to the improvement of probate courts and probate laws. B. Michael Mears (JD ’77) of Atlanta was a guest lecturer in May at Bahcesehir University Law School in Instanbul, Turkey. Mears, associate professor at Atlanta’s John Marshall law school, lectured on scientific evidence in the courtroom.

Luis A. Aguilar (JD ’79) was sworn in to his second term as a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission. David Ralston (JD ’80) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Joe Cherry Bishop (JD ’82) of Albany was awarded the Square Knot Award

by American Legion Post 30, Sons of the American Legion Squadron 30 and the Chehaw Council Boy Scouts of America. This award is made in recognition of dedication and work to assist the furthering of Scouting program in the American Legion.

Ertharin Cousin (JD ’82) of Chicago was appointed executive director of the World Food Programme at the undersecretary general level. She is currently the U.S. representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. Janet E. Hill (JD ’82) of Athens was named one of the Top Fifty Women Lawyers in Georgia for 2012 by Atlanta Magazine. John L. Watkins (JD ’82) was recognized in Georgia Trend’s ninth annual “Legal Elite” listing for 2011. Watkins is an attorney at Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Atlanta office, practicing in the fields of commercial litigation and business law. Gerald L. Mize Jr. (AB ’81, JD ’84) of Atlanta was elected to serve on the nine-member nationwide management committee of Alston & Bird. David Blevins (JD

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

51

CLASSNOTES

Showcasing Athens’ Finest Homes 180 W edgefield l ane 4 B edrooMS , 4.5 B athrooMS BaCkS up to the third hole of the athenS Country CluB Golf CourSe 4 aCreS!

and SitS on alMoSt

1280 T anglebrook d rive 5 BedrooMS, 4 full / 3 half-BathS CuStoM open-air pool houSe with fireplaCe overlookinG Saltwater pool and waterfall!

155 W exford P lace 5 B edrooMS , 4.5 B athrooMS SwiMMinG pool, tenniS Court and two-BedrooM GueSt houSe with full kitChen and livinG rooM!

Mary Catherine SMith 706.255.6091 www.cjandl.com 706.559.4520

52

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

www.cjandl.com/estates

’85) of Cohutta was announced as the new judge in the Whitfield and Murray counties district to replace Judge Robert Adams, who retired in January.

Blevins is an attorney in Dalton and will fill Adams’ unexpired term until the end of the year. Matt Mashburn (AB ’83, JD ’86) was named to the 2012 Georgia Super Lawyers list by Georgia Super Lawyers Magazine. Mashburn is a member of the real estate banking service group of Stites Harbison. Sally Quillian Yates (ABJ ’82, JD ’86) was named one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians. Tammy McDowell Stokes (AB ’84, JD ’87) was named the Chatham County court’s chief judge. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (AB ’88, JD ’92) of Atlanta became the new executive director of GreenLaw in April. She previously served five terms as state representative for House District 85 in Dekalb, but did not seek reelection. Victor Johnson (MS ’89, JD ’92) of Graham Law Firm, Danielsville, was one of 10 recipients of the 13th annual Justice Robert Benham Awards for community service. Sheri Gates McGaughy (BBA ’89, JD ’92) of Atlanta was named to the board of the Georgia Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Southeast Chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications. She is vice president legal at The Weather Channel. Kevin Tallant (AB ’98, JD ’02) was appointed by Mayor Kelly Kautz of Snellville as the city’s permanent counsel. Brian Vick (JD ’02) was made partner at Williams Mullen and published two law reviews: “How the 2006 Amendments to the Federal Rules Have Reshaped the E-Discovery Landscape and Revitalizing the Civil Justice System,” and “The Promise of a Cooperative And Proportional Discovery Process in North Carolina: House Bill 380 and the New State Electronic Discovery Rules.” Thomas F. Hollingsworth (JD ’04) of Athens was named to Georgia Trend’s list of the 2011 Legal Elite. Hollingsworth is a shareholder in the Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley law firm and was recognized for his work in business law.

Ben Makin (JD ’04) of Athens was sworn in as an associate Athens-Clarke

ALUMNI PROFILE

Sweet dreams Alumna brings a tasty Crimson Tide tradition to Georgia

by Michael Childs “Ain’t nothing like ’em nowhere.”

If that slogan sounds familiar, it should. It’s the mantra of the legendary Dreamland barbecue restaurant in Tuscaloosa, Ala., featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” ESPN, the New York Times, USA Today and the Food Network. What you might not know is that its coowner is a Georgia alumna.

“Anybody who knows me… knows that I’m Georgia through and through,” says Betty Hooks Underwood (BSEd ’53).

“My Daddy was such a big Georgia man. He served as a state senator in the 1940s. If any of us had said that we wanted to go somewhere else he would have…,” her voice trails off, as if pondering an unimaginable consequence.

The late Vendie Hudson Hooks Sr. was successful in agribusiness in Emmanuel County, where Betty grew up the fifth of six children. All of her brothers and sisters attended UGA, as did many others in the extended Hooks family.

Underwood arrived at UGA in 1949 and lived in Mary Lyndon Hall her first quarter. She pledged AO∏ and lived in the sorority house for the rest of her time at UGA. “I remember we used to hold five fingers out to catch a ride from Clark Howell to Five Points,” she says. “And the stadium wasn’t all that big. You could just walk right down into it from the dorm and sit in the student section.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, she met Bobby Underwood in Savannah and they married in 1957. A graduate of the University of Alabama dental school, Bobby Underwood set up a practice in Jasper, Ala., where he and Betty live today.

The rustic café Dreamland, owned by John “Big Daddy” Bishop, opened just south of Tuscaloosa in 1958. It would be 20 years before Bobby Underwood discovered it.

“A friend of mine, an athletic trainer at the university, invited me to Tuscaloosa to play golf,” he recalls. “Afterward, he said, ‘Let’s get some ribs.’ And I fell in love with the place. That was in the mid-to-latter ’70s.”

Dreamland became a regular stop for the Underwoods when they visited their children in school at UA. Bobby began talking to Bishop about opening another store.

“He kept telling me, ‘OK, we’ll talk about it,’” Bobby recalls. It was several years before Bishop relented.

“He would be cooking in a back room on an open pit, and I would have a beer and smoke a pipe with him,” Bobby says. “He and I became real good friends. And then finally, one day, he said, ‘If you want to open a store, talk to my daughter.’”

That was in 1992. The Underwoods opened a second Dreamland restaurant near the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1993. Since then, they’ve opened locations in Mobile, Huntsville, Montgomery, Northport and two locations in Georgia, Roswell and Alpharetta.

Now in their 70s, Betty and Bobby take a less active role in managing the restaurants, but still enjoy watching Georgians discover the Dreamland ribs and tradition.

—Michael Childs is the director of public information for the UGA College of Education. The original version of this story appeared in the 2009 COE magazine.

Betty Hooks Underwood and husband Bobby Underwood

SPECIAL

magistrate court judge. Makin previously served as an attorney with the Western Judicial Circuit public defender’s office.

Elizabeth Barganier Insogna (AB ’03, JD ’06) and Jonathan Insogna (AB ’04) of Nashville, Tenn., welcomed son Preston Adeline Insogna, Feb. 16. Scott Grubman (JD ’08) of Savannah has joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the southern district of Georgia as an assistant U.S. attorney. John B. Manly (AB ’04, JD ’08) of Bouhan, Williams & Levy LLP was chosen as a Georgia Rising Star. He practices primarily in the areas of insurance defense, medical malpractice defense and commercial litigation. Hayley Roper Wells (BBA ’01, MBA ’05, JD ’08) of Swannanoa, N.C., joined the Asheville office of Ward and Smith P.A. Travis A. Williams (JD ’08) was named Assistant Circuit Defender of the Year by the Georgia Association of Circuit Public Defenders.

Ryan Locke (JD ’10) and his wife Loren welcomed daughter Margaret Milton Locke, March 8.

Pharmacy

Candace McCullough Nichols (PharmD ’01) of Atlanta married James Nichols on Aug. 13 at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. She works as a clinical pharmacy specialist for Kaiser Permanente, and her husband is a wine consultant at Greens in Atlanta.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

53

CLASSNOTES

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.

Public & International Affairs

Barbara Grogan (BSFCS ’00, MPA ’02) of Americus received the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Alumni Association. Grant Caldwell Mintz (AB ’05, MPA ’11) was promoted to an accountant position at the city of Alpharetta. He earned his master’s degree in local government from UGA in December.

Veterinary Medicine

Arthur L. Dorminy (BSA ’47, DVM ’50) was named the 2011 Distinguished Older Georgian by the Georgia Council on Aging in February. A resolution was passed by the Georgia General Assembly recognizing Dorminy for this honor. Steve Bowen (DVM ’71) was awarded the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest award given by the Boy Scouts of America, for distinguished service to youth on a national basis. Robert C. Brown (DVM ’71) was awarded the 2011 A.M. Mills Award from the Lambda Chapter of Alpha Psi. Robert M. Cobb Jr. (DVM ’81) of Dublin is Georgia’s state veterinarian, overseeing everything from livestock markets and meat inspection rules to the care of horses and the licensing and inspection of animal shelters, pet dealers and cat breeders. Catherine McClelland (BSA ’79, DVM ’83) retired from Hill’s Pet Nutrition after 16 years of employment.

Mary Dickens Hicks (DVM ’88, BSA ’92) of Sycamore, Ga., received the

54

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Outstanding Educator Award from the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Alumni Association. India Lane (DVM ’88) became assistant vice president for academic affairs and student success for the University of Tennessee system in March 2011. Lane, a professor of medicine in the department of small animal clinical sciences, has worked at the University of Tennessee since 1997. Kevin D. Smith (DVM ’89) of Forsyth sold his practice, Animal Medical Clinic, to Brandon S. Pinson (DVM ’10) of Cumming. George McCommon (DVM ’90, BSA ’95) took part in a year-long humanitarian mission in Afghanistan with the National Guard’s Georgia Agricultural Development Team, where he assisted Afghanis in handling agricultural issues such as livestock, food storage and construction. McCommon is an associate professor of veterinary science at Fort Valley State University and is the only Federation Equestre Internationale veterinarian in the University System of Georgia. Mitch Byrd (DVM ’95), owner of Equine Veterinary Services in Southern Pines, N.C., acquired Aiken Equine Professional Associations in Aiken, S.C. Will Coleman (BSA ’96, DVM ’99) owns and operates the practice of Veterinary Emergency + Referral Center of Hawaii in Honolulu. This is Hawaii’s first 24-hour veterinary emergency and specialty hospital.

Joseph Gaydos (PhD ’01) was elected to chair the science panel of the Puget Sound Partnership, Washington state’s

comprehensive effort to restore Puget Sound, the nation’s largest inland sea. Sharon Nath (DVM ’03) joined the staff of Peachtree Hill’s Animal Hospital in Atlanta. Nath previously practiced at Buckhead Animal Clinic.

Lindsey Helms Boone (DVM ’08) of Athens was presented with the inaugural 2011 EQUUS Foundation Research Fellow at the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ 2011 Annual Convention. Boone received a $5,000 fellowship to support her endeavors in equine research. Ruth Dunning (DVM ’11) was named the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association’s Veterinary Student Advocate of the Year for 2011. HSVMA created the award to honor students who have promoted humane and respectful treatment of all animals. Justin Oguni (BS ’05, DVM ’11) joined Briarcliff Animal Clinic, a companion animal practice in Atlanta.

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.

Due to the volume of submissions we are not able to confirm that we have received your note. Please be patient. It can sometimes take a few months for a note to appear in the magazine after it has been submitted.

Quickest way to send us Class Notes E-mail: GMeditor@uga.edu Fax: 706/583-0368 website: www.uga.edu/gm UGA Alumni Association Send e-mail to: alumni@uga.edu website: www.alumni.uga.edu/alumni Or send a letter to: Georgia Magazine 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602-1999

SHOW YOUR

Your Alumni Association and Bank of America have teamed up to bring you some exclusive and exciting products.

Visit www.alumni.uga.edu and click on Partners and Sponsors for more information.

JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

55

BACK

PAGE

“I heard that the Gerontology Center had gotten an NIH grant to study 100-year-old people. That was one of the controversies, what you need to eat to reach 100. I called the Gerontology Center and said, ‘Oh do you have anyone working on nutrition,’ and they said ‘No, we’d love to have someone.’ We were new. A Swedish group actually started at the same time. A Hungarian group had been working since the ’70s, and the Japanese.

At that time there were really only four teams. Now there are centenarian research groups all over the world. It’s very interesting. This has been five or 10 years ago, the Danish group was like, ‘Oh, we have so many centenarians we only study them if they’re 105 and older.’ I don’t know what they’re up to now, probably 110. We really caught an interesting time. Now with our better health care if you can make it out that long and you have good access to health care they can just keep you going.”

—Mary Ann Johnson on how she became involved in studying nutrition and health in older adults in the late 1980s.

Mary Ann Johnson Bill and June Flatt Professor in Foods and Nutrition in the Department of Foods and Nutrition, College of Family and Consumer Sciences B.A., chemistry, University of Northern Iowa Ph.D., nutritional sciences, University of Wisconsin UGA Foods and Nutrition Teacher of the Year, 2010 Gamma Sigma Delta Senior Research Award, 2010 Photo shot on location by Peter Frey at the UGA photography studio in the Georgia Center.

56

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Shiloh Farms

In-Town Convenience - Rural Seclusion • Frontage on the North Oconee River • 10-Acre Homesteads • Sites suitable for Horses • Underground Utilities • Protective Covenants

Shiloh Farms is a quiet country enclave located in the very heart of Athens-Clarke County. We are only 10 minutes from Sanford Stadium’s gameday excitement and the heart of downtown Athens.

Shiloh Farms offers the most convenient 10-acre home sites in Athens. Our wonderful location enables us to enjoy the beauty of a country lifestyle and also actively participate in all the exciting and enriching activities which Athens provides.

A Unique Lifestyle Opportunity Several Homesteads Are Still Available.

Owner Financing at Below Market Interest Rates.

Significant Price Reductions Now in Effect 1690 South Lumpkin Street Athens, GA 30606 706-543-3800

Additional information available: Martha Henderson 706-540-6764 www.MarthaHenderson.com JUNE 2012 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

57

Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID University of Georgia

286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 Change Service Requested

Celebrating 100 Years

pa s t • p r e s e n t • f u t u r e Our legacy spans 18 U.S. presidents, 10 UGA presidents, 12 deans, and nearly 65,000 graduates.

Share your memories at t100.terry.uga.edu