The University of Georgia Magazine June 2014

GEORGIA The University of

June 2014 • Vol. 93, No. 3

The wonder of Wormsloe

Pristine coastal land provides a place for UGA students and faculty to do research

Magazine

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE Kelly Simmons, MPA ’10, Editor Allyson Mann, MA ’92, Managing Editor Lindsay Robinson, ABJ ’06, MPA ’11, Art Director Pamela Leed, Advertising Director Fran Burke, Office Manager Paul Efland, BFA ’75, MEd ’80; Peter Frey, BFA ’94; Robert Newcomb, BFA ’81; Rick O’Quinn, ABJ ’87; Dot Paul; Andrew Davis Tucker; and Courtney Rosen; UGA Photographers Daniel Funke, Editorial Assistant PUBLIC AFFAIRS Tom Jackson, AB ’73, MPA ’04, PhD ’08, Vice President Alison Huff, Director of Publications ADMINISTRATION Jere W. Morehead, JD ’80, President Pamela Whitten, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Tom S. Landrum, AB ’72, MA ’87, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Ryan Nesbit, MBA ’91, Vice President for Finance and Administration Griffin “Griff” Doyle, AB ’76, JD ’79, Vice President for Government Relations Laura Jolly, Vice President for Instruction Jennifer Frum, PhD ’11, Vice President for Public Service and Outreach David Lee, Vice President for Research Victor Wilson, BSW ’82, MEd ’87, Vice President for Student Affairs Timothy Chester, Vice President for Information Technology Change your mailing address by emailing information to records@uga.edu or call 888-268-5442.

Advertise in Georgia Magazine by contacting Pamela Leed at pjleed@uga.edu or 706-542-8124.

Find Georgia Magazine online at uga.edu/gm.

Submit class notes or story ideas to gmeditor@uga.edu.

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 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 non-discrimination policy. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the director of the Equal Opportunity Office, 119 Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Telephone 706542-7912 (V/TDD). Fax 706-542-2822.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault (ABJ ’63) gives students from Summerour Middle School in Norcross an impromptu history lesson, describing her role in desegregating UGA. Their visit is part of “Gear Up for College,” a program that brings middleschool Latino students to campus for a day.

Photo by Peter Frey

The University of

GEORGIA Magazine

June 2014 • Vol. 93, No. 3

Departments 5 Take 5 with the President President Jere W. Morehead on partnerships with local schools

6

Around the Arch

Campus news and events

Closeup 14 Higher education for all

Lawrence Harris (BS ’12) and the Georgia College Advising Corps work to increase access

Features 16 Experience UGA

Field trip program brings Clarke County kids to campus for a look at what’s beyond high school

22 The wonder of Wormsloe

Pristine coastal land provides a place for UGA students and faculty to do research

28 New campus provides perfect remedy

Health Sciences Campus in Athens has become a hot spot for students

34 Chasing Aimee

After overcoming a rare bacterial infection, Aimee Copeland (BS ’10) is braving a new world

Class Notes 40 Alumni profiles and notes ON THE COVER Tiny mud crabs, which make their homes inside oyster reefs, are the focus of one Wormsloe Fellow, a doctoral student in ecology.

Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker

JUNE 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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I want the future of Georgia to be bigger and brighter.

Nan Wang, BS '11

Why do you give? Tell us at giving.uga.edu/whyigive.

TAKE

5

— President Jere W. Morehead on partnerships with local schools

Q: UGA partnered with the Clarke County schools this year to launch Experience UGA, a program that will bring every student in kindergarten through 12th grade to campus once a year. How does the university benefit from this?

A: Through this new program, the university is able to have regular exchanges with our local students and expose them to the many opportunities found at this great institution. For many students, it will be their first opportunity to step inside the gates of a college campus. We hope and expect this experience will encourage students to see college as an available option here or at another institution of higher education.

Q: The Institute of Higher Education at UGA oversees the Georgia Advising Corps program. How does the state benefit from this?

Jere Morehead

A: This program places recent UGA graduates in high schools across Georgia to work full time as college advisers to help students, especially low-income and first-generation students, aspire to and pursue postsecondary education. It assists students in the college search and application process, in applying for financial aid and in finding the “right fit” for matriculation. By increasing the number of Georgia high school students who are enrolling in and completing college, this program supports workforce and economic development for the state.

Q: How is this important to UGA? A: UGA is a land-grant institution with a special obligation to serve the state. Our university is better when our state is stronger, and we believe our state benefits from a strong UGA. The more we serve the state, the more we help our own institution meet its special obligations and responsibilities.

Q: The Board of Regents also mandated that public colleges and universities increase their retention and graduation rates. UGA already has among the highest retention and graduation rates in the state. What can we do to improve?

A: We have outstanding freshman to sophomore retention rates—94 percent—and a rising six-year graduation rate—83 percent. These percentages put us in a very competitive position with our peer institutions.

Through additional advising support and faculty mentoring, as well as more need-based aid, I believe we can move these numbers even higher. We certainly believe our four-year graduation rate, while in alignment with our peers, has room for growth as well.

Q: What obligation do colleges and universities have in helping educate children in K-12 schools?

A: There are many reasons for colleges and universities to support K-12 education. First, the students at UGA come from the K-12 education system and the better educated they are, the stronger we are as a university community. A second reason is that a stronger K-12 system will help make the state’s workforce stronger, smarter and more nimble. Finally, K-12 education systems need highly skilled teachers and principals and the University of Georgia has been a leader for over a century in training the best teachers and school leaders in our state.

DOT PAUL

Clarke Central High School 10th-graders Nicole Googe (left) and Evan Newman (center) take a close look at an insect with Courtney Holt, a Ph.D. student in entomology. Googe and Newman are AP biology students visiting campus for an Experience UGA program led by the Department of Entomology.

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ARCH AROUNDTHE

Rock around the clock AARON HALE

The UGA Dance Marathon, which has an 18-year history on campus, raised a record $507,203 in February to benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Comprehensive Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit. Sponsored by the student organization UGA Miracle, the 24-hour dance-a-thon drew more than 1,000 participants to the Tate Student Center Grand Hall. The goal for this year was to raise $415,000, a 20 percent increase over last year’s total. Including this year’s numbers, UGA Miracle has raised more than $4 million since its inception. Learn more at www.ugamiracle. org or www.dancemarathon.com.

In the game

Another Truman for UGA

The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication sports media certificate program is the first for a Southeastern Conference school. The University Council approved the certificate program in February, and it will officially launch in the fall.

The program, directed by Vicki Michaelis, the John Huland Carmical Distinguished Professor in Sports Journalism and Society, is aimed at preparing students for careers in sports writing, sports broadcasting and sports communications.

Michaelis worked as a sports reporter for two decades, including 12 years as USA Today’s lead Olympics writer.

Open to all undergraduates, the program will train students to report and produce sports stories in the digital age. They will learn on a multitude of platforms, from text to social media to audio and video. Students will use UGA athletics, Athens-area prep sports and Atlanta professional sports programs as realworld classrooms. They also will explore the role of sports in cultural and societal issues such as race, gender, politics, health and economics.

Sarah Mirza, a Spanish and geography major from Grand Island, Neb., was awarded a 2014 Harry S. Truman Scholarship, which recognizes juniors with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to careers in public service.

Mirza, a Foundatipn Fellow, is one of 59 scholars MIRZA nationwide to receive the award, which offers up to $30,000 for graduate study. She is the 19th UGA recipient since 1982, the first year UGA students received the award.

Mirza plans to pursue a master’s degree in cultural geography followed by a law degree so that she can work as an immigration lawyer.

The Truman Scholarship Foundation was established by Congress in 1975 as the federal memorial to the nation’s 33rd president. Learn more at www.truman.gov.

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UGA/Emory partnership gets funding for flu research UGA has partnered with Emory University on a $3.6 million contract to do work that will play a key role in the nation’s influenza research and surveillance programs.

The partnership could receive as much as $26.7 million over seven years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

The Emory-UGA Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) was originally launched and funded in 2007, when the NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health, created a network of six national centers. The project leader at UGA is Ralph Tripp, professor and chair of animal health vaccine development at the College of Veterinary Medicine and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. Co-leader is Mark Tompkins, an associate professor of infectious diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The center is led by investigators at Emory University.

The Emory-UGA CEIRS will focus on surveillance of swine influenza viruses and investigations of swine immune responses to virus infection. Basic research projects will include efforts to better understand the human immune response to influenza vaccination, including responses of pregnant women. Studies of long-lasting flu antibodies could aid in the development of vaccines that would provide years-long immunity to multiple strains of flu.

Learn more at www.niaid. nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2014/ Pages/CEIRSnetwork.aspx.

Faculty receive Meigs, Russell awards Six UGA faculty members have received excellence in teaching awards for 2014.

Recipients of the HAMILTON HAYNES MUSTARD Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorships are James Hamilton, associate professor of advertising and public relations in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication; Audrey Haynes, associate professor of political science in the School of MADONNA NAVARRO SCHRAMSKI Public and International Affairs; and David Mustard, associate professor of economics in the Terry College of Business. The Meigs Award is the university’s highest recognition for superior instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Winners of the Richard B. Russell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching include Anthony Madonna, assistant professor of political science in the School of Public and International Affairs; Maria Navarro, associate professor of agricultural leadership, education and communication in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; and John Schramski, associate professor in the College of Engineering. The Russell Award is the university’s highest early career teaching honor.

Thank a donoR PETER FREY

Mollie Sherman, a sophomore sports management major from Athens, signs a poster in Tate Plaza thanking donors for their contributions to UGA. Thank a Donor Day in April, sponsored by the Office of Donor Relations and Stewardship and the Student Alumni Council, brought students to the plaza to write personal thank-you cards and create videos and photos for people who have given money to the university this year.

See more action from the event at facebook.com/UGAThankaDonorDay, flickr.com/ ugadonorrelations and on Twitter and Instagram at @UGAThankaDonor.

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ARCH BEST IN SHOW A

BARK out to

… Michael Doyle, Regents Professor of food microbiology and director of UGA’s Center for Food Safety, who was named by the National Academy of Inventors to the 2013 class of NAI Fellows. … Lynn Bailey, head of the foods and nutrition department in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, who was named a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition. … Charlotte Mason, professor of marketing in the Terry College of Business, who will receive BAILEY this year’s Robert B. Clarke Outstanding Educator Award from Marketing EDGE, a nonprofit education organization (formerly known as the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation). … David Shipley, Georgia Athletic Association Professor in law and Georgia faculty athletics representative, who was recognized by the National Football Foundation for his effort to foster excellence among student-athletes. … Peter Smagorinsky, a College SHIPLEY of Education professor, who received a national award from the American Educational Research Association for his 2011 book, Vygotsky and Literacy Research: A Methodological Framework.

WATKINS

… Karen E. Watkins, professor and associate head of the lifelong education, administration and policy department in the UGA College of Education, who was inducted into the Academy of Human Resource Development Scholar Hall of Fame.

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Two get 2014 Goldwater awards UGA Honors students Tuan Nguyen and Amy Webster were named 2014 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars.

Nguyen is a junior from Douglasville majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology as well as mathematics. He plans to pursue a combined M.D./Ph.D. degree with the ultimate goal of improving cancer diagnostics and treatment.

Webster is a junior from NGUYEN Kennesaw majoring in genetics and mathematics. She plans to pursue a doctorate in genetics with the goal of studying the processes that regulate gene expression while also teaching at the university level and promoting scientific literacy.

Nguyen and Webster are among a group of 283 recipients of the one- and two-year scholarships that recognize exceptional sophomores and juniors WEBSTER in engineering, mathematics and the natural sciences. UGA students have received the Goldwater Scholarship almost every year since the mid-1990s, bringing the university’s total of Goldwater Scholars to 46.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

Learn more at http://www.act.org/goldwater.

Go in peace UGA ranks 17th among U.S. colleges and universities producing Peace Corps volunteers. UGA has 44 alumni currently volunteering worldwide, and 570 UGA alumni have traveled abroad to serve as volunteers since the Peace Corps began.

Through the Peace Corps Master’s International program, the agency partners with UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources to offer students an opportunity to integrate a master’s degree with overseas service.

See the complete 2014 rankings at http://files. peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/stats/schools2014.pdf.

UGA startup wins award

PETER FREY

In February, third-year law students (from left) Benjamin W. Thorpe, Emily K. Westberry and Steven L. Strasberg won the oldest and most prestigious moot court competition in the country.

Law school takes prestigious moot court competition Three third-year School of Law students in February won the 64th Annual National Moot Court Competition, the oldest and most prestigious moot court competition in the country.

Steven L. Strasberg, Benjamin W. Thorpe and Emily K. Westberry went undefeated to win the competition, sponsored by the New York Bar Association and held in Manhattan. Thorpe was named the competition’s best oralist.

The trio, which won the regional round to reach the nationals, beat teams from Emory University School of Law (in the final round), Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Drake University Law School, Hofstra University School of Law and Seattle University Law School.

The case the students argued centered on a challenge to a state law that required retailers of sugar-sweetened beverages to post signs in their stores about dangers associated with sugar-sweetened beverages and a manufacturer requirement to mark bottles to prevent 10-cent deposit fraud. It involved both First Amendment and Dormant Commerce Clause issues.

The last time a UGA team won this tournament was in 1997; UGA finished second last year.

Demand spurs new online program Addressing the growing demand for financial advisers, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences will begin offering an online master’s degree program in financial planning this fall. The non-thesis degree program will prepare graduates to sit for the Certified Financial Planner examination.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the projected growth rate of the financial adviser occupation is 27 percent between 2012 and 2022. The program will be led by tenure-track professors and research faculty and will offer courses in financial analysis, practice management and financial counseling. The twoyear program will be offered in eight-week blocks, beginning with courses on financial planning and analysis as well as wealth management.

Learn more at www.financialplanning.uga.edu.

A company formed by a team of UGA researchers received the Startup of the Year for 2013 Award presented by Four Athens, a local organization formed to discover startup companies and build community.

The startup, IS3D LLC, creators of interactive software to teach scientific principles to students in grades K-12, was founded in 2010 by eight UGA faculty and staff members who shared a dream of improving science comprehension and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Through partnerships with more than a dozen school districts, IS3D’s team of artists, designers and programmers has developed a robust catalog of products based on student and teacher feedback, and the software has made many students excited about science for the first time.

Members of the greater Athens community submitted nominations for the inaugural award, which was presented during Four Athens’ open house in January.

Learn more about IS3D LLC at www.is3donline.com.

UGA to get Science Learning Center State lawmakers approved money in the fiscal year 2015 budget for a $44.7 million Science Learning Center at UGA that will provide additional state-of-theart classrooms and labs for faculty and students.

Construction on the 122,500-square-foot facility is scheduled to begin this summer and to be completed in 2016. The building will be located on South Campus near the College of Pharmacy.

When the science center is completed, UGA will use $10 million in institutional funds to modernize space in the 1960s-era chemistry and biological sciences buildings.

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ARCH New this fall Twenty-four hour access to the Zell B. Miller Learning Center and higher pay for graduate student assistantships are among the initiatives UGA will launch this fall to enhance the student academic experience.

In addition, the university plans to: • hire faculty to add 80 high-demand course sections to speed students’ progress toward graduation; • develop new summer online courses to allow students to earn credits while away from campus working, doing internships or studying abroad; • hire 25 additional academic advisers and increase advising services to incoming first-year students and transfer students; • launch “Career Pathways,” an initiative that integrates career counseling into the earliest stages of the advising process; and • upgrade the information technology systems that help students and advisers track progress toward graduation.

Also in fall 2014, UGA will launch the CURO Research Assistantship Program, which will provide a $1,000 stipend to 250 outstanding undergraduate students across campus who will participate in research and scholarship with an active faculty research team.

Through a pilot program, several colleges also will hire internship coordinators to develop new relationships with industry, businesses and organizations that will allow students to apply their education to real-world challenges.

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten says the initiatives will streamline students’ time to graduation, better prepare them for careers and help UGA recruit worldclass graduate students.

Learn more at http://provost.uga.edu.

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Ride ’em cowboy COURTNEY JOHNSON

Bull riding was among the competitions during the Great Southland Stampede Rodeo, sponsored by the UGA Block and Bridle Club in April. This was the 40th anniversary of the rodeo, one of the largest International Professional Rodeo Association events run solely by students.

Plates fund scholarships UGA has raised more than $314,000 for student scholarships from the sale of license plates sporting the Power G.

Since the new red, black and silver plates were introduced last year, more than 1,300 have been sold. In addition, more than 30,000 motor vehicle owners have renewed their original UGA plates.

For each UGA tag sold or renewed $10 is designated for Georgia Access Scholarships, which provide need-based financial assistance to students.

Since 2012, UGA has awarded more than 500 Georgia Access Scholarships, which average $1,200 per recipient, per semester.

The new UGA Power G tags are available at local county tag offices for a one-time $25 manufacturing fee and an annual $35 special tag fee in addition to standard fees and taxes (if applicable).

Learn more at http://uga.edu/license or https://etax.dor.ga.gov.

Peabodys get heightened exposure A record 46 winners were announced when the 73rd Annual George Foster Peabody Awards were broadcast live on CBS’ “Good Morning America” in April. It was the first time the winners, chosen by the Peabody board at UGA, were announced live on television.

Hosted by Ira Glass, of “This American Life,” the awards were presented at a ceremony in New York on May 19.

Also a first this year, UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, which houses the Peabody Awards program, is partnering with Pivot, Participant Media’s television network, to produce and televise prime-time specials about the award winners.

Learn more about Pivot at www.takepart.com.

Learn more about the Peabody Awards at http://peabodyawards.com.

Equestrian team takes national title The UGA equestrian team won the 2014 National Collegiate Equestrian Association championship in April, its sixth national championship and the first since 2010.

Georgia beat teams from Baylor and Oklahoma State to face South Carolina in the finals of the event, held in Waco, Texas. They beat South Carolina 3-1 in a rematch of the Southeastern Conference championship.

McKenzie Lantz and Liza Finsness were named most valuable players.

UGA added equestrian to its varsity athletics programs in 2001.

Learn more at www.georgiadogs. com/sports/w-equest/geo-w-equestbody.html.

ALLEN SHARPE

Georgia swimmers and divers repeat as champions The women’s swimming and diving team won its second consecutive national title, bringing to six the number of NCAA titles Georgia swimming and diving has won.

Brittany MacLean, a sophomore from Toronto, who won the 500 and 1,650 freestyle races, was chosen as the Swimmer of the Meet, which was held in Minneapolis in March. Laura Ryan, a senior from Elk River, Minn., with the two springboard crowns, was picked as the Diver of the Meet. Dan Laak was selected as the Diving Coach of the Meet.

The Lady Bulldogs also earned their fifth consecutive and 11th overall Southeastern Conference championship last month in Athens.

Peter H. Bick

Support for students in recovery A new program, the Collegiate Recovery Community, is available on campus to provide support services for students recovering from alcohol and drug addictions and eating disorders.

Housed at 216 Memorial Hall, the community offers an environment where students recovering from addiction can find peer support and other services while navigating their college experience.

To be part of the community, students must have six months of continuous sobriety and abstinence from disordered eating behaviors. In addition, they must be active in a 12step community. The weekly programs, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Eating Disorders Anonymous, are held at the Collegiate Recovery Community and are open to anyone needing the support.

This program is supported by a donation from Jack and Nancy Fontaine, whose philanthropy has also supported the John Fontaine Jr. Center for Alcohol Awareness and Education.

Learn more at www.uhs.uga.edu/ crc.

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ARCH Do volunteers make better employees?

A Terry College of Business study shows that employees who also volunteer are more productive in the job and more satisfied with their work.

The study, published in the Academy of Management Journal, indicates that “overwhelmingly, employees who volunteered gave more time and effort to their jobs, were more willing to help out their colleagues, talked more positively about their companies and were less likely to do detrimental things like cyberloaf or waste time on the job,” said Jessica Rodell, assistant professor of management and author of the research.

Rodell’s theory is that the improved productivity comes from an influx of meaning in employees’ lives gained through charitable work.

Read the study here: http:// media.terry.uga.edu/socrates/ publications/2013/11/Rodell2013.pdf.

Got flowers?

A new app developed by a UGA Extension coordinator can help identify flowers, trees, ferns and shrubs that populate North Georgia’s yards and forests. “Native Plants of North Georgia,” now available for iPad, iPhone and Android devices, is a consumer-oriented field guide that allows the public to browse photos of plants organized by their blooming periods and includes leaf and bloom descriptions as well as their scientific and common names.

All versions of this app are free and ready for download through the Apple App Store and Google Play. A PDF version of the guide is available for free download, and the original pocket-sized flipbooks are available for purchase ($12) at www.caes.uga. edu/publications.

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PAUL EFLAND

From left, Shajira Mohammed and Aashka Dave help run PreMed Magazine, an online, student-run magazine that helps students prepare for medical school.

Where journalism meets pre-medicine Two UGA students merged their separate degree interests to create an online publication focusing on science and pre-medicine topic areas. PreMed Magazine was the result, an e-magazine that publishes twice a semester and involves nearly 40 student staff writers.

Editor-in-chief Shajira Mohammed, a junior biology major, has worked closely with executive editor and journalism major Aaskha Dave in creating the magazine, which provides UGA students with practical knowledge, such as how to conduct research and the best way to study for organic chemistry. Stories covered in the e-magazine include “Bizarre Medical Careers” and “The Pros of Clinical Research Trial.”

Mohammed says the idea stemmed from her desire to create a compilation of useful information pertaining to students and science-related news all in one convenient place. And that’s where Dave comes in.

“The divide between us works really well because Shajira is a pre-med student and then I’m a journalism major,” she says. “We sort of bridge that divide between our fields with the magazine.”

Check out the magazine at www.premedmag.org.

Peanut genome sequenced The International Peanut Genome Initiative, led by a UGA faculty member, has successfully sequenced the peanut’s genome.

The new peanut genome sequence will be available to researchers and plant breeders across the globe to aid in the breeding of more productive and more resilient peanut varieties.

Peanut, known scientifically as Arachis hypogaea and also called groundnut, is important both commercially and nutritionally. While the oil- and protein-rich legume is seen as a cash crop in the developed world, it remains a valuable sustenance crop in developing nations.

Chaired by Scott Jackson, director of the Center for Applied Genetic Technologies in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the initiative has been underway for several years.

Get more at http://peanutbase.org/files/genomes and www.peanutbioscience.com.

GOING GREEN

Tree huggers

Sustainability grants benefit cyclists

For the fourth year in a row, UGA received Tree Campus USA recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation for its promotion of a healthy campus tree management. About 10,000 trees adorn the campus. In 2013, the grounds department planted 75 trees through a partnership with the Select Sustainable Tree Trust, along with 45 others planted on Arbor Day and about another 25 during the year. About 75 more trees, provided by the tree trust, will be added this year. The main trees on campus are mapped for easy identification by the horticulture department in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Learn more at www.hort. uga.edu/research/arboretum.

New repair stations on campus will make it easier for campus cyclists to keep their bikes in shape.

Funded by the Office of Sustainability, Facilities Management Division and Recreational Sports, four Fixit Bike Repair Stands have been installed in Myers Quad, at the Miller Learning Center, at the Main Library and at the Ramsey Student Center for Physical Activities, where staff from UGA Outdoor Recreation teach bike repair clinics.

Each station contains a tire pump and basic tools so that campus cyclists have the ability to perform maintenance-related tasks without taking their bikes off campus to be fixed. A QR code on each station also will allow bicyclists to view detailed instructions on their smartphones.

The program was launched by Joseph Robinson, an undergraduate in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and a student worker in the Outdoor Recreation program. He received a campus sustainability grant from the Office of Sustainability to carry out the proposal.

Two other students are using sustainability grants for bike projects. Shafkat Khan, a doctoral student in the Odum School of Ecology, is partnering with Bike Athens to establish a cooperative to help teach bicycle maintenance and repair skills to students, faculty and staff. Sahana Srivatsan, a junior in the School of Public and International Affairs, is using his grant to expand UGA’s Bulldog Bikes campus bike-sharing program.

Learn more at http://www.sustainability.uga.edu.

Can you hear me now?

The College of Education’s Speech and Hearing Clinic celebrated its 60th anniversary this year by offering free speech, language and hearing screenings as well as an open house and tour of its facilities.

The clinic has been providing adults and children with services for the prevention, assessment and treatment of speech, language, swallowing and hearing disorders since 1953. It has provided an estimated 100,000 free speech and hearing screenings in area schools and its on-campus facilities.

Services are provided by student clinicians, who are earning master’s degrees in speech-language pathology, under the supervision of licensed, certified audiologists and speech-language pathologists.

Learn more at www.coe.uga. edu/csdclinic.

New life for the red barn UGA’s iconic red barn is headed to a new home in Oconee County on land owned by alumnus Tony Townley, executive vice president and co-founder of Zaxby’s. Townley, who attended UGA until 1985 but finished his degree at Georgia Southern University, will move the barn, now on South Milledge Avenue, to a farm he purchased from UGA earlier this year. Townley’s history with the property, which UGA used as a plant sciences farm, goes back many years; it was once owned by his great-grandfather. The 11,616-square-foot barn has been on its present site since 1997. Built nearly 100 years ago, the barn was first used by the university to house horses and mules.

The red barn after it was moved to its current location on South Milledge Avenue.

PAUL EFLAND

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CLOSE UP

Lawrence Harris, an adviser at Clarke Central High School through the Georgia College Advising Corps, meets with 18-year-old senior Sha’Veon Gilham.

Higher education for all Lawrence Harris and the Georgia College Advising Corps work to increase access

by Daniel Funke photos by Peter Frey (BFA ’94) When Lawrence Harris began advising college-bound high school students, he had no idea his work would eventually capture the attention of President Barack Obama. Harris (BS ’12), an adviser at Clarke Central High School in Athens, was recognized by the president at the White House during a summit meeting on expanding college access.

“Lawrence went to the University of Georgia, and like a lot of first-generation college students it wasn’t easy for him,” Obama said during the Jan. 16 summit. “But now he’s giving back. He’s made it his mission to help other young people like him graduate, as a college adviser at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia.”

Harris works with the Georgia College Advising Corps, a program within the UGA Institute of Higher Education that helps high school seniors prepare their applications for college.

The program, part of a national initiative to increase college enrollment and retention, trains and places recent college graduates in high schools to work alongside academic advisers in supporting students’ postsecondary goals.

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“The most pressing issue I’ve seen is test scores,” Harris says. “We have students with amazing GPAs who are active and help the community, but then when it comes to test scores, they’re super low.”

As an adviser, he is working to provide students with test preparation resources to help bolster scores and increase their chances of acceptance to their desired university.

Since many of the students who need help are low income, the GCAC hosts events such as financial aid information nights and conducts one-on-one college advising sessions with students and their families.

GCAC was established by UGA in 2008 as a part of the larger national College Advising Corps program and was launched with four advisers, including Harris. Last year, GCAC received a $1 million grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation to expand its efforts to Atlanta. The program now employs 16 advisers.

Harris says the recognition he received from President Obama was invaluable not only for himself, but for the students he serves as well.

“It was definitely an opportunity I never expected to have.

It helped impact our students here,” he says. “A lot of students wanted to know how that opportunity came about and how they could have an opportunity like that, so I think it was really motivating.”

GCAC Executive Director Libby V. Morris, director of the Institute of Higher Education, says the endorsement from President Obama serves as a national mark of recognition for the program’s work in the community.

“When a program such as the Georgia College Advising Corps is recognized by the White House, it’s a high-level badge of approval,” she says. “It says that we’re doing something important not just in the state but we’re doing something important for the nation, and that this program is aligned with national goals as well as state goals.”

After the White House summit, the College Advising Corps received a $10 million grant from the John M. Belk Endowment to provide college advisers in North Carolina. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in Virginia also donated $10 million to support advising corps programs in nine states.

GET MORE http://ihe.uga.edu/programs/georgiacollege-advising-corps

Pete Souza/WHITE HOUSE

Harris poses with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House in January. The president mentioned Harris and his work as an adviser in remarks during a summit meeting on expanding college access.

Harris works with Clarke Central senior Deanna Howard, 18, in the high school’s advising and career resource center. Howard is interested in attending Kennesaw State University, Georgia State University, Albany State University or the University of West Georgia.

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Coile Middle School sixth-graders try to keep the ball from hitting the ground during their field trip to the UGA campus, part of a new program called Experience UGA.

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Experience UGA Field trip program brings Clarke County kids to campus for a look at what’s beyond high school

by Allyson Mann (MA ’92) photos by Dot Paul

A

bright orange ball shoots up in the air under a clear blue sky. Below, about two dozen kids track its movements, prepared to lob it back up if it comes their way. The air is more than a little crisp—about 38 degrees on this February morning—but the kids don’t complain about the cold. They’re focused on keeping that ball from touching the ground.

It might look like recess, but these sixth-graders from W.R. Coile Middle School in Athens are enjoying a field trip to the UGA campus. This is Experience UGA, a new program that brings students from the Clarke County School District to campus for activities that reinforce what they’re learning at school while exposing them to college life.

Brendan Leahy, a public service associate at UGA’s Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, leads the ball game. He talks the kids through the process of setting goals: How many times can they hit it without letting it touch the ground? They settle on 24, but early attempts yield only three or four hits.

“You guys are doing great. You’re improving,” he says.

“What are some things we need to work on?”

The kids strategize with Leahy and gradually improve, reaching 15 hits and eventually a high of 29.

From the sideline, Coile teacher LaToya Lewis takes note of who’s stepping up to help with organization.

“I’m seeing who the leaders are,” she says.

The students will split their time today between programs hosted by the Department of Entomology, part of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the School of Forestry and Natural Resources. They’ve begun the day by getting up close and personal with insects including a Madagascar hissing cockroach and a rose hair tarantula named Rosie. Naturally cell phones are out, and pictures are being taken.

Alexandra Saupe, 15, holds an Australian spiny stick insect.

She and other 10th-grade AP biology students from Clarke Central High School visited UGA to take part in programs sponsored by the Department of Entomology and the School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

“C

an I hold that one again?” asks 15-year-old Alexandra Saupe on a January day. “Its eyes are so weird.”

She’s referring to an Australian spiny stick insect, which looks a bit like a praying mantis but is brown and much larger. Its front legs, when held up, make the shape of goalposts.

Saupe and 25 10th-grade AP biology students from Clarke Central High School are visiting Whitehall Forest, a UGA property about four miles from downtown Athens.

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Experien James Murphy, a graduate student in entomology, asks a question.

“Do you know what makes an insect?”

“Six legs,” replies a Clarke Central student.

“Yes,” Murphy says. “Good.”

The idea behind Experience UGA has been around a long time—since these teenagers were in the early years of elementary school, according to Janna Dresden, director of the Office of School Engagement (OSE) at the College of Education.

In her six years at OSE, it’s a question she’s heard asked repeatedly: Many Clarke County students live within a mile of UGA but never visit—why not bring them to campus?

The idea was first formalized in 2011 in a grant application for the Whatever It Takes project, which explored all aspects of what Athens-Clarke County children would need to be successful in life. Far reaching in scope, the project brought together educators from the Clarke County School District (CCSD) and UGA as well as representatives from local

Clarke Central 10th-graders tour the Whitehall Deer Research Facility during their Experience UGA trip to Whitehall Forest.

While being inspected by the inhabitants, the students learned how deer vision is different from human vision, what drives antler growth and about UGA research projects on deer repellents.

18 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

nonprofits focused on families and community.

Dresden’s team suggested a number of solutions, one of which was a plan to take kids on field trips to campus.

Though they didn’t receive the grant, the field trip idea stuck around. Last year Dresden approached UGA’s Office of Service-Learning (OSL), where she found an ally in Director Shannon Wilder. By summer, Claire Coenen (AB ’10) had joined OSL as a part-time intern, charged with getting the program off the ground. A strong partnership with CCSD was already in place through Dresden and OSE, which serves as a bridge between educational theory and practice. But Dresden and Wilder weren’t sure they could find enough UGA units to host field trips. They scheduled a series of meetings to gauge interest and were pleasantly surprised.

“People were amazingly interested,” Dresden says. “That first meeting—we were all just blown away. That room was packed with people.”

nce “W

ake up, Old Man Spruce!”

Forty-five pre-K students holler at a puppet that’s fallen asleep.

The kids are enjoying a show at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia before heading outside to explore on this day in early March. Led by Andie Bisceglia, children’s program manager, the kids learn from Old Man Spruce how trees clean the air and then stand up and make believe they are trees, swaying back and forth and waving their fingers like branches.

The kids are from the Early Learning Center, a CCSD early childhood education program, and for some it’s their first trip to campus.

Shannon Wilder hopes it won’t be their last. The plan is for Experience UGA to eventually bring all Clarke County students—currently about 13,000—to campus once a year during their entire K-12 career.

“One of the goals is to introduce them to college life… and to get them considering what they’re going to do after graduation,” says Wilder, who took a leap of faith last summer when she gave the go-ahead to start the program.

Since fall, Experience UGA has brought more than 3,500 CCSD students to campus. Kids in pre-K, kindergarten and fifth through 12th grades have visited a variety of units including UGArden, the Special Collections Library and the College of Education. Next year additional units will be involved, with theater, dance, the Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden, Romance languages, journalism, financial aid, public health, engineering, student affairs, law, public and international affairs, the Ramsey Center and the Washington Semester program coming on board.

Claire Coenen has a soft goal of having a trip for every grade next year.

And with the campus community’s enthusiasm for the program, it could happen.

Kyala Conner, a fifth-grader at Gaines Elementary School, talks to Callan Steinmann about the sun catcher she made during her Experience UGA visit to the Georgia Museum of Art. Steinmann is GMOA associate curator of education.

“It’s really been amazing how it has just snowballed, just gained more momentum and more momentum,” she says.

J

ean Martin-Williams asks for silence. The professor of music is preparing to lead the UGA Horn Choir as they play for more than 50 fifth-graders from Gaines Elementary School. The kids have received their lunches and are ready to dig in, but Martin-Williams asks what they would do if they wanted to make it sound like it was raining.

“Open your chip bags,” she says.

“It’s raining!”

The kids have spent this January morning at the Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA), where they learned about kinetic art, made sun catchers based on a sculpture and contemplated paintings and decorative arts with a docent. After lunch they’ll observe an orchestra rehearsal, sitting next to

large drums that will banish any postlunch sleepiness.

Colleen Fleming, a senior majoring in music education, is a member of the Horn Choir. She enjoyed watching the kids react to the lunchtime serenade.

“I never got that experience in elementary school,” she says. “I hope they got something out of it.”

After lunch Jennifer Bell (MEd ’12), a teacher at Gaines Elementary, says the kids are both excited and overwhelmed. For many, this is the first time they’ve seen instruments and UGA students up close. And for some, it’s the first time they’ve been exposed to live music.

“As a teacher, you can’t create that in a classroom,” she says.

The GMOA trip for fifth-graders has existed since 2005 and served as something of a model for Experience UGA. The School of Music trip is new, and part of Coenen’s job is to help

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hosts develop a trip that fits with CCSD curricular goals— including developing pre- and post-trip materials—and covers logistics like busing and bathrooms.

Trip hosts can vary greatly in size—from a large college to a small department—and the number of students they can host, but Coenen says they can design a program that will work for any unit.

“If someone comes to us and wants to host a trip, we’ll make it happen.”

“E

wwwww!”

That’s the general reaction of about 20 ninth-graders from Clarke Central High School as a black light reveals the Glo Germ on their hands. It’s a bit of a setup—they’ve been investigating unknown bacteria at a series of lab stations, some of which were deliberately contaminated with Glo Germ, a teaching product that simulates the presence of germs. But it’s all part of the bacterial pathogenesis session they’ve attended on UGA’s first Biology Day late in February. After using a series of tests to identify the unknown bacteria, the students put their hands under the black light for a quick and effective demonstration of how easily germs can spread. They wash their hands thoroughly before heading to their next session.

Ty Callahan (right), a ninth-grader at Clarke Central High School, investigates an unknown bacterium during a bacterial pathogenesis session on Biology Day. He’s assisted by UGA senior Rahul Kapoor, a microbiology major from Lilburn.

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

During the first Biology Day sponsored by Experience UGA, Clarke Central High School ninth-graders Byron Spraggins, 15 (center), and Gemerious Smith, 15 (right), try on personal protective equipment used by lab workers at the Riverbend South Laboratories. They’re assisted by Shelly Helmes, lab manager and research professional in the Department of Infectious Diseases.

20 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

A few days later, Anna Karls sits in front of her computer. On the screen is a complex spreadsheet that outlines the schedule and logistics for the second of two Biology Days hosted by Experience UGA this year. She’s made it through the first—which brought 250-plus kids from Clarke Central—and included a welcome from Pamela Whitten, UGA senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, and Philip Lanoue, superintendent of the Clarke County School District.

“Thanks to all those here in this room, we have a chance to bring you here, for the first time ever, so you can see… where you can be in four years,” Lanoue said.

“We brought you here because it’s an opportunity for you to say, ‘I want to do that.’”

In a few days, Karls will lead the second Biology Day with nearly 300 ninth-graders from Cedar Shoals High School. While on campus, the kids are divided into groups of about 20 that rotate through sessions on topics including cell biology, infectious diseases, bioexpression and fermentation, x-ray crystallography, marine sciences

and pharmacology. Organizing this has been a logistical nightmare, but Karls is focused on how this exposure could change a student’s life.

“If they see this early enough, it can influence how they think about school and how they prepare themselves for a career afterward,” she says.

Karls, an associate professor of microbiology, teaches a service-learning class; her students planned the bacterial pathogenesis session. It’s good practice, she says.

“It’s a very valuable thing for our students to learn how to communicate with the public.”

Wilder agrees. UGA students are involved with many Experience UGA trips—running sessions, leading facilities tours and serving as escorts for campus visitors. The exposure is great for the visiting CCSD students, who get an opportunity to experience college life, but it’s also useful for UGA students. Sharing their knowledge reinforces what they’re learning, Wilder says.

“They’re connecting more deeply with the content that they’re studying by introducing it to CCSD students.”

Z

ariah Thomas, 4, became a mother during her trip to the Botanical Garden in March. The pre-K student at CCSD’s Early Learning Center dug up an earthworm and adopted it, naming it “Puppet” and referring to it as her daughter. After some persuasion she reluctantly left her daughter outside and returned to a classroom, where she offered her assessment of the morning’s activities.

“That was a good trip! I knew I could see some trees.”

Shannon Wilder would like to bring Thomas back to campus every year until she graduates from high school. But taking Experience UGA to that level will depend primarily on finding ways to pay for it.

“The average cost of a trip is about $5,000, and the bulk of that is transportation,” Wilder says. “If we think about impact… it’s a really low cost, but getting the funding to get the buses moving is a barrier.”

In its first year the program received financial support from the President’s Venture Fund and the vice presidents of instruction, research, and public service and outreach, as well as the College of Education, the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Forestry and Natural Resources. OSL, OSE and CCSD voluntarily absorbed much of the cost, taking on the project without receiving extra funding. UGA’s participating units did the same, and faculty, staff and students donated thousands of hours.

Wilder hopes that going forward, support for Experience UGA will come not just from campus but from the community as well. Their first fundraiser, held in March, brought in nearly $10,000. With an average cost of

Zariah Thomas, 4, holds the earthworm she dug up during a trip to the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

A puppet named Oli Earthworm taught Thomas and other pre-K students from the Clarke County School District’s Early Learning Center that earthworms help with decomposition, breaking big things into little things.

$5 per student and a target of reaching 13,000, it’s unlikely that the program can expand beyond its current scope. But Wilder hopes that Experience UGA can serve as a model.

“As the anchor institution in our community, this is part of our commitment to our local district,” she says. “We do hope that other USG schools will consider a program like this in their communities too.”

GET MORE experience.uga.edu

Want to give?

Contact Cherie Duggan, director of development for public service and outreach, at 706-542-6654 or cduggan@uga.edu.

JUNE 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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Alyssa Gehman spends spring break at Wormsloe Plantation in Isle of Hope, near Savannah. A Wormsloe Fellow, Gehman receives funding to research parasites in mud crabs and has access to the facilities at Wormsloe and surrounding coastal areas. At right, Gehman finds a tiny mud crab on a shell pulled from an oyster reef along the river.

22 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

The

wonder of

Wormsloe Pristine coastal land provides a place for UGA students and faculty to do research

by Kelly Simmons photos by Andrew Davis Tucker

I

t is cold on the Moon River near Savannah on this March morning, a blustery 40 degrees. Alyssa Gehman lowers herself from the bow of the boat into the 56-degree water and trudges through the thick muck to reach the oyster reef that lines the marsh.

At the reef she breaks off chunks of the oyster shells.

Once her two buckets are filled, she wades back to the boat.

Later she’ll rinse off the pieces of shell and use an oyster knife to look for tiny mud crabs, some of which are infected with parasites nicknamed body snatchers

for their practice of castrating their hosts and reproducing. If the host is male, the parasite converts it into a female to reproduce.

From this batch of shells she finds 15 crabs, only two infected with the parasite.

“It’s usually 40 percent,” she says of the number caught that are infected. “That kind of goes along with my salinity hypothesis.”

Since these came from farther up river from the ocean, the water is less salty. Gehman’s hypothesis is that the parasites would be less prevalent in areas with less salinity.

The saltiness of the water is among the factors Gehman is researching in order to determine in what environment the parasites thrive. Another is how well parasites handle changes in water temperature.

“There’s a whole body of literature that says parasites will do well as temperature increases,” she says. Which means that if the Earth continues to warm, the number of parasites will increase, an issue not just for the mud crabs but for all living organisms.

Gehman, a doctoral student in the Odum School of Ecology, is spending spring break at Wormsloe Plantation in Isle of Hope. One of six Wormsloe Fellows, Gehman is allowed to use the site and facilities for her research, even living in a renovated former slave cabin that provides housing for faculty and students.

Funded by the Wormsloe Foundation, founded in 1954 as a charitable organization, the fellows study the human and natural history of Wormsloe and the surrounding coastal community. The first six were selected in 2008; so far there have been 14 fellows.

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the Department of Geography. Faculty members from those disciplines, as well as the departments of history and anthropology, both in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, work on the site.

UGA faculty Andy Davis and Sonia Altizer, from the Odum School of Ecology, are tracking butterfly activity in 12 large gardens at Wormsloe containing exotic and native plants. Together with Ph.D. student Ania Majewska, they monitor the plants for eggs and caterpillars to assess reproduction, capture and assess the caterpillars to check for parasites, and study predators in the area. They mark the butterflies and recapture them to study their survivorship and abundance. Their findings will help determine what kinds of gardens are beneficial to the pollinators, which are declining as the climate changes and habitats disappear.

Wormsloe Fellow Paul Cady, who is pursuing a master’s in landscape architecture, is writing a cultural landscape report on the slave cabin area, the main house, the farm complex and fort house ruins. The report will serve as a guide for future preservation efforts on the site.

Barrow says the report could help Wormsloe’s chances of being recognized as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage sites in the South include the Great Smoky Mountains, Monticello and the University of Virginia, and the Florida Everglades.

B

Diana and Craig Barrow live in the 186-year-old house on land granted to Barrow’s ancestor, Noble Jones, in 1736. They are the ninth generation of the family to live on the property.

In June 2013, the foundation gave UGA a 15-acre tract (which includes the cabin) on which to build a research facility and additional housing.

Students and faculty are not new to Wormsloe. Craig Barrow, whose family has owned the property for nearly 300 years, says Eugene Odum, for whom the Odum School of Ecology was named, conducted research on the site in the 1940s.

“We’re tickled that they’re here,” says Barrow (AB ’65).

“Every one of them are just wonderful people.”

In addition to Gehman, current fellows include graduate students in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, the College of Environment and Design and

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arrow is the ninth generation of his family to own Wormsloe, which was given to his ancestor, Georgia colonist Noble Jones, in 1736 after he and his family arrived from England. The 500 acres was a grant to Jones from King George II. The family would later receive an additional 500 acres.

Despite threats of war from Spanish troops in St. Augustine and later Union troops during the Civil War, the family has maintained the property since then. Alonzo Church, Barrow’s great-great-great-grandfather, was president of the University of Georgia from 1829-1859, the longest-serving UGA president in history.

“The Barrow family had a huge influence on the university,” Barrow says. “We were bonded to it.”

So much so, in fact, that Barrow had no choice but to attend UGA when it was time for college.

“My father made it perfectly clear that his check was going to Georgia,” Barrow says. “I could do whatever I wanted.”

He would later tell his son the same thing.

Several years ago, Barrow says he and wife Diana decided they needed to do something to make sure Wormsloe was preserved into the future. Barrow approached UGA President Emeritus Chuck Knapp, who was on the Wormsloe

Wormsloe Fellow Paul Cady, a master’s student in landscape architecture, spends time in a Savannah library researching the cultural history of the Wormsloe property dating back to 1736.

Foundation board, and asked for his help in getting the university involved.

Knapp took the idea of the Wormsloe Institute for Environmental History to then-President Michael Adams and then-Senior Vice President for External Affairs Tom Landrum. With Sarah Ross as the executive director, they agreed to develop the institute and a fellows program.

“M

experiences and opportunities for applied research. Financial support for Wormsloe Fellows from the Wormsloe Foundation attracts graduate students from across the country, who recognize the value of fully integrated research and educational experiences.

This public-private partnership is shepherded by Ross, who is full-time faculty in the College of Environment

y father made it perfectly clear that his check was going to Georgia. I could do whatever I wanted.”

Under the direction of President Jere Morehead, what began as an informal partnership with the Wormsloe Foundation developed into the UGA Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe, which provides a range of interdisciplinary graduate education

— Craig Barrow and Design and Wormsloe Foundation president. Ongoing support for students from the Wormsloe Foundation includes coastal ecology field trips, hands-on habitat restoration and ecosystem remediation with site planning, design and implementation.

The property already is listed as a state historic site with tours and educational activities for the public. The work done on the property means more to the public now that it is linked with UGA, Barrow says.

“It carries more clout.”

Having Wormsloe as a research center also has become a way for faculty to recruit top students, Ross says.

“Wormsloe is attracting students who are interested in applying classroom and studio knowledge in a real-life situation,” she says.

Once here, students in units across campus work together, meeting every month for a half day to share what they are doing and finding in their research.

This allows them to collaborate and learn skills from other disciplines, Ross says.

“Interdisciplinary experiences and applied research give students a competitive edge when they enter the job market,” she says. “Real-world experiences give them street credentials.”

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Barrow calls himself a lucky man to be able to live on the pristine grounds of Wormsloe, with views of the river and salt marsh. He’s accompanied on the pier by Honey, an English cocker spaniel.

M

ore than 400 live oak trees line the 1-mile unpaved road from the gates of the plantation to the main house. The limbs of the trees, planted in the 1890s, bend inward to form an arch over the road known as an oak allée.

On one side of the drive is a wooded area—new growth from decades past, not centuries. Once the land was covered with cotton, a strong commodity for the South from the late 18th into the 20th centuries.

Several cabins once stood alongside the one now used for student and faculty housing. Archaeologists have been studying that area to recover artifacts before the center and additional housing are built. Pieces of ceramics and a pipe are among the things they had found by this spring.

Built in 1828, the house—10,000square feet and three stories tall—is near the river, once the primary passageway for cargo ships headed to and from Savannah. The Army Corps

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of Engineers dredged a deeper channel years ago, leaving a vista of marsh grass and water, through which dolphins sometimes pass.

A stone building also graces the site on the waterfront. The library, as it’s called, was built in 1907 to protect the many historic documents the Barrow family had amassed since Noble Jones’ arrival. At one time it held the manuscript for the Confederate States of America Constitution, which was sold to the family by a New York woman after the Civil War. That document, as well as many others, are now housed at UGA in the Special Collections Libraries as the DeRenne Collection. More than 10,000 documents show how the landscape has changed over time, Barrow says. The collection also includes letters between Noble Jones and Benjamin Franklin.

“Since the place stayed with our family all the documents are intact,” Barrow says.

Between the library and the cabin

site is a small cemetery, where Barrow’s mother, father and grandparents are buried. There are plots there for him and Diana as well. The cemetery, and an elaborate flower garden near the house, are encircled by walls built from bricks left when other buildings on the site, like the dairy and rice processing plant, were razed.

And there is the forest of live oaks, some believed to be upwards of 400 years old. You can tell from Wormsloe land-use history maps which parts of the property have always been forest, says Holly Campbell, a Wormsloe Fellow and master’s degree student in soil science.

Campbell is also spending her spring break at Wormsloe, collecting samples from the different areas on the property and studying them to determine how the history of land use on the site has influenced the soil properties.

Using an auger, Campbell extracts a core of soil, four inches in diameter,

sometimes to a depth of eight feet.

Laying the soil on a large measuring tape, she gathers data to classify the soil.

She studies the color, texture and structure of each layer. Typically, a black, sandy topsoil horizon overlays colorful, sandy subsurface horizons at Wormsloe.

Currently she is investigating a reddish, hardened layer she finds at a depth of about five feet.

What she finds differs from place to place, the soil affected over time by wind and rain, massive storms and hurricanes, agricultural use and human activity. The land was home to Native Americans prior to Jones’ arrival. Shell middens (shell refuse heaps) on the property indicate marine foraging activity.

Middens contain the remains of food that was eaten, fragments of ceramics and other artifacts involved in daily life.

The middens slowly release calcium into the soil, having a long-term effect on soil chemistry.

Campbell also has found charcoal in the soil in some areas, which can indicate controlled forest fires, field burning, or less commonly, fire for residential use.

In areas that are burned, the acidity of the soil is different because of the ash. Depending on when the activity occurred, soil pH may be elevated by charcoal and shell additions and soil phosphorous may be elevated by human activity and manure application.

It’s a near perfect site for her research, Campbell says, since the property includes areas that have remained relatively untouched.

“Compared to a lot of other places, this is a fairly pristine site,” she says. “It makes Wormsloe a unique site to do this study.”

Holly Campbell, a master’s student in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, digs a hole and lays out the different levels of soil to observe its color, texture and structure. The characteristics vary from one section of the plantation grounds to another based on how the land was used.

GET MORE http://www.wormsloeinstitute.org/ Want to give?

Contact Stephanie Crockatt in the College of Environment and Design at 706-542-4727 or crockatt@uga.edu.

Campbell, a Wormsloe Fellow, uses the Munsell color book for soils to determine what kinds of minerals are in each soil level. With that information she can theorize how the land was previously used.

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28 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

New campus provides

perfect remedy Health Sciences Campus in Athens has become a hot spot for students

by Lori Johnston (ABJ ’95) photos by Andrew Davis Tucker

The crowd begins the countdown

—10… 9… 8…—and as the voices crescendo to 1, students from the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership grab envelopes off a table and rip into them. Woo-hoos, yeahs, screeches and whoops fill the auditorium as the graduates learn where they will be spending their residencies and celebrate the first Match Day—a rite of passage—in Athens on the University of Georgia’s Health Sciences Campus (HSC).

The noontime scene next door is calmer but still crowded as students line up to wait for an open seat in The Niche. UGA’s newest dining commons lures students with ribeye sandwiches, skirt steak, crab cakes and gelato, among other items. Soon, the line stretches to the door as a UGA bus drops off students, some of whom have traveled about two miles from the main campus to eat at the HSC on Prince Avenue.

Some medical students have moved outside to the sidewalk, where College of Public Health students and professors are walking to class or to conduct research.

The medical students continue to celebrate Match Day by hugging, kissing and spreading the news via FaceTime, and one student shares his second piece of big news with a classmate, saying, “We just got engaged,” as his new fiancée smiles and sobs.

GRU/UGA Medical Partnership students celebrate as they find out where they will be working after graduation in May. It was the first Match Day for students who attended medical school classes on the Health Sciences Campus (HSC) in Athens.

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Above, John Vena, UGA Foundation Professor and head of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics in the College of Public Health, conducts an epidemiology seminar class in Miller Hall on the HSC. Below, (from left) Licensed Practical Nurse Wendy Wynne and Dr. Michael S. Shuler work with third-year GRU/UGA medical student Sierra Green and Certified Surgical Technician Amanda Hart as they perform a carpal tunnel surgery at the Athens Orthopedic Clinic Surgery Center during Green’s surgery rotation.

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These moments are milestones on the cozy campus, which opened in 2012. UGA acquired the 56-acre site in 2011 after the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School, which previously occupied the buildings, was decommissioned by the federal government in 2010 and its operations moved to Rhode Island. UGA renovated the site to house the College of Public Health and the GRU/UGA Medical Partnership.

Students can attend classes, participate in research, socialize and eat there, work out at the gym and live in townhomes or residence halls on the campus.

“It’s a stand-alone campus,” says Phillip L. Williams, dean of the College of Public Health, adding that the campus will eventually allow public health to bring all of its units together in one place.

And it’s becoming a place where students from multiple UGA colleges and schools are learning and mingling with GRU/UGA medical students. College of Public Health researchers have received $8 million in funding for fiscal year 2013 with more than $30 million in total active grants.

As construction continues to make more classroom space, both Williams and Barbara Schuster,

campus dean of the GRU/UGA Medical Partnership, see more prospects for medical students, public health students and faculty to interact on research projects and community outreach. The College of Public Health and Medical Partnership also offer a joint accelerated MD/MPH degree, and an MBA/MPH program, a joint venture of the College of Public Health and the Terry College of Business, is launching this fall. Public health students and first-year medical students also take a community health course together.

Osama Hashmi, a UGA Honors student who plans to attend medical school, sees how having the HSC is creating meaningful connections in his public health courses.

“Having the medical school professors available right there makes it easier for them to come and talk to our classes.”

Plus, he adds: “It has the best dining hall at UGA.”

New venture, familiar surroundings As students’ names—and the occasional Optimus Prime and Obi-Wan Kenobi—are called out to pick up their lunch at The Niche, GRU/UGA medical students on this spring day are passing the microphone as they call out Duke, Minnesota, Louisville, Emory and other medical programs where they will be residents. St. Mary’s Health Care System could join the celebration as early as next year as it becomes Athens’ first medical residency program. St. Mary’s internal medicine residency program is a joint effort with the GRU/UGA Medical Partnership; meanwhile, graduate medical education (GME) or residency programs at Athens Regional Medical Center are expected to begin in 2016 and possibly at other northeast Georgia hospitals.

“I think it’s a very big deal. It’s another step in the growth of the [GRU/UGA partnership] to have a residency program,” says Carlos Soriano (BS ’13), class president of the GRU/UGA Medical Partnership Student Medical Association.

Top: From left, UGA junior genetics major Jake Kumro, second-year GRU/UGA medical student Reed Otten, and third-year UGA pharmacy student Kristin Bradley listen to fourth-year GRU/UGA medical student Peter Karempelis talk about a patient at Mercy Clinic. Middle: Nitya Nair, a fourthyear GRU/UGA medical student, laughs as Jeremiah Woolsey, 2, of Blairsville, Ga., examines her stethoscope during a visit to Sibley Heart Center Cardiology in Gainesville, Ga. Bottom: Dr. Michelle A. Nuss, GRU/UGA Medical Partnership associate dean for graduate medical education, left, leads Joseph Burch, a Medical Partnership MD/PhD student, through a physical with patient India Hardy at St. Mary’s Hospital.

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GRU/UGA second-year medical students (from left) Sara Whyte, Zac Doegg, Grace Yaguchi, and Leia Edenfield have lunch together at Ike and Jane’s Café and Bakery, next to the HSC.

COURTNEY JOHNSON

Michael Issa, an instructor at Kaiser Permanente’s Health Education Program, leads a Tai Chi class on the Health Sciences Campus to celebrate National Public Health Week, April 7-13.

The class and other events were sponsored by the College of Public Health.

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Expanding medical education will ensure that more physicians educated in Georgia will remain in the state to complete their initial residency training, according to a 2008 report commissioned by the Board of Regents. St. Mary’s Health Care System was awarded $550,000 in GME funding as part of Gov. Nathan Deal’s program to fund more than 400 new residency positions at hospitals that do not have those programs.

Five years ago, there was only an occasional medical student rotating in a northeast Georgia hospital or with physicians, Schuster says. Now, medical students—each class has about 40—work with more than 250 physicians in Athens, metro Atlanta and up to the North Carolina border, including both Athens hospitals and nine other medical centers.

“Just having medical students beginning in northeast Georgia is a huge impact,” she says.

“There’s definitely an opportunity and a place for those students.”

Georgia ranks 44th in the nation for physicians per 100,000 people, and St. Mary’s officials believe they can help improve those numbers.

“We feel part of our mission and vision is to be responsible in that way to the community, to northeast Georgia, and to ensure that we have future physicians to take care of us,” says Dr. Bruce F. Middendorf, St. Mary’s chief medical officer and director of the system’s GME program. “At the end of that time, these physicians are well-trained and prepared to go out to care for patients on their own.”

St. Mary’s internal medicine residency will have 30 total residents, which breaks down to 10 per year starting in 2015. Dr. Michelle A. Nuss, campus associate dean for GME with the Medical Partnership and interim program director for the internal medicine residency program, says she receives emails daily from students interested in the Athens residency programs.

Athens Regional plans to have five residency programs with 102 new trainees, which will transform the way in which it cares for patients, says Dr. Jonathan Murrow, who is heading up the development of these programs.

On-the-job training Amy Martin (BS ’10), is in the first group of Medical Partnership students that graduated in May. She says she believed that her class had an obligation to give back to the community. Mercy Health Center, a free clinic just a couple of blocks from the HSC, opened its doors to the medical student volunteers, who joined UGA students from public health and pharmacy already volunteering at the site.

“It showed just a lot of fortitude and a lot of drive in my classmates,” says Martin, wearing a white lab coat and stethoscope around her neck during a Wednesday night clinic. “There was no stress because it wasn’t like you were getting graded. You got to go take care of patients and realize, ‘This is what I signed up for.’”

As a result of the student volunteers, Mercy now is open three nights a week instead of two, and patients no longer have to wait weeks for help.

“Students are learning, Mercy is thriving and patients are getting better,” Executive Director Tracy Thompson says.

By spending time in the clinic, public health, medical and pharmacy students see how working together can improve care.

“Seeing the value of what a pharmacist can do, I think, has really enhanced the opportunities for the medical students,” says Dr. Trina von Waldner, director of postgraduate continuing education for the College of Pharmacy.

As part of his emergency medicine rotation, fourth-year GRU/ UGA medical student Travis Smith, left, works with Curtis Arthur and Don Pruitt of National EMS as they treat patient Orzzie Walton of Athens en route to St. Mary’s Hospital.

Our campus, your campus For medical school, Matthew Lustig (BS ’12) only had to move across Athens, where new Normaltown neighborhood bars and eateries have opened and Ike & Jane Café and Bakery has added dinner hours since the students arrived.

“There was no adjustment necessary. Whereas some people had to move states, and other people were working and not in school, this has just been a straight progression,” says Lustig, class of 2016, who lives on campus.

As Travis Smith (BS ’09) takes the next step in his medical career with a residency in Denver, he can’t help but grin when talking about his medical education and how the opportunities are increasing for future students. Grabbing a cup of coffee after working all day with a family medicine group in northeast Georgia’s Habersham County, he says: “There are many students just like me who are motivated and want to learn, and this is a great place for us to learn.”

—Lori Johnston is a freelance writer living in Watkinsville.

GET MORE medicalpartnership.usg.edu www.publichealth.uga.edu See a multimedia presentation of the Medical Partnership first class at http://t.uga.edu/Lp.

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Chasing Aimee After overcoming a rare bacterial infection, Aimee Copeland is braving a new world

by Alex Crevar (AB ’93) photos by Andrew Davis Tucker

A

imee Copeland is sitting in the cockpit of a kayak.

A helmet covers her shoulder-length blond hair. Hand paddles are strapped to her arms. After readying the boat they’ll share, her instructor squats next to her on the pool deck and says: “We’re going to slide you in bow first.” The 26-year-old Copeland (BS ’10) responds in her typical, no-worries style: “Sounds good.”

In the water, the pair practices proper paddling techniques. “We want to rotate from the core,” says the instructor from Team River Runner, an outfit that works with people with disabling injuries. “Let’s shift our body weight to ride on the hull’s edge.” With every stroke, Copeland adapts to new methods to make yet another activity, once routine, possible.

Watching Copeland navigate her kayak, it is easy to forget she’s missing her left leg. It’s easy to forget she is missing her right leg below the knee. It’s easy to forget she’s missing both arms below the elbow. Just two years after an accident and bout with necrotizing fasciitis (more commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria), it’s easy to forget because being with Copeland means keeping up with Copeland—literally chasing Aimee.

Coming out of the water, Copeland pivots on her arms from the hydraulic pool lift into her electric wheelchair. She slaloms between obstacles along the deck to the dressing room. She then zooms out the door and along the sidewalk to her van, wheels inside, and with the skill of a gymnast dismounting a pommel horse, maneuvers behind the steering wheel to drive herself home to Snellville.

“There’s a million different possibilities that could occur in life, and this is the one I landed in,” says Copeland, whose undergraduate degree is in psychology.

“It’s the butterfly effect, where one moment changes the rest of your history, and I am not sorry it has. My life could have turned out so many different ways. At least in this particular way, I can be of service.”

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Aimee Copeland participates in a kayaking session at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega with the Atlanta Chapter of Team River Runner, a nonprofit organization that provides adaptive and therapeutic kayaking for amputees.

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It was already hot on May 1, 2012, when Copeland finished her breakfast shift at the Sunny Side Café in Carrollton. It was slow that day. Spring semester had recently ended at the University of West Georgia, where she was a graduate student in humanistic psychology. When she was leaving the restaurant, a co-worker suggested she come over to hang out with friends.

The group lounged in the sun, talked and watched rabbits hop through the yard. Then Copeland noticed a homemade zip line, which crossed the Little Tallapoosa River running through the property.

“The zip line was actually more like one of those dogrunner cables, you know?” remembers Copeland. “We held onto bicycle handle bars while we crossed what was, at that point in the season, the rocks of a very shallow creek bed.

The water was maybe a foot deep.”

Athletic and self-confident, Copeland loves the outdoors. Soaring through the air hanging from a rickety contraption six feet above the ground was a challenge she welcomed.

On that spring day, which seemed like any other, the group took turns on the makeshift zip line. On Copeland’s second attempt, the line snapped and she fell hard onto the rocks.

“I looked down and saw a gnarly, moon-shaped cut and my left calf muscle was hanging out. A lot of stuff was hanging out. When the ambulance got there, I passed out.

They say in moments like that the mind shuts down to protect the body.”

What Copeland wouldn’t know until she regained consciousness two weeks later was that the gnarly cut and the water she landed in created a perfect storm for necrotizing fasciitis that would soon change her life.

It would be hard to invent a fictional condition more mysterious than necrotizing fasciitis (NF). A bacterial infection, NF assaults the fascia, which are sheets of tissue that sheath muscles. According to the National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation (NNFF), “NF can occur in an extremity following a minor trauma, or after some other type of opportunity for the bacteria to enter the body such as surgery.” Cases have been reported after “a tiny scratch, bumping a leg with a golf bag, a friendly punch in the arm from a buddy” and “no known trauma at all.”

The upside is that NF is rare and those most at risk typically, though not always, have compromised immune systems.

Copeland says her doctors don’t know what made her body fertile for the infection. “They just don’t have any idea.

I guess if you’re gonna get it, you’re gonna get it,” she says.

Once the bacterium enters the system, it moves very 36 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

quickly. A misdiagnosis, even by a few hours, can mean the difference between life and death.

Three days after the accident, doctors knew Copeland had necrotizing fasciitis. She was airlifted to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctor’s Hospital in Augusta.

By the time she arrived, time and the damage caused by the infection were rapidly working against her. The goal changed from saving her left leg to keeping her alive.

Copeland’s father, Andy, kept a public blog as the tragedy unfolded.

“Upon arrival at JMS, Aimee was once again rushed

With Belle, a 2-year-old Labradoodle, leading the way, Copeland maneuvers her electric wheelchair along the walk outside her Snellville home. Copeland received Belle, a trained service dog, last June from the Psychiatric Service Dog Academy and Registry, for which Copeland is now a spokesperson.

into surgery and the doctors completed a high-hip amputation of her left leg,” he wrote on May 4, 2012. “As if this wasn’t enough, Aimee arrested when they moved her from the operating table, but they were able to successfully resuscitate her. The doctors say that Aimee’s probability of surviving the night is bleak. All we can do and all we have done is pray.”

Copeland’s body would shut down repeatedly. She would die twice. And in a desperate race to save her life, doctors put her on vasopressors, a drug to divert blood from her extremities to save her failing vital organs.

Over the next two weeks she struggled on life support, but grew stronger. Still, the family faced major, life-altering decisions. The vasopressors had collapsed the veins in her hands and remaining foot, turning them black and useless and making them health risks.

Andy Copeland remembers holding up his daughter’s hands so she could see them. “Your mind is

Robert Kistenberg, coordinator of prosthetics in the Georgia Tech School of Applied Physiology, works with Copeland to adjust her iLimb Ultra prosthetic hand from Touch Bionics. The fingers of the hand bend at the joints to allow Copeland to grip objects.

beautiful, your heart is good and your spirit is strong,” he told her. “These hands can prevent your recovery from moving forward. The doctors want to amputate them and your foot today to assure your best possible chance of survival.”

“Let’s do this,” she responded.

Following a two-month stay in Augusta, Copeland was moved to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, where her rehabilitation began in earnest.

“When I got to Shepherd, they took me off methadone,” she says.

“That was when everything started to sink in. I was quite depressed for several weeks. I cried a lot in the beginning. I went through a grieving process.”

Over the next six weeks, Copeland woke at 7 a.m. every day to rehabilitate

her ravaged body and take the baby steps necessary to meet life’s new challenges. She learned how to get out of bed, how to operate a wheelchair, how to get to the bathroom and how to use technology like an iPad. Her therapists worked with her to build strength and eventually adjust to prosthetics and use a walker. She spoke with a psychologist regularly. In Copeland’s words: “They snapped me back into reality.”

Four months after her accident and three weeks after her release from the Shepherd Center, Copeland appeared on “Katie,” Katie Couric’s talk show.

“Just a few months ago what you’re about to see seemed inconceivable,” Couric told the audience on September 12, 2012. “So please welcome Aimee Copeland.”

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The crowd applauded and cheered as Copeland, blushing, appeared. She stood on one prosthetic foot. Her arms, stumps below the elbows, were fastened to a walker with wheels. Wearing a tank top and a cheery, flowered skirt, she lurched forward, extending her stumps to roll the walker she’d received just five days earlier. She then lifted her body and swung her prosthetic leg forward to again support her weight. It took one minute and 16 seconds to travel the 10 yards to Couric. Couric, like many in the audience, was crying.

“Was there any point where you said, ‘I can’t do this, I’d rather die’?” Couric asked.

“No, that was never really an option to me,” Copeland said. “I love life. It’s a beautiful thing.

It’s something I don’t take for granted anymore.

Seeing a sunset or the ocean. It’s so exhilarating— even more so now. The senses are so deepened.

Everything smells better. Everything is more vibrant and colorful than before.”

Since the show, Copeland has been moving as fast as her recovery will take her.

She has appeared on the “Today” show, CNN Headline News and “Good Morning America.”

She works as a motivational speaker. She travels to Valdosta State University, alone, each month to meet with professors in her second graduate program. She sits on the advisory council of Tools for Life and the board of directors for Friends of Disabled Adults and Children. Both work to make the lives of disabled Georgians easier.

As independent as she has become, Copeland is quick to point out that recovery is a team effort.

Besides her family’s support, the larger community came to her assistance. Donations have come in the form of a van, retrofitted to accommodate her needs; a 1,975-square-foot addition, with an elevator, to her family’s home; and “bionic” hands, which typically cost $100,000 each. With the mechanical hands, which work in conjunction with her forearm muscles, she has learned to write, cook and comb her hair.

Physical and occupational therapy, personal training, doctor’s appointments and schoolwork fill Copeland’s weekdays. Top, Copeland walks through an obstacle course with physical therapist Beth Fordyce at the Emory Center for Rehabilitation Medicine in Atlanta; middle, Copeland brushes her hair as she prepares for her day in the bathroom of her Snellville home; bottom, personal trainer L.C. Reese puts Copeland through a strength routine at ReeseFit in Carrollton.

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Copeland calls her accident the “butterfly effect,” a moment that changed her life forever and cast her in a role where she can inspire and help others. Here she shares her story with teenagers participating in a youth leadership event, sponsored by the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce, at Marietta High School.

A typical day for Copeland includes an hour of push-ups, arm exercises and an assortment of core movements. She meditates. Then she showers and dresses, which, she laughs and says, takes up a “pretty big chunk of my day.” Copeland drives herself to physical therapy, occupational therapy, personal training and doctors’ appointments, before coming home to do school work. Her goal is to open her own social-work practice, focusing on ways to make nature accessible to others with disabilities.

A big part of Copeland’s life also revolves around visits to her prosthetist. She spends hours at a time helping to tweak adjustments on her full left-leg prosthetic. She now stands tall and is able to walk a mile using a crutch.

“I think a lot of people would

be traumatized if they were in a situation like this because we identify so strongly with the form that is our bodies,” she says. “When we look in the mirror we say ‘that’s me.’ But from a more humanistic perspective, we are much more. I realize there are a lot of different aspects of myself. The biggest being that I am connected to everything in the universe.”

Her service dog, a black Labradoodle named Belle, curls up next to the couch where Copeland sits. She looks up from the floor with longing eyes, on the off chance she might be needed.

“But I have my moments of frustration, for sure,” Copeland says. “I’ve been catapulted from my wheelchair and skinned up on the pavement. I’ve fallen off the bench while bathing and had my arm stuck in

between the grab bar and the shower wall. I’ll drop everything out of my bag and then have to pick everything up, without hands. When those things happen I just scream. It sucks, but what am I going to do? I have to just get on with it.

“I think a lot about Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl, and his book Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl observed that meaning could be found even in the face of great suffering.”

Copeland looks down and finally rubs a grateful Belle on the head.

“My thoughts aren’t all philosophical though. I also think about everyday things—like the fact that I’m almost always hot. When you don’t have any limbs there’s no place for body heat to escape. It’s funny, nobody tells you those kinds of things when you lose your limbs. You just have to figure it out on your own.”

—Alex Crevar is a graduate student in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, a frequent contributor to The New York Times and a former GM assistant editor.

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NOTES CLASS

Star crossed

Skip Bolen/The CW

Matt Lanter (M ’04) plays Roman on “Star-Crossed,” a sci-fi drama that premiered in February on The CW network. Roman is a member of an alien race known as Atrians, who crash-landed on Earth. Ten years later, he and a group of Atrian teens enroll in a suburban human high school to test the feasibility of human/alien integration. While there he reconnects with Emery, a human girl who helped him when he first arrived. Previously Lanter played Liam Court on the reboot of “90210” and was the voice of Anakin Skywalker on “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” Lanter also stars in the upcoming movie “A Chance of Rain.”

CLASS NOTES

Compiled by Daniel Funke 1935-1939 Nelson Kraeft (BS ’38) of Tallahassee, Fla., received the 2014 I.B. Harrison, M.D., Humanitarian Award from the Capital Medical Society.

1955-1959 Tommie G. Mullis (BSHE ’56, MS ’79) of Bogart received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences at their 37th Alumni Awards Luncheon Feb. 22.

1960-1964 James Eugene Bottoms (BSEd ’60, EdD ’65) of Tucker received UGA’s Graduate School Alumni 40

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of Distinction Award for his work as vice president of the Southern Regional Education Board. Marilyn Delong McNeely (BSEd ’62) of Clarkesville was honored at the Miss UGA Pageant in January for having won 53 years ago. She currently serves on the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and Georgia Museum of Art boards. Bob McLendon (BSF ’63) of Leary received the Producer Recognition Award from Southern Cotton Growers Inc. for his work as a cotton farmer and leadership in the agriculture industry.

1965-1969 Gail Hunnicutt (BSEd ’66) and Pat Hunnicutt (BS ’68) of LaGrange were named grand marshals of their local Christmas parade in honor of

their involvement in the community.

Robert Constantine (AB ’69, JD ’72) of Atlanta was hired by Georgia’s state ethics commission to help run the agency as it faces federal scrutiny.

1970-1974 Elton Maddox (BSAE ’74) of Gainesville, Ga., was elected chairman of the board of directors of the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association.

1975-1979 Fred Boyles (BSEd ’76) of St. Marys was awarded the 2014 Malcolm Vass Award for Public Service by U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston for 33 years of service with the National Park Service. Sandra Whaley Derrick (BSHE ’76, MEd ’80) of Dalton now has her own television show called

ALUMNI PROFILE

Solving big problems From patient safety to emergency preparedness to mentoring interns, Susan Waltman is at the center of public health issues in New York

by Kelly Simmons Susan Waltman’s phone rings steadily on this Wednesday morning in February.

Co-workers peek inside her door to see if she’s free. She checks her emails.

“There’s a salt shortage,” she says. In the next 18 hours, a snow and ice storm will hit the Northeast.

That’s a big deal to Waltman (AB ’73, MSW ’75), who, as executive vice president for legal, regulatory and professional PETER FREY Susan Waltman affairs, and counsel for the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), is responsible for helping health care providers prepare to

She’s been in New York 27 years. The association was weather the storm. much smaller when she got there. One of the first issues

Later that day, her office will talk with the New York she faced was a nursing shortage caused by a visa issue City Office of Emergency Management. GNYHA will remind with nurses from the Philippines.She investigated and its members—250 not-for-profit and public hospitals found that their visas were expiring before they could get and continuing care facilities—to review emergency green cards. preparedness plans, make sure they have enough fuel for

“That is what the law says,” she told her boss, generators in case of power outages and monitor radios explaining the problem. and weather service reports.

“Well, change the law,” he told her. She worked with

A recording on the association’s emergency phone line the office of then-N.Y. Congressman Charles Schumer to includes Waltman’s personal cell phone number so that get the law changed. Over the years she has had a hand in members can reach her at any time. Just in case, she has legal, regulatory and professional affairs issues that relate a sleeping bag in her office. to patient safety.

“We always have to do the right thing and do it right,”

“Our job is to solve problems,” she says. “We solve big she says. “We’re considered trusted agents by our hospitals problems.” and by the agencies we work with.”

About eight years ago, she added another

Raised in Millville, N.J., just outside of Philadelphia, responsibility: Hosting UGA Honors students for summer Waltman only looked at the South when she shopped for internships. The students, who are considering jobs in colleges. She picked UGA based on photos in a brochure medicine, public health or health policy, get real-life and didn’t visit the campus until she arrived for her experience. One intern, Waltman recalls, used World Health freshman year.

Organization criteria to create a tool for measuring effective

“It looked very nice,” she says. “I lucked out. It’s a hand washing, a key component of infection control, which terrific school, and I received a wonderful education.” was shared with other hospitals. Another did research on

After completing her bachelor’s degree in sociology evidence-based approaches to reducing obesity. and master’s degree in social work, Waltman went to law

As much as the students get out of the experience, school at Columbia University in New York, the same as her Waltman, a trustee of the UGA Foundation and the UGA grandfather, father and son, now an attorney in Atlanta. Her Research Foundation, says she gets more. first job was working for a health care firm in Philadelphia.

“I view it as a privilege to work with these students,” Next she went to work for what was then the Medical she says. “It’s an exceptionally personal, rewarding College of Pennsylvania. experience.”

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CLASSNOTES

® It has officially been two years since my wife, Kitty (BBA ’78), and I packed up our belongings and moved to Athens. Let me tell you—it has been wonderful! While we relocated to accommodate my duties as UGA Alumni Association president, we might just decide to stick around.

I am pleased to share that our family has grown since my last letter. Emma Louise Hardison (class of Tim Keadle 2036) joins her loquacious sister, Macon Grace (class of 2034), as our second grandchild. I’m sure you’ll see them at future alumni events decked from head to toe in red and black.

I am approaching the conclusion of my first year as president of the Alumni Association. It has been an incredible 12 months, and I have been proud to serve alongside UGA President Jere W. Morehead (JD ’80), Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Tom Landrum (AB ’72, MA ’87) and former Executive Director of Alumni Relations Deborah Dietzler. Deborah took a position with the Office of Development in February, and Tom will retire this summer after 38 years of service. I wish them the very best as they travel new paths. Despite these personnel changes, you can still count on your Alumni Association to continue its service and commitment to you.

The Senior Signature campaign came to a close at the end of March. More than 1,200 graduating students each made a $50 gift to the university and have their names on the Class of 2014 plaque in Tate Plaza. I encourage you to follow in their footsteps and make your annual gift to the Georgia Fund before the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Visit www.givingtouga.com for more information.

Another way to give back is by securing your official Georgia UGA license plate. For every plate sold, $10 goes to scholarships through the UGA Foundation.

Visit www.uga.edu/license for more information.

As always, keep your eyes on your inbox this summer as you will receive Evites for alumni events taking place in your area. After visits to cities such as Augusta, Macon, Albany, Dalton, Houston, Orlando and Greenville, UGA Day will make its final stop of the year in Gwinnett County on July 15. Freshman Send-Offs will be hosted by a number of chapters across the country, so make it a point to meet and greet these accomplished new UGA students from your area.

And I would be remiss to not congratulate the thousands of Bulldogs who graduated in May. I hope to see many of you at upcoming alumni events, including the UGA Alumni Association Young Alumni Gathering at SweetWater Brewing on June 13.

Always a Dawg,

Tim Keadle (BBA ’78), president UGA Alumni Association

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Meredith Gurley Johnson (BSFCS ’00), Interim Executive Director ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS Tim Keadle (BBA ’78) President, Statham Ruth Bartlett (BBA ’76) Vice President, Hilton Head Island Jennifer Chapman (BBA ’97, MAcc ’98, JD ’02) Treasurer, Athens Bonney Shuman (BBA ’80) Assistant Treasurer, St. Simons Island Julie Reynolds (BSHE ’81) Secretary, Lawrenceville Steve Jones (BBA ’78, JD ’87) Immediate Past President, Atlanta

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WEBSITE www.alumni.uga.edu 800/606-8786 or 706/542-2251 ADDRESS CHANGES Email records@uga.edu, call 888/268-5442 or visit www.alumni.uga.edu/myinfo

“Cooking & Crafts with Sandra Derrick,” which airs weekly in the Dalton area. Rocky Stewart (BSEd ’76) and his wife Alecia Hobbs Stewart (BSEd ’76) of Wadley retired after teaching for 36 years in Georgia’s public, private and juvenile justice schools. Van McCall (BSA ’77) of Denton is the chief lending officer of the AGAware program within the company AgSouth Farm Credit, which was awarded the Phelps-Martin Award for Community Service by the Farm Credit Council in February.

McCall created AGAware in 2012 as an advocacy program to educate the public and promote agriculture.

Rebecca Wood (BFA ’77) of Athens published a coffee table book with images of the Athens area with business partners Kristen Bach and photographer Rinne Allen in August.

1980-1984 Lisa Grovenstein (BSA ’80) of Lilburn was selected as assistant vice president of institute communications at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Melvin Cooper (BSEd ’81) of Gainesville, Ga., was profiled by The Times for his 41 years of work at the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

Lance Norris DeLoach (BSEd ’81) of Thomaston was inducted into the Thomaston-Upson County Sports Hall of Fame in February for his involvement with the 1970 R.E. Lee football team. Mary Hamlin Kiley (BSA ’81, MBA ’84) of Winder retired from AgGeorgia Farm Credit Oct. 1 after 30 years of service as vice president and marketing manager. LeeAnn Jones (AB ’83, JD ’86) of Atlanta joined the Taylor English Duma law firm, where she will focus on building her mediation practice. Janet Richardson Horne West (ABJ ’83, EdS ’90) of Acworth

ALUMNI calendar Wednesday, June 4 Alumni Career Fair 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

UGA graduates in all industries are invited to network with employers and fellow Bulldogs at the annual Alumni Career Fair at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth. This career fair is open exclusively to UGA alumni, so take advantage of this opportunity! Visit career.uga.edu/hireuga/uga_alumni_career_fair for details.

Friday, June 13

Thursday, Sept. 18 40 Under 40 Luncheon Join the UGA Alumni Association as it recognizes and celebrates 40 of UGA’s most successful young alumni under the age of 40. These graduates have become young leaders in their business, research, artistic, leadership, community, educational and/ or philanthropic endeavors. Visit www.alumni.uga. edu/40u40 for more information.

To learn about these and other events, please visit www.alumni.uga.edu/calendar.

UGA Young Alumni Gathering 9 p.m. to midnight Young alumni are invited to this annual gathering at SweetWater Brewing Company in Atlanta.

July and August Freshman Send-Off Parties Alumni chapters across the country will gather this summer to celebrate the UGA Class of 2018 before they head to Athens this fall. Stay tuned to your chapter’s webpage for details about an event in your area.

Tuesday, July 15 UGA Day in Gwinnett County Dinner: 6 p.m. / Program: 7 p.m.

Join Atlanta-area alumni and friends for a special evening dedicated to all things UGA. Get the inside scoop on the Georgia Bulldogs’ upcoming seasons, hear the latest news from campus and learn more about how to get involved with other local alumni.

UGA President Jere W. Morehead (JD ’80), Football Coach Mark Richt and Men’s Basketball Coach Mark Fox will be on hand at the Gwinnett Center to share their insights. Register online at www.alumni.uga. edu/ugadays.

Sunday, Aug. 17 Fourth Annual Freshman Welcome The UGA Student Alumni Association and the Student Government Association will officially welcome the Class of 2018 by inviting new students to Sanford Stadium for a class photo on the field.

CONTRIBUTED

Nicole Burnett (AB ’98) of Atlanta (left) and Kevin Welch (M ’12) of Acworth participated in the seventh annual Dawg Trot held March 22. Sponsored by the UGA Alumni Association, the Dawg Trot is a 5K race through campus.

For more information: alumni@uga.edu (800) 606-8786 www.alumni.uga.edu

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CLASSNOTES

2014 UGA Alumni Association Awards Alumni Merit Awards M. Douglas Ivester (BBA ’69) is president of Deer Run Investments LLC. He joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1979 and in 1981 became the youngest vice president in the company’s history.

He served as CEO from 1997 to 2000. Twice a year Ivester hosts eight UGA students at Deer Run Plantation in South Georgia for a weekend of leadership training and fellowship. He is a retired managing trustee of the UGA Foundation.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault (ABJ ’63) is an award-winning journalist and was one of the first two African-American students, with the late Hamilton Holmes (BS ’63), to enroll at UGA. Formerly a foreign correspondent in South Africa for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, Hunter-Gault also served as CNN’s bureau chief in Johannesburg. She maintains ties with the university, which has a lecture series and a building named for her and Holmes.

M. Douglas Ivester

Family of the Year

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Faculty Service Awards Thomas S. Landrum (AB ’72, MA ’87), vice president for development and alumni relations, has worked at the university since 1976, serving for 19 years in the office of the president as an assistant to former presidents Michael Adams and Charles Knapp. Prior to his current position he served as senior vice president for external affairs under Adams, overseeing fundraising, public affairs and alumni affairs. He is Thomas S. Landrum co-advisor to the UGA Blue Key Chapter. After 41 years of service, Landrum will retire from UGA in June 2014.

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Anne L. Sweaney, a professor emerita of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, spent more than 30 years at UGA teaching and doing research on the effect of public policy on housing, housing needs for older adults and the role of technology in housing.

Sweaney launched the FACS study abroad Anne L. Sweaney program in London. In 1996 she received the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching. In 2012, UGA established the Anne L. Sweaney Innovation Fund to continue her commitment to creativity, diversity, leadership and service.

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.uga.edu/gm

Francis “Abit” (BBA ’49) and Kayanne Shoffner Massey, of Gainesville, Ga., are known for their commitment to the community, the poultry industry and UGA, where Abit Massey is a trustee for the UGA Research Foundation. In 2008 Massey became president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation after Francis “Abit” Massey serving as the executive director for 48 years. He received the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association’s Harold E. Ford Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Massey also was president of the UGA Alumni Association from 1991 to 1993. He and Kayanne Massey, who was crowned Miss Georgia in 1959, have two children, Lewis and Camille. Lewis Massey (BBA ’84) was Georgia secretary of state from 1996 to 1998. Lewis and his wife Amy have three children: Chandler, a student at UCLA and Emmy Award-winning actor; Cameryn, a third-year student at UGA; and Christian. Camille is a human rights lawyer in New York City and has one child, Lucia.

is teaching elementary school and serves on the school board of her church. Keith Porter (BSEd ’84, EdS ’97) of Cumming retired in May after serving as Dawson County school superintendent for 30 years.

1985-1989 Pattie Weed (BBA ’86) of Thomaston was named UpsonLee North Elementary School’s Teacher of the Year. Jody Rosen Atkins (BSHE ’89, MS ’91) of Clearwater Beach, Fla., received the Emily Quinn Pou Professional Achievement Award from the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences at their 37th Alumni Awards Luncheon Feb. 22.

go dawgs!

Shop the UGA Bookstore for the best selection of apparel and gifts

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1990-1994 Matthew Guinn (AB ’92) of Ridgeland, Miss., received a nomination for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America for his book The Resurrectionist. David Ellis (AB ’94) of Prospect, Ky., was named the new vice president of marketing at the O’Charley’s restaurant chain.

Camille Kesler (BSFCS ’94) of Atlanta received the Outstanding Service Award from the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences at their 37th Alumni Awards Luncheon Feb. 22.

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1995-1999 Benson Pope (AB ’95, JD ’98) of Atlanta was elevated to shareholder at Littler, an employment and labor law practice that represents management. Jon Jay Banks (BBA ’96) of Atlanta co-founded the company Alaina in Atlanta, an activities group for young professionals that offers social, recreational and travel opportunities for people looking to make friends. Philip Adams (BLA

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CLASSNOTES

I

WHY give “I lost my dog to cancer, and I always knew after that that I wanted to help other animals and other families.”

— Reid Bangle, a fourth-grade student at David C. Barrow Elementary School in Athens, who has been giving to various departments at the University of Georgia for the past three years.

CONTRIBUTED

When his Labrador retriever, Abbott, died from cancer, Reid decided he wanted to give back to help animals. He began saving his allowance and running lemonade stands to raise money. He donated his savings to the College of Veterinary Medicine’s new veterinary teaching hospital as well as to cancer research efforts at the college.

“I feel really good because I know I’m helping someone else who really needs the money and the animals that need help,” he says.

The son of Dr. Jeff Bangle (DVM ’96), a veterinarian at Oconee Veterinary Hospital, and Kathy Bangle, director of development at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Reid recently received his Third Pillar giving society sticker for three consecutive years of giving to the university.

Want to give? Go to give.uga.edu.

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’98) of Columbus was hired as client manager at Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon engineering and architectural firm in Columbus.

Shannon Register (BSFCS ’98) of Spring, Texas, and her company Register Real Estate Advisors were nominated for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. Brent Buice (AB ’99, MA ’04) of Athens was selected as one of GeorgiaForward’s Young Gamechangers and will participate in a program that seeks to solve policy challenges in Dublin-Laurens County. Todd Koransky (BBA ’99, MAcc ’00) of Atlanta was named partner at Williams Benator & Libby LLP, a public accounting and consulting firm.

2000-2004 Shiketa Jones Gresham (BBA ’00) and her husband Demetrius Gresham (BBA ’00) of San Antonio, Texas, welcomed their daughter Lauren Olivia “Lola” in December.

Alicia Arnett Loadholt (BSA ’00) and her husband Justin of Johns Creek welcomed their third daughter Emma Charlotte Jan. 10. Mandy Wooley Edwards (BBA ’01) of Statesboro and her social media marketing company ME Marketing Services was featured on Forbes magazine’s website in September in the article “25 Things Influential People Do Better Than Anyone Else.” Kristina Crane Muñoz (BSEd ’01) of Madison was selected as the 2014 Teacher of the Year for the Mediterranean District in the Department of Defense school system. Mike Caplan (AB ’02, MBA ’05, JD ’06) of Atlanta and James Cobb (BS ’00) of Decatur launched their own law firm, Caplan Cobb LLP, focusing on business litigation in the Atlanta area. Jessica Faber (ABJ ’02) of Dulles, Va., was assigned to the U.S. Agency for International

ALUMNI PROFILE

Hole-in-one A business degree opened the door for Tom Pashley to turn his passion into his career

by Todd Graff It was, it seemed, a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Just out of high school, Tom Pashley set off for Pinehurst, N.C., a place he’d seen in a magazine, a place that supposedly delivered the quintessential golf experience.

For a few days, he and his brother indulged in their passion, playing the game they had grown to love back home in Augusta.

CONTRIBUTED Tom Pashley

“Such an amazing experience,” Pashley (BBA ’91) says. “Staying in the Carolina (hotel). Courses unlike anything we’d ever seen before. That first exposure to Pinehurst has always stuck with me.”

Two decades later that experience is part of his daily routine. Since 1996 Pashley has been at Pinehurst Resort, where he led sales and marketing efforts and was responsible for record-setting corporate sales during the 2005 U.S. Open.

He is now executive vice president, but has been tapped to take over as president this fall, following a milestone event for the 119-year-old resort, the oldest and largest in the country.

In June, Pinehurst will host back-to-back men’s and women’s U.S. Open tournaments, June 12-15 for the men and June 19-22 for the women. It will be the first time a U.S. resort has hosted both tournaments in consecutive weeks.

“Some people work their whole lives in jobs that don’t inspire them,” Pashley says. “For me to go back to an early moment in my life when I was inspired and to get to work at a place as unique as Pinehurst... I love coming to work every day.”

Pashley’s route to Pinehurst wound through Athens. At UGA Pashley majored in accounting, learning many of the business principles that he uses successfully at Pinehurst. He also met his future wife, Susan Reifert (AB ’91), in English 102.

Outside of the classroom, he furthered his passion for golf. He frequented the university course, where he played nearly every day during the summer following his junior year. As a sophomore, he won the intramural golf championship, the first golf tournament he’d ever won.

“I remember the prize for winning was this T-shirt that said, ‘Intramural Champion,’” he says. “Was pretty proud of that shirt.”

Following graduation he spent three years at Deloitte & Touche in Atlanta, but golf beckoned. He pursued an MBA at Duke and was the graduate assistant for the men’s golf team, which ultimately led him to Pinehurst. With the MBA in hand he became Pinehurst’s first manager-in-development, and spent a year rotating through each department, learning the intricacies of each and their impact on the whole.

Pashley still has pictures from that first trip to Pinehurst. It’s a catalog of images that he now adds to every day.

“I’ve been lucky enough to combine one of my passions with my career,” Pashley says. “With the upcoming U.S. Opens and my new leadership responsibilities, I couldn’t be more excited about the next chapter of my career at Pinehurst.”

—Todd Graff is vice president, public relations at Conover Tuttle Pace in Boston.

Serving

GEORGIA

nourishment with culinary spirit

University of Georgia Food Services foodservice.uga.edu (706) 542-1256 JUNE 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

NEWBOOKS The Meaning of Maggie Chronicle Books (2014)

By Megan Jean Sovern (ABJ ’03) In this novel, an ambitious young girl decides to write a memoir detailing her accomplishments and her father’s struggle with multiple sclerosis.

Okra: A Savor of the South The University of North Carolina Press (2014)

By Virginia Willis (AB ’88) This cookbook includes a variety of how-to tips, preparation suggestions and stories regarding okra.

Walking and Talking with Mom: A Collection of Shorts CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2013)

By Teddy Tutt (BSEd ’76) This collection of short stories follows the lives of a mother and daughter who go for a walk each day and discuss events in their lives.

Dixie Highway: Road Building and the Making of the Modern South The University of North Carolina Press (2014)

By Tammy Ingram (AB ’98, MA ’00) This study looks at the role of the 1915 Dixie Highway project in facilitating the construction of an interstate network in the U.S.

Keeping Us Afloat: A Trip Down the ICW and a Journey Through a Marriage Crosby Stills (2013)

By David Crosby (ABJ ’78) A captivating memoir, this book details Crosby’s involvement in piloting a fishing boat 1,300 miles down the Intracoastal Waterway in 1999.

Gifts in Time Outskirts Press (2013)

By David Tribby (DVM ’64) This collection of personal poetry catalogs Tribby’s inspiration from growing up in rural Virginia, attending UGA and practicing veterinary medicine for nearly 50 years.

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Senator Richard B. Russell and My Career as a Trial Lawyer Mercer University Press (2013)

By Charles Campbell (AB ’64, MA ’67) This autobiography details Campbell’s work as top aide for U.S. Sen. Russell while simultaneously studying law at Georgetown University.

Don’t I Know You CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2012)

By Kay Itzkow Behr Podem (BBA ’59) A cautionary tale that follows a woman’s journey to find her missing husband after he disappears from their small Alabama town.

Morning Glory Tate Publishing (2014)

By JoyEllen Freeman (AB ’12) With the backdrop of war, Morning Glory details an unlikely friendship between two young women and the role of God in helping them through adolescence.

Thru: An Appalachian Trail Love Story Appalachian Trail Museum (2014)

By Richard Judy (ABJ ’73) This first novel chronicles a diverse group of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers who form a unique bond.

Thirty Sunsets Flux (2014)

By Christine Hurley Deriso (ABJ ’83) Teen Forrest Shepard investigates her brother’s girlfriend’s eating disorder while on vacation at their family beach house, only to uncover her own family’s dark secrets.

ONLINE Find more books by UGA graduates at www.uga.edu/gm SUBMISSIONS Submit new books written by UGA alumni to gmeditor@uga.edu. Please include a brief description of the book and a hi-res pdf or tiff of its cover.

ALUMNI PROFILE

Performance of emotion German artist who studied with Lamar Dodd creates abstract paintings in his Berlin studio

by John English Johannes Lacher discovered his interest in art when he was 14.

Decades later, the German painter— who studied at UGA with Lamar Dodd—owns a studio in Berlin.

“Lamar Dodd [the renowned CONTRIBUTED Johannes Lacher dean for whom the UGA School of Art is named] greeted me when I got to the school,” says Lacher (MFA ’70). With Dodd’s help, Lacher received a Ford Foundation Fellowship.

It was the beginning of a career that led Lacher to teach and serve as a visiting artist at schools in Wisconsin, Tennessee, Kansas, New Mexico, California and New York.

Now back in Germany, where he was born and raised, Lacher’s latest work is a series of abstract paintings that incorporate subdued acrylics, charcoal and India ink on paper five square feet in size.

“I have no direction when I begin,” Lacher says. “I just let the action flow. It’s a performance of things.”

“I did geometric pieces for several years, but got bored and changed. I’m not committed to one stylistic form.”

Martin Steffens, a Berlin-based art historian and curator, calls Lacher’s approach a “spontaneous emotional reaction.” Steffens writes that Lacher’s horizontal stripes of layered color “toyed with the common ground between musical and visual ideas.”

Lacher’s trumpet rests on a stool in his studio.

After spending two decades in the U.S., Lacher returned to Germany after its reunification in 1990, first living in Constance, in southern Germany, but moving to Berlin because it was “the hottest spot,” he says.

Lacher grew up in a small city near Kassel, where he went to the first Documenta (now a renowned international art exhibition) when he was 14. That experience “did something to me,” he says, and he began to pursue a career in art. After graduating from an art academy in Munich, Lacher contacted an uncle living in Athens, Ga., who had gone to UGA.

“The real benefit of my UGA education was not only did I get a lot of different viewpoints from the faculty and my classmates, but I also learned to be my own self,” he says.

An administrator in the Dean of Women’s office, who worked with international students, helped him get a green card so he could stay in the U.S. to teach and paint.

Forty-four years later his creations continue to evolve.

“Painting has been declared dead at least three times over the years I can recall,” he says. “Today painting is being rediscovered again and I certainly have nothing against that.”

—John W. English, UGA professor emeritus of journalism, is a frequent contributor to GM.

Development mission in Pretoria, South Africa. Stephen Olson (BBA ’02) of New York, N.Y., was elected to partnership with the BakerHostetler law firm, where he is a member of the business group. Ben Adams (BSBE ’03) of Lafayette, Ala., was hired as engineering manager at Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon engineering and architectural firm in Columbus, Ga. Jake Carter (BBA ’03) of McDonough was elected by members of the American Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee to serve as chair for 2014. Jonathan Dye (BFA ’03) of Macon was selected as one of GeorgiaForward’s Young Gamechangers and will participate in a program that seeks to solve policy challenges in Dublin-Laurens County. Terri Stewart (BBA ’03, JD ’06) of Atlanta was listed in Georgia Super Lawyers 2014 for her work in employment and labor law at Fisher & Phillips LLP. Anne Corinne Huggins (BSFCS ’04) of Gainesville, Fla., received the Pacesetter Award from the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences at their 37th Alumni Awards Luncheon Feb. 22. Katie Terrell (BSEd ’04) of Athens had her family barbeque sauce Dirt Road featured at a Gainesville, Ga., Kroger store, the Suwannee Beerfest and the Flavor of Georgia competition in March. Stephanie Hawkins Watts (AB ’04, MEd ’07) of Marietta and her husband Stephen welcomed their second daughter Anna Grace Feb. 7.

2005-2009 David Fleischman (AB ’05) of Valdora, Queensland, Australia, was awarded a Ph.D. in international business from the University of the Sunshine Coast in October. Will Carr (ABJ ’06) of Santa Monica,

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CLASSNOTES ALUMNI PROFILE

More than a dynasty Covering the culture of the South

by Daniel Funke When Mark Schlabach was offered a position covering college football for ESPN, he could hardly believe it.

PETER FREy Mark Schlabach

“I think [ESPN] is the pinnacle of sports journalism today. It’s the company that everyone wants to work for,” says Schlabach (ABJ ’96). “I still pinch myself at the start of every college football season because I get to go sit in a college stadium press box on the sideline, cover a college football game and get paid pretty well for it.”

Schlabach initially explored his interest in sports journalism during his time at the University of Georgia. Journalism school and his work at The Red & Black, where he was sports editor, laid the foundation for Schlabach’s future work with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post and ESPN.

“[UGA] gave me an opportunity not only to get great instruction at Grady but also to write for a student newspaper for a couple years, which put me way ahead of the game,” he says. “[The Red & Black] taught me all the fundamental tools you need to become a sports journalist.”

In 2012, Schlabach received a call that would push his career well beyond the newsroom. He had just finished co-writing a biography about former Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden when Philis Boultinghouse, one of his editors at Howard Books, asked a peculiar question.

“She called me one day and asked if I had ever been duck hunting,” Schlabach says. “She said they had a family of duck hunters from Louisiana they thought would be a good match to collaborate on a book.”

That family was the soon-to-be famous Robertson clan from the swamp of West Monroe, La., the stars of A&E’s hit television show “Duck Dynasty.”

The night of Boultinghouse’s call, Schlabach saw a special interview with the Robertsons on “20/20.” He immediately called her back to ask when he could start.

Since then, Schlabach has written a biography for nearly every member of the Robertson family, including Willie and Cory’s The Duck Commander Family, Phil’s Happy, Happy, Happy and Si’s Si-cology 1.

“One book became two books and now we’re on five books. It’s been quite a ride,” Schlabach says. “If you went there you would never think they’re worth what they’re worth today. Fortune and fame hasn’t changed them at all.

They’re the same people as when I met them.”

Although a bit odd, Schlabach says the transition from covering college football to profiling a family of duck hunters has been easy and even natural due to their seemingly equal importance in Southern culture.

“I still like to tell good stories. I like to write stories that make people laugh, or stories that make people feel good,” he says. “I cover college football nationally, but a lot of my focus is in the South. I guess there’s a cultural intersection.”

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Calif., now works as a national correspondent for Fox News based in Los Angeles. Daniel Purvis (AB ’06) of Thomaston was named UpsonLee Middle School’s Teacher of the Year. Robert Ramey (BSFCS ’06) of Vail, Colo., was named the head golf professional at Sonnenalp Golf Club in Edwards, Colo. Edward J. Gerety III (AB ’07) of Arlington, Va., graduated with an MBA from Johns Hopkins University in May. Michelle Merck Walker (AB ’07) of Carrboro, N.C., was named on the 2014 Rising Star list by Super Lawyers rating service. Walker practices bankruptcy law at the law office of James C. White. William Alexander (BS ’08) of Atlanta was hired as a family law attorney at the Boyd Collar Nolen & Tuggle firm. Lawrence Conneff (ABJ ’08) of Savannah was named editor of Bluffton Today, a semiweekly newspaper serving the greater Bluffton, S.C., area. Meghan Duke (ABJ ’08) of Hahira was selected as one of GeorgiaForward’s Young Gamechangers and will participate in a program that seeks to solve policy challenges in DublinLaurens County. Lauren O’Prey (BSEd ’08, MEd ’10) of Woodstock was named Teacher of the Year at Roswell North Elementary School, where she teaches fifth grade. Dwain Watts (BS ’08, BSEd ’08) and his wife Alicia Bellezza-Watts (AB ’08, BSW ’08) of Bowie, Md., welcomed their daughter Isabella Dorothy Feb. 2. Rachel Morgan Webster (ABJ ’08) of Atlanta accepted a position as a wealth advisory associate with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Atlanta. Kristin Bernhard (AB ’09) of Atlanta was appointed deputy commissioner for system reform of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. Carney Simpson (BBA ’09) of Atlanta was hired as a new associate at the law firm Hunton & Williams LLP.

2010Devin Fiegelist (BBA ’10) of Roswell is engaged to be married to Paul Rehm in October. Kristen Deuschle (EdS ’12) of Cumming was named the Forsyth County Teacher of the Year for her work as media specialist at Piney Grove Middle School. Crissinda Milan Ponder (ABJ ’12) of Lake Worth, Fla., was promoted to insurance reporter at the personal finance website Bankrate.com. Will Stephenson (AB ’12) of Atlanta is now the arts and entertainment editor of the Arkansas Times newspaper in Little Rock.

GRAD NOTES Arts & Sciences Stephen Blades (MPA ’81) of Brentwood, Tenn., was named chief executive officer of Louisiana Heart Medical Group, one of the largest multispecialty practices in the region.

Science educator elected to Cosmos Club

Julia V. Clark (MEd ’68) was elected to the prestigious Cosmos Club for her accomplishments in science education. Clark is program director of the National Science Foundation’s division of research on learning and has worked throughout her career to support high-quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs, especially for communities underserved and underrepresented in science. Since joining the NSF in 1990, Clark has worked with STEM education communities and mentored numerous young, minority researchers. She Special spent four years as a Legislative Fellow in the Julia V. Clark U.S. Congress, serving as principal advisory for science and technology issues, and is author of Redirecting Science Education: Reform for a Culturally Diverse Classroom. The Cosmos Club, based in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1878 by geologist John Wesley Powell. Members have included 32 Nobel Prize winners, 56 Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. presidents and a dozen Supreme Court justices.

CLICK.CONNECT.CARE. Experience has proven that volunteers need to be organized, pre-credentialed and ready to mobilize during both times of disaster and times of simple, clear community need. The State Emergency Registry of Volunteers in Georgia (SERVGA) provides opportunities to assist emergency response and public safety organizations by quickly identifying, contacting, and deploying health professionals during public health and medical emergencies. The Georgia Volunteer Health Care Program (GVHCP) helps to increase access to quality health care for underserved Georgians through volunteerism and state-sponsored liability protection.

Whether you are a health care provider, an administrative specialist, a retired professional—anyone ready to help in your community—Georgia needs you.

The Georgia Department of Public Health would like to introduce Georgia Responds, the organization representing Georgia's health and medical volunteer programs, the simplest way to give back to your community. Less paperwork. More helping.

To register please go to www.GeorgiaResponds.org

JUNE 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

ALUMNI PROFILE

On track Strength trainer Shane Domer has accompanied U.S. speedskaters to Olympic Games in Sochi and Vancouver

by Karen Rosen Shane Domer helped prepare UGA athletes for competition on tracks, courts, mats, grass and water while pursuing his master’s degree in exercise physiology and working in the Bulldogs’ weight room.

Now Domer’s domain is ice.

As head strength and conditioning coach for U.S. Speedskating, Domer (MEd ’04) was part of the official Team USA delegation at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Domer stayed in the Olympic Village, walking each day to training or competition in the Coastal Cluster Olympic Park, which included the Iceberg Skating Palace and the Adler Arena.

“There’s definitely an energy in the village that’s pretty Shane Domer inspiring,” says Domer, who joined U.S. Speedskating in 2007 and also worked the 2010 Vancouver Games. “When you first get in there, it’s cool to see all your athletes start to turn their game face on.”

But those faces fell as Team USA did not perform up to expectations. The first major letdown occurred when two-time Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis was eighth in the 1,000 meters.

“It was a little bit of a shock,” says Domer, who watched the events from the athletes’ section in each arena and helped take video. “The first thing you’re asking is, ‘Why? Why did that happen?’ And then you start going through a million things in your head.”

The long track speedskaters never reached the medal podium. The short track team came through in the very last speedskating event, winning the silver medal in the 5,000-meter relay.

“We have such a personal relationship with these athletes, having worked with them for years and years,” Domer says. “Seeing the short track guys on the last day with smiles on their faces, having accomplished something they wanted to accomplish, was a very positive moment.”

On a daily basis, Domer works on strength and power development with about 85 athletes at the Utah Olympic Oval near Salt Lake City.

He had no experience on ice while growing up in Woodstock, where Domer’s sports were baseball, basketball, track and field, swimming and martial arts.

His father is a martial arts instructor, and Domer started teaching when he was about 12 years old. “That’s where my coaching genes came from,” he says.

Domer also learned about weightlifting from his father. He developed an interest in strength and conditioning from working out at Coffee’s Gym in Marietta and received a bachelor’s degree in exercise science at Kennesaw State University.

After earning his master’s at UGA, Domer stayed on in the weight room for about a year as a strength coach for Olympic sports. In 2005, he took a position at the National Strength and Conditioning Association World Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Domer got on the ice for the first time when he arrived at U.S. Speedskating.

“I wanted to know what it felt like, to do the technique,” he says. “I’m not very fast, but I can go around the rink.”

—Karen Rosen is a freelance writer living in Atlanta.

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CONTRIBUTED

Steven Elliott-Gower (MA ’86, PhD ’89) of Athens is serving as interim director of the main library at Georgia College & State University, where he is also director of the honors program and an associate professor of political science. Leroy Bynum (DMA ’92) of Albany will be leaving his position as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Albany State University to assume a similar role at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., in July.

Marissa Vivona Greider (MA ’98) of Atlanta was named the new director of development at Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities. Michael Davis (PhD ’03) of Harrisonburg, Va., was awarded the Don Brownlee Award by the Cross Examination Debate Association for his career achievements as director of debate at James Madison University. Jennifer Eimers (PhD ’08) of Marshall, Mo., was named dean of graduate studies at Missouri Valley College.

Business Mark Martin (MBA ’07) and his wife Tiffany of New Orleans had their first child, Marilee Grace, Jan. 26.

LDSOA_ad-CHOSEN_Layout 1 12/19/13 9:54 AM

Put the South in your mouth

Several UGA alumni were among the finalists of the 2014 Flavor of Georgia contest.

In the marinades and sauces category, Jennifer (BBA ’92) and Chris (BBA ’88, JD ’92) Adams of Q Sauce won for their GA Mustard Marinade. Lindsey Beckworth (ABJ ’10) of Loose Sugar bakery won the confection category for her Peachy Keen Pecan Praline. Richard Byne (BSA ’78) of Byne Blueberry Farms won the beverages category for his Organic Blueberry Juice. In the miscellaneous category, Brad Hardy (BSA ’96) of Hardy Farms Peanut won for his Southern Sriracha Boiled Peanut Rub. Virginia Willis (AB ’88) of Preserving Penny Kent Photography Place won in the salsas, chutneys and Lindsey Beckworth condiments category for her Sweet Onion Confit. These products were among 35 finalists chosen from more than 125 entries. Sponsored by the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development, the contest is a chance for food businesses to showcase their new products. For more information, please visit www.flavorofgeorgia.caes.uga.edu.

Education Michael Delp (MA ’88, PhD ’90) of Alachua, Fla., was named dean of the College of Human Sciences at Florida State University. Tom Walter (PhD ’88) of Flowery Branch was selected as the ombudsman for faculty and staff at the University of North Georgia. Heather Harris Wright (MA ’96, PhD ’00) of Greenville, N.C., was named the associate dean for research in the College of Allied Health Sciences at East Carolina University. Shea Kidd Houze (MEd ’06) of Memphis, Tenn., was named associate director for external affairs at the University of Southern Mississippi Alumni Association.

Environment & Design Ben Roberts (MHP ’10) of Savannah was named a Modern Monument Man by the U.S. Department of Defense’s

Combatant Command Cultural Heritage Action Group.

Law Benjamine Reid (JD ’74) of Miami, Fla., was listed in Best Lawyers in America in seven categories and was named the Miami-Dade County Lawyer of the Year in products liability. John Thompson (JD ’78) of Atlanta was listed in Georgia Super Lawyers 2014 for his work in employment and labor law at Fisher & Phillips LLP. D. Albert Brannen (JD ’82, MBA ’82) of Atlanta was listed in Georgia Super Lawyers 2014 for his work in employment and labor law at Fisher & Phillips LLP. Allan Kamensky (JD ’86) of Columbus, Ga., was hired as the new general counsel for Synovus Financial Corp., a Southeast regional bank. Michael Raeber

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CLASSNOTES

ALUMNI PROFILE

Upholding the law Alumnus leads the way in abolishing racial divides

by Daniel Funke For many law students at the University of Georgia, receiving a high-paying job at a top firm in Atlanta after graduation sounds like a dream come true. However, Francys Johnson (JD ’04) had a different idea.

Since graduating from UGA, Johnson has not only started his own successful law firm in Statesboro, but has also made his way to the top of the Georgia chapter of the National CONTRIBUTED Francys Johnson Association for the Advancement of Colored People, of which he was named president in October. Johnson says the transition from law student to civil rights advocate was a natural one.

“The law is a tool to bring order out of the chaos of human relationships. When injustice is engrained into the law, instead of being an instrument of order it becomes an instrument which inserts further chaos,” Johnson says. “That’s what attracted me to the organization: its use of the law as a tool of redressing inequality, the success it has had over the years and wanting to be a part of finishing that great work.”

Johnson received his undergraduate degree from Georgia Southern University in 2001. However, he says it was his exposure to top law students and professors at UGA and his involvement in the Pi Sigma Alpha political science honor society that gave him the foundation for a successful career in the field.

“It provided a world-class education to me. A boy from Sylvania, Ga., raised by sharecroppers,” he says. “The law school allowed me to sit and to learn with the best and the brightest from around the world, from some of the best and brightest legal minds ever produced.”

Johnson got his start in civil rights by working with NAACP community organizations near his Statesboro home. His involvement really took off in 2006 when, as the legal redress director, he fought legislation that was viewed as a violation of the Voting Rights Act. Since then, Johnson’s participation in the NAACP has shaped nearly every aspect of his professional life.

“My understanding of the law is that we can use it to create stronger communities, we can use it to create the kind of place where people can maximize their potential,” Johnson says. “The best day for America, and for Americans, is tomorrow. We are hopeful people. And the NAACP wants to be a part of that tomorrow, making America a better place for people to live, work and play.”

As president, Johnson says he will strive to realize the goals of the NAACP by addressing areas of inequality in Georgia: economic sustainability, education, health and wellness, and political representation and voting rights.

“All of these things are the promises of America’s democracy and we have a responsibility that comes to us from the Declaration of Independence, that is charged to us in the preamble to the Constitution—to make this a more perfect union,” he says. “And that’s the work of the NAACP: to make this a more perfect union, to make real the promises of America’s democracy. And we have an opportunity to do that in this century, and we should finish that great work.”

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(JD ’93) of Atlanta was named executive director of legal affairs at UGA. Clare Ellis (MA ’03, JD ’13) of Atlanta was hired as a new associate at the law firm Hunton & Williams LLP. Brett Willis (JD ’03) of Gainesville, Ga., was named the state of Georgia’s Assistant Circuit Defender of the Year for his work as an attorney with the Hall County public defender’s office.

In the March issue of Georgia Magazine, Carla McMillian was incorrectly identified as African American. The note should have read: Carla McMillian (JD ’98) of Tyrone is the first Asian-American judge appointed to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Pharmacy Ashish Advani (PharmD ’07) of Atlanta is launching a health information website and iPhone application July 1 called InPharmD, which provides customized drug information on demand to patients and healthcare providers.

Veterinary Medicine Nancy Cox (MS ’77) of Lexington, Ky., was named dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Kentucky.

Christina Dayton-Wall (DVM ’07) of Lincoln, Del., opened her own mixed animal practice All Creatures Veterinary Services in Harrington, Del., in October.

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BACK

PAGE

Tom Reichert UGA Athletic Association Professor of Advertising Advertising and Public Relations Department Head Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication B.J., journalism, University of Missouri M.A., communication, University of Arizona Ph.D., communication, University of Arizona Photo shot by Peter Frey at the UGA photography studio in the Georgia Center.

“I was teaching a class as a graduate student called Theories of Persuasion and had students bring in an ad that they liked or disliked and explain why, using one of the theories we’d discussed. Inevitably someone brought in a Gucci, Versace, Calvin Klein or Victoria’s Secret ad and said, ‘I like it because it’s appealing.’ I’d say ‘That’s great. What theory explains why the ad works?’ They all said, ‘Sex sells, everybody knows that.’ That was overly simplistic. In fact the research I saw advised against using sex in advertising—it’s a highrisk strategy, it doesn’t work, it’s very offensive. But then I had all these students holding up these ads, saying ‘This appealed to me.’ They were wearing the clothes. I thought, there’s a real disconnect between the literature and people’s experiences.”

—Tom Reichert, on how he became interested in studying the role of sex in advertising.

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MAY 15 Kessel Stelling, Jr. Chairman and CEO, Synovus

SEPTEMBER 18 Jere W. Morehead President, The University of Georgia

JUNE 19 John R. Patterson Founder and President, Progressive Insights, Inc.

OCTOBER 16 Bernie Marcus Chairman, The Marcus Foundation Co-Founder, The Home Depot

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