The University of Georgia Magazine December 2010

the university of

GEORGIA December 2010 • Vol. 90, No. 1

MAGAZINE

UGA and MCG:

Partners for the future Athens welcomes its first medical school students

a whole new meaning to

living room.

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DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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GEORGIA THE UNIVERSITY OF

MAGAZINE

December 2010 • Vol. 90, No. 1

DEPARTMENTS

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ADMINISTRATION Michael F. Adams, President Jere Morehead, JD ’80, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Tom S. Landrum, AB ’72, MA ’87,

Senior Vice President for External Affairs Tim Burgess, AB ’77, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration PUBLIC AFFAIRS Tom Jackson, AB ’73, MPA ’04, PhD ’08, Vice President Alison Huff, Director of Publications GEORGIA MAGAZINE Editor, Kelly Simmons, MPA ’10 Managing Editor, Allyson Mann, MA ’92 Art Director, Cheri Wranosky, BFA ’84 Advertising Director, Pamela Leed Office Manager, Fran Burke Photographers, Paul Efland, BFA ’75, MEd ’80; Peter Frey, BFA ’94; Robert Newcomb, BFA ’81; Beth Newman, BFA ’07; Rick O’Quinn, ABJ ’87; Dot Paul; Andrew Davis Tucker Editorial Assistants, Grace Morris and Meg Twomey

GEORGIA MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD VOLUNTEER MEMBERS

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

Tom S. Landrum, AB ’72, MA ’87, Senior Vice President, E­ xternal Affairs; Tom Jackson, AB ’73, MPA ’04, PhD ’08, VP, Public Affairs; Deborah Dietzler, ­Executive ­Director, UGA Alumni Association; Alison Huff, Director of Publications; Eric Johnson, ABJ ’86, Director of UGA Visitors Center How to advertise in GEORGIA MAGAZINE: Contact Pamela Leed: 706/542-8124 or pjleed@uga.edu Where to send story ideas, letters, Class Notes items: Georgia Magazine 286 Oconee St., Suite 200 North Athens, GA 30602-1999 E-mail: GMeditor@uga.edu Web site: www.uga.edu/gm or University of Georgia Alumni Association www.alumni.uga.edu/alumni Address changes: E-mail records@uga.edu or call 888/268-5442

ON THE COVER

First-year medical students (from left) Erik Hansen and Anna Bunker question anthropology graduate student Alice Fazlollah during anatomy lab at the Interim Medical Partnership Building on the UGA campus.

Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker 2

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu

President Michael F. Adams on medical education in Athens

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Around the Arch Campus news and events

FEATURES 18 UGA and MCG:

Partners for the future

The UGA campus welcomes its first medical school students

by Kelly Simmons (MPA ’10)

UGA students learn skills while helping children with disabilities improve their motor function

by Genevieve di Leonardo

30 The survivor

Professor Kathy Parker is moving

forward after being treated twice for cancer

by Allyson Mann (MA ’92)

CLASS NOTES 36 Alumni profiles and notes Senior health and physical education major Nickie Strickland of Colbert works with six-year-old Rayleone Azami of Athens in the pool during a session at the Pediatric Exercise and Motor Development Clinic in the Ramsey Center.

Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker

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In compliance with federal law, including the provisions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the University of Georgia does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or military service in its administration of educational policies, programs, or activities; its admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other University-administered programs; or employment. In addition, the University does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation consistent with the University nondiscrimination policy. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the director of the Equal Opportunity Office, Peabody Hall, 290 South Jackson Street, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Telephone 706-542-7912 (V/TDD). Fax 706-542-2822.

Take 5 with the President

24 Magical moments

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FINE PRINT Georgia Magazine (ISSN 1085-1042) is published quarterly for alumni and friends of UGA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: University of Georgia, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Athens, GA 30602-5582

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Cecil Bentley, BBA ’70, UGA journalism staff; Valerie Boyd, UGA journalism faculty; Bobby Byrd, ABJ ’80, Wells Real Estate Funds; Jim Cobb, AB ’69, MA ’72, PhD ’75, UGA history faculty; Richard Hyatt, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer; Brad King, MMC ’97, BVK Communications; Fran Lane, AB ’69, MEd ’71, retired director, UGA Visitors Center; Bill McDougald, ABJ ’76, MLA ’86, Southern Living; Nicole Mitchell, UGA Press; Leneva Morgan, ABJ ’88, Georgia Power; Donald Perry, ABJ ’74, Chick-fil-A; Swann Seiler, ABJ ’78, Coastal Region of Georgia Power; Robert Willett, ABJ ’66, MFA ’73, retired journalism faculty; Martha Mitchell Zoller, ABJ ’79, WDUN-AM

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DECEMBER2010 2010• •GEORGIA GEORGIAMAGAZINE MAGAZINE DECEMBER

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The Bell family (from left) Liz, Weston, Sydney and Jeff at Sanford Stadium.

Living this close to UGA is " A BULLDOG DREAM COME TRUE. Here you have access to all the University offers and more. - Jeff Bell

"

Make a Complete Weekend Out of Your Visit to Athens

.Golf on our 27-hole Chancellors Course .Enjoy Clubhouse Dining for lunch, dinner or Sunday Brunch* .Tour our Model Homes Sundays 1 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

For more information please call 770.725.8100 or visit www.LivinginBulldogCountry.com 4

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu

The Georgia Club is located off University Parkway (Hwy 316), 12 miles west of campus. Homes of distinction from the $300,000s to $1+ million. *Reservations recommended

TAKE

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— President Michael F. Adams on medical education in Athens

Q: How did the idea for physician education at UGA originate?

A: I stood on the steps of The Chapel more than 13 years ago a newly appointed president and told the audience that I knew the difference between a first-rate liberal arts college and a first-rate research university. It had struck me in the briefing books and the Web material that I read about UGA that our portfolio of offerings omitted broad-scope international programs, public health programs, medical research and engineering research. Probably 80 percent of federal research money goes to those areas. I knew that I had significant challenges in those areas, and that was one of the many reasons I hired Karen Holbrook as provost, who had a long history in research at the University of Washington Medical School and whom I knew could help me formulate these academic proposals, most of which have now come to fruition.

Michael F. Adams

Q: What was the process to get to the point of admitting the first class this year?

A: The process is a forthright and yet time-consuming one. All academic programs at UGA are proposed in the faculty committees, examined by each academic unit, forwarded to University Council and then to the Regents for hopeful approval. As in any quasi-legislative process, it is easier to stop something than to move it forward, and it has taken the cooperation of scores of people to get physician education as well as those other efforts to the point at which they now reside.

Q: How does UGA benefit from the partnership with the Medical College of Georgia?

A: It certainly broadens our portfolio and it should over time substantially increase our research opportunities with our colleagues at MCG. The medical partnership also complements the work we were already doing in pharmacy, veterinary medicine, animal science and public health.

Q: What are the benefits of having medical education in Athens, Northeast Georgia and the rest of the state?

A. I believe that 20 years from now this will be recognized as one of this area’s greatest economic stimuli, not to mention the improvement in the quality of life and the intellectual level of the three hospitals with which we will work— Northeast Georgia Regional in Gainesville and Athens Regional and St. Mary’s in Athens. The ultimate benefit in better health will be to the people of Georgia.

Q: Will UGA have its own medical school one day?

A. I suspect somebody other than me will decide that. I would simply say that most successful, full-scale flagships have research in all of the areas I have mentioned, and I think that the state of Georgia and the University of Georgia have left federal money on the table for years by not having a broader and more aggressive research operation.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

The first class of students in the MCG-UGA Medical Partnership in Athens got to know each other during orientation activities before classes began in August.

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RICK O’QUINN

Cheerleaders greet the new Uga VIII, “Big Bad Bruce,” before the UGA-Vanderbilt homecoming game.

VOICES FOR RECOVERY Students in the School of Social Work have launched a website for the Macon community designed to help those there who have been affected by addiction.

Fourteen student volunteers from the school’s clinical practice with addictive disorders course compiled the available resources related to addiction into a one-stop source for information seekers. RecoveryMacon.org launched in September as part of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.

Addiction is the nation’s number one health problem according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and millions of Americans are affected by it, including children and families. RecoveryMacon.org is the fourth in a series of websites that have been developed by the UGA students, who each year select a city in Georgia and work together to compile information, photos and resources for the community. So far, the class has launched RecoveryAthens.org., RecoveryAtlanta.org and RecoverySavannah.org.

For more information on the UGA School of Social Work, go to http://ssw.uga.edu.

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

“BIG BAD BRUCE” INTRODUCED AS UGA VIII The eighth in a legendary line of UGA mascots was introduced to the crowd at Sanford Stadium prior to the Oct. 16 Homecoming game against Vanderbilt. Uga VIII, wearing the trademark red Georgia sweater, received the ceremonial collar at midfield prior to the game. He succeeds Russ, who had performed as interim mascot since Uga VII passed away during the 2009 season. Formally named “Big Bad Bruce” after Dr. Bruce Hollett, a UGA veterinarian who has cared for the bulldog mascots over the years, Uga VIII was born on Sept.

12, 2009. He is the grandson of Uga VI, who was mascot from 1999 until 2008. As they have been for more than 50 years, the Georgia mascots are owned by the Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler family of Savannah.

GET MORE For a multimedia slideshow go to http://photo.alumni.uga.edu/ multimedia/uga8first/.

HIGH FAT MOMS = HIGH FAT BABIES A study by UGA researchers suggests that mothers who consume a diet high in trans fats double the likelihood that their infants will have high levels of body fat. The study found that infants whose mothers consumed more than 4.5 grams of trans fats per day while breastfeeding were twice as likely to have high percentages of body fat, or adiposity, than infants whose mothers consumed less than 4.5 grams per day of trans fats. The researchers investigated different fatty acids, but determined trans fats to be the most important contributor to excess body fat. Results from the study appear in the online edition of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

SPECIAL

GOT iPAD? THE LIBRARY DOES UGA students and employees who want to try out Apple’s newest technology now can check out an iPad from the campus libraries.

The UGA Libraries purchased 12 of the tablet computers, which they distribute from three locations: the main library on North Campus, the Miller Learning Center and the Science Library on South Campus. The iPads can be borrowed for three-hour periods and can be renewed twice. UGA students and employees are required to show official UGA identification to borrow the devices. For more on the UGA Libraries, go to www.libs.uga.edu.

UGA BACK IN TOP 20 UGA tied for 18th among public universities—up from 21st in 2010—in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 edition of America’s Best Colleges. UGA also was listed among 25 national universities with the least debt for 2009 graduates. The university ranked 58 among all U.S. colleges and universities. U.S. News considers several factors in producing the annual ranking among them graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving and peer assessment. For a complete list, go to www.usnews.com.

1. University of California—Berkeley 2. University of California—Los Angeles 2. University of Virginia 4. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor 5. University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill 6. College of William and Mary 7. Georgia Institute of Technology 7. University of California—San Diego 9. University of California—Davis 9. University of California—Santa Barbara 11. University of California—Irvine 11. University of Washington 13. University of Texas—Austin 13. University of Wisconsin—Madison 15. Pennsylvania State University—University Park 15. University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign 17. University of Florida 18. Ohio State University—Columbus 18. Purdue University—West Lafayette 18. University of Georgia 18. University of Maryland—College Park 22. Texas A&M University—College Station

GO DOGS! SIP ’EM Bulldog fans can now support their favorite university every morning with a cup of Bulldog Blend. Hand roasted by Athens’ own Jittery Joe’s, Bulldog Blend is available in medium, dark, decaf and fair trade as well as whole bean or ground coffee. Bulldog Blend was created in partnership with the UGA Alumni Association, which receives a portion of the proceeds. Visit www.gocoffeestore.com for more information or to place an order.

REDCOATS ROCK Members of UGA’s Redcoat Marching Band joined indie rock’s Band of Horses on “Georgia,” a cover of a Cee Lo Green song. Band of Horses singer/guitarist Ben Bridwell came up with the idea after watching the Bulldogs play last year. “This began as a very random idea I had on my dad’s patio after we watched our beloved Georgia Bulldog football team get robbed of a win at the hands of the referees and LSU last year,” he said on the band’s website. “I knew I wanted to pay homage to my favorite team in song but didn’t have any idea how to begin.” Then Bridwell heard “Georgia,” which appears on Green’s new album “The Lady Killer.” The album also includes a cover of Band of Horses’ “No One’s Gonna Love You,” so Bridwell decided to return the favor by covering “Georgia.”

“Incorporating the Redcoat Marching Band was just the icing on the cake!” he said. At press time, “Georgia” was available for download at www. bandofhorses.com/georgia.

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BEST IN SHOW A BARK OUT TO …. Beth Phillips, clinical associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, who was named Residency Preceptor of the Year by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. …. Jared Klein, distinguished research professor of linguistics, classics, and Germanic and Slavic languages, who was named recipient of a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Humanities and Cultural Studies.

BETH PHILLIPS

…. Dione King, a Ph.D. student in the School of Social Work, who was one of five students from across the country awarded the 2010-2011 Mental Health and Substance Abuse Fellowship through the Council on Social Work Education’s Minority Fellowship Program. …. Bethany Moreton, an assistant professor of history and women’s studies, who received the 2010 John Hope Franklin Publication Prize from the American Studies Association for her book, To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise. …. Michael W. Adams, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, who was honored by the Society of Industrial Microbiologists with the Charles Thom Award, which recognizes “research of exceptional merit and originality.” …. Anneliese Singh, an assistant professor in the College of Education’s department of counseling and human development services, who received the American Psychological Association’s 2010 Award for a Significant Contribution to Social Justice and Advocacy by the Division 17 Section for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues.

MICHAEL W. ADAMS

…. the MBA program in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, which is ranked 40th in the United States and 14th among public business schools in the U.S., its best placement ever among North American universities, in the latest global MBA survey published by The Economist. .… Donna Alvermann, a UGA Distinguished Research Professor in the College of Education’s department of language and literacy education, who was named a 2010 Southern Regional Education Board Mentor of the Year. .… the University of Georgia, which was ranked 5th in U.S. News and Report’s category of popular colleges for members of Congress, with two Bulldog senators and five representatives currently in Washington. …. John Knox, an assistant professor in the department of geography, who was named winner of the T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award from the National Weather Association.

JOHN KNOX

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…. Craig Piercy, director of the master of internet technology program at the Terry College of Business, who was named an invited expert by the Open Web Education Alliance.

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

FREDERICK D. QUINN

Researcher one of six in U.S. to get funding Frederick D. Quinn, a worldrenowned tuberculosis researcher based at the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, will receive part of a $2.9 million award from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to support research projects that will help with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB. Quinn, who heads the college’s department of infectious diseases, will receive $742,498 over two years to develop a diagnostic test for latent tuberculosis. He also is a member of UGA’s faculty of infectious diseases. There are about 14 million active cases of TB worldwide, presenting the traditional clinical signs including chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum, fever, night sweats and weight loss.

However, most TB infections are latent, meaning the person infected shows no overt clinical signs and is not aware of the infection until their immune system is compromised. For more on Quinn’s research, go to www.vet.uga.edu/ ID/people/quinn.html.

FRIEND-MAKING BOARD LAUNCHED UGA launched a board of visitors in October, with an inaugural class of 35 members. Made up of community leaders throughout Georgia, the UGA Board of Visitors is charged with helping to build relationships between the state’s flagship university and elected officials, business leaders and community organizations.

Members serve a two-year term in which they will have the opportunity to hear from some of the university’s most celebrated faculty members, its top researchers and most promising students.

Board of Visitors events are funded by the Arch Foundation for the University of Georgia, which supports the university through volunteer leadership and assistance in development and fundraising activities.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

CENTURY OLD SODA FOUNTAIN NOW AT UGA A 1907 soda fountain on display in the UGA College of Pharmacy Alumni Suite was a gift from Coca-Cola Enterprises. Manufactured by Liquid Carbonic Co., the fountain is valued at $15,000 and features a mirrored frame, marble counter tops and dispensing unit. The oak fountain has 13 flavoring dispensers and was operational for many years at the Brightwell Store in Maxeys before eventually moving to Coca-Cola Enterprises in Atlanta.

APP FOR AUTISTICS UGA education researchers have received a $1.2 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences to develop an application for handheld communication devices to provide individuals with autism and developmental disabilities a selfprompting tool that they can use in their homes and communities to assist with daily living tasks. The application, called iSkills, will be designed to assist with direct instruction, and more importantly, self-instruction in such important areas as independent living, employment, leisure safety, community involvement and community navigation. This application will PROTOTYPE allow individuals to have greater freedom to pursue their own educational interests and independently seek assistance with those skills or situations that are important to them. For more information, see http://iskills. uga.edu.

UGA RANKS HIGH IN DOCTORAL DEGREES TO AFRICAN AMERICANS UGA is 15th in the nation in the number of doctoral degrees awarded to African Americans, up from 17th in last year’s rankings, according to Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine.

The doctoral completion rate for African Americans at UGA has been ranked within the top 20 colleges in the nation for three consecutive years. The latest ranking reflects the Graduate School’s efforts to recruit and retain underrepresented students through graduation. Enrollment of African American graduate students at UGA has consistently grown since 1999 when the graduate school began formal inclusiveness progams. According to this year’s rankings, UGA ranked 52nd overall for conferring doctoral degrees upon students from all underrepresented populations. For more information on outreach and diversity programs in the graduate school, go to www.grad.uga.edu.

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HILL TAKES GREEN CUP Hill Hall took top prize in the 2010 Green Cup challenge, an energy reduction competition between residence halls in the Hill Community. Hill won by a mere five points over the other contenders, including Boggs, Church, Lipscomb, Mell and Oglethorpe halls. Points were based on a formula that calculated a numeric value based on energy and water savings, recycling and waste audits and event attendance. In the final week, Hill Hall was averaging just 22 gallons of water per student. To put that in perspective, the average American uses 100 gallons per day. Also in the final week, Lipscomb Hall’s energy usage was down 40 percent from the previous year’s average. The competition took place between Sept. 13 and Oct. 10, culminating in a final celebration on Oct. 11. The Green Cup was sponsored by the UGA Parents and Families Foundation, UGA Office of Sustainability, UGA Housing and the Ecofocus Film Festival.

DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI

Tyra Byers, the School of Ecology sustainability coordinator, presents a free fluorescent lightbulb, courtesy of Georgia Power, to freshman Jamila Davis during the Green Cup Challenge Pool Party in September.

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PETER FREY

Kevin O’Neil (left) and his 3-year-old son Tiger stopped at Park(ing) Day during their morning jog. Tiger was most interested in the chickens that George Boggs (shaking hands with O’Neil), a graduate student in the College Of Education, brought for the day.

Urban ecology Visitors to downtown Athens found more than cars crowding the on-street spaces one Friday in September. At the intersection of Broad Street and College Avenue, two spots were taken up by fresh vegetables and herbs.

The roadside garden, created by UGA students and local nonprofit organizations, was part of Park(ing) Day, a national event launched in San Francisco in 2005 to emphasize the need for more urban open space.

“The goal was to inspire conversation about what public green space is and what it can consist of,” says Craig Page (AB ’07), director of local nonprofit P.L.A.C.E. (Promoting Local Agriculture & Cultural Experience). “We liked the idea of a garden right outside the kitchen screen door.”

Third-year students in the College of Environment and Design contributed to the Athens celebration by entering garden designs in a class competition. The winning design by Jonathan Franklin, a junior from Chattanooga, and Ji Soo Park, a junior from Marietta, included three parts—a kitchen and living area, a bedroom and an outdoor patio. Each section was constructed out of reused materials and plants donated by UGArden.

Throughout the day the park attracted crowds, and local nonprofit Food Not Bombs provided a vegetarian lunch for those who stopped by. Page hopes this year’s success will make Park(ing) Day an annual Athens event and will spur further discussion about creative urban development.

“We want people to start asking, ‘If these two parking spaces can be a garden, why couldn’t an entire parking lot be one?’” he says.

For more on Park(ing) Day, go to www.parkingday.org.

GOING GREEN REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, RETHINK

DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI

The official website for the UGA Office of Sustainability went live in September, just nine months after President Michael F. Adams announced the creation of the office, funded in part by a studentapproved fee. The site provides information on sustainability initiatives on campus, degree and certificate programs in sustainability-related programs and information on research and teaching that promote the preservation and protection of the environment. Do you know the seven simple steps that can create a culture of sustainability at UGA? Find out at www.sustainability.uga.edu.

Research funding up for second year UGA researchers brought in almost $176 million in research awards from external sources in fiscal year 2010, which ended June 1. It was the second record-setting year for UGA, despite the poor economy.

Last year’s peak, $174.6 million, represented a significant jump from the previous high of $150.6 million in fiscal year 2005. UGA continues to rank among the top 100 public and private research universities for federal research and development expenditures, placing 97th in the most recent National Science Foundation rankings, which are based on figures from fiscal year 2008. Sponsored research funding stems from contracts and grants awarded to the university primarily by federal, state or local government agencies; state, national or international private foundations; or individual donors from Georgia and elsewhere.

UGA faculty received awards from almost 30 federal agencies. More than 50 percent of the 2010 federal research awards given to UGA were from the National Institutes of Health— the highest percentage ever. Slightly more than one third of all research funding came from private foundations. State sources accounted for nearly 6 percent.

Almost $24 million of the research total was federal stimulus funding competitively awarded to UGA researchers, offsetting declines in awards from foundations, international organizations and state agencies.

For more information on awards, go to www.ovpr.uga.edu/ communications/FY10SponsoredAwardsReport.

RESEARCH ON WOOD COULD BOOST BIOFUELS Researchers in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources received a $1.34 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to attempt to increase the productivity of trees by genetically modifying certain proteins critical to wood formation. The study could have important implications in using trees as biofuel. Warnell faculty members Scott Harding and Chung-Jui Tsai hope that tweaking the proteins will modify the way trees divide their photosynthate (sucrose and other sugars) between wood-forming and other organs like roots and bark. Wood /photo.alumni.uga.edu/multimedia/uga8first/ is the raw feedstock for biofuels, and the research is being funded to learn about the potential of this gene for affecting wood growth, and thus tree growth, under a variety of environmental conditions. For more information go to http://genomicscience.energy.gov.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

JUST SAY NO MORE UGA students joined their peers around the country on Oct. 7, gathering on North Campus to protest further budget cuts to higher education. Organized by the UGA chapter of Georgia Students for Public Higher Education, the rally was part of National Day of Action to Defend Education.

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Green living Building 1516 opened this fall with 500 environmentally conscious upperclassmen as residents. The new East Campus residence hall is the first “green” residential hall on campus and it uses more than high-efficiency showers to remind students of the importance of environmental protection. The building is equipped with an indoor bike storage area, double-paned windows and a graywater system that recycles and treats shower and sink water for use in toilets.

The building has laundry and kitchen facilities as well as study rooms.

A facelift for New College New College, one of the oldest buildings on campus, is finally living up to its name. It was rededicated in August, after an extensive renovation to return the building—which mostly houses offices—to its 1875 appearance.

The building now has a scored stucco exterior, era-appropriate windows and a sealed-seam metal roof. The interior was renovated to better suit the use of the building, which includes a classroom intended to bring more students onto North Campus. New College will also have a display of relics that were found under the building during renovation, including a handmade spoon, wrought iron nails, blown-glass bottles, glazed cookware, an instrument that resembles a modern fire poker and a pottery bowl dating from Georgia’s late prehistoric Lamar period.

PETER FREY

Sophomores Olivia Barrett, Amy Ledford, Mallory Burt and freshman Michelle Liang relax in Reed Plaza before the start of the Georgia vs. Arkansas game.

An alley no more Reed Plaza, the pedestrian walkway connecting Sanford Drive and East Campus Road at the feet of Reed and Memorial Halls, was completed and dedicated in September. It provides an additional 30,000 square feet of athletic patron space with greatly expanded restrooms and concession areas. Reed Plaza can also be used on non-game days for student affairs activities and outdoor lectures.

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ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

A detail of a small Lamar period pot that was discovered under New College during renovations.

MARCH(ES) IN OCTOBER

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Tripp Byrd gets a jump start on his drumming career at the Wind Ensemble’s outdoor concert.

UGA’s Wind Ensemble presented its first outdoor concert on North Campus in October.

The event was designed to evoke the feel of an old-fashioned band concert in the park, and attendees were encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs and picnic lunches. The first half of the program included light classics like “Bacchanalia” from Aram Khatchaturian’s “Spartacus,” selections from the Broadway hit “Wicked” and Edwin Franko Goldman’s “On the Mall” march, during which the audience was invited to sing along. The second half of the program showcased historic band music with original instrumentation on such classics as John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Washington Post” march.

GET MORE To view a slideshow of the

event, please visit www.photo. alumni.uga.edu/multimedia/concertonthelawn/.

UGA EFFORT TO REDUCE CHILDHOOD OBESITY ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Members of the Wind Ensemble got to take their music stands and sheet music out of a practice room and into the pleasant October weather.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Attendees, who ranged from families with children to passersby who stopped for a song, brought picnics, games and their best singing voices.

UGA researchers received funding to find ways to prevent or reduce childhood obesity through partnerships among University System of Georgia institutions and local communities. Two projects aim to reduce childhood obesity by working with after-school programs, while a third aims to reduce obesity in newborns by reaching pregnant and post-partum women through local obstetricians. Georgia ranks as the third worst in the nation with over one third of children overweight or obese, according to a 2009 report

by Trust for America’s Health. A recent assessment of the nation’s health, jointly published by United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention, reported that the current annual direct healthcare costs associated with obesity in Georgia are $2.5 billion. The projected increase in obesity—as high as 47 percent­—will bring the direct costs to $11 billion by 2018.

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State pharmacists to train at UGA The College of Pharmacy will provide disaster preparation training required of all licensed pharmacists in the state. The three-hour course, mandated by the State Board of Pharmacy, is part of licensed pharmacists 30-hour continuing education requirement.

As of this fall, fewer than half of the 13,000 pharmacists in Georgia had completed the training, which includes guidelines to be used during emergencies—such as a swine flu epidemic— for filling prescriptions, issuing antibiotics and giving vaccinations.

The training course developed at UGA defines the role of pharmacists in each type of disaster and enables them to identify and address threats that could occur in their practice areas. The training compares methods of mass vaccination and mass dispensing of prophylaxis and treatment, and provides instruction for planning and operating a mass vaccination clinic. The continuing education program leads pharmacists through the process of preparing for, planning for and responding to disasters on local, state and national levels. For more information on the course and to register, go to www.rxugace.com/emergency.

Allison Gantz, left, a dance major at UGA, participates in a demonstration with children during the Community Dance Celebration.

SPECIAL

FANCY DANCING A Community Dance Celebration, sponsored by the Department of Dance, showcased adult and children’s dance classes featuring the CORE Concert Dance Company, UGA Ballet Ensemble, Ballroom Performance Group and community guest performers from the East Athens Dance Center, as well as UGA dance students. The open house event was part of the DanceATHENS Festival held at the Dance Building on the UGA campus in mid-October.

STALKING STURGEON

DOT PAUL

DAWGTOBERFEST The College of Pharmacy’s 8th annual Dawgtoberfest was host to 200 students, faculty and staff who participated in various health promotion activities. Screenings, flu shots and health information exchanges were just a few of the features at the 28 booths manned by pharmacy students as well as students from veterinary medicine, public health and the MCGUGA medical partnership. The October event was sponsored by Walgreens.

GET MORE To view a slideshow of the day’s activities, please visit www. photo.alumni.uga.edu/multimedia/dawgtoberfest2010/.

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Associate Professor Doug Peterson, whose recent work included creating a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable method of farming Russian sturgeon for PETER FREY caviar, will share a $4.45 DOUG PETERSON million, three-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine the status and movements of shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon in southeastern rivers. Both species of sturgeon are federally protected.

Peterson, who is a fisheries research biologist in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, will receive nearly $1.4 million from the grant to focus on populations of both species inhabiting the Satilla, Altamaha, Ogeechee and Savannah rivers. The central goal of the project will be to identify specific threats to each population in relation to seasonal movement patterns and habitat use within riverine and near coastal habitats from North Carolina to Georgia. Shortnose sturgeon have been on the Endangered Species List since the 1960s and Atlantic sturgeon are currently under petition for listing as either threatened or endangered.

For more on sturgeon research at UGA, go to www.warnell. uga.edu/research/fishandaqua/index.php.

SPECIAL

UGA majorettes pose after winning three national titles at the National Baton Twirling Championships. From left to right, Mary Katelyn Williams, sophomore; KayLeigh Gaines, sophomore; Angel Flournoy, sophomore; Karrissa Wimberley, grad student and feature twirler; Ashley Clark, majorette coordinator; Colleen Murphy, junior; Leslie Koch, junior; Kelly Daniel, sophomore; and Taylor Brown, junior.

TWIRLING TO VICTORY UGA’s majorettes returned from the annual National Baton Twirling Championships with three national titles and recognition as the first team ever to take home awards in each of the main categories. In addition to the national titles, the nine-member team of majorettes took the WOW Award for most entertaining performance of the competition. Individual UGA twirlers who were recognized include team captain Colleen Murphy, a junior from Damascus, Md., who won Senior Team Member of the Year; and Karrissa Wimberley, a graduate student from Tallahassee, Fla., who won three individual titles at the national competition and placed second in this year’s World Baton Twirling Championships.

ALUMNUS NAMED UGA DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Greg McGarity (ABJ ’76) became UGA athletics director on Sept. 1.

McGarity came from the University of Florida, where he was executive associate athletic director. McGarity began his career with the UGA Athletic Association, serving as student assistant from 1973-1977, as head GREG MCGARITY women’s tennis coach and assistant sports information director from 1977-1982, as an administrative assistant from 1982-1988, as assistant athletic director for facilities and event management from 1988-1992. McGarity was a letterman on the 1973 UGA men’s tennis team. He left Georgia for Florida in 1992. McGarity is married to Sheryl Holland (BSEd ’76) and the couple has one son, Alex, 21, who is a rising senior at the University of Florida.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

RED, BLACK AND SILVER The Redcoat Band is on a mission to field its performers with a full complement of silver instruments, designed to better coordinate with team colors. Alumni of the band launched a Silver Instrument Campaign this fall and hope to raise $300,000 over the next three to five years. The first event for the cause was a Redcoat Alumni Gala over homecoming weekend that included a dinner and silent auction. For more on the Redcoat Band Alumni Association, go to www.Redcoat AlumniBand.com.

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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Tour de Food

by Meg Twomey

photos by Paul Efland

Mary Charles Jordan explains the concept of the tour and passes out the list of restaurants the group will visit.

The tour group at their first stop, Italian restaurant La Dolce Vita.

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On a Wednesday evening in mid-September Mary Charles Jordan is eating at not one, but five, Athens restaurants. This despite the looming pressure of fitting into a vintage gown for her wedding this coming weekend.

As the founder and owner of Athens Food Tours, Jordan (BLA ’08) can’t be held back by rain, sun or lace. On this night she is hosting seven hungry women from her hometown of Sandersville, Ga., in Athens to celebrate a 40th birthday. The tour begins at the Arch, a must-see for visitors and a convenient meeting point, where Jordan explains the history of Athens Food Tours and distributes the itinerary for the evening.

A landscape architecture major at UGA, she moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., after graduation, where she worked three part-time jobs to pay the bills and keep busy. One job was with Taste Carolina Gourmet Food Tours, a concept she didn’t initially understand.

“I didn’t think I’d get the job, because I didn’t even know what a food tour was,” Jordan says. “And I still get that today. People are like, ‘A what tour?’”

But it’s much more than just food. What Jordan offers is an in-depth walking tour of Athens that uses food as an ice breaker. She knows her Athens history, from stories about the Civil War memorial at Broad Street and College Avenue to the architectural quirks of different buildings, and is quick to enlighten her guests as they move from eatery to eatery.

The first stop is La Dolce Vita, an Italian restaurant, where the group is greeted with fresh bread and red wine. After La Dolce Vita’s sommelier describes the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, a fruity Italian red, the interrogation of the bride-to-be begins. It starts with the dress, an altered version of her grandmother’s wedding gown, and moves onto how she’ll wear her hair and then to the planned honeymoon in Aruba. The waiter lingers, looking for a lull in conversation that never comes.

Eventually Jordan has to shift the group’s attention to the Gorgonzola and pear crostini that was delivered to the table. The toasted bread, smooth Gorgonzola and ripe pear has a nice textural contrast that everyone seems to enjoy, but the next dish—a creamy asparagus risotto— is the one that really gets them talking.

“I could eat a whole bowl of this,” Helen Tarbutton says. But the tapas-sized portion is perfect for the rich dish, especially when the dessert course—an equally

Kelly Atkinson, whose birthday was celebrated on the tour, releases the coffee beans from the roaster under the supervision of Jittery Joe’s roast master Charlie Mustard.

decadent “chocolate soup” with hazelnuts—arrives.

Amidst the chatter Jordan explains how she has gotten 34 restaurants to sign on to her tours, 13 alone in the downtown area.

“I just read people’s personalities—and if they’re excited about it, I know it can work,” she says. “There are so many restaurants that are doing great things.”

Athens Food Tours offers five standard tours, grouped by neighborhood, and Jordan also plans specialty events such as a “Bride Guide” and a “Pizza, Beer and Crepes” tour.

The downtown tour, which visits different restaurants each time, has been the most popular since Jordan started the business in April. As the group leaves La Dolce Vita and heads east on Broad Street, she explains how she relies on social media and word of mouth to build her customer base.

At the next stop, Jittery Joe’s roasting house, Jordan slips back into tour guide mode. The building, she says, was used to distribute Budweiser in the 1920s, but now its aged tin roof and iconic coffee sign are beacons of hope for thousands of caffeine-dependent students.

Friendly and knowledgeable roast master Charlie Mustard (MS ’97) explains the science behind coffee roasting, the expansion of Jittery Joe’s and shares how he started roasting partly for the free coffee that he wanted while writing his graduate thesis.

Mustard leads the group into the back of the building, which serves not only as a storehouse for coffee beans, but also as a disheveled garage for bicycles, oversized puzzle pieces and various knick knacks. He can identify seemingly identical burlap sacks as Sumatran or Rwandan beans and explains the organic and fair trade options that Jittery Joe’s has. He also explains that farmers can use chaff, the discarded outer membranes of the beans, as compost and gives tour guest Jennifer Wright a bag to take home for her family’s vegetable garden.

This concept of using everything for something is what Jordan most enjoys sharing.

“I wasn’t really that into the food,” she admits.

“I liked the sustainability and the local aspect.”

Over miniature Reuben sandwiches and pickled okra at Farm 255, Jordan urges the guests to read the mission of the restaurant as she talks about visiting a local free-range chicken farm and continues to stress her passion for locally owned businesses and local food.

This continues at The National, where Sandersville gossip mingles with a refreshing pomegranate fizz and platters of fresh shrimp and bacon wrapped dates. Chef Peter Dale explains the “Mediterranean ideas, but local ingredients” concept behind the restaurant. As guests enjoy teacups of warm chicken noodle soup, Dale explains that since the free-range chickens are so expensive he takes care to use the whole bird. An otherwise useless chicken carcass becomes the base for a rich stock that is used in a chicken soup so comforting it tastes as if it could cure any ailment.

“We’ll crank this out for flu season,” Dale jokes.

The last stop is Yoguri frozen yogurt, brought to Athens by shop owner Vena Kim, who first spotted the frozen yogurt trend on the West Coast. Kim now wakes up at five every morning to make and freeze her allnatural yogurt flavors ranging from chocolate to mango to taro.

The women sample each flavor and analyze the toppings, which range from fresh fruit and granola to chunks of Oreo cookies. They each get a cup of yogurt with three toppings, which they pass around and sample.

The three-hour tour has gone over by almost an hour, but none of the guests seem to mind as they continue to nibble, chat and grill the friendly tour guide on everything from bacon to bridal registries.

GET MORE For more information on Athens Food Tours, go to www.athensfoodtours.com.

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I

t’s 7:30

UGA and MCG:

The first students in the MCG-UGA Medical Partnership cut the ribbon to dedicate the Interim Medical Partnership Building in Athens.

PHOTO BY ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

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Pa P

Partners for the future Athens welcomes its first medical school students

by Kelly Simmons (MPA ’10)

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T

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First-year medical student Chip Carnes talks to a “patient” during a simulated office visit. Patient simulations are videotaped and viewed by instructors in the medical partnership.

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Medical partnership student Lum Frundi of Cameroon receives her white coat from MCG Vice Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Ruth Marie-Fincher during the official white coat ceremony in Augusta for first-year students.

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he door to the examination room opens and Chip

Carnes steps in, a white lab coat over his shirt and tie.

Clipboard in hand, he sits down on a stool in front of his “patient,” Mr. Richardson.

After exchanging pleasantries, Richardson begins describing the pain in his knee. He’s had it off and on for a few years, but it has really bothered him the last few weeks.

“As a result I’m not walking very well,” Richardson tells Carnes, who is taking notes while the patient talks.

They go over Richardson’s medical history for a few minutes before wrapping up the conversation.

“I think I have everything my attending needs,” Carnes says, shaking the patient’s hand and wishing him well.

In a doctor’s office, Carnes would relay the information to an attending physician who would examine the patient.

But here, at the Interim Medical Partnership Building on the UGA campus, Carnes meets with his professor, who watched the simulation on closed circuit TV and will now critique the first-year medical student’s performance.

“I’m nervous going in there usually, but as soon as I get in I always forget the nervousness,” says Carnes, who earned his undergraduate degree in economics from UGA in May. “It really prepares us for any practical examination we’re going to have with a patient.”

The simulations are part of the curriculum for the 40 first-year medical students enrolled in the Medical College of Georgia-UGA Medical Partnership. It is the first year of the Athens-based program, designed to increase the number of physicians in Georgia.

In the future the partnership also is expected to increase the opportunities for medically related research.

“Long term, this medical partnership will enhance UGA’s research enterprise and create more opportunities for grant funding,” UGA Provost Jere Morehead says.

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved the expansion of physician education in 2008, designating an additional campus in Athens and two clinical programs in Savannah and Albany. Regents anticipate that through the expansion, medical school enrollment will increase from 190 to 300 students by 2020.

Initially, students in Athens are being educated in the Interim Medical Partnership Building, a historic building near North Campus built in 1857 as the Athens Cotton and Wool Factory. The building was renovated into a state-ofthe-art learning environment for the medical students. In 2012, the program will move to a 58-acre campus in Athens currently occupied by the Navy Supply Corps School.

Students admitted to medical school at MCG (which will change its name to Georgia’s Health Sciences University on Feb. 1) for the fall of 2010 were allowed to choose whether to study in Augusta or at the new campus in

Athens. About half of the students who chose the Athens campus received their undergraduate degrees from UGA.

One is Nitya Nair, an Alpharetta resident who earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology from UGA in May. Nair says she chose the Athens campus so that she would be closer to her family and also to her fiancé, who is enrolled in the College of Pharmacy. The leadership at the school also impressed her.

“We did a tour of this campus back in April,” Nair says.

“Dr. (Barbara) Schuster had a huge impact on me.”

Nair says she liked the idea of a close-knit first-year class and the opportunity to work in small groups.

“It’s a very supportive environment.”

While the core coursework for students in Augusta and Athens is much the same, Schuster, campus dean of the MCG-UGA Medical Partnership, says she believes the Athens students do have an advantage.

“There is much greater faculty-student interaction,” she says. “If you like to be lost in a crowd, this might not work for you.”

Another advantage, Schuster says, is the opportunity to partner with other programs on campus. For example, graduate students within the theater department train volunteers to be simulated patients for the med student clinics.

“Basically it’s an acting job,” theater department head David Saltz says of the simulated patients. Most of the volunteers are retirees, and most have no background in acting. With the help of the theater students, they learn how to present challenging situations to the doctors in their practice rotations “in a believable way so the doctors can find strategies to handle it,” Saltz says.

The med students also receive “actor training.” The acting coaches assess how the future doctors present themselves to patients.

The program has gone so well this semester that Saltz says the theater department is offering an upper level course in simulated patient acting. The students will do their lab work in the med school clinics.

Dr. Stephen Goggans, clinical director for the medical partnership, approached Saltz with the idea of theater training for the simulated patients.

“You want your simulated patients to be as authentic as possible,” Goggans says.

After their sessions, the simulated patients fill out written critiques on their student doctors. Faculty members, who watch the sessions through closed circuit TV, use the patients’ assessments as part of the overall student critique.

“If they perceive problems, they need to share them,” Goggans says. “That’s what’s going to help the students improve.”

The clinical exercises are a critical component of the

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Student Bree Berry performs a dissection during anatomy lab, under the watchful eye of medical partnership faculty member Thom Gaddy.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

From left: Students Lance McLeroy of Carrollton, Katie Zhang of Suwanee, Brett Kodish of Johns Creek, Ashley Austin of Lawrenceville, Meredith LeBlanc of Bedminster, N.J., and Bree Berry of Marietta work together to answer questions during a group quiz in their tissue histology class.

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ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Nitya Nair listens to a lecture by Dr. Terrence Steyer, chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences.

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From left: Students Cristina Elstad of Atlanta, Erik Hansen of Marietta and Peter Karempelis of Roswell practice CPR during medical school orientation.

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medical training, which is why they start just weeks after the students arrive on campus, Goggans says. In the past, medical education has focused strictly on science for the first two years, he says, but now more schools realize that students need to begin learning their bedside manner earlier in the process.

Another important component of the program in Athens is community service. The medical partnership has partnered with five local nonprofit organizations through which students will work during the coming year—Nuci’s Space, an Athens program that provides assistance to musicians suffering from depression or other mental/ emotional illnesses; Head Start, a preschool program for disadvantaged 3-year-olds; the Athens Nurses Clinic, a nurse-run clinic that provides free health care to the homeless, indigent and low income population in Clarke County; the Athens Community Council on Aging, which provides support and advocacy for older adults; and the UGA University Health Center, which provides health care and counseling to UGA students and employees.

Bree Berry will work with the Athens Nursing Clinic on a smoking cessation project for the next year. Berry, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College in North Carolina in 2008, says she was interested in the project because it involved working with an underserved population and would be challenging.

“I thought the smoking cessation project would be a good way to get experience with a topic in medicine that we all will be dealing with in the future,” she explains.

A Marietta resident, Berry went to high school at The

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Karempelis takes his microscope from his locker to his desk in preparation for a tissue histology class.

Walker School, an independent private school in Cobb County with fewer than 1,100 students in grades pre-K through 12. Davidson College is an independent private liberal arts school with fewer than 2,000 students, about 20 miles north of Charlotte. The intimacy of the new medical partnership appealed to her as well.

“I loved the idea of the new campus, I thought that was awesome,” says Berry, who spent a year as a Wake Forest University research assistant and a Kaplan tutor in North Carolina before moving back to Georgia. “The small class size is perfect for me.”

The first Athens campus student to receive a White Coat Initiative scholarship (see p. 51), Berry also has built a friendship with her donors, both UGA grads, who live in Carrollton. Berry met Dr. Bryan Kirby (BS ’99), whose medical degree is from MCG, and wife Samantha Kirby (BSEd ’99) at the August dedication of the new Interim Partnership Building near North Campus.

“He had so much advice to give me about medical school,” Berry says. “They really want to be involved so we’re staying in touch.”

GET MORE For more information on the MCG/UGA Medical Partnership, go to www.uga.edu/academics/medicalpartnership. html.

To make a gift, go to www.gahsf.org/ways-to-give/ scholarship.

For a multimedia slide show, go to http://www.photo. alumni.uga.edu/multimedia/whitecoatceremony2010.

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Student Amy Martin of Richmond Hill uses one of the resident study areas in the medical partnership building to study for an anatomy quiz.

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Ashley Austin gets some help from faculty member Gregg Nagle during a tissue histology class.

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MCG-UGA Medical Partnership Dean Barbara Schuster, left, chats with student Rutvi Patel of Marietta during orientation.

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Tristan Bass, 4, swims in the pool with Taylor Davis from Lilburn at the Pediatric Exercise and Motor Development Clinic at the Ramsey Center.

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UGA students learn skills while helping children with disabilities improve their motor function

by Genevieve di Leonardo

photos by Andew Davis Tucker

O

n any given night of the week, the Ramsey Student Center is

packed with UGA students working out and socializing. But on Tuesday nights, something magical happens in a far corner of the recreation center.

In a lower level gym and in the pool, several UGA students work one-on-one with local children with disabilities, helping them to improve their physical and motor functioning.

For nine weeks each semester, students in kinesiology professor Michael Horvat’s adapted physical education class participate in the Pediatric Exercise and Motor Development Clinic (PEMDC), which is designed to help both the students and the children.

“My main focus is to provide the experience for these students that children with disabilities can learn and become members of society,” says Horvat, who has directed the clinic for the past 25 years. “The program is also a community service to provide opportunities for children with disabilities to develop physical, motor and functional skills.”

Originally developed by professor emeritus of physical education Ernie Bundschuh in 1975, Horvat took over the clinic in 1985 and modified the format to use the latest exercise and motor development techniques. It serves Athens area residents, beginning at age 2, with all degrees of functioning and a variety of developmental issues ranging from Down syndrome to neurological and sensory problems and even autism.

If you’ve heard of the clinic, it might be because it’s one of three beneficiaries of the annual UGA Countdown to Kickoff—a July fund-

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Professor Mike Horvat talks with motor behavior doctoral student James Zagrodnik of Augusta at the Pediatric Exercise and Motor Development Clinic.

raising event created in 2006 by former UGA football stars and National Football League players Matt and Jon Stinchcomb, along with David Greene. The event allows Bulldog fans to take pictures, get autographs or catch passes with some of their favorite UGA players in the NFL, legends from the past and current players.

Several former UGA athletes have participated in the clinic as students over the years. When Matt Stinchcomb (BA ’98) visited the clinic, it made such an impression on him that he wanted to contribute to the clinic’s survival and growth.

“What impressed me was how effective the program is,” Stinchcomb says. “It benefits the children who participate in it, as well as prepares UGA students who are considering careers in which they’ll work with children with disabilities. It reaches beyond the classroom and has a realworld effect on children who have few opportunities for such development.”

“The kids don’t view the students as clinicians or therapists, they view them as friends and that’s what makes this so effective. They don’t realize that as they play basketball or swim in the pool they’re discovering that they’re actually capable of doing a

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lot more physically than they knew they could do, and the UGA students are discovering that right along with them. That may be the most special aspect of it—they’re both kind of in discovery of what they can really do.”

Horvat is raising money to sustain the clinic even after he retires.

He hopes to endow two graduate assistantships for students who plan a career working with students with disabilities. He also would like to fund a professorship to work with public school teachers and area agencies that deal with human disabilities.

Parents of disabled children who attend say that its contribution to the community is priceless.

“When my son was diagnosed with sensory integration disorder, I was like ‘What are we going to do?’” says Jennifer Givan, whose son Jon has attended the clinic for two years.

“He can come here and get what he needs at a reasonable cost.”

At the start of each nine-week session, a kinesiology student from UGA is paired with a child. With Horvat’s supervision, the student develops a personalized activity plan based on the child’s individual needs as determined through an initial assessment by the clinic and information from parents,

doctors and teachers.

Each student works with the same child for the entire session, providing one-on-one attention during activities in the gym and the pool. Gym activities include playing catch with a ball, balancing on a platform, dance and strength training. In the pool, the advanced children do laps in the deep end, while the less developed children work primarily on their movements and motor developments using weights, noodles and kick boards. The clinic is designed to facilitate functional skills that the children can use in their home and school settings.

UGA students build the skills they’ll need to work with special populations in the future.

“The clinic is important, as it puts into practice the information that students in kinesiology have learned in the classroom,” exercise science major Sara Samchok says. “In addition, this class connects students from the university with the community.”

Over the course of the nine weeks, the students also develop special relationships with the children.

“My favorite part about the clinic is being able to build a bond with the children that I work with, as well as seeing them improve,” says Michael Mansfield, an exercise science major.

“When we meet each week and continue working on our activity plans, we are able to see the improvement.

For me, it is rewarding just knowing that I am able to help them.”

The close interaction with the UGA students is equally beneficial to the children, parents say.

“He responds better here than at home,” says Erin Murray, who has brought her son, Jack, to the clinic for the past three years. “I think it’s because it is someone they look up to, and they will do more for them than they will for an adult in their home setting. The kids just love having an-

Senior health and physical education major Rachel Hutcherson of Marietta helps Emilie Bedgood, 8, of Athens aim the ball so that she will knock down the bowling pins.

Thomas Jordan, 16, of Watkinsville hits balls with a tennis racket in the Ramsey center gym.

Health and physical education master’s student Adam Hawk of Madison tries to coax Tyler Cox, 7, of Winder into the pool.

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Hallie McCollum, 11, practices stacking cups for Jamie Cheshire, a senior health and physical education major from Jasper.

Senior health and physical education major David Amato of Farmington, Conn., helps Garrett Visser, 6, of Athens position his grip on the hockey stick.

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Rayleone Azami, 6, of Athens hopscotches from circle to circle as senior health and physical education major Nickie Strickland of Colbert looks on.

other young person interested in them and wanting to do things with them.

It makes all the difference in how they respond.”

The children usually are referred to the clinic by their doctor or school, but Horvat also visits local organizations to spread the word about the work he and his students are doing.

Murray learned about the clinic through Babies Can’t Wait, a state program for children up to age 3 with special needs. She promptly enrolled Jack, who was only 20 months old at the time and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

When Jack began his first session at the clinic, he was unable to walk.

Nine weeks later he was walking with a push toy.

“I was very surprised,” Murray says. “The doctors were telling us that he would walk, but there was no telling when that would happen. He had just recently gotten diagnosed, so that was just really a good day.”

During a recent session in Jack’s third year with the clinic, he walked down stairs on his own, reaching another developmental milestone.

Irene Cordell moved her family from Dublin, Ga., to Athens in 1983 so her daughter, Jenny, then a nonverbal autistic 5-year-old, could be close to services she couldn’t find in Dublin. Jenny has been working with the clinic for the past 27 years. Cordell and Horvat joke that he and Jenny will retire together.

“What makes the clinic different is the warmth and the caring of Michael Horvat and the people that he has helping him,” Cordell says, “as well as his uncanny ability to match students with the attendees.”

—Genevieve di Leonardo is a master’s student in public relations and a former publications assistant in the College of Education.

Parker Smith, 10, of Hull chases a beach ball around the Ramsey center pool with senior health and physical education major Katie Disco of Acworth.

Senior exercise and sports science major Ashley Sherman of Valdosta helps Maggie Caldwell, 3, prepare to go into the pool.

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Logan Wilkes, 4, of Watkinsville takes a break from swimming.

For more information go to http://archive. coe.uga.edu/kinesiology/service/movement.html To make a gift contact Aldon Knight, aknight@uga.edu or (706) 542-2267.

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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The survivor Professor Kathy Parker is moving forward after being treated twice for cancer

by Allyson Mann (MA ’92)

photos by Andew Davis Tucker

Geography Professor Kathy Parker runs at Lake Herrick at the UGA intramural fields in July. Parker began running in the ’70s and hasn’t stopped, despite being treated twice for cancer.

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I

t’s 7:30 a.m. on a Tuesday in June, and UGA Professor Kathy Parker is finishing a four-mile run. Her breathing is even, her stride is steady and she’s able to carry on a conversation. Occasionally she wipes sweat from her forehead with a bandanna she carries in her hand. There aren’t many runners out this morning. Though the temperature of 72 degrees is reasonable, the 90 percent humidity is not.

But Kathy Parker isn’t your average weekend warrior.

Parker has run the Boston Marathon three times, competed at the world championship for duathlon and faced down triathlons including an Ironman. For years she’s been training her body to endure the physical hardships that accompany long-distance exertion and also honing the mental toughness that’s an integral part of such competitions. So this morning’s run is not even close to the tough-

est challenge she’s endured. Not by a long shot. Her biggest challenge has been facing and defeating cancer not once, but twice.

athy Parker has always loved the outdoors.

K

“When I was a kid, I would be outdoors in the summer

virtually all day long,” she says. “I’d leave after breakfast, come back for lunch, and my mom would call me in at bedtime.”

She grew up in central Ohio as the youngest of four children and the only girl. Her brothers were athletic and naturally she tried to keep up, playing basketball and taking up competitive swimming. At Michigan State University she enrolled as a psychology major, but a geography class made her realize that she could make a career out of being

outside and studying the environment.

“I’m sure that part of why I do what I do is my tomboy upbringing of being outside all the time,” she says. “That’s one aspect I love about my job.”

Michigan State is also where Parker met her future husband, Al Parker, in a geography class. They graduated in 1975, skipping commencement to get married before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a Ph.D. program in geography. The two enjoyed outdoor activities like walking and biking and took up the new running craze. They wore Nike waffle trainers and ran three miles a day every day. They got shin splints. After they recovered, they got better shoes and kept running. In 1978 a fictional television movie starring Joanne Woodward— who won an Emmy—chronicled a woman’s quest to run

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the Boston Marathon. “See How She Runs” planted an idea in Parker’s mind. It made her want to run the Boston Marathon. was Parker’s oldest brother and a bit of a black Jsheepim inConn the family. Eight years older, he was the only one

SPECIAL

Kathy Parker ran the 2010 Boston Marathon in April to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she participated in a clinical trial for breast cancer in 2008. Parker’s shirt was created specifically for the race and features lyrics from Melissa Ethridge’s “I Run For Life,” as well as the names of cancer survivors including family and friends. Her husband Al Parker (right), also a UGA professor of geography, headed their campaign that raised nearly $8,000.

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of the kids who didn’t get a college degree, but he was a wizard when it came to understanding mechanics and electronics. Parker remembers him dismantling and then reassembling a car engine. Talking about him still brings tears to her eyes.

In 2000 Conn, who lived in Columbus, Ohio, was diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer. Faced with her brother’s terminal diagnosis, Parker decided to run the Boston Marathon to honor him and to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

“He had always kind of kidded me about all my athletic stuff,” she says. “I wasn’t even sure that it would mean anything to him… but he was really moved.”

Conn lived only a few days beyond the 2001 Boston Marathon. And exactly three days after he died, Parker discovered that she was facing her own cancer.

A couple of months before the marathon, Parker had discovered a grape-sized lump in her groin. A needle biopsy suggested that the lump was benign, so she scheduled surgery for after the race. But the surgery revealed that she had vulvar cancer—news she received while driving to Columbus for her brother’s funeral.

“It was quite a blow, because I don’t think either one of us had really thought it was possible she would have cancer,” Al Parker says. “And of course the timing was horrible.

Since she’d just lost her brother, I think her immediate sense was ‘I’m going to die.’”

On the way to Conn’s funeral, the two stopped overnight at a motel.

“We took a walk, and we said to each other, ‘One step at a time.’ And I think even just that turned it around,” he says. “Go out for a stroll in the evening and realize that ordinary daily life is going to go on.”

Eventually Kathy Parker would have four surgeries that removed tissue in her groin down to the pelvic floor. One doctor told her that she’d probably never run again—which she says was “like waving a red flag in front of a bull.”

“As soon as they would let me, I was walking,” she says.

“Even in the hospital I would kind of do laps around the floor that I was on.”

Parker vowed that if she got through the next two years—the time frame during which the cancer was most likely to come back—she would run the Boston Marathon again to celebrate.

n the fall of 2004, the woman who’d been told that she Imight never run again found herself cycling into Las Vegas

next to seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Parker was riding in the Tour of Hope, a crosscountry ride designed to raise awareness of the importance of cancer clinical trials. Almost 1,200 people applied to ride the nearly 3,500 miles from L.A. to D.C., and Parker was one of 20 chosen.

Earlier that year she had run her second Boston Marathon, this time in memory of her brother, and again raising money for the American Cancer Society. Parker had defied expectations by running again after her 2001 surgery, as soon as her oncologist gave her the all clear.

“He wouldn’t let me run for six weeks, but as soon as he did I was out the door,” she says.

But it hadn’t been easy. Parker discovered that the tissue removal during her surgery resulted in muscle imbalances that caused back and hip problems. They showed up not only with running, but also with cycling, which she took up about six months after the surgery.

Over time she discovered that yoga, massage and working with a physical therapist helped to keep things under control. As her body adjusted, she took on a new challenge—triathlons. She also found that there are life lessons associated with an event like cancer.

“It makes you think of things in a broader perspective,” she says. “I don’t think there’s anything else in my life that has so quickly and so dramatically just put everything into focus.”

And when it came to athletics and pushing herself, Parker found she didn’t want to say no. The Tour of Hope was going to be a grueling event, but Parker had a special reason for wanting to participate. When she was being treated for vulvar cancer, one thing that helped keep her spirits up was a book her husband gave her—It’s Not About the Bike, Armstrong’s chronicle of his battle with testicular cancer.

“When I was diagnosed the first time, his book made an enormous difference to me because I’d just lost Jim. I didn’t think I was going to make it,” she says. “I read it in the hospital, and I thought, ‘Yea, ok, Lance beat tremendous odds. I can beat this.’”

The Tour of Hope riders were divided into four teams, with each member taking a four-to-five-hour shift on the bike every 18 hours. On Parker’s first leg of the journey, Armstrong rode the last 40 miles with them as they reached Las Vegas at nightfall.

“I just happened to be right at the front with Lance as we rode up the sidewalk to this casino where he and a couple of our team members were going to speak. It was pretty amazing. Having an opportunity to ride side by side

with Lance on the road and chat with him—that was pretty incredible for all of us.”

At each stop during the Tour there were rallies at cancer centers, where the teams shared their experiences and heard stories from locals. Such exchanges helped fuel the riders, who were enduring a physical experience more grueling than anything they’d ever done. As Armstrong

Parker leads her husband and UGA staff member Brenda Rodgers on a ride of country roads outside Winterville in July. The Parkers are part of a group that cycles together on Sundays.

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

33

Kathy and Al Parker lead a graduate seminar in environmental history and conservation policy in October. The Parkers visited Kenya in September, where Kathy—an avid photographer—shot landscapes that she will use for illustration purposes in her classes.

told them, the 18-hour clock meant they were riding great distances on less sleep than riders in the Tour de France.

“I remember there was a woman out there at 1 in the morning just along the roadside. She thanked us and said that she appreciated our doing it because she couldn’t. She had a sister who was fighting cancer,” Parker says. “That’s the kind of thing that would give us the strength to make it.”

Parker also shared her experience with the two classes on physical geography that she was teaching that fall. Before she left, she created a virtual tour that mapped the physical and cultural features she would encounter during her ride so that the students could get a sense of what she was seeing. A tech person uploaded her daily logs while she was gone.

And when she got back, she found that the Tour opened up lines of communication. Two of her students had families that had been affected by cancer, and Parker was able to refer them to organizations for support.

“It was neat to be able to reach out to kids in my classes in a way beyond just the physical geography that I was teaching them about.”

K

athy Parker continued to challenge herself by competing in triathlons, eventually completing an Ironman (2.4mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run). She discovered that she excelled in duathlon (cycling and running), and in

34 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

2008 she qualified to compete at the world championship.

But another cancer diagnosis—this time breast cancer— ended those plans.

When she got the news, Parker was still in touch with her Tour of Hope teammates. She shared her diagnosis on their listserv and to her surprise got a response from Eric Winer, a doctor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a Tour of Hope team member from 2003. Though they’d never met in person, Winer reviewed her treatment plan and told her about a clinical trial he was conducting at DanaFarber. The regimen at DF would be less toxic, and it also gave Parker a chance to give back.

“The message of the Tour of Hope was driven home to me personally when I was diagnosed the second time,” she says. “The kind of breast cancer that I had—the drug that is typically used for it has been used for early-stage versions of this cancer now for about four years. Before it was used, the prognosis for that kind of cancer was not really very good.

It was one of the deadlier forms of breast cancer. And this drug—herceptin—has made an incredible difference. And we only know that because of women participating in clinical trials.”

She had four lumpectomies, then flew weekly to Boston at her own expense for chemotherapy. Despite the treatment and constant travel she continued to teach, using pre-recorded presentations and web-based discussions to keep in contact with her students.

“I feel like it was an opportunity for them to learn not just about physical geography but that here’s a person who’s dealing with cancer treatment who’s still living life. It’s not a death sentence,” she says. “I think to someone that age who

may not have had much exposure to cancer yet that’s an important lesson to learn.”

After chemotherapy she continued with medications every three weeks for a full year. She has regular checkups but is cancer free. n October, Athens hosted its first ever half marathon. It Iwould seem like a natural fit for Kathy Parker, but she de-

cided not to run it. She’s still running and cycling, but not as much as she used to. It’s an experiment to see what will happen when she doesn’t drive herself to physical extremes.

“I think doing races and being able to compete and do ok, it was like, ‘Take that, cancer! You’re not going to get me. Or if you are, it’s not going to be without a fight,’” she says. “I think I’ve finally gotten to the point where I don’t need to prove that anymore, so I’m hoping to be a little more laid back about things.”

Parker (second from right) participates in a yoga class for breast cancer survivors at the Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support in October. Parker credits yoga with reducing the physical side effects of chemotherapy and helping her approach life more calmly.

But Parker is not slowing down when it comes to sharing her experiences in the hope that she can help others.

Early in October—Breast Cancer Awareness Month—she spoke to UGA pharmacy students in a Chemotherapy of Cancer class. She talked openly about her experiences and answered questions ranging from the side effects of chemo to how often she performed breast self exams to the personal costs she incurred with the clinical trial.

The next week she returned to Boston for a follow-up with the breast cancer clinical trial. Parker also stays in touch with a former student who’s being treated for pancreatic cancer. And she has taped an interview on therapeutic yoga, a video project that grew out of a yoga class for breast cancer survivors that she has found particularly helpful.

“Cancer’s a disease about which people can easily have a lot of fear. It’s a scary disease. When you hear you’ve been diagnosed with it, it’s frankly terrifying,” she says. “If I can make it any less terrifying for anyone else, then it’s effort that’s well spent for me. I don’t really mind talking about it, because I’ve been helped by others doing the same thing.”

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASS

NOTES

“Blogger” becomes “author”

BETHANY KEELEY-JONKER

CLASS NOTES Compiled by Grace Morris and Meg Twomey 1945-1949 Abit Massey (BBA ’49) was inducted into the Junior Achievement Northeast Georgia Business Hall of Fame.

1955-1959 Frank Troutman Jr. (AB ’56, LLB ’58) received the William J. VanLandingham Commitment to Education Award from the Georgia Council on Economic Education for his work as chairman of the GCEE from 1976 to 1981. Rodger Miles (BSPh ’59) received the 50-Year Pharmacist Award from the Georgia Pharmacy Association.

1960-1964 Lee Blakely (BSA ’62) received the 2009 Award of Merit from the American Dairy Products Institute.

1965-1969 Jodi Horton (BFA ’65) was selected as

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

PAUL EFLAND

a member of the class of 2010 by the Public Relations Society of America’s College of Fellows. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from PRSA’s southern Arizona chapter in 2009. Luke P. Weaver (BBA ’66) has retired as a State Farm insurance agent after 44 years of service. John Ameroso (BSA ’68) retired from his position as New York City’s first extension agent.

Ameroso’s work as a Cornell University Cooperative Extension agent started in 1976. By 1994, under Ameroso’s leadership, the Urban Gardening Program had expanded to 23 cities and was producing $16 million worth of food each year.

1970-1974 Barnie Beasley (BSAE ’73) retired as chairman, president and CEO of Southern Nuclear Operating Company.

1975-1979 Roger Patterson (BBA ’76) is vice president for business and finance at Washington State University. Dennis Swartzell (BSA ’76) is a principal of

Bethany Keeley-Jonker (MA ’07) is author of The Book of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks, published in July and based on her blog (www.unnecessaryquotes.com) that pokes fun at misused quotation marks. In August Time magazine covered the blog, which Keeley-Jonker started in 2005. In 2007 she began receiving hundreds of submissions from around the world after the Associated Press wrote about it. Keeley-Jonker is working on a Ph.D. in speech communication at UGA. She earned the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for 2009-10 from the Department of Speech Communication.

Horticulture Consultants Inc. in Las Vegas, Nev. He is the emeritus director of landscape at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and was the first certified arborist in Las Vegas and the first board-certified Master Arborist in Nevada. Chuck Williams (BSA ’77) is the chairman of the Georgia Bankers Association. He previously served as vice chairman of the organization. He was also appointed to the Georgia State Forestry Commission Board of Directors. Alan Durden (BSA ’78) is the new director of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension center in Macon County. Ed Grisamore (ABJ ’78) received the 2010 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award. Richard Gershon (AB ’79) is the dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law. He previously served as founding dean of the Charleston School of Law. 1980-1984 The Rev. David Lindwall (BS ’82) is senior pastor at Montgomery United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Texas. Douglas W. Brown (BS ’83) of Columbus is the second vice president of application services in

ALUMNI PROFILE

A Bulldog in ’Bama Alabama Senator Hinton Mitchem remains loyal

by Meg Twomey

HINTON MITCHEM

AFLAC’s IT Department. Judson “Jay” Watson III (AB ’83) was named Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies at the University of Mississippi, where he has taught since 1989.

1985-1989 Catherine Stone Gordon (BBA ’85) received the regional Service to Mankind Award from Sertoma for her work as director of St. Margaret’s Community Outreach in Carrollton. Jean S. Mullis (BBA ’85) is the Neese district manager for Jackson Electric Membership Corp.

She previously served as the Jefferson district director of office services.

Rachael Parr (BSEd ’85) received the 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching in Georgia. Myra Howard (ABJ ’86, MA ’87) is the chief development officer for The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar.

She was also appointed to the Commonwealth of Virginia Board of Dentistry as chair of the Legislative-Regulatory Committee. E. Middleton Thorne III (BSA ’87, BBA ’88) is a managing direc-

For most Alabama residents, the Iron Bowl game between Auburn University and the University of Alabama is the most important college football game of the year. Bragging rights, pride and recruiting prospects are on the line. For Alabama state Senator Hinton Mitchem (BSEd ’61), it’s just another football game that Georgia isn’t playing in.

And while he may not stand up and “call the Dawgs” if he’s sitting in Alabama’s president’s box at Bryant-Denny stadium, he isn’t shy about his loyalty.

“When I first ran [for political office], the first thing I put on my brochure was ‘Graduate of the University of Georgia,’ and I’ve never gotten criticism for it and I’ve never hid where I’m from,” Mitchem says.

A native of the Eastville community in Oconee County, off Highway 53 between Winder and Watkinsville, Mitchem spent the last 50 years DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI in Alabama, the last four decades in the state senate and decided this past March he would not seek re-election.

“I love politics,” says Mitchem, who expresses a deep appreciation for the experiences he had and the people he met through his career. “But it’s getting harder and harder to please everyone,” he says as he acknowledges there is less money to go around and stronger party lines to fight.

After graduating from UGA, where he lettered in baseball, he found a job in Oconee County that soon transferred him to Albertville, Ala. He began to get involved with the city’s Chamber of Commerce, was elected to the Albertville city council and moved up to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1975.

Mitchem became a state senator in 1979.

In the Senate, he served as chairman of the Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee twice, was voted The Outstanding Senator in Alabama by his peers in 1985 and was elected president pro tempore in 2007, a position he held for two years. He also was recognized for his work with the junior and technical colleges in the state and his effort to create the Cathedral Caverns state park.

He considers his work with the Alabama Housing Finance Authority one of his greatest political successes. He sponsored the bill in 1980 that allowed the state to make low-interest loans to people buying homes, which has helped more than 185,000 Alabama families become home owners. And he is quick to mention his work as chairman of the Alabama Special Olympics for almost 20 years.

Mitchem continues to help Alabama citizens even when he isn’t up for reelection. He served as the subject of a retirement roast that raised more than $16,000 for the Child Advocacy Center of Marshall County.

With his newly found free time, the 72-year-old Mitchem plans to travel more and read and visit with his children and grandchildren. And when he makes it back to Athens—usually for a home football game—he fits in some time for nostalgia. He remembers when Eastville had a cotton gin and a country store and is amazed by how much has changed since he was a student at Watkinsville High in the ’50s.

“What’s fascinating to me is how much it’s growing,” he says. “It’s the fastest growing area I’ve ever seen.”

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES ALUMNI PROFILE

At the pinnacle College of Education alumna works to build a better workforce for the state of Alabama

by Julie Sartor (BSEd ’00)

Freida Hill, the first female chancellor of Alabama’s Community College System, is a self-proclaimed lifelong learner. She knows the value of education.

SPECIAL Freida Hill speaks at

Hill (MEd ’82, EdD ’92), began her 37Alabama’s Faulkner State year career as a high school English teacher Community College spring in Tennessee. She moved from there into 2010 commencement.

Georgia’s community and technical colleges and climbed into the leadership ranks, becoming vice president for economic development of Gwinnett Technical College, then president of Southwest Georgia Technical College and finally deputy commissioner for the Technical College System of Georgia.

But last year, Hill reached what she calls the pinnacle of her career when she was chosen as chancellor of the Alabama Community College System, where she oversees both academic and technical colleges.

Part of Hill’s mission in Alabama is workforce and economic development, and she says that community colleges will play a major role in this development. The system not only prepares students who want to transfer to a four-year university, but also those looking for jobs when they complete their community or technical college degrees.

More than half of all freshmen and sophomores in Alabama are enrolled in two-year colleges, and about 15,000 each year transfer to a four-year institution.

“Whether to seek a bachelor’s degree, associate’s degree or a professional certification depends on what a person wants out of life,” Hill says. “There are many high-demand, high-wage jobs that require the kind of technical training that is only available through our two-year colleges.”

Hill’s first goal for the system is to concentrate on and define student success.

“I believe students are successful if they take two or three classes to get a job promotion, complete a short-term certificate, complete an associate’s degree and go to work, or transfer to a four-year college or university,” she says.

Other goals include increasing retention, graduation and placement rates and serving more adult education and prison population students. Hill also wants to focus on helping existing business and industry.

Hill’s biggest challenge in meeting these goals is the budget. The system’s student population continues to grow even as the state has cut higher education funding.

The growth “is a nice problem to have, but the applications must still get processed, qualified adjunct faculty must be recruited and hired, and additional classroom space must be found,” Hill says. “However, the faculty and staff at our colleges are hardworking, committed individuals who are willing to go the extra mile to make sure our students and communities are served. Hopefully, when the economy turns, the legislature will recognize our needs and fund us more appropriately.”

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—Julie Sartor is an editor for the UGA College of Education.

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

tor at Management Services & Associates in Atlanta. Kelly E. Culpin (ABJ ’89) is an associate at the Atlanta office of Burr & Forman in the firm’s Creditor’s Rights and Bankruptcy Practice Group.

1990-1994 Gene Lee Dunn (BMus ’90) is the principal at Alpharetta High School.

She was formerly assistant principal at Milton High School. Marqueta Reese (M ’90) is the manager of the Lexington Road branch of Athens First Bank and Trust. Chris Batchelor (BSA ’91) earned a master of arts in theological studies from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Batchelor owns and operates Skyline Plumbing and Septic Inc. in Hiram. Thomas Rabb Wilkerson III (AB ’91) was appointed district attorney for the Houston County judicial circuit.

Michael Sale (BBA ’94) is president and CEO of The Commercial Bank.

1995-1999 Stephen Gurr (ABJ ’95) is a senior investigator in the Northeastern Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office located in Gainesville, Ga. Richard H. Williams (BSEd ’95, MEd ’97, EdD ’02) is the interim athletic director at Albany State University. James Dress (BBA ’96) is the international group product manager for Freixenet, S.A. He lives in Barcelona and markets Cava sparkling wine throughout Europe. Jennifer Bleier Carter (BSA ’97) is the director of outreach for the Society for Science and the Public. She and her husband live in Centreville, Va. Karen Sperber (BMus ’97, MMEd ’99) married Jason Cornell on March 20 at Roswell Presbyterian Church.

She is a music specialist at Abbotts Hill Elementary School in Fulton County.

Laura Walters (AB ’97) of Brooklyn, N.Y., married Daniel Tamman on May

24 in Venice, Italy. Stephanie J. Kirijan (ABJ ’98) is the president-elect of the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia. She is a senior staff attorney at Georgia Power. Shannon Register (BSFCS ’98) opened Register Real Estate Advisors, a commercial and residential brokerage, in Spring, Texas.

She has also launched RREA.com and RREA.tv. Chad T. Miller (BBA ’99) is a partner at Hancock Askew & Co., certified public accountants and advisors.

April Griggs Smith (BSFCS ’99) and her husband Trent welcomed their first child, Jillian Kate, on Jan. 26. They live in Athens where April is a kindergarten teacher. Heather Hedrick Teilhet (ABJ ’99) is a government relations representative at Georgia Electric Membership Corporation.

son, Jack, on July 8. Jennifer A. Salyer (BLA ’02) is the registered landscape architect for the Kingsport, Tenn., branch of Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon. Christopher E. George (AB ’03) was appointed commander of the Charlie Company, 9th Engineering Battalion, in March. He has received numerous awards and decorations for his armed service, including a Purple

Heart. Benjamin Adam Neely (BSES ’03) earned a doctorate of philosophy degree with a proficiency in biochemistry from the Medical University of South Carolina. Matthew C. Allen (ABJ ’04) and wife Abby welcomed their first child, James Brady, on April 14. They live in Hoover, Ala., and Matthew is a marketing and audience development specialist with Shelby County Newspapers Inc.

2000-2004 Jessica Carden Betzel (ABJ ’00) of Macon and her husband Robert welcomed their daughter, Kira, in 2009.

Michael Clifford Conley (ABJ ’00) of Sharpsburg, Ga., was promoted to senior manager of marketing communications and distributor relations at CeloNova BioSciences. Dr. Robert “Bob” Hosker (ABJ ’00) and his wife Danielle Mason Hosker (AB ’01) welcomed their son, Mason Jackson, on June 14. Bob earned a degree in medicine from the Medical College of South Carolina in May, and he is radiology resident at Emory University. This year Danielle celebrated the 10th anniversary of Dancefx, a non-profit arts organization she started as an undergrad for the UGA Honors CURO symposium. Scott Hartman (ABJ ’01) and Meimi Hartman (ABJ ’01) welcomed their daughter, Shelby Elaine, on March 22. Carolyn “Carrie” Burnett Brookshire (BFA ’02) and her husband Bradley Thomas Brookshire (BBA ’03) welcomed their first

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

39

CLASSNOTES

®

I’m writing this as my wife Jane Anne and I head up the interstate (she’s driving, of course!) on the way to Athens again. We’ve made this 200-mile trip from Albany many times and always look forward to it. Yes, there’s something very special about going back to Athens.

In recent years we’ve endured a challenging economic period, but as we say in the securities business, substantial market fluctuations can create opportunities. Great values may present themselves for a buyer, while subsequent appreciation can create opportunities to help the needs of those special to us.

The University of Georgia is a place that creates opVic Sullivan portunities. While many of the standard college majors remain popular, new degrees in a variety of areas are now offered that may not have been available when some of us were on campus.

Opportunities in information systems, biostatistics and bioengineering, for example, are now offered as UGA helps prepare students to create the economy of the future. From their efforts we’ll see new companies started, and established businesses reinvent themselves, and others grow that will create jobs and improve the standard of living.

Even during these challenging times, many of our alumni are brilliantly succeeding. Last January the Alumni Association honored 100 of our very best with the first Bulldog 100, a program to recognize the 100 fastest growing businesses that are either owned or managed by UGA alumni. We had more than 400 nominees for our inaugural celebration, and for this next Bulldog 100, the number of nominations nearly doubled. These Bulldog companies are scattered across the country, though most are located in Georgia, providing jobs, paying taxes, and rewarding the citizens on the investments made in higher education. Your Alumni Association will host the 2nd annual Bulldog 100 Jan. 22, 2011, at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, and I hope you will join us as we honor and showcase these outstanding graduates. For more information about the Bulldog 100 Program, please visit our website at www. uga.edu/alumni.

The economic changes we have experienced are creating opportunities for those with skill, imagination, determination and perseverance. UGA is a critical resource to prepare our students for the future and remains a proven commodity in our effort to grow and prosper. I hope you’ll support our University through the Annual Fund, as the opportunities it creates will continue to touch all of us. Have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year.

—Vic Sullivan (BBA ’80), president

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Deborah Dietzler, Executive Director ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS Vic Sullivan BBA ’80 President, Albany Steve Jones BBA ’78, JD ’87 Vice President, Athens Tim Keadle BBA ’78 Treasurer, Lilburn Ruth Bartlett BBA ’76 Asst. Treasurer, Atlanta Harriette Bohannon BSFCS ’74 Secretary, Augusta Trey Paris BBA ’84, MBA ’85 Immediate Past President, Gainesville

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WEBSITE www.uga.edu/alumni 800/606-8786 or 706/542-2251 To receive a monthly e-newsletter, enroll at: www.uga.edu/alumni ADDRESS CHANGES E-mail records@uga.edu or call 888/268-5442

Michael Hall (ABJ ’04) of Cherokee County and Anna Ferguson (ABJ ’05) of Lawrenceville were married on June 17 in St. Simmons. He is the communications coordinator for Padgett Business Services in Athens, and she attends graduate school at UGA. 2005-2009 Oonagh Benson (BBA ’05) is the manager of the downtown branch of Athens First Bank and Trust. Aubrey Miller (AB ’05, MPA ’09) is the assistant manager of the Atlanta Highway branch of Athens First Bank and Trust.

Steven Oxford (BSFCS ’05) is the manager of the Barnett Shoals branch of Athens First Bank and Trust. Augusto Michael Trujillo (AB ’05, ABJ ’05) joined Catholic Charities Atlanta as the communications specialist for Parish & Social Justice Ministries. Lane Woodward (BSA ’05, MAL ’10) received the Star Teacher award for Jackson High School in Butts County. Joshua David Agee (BSFR ’06, MS ’08) and his wife welcomed their daughter, Michaela Scarlett, on June 14. Joshua is a wildlife biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Peter Kehr (ABJ ’06) received top honors in the Atlanta Advertising Federation ADDY awards for his campaign for Dum-Dums lollipops.

Andrew D. Oldham (AB ’06) joined Miller & Martin PLLC as an associate lawyer. He earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2009 and graduated with honors. Allie Randall (BSA ’06, MAL ’10) was named Teacher of the Year at Burke County Middle School. Shannon Danforth (BSA ’07) was named Teacher of the Year at Lanier County High School. Halley Granitz (BSA ’07) is the admissions counselor for academic programs on the UGA Griffin Campus and does landscape consulting in her

ALUMNI calendar Thurs., Dec. 2, 5:30 p.m.

Midlands, S.C., Chapter, Bulldogs After Business Hours

At 5:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month Georgia alumni gather at the Thirsty Fellow located at 621 Gadsden Street in Columbia.

Thurs., Dec. 2, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Holiday Open House, Wray-Nicholson House

Bring your children for Santa pictures and help Northeast Georgia’s less fortunate children by bringing an unwrapped toy or non-perishable food item.

Fri., Dec. 10, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Women of UGA Year End Luncheon and Fashion Show

Join the Women of UGA for an afternoon of fun, food and fashion. Fashions provided by Ginger Howard BHSE ’87, Buckhead boutique owner of Ginger Howard Selections.

Wed., Dec. 15, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Women of UGA Holiday Party

Join fellow Women of UGA for a holiday celebration in the elegant Palm Room at the historic Georgian in Athens.

Thurs., Dec. 16, 6 p.m.

Bulldogs After Business Hours, Augusta Chapter

Mingle with fellow UGA alumni and friends after a hard day at work at Indigo Joe’s Sports Pub and Restaurant.

Thurs., Dec. 23, 7 p.m.

Alumni Gathering, Jackson County Chapter

The Jackson County Chapter gathers the fourth Thursday of every month at Wing Slingers starting at 7 p.m.

Sat., Jan. 22

Bulldog 100 Celebration

The Bulldog 100 is a program that determines and awards the 100 fastest growing businesses that are owned or operated by UGA alumni each year.

Thurs., Jan. 27

Founders Day Lecture

Celebrate UGA’s birthday with alumni, students, faculty, esteemed guests and member of the community at the University Chapel.

Wed., Feb. 9 - 11, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Ring Days

Join us at the UGA Bookstore and the Miller Learning Center (across from Jittery Joe’s) and order your official UGA Class Ring.

For more information: Athens area events: Wanda Darden at wdarden@uga.edu or (706) 542-2251 Student programs: Julie Cheney at jcheney@uga.edu or (706) 542-2251 Atlanta programs: Meredith Carr at mcarr@uga.edu or (404) 814-8820 Chapters and clubs: Tami Gardner at tgardner@uga.edu or (706) 542-2251 Parents and Families: Diane Johnson at dfjohn@uga.edu or (706) 542-2251

To learn more about the UGA Alumni Association or find a chapter or club in your area, go to www.uga.edu/alumni.

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

41

CLASSNOTES

spare time. Catrina Kennedy (BSA ’07, MAL ’09) was named Teacher of the Year for Burke County High School.

Sallie McHugh (BSA ’07) was named Teacher of the Year at Crisp County Middle School. Andrew Bryan Owensby (BSEd ’07) earned a master of divinity degree from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Jim Faircloth (BSA ’08) is a sales representative for the Syngenta Corporation. Ben McCorkle (BSA ’08) is currently an account executive at Enterprise Car Sales and lives in Cary, N.C., with Betsy MacMillan McCorkle (BSES ’08) who recently completed an M.S. in environmental economics and policy at Duke University. She is a campaign manager for U.S. congres-sional candidate Frank Roche.

Andrew J. Watson (AB ’08) received the Vanderbilt University Chancellor’s Law Scholarship. He currently works

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

at the law firm of McRae, Stegall and Peek. Alison Manley (AB ’09) earned a master of arts degree from The Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in history at the University of Southampton. Zack Murphy (BSA ’09) is a loan officer for AgGeorgia Farm Credit at the Quitman branch office.

Allen Nasworthy (BSA ’09) was named Teacher of the Year at Locust Grove High School.

2010Hannah Keating (ABJ ’10) is a public relations team member at Jackson Spalding in Atlanta.

GRAD NOTES Arts & Sciences Joseph P. Hester (PhD ’73) and Don

R. Killian had an article, “The Moral Foundations of Ethical Leadership,” published in The Journal of Values-Based Leadership. Robert J. Jones (MS ’75), senior vice president for system academic administration at the University of Minnesota, is one of the 2010 recipients of the Michael P. Malone International Leadership Award. Paul Wojtkowski (MS ’84, PhD ’89) gave the keynote address at the European Society for Agronomy Conference in France. Cindy Haynes (MS ’91, PhD ’96) is an associate professor of horticulture at Iowa State University and received the 2010 Teacher Fellow Award from the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. A. Jamie Cuticchia (PhD ’92) earned a Juris Doctor degree magna cum laude from North Carolina Central University. His latest book, Genetics: A Handbook for Lawyers, was published by

ALUMNI PROFILE

Drawn together Allison Garwood combines art and poetry

by Meg Twomey

Allison Garwood is compelled to draw. In school this got her into trouble with teachers, most notably a philosophy professor who shared her sketch portrait of him with the entire class. But this compulsion, which began as a way to avoid boredom, led to a studio art degree and turned into a career.

Garwood (AB ’96) is now a professional cartoonist and illustrator whose strip, “Haiku Ewe,” has run in papers such as the Kansas City Star and in syndication online. She started drawing comics for her high school newspaper and continued at UGA with a strip in The Red and Black called “Roar Shock Test.” After graduation she drew for the strip “Moo” and eventually began drawing and writing her own strip, “NEUROTICA.”

It was after “NEUROTICA” that Garwood began thinking of new ideas for a comic strip and decided to arbitrarily combine two things she enjoys.

“Drawing sheep is really fun and everyone likes writing in haiku, and I thought, ‘Maybe this could work,’” she says.

And much to her delight, it did.

“Haiku Ewe” started as a single frame, “thought of the day” cartoon, which Garwood likens to a Facebook status update. Over time, she began to develop story lines and at some point surrendered her creative control to an animated sheep.

“Eventually the characters take on their own identity and the strip becomes character driven,” Garwood says.

And no one knows the characters better than her readers, who are quick to correct mistakes and let Big Al the Gal (her pen name) know if a character isn’t acting…well, in character.

“I love the viewer interaction… it’s a strip that gets people’s juices going,” she says.

“Haiku Ewe” is now in re-prints while Garwood works on her next project, but she hopes to pick the strip back up in the future.

Garwood, who lives in Los Angeles with her husband, stays busy for now raising her 2-year-old son Luc and drawing for her collaborative project, “Extra Special Books,” a series of e-books for children. The books chronicle the lives of children on the autism spectrum, with titles such as Timmy Tastes Textures.

While she now enjoys drawing with an electronic tablet, she is grateful for her training in more traditional mediums. A figure drawing class, where she spent three months drawing a

SPECIAL

ALLISON AND LUC GARWOOD

skeleton, was one of many “cool experiences… that opened my eyes to being a curious artist.”

This curiosity now helps her develop ideas for her stories, which she gets not only from her own life—she used “Haiku Ewe” to write about the long and complicated process she underwent to adopt her son from Haiti— but also from reading and observing everything around her.

“I live in downtown L.A. You can’t imagine the things I’ve seen. People take themselves super, super seriously in Los Angeles, so they come across as silly and are great food for thought for comics.”

While Los Angeles has good food for thought, Garwood hasn’t been able to find good pizza there and makes it a point to stop by Mellow Mushroom when she’s visiting her parents, who now live in Athens. This is a step up from her college days when the former Mean Bean—“the nastiest, dive-iest, dirtiALLISON GARWOOD est place ever”—was her restaurant of choice. And while she may frequent better restaurants and use computers to color her cartoons now, her enthusiasm and love of drawing is the same as it was when she was an undergrad, doodling professors in the margins of notebooks.

GET MORE For more about “Haiku Ewe” go to www.gocomics/haikuewe.

For more about Extra Special Books go to www.estraspecialbooks.com.

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

ALUMNI PROFILE CLASS NOTES

No regrets

Compiled by Meg Twomey and Grace

to train for the new show. The regimen included acting, singing, clowning and percussion classes Former Gym Dog Sierra 1930–1934 and lasted eight hours a day, five Sapunar performs Charlie Bowen (AB ’34, with MA ’39) days a week—later increasing to was Cirque honoreddu at the Conasauga DisSoleil 10 hours a day, six days a week. trict Patron lunch for his service to “It was insane,” she says. the Boy Scouts.

by Allyson Mann (MA ’92) Tapped for two pieces, Sapunar is the mortgage director of Coastal was presented with a huge metal Bank inFive Savannah.

Hundley nights a David week, Sierra Sastructure for bar work, which she (BSFR ’78)puts wason appointed theahead punar makeup for solidof hadn’t done in years. The “ReNAFTA systems portfohour. information She applies false eyelashes turn to Sender” set resembles a lio and andsup layers bright colors, creating barracks and references Presley’s highlights and contours. The result Army stint, with Sapunar and othObituaries can is “intense. ” be found online at ers flying from bar to bar. www.uga.edu/gm

“It’s more makeup than I ever “I never thought I’d be swingthought I’d have to wear,” Sapuing high bar at 28 years old,” she nar (ABJ ’05) says. “Ever.” says. “It’s like crazy.”

But the makeup is part of the Her second piece, choreojob when you’re starring in “Viva graphed to the song “It’s Now or Elvis,” a Cirque du Soleil show Never,” started as a stationary that pays tribute to the life and Chinese pole but evolved into a music of Elvis Presley. new apparatus, a “spin pole” that AARON FELSKE/COSTUME BY STEFANO CANULLI/CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

Ten years ago Sapunar had bends in the middle and swings Former Gym Dog Sierra Sapunar (ABJ ’05) stars no idea she’d be joining the around in circles. in Cirque du Soleil’s “Viva Elvis” at the Aria in circus. She’d spent her childhood “It’s come so, so far in the Las Vegas. She wears this showgirl costume training to become an Olympic beauty of it and the synchronicity during the finale, which features the songs “Viva gymnast, leaving her California of the number, and it’s something Las Vegas” and “Hound Dog.” home for a gym in Cincinnati at that the world’s never seen,” she the age of 13. But a broken elbow caused her to miss the says. “The world has seen high bar before. The world has Olympic trials in 2000, so Sapunar started looking at colnever seen this unusual pole that leans to the side with girls leges. dangling off of it.”

“Georgia was the place that I felt the most comfortable

Sapunar is proud of her role in producing a new show. with,” she says. “It was just a this-is-where-I-belong feeling.”

“In spin pole, me and my partner were an integral part of

As a Gym Dog, Sapunar helped UGA win four SEC chamcreating the choreography,” she says. “That’s very special.” pionships and earn four top-three finishes at the NCAA cham “Viva Elvis” opened in February at the Aria in Las Vegas pionships while also earning All-American honors for herself. and has since completed more than 200 shows. Drummer And in addition to getting a degree in telecommunications, and UGA grad Christopher “Kit” Chatham (BMus ’00) also she rediscovered her passion for being in front of audiences. stars in “Viva Elvis,” and former Gym Dog Ashley Kupets (BFA

“After missing the Olympic team and all that heartbreak, ’08) is on temporary contract with the show. college brought the love back in me for gymnastics and

Once the show hit its stride—two shows a day, five or performing,” she says. “And I think that’s just what kind of six days a week, reaching 476 performances a year—Saspurred me to keep going.” punar began training as a backup performer on aerial hoop,

After graduation she worked in circus production, meetwhere she sustained her only serious injury, a concussion that ing performers that she later visited in Las Vegas. During her caused her to miss three shows. But the potential for injury is trip she auditioned for “Folies Bergere” and was hired on a small price to pay for the rewards of performing. the spot. Sapunar spent two and a half years with the show,

“You get to be silly,” she says. “Your creative side gets to housed at the Tropicana, performing in classic showgirl style come out more. You get to express yourself in different ways.” and honing her aerial skills on the side. She applied to

And performing for Cirque audiences has made up for Cirque du Soleil but waited more than two years before they missing the Olympics. called.

“It wasn’t meant to be, you know?” she says. “That’s why

“It was like a dream come true,” she says. “The OlymI’m excited that I get to keep performing. Maybe if I had made pics of the circus—that’s what I call Cirque.” that Olympic team I wouldn’t have been as hungry to keep on Sapunar headed to Cirque headquarters in Montreal going. Everything worked out for the best.”

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Drum Kit Christopher “Kit” Chatham (BMus ’00) is a percussionist with “Viva Elvis,” the Cirque du Soleil show at the Aria in Las Vegas.

Chatham plays standing up and is a fan of “anything you can hit” to make music.

Originally from Atlanta, he was a member of UGA’s marching band and drum corps. Before joining “Viva Elvis,” Chatham toured for five years with the Cirque show “Corteo” and spent four years on the Broadway show tour “Blast.” Chatham’s hobbies are writing music for high school bands and teaching music classes, while his musical dream is to play with Peter Gabriel.

AARON FELSKE/COSTUME BY STEFANO CANULLI/CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

the American Bar Association this year.

Therese Malundo (MS ’92, PhD ’96) is vice president of science and technology at Z Trim, a multifunctional dietary fiber ingredient manufacturing firm in Chicago. Witoon Prinyawiwatkul (MS ’92, PhD ’96) received the 2010 Distinguished Achievement to Agriculture Award from the Louisiana State University chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta. Lori Purcell Bledsoe (BSEd ’94, MAExt ’96, EdD ’03) was elected to a three-year term as president-elect, president and past president of the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents. Peter Taormina (MS ’98, PhD ’01), principal microbiologist for John Morrell Food Group in Cincinnati, is a registrant of the National Registry of Certified Microbiologists.

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

45

CLASSNOTES

Where are Coming home

theynow?

Stephen Sondheim. She has handwritten accolades from comedy writer Larry Gelbart and a letter from songwriter Jule After almost two decades on Styne. She opens a sandwich bag conBroadway, Kay McClelland taining a few of Anna’s props from “The cashed in her celebrity and King and I”—crocheted gloves, a coin returned to Georgia purse and parchment letters.

“I was full of bravura and ego in

by John English those days,” she remembers. “I took notes from every opening night, which

Right after her graduation, Kay I’ve saved.”

McClelland (AB ’81) moved to New

That world is light years away from York City to begin an 18-year run as where she is now, at home in Tyrone, a starlet in Broadway musicals. As married with children. a singer and dancer, she became a

McClelland decided to move back to series of show characters—Zaneeta Georgia in 1999 when her parents both Shinn in “The Music Man,” the evil became seriously ill. stepsister Florinda and the baker’s

“I never expected to come back to wife in “Into the Woods,” Ruth in Georgia,” she admits, “but I began a “Wonderful Town,” Irene Roth in second life here then.” She reconnected “Crazy for You,” Gabbi/Bobbi in “City with and married her high school sweetof Angels” and others. heart, Todd Naugle. The couple has two

“My favorite role was Anna children, a 10-year-old son named Taylor, Leonowens in ‘The King and I,’” she and an 8-year-old daughter, Ella. recalls during an interview in her sub By the time she decided to leave urban Atlanta home. “That show was New York, McClelland had become realpure joy. I signed on as an understudy, istic about the tradeoffs of a high-flying but ultimately did some 300 perforcareer path on The Great White Way. mances over two years,” she says.

“You have got to be ambitious to Her memorabilia inclues a photograph stay up there and I wasn’t willing to do of her with the late actor Christopher that. It’s really hard work, with almost no Reeves and another with composer time to play,” she says.

The last show she was in was the 1998 revival of “The Sound of Music,” playing the Baroness, the one Captain von Trapp doesn’t marry.

“For the part, I needed to be acerbic, which I’m clearly not,” she says with a raucous laugh.

McClelland says she never thought she was much of an actor, but UGA drama professor Stanley Longman, who directed her in a student JOAN MARCUS production of ShakeKay McClelland and Christopher Coucill in “Crazy for speare’s “The Taming of You,” a Gershwin musical comedy at the Schubert Theatre in 1996. the Shrew” in Cortona,

KAY MCCLELLAND

Italy, thought otherwise.

“She was stunning in her rendering of the sharp-tongued, illtempered Kate and audiences loved her. On Broadway Kay performed to stunning reviews,” he says.

In the mid-’80s, she had roles in Neil Simon’s film “The Slugger’s Wife” and in the TBS soap opera “The Catlins.” “But I didn’t translate well into film,” she says.

“My life is on a whole different time frame now,” she says. “I’m up at 6 to get the kids off to school. I want to be a role model for my kids, so I follow the rules more. It’s been a huge adjustment becoming a parent after being a crazy single for many years. I live in a quite different world now and don’t keep in touch with many friends from those days.”

Not many people in Tyrone know of her lustrous theatrical career. And McClelland’s fine with that.

“I still take dance lessons to stay in shape,” she says. “My dance teacher knows.”

—John W. English, a professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Georgia, is a frequent contributor to GM.

Where are they now? is a feature in GM that spotlights students who made a name for themselves while at UGA. Have a standout classmate you’d like to catch up on? Email Kelly Simmons at simmonsk@uga.edu.

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SPECIAL

Edward Valeev (PhD ’00) received the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award. He is an assistant professor in the College of Science at Virginia Tech.

Michelle Danyluk (MS ’02) received the Larry Beauchat Young Researcher Award from the International Association for Food Protection. She is an assistant professor at the University of Florida.

Swagata “Ban” Banergee (PhD ’04) is an assistant undergraduate coordinator and faculty senator alternate in the department of agribusiness for Alabama A&M University’s School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Business William “Brad” Bryant (MBA ’76) is the superintendent of schools for the state of Georgia. Michael Amos (MBA ’77) joined Coldwell Banker Commercial Bullard in Peachtree City as a senior vice president and associate banker. Gordon “Joe” Edenfield (MAcc ’89) earned his doctorate of philosophy from Old Dominion University. Milton W. Troy (MBA ’02) was promoted to the rank of commander in the United States Navy.

Education Fred Harrison (MEd ’72) is serving on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency state committee in Georgia. This committee oversees agency activities such as carrying out the state agricultural conservation programs, resolving appeals from the agriculture community and keeping producers informed about FSA programs. Richard Whatley (EdD ’74) retired from his position as superintendent of Newton County schools. Steven Ender (MEd ’76, EdD ’81) is president of Grand Rapids Community College. Jan Adamson (BSEd ’80, MEd ’83) is the principal at R.M. Moore Elementary School in Waleska. Bonnie C. Higginson (PhD

Bullish on Bulldogs

by Meg Twomey “I first fell in love with a bulldog when I was a student here and Uga was on the back of a car during the homecoming parade. I actually ran up and touched him.

And I just fell in love with the breed,” says Kelley Hollowell (BSEd ’91).

The owner of two bulldogs—both adopted from a rescue group in Florida—Hollowell was surprised to learn there was little support for the Georgia English SPECIAL Bulldog Rescue from Kelley Hollowell with a Citadel cadet and General, nephUGA alumni. So a few ew of Uga V and Citadel mascot, at the 2010 Bully Ball. years ago she and Lauriel Leonard (BFA ’91), began planning fundraising events for the organization.

In February, they threw the first Bully Ball, a dinner and auction attended by well-known alumni including former football players and former football announcer Loran Smith (ABJ ’62), who served as honorary chairman. It raised over $38,000 for the rescue group in Georgia and for two bulldog rescue groups in Florida.

The money is used to care for bulldogs that are given to the organizations by owners who no longer want or can care for them. Often they are sick with respiratory issues and skin conditions.

Hollowell thinks people aren’t aware how many bulldogs are abandoned.

“They think because they’re so expensive, that they’re all sleeping on the couch all day long, being treated and pampered,” she says. ”But that’s not the case.”

The Georgia English Bulldog Rescue fosters about 20 dogs at any given time. Volunteers care for the dogs until permanent homes can be found.

In September, Hollowell extended her reach, organizing a Wine, Dine and Dawgs fundraiser to benefit the GEBR and the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, where many of the rescue dogs are treated.

GET MORE Georgia English Bulldog Rescue: http://georgiaenglishbulldogrescue.org

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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NEWBOOKS A Golfer’s Tail: The Quest for the Double Slam CreateSpace (2010)

By John L. Watkins (JD ’82) This recently discovered lost manuscript chronicles Roscoe Watkins’ most memorable year, 1998. In that year, Roscoe—a feline golfer who is considered one of the greatest of all time—accepted the challenge of a brash young rival, Ichiro Nakamura, and began his quest for the Double Slam, which would require winning all of the major championships on both the regular and senior feline golf tours.

Hillypilly the Missionary Filly: South African Soccer Queen 3Djourno (2010)

By Bradford S. Hagstrom (ABJ ’85) In book two of the faith-based fictional series, a young girl from Africa experiences the hope and confidence of God’s miracles with vivid imagery.

Historic Photos of University of Georgia Football Turner Publishing (2010)

By Patrick Garbin (BBA ’98) Through hundreds of photographs, Historic Photos of University of Georgia Football recounts the first nine decades of one of the most storied college football programs in the nation. Relive Georgia football’s peaks—and some valleys—from the 1892-1980 seasons.

The Red Terrors Southern Lion Books (2010)

By Jesse Tullos (ABJ ’72) A non-fiction account of the Glenn Academy football team’s drive to the 1964 Georgia high school championship. The book details the decades since that championship season and its impact on the community, and describes the character of a small town during a time of sweeping changes.

Miss Dimple Disappears St. Martins Press (2010)

By Mignon Ballard (ABJ ’56) Charlie Carr is a young teacher in Elderberry, Ga., whose love life isn’t going as planned. She is doubly troubled by the disappearance of beloved schoolmistress Miss Dimple Kilpatrick one frosty November morning. Miss Dimple, who has taught the town’s first graders—including Charlie—for almost 40 years, would never just skip town in the middle of the school year, and Charlie and her best friend, Annie, are determined to prove it.

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The Flower Seeker: An Epic Poem of William Bartram Mercer University Press (2010)

By Philip Lee Williams (ABJ ’72) An epic poem that follows a young William Bartram on his journey in the American South and visits with him in old age in his father’s gardens.

People of the Spill Self Published (2010)

By Holt Webb (BFA ’92) This series of portraits shows some of the people involved with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill— the fishermen, the cleanup workers, the wives, the business owners, the scientists, the volunteers, the people who call the Gulf of Mexico their home and are coping with an uncertain future. Proceeds from sales of the book will benefit the people affected.

I’ll be Home for Christmas Summerside Press (2010)

By Julie Lowery Cannon (ABJ ’85) It’s Christmas time in 1944 and Maggie Culpepper enlists in the U.S. Navy WAVES, in part because of her patriotism and in part to run from longtime friend, William Dove. A childhood bout with polio has left William physically unfit for military service, but he wages his own battle from the dirt floor of his Georgia Christmas tree farm.

Bartram’s Living Legacy: The Travels and Nature of the South Mercer University Press (2010) Edited by Dorinda G. Dallmeyer (BS ’73, MS ’77, JD ’84) A collection of essays from some of the South’s finest nature writers on the works of William Bartram, a man known as the “South’s Thoreau,” and what he has done for environmentalism in the South.

Geriatric Mental Health Ethics: A Casebook Springer Publishing Company (2009)

By Shane Bush (MEd ’90) When confronting dilemmas concerning elderly patients’ privacy, informed consent, and patient autonomy, medical practitioners need an ethical decision-making model. This book offers a 10-step model to ethical decision-making in geriatric mental health care. Through a diverse collection of case studies, the author demonstrates how this interdisciplinary approach can be implemented.

ONLINE Find more books by UGA graduates at www.uga.edu/gm SUBMISSIONS Submit new books written by UGA alumni to simmonsk@uga.edu.

Please include a brief description of the book and a hi-res pdf or tiff of its cover.

’85) is the provost of Murray State University in Murray, Ky. Dana James (BSEd ’81, MEd ’88) is the headmaster at Seven Rivers Christian School in Citrus County, Fla. He was previously headmaster at Westminster Christian Academy in Watkinsville. Jim Cottingham (EdD ’90) retired from his position as president for student affairs at South Georgia College. Michael Patterson (MEd ’98) received the 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching in Nevada. Thomas Scott Mowbray (MMEd ’01) welcomed his daughter, Elizabeth Rose, on June 27. Ashlee Rauckhorst (MEd ’08) was named coordinator of student affairs and academic advisor at Ohio University-Chillicothe.

Lindsey McKinney Ridgeway (MEd ’10) is the director of student services at the new Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Spartanburg, S.C. Environment and Design Olivia A. Mickalonis (MLA ’07) was chosen to design the new entrance to Ft. Stewart.

Law William C. Rumer (JD ’75) was appointed to the Muscogee County Superior Court. Randy Nuckolls (BSA ’74, JD ’77) received the 2010 Green Jacket Award at the 68th Annual Georgia 4-H State Congress. As a partner in McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP, Nuckolls serves as the Washington counsel for the University of Georgia. Steven D. Smith (JD ’78) was appointed municipal court judge for Columbus. Teddy Lee Henley (JD ’81) was reappointed as Floyd County chief public defender for a third consecutive term. Dr. Scott Fowler (JD ’85) is president of the Holston Medical Group. He previously served as the chair of legal affairs for the group. Alan F. Rothschild Jr. (JD ’85) was elected

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

Building a high tech community UGA grads bring technology to those without Internet access

by Meg Twomey

Free IT Athens takes donated computers, refurbishes the hard drives, installs the Linux operating system and sells the machines at a reduced rate.

Since 2005, when Semmy Purewal (PhD ’07), Michael Luchtan (BS ’01, AB ’01) and Michael Moore (BS ’04, MS ’06) started Free IT Athens, the organization has distributed more than 1,500 computers. The alumni also work with the Clarke County School District to restore SPECIAL old computers and provide software training Jake Hays and Joel Izlar, two staff volunteers at Free IT Athens, refurclasses to students and parents at schools and bish a computer during the charity’s open hours. at public housing complexes around Athens.

The idea of bringing technology, especially free technology like Linux, to everyone is what drives the organization. But Brian Pitts (MA ’10), who is on the board of directors for Free IT, says making technology accessible takes more than just $25 computers. He envisions an Athens where everyone who wants a computer and Internet access could have it and could get free IT help—ideally from a computer savvy friend. The organization trains people in the community to run and troubleshoot the systems.

Through their effort, the Free IT professionals are building a community of computer-savvy people.

“One of the great things about working here is everyone wants to be here. It’s fun,” Purewall says. “And so people come back. It’s more of a community than anything. It’s really nice.”

GET MORE

To learn how to donate or volunteer, go to www.freeitathens.org.

chair of the real property, trust and estate law section of the American Bar Association. He is a partner at Hatcher Stubbs in Columbus. Deborah Morgan Foresman (JD ’86) is a senior labor attorney with the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Belvoir, Va. Peter D. Muller (ABJ ’84, JD ’87) is the managing partner of the Goodman McGuffey Lindsey & Johnson LLP Savannah office. Joseph W. Dent (JD ’91) was elected to serve on the board of governors for the State Bar of Georgia. He is an attorney at Watson Spence in Albany. Robert H. Smalley

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

III (JD ’92) is the chairman of the Whitfield Healthcare Foundation. Allen D. Morris (BBA ’88, JD ’93) was appointed a Cherokee County state court judge.

Michael Geoffroy (JD ’01) is president of the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia. He is also a fellow with the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia and a member of the Lawyers Club of Atlanta. Hillary S. Stringfellow (BSA ’00, JD ’03) was named to the State Ethics Commission. She is an attorney at Gilbert, Harrell, Sumerford & Martin in Brunswick.

Journalism and Mass Communication Dawn McCall (MMC ’98) is the coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs at the U.S. Department of State. Previously she served as president of Discovery Networks International and founded International Media and Entertainment Partners LLC in 2009.

Pharmacy Mandy Davenport (PharmD ’02) participated in a four-day medical and dental mission trip to Belize.

I

WHY give Public and International Affairs Steven Elliott-Gower (MA ’86, PhD ’89) was elected president of the Georgia Collegiate Honors Council. He is the director of the Georgia College Honors Program and an associate professor of political science at UGA. Veterinary Medicine Barry A. Ball (DVM ’81) is the Albert G. Clay Endowed Chair in Equine Reproduction at the University of Kentucky’s Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center. Staci Hutsell (BS ’06, DVM ’10) is a veterinary intern at VCA South Shore Animal Hospital in South Weymouth, Mass.

“As the parents of these two inspiring boys we often wonder if God gave us these two little presents early because he knew they would be taken away from us early as well. One day we will know. But for now we are left with our wonderful memories and several memorials for them. As we attempt to forever continue to honor the impact they made on our lives in just two years, three months and thirteen days we are excited to help you in your attempt to become a physician by studying at the University of Georgia and the Medical College of Georgia.”

—Dr. Bryan (BS ’99) and Samantha (BSEd ’99) Kirby of Carrollton in a letter they wrote as a preamble to a scholarship agreement with the MCG-UGA Medical Partnership.

Want to reach the Bulldog Nation?

Advertise in Georgia Magazine.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Recipient of the Kirby scholarship Bree Berry (center) with Bryan and Samantha Kirby at the MCG dedication.

Published quarterly and mailed

to the household, your advertising message reaches your audience directly, giving you one of the strongest demographic buys in the region.

For information on advertis-

ing in the award-winning Georgia Magazine, contact Pamela Leed at 706/542-8124 or pjleed@uga.edu.

Asa and Eli Kirby

SPECIAL

The Kirby’s scholarship is in honor of their twin sons, who died at age 2.

Dr. Kirby attended UGA as an undergraduate and MCG for his medical degree. The scholarship fund was begun by friends of the Kirbys from Texas, where Dr. Kirby did his residency. Friends and family have contributed $25,000 to endow the scholarship as part of the White Coat Scholarship Initiative, designed to increase access to public medical education in Georgia.

Want to give? Go to www.externalaffairs.uga.edu/os/makegift.

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

ALUMNI PROFILE

Shear inspiration

Jones’ ideas. Camelid refers to llamas, alpacas and all other animals classified in the biological family Alumna Marty McGee camelidae.

Bennett has learned life “The secret to lessons from her llamas CAMELIDynamics is to and alpacas understand how your behavior affects them,”

by Grace Morris she says. “The goal is

to make trainers less Marty McGee Bennett threatening.”

(BSA ’78) remembers gazing CAMELIDynamics into the eyes of a llama for focuses on restraintthe first time in the early free handling that 1980s. After receiving rejecoffers alternatives to SPECIAL tions from every veterinary threatening human MARTY MCGEE BENNETT school she applied to, she behaviors. It teaches was surprised to find that moment the precipice of her life’s people to have better relationships with llamas and alpacas true calling. while effectively gleaning their wool.

“It was like I had fallen in love with someone,” McGee

McGee Bennett now holds training seminars for veteriBennett says. “I was smitten.” narians and veterinary students throughout the U.S. In addi Llamas were a novelty in the U.S. back then, and intertion to speaking at more than half of the country’s vet teachested buyers were put on a four-to-five-year waiting list. But ing hospitals, she has given standing-room-only lectures for McGee Bennett decided the animals were worth the wait. She show-ring trainers in Peru. had just spent five years in the U.S. Army, a career decision

“I always start by teaching the value of catching llamas she made after she did not get into veterinary school, and was in unthreatening ways,” she says. “Llamas are shy and living in western New York. It was there she became interested unless they know better they’re going to run from anything in spinning and weaving and she bought a number of exotic frightening.” sheep, which she sheared for their wool. An article about

In addition to her work as a teacher and lecturer McGee llamas in Smithsonian Magazine inspired her to explore new Bennett has recorded seven instructional videos and written sources of fiber. two more books since CAMELIDynamics. In her most recent

“Llamas were very new to the U.S.,” she says. “People book, The Problem with Weight is NOT Losing It, she explains thought they were unusual, and I had never seen them before how animal training techniques have helped her maintain reading that article.” weight loss for the past three years.

Once McGee Bennett received her first two llamas she

“I realized the key to making llamas feel safe is balance, found that they were easy to care for. Other animals she owned but I was out of balance in my own animal, which was my required more time and attention, such as a difficult black stalbody,” she says. “I used the animals as a metaphor for ballion she was trying to train. After attending a horse-training ancing myself.” clinic held by renowned trainer Linda Tellington-Jones, however,

McGee Bennett not only sees herself as someone who McGee Bennett realized she could learn a lot more about her has attained her desired weight, she knows she has found llamas as well. the vocation she always hoped for.

“At the clinic I was so impressed by her training method,”

“In the end I’m glad I didn’t get into vet school,” she she says. “It involved no force, no restraint and no dominance. says. “I don’t know if it would have gotten me where I am It was more of a partnership, which was a very avant-garde today.” idea at the time.”

McGee Bennett began to work alongside Tellington-Jones, but she quickly branched out from horse training and applied GET MORE relational methods to llamas and alpacas.

In 2001 she published her first book, CAMELIDynamics, For more information on Marty McGee Bennett and on the training method she had developed based on TellingtonCAMELIDynamics, go to www.camelidynamics.com.

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

DECEMBER 2010 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

Old depot brought to life by UGA alumni Once a place where travelers hurried to catch trains, the Farmington Depot now attracts art enthusiasts. In October a group of artists, including UGA alumni, converted the old station into the Farmington Depot Gallery.

“Some of us have worked together for as long as 20 years, and some of us haven’t met yet,” sculptor Phil Goulding (MFA ’95) says. “This really is a new venture, and we’re just getting our feet wet.”

The group includes 17 artists, about half of whom graduated from UGA. Their artistic specialties range from painting and sculpting to art forms as diverse as block prints and furniture. Although all work showcased in the gallery has underlying Southern folk influences, the mix is eclectic.

Goulding’s studio has been located next door to the depot for 16 years, and the old building intrigued him for a long time. He watched it house a blacksmith’s forge, a pest control center and a pottery studio before he got his hands on it. When the last occupant left, Goulding—encouraged by friends who were eager to join together and open a gallery—set about finding artists and transforming the space.

“We started having weekly Saturday night meetings at

SPECIAL

my studio around the wood stove to get the idea firmed up and a reality,” he says.

Graduates include: Matt Alston (MFA ’86), John Cleveland Jr. (BFA ’86), Leigh Ellis (BS ’82), Jim StipeMaas (MFA ’92), Lawrence Stueck (MFA ’83, PhD ’91), Jason Thrasher (BFA ’98) and Cheri Wranosky (BFA ’84).

—Grace Morris

GET MORE For more information go to www.farmingtondepotgallery.org or Facebook

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BACK PAGE TRACIE COSTANTINO

Associate Professor, art education, Lamar Dodd School of Art Affiliate member, Faculty of Engineering, College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences B.A., art history with minor in Italian studies, Boston College M.A., art history, Brown University Ph.D. , curriculum and instruction, aesthetic education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Richard B. Russell Award for Undergraduate Teaching, 2010 Photo shot on location by Robert Newcombe at the Lamar Dodd School of Art

“I

t really was my freshman year in college. I took an art history course as one of my electives… It was a course on Impressionism and I just fell in love with it. And I changed my major…The thing that I love about it is I really enjoy how much I can learn by looking at a work of art. Even looking at French Impressionism…. I was captured by the beauty of it but also I learned so much about 19th century France. You learn so much about history.

You learn about literature. You learn about what’s happening politically. I love how much I learned. I think that interdisciplinary interest has remained constant. ”

—Tracie Costantino on how she became

interested in art education

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