Spring 2013 Issue

georgia Regents uni versity’s

A Policy up in Smoke

Also featuring

The Face of a Union

An interview with GRU’s President, Dr. Ricardo Azziz.

SPRING 2013

Editor-in-chief Erica Wright

magazine

Assistant Editor Sara Tafazoli

Phoenix magazine is published three times per academic year with a press run of 2,500 copies.

It is created on Macintosh OSX computers using Adobe Creative Suite 5.0. The cover is printed on 80# gloss text cover; the text is printed on 60# gloss text. The body copy is Georgia, cutlines are Century Gothic and the nameplate is Desdemona and Archaelogicaps. This issue of Phoenix magazine was printed by K-B Offset Printing, Inc. in State College, Pa. Phoenix magazine is a student publication of the Office of Student Activities and Department of Communications and Professional Writing at Georgia Regents University. Phoenix magazine is a designated public forum and has been recognized as such by Georgia Regents University.

The publication is funded by advertising sales and student activity fees. The opinions expressed in the Phoenix do not necessarily represent the opinions of the University System of Georgia, the administration or faculty of GRU, the editorial staff or the adviser of the Phoenix.

Phoenix Magazine 2500 Walton Way, Augusta, Ga. 30904-2200 phoenix@gru.edu ericawright28@gmail.com

Business Manager Tiffany Looman

Advertising Manager Hannah Foerster

Advisor Dr. Debra van Tuyll

Staff Writers Arianna Vazquez Dereck Chang Shea Anderson Brittany Frazier Danielle Francisco Allegra Blair Brennan Meagher Meredith Dailey Alicia Chargualaf Katherine Dyches Raven Norris Grace Waters Daniel Browning Ashley Trawick

Alissa Faulkner Shelley Williams Andrea Yano Russell Lindsey Lindsey Leverett Whit Morgan Haley Bourne Theodore Smith Gwendolyn Bagley Richie Iannacone Tanisha Hawkins Laura Starnes Victoria Lindgvist

Contributors

t to Chase u o t u o h s A special s with an u g in id v o r Foss for p er image! cov awesome ase, Thanks Ch - Erica

Brea Boutwell Davis Gavitt

Chase Foss

Jennifer White Aort Reed Nicole Arnold

Editor’s Notes

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Policy Up in Smoke pg. 14

Dear Reader, You are currently holding the first Georgia Regents University’s Phoenix.

Besides a portion of our title, everything else has remained the same. This magazine continues to be created by and for students.

Even editorial decisions are left in the hands of students.

I need to give a special thank you to our Ad Manager, Hannah Foerster. She came to me with the idea of a coupon section for the magazine, GRUpons, that specifically would cater to students at GRU. With this new promotion, we were able to meet our annual revenue in a two month period.

This is huge. According to student activities, we hadn’t met our revenue in the past couple of years.

Hannah and practicum students who helped out, we did it!

A million thanks to my editorial staff and next year’s editorial staff for helping out with this issue as well.

You guys are the best!

Caps Off, Party Hats On

... 3

by Eva Hollingsworth WTH is a Birdie? ... 6

by Derek Chang K-911

... 8

by Brittany Frazier Volunteering Abroad ... 11

by Brennan Meagher A Policy Up in Smoke ... 14

by Andrew Tarr My Online Dating Disaster ... 19

by Shea Anderson The Face of a Union ... 22

by Daphne Mayonset WINGSPAN Aort Reed Nicole Arnold

... 34 ... 36

Minion out. Peace!

Wingspan pg. 33

Volunteering Abroad pg. 11

APRIL

MARCH sunday, 17th ST. PATRICK’S DAY Celebration downtown this same weekend!

Wednesday, 20th Somewhere in Augusta: Comedy Zone Josh Blue, Winner of Last Comic Standing 7:30 pm Thursday, 21st- Sunday, 24th Of Mice and Men 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm Maxwell Theatre Wednesday, 27th Phi Kappa Phi Student Research and Fine Arts Conference Noon- 6 p.m.

Saturday, 30th Golden Dragon Acrobats 3-5 p.m. & 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Maxwell Saturday, 30th Little River Band & Atlanta Rhythm section concert Lady A Pavilion

\ ]

Week of the 8th

SPRING BREAK

Tuesday, 9th Rock Fore! Dough 7:30 pm Lady A Pavilion Thursday, 25th Take Back the Night Rally Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Awareness 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Friday, 12th Columbia County Championship Festival Featuring Lynard Skynard 8:15 pm Friday, 19th Carrie Underwood Concert James Brown Arena 7:30 pm Thursday, 25th Uncorked to Support A wine tasting and silent auction benefiting The Ronald McDonald House.

Boll Weevil, 5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.

MAY Wednesday, 1st Cirque du Soleil presents Quidam James Brown Arena 7:30 pm Wednesday 1st (Night) Midnight Breakfast Throwback Palooza JSAC Ballroom Saturday, 4th Trot to Clot Walk & Run Benefits Camp Wannaklot, a traditional camp expereience for students who suffer from hemophilia. hog.org/trot 7:30 a.m.

Friday, 10th

GRADUATION James Brown Arena 2 p.m.

Friday, 17th & Saturday ,18th “Cabaret Diabolique” An original horror mystery with music & dance.

Sector 7G Monday, 27th Memorial Day

PUT THE BROWN BAG ON YOUR CALENDAR TODAY Breakfast, Lunch, catering with The Brown Bag Café & Food Truck, it’s in the bag.

BBAug.com

Photo by Erica Wright.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

c

O

N

G

R

A

S

T

Caps off, party hats on: Planning a Graduation Party on a Budget

Story by Eva Hollingsworth | Layout by Sara Tafazoli CONGRATULATIONS, you are a soon to be college grad, or maybe you are just starting, either way you are on your way!

After working hard for years it is time to celebrate.

When it comes to planning your own graduation party the first thing that comes to mind is cost, but there are tricks to planning a great get-together while keeping your bank account happy.

Planning a party can be a fun experience if you just use the right tools and proper planning.

The first step in creating your perfect grad party is setting a budget. Now this may seem a little overwhelming, especially on a college budget, but take a deep breath and remember to look at all your resources. For example, every

student gets graduation money to help get you started, but take a little (maybe $50) and put towards the party.

Another good resource can be parents; let them know you are planning a party for family and friends and I am sure they will offer to pitch in. One of the best resources is yourself, by planning ahead you can set money aside for the party.

Make sure to set a goal and time frame to reach the amount you need.

Once you have decided the amount you want to spend, make sure you create a timeline. Planning a party takes time and effort, so, as the planner, you want to make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself and try to do everything at the last minute. The timeline also needs to include a date for the event that not only

“The best part of my party was having friends that I went to school with there to relive moments and share the triumph of being done.�

Phoenix 3

fits in with your schedule but with the family and friends you want to invite.

In order to stay true to your budget and on schedule, making a guest list is vital. Before starting the list it is important to decide what kind of party you are aiming for; an adult only house party or a family and friends celebrationin this instance a nice family and friends cookout seems appropriate. In order to keep the party personal and drama free, make sure to keep the guest list to close family and friends.

Jeremy Wells, recent Augusta State grad and party host, confirmed how a guest list can break or make the party.

“The best part of my party was having friends that I went to school with there to relive moments and share the triumph of being done,” he said.

Danyel Bernal, owner and event planner of Party It Up knows how much the guest list sets the atmosphere for your party.

“Having a bunch of strangers or random acquaintances can make for an awkward moment and other guests uncomfortable,” Bernal said. “You want people who can interact with one another and create a fun environment.”

4 Spring 2013

Bernal also stated how it is important to remember people’s bad habits.

“If there will be alcohol make sure you don’t invite the friend or crazy uncle that gets so drunk they start dancing on tables,” she said. “I have it seen it happen and it may make a good story, but never gives a good reputation for your parties.”

When planning your guest list just remember the goal is celebrate your accomplishments with your loved ones, not to have the biggest bash in town.

You know your preset budget so just make sure to be realistic about how many people you invite versus how much money is in the budget.

So what makes a good party? Everyone has different ideas of what is fun, but there are certain items that seem to make everyone’s list.

Amy Hunter, an English major at Augusta State, sums up her idea of a good party as “food, drinks, and friendly faces,” she said. “It is fun when people are excited to be there and food and drinks make everything better.”

According to Bernal, the most important aspects to any party are food, drinks, atmosphere and entertainment.

The best way to start your research is

to pick a venue which in the case of a graduation cookout, a house or park will be the best options. Most towns have a local park or lake that offer sheltered picnic areas with grills for little to no cost.

After the venue is chosen, you can start researching food, drinks and entertainment.

Again, take a breath. It sounds much worse than it is. We are lucky to live in the technology generation where we have things like Google and Pinterest to help find ideas.

Food for a cookout doesn’t take too much research-there is the usual cookout menu that people use, just make sure to have variety.

“Cookouts are always a fun way to celebrate on a budget,” Bernal said. “But remember that not everyone eats beef so try to have a good variety of foods.”

Hotdogs and hamburgers are always a go-to for a cookout, but maybe trying a new recipe to add something differentbut still stay on budget- would add some flavor. If you use tools like Pinterest, you can find quick and easy ways to cook chicken, shrimp, or even a veggie kabob.

These foods are relatively less expensive but will be a sure way to impress your

Photo by Alex Bruda

“Trade in grad gifts for people who are willing to help with the party instead.” guests.

The same idea goes for drinks at the party- soda, water, and beer are obvious low cost options, but why not do a little research and find other budget friendly ways to quench your friend’s and family’s thirst.

Hunch punch, a vodka and fruit punch mix, is always an option for adults, but there are also other alternatives that are family friendly, especially good for a cookout.

“I love that yummy punch with sherbet,” Kailyn Circo, a biochemistry major at Augusta State, described her favorite party drink. “It is super easy and cheap to make- plus it serves a lot of people- all you need is lime sherbet, ginger ale, pineapple juice, lemons, limes and cherries.”

Wells talks about a good way to cut cost and still have plenty of food and drinks.

“Have your friends bring the things,” he said. “Trade in grad gifts for people who are willing to help with the party instead.”

The next step to an awesome party is entertainment- now as awesome as fire breathers and a cool band sound; let’s remember the budget. Music is a must for the party but can be inexpensive or free to provide simply by playing music from your own favorite playlist or having a local garage band perform.

Another form of entertainment is picture taking. According to Sandra Essary, a writer for Yahoo!, it is easy to make picture taking more of a game for the party.

“Choose an area and turn it into a photo op area by decorating it especially for that purpose. Use balloons, plants, a scene setter or life-size standees or wall graphics, twinkle lights, and/or props if your graduation party has a particular theme,” she said.

Games are also a way to entertain guests, just be sure you have something for everyone and that is age appropriate.

It is a college graduation party but that doesn’t mean you can’t play crazy and fun games. Circo describes the entertainment at the best party she has ever attended.

“It was a work Christmas party- they had the Wii going so people were playing Rock band, horse shoes and corn hole outside, a poker table, and lots of board games,” she said. “It was like for one night we were able to just let loose and have fun.”

When creating an entertainment space leave room for a nice autograph book, where guest can sign in and leave advice and well wishes for you in the future. Guests will enjoy feeling like they are a part of your journey and everyone has fun leaving comments.

A good idea from Pinterest was to ask each guest to bring a picture of themselves (if they have one with you that is even better) and have a scrapbook and supplies out. When the guests

arrive, have them decorate a page with the picture and say how they met you. It will make for a nice scrapbook for you, and guests can have fun going through it while they are there.

The last piece to planning your party is decorations. Now, this can get expensive so make sure to price shop to get the best deal. When deciding where to go there are many options from local party stores, department stores and online.

Bernal talks about how she has gotten the best bang for her buck when planning parties.

“Amazon has become my best friend, as well as sites like Oriental Trading,” she said.

“Amazon gives the consumer the ability to look at multiple decorations and with different prices; while sites like Oriental Trading have discounted items from decorations and favors to supplies.”

She continues by saying that she gets all her main decorations from the internet and if she needs any last minute supplies she goes to department stores like Wal-Mart.

For a graduation party, use the school colors or set a theme, like a luau party.

Streamers and balloons are always low cost ways to decorate any space. Since the party is about you, have school pictures put up on display so people can see how far you have come.

Remember, when planning this party, don’t stress.

You now have the tools and knowledge you need to throw an amazing shindig on a college budget. PARTY ON!

Eva Hollingsworth is a senior communication major on the public relations track.

Phoenix 5

This is like Putt-Putt, right?

WTh is a birdie?

A simple guide to understanding the Masters

What’s so great about the Masters?

Unlike basketball or football, golf is not a fast-paced sport. While the speed of the sport cannot confuse people, there are many rules and terms that make it difficult to follow for those not familiar with it.

This is an issue to me because I think many more sports fans would really enjoy watching golf if they had a better understanding of the game.

The Masters is arguably the most popular and prestigious tournament in all of golf. Sports fans from anywhere should be able to enjoy watching it each and every year.

Georgia Regents University’s men’s golf coach Kevin McPherson says, “Especially if you’re from Augusta, you need to learn to appreciate the Masters.

To have it right here in your backyard, it’s just too special.”

Here are the key terms and/or rules

6 Spring 2013

that can help you understand and enjoy this unique event.

THE COURSE The Masters is held every year at Augusta National, which is a golf course that has 18 holes. It is a par-72 course, which means 72 is the amount of strokes an “expert golfer” needs to complete his round of 18 holes. Each hole also has an individual par, depending on its length.

A par-3 means the hole is shorter in relation to the others. A par-4 is a hole of standard length, and a par-5 is a long golf hole. Augusta National has four par-3’s, 10 par-4’s, and four par-5’s in total.

The tee box is where all players start each hole. Players are able to use a tee to tee their ball up before hitting their first shot. “This is the fun part where you get to see players swing hard and really hit the ball far,” McPherson says.

However, players also have to hit the

Story by Derek Chang Layout by Erica Wright

ball straight in order to find the fairway, which is the strip of short grass running down the middle of the hole. At Augusta National, there are often trees that line both sides of the hole. This makes it very important to drive the ball accurately in order to avoid trouble.

On each hole, the players eventually need to hit their ball onto the green, which is where the hole is located.

Taylor Floyd, a former Augusta State golfer, says, “The biggest thing Augusta National is known for is their amazingly quick and well-kept greens. There’s really nothing that can compare.”

Whether in real life or on television, it is easy to see that Augusta National’s greens are unlike any other golf course in the world. The greens get their speed because the staff properly maintains the grass year-round. This allows them to cut the grass very short, making them “fast.”

There are obstacles on the course

Photo of Raleigh Hornung taken by Brea Boutwell.

Birdie means the player made one shot lower (better) than par on the hole. So, if “Joe Smith” took three shots to finish a hole on a par-4, he made birdie (-1).

Par means the player scored the same as the par on the hole.

Bogey means the player scored one shot higher (worse) than par on the hole.

If Smith took four shots to finish a par-3, he made bogey (+1).

An eagle happens occasionally, meaning the player finished the hole in two shots better than par. For example, if Smith only needed three shots to finish a par-5, he made an eagle. A hole-in-one on a par 3 is also considered an eagle, but it happens much less often since it takes a perfect shot!

As players can score very well, they can also score very poorly. A doublebogey means a player scored two shots higher than par. There are no limits to how many strokes a player can take on any hole, so there are triple-bogeys (+3), quadruple bogeys (+4), and even quintuple bogeys (+5). However, these are pretty rare since the players shown on television are usually at the top of their games.

WHAT ARE THE PLAYERS TRYING TO DO OUT THERE? such as water hazards, bunkers, trees, steep slopes and others. These are all strategically placed to give players a challenge as they navigate the golf course.

“The obstacles on the course are so well-designed and well-placed that in order to win you really have to think your way around the course,” says Floyd.

A water hazard could be a pond, creek or ravine of some sort. These can be found guarding a green or sometimes even guarding the fairway.

A bunker, also known as a sand trap, is an area filled with sand that usually surrounds the green. They can also be found on the sides of fairways, purposely put there in case a player mis-hits a tee shot.

YOU SHOT A BIRDIE? Terms such as birdie, par, bogey and others just indicate what score a player makes on an individual hole.

The objective of golf is pretty simple.

The players are just trying to get the ball in the hole in as few attempts as possible on each and every hole. The easiest way to do this is to hit the ball straight and make putts on the greens. Birdies are great and pars are always good.

Ideally, a player would want to hit every fairway and every green to give himself the best chance to shoot the lowest score. However, doing this is very challenging due to factors such as weather conditions, course conditions, slopes and obstacles, and most of all, pressure.

“The golf tournament really doesn’t start until the last nine holes on Sunday,” says McPherson.

Typically, at the Masters, several players are very close to the lead until the end when the intense pressure takes effect. This is the most exciting time to watch because anything can happen.

four rounds of golf (72 holes, four days of 18 holes). To make viewing easier, the scoreboards show every player’s score in relation to the course par. Since par for the course is 72 and Smith shot 68 the first round, he stands at four under par, or -4. If Joe Smith shoots 68 for all four rounds of the tournament, he will end up at 16 under par, or -16.

If the next best player is at -15 for the tournament, then Smith is the winner of the Masters.

Each year the winning score varies depending on how sharp the players’ games are and how tough the course is playing.

LAST WORDS & THE GREEN JACKET

Just like many other sports, the idea of golf is very simple.

It’s the execution part that proves to be the most difficult. At the end of the four rounds of the Masters, a winner is crowned. Actually, crowned wouldn’t be the right word because the champion is instead given a “green jacket.” While this odd-colored blazer may not be a fashion statement (not now, not ever), the prestige it holds is unmatched by any other prize in golf.

“The green jacket is special because it is something every golfer dreams of winning,” McPherson says.

“There’s even a theory out there that says a player isn’t complete until he wins a Masters.”

The Masters is golf’s “Super Bowl.”

Without knowing the rules of football, even the Super Bowl wouldn’t be fun to watch. I hope that after reading this you have a better understanding of the world’s most renowned golf tournament.

Derek Chang is a senior communication major on the public relations track.

SO HOW DO YOU WIN? The Masters is won by the player with the lowest total amount of shots over

Phoenix 7

Photo by Jennifer White.

k-911

D D D D RESPONDING TO ANIMAL EMERGENCIES

Story by Brittany Frazier | Layout by Sara Tafazoli It was Thanksgiving morning and 25-year-old Jennifer White had just sat down to breakfast when she heard a deep, raspy growl that made her stomach turn.

When she heard Bella, her 7-year-old German Shepherd, cry out in pain, White jumped up to see what the problem was.

White is an avid dog lover and has seven of her own. Although she was aware of the risk of having so many animals together, they always got along, so seeing one of her dogs attack another caught her off guard.

“We first separated all of the dogs,

8 Spring 2013

then we wrapped Bella in towels and ran to the car. I sat in the backseat with her and called the emergency veterinary clinic,” White recalls when she and her boyfriend rushed Bella to the hospital.

As a pet owner and registered veterinary technician, I frequently care for animals in distress. Whether I’m at work or at home, I’m constantly caring for pets and searching for new ways to educate pet owners.

What White did in her situation was entirely appropriate. She quickly separated the dogs, grabbed towels to

stop the bleeding and rushed to seek medical assistance.

So what should you do if you find an animal in distress? Dr. Monica Parker, veterinarian and owner of Walton Way Veterinary Clinic, recommends the following: First evaluate the situation. If the animal is responsive, stay calm so as to not stress them out even more. Use blankets to help transport them to your vehicle, being careful in regards to their injuries. If the animal is non-responsive, check for a heartbeat by placing your

hand over the chest or search for the femoral pulse on the inner thigh, then check for a clear airway. Begin CPR if necessary.

Transport the animal to the nearest vet clinic and call ahead to let them know you are coming.

Be prepared with some form of payment. Most clinics require full payment at time of services.

Animal emergencies occur every day, so it is best to be prepared for them.

Keep a first-aid kit, blankets and carriers in the trunk of your car. A first-aid kit should include: a tourniquet, bandaging material, a thermometer (temperatures are most accurate when taken rectally on an animal), isopropyl alcohol, a muzzle, gloves, self-activating heat pack, selfactivating cold pack, antiseptic wipes, a bottle of water and a flashlight with backup batteries.

Have a credit card or a savings account available for emergency use. Some clinics offer a healthcare credit card called CareCredit . The client must first get approved and then they can make monthly payments on the card. Another option is pet health insurance, although most of these are on a reimbursement

basis. Therefore, you would still need to be prepared to pay for services out of pocket at the time of the emergency.

The animal’s quality of life must always be considered. Performing costly and invasive procedures is not always in the best interest of the animal. In severe cases, a humane euthanasia is the most appropriate way to end the animal’s suffering.

Wendy Lynn Parlier, a veterinary practice manager and consultant, recalls when an animal could not be saved.

The dog came in panting and salivating heavily, suffering from increased body temperature, vomiting and bloody diarrhea.

“The owners and the dog had spent the majority of the day on that very hot summer day playing outside and boating,” Parlier said. “The owners were unaware of the negative ramifications their dog would experience if overheated and did not recognize the early warning symptoms. Unfortunately, the dog was humanely euthanized because of the severe effects of heat stroke that he had undergone. It was a lesson for all pet owners involved, just how quickly pets can succumb to over heating during the

hot summer months without proper shade, hydration and reduced outdoor activity,” Parlier recalls of the incident.

Heat stroke is a common preventable fatality seen in animal clinics. Dogs do not sweat; they pant to cool off, which exchanges cool air for hot air. When the temperature of the air is close to the body temperature of the animal, it is hard for them to get cool.

Immediate medical attention is necessary, but you can begin to cool the animal off in transit to the vet. Cooling the body should be a gradual process.

Give the animal a cool bath and apply isopropyl alcohol to the paw pads to begin the cooling process. The rest should be taken care of by the vet.

Animal emergencies can occur at any time and any place. My dachshund, Toby, ruptured a disk in his back on Thanksgiving Day of 2011. He became completely paralyzed within 24 hours and required surgery. After considering his quality of life and our finances, we decided on the costly surgery but he never regained his ability to use his hind limbs again. Although we hoped for a better outcome, the surgery relieved him of his pain. He now lives an active life in

Brittany Frazier, performing a medical procedure on a dog under anesthesia.

Photo by Jennifer White.

Phoenix 9

Photo by Chase Foss

his wheelchair and loves every minute of it!

Other common medical emergencies are caused by trauma, toxin ingestion, bloat, urinary obstruction, dehydration and snake bites.

Some signs that an animal is in distress and in need of medical attention include: labored breathing, loss of consciousness, pale or blue gum color, inability to walk, excessive vocalization due to pain, bloated abdomen, vomiting, loss of appetite and seizures.

Being prepared is crucial and could determine whether or not an animal lives. Always consider what is in the best interest of the animal and what you can financially handle. When an unexpected emergency arises, stay calm and have a plan. Your first aid kit should be easily accessible and have emergency clinic numbers saved in your phone.

D

Toxic Foods

Bandaging material

Raisins Chocolate

10 Spring 2013

Thermometer Isopropyl Alcohol

Coffee Caffeine Garlic

D

Muzzle Gloves

Antiseptic wipes

Onions Brittany Frazier is a senior communication major on the public relations track.

D

Tourniquet

Grapes

D

First-Aid Kit Supplies

Chewing gum

D

Flashlight

D

Self-activating heat & cold packs

Volunteering abroad

New country, new culture, new outlook on life.

Muhammad Ali once said, “Service to others is the payment you make for your space here on earth.”

In my experience, volunteering is the best way to serve others.

Kay Simpson, a member at Trinityon-the-Hill United Methodist Church, has spent a lot of time volunteering both nationally and internationally, and does a good job explaining the heart of volunteering.

“Even though we may not all speak the same language, there are still basic needs,” Simpson said. “When a hand is reached out to meet those needs a lot of walls come tumbling down. You are tied together in the shared experience of need and giving.”

Try combining volunteer work with international travel, and you will end up with an unforgettable experience that creates lasting memories.

I’ve always loved traveling, and when I was in high school I made several weeklong trips to Jamaica. I completely

fell in love with the country, and decided I wanted to experience Jamaica for longer than one week at a time. In 2010, I was offered a spot in an internship with a nonprofit organization, and spent three months living and working in Jamaica.

I went into schools, homes and businesses. I talked, laughed, shared meals and fell in love with the Jamaican people.

One of my favorite memories involves two little boys named Ryan and Jayden.

They lived close to Water Valley Primary School, where I was working with the other interns building a basketball court.

Ryan and Jayden were always around when we were working. They were really shy and didn’t speak much, but we always made it a point to talk to them.

After five weeks, Ryan and Jayden finally opened up to us. After this moment, the boys were always the first to greet us, and even tried to help us with our work. The connection we were able to build with these children was so special.

Story by Brennan Meagher Layout by Erica Wright

“Living abroad gives you a new lens to see the world which isn’t necessarily better or worse but it gives you a new way to see things.”

Phoenix 11

Aside from forming meaningful relationships with people, volunteering can provide the opportunity for you to see parts of the country that you would not have known existed, otherwise. There are just certain places that locals know about that a vacationer would not.

For example, while in Jamaica, I had the opportunity to use one of my days off to go on a hike.

A Rastafarian named Bongo led us through a forest to a waterfall that flooded into a cove. We then continued on, crossed a river and ended up on a beach that was completely uninhabited.

I was reliving this memory with Cassidy Ladd, a graduate student at Oklahoma State University, a few months ago. We lived and worked together in Jamaica, and our shared experience bonded us in a way that no one else could ever understand.

Like me, Cassidy felt like our hike was

Jayden playing at the construction site. Photo

by Brennan Meagher.

an experience unlike any other.

“Bongo was a homeless man simply living off the land, but he showed me some of the most breathtaking landscapes I have ever experienced in my life,” Ladd said.

Aside from seeing some spectacular sites, our time in Jamaica provided us with a deeper understanding of a new culture.

One day Cassidy and I were given the opportunity to go into the community and spend the night with a Jamaican couple.

That night Cassidy and I learned so much about crossing cultural barriers and building relationships. The people we stayed with did not appear to have anything in common with us. However, we were quick to learn we had a lot more in common than we thought.

“Jamaicans attach importance to relationships, and hold themselves

“Jamaica is a culture of poverty, but hopelessness is not characteristic for the average islander.” accountable to their values,” Ladd said.

“Jamaica is a culture of poverty, but hopelessness is not characteristic for the average islander.”

We both learned that sometimes those who do not have material wealth are the happiest and also the most appreciative.

“The locals are lively and demonstrate so much passion for the things they care most about,” Ladd said. “The meaning they attach to life has a much stronger value in comparison to America.

Jamaicans bring so much life into what seems to be a hopeless island.”

This is something that only developing a relationship with people can show you.

“The people of Jamaica have such a rich culture that is impossible to understand during a short vacation,” Ladd said.

Cassidy and I are also not the only people who have had experiences like this.

In 2010, Remer Brinson, director of discipleship and community development at Trinity on-the-Hill United Methodist Church, spent six months in Nicaragua working with coffee farmers as a research and policy analyst for The People of Community Action.

While in Nicaragua, Brinson lived with a host family.

“I learned more from them than from anyone else in Nicaragua about culture, simple living and faith,” Brinson said. “It was a wonderful look at the role of Latin American extended family.”

Living with a host family provides a great opportunity to not only learn a new language, but to immerse yourself in it. By the end of his time in Nicaragua,

Walking along the beach with a resident of the local infirmary. Photographer unknown Brinson was a fluent speaker.

Living with a host family also challenges you to rethink the way in which you view the world. It forces you to reexamine stereotypes you may have about other people.

“Living with a host family gave me a deeper understanding of the culture because it put a person in the place of what was previously just a statistic,” Brinson said. “You really begin to learn that people’s lives are affected by the way that the world systems work.”

Volunteering can also take you out of your comfort zone and force you to figure out who you are.

This is something that Cassidy and I experienced firsthand.

“I am thoroughly convinced that life truly begins outside of your comfort zone,” she said.

By the end of a volunteer experience, it is impossible to not have become a better person.

“Living abroad gives you a new lens to see the world which isn’t necessarily

better or worse but it gives you a new way to see things,” Brinson said. “It makes you want to reassess the way you previously saw the world. It’s a deeper, richer way of understanding things.”

Your experience will also change the way you see the people of your own country.

“Having lived abroad and been a foreigner, it gives me a new compassion and sensitivity to the experiences of immigrants living in the United States,” Brinson said.

I would honestly urge everyone to give volunteering a chance.

Junior English major, Donnie Watson spent a month in France working on a farm this past summer. He summed up the effect volunteering has on a person better than I could.

“When you’re investing so much of yourself into where you are then that place doesn’t leave you, and you don’t really leave that place,” Watson said.

Watson could not have said it any better.

Those three months in Jamaica were the best months of my life.

I went to Jamaica with the desire to travel and do my part to make a difference in someone’s life. That’s not exactly how things turned out, though.

I left with a deep appreciation and love for a culture that was not my own, along with a second family of Jamaicans.

In the end, it was Jamaican people that made a difference in my life.

There are so many organizations looking for volunteers. Next time you think about traveling, considering volunteering.

Brennan Meagher is a senior communication major on the public relations track.

Phoenix 13

a policy up in

smoke It was announced, in the fall semester of 2012, that the former Augusta State University campus would be restructuring its current policy on tobacco use.

Now, joined with the former Georgia Health Sciences University to become a larger university with an identified focus on health, what will become of smoking on campus?

When policies are ignored or blatantly disobeyed, one may expect an authority figure to educate or reprimand the offender. Policies are created to be a guide for proper protocol, clearly communicating what is considered acceptable behavior for a given audience.

14 Spring 2013

Story by Andrew Tarr Layout by Erica Wright

However, is it even considered a policy if the policy-maker has no intention to enforce it?

The consolidation of GHSU and Augusta State brings more change than selecting a name for the university. Prior to 2013, there were two universities with their own separate policies. Now, combined as Georgia Regents University, the administration must attempt to reconcile the differences between the two existing policies at the Health Sciences campus and the Summerville campus.

The Health Sciences campus has held to a strict tobacco ban since November 2007.

Photo by Davis Gavitt.

The prohibition of tobacco use was not merely for appearance’s sake. According to the official statement regarding the ban on the former GHSU grounds, the reason for the ban is to encourage healthy behavior and protect those that choose not to come in contact with secondhand smoke.

“Tobacco smoke contains 4,000-plus chemical compounds,” the statement informed. “More than 60 of which are known or suspected to cause cancer.

People exposed to secondhand smoke absorb nicotine and other toxic chemicals just as smokers do.”

William Bloodworth, Ph.D., was president of Augusta State before there were any smoking policies on campus.

“When I came here, there was no [tobacco] policy here at all,” he said.

“People even smoked in offices. I appointed a committee to look at it and they created a policy prohibiting any smoking in buildings, so we put that in place. Since then, I think we just adjusted. When [Science Hall] was built, we created the 25-foot limit. We just did it. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

According to Bloodworth, the Science Hall was a factor due to the university wanting to protect the financial investments of the newer buildings. In 2000, Augusta State established a policy that limited the distance one could smoke cigarettes from buildings to a minimum of 25 feet.

Currently, an abbreviated version of the policy is posted at building entrances on the Summerville campus. Augusta State’s student Handbook for the 20122013 academic year has the full policy and some associated health risks of smoking.

Since creating the distance limit, smoking complaints have primarily been from people entering Allgood Hall, according to Bloodworth.

The ground floor at the center of Allgood Hall is an intersection of four hallways, houses Allgood Café and provides access to stairs and the elevator.

This area’s two doorways lay at the end of walking paths from parking lots, other buildings and the center of campus.

Taking these paths forces people to walk through areas that house cigarette receptacles.

According to Bloodworth, complete responsibility was entrusted to those that smoke.

“It’s a pretty simple policy and people can see the signs,” he said. “No office was given the responsibility of enforcement, because it was assumed compliance would not be a problem on a college campus.”

Travis Saul, 25, junior business major, said he normally smokes outside of Allgood Hall, sitting at one of the tables.

He acknowledged, while he knows that the current tobacco policy limits smoking near entrances, the area in which he smokes is probably less than 25 feet away from the entrance.

According to Saul, he could not think of a building on campus which people do not regularly smoke near its entrance.

“The smoke follows people,” he said.

“It goes in the doorway, follows people inside, and sticks to their clothing.

Everybody that walks by smells like

smoke, and then there’s secondhand smoke. I definitely think they should limit the areas where you can smoke.

A lot of people just smoke pretty much wherever they want and nothing is ever said about it.”

According to Bloodworth, the idea of providing smoking areas further from buildings had been considered before and during the GHSU-Augusta State consolidation. Execution of that idea was never approved because many might perceive it as being unfair, he added.

“You would take university money and spend it for use of only a small percentage of those that go to school and work here, Bloodworth said. “We never did that, partly because money has been tight and some people would object to spending money for some people and not for others.”

Sitting at the nearest table to the Jaguar Student Activities Center (JSAC) entrance, Samantha Tranum, 18, freshman computer science major, was with a group of her friends.

After finishing her cigarette, she calculated that she was closer than 25 feet from the JSAC entrance.

Tranum said that she has smoked at that table many times before.

“No,” she said in response to whether she has ever been told to smoke further away. “Nobody has ever said anything to us [about smoking near entrances].”

What would she say if someone were to tell her not to smoke there anymore?

“I’m going to be mad,” Tranum said.

“You haven’t said anything to me before, but you’re going to say something to me now?”

At the table with Tranum, sat Cliff Bozeman, 20, sophomore sociology major; Caitlin Brown, 20, sophomore kinesiology major and three others.

“They are allowing us to smoke on their campus, so we should at least follow the rules.”

Phoenix 15

One of the shortened smoking policy signs found around the Summerville campus.

Photo by Davis Gavitt.

“It’s unfortunate that some people will feel like their rights are being trampled on for the sake of everyone else, but sometimes that is how it is.”

16 Spring 2013

Bozeman is a non-smoker and Brown is a smoker, but they both support Tranum.

Bozeman said, “I have a mixed opinion.

I think there is a balance that needs to be kept, because we are merging with GHSU and it should be health-geared. But it is also a question of stepping on people’s rights.”

Brown said, “We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re not smoking around tons of people who don’t smoke. We’re pretty courteous about it.”

However, there are students that speak out against non-compliance with the policy. Exzandria Jones, 18, freshman nursing student, is a smoker. According to her, she sees many people violate the current policy on the Summerville campus by smoking within 25 feet of building entrances.

“I don’t think a lot of people follow it,” Jones said. “I see people sitting on the benches [of Allgood Hall]. It’s not that far away from the entrance.”

Jones said that the signs clearly state what the policy is and how to abide by it.

“I think it’s important,” she said, concerning the current policy. “They are allowing us to smoke on their campus, so we should at least follow the rules. If they don’t continue to follow it, then I believe

they may take it away.”

Jones thinks the policy preventing smoking within 25 feet of buildings is to protect non-smokers from unwanted smoke.

“I don’t think it’s far enough,” she said.

“I think we should have a section where all the smokers go, because a lot of people don’t smoke here on campus.”

According to Bloodworth, there have been many that support adopting the GHSU tobacco ban; many support two different policies and keeping the Augusta State policy as it is; then there are those that said the Health Sciences campus’ policy is too strict and that it should be relaxed to include designated smoking areas and that the Summerville campus should do the same.

It would be feasible to have two separate policies, one for the two campuses, according to Bloodworth.

A stricter ban on the use of tobacco products on the Summerville campus is in development. The group of friends, outside the JSAC, has varying opinions on proposed policies, but stated they did not respond to the survey that Augusta State emailed to students, faculty and staff about tobacco use.

Brad Topping, 24, is a junior nursing

major and acknowledged that his personal experiences and science classes have helped shape his opinions of the current and any new policy on tobacco.

“Strictly from a health-wise perspective,” Topping said. “It would be better to have a total ban because you would never run into secondhand smoke. That’s kind of taking the choice away from the smokers…but health-wise, I think it would be better to have a total ban, so you wouldn’t have to come in contact with that ever.”

According to Topping, he sees a smoker throw cigarette butts on the ground and sidewalks every day. He added that there are signs of tobacco use even when there is not anyone in sight on campus.

“You’ll see cigarette butts on the sidewalk or on the grass beside the sidewalk,” he said. “It’s not that the ground is covered in them, but you’ll see them.”

Tracey Griffin, a groundskeeper for the university, said he thinks his job of cleaning will be easier with a stricter tobacco policy.

“When students change classes, they’re going to come out and get a smoke,” he said. “They have a tendency to leave a few around the urns, on the ground.”

Although Griffin, a non-smoker, said he expects to see some cigarettes, he thinks that enforcement will be stricter than it is currently.

“Somebody is going to sneak one,” he said. “You’re going to see a butt lying here and there. They’re not all going to follow the rules. Somebody is going to be hardheaded, they’re not going to listen, but I hope they don’t get caught.”

Griffin added, while breathing problems and cancer from secondhand smoke is widely talked about, smoking could be harmful to others in many ways.

In general settings, many smokers are not aware if they are discarding their cigarette butts where exposed gas lines could be present.

“You have safety hazards everywhere.

You may accidentally burn somebody.

Someone may come by, you’ll turn around and burn them.”

Safety to non-smokers is most likely the reason for a stricter ban, according to Griffin. “It’s a known fact that cigarettes are a slow killer,” he said.

For the sake of continuity, Topping said a single tobacco policy for the consolidated university would be best.

Chelsea Stetz, GRU student, outside of Washington Hall on the Summerville campus. Photo by Davis Gavitt.

“You haven’t said anything to me before, but you’re going to say something to me now?”

Phoenix 17

“I think there is a balance that needs to be kept, because we are merging with GHSU and it should be health geared. But it is also a question of stepping on people’s rights.”

However, adherence to that policy on the Summerville campus will be another issue. He said he has never seen Public Safety notify smokers that they are smoking too close to entrances.

“I think it’s going to be a typical bell curve,” Topping said. “Some people are going to be glad and say it will give them a reason to quit. But I think some people are going to say, ‘they’re going to have to arrest me to get me to stop smoking.’

Which is understandable, because they may see it as an infringement of their choice, as an adult.”

A compromise for the sake of other’s health and safety should be the next natural step, Topping said. He said he expects that some may think a total ban on tobacco use to be unfair.

“It’s unfortunate that some people will feel like their rights are being trampled on for the sake of everyone else, but sometimes that is how it is,” he said.

Bloodworth is one of the many that spoke to their expectation that some will violate any new tobacco policy, just as there are those that violate the current one.

“I was always skeptical of a complete ban on smoking anywhere on campus, even the parking lots, because it’s not enforceable. How would you do that?”

Saul spoke of schools that have tobacco policies and mentioned Gainesville State College (now University of North Georgia) having a campus-wide tobaccofree policy since 2003. However, Saul added that while he was a student at Gainesville State, he and others smoked on campus.

“You could just do it while you were walking down the pathway from building to building,” Saul said. “You could just do it out in the open. People wouldn’t say anything to you, really.”

Although a stricter policy may be created, Saul said he does not believe that there will be much enforcement.

“They can try and enforce a penalty for smoking on campus, but I don’t think that ultimately it would be implemented.”

According to Bloodworth, a seldomenforced policy may not serve its purpose.

“Some criminal justice professor said, ‘a law that is only 90 percent enforceable is not a very good law.’” Bloodworth said.

The group of friends outside JSAC also said that enforcement is the key.

“Just having a policy, you’re either going to piss people off or get them to support it,” Bozeman said. “But how you enforce it, will definitely be the big thing.”

Karen Ribble is the project manager tasked with ironing out the details of the policy and enforcement for GRU’s tobacco policy.

“We are in the process of forming a committee, that offers representation from a diverse group, that includes students, faculty, and community,” she said.

According to Ribble, enforcement of a future policy will be addressed. Along with enforcement, other areas will be dealt with also. Those areas will include cessation aid for smokers, education of health risks within the surrounding communities, the timing of when the policy will take effect and what products will be included in the ban.

Banning of all nicotine products seemed to be extreme to some students, due to the unobtrusiveness of chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes, etc. The group of friends outside of JSAC found it ridiculous that other tobacco and nicotine products may be banned with cigarettes.

According to Ribble, there are many aspects to consider in forming the policy, educating people of the reasons for the

policy, communicating the policy and enforcing the policy. Although cleanliness of the Summerville campus and policyconsistency with the downtown campus being sought, the new tobacco policy’s purpose is to reduce health risks for everyone: students, visitors, faculty, employees, vendors, etc.

However, with health and safety as the backbone of the new tobacco policy, will that promote enforcement and compliance, eventually ending all debates about it?

Bloodworth addressed that there are potential dangers in having a complete tobacco ban. He said he fears a student, faculty or staff member crossing Walton Way traffic to smoke, due to the danger.

The debate may continue as long as there are those that want to smoke.

“My impression, last spring, was that there were some people at GHSU who thought their policy ought to be reconsidered a little bit,” he said. “I would hear from individuals that say ‘we have this problem and that problem, we don’t like people walking across 15th street…’ you know, someone was killed a few years ago.”

Andrew Tarr is a senior major sociology and communication major.

Smoke image courtesy of dknudsen on stock.xchng.

Cigarette butt image courtesy of Vivek Chugh on stock.xchng.

18 Spring 2013

my Online datinG

Disaster

Story by Shea Anderson | I’m sitting there, staring at a blank cursor, trying to figure out exactly what I should say about myself in 1000 words or less, and nothing of great importance is coming to mind.

Once again, I wonder why I am doing this.

Let me take you back several months to a time when I was single and my mom and aunt were strongly encouraging me to try an online dating site.

“It will be fun!” they told me.

My aunt reminds me, yet again, that she has a friend who does the online dating scene and “She goes on a date with different men every night.”

I keep my thoughts to myself regarding

Layout & Illustrations by Erica Wright

what society calls women like that and just smile and nod. On the other end of the spectrum, my mother reminds me, for what seems like the one-millionth time, that my eggs are getting old and she would like some grandchildren.

In any event, I reluctantly agreed to sign up for online dating and there I sat, trying to tell the male population about myself. Essentially, I am filling out my own online advertisement, and let me just say, it is painful.

I finally come up with something that makes me think men will be interested in me, and then the site lets me begin sifting through men like a department store catalog.

As I scan through all of the eligible bachelors the site has to offer, I begin to think this may not have been such a bad idea after all.

There are some hunka hunka burning love beasts on this site, but alas, I never got to meet one.

No, instead my online dating story

“Love BIG bouncy hooters.”

Phoenix 19

Full Name Select a username Select a password The Grandpa

Email Zipcode

goes more like this…

One of the first men to express interest in me was a guy I had seen on the site but never actually checked out his profile.

Something about the little thumbnail profile picture just screamed no.

But of course, he emailed me, and it happened to be one night while I was getting ready for work. I opened the email and read as he asked me if I wanted to “hang out” that night. He also gave me his phone number.

Well, I was going to be at work until around 2 a.m., and I was not interested in meeting someone I had never met that late at night.

So, I emailed him back and said that I had to work that night, but maybe some other time.

Of course, it wasn’t until after I emailed him back that I bothered to look at his profile and discover that he was indeed 39. As if I didn’t already think he was too old for me, upon closer inspection of his pictures, I came to the conclusion that he had not been 39 for about 12 years and the truth had been stretched quite a bit. But I digress. Within ten minutes of hitting send on my reply, I had another email from him that read: “Call me as soon as you get off work, and I will come over, and we can hang out and be night owls.”

He gave me his phone number. Again.

Call me crazy, but I just don’t think he wanted to come over and play Monopoly,

20 Spring 2013

so I let this opportunity fly right on by.

A couple of weeks went by and I received yet another email from the same man that read: “Can we talk? You seem cute and sweet and in need of a good guy. Call me.”

Again, he included his phone number.

Not too long after I didn’t reply to that email, the caption on his profile said, “Love BIG bouncy hooters.” If that’s true, he wouldn’t have been that impressed with me then, anyways.

The second man to express interest in me was a lot better.

At first.

He was attractive and had a decent job as a physical therapist, which meant he was established. Excellent! He was divorced and had two very young daughters which meant he had a baby mama. Okay, maybe I can work with that.

He emailed me and told me he liked my profile and my pictures and wanted to know if we could get to know each other a little better.

No mention of night or owls which meant so far, so good.

We emailed back and forth a few times, and he asked if he could have my phone number so he could text me. He didn’t give me the stalker vibe so I agreed.

That day we texted a bit, and that’s when things got weird. We had not exchanged 20 text messages when he called me “sexy lady,” told me he thought I was probably a pretty good kisser and he couldn’t wait

to find out.

A couple of days later, he texted me to ask when he was going to get to see my “sexy self.”

Upon further investigation of where he wanted to see me, I learned that he wanted me to drive two hours to his house so that he could “cook me dinner.”

Once again, I could probably leave my board games at home, and just pick up a pack of Trojans on the way there.

Finally, the next guy who “winked” at me, as they say in the online dating world, was a 24-year-old college student who was divorced and had a son.

He was extremely nice and never once called me “sexy thing” or told me I had nice boobs. Unfortunately, he scored really high in the “I am a man-child” category. He admitted that he only had one friend he could hang out with; he had a Superman tattoo on his bicep and sat around drinking Kool-Aid while he read comic books from his comic book collection.

Convinced that I was not putting enough effort into the online world of dating, my aunt and uncle, who are both public relations professionals, sat down and not only did a complete make-over on my profile, but they also sent out several emails to potential male suitors.

The hours passed, the days went by and I received zero responses to the emails produced by people who promote for a living. Instead, my membership

The Horndog

The Manchild

The Bum

“Once again, I could probably leave my board games at home, and just pick up a pack of Trojans on the way there.” expired and I graciously accepted that finding love on the Internet was just not how my love story was to be told.

So, what makes a person finally decide to bite the bullet and sign up for online dating? In my case, I had nothing to lose because I had already dated the bottom of the barrel. And by that I mean I had scraped the barnacles off of the bottom of the barrel.

As my mom says, “Name an age, race, height or weight, and I bet my daughter has dated him.”

To give you a small glimpse of my dating history, meet Kerry.

A 35-year-old man who worked at the Augusta National on a seasonal cleaning crew making $10 an hour, drove an older-than-him Pontiac Grand Am that he had to open from the outside and lived in Harrisburg with his parents. Did I know any of that when one of my male friends set me up with him? Nope! All I knew was that he was cute and funny, so naturally I did not object when he asked for my phone number and my friend gave it to him.

Slowly, the red flags started to appear.

The first one came when he asked me out and then had me meet him at the IHOP, where he hopped out of his hoopty and jumped into the passenger seat of my car. After he laid the seat down like a gangsta white boy, he turned to me, said, “Sup?” and asked me where we were going. I suppose I’m lucky he bothered to

pay the bill that night.

Red flag number two appeared when I realized that any time I saw him, he was always wearing a really baggy t-shirt and mesh basketball shorts.

One time I asked him if he owned any polo shirts, and he told me he didn’t know where he would wear something like that.

Oh. Mercy.

Red flag number three appeared when from that point on, whenever he asked me out, we never actually went anywhere.

Instead, we met at Lake Olmstead where we talked under the gazebo for a few hours, and he used Dane Cook’s material as his own, while I pretended not to notice. It was during this time that he was supposedly working 12-hour days, and he just didn’t feel like being around other people out in public.

We didn’t go to an actual restaurant again until I offered to pay and he let me.

I’m not sure why I gave him as long as I did, but after that, I pretty much knew that Mr. Kerry was a definite no, and I told him that if his lifestyle was the best he could do then I was done with him.

So you can see why trying the online dating thing wasn’t such a stretch.

In a world where little girls grow up dreaming of a handsome young prince to whisk her away to his castle on the hill, dating in the real world can be hard and oftentimes discouraging.

I laugh as I think back on the day when I thought I was going to marry celebrities

DEAD END

who have never known that I exist, and even today, at the age of 28, I relish the day I meet Tim Tebow and he sweeps me off my feet.

Today I am a college senior who is scheduled to graduate in May. Much to my mother’s chagrin, I am still very single, but I am also very much okay with that. For now, I am over men and the whole dating scene, and I just want to let the right one find me. I don’t know what my future holds after graduation, but thanks to the fact that I am unhitched and unattached, I am free to move about the country.

I know one day my prince will come, but unfortunately for my mother, she is going to have to wait just a little bit longer for a man to give her that long-sought after title of World’s Greatest Mother-inLaw.

Shea Anderson is a senior communication major on the public relations track.

Phoenix 21

THE FACE OF A

UNION

An Interview with GRU’s President, Dr. Azziz Story by Daphne Maysonet Layout by Sara Tafazoli & Erica Wright

I turned into the parking lot labeled Office of the President, pulling into the space with a sticker of my last name posted onto the visitor parking sign.

As I sat down with Dr. Azziz for our first interview, I was nervous to meet a public figure who was at the pinnacle of Augusta’s controversy; a president whose name was on the picket signs of protestors; someone who appeared in media and public dialogue as a caricature of power and a symbol for local unrest.

“Sit down wherever you’d like. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll pull this chair around,” he said.

He began to narrate his story.

22 Spring 2013

Photo courtesy of the Office the President.

THE ADOLESCENT Ricardo Azziz was born in 1958 in Montevideo, Uruguay, to a civil engineer turned physics professor father and a law student mother. Academia was in his blood, and, at age three, it would move him up the continent to Pennsylvania when his father was accepted to a theoretical physics program at Penn State. Life in the United States was simple for young Azziz, as his family moved to different cities within the state in search of the right home. But a move back to Uruguay would prove eye-opening. Azziz’s father received a request from the Uruguayan government to develop a nuclear physics department, so ten-year-old Azziz and his family set off back to South America to accompany him. The Azziz family was surprised to find that they’d returned to a country that was now in great political turmoil with urban guerilla movements gaining power rapidly. Azziz described the lesson he learned from the experience. “[The experience helps to] make you

a better patriot [and to] understand the value of America and what it stands for in the world . . .We all think that this is the way it is – that if we study hard and do well that society is going to reward us in many ways. Well, that’s the American Dream, but that’s not always the dream that other places have,” Azziz said.

The next move for the family would be to Puerto Rico, where young Azziz and his parents escaped the coup in Uruguay that followed their departure. But the Azzizes wouldn’t leave completely unscathed, as they’d been forced to leave most of their belongings and their home in Uruguay.

Azziz’s experience growing up in Puerto Rico was marked by the first time his family had experienced financial struggle.

“We went seven years with no vacation” and “no two days off in a row,” Azziz said. He and his father worked to survey land and helped to build homes for extra income.

Azziz said his childhood was very structured, with little to no down time and only one day off a week—a hectic

“That was my first exposure to the fact that you can create the future if you just simply envision it” schedule that would undoubtedly prepare him for a lifetime of hard work.

But the move to Puerto Rico did lend the Azzizes relief from the political chaos of Uruguay and provided the basis of Azziz’s education. Azziz spent the rest of his childhood in Puerto Rico, finishing high school in two years and completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Puerto Rico in just three years.

Phoenix 23

Photo courtesy of the Office the President.

THE STUDENT Next on Azziz’s agenda was medical school and a return to the continental U.S., which he considered home despite spending many years abroad.

Azziz naturally chose to attend Penn State—the college that his father had previously attended during his childhood and one with national recognition and a brand new medical college in Hershey, Penn.

Class work came naturally to him. His education flourished without the added responsibility of helping to support his family through full-time work building homes, and he was shocked to find out how little his peers worked.

As such, he found medical school to be “a breeze.” Perhaps because of the ease with which he learned course content, Azziz paid unusually close attention to his overall impression of the new medical program. A child of two academics, he focused keenly on Penn State’s curriculum-building process.

“It was great to be in an environment where things were being built as you were there. Classes were being crafted. Your ideas really mattered. It was the first time I had a sense of being part of something that—you’re building something new, something exciting. You’re crafting a

24 Spring 2013

vision . . . That was my first exposure to the fact that you can create the future if you just simply envision it,” Azziz said.

Academia had made an impression on Azziz during his years in medical school, but his next move would be an unexpected shift. Taking a residency at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C., Azziz anticipated a potential move into politics. Of his interest in public service, he said, “I wanted to make a difference in the world.

This is 1977—many of us wanted to make a difference . . . we wanted to make a difference in the world that was coming out of Vietnam—a world that had lots of uncertainties . . .” Although Azziz enjoyed both Georgetown and Washington D.C., his interest in becoming a politician would prove short-lived. After his residency at Georgetown, he resolved that the business of politics was “for professionals . . . not for amateurs” and moved back into academia for a fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, fulfilling a personal dream.

THE SCIENTIST However, at Johns Hopkins Azziz did more than fulfill a dream. He developed a passion for the field of fertility reproductive endocrinology—an area of scholarship which attracted the young

scientist for several reasons.

According to Azziz, the field was versatile in that it would allow him to perform both surgery and medicine, but, perhaps, more importantly, he felt that he could make a consistent positive impact on patients’ lives. Female reproductive endocrinology would also become Azziz’s scientific research specialty throughout his career.

Today, Azziz is one of the ten or twenty scientists recognized internationally for his research in the field of female reproductive endocrinology and excess male hormone in women.

This condition called hirsutism is more commonly known as “bearded woman” syndrome and can cause women to become infertile. But the social effects of the condition are particularly fascinating to Azziz as well. In our second interview, Azziz detailed the connection he felt for the field.

“It was an area that women really required—the patients really required—a lot of attention… People really didn’t understand the disorder. And they were patients in great need. Excess male hormone in women does not only cause people to be infertile, but it also really affects the way you see yourself—affects the way people see you. It masculinates your image. And that is really devastating

for young women, who, say, have to shave before they go out on a first date. It’s very tough,” Azziz said.

Another aspect of the subspecialty that drew Azziz in was its relative newness.

This feature of the field was paramount to Azziz, whose interest was piqued by the opportunity to answer questions that had never been answered before and complete research that had never been completed.

“I had not had any personal experience with these type of patients before. I really just found them to be a type of patient that a lot was unknown. These were very complex, complicated endocrine mechanisms that, in fact, got more complicated not less complicated over the years,” Azziz said.

This subspecialty still fascinates the scientist, and his research reflects that passion in the one to two peer-reviewed articles he publishes every month.

Johns Hopkins also inspired Azziz in a different way. Homing in on the program’s experience once more, Azziz paid close attention to the ways in which the successful medical programs interacted with the equally recognized liberal arts curriculum. He found it had a unique ability to provide a better value to students through its diverse programs and student body.

“Stand alone medical schools suffer from the inability to have these collaborations with other disciplines— whether it’s the humanities or social

sciences or the businesses or the arts,” Azziz said.

THE ACADEMIC AND ADMINISTRATOR After completing his fellowship at Johns Hopkins, Azziz moved to the South for his first job as a faculty member at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB). During his time at UAB, he earned masters degrees in both public health and business administration. Having been a successful researcher, doctor and faculty member and the son of two professors, a career in academia came naturally to Azziz. But college administration was a new concept for Azziz, who, like many in the industry, had a mostly negative notion of administrators.

“You know, I grew up in a household with two parents who were faculty.

[They] taught me that, in fact, the only people who become academic administrators are those that are failures and those that are mediocre and those that are poor at what they do. And, of course, that was the lesson they told me, so I actually stayed away from academic administration because of that. It’s a common misperception,” Azziz said.

But throughout his career, Azziz found this idea to be mostly false, discovering that administrators were often both successful in their careers as scholars and, simultaneously, apt to understand and coordinate larger systems of service.

Over 15 years Azziz expanded his career at UAB, the institution also

developed into a larger, better-recognized university. Azziz met his future wife Cindy at a tap dancing recital during that time.

After dating for several months, the two married and began their family in Birmingham. But a drive for leadership experience moved the Azzizes across the country to Los Angeles’ CedarsSinai Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where Azziz took on several academic and administrative positions ranging from professor to department chair to assistant dean. From 2002 to 2010, he helped redeem the obstetrics and gynecology department from its sinking fiscal and academic productivity.

But 2010 would bring Azziz back to the South and into the then Medical College of Georgia. As Azziz took on the position as president at Augusta’s medical institution, he drew on his experiences at UAB and UCLA to inform his vision.

And that vision included a name change to Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU), which Azziz views as an accomplishment that has helped to bring the institution into the national radar.

“We are so often referred to as the hidden jewel,” Azziz said. “I have no desire to hide this jewel. I want to make it very visible.”

Another point of pride for Azziz in his leadership has been integrating GHSU’s university and medical center

Photo courtesy of the Office the President.

Phoenix 25

Photo courtesy of the Office the President.

leadership to create a more unified service institution. He worked to not only enlarge GHSU’s research but also create an institute of public health and preventative medicine.

Today Azziz’s workdays start at around four-thirty a.m.—his early mornings alternating between gym time and responding to e-mails and writing and correcting manuscripts. By seventhirty, Azziz gets ready for work, and, by eight, he arrives. His daily work largely consists of consecutive one-on-one and group meetings, but he works to build in downtime during the middle of the day.

He describes this brief respite as essential to his work, but admits that the breaks don’t always come as frequently as he’d like.

“I think this is one of the big errors that people do in administrations. They— and their staff, primarily—fill their time up with meetings one after another after another, while not realizing that the meetings are actually the predecessors to decision-making, analysis, thoughtful critique, these kinds of things,” Azziz said.

In addition to the numerous meetings, Azziz also continues to lecture in the department of OBGYN. He continues to see patients for one-half a day per month, and students accompany him to these appointments.

Sometimes he meets with student organizations, but, often, his interactions

26 Spring 2013

with students are outside of the classroom or office. He said that students aren’t afraid to approach and speak to him casually in the hallways of GHSU. “Students just come up to me and talk to me, which I like,” Azziz said. “It’s always interesting to find out what they’re doing and where they’re going.”

THE FAMILY MAN Along with the opportunity for challenge and growth that leadership at GHSU provided, a move back to the South meant that Azziz would be closer to both he and his wife’s family—a subject about which he is also passionate.

Married 17 years, the two often fight to spend time with one another in the face of Azziz’s hectic work schedule, which very often includes evening entertaining at the GHSU’s stately presidential home where the family resides. Despite the constant call of work, Azziz finds time to spend with his wife Cindy.

“You know, marriages don’t just happen, and they certainly don’t just stay because it’s habit. I think anybody who counts on habit or takes for granted that they’re married is on the road to finding out they don’t have a marriage. And I say that from experience both having watched my parents but mostly also from

Photo courtesy of the Office the President.

professional experience. You know, I did many, many, many years of infertility counseling, and a lot of it involves marital counseling, and so you have to understand that,” Azziz said.

Spending time with his wife Cindy, daughters Ashlee and Mallory and son Jonathon allows a reprieve for Azziz, and the family enjoys both home time, watching movies and mystery shows on Wednesday nights and taking family vacations—the latter being a partial response to his own very structured childhood.

“I like to hang out with my kids— they’re really cool kids,” Azziz said. “I like their company . . . You know, my father growing up did not spend a lot of time with us. And so I really try to fight to have time, so we bundle our kids for events. Even if they don’t have to go, we still try to take them. We go on vacations together.”

According to Cindy Azziz, her husband sometimes treats his children to dinner dates individually just to engage them one-on-one about their daily experiences.

“I’m not the typical dad,” Azziz said.

“I’m not the big sports person, right?

You won’t find me out there too much throwing the baseball . . . And, practically, I don’t do much in the way of hunting or fishing or golfing or any of those kinds of things. So we do a lot more other things, you know, working together on different projects, going to shows, traveling, watching movies together, these kinds of things.”

For Azziz, striking a balance between instilling the determination and structure with which he was raised and finding the time for family fun can be difficult. His daughter Mallory notes his expectation for high grades in school. “’I’m very proud of you, but work harder,’” she says recasting a familiar phrase of her dad’s.

“Students just come up to me and talk to me, which I like... It’s always interesting to find out what they’re doing and where they’re going.”

portraits. But since his move to Georgia, he’s struggled to find time to engage in the intense work sessions needed for art projects.

“I try to do art, but, the truth is, the time—I need more than just a few hours to get my head into the art field. It just can’t do that. So usually art and art projects are reserved for longer breaks,” Azziz said.

Azziz’s interests are not confined to the worlds of art and science.

Perhaps the most accurate description of Azziz during his down time would be to call him a Renaissance man, as his interests span several different subjects.

Music, too, enthralls the scientist.

“I’m a very eclectic person,” Azziz said. “You know, I have 15,000 songs on my iTunes, and they range from jazz to pop to hip hop to classical to, you know, Brazilian to French.”

Ashlee Azziz even spoke of an instance

when she walked passed his office one day as he was working to find hip-hop emanating from the room. She opened the door and asked what Azziz was listening to.

“The new Black-Eyed Peas album,” he said.

THE FACE OF THE CONSOLIDATION However light-heartedly human, these images aren’t likely the ones that current ASU students have seen since the announcement of the consolidation of GHSU and ASU in January 2012.

Keenly aware of how he has been portrayed by local media, Azziz recognizes that his public persona must deviate somewhat from his private self.

According to Azziz, his team must know his rigorousness for excellence and innovation, and they must become acclimated to his mission-oriented managerial approach. He notes that

THE RENAISSANCE MAN When not on vacations with his family, Azziz tries to find time to pursue hobbies outside of his field.

But creativity is familiar to Azziz, who many know as an avid art fan and artist.

His work is largely surrealistic as is the work of some of his favorite artists, such as Salvador Dali and René Magritte, and the walls of his home are covered in various pieces, some floor-to-ceiling

Photo courtesy of the Office the President.

Phoenix 27

his gestures and facial expressions can mislead an audience of students or local residents to believe that he is “strict,” but he concedes that his rigor is simply in the best interest of students.

“I do believe that we need to be providing the best value that we can to our students and faculty and researchers . . . And, unfortunately, I don’t do humor as well as I’d like to . . . I get very serious about things. I don’t try to take things in a light-hearted way enough,” Azziz said.

But the image of a steadfast, aggressive president is not always constructed by Azziz.

He also admits that his public persona is partially a result of unflattering and inaccurate media coverage—coverage which his wife Cindy Azziz and his children avoid mostly because they watch little television.

“They go from you being a hero to you being a heel very rapidly,” he said. “And it’s unfortunately very disingenuous.”

The tide of public opinion, however, cannot just be linked to media coverage.

One particular point of contention for students, faculty, alumni and local Augusta residents has been the naming controversy. This trouble began during the summer of 2012 when students, given an option between several new names for the consolidated university, selected a name by popular vote through several online surveys.

By August 2012, the new name should have been selected through this process, but, instead, a new name was chosen for the consolidated school: Georgia Regents University—a name no one seemed to stand behind except the new president of the consolidation.

Since the decision to move forward with the name despite the opinions of students, staff, residents, alumni and local government officials, Azziz has been largely negatively received on the now Summerville campus, making life particularly difficult for the Azziz family.

Life has been especially difficult for his daughter, GRU student Ashlee Azziz, who has faced criticism from both her fellow students and GRU faculty members.

But, according to Azziz, the visceral reaction to the naming of the consolidated university has been more than popular opinion of a survey.

“There are three things. The loss of power. There’s a small nucleus of people in this community who’ve been

28 Spring 2013

calling the shots in this community for a very long time without regard for the university, and, you know, they feel at risk that perhaps they are losing the ability to make the university do what they want to do—whatever that may be—I don’t know. The second one is that there is a community around golf . . . there are people who feel that because Augusta has been linked to golf, we’re devaluing golf, and golf is a religion in this city. So that’s brought out another series of very anxious people around . . . do we value golf and what’s going to be the future of golf . . . because many people see ASU as a junior golf academy . . . It is a reaction of many alumni at ASU and some of the faculty and students around the fear that they’re gonna be swallowed up by this giant of an enterprise that is gonna somehow make them disappear. And it’s sort of this last stand to retain independence, if you would,” Azziz said.

Azziz maintains that the name chosen by popular vote—University of Augusta— could not be an appropriate title for the new research university, which would be expected to grow into national recognition as a comprehensive institution—one not bound by the name of a city. Nor does he feel that the problem we’ve faced over several months in Augusta’s university naming debacle is unique to our town.

Furthermore, Azziz argued that the name would be so similar to ASU’s current name, it could not appropriately represent the merger of the two schools—a process that should be creating something entirely new and a goal that seems to be at the heart of Azziz’s character.

For the consolidated university, Azziz has many short and long-term wishes.

Firstly, he hopes that people will start to embrace the concept and relinquish their fears and anxieties about the merger.

Secondly, he hopes that the cultures on the two campuses begin to blend over the next three years.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly to Azziz, he hopes that the school will take on a new level of growth and national recognition, being able to offer the public numerous new services and offer students more value for their education.

For Azziz, the worth of the college education not only comes in the various scholarship, programs and faculty members to which students are exposed during their college careers, but it comes

in the esteem in which outsiders— employers—hold the university as well.

When asked what the new university will stand for in the national radar over the next decade, Azziz described his unique philosophy about the role of the comprehensive consolidated university.

“I do think that over the short term— like in the next decade—the hook for this university is going to be the health sciences. Lots of people are gonna come here because they think they’re going to be doctors or nurses and so on. What we do know is that two-thirds of those students who come in thinking they’re gonna do this or that are not going to do it, right?

They’re going to do something else. And that’s why it’s going to be very important that we have excellent programs in many other areas as well. But having said that, I want us to be known for a number of different things. I want us to be known for a great music program, for a great art program or great STEM undergraduate degrees,” Azziz said. ***

As my last interview ended, what I found was simply a man.

A man whose passion for education and drive in his industry is expressed in larger-than-life gestures and intense rhetoric, which sometimes polarize his audience.

And, as our last interview ended, spilling over into another appointment with Channel 26 News, I found that I had met a man who is engaged in a continuous merger between responsibilities, interests, personas and ideals.

Daphne Maysonet is an Augusta State University alumna.

FLIP FOR COUPONS!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

This coupon was featured in the Spring 2013 issue of GRU’s Phoenix and may or may not be valid after June 2013.

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

This coupon was featured in the Spring 2013 issue of GRU’s Phoenix and may or may not be valid after June 2013.

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

Certain restrictions apply. Limit one coupon per visit per party. Not to be used in conjunction with any other sale or promotional offer. Does not apply to daily special items or email club specials. Second menu item must be of equal or lesser value.

$6.99 Lunch Combo Any sandwich, side and drink.

3-6 p.m. everyday happy hour - $2.75 23 oz. drafts, $1.00 BBQ chicken sliders

expiration date: 12/31/13

Bring in this coupon and student ID and get 10% off.

Expiration date: 6/30/2013

15% off your purchase when you show this coupon and your student ID.

10% off when you show this coupon and your student ID. Expiration date: 6/30/2013

15% off your purchase when you show this coupon and your student ID.

10% off when you show this coupon and your student ID. Expiration date: 6/30/2013

Expiration date: 6/30/2013

10% off when you show this coupon and your student ID.

A NEW TRADITION.

We asked. You answered. So here you go!

Say hello to the new section of the Phoenix magazine.

GRUpons will only run in the print version of the magazine, never online. With limited spacing avaible we ask that any interested advertiser contact us!

10% off your highest prices item.

Expires June 30, 2013.

2 piece dark chicken, your choice of 1 side, and 1 biscuit all for $5.00 even.

PERRY & COMPANY

Just show your student ID and this coupon.

Expires Jun 30, 2013.

This offer is only valid at the Evans location.

STYLIST KENDRA FRYER

$25 off any hair service for students with this coupon

Buy one 16 oz Froyo and get one of equal or lesser value FREE!

LeLis:

$5 towards any purchase, No limit or minimum purchase.

Expiration date: 6/30/2013

Ah La Mode Beautyque

White Lawn Care

10% off of service with this coupon “A perfect lawn doesn’t take care of it’s self.”

10% off any full price item when you show this coupon.

One free fitness class when you show this coupon and your student ID. Expiration date: 12/31/13

10% off any full price item when you show this coupon.

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

This coupon was featured in the Spring 2013 issue of GRU’s Phoenix and may or may not be valid after June 2013.

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

GRUpons will only run in the print version of the magazine, never online. With limited spacing avaible we ask that any interested advertiser contact us!

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

This coupon was featured in the Spring 2013 issue of GRU’s Phoenix and may or may not be valid after June 2013.

This offer is only valid at the Evans MFC, adjacent to Walmart on Washington Rd. 706-496-8632

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

This coupon was featured in the Spring 2013 issue of GRU’s Phoenix and may or may not be valid after June 2013.

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

This coupon was featured in the Spring 2013 issue of GRU’s Phoenix and may or may not be valid after June 2013.

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

This coupon was featured in the Spring 2013 issue of GRU’s Phoenix and may or may not be valid after June 2013.

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Be ready to show your student ID if asked.

This coupon was featured in the Spring 2013 issue of GRU’s Phoenix and may or may not be valid after June 2013.

This offer is only valid for one use per student.

Name and 927 number will be tracked. Multiple copies of this coupon can not be used by the same student.

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhxMag Tell us who else you want a coupon from!

WINGSPAN A section of the Phoenix magazine devoted to the works of art produced by students, faculty, staff and alumni of Georgia Regents University.

Photo provided by Davis Gavitt

Phoenix 33

Fine Arts major, Drawing & Painting Visit aort1982.tumblr.com for more artwork by this artist. “Span & Depth�

Oil and Ink 2012-2013

?

“Untitled” Acrylic and charcoal 2013

“Windows II” Acryic and charcoal 2011

Senior, Fine Arts major, Drawing & Painting

'Immolation' Oil on canvas.

2013

36 Spring 2013

'Fade' Oil on canvas.

2012

'Portrait of the Artist as Disembodied Head' Oil on canvas.

2013

ore?

ork?

w Like the

see m Want to

Senior s ’ e l o ic N to visit tion April 5, e r u s Make recep , 9 allery 3 G il d r r p y B A Show Mary S. e h t in 5-7pm) -Erica Phoenix 37

Just like OXYGENfeeling healthy and good about yourself is not a luxury... it’s an absolute necessity.

Oxygen proudly offers student and teacher discounts.

Come work out with us!

• • • • • • • •

Barre Hot Yoga Spin Ripped Ride Piloxing TRX Bootcamps Personal Training

Classes to fit any schedule!

Take the time... schedule to sweat!

Oxygen is conveniently located in the lower level of Surrey Center.

375 Highland Avenue, Augusta, GA www.oxygenfitstudio.com 706.364.7746

love with its e h t e r a h s o r campus e Phoenix, s u h o t y e f v o o l e u u o s Y is the latest p u k ic P ! g in sibl newspaper!

THIS SPACE HERE...

The voice of Georgia Regents University.

COULD HAVE BEEN YOUR AD! Contact the Phoenix’s advertising minion: hannahrosefoerster@gmail.com