University of Georgia Magazine Spring 2022

spring 2022

victory !

2021: A Season to Remember

CONTENTS

See some of Color the World Bright’s most exciting murals. p. 16

the magazine of the university of georgia spring 2022

INSIDE 5

The President’s Pen

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UGA to Z

President Jere W. Morehead reflects on a National Championship season.

Jordan Davis has his eyes on you. p. 26

Highlights from across the UGA community.

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On the Bulldog Beat Laptops all around campus have as much personality as their owners.

40 Bulldog Bulletin

brett szczepanski

FEATURE

ON THE COVER

16 The Mural of the Story

The UGA students, alumni, and faculty behind Color the World Bright are beautifying small-town Georgia one wall at a time.

News for UGA alumni.

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Class Notes Compete in an Ironman Triathlon, visit an art gallery in New York, and explore the Oregon Trail— all with UGA alumni.

56 Faculty Focus Get to know Mary Ann Moran, Distinguished Research Professor of Marine Sciences, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

18 A Mind Matter

People with degenerative brain disorders face considerable challenges. UGA researchers want to help.

24 A Season to Remember The Georgia Bulldogs are National Champions!

Relive every moment.

cover photos by andrew davis tucker

Kelee, Jordan, or Stetson?

Who did you get? To celebrate the Bulldogs’ 2021 National Championship, Georgia Magazine has produced three commemorative covers, photographed by staff from UGA’s Division of Marketing & Communications. For information on how to collect all three, see the note at the bottom of the page 4.

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Flags Fly Forever more than 100,000 bulldog fans filled sanford stadium on Saturday, Jan. 15, to celebrate Georgia’s third national championship.

The ceremony featured remarks from Coach Kirby Smart, Gov. Brian Kemp, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, UGA President Jere W. Morehead, and J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks, as well as several players. Former coach Vince Dooley also joined via video message.

The lead-up to the celebration included a parade down Lumpkin Street followed by the Dawg Walk.

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spring 2022

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THREE-TIME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

victory!

2021: A Season to Remember

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spring 2022

VOLUME 101

ISSUE NO. 2

georgia magazine

Editor · Eric Rangus MA ’94 Associate Editor · Aaron Hale MA ’16 Writers · Leigh Beeson MA ’17 and Hayley Major MA ’21 Art Director · Jackie Baxter Roberts Advertising Director · Kipp Mullis ABJ ’93 UGA Photographers · Peter Frey BFA ’94, Rick O’Quinn ABJ ’87, Andrew Davis Tucker, Dorothy Kozlowski BLA ’06, ABJ ’10, and Chamberlain Smith ABJ ’18 Contributing Writers · Elizabeth Elmore BBA ’08, ABJ ’08, and Clarke Schwabe ABJ ’08 Contributing Photgraphers · Brett Szczepanski, Tony Walsh AB ’19, Mackenzie Miles AB ’21, and Chris Cooper Editorial Interns · Ireland Hayes, Rachel Cooper, and Kendal Cano

marketing & communications

THREE COMMEMORATIVE COVERS.

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2021: A Season to Remember

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Vice President · Kathy Pharr ABJ ’87, MPA ’05, EdD ’11 Associate Vice President · Greg Trevor Executive Director for Integrated Marketing & Brand Strategy · Michele Horn Senior Executive Director for Operations & Fiscal Affairs · Fran Burke

administration President · Jere W. Morehead JD ’80 Senior VP for Academic Affairs & Provost · S. Jack Hu VP for Finance & Administration · Ryan Nesbit MBA ’91 VP for Development & Alumni Relations · Kelly Kerner Interim VP for Instruction · Marisa Anne Pagnattaro PhD ’98 VP for Research · Karen J. L. Burg VP for Public Service & Outreach · Jennifer Frum PhD ’09 VP for Student Affairs · Victor Wilson BSW ’82, MEd ’87 VP for Government Relations · Toby Carr BBA ’01, BSAE ’01 VP for Information Technology · Timothy M. Chester

Change your mailing address by contacting e: records@uga.edu or ph: 888-268-5442 Find Georgia Magazine online at news.uga.edu/georgia-magazine

spring 2022

Submit Class Notes or story ideas to gmeditor@uga.edu

advertise in Georgia Magazine by contacting Kipp Mullis at e: gmsales@uga.edu or ph: 706-542-9877

COLLECT THEM ALL.

dawgs on top!

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Own a piece of Bulldog history!

For more information, visit UGAMAGAZINE.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

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

THE PRESIDENT’S PEN

National Champion Bulldogs

The Bulldog Nation celebrates a thrilling finish to a historic season.

After 41 years, the Georgia Bulldogs are once again national football champions. The 2021 season was one for the history books, with the Bulldogs securing an undefeated regular season, a victory in the Orange Bowl, and a thrilling win in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. I am deeply grateful to everyone who contributed to UGA’s success.

Our talented student-athletes demonstrated their commitment to excellence throughout the season, working hard on the field and in the classroom. It was inspiring to see their love for UGA and their support of one another as teammates as they combined their individual skills and ambitions into a cohesive, unstoppable force.

Building on the legacy of his predecessors, head coach Kirby Smart led the UGA football program to heights not seen in more than a generation. This season adds to Coach Smart’s already impressive record from the past six years, which includes an SEC championship; wins in the Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Liberty Bowl; the George Munger National Coach of the Year Award; and recognition twice as the SEC Coach of the Year.

“This team and this season will live forever in the hearts and minds of the Bulldog Nation, and this victory belongs to all of us.

GO DAWGS!”

Additional coaching, support, and administrative staff across the UGA Athletic Association provided critical assistance to our team along the way. They show their dedication to the university and our student-athletes every day, and their importance cannot be overstated.

I congratulate our J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, Josh Brooks, on an incredible finish to his first year on the job.

This special moment in UGA history certainly would not have been possible without the loyal support of the Bulldog Nation. Your generosity over many years has helped us build world-class facilities in which our student-athletes can train and compete, and your passionate, red-and-black spirit gave us a home-field advantage everywhere we played this season, from Charlotte and Jacksonville to Miami and Indianapolis.

It was an unforgettable joy to commemorate our team’s national football championship with a parade down Lumpkin Street and a celebration in Sanford Stadium with more than 100,000 faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends back in Athens. This team and this season will live forever in the hearts and minds of the Bulldog Nation, and this victory belongs to all of us. GO DAWGS!

Jere W. Morehead President

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UGA Z

Highlights from across the UGA community

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‘OUR NOBLE MISSION’

State of the University On Jan. 26, President Jere W. Morehead’s annual State of the University address detailed some of the institution’s most significant recent accomplishments, including UGA’s record annual economic impact on Georgia, now at $7.4 billion.

The president also introduced initiatives to ensure a brighter tomorrow for the university.

These efforts include: • A five-year, $6 million initiative to continue transforming classrooms into dynamic, active learning spaces.

• A renewal of UGA’s commitment to undergraduate students from rural areas by continuing the ALL Georgia program for an additional six years. Launched in 2018, ALL Georgia provides financial and academic support as well as mentorship and leadership opportunities to strengthen the UGA experience for rural students.

• An investment of $1 million in private funds to expand well-being support across campus to address the increased demand for mental health services.

Morehead JD ’80 also urged the university community to stay focused on the institution’s responsibility to make positive change.

“In the year ahead, we will encounter further headwinds. Our fight against COVID will continue,” said Morehead. “But as we confront the obstacles to come, let us remember our noble mission and recommit ourselves to the core principles of this great university: learning, discovery and service; inclusion, integrity and diversity of thought.”

dorothy kozlowski

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UGA to Z TOP DAWGS

The University of Georgia bestowed the President’s Medal, one of its highest honors, on Loch K. Johnson, Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Public and International Affairs, and the late Richard M. Graham, former director of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and the first full-time African American faculty member at UGA, in an award ceremony on Jan. 27.

Johnson (top) served the university for more than 40 years before retiring in 2019. He was named Educator of the Year in the 1986 Pandora yearbook, which was the result of a university-wide student vote. That was just one of many honors including the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship, the Honors College Honoratus Medal in 1997, and the Southeastern Conference Professor of the Year in 2012.

Graham came to the university in 1968 as a visiting professor and permanently joined the faculty the following year, becoming the first fulltime African American faculty member at UGA. He was a pioneer in the discipline of music therapy—the application of music to restore, maintain, or improve mental and physical health. He transformed UGA’s fledgling program into one of the most respected in the country.

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President’s Medal Honors Remarkable Faculty Members

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HISTORIC INVESTMENT

Holmes-Hunter Academic Building to Undergo Major Renovation n uin o’q rick

FULL STEM AHEAD

I-STEM Research Building 1 Now Open

The University of Georgia has upgraded its research capacity for chemistry, engineering, and material science with the completion of Phase 1 of the Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Research Complex.

The 100,000-square-foot I-STEM Research Building 1 features flexible, open lab spaces designed to elevate UGA’s expanding lab-intensive research activities. The building includes three levels of laboratory and support space plus a four-story parking deck.

The I-STEM buildings are part of a multiyear capital plan to build, renovate, and modernize hundreds of thousands of square feet devoted to research and innovation in and around the section of campus known as Science Hill.

When complete, the I-STEM Research Complex will add approximately 200,000 square feet of new space for research and instruction. The second phase could be finished by this summer.

Officials cut the ribbon to celebrate the completion of the first phase of UGA’s Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (I-STEM) Research Complex.

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dorothy kozlowski

A comprehensive renovation will soon begin for the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, named in 2001 for Hamilton Holmes BS ’63 and Charlayne Hunter-Gault ABJ ’63, the first African American students to enroll at UGA. The $30 million project was approved by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and is supported by a $15 million commitment from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation.

The Holmes-Hunter Academic Building was originally two separate buildings: Ivy Hall, built in 1831, and the Library Building, built in 1860. The two buildings were joined in 1905 and connected with a three-story addition that added a courtyard, which was removed in a subsequent renovation.

The planned renovation will restore the courtyard as a space that pays tribute to Holmes and Hunter-Gault, install an elevator and new stairs, create a classroom from the original building design, and restore several historical features, among other improvements.

Planning and design will begin in early 2022, and the physical work will start in late 2022 or early 2023.

dorothy kozlowski

“Wealth and Beauty: Pier Francesco Foschi and Painting in Renaissance Florence”

UGA to Z

Georgia Museum of Art On Display through Apr. 24

ARTIST REDISCOVERED

Museum Presents Underappreciated Renaissance Master

“Wealth and Beauty: Pier Francesco Foschi and Painting in Renaissance Florence,” is the first exhibition dedicated to the 16th century Florentine painter.

Despite a highly prolific and fashionable career, Foschi fell into obscurity after his death in 1567. “Wealth and Beauty,” on view at the Georgia Museum of Art through April 24, offers a timely and critical reevaluation of this Renaissance master.

“Wealth and Beauty” represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Georgia audiences. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience works borrowed from some of the most prestigious art collections in the world.

Many have never been shown in the United States.

“We are extremely honored to present an exhibition of this scope at the Georgia Museum of Art,” says Nelda Damiano, Pierre Daura Curator of European Art at the museum. “This project has benefited from the tremendous support and generosity of museums, art dealers, private collectors, sponsors, and scholars in North America and in Europe.”

WARM WELCOME

UGA Names New Deans for FACS and Social Work

Anisa M. Zvonkovic, dean of East Carolina University’s College of Health and Human Performance, will become the new dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

As dean and the Harold H. Bate Distinguished Professor at ECU, Zvonkovic has enhanced undergraduate advising to focus on career success, overseen an increase in research activity, established new endowed professorships, and launched a collegewide racial equity task force.

Philip Hong, a professor and associate dean for research at the Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work, will become the new dean for the School of Social Work.

Hong has developed a national model for social policies that promote self-sufficiency and family strengthening, and implemented recruitment and curricular innovation strategies to help increase the number of applications, and partnered with the Graduate School to increase scholarships and stipends.

Zvonkovic and Hong begin their new roles at UGA in July.

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NEED A LYF T?

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Two new deans: Anisa M. Zvonkovic (top) in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and Philip Hong in the School of Social Work.

Announcing UGA Ride Smart

A new partnership between the University of Georgia and Lyft provides nightly rideshare services for students.

UGA Ride Smart represents the latest component of a recently announced $8.5 million investment over the next three years to enhance campus safety.

The rideshare program offers students discounted rides to or from the Athens campus and any destination throughout the greater Athens-Clarke County community seven days a week from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“We are proud to offer a rideshare program that sets the standard high for safe late-night transportation,” says Joseph Benken, chief of staff for the Student Government Association.

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UGA to Z

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ARTS AND HUMANITIES

UGA Celebrates 10th Spotlight on the Arts

The University of Georgia Arts Council celebrated its tenth annual Spotlight on the Arts festival with more than 60 events and exhibitions in the literary, performing, and visual arts.

The festival showcases the extraordinary people and programs that define the arts and humanities at the University of Georgia.

Highlights of the month-long festival, which took place in November, included a Signature Lecture by New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik, a University Theatre production of Rent, Georgia Writers Hall of Fame events, and performances by several Grammy-winning musicians.

Since its founding in 2011, Spotlight on the Arts has drawn nearly 170,000 participants, and the Arts Council has expanded to include 17 university units.

Held in November, the 10th annual Spotlight on the Arts festival included more than 60 events, including a show by the student-led step team, D-Squad.

Members include (from left to right): Akira Johnson, Jordyn Earl, Saniah Pharms, Destinee Pruden, and Tamara English.

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FUELING SUCCESS

UGA Scientists Lead Research in Jet Fuel Alternative

Spicing up the aviation industry might be good for the environment and the economy.

According to UGA research, replacing petroleumbased aviation fuel with fuel derived from a type of mustard plant—a non-edible oilseed crop called Brassica carinata—can reduce carbon emissions by nearly 70%.

Some models suggest the production cost of this sustainable alternative might also be cheaper than petroleum-based fuel.

Puneet Dwivedi (left), an associate professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, authored a paper on these findings, along with UGA coauthors Asiful Alam MS ’19 and Farhad Hossain Masum MS ’20, PhD ’20.

The aviation industry emits 2.5% of all carbon dioxide emissions nationwide. Dwivedi thinks that carinata can change that while also creating economic opportunities for Georgia’s booming airline and agricultural industries.

UGA to Z SAME OLD STORY

FOOD AND FORESTRY

Can movies change the world? Franklin College emeritus professor James Dowd thinks so. Addressing portrayals of gender roles may be a place to start.

Dowd led a study that measured how central characters followed gender role expectations in a sample of 250 romance films released between 2000 and 2014. While many of the movies seemed to initially challenge the gender status quo by positioning the female lead as adventurous and independent, they typically ended the same way: with the woman sacrificing her independence to support the male lead and settling down.

Romance movies’ characters typically reflect conventional gender roles, but Dowd says there is an opportunity to change that. “We need to see movies based upon actual, real-life women who have done heroic things . . . that might make a real difference.”

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When Gender Norms Met Sally

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“Our food system in America is the safest, most secure, best food system in the world. And we need to protect that.”

—Lauren Griffeth, program director, Advancing Georgia’s Leaders in Agriculture and Forestry

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TURTLE POWER

A Turtle Never Forgets

It’s easy to forget that the food system in the U.S. depends so much on agriculture and forestry leaders.

UGA’s Advancing Georgia’s Leaders in Agriculture and Forestry is training agriculture and forestry leaders to be advocates for the importance of their work and industry. In November, UGA hosted the graduation for the program’s class of 2019-2021— its fourth cohort.

Throughout the program, which is a partnership between the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, participants learn how to educate others and lead the important conversations about the issues related to agriculture and forestry.

Last year’s cohort visited Washington, D.C., to meet with policymakers and legislators. It was an opportunity to see the impact of their industry on national decisions.

“Translating the issues we face in agriculture and forestry to policy makers or legislators takes a lot of work,” says the program’s leader, Lauren Griffeth BSA ’05, MEd ’08, PhD ’13. “But it’s important because our food system in America is the safest, most secure, best food system in the world. And we need to protect that.”

—Rachel Cooper

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A study published by UGA undergraduate researchers revealed that juvenile terrapins can learn—and remember—where to find freshwater when they need it.

The study’s primary goal was to understand the physiological and behavioral responses of recently hatched terrapins to salinity levels. They found that juvenile terrapins can thrive in low-salinity water but struggle to grow and become of stressed in moderate or high-salinity water. joh nm aerz Also, unexpectedly, the study of juvenile terrapins revealed that they can search out—and find—pools of freshwater from memory.

John Maerz, professor of wildlife at the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources says this finding helps us understand how the species persists in high-salt areas of marshes. It also illustrates the potential negative effects of sea-level rise and droughts on terrapins and the importance of managing freshwater sources for terrapin populations.

Training Leaders to Protect our Food System

As a UGA undergraduate, Lizzy Ashley was the lead author of a study that revealed juvenile terrapins (like the one she is holding just before she released it) have much better memories than anyone previously realized. lizzy ashley

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DECALS FOR ALL 50 STATES AND D.C. $5 OF EACH SUPPORTS UGA.

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BULLDOGS GIVE BACK

Building UGA's 18th College

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rowing an academic program from 40 students to 2,700 requires a lot of support. For the University of Georgia Honors Program, much of the support for its 61-year progression came from donors, and the transformative power of their giving can be seen clearly in today's UGA Honors. Thanks to donors, what was the Honors Program is now the Jere W. Morehead Honors College, named in May 2021 for the university's current president and dedicated four months later.

“The effect this will have on the future of UGA Honors is hard to overstate,” says David S. Williams AB ’79, MA ’82, founding dean of the Morehead Honors College, who has returned to a faculty position. “Being a full-fledged college strengthens our ability to bring the best and brightest to Athens, and it ensures that the experiences that define UGA Honors are expanded and extended to more students. I can’t thank our donors enough.”

The Morehead Honors College prides itself on offering the best of two worlds: the resources of a large research university and the personal approach of a small liberal arts college. The college emphasizes community

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service, study abroad, internships, and faculty-mentored research, creating an experience that has driven Honors students to earn hundreds of prestigious scholarships and encouraged them to take on leadership roles during and after their college careers.

But over the last few decades, UGA Honors found itself faced with a challenge: high-achieving students recruited by the program—including many from Georgia— were choosing competing universities with honors colleges that provided increased financial support.

In late 2020, a group of UGA Foundation emeriti trustees led by Bill Griffin BBA ’72 and John Spalding AB ’82, JD ’85 undertook an effort to help transform the Honors Program into an Honors College. The transition would require the creation of an endowment of significant size, something that would provide new, substantial, and permanent support for Honors students.

After consulting with UGA officials, the organizing trustees realized the endowment would provide an opportunity to name the new college. They discussed numerous possibilities, but one name consistently came to the forefront: President Morehead JD ’80, who directed the Honors Program

from 1999 to 2004. During that time, Morehead oversaw the creation of the Washington Semester Program and the continued development of the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, among other milestones.

“As director of the Honors Program, President Morehead permanently elevated UGA Honors,” Griffin says. “This endowment is intended to do that very same thing, so we could think of no better name to carry UGA Honors into the future.”

The group established an endowment that would permanently enhance and expand student financial support and the learning opportunities that make an Honors education unique. In early 2021, the organizing trustees and UGA fundraisers began reaching out to prospective donors, hoping to raise $10 million.

By fall 2021, they had surpassed their goal: Many trustees had donated to the effort along with numerous other UGA supporters, totaling $12 million.

“Knowing that my name will be associated with the education of our Honors students makes me more proud than I could ever express,” Morehead says.

JERE W. M HONORS

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Small class sizes, innovative teaching methods, and a tight-knit community are all elements of the UGA Honors experience, and so is donor support. More than $3 million in scholarship support and more than $324,000 in travel/internship support is available to Honors students thanks to donors, who have helped build the Morehead Honors College into what it is today.

“UGA Honors was already regarded as one of the finest public university honors programs in the country, so with this new endowment, it is exciting to imagine how much more we will be able to provide for our students and how much higher they will climb as a result.”

David S. Williams AB ’82, JD ’85 Founding dean, Morehead Honors College Josiah Meigs Professor of Religion

“The Morehead Honors College has been a transformative part of my undergraduate experience. I found community and support in the Honors College and so many other opportunities, from book discussions to smaller class sizes that made this big university seem a little more like home.”

Ciera Thomas Morehead Honors College student UGA Student Health Advisory Committee member, Crane Leadership Scholar

“Enrolling in the UGA Honors Program remains the best professional decision of my life. Its dual emphasis on scholarship and service has profoundly influenced my career.

Transforming the Honors Program into a college will provide students, faculty, and alumni an even greater platform to solve the world’s most difficult problems.”

Deep Shah AB ’08, BS ’08 UGA Foundation Fellow, Rhodes Scholar, Truman Scholar Vice president and physician, Gwinnett Clinic

By supporting the Morehead Honors College, you can keep UGA at the forefront of public university honors education and remove barriers for its future leaders and innovators. GIVE.UGA.EDU/UGAHONORS

MOREHEAD COLLEGE

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THE MURAL OF THE STORY written by eric rangus ma ’94

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The UGA students, alumni, and faculty behind Color the World Bright are beautifying small-town Georgia one wall at a time.

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oseph Norman has opened gallery shows in London, Berlin, and British Columbia. His work can be found in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and in Washington D.C.’s National Gallery and Smithsonian Museum of American Art. You can also see the work of Norman’s student mural team, Color the World Bright, across the street from the historic Madison County Courthouse in Danielsville. Despite his international fame, community service-learning really lights him up and puts a smile on his face.

“We know we are providing a service, but we get something from the work too,” says Norman, a professor in the Lamar Dodd School of Art. “The communities are not aware of how much they give us. We are deeply moved by their generosity, their hometown spirit and their love for the state of Georgia. It’s just incredible.”

Not only does Norman play a role in uniting and transforming communities, he provides unmatched opportunities for UGA students to create public art through a group he founded 10 years ago, Color the World Bright.

Murals, signs, and historic advertisements painted by Color the World Bright can be found in more than two dozen, mostly rural, communities across Georgia, and they are completing new work all the

time. The team currently includes a dozen UGA students, while more than 70 alumni remain in touch with Norman and even help out on projects when they are able.

The work, which is done on commission, has raised thousands of dollars for student scholarships and study abroad experiences. Norman says that Color the World Bright’s calendar is filled through the summer and includes some $65,000 in contracts. That’s a significant sum, but it represents one-half to one-third of what professional painting companies would charge clients. According to Norman, the money, while important, isn’t the goal.

“We are students and professors. That’s our job.”

Norman says.” This is fun. If we take it to the next level, then it’s work. Our goal is to do service and if we get paid for it, fine.”

The range of Color the World Bright’s work is impressive and the skill level is high. The students blend function, whimsy, history, and thoughtfulness to create art that promotes local businesses, brightens neglected corners, highlights a city’s history, welcomes visitors, and more.

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Joe Norman, art professor and a founder of Color the World Bright, works with fourth-year art student— and Color the World Bright artist—Catie Cook during their Danielsville project.

“We are students and professors. That’s our job. This is fun.

If we take it to the next level, then it’s work. Our goal is to do service and if we get paid for it, fine.”

—joseph norman, founder of color the world bright and professor in the lamar dodd school of art

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Danielsville

One of Color the World Bright’s most recent works is a prime example of functional art. Students painted all four sides of a medical building in downtown Danielsville about 20 minutes north of Athens.

One side features Norman-Rockwell inspired imagery of nurses and physicians taking care of children.

Meredith Lachin BFA ’08, a Color the World Bright alumna and adjunct instructor in the School of Art, projected the images to expedite the process. She then painted in the details later. Separately, a team of students led by Katie Eidson BFA ’20, BFA ’20, Color the World Bright’s project manager, and Alondra Arevalo BFA’21, assistant project manager, completed the rest of the project, which includes signs for the businesses inside and a massive, restored Coca-Cola logo facing the street. peter frey

“We just wanted to create an environment that was welcoming for both adults and children and put into context what medicine looked like in the area. So we created these Norman Rockwell-style photos, but we shook up the cultural identities to help relate more to the community.”—katie eidson BFA ’20, BFA ’20, project manager, color the world bright

Hartwell

Downtown Hartwell boasts no fewer than a half-dozen Color the World Bright murals, ranging in theme from flowers to fish to locomotives.

“It’s like Hartwell adopted us.

We’ve already done all of these murals, and we are in conversation to do two more.”—joseph norman brett szczepanski

COLOR THE WORLD BRIGHT MURALS IN GA Cairo

This mural, which honors hometown legend Jackie Robinson, decorates one of the buildings adjacent to the Cairo High School baseball field. “That was my first portrait,” Eidson says. “Getting to stretch my wings and paint it was a very big step. It helped me feel more confident as an artist. It’s fun to know that you can put something down on paper and then transfer it to a building.

That’s another skill set.” GM

chris cooper

• Athens • Coca Cola Sales center - Athens • Cairo • Columbus • Crabapple • Conyers • Danielsville • Eatonton • Elberton • Greensboro • Griffin • Hartwell • Hawkinsville • Ila • Madison • Rutledge • Sandersville • Tignall • Union Point • Wrightsville See more of Color the World Bright’s murals at NEWS.UGA.EDU/COLORTHEWORLDBRIGHT geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 02 2

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A Mind Matter

People with degenerative brain disorders face considerable challenges. UGA researchers want to help. written by leigh beeson ma ’17

T

he roar of the crowd at Sanford Stadium was deafening that Nov. 6 afternoon.

It was minutes before kickoff. And the football team wasn’t even on the field.

Instead, at the center stood a familiar figure in a black UGA hoodie, Calling the Dawgs with a wide smile on his face.

Mark Richt was home.

At halftime, the Bulldogs led the Missouri Tigers 26 to 3. And the former head coach returned to midfield, tearing up while a highlight reel of his 15 seasons at Georgia played. He was also presented with a commemorative football

by J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks. One of the most beloved coaches in Bulldog history, Richt was happy to be there.

“It was wonderful to get back on campus and at the stadium, for the Georgia people to treat us like they did that day,” Richt says. During his time as head coach, Richt led the Bulldogs to five SEC East titles, two SEC championship titles, and nine bowl game wins.

It wasn’t just the standing ovation that got to him, though.

“I’ve been known to shed a tear anyway, but sometimes I trigger a little bit faster than normal,” he says. “That’s a part of Parkinson’s too.”

Richt was diagnosed with the degenerative disease toward the end of May. He went public with his condition about a month later, calling Parkinson’s a “momentary light affliction.”

“People were asking me what’s wrong. They could see something was up. And I got tired of making up stories about my hip replacement,” the 61-year-old says. “So instead of telling everybody one by one, I just went ahead and tweeted it out to let people know what was going on. It was therapeutic for me to just not have to try to hide it.”

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Mark Richt returned to Sanford Stadium to Call the Dawgs before the Missouri game.

Richt was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in May.

A Fierce Adversary

peter frey

“Pray for the people that are trying to find answers, people that are going through it, and people that become caregivers too.”

—mark richt, georgia bulldogs head coach from 2001 to 2015

A disorder of the central nervous system, Parkinson’s disease causes nerve damage in the brain. Symptoms include tremors, muscle stiffness, and difficulty walking and talking, among others. As the condition progresses over time, it becomes more difficult to treat.

Experts have been able to diagnose Parkinson’s disease for more than 200 years, but they are still working to pinpoint the causes and long-term solutions for the condition.

“This is a disease that gets worse over time,” says Anumantha Kanthasamy, an internationally renowned Parkinson’s researcher. “We can treat patients in the very early stages, but for later stages, we don’t have effective treatments. We are just managing symptoms. That’s why we are trying to develop some new strategies to slow down the disease.”

By the time someone develops symptoms, Kanthasamy says, major damage has already been done.

“When you get symptoms, almost 70% of your cells are gone,” he says. “That’s too late to make any real beneficial treatment for patients. So that means we need to detect the disease early. And then the other part of the story is how do we stop the disease from progressing?”

Kanthasamy joined UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine last fall as the inaugural John H. Isakson Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Parkinson’s Research. As part of a major investment in brain research by the university, Kanthasamy will establish a new research center for brain sciences and a variety of neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. He will also lead a faculty cluster hire to recruit interdisciplinary researchers in areas such as neuroscience, epigenetics, pharmacology, neurotoxicology, and bioinformatics.

Prior to joining UGA, Kanthasamy served as director of the Iowa Center for Advanced Neurotoxicology, which he founded at Iowa State University in 2006. He is the principal investigator on multiple research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Although a cure remains elusive, researchers like Kanthasamy are determined.

“We have made major progress in the field,” he says. “We can take a piece of skin tissue, even before the patient develops symptoms, and tell that this person will probably develop Parkinson’s. And we’re looking at pharmacological compounds to target specific areas in the brain to help cells survive and slow down progression of the disease.”

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Looking Forward

pe t

Anumantha Kanthasamy will establish a new research center for brain sciences and neurological disorders.

A S E NAT OR’ S LEGACY More than 10 million people are living with Parkinson’s disease worldwide, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Therapeutics and surgeries for the disease cost patients tens of thousands each year. In the U.S. alone, the condition costs more than $50 billion in medical bills, missed work, lost wages, and forced retirement, according to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

The late Sen. Johnny Isakson BBA ’66 was one of those whose declining health forced them into early retirement. The senator was unable to complete his term because of increased health problems and retired at the end of 2019, three years before his third term was set to end. Isakson died in

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y fre er

If there’s one misconception Richt wants to correct about Parkinson’s, it’s this. “It’s not a death sentence by any means,” he says. “It’s progressive, meaning little by little bit, it wants to get worse. But there are a lot of things you could do to slow that process down.”

For Richt, that means easing up a little. (He still serves as a college football analyst for ESPN and the ACC Network, though.) He’s eating healthier, exercising, and trying to keep stress to a minimum. He moves a little slower and has some balance issues. But for the most part, he’s not experiencing tremors.

“I feel good,” Richt says. “I’m not in pain, and I’m enjoying life.”

When asked if there’s anything else he’d like people to know, Richt pauses.

“Just pray, not only for me but for anybody who has Parkinson’s or any kind of disease like that,” he says. “Pray for the people that are trying to find answers, people that are going through it, and people that become caregivers too.” GM

December 2021. Following his diagnosis, Isakson (right) was a prominent supporter of research and development of new therapeutics for patients with a variety of cognitive conditions.

“With more than 1 million people in the United States diagnosed with brain disorders each year, and with America’s strong reputation for innovative scientific advancements, our country should be at the forefront of the research to find cures for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other neurocognitive diseases,” Isakson told Georgia Magazine in November. “My focus has been centered on raising awareness and raising funds for our nation’s best researchers to find a way to slow the progression of these diseases and to find a cure.”

In honor of the former senator, who was diagnosed in 2015, the university estabimagelink lished the John H. “Johnny” Isakson Chair for Parkinson’s Research and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. The final contributor to the campaign to endow the position was Isakson himself.

“I couldn’t be more proud that my alma mater, UGA, is expanding its scientific research arm to join this effort,” Isakson said. “This is critical research that will impact not just the millions who suffer from these diseases across the world but also the millions more who are their family members and caregivers.”

W O R L D - C L A S S B I O I M A G I N G FA C I L I T I E S As its name suggests, UGA’s Behavioral and Brain Sciences Program offers graduate students a variety of specialties to choose from, ranging from developmental sciences to social and personality research and more.

GM

peter frey

Graduate student Ling-Yu Huang demonstrates the Jennifer McDowell lab’s eye-tracking station that records eye movement based on stimuli presented to research subjects.

A M O ST MYSTER IO U S O R G AN

S

y

ometimes brains work well. e fr Sometimes brains don’t work as well. er pe t Everyone exists on that continuum.

That’s what Jennifer McDowell (right) always tells her students.

As chair of the Behavioral and Brain Sciences Doctoral Program in the Psychology Department, McDowell has spent decades trying to unravel the mysteries of the brain.

And with the help of her team, she’s made a lot of progress.

Growing up, McDowell was raised by a counselor mother and a scientist father. “I was always interested in the basis of depression or what causes schizophrenia. What drives the differences in people who experience these kinds of illnesses?” says McDowell, a professor of psychology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Through her career in cognitive neuroscience, she gets to integrate the two fields, applying their techniques to her study of psychosis.

Psychosis is diagnosed based on clinical symptoms. But in McDowell’s lab, researchers are working to identify behavioral, cognitive, and biological differences in groups of patients who have been diagnosed.

“Psychosis can have devastating consequences. Finding a way to more accurately categorize people with psychosis should lead to both better treatment strategies and better outcomes for patients,” she says.

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B EHAVIOR AL AN D B R AIN SCI ENCES PROGRAM

F

aculty in the BBS program research diverse and interdisciplinary topics, with wide-ranging implications for health and disease.

A major draw for many is the university’s BioImaging Research Center, a state-of-the-art facility offering a full range of imaging technologies for biological tissues.

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines in the suite create detailed images of the body’s organs and tissues. EEG, which stands for electroencephalography, and MEG, or magnetoencephalography, technologies enable researchers to record electrical or magnetic activity generated by brain cells from outside the scalp.

“The ultimate goal is to figure out how people’s brains work and find out if there’s something we can do to prevent disease or better understand it and treat it,” says William Oliver BS ’08, PhD ’21, a laboratory professional at the center and a neuroscience doctoral graduate. “You know, in psychiatry, our treatment isn’t so great. Drugs are a pretty crude application, but they’re widely used right now.”

Oliver works with McDowell and Brett Clementz, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and director of the research center.

Clementz also co-directs the Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory with McDowell. It’s one of many laboratories under the Behavioral and Brain

Sciences Program’s umbrella.

Psychosis is largely determined through behavioral observations and asking patients what they’re experiencing. They’re then categorized into three groups: those with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder. But research from their lab indicates that, through imaging, there might be a better way to sort patients for more effective treatments: by how their brains work.

“Hopefully, you find something that can help someone in the end,” Oliver says. “I think that’s why most of us do this job.”

BB S A R E A S • Developmental Psychology: examines how and why humans change throughout their lives.

• Health Psychology: focuses on behavioral and psychological processes related to health, illness, and healthcare.

• Social-personality: analyzes the interaction between people and their environment and how that shapes thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

• Vision sciences: evaluates the anatomical and functional aspects of vision.

• Neuroscience: investigates the biological bases of mental phenomena and clinical disorders.

“The ultimate goal is to figure out how people’s brains work and find out if there’s something we can do to prevent disease or better understand it and treat it.”

—william oliver BS ’08, PhD ’21, uga’s bio-imaging research center

24 peter frey

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andrew davis tucker

C E NT ER F OR MOL ECUL AR MEDICINE

RE GE N ER AT IVE BIOS C IEN C E C EN T ER

Home base for Anumantha

Multidisciplinary teams of scientists

Kanthasamy’s lab among many others,

at the RBC lead projects at the

the center focuses on the molecular

forefront of stem cell research in

and cellular basis of human disease,

animals that could have promising

with the goal of developing new

future applications for animal and

therapies, cures, and diagnostics.

human health and food security.

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UGA boasts a variety of research centers and facilities dedicated to advancing our understanding of brain and behavioral sciences.

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da

Top, the Center for Molecular Medicine, completed in 2017.

Above, a lab in the Center for Molecular Medicine.

O W ENS INST IT UTE FOR BE HAV IORA L RE SE AR C H The institute houses six research centers and numerous working groups that are focused on addressing the world’s most pressing health, economic, social, educational, and policy challenges through social and behavioral science research.

Help power the groundbreaking research that could improve lives for those living with Parkinson’s. GIVE.UGA.EDU/ISAKSONCHAIR

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A Season to Remember

written by eric rangus ma ’94

photography by andrew davis tucker, peter frey bfa ’94, dorothy kozlowski bla ’06, abj ’10, brett szczepanski, tony walsh ab ’19, and mackenzie miles ab ’21

H

ow long is 41 years?

An eternity? Forever? A lifetime?

Pick your hyperbole and throw it in the garbage can. You’ll never need it again.

The University of Georgia won its third national championship on Jan. 10, and the Bulldogs did it in the most epic way—by vanquishing their archnemesis, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

After four decades of almosts, not-quites, and straight-up gut punches, the University of Georgia’s long quest for its first title since 1980 has come to pass. The players who led them are as compelling a cast of characters as you will find.

They included: A former walk-on quarterback, turned super-sub, turned trusted field general. A crew of top running backs that could fill three backfields. A receiver corps with hands like magicians. An offensive line that regularly pancaked opponents. And a defensive team led by a 6-foot-6, 330-pound lineman that didn’t give an inch and could outscore opponents by themselves.

And most importantly, the man who led them: a master motivator and former Bulldog defensive back who finally conquered his coaching mentor on the largest, most pressure-filled stage possible.

The story of the 2021 national champion Georgia Bulldogs starts here.

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S AT U R D AY, S E P T. 4

Charlotte, North Carolina

no. 5 georgia 10 (1-0) no. 2 clemson 3 (0-1)

In 2020, Georgia ranked No. 2 in the SEC in scoring defense and No. 1 in the country in run defense. It entered 2021 as a respected and dangerous unit. With its ferocious performance in front of a national television audience against the second-ranked Tigers, Georgia’s defense staked its claim as potentially one of the sport’s all-time best.

Georgia held Clemson to 180 total yards— just two of them on the ground—and never let the Tigers gain momentum. In the second quarter, defensive back Christopher Smith (right) scored the game’s only touchdown on a 74-yard interception return.

The bold statement solidified Georgia’s place among the top contenders for the national championship early on.

S AT U R D AY, S E P T. 11

Athens, Georgia

no. 2 georgia 56 (2-0) alabama-birmingham 7 (1-1) For the Bulldogs’ home opener, it was the offense’s time to shine. Stetson Bennett stepped in for the injured JT Daniels at quarterback and threw 5 TD passes— three of which traveled more than 60 yards. UAB, which would finish 9-4 and beat No. 13 BYU in the Independence Bowl, never stood a chance.

S AT U R D AY, S E P T. 18

Athens, Georgia

no. 2 georgia 40 (3-0) south carolina 13 (2-1) Daniels returned to the starting lineup, and the offense didn’t miss a beat as he threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns. The defense dominated but allowed its first offensive touchdown as an afterthought (with 10:55 left in the fourth quarter and the score, 40-6).

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S AT U R D AY, S EP T. 25

Nashville, Tennessee

no. 2 georgia 62 (4-0) vanderbilt 0 (1-3) Georgia scored almost as many points (62) as yards it allowed (77).

S AT U R D AY, OC T. 2

Athens, Georgia

no. 2 georgia 37 (5-0) no. 8 arkansas 0 (4-1) An undefeated and ascendant Arkansas program was considered the toughest test for Georgia since the Clemson game.

It wasn’t. Georgia scored 21 points in the first quarter and played ball control the rest of the way. The Bulldogs rushed for a season-high 273 yards and five ball carries rushed for at least 48 yards.

Zamir White scored three touchdowns, one of them a recovery of a blocked punt in the end zone.

S AT U R D AY, OC T. 9

Auburn, Alabama

no. 2 georgia 34 (6-0) no. 18 auburn 10 (4-2) About halfway through the first quarter, Auburn kicked a field goal.

It was the first time Georgia had trailed all season, but the deficit didn’t last long. Beginning with a 23-yard Jack Podlesny field goal five minutes later, Georgia rolled off 24 unanswered points to put Auburn away.

Bennett, who’d subbed for an injured Daniels against Arkansas, solidified his hold on the quarterback job, passing for 231 yards and two touchdowns.

On the bright side for the Tigers, at least Uga didn’t bite anyone.

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S AT U R D AY, O C T. 1 6

Athens, Georgia

no. 1 georgia 30 (7-0) no. 11 kentucky 13 (6-1) The Bulldogs took the top spot on the AP poll for the first time since 2008 following an Alabama loss to Texas A&M on Oct. 9.

Like Arkansas before them, Kentucky came to the Classic City undefeated, ranked in the top 15, and ready for a program-defining win. And like Arkansas before them, Kentucky left the Classic City thoroughly beaten and struggling to regain their momentum.

S AT U R D AY, O C T. 3 0

Jacksonville, Florida

no. 1 georgia 34 (8-0) florida 7 (4-4) Unlike in 1980, the annual GeorgiaFlorida game didn’t have much drama.

The 2021 Gators, who were ranked as high as No. 10 earlier in the year, just weren’t very good.

A 24-point Bulldog explosion in the second quarter (including three touchdowns in less than two minutes) ended the game’s competitive phase. By the fourth quarter, the usually colorful stands in TIAA Bank Field were solidly red, black, and teal—the shade of the empty seats vacated by disappointed Gator fans.

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S AT U R D AY, N O V. 6

Athens, Georgia

S AT U R D AY, N O V. 13

Knoxville, Tennessee

no. 1 georgia 43 (9-0) missouri 6 (4-5)

no. 1 georgia 41 (10-0) no. 22 tennessee 17 (5-5)

Former Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt returned to Stanford Stadium (see page 20) and received a standing ovation as he Called the Dawgs.

The Atlanta Braves mascot, Blooper, also visited in celebration of the team’s World Series title earlier in the week.

All the good feelings carried over to the game itself as the Bulldogs continued to prove why they were the No. 1 team in the nation. The game was not as close as the score indicated. UGA rolled up 505 yards of total offense while keeping Missouri out of the end zone.

More than any other previous SEC opponent, Tennessee put up a fight, even leading 10-7 into the second quarter. But then, Georgia piled up 34 unanswered points before a late Tennessee touchdown. The Vols’ 17 points were the most the Dawgs had allowed during the regular season.

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S AT U R D AY, N O V. 2 0

Athens, Georgia

no. 1 georgia 56 (11-0) charleston southern 7 (4-6) The Bulldogs celebrated Senior Day in style. Jordan Davis in particular. The All-America, Outland Trophy-winning lineman played his typically stellar defense, moonlit as a short-yardage back, and scored the first touchdown of the game from one yard out. He even climbed a ladder to lead the Redcoat Band in a rendition of “Glory, Glory” following the 56-7 win.

A triple threat, indeed.

S AT U R D AY, N O V. 2 7

Atlanta, Georgia

no. 1 georgia 45 (12-0) georgia tech 0 (3-9) Could an undefeated Georgia team looking ahead to an SEC championship showdown with Alabama possibly be upended by a struggling-but-inspired Georgia Tech squad? Could the Yellow Jackets actually summon all their strength, play a perfect game, and ruin their intrastate rival’s perfect record?

No. Tech never got within 25 yards of the end zone, and Georgia clinched its first unbeaten regular season since 1982.

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F R I D AY, DEC . 31

College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, Florida

no. 3 georgia 34 (13-1) no. 2 michigan 11 (12-2)

The Orange Bowl was the game to get to the Game. And it wasn’t much of a game at that. Georgia made sure of it.

Playing with purpose and a chip on their shoulders visible from space, the Bulldogs scored on their first five possessions and dominated the No. 2 Wolverines from the first whistle.

The halftime score was 27-3. Bulldog fans could start their New Year’s Eve revelry early.

As the final seconds ticked off, Georgia coach Kirby Smart refused the traditional (and clichéd) Powerade bath. There was nothing to celebrate. The true test lay ahead.

S AT U R D AY, D E C . 4

SEC Championship Atlanta, Georgia

no. 4 alabama 41 (12-1) no. 1 georgia 24 (12-1) Going into the SEC Championship game, most experts predicted that win or lose, Georgia would advance to the College Football Playoff.

Still, a win would have been nice.

The Bulldogs played their worst game of the season by far and revived an Alabama team that had been inconsistent and vulnerable coming into the game. If the Crimson Tide had lost, they likely would have missed the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019. But they won and once again became the team to beat.

The experts were right about one thing, though: Georgia fell to No. 3 but advanced to the College Football Playoff for the second time in its history.

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M O N D AY, J A N . 1 0

College Football Playoff National Championship Indianapolis, Indiana

no. 3 georgia 33 (14-1) no. 1 alabama 18 (13-2) Some screamed, some exhaled, others—like Coach Smart—leapt high enough to seemingly touch the Lucas Oil Stadium roof. All of Bulldog Nation rejoiced when cornerback Kelee Ringo picked off Heisman winner Bryce Young’s pass and returned it for a 79-yard touchdown with 54 seconds remaining to snuff out Alabama’s lastditch comeback attempt in the most cathartic way possible.

Following a first half that had been a battle of attrition—Alabama kicked three field goals to Georgia’s two and led, 9-6—Georgia took the lead for the first time, 13-9, on a Zamir White 1-yard run at the end of the third quarter.

Alabama recaptured the lead in the fourth with another field goal. They quickly followed it with a touchdown set up by a devastating (and controversial) Bennett fumble on Georgia’s 16-yard-line. That old sinking feeling started to creep in for Bulldog fans.

But this team refused to fold. Down 18-13, Bennett led Georgia on two quick scoring drives, both ending in touchdown passes. On the other side of the ball, Georgia’s defense locked down Young, with Ringo delivering the final blow.

The Tide had gone out.

How long is 41 years? Who cares. GM

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ON THE BULLDOG BEAT

Personal(ized ) Computers

written by ireland hayes, rachel cooper, and kendal cano photography by ireland hayes

V

ery few plain laptop lids exist on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. An array of colorful stickers and covers embellish computers in every classroom, study space, and residence hall.

Whether it’s to share their interests, promote programs and organizations, or just because they think it makes their laptop look cooler, student and faculty computers reflect the individual personalities of the campus community.

KATHLEEN SULLIVAN

Third-year music therapy major, Covington, Louisiana Kathleen Sullivan studies outside of the Hugh Hodson School of Music with her stickers on full display, one being a cartoon beet. She loves the vegetable, and it has become a joke between her and her friends.

“Beets are my favorite vegetable, and my friends make fun of me because nobody likes beets,” she says. “We saw this at a bookstore, and they all said I had to buy it. I guess it’s a part of my personality now.”

LORI JOHNSTON ABJ ’95, MFA ’17

Lecturer at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Lori Johnston’s personal and work laptops are filled with stickers. She also gives stickers to students as rewards for achievement in her classes.

“We professors have our things, and I want to be known for my stickers,” she says. “My thought was when I have my laptop open, what do they see? Because I want students to learn about me like I learn about them.”

Johnston loves seeing her students’ stickers as well and views it as an opportunity to learn something new about them.

As a proud Double Dawg, Johnston displays several UGA-related stickers on her computer, but her Arch sticker is her favorite.

“A lot of students have UGA-related stickers for departments or programs that I don’t know about. And so I’m able to learn about that program through them. It gives me a sense of where students are headed before and after my class.”

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EMILY KIM

Second-year psychology major, Milton, Georgia Emily Kim has covered her laptop in stickers that show off her interests and connect with other students.

“Everyone has the same boring laptop,” she says.

“A lot of people have MacBooks, so I like to add stickers to show some personality, and some people will recognize them and then a conversation will come up.”

PHILLIP CHASON BBA ’18

Dual MBA and law student, Cairo, Georgia Phillip Chason displays a few of his favorite things on his computer—including Jittery Joe’s and Georgia Law. “I like local Athens stuff. And I like to support Georgia Law.” Chason’s Jittery Joe’s sticker has been through a lot, but he is determined to show his love for the local Athens coffee shop.

“I’ve actually replaced this one because it gets so worn. So that’s the second one I’ve had on there,” he says.

MIKAELA HAAST

Second-year health promotion major, Leesburg, Virginia Students often display stickers of clubs or organizations they are involved in on campus. Mikaela Haast proudly displays her sorority letters.

“I love being in Tri Delta, so I might as well rep it,” she says.

“We’re such a big organization, it’s hard to know everyone. It’s nice whenever I’m around campus or I see someone with a sticker or T-shirt and I don’t know her, I can say ‘Oh, I’m a TriDelt too.’ We usually know similar people so it’s nice to have that community.”

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THE NATION

Don’t Miss Out!

Calling all dawgs GEORGIA GIVING DAY IS 3/31

It’s always great to be a Georgia Bulldog— and when the Bulldog Nation comes together to support UGA, there’s no limit to what can be achieved. Join thousands of alumni, students, parents, and fans for Georgia Giving Day on March 31.

Get ahead of the game and make your gift at givingday.uga.edu

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

UGA ROOFTOP TAKEOVER AT PONCE CITY MARKET

April 24 | 2-5 p.m.

UGA’s Young Alumni Council invites fellow graduates for an afternoon of rooftop revelry and scenic views. Tickets to this family-friendly event include a $5 gift to the university.

NOMINATE A TOP DAWG

Know a Bulldog movin’ and shakin’ in the business or nonprofit world? Nominate them for one of UGA’s premiere recognition programs. Bulldog 100 recognizes the fastest-growing businesses owned or led by graduates. 40 Under 40 celebrates alumni 40 and younger who are leading the way in their companies, industries, and communities. Nominate a grad today. alumni.uga.edu/b100 | alumni.uga.edu/40u40

Chapter Spotlight

SPIA ALUMNI RECEPTION AND PROGRAM IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

April 27 | 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The School of Public and International Affairs will host its annual reception for alumni and friends in Washington, D.C., at the Mayflower Hotel. To register and learn more, check out spia.uga.edu/events

YOUNG ALUMNI NIGHT AT SWEETWATER BREWING

June 10 This annual event for young alumni at one of Atlanta’s top breweries is a great way to make new Bulldog friends while also supporting the Georgia Fund, which supports the university’s greatest needs.

Find your chapter at alumni.uga.edu/chapters

GOLDEN ISLES CHAPTER

St. Simons Island and Brunswick areas Chapter Co-presidents: Caroline Champion BBA ’94, Elizabeth Powell BBA ’95, Elizabeth Brunson M ’92 Number of Alumni in the Area: 3,139 The Golden Isles Chapter welcomed alumni and friends to spirited events throughout the 2021 football season, including a Table Talks event with Jeff Dantzler AB ’07 at Sea Palms Resort and a tailgate at Gnat’s Landing prior to the annual Georgia vs.

Florida game in Jacksonville.

The chapter is establishing a scholarship to support a local student attending UGA. The UGA community can help the chapter reach its goal and learn more about the Road to Athens Challenge at alumni.uga.edu/scholarship.

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Bulldogs Celebrate National Championship Across the Country While tens of thousands of Bulldog faithful traveled to Indianapolis in January to watch the university win its first national championship in 41 years, many more fans of the red and black were watching from home and from alumni chapter gamewatching parties. From Savannah to Seattle and Portland (pictured at right), alumni chapters brought together alumni and friends for a night like no other. Go Dawgs!

Alumni Trivia Test your Bulldog knowledge of alumni events and programs. Answers below—but no peeking!

How many students met requirements to walk in UGA’s fall Commencement ceremonies in December 2021?

A. 3,286 B. 1,598

C. 4,230 D. 975

Following the Bulldogs’ 33-18 victory over the Crimson Tide, Kirby Smart BBA ’98 joined Vince Dooley as one of UGA’s three national championship-winning coaches. Who is the third?

A. Herman Stegeman B. Harry Mehre

C. Wally Butts D. George Woodruff

What is the name of the giving society that recognizes individuals who have donated to UGA three years in a row?

A. Presidents Club B. Third Pillar

C. Three Arches D. Top Dawgs Answers: A, 3,286; C, Wally Butts; B, Third Pillar. Learn more at give.uga.edu/giving-societies.

SHOW YOUR UGA PRIDE with a state decal Purchase an exclusive, state-specific UGA decal to show your Bulldog pride no matter where you live. Each decal includes a $5 gift

to UGA to support the university’s greatest needs. alumni.uga.edu/statedecals

Stay Connected!

YEAR-ROUND, WORLDWIDE, AND LIFELONG.

Check out what's going on for alumni and update your email or mailing address with UGA.

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CLASS NOTES

class notes

Compiled by Ireland Hayes, Rachel Cooper, and Kendal Cano

Oregon Trailblazer

I

f you played games on your grade school’s computer in the late ’80s and early ’90s, if you’ve ever traversed a river in an ox-drawn wagon, or if your avatar has ever died of dysentery, then there’s a good chance you’ve come across the work of R. Philip Bouchard.

Bouchard BS ’76 is a lifelong science educator, a nature photographer, a writer, and, you guessed it, a creator of the classic 1980s version of Oregon Trail.

To be clear, Bouchard didn’t invent the iconic game.

The first iteration of the computer game, called Oregon, was devised in the early 1970s by three student-teachers who were amateur software designers. In that game, players bought supplies, hunted for food, and tried to survive the journey out west. The entire game was text-only. The computer printed out prompts, and players typed in their responses. To shoot wild game for food, you

had to quickly and flawlessly type the word “bang” when cued.

But chances are what you remember most about Oregon Trail—controlling a third-person shooter to hunt bison, squirrels, and bears; stopping by famous landmarks to buy supplies; and having family members getting sick with cholera, typhoid, and, yes, dysentery—were all unique to the revamped 1985 game created by the Bouchard-led team at the software company MECC.

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CLASS NOTES 1960-1964 Martha Hohl BSHE ’61 retired from the Baldwin County Board of Education in Bay Minette, AL. Ed Nichols Jr. ABJ ’62 published his first poetry chapbook, I Wish I Could Laugh, in April.

Steve Wong BSPH ’62 is a retired pharmacist in Evans.

1965-1969 Liz Ryder AB ’65 is a town council member for Penney Farms, FL. 1970-1974 Jerry Dowdy BSF ’70 retired in February after selling his Wrensbased company, Atwell Pecan Co. Marion Clark Weathers BFA ’70 was awarded the Eastern Region Award for her painting “View-

points,” which was exhibited in the 2021 Watercolor Society of North Carolina Annual Juried Exhibition.

Joe Harrington III BBA ’71 recently retired from the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church in Atlanta after serving churches across North Georgia for 25 years.

Jim Massey Jr. BBA ’71 retired from his position as president

of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the UGA Alumni Association after 35 years.

Joe Whitley AB ’72, JD ’75 was named partner at Womble Bond Dickinson in the business litigation practice group in Atlanta.

He is the lead of the white collar and investigations team.

Andrea Jordan AB ’73 is a volunteer caseworker with the American Red Cross in Atlanta.

ALUMNI PROFILE R. Philip Bouchard BS ’76

from science to software

From an early age, Bouchard was fascinated with learning about the world around him. He recalls wandering around the woods near his Cobb County neighborhood as a kid with a tree identification book trying to tell one oak from another and which pine was which.

“I developed a strong interest in nature,” he says. “From that point on, I would be giving nature tours to a younger sibling and neighbors.”

As a University of Georgia Honors student, Bouchard chased all sorts of interests. He majored in botany and explored the concepts of ecology. But in his senior year, he enrolled in a computer programming course and learned how to write code; at that time, everything was done on punch cards. He was hooked.

Bouchard would get his master’s from the University of Texas, where he learned to program computer models for understanding how different factors created ecological changes. And through that, he honed skills in educational computer programming. That experience helped him land a job at MECC, a software company specializing in K-12 educational computer software. One of its most popular programs was Oregon.

an opportunity arises

As computer gaming began to explode in the early 1980s, Bouchard urged his bosses to update MECC’s signature game with better graphics and new features. In 1984, the company agreed and put Bouchard in charge of the five-person team tasked with reimagining Oregon Trail.

The team’s two directives were: 1) capture the magic of the original game and 2) create an exciting version that would succeed in the “home market,” just as personal computers were on the rise.

For inspiration, Bouchard looked to arcade games and what was performing well on the Commodore 64 and Atari home systems.

“I put a great deal into analysis into what factors contribute to popular games,” he says.

“What makes you want to go back over and over again?”

With what he learned, the team aimed to create a game that was hard enough that most players failed on the first or even second attempt but would come away believing that they could do better.

They also upgraded the hunting feature with a formidable third-person shooter challenge and brought a historical world along the trail to life.

All these ideas had to fit on a 5.25-inch floppy disk with 280K of storage space (a fraction of the size of a single smartphone photo today).

lasting legacy

Oregon Trail went on to sell over 65 million copies over its decades of existence and, at one point, made up one-third of MECC’s annual revenue. Even today, the Oregon Trail lives on in T-shirts and internet memes with “You have died of dysentery” and other nostalgic references. You can still find newer versions, not to mention the classic version of the game online.

Bouchard says educational games, at their best, install “little coat hooks in your mind that you can hang ideas on later.” And the popularity of Oregon Trail taught a generation a few things about American geography, not to mention just how treacherous life could be on the frontier.

Bouchard produced other games for MECC, including Number Munchers (a PacMan-esque math game). But none of them topped the popularity of Oregon Trail. Later, Bouchard designed web-based applications for companies like FedEx and Morgan Stanley before retiring from software.

These days, Bouchard is still finding ways to educate the public about the world around us.

His new book, The Stickler’s Guide to Science in the Age of Misinformation, is the most recent effort. In it, Bouchard goes back to his roots as a science student to explore subtle public misperceptions about scientific topics—like the idea that there’s no gravity in space or that humans only have five senses— and delves into the real science behind them.

He hopes such efforts continue to delight and teach just as they did with Oregon Trail, which Bouchard admits succeeded well beyond expectations.

“I was hoping for something that would be noteworthy at the time,” he says. “I hoped people would still be playing it for a good five years.”

Instead, he helped build on something that endures even decades later. written by aaron hale MA ’16

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Food for Thought

ALUMNI PROFILE Tanya Sichynsky ABJ ’14

woman with a plan

maura friedman

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f you can work as a sports reporter, you can report on anything.

“You have to be good with numbers, and you have to be really good on deadline,” says Tanya Sichynsky, now a senior staff editor at New York Times Cooking. “Working in sports and working through the sports media certificate program at Grady primed me to do the work that I’m doing now.”

One of the first graduates of the journalism school’s sports media program, Sichynsky’s first gig after graduation was doing social media for USA Today Sports. written by leigh beeson MA ’17

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The job was a grind, with Sichynsky ABJ ’14 working nights and weekends from 5 p.m. to around 1 in the morning.

It was also intimidating.

“I started in January, and within two weeks I was live tweeting the Super Bowl, which was terrifying,” she says. “I felt like three kids in a trench coat.”

A year later, she landed at The Washington Post as an audience editor, first at the business desk. After a year or so, she jumped between teams within the audience department, eventually ending up in the Style section.

It was the Style section’s “Voraciously” vertical, which aimed to help novice cooks become more comfortable in the kitchen, where Sichynsky found her niche.

Soon, in her downtime, she started her own personal cooking newsletter. “Quarter Cup Crisis” took her through 25 weeks of cooking before she turned 25, making everything from grilled snapper and salsa verde to pizza and pickles.

That newsletter ultimately equipped Sichynsky to launch a similar one for the Post called “Meal Plan of Action.” The goal? To take the boring out of meal planning.

“The world of meal planning is kind of mindless. You can lose your relationship to food,” she says. “‘Meal Plan of Action’ is the antithesis of that. Instead, you think strategically about what you could eat that week, based off one task that you set aside time for on a Sunday that sets you up for the rest of the week.”

Roast a couple of pounds of sweet potatoes, for example, and you’ll get sweet potato soup, a sweet potato tostada, and pan-seared sweet potatoes with sausage.

Inspired by her passion for food, Sichynsky moved to NYT Cooking in December 2020.

(Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, though, she works remotely while living in Washington, D.C.) In addition to editing recipes and newsletters, she started Recipe Matchmaker, a social media series where readers submit the ingredients they have on hand and she matches them with the perfect recipe. It was particularly helpful for many during the pandemic, when rushing to the grocery store for forgotten cilantro was no longer an option.

“I feel most myself when I’m in my kitchen cooking something, whether it’s from a recipe or I’m messing around trying to create something on my own. It’s such an integral part of my identity that I feel like if you took it away, there might not be much left,” Sichynsky says.

And she hopes that readers establish their own relationships with food as they learn how to improve their cooking.

“We want people to adapt our recipes and to use them as educational tools to learn who they are as home cooks. I’m certainly a better cook because I’ve used NYT Cooking recipes.”

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Recipes for Culinary Success

ALUMNI PROFILE Nikita Richardson BS ’11

peter frey

F

or Nikita Richardson, journalism is a service industry.

In a world where a simple search for a hand mixer on Amazon can turn up more than 1,000 options, people want guidance on what’s going to give them the biggest bang for their buck.

“How do you find out what’s good and worth your time and what’s not in terms of restaurants, travel, and more? I think that’s where my strengths lie,” says Richardson BS ’11, a senior staff editor at New York Times Food. “If you can help people make the best choices, it’s a huge time-saver for them.”

She gets to do just that, steering readers toward some of the best recipes to make with seasonal produce and sharing hacks to make cooking easier.

becoming a confident cook

“Practice makes perfect” may sound cliché, but it’s true when it comes to making your own meals.

“The best way to get better at cooking is to just do it and do it regularly,” Richardson says.

“I was recently talking to a friend about how a recipe will say add water to something, but if written by leigh beeson MA ’17

you’ve cooked enough, you know that, in some cases, you should actually add broth instead because broth is going to carry more flavor while doing the exact same thing.”

Learning how to roast a chicken, for example, will set you up for culinary success, Richardson says. You’ll learn basic techniques on how flavors mesh, what temperature is ideal for getting a crisp skin without drying out the meat. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to properly season meat. Richardson calls well-salted food the “foundation of good cooking.” (Hint: It’s more salt than you might think.)

“People who are intimidated by cooking, it’s because they don’t know how to think like a cook yet,” she says. “Once you start doing it, you’ll start seeing connections all over the place.”

joining a newsroom during a pandemic

Richardson joined The Times in December 2020, after writing and editing for New York Magazine, Bon Appetit, and Fast Company, among others. The COVID-19 winter surge was raging, and many businesses, in-

cluding The Times, were operating remotely.

But that didn’t stop her from building close connections with her new team. That included meeting up with fellow University of Georgia alumna Tanya Sichynsky (see opposite page), who joined NYT Cooking the same day she did.

“Tanya and I are cut from that same cloth.

We actually have very different roles within our team,” Richardson says. “Tanya focuses a lot on editing recipes, and I focus more on stories. But we’re definitely like two peas in a pod.”

That camaraderie among staffers leads to some epic brainstorming sessions, Richardson’s favorite part of the job.

“We’re just spitballing with each other, and we come up with some of our most fun stories in those meetings,” she says. “When [the Netflix series] Squid Game happened, we were one of the earliest publications to do a story about dalgona candy, the little honeycomb candy they have to do a challenge with. The fact that we get to spend our days being creative and editing and sharing information is really fun. It’s not the average job, and that’s what makes it exciting.” geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 02 2

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Gallery Show

B

lair Voltz Clarke knows how to design a room. She knows how to work it too.

In November, during COVID’s pre-Omicron lull, Clarke opened the doors to her Manhattan apartment and invited in more than 40 UGA alumni and guests. For a community starved for in-person gatherings, it was like a massive wall had come tumbling down. And Clarke, gliding from conversation to conversation, made sure every guest felt welcome. Her energy lit up the room.

For 20 years, Clarke has run an art advisory business in New York; six years ago she opened Voltz Clarke Gallery, which has been home to a rotating display of the more than 20 artists she represents. Many of those artists’ pieces adorn the walls of the apartment Clarke shares with her husband, Alistair, and their two daughters.

Clarke’s love for the University of Georgia is palpable, but her party was the first time she’d ever participated in a university event in New York.

It won’t be her last.

a matter of trust

“I always start by saying, ‘take your time.’”

Clarke ABJ ’94 majored in advertising in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and minored in art history.

She credits her UGA education for giving her the foundation to build an internationally known and respected business.

“We are very excited to sell you artwork and get you started on a lifelong mission to collect. But it’s important to live with pieces for a while and not rush,” she says, scripting a sample conversation with a prospective client. While her job title in the gallery is art advisor, the day-to-day is really that of an agent.

“If you do fill a home based on fabric samples and wall colors and you do it in two weeks, most likely you’ve made a lot of mistakes.”

Clarke’s expertise comes from years of taking risks and making leaps.

After graduating from UGA, Clarke got a job at a gallery in Atlanta and learned a lot about being a big fish in a small pond. In 1999, she was ready to be a small fish in a big pond and moved to New York.

“Being young and fearless is truly the best

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formula,” she says. “This was before social media. I wasn’t scared to pick up the phone and call anyone. You had to get out there and prove yourself. It was pure grit and pure determination, I tell my girls. You have to start over and reinvent every day.”

Soon, she found a niche that welcomed constant reinvention.

pop-up

The concept of a roving art gallery—a pop-up—is popular now. But Clarke pioneered the idea in the early 2000s.

Without a set address, artists and gallery owners save a lot of money on rent and other expenses. Perhaps the only thing that’s concrete is the buzz.

“It’s a gallery without the physical walls,” she says. “It was always an adventure about where the next pop-up would be.”

For instance, after learning that the highend fashion line Salvatore Ferragamo was opening a gallery space in its flagship 5th Avenue store, Clarke cold-called them and ended up curating exhibitions for the next two years.

She launched pop-ups in other fashion houses, restaurants, and hotel lobbies. The more unexpected the place, the more ex-

citing the show. Still, with that excitement comes the eventual, inevitable exhaustion.

And as the artists became more popular, the desire to settle down grew.

“They wanted a home base,” Clarke says.

“The artists were gaining momentum and their reputations were rising, but when their great uncle came to town, there wasn’t a place where they could see their art.”

At that time, Clarke’s husband, Alistair, was looking to step away after 30 years with the auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

If she opened a gallery space, he offered to do the books, which would free her to work on the client and artist sides. The new setup worked, and in 2015, they opened a gallery space at East 62nd and Lexington Avenue.

In 2020, they moved to a new space on the Lower East Side.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have made the space’s launch complicated. But it also opened other opportunities.

screen shots

“The pandemic has taught us that there is a lot you can do online and still feel authentic,” Clarke says.

She has FaceTimed with clients from Los Angeles and Atlanta, as well as artists

CLASS NOTES ALUMNI PROFILE Blair Voltz Clarke ABJ ’94 working in France. And she has taken part in online panels over Zoom, including some hosted by the Lamar Dodd School of Art. These types of interactions will be ongoing, Clarke says.

“It feeds the soul. It is really meaningful. Getting on a plane is still extremely important, but you can add to your roster right from your desk. It makes us work to be the best we can be because there is a lot of competition in this city.”

The post-lockdown phase of the pandemic has given Voltz Clarke Gallery new life. It’s a strip of various art walks, which bring a decent amount of foot traffic.

Clarke has also taken the concept of pop-ups in new directions. ey fr er pet

David Powers ABJ ’73 won an Emmy from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as a producer of the documentary HEARD. 1975-1979 Hiram Larew BSA ’75 released Mud Ajar, a collection of poems, in September.

Stephen Myers ABJ ’75 edited Idol Chat, a talk show airing on the Retro TV Network.

Stephen Jessup BSEd ’76 was re-elected to his fourth consecutive term as sheriff of McIntosh County in November 2020.

Robert Dover M ’78 is a four-time Olympic medalist in dressage. He published his memoir The Gates to Brilliance: How a Gay, Jewish, Middle-Class Kid Who Loved Horses Found Success in October.

Wanda Sauley Fennell BMus ’79 retired in April from her position as minister of music at Grace Baptist Church in Richmond, VA.

back to athens

Clarke’s meet-and-greet and her Zoom appearances are just the beginning of her re-

1980-1984 Dave Malloy BBA ’80 retired from his position as divisional sales manager at Classic Accessories after 13 years with the company.

Ellen Crane ABJ ’81 was elected to the 2021 class of the Public Relations Society of America’s College of Fellows.

Sharon Smith Hansen BSHE ’81, MS ’82, MEd ’94 retired from her position as clinical evaluator at Northside Gwinnett Joan Glancy Rehabilitation Center in Duluth after 23 years. She has since started an online business, Blue Button Trading.

Margaret Porter MA ’83 released her novel The Limits of Limelight in September.

Brian Brzowski BS ’84 is the Aesthetic Society representative to the American College of Surgeons and owns the practice, Brzowski Plastic Surgery in Ogden, Utah.

Jacqueline Bunn ABJ ’84, JD ’87 was awarded the Barbara A. Harris Award for Service to the Community by the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.

acquaintance with UGA. In 2020, she joined the School of Art’s board of advisors. Her first in-person meeting will be in April. In the meantime, she has been working overtime for UGA. Last summer, the Voltz Clarke Gallery show, In Her World included a piece by alumna Christina Foard MFA ’20. Later this spring, Clarke will host a group of art students for a weeklong mini-mester, which will feature a reception in the gallery, meetings with New York artists, and possible internship opportunities.

“The University of Georgia is attracting students from all over the world,” she says.

“The shows they are mounting in Athens could be in the Guggenheim or MoMA. We are opening this connection between the whole New York art world directly to Athens in a very easy, organic, casual way. But it’s all very serious.

“I cannot be more excited and honored to be a part of it.” written by eric rangus MA ’94

She is vice chair of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Wayne Fears Jr. BMus ’84, MMEd ’86 retired from his position as a teacher at the Department of Defense Dependent Schools in August after 30 years of teaching in Japan and Germany.

1985-1989 Bobby Bell Jr. ABJ ’86 retired from his position as vice president of marketing operations for Harland Clarke in April.

Michael Leonard AB ’89 is the director of security at Shaw Industries in Dalton.

1990-1994 Jenelle Handcox BBA ’91 became senior associate director of the University of Georgia Office of Student Financial Aid in July.

Ian Henyon ABJ ’91 is the executive director of Birmingham Recovery Center, a new outpatient addiction treatment program in Birmingham, AL. Robin Bradley BBA ’92 is chief operating

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Sam Crozier BBA ’06

sp eci a

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Iron Man

ALUMNI PROFILE

Follow along with Sam and Billy’s Ironman journey @iron.fam on Instagram.

T

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here’s a reason it’s called “Ironman.”

The 70.3-mile triathlon starts with a 1.2-mile swim, followed by a 56-mile bike ride, and ends with a 13.1-mile run.

Participants have eight-and-a-half hours to finish the race.

Sam Crozier and his brother Billy complete one (sometimes two) of the half-Ironmans every weekend.

“The question is, what are you capable of, and what are your limits?” says Crozier.

“We’re going to find out.”

On Sept. 26, the Crozier brothers crossed the finish line at their 25th Ironman 70.3 in Augusta, breaking the world record for the most long-distance (113 km) triathlon races completed in 12 months—and it only took them four.

The idea sprouted in 2018. Crozier BBA ’06 had competed in triathlons before—including a full Ironman (twice as long as the Ironman 70.3)—and was looking for his next challenge. After watching Iron Cowboy, a documentary about the previous record holder, inspiration struck.

“I looked up the record, and 24 half-Ironman races in a year was a number that I could wrap my head around,” Crozier says. “I called my brother and said, ‘Hey, what if we broke a world record?’ And he didn’t immediately say no, so that was kind of his fault,” he jokes.

But Crozier didn’t just want to break the written by hayley major MA ’21

world record. He wanted to blow it out of the water. The goal: 48 Ironman 70.3 races in 365 days.

Beginning in 2019, the brothers trained in their respective hometowns (Sam in Ponte Vedra, Florida, and Billy in Watkinsville), rotating disciplines every day for two years.

Crozier brought on a personal trainer, nutritionist, and support team to help him juggle training with home life.

When he isn’t racing, Crozier, a father of two, works as a partner at the Towers Group, a real estate development firm in Jacksonville. His support network and educational background keep him grounded as he navigates a booming housing market while traveling to a different city every weekend.

“Georgia taught me a lot of lessons that I continue to use today,” he says. “The foundation that the Terry College provides is how to adapt and how to think for yourself. And I can’t speak highly enough of that.”

When the pandemic struck in early 2020, adaptability was paramount.

From the beginning, Sam and Billy had planned on 2021 being their record-breaking year. The Ironman 70.3 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, marked the start of their journey in May. But COVID added a new level of difficulty. That same month, the brothers had to secure an invitation from the Austrian government to race in St. Pölten and stay on track.

For Crozier, the race proved more chal-

lenging than expected.

“Austria was the first time that I wanted to quit,” he says. “I jumped in that water, and it was frigid. I saw icebergs.”

The temperature shocked his body, which was used to Florida’s warm waters.

He couldn’t catch his breath and had to stop.

But then he thought of his brother, who was further along in the race, and knew that if Billy wasn’t quitting, he couldn’t either.

“I can’t say enough about having a partner who feels the same pains you are going through, encouraging each other to finish.

Having that person is unbelievably helpful.

And that it’s my brother makes it a lot more special,” he says.

Sam and Billy were on track to more than double the previous world record by May 2022, but a collarbone injury suffered by Billy in December requires the pair to make a few adjustments.

Still, they’re not out of the race just yet.

“It’s so rewarding to know that no matter what, we just broke a record,” says Crozier.

“It’s been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

What’s an Ironman? The first full-Ironman triathlon featuring a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run took place in Hawaii in 1978. Today, full- and half-Ironman races are held regularly around the world.

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CLASS NOTES officer for American Health Partners in Franklin, TN, and was inducted into the McKnight’s Women of Distinction Hall of Honor in May. Jeff Campbell BBA ’93 rebranded his co-owned, farm-to-table restaurant, Farm 441, at Thomas Orchards in Bishop.

Cecilia Turner BSFCS ’94 is the president and co-founder of Cecilia Russo Marketing in Savannah and was selected as 2021 campaign chair for the United Way of the Coastal Empire.

1995-1999 Jennifer Taylor AB ’95 is the president and CEO of Assessment+, a leadership development and consulting firm based in Duluth.

Mitch Powers AB ’96 was promoted to vice president and general manager of D23, the official Disney Fan Club, for The Walt Disney Co. in Burbank, CA. Jay Markwalter BBA ’98 was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp BBA ’87 to the Georgia Tourism Foundation Board of Directors in September and is the executive director of the Georgia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus.

Jason Daniels BBA ’99 was named director of shared services of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee after 20 years of working with the company. He is based in Chattanooga, TN. Rebecca Lang ABJ ’99 released her eighth book, Y’all Come Over, a Southern Cooking and Entertainment Guide, in September.

Jason Thrasher BFA ’99 is a freelance photographer in Athens.

Shannon Wallace AB ’99, JD ’02 was awarded the 2021 District Attorney of the Year award by the District Attorneys’ Association of Georgia at the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia annual summer conference.

Mark Wiggins BBA ’99 was promoted to divisional vice president of FuturePlan by Ascensus in Nashville, TN. 2000-2004 Matthew Thomas BBA ’00 is managing broker at Atlas Estate Advisors. In September, he broke the record for largest real estate sale in Athens.

Carly Armour BSW ’01, MSW ’07 was

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my georgia commitment supporting alma mater and hometown

Athens native Bobbi Meeler Sahm’s BBA ’92 promise to her mother drives a 60+ year commitment to UGA, her hometown, and giving back.

When Bobbi Sahm was a high school student in Athens, she promised her mother she would graduate from college. Stella Belle Meeler, a single parent who had not graduated from high school, politely took her daughter’s word.

“She probably hoped I meant that, but neither of us were 100% certain I would do it,” Sahm says.

Today, Sahm works in the Dallas office of Maxi-Lift, the international business she and her husband started in a spare bedroom 50 years ago.

Sahm enrolled at UGA in 1958, right out of Athens High School (now Clarke Central High School), but the twists and turns of life saw her leave before graduating. She met her husband in Atlanta.

They moved to California, had two children, then moved the family to Dallas, where they started Maxi-Lift. But she never forgot her roots.

In 1991, after her children went to college, Sahm decided to do the same. She returned to Athens to finish what she started and fulfill her promise to her mother. One year later, she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Terry College of Business.

“It was wonderful,” Sahm says. “I had two of the best times of my life at UGA.” Sahm has a long history of giving to UGA, and her philanthropy will support

GIVE.UGA.EDU

Bobbi Meeler Sahm (center) with son Beaude (left) and grandson Harper.

her hometown and its students for years to come. One example is the Belle Georgia Commitment Scholarship Fund, named in honor of her mother, which awards need-based aid to students from Athens-Clarke County.

Last year, Sahm pledged additional support through a planned gift to expand that scholarship fund and create two new endowments. One will support community service efforts in Athens, and the other will provide scholarships to UGA students with disabilities and support

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the UGA Disability Resource Center.

“We started a family foundation about 15 years ago, and our motto is ‘to whom much is given, much is expected,’” Sahm says. “That’s how I want to live my life.”

That commitment to giving back to UGA and Athens began with Sahm’s promise to her mother. It launched her UGA journey, it brought her back to campus, and it inspired the scholarships that carry her mother’s name and the endowments that will carry hers.

Bobbi Sahm is building a better tomorrow today, and you can do the same. Your support helps UGA in its ongoing mission to find those students who believe higher education is out of reach and make them alumni.

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On Top of the World

ALUMNI PROFILE Chloe Renee Kelley BBA ’06

peter frey

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hloe Renee Kelley may not be on the very top of the world, but the view from her 46th floor conference room in Manhattan (above) is still pretty sweet.

Kelley BBA ’06 has lived in New York City for eight years and serves as senior vice president for account management with the international investment management firm PIMCO. In short, her job is to bring the firm’s resources to bear for its clients.

She is a connector. She makes things happen.

“I’ve always tried to be the person who’s very involved in things,” Kelley says.

That’s true in her work and definitely in her relationship with UGA. She’s served her alma mater since the day she graduated—she was the undergraduate student speaker at her commencement in 2006.

Like many young alumni, Kelley bounced around looking for her place and gathering experience. She went from New York to Atlanta to Chicago, then back to New York when she landed at PIMCO. Kelley also married her husband, Aaron, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and a Morehouse grad she met during her undergraduate internship in New York. They

earned MBAs together at the University of Chicago and now have two children.

Throughout that time, Kelley kept close ties to the UGA community.

She was an inaugural member of the Terry Young Alumni Board and then a member of Terry’s full board, where she leads its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee.

Getting involved with UGA early in one’s career is advice that Kelley regularly gives.

“Right when you are leaving school, you love your school and you’re excited, but you’re also moving on to the next chapter in your life,” she says. “If you catch people then, they can stay engaged. If you wait five years until they’re really established in their careers, they don’t have that same excitement.

“UGA has so many great opportunities for students and young alumni,” she says. “You have a vast network of alumni who can be a support system for you. That’s what has helped propel me in my career.”

For her part, Kelley is always willing to give back.

In the summer of 2021, she was elected to the Foundation Board of Trustees, the 52-member body that oversees the foun-

dation’s work. It’s one of the highest levels of alumni leadership. Not only has the new role increased her connection to UGA, it’s increased her travel too.

She came back to Athens four times in the fall of 2021. Foundation board work made up the bulk of that travel, but she has time for fun. (Kelley is still a Bulldogs season ticket holder and returned to Sanford Stadium for the South Carolina game).

Perhaps her most meaningful 2021 visit was for the dedication of the Jere W. Morehead Honors College on Sept. 30. Kelley considers Morehead, who was director of the Honors Program when she was a Foundation Fellow, a mentor.

“He’s just done so much for the university and for the Honors Program, it’s just fitting that students now will come to the Jere W. Morehead Honors College,” Kelley says. “And they’ll get an even better experience than I had. They’re a part of a small institution with great academics within this larger university where you have all of these different opportunities for research, for engagement with professors, for football, for everything.”

written by eric rangus MA ’94

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CLASS NOTES

Travel Partners

ALUMNI PROFILE Lindsey Epperly AB ’11 and Jeremy Sulek BBA ’12

special

B

eing an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you always have to go it alone.

Not that Lindsey Epperly has a problem doing things herself. Far from it.

The summer before her junior year at UGA, Epperly walked into a travel agency to pick up a brochure. She struck up a conversation about her study abroad experience through Grady at the Cannes Film Festival that spring and walked out with a job. She spent her weekends selling travel packages at bridal shows across the Southeast. That gave her the idea to start a travel-related business and the confidence to pitch it at UGA’s Next Top Entrepreneur contest.

Epperly AB ’11, an English major, was the only non-business major to compete in the 2011 competition. She finished second but was told by the judges that she didn’t need their help. She was already well on her way to success.

“That gave me a lot of confidence to push forward with this idea of creating my own company and doing it on my own,” Epperly says.

written by eric rangus MA ’94

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family business

The ink was barely dry on Epperly’s diploma when she launched Vacations by Lindsey. It’s a feather-light name that she chuckles about now—one that she rebranded in 2014 to Epperly Travel, a luxury agency that offers planning with a personal touch.

Cut to 2018.

Epperly’s client base had grown, and her immediate family was growing too.

Epperly met Jeremy Sulek when they were still UGA students. A finance major, Sulek BBA ’12 walked on the Georgia football team and played linebacker for two seasons.

Sulek and Epperly stayed in touch after graduation, getting together for dinner or drinks as their schedules allowed. They didn’t start dating until one of their friends— in the most rom-com-esque way—quizzed Sulek on why he hadn’t asked her out on a real date. Things progressed from there. But Sulek noticed the toll the job was taking on Epperly.

“Lindsey had created this incredible business, but she was getting burned out,” Sulek recalls. “She was a one-woman show and she had all these great ideas, but there were only 24 hours in a day.”

When he asked her to spend the rest of her life with him, that was the easy part. His idea about them working together? Maybe not so much.

“I told her that I really worked well with systems and operations and finance, all things she didn’t like,” Sulek says. “I could learn under her and give her the freedom to follow through on everything she wanted to do.”

But Epperly was skeptical.

One day, while discussing plans for their wedding at Starbucks, Sulek even brought his resume. Epperly left it on the table.

But Sulek didn’t give up. The same week they got married, he quit his finance job and stepped in as the company’s COO with Epperly as CEO. “We got married and then I forced her to hire me,” he jokes.

Epperly remembers Sulek’s job pitch slightly differently. “Oh, I would have hired Jeremy,” she laughs. “We decided that while we’re young and we don’t know any better, we’ll just learn how to do this: side by side, good, bad, and indifferent. It’s worked out for us.”

CLASS NOTES

l cia spe

setback and successes

The business continued its upward trajectory and even joined the Bulldog 100 list in 2020. Then COVID hit. Travel may have stopped, but Epperly and Sulek didn’t. They created an industry support effort called Nourish and invited as many travel professionals as they could find—including competitors. They shared business plans, industry contacts, and other helpful hints to keep spirits up.

“We opened up all of our meetings and just encouraged others to join the conversation,” Epperly says. “Let’s use this as an opportunity to be stronger on the other side.”

People are traveling now in greater numbers every day and the agency is keeping pace. Over the summer, the company acquired another agency, Jetset World Travel. Now they have more than $25 million in annual sales with more than 50 employees. With the addition, they decided to rebrand again and keep the Jetset World Travel name.

“Over the years, I’ve scaled Epperly Travel from a one-woman show to an entire team,” Epperly says. “The rebrand is a direct reflection of how we’re going from ‘me’ to ‘we’ in the organization. It’s no longer just a solopreneur journey; it’s all about elevating our team for the betterment of the world around us.”

Clearly, Epperly is no longer on her own, personally or professionally. Business is booming, and their family is growing as well with the addition of a daughter last year.

“We are so happy to be doing this again,” Epperly says. “There is a level of humanity to our work and the relationships with our clients are special. We have a whole new batch to work with now, and we are very excited.”

awarded the National Disability Leadership Award from the American College Personnel Association Council’s Coalition for (Dis)Ability in March and authored a chapter in the book COVID-19 and Higher Education in the Global Context: Exploring Contemporary Issues and Challenges that was published in September.

Caroline Burns BBA ’01, JD ’08 was announced CFO of the American Council of Engineering Companies in Washington, D.C. Liz Heitner AB ’01 is leader of the human resources team at The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company in Horsham, PA. Andrew Dunn ABJ ’02 was named vice president of sales operations and marketing at Everywhere Wireless in Chicago.

Brian Shaw Jr. BBA ’02 was named partner at Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal in Dallas.

Mee Seong Im BS ’03, MA ’07 is an assistant professor at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. Renna Tuten Redd AB ’03 was promoted to associate librarian and granted tenure at Clemson University in Clemson, SC. Ivey McCloud BBA ’04 is a senior customer marketing manager at GE Appliances, a Haier Company, in Atlanta.

Adam Russell BLA ’09 was selected as part of the honorary groundskeeper crew at Major League Baseball’s Field of Dreams game in Dubuque County, IA. 2010-2014 Beth Giddens BSEd ’10 is a 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts teacher and head JV volleyball coach at Faith Christian School in Summerville, SC. Ty Goodbar AB ’10, AB ’10 is an intelligence officer in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and a financial adviser at Edward Jones in Gainesville.

Seong Im BBA ’10 is an insurance agent at Meeky Hirst State Farm in Atlanta.

Andrew O’Shea AB ’10 is the CEO and founder of Wellspring, a health and wellness care package company based in Atlanta.

Imir Weise AB ’10 is a former lieutenant and surface warfare officer in the United States Navy and the chief engineer onboard the USS Fort Worth.

Maggie Bowen AB ’12, ABJ ’12 is a media

2005-2009 Meeky Hirst AB ’05 is a Rocket professional loan originator at Hirst Brokerage and a State Farm agent in Atlanta.

Phillip Blume AB ’06, ABJ ’06 received the photographic craftsman degree from Professional Photographers of America in January 2021.

Andrew Curtis BSA ’07, DVM ’10 independently published his novel Famous Catfish Stew: A Young Man’s Unexpected Discovery in 2020 and lives in Alapaha.

Portia Johnson AB ’07, PhD ’21 is an assistant professor and extension specialist at Auburn University and was inducted into the UGA chapter of the Blue Key Honor Society in 2021.

Jessica Buday BSBE ’08 is an applications engineering manager at Corning in Parsippany, NJ.

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CLASS NOTES president and relationship manager for commercial banking at Bank of America.

Cary Lynne Thigpen AB ‘18 is the manager of client services at Morning Consult in New York City.

Dyana Roberts BBA ’19 is an assisted living administrator at The Oaks-Scenic View, a PruittHealth Lifestyle Community in Baldwin.

Ryan Szvetecz BBA ’19, BSES ’19 is the senior consultant in Protiviti Internal Audit and Financial Advisory Service and lives in Atlanta.

Allison Williams AB ’19 is the editor for the Missouri School Boards’ Association in Jefferson City.

Hannah Mansulich AB ’20 currently attends Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, AL. 2021

manager at Papa John’s International in Smyrna.

Marriah Paige AB ’13 was selected as part of the Gate City Bar Association’s 2021 L.E.A.D. Class, a leadership institute designed to empower and train lawyers.

Kathryn Herbert ABJ ’14 is the director of influencer new business strategy at Branded Entertainment Network in Los Angeles.

Oscar La Madrid III AB ’14 is the founder of the nonprofit Angels Alive. The organization recently partnered with Sweet Acre Farms Winery in Alto to create a new wine called R.E.D. Remember Everyone Deployed. Part of the proceeds will fund housing for homeless veterans.

Nick Mizaur AB ’14, AB ’14 was promoted to vice president for global public policy and external affairs at BlackRock in New York City.

Narke Norton BA ’14, MEd ’19 is an assistant director for recruitment and diversity initiatives at the University of Georgia Graduate School.

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2015-2020 Mark Rush AB ’15, AB ’15 is a business strategist at Spotify in New York City.

Mary-Turner Troutman BS ’15 is a brand and trade marketing manager at Bluemercury in Washington, D.C. Aysha Ballis BSFCS ’16, MS ’16 was promoted to partner at Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group in Charleston, SC. Ben Jacobs BSFCS ’16, MS ’16 was promoted to partner at Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group in Athens.

Genevieve Boyle BBA ’17 was promoted to client and community relations assistant director at PNC Financial Services Group in Atlanta.

Khushali Patel BS ’17 is a software development manager at General Motors in Atlanta.

Mary Sams BFA ’17 is an Athens-based artist. She recently launched a website to sell her artwork.

Claire Gordon BBA ’18 was named vice

Jose Chavez AB ’21 is a producer at ABC-7 in Sarasota, FL. Grace Gilbert BSW ’21 is a medical social worker at Piedmont Athens and is pursuing a master’s in social work at the University of Georgia.

Kasey Lee BBA ’21 is a first-year law student at Fordham Law School and a representative of the Fordham Business & Law Association in New York City.

gradnotes arts & sciences Joe Hester PhD ’73 released “Perspectives on ‘Authentic’ Leadership: Seeking Something Greater Than Ourselves” which was published in the Journal of Values-Based Leadership in July.

Dennis Pfennig PhD ’75 is president of Virginia Education Association’s retired leadership team in Richmond.

business Dena Cross MBA ’10 is a principal consultant at ESRI, a geospatial technology company in Atlanta.

Will Irby III MBA ’16 is the president of Cintel Inc. and managing partner of Ci Power Solutions in Huntsville, AL.

CLASS NOTES education

environment & design

social work

Bill Kaltsounis EdD ’69 published his memoir, From Tyranny to the American Dream: My Life Story, in 2018.

Emanuel Larkin Jr. MEd ’75 was elected board-chairman of the Central Savannah River Area Economic Opportunity Authority Board of Directors in March.

Rob Sumowski EdD ’02 was promoted to associate professor of special education at Georgia College and State University in 2020 and received the Charles Dunn Award for Faculty from the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. He also tours with the Athens-based band Allgood Music Company.

Shruti Desai MEd ’06 is the associate vice president of student affairs for campus life at Duke University in Durham, NC. Zach Hurst MEd ’06 was promoted to vice president and managing director of The Trust Company of Tennessee’s Chattanooga office.

Mike Krolak MEd ’09, EdD ’13 started a new position as a business teacher at Tipton High School in Tipton, IA.

Chris Stebbins MEPD ’16, MLA ’16 is a senior planner and designer at KTUA in San Diego.

Shena Brown MSW ’98, PhD ’20 started her position as an assistant professor at Clark Atlanta University’s Whitney Young, Jr. School of Social Work in January after 20 years in clinical social work in Atlanta.

Sean Williamson MSW ’04 has been named director of Clearview Intensive Outpatient Program at Chatuge Regional Hospital in Hiawassee.

journalism & mass communication Bret Kofford MA ’85 is a writing and film lecturer at San Diego State University Imperial Valley and co-wrote the film Christmas in July, which was released in 2019.

Cayce Myers MA ’06, LLM ’11, PhD ’14 was named director of graduate studies for the Virginia Tech School of Communication, where he is an associate professor in the Advertising and Public Relations division.

He published Public Relations History: Theory, Practice, and Profession.

Tay Xavier MFA ’19 made it to the quarterfinals of the 2022 TV Pilot Competition with his project The Yard. He currently lives in Athens.

veterinary Jody Katz DVM ’92 is the owner of Lake Pine Animal Hospital in Apex, NC. The hospital opened a new clinic in 2020.

law Stacey Chavis MSL ’19 is an adjunct professor of political science at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.

public & international affairs Karen Ewing MPA ’01 was elected to the Board of Directors for the Gwinnett County Public Library Foundation.

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FACULTY FOCUS

Mary Ann Moran Regents’ Professor | Distinguished Research Professor Department of Marine Sciences Franklin College of Arts & Sciences

R

egents’ Professor Mary Ann Moran’s work doesn’t fit neatly into one box.

Her research focuses on marine microbial ecology, marrying the disciplines of ecology, microbiology, and oceanography. The goal of her scholarship is to understand the processes that marine microorganisms carry out in the ocean.

What do you wish people knew about your discipline?

Marine microbial ecology is the study of ocean organisms that we can’t see. It’s hard to imagine how a single microscopic cell floating in the seawater could have any influence on the health of our planet. Yet each drop of seawater contains 100,000 such cells, and the activities occurring in all those seawater drops in the ocean have global-scale impacts that affect our daily lives.

What role do marine bacteria play in the ocean?

My work focuses on the activities of marine bacteria that drive the carbon and sulfur cycles.

Both of these elements move between the atmosphere and the ocean in global-scale cycles that keep the Earth in balance. Marine bacteria carry out metabolic activities that move atoms through the cycles. Without them, the cycles would stop.

How does marine microbial ecology touch people’s lives?

In the ocean, microbes are busy fixing carbon every day, a process that converts carbon dioxide into new cells while generating half the oxygen we take in with every breath.

The actions of marine microbes determine the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere, stored in the ocean, and returned to the atmosphere over each yearly cycle.

andrew davis tucker

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Read more about Luetrell Sims at , news.uga.edu/famous-pie-and-woman-who-perfected-it/

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