DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS
Alumni Association to present annual awards
Steve Jones
William Young Jr.
By Kelundra Smith kelundra@uga.edu
The University of Georgia Alumni Association will celebrate individuals and organizations that have demonstrated a deep commitment to bettering the university during its 81st annual Alumni Awards Luncheon on April 20. This year’s honorees include U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones, William D. Young Jr., The Ed and Larry Benson Family, Dr. Jean E. Chin, Delta Air Lines and Thomas J. Callaway IV. “During the university’s Honors Week, we take time to celebrate the contributions of distinguished alumni, faculty and friends who commit to UGA every day,” said Meredith Gurley Johnson, executive director of alumni relations. “These award recipients exemplify what it means to identify an area of campus where they can make a difference, and give of their time, talents and treasures. Current and future generations will benefit from their support.”
Alumni Merit Awards
The Alumni Merit Award, which is given to those who bring recognition and honor back to the University of Georgia through outstanding leadership and service, will be presented to Steve C. Jones and William D. Young Jr. Jones is a 1978 graduate of the Terry College of Business, a 1987 School of Law graduate and has been a public servant in the AthensClarke County area for nearly 30 years. He currently serves on the Georgia Supreme Court Chief
Ed (right) and Larry Benson
Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, and was nominated in 2011 by former President Barack Obama to become a U.S. district judge. Jones has mentored numerous law students and volunteers as a managing trustee for the UGA Foundation. He is a past president of the UGA Alumni Association and the UGA chapter of the National Football Foundation, College Hall of Fame. Young is a partner with Atlantabased General Wholesale Company, one of the largest familyowned beverage distributors in the nation.Young graduated from Terry College in 1978 and has remained involved with his alma mater, recently establishing a Georgia Commitment Scholarship to support need-based aid for students. He has served as a past chairman of the Building Terry campaign and is a former member of the Terry Dean’s Advisory Council. He is also a past chairman of the UGA Foundation, and now serves as chairman of its nominating and governance committee. He received the Terry College Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016 and in 2009, his family was named Family of the Year by the UGA Alumni Association.
Family of the Year Award
The Benson family will receive the Family of the Year Award, which is presented to a family that demonstrates a history of loyalty to UGA. The Bensons’ journey with the university began a century ago with the late W.H. “Howard” Benson, who founded Benson’s Bakery in Athens. In the 1950s, Benson’s Bakery recruited UGA
WEEKLY READER
Jean Chin
Delta Hall is the UGA in Washington residential facility in the Capitol Hill neighborhood on the east side of Stanton Park. students to sell fruitcakes across the country to civic organizations. Today, Benson’s Inc. is the parent company of Benson’s Bakery and Benson’s Hospitality Group. Most recently, the family changed the university landscape by naming Benson Hall in the new Terry College Business Learning Community.The building is named for patriarch W. H. “Howard” Benson; his son, the late H.E. “Ed” Benson, who graduated from Terry in 1942; and grandson Larry R. Benson, who earned a degree from Terry in 1974. The Bensons’ latest contribution to U
Faculty Service Award
Dr. Jean E. Chin is receiving the Faculty Service Award. First presented in 1969, the award recognizes current or former UGA faculty and staff who have distinguished themselves in service to the university. Chin recently retired as executive director of the University Health Center where she led a
team dedicated to the health and wellness of UGA’s more than 35,000 students. Under her leadership, the Health Center established the Fontaine Center to provide alcohol and other drug prevention services to the campus community. She graduated from UGA in 1978, joined the medical staff in 1988 and served as medical director from 1992 to 2004. In addition to her administrative role, she teaches as a part of the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership. She graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine; completed an internal medicine residency at Westchester County Medical Center; and earned her MBA at Kennesaw State University in 2001. She is board certified in internal medicine.
Friend of UGA Award
Delta Air Lines will be honored with the 2018 Friend of UGA Award, which is given to any nonalumnus or organization that has
CYBERSIGHTS Natalie J. Graham, an associate professor of African American studies at California State University, Fullerton, and winner of the 2016 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, has written a collection of poems that voice singular lives carved out of immediate and historical trauma. Published by the University of Georgia Press, Begin with a Failed Body begins rooted in the landscape of the American South. While these poems dwell in the body, often meditating on its frailty and desire, they also question the weight that literary, historical and religious icons are expected to bear. Within the vast scope of this volume, the poems arc from a pig farmer’s funeral to Georges de la Tour’s paintings and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. With an ear tuned to the lift and lilt of speech, the poems wring song from sorrow and plant in every dirge a seed of jubilation. Rich in clarity and decisive in her attention to image, Graham writes resonant, lush poetry.
Thomas Callaway IV
demonstrated outstanding loyalty and support to the University of Georgia and the UGA community. Delta Air Lines has invested in UGA for over 40 years, with more than $6.2 million in financial support provided by the company. The Delta Air Lines Foundation committed $5 million to create Delta Hall, a living and learning community on Capitol Hill. In addition, the Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding in the Willson Center for Humanities & Arts, has brought renowned authors to campus, including Alice Walker and Colm Toibin. Delta has provided in-kind donations to a number of campus departments and the company is a leading employer of UGA graduates, landing in the top 25 for the Class of 2016.
Young Alumni Award
The Young Alumni Award will be presented to Thomas J. Callaway IV, who is the founder and CEO of Onward Reserve. This award is given to those who attended UGA in the past 10 years, have embodied the Pillars of the Arch—wisdom, justice and moderation—and provided notable service to the university. Callaway graduated from UGA in 2007 with a degree in finance. He is president of the UGA Alumni Association Young Alumni Leadership Council, and a past 40 Under 40 and Bulldog 100 honoree. He frequently returns to campus to speak to students in Terry College and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Callaway gives to Terry College, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, UGA Athletic Association and the Georgia Fund.
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Poems offer commentary through the body
Begin with a Failed Body By Natalie J. Graham University of Georgia Press Paperback: $19.95
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columns.uga.edu April 16, 2018
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Editor Juliett Dinkins
Videos of research award winners online
https://research.uga.edu/research-awards/ Each year, the university recognizes its accomplished faculty, postdoctoral staff, recent graduates of the Graduate School and current graduate students with a series of awards that celebrate outstanding research and creative achievement, as well as inventorship and entrepreneurship (see Awards & Honors special section).
Recipients are formally recognized each spring at the annual Research Awards Banquet. Winners also are recognized on the Research Awards website. The website features information about each award, photos and bios for each awardee, as well as historical information about those recognized in the past.
Communications Coordinator Krista Richmond Art Director Jackie Baxter Roberts Photo Editor Dorothy Kozlowski Writers Kellyn Amodeo Leigh Beeson The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. The University of Georgia is a unit of the University System of Georgia.
