2 March 16, 2015 columns.uga.edu
Around academe
Sweet Briar College to close
Sweet Briar College, a liberal arts women’s college in Virginia, will close at the end of the academic year due to what it described as “insurmountable financial challenges.” “The board closely examined the college’s financial situation and weighed it against our obligations to current and prospective students, parents, faculty and staff, alumnae, donors and friends,” said Paul G. Rice, chair of the Sweet Briar College board. “We voted to act now to cease academic operations responsibly, allowing us to place students at other academic institutions, to assist faculty and staff with the transition and to conduct a more orderly winding down of academic operations.” The college pledged to help current students transfer to other colleges and universities.
Chegg transferring services to digital Chegg, a textbook rental service, has announced its plans to shift operations from physical to digital books. The textbook company’s services included shipping books to students, but that part of the operation will be given to book distributor Ingram Content Group. Chegg customers will now only be able to rent their digital books. Digital services also will include test preparation materials and career counseling.
STAFF COUNCIL
President highlights developments at staff governance group meeting By Aaron Hale
aahale@uga.edu
UGA President Jere W. Morehead met with UGA Staff Council March 4 in Room 250 of the Miller Learning Center to discuss recent university developments affecting staff. Among the developments highlighted by Morehead were the administration’s efforts to ask the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia for faculty and staff pay raises this year. Morehead’s message to regents and state legislators has
been that raises are needed to keep the university competitive in attracting and keeping talented faculty and staff. The president said he hopes a pay raise this year will help the momentum from raises last year. “We need a sustained period of raises over the next several years to rebalance where the University of Georgia is in the marketplace,” he said. Morehead also talked about Staff Appreciation Day, which was announced during the State of the University address in January. The Appreciation Day, which will be
LAMAR DODD SCHOOL OF ART
PUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH
Filmmaker and visual artist to lecture, give interpretive tours By Alan Flurry
aflurry@uga.edu
Control mold and mildew at home with dehumidifier or moisture barrier
News to Use
Mildew and musty odors sometimes develop during periods of damp weather. Controlling them can be as easy as buying a dehumidifier or placing a moisture barrier under the home. Mildew usually begins to grow when relative humidity remains at 60 percent and the temperature is 60 degrees or higher. Typically, mildew appears on the surfaces of bathroom tile or on leather or plastic goods stored in closets. Musty odors often are associated with clothes, chests, closets, upholstered furniture and carpets. The type of solution recommended to remove mildew completely depends on the particular surface. Removal of accessible surface deposits of mildew may clear up the odor. Some deodorizers assist in reducing musty odors in furniture and carpet material. Solutions containing household bleach also can clear mold and mildew, though they should be used with extreme caution. Spillage or spatter could result in bleached spots on carpet or upholstery. If a moisture barrier was not placed under the home during construction, homeowners can add one simply by rolling out plastic on the ground beneath the home. Continued problems with excess moisture can lead to structural damage. To combat mildew in the home, follow the advice at http://t.uga.edu/1k8. Source: UGA Extension
Why I Give Name: Brooke Rooks
Georgia Fund 2015
Position: Grady College Administrative Financial Director At UGA: 15 years
Brooke Rooks
Beneficiary of her gifts to the university: Georgia Fund for Grady
Why she contributes: “For me, it’s all about the students. By giving, students are provided with additional educational and enrichment opportunities outside of the classroom in their field of study. My time as a UGA student gave me the education and skills necessary to be successful in my career. As an alumna, I love giving back to support the next generation of graduates.”
To make your contribution to the Georgia Fund, please contact the Office of Annual Giving at 706-542-8119.
sponsored by the President’s Office, will be held in May. “It’s a symbolically important statement to thank the staff at the university for the work you do to support the institution and our students as well as work with our faculty to ensure that our service and research missions are carried out in a professional manner,” he said. In the realm of the university’s fundraising, Morehead said UGA is having a strong fundraising year so far. An area for improvement will be to convince more UGA alumni to contribute financially to the university.
Sean Russell, left, a UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant intern and event coordinator, works with Quinn Taylor, a seventh-grader at Middlesex Middle School in Darien, Connecticut, and Jordan Boyd, a junior at Huntington High School in Waverly, Ohio, on their ocean conservation action plans.
Students attend state’s first Youth Ocean Conservation Summit By Maegan Snyder mrudd@uga.edu
Fifty middle and high school students from 15 Georgia cities and five states attended Georgia’s first Youth Ocean Conservation Summit Feb. 28 at the UGA Marine Education Center and Aquarium on Skidaway Island. The event was sponsored by the UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, units of the Office of Public Service and Outreach, and organized by Georgia Sea Grant Marine Education interns Cara Lin, Beth Smith, Maeve Snyder and Sean Russell. All of the day’s activities focused on empowering participants with the knowledge, skills and resources needed to successfully launch ocean conservation projects in their own communities. “The summit provides a unique opportunity for students to come together with their peers, learn about ocean conservation issues in their local communities and start to develop solutions for those problems,” said Russell, who earned his bachelor of science degree in biology in 2013 from the University of Florida, and founded the first YOCS in 2011 at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida. “When we look at the big picture, it’s overwhelming and many people simply don’t know where to start. The most important thing we want students to take away from the summit is to just start somewhere and take action.” Keynote speaker Cathy Sakas, chair of Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and co-founder of Ocean Exchange, a conservation advocacy group that links other organizations together to promote solutions to ocean conservation problems, kicked off the day. She provided participants
with an introduction on how to effectively communicate messages regarding ocean conservation, as well as inspiring stories of ocean stewardship. “The Georgia coast is small, but we have a major impact on the entire ecosystem,” she said. “You have already taken the first step in making a difference just by being here and learning about these important issues.” Students also attended a panel discussion on environmental conservation with representatives from the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, Georgia coastal advocacy organization One Hundred Miles, Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary and UGA Marine Extension. In the afternoon, students had the opportunity to work on action plans for their own ocean conservation projects with mentors from numerous conservation organizations and activist groups. “I came to the summit because I wanted to enhance my interest in marine biology and learn what I can do to take action and save the environment,” said Sarah Katherine Bass, a sixthgrader from the Habersham School in Savannah. “If this generation doesn’t take charge, then who will?” Bass and two other students from the Habersham School plan to create a series of YouTube videos and other social media accounts that show the causes of marine debris and what it can do to the various animals in the ocean. Their goal is to encourage people to not just help the environment, but also to spread awareness of marine debris and its impact. After the event, students were connected to the Youth Ocean Conservation Team, a worldwide network of past summit participants and other ocean conservation advocates who are dedicated to protecting marine ecosystems.
The Lamar Dodd School of Art welcomes San Francisco-based artist Keith Wilson to campus for a lecture March 24 at 5:30 p.m. in Room S151 of the art school. Part of the Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture Series, the lecture is open free to the public. Wilson is spending the month of March at UGA. His time on campus will include an exhibition, Keith Wilson: Desire Paths, a large-scale photography installaKeith Wilson tion in the College of Environment and Design, in conjunction with the Dodd galleries. The exhibit runs from March 19 through April 17 in the CED exhibit hall. A reception in the Jackson Street Building will be held March 19 at 4:30 p.m. Wilson’s lecture and the CED exhibition will take as their focus creating new orientations to familiar sites on the UGA campus, with the exhibition featuring a photo mural of an unplanned pedestrian trail near the Ramsey Student Center, created by a desire to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. “I want to draw attention to the unnoticed things that we’re around all the time, that so many people might think are unremarkable,” Wilson said. “These are things and places that tend to be everywhere, which hardly anyone talks about or thinks are important. But I find that they can be things that help us stay present and maybe off of our phones and just more rooted to the place where we spend so much time.” In addition to his lecture, Wilson will give interpretive tours of the School of Art building on River Road March 26 at 6 p.m. The tours—known as the Cave and Mountain Tours, in which he describes as performances where he adopts the persona of a tour guide—are meant to create new relationships to familiar sites. Wilson will preview the Dodd tour in his lecture, as well as present maps and image documentation of past tours of the Blanton Museum in Austin, Texas, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and various neighborhoods around Austin. Wilson also will present an excerpt from one of his short films, The Shrimp, a documentary visual essay about the relationship of humans to nature.
