Georgia State University Magazine Q2 2015

THE

NEW NORMAL

Q2.15 MAGAZINE.GSU.EDU

Are we on the cusp of a future where we can just take a pill to work longer, learn faster and achieve more?

Is that a world where we want to live?

THE ETHICS OF NEUROENHANCEMENT

M A G A Z I N E

MARK DINATALE (B.A. ‘07) HAS A DREAM TO MAKE THE ATLANTA HAWKS EVERYONE’S TEAM GRAD STUDENT NEDRA DEADWYLER BRINGS CIVIL RIGHTS STORIES TO LIFE ABOARD A BIKE REGENTS’ PROFESSOR BILL SESSIONS GIVES THE WORLD FLANNERY O’CONNOR’S OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY

DE VE LOPME NT & A L U M N I A F FA I R S

leave a legacy... support georgia state At Georgia State’s Neuroscience Institute, Ph.D. student Kate McCann is drilling down to the molecular level to find out how outside stress causes certain behaviors and what can be done to counteract it. Her own stress level has been lowered by alums Kenneth and Georganne Honeycutt, who’ve provided not only financial support — through the graduate fellowship that bears their name — but also the encouragement that fuels McCann’s drive to keep exploring.

th e gif t that ignited

The Honeycutts are such genuine and supportive alumni, which really helps motivate me, and it lets me know that what I'm doing is important.

Please contact Laura M. Sillins, J.D., at (404) 413-3425 or lsillins@gsu.edu to discuss a planned gift today.

OFFICE OF GIFT PLANNING | giving.gsu.edu

CONTENTS 10 New Digs Dean Steven J. Kaminshine talks up the College of Law’s new building opening this fall.

14 Marketing Poison Public Health Professor Monica Swahn fights to stop drinking from destroying Uganda.

22 FREEDOM RIDE

Grad student Nedra Deadwyler tells the stories of Atlanta’s Civil Rights sites on two wheels.

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15 Cultural Entrepreneur Jeremiah Ojo (B.S. ‘13) blends business, community and art.

THE NEW NORMAL Cognitive-enhancing drugs with no medical side effects may be on our horizon.

How will they raise demands on society?

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A GOOD MAN FOUND Flannery O’ Connor’s longtime friend Regents’ Professor Bill Sessions is writing the author’s official biography.

“My life goal has always been to bring people together in the community.”

—Nedra Deadwyler

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY MARIO WAGNER. THIS PAGE PHOTO BY CHRIS STANFORD. ILLUSTRATION BY ARTIST HERE

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FROM THE PRESIDENT The group is broadly representative of the university, and this experience is taking shape to be a transformational one for every member of our team.

APEX EXPERIENCE

A

CLIMBING 10,781 FEET IN THE CASCADES WITH 10 GEORGIA STATE STUDENTS

S GEORGIA STATE’S president, I have many opportunities to talk with students and learn about what drives them to succeed.

Those talks are among the most rewarding and invigorating aspects of my job and remind me why I do what I do.

This spring, I’ve had a unique opportunity to go beyond conversation with 10 of our students. I’ve been training alongside them in preparation for a summit attempt at Mt. Baker, a glaciated mountain in the North Cascades in Washington State. We’ve hiked weekly with backpacks, learned how to work as a team at our Indian Creek high ropes course and talked a lot about preparing mentally and physically for the challenges of mountaineering.

As you read this, we’ll be in the final prep for the four-day climb that will test our physical and mental endurance, as well as our ability to work efficiently as a team. A portion of our time on the mountain will be dedicated to learning the basics of mountaineering. Fellow trip leader Carson Tortorige and I chose the 10 students from more than 75 applications.

The group is broadly representative of the university, and this experience is tak-

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ing shape to be a transformational one for every member of our team.

By the end of our journey the students will have acquired important life skills. These students, none of whom have ever climbed a glaciated mountain, will be challenged mentally, emotionally and physically.

With proper planning we’ll travel relatively comfortably, regardless of what weather we’ll encounter. Just as important, our work with the students has been aimed at doing everything we can to make the trip to Mt. Baker enjoyable rather than something to be endured or survived.

I started hiking and backpacking in high school and fell in love with the mountains. As life and the adult responsibilities of work and family mounted I did occasional hiking, but nothing too challenging, perhaps other than a scramble up Mt. St. Helens in the late 1980s.

Mt. Rainier, a magnificent, heavily glaciated mountain, looms large to the south of Seattle. In the late 1980s I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, and when I left the Pacific Northwest in summer 1989 I promised myself someday I would return to climb Rainier.

Climbing Mt. Rainier became a “bucket

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list” item for me, but as the years passed many more pressing or convenient priorities took precedence. Finally, in the fall of 2012 I decided I needed to make time in my life to train for and climb Mt. Rainier. I was not getting any younger, and climbing a mountain like Rainier is more than a day hike. My climbing group was fortunate to experience ideal weather and conditions, summiting as planned shortly after daybreak on the morning of July 8, 2013.

The sheer joy and peace I found on the mountain has led me to return to climbing again and again. I’m excited about sharing this experience with students, but even more excited about what they will come away with. There is no doubt this will be a learning experience for us all.

If you are interested in learning more about the trip, please visit www.gsu.edu/ baker.

Sincerely,

Mark P. Becker President

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDY FRIEDMAN

• Download a PDF of the magazine to your favorite tablet or device by visiting magazine.gsu.edu

LETTERS VIA TWITTER A MOVING STORY I am a regular reader of the magazine and really enjoy keeping up with what’s happening around Atlanta and the university. I have been moved by many articles in the past, but the story about Allison Webb and her son, Lee, was a bit more personal. In my work as a physical therapist, I have the honor to bear witness to the highs and lows that children and families deal with when health challenges and adversity come their way. I have never encountered in my lifetime what some deal with on a daily basis.

Through the 28 years I have been in practice, I consider them all heroes. ¶ Ms. Webb’s story and scholarship are so reflective of the shared understanding that all children and their contributions matter and should be celebrated any way we can. This philosophy is the cornerstone of why I do what I do. I hear her voice: as a mom, as a mom of children of color, as a citizen and as a fellow Georgia State alumna. I want her to know that her voice and Lee’s presence are not lost on the passing of time. Dr. Ann W. Jackson (B.S. ‘87).

Dr. Jackson is the founder of the Leading by Legacy Scholarship Foundation. Visit www.leadingbylegacy.org.

MIXED SIGNALS It is great to see your magazine lavish praises on the growing film industry; however, it bothers me that there is no mention of the broadcast industry, which has been a significant industry in Atlanta and Georgia for many decades. ¶ You acknowledge the need for proper training and education to keep above-the-line production in Georgia, and this is a fact, but the education system in Georgia has never addressed the lack in education for the broadcast industry. ¶ I have spent 35 years as a media professional, 24 years as the sound designer for the International Olympic Committee, and I have earned five Emmys. I have met only a handful of people who attended a Georgia college and work professionally in broadcasting. ¶ There are jobs in broadcasting, but our education system is failing this industry. Dennis Baxter (B.B.A. ’82)

Reported in @ gsumagazine that Ga State and Perimeter College are consolidating to form the largest in the state.

Both my alma maters are 1. @bradvanceGA Brad Vance I’m so proud of my alma mater @GeorgiaStateU. Reading how it’s growing its presence nationwide makes me proud to be a panther! (@ gsumagazine) @amycharming my Charming

VISIT US ONLINE AT MAGAZINE.GSU.EDU Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/ GSUMagazine Follow us onTwitter at twitter.com/ gsumagazine Follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/ georgiastateuniversity

“The Charlie Cobb story was terrific.

What a great attitude and outlook: ‘We have to get out of the mindset that we are just Georgia State.’”

Diane McDonough Riley (J.D. ’88)

Summer 2015, Vol 6, Number 2 Publisher Don Hale Executive Editor Andrea Jones Editor William Inman Contributors Ashton Brasher (B.A. ’15), Steven Kaminshine, Tony Rehagen, Anna Varela Creative Director José Reyes for Metaleap Creative MetaleapCreative.com Associate Creative Director Eric Capossela Designers Tiffany Forrester, Harold Velarde Contributing Illustrators Raymond Biesinger, Adam Cruft, Andy Friedman, Thomas Porostocky, Brett Ryder, Mario Wagner Contributing Photographers Josh Meister, Ben Rollins, Chris Stanford Send address changes to: Georgia State University Gifts and Records P.O. Box 3963 Atlanta Ga. 30302-3963 Fax: 404-413-3441 e-mail: update@GSU.edu Send letters to the editor and story ideas to: William Inman, editor, Georgia State University Magazine P.O. Box 3983 Atlanta Ga. 30302-3983 Fax: 404-413-1381 e-mail: winman@GSU.edu Georgia State University Magazine is published four times annually by Georgia State University. The magazine is dedicated to communicating and promoting the high level of academic achievement, research, faculty scholarship and teaching, and service at Georgia State University, as well as the outstanding accomplishments of its alumni and the intellectual, cultural, social and athletic endeavors of Georgia State University’s vibrant and diverse student body. © 2015 Georgia State University

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IN THE CITY

CAMPUS NEXT STEPS Consolidation with GPC moving forward Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) is expected to become the 10th college of Georgia State University, and GPC students who meet admission requirements will be able to transfer seamlessly to Georgia State without reapplying.

Baccalaureate degree-seeking students will attend Georgia State’s downtown campus, while associate-degree-seeking students will attend class on what are now GPC’s campuses. The online campus at GPC will become part of a larger university-wide platform for online education.

Georgia State President Mark Becker said GPC’s strong online presence creates a great opportunity for all Georgia State students wishing to take core classes online.

“I’m pretty excited about this,” he said.

“I expect online to continue to grow.”

The Consolidation Implementation Committee, appointed in January, recently crafted the mission statement, goals and direction of the new institution. The team includes Becker, GPC Interim President Rob Watts and 20 representatives from each institution.

Visit consolidation.gsu.edu for more information.

RESEARCH RECORD Funding increases 30 percent over last year Georgia State achieved a record level of research funding — $53 million — in the first two quarters of fiscal year 2015, a 30 percent increase over last year’s $39.9 million awarded in the same period.

The jump represents a 50 percent increase in research funding over 2011.

Federal awards make CONT’D ON P.9

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EDUCATION EXCHANGE

GEORGIA STATE GRADS GROOM A COHORT OF CHINESE STUDENTS FOR ACADEMIC LIFE IN THE STATES. INTERNATIONAL INTROS: Graduates of the College of Education recently began teaching a cohort of 11 high school students at Guangdong Overseas Chinese High School in Guangzhou, China. The program is teaching a standard American curriculum to rising 10th graders.

CUSTOM EXPERIENCE: As one of only a handful of initiatives like it in China, the

program is pioneering new paths in international education and working toward one of the five goals in Georgia State’s strategic plan in achieving distinction in globalizing the university.

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING: The expectation is that these students will pursue

their baccalaureate degrees in the U.S., and ideally at Georgia State. The program also provides College of Education graduates with the opportunity to gain valuable professional knowledge while also having an enriching cultural experience.

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ILLUSTRATION BY RAYMOND BIESINGER

THE LONGSHOT Mark DiNatale’s (B.A. ’07) dream to make the Atlanta Hawks everyone’s team.

BY TONY REHAGEN

PHOTOS BY BEN ROLLINS

THE LONGSHOT

M

ark DiNatale isn’t your stereotypical sports fan. He lives on the Goat Farm, an idyllic arts community on Atlanta’s west side, where he works as director of operations and programming and hangs out in the name-yourprice coffee shop listening to foreign jazz.

He grew up in Atlanta playing baseball and football and pulling for the local professionals just like any other kid. And as an adult, he watched with disappointment as the Thrashers hockey team flew north, scratched his head when it was announced that the barely 20-year-old Georgia Dome was to be replaced with his tax dollars and shook his fist when the Braves decided to leave for Cobb County.

So in January, when the Hawks went up for sale and cast doubt about whether that franchise would stay in the city, DiNatale decided he’d had enough. He took to the Web and started a campaign on gofundme.com called “Let’s all buy the Atlanta Hawks.” The stated goal: To be the first fully crowd-funded professional sports franchise in history. Sports Illustrated, the USA Today and others took note.

This sort of grassroots activism is what DiNatale is all about. After earning his degree in political science, he worked with Greenpeace, the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, teaching environmental conservation and organizing farmer cooperatives. When he returned to Atlanta in 2009 he founded Fresh Roots Farm, which transformed underused urban land into farmland. He also co-founded Farm Think, a development company that seeks to bring farming and small manufacturing to urban centers.

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In addition to his job at the Goat Farm, DiNatale is pursuing an MBA from the J. Mack Robinson School of Business. He’s no dummy. He knows the idea of a crowdfunded pro sports team is absurd — that’s the point.

“It’s part trolling, part performance art,” said DiNatale. “I wanted to show how powerless the fans actually are to affect anything.”

And whether they got the joke or were seriously trying to stake their claim, the public responded with “investments” ranging from $5 to $15,000 (which would never come due if the goal wasn’t met). Within a month, DiNatale had raised more than $100,000. The team sold to billionaire Tony Ressler in April for $850 million.

• Panther Cub Club!

Panthers under 10 are eligible to join the Panther Cub Club. Cubs will

receive an official Panther birth certificate and a special gift. Visit pantheralumni.com to join.

• Share Your Success Class notes are shareable through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

Post your good news and share with your network by visiting magazine.gsu. edu/add-class-notes.

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up the majority of research funding at the university, Millions of viewers reaching 74.9 perfor the March 21 cent of all research NCAA Tournament awards to date in game against Xavier the current year.

The National Institutes of Health provided the largest amount of research awards, making up 27.3 percent of Georgia State’s total research funding. Other top research sponsors were the U.S. Department of Education (13.2 percent), National Science Foundation (8.7 percent), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (5.7 percent) and Georgia Department of Human Services (4.6 percent).

ENTRÉE TO ENTERPRISE Georgia State introduces new minor in entrepreneurship The J. Mack Robinson College of Business will introduce in fall 2015 an undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship which will be open to all eligible Georgia State students.

The five-course program will provide students with the knowledge to form startups of their own. Professor Richard Welke, an entrepreneur himself and director of the Center for Process Innovation, spearheaded development of the minor and has been appointed director of the new Entrepreneurship and Innovation Initiative.

Over time, the initiative will culminate in the establishment of an institute for academic and research activities on the topics of entrepreneurship and innovation for Robinson and the broader university community.

FACING HIGHER ED CHALLENGES University wins Institutional Transformation Award Georgia State has been awarded the 2015 American Council on Education (ACE)/Fidelity Investments Award for Institutional Transformation in recognition of the innovative ways university has increased graduation rates.

President Mark Becker accepted the award at ACE’s 97th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Ten years ago, Georgia CONT’D ON P.10

ILLUSTRATION BY BRETT RYDER

FIRST, WE EAT…

GRACE STUHRMAN, A GRADUATE STUDENT IN NUTRITION, IS TAKING ON FOOD INSECURITY ON CAMPUS BY HELPING TO START A FOOD PANTRY.

Why start a food pantry? Some former nutrition graduate students here recognized inadequate nutrition and food insecurity within the Georgia State community — 68 percent of the students they surveyed expressed need. It turns out lack of funds is one of the top reasons students do not complete their college degree. Students who experience financial stress are often battling food insecurity in addition to academic responsibilities, which is a huge obstacle. A food pantry is not a solution, but it pro-

vides short-term assistance to students in need.

How does it work? The food pantry, called Panther’s Pantry, is student run by the Nutrition Student Network and a graduate student — me. We welcome other volunteers as well. The food pantry is free of charge and open to all students. We do not exclude any student. We want to make sure we are reaching as many students who are in need as possible.

What kind of food is available? We only supply

non-perishable food items such as canned vegetables and fruit, soup, peanut butter, cereal, pasta, tuna, rice, etcetera.

Where is it and when is it open? Panther’s Pantry is on the parking level under the Urban Life Building at 140 Decatur St. SE. Food pickup hours are Mondays, 2–4 p.m. and Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to noon. Also, any food donations can be dropped off on Tuesdays from 4–5:30 p.m.

• Read more at magazine.gsu.edu

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IN THE CITY QUICK FACTS:

1,300

Average number of Georgia Perimeter College students who transfer to Georgia State each year State’s institutional graduation rate stood at 32 percent, and low-income students receiving Pell Grants were graduating at rates 15 percentage points below those of non-Pell students.

As a result of a campus-wide commitment to student success and strategic programs, the university has closed its achievement gap. The institutional graduation rate has improved 22 points in the past decade, among the highest increases in the nation over this period.

Students with Pell grants now graduate at rates equal to those students without Pell grants.

For each of the past three years, Georgia State has conferred more bachelor’s degrees on African-Americans than any nonprofit college or university in the United States, with at-risk students making the greatest gains in degree attainment.

DISCOVERY TREATMENT LEADER Molecular and Translational Medicine center founding director named Ming-Hui Zou, an internationally recognized researcher in molecular and translational medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, has been named the founding director of the new Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine at Georgia State.

He is also a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Molecular Medicine, becoming the seventh eminent scholar at the university.

Zou’s research focuses on cardiovascular complications related to diabetes, atherosclerosis and hypertension.

“This center is designed to meet health-

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care needs by converting significant research findings into diagnostic tools and medicines that will help improve the health of individuals,” said James Weyhenmeyer, vice president for research and economic development.

Zou is recognized for making influential discoveries in cardiovascular research, including identifying the role of two key proteins that can lead to vascular disease. He has previously collaborated with the pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Merck to develop new drugs and conduct clinical trials, and at Georgia State he plans to develop new therapeutics for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

INNOVATION STATION Georgia Health Policy Center takes lead in reducing health disparities Georgia State’s Georgia Health Policy Center (GHPC) has been named a national coordinating center by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support the “Bridging for Health: Improving Community Health Through Innovations in Financing” initiative. The project is aimed at helping regions, states and communities improve health and reduce disparities through innovations in collaboration and financing.

The grant of more than $4.5 million will support the work of the center and up to 10 communities over the next three years. Karen Minyard director of the GHPC, and Chris Parker, associate project director with the GHPC, will direct the project.

“I have long been convinced of the importance of comprehensive approaches to bridging health and health care,” Minyard said. “This partnership creates an exciting opportunity to integrate what we’ve learned from our projects over the years and support financial innovations that build health.”

Communities that demonstrate innovations in health policy, healthcare delivery and financial strategies that align investments in health for better outcomes will be selected over the next two years. With an eye toward creating stable financial systems among a variety of sectors, the center will also ensure selected sites are working to address equity and hold the promise of collective impact within their communities.

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Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certified sustainable construction The north entrance to campus and part of the university’s Woodruff Park District plan — an academic corridor south of Woodruff Park that includes 25 Park Place, 55 Park Place and the new Creative Media Industries Institute.

21 state-of-theart classrooms, including a 230-seat formal moot courtroom/ auditorium.

Ample space for clinics to provide legal service to the underserved.

A DEDICATED HOME College of Law Dean Steven J. Kaminshine talks about the college’s new building, opening this fall, at the corner of John Wesley Dobbs Avenue and Park Place.

PHOTO BY BEN ROLLINS

The new building increases the College of Law’s capacity to attract top students and engage with the greater legal community. It affords us the space to expand and improve our programs to serve more students and help our clinics assist underserved Georgians.

It is designed to make students want to stay to study, work in teams and interact with faculty throughout day. The choicest spaces in the building are dedicated to the students. The top two floors are dedicated to the law library with its natural light, outdoor terrace and collaborative learning commons.

The faculty offices are embedded among the classrooms to facilitate greater student interaction. The classrooms are designed with the latest law curriculum advances in mind.

The skills suite on the first floor features flexible classrooms that transition from seminars to courtrooms to mediation rooms.

The new building features a conference center to bring the legal community in for closer collaboration and engage in a great community conversation. The greatest example of this kind of collaboration is the space devoted to the Atlanta Center for International Arbitration and Mediation, which is designed to help the city become a leading center for resolving international commercial disputes.”

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IN THE CITY GUT REACTION Widely used food additive promotes colitis, obesity and metabolic syndrome Emulsifiers, which are added to most processed foods to aid texture and extend shelf life, can induce intestinal inflammation that promotes the development of inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic syndrome, new research shows.

The research, published Feb. 25 in Nature, was led by Georgia State Institute for Biomedical Sciences’ researchers Benoit Chassaing and Andrew T. Gewirtz.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, afflicts millions of people and is often severe and debilitating. Metabolic syndrome is a group of very common obesity-related disorders that can lead to type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular and liver diseases. Incidence of IBD and metabolGeorgia State ic syndrome has College of Law been markedly inrank out of 198 law creasing since the schools in U.S. News mid-20th century. & World Report’s Chassaing and Best Law Schools Gewirtz’s findings suggest emulsifiers might be partially responsible for this disturbance and the increased incidence of these diseases.

The team is now testing additional emulsifiers and designing experiments to investigate how emulsifiers affect humans. If similar results are obtained, it would indicate that this class of food additive is driving the epidemic of obesity, its inter-related consequences and a range of diseases.

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GLOBAL TOLL OF SMOKING Georgia State dean authors the “Tobacco Atlas” Michael Eriksen, dean of the School of Public Health, was the lead author of the “Tobacco Atlas,” which was released in March at the 16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi.

The Atlas, a joint project of the American Cancer Society and the World Lung Foundation, offers maps, charts and graphics that illustrate the global tobacco industry and the negative effects it has on health, the environment, eco-

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nomic development and social justice.

The resource includes a companion website, TobaccoAtlas.org, which provides a free electronic version of the book. The site also allows journalists, policymakers, public health practitioners and advocates to create customized data visualizations.

CREATIVITY AN ARTIST EMERGING Bethany Collins (M.F.A. ‘12) is on a trajectory to national recognition A little more than two years after earning her Master of Fine Arts degree from Georgia State, Bethany Collins was an Artist in Residence at the prestigious Studio Museum in Harlem, which yielded a review in The New York Times. She was accepted into the Viewing Program at The Drawing Center in New York, received an Artadia Award and garnered representation by the Richard Gray Gallery (New York and Chicago), which showed her works at Art Basel Miami Beach.

Collins’ works have been exhibited throughout the country, including The High Museum of Contemporary Art in Atlanta. She recently completed another residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art and is now preparing her first New York solo show this summer. Her work will also be featured at the Hudgens Center for the Arts where Collins is one of three finalists vying for the Hudgens Prize, which includes a $50,000 prize and solo exhibition.

When asked if there was a master plan that led to where she is today, she recalls advice from her old professor, Pam Longobardi, a Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State.

“Just keep working,” Collins said. “Longevity is the artist’s friend and with any luck, the world will come around. Again and again.”

Visit magazine.gsu.edu to see Collins’ work.

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5,700

A record number of undergraduate, master’s, doctorate and law students graduating this May

ACCOLADES IN ART EDUCATION Georgia State’s Melody Milbrandt named Art Educator of the Year The National Art Education Association has named Melody Milbrandt, professor of art education in the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design, as the 2015 National Art Educator of the Year.

This award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes the contributions, service and achievements of one outstanding educator annually at the national level.

“Melody Milbrandt exemplifies the highly qualified art educators active in education today: leaders, teachers, students, scholars and advocates who give their best to their students and the profession,” said Dennis Inhulsen, president of the association.

The National Art Education Association is the professional association for art educators.

ATHLETICS THAT SHINING MOMENT Panthers eye return to tournament after March Madness success When R.J. Hunter sank a 30-foot, threepoint buzzer-beater against Baylor in the NCAA basketball tournament, the Panthers instantly became the darlings of the Big Dance.

The moment his son’s shot hit the bottom of the net, R.J.’s dad, Head Coach Ron Hunter, became the talk of the tournament — and just about the entire Internet — after flying off of his rolling chair in celebration. Hunter tore his Achilles tendon while celebrating the team’s Sun Belt Conference championship win, and

• Alumni App Take the Alumni Association with you on your mobile devices. Visit the

UNDER THE HOOD

The VolcanoSRI generates a real-time look of the inside of an active volcano.

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“THE VOLCANO SPIDER”

The air-droppable station has seismic and infrasonic sensors, an ash detector and GPS.

Nodes in the VolcanoSRI sensor array network

A VOLCANO … ONLINE

PROFESSOR BUILDS A SENSOR NETWORK CAPABLE OF IMAGING THE INSIDE OF A VOLCANO.

Scientists know a lot more about volcanoes than they did in 1980 when the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State killed 57 people and caused more than $1.1 billion in damage.

Advances in sensor technology and computer modeling have helped volcanologists predict the likelihood of an eruption, but researchers still have to physically go to each sensor around a volcano to download the data they need.

Getting a full set of data for

ILLUSTRATION BY THOMAS POROSTOCKY

one volcano can take weeks, even months.

Computer Science Professor WenZhan Song and the students in his laboratory are trying to get rid of that delay with a project they call VolcanoSRI, for Seismic Realtime Imaging.

The system takes a web of specially designed sensors and connects them together into a distributed computing network.

The result? A real-time view of what’s going on under a mountain.

“Up to now, scientists

have been drawing portraits of volcanoes,” Song said.

“We are going to give them video.”

In January, Song and his students traveled to Chile to install their first sensor network. The technology will provide real-time risk monitoring for communities near volcanoes for the very first time. And the technology could be used for much more, Song said, in oil exploration and mining, for example.

• Visit magazine.gsu.edu for a video on Song’s online volcano.

App Store or Google Play to download the new Georgia State Alumni Association App.

the normally foot-stomping coach was in a cast and forced to bark orders while sitting on the sidelines. (The old rolling chair he used traveled all the way from his office in Atlanta.)

Coach Hunter’s liftoff went viral. R.J. recreated the fall for ESPN, NBA legends Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith did their best Hunter impersonations aboard a scooter in the TBS television studio, and the rolling chair even got its own Twitter handle, @RonHunterschair.

Because the toes on his left foot were exposed on national television, Hunter’s wife, Amy, encouraged him to get a pedicure. Television cameras recorded Hunter’s foot getting a makeover in a Jacksonville, Fla., salon.

After perhaps the most memorable season in Georgia State basketball history, the young Hunter, a two-time Sun Belt Player of the Year and an All-American Honorable Mention, declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft where he’s projected to be a first-round pick. The team also graduated its second-leading scorer behind Hunter in Ryan Harrow and its leading shot-blocker in Curtis Washington.

Coach Hunter’s 2015-‘16 Panthers will no doubt have a new look, but he’s quick to point out he’s not rebuilding next year and fully expects to return to the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re going to be loaded next year,” Hunter said. “We could be dangerously better next year than we were this year.”

The team returns leading rebounder Markus Crider, and will add two transfers — guard Isaiah Williams from Samford and forward Jeremy Hollowell from Indiana — and junior college guard Jeff Thomas, all of whom Hunter says will fill the void.

For R.J. Hunter, knowing the Panthers are in good hands made his decision to turn pro a little easier.

“When it’s your time, it’s your time, and I believe in my heart that it’s time for me to go,” Hunter said. “If they needed me next year it would have made my decision more difficult. I looked at the roster and said, “‘They don’t need me.’”

Next year’s team will also have a new place to practice. In March, the university announced plans to complete a $1.5 million practice space next to the Sports Arena for its basketball teams and volleyball teams by the start of their seasons.

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MARKETING POISON Public Health Professor fights to stop drinking from destroying Uganda.

BY ANNA VARELA

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PHOTO BY BEN ROLLINS

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or five years, Monica Swahn has studied the no-holdsbarred approach to marketing alcohol in the crowded slums of Kampala, Uganda, and how easy access to alcohol has helped fuel high rates of HIV transmission.

Unlike the U.S., which has strict rules on where and how alcohol can be marketed, in Uganda, the industry is self-regulating.

“Sometimes they have big billboards right in front of schools,” said Swahn, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the School of Public Health. “There’s no limit to placement, context, content.”

Industry reps even offer free alcohol to children. Though the drinking age in Uganda is 18, “the industry and sellers through the reps give free alcohol to whoever walks up. It doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or 15.”

Much of Swahn’s work in Uganda has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, with the goal of developing an alcohol prevention program to reduce underage drinking and alcohol-related HIV transmission rates. She works closely with the nonprofit Uganda Youth Development Link, which runs drop-in centers for youth in the Kampala slums.

In a typical day, 1,600 young people stop in for counseling, HIV screening, vocational training and other services. Swahn met the nonprofit’s executive director, Rogers Kasirye, at a scientific conference in Europe, where he spoke about how alcohol was damaging the lives of young people in a nation where half the population is under the age of 15.

“I thought, ‘Why is nobody talking about alcohol in Africa?’ It’s this huge burden,” Swahn said. “We talk about HIV, other infectious diseases and health problems but ignore alcohol, even though it is so clearly linked to these health concerns.”

She notes that many public health efforts in Africa focus on helping children survive the first five years of life.

“And I would never argue with that,” she said. “But what I’m worried about is that if we don’t have interventions for alcohol use and mental health, we’re losing the youth to violent crime, suicide, high levels of alcohol, HIV. Then they don’t live healthy lives or become productive citizens. They will die much too early, which is so tragic, given that we know how to improve their well-being and prevent their deaths.”

• Our GPS Georgia State’s nationally recognized advising system is showing that students

from all backgrounds can succeed at high rates.

Visit magazine.gsu.edu to learn more.

• Panther Visa Georgia’s Own Credit Union is offering the new Georgia State Visa® Credit Card. Visit

pantheralumni.com to get the only card that directly supports the Alumni Association.

ALUMNI CULTURAL ENTREPRENEUR Jeremiah Ojo (B.S. ‘13) blends business, community and art When Jeremiah Ojo started school at Georgia Perimeter College, he was sure his future would be on Wall Street. After earning his associate’s degree in finance, he came to Georgia State to study public policy. The work led him to nonprofit leadership, and ever since, he’s been “connecting and building,” he said.

“I learned a lot about leadership and how to craft compelling narratives to get communities and elected officials engaged in matters impacting Atlanta,” he said. “It really opened my eyes and propelled me to pursue work in arts administration.”

Ojo is now executive director of the renowned Bill Lowe Gallery in Atlanta. He also runs Capture and Connect, a nonprofit program at the Joseph Whitehead Boys and Girls Club in south Atlanta that uses photography as a creative outlet for teenagers to learn communication skills.

Ojo was selected to join the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta 2015 Leadership Class, and he’s also a member of the Georgia Arts Network, where he advocates for arts funding and support.

“Merging my love for community and art, I’ve navigated my way to a profession where I am able to lead and integrate both sectors through my work with Capture and Connect and my role at the gallery,” he said.

THE FOUNDING MOTHER Eva Galambos (Ph.D. ’69), first mayor of Sandy Springs, Ga. Eva Galambos, the first mayor of Sandy Springs, Ga., from its incorporation in 2005 until her final term ended in November 2013, succumbed to cancer April 19. She was 87.

Galambos was a Georgia State Distin-

ILLUSTRATION BY ADAM CRUFT

JEREMIAH OJO (B.S. ’13)

“I learned a lot about leadership and how to craft compelling narratives to get communities and elected officials engaged in matters impacting Atlanta.” guished Alumni Award winner in 2011 and 2014, and one of the first women to graduate from Georgia State with a doctoral degree in economics.

“Her career was spent in service to her community, and that kind of dedication to public service is central to what the Andrew Young School stands for today,” said Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Dean Mary Beth Walker in 2014.

Galambos began a career as an economic consultant across many industries, including education, urban finance, labor economics and public finance. She also coauthored the popular text “Making Sense

Out of Dollars: Economic Analysis for Local Government,” which is still used in classrooms today.

For 30 years, Galambos spearheaded the effort to incorporate Sandy Springs as a metro Atlanta city. As mayor, Galambos designed a model public/private partnership for city administration and the delivery of public services that has been recognized worldwide.

Visit magazine.gsu.edu for more on the life of Eva Galambos.

Got a promotion? A new addition to the family? Go ahead, brag a little. Visit magazine.gsu.edu for news from your classmates and fellow Georgia State alumni.

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Are we on the cusp of a future where we can just take a pill to work longer, learn faster and achieve more, and is that a

world where we want to live?

By Sonya Collins

THE ETHICS OF NEUROENHANCEMENT

Illustration by Mario Wagner

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GEORGIA STATE PRE-MED STUDENT “Jason”

holds leadership roles in several clubs, has conducted research with doctors at a local hospital and still makes time for his girlfriend, who’s also a college student. And most recently, Jason has taken a weekend restaurant job to help pay his rent.

“I used to use weekends to catch up on my school work, but I don’t have that anymore,” he says.

But these activities haven’t prevented Jason from taking a full load every semester. He recently learned he’ll graduate in the fall, a semester early. But how has he managed to study?

Jason clears entire days to hunker down and hit the books, and on those days, he takes a Vyvanse. The central nervous system stimulant, a type of amphetamine prescribed to people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can improve focus and concentration. It can also reduce hyperactive, impulsive behaviors, such as the impulse to check Facebook 12 times before you finish reading a single paragraph of your textbook. In some people, these effects improve learning, recall and working memory, the ability to temporarily hold information, such as a phone number, in your head.

“It gives you a hardcore motivation to sit down and study the most mundane topics for a really long time,” Jason says.

“You can do work that you would otherwise procrastinate on. Procrastination is a serious issue in college.”

When Jason told his longtime family doctor that he couldn’t focus in school, the doctor skipped the standard ADHD testing and said, “You seem like a really motivated student, and I’ve been in your shoes before,” Jason recalls. Then the doctor wrote him a prescription for Vyvanse.

But many more pre-meds take ADHD medications than just those who have a prescription, Jason admits.

“Quite frankly,” he says, “they go around like candy. If you don’t have a friend who has it, you’ll have a friend who knows someone who has it.”

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THE ETHICS OF NEUROENHANCEMENT

A Philosophical Approach ACCORDING TO THE National Institutes of Health, up to 30 percent of college students take stimulants not prescribed to them. Students who buy the pills pay about $5 to $10 a pop. Most students say they use the medications as a study aid. Some people find the drugs helpful. Some feel no effect at all.

Forget for just a moment that many of these students are taking a prescription that wasn’t intended for them. Let’s imagine any hardworking student or professional who wants to study all night or pull a double shift can buy a bottle of Vyvanse, Ritalin or Adderall off the shelf at a drugstore.

“Is that the kind of society that we’d like to live in?” asks Nicole Vincent, associate professor of philosophy and an associate faculty member in the Neuroscience Institute.

Vincent asks us to consider this question before we get too excited about a pill’s potential to help us work more, harder, better.

Do we want to live in a world where we can just take a pill to work longer hours? It may sound like a great way to power through the occasional, inevitable all-nighter, but if these drugs were available to everyone, could the work habits they create become the new normal? And if they did, would everyone then be forced by societal or workplace pressure to take these drugs just to keep up?

Our society is well equipped to consider the medical side effects of a medication or technology before it hits the market, Vincent says, but what about the social side effects?

A philosopher interested in neuroethics — the ethics of neuro-

science — Vincent says, “We need to start taking responsibility for the technologies that we produce and for the fact that they do change the moral, social and the legal landscape. Take control of the technology before it takes control of you.”

An international organization, the World Anti-Doping Agency, regulates drug use among athletes. In fact, on game days, athletes can’t take the same stimulants students take to pull all-nighters.

“We discuss how the game should be played in sports, but we don’t talk about how the game of life should be played. So much more is at stake,” Vincent says.

These questions drive Vincent’s work at Georgia State. She joined the faculty in 2013 as part of the university’s Second Century Initiative (2CI). The program is in the final year of a five-year push to add 100 faculty positions to the university to strengthen research and improve the university’s overall quality, interdisciplinary richness and competitiveness.

The Time Is Now A WORLD IN WHICH we power through our

work on pills is not the stuff of Orwellian fantasies or sci-fi flicks. The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues released a 150-page report last March called “Gray Matters: Topics at the intersection of neuroscience, ethics and society.” The report offers the President formal recommendations on future neuroscience research. One chapter examines “neural modification,” which includes the use of prescription medications to improve cognitive function within and beyond “typical or statistically normal ranges.”

While the report lists some ethical concerns of cognitive-enhancing drugs, the authors write that if research proves the drugs bring cognitive benefits without harmful medical side effects, we will have a responsibility to make sure everyone has equal access to them so that the drugs

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THE ETHICS OF NEUROENHANCEMENT

don’t widen the divide between the rich and the poor. They add that cognitive-enhancing drugs might, in fact, help close this gap.

Medications that help people do their jobs are already common in some professions. A 2008 poll of 14,000 readers of Nature — a research journal read predominantly by scientists — found that one in five respondents took Ritalin, modafinil or beta blockers for non-medical purposes. Modafinil keeps narcoleptics awake.

Beta blockers, a blood-pressure-lowering medication, can reduce anxiety. At least one in three classical musicians uses them to relieve jitters before auditions or concerts. In a small study of about 200 poker players from around the world, including recreational, amateur, semi-pro and pro players, 60 percent used stimulants such as Adderall to improve their game.

It’s not that hard to get a prescription no matter what your profession. A 2009 statement from the American Academy of Neurology tells neurologists it’s neither illegal nor unethical to prescribe neuroenhancement medications to adults who ask for them.

“Athletes aren’t allowed to use steroids to build muscle and speed, but physicians, lawyers and business men are allowed to use stimulants to boost their brain,” says Jose Rey, a professor of pharmacy practice at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and a co-author of the poker player study.

The drugs haven’t gone mainstream yet, says Vincent, only because they bring a risk of potentially serious side effects, including heart palpitations, high blood pressure, insomnia and addiction.

“Once cognitive enhancement no longer has medical side effects, and you can legally get it, everyone’s going to expect you to use it,” she says.

With progress in science, technology and medicine, Vincent explains, “we can expect these pharmaceuticals to keep

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If the drugs are available to everyone, Vincent suggests, and your coworker gets all the promotions because she puts in longer hours than you do with the help of a stimulant, you’re likely to feel the pressure to take it, too.

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getting safer.” And normally medications with fewer or less-pronounced side effects would be viewed as a good thing.

But Vincent points out that, somewhat paradoxically, this is only likely to intensify the social problems.

Legal Obligations VINCENT SUGGESTS that pilots and surgeons who are in professions in which passenger and patient safety depend on focused, alert workers, might be among the first professionals expected to take the drugs.

“You’re performing a job that many people’s lives depend on,” she says. “If you mess up and people die when you could’ve just taken this pill, people will see that as negligence.”

The Presidential Commission’s report also points to aviation and medicine as professions that would benefit from education and guidance on neural modification.

The medical profession may already be laying the groundwork to recommend that surgeons use modafinil to stay awake through long shifts. Queensland Health, an Australian medical regulatory agency, suggested surgeons take in up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day — that’s five to six cups of coffee — to fight fatigue because “compared with other psychoactive drugs (for example, modafinil), caffeine is … more readily available and less expensive.”

“Given that the report explicitly cites modafinil, and that it only cites availability and cost as considerations that favor the use of caffeine over modafinil,” Vincent and her colleagues argued in a 2014 article, “we think it is perfectly conceivable that a future report may recommend such drugs.”

Whether or not your employer expects you to enhance your performance, you may one day expect it of yourself. If the drugs are available to everyone, Vincent

Fit to Die?

“Here in Atlanta, the poorest neighborhoods are where you find staggering rates of students with prescriptions for Ritalin and modafinil and other ADHD medications,” Vincent says. “Now will society respond not by saying, ‘Let’s funnel money into better teaching,’ but ‘Let’s funnel insurance money to drug companies to give these families drugs for their children?’”

Meanwhile, families of greater means might use these drugs to give their kids a competitive edge.

“Even parents, unfortunately, have rationalized that it’s okay to study on Adderall because you’re competing against other kids, trying to get into college and trying to get into medical school,” Rey says.

MEDICATING THE MENTALLY INSANE FOR EXECUTION In 2004, the state of Arkansas executed Charles Laverne Singleton even though he was considered legally sane only when treated with medication.

Without the drugs, Singleton, a convicted murderer diagnosed with schizophrenia, could not be put to death under the 8th Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment including the execution of the insane.

For Vincent, the ethical decision to administer drugs to make an inmate competent enough to execute is troubling.

“These medications are meant to bring them back to us for just long enough so that they can be punished,” she says.

Vincent says there’s a range of reasons cited to support the practice of medicating people to make them competent for execution, but the core idea is the inherent requirement for retribution in the American justice system.

“The person being punished has to understand that this is punishment for what they did

and a consequence of what they did,” she says.

But Vincent says there are concerns about whether the medications that are administered work sufficiently enough for an inmate to understand he is being punished for his crimes.

“After all, if we had medications that could cure mental illness, then psychiatrists would be prescribing them to mentally ill people,” she says. “Here, proponents of this practice reply that we don’t need to make people totally well, but only ‘well enough.’”

suggests, and your coworker gets all the promotions because she puts in longer hours than you do with the help of a stimulant, you’re likely to feel the pressure to take it, too. The last holdouts against the drug will eventually feel they don’t have a choice, just like late adopters of answering machines and cell phones.

“Because the standard has shifted,” Vincent says, “you have a new normal.”

Chemical Elimination of Social Disparities NEUROENHANCING DRUGS might not only close gaps between coworkers and peers. The Presidential Commission’s report suggests “more widespread enhancement might help to close some gaps in opportunity that are related to neural function, such as educational attainment or employment.”

But who will be the one to say that people missed the opportunity to get an education or a job because of their neural function and not because of the poor neighborhood and school system they grew up in?

Taking Liberties

Sonya Collins is an Atlanta-based independent journalist who covers health, health policy and scientific research. She is a regular contributor to WebMD Magazine, Pharmacy Today, Yale Medicine and Georgia Health News.

ONCE CHILDREN START enhancing, when does it end? Does it end once pre-meds get into medical school?

“No,” says Rey, “because you have to be the best med student to get into the best residency, and you have to be the best resident to get the best fellowship.”

Rey describes a future in which today’s pre-meds may no longer feel free to quit the drugs that got them so far.

Before we all have the freedom to take these drugs, researchers will have to prove to the Federal Drug Administration the drugs bring little risk of unwanted medical side effects. But new drugs and technology can just as easily affect our social wellbeing. Over-the-counter painkillers mean a headache is no reason to miss work. Smartphones mean being out of the office is no reason to miss an email. In what ways will smart drugs raise demands on us even further? What freedoms will they take away?

“Liberty,” Vincent says. “The very thing that we seem to think we care about. We’ll lose the liberty to take it. We’ll also lose the liberty to shape the future society that we wish to live in.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS STA N FO R D

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HISTORY HANDLEBARS

Grad student Nedra Deadwyler tells the stories of Atlanta’s Civil Rights sites on two wheels. B Y T O N Y R E H A G E N

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THERE ARE MANY REASONS TO START YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

Maybe you see a need in the community that’s not being met. You have a skill or expertise you believe is marketable. Perhaps you have a lifelong passion that you’re trying to fulfill.

Or maybe you just can’t think of anything else to do.

For graduate student Nedra Deadwyler and her fledgling venture, Civil Bikes, it was a bit of all of the above. After spending more than a decade away, she returned to Atlanta in 2010 and saw the town was slowly pedaling toward becoming a more bikefriendly cityscape. Having lived, worked and biked in the cyclefriendly streets of New York and Seattle, she had the experience and knowledge of two-wheel transportation. And she had always had a love of history, even though she had passed over that field of study for a more pragmatic degree in social work.

More than anything, Deadwyler was, well, lost. In the summer of 2013, she was laid off from her job with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. And after almost 20 years of studying and laboring in social work, she was tired of the bureaucracy and the limited reach.

“There just weren’t enough resources to really stabilize young people’s lives,” she says. “For instance: How do you make sure they not only go to college but help them finish?”

She couldn’t find a job in a new field in Atlanta and didn’t have the prospects or money to leave town again. She didn’t really have a reason to go back to school.

So she went on a road trip. Deadwyler hopped in a car and drove across the South with a journalist friend who was researching landmark sites from the Civil Rights Movement. And that’s when Deadwyler had the idea. She knew that her hometown Atlanta was rich in its own Civil Rights history. But the sprawl of the city made walking between all the monuments and

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historic neighborhoods, from Auburn Avenue to the Atlanta University Center to the Martin Luther King Jr. District, impractical. Atlanta traffic made driving a nightmare — and besides, it was hard to interact, to dwell, to feel the history and get lost in the moment cooped up inside a bus or SUV. It’s also hard to talk to other tourists, to discuss what you are seeing. Not to mention the fact that it just seems wrong to cruise around in an airconditioned car while trying to retrace the grueling struggle for equality and human rights.

A bicycle, however, offers the perfect combination of range, intimacy, and sacrificial sweat. Deadwyler knew bikes. She loved history. She was at a crossroads in her life, open to any new opportunity. Civil Bikes was born.

But as every entrepreneur knows, the distance between idea and viable business is an uphill ride. And as Deadwyler embarked on that race, terrain was foremost on her mind.

When she left Georgia back in 2000, Atlanta was strictly a four-wheel town.

Even downtown, which was cut up by interstates and clogged with cars, the only cyclists she would see were the fanatics in spandex. But by the time she returned 10 years later, Atlanta, like most of the country, was starting to embrace the bicycle. There were more bike paths and lanes and they were better connected to the parks and major neighborhoods, making cycling a more viable commuting option for people living in town. Downtown, Georgia State’s population had exploded, and the university was becoming a more campus-based school, bringing a larger and more diverse group of students who parked at the bike racks on their way to class.

Still, Atlanta was far from a two-wheel haven. There weren’t quite enough bike lanes, especially on the major thoroughfares, and the existing paths were too narrow, leaving little margin for error. Culturally, motorists still ruled the way, and they were learning, rather reluctantly, to share the road. As an emergency option, sidewalks — where they actually existed — were too often cracked and uneven, perilous for even the most experienced all-terrain cyclist. Deadwyler personally biked and walked around town at various times of the week to plot out the safest and least strenuous CONT’D ON P.27

PREVIOUS SPREAD:

Nedra Deadwyler and a Civil Bikes tour at Louis Delsarte’s 125-foot-long Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Mural in Peace Plaza at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.

THE GOAL IS TO OFFER NOT JUST POINTS IN HISTORY, BUT AN INTERPRETATION OF HISTORIC MOMENTS AND GIVE CURRENT CONTEXT AND RELEVANCE.” M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U

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LEFT: John Lewis Mural at the corner of Auburn Avenue and Jesse Hill Jr. Drive ABOVE: Southern

Christian Leadership Conference and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee headquarters BELOW: David T. Howard School

Power of Place

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ON A CIVIL BIKES TOUR, Deadwyler says she likes to take history and put it into context using the landscape.

“The tour is also about engaging the participants,” she says, “asking for their input, their thoughts, knowledge and impressions to add to the discussion. The goal is to make history come alive, for it to breathe with life.”

Deadwyler also visits sites most riders probably wouldn’t know have significant history, such as the David T. Howard School.

The Howard School in the Old Fourth Ward, where Martin Luther King Jr. attended elementary school, opened in 1923. It’s named for David T. Howard, a former slave who became a wealthy undertaker and gave generously to support the community and the education of African-American children. It served as a community center for neighborhood African-American families and even housed a radio station. It closed in 1976 because of low attendance due to the constant change of demographics of Atlanta, Deadwyler says.

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Tour Guide

1 Former branch office of the Atlanta Life Insurance Building at 229 Auburn Ave. 2 Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee headquarters at 320 Auburn Ave.

routes between landmarks for not only the cycling enthusiasts, but also the novice and beginner bicyclists she would need to attract to make this business work.

Next, she checked out the competition. She emailed Georgia State history professor Cliff Kuhn, who gave a walking tour of the sites of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot. Deadwyler and Kuhn hit it off immediately.

“She was soaking the stuff up,” says Kuhn. “You like to help her because she’s so fresh and naturally charismatic. It’s great for somebody of my generation to come across someone with so much passion.”

Later, the two went on a bike ride, where Deadwyler told the professor about her idea. He suggested that she enroll in Georgia State’s Master’s of Heritage Preservation program, where she could bolster her knowledge of the architectural history, folklore and preservation efforts behind the stops on her tours. She decided to make the investment.

“Studying, as opposed to reading, broadens understanding,” Deadwyler says. “Engaging competing ideas and being informed of the most recent scholarship improves content — not just relaying what gets into the history books. The goal is to offer not just points in history, but an interpretation of historic moments and give current context and relevance.”

Instead of just a drive-by glance at Louis Tony Rehagen is Delsarte’s colorful mural at the Martin Luther a freelance writer King Jr. Historic Site, Deadwyler would stop, based in Atlanta. talk about the artist’s influence and inspiraHe is a contribtion, dissect the images depicted on the wall, uting writer for and spur debate of the work’s subtle detail — Atlanta magazine. like a college survey course on wheels.

His work has also Now all she needed were paying students. appeared in ESPN IN JUNE 2014, DEADWYLER TOOK HER savings

and a $500 grant to open Civil Bikes appropriately located on Sweet Auburn, the once-thriving heart of black culture and business in the city. She obtained a small fleet of used bikes through another grant. In addition to two-

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4 Wheat Street Baptist Church at 359 Auburn Ave.

5 Living Walls March on Washington mural at Hilliard Street and Auburn Avenue PIEDMONT AVE

3 The original site of the WERD radio station, the first station in America to be owned by an AfricanAmerican at the Prince Hall Masonic Grand Lodge at 334 Auburn Ave.

The Magazine, Men’s Health and the book “Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists.”

hour, eight-mile educational tours in and around downtown, the business offered bike rentals, cycling instructions and a retail component for gear and repairs. Some initial success allowed her to move into a P.O.D. storage unit parked outside The Spindle bike shop on the Atlanta BeltLine.

“A very, very lean start-up,” says Deadwyler. “And living low to the ground.”

If Deadwyler has learned anything from her first year in business, it’s that autonomy — financial and otherwise — is the key to happiness. In late fall of 2014 she started giving the tours out of her house with designs on renting her own space at an as-of-yet undisclosed location by summer 2015. Ideally, she’d like to give her used bikes away and purchase her own inventory to sell and rent.

Deadwyler has also expanded her focus beyond historic tours and bicycle retail.

She aims to restart Belles On Bikes, organized rides geared toward getting more women aboard the two-wheel movement.

She’s also thinking big picture, hoping awareness raised by Civil Bikes will spur the city of Atlanta to embrace bike culture.

More and wider bike lanes. Maybe even a few separate designated bike paths. And most important, the one-time social worker wants to reach out and help cyclists coexist on Atlanta pavement with their car-driving cousins.

“My life goal has always been to bring people together in the community,” says Deadwyler. “Civil Bikes is letting me do that differently. What I do now, I still consider social work. But now it’s on my terms.”

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Along with the diary, Sessions found inspiration for an O’Connor biography, a comprehensive study of the writer’s literary and personal life that stretches to 800 pages. Now completed, “Stalking Joy: The Life and Times of Flannery O’Connor” is with Sessions’ agent.

“This isn’t a book that I wrote because I need prestige,” Sessions says. “I want to get it out because I know things about Flannery O’Connor nobody else knows.”

O’Connor left the world two novels, “Wise Blood” and “The Violent Bear It Away,” and 32 short stories. Unsettling, widely anthologized short stories such as “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “The Displaced Person” established her as one of America’s most influential literary figures. “The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor,” published posthumously, won the 1972 U.S. National Book Award for fiction.

In 2014, The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine inducted O’Connor into The American Poets Corner, a literary honor comparable to the British enshrinement of writers at Westminster Abbey. She joined Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, Langston Hughes, Mark Twain and 43 other immortals of United States literature.

Sessions alone, among all the scholars who have written or who vie to write about O’Connor’s life, received the blessings of the O’Connor family and estate. His is the only authorized biography.

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STYLING BY ASHLEY MCGRATH; PREVIOUS SPREAD, FLANNERY O’CONNOR: APIC/GETTY

b

ill sessions sat down at a table in room 312 of the Holiday Inn Express in Milledge­ ville, Ga., by Highway 441, and blew the dust off a metal box. Inside? The makings, as Sessions puts it, of “a book that would make a difference.” Actually, two books and count­ ing. Sessions would use the personal pa­ pers of Flannery O’Connor to “animate” her in written words once again. ¶ O’Connor died in 1964 at age 39, a victim of lu­ pus. After long years of protecting O’Connor’s privacy, family members entrusted part of her archive — that metal box — to Sessions, the Regents’ Professor Emeritus of English at Geor­ gia State and the writer’s long-time friend. ¶ From the papers, Sessions edited a 2013 volume, “A Prayer Journal,” a soul-searching collection of personal prayers O’Connor scribbled into a student diary at the University of Iowa before her 23rd birthday. (Sample: “Dear God please help me to be an artist, please let it lead to you.”)

murderous, most fowl Drawing from the trove of O’Connor’s letters, illustrations and journal entries in the metal box he opened in autumn 2003, Sessions produced perhaps the most important work of his career. He is uniquely positioned, because of his friendship with O’Connor, to embellish her biography with personal detail.

“Flannery O’Connor fell in love three times,” Sessions says, in the voice of a confidant. “Not many people are aware of it.”

Indeed, few people know much at all of O’Connor’s personal life. The writer lived with her mother, Regina, at Andalusia, a 554-acre family farm in Milledgeville they shared with dairy cows and a tribe of beautiful, bellicose peacocks. Many readers hold an impression of O’Connor as cloistered, too ill to engage with the world, a writer devoted to solitude.

In fact, O’Connor traveled frequently, hobbling along on crutches to a great many lecterns to talk about writing and, often, her deep Catholic faith. For a woman with a terminal illness, O’Connor attended a surprising number of events at universities and on the literary speaking circuit. She also energetically and exhaustively wrote letters.

An example? She informed Sessions in an early missive that “the Catholic believes any voice he may hear comes from the Devil unless it is in accordance with the teachings of the Church.” Sessions’ voice bemused and amused her.

On Ascension Day in May 1956, Sessions ascended O’Connor’s dirt drive at Andalusia for the first time. A copy of the Atlanta Constitution on the seat of his twoseat Chevy coupe told the news of the day: Walter George, a friend of the O’Connor family, retired from the U.S. Senate; former governor Herman Talmadge would run for the empty seat. Health officials declared Atlanta free of rabies. “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit,” starring Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones, played at picture shows. Dutch visitors placed flowers on Margaret Mitchell’s grave.

At the time, Sessions held his first academic position, lecturing at West Georgia College (today the University of West Georgia) in Carrolton for $3,600 a year.

He also reviewed books for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and he made contact with O’Connor by commenting on one of her own reviews. They found common ground in their Catholic faith. The deeply,

PHOTOS BY JOSH MEISTER

unapologetically religious O’Connor invited Sessions, a recent convert, to visit Andalusia.

Sessions describes their first meeting in the prelude to “Stalking Joy”: Although Flannery had written to invite me to drop in that afternoon at any time, I felt the need to see some motion from the house. I knew Flannery had special times for special activities, including times to take her medicines, the periods changing with the plateaus and descents of her incurable disease.

I also knew the porch was special. As she had warned me in her invitation, she did not emerge from her room until around 11:30 every morning, when she finished her work. She added that on good days, she would sit on the porch and, tired from the morning’s writing,

would just stare. I was waiting for a sign from that porch.

A sign came. Peacocks assaulted him.

When they start to charge at me, the beaks are raised like knives. Their long iridescent tails swoop across the spring-green scrub grass of the lawn. I dash as fast as I can for the brick steps.

The peacocks call out harshly, surround me. Later I would learn that seeing certain strangers, the peacocks judge them as the chosen who might feed them. All I want now is to escape them. When I reach the bottom of the brick steps, I jump quickly out of their screeching onslaught, sharp pecking at my legs.

Then, from behind the screened door, I hear a sound, a thump-thump,

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crutches, across the wooden floor of the porch, and then a command to the birds, nasal and drawling. As I turn back to clear my legs, the front screen door at the top of the brick steps squeaks, opens. I look up.

Large deep blue eyes behind rimless glasses stare directly down at me.

They hold that gaze as my own eyes look back. Then the eyes relax, as the young woman of medium height and with uneven teeth leans slightly on one gray metal crutch, holds the door open with the other crutch.

She glances at the beat-up car and then at me. “Well,” she says, “you got here.”

good country person Sessions got there. But he traveled a twisting road from rural beginnings to reach Flannery O’Connor’s front porch.

He grew up in tiny Conway, S.C., near Myrtle Beach, among strict Southern Baptists. The Sessions family, settling after immigration as French Huguenots, had lived in the area “since the late 1600s,” he says.

Bright, buoyant, just 19, the Sessions scion graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1948.

At Chapel Hill, he had become founding editor of the respected literary periodical, The Carolina Quarterly. But he felt dance his true passion, and he dallied in theater.

Today, guests at his home in the genteel Brookhaven area of Atlanta can view a remarkable photograph, a 20-something avatar of Sessions at the height of a balletic leap, impossibly levitating. The beautiful young man executing a perfect temps de poisson appears destined for a stage with Nureyev.

Sessions was good. His luck was not.

A bad fall at a Metropolitan Opera Ballet rehearsal of “Brigadoon” ended any terpsichorean ambitions. (The injury later required hip surgery.) Sessions then prudently turned to studies at Columbia University, where he’d gone for post-graduate study. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in English and comparative literature.

Diploma in hand, he searched for a position in academia. The telephone didn’t ring until Sessions heard from little West Georgia College.

“I thought I was at the end of the world,” he says, “but it was a job.”

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The teaching outpost proved a revelation. the college received a steady influx of Catholic intellectuals who came to visit a local monastery.

“It was a tremendously sophisticated group of theologians, from Europe and all over,” Sessions says. “I got to know Dorothy Day, a very holy woman, and spent time at the monastery with her.”

(Journalist and social activist Day cofounded the non-violent Catholic Worker Movement and edited the Catholic Worker newspaper. The Catholic Church is considering her for canonization.)

Sessions also admired a group of authors who professed Catholic beliefs and wrote openly about their faith. The list included T.S. Eliot, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh and that Georgia writer named Flannery O’Connor.

He moved along to academic posts at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., and St. John’s University in New York City.

In 1964, the year O’Connor died, he came on board at Georgia State University. He made full professor in 1972 and became Regents’ Professor of English in 1992.

Sessions flourished at Georgia State.

His early modern English literature classes (Milton, Shakespeare, Donne, the usual suspects) drew crowds. He published two major books, both still in print and selling.

“Francis Bacon Revisited, Twayne English Authors” series earned extensive critical attention. “Henry Howard, the Poet Earl of Surrey: A Life” became required reading at Yale University.

He published articles on O’Connor and presented at the International Flannery O’Connor Conference at Brigham Young University in 1995. He took the stage at the American Literature national convention, at the South Central Modern Language Association Conference and at other conferences and universities.

He also ventured Charles McNair into subject matter publishes nationfar beyond that of his ally and interMilledgeville muse, nationally. He is writing dozens of acathe author of two demic articles on othnovels, “Pickett’s er writers. Sessions Charge” and founded Studies in the “Land O’ Goshen.”

Literary Imagination He was books at Georgia State, and editor at Paste he published poetry in Magazine from The Southern Review, 2005-’15. McNair The Georgia Review, lives in Bogota, The Chattahoochee Colombia.

G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 5

Review and elsewhere. And he found his way into theater after all, by writing plays. One, “A Shattering of Glass,” won the Southern Theatre Playwrights Competition. The University of Mississippi produced that work for the Festival of Southern Theatre.

Among many awards, Sessions claimed a Fulbright while at Columbia, and later the Nikos Kazantzakis Medal from Greece, the Outstanding Teacher Award from the South Atlantic Association of Departments of English and an honorary degree from Coastal Carolina University.

Sessions retired from Georgia State in 2005.

Neither time nor accolades changed him, although Sessions changed himself at times to humor Flannery O’Connor. He put on a “silly Billy” person, a pose also

used for effect in “Stalking Joy.” “I make myself deliberately silly, offbeat,” he explains. “I think it works as a way to show how Flannery thought and acted.”

What does he mean? During one porchswing conversation on faith — O’Connor and Sessions were “true believers together,” he says— the young convert asked a challenging question “as a sort of a joke, in one of my silly Billy ways.”

Out of the blue, he blurted, “What about being a saint?”

Sessions vividly remembers O’Connor’s reaction.

“Her face changed,” he says. “It was plain the idea of holiness was very real to her.”

So was her fondness for “breathless” Bill, as O’Connor dubbed Sessions in letters.

O’Connor remembered their first meeting, too, but very differently. She wrote

a letter about it to Betty Hester, a mutual friend in Atlanta, three days after that memorable 1956 Ascension Day. The unnecessary worry of the year was whether it would be necessary to hold a literary conversation with Billy. No conversation whatever was necessary. He arrived promptly at 3:30, talking, talked his way across the grass and up the steps and into a chair and continued talking from that position without pause, break, breath, or gulp until 4:50. At 4:50 he departed to go to Mass (Ascension Thursday) but declared he would like to return after it so I thereupon invited him to supper with us. 5:50 brings him back, still talking, and bearing a sack of ice cream and cake to the meal. He then

talked until supper but at that point he met a little head wind in the form of my mother, who is also a talker. Her stories have a non-stop quality, but every now and then she does have to refuel and every time she came down, he went up. After supper she retired and I listened to Billy until around 10. If I said six complete sentences all afternoon and evening I don’t know what they were. Two days later, we both get thank you letters from him saying he knew he stayed too long but he had enjoyed the conversation so much that he forgot the time. My mother and I howled.

It was, Sessions writes in his prelude, the beginning of a long and lasting friendship.

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INSIDE INSIGHT GOING DANCING (ON ONE FOOT) • “I haven’t jumped that high in 26 years. I knew when

I came down I had done it. But I wanted to go celebrate. Celebrate with my team and celebrate with my son.” Head Basketball Coach Ron Hunter on tearing his Achilles tendon after celebrating the Panthers’ Sun Belt Championship Tournament victory over Georgia Southern and the team’s invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Because of his injury, the rim had to be lowered for Hunter to cut down the net.

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