PROMOTING
CHANGE Students seek policy solutions for real-world problems through UGA’s Roosevelt Institute
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AROUNDTHE
ARCH GEORGIA MAGAZINE Allyson Mann, MA ’92, Interim Editor Lindsay Robinson, ABJ ’06, MPA ’11, Art Director Pamela Leed, Advertising Director Fran Burke, Office Manager Paul Efland, BFA ’75, MEd ’80; Peter Frey, BFA ’94; Robert Newcomb, BFA ’81; Rick O’Quinn, ABJ ’87; Andrew Davis Tucker; and Dorothy Kozlowski, BLA ’06, ABJ ’10; UGA Photographers Daniel Funke, Editorial Assistant PUBLIC AFFAIRS Tom Jackson, AB ’73, MPA ’04, PhD ’08, Vice President Alison Huff, Director of Publications ADMINISTRATION Jere W. Morehead, JD ’80, President Pamela Whitten, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Ryan Nesbit, MBA ’91, Vice President for Finance and Administration Kelly Kerner, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Rahul Shrivastav, Vice President for Instruction David C. Lee, Vice President for Research Jennifer Frum, PhD ’11, Vice President for Public Service and Outreach Victor Wilson, BSW ’82, MEd ’87, Vice President for Student Affairs J. Griffin Doyle, AB ’76, JD ’79, Vice President for Government Relations Timothy M. Chester, Vice President for Information Technology Change your mailing address by emailing information to records@uga.edu or call 888-268-5442. Advertise in Georgia Magazine by contacting Pamela Leed at pjleed@uga.edu or 706-542-8124. Find Georgia Magazine online at www.ugamagazine.uga.edu. Submit class notes or story ideas to gmeditor@uga.edu. 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 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 non-discrimination policy. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the director of the Equal Opportunity Office, 119 Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Telephone 706-542-7912 (V/TDD). Fax 706-5422822.
UGA seniors Zack Conyers (middle) and Cathryn Winslow (right) work with other cadets to clean the doors and windows at the entrance to the Boys and Girls Club in Athens. The project was part of an Army ROTC Community Service Day held in December. Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker
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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu
The University of
GEORGIA Magazine
March 2015 • Vol. 94, No. 2
5
Take 4 with the President
6
Around the Arch
An interview with President Jere W. Morehead
Campus news and events
Closeups 12 The poppy lady
Athenian Moina Michael started the tradition of the red remembrance poppy
14 Look at me!
UGA professor researches the selfie phenomenon
16 Shop with a Bulldawg
Student-driven program makes the holidays brighter for Athens children
Features 20 Promoting change
UGA’s Roosevelt Institute chapter and course help students examine real-world problems and create progressive policy proposals
26 SCWDS [squid-us]
UGA is home to a cooperative agency that investigates wildlife disease and its implications in the region and beyond
32 The Hip-Hop Prez
Walter Kimbrough (BSA ’89) is a rising star in higher education
Class Notes 36 Alumni profiles and notes
Cover illustration by Lindsay Robinson
MARCH 2015 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE
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UGA belongs to all Georgians, and it’s important to me to support it. Ilka McConnell, BA '98, MPA '04, Ph.D. '13
Why do you give? Tell us at giving.uga.edu/whyigive. 4
GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu
2015
4
TAKE
— An interview with President Jere W. Morehead (JD ’80)
Q: Last month, the university dedicated the UGA in Washington facility. How will this building enhance the academic programs we offer there? A: Students who participate in our outstanding Washington, D.C., programs are rewarded with many benefits. They learn to apply course content to realworld challenges, gain exposure to careers in Washington and build important professional networks for life after graduation. This facility, located on historic Capitol Hill, will provide students with all of the amenities they need to live and learn in the nation’s capital. Suite-style rooms accommodating 32 students are intermingled with instructional space, conference rooms and common areas to create a superior learning environment that promotes the highest levels of interaction among students, faculty and special guests from the Washington, D.C., area. Q: The university also dedicated the Veterinary Medical Center last month. What impact will this new facility have on veterinary medicine at UGA? A: Our College of Veterinary Medicine plays a vital role in the state and nation. However, the college’s teaching, research and service activities have been heavily restricted by a lack of space. The Veterinary Medical Center will allow the college to increase student enrollment to address the shortage of veterinarians in Georgia, provide improved care for clients and their animals, and develop new academic programs to keep pace with medical advancements in the field. This
new facility also will ensure the college remains at the forefront of veterinary medical education for generations to come.
who choose UGA but also because of the exceptional academic experience they have while they are here.
Q: Graduation rates for undergraduate students have reached record highs. What does this achievement signify?
Q: This year, UGA has been ranked highly in a number of college ranking systems. How do you interpret these results?
A: The university’s six-year graduation rate has climbed to a record 84.6 percent, and the fiveyear rate has reached 83.2 percent. To add context, the average sixyear graduation rate for four-year institutions across the nation is 59 percent. First and foremost, our rising graduation rates signify the very strong commitment to student success that exists among faculty and staff at the University of Georgia. These trend lines also point to a world-class learning environment that promotes timely progress toward earning a degree. We often cite our impressive admissions statistics; however, our rising graduation rates remind us that this great institution is a leader among its peers not only because of the bright students
A: The university was ranked again among the top 20 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. We also made the list of Public Ivies and earned a spot in the top 10 of Kiplinger’s “100 Best Values in Public Colleges.” Washington Monthly placed UGA at 15 in its “2014 Best Bang for the Buck Rankings,” and, for the first time, we were ranked as a “Best for Vets” college by Military Times. Although I am pleased that the University of Georgia fared very well, I interpret these results with a degree of caution. I am reluctant to place too much value on rankings, but these are positive signs. However, our top-notch faculty, staff and students are the best indication of quality at the University of Georgia.
2014 graduation rates Average six-year graduation rate*
59%
UGA six-year graduation rate
84.6%
UGA five-year graduation rate
83%
UGA four-year graduation rate
63%
*for four-year institutions across the nation (National Center for Education Statistics)
0
20
40
60
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In 1970 more than 35 UGA students flew to Rome, Italy, for a new study abroad program. The flight itself was special—the second crossing from New York City to Rome of Alitalia’s new 747, and the first flight with regular passengers. The Classics Study Abroad in Rome program celebrated its 45th anniversary last year. This year’s trip will run May to July, and participants will spend six weeks in Rome with day trips to Tarquinia, Cerveteri, Hadrian’s villa and the Cille d’Este at Tivoli, Pompeii, the Greek temples at Paestum, and Campania. Get more at rome.uga.edu.
Landscape architecture becomes four-year program The undergraduate landscape architecture degree program at UGA’s College of Environment and Design (CED) will change curriculum requirements and program length from five years to four years, effective fall 2015. The degree will still have accredited status with the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board, a division of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The switch to a four-year bachelor’s degree emerged from a growing national trend and university goals to deliver undergraduate degree programs more efficiently and allow for timely completion. The CED program is the seventh in the nation to offer an accredited four-year bachelor of landscape architecture degree and joins 14 other accredited four-year programs. The switch was made possible by redistributing the core curriculum more evenly throughout the program; introducing in-house electives; and moving to a newly renovated building that allows for the merging of lecture and studio content into a single learning experience. For more information, visit ced.uga.edu.
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HEART RATES AND HALL OF FAMERS Children around the state are learning about the benefits of exercise, sports and the Georgia stars who excel at it thanks to curriculum developed by professors at UGA’s College of Education. The learning materials are part of the MomentUs Initiative from the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon, with the goal of teaching children in Georgia about the stories and character of homegrown athletes along with the benefits of diet and exercise. Bryan McCullick and James Zhang, professors of kinesiology, collaborated on the project; their curriculum won the 2014 International Sports Heritage Association Communications Award in November. For the project, McCullick researched Georgia Sports Hall of Fame inductees and created lesson plans that link them with activities sharing similar aspects of their sport. For example, students learn about cardiovascular health and take part in an activity that gets their heart rate up, like jump rope. This is followed with a lesson on swimmer Angel Myers-Martino and boxing great Evander Holyfield. All the lessons align with Georgia Performance Standards. The curriculum is now being used at schools in Bibb, Clarke and Troup counties.
Law school receives $3.4 million from Sanders estate UGA’s School of Law received a $3.4 million gift from the estate of former Georgia Gov. Carl E. Sanders. About $2.4 million will be used to create the Carl E. Sanders Law Scholarship Fund. The remainder of the gift will be added to the Carl E. Sanders Chair in Political Leadership Fund, which supports a faculty position. This donation is the largest single gift in the school’s history and makes Sanders (JD ’48) the school’s greatest individual benefactor. Betty Foy Sanders (BFA ’47), the governor’s wife of 67 years, says, “Carl was still a student at the Georgia law school when we were married in 1947. And from there he went on to achieve much for which he always felt deep gratitude to the university, and particularly the law school. ... This gift and our prior gifts to the law school reflect our sincere gratitude for what Carl’s legal education and his long association with the law school meant to him and to his legal career.” During his lifetime Sanders supported the law school with several gifts, including one that established the Carl Sanders Law Library Fund. He served as president of the law school’s alumni association and on the school’s board of visitors. He also served as a trustee of the UGA Foundation and as president of the UGA Alumni Association. In 1967 he was presented with the school’s Distinguished Service Scroll Award; in 2003, the main reading room of the law library was named in his honor. UGA President Jere W. Morehead says, “Gov. Sanders’ ongoing support ensures that the law school’s future will remain part of his legacy for this great state. We are very indebted to this wonderful public servant for all that he has done. He will be missed.” See page 54 for Sanders’ obituary.
UPENN AND UGA AWARDED $23.4 MILLION DATABASE CONTRACT A genome database team led by University of Pennsylvania and University of Georgia scientists has been awarded a new contract from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease worth $4.3 million in 2014-15. Assuming annual renewal, this five-year award is expected to total $23.4 million. The team has been responsible for developing genome database resources for microbial pathogens, including the parasites responsible for malaria, sleeping sickness and other diseases. The new contract ensures work will continue on the Eukaryotic Pathogen Genomics Database—known as EuPathDB—to provide the global scientific community with free access to genomic data related to microbial pathogens important to human health and biosecurity. EuPathDB expedites biomedical research in the lab, field and clinic, enabling the development of diagnostics, therapies and vaccines. Each month, EuPathDB receives over 6.5 million hits from 13,000 unique visitors in more than 100 countries, including areas where tropical diseases such as malaria are endemic. India is now the second largest user of its plasmodium genome database, and more than 5 percent of users hail from Africa.
ROBERT NEWCOMB
Jessica C. Kissinger, professor of genetics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Institute of Bioinformatics, is co-director of EUPathDB, which provides free access to information on microbial pathogens.
ROSS TO JOIN UGA AS EMINENT SCHOLAR One of the nation’s leading infectious disease researchers is joining UGA as its newest Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. Ted M. Ross, director of the vaccines and viral immunity program at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, will join the College of Veterinary Medicine in August as the GRA Eminent Scholar in Infectious Diseases. Ross’ research focuses on designing, developing and testing vaccines for viral diseases such as influenza, dengue, respiratory syncytial virus, chikungunya virus, Ebola and HIV/AIDS. The work he began while a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh to create a universal vaccine to protect against all strains of seasonal and pandemic influenza has resulted in a new vaccine platform.
MARCH 2015 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE
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Baldwin Hall expansion begins
BARK OUT TO
… A team of seven UGA students—Tifara Brown, Sainabou Jallow, Lisa Traore, Rita Ebhaleme, Tyler Smith, Ryan Kelley and Faisal Gedi—who won best delegation at the 18th Annual Southeast Model African Union simulation in November. … LeAnne Howe, the Eidson Distinguished Professor of American Literature, who received the first MLA Prize for Studies in Native American Literatures, Cultures and Languages for her book, Choctalking on Other Realities. … UGA student Brittany MacLean, who was named 2014 OMEGA Female Swimmer of the Year by Swimming Canada.
LeAnne Howe
… three UGA faculty—Alan Dorsey, David J. Garfinkel and Samantha Joye—who were named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
… John A. Knox, associate professor of geography, who was named 2014 Georgia Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. … Bonnie Cramond, professor of education, who received the 2014 Distinguished Service Award from the National Association for Gifted Children for her contributions to and lasting impact on the field of gifted education. … Second-year law students Aaron D. Parks and E. Keith Hall, who defeated the University of Florida in the annual Florida/Georgia-Hulsey/Gambrell Moot Court Competition, held the Friday before the GeorgiaFlorida football game.
EBOLA ENDED? Bonnie Cramond
… Kristi-Warren Scott, a doctoral student in housing and consumer economics, who was awarded a $10,000 Farm Credit Bank of Texas Academy of Honor scholarship in honor of U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. … Adelumola Oladeinde, a doctoral student in public health, who was awarded a two-year, $84,000 Science to Achieve Results, or STAR, Fellowship from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. … Nancy Hinkle, professor of entomology, who received the 2014 Recognition Award in Urban Entomology from the Entomological Society of America. … Bryan H. Reber, professor of public relations, who was named the first C. Richard Yarbrough Professor in Crisis Communication Leadership.
Nancy Hinkle
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… John Snider, assistant professor of crop and soil sciences, who was named the Outstanding Young Cotton Physiologist during the Beltwide Cotton Conference in January.
GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu
UGA broke ground in December on the expansion and renovation of historic Baldwin Hall. The $7.75 million project, with funding approved by the Georgia General Assembly, includes construction of a 10,800-square-foot Baldwin Hall Annex and renovations to the existing building. Built in 1938, Baldwin Hall served as a Navy pre-flight school during World War II. The building currently houses the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) as well as the departments of sociology and anthropology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Since SPIA was established in 2001, its enrollment has tripled and demand for classroom and meeting space has grown to exceed the facility’s capacity. The new annex will provide the school with technology-enabled active learning classrooms; space for graduate teaching assistants to hold office hours; and common areas where faculty, staff, students and alumni can convene. The existing building will be renovated to provide academic departments with modern instructional facilities, greater accessibility for individuals with disabilities and a more efficient mechanical system.
The Ebola epidemic in Liberia could likely be eliminated by June if the current high rate of hospitalization and vigilance can be maintained, according to a new model developed by ecologists at UGA and Pennsylvania State University. The model includes such factors as the location of infection and treatment, the development of hospital capacity and the adoption of safe burial practices and is “probably the first to include all those elements,” says John Drake, an associate professor in the Odum School of Ecology who led the project. The study appeared in PLOS Biology in January. When run with information collected through Dec. 1, the model projected that if an 85 percent hospitalization rate can be achieved, the epidemic should be largely contained by June.
UGA dedicates Adams portrait The portrait of former President Michael F. Adams, painted by Atlanta artist Ross R. Rossin, was dedicated in fall. Adams served as UGA president from 1997 to 2013 and is now designated president emeritus. “It is a tradition at the University of Georgia to honor former university presidents with a portrait that will hang in our historic Administration Building, the home of the Office of the President since 2000,” President Jere W. Morehead said at the ceremony. “Dr. Adams, we all are grateful for the 16 years you committed to serving America’s first state-chartered university, and we thank you.” Adams joined the university after serving as president of Centre College in Kentucky. Under his leadership, UGA established five new colleges and schools; brought medical education to Athens through the Georgia Regents University/UGA Medical Partnership; added academic programs in Gwinnett, Griffin, Tifton and Buckhead; added 6.2 million square feet of building space; established permanent residential sites for three study abroad programs; and restored many historic buildings on North Campus. “[Wife] Mary and I care deeply about the future of this place,” Adams said. “We wish all of you well who will carry on this great work. I truly believe that the future of this state and region is intricately intertwined with the health and leadership of this university.”
RUTLEDGE NAMED LAW DEAN Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, the Herman E. Talmadge Chair of Law and a leading scholar in the fields of SPECIAL international dispute resolution, arbitration and the U.S. Supreme Court, became dean of the UGA School of Law Jan. 1. His scholarship includes two books and nearly 40 articles in leading academic journals. He has delivered invited lectures at universities in 10 countries, including the University of Vienna, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. In 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States appointed Rutledge to argue the case of Irizarry v. United States.
Team measures Chernobyl impact
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER
Above, President Jere W. Morehead applauds as President Emeritus Michael F. Adams and wife Mary view his portrait at an unveiling and dedication ceremony held in the Administration Building in September. Left, Adams views the oil painting with granddaughter Campbell Adams, 6, of Atlanta.
A team from UGA’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory spent weeks last fall working in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone at Chernobyl, where a 1986 nuclear power plant failure spewed radioactive material into the environment. Research scientists Stacey Lance and James Beasley, postdoctoral researcher Mike Bryne and graduate students Cara Love and Sarah Webster used the latest technology to obtain radiation exposure rates on free-ranging wildlife. The team gathered data from a device that combines two forms of existing technology: a dosimeter, used to measure radiation dose rates, and a GPS tracking system for large animals. The two technologies were integrated in a collar placed on wildlife. The researchers also are using remote cameras and scat surveys to estimate densities of carnivore species (including grey wolf, raccoon dog and lynx) found within the zone. “Collectively, this research should greatly improve our knowledge of the range and variability in exposure that free-ranging wildlife experience in contaminated environments,” Lance says.
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RANKINGS UGA named to Best for Vets list UGA has been named to the Military Times “Best for Vets: Colleges 2015” rankings. Only 140 colleges and universities nationwide have achieved the designation. “UGA is proud to be recognized for its commitment to the success of our student veterans,” says Victor K. Wilson, vice president for student affairs. “They have given so much to defend our freedom, and we are eager to support them in every way possible.” The Military Times is a series of digital platforms and newsweekly magazines that are a principal source for independent news and information for service members and their families. They require schools to meticulously document an array of services, policies, accommodations and financial incentives offered to military and veteran students and to describe many aspects of veteran culture on campuses. UGA’s comprehensive service to student veterans is the result of collaborations across multiple divisions and departments, including academic affairs, the registrar’s office, student affairs, the dean of students office and the Student Veterans Resource Center.
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th on the Kiplinger’s
Personal Finance list of 100 best values among public colleges and universities for 2015
17 th
among all U.S. institutions in the 2014 Open Doors report on the number of U.S. students studying abroad
33 rd
on the Business Insider list of the smartest public colleges in America
SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL BREAKS ATTENDANCE RECORD More than 21,000 people attended the UGA Arts Council’s 2014 Spotlight on the Arts festival, an increase of 29 percent over the previous year. Held in November, the festival featured more than 60 events including plays, concerts, book talks, dance performances and art exhibitions involving nationally and internationally recognized guest performers as well as UGA faculty and students. A total of 21,467 people participated in the nine-day festival, compared to 16,659 people in 2013 and 14,778 people in the festival’s inaugural year, 2012. “The fact that this year’s Spotlight festival was so well attended speaks to the outstanding quality of the arts facilities, programming and scholarship on campus,” says Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival and to the many worldclass arts events that occur year-round on this campus.” The 2015 Spotlight on the Arts festival is scheduled for Nov. 5-14.
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ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER
Robert Griffeth, a junior majoring in management information systems, directs the Hodgson Wind Ensemble during the Spotlight on the Arts festival. The Ensemble invited attendees to “Conduct Us” during a Nov. 13 performance on the Tate Center Plaza.
GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu
95.7 million
$ Grants
UGA researchers were awarded $95.7 million in grants during the last six months of 2014. Highlights include:
$18.8 million to Samantha Joye, UGA
Athletic Association Professor in Arts and Sciences and professor of marine sciences, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences From: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative For: Continuing studies of natural oil seeps and tracking the impacts of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
$3 million to John Drake, associate professor,
Odum School of Ecology From: National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH For: Developing an early-warning system to help public officials prepare for infectious disease outbreaks.
$2.5 million to Kandauda “K.A.S.”
Wickrama, UGA Athletic Association Professor in Family and Consumer Sciences and professor of human development and family science, College of Family and Consumer Sciences From: NIH For: Examining baby boomers’ marital relationships and health as they transition to later adulthood.
$1.44 million to Wenxuan Zhong, associate
professor of statistics, Franklin College From: NIH For: Developing statistical models that may one day be used to predict cancer and other diseases.
$1.3 million to Andrew Izsák, professor of
mathematics and science education, College of Education From: National Science Foundation For: Examining how future math teachers can develop flexible methods for solving problems in middle grades math.
$1.1 million to Adrian Wolstenholme,
professor of infectious diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine From: NIH For: Determining how two commonly administered drug combinations work to remove larvae from the bloodstream of people infected with elephantiasis.
REINVESTING IN SUSTAINABILITY UGA President Jere W. Morehead has approved a proposal to redirect $80,000 in annual savings garnered through efforts by the Office of Sustainability to further engage students and conserve resources—without increasing the student green fee. In 2009, students voted to establish the student green fee as a funding source for the Office of Sustainability. An increase to the green fee was included on the Student Government Association’s 2013 homecoming ballot. While 75 percent of participating students voted in favor of the increase, the administration opted first to conduct a fiveyear review of the Office of Sustainability. Following a positive review, Morehead approved the proposal to redirect $80,000 of cost savings to support the office’s annual operating budget. This action will provide students with more opportunities for grants and internships. “This plan unites two strategic priorities for the University of Georgia—advancing campus sustainability and investing in programs that provide experiential learning opportunities for students,” Morehead says. The university plans to implement this change immediately by redirecting $40,000 of cost savings during spring 2015 to support these initiatives. The full $80,000 would be redirected in the 2015-16 academic year. For more, visit sustainability.uga.edu.
First music composition performed with Google Glass Director of Bands Cynthia Johnston Turner premiered the first music composition inspired by, composed for and performed with Google Glass in November during UGA’s annual Spotlight on the Arts festival. “Adwords/Edward” was commissioned by Turner, who is conducting research with Google Glass in the classroom and on the conductor’s podium at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. The name of the composition references Google’s online advertising service, Adwords, and Edward Snowden, who is heralded by some and vilified by others for leaking classified information from the National Security Agency about online intelligence surveillance. “This is a piece for our time that speaks to the concept of privacy. Is privacy an outdated concept now? I don’t know,” Turner says. “Every time we put Google Glass on, is Google listening? Yes. Every time you do a search with Google, are they listening? Yes. Are they taking our data? Yes. We are in very interesting, scary, provocative times, and that is what this piece is about.” Turner became a beta tester last year after winning Google’s #ifIhadGlass contest. Her research, which has included creating a metronome app, is funded by a Consortium of College and University Media Centers grant. For more information, see glass.music.uga.edu.
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The Poppy Lady Athenian Moina Michael started the tradition of the red remembrance poppy
T
he Tower of London got worldwide attention last fall with “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red,” an installation commemorating the centenary of World War I that brought hundreds of thousands of red ceramic poppies to the Tower’s famous moat. But the tradition of the red remembrance poppy got its start nearly 100 years earlier with Moina Belle Michael, who was born in Good Hope, taught at UGA and spent most of her life in Athens. When the United States entered World War I, Michael took a leave of absence from UGA and volunteered to assist in the New York-based training headquarters for overseas YWCA workers. There she was inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” written by Canadian doctor John McCrae, to wear a red poppy in memory of those who died. The first two lines of the poem reference field poppies, the first plants to grow in the soil of soldiers’ graves in Belgium and northern France: In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row… After the war, Michael returned to Athens and began selling silk poppies to raise money to assist disabled veterans. In 1920 the Georgia State American Legion Convention adopted the red poppy as its official memorial flower; the Legion’s national convention later followed suit. In attendance at the national convention was Frenchwoman Anna E. Guérin, who took the idea home and raised money to help restore the war-torn regions of France. Michael died in 1944 and is buried in Monroe. By the time of her death, the red poppy had raised more than $200 million in the U.S. and overseas. In 1948, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring her achievements. And in 1969, the Georgia General Assembly named a section of U.S. Highway 78 the Moina Michael Highway. —Allyson Mann Left, ceramic poppies created by artist Paul Cummins filled the Tower of London moat last fall. More than 19,000 volunteers began planting the poppies July 17 and ended Nov. 11 to coincide with Armistice Day. A total of 888,246 poppies were planted, one for each British and colonial fatality during World War I. The poppies were sold and raised millions of pounds for six charities.
COURTESY OF HARGRETT RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY/UGA LIBRARIES
Top right, Moina Michael in her memorial poppy garden in Athens, where she returned after World War I. The flowers were grown from seed brought from Flanders fields. Bottom right, UGA alumna Victoria Silva Holloway (right) poses with friend Andrea Arango at the Tower of London’s poppy installation last fall. Holloway (ABJ, BBA ’11) married William Holloway III (BBA ’11) in 2014; they moved to London short term for his work with Clickfox, a data analytics software company. Prior to London they lived in Atlanta, where Victoria worked as a project manager for PVR Research. Of the Tower of London installation, she says, “Hands down, never seen anything like it.”
PAUL GIPSON III (BBA ’11)
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Psychology Professor Keith Campbell, who conducts research on selfies, is author of The Narcissism Epidemic, a book that has been quoted more than 450 times according to his Google Scholar page. PHOTO BY PETER FREY
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LOOK AT ME! UGA professor researches the selfie phenomenon by Mary Jessica Hammes (ABJ ’99)
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our smartphone comes custommade to take them, and you can buy attachable “selfie sticks” to hold the phone farther away for a more epic vantage point. But selfies aren’t just ubiquitous images clogging up your newsfeeds. They’re also a hot button issue in science. “There’s so much interest in this phenomenon of selfies because it’s just exploded,” says W. Keith Campbell, professor and head of UGA’s department of psychology, part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Campbell, a leading expert on narcissism, is conducting research on selfies. He has also become the media’s go-to expert on stories that focus on this intersection of technology and culture. The co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic and author of When You Love a Man who Loves Himself, Campbell is routinely interviewed by such outlets as “The Today Show,” NPR, The New York Times, Fox News, the BBC, Time magazine, The New Yorker and The Independent. Narcissism, or an inflated sense of selfworth, is on a spectrum, Campbell says— most of us have some degree of narcissism, a smaller number will have higher narcissism that might lead to problems with their relationships or work and relatively few people suffer from clinically diagnosed narcissistic personality disorder. So, your selfie-a-day habit may not be a sign of narcissism. It could be art, or a way to socialize. Sometimes a selfie is just a selfie, especially depending on who’s taking it. “For my kids, it’s normal,” he says. “There’s a huge cultural change. If I knew a 50-year-old taking selfies all the time, I’d be more nervous than with a 12-year-old.” However, selfies might well be part of the current narcissism epidemic, one that has its roots in how we raise our children, but also has implications for our society in the future.
The self-esteem movement born in 1980s California emphasized every child’s uniqueness. Instead of encouraging kids to build self-worth by working harder or altruistically, Campbell says, children were told they were inherently special, which is not the same as true self-esteem. The sense of specialness continues with unique or unusual names given at birth, a trend that currently has record rates, says Campbell. By the time they’re on a sports team, they’re prepped to receive a trophy at the end of the season, even if they’ve won nothing. Campbell remembers one particularly dismal soccer season for his now-11-yearold daughter, in which universal trophies were discussed. “I think I talked them out of it,” he says. Last season, the team was undefeated and the members actually earned their trophies. Campbell remembers being amused while watching the kids standing with their trophies, surrounded by a crowd of parents taking pictures with their phones. “It was like a press conference,” he says. Younger generations are being raised “with very positive expectations, views of themselves and expectations of the future,” Campbell says. “We’ve made things very challenging for these people.” College graduates who have been assured of their specialness all along now face an economic downturn, a high unemployment rate and sometimes a much grimmer reality than expected. They might move back home to live with parents, choosing an “extended adolescence” over adopting the classic markers of adulthood, which traditionally have included getting a job, perhaps marrying and supporting a family, and buying houses and cars. “You can see the economic implications,” Campbell says.
There are civic implications, too. In the last midterm November election, only 12 percent of those who voted were under 30. (In the 2012 presidential election, 19 percent were under age 30.) “Look at voting turnout, especially among millennials, who people assumed would be engaged,” he says. Narcissism can be useful in some ways for modern society, he says. A culture of individualism means more tolerance for others who are different. It can help build larger (though shallow) social networks and assist with dating, branding or selfpromotion. And social media charity trends like the ice bucket challenge—which raised millions for nonprofits focused on Lou Gehrig’s disease—capitalize in part on narcissistic values. “If I were designing any campaign for charity, I’d include some element of narcissism,” Campbell says. “If you can align narcissistic needs with more prosocial needs, it’s a win-win. “Technology isn’t going away,” he says. “My tween daughter has a cell phone … my 6-year-old—I’ll find my phone and she’ll have been in the back of the car, just taking pictures of herself.” The darker side of selfies comes when the takers start obsessing over their faces and bodies, becoming anxious and selfabsorbed and seeking attention to boost their self-esteem. Celebrities are used to looking at themselves; with selfies, “We’re all working in front of a camera now,” Campbell says. This is the culture surrounding Campbell’s graduate and undergraduate students, and they provide much of the inspiration for his research. “They’re living this experience and are curious about understanding it,” he says. “The research is almost all trickled up from the students’ ideas and input, because they’re saturated in this culture.” There are still a lot of unknowns in this kind of research, he notes. “We’re trying to understand this. We’re going through very interesting cultural changes, and we don’t have a lot of answers.” —Mary Jessica Hammes is a freelance writer in Athens. MARCH 2015 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE
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CLOSE UP
i t h A Bu W p o lldawg Sh Stu
program makes the holidays n e v i brigh t- dr ter fo n e r d story by Denise H. Horton (ABJ ’83, MPA ’11)
Athens children
photos by Jonathan Lee
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egero Allen isn’t at all sure he wants to Shop With A Bulldawg. Seated on the floor of the Classic Center, surrounded by nearly 400 children from Clarke County’s 14 elementary schools, the 5-year-old is a little overwhelmed. But one thing he knows for sure—he does not want to sit at a table with girls! “I don’t like girls,” he says, with a decisive shake of his head. Kneeling beside Regero, UGA junior Refugio Lopez tries to reassure the Barnett Shoals Elementary School kindergartener that he is in for a great day.
Seated at a nearby table, junior Leena Annamraju, Lopez’s partner for the day, seems both amused and a bit concerned. As Regero and his mentors contemplate how the day will go, other children and more than 1,000 university students swirl throughout the Classic Center ballroom, which has been transformed into Andy’s toy box from the “Toy Story” movies. Sheriff Woody and Cowgirl Jessie (better known as UGA seniors Colton Fowlkes and Kelsey Schmidt) provide updates and information throughout the morning as everyone chows down on breakfast burritos and the mentors get to know the children they’ll soon accompany on an epic shopping trip. Regero and the other children chosen for 2014’s Shop With A Bulldawg (SWAB) event arrived around 8 a.m. on Dec. 6, but planning for the event began 10 months before when senior Elizabeth Howard was chosen as executive director, senior Shannon O’Keefe assumed the position of event planning director, and SWAB’s executive board settled on the “Toy Story” theme.
UGA senior Kelsey Schmidt (right) interviews one of the children chosen to participate in Shop With A Bulldawg Dec. 6. The theme of the event was Andy’s toy box, based on the “Toy Story” movies; Schmidt, who graduated in December, is dressed as Cowgirl Jessie.
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Howard’s involvement dates back to her freshman year, when she signed on to be a SWAB mentor. Normally that involves being paired with another university student and accompanying an elementary school student to Target to shop for $100 worth of clothing and toys, which they then wrap for the children to take home and put under their Christmas tree. But Howard’s freshman year was a bit different. “I didn’t get a kid, and my partner didn’t show,” she says. “But there were some kids there who had an 11-month-old sibling with them, and I was asked if I would buy things for the baby. I remember the mom saying, ‘We need diapers.’ It had really never occurred to me that there were families who couldn’t afford diapers, so I spent $70 on diapers!” Rather than being disappointed by the experience, Howard was even more energized by the program’s ability to benefit underprivileged children. As a sophomore she was chosen for SWAB’s general committee; though she wasn’t a mentor, she still remembers speaking with a little boy who’d purchased a Barbie doll. “When I asked him about it, he said, ‘It’s for my sister,’” she recalls. “The selflessness of that child; I had a lump in my throat.”
Shop With A Bulldawg pairs local children with UGA student mentors, who accompany the children on a shopping trip and help them wrap gifts to take home for the holidays. Planning and fundraising began early in 2014, culminating in an event that brought together nearly 400 children and more than a thousand UGA students.
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“
It had really nev er oc cur there were famil ies w red to me that ho c diapers, so I s ouldn pent ’ t afford $70 on d iapers !” —El izabet d h Howar
Senior Elizabeth Howard, director of SWAB, paints life-size aliens that will decorate Andy’s tox box, also known as the Classic Center.
SWAB dates back to 2009 and the efforts of three Kennesaw Mountain High School graduates who wanted to re-create their Shop With A Mustang event at UGA. “We began to talk about it in August or September of our freshman year and then were able to get it done in three months,” says Codie Haddon (BBA ’13), currently a UGA master’s student. Haddon and fellow SWAB co-founder Kaitlyn O’Keefe (Shannon’s older sister) were on hand for the most recent event, helping out as needed but mostly watching as other UGA students managed the event that has grown eight times larger—from helping 48 children its first year to 390 in 2014. In 2009, Haddon, O’Keefe (AB ’13) and fellow founder Caitlyn Searles (AB ’13) recruited other Cobb County graduates, whose schools had similar events, to help organize Shop With A Bulldawg. Older university students helped the freshmen negotiate the intricacies of registering with UGA Student Affairs, and Clarke County School District (CCSD) personnel were supportive of the group’s goals as well. In its second year, the SWAB parents program became formalized. “It was really sort of an ‘oopsie’ that we had parents,” Haddon says. “In Kennesaw, there wasn’t a parents program, but we had these parents bring their children, and the school district realized it was a great opportunity to talk with them.”
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“There is no other venue that holds so many of our parents at one time,” says Margarita Tejeda, CCSD district translator. “This is a great opportunity for our parents to receive a quality program that is hands on.” Presentations at the 2014 event included a technology session focusing on the school-provided computers that their children are now bringing home, nutrition tips from a UGA faculty member, and a program by Elizabeth Howard’s mom, Clarice (BSEd ’84), who is Title I director in Fayette County. “My emphasis [is] on 21st century skills—critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity,” Howard says, watching her daughter rush through the Classic Center, a walkie-talkie to her ear. “I’ll also [provide] examples of language development that comes with reading,” she adds, noting that surveys show 70 percent of parents don’t read to their children at home. In addition to Elizabeth Howard’s mom, her dad, Mayes, and brother, Jarrett, also were on hand at SWAB. Likewise, mom Cindy O’Keefe and big sister Kaitlyn arrived early to help Shannon and ensure that Buzz Lightyear’s rocket ship made of balloons was in working order. The ongoing growth of SWAB is rewarding to its founders, who bowed out of leadership positions their senior year. “As freshmen, we sat in a dining hall on campus and wrote out what we wanted SWAB to be about, and one of the things we wanted was for it to keep going after we left,” Haddon says. “We knew that by the time we were seniors we didn’t want to be running this, and one of the wonderful things is seeing other people catch the vision.” Planning for each year’s event begins in February. In April, organizers meet with Tejeda and other CCSD personnel to discuss how many children will be selected from each school and to brainstorm ideas for the parents program. In fall the SWAB Freshman Council, which helps with fundraising and mentor recruitment, is chosen. “We start recruiting the second week of school with events and fliers and a table at the Tate Center,” Howard says. “We also create SWABmobiles by wrapping our cars in gift paper and blaring Christmas music. We drive around campus offering rides and candy canes … while giving out fliers.” The budget for the 2014 event totaled $68,000, with $39,000 spent on purchases for the children and $29,000 spent on expenses including catering, renting rooms at the Classic
Center, decorations and buses. Mentors raise money to spend on the children they’re paired with, and funds also come from grants, sponsorships from local businesses, donations and additional fundraising events. And for all involved, seeing the children’s eyes light up as they choose a special toy makes the months of planning and fundraising worthwhile. By the time he is riding down the aisles of Target in a basket pushed by Lopez and Annamraju, Regero clearly has decided that his mentors are fun. And when they return to the Classic Center with a set of new clothes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Legos and other toys, Regero has a grand time helping to wrap the presents—in
Senior Harlie Aldridge (left) helps Kearstin McLain, a fourth-grader at Alps Road Elementary School, try on boots during the SWAB trip to Target.
between rolling on the floor, playing with Lopez’s cellphone and laughing with Annamraju. “I was scared,” Annamraju says, smiling while watching Regero play with a helium-filled balloon. “I thought he was going to hate me.” Lopez also admits to being nervous when he realized how shy Regero is. “We found out that Regero has older siblings who were here, too, but I think it was nice that he had some time where all of the attention was on him.” By 2 p.m., all of the children have been reunited with their parents, and only members of the SWAB committee and executive board are left to clean off tables and remove the remaining vestiges of Andy’s toy box. Howard and
O’Keefe share hugs and a few tears with other seniors as they realize this will be their final event. Howard knows well the emotional impact SWAB can have—the student mentors often are moved by their brief glimpse into the larger Athens community. “We come here for four or five years, and we don’t realize what goes on outside the bubble we live in during college,” she says. “We forget that there are families living here, not just students.” —Denise H. Horton is a freelance writer in Athens. Get More at swab.uga.edu
Regero Allen, a kindergartner at Barnett Shoals Elementary School, tries on a coat with assistance from juniors Refugio Lopez (left) and Leena Annamraju.
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PROMOTING
CHANGE UGA’s Roosevelt Institute chapter and course help students examine real-world problems and create progressive policy proposals by Lori Johnston (ABJ ’95) photos by Peter Frey (BFA ’94)
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orre Lavelle experienced what she hopes won’t be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when she presented a policy paper at the White House in late 2014. The idea for her white paper—on Environmental Protection Agency carbon emissions regulations—and the invitation to the White House stemmed from her involvement with the Roosevelt Institute at UGA. “I couldn’t have done it without the network I have here. Being able to present my ideas not only within the Athens community but at the state and national level, I feel like I’m making an impact,” the junior says. The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, founded in 2004, is a national organization that strives to uphold the values cast into the public discourse by Franklin, Eleanor and Theodore Roosevelt and promote the next generation of leaders through progressive policy. In 2006, Rhodes Scholar Deep Shah (AB, BS ’08) and Gabriel Allen (AB ’06, JD ’09) co-founded the UGA chapter of the student-run think tank that teaches its members how to approach problems and create policy analyses. In 2014 UGA was named best chapter of the Roosevelt network, which has 115-plus chapters in 38 states with more than 10,000 members. UGA’s Roosevelt students have presented their white papers in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and around the world. Congressmen and government officials have attended Roosevelt-sponsored symposiums on UGA’s campus, such as 2012’s “Perfect Presidential Platform Conference.” In addition, nearly every one of UGA’s recent recipients of top scholarships, including the Rhodes, Marshall and Truman, have participated in the UGA chapter and Roosevelt Scholars course, with some students serving as a teaching assistant (TA). “It’s a wonderful campus laboratory for our best and brightest students,” UGA President Jere W. Morehead (JD ’80) says. “For me, what makes the Roosevelt Institute so important is it allows students the opportunity to develop policy ideas in an academic environment and then test those ideas out on real policymakers who have touched the Roosevelt Institute over time, whether they are senators or congressmen or leaders in the General Assembly.” Deep Shah (AB, BS ’08) co-founded the UGA chapter of the Roosevelt Institute in 2006. After graduating from UGA, he earned a master’s degree in comparative social policy at Oxford University and then attended Harvard Medical School. He’s now completing a residency in internal medicine at Emory University and Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
A progressive idea in the making UGA Honors Program Director David Williams (AB ’79, MA ’82), the Roosevelt faculty adviser, ties a particular event in 2007 to fueling the excitement behind the Roosevelt Institute at UGA. As the university planned “The Carter Presidency: Lessons for the 21st Century,” commemorating the 30th anniversary of the inauguration of Jimmy Carter, a small group of students was invited to participate as the symposium analyzed global issues. Some of the students that Williams assembled, including Shah, were among Roosevelt’s first members. “To have that experience early on, as we were beginning with Roosevelt, gave it energy because it demonstrated how students can engage with real-world problems,” Williams says.
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER
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(clockwise from top left) Sophomore Caskey Dyer, sophomore Heather Huynh, sophomore Rahul Shah, junior Alex Edquist and senior Eilidh Geddes are part of the Roosevelt Institute at UGA. Edquist co-directs the university’s chapter, which was named best in the nation for 2014, out of more than 100 chapters in 38 states.
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Shah saw Roosevelt as a way for students interested in policymaking to come together and focus on their ideas. University Professor Emeritus Gary Bertsch, then with the Center for International Trade and Security, told him about the Roosevelt Institute and suggested starting the chapter. The first year, the club had about 20 students; now it has about 100. “I don’t think we ever knew it would attract that much interest,” Shah says. “The first cohort believed in the power of college students to influence the policymaking process.” Students and faculty from public health, education, economics, international affairs, ecology, family and consumer sciences, and other departments, schools and colleges are a part of Roosevelt at UGA. The Roosevelt Issues Forum, hosted by the Honors Program for all students, seeks to sharpen their awareness of state, national and global issues. In fall 2014, the monthly forum covered topics such as Ebola and the Islamic State group. Some students who attend the forums get more involved through the Roosevelt chapter and Roosevelt Scholars course. Students in the chapter, which does not offer class credit, create policy papers that are presented at UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities Symposium and submitted for publication, including in the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network’s “10 Ideas” series. UGA had the most submissions—nearly 40—and most accepted papers—six—in 2014. “The importance of the University of Georgia Roosevelt chapter is that it is mature, it is robust and it can provide a leadership role across the nation,” Williams says. Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson (BBA ’66) attended the chapter’s first conference, and boosted by peer and faculty mentorship, students were accepted to policymaking summer internships with confidence and enthusiasm, Shah says. He adds that one of Roosevelt’s greatest successes is how it inspires students to enter policy fields. Kameel Mir agrees. “That’s really what the heart of the club is about. These kids not only want to develop themselves academically in their ability to write a policy paper, but they want to find ways to implement these ideas,” says Mir, the club’s co-executive director, who is earning a bachelor’s in international affairs and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English literature. “You can also make active change, even at the age of 20, if you want to.”
Expanding on a great idea UGA’s success can be attributed to sustained faculty support from Williams, says Morehead. Roosevelt is sponsored and supported by the Honors Program, which developed a Roosevelt Scholars course that is open to all UGA undergraduates.
Roosevelt Institute students at UGA have explored a variety of issues ranging from local to international. Here’s a look at three projects.
Camille Gregory (AB ’13), a business analyst at McKinsey & Co., wrote a policy that became part of the Georgia Domestic Violence Benchbook, 6th edition. She worked with Raye Rawls, public service associate at the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, to frame her paper on how divorce cases with a history of abuse should go through the legal system. She also received assistance from Joan Prittie (JD ’93), executive director of Project Safe, an Athens nonprofit working to end domestic violence. Roosevelt was Gregory’s favorite extracurricular activity. “This was a huge part of my experience.”
Smitha Ganeshan (BS ’14) worked with Phaedra Corso (AB ’89, MPA ’91), professor at the College of Public Health (CPH), to write a policy proposal on improving primary care in Athens-Clarke County for lowincome, uninsured and Medicaid patients. She implemented the proposal through a local health safety net with help from CPH. The research provided a baseline for health needs in Athens. “It laid the foundation for my interest in a career in health policy,” says Ganeshan, now at Harvard Medical School.
Alex Edquist, an economics major and 201415 Roosevelt chapter co-director, presented her policy on making the federal prison system more cost effective as it pertains to drug offenders during a 2014 conference in Budapest. “Roosevelt has definitely been the most meaningful thing I have done on this campus.”
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In October, Roosevelt organized a Great Debate between the Young Democrats and College Republicans. The moderators, representing the three hosting organizations, were junior Taylor Stubblefield (left) from Athens Political Union, junior Marco Roca (center) from Georgia Political Review and Edquist from Roosevelt.
“The course is a rarity,” Williams says. The three-hour research course, which averages 15 students each fall, provides faculty mentoring and leadership opportunities for student TAs. Students receive access to faculty and research to conduct a sustained and lengthy research and analysis. As in the chapter, they can choose their own issue pertaining to the local community, state, nation or world. The white papers are presented at the end of the semester. “I was so happy when I taught it because it showed how awesome and how capable the UGA students are,” says 2013 TA Jacqueline Van De Velde (AB, AB, MA ’14). “I was asking them to write a 30-, 40-, 50-page intensive, qualitative and quantitative analysis paper. For me, too, Roosevelt was instrumental in being the place that I learned about leadership.” The course added more academic rigor to the Roosevelt chapter, says Lucas Puente (AB, BBA ’10), a former chapter executive director now pursuing a doctorate at Stanford University. “It turned it from an interest to more of a passion, more of a professional pursuit as opposed to a hobby,” he says. It’s a competitive class, with more applicants than seats. The
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being analyzed at the Georgia Capitol, says Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Erin Hames (BSEd ’02). When Hames hosts Roosevelt Scholars during an annual trip to Gov. Nathan Deal’s office, she is impressed by their indepth research and understanding of complex issues. Roosevelt Scholars have participated in the governor’s office’s intern and fellowship programs, and in Carl Vinson Institute of Government spring internships. TA Eilidh Geddes, a senior economics and mathematics major, adds that the research is applied. “It gets you thinking about problems and how to solve them.” As students lingered, talked and laughed in groups after a round of
policy proposals developed in the course provide the basis of a Truman Scholarship application for interested students. “Roosevelt led me to apply for that,” says 2013 Truman Scholar Smitha Ganeshan (BS ’14).
Developing leaders Roosevelt’s chapter and course sharpen students’ skill sets, Williams says. Each policy proposal has to address implementation and answer questions such as: What are the resources, what are the political challenges and what are the ways to the proposed policy? For some students, it sharpens their career path. Puente, who interned in the office of then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, says Roosevelt gave him the best preparation for participating in the UGA Washington Semester Program in 2008. “It was great to take what I learned about the policy process through Roosevelt at UGA my first two years and enhance that education in the actual policymaking environment of the Beltway,” he says. Students often are working on the same issues—health care, energy and transportation, for example—that are
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Roosevelt Scholars alumna Heather Hatzenbuhler (BSES ’13), now an environmental analyst with the Adrian Collaborative in Duluth, returned to campus in November and discussed policy implementation.
Roosevelt Scholars course presentations ended at 6:30 p.m. on a Monday night in late November, TA Megan Ernst explained how Roosevelt showed her the right way to pursue public service. As a freshman, she was drawn to the “quantitative, logical process” the chapter uses to approach policy. “Roosevelt has had an enormous impact on my education because I came to college wanting to be a political journalist, and now I want to be a policymaker,” says Ernst, a senior pursuing a bachelor’s in journalism and political science and a master’s in public administration. “It’s been really my experience with Roosevelt that helped to inform that transition.” Lavelle, an ecology and environmental economics major, serves on the Roosevelt national staff as senior fellow for energy and the environment. That role, and the Roosevelt Institute’s 10th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C., led to her December presentation at the White House. The week of her D.C. moment, she remembered what her TAs— Van De Velde and Ganeshan—told her over and over: “It’s not
about politics, it’s about the policy.” Van De Velde, still involved as a Roosevelt mentor, learned that “policy isn’t made in a vacuum.” Now at Yale Law School, she plans to work in a foreign affairs capacity for the federal government. “I hope to take Roosevelt to total fruition with my career.” —Lori Johnston is a writer living in Bogart.
Get More roosevelt.uga.edu honors.uga.edu
The Roosevelt Issues Forum is open to all students and meets monthly to discuss topics, propose solutions and discuss possible implementation. Subjects during fall included Ebola and the Islamic State group; at this meeting in November, the discussion explored the litter problem on St. Simons Island during the weekend of the annual Georgia-Florida football game.
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A song sparrow is freed from a mist net at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia by David Shaw, a research technician at UGA’s Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. SCWDS researchers use mist nets to capture birds that they examine for parasites and disease. PHOTO BY PETER FREY
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SCWDS [squid-us] UGA is home to a cooperative agency that investigates wildlife disease and its implications in the region and beyond by Denise H. Horton (ABJ ’83, MPA ’11)
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oJo Crum remembers waking up early in the morning as a little girl to join her dad, wildlife biologist Jim Crum (MS ’77, PhD ’81), while he ran grouse lines in the mountains of West Virginia. The task, which involves walking slowly through the woods while listening closely for the unique “drumming” sound made by male grouse, helps biologists determine the population numbers of the popular game bird.
The grouse research was part of a multiyear project by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, and for the younger Crum, those early mornings were a part of growing up. “I used to go everywhere with my dad,” she says. “I learned a lot of things really young, like how ecosystems work and how to estimate a deer’s age by looking at its teeth.” Across the state line in Virginia, Sarah Knox Peltier also joined her dad,
As an 11-year-old, Sarah Knox Peltier held a bear cub while her father and a colleague gathered data on an anesthetized mother bear in their work for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Peltier is now a UGA graduate student researching mange in black bears.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAH KNOX PELTIER
wildlife biologist Matt Knox (BS ’82, MS ’87), on various projects for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. That work included visiting the dens of female black bears that previously had been equipped with radio collars and gathering data on them and their new cubs. Because the mother bears were anesthetized for this research, Peltier had opportunities to hold the bear cubs before they were returned to their dens. Crum and Peltier are now secondgeneration master’s students at UGA’s Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, part of the College of Veterinary Medicine. SCWDS (pronounced squid-us) was established in response to an unknown disease that was killing white-tailed deer, says Director John Fischer. “After World War II there was a huge effort to restore white-tailed deer populations, which had been devastated by unregulated hunting,” he says. “The deer were making a great comeback, but in 1949 there was a large die-off.” The disease, labeled “Killer X,” seemed to disappear with the onset of cold weather, and deer restoration efforts continued. However, in 1954 and 1955, Killer X again killed deer in several Southern states, leading to concerns that the disease might decimate the deer population. Eleven member states of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies founded SCWDS in 1957, with the goal of identifying Killer X and developing ways to control it. In the nearly 60 years since its founding, SCWDS has continued to focus on deer populations but has
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expanded its research, diagnostics and disease surveillance to all types of wildlife, including many bird species, bats, feral hogs and snakes, and the possible transmission of diseases from wildlife to domestic animals and humans. Funding is provided through a state-federal cooperative structure that allows the 18 current member states and several federal agencies to pool their resources and share facilities, equipment, salaries, vehicles and other costs. Today SCWDS includes eight faculty members—two are jointly appointed with the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources—plus 10 staff members, two postdoctoral fellows and 20 graduate students.
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o understand the work undertaken by SCWDS researchers, it’s helpful to be a fan of TV shows like “Bones” or “Crime Scene Investigation.” Like characters on these shows, SCWDS researchers and diagnosticians gather a variety of clues from wild animals. They search for viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites
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and toxins as well as information on what the animals have eaten and where they live. From there, they determine the causes of sickness and death as well as the potential for population impact and transmission to humans and domestic animals. As an example, Fischer shares the story of work SCWDS undertook in the late 1990s to determine what was killing bald eagles at several Southeastern reservoirs. A New York Times story published when the deaths were at their height demonstrated the frustration of local wildlife biologists. “About the only thing that hasn’t been tested for is secondhand cigarette smoke,” said an Arkansas biologist. “We’ve even had people calling in suggesting that it’s radiation from outer space.” Necropsies of the bald eagles showed brain lesions, and subsequent research showed that some coots—waterbirds that are frequently eaten by bald eagles—had the same brain lesions, according to Fischer. “One of the interesting aspects of the investigation of this disease is that it evolved from diagnostic testing of individual birds … to the investigation of the affected ecosystems for possible factors contributing
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In 2011, SCWDS researchers investigated when 4,0005,000 red-winged blackbirds fell out of the sky in an Arkansas town on New Year’s Eve. Necropsies of the birds revealed hemorrhaging consistent with blunt-force trauma—likely the result of the birds flying into stationary objects like trees and houses after being spooked from their roost by loud noises like fireworks or gunfire.
to the disease,” he says, “because our surveillance work had shown the disease was occurring at some Southeastern reservoirs, but not at others.” Ultimately, the researchers were able to trace the disease to a still-unknown toxin that is associated with underwater vegetation consumed by ducks, geese and coots and then passed on to the bald eagles when they eat the waterbirds. And this is where the work of SCWDS differs greatly from that of a TV program—all of the loose ends aren’t tied up, and other priorities have emerged. “Eagle mortality continues to occur at a low level at a low number of sites,” Fischer says. “We continue to work on it to some extent, but the emergence of other high profile issues, such as chronic wasting disease in deer and avian influenza, has taken away much of the time we can devote to [it].”
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wo of the longest serving members of SCWDS are David Stallknecht (BSFR ’73, MS ’77), professor of population health, and Joe Corn (PhD ’95), a senior public service associate. Both have seen the work of SCWDS grow exponentially as new diseases are identified in wildlife and diseases move from one part of the nation—or the world—to another. Corn, for example, has been involved in projects ranging from the Caribbean islands to Hawaii to the Texas-Mexico border. “As part of the cooperative agreement SCWDS has with state and federal agencies, one of our objectives is to provide an immediate response to a disease outbreak,” he says. “We’ll get a phone call saying, ‘We just identified this livestock disease or this parasite, and we need to know if wildlife is involved.’”
David Stallknecht (left) and Joe Corn have been with SCWDS for more than 30 years. Stallknecht, professor of population health, studies pathogens including the West Nile virus in wild birds. Corn, a senior public service associate, has conducted fieldwork in locations ranging from the Caribbean islands to Hawaii to the Texas-Mexico border.
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Peltier (left) and JoJo Crum are second-generation graduate students at SCWDS. Their fathers were friends during graduate school, but Peltier and Crum didn’t meet until 2006, when they joined their fathers to watch UGA play West Virginia University at the Sugar Bowl. PETER FREY
Although Corn is a wildlife biologist, much of his fieldwork has focused on entomology. In the Caribbean, for example, he’s spent 26 years leading projects that focus on a tick that transmits heartwater disease, which can be deadly to deer and livestock. “This disease has been present in the Caribbean for over 150 years,” he says. “There have been efforts to eradicate it, but it keeps coming back. Part of our work is to determine how it moves from island to island and how it returns after eradication efforts.” Corn and his colleagues have conducted fieldwork on six different islands, trapping animals and examining them for ticks. After confirming the tick on cattle egrets, they banded and dyed 1,200 of the birds over the course of three years and tracked their movements. They discovered the birds traveled to 14 different islands as well as to the Florida Keys. “On the islands that have had this disease for many years, the animals have developed an immunity,” Corn says. “But if it was introduced into the U.S., it could lead to high mortality of cattle and white-tailed deer.” While Corn focuses his work in the field, much of Stallknecht’s research takes place in the SCWDS laboratories,
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where he has studied a variety of pathogens including avian influenza virus in wild duck and shorebird populations, the West Nile virus in wild birds, and the bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease viruses in white-tailed deer. Like Corn, Stallknecht has been with SCWDS for more than 30 years. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UGA while working as a technician for SCWDS, but traveled to Louisiana State University for his doctorate, where he “fell in love” with disease and epidemiology. “I realized that population health—big picture stuff— was what interested me,” he says. “I began conducting basic virology and diagnostic research on influenza viruses while at LSU. When I returned here, we began building up our research and lab capabilities.” Those capabilities are now some of the best in the nation and include a 30-year collection of samples and information on the viruses that cause hemorrhagic disease in white-tailed deer, the disease formerly known as Killer X. SCWDS research on hemorrhagic disease and other topics has resulted in the publication of nearly 600 articles in journals, symposia and books; that research also has been shared through educational workshops conducted in numerous states.
And while the vast majority of SCWDS research focuses on wildlife and the possible transmission of disease between wild and domestic animals, Fischer says that important implications for human health continue to be documented. “We’ve received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, among others, to conduct lab-based research and field studies in connection with West Nile and avian influenza viruses, Lyme disease, rabies and ehrlichiosis, which is a tick-borne human disease similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever,” he says.
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hroughout its history, a number of graduate students have conducted their research under the direction of SCWDS faculty. For Crum and Peltier, SCWDS was a natural choice once they decided to focus on wildlife biology. “I tried to do everything but wildlife biology,” says Crum, who is researching with Stallknecht viruses that lead to epizootic hemorrhagic disease. “It would have been a better economic decision to go to medical school, but wildlife disease research is what makes my mind tick.” Peltier is researching the expanding problem of mange in black bears in Pennsylvania. Mange not only kills bears, but it also has management implications in states where bear hunting is popular. “There are a number of issues that need to be explored,” she says. “We need to understand the environmental persistence of the mange mite and whether different strains of mites are involved.” Both young women grew up hearing stories from their dads about their
experiences as graduate students at SCWDS. “We were always Georgia Bulldog fans,” Peltier says. “My dad would tell me all of these stories about when he was at SCWDS and how they traveled to places like Haiti and Hawaii conducting disease research and surveillance on feral hogs.” Peltier and Crum are part of the newest generation at SCWDS who will travel the world looking for the causes of new disease outbreaks and analyze the genetics of pathogens and parasites affecting wildlife. They’re building on the foundation forged by their fathers and many graduates who came before them, Fischer says. “SCWDS provides a valuable applied research experience, and there are people across the country in all kinds of positions—including leadership spots in
wildlife, animal agriculture and public health agencies—who did their graduate studies with SCWDS or worked for SCWDS while they were undergrads or graduate students,” Fischer says. “They will tell you it was an exceptional experience.”
Get More vet.uga.edu/scwds
John Fischer is director of SCWDS, founded in 1957 to investigate an unknown disease that was killing white-tailed deer. SCWDS since has expanded its work to include a wide range of animals and the possible transmission of diseases from wildlife to domestic animals and humans.
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THE
HIP-HOP PREZ Walter Kimbrough (BSA ’89) is a rising star in higher education by Allyson Mann (MA ’92)
D
uring a visit to the UGA campus in September, Walter Kimbrough breaks it down. “This is the nice presentation today, right now. ’Cause I speak to the Greeks tonight, and that’s when I get to be the preacher’s kid and just cuss,” he says. “’Cause they’re going to get cussed out tonight. That’s just what’s going to happen.” Kimbrough (BSA ’89), returning to campus at the invitation of UGA’s Office of Student Affairs, will meet with several different groups today. This particular remark is addressed to a crowd of more than 100 who’ve assembled to hear his thoughts on the role of the student affairs professional. It’s something he knows well, having served in student affairs at several institutions before becoming president of Dillard University in New Orleans. Tonight he’ll speak to a student crowd about Greek life—something else he knows well. Kimbrough is author of Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities and a nationally recognized expert on hazing. So there are significant issues
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to address. But it’s the first time Kimbrough has been back in about 10 years, and at the moment he’s preoccupied with something new on the UGA campus—something that impressed him so much that he texted a photo of it to his friends. “The new Bolton,” he says, explaining what he texted, and the crowd laughs. His follow-up gets a bigger laugh: “Damn.”
“H
ey, what’s up man?” Kimbrough greets a student. “How’re you doing?” At lunch in UGA’s Greek Life office, he’s engaged in conversation with assorted students, Director of Greek Life Claudia Shamp and Dean of Students Bill McDonald. Kimbrough takes occasional breaks to check his phone, which sits on his leg—out of sight but easily accessible. He’s curious about the UGA Student Food Pantry; they’re talking about doing something similar at Dillard, where he estimates about 80 percent of students are eligible for the Pell Grant. He characterizes the
GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu
Dillard student body as a high-needs population, with many first-generation college students. Kimbrough’s background is decidedly different; he grew up in Atlanta, the son of the Rev. Walter L. Kimbrough, pastor emeritus of Cascade United Methodist Church, and Marjorie L. Kimbrough, author and lecturer. He attended Benjamin E. Mays High School and Academy of Math and Science, where he was student body president and salutatorian. At UGA he’d planned to become a veterinarian, but two things pushed him into higher education: a tough neuroanatomy class, and his positive experiences as a member of the Zeta Pi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha. He was named College Brother of the Year and served as assistant vice president, both at the regional level. “It happened here,” he says. “It was being involved on campus, being engaged and having some good opportunities here at Georgia and then asking somebody ‘What’s next?’” After graduating he earned a master’s degree in college student personnel services at Miami University
Since 2012, Walter Kimbrough has been president of Dillard University, a private, historically black liberal arts institution with an enrollment of 1,200 located in New Orleans. PHOTO BY PETER FREY
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Kimbrough serves knowledge in the logo for Brain Food, the president’s lecture series he established at Dillard that brings speakers like Michael Steele, first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee. “We’re an institution of higher learning,” Kimbrough says. “I want to feed people’s minds.”
COURTESY OF DILLARD UNIVERSITY
in Oxford, Ohio, and a doctorate in higher education at Georgia State University. Then he worked in student affairs at Emory University, Georgia State University, Old Dominion University and finally Albany State University, where he served as vice president for student affairs. In 2004, he was named president of Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark., a private, historically black liberal arts institution. He was 37, and the local weekly newspaper used “The Hip-Hop President” in their coverage. Kimbrough embraced the moniker, realizing that identifying himself as a Gen Xer and part of the hip-hop generation brought much-needed exposure. He established a strong social media presence through Facebook, a blog (hiphopprez.blogspot.com) and Twitter (@ HipHopPrez has nearly 11,000 followers), as well as a reputation for responding quickly to media requests. “If I want to make sure I’m quoted in a story, I need to be the first to respond,” he says. In 2009 Kimbrough was named one of 25 To Watch by Diverse Issues in Higher Education. In 2010, BachelorsDegree.com named him one of 25 college presidents worth following on Twitter, and he made the Ebony magazine Power 100 list. The Chronicle of Higher Education published “What Presidents Can Learn From Walter Kimbrough” in 2012. Later that year he became president of Dillard University, another private, historically black institution located in New Orleans and still in a rebuilding phase seven years after Hurricane Katrina.
Doctors had to cut out dead skin, tissue and muscle, leaving a gaping hole in the buttocks. But it’s not all about shock value. Kimbrough takes them through the history of hazing, explaining how it migrated into Greek life and focusing their attention on the gap between what organizations say on paper and what the individual chapters actually do. His goal is to make them think. He’s worked 20 cases as a hazing expert, more than anyone else in the country, and every single one has settled out of court. “Y’all can’t win a lawsuit,” he tells them. “The average [member of the] public is not going to believe you.”
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s expected, Kimbrough does not mince words that evening during his all-Greek session on hazing. “If you’re squeamish, close your eyes,” he warns, before projecting a photo onto the movie screen at the Tate Theater. The image generates an audible response from the crowd of nearly 300. It’s a hospital photo of a hazing victim who was paddled hundreds of times.
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PETER FREY
Kimbrough returned to UGA in September to meet with several different groups and share his expertise on student affairs and Greek life. In January he traveled to Montgomery, Ala., to deliver the keynote address at Alabama State University’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration and Convocation.
Kimbrough is giving them a dose of truth and encouraging them to confront this issue head on—the same way he confronts everything. He’s written guest pieces for The Atlantic (“The Hazing Problem at Black Fraternities”) and the Augusta Chronicle (“Fear of the Word ‘Black’ Stirs Skepticism About Struggling HBCUs”). And in 2013 he wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, calling out rapper/producer Dr. Dre for making a $35 million gift to the University of Southern California rather than a black college, where the gift would have been “truly transformational.” At both Philander Smith and Dillard he’s established president’s lecture series—Bless the Mic and Brain Food, respectively—that bring in diverse speakers like Cornel West, philosopher and civil rights activist; Mary Matalin, a political strategist known for her work with the Republican party; and Benjamin Crump, the attorney who represented Trayvon Martin’s family during the George Zimmerman trial. Last fall Kimbrough and hip-hop artist MC Lyte co-taught the Dillard philosophy class “I Cram to Understand: Hip-hop, Sex, Gender and Ethical Behavior.” “What our class does is examine the language to say ‘What kind of statements are being made? Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it good, or is it bad?’” he says. “We can talk about Plato and then we can talk about [hip-hop artist] T.I. in the same breath.” He brought in guests like Dillard’s chaplain (Dillard is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ) for a discussion of the relationship between Christian values and hip-hop, and Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, of rap group 2 Live Crew, who spoke on the evolution of sexuality in hip-hop lyrics. Kimbrough encourages students to
develop critical thinking skills, rather than making snap judgments. “Your head should hurt every time we leave class,” he tells them.
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hen he’s on Dillard’s campus, freshmen run up to Kimbrough and introduce themselves. It’s his fault. When he spoke to the new class he directed them to “Hustle until you don’t have to introduce yourselves.” The expectation is that he will know them by name. And when he travels, there are more people than just his family—wife Adria Nobles Kimbrough, an attorney, and their children, Lydia Nicole, 8, and Benjamin Barack, 6—who notice his absence. This morning a Dillard basketball player texted a photo of his empty
parking space to him. The subtext: Where are you? He replied with a photo of the flier for today’s lecture. Though he’s an avid user of technology, Kimbrough is also aware that institutions of higher learning face a challenge in creating community when students constantly are plugged in. The “hustle” mandate is one way he encourages face-to-face interaction, and there’s further incentive—he won’t write a letter of recommendation for any student who has to give him a résumé. “They still need personal, meaningful relationships,” he says. “That’s what we should be able to do.”
Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States, delivered Dillard’s commencement address to 226 graduates in May 2014.
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NOTES CLASS
Lieutenant Amanda (Porter) Farr (ABJ ’12) and Lieutenant Jonathan Farr (AB ’11), who met and began dating at UGA, were married Oct. 25. They are stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.
CLASS NOTES
Compiled by Daniel Funke
1935-1939 Don Carter (ABJ ’38) of Sea Island received the Dean’s Medal from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication for his lifetime achievements in the journalism industry, including serving as vice president at the media company Knight Ridder.
1965-1969 Roland McElroy (AB ’65, MA ’69) of Falls Church, Va., received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for his work as president of the public relations firm
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McElroy & Associates, which focuses on providing advice for corporate and public policy clients. Pat Mitchell (AB ’65, MA ’67) of New York City was elected chair of the board of trustees for the Sundance Institute. Mitchell is executive vice chair of the Paley Center and has served on the Sundance board for more than 19 years. Edgar Land (BBA ’67) of Ellijay was elected worshipful master of the Grand Lodge of Georgia in 2013 and served until Oct. 29, 2014. William Porter “Billy” Payne (AB ’69, JD ’73) of Atlanta received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 Governor’s International Awards for lobbying to bring the Olympics to Atlanta in 1996. Claude Yearwood (BSFR ’69) of Lizella was named the
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SPECIAL
2014 Distinguished Alumnus by the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources in October.
1970-1974 Joel Wooten (BBA ’72, JD ’75) of Columbus was reappointed to the Georgia Ports Authority board of directors by Gov. Nathan Deal in November. Richard Arrendale (BSEH ’74, MS ’80, PhD ’88) of Atlanta received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for developing treatments for tumors in tobacco users.
1975-1979 Gordon Smith (ABJ ’75, JD ’78) of White Plains, N.Y., received the 2014
ALUMNI PROFILE
Double Dawg on the bench New 11th U.S. Circuit Court judge earned two degrees at UGA by Lori Johnston (ABJ ’95) A conversation with a friend in Creswell Hall turned Julie Carnes toward a successful legal career and her ultimately unanimous confirmation to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2014. Carnes planned to be a high school English teacher, but had filled her undergraduate schedule with literature courses instead of education classes. Her friend suggested that Carnes follow after her father, Charles, a former state representative who spent 17 years as chief judge of the Fulton County State Court. Carnes (AB ’72, JD ’75) only applied to Georgia Law. The spontaneous decision has served her well. While serving as chief judge for the Northern District of Georgia, Carnes and six others were nominated for Georgia federal court vacancies by President Barack Obama in December 2013. She was the first to be confirmed last July. “I’m just so happy for her, that in this current political environment, she could be confirmed, without opposition, by the U.S. Senate. That speaks volumes for how well respected she is,” says UGA President Jere Morehead. Law school wasn’t a traditional decision for a woman during the ’70s, says Carnes, who was among 26 female students in the School of Law. A legal career fit her decisive, analytic nature and her love for writing. She’s quoted Shakespeare from the bench, such as when she baffled a lawyer with the comment: “It was sort of a plague on both your houses, right?” Morehead, a fellow assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta in the ’80s, says he and other colleagues sought Carnes’ guidance because of her understanding of the law, especially in appellate matters, and her supportive nature. “She was the person who could point to a particular volume in the law library and take you to it and say, ‘This is the case you need to rely upon.’” Carnes served on the seven-member U.S. Sentencing Commission from 1990 to 1996 and was a member of the 2014 search committee for the new Georgia Law dean. She is one of only three women with portraits in the school’s hallways. “That says a lot about her career and the wide respect that she has,” Morehead says. On her desk in the Elbert P. Tuttle Court of Appeals
Julie Carnes
JOHN DISNEY/DAILY REPORT
Building in Atlanta, a framed photo of her parents sits near a foot-tall stack of case files and decisions for her to review, write and sign for the 11th Circuit, which has the highest number of cases per judge. She says she wants to make proud Obama and others, including Sen. Johnny Isakson (BBA ’66) and former Sen. Saxby Chambliss (BBA ’66), who supported her. “My goal, though, is to do the same kind of work I did at the District Court, which is to decide things fairly and according to the law.”
—Lori Johnston is a writer living in Bogart.
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CLASSNOTES
® Spring in the Classic City and on the campus of the University of Georgia is simply stunning. Flowers bloom on North Campus, students study for finals outside Brumby and Russell halls, the weather warms and seniors begin the frenetic charge toward commencement. The experience of Athens and the Tim Keadle university in the spring is undeniably transformational! Since my last message in Georgia Magazine, I am pleased to share that Meredith Gurley Johnson (BSFCS ’00) was named executive director of alumni relations. Meredith graduated from UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences and served in the executive director position on an interim basis until a national search could be completed. Selected from many highly qualified candidates, Meredith is definitely the right person at the right time for the UGA Alumni Association. I encourage you to connect with Meredith when you have the opportunity; she is a delightful representative of UGA. On Jan. 12, the Division of Development and Alumni Relations welcomed Jay Stroman as senior associate vice president for development and alumni relations. Prior to this role, Jay was vice president for advancement at Young Harris College. I am pleased to welcome him to our team. Spring is always a busy time for the university. This month, the Dawg Trot 5K for Scholarships will be held on campus. On April 10, we will recognize outstanding university supporters during the annual Alumni Awards Luncheon at the Tate Student Center. Then, the Return to the Arch Alumni Seminar will be held in Athens May 1-3. This year’s theme is “Food for Thought,” so bring open minds and empty stomachs. Learn more at www.alumni.uga.edu/alumniseminar. In April through July, the university will once again take the Bulldog spirit on the road, this year making stops in Albany, Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, Rome, Savannah and Charlotte. For those of you who have attended UGA Days in the past, get ready for an exciting, enhanced experience this year. This collaborative effort between the UGA Alumni Association and the UGA Athletic Association brings top UGA administrators, coaches and students to alumni, friends and prospective students in these cities and surrounding areas. Don’t miss the UGA Day Tour when we bring the university to you. In addition to these events, UGA Alumni Association chapters are planning events to connect Bulldogs around the world. If your visits to Athens aren’t as frequent as you’d like, a chapter near you can provide you with a UGA community in your own backyard. Always a Dawg, Tim Keadle (BBA ’78), president UGA Alumni Association UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WEBSITE www.alumni.uga.edu 800/606-8786 or 706/542-2251 ADDRESS CHANGES Email records@uga.edu 888/268-5442
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Meredith Gurley Johnson (BSFCS ’00), Executive Director ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS Tim Keadle (BBA ’78) President, Statham Ruth Bartlett (BBA ’76) Vice President, Hilton Head Island
GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu
Jennifer Chapman (BBA ’97, MAcc ’98, JD ’02), Treasurer, Athens Bonney Shuman (BBA ’80) Assistant Treasurer, St. Simons Island Julie Reynolds (BSHE ’81) Secretary, Lawrenceville Steve Jones (BBA ’78, JD ’87) Immediate Past President, Atlanta
Bill Hartman Award from the UGA Athletic Association for serving in several business executive positions after playing on the tennis team in college. Julia McConnell Fales (ABJ ’76) of Olivet, Mich., completed a master’s degree in library science in August at North Carolina Central University. She was named library director at Olivet College’s Burrage Library in September. Sandy Hay (ABJ ’76, MEd ’79) of Jacksonville, Fla., and her son Charles Hay opened the Olive Basket, a store specializing in olive oils and vinegars, in Athens in November. Jayne Ellspermann (AB ’77) of Ocala, Fla., was named the 2015 National Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. She has been principal at West Port High School in Ocala for 10 years. Mark McManus (BBA ’77) of Albany joined the law firm Holle Weiss-Friedman in October. Mike Hubbard (AB ’78) of Orchard Hill was appointed CEO of the McIntosh Trail Community Service Board, where he has served in leadership positions for 29 years, most recently as clinical director of operations for the agency’s behavioral health section. Kessel Stelling (BBA ’78) of Columbus was elected vice chairman of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents in November. He is also CEO of Synovus Financial Corp. Paul W. Williams (BBA ’79) is vice president of external affairs and advancement at Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College. He joined ABAC after 35 years in the business world. Williams also is serving his second term as vice chairman of Georgia’s State Charter School Commission. He and his wife live on Lake Blackshear and are expecting their first two grandchildren in February.
1980-1984 Greg Harlin (BFA ’80) of Annapolis, Md., created a postage stamp commemorating the War of 1812
ALUMNI calendar
Saturday, March 21 Dawg Trot 5K for Scholarships, Athens
Join hundreds of UGA alumni and friends for a scenic walk, jog or run across the university’s beautiful campus. A portion of registration fees will support student scholarships. Register online at www.alumni.uga.edu/dawgtrot.
Friday, April 10 40 Under 40 Nomination Deadline
Each year, the UGA Alumni Association recognizes 40 outstanding alumni under the age of 40. Nominations for the Class of 2015 are open at www.alumni.uga.edu/40u40 until midnight on April 10.
Friday, April 17 UGA Alumni Awards Luncheon Tate Student Center Grand Hall
For more than 60 years, the UGA Alumni Association annually has recognized distinguished alumni, faculty and friends who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to the university. For a complete list of this year’s honorees and registration information, visit www.alumni.uga.edu/ alumniawards.
WINGATE DOWNS (ABJ ’79)
(Left to right) Alumni authors Bridgette Burton (AB ’11, ABJ ’11), Shonte Press (BBA ’03), Neicy Wells (AB ’96), Lakeshia Poole (AB ’05, ABJ ’05) and Francene Breakfield (BS ’95) pose with Uga IX during Alumni Night at the Bookstore in November. More than 1,300 alumni and donors attended the event, where they enjoyed complimentary food and beverages, a 20 percent discount on merchandise and photos with UGA’s mascot.
Friday, May 1, to Sunday, May 3 Return to the Arch Alumni Seminar, Athens
Pass through the Arch and into the classroom for three days of engaging seminars, classes and tours led by outstanding UGA researchers, faculty, staff and students. Enroll today at www.alumni.uga.edu/alumniseminar.
Wednesday, May 6 Senior Send-Off
The UGA Alumni Association will welcome the Class of 2015 to the alumni family with a special send-off gathering on campus. Details will be emailed to students in the weeks prior.
2015 UGA Days UGA students, administrators and coaches will bring the red and black to Albany, Augusta, Atlanta, Charlotte, Macon, Rome and Savannah. For more information, visit www. alumni.uga.edu/ugaday. To learn about these and other events, please visit www.alumni.uga.edu/calendar.
WINGATE DOWNS (ABJ ’79)
Members of the Class of 1964 gathered in October for a 50th reunion. Held on the front lawn of the Wray-Nicholson House on campus, the Homecoming event featured the UGA cheerleaders, Hairy Dawg and a performance by Noteworthy, UGA’s female a cappella group.
For more information: alumni@uga.edu (800) 606-8786 www.alumni.uga.edu
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CLASSNOTES
What YOUR
GIFT means
Poised for success UGA student Drew Jacoby is earning a degree with help from private giving by Emily Williams Drew Jacoby is a natural leader. Since enrolling at the university, he has been greatly involved in student organizations and worked his way up to the highest level of student representation on campus—president of the Student Government Association. But none of it would have happened without the support of UGA donors. “Before coming to college, one of my biggest fears wasn’t necessarily getting into college, it was being able to afford college,” Jacoby says. “I come from a low-income background—I am a Pell Grant recipient. Drew Jacoby Receiving support, to me, means that I am going to graduate with a very impressive degree from one of the best universities in the country. I am going to … graduate with the confidence that I am ready for whatever comes my way.” For the past four years, Jacoby has been a recipient of the Harris Scholarship, established in 1982 by Athens native, philanthropist and civic leader James J. Harris. Harris valued education and wanted to help Clarke County High School students through scholarship support at UGA. Jacoby has worked hard inside the classroom and out to prepare for his dream of working in politics. He also held down two jobs—one at a catering company and another as a runner for a local law firm—to help with expenses not covered by scholarships. Now a senior political science major in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Jacoby aspires to be an advocate for positive change in education and international and foreign affairs. One of his most memorable experiences was studying abroad in China during his sophomore year. “That experience changed my view of life and the world,” he says. “As a political science major, it was incredibly important for me to see that.” A SPIA fund established by alumni contributions in 1978 helped Jacoby make the trip to China. “Without any shred of a doubt, I would not have been able to go abroad were it not for that scholarship,” he says. His term as SGA president has been fruitful for his career aspirations as well. As the student voice for the university, Jacoby is working behind the scenes to better the experience of every Dawg. He describes his UGA experience as the best four years of his life. “Private giving is more than just helping one or two students—it’s helping the entire university community, and it’s an investment in the future of America’s next great leaders,” Jacoby says. “Thank you so much for all that you have done for me and fellow students, because you’ve changed our lives.” —Emily Williams is senior director of communications for the division of development and alumni relations. Learn more about supporting students like Drew at giving.uga.edu.
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and Francis Scott Key’s creation of the Star-Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry. Mark Slonaker (BSEd ’80) of Athens received the 2014 Service Award from the College of Education for his work as head of fundraising for the UGA Athletic Association. Roger Strauss (ABJ ’80) of Marietta retired from his position as director of CNN in November after more than 34 years at the news organization. Andy Satterfield (AB ’81) of Greenville, S.C., was reelected to serve on the 2014-15 board of directors of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, where he has been an active board member since 2011. René Shoemaker (BFA ’81) of Arnoldsville exhibited linoleum prints on paper depicting different elements of French life, including travel, coffee and cafés, in Paris in November. David Boyd (AB ’82, MPA ’84) of Newnan was named director of finance of Athens-Clarke County in October. Alan Masarek (BBA ’82) of Milford, Conn., joined the Internet phone service provider Vonage as CEO in October. Mark Kauffman (BBA ’84) of Atlanta
opened the first Kauffman Tire chain store in Athens on Nov. 7. Tracy Sheppard (BSW ’84) of Wellington, Fla., received the Elementary Science Teacher of the Year Award from the Palm Beach County Science Educators Association.
AL
I
THE PERF FOR ANYECT GIFT GRAD! APPROV
1990-1994 Jeffrey Donaldson (BFA ’90) of Sandy Springs co-curated an art exhibit titled “Western American Art South of
ED
Memories have no expiration date. Prominent Georgia grads find “Dear Old U-G-A”. . .
“A wonderful walk down memory lane” – Tom Johnson
1985-1989 Dudley Calfee (AB ’85) of Floral City, Fla., was elected president of the Florida Blueberry Growers Association. He is also a recipient of the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture’s Environmental Leadership Award. Chris Holcomb (ABJ ’85) of Lawrenceville was named chief meteorologist for 11Alive, where he’s been predicting Atlanta weather for 23 years. Kurt Lawrence (BSAE ’85, MS ’87, PhD ’97) of Athens received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for his work as a supervisory agricultural engineer and research leader within the agricultural service division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Tom Snow (AB ’85) of Canton was named vice president of sales at FirstCare Health Plans, where he will be responsible for product distribution and corporate sales. Richard Costigan (AB ’88) of Granite Bay, Calif., was re-elected as the California State Personnel Board’s representative to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System Board of Administration. He also serves as the senior director of state and government affairs for the national law and consulting firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. John Sorrow (BBA ’89) of Chattanooga, Tenn., was named agency executive and senior vice president at the BB&T Huffaker insurance company in October.
UMN
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ALUMNI PROFILE
Carpe diem Seizing opportunity took one alumnus from D.C. to Saudi Arabia by Rebecca McCarthy As a freshman, Michael Mannina was stressed about naming a major. He finally decided to focus on finance and advertising, only to learn that having two majors in two different colleges couldn’t be done. “My personality is that I don’t take no for an answer unless I come to the same conclusion,” he says, laughing. So he spent his four years at Georgia taking a full load every semester, graduating with a 3.95 GPA and earning two degrees—in finance from the Terry College and in advertising from the Grady College. Along the way, he also did odd jobs, joined Sigma Phi Epsilon, spent a summer in an orphanage in Peru, worked as an orientation leader and participated in the Leonard Leadership Scholars Program in the Terry College. Now a U.S. Treasury Department financial attaché in Saudi Arabia, Mannina (ABJ, BBA ’04) credits program founder Earl Leonard with launching his career in public service. Leonard, a retired Coca-Cola executive, was very involved in the leadership program he had started a year before Mannina was accepted. “I saw Mr. Leonard every four to six weeks, and he really was my mentor,” Mannina says. “He shaped how I view the world. When I was graduating, he said, ‘Why don’t you think about politics?’” Leonard (ABJ ’58, LLB ’61) helped him land a job in Washington, D.C., in the office of Sen. Johnny Isakson. Mannina was an intern, doing whatever he was asked to do,
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Michael Mannina and his daughter, Bella Mae, enjoy fresh dates from a friend’s date farm at the Red Sands near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
such as stocking a refrigerator with Cokes or giving tours of the Capitol, “but there was information and culture all around me, and I loved it,” he says. He spent two and a half years as a speechwriter for the Heritage Foundation and then moved to the White House, where he worked for the Office of Legal Counsel and then the Homeland Security Council “and learned to get along on four hours of sleep,” he says. While working in the West Wing he also got married, ran the Marine Corps Marathon and enrolled in a distance-learning degree program at the U.S. Naval War College. When his job with the Bush administration was ending, Mannina applied to the U.S. Treasury Department and landed an intelligence adviser role. When an opportunity came up to be the Treasury’s ambassador in Saudi
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Arabia for three years, Mannina took it, moving to Riyadh with his wife Diane and daughter Bella. He says that so many different issues come across his desk every day—from talking to someone in the Central Bank on monetary policy to working on ways for dismantling a terrorist financial network—that boredom isn’t possible. His overall goal is to promote the growth of the U.S. economy and to enhance America’s security. “Going to Saudi Arabia has been the best decision I ever made,” Mannina says. “I’ve learned to appreciate the culture and have found the common humanity we all share. I’d say my jobs have been providentially arranged. And when the right opportunity comes, you seize it and take a risk.” —Rebecca McCarthy is a writer living in Athens.
the Sweet Tea Line IV” at the Booth Western Art Museum, where he is director of curatorial services. Kristin Skelly (BSFCS ’91) of Newnan was named interim head of the Heritage School in November. John Breed (BBA ’93) of Tallahassee, Fla., joined the Florida State University College of Business as an entrepreneur in residence and assistant lecturer in June. Dawn Renee Bresnahan (BSEd ’93) of Washington is now an assistant professor of animal sciences at Berry College. Aubie Knight (AB ’93) of Madison began a new position as CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina on Jan. 1. Hadley Lowy (ABJ ’93) of Dunwoody joined the telecommunications company CenturyLink as an internal consultant after spending 11 years working at Verizon Communications. Elise A. Redmond (BBA ’93) of Cornelius, N.C., was named president of the board
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Byron Balasco (AB ’99) poses with musician and actor Nick Jonas (right) at the premiere party for “Kingdom” in October. Balasco is creator of the series, a family drama set in the world of mixed martial arts. Jonas plays Nate, an up and coming fighter who is the best hope for keeping his father’s gym afloat. Season one aired on DirecTV last fall; new episodes are filming this spring and are scheduled to air in the fall.
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Reading list
Books by UGA Alumni
Before I Go Gallery Books (2015) By Colleen Oakley (ABJ ’02) Twenty-seven-year old Daisy, diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, decides to find her husband a new wife before she dies. Psychoeducational Assessment and Report Writing Springer (2014) By Stefan C. Dombrowski (MEd ’98, PhD ’00) This textbook provides in-depth instruction for conducting psychoeducational assessments of children in grades K-12 and conveying results through detailed reports. The Jig is Up Amazon Digital Services (2014) By James Carr (AB ’11) The author spent 14 months researching the local food movement in Atlanta and surrounding rural areas for this book on moving toward sustainability.
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The Ancestors Lamp Post Inc. (2014) By William Barnard (ABJ ’91) Reporting on an extraterrestrial sighting, a renowned journalist clashes with those who oppose the story, unaware that the real battle is for his soul. Beyond the Abyss Panther Books (2014) By Heather Silvio (MS ’99) Short stories and poems about the supernatural, including alien abductions and invasions, life after death, demonic possession, and epic battles between good and evil. Rabbit Shine CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2013) By Cliff Yeargin (ABJ ’75) Former baseball player and private investigator Jake Eliam investigates the death of a Major League prospect that leads him deep into rural Georgia politics and greed. Life in the Viewing Lane Outskirts Press (2014) By Gary B. Hulsey (BS ’64) A compilation of poems, happenings, reflections, flash fiction stories and short stories accrued over several decades.
Annaliese From Off Five Points Press (2014) By Lindy Keane Carter (ABJ ’75) In 1900, young mother Annaliese Stregal is forced by her husband to leave their comfortable life in Louisville, Kentucky, to live in a lumber camp in the north Georgia mountains, where he has launched a timber business with his brother. Of Mudcat, Boo, The Rope and Oil Can Sartoris Literary Group (2014) By Mike Christensen (ABJ ’82) An informal history of Mississippians in Major League Baseball. Administration of Intercollegiate Athletics Human Kinetics (2015) By Robert H. Zullo (PhD ’05) and Erianne A. Weight This compilation brings together some of the most knowledgeable professionals in the field of athletics administration to create an essential resource.
Submit new books written by UGA alumni to gmeditor@uga.edu. Please include a brief description of the book and a hi-res cover.
Rebels Against the Confederacy Cambridge University Press (2014) By Barton A. Myers (MA ’05, PhD ’09) Myers analyzes the secret world of hundreds of white and black Southern Unionists as they struggled for survival in a new Confederate world.
Advancing the Science of Suicidal Behavior Nova Science Pub Inc. (2014) By Dorian A. Lamis (BS ’03) and Nadine J. Kaslow, editors This book combines the efforts of leaders in the field of suicidology to better understand why people have suicidal thoughts and behavior, and why they die by suicide.
The Eight Vital Signs MedEcon Analytics (2014) By Dennis Carr (AB ’80, MA ’81) This nonfiction volume, written in layman’s terms, provides practical advice on choosing your health care plan.
Fat Lighter: Our Southern Longleaf Heritage CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2012) By Jonathan P. Streich (EdS ’03) This reference book documents the history and ecology of the longleaf pine tree in the southern U.S. and includes more than 80 images.
Becoming Jessie Belle Deeds (2014) By Linda Hughes (EdD ’03) This novel follows newscaster Jessie Belle Church on an ancestry quest that takes her to Africa and Europe. Heathen Lotus Press (2015) By R. Flowers Rivera (BSEd ’90) The author’s second collection, for which she was named recipient of the 2014 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award.
The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes Hackett Classics (2015) By Jackson W. Crawford (MA ’08) The author translated the Poetic Edda, the Old Norse manuscript that is the original source for the myths of Norse gods like Thor and Odin, into contemporary English for the first time.
Scotch-Irish Life in the South Carolina Piedmont The History Press (2014) By Millie Huff Coleman (BSHE ’65, M ’11) and Caroline Smith Sherman A collection of 1700-1900s era sayings and stories that reveals unacknowledged origins and customs of the South.
Prodigal Press P&R Publishing (2013) By Warren Cole Smith (ABJ ’80, MA ’85) and Marvin Olasky The book traces 150 years of history for American journalism, making the case that it has become increasingly liberal and anti-Christian.
And Tell Tchaikovsky the News Red Letter Press (2014) By Robert Lamb (BSEd ’61) Atlanta teen Billy Randolph, a talented musician, leaves behind his classical background when his father hires a yardman who introduces him to rock ’n’ roll.
Skits are a Hoot for Little Toots! Marco Products (2014) By David S. Young (EdS ’04) Eighteen skits present guidance topics like anger management, empathy, honesty and more to young students.
The American Army and the First World War Cambridge University Press (2014) By David R. Woodward (MA ’63, PhD ’65) A history of the American Army’s performance in World War I, ranging from wartime leadership to training and combat in France and Russia.
Irish Women Dramatists, 1908-2001 Syracuse University Press (2014) By Charlotte Headrick (PhD ’82) and Eileen Kearney, editors A collection of plays that represents a cross-section of the excellent dramatic output of Irish women writing in the 20th century.
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CLASSNOTES
ALUMNI PROFILE
The big picture In public health and personal time, alumna keeps things in perspective by John W. English Raegan Tuff starts by looking at the big picture and then figures out how to improve the small picture. As a program evaluator with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tuff (PhD ’09) studies the impact of public health programs and assesses how to make them more effective. She also monitors and manages the health information systems that virtually link the CDC with state and community-based health departments throughout the nation. “We track what’s going on in the field to promote Raegan Tuff oral health and prevent such chronic diseases as cancer, obesity and heart disease,” Tuff says. “In addition to gathering data and sending out reports from it, we do a lot on the preventive side. We inform leaders on science-based approaches that promote health. For example, we support small changes that can make a big difference, such as promoting healthy products in vending machines.” Tuff became interested in chronic diseases during her master’s program at the Morehouse School of Medicine and pursued that specialty at UGA across several disciplines—health promotion and behavior, exercise science, women’s studies and qualitative research. Her dissertation explored how race, gender and cultural values shaped physical activity attitudes and participation during the teen years of nine black women in Atlanta. In October, as Ebola loomed as a public health issue, Tuff was invited to assist the CDC operation set up to handle domestic public response. “It was encouraging to see a cadre of professionals working 24/7 to handle public concerns and offer guidance to hospitals and airports and health-care workers,” she says. “The CDC website gives daily updates, travelers’ advice and information on symptoms, transmission and treatment of this infectious disease. The Ebola project is a different culture [from chronic disease] and has its own language, so it was exciting to assist and be part of it for five weeks.” In her personal life, Tuff also has a tendency to remember the big picture. She attributes her personal philosophy to her parents, both pastors. “I realized early that life is about giving to others and enjoying every moment—the small things in life,” she says. She serves on the board of a nonprofit organization called I Am B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L., which supports leadership and educational and career development for African-American girls aged 5 to 18. Tuff also shares her artistic talents—singing, playing flute and quilting—through an enterprise she dubbed The Art of Living. On New Year’s Eve 2011, Tuff lost her twin brother, Marcus, to an unexpected heart attack at age 32. “I can’t put into words the loss,” she says. “I know that change is constant and that I had to find the anchor of who I am. Spirituality is what grounds me; it’s what gives me hope.” —John W. English, professor emeritus of journalism, is a frequent contributor to GM.
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of directors for The Ronald McDonald House of Charlotte. She is a partner at the law firm Fisher Broyles LLP. Austin Scott (BBA ’93) of Warner Robins was appointed chairman of the Subcommitte for Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit. He is serving his third term as the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s Eighth Congressional District. Rheeda Walker (AB ’94) of Pearland, Texas, now works as an associate professor and director of the Culture, Risk and Resilience Lab at the University of Houston, where she researches suicide resilience and vulnerability of African Americans.
1995-1999 Bob Trammell (AB ’96) of Luthersville was elected to serve in the Georgia House of Representatives for District 132, which covers portions of Coweta, Meriwether and Troup counties. Melissa Boone (BBA ’97) of Tega Cay, S.C., was included on CPA Practice Advisor’s 2014 “40 Under 40” list for her work at the tax and advisory firm CohnReznick. Jim Chasteen (BBA ’98) and Charlie Thompson (AB ’99, MBA ’03, JD ’03) of Atlanta opened the American Spirit Whiskey distillery in Buckhead. Kelli Dean
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(AB ’98) of Athens received the Outstanding Young Agent of the Year Award from the Independent Agents & Brokers of America for her work as vice president of Physicians Insurance Services. Daniel P. Hogan (AB ’98) of Nashville, Tenn., was named the 2014 Young Leader of the Year by Young Leaders Council, a nonprofit. Hogan is president and CEO of Medalogix, a company that offers predictive modeling software that he developed for the health care industry. Gary McDermott (AB ’98, JD ’05) of Charlotte, N.C., started his own law firm, McDermott Law, in October after practicing at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice for eight years. Shannon Register (BSFCS ’98) of Columbus received the Small Business of the Year Award from Lone Star College for her business Register Real Estate Advisors. Jay Shallenberger (BBA ’98, MAcc ’99) of Atlanta founded M&A Tax Solutions, a boutique mergers and acquisitions firm. Sarah Fishburne (BSFCS ’99) of Smyrna spoke to a UGA class about her position as director of trend and design for The Home Depot in October. Kelly Crisp Paynter (BBA ’99, EdS ’04) of Marietta was named the 2014-15 Georgia Library Media Specialist of the Year by the Georgia Library Media Association. Isaac Wantland (BLA ’99) of Mount Juliet, Tenn., celebrated the fifth anniversary of his company Wantland Ink Landscape Architecture in October.
2000-2004 A.A. “Butch” Ayers (AB ’00) of Dacula was named chief of the Gwinnett County Police Department in October. Meredith Gurley Johnson (BSFCS ’00) of Atlanta was named executive director of the UGA Alumni Association in December. Bill Bishop (BBA ’02, MAcc ’02) of Acworth joined the Atlanta-based Grant Thornton advisory firm as an audit partner in
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August. James R. Hipps III (AB ’02) and Shelly Lawhorn Hipps (BBA ’01) of Duluth welcomed baby Nathan Lannas Hipps on April 15, 2014. Jessica Reece Fagan (ABJ ’03) of Atlanta served as co-chair for the Georgia Young Lawyers Division February fundraiser benefitting the Augusta Warrior Project. She is an associate with the law firm Hedgepeth, Heredia, Crumrise and Morrison. Amy-Katherine Gray (AB ’03) of Atlanta married Joshua David Roberts on Oct. 18 in Greensboro. She is a manager at the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she
specializes in organizational change management. Chuck McCarthy (AB ’03) of Decatur was an actor in two semi-finalist commercials for the 2015 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl competition. Benjamin Smith (AB ’03) of Marietta joined the New York City office of the law firm Rawle & Henderson in September, where he specializes in medical professional liabilities. Ian Altman (AB ’04, MEd ’06) of Athens received the 2014 Crystal Apple Award from the UGA College of Education for teaching English at Clarke Central High School. Tim Griffeth (BSEd ’04, MAL ’10)
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The Bitter Southerner Alumni created a Web magazine that explores the Southern thing, y’all by John W. English Chuck Reece (ABJ ’94) has been honing his journalistic skills for 30 years in preparation for his current project—co-founding and serving as editor in chief of a feisty Web magazine titled The Bitter Southerner. Reece got his first experience editing at The Red & Black in the early 1980s and then parlayed a magazine internship into a job at a national trade publication in New York. He also worked in corporate communications for The Coca-Cola Company and the Georgia Lottery, was press secretary for former Gov. Zell Miller (AB ’57, MA ’58), ran his own public relations consulting firm in Atlanta and was creative director of content for a design company. “I quit my job in July 2013, and my partners and I launched our Web magazine in August 2013,” Reece says. His co-founders include Kyle Tibbs Jones (ABJ ’85), director of social media; Dave Whitling (M ’95), creative director; and Butler Raines (M ’95), who handles insights and analytics. The project started out to be a blog about cocktails, but the foursome settled on a richer editorial mix. Its mission statement proclaims simply “for the sake of the story and the love of the South.” The Bitter Southerner is unconventional in form and content, publishing only one long-form article a week and integrating dramatic photography and memorable short
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JAMIE HOPPER
(left to right) Chuck Reece, Kyle Tibbs Jones, Dave Whitling and Butler Raines
videos with original storytelling. As Reece explained in the launch issue, “The purpose is to explore, from every angle we can, the duality of the Southern thing,” riffing on a line from songwriter Patterson Hood (of the Drive-By Truckers). “We want to spotlight simple things that we share and that bring us together.” In its first year, The Bitter Southerner has covered a wide range of topics, both highbrow—poetry and literary essays—and low—Elvis fanatics and Atlanta’s legendary Clermont Lounge. Some stories deal with popular culture like NASCAR at Talladega or Atlanta hip-hop artist Killer Mike. Some explore regional history, such as a filmmaker questioning the legacy of “Gone With The Wind.” Reece’s favorite article to date is “Many Battles of Atlanta,” in which author Fletcher Moore describes an urban hike around Atlanta, revisiting modern sites of Civil War battles.
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Readers flocked to the site from the outset, and Reece credits Tibbs Jones’ savvy skills with social media for building their brand. Some 50,000 readers visit the site monthly, and The Bitter Southerner has 37,000 Facebook likes and 9,500 Twitter followers. Reece admits that a business model is still evolving. “We don’t want a paywall because we don’t want to keep anyone from reading our stories,” he says. “We’re trying a number of things to monetize it: a book club, a membership drive, a general store that sells T-shirts and other items. We’re also raising funds from investors and are open to sponsorships and advertising if it doesn’t affect the experience of the reader.” “A lot of people want us to succeed,” Reece says. “There’s clearly a need for a more forwardlooking view of the South.”
of Watkinsville was named Oconee County’s 2015 Teacher of the Year for his work as an agriculture teacher at North Oconee High School.
2005-2009 Madalene Houchin (BLA ’05) of Nashville, Tenn., joined Wantland Ink Landscape Architecture as operations manager. Sabina Vayner (BBA ’05) of Atlanta was named to Georgia Trend’s 2014 “40 Under 40” list for her work at the law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. Amber Walden (AB, BFA ’05) of Scottdale was appointed director of humanities at Gwinnett Technical College. Michael Westbrook (BSFR ’05, MS ’08) of Statesboro won the 2014 Distinguished Young Alumnus Award from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Jen Bennecke (AB ’06) of Atlanta was recognized as a Philanthropic Leader of Tomorrow by the Greater Atlanta Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals for her work as president of the Junior League of Atlanta. Jenna Thomas (ABJ ’06) of Atlanta was selected as a finalist in the Agency PR Professional of the Year category at the 2014 PR People Awards hosted by PR News in November. She works as director of digital public relations and social media marketing at the marketing agency Nebo. Liron Bar-Peled (BS ’07) of San Diego, Calif., was named the 2014 Grand Prize winner of the Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists for his research into how mammalian cell size is influenced by its environment. He received the award, and a $25,000 prize, at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, in December. Edward Gerety (AB ’07) of Arlington, Va., received an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. He also welcomed his first son, Edward “Edison” Gerety IV, on Oct. 10. Justin Bullock (BBA ’08, MPA ’10, PhD ’14) of Douglasville joined the Texas A&M University
LAURA SHEARER
Meet me in Madrid
John Shearer (right) and Joe Snow reunited in Madrid, Spain, last summer—about 30 years after they last saw each other. The two first met when Shearer, a UGA student, moved into Myers Hall, where Snow, then a Spanish and Portuguese instructor, was living. In 1983 the two joined a spring break trip to Russia (then the Soviet Union). During the trip Shearer (AB ’83) kept a journal that inspired him to pursue a career in journalism; now living in Knoxville, Tenn., he still writes on a freelance basis. Snow left UGA in the early 1990s and taught at Michigan State University. Now retired, he spends most of his time at his home in Madrid. Last year, Shearer wrote a column on the 30th anniversary of his trip to Russia and reconnected with Snow via email. And when he and his wife, Laura Anderson Shearer (ABJ ’69), planned a trip to Portugal to visit family, they decided to stop in Madrid to see Snow. “It was neat comparing our memories of both the Russia trip and our experiences in Myers,” Shearer says, “because my time in Myers was one of the happiest of my life.”
Bush School of Public Service and Administration as an assistant professor in August. Evan Clements (BLA ’08) joined Historic Columbia, a South Carolina preservation and education organization, as director of grounds. Previously he worked at Moore Farms Botanical Garden in Lake City, S.C., as well as Black Pudding Farms. Jeff Henson (BBA ’08) of Atlanta is a senior associate in Lincoln Property Company’s Office Leasing Group, where he specializes in representing tenants and landlords in Buckhead. Leslie Friedman (BSFCS ’09) of Clinton, Iowa, displayed the fall
fashion line from her private label Buchanan during a Clinton Women’s Club fundraising event in October. Wendy Hsiao (AB ’09) of Atlanta was appointed public relations & digital specialist at the Atlanta Humane Society.
2010-2014 Matthew D. Hammond (BSEH ’10) completed a dual degree program at the University of Connecticut, earning a Ph.D. in biomedical science and an MBA in finance. He is now an associate at RA Capital in Boston. Emily Ruzic
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Sensory overload Adventurer descends into the heart of a volcano by Mary Jessica Hammes (ABJ ’99) For hours, Sam Cossman (BBA ’03) dangled over a boiling lake of lava, struggling to breathe through the gas mask that protected him from the toxic air. That was the only way to descend a perilous 1,200 feet to the Marum Crater, in the island nation of Vanuatu. It was a risk he was willing to take in exchange for an experience reserved for few humans: looking into the heart of a volcano. Last August, Cossman, a professional adventurer, made the trip to the South Pacific with Torontobased documentarian George Kourounis, and New Zealand-based volcanologists and filmmakers Brad Ambrose and Geoff Mackley. They camped there for a week and made two descents, capturing footage with a GoPro camera. On the flight home to San Francisco, “I busted out my MacBook Pro and opened iMovie for the first time,” Cossman says. He edited and uploaded a short video, sending the link to about 10 people, imagining it’d be a fun thing for family and friends. “I woke up to millions of hits and a call from ‘Good Morning America,’” he says. At last count, his “Volcano Diver” video (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=BAdFvTo9874) has had more than 3.5 million hits. News outlets all over the world have covered the adventure, an experience Cossman remembers as an intense “sensory overload.” “It’s so hot when you get to the edge that your cameras are melting; you’re boiling inside your suit,” he says. Waves of exploding lava surge as high as buildings, and cool into molten rock that’s dangerously unpredictable. “It almost feels like an out-of-
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body experience,” he says. “It’s otherworldly, what I imagine being on the surface of Mars feels like. It doesn’t feel like you’re on planet Earth. It really looks like you’re looking at the sun at close range.” How does one become a professional adventurer? For Cossman, it started with a childhood of “safe but adventurous travel,” often centered on exploring the 5 acres of woods and creek surrounding the family’s home in Roswell. A post-graduate year of traveling to 50 countries was “an awakening… to the realization that there’s so much out there beyond me.” Back in San Francisco, he worked for a medical device company; cofounded the charity Rise2Shine, an NGO that helped build a school in Haiti; and was an early employee of Xola.com, a marketing platform that gives adventure-based companies a way to reach their consumers. Following the success of the volcano expedition, Cossman left Xola to pursue adventuring full time. In December, he returned to Vanuatu with a team of scientists and filmmakers
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to investigate another lava lake—one that’s totally undocumented. Though risky, such adventures give “you a sense of perspective of your place in the universe. It’s humbling,” he says. “When you stand in a place so tumultuous and dangerous and you’re at the mercy of a power of the universe so much greater than you or anything manmade, it gives you a sense of your own mortality. It makes you realize how quickly it can be taken from you and how precious it is.”
(BBA ’11) of Mountain Brook, Ala., joined the law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as a first-year associate in November, where she will serve as a member of the Litigation Practice Group. Kathryn Boyd (BBA ’12, MAcc ’13) of Atlanta is a licensed CPA and real estate agent with Keller Williams. She is a third generation realtor, following her mother and grandmother. Previously she worked in client services for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
GRAD NOTES Arts & Sciences John Edward Stewart II (MS ’71, PhD ’73) of Dothan, Ala., retired Oct. 31 after working with the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences for 30 years. Pamela Flattau (MS ’72, PhD ’74) of Washington, D.C., received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA
Etched in stone Ross Oglesby (BSA ’06) supervised the creation of 10 granite seals for the 37th annual Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition, an agriculturalbased trade show held in October. The seals symbolize the 10 states represented at the event and adorn the floor of the Sunbelt Expo Spotlight State Building, the newest addition to the Expo grounds in Moultrie. The 10 states included are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, CARLA WOOD North Carolina, South Ross Oglesby Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The process for each seal, start to finish, took approximately six hours. Oglesby, who works for Keystone Memorials in Elberton, supervised a team that completed the project in two weeks.
Summer Academy at UGA
Give them the college experience with UGA’s youth summer programs. Young people discover new opportunities and improve their academic performance with the University of Georgia’s unique summer activities in Athens. Find courses, costs and schedules at UGAGetSmart.com Summer Academy at UGA isProgram an excitingfor series of specialty summer camps in Athens for middle UGA Pre-College Summer schoolhigh and school high school students 11 – 17) who want to do amazing things. rising juniors and(ages seniors • Friday, July 12, 2013 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 ® Whether your aboutcampus becoming a film director, doctor, engineer, scientist or artist, we • Two weeks of student classes dreams held across ® have an academic awesome subjects summer with campUGA just instructors right for him or her! • Explore • Students housed in UGA residence halls See thetofulldining list ofhalls summer campscampus at UGAYouthPrograms.com • Access all around
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CLASSNOTES
ALUMNI PROFILE
Bridging the gap Bill Thorne brings his communication skills to the intersection of business and government by Daniel Funke While an undergraduate at UGA, Bill Thorne (ABJ ’84) bounced between half a dozen different majors before he finally settled on one that suited him. And after more than two decades serving as a liaison between business owners, politicians and the communities they serve, he has never doubted the value of his journalism degree. “The ability to look at things holistically and then bring it down to the ground where people will understand it and will relate to it and comprehend it — that is, I think, a key to being successful in any kind of communications role,” he says. Now the senior vice president for communications and public Bill Thorne affairs at the National Retail Federation, Thorne advocates for business rights in Washington, D.C., meeting with government officials and political action committees to make sure NRF members’ voices are heard. But his work goes beyond advocating for the retail industry; Thorne works with communities and lawmakers around the U.S. to teach them how both state and federal legislative policies can affect the success of small businesses. “The small business is the backbone of this country, of our economy, of the entrepreneurial spirit,” he says. “When you consider that the retail industry is the largest private sector employer, supporting one in four American jobs, you begin to understand how even small policy changes can have a big impact on retail businesses, their employees and the customers that shop in their stores.” Before joining the NRF, Thorne fine-tuned his knowledge of political communication by coordinating grassroots outreach efforts with the American Medical Association, Walmart and various political organizations. By providing resources that help business owners better communicate their needs to elected officials, he hopes to shrink the gap between Capitol Hill and those who work in the retail industry. But even before he graduated college, Thorne was doing his best to involve people in something larger than themselves. While serving on the UGA Interfraternity Council and Student Judiciary, Thorne learned how to educate people on issues that affect their daily lives, encouraging them to voice their opinions. “[I learned] the ability to take difficult subjects and boil them down to where people would understand them,” he says. “All of those opportunities were [ways of] getting people invested in the project that you were working on, making them excited about being a part of something bigger.” Through educational initiatives such as NRF conferences and summits with American business owners, Thorne says he believes political discourse can be simplified in a way that benefits the growth of small business in the U.S. “You’re taking difficult legislative initiatives and trying to make them understandable to the common man so that everybody will understand what the implications are if legislation is either passed or stopped,” he says. “If you can phrase it and put it in a way that is accurate yet understandable, people will engage because they feel they have something invested in the outcome. And that’s what we have to do every single day.”
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SPECIAL
Graduate School for her 40 years of work as a senior staff officer and task leader with the National Research Council. Christopher Francis D’Elia (PhD ’74) of Baton Rouge, La., received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for his work as dean of the School of the Coast and Environment at Louisiana State University. Kathleen Slevin (MA ’74, PhD ’75) of Williamsburg, Va., received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for her work as president of the Southern Sociological Society and faculty adviser for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Michael Feuerstein (MS ’75, PhD ’77) of Gaithersburg, Md., received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for his work as a professor of medical and clinical psychology, and of preventive medicine and biometrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Phillip Brantley (MS ’77, PhD ’80) of Baton Rouge, La., received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for his work as associate executive director for scientific education at Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Douglas Cavener
(PhD ’80) of State College, Pa., is professor and head of biology at Pennsylvania State University. He was named interim dean of the College of Science in November. Garnett Stokes (MS ’80, PhD ’82) of Tallahassee, Fla., began a new position as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri in February. She previously served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Florida State University. Deborah Williams (MS ’83, PhD ’85) of Stamford, Conn., received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for her work as president and CEO of Her Game 2, a company which supplies apparel for NBA fans across the U.S. Eric Fournier (MA ’90, PhD ’95) of Birmingham, Ala., was named the 2014 Alabama Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in November. He teaches geography at Samford University, where he has been a faculty member since 1997. Daniel Guyton (MFA ’04) of Fayetteville wrote a play titled “Daffodils” that will be published in The Best American Short Plays 2013-2014 by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. Paolo Gualdi (DMA ’10) of Wilmington, N.C., released the album “Franz Liszt: Works for Solo Piano,” in November. Gualdi is associate professor of music at Francia Marion University. Scott Gevaert (PhD ’11) of St. Louis, Mo., received the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award from Emerson, a global manufacturing and technology company.
Business Timothy Mescon (PhD ’79) of Columbus retired as president of Columbus State University to serve as senior vice president and CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in Amsterdam,
Netherlands. Lars Powell (PhD ’02) of Little Rock, Ark., was appointed inaugural director of the Alabama Center for Insurance Information and Research in November.
Education Perry Buffington (MA ’73) of Orlando, Fla., received the 2014 Alumni of Distinction Award from the UGA Graduate School for teaching clinical psychopharmacology at UGA’s Griffin campus. Ken Shaw (EdD ’89) of Lynn Haven, Fla., was inaugurated as the 25th president of Southwestern Adventist University in November. Whitney Myers (EdD ’91) of Sylvania received the UGA College of Education’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award for creating partnerships and learning initiatives at various Georgia public schools and universities. Irby “Skip” Sullivan (EdD ’99) of Alfred, N.Y., was inaugurated as president of Alfred State College in October. Tonya Harris Cornileus (MEd ’04, PhD ’10) of West Hartford, Conn., received the 2014 Professional Achievement Award from the UGA College of Education for her work as vice president for learning and organizational development at ESPN. Ryan Neumann (MEd ’06) of Atlanta received the 2013 James N. Britton Award for Inquiry within the Language Arts from the Conference on English Education for his book What Had Happened, which details the experiences of a high school English teacher. Kimber Shelton (PhD ’09) of Duncanville, Texas, received the 2014 Professional Achievement Award from the UGA College of Education for training college students, faculty and staff to empower themselves through counseling.
Journalism and Mass Communication Michael Cass (MMC ’95) of Nashville, Tenn., became speechwriter
Serving
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CLASSNOTES
Carl E. Sanders, 1925-2014
Former Georgia Gov. Carl E. Sanders (JD ’48) died Nov. 16 in Atlanta. He was 89. Born in Augusta, Sanders was the first of his family to attend college, entering UGA on a football scholarship. He left to serve in the Army Air Corps during World War II, later returning and earning a law degree. Sanders practiced law in Augusta and began his political career in 1954, winning election to the Georgia House of Representatives. He was elected to the Georgia Senate in 1956. In 1962, he became the nation’s youngest governor at age 37. Known as “Georgia’s Education Governor,” Sanders oversaw the investment of more than $2 billion in educational and training programs, including more than $552 million spent on the state’s public colleges and universities. After leaving office in 1967, Sanders established a law firm
and communications adviser to Nashville Mayor Karl Dean in October. He spent 15 years as a reporter at The Tennessean.
Law Thomas Baxley (BS ’71, JD ’75) was named Superior Court judge in the Pataula Judicial Circuit by Gov. Nathan Deal. Baxley has served on the state court bench since 1995 and also runs a solo practice in Blakely, where he lives. B.J. Bernstein (JD ’87) of Atlanta opened a satellite office for her criminal defense firm in downtown Newnan after approximately 20 years of working out of Atlanta. Melanie Wilson (ABJ ’87, JD ’90) of Lawrence, Kan., was named dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law in November. She previously served
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Carl E. Sanders
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Carl E. Sanders
in Atlanta. Troutman Sanders eventually employed more than 500 attorneys and opened offices in London, England; Hong Kong; and Virginia. After 25 years he relinquished day-to-day management
as a professor of law, associate dean for academic affairs and director of diversity and inclusion at the University of Kansas School of Law. Nancy Rafuse (BBA ’88, JD ’91) of Atlanta was named the labor and employment practice chair at the Poisinelli law firm. Leigh Martin May (JD ’98) of Atlanta was confirmed as a judicial appointee to the Northern District of Georgia in November. Lara Schuster (JD ’09) of Marietta joined the family law firm Hedgepeth, Heredia, Crumrine & Rieder as an associate in October.
Public & International Affairs Michael Bitzer (PhD ’04) of Salisbury, N.C., is an elections analyst for Charlotte, N.C., television and radio stations. He reviewed this year’s state
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of the firm but continued as chair emeritus and partner until his death. Survivors include wife Betty Foy Sanders (BFA ’47); daughter Betty Botts; and son Carl Sanders Jr. (AB ’76).
elections during a forum at Catawba College Oct. 21, where he is provost and a professor of political science and history. Jae Brown (MPA ’08) of Ellenwood was named on the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “40 Under 40 Awards” list for his work as emergency management coordinator for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Allison Tyler (MA ’12) of Birmingham, Ala., was named economic development coordinator for the University of West Florida Haas Center for Business Research & Economic Development in December.
Veterinary Medicine David Pinson (DVM ’78) of Dunlap, Ill., received the Outstanding Teacher Award at the University of Illinois at Peoria College of Medicine on Nov. 12.
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Real estate is an exciting area in which to teach and conduct research. The world around us is our classroom, and we touch on many areas of business. We’re marketing, we’re management, we’re economics, we’re finance. We were interdisciplinary before interdisciplinary was cool. People really can relate to real estate issues because they live in our classroom.” “I always [tell students], ‘If you’re driving down 316 and ever wonder why they put that Chick-fil-A there, then you’re kind of a real estate person.’ It’s a question of wanting to know why the world is being developed in the way it is.”
Henry J. Munneke Program Head and C. Herman & Mary Virginia Terry Distinguished Chair of Business Administration Real Estate Program, Terry College of Business www.terry.uga.edu/directory/profile/hmunneke
Photo shot by Peter Frey at the UGA Photography Studio in the Georgia Center.
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