6 Nov. 27, 2017 columns.uga.edu
CAMPUS CLOSEUP
Hip-hop education
Bettina Love, an associate professor in the educational theory and practice department in UGA’s College of Education, was recently quoted by NBC News about the use of hiphop as a teaching tool. Several teachers are using hip-hop to help educate their students and keep them engaged in class. Love believes that hip-hop education can help young, black students become more successful by giving them the chance to embrace not just who they are, but how they express and what they have to say. However, she advises against using hiphop as a teaching tool if educators are not familiar with black culture. “You have to know something about black expression. You have to appreciate it and love it,” Love said, who lectures on the use of hip-hop in civic education. “There has to be some cultural matching and cultural appreciation. I tell people all the time, it’s not just simply bringing it into the classroom.”
Holiday health
Jamie Cooper, an associate professor of foods and nutrition and graduate coordinator in UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences, was quoted in a Consumer Reports article about healthy eating over the holidays. The holidays are filled with foods that can negatively affect your health. According to a 2013 study, on average, people gain 2 pounds over the holidays, as well as increased body fat, blood pressure and resting heart rate. “The holidays really can have adverse health effects beyond just weight gain,” said Cooper, who studies holiday and vacation weight gain.
‘Change the narrative’
Henry Young, UGA’s Kroger Associate Professor of Community Pharmacy, was quoted in a Men’s Health article about the opioid crisis in America. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 30,000 Americans die annually from opioid and prescription painkiller overdoses. Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Virginia have declared states of emergency for the opioid epidemic. Under that declaration, most states allowed law enforcement and the public to broadly dispense naloxone, an antidote that rapidly reverses the effects of opioids. “So often, many of these conditions go undetected and undiagnosed,” said Young, who made a presentation about the crisis last month at Georgia’s sixth State of the Public’s Health conference, which was hosted at UGA by the College of Public Health. “This begins to change the narrative around substance use and shift that conversation from a stigmatizing condition to one that we’re all dealing with and need help with.”
‘Super invader’
Karan Rawlins, who works in the entomology department at UGA’s Tifton campus, was quoted in a WRAL.com article about a flea beetle that may be able to stop an invading tree in the South. The tallow tree is a “super invader” with toxic leaves and no natural enemies in North America. It has overtaken forests from Texas to Florida. Tallows grow three times faster than most native hardwoods, and each one casts off 100,000 seeds a year. Neither controlled burns nor herbicide sprays have stopped their advance, and cutting them down only works when each stump is immediately doused with chemicals. Some scientists believe that introducing a flea beetle from the tallow’s native habitat in eastern China may stop the tallow from advancing. “Chinese tallows are very competitive, and they have no natural predators here like in their native China,” said Rawlins, who is the invasive species coordinator for the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. “Very few if any insects recognize it as a food source, so it has basically become a super invader.”
Dorothy Kozlowski
Donella Moore studied interior design but built on experience at Stone Mountain Park to create a career in administrative work.
Senior accountant takes unconventional career path to College of Pharmacy By Jim Lichtenwalter
james.lichtenwal25@uga.edu
When Donella Moore graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta with a degree in interior design, never did she think that she’d become an accountant. Yet, two decades later, Moore isn’t working in interior design professionally. Instead, she is a senior accountant for the University of Georgia’s College of Pharmacy. “It’s funny,” she said, “I always look back and wonder how this happened.” Moore oversees the college’s 89 state accounts that fund its purchasing and expenses. She examines the school’s purchases of lab equipment, office supplies, books and materials for classes. Moore also confirms that the college has adequate funding to meet its spending needs and that it is following UGA purchasing guidelines. Moore’s career path has been an unconventional one. Unlike many accountants, she doesn’t hold a certified public accountant license and did not study the subject in college. “Everything I learned about accounting was through trade and my own work experience,” she said. “I’ve been working with numbers for over 25 years. I love the problem solving that goes into it.” While attending the Art Institute of Atlanta, Moore worked at Stone Mountain Park in a variety of jobs, including handling the park’s payroll. Following graduation, Moore married Claude, an Atlanta police officer, in 1993. While she enjoyed interior design, she found
that making a career in the field would be impractical. Instead, Moore began building on the experience she received at Stone Mountain Park. Throughout the years, Moore worked a variety of administrative jobs before coming to UGA. She was an executive administrative assistant at Alltel Communications and a contract administrator for a building company, Damascus Homes. “I always wanted to work at UGA,” she said. “I kept running into people who worked there and asking them how they got a job there.” Over the course of a year, Moore applied for about 20 UGA jobs that didn’t require any previous university experience. In July 2012, she got her first job at the university, running the front office for what is now the Georgia Genomics and Bioinformatics Core. Over the next few years, Moore worked in a few university departments in administrative roles, gaining experience in an academic setting. She was hired as an associate accountant in the College of Pharmacy in August 2015 before being promoted to senior accountant in March 2017. Moore has enjoyed her time at the college working with what she refers to as the “Pharm Family.” “I love the College of Pharmacy,” she said. “We do everything in the college as a team.” During her time at the college, Moore has received a number of honors from her co-workers. In April, she was the recipient of the college’s quarterly STAR Award, which is given to staff members who go beyond the required
FACTS
Donella Moore Senior Accountant College of Pharmacy A.A., Interior Design, Art Institute of Atlanta, 1993 At UGA: Five years
duties of their work. Last year, Moore was elected president of the Pharmacy Staff Resource Group. In this position, she organized any necessary training, planned group events and organized educational lunches for her co-workers. Outside work, Moore enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters, Megan and Chloe, while pursuing her artistic passions, including sewing and interior design. Chloe is a freshman at Athens Christian School and involved with the school’s dramatic productions. For the past three years, Moore has put her sewing skills to use and helped make costumes for the school’s plays. She’s worked on The Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast and Music Man. Currently she’s hard at work making costumes for the production of Aladdin. While it’s not where she thought she would end up 25 years ago, Moore is very happy with her work at UGA, and said she wouldn’t change a thing. “I have about 15 to 20 years until I retire. I will not leave the College of Pharmacy,” she said. “My job will always be here.”
AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY/UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA MEDICAL PARTNERSHIP
Campus associate dean for curriculum named
By Mary Rogers
mk.rogers@uga.edu
Dr. Andrew P. Morris has been named the campus associate dean for curriculum at the Augusta University/ University of Georgia Medical Partnership, a four-year campus of the Medical College of Georgia in Athens. Morris joins the Partnership campus after serving as assistant dean for foundations of medicine at West Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine for the past four years. “Dr. Morris will be an extraordinary asset to the Partnership campus,” said campus Dean Michelle A. Nuss. “He brings a wealth of knowledge
in curriculum development and was instrumental in developing an integrated medical education curriculum at the Stryker School of Medicine. We look forward to his leaderAndrew Morris ship as we continue to develop a curriculum that is innovative and forward-thinking.” Morris is originally from South Wales, United Kingdom. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and physiology from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom,
in 1983. He then earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom. This was followed by a Cystic Fibrosis Fellowship at the University of Alabama from 1988-1992. In his role as campus associate dean for curriculum, Morris will be responsible for leading and managing the fouryear undergraduate medical education curriculum at the AU/UGA Medical Partnership, while ensuring the overall Partnership curriculum meets the mission of the Medical College of Georgia. In addition, Morris is appointed as a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.