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Inaugural Chamber Music Athens festival features variety of performances Vol. 46, No. 34
April 29, 2019
www.columns.uga.edu
UGA GUIDE
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Consortium studying human trafficking receives $4M award
By Laurie Anderson laurie @uga.edu
Photo illustration by Jackie Baxter Roberts
The plant varieties created by Glenn Burton have become internationally known for helping to feed the world.
Power of plants
Agricultural scientist was leader of ‘Green Revolution’ By James Hataway jhataway@uga.edu
This story is part of a series, called Georgia Groundbreakers, that celebrates innovative and visionary faculty, students, alumni and leaders throughout the history of the University of Georgia—and their profound, enduring impact on our state, our nation and the world. You may never have heard the name Glenn Burton before, but you’ve almost certainly seen his handiwork. In a career spanning more than six decades, most of which was spent as a professor at the University of Georgia’s Tifton campus, Burton established himself as one of the world’s most prolific agricultural scientists, and you don’t have to search long to find one of his creations.
From championship golf courses and international venues like the Olympics and the World Cup to the turf that adorns the playing surface in the University of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium, Burton created new grass varieties that have become the international standard for excellence in the sporting world. But the scientific genius that allowed Burton to create lush green fairways on golf courses and turf capable of withstanding punishment on the gridiron also enabled him to develop new crop varieties that fed millions of hungry people during a time when the world was struggling to produce enough food for a rapidly growing population. He saved countless lives during the “Green Revolution” of the 1960s, and Burton’s many
contributions continue to inspire scientists working to create a more dependable food supply today. “Helping feed the hungry of the world is my greatest accomplishment,” Burton is quoted as saying. “It was important to me because I saw those hungry people, and I was able to help them.” In 1983, Burton was awarded a National Medal of Science by President Ronald Reagan “for outstanding contributions to the biological sciences that have helped to feed the hungry, protect and beautify the environment and provide recreation for millions.”
Feeding the hungry
Burton’s story began, appropriately enough, on his family’s farm in Clatonia, Nebraska. He was born Glenn Willard Burton See GREEN on page 8
GRADY COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
The University of Georgia Research Foundation received a $4 million award from the U.S. Department of State to reduce the prevalence of human trafficking in targeted communities of West Africa. Researchers at UGA formed an international consortium, the Africa Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES), which will be responsible for the implementation of the award. The project is overseen by the State Department’s Office to Combat and Monitor Trafficking in Persons
and is part of its Program to End Modern Slavery. Human trafficking, also known as modern slavery, is a persistent, worldwide problem hampered by lack of data for intervention efforts. Over the next five years, APRIES will collect data on the prevalence of human trafficking in parts of Sierra Leone and Guinea. The baseline research will support programs that seek to achieve a measurable reduction of modern slavery. If successful, the program’s methodology could serve as a model for similar efforts elsewhere. “There has never been a
See TRAFFICKING on page 8
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Horticulturist James Affolter named first Beuchat Professor By Sharon Dowdy sharono@uga.edu
UGA horticulturist James Affolter has been named to the newly endowed Larry R. Beuchat Professorship for Annual and Perennial Ornamental Plant Research. The professorship in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences was created through a generous gift from Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Larry Beuchat. The research-focused position will be located in the horticulture department and housed at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a public service and outreach unit. The goal of the position is to promote ornamental plant research and the partnership between the horticulture department and the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a 313-acre “living laboratory.”
Some of UGA’s top revenuegenerating new plant varieties, including more than 20 commercial and home garden blueberries and half of the hydrangeas grown in the U.S., are the result of research from UGA’s horticulture department. “I wanted James Affolter to express my gratitude to the university for having been afforded the opportunity to be a faculty member and contribute to the advancement of food and agricultural sciences,” said Beuchat, who joined the food science and technology department on the Griffin campus in 1972. He has See BEUCHAT on page 8
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
Peabody 30 winners for 2018 programs announced Grant program to save students By Margaret Blanchard A24 and MVMT; The Americans, PBS NewsHour (PBS); and mblanch@uga.edu Fox 21 Television Studios and “$2 Tests: Bad Arrests,” WAGA- $770K per year in textbook costs FX Productions; The End of the TV FOX 5 Atlanta (WAGA-TV). The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors has announced its annual Peabody 30 for programs released in 2018. • The children’s and youth programming winner is “Steven Universe,” Cartoon Network Studios. • Entertainment winners are Barry, HBO Entertainment in association with Alec Berg and Hanarply; Hannah Gadsby: Nanette, Netflix; Killing Eve, produced by Sid Gentle Films Ltd. for BBC America; Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, Netflix; Pose, Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions; Random Acts of Flyness, HBO Entertainment in association with
F***ing World, Clerkenwell Films/ Dominic Buchanan Productions for Channel 4 Television and Netflix; and The Good Place, Universal Television, Fremulon and 3 Arts Entertainment. • News programming winners are “Anatomy of a Killing,” BBC Africa Eye (BBC); “Back of the Class,” KING Television (NBC affiliate/KING); “Cambridge Analytica,” ITN for Channel 4 News (Channel 4 News); “Separated: Children at the Border,” FRONTLINE (PBS); “Spartan Silence: Crisis at Michigan State,” E:60, OTL, ESPNW, Sportscenter (ESPN); “The Plastic Problem,”
• Radio/podcasts programming winners are “Believed,” Michigan Radio (NPR); “Buried Truths,” WABE (WABE); “Caliphate,” The New York Times (The New York Times); “Kept Out,” Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, PRX, PBS NewsHour and the Associated Press (public radio stations nationwide); and “Monumental Lies,” Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX and Type Investigations (public radio stations nationwide). • Documentary winners are A Dangerous Son HBO Documentary Films and Moxie Firecracker See PEABODY on page 8
By Sam Fahmy
sfahmy@uga.edu
The University of Georgia has become a national leader in the use of free online textbooks, and a new grant program funded by the Provost’s Office will help save students even more money while improving the quality of their learning experience. This semester, 14 faculty members in 10 academic units received funding through the Affordable Course Materials Grant program to transition from costly textbooks to open educational resources. The $50,000 that was
distributed through the program is expected to save 7,400 students a total of $770,000 in textbook costs each year. “The enthusiasm with which faculty have embraced open educational resources underscores their outstanding commitment to our students,” said Interim Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Libby V. Morris. “Free and low-cost course materials play an important role in helping make a University of Georgia education more affordable while also improving student success metrics such as retention and completion rates.”
See TEXTBOOK on page 7