University of Georgia Magazine September 2014

GEORGIA The University of

September 2014 • Vol. 93, No. 4

The peach state With help from UGA, blueberries have surpassed peaches as Georgia’s largest crop

Magazine

Classic Southern Living – Athens Style.

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Move-In Today from the low $300s to Over $1 Million

The Georgia Club’s relationship to Athens and the University of Georgia is one-of-a-kind.

Athens tops Georgia’s list for world-class music, arts, sports, schools and health care.

Come home to The Georgia Club and live close to what matters most.

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Br and New State- of-the-A rt Model Homes Open Daily Less than a hour from Atlanta Take I85 to Hwy 316. Then travel 31 miles and turn right onto Craft Road.

The Georgia Club is less than one mile ahead.

All information is believe to be accurate but is not warranted. See onsite agent for details.

GEORGIA MAGAZINE Allyson Mann, MA ’92, Interim 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; Andrew Davis Tucker; and Dorothy Kozlowski, BLA ’06, ABJ ’10; 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 Ryan Nesbit, MBA ’91, Vice President for Finance and Administration Kelly Kerner, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Laura D. Jolly, Vice President for Instruction David C. Lee, Vice President for Research Jennifer Frum, PhD ’11, Vice President for Public Service and Outreach Victor Wilson, BSW ’82, MEd ’87, Vice President for Student Affairs J. Griffin Doyle, AB ’76, JD ’79, Vice President for Government Relations Timothy M. 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 www.ugamagazine.uga.edu.

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 706-542-7912 (V/TDD). Fax 706-542-2822.

The University of

GEORGIA Magazine

September 2014 • Vol. 93, No. 4

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6

Take 5 with the President

Campus news and events

President Jere W. Morehead on the School of Law

Around the Arch

Features 14 May it please the court?

Law school students learn case law, practice thinking on their feet and build self-confidence through UGA Moot Court

20 Special education

UGA clinic trains students while providing support for families

26 The blueberry state

With help from UGA, blueberries have surpassed peaches as Georgia’s largest crop

32 Head on

Ron Courson is tackling a crucial issue—how to prevent concussions

Class Notes 36 Alumni profiles and notes ON THE COVER Thirty years after Georgia farmers first planted blueberries, the state’s crop is about seven times as large as the peach crop and worth roughly $229 million annually.

Sir James Galway—“the master of the flute”— conducts a master class at UGA’s Performing Arts Center in June. The class was part of the six-day Sir James Galway Flute Festival, held for 25 years in Switzerland before making its U.S. debut this year on the UGA campus.

Photo by Paul Efland SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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The Russell Library provides a network of perspectives and experiences for understanding the diverse people, events, and ideas shaping Georgia and the nation’s modern political landscape as its citizens become part of a global society.

•

Sustains the vital history of Georgia through state of the art preservation, instruction, reference and outreach facilities and services

•

Connects students and visitors with the rich primary history of Georgia and its people

•

Engages communities in deliberative dialogue through the Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia

• Gathers the first person stories of Georgians through the Russell Oral History Program •

Works to foster the economic vibrancy of the state through collaborative opportunities

Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries • 300 South Hull Street, Athens, Georgia 30602-1641 • 706-542-5788 www.libs.uga.edu/russell • Follow us on Twitter: @RussellLibrary • Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RusslibUGA

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TAKE

— President Jere W. Morehead on the School of Law

Q: Students at UGA’s School of Law won three national moot court titles this year. What led to their success?

A: First, you have to have outstanding law students to win at this national level of competition, and the University of Georgia has outstanding law students. Second, those students have to be coached by an outstanding faculty member, and the law school has that individual in Kellie Casey. Kellie was a former student of mine when I ran the moot court programs many years ago, and she was exceptional in every respect, winning both the first-year Russell moot court competition and the second-year Talmadge moot court competition. She has taken her advocacy skills and managed to transmit her knowledge and her skills to many, many law school teams during her highly successful tenure as the director of advocacy at the School of Law. This year was undoubtedly her most successful of many successful years in this role. She has been assisted by an outstanding faculty that supports the advocacy program, who volunteer their time and talents in practice judging our teams prior to competitions.

Q: Georgia Law’s multimillion dollar renovation has resulted in almost 4,000 square feet of additional building space designed primarily for student use. How does such a change in environment benefit students?

A: Our law school complex has a very collaborative feel to it now. There is ample space to gather and visit and many places for students to study as well. The renovations were designed

by Dean White and the university architects, keeping in mind the importance of serving our students, and I think the result has been very successful.

Q: This semester the School of Law began offering a new degree—a master’s in the study of law. What does the MSL offer to students?

A: This new program offers students an opportunity to study the law in a more limited and focused manner that may aid them in their chosen profession. It is not designed for those interested in becoming lawyers, but it is designed for those interested in

having a greater appreciation and understanding of the law. I believe that this kind of program will serve a number of individuals who desire a more comprehensive understanding of the law but do not wish to practice law or spend three years attending law school.

Q: Law Dean Rebecca White is stepping down after 11 years, and a search committee has been formed to find her replacement. What kind of future do you envision for the School of Law? A: Dean White has enjoyed an extraordinary tenure as the dean of the School of Law. She will be almost impossible to replace, but I am confident that the law school’s reputation and stature will lead us to have many outstanding applicants for this position.

Obviously the next dean must remain focused on building the academic stature of the law school, recruiting more outstanding faculty members and students, and continuing to raise the private funds that make the difference between being a good law school and an outstanding law school.

Q: Why is it important for law students to participate in programs like moot court and mock trial?

What skills do they acquire or hone?

A: These competitions allow students to get a taste of the real world and to learn teamwork and the importance of working together for a common objective. I believe that these competitions encourage our law students to stretch their abilities and to find that they are capable of doing things that they were not sure they could do at the start of their preparation.

PETER FREY

District Judge Steve Jones (BBA ’78, JD ’87), President Morehead (JD ’80) and District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood (AB ’85, JD ’90) (left to right) listen to arguments while serving on the bench for the Russell Moot Court Competition final at the School of Law in April.

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TifGrand® was developed

by UGA and the USDA

AP PHOTO/DAVID VINCENT

France’s Paul Pogba, left, challenges Honduras’ Roger Espinoza during the group E World Cup soccer match between France and Honduras June 15. The teams played at the Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on a field outfitted with TifGrand®, a shade-tolerant, wear-tolerant bermudagrass hybrid developed jointly by UGA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. UGA and USDA-ARS turf breeder Wayne Hanna and UGA entomologist Kris Braman developed TifGrand® to be shade-tolerant and resilient to wear while maintaining a deep green color.

Two additional World Cup stadiums featured TifGrand®, and three others used Tifway 419®, a bermudagrass variety developed in Tifton by Glenn Burton of the USDA-ARS. For more information, see www.georgiaturf.com.

Choir Dawgs

HIGH RANKING FOR SPIA

The UGA Hodgson Singers won the prestigious International Choral Competition Ave Verum, a four-day event held in Baden, Austria, in May. The choir was awarded both first prize and the Grand Prix Ave Verum out of 10 selected choirs from the U.S., Italy, Hungary, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Austria and the Philippines. Led

by Daniel Bara, director of choral activities and professor of music at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, the 45-member group includes students from undergraduate to doctoral levels with majors ranging from choral conducting to computational chemistry. This was the Hodgson Singers’ first European tour; they performed for audiences in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria before competing at Ave Verum. For firsthand impressions of the tour, visit the group’s blog at hodgsonsingers.wordpress.com.

UGA’s public administration program placed number one for international scholarly output based on quality and productivity in a recent study from the Journal of Public Affairs Education. The article assesses the scholarly activity of the field of public administration based on criteria from Thompson Reuters Journal Citation Reports to determine productivity, quality and overall annual institutional impact. The study was conducted for a five-year period between 2006 and 2010, during which UGA ranked number one in all three categories. Earlier this year, the department placed first in a study by scholars from the Netherlands. And U.S. News & World Report ranked the public administration and policy program, part of the School of Public and International Affairs, fourth in the nation.

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GIFT WILL SUPPORT ALCOHOL EDUCATION UGA received a $1 million gift to support the John Fontaine Jr. Center for Alcohol Awareness and Education. The funding will help the University Health Center teach students about responsible decision making regarding alcohol and other drugs.

The gift is a continuation of years of support from Jack (M ’79) and Nancy Fontaine of Houston. Established in 2006, the center is named for their son, John Fontaine Jr., who died in an alcohol-related car crash when he was 16. The center, housed within the health promotion department of the University Health Center, provides a range of prevention, intervention and recovery support services to the UGA community. In total, Jack and Nancy Fontaine have donated more than $4 million to enhance the university’s alcohol education initiatives.

GEORGIA LAW RANKS HIGH FOR GRADS WITH JUDICIAL CLERKSHIPS UGA’s School of Law ranked 10th in the nation for the number of its employed 2012 graduates working at judicial clerkships with federal judges, in a U.S. News & World Report ranking. Judicial clerkships have positive career implications for law school graduates, and federal clerkships typically are the hardest to get. Clerking for the Supreme Court—as Andrew Pinson did in 2013—is viewed by many as the ultimate achievement. Pinson (BBA ’08, JD ’11) served as a judicial clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; he was the sixth Georgia Law graduate in nine years to be selected for a Supreme Court clerkship.

126.4 million total

$

56,897 contributors

in 2014

UGA posts record-breaking fundraising year UGA concluded its best fundraising year in history on June 30, posting $126.4 million in new gifts and commitments for the 2014 fiscal year. This total reflects an 8 percent increase over last year’s total of $117.3 million and marks only the second year that private giving has exceeded $120 million.

The total includes gifts and pledges from 56,897 contributors, a 4 percent increase over the previous year.

“This record year is a tribute to the faith our alumni and friends have in the future of our great university,” says UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “It is also a testament to the hard work of the Division of Development and Alumni Relations, our schools and colleges, many other university units, our UGA Foundation trustees and our UGA Alumni Association leaders, who make the case for private support.

All of us at the University of Georgia are deeply grateful.

As president, I pledge to use these resources to advance the university in very significant and positive ways.”

This record-setting year is notable in that no single major gift had a disproportionate impact on the total. The previous record-setting year of $126.2 million in fiscal year 2011 included a $42.5 million gift.

This still is taken from the oldest-known moving images of African Americans playing baseball.

Margaret Compton, a UGA film archivist, came across a 26-second home movie of a baseball game played by African-American employees at a plantation near Thomasville. The 28 mm film, dated around 1919, is part of the Pebble Hill Plantation Film Collection in the UGA Libraries Walter J. Brown Media Archives. Compton shared the film at the 26th Annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture in May. To view the home movie online, see http://www.libs. uga.edu/media/collections/ homemovies/pebblehill.html.

SPECIAL

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ARCH BEST IN SHOW A

BARK OUT TO

…Gary E. Douberly, associate professor of chemistry, who was among researchers honored in April at the White House as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professors in the early stages of their research careers. …Ted Gragson, professor and head of the department of anthropology, who was awarded more than $900,000 from the French government as part of a research project and visiting professor appointment at the Université de Toulouse-Jean Jaurès.

Ted Gragson

...Dale Greene, professor of forest operations; Shawn Baker, research professional II; and Samantha Marchman (MFR ’13), who received the 2014 National Technical Writing Award from the Forest Resources Association. Greene and Baker are at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, and Marchman, a former UGA graduate student, is now a resource forester for Plum Creek in Crossett, Ark.

… A team of students in UGA’s atmospheric sciences program, who placed third in the 2014 WxChallenge, an online weather forecasting competition. Led by John Knox, associate professor of geography, the team included Minh Phan, Jared Rackley, Aneela Qureshi, Matt Daniel, Alan Black, Jordan McLeod, Josh Wood, Dean Pryles, Lili Yin, Bryant Brough, Brad Johnson and Kyle Mattingly. … Elizabeth J. Reitz, zooarchaeologist and professor of anthropology, who was named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most respected honor societies. … James I. Richardson, instructor and undergraduate coordinator in ecology, who received the International Sea Turtle Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. … Robert Schmitz, who was named by the journal Cell as one of the 40 most accomplished young scientists under the age of 40 who are shaping current and future trends in biology. … James C. Smith, Martin Chair of Law, who was named 2014-15 president-elect of the Association for Law, Property and Society at the organization’s fifth annual meeting.

James I. Richardson

…WUGA-FM, the public radio station operated by UGA, for winning two GABBY awards for excellence in the annual statewide Georgia Association of Broadcasters competition. … James Zhang, professor of kinesiology and director of the International Center for Sport Management, who was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology.

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James Zhang

Joseph Colbert

UGA gets first Tillman Scholar Joseph Colbert, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and a graduate student in the Odum School of Ecology, is UGA’s first Tillman Military Scholar.

The highly competitive award—60 recipients each year are selected from thousands of applicants—is named for Pat Tillman, the NFL all-star who joined the U.S. Army in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and was killed while serving in Afghanistan. Colbert has a passionate interest in snakes, specifically eastern diamondback rattlesnakes and their conservation. He wants to learn all he can about the snakes’ habitat needs and use of space, hoping to provide insight into how best to manage eastern diamondback populations to avoid conflicts with people. “Rattlesnakes are powerful animals, they’re charismatic—and a lot of people are way more afraid than they need to be of this animal,” he says. “They’ve suffered from a lot of human persecution that’s unnecessary.

Venomous snakes definitely need representation.”

CARNES CONFIRMED U.S. District Court Chief Judge Julie Carnes was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. Carnes (AB ’72, JD ’75), the first female UGA law graduate to serve as chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, was confirmed in a 94-0 vote in July. “Judge Carnes is an extraordinary federal judge and a very loyal alumna of the University of Georgia,” UGA President Jere Morehead says. “She became a close friend of mine shortly after I became an assistant U.S. attorney in 1980, and I was very honored when she presided over my investiture ceremony last November after I became UGA’s JOHN DISNEY/DAILY REPORT Julie Carnes president. I know she will be an outstanding federal appellate judge.” Carnes’ nomination had been pending since December when President Barack Obama nominated her as part of a package deal of nominees to vacant federal judicial posts in Georgia.

CLIFF RINER

Daniel Jackson, a technician with UGA’s Crop Quality Lab, poses with a load of research samples from the Vidalia Onion Research Center. During May and June, a three-person team cored, crushed and analyzed between 2,500 and 4,000 pounds of onions. Paid for by testing fees and grants from the Vidalia Onion Committee, the lab’s analysis is used by farmers to optimize growing conditions to ensure that next year’s crop is even better. Plant breeders use the information to vet new onion varieties. The Crop Quality Lab is one of five labs that comprise the UGA Agricultural and Environmental Services Laboratories, best known for performing UGA Extension’s famous spring soil tests for homeowners and farmers.

Clifton A. Baile, 1940-2014 Clifton A. “Cliff” Baile, a D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor and GRA Eminent Scholar in Biotechnology at UGA whose recent research focused on the physiology and biochemistry of obesity and bone disorders, died May 19 following a cerebral aneurysm. He was 74.

Baile joined UGA in 1995 after several decades spent on a career path that alternated between academia and industry.

Most recently, he was named director of the university’s campus-wide Obesity Initiative, which launched in January 2012.

He was housed in both the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences department of animal and dairy sciences and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences department of foods and nutrition. The joint appointment—along with an extensive research background in nutrition—afforded him the opportunity to bring together a diverse group of faculty, staff and administrators who all had the desire and expertise to address childhood and adult obesity.

As director of the Obesity Initiative, Baile led more than 130 faculty members in 14 collaborative teams focused on areas ranging from basic research on obesity, metabolism, genetics and disease to the development of pharmaceuticals, gaming and mobile technologies and programs on after-school exercise, obesity education, prevention and treatment.

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ATHLETICS UGA SPORTS TEAMS RANK HIGH IN ACADEMIC PROGRESS Twelve UGA sports teams were among the top six in the Southeastern Conference in the annual NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) released in May. Three Bulldog sports—men’s golf, women’s gymnastics and women’s swimming and diving, each with perfect scores of 1,000—earned the top ranking. Other teams ranking among the SEC’s top six include men’s basketball, men’s indoor track, men’s outdoor track, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s swimming and diving, women’s golf, women’s indoor track and field, and women’s outdoor track and field.

The APR measures the eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes competing on every Division I sports team. NCAA sports that fall below the established point cutoff of 930 are subject to penalties including scholarship reductions. UGA will not incur any penalties as all 20 NCAA Bulldog sports were significantly above the cutoff score.

Buxton, Wickrama named Athletic Association Professors Cory Buxton, professor of educational theory and practice, and Kandauda A.S. Wickrama, professor of human development and family science, have been named UGA Athletic Association Professors.

Buxton, named Athletic Association Professor in Education, has spent the last five years working on a National Science Foundation-funded project to improve science learning for English Language Learners. At the local level, his research focuses on increasing college and career competitiveness among Latino student populations.

Wickrama, named Athletic Association Professor in Family and Consumer Sciences, focuses on the social determinants of health and health inequality across the course of life. His research includes an investigation of tsunami-affected adolescents in Sri Lanka as well as a study of African Americans’ cardiovascular risk in Florida.

The UGA Athletic Association has funded professorships since 2006 as a demonstration of its commitment to academics.

Vreeland named SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Georgia swimmer Shannon Vreeland was named 2013-14 Southeastern Conference H. Boyd McWhorter Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in May and received a $15,000 postgraduate scholarship from AT&T and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Vreeland, a native of Overland Park, Kan., is pursuing a double major in economics and international affairs and plans to graduate in December. Named to the SEC and Athletic Director honor rolls, she serves as a swimming and diving representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was chosen for the SEC Community Service Team. Vreeland placed second in the 200 freestyle, fifth in the 100 freestyle and sixth in the 500 freestyle at the NCAAs as the Lady Bulldogs won their second straight national championship. She won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, and she earned three gold medals at the 2013 World Championships. Vreeland is the seventh Georgia swimmer to earn the McWhorter scholarship.

SUMMER SCHOOL Fourteen students were awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad in the summer of 2014. This is the highest number of scholarships UGA has received for summer programs. The Gilman Scholarship, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is a nationally competitive needs-based scholarship that aims to diversify the students who study abroad and the countries and regions where they go. Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply toward costs and are encouraged to choose non-traditional destinations. The winners, their areas of study and their destinations were Kaylyn Bell, biochemistry, Peru; Zulaikhah

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Bilal, sociology, Ghana; Anthony Chiu, dietetics and consumer foods, Ghana; Madison Finley, history and Spanish, Spain; Derek Freed, computer science, South Korea; Kimberly Guzman, journalism and art, South Korea; Lana Harris, digital and broadcast journalism, South Korea; Jamelia Jones, psychology and criminal justice, Morocco; Jonathan Moss, agricultural and applied economics and Spanish, Spain; Santana Mowbray, criminal justice and Spanish, Spain; Sefali Patel, biology, Ghana; Francisco Sanchez, international business and finance and Arabic, United Arab Emirates; Conner Smith, environmental engineering, Spain; and Selina Zhu, management information systems, South Korea.

13 million

$ Grants

UGA researchers have been awarded grant funding for a variety of projects.

3.15 million to College of Public Health From: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health For: Improving the management of chronic illnesses in the workplace. $

Jenna Jambeck poses with examples of the kind of waste items that can be reported using Marine Debris Tracker, a free app she co-created with Kyle Johnsen.

2 million to Department of Mathematics, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences $

From: National Science Foundation For: Continuing efforts to educate undergraduateand graduate-level math majors.

1.9 million to Duncan Krause, professor of microbiology, Franklin College $

From: NIH For: Researching Mycoplasma pneumonia, the leading cause of pneumonia in older children and young adults.

1.8 million to Boris Striepen, professor of

$

cellular biology, Franklin College From: NIH For: Studying a parasite that causes cryptosporidiosis, a diarrheal disease.

1.49 million to Faculty in geography and marine sciences, Franklin College $

From: National Aeronautics and Space Administration For: Measuring the effects of climate change on biological productivity in the ocean.

1.4 million to Researchers in isotope study, forestry, anthropology, geology and crop and soil sciences From: NSF For: Investigating land-use issues. $

TRACKING TRASH

ROBERT NEWCOMB

Jenna Jambeck’s Marine Debris Tracker was on the list of “Apps We Can’t Live Without” at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. She developed the app in 2011 with Kyle Johnsen; both are assistant professors in the College of Engineering.

Designed to allow users to track and report trash and other debris, the free app has been downloaded 10,000 times and currently has close to 700 registered users, 15 to 20 who report debris on a near-daily basis. Its 32,899 data points—entries which total about 345,000 individual pieces of trash—include anything from 15,500 cigarette butts found by users on St. Simons Island to plastic jugs floating in the ocean off the coast of Costa Rica and plastic bags near the coast of Brunei.

When users submit an entry, the smartphone automatically adds GPS coordinates, which help give Jambeck a more accurate picture of where her “citizen scientists” are reporting from, she says.

Marine Debris Tracker is a joint partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program and the Southeast Atlantic Marine Debris Initiative. Get more at www.marinedebris.engr.uga.edu.

818,395 to Daniela Di Iorio, associate professor of marine sciences, Franklin College $

From: NSF For: Developing instrumentation to collect ocean data two miles deep.

727,000 to James Hollibaugh, Distinguished Research Professor of Marine Sciences, Franklin College $

From: NSF For: Determining the impact of Thaumarchaeota, an organism that blooms in Southeastern coastal waters.

Locations and types of debris tracked as of June 2014

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ARCH Honors student awarded Madison Fellowship Matthew Tyler, a former Honors student and Foundation Fellow, received a 2014 James Madison Graduate Fellowship in April. The fellowship, awarded to only one person per state, is granted to students desiring to become outstanding teachers of the American Constitution at the secondary school level. Tyler, who graduated in May with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science, will use the fellowship to pursue a master’s degree in social studies education at Columbia University. Awarded by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation, the fellowship offers up to $24,000 over the course of study. For more information, visit www.jamesmadison.com.

HE NAMED DAVISON CHAIR Biao He, a renowned veterinary virologist and vaccine developer, has been appointed to the Fred C. Davison Distinguished University Chair in Veterinary Medicine. He, a Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator and professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s department of infectious diseases, is known for his research on host-viral pathogen interactions and anti-viral vaccine development. The Fred C. Davison Chair is named for the 1952 College of Veterinary Medicine graduate who returned in 1964 to serve as dean.

He became vice chancellor of the University System of Georgia in 1966 and was named UGA’s 18th president a year later. He served until 1986 and is considered largely responsible for boosting UGA’s recognition as a research institution.

During his tenure, UGA’s funding for research grants climbed by $20 million.

CHARGE IT

PAUL EFLAND

Tim G. Echols (AB ’82, MA ’06, MA ’09), Georgia Public Service Commission representative from District 2, uses UGA’s new recharging station to charge his Nissan LEAF. In May, the university unveiled a level 2 electric vehicle charger—the first public charger in the Athens area—on the Jackson Street side of its North Campus parking deck. Level 2 chargers are able to fully power a vehicle in two hours, compared to level 1 chargers, which use lower wattage and take at least four times as long. The charger has two plugs and corresponding parking spots. The UGA location is part of the ChargePoint Network, and users may pay with their ChargePoint card or with a credit card. Rates start at $0.75 an hour for the first two hours and then increase to $1.50 per hour. The service is made possible through a partnership between Parking Services and the Office of Sustainability.

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Extreme closeup Stefan Eberhard, a research professional at UGA’s Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, was recognized for his outstanding microscope image at the 2014 Wellcome Trust Image Awards in London, an international competition celebrating the best in science imaging talent and techniques. His winning image, taken with a scanning electron microscope, features a detailed close-up of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, commonly known as thale cress. The image shows the reproductive components of a single flower. The blue feathery structure in the center is the stigma, which receives the pollen to initiate the fertilization process. The stigma is surrounded by yellowish anthers, two of which have opened to reveal the small pollen grains ready for dispersal. The original image produced by the microscope is in black and white, but Eberhard added the vibrant colors with photo editing software to make it easier for viewers to distinguish the flower components and for a more aesthetic appeal. Eighteen winners were chosen by seven judges for the 2014 competition, and their images were displayed across the United Kingdom at four major science centers as well as in a window display at the Wellcome Trust’s headquarters in London.

UGA Extension celebrates 100 years of service to Georgians

2013 by the numbers

Georgia Master Gardener Extension Volunteers have helped UGA Extension agents answer calls and deliver educational programs for the past 35 years.

Master Gardener Extension Volunteers:

2,756

196,663 457,190 Miles traveled: 826,901 Hours donated:

Phone calls answered:

Civic or garden club presentations: Home garden visits:

2,538

Newspaper articles written: Plant clinics:

4,959

741

9,055

On May 15, UGA Extension celebrated its 100th anniversary with the opening of a multimedia exhibit in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries highlighting the impacts the organization has had during the past century.

“In the past 100 years, UGA Extension helped eradicate the boll weevil, introduce new food safety measures and promote land conservation,” says Beverly Sparks, associate dean of Extension in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

UGA Extension, originally known as the UGA Cooperative Extension Service, was officially founded in 1914 through the Smith-Lever Act, a federal law that established and funded a stateby-state national network of educators who would bring universitybased research and practical knowledge to the public.

Today, Extension in Georgia is a cooperative effort by federal, state and local government partners administered by the university.

An expanded version of the anniversary exhibit is available online at 100years.extension.uga.edu. The dynamic website shares the history of UGA Extension through articles, pictures, videos, timelines and personal stories.

This photo of Doris Lester is one of thousands of images included in the Digital Library of Georgia’s UGA Extension archive. Lester, a Clarke County 4-H Club member, won second place in a statewide gardening contest in 1935. The 1-acre garden included 18 kinds of vegetables harvested for Lester, her 11 brothers and sisters and their parents. Lester married Edward Dellinger shortly after this photo was taken. During the last 100 years, UGA Extension agents and their photographers produced more than 60,000 sleeves of negatives that gradually are being made available to the public online through the Digital Library of Georgia. More than 1,000 images from the collection were released in May and are available at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/CollectionsA-Z/caes_search.html.

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May it please the court?

Law school students learn case law, practice thinking on their feet and build self-confidence through UGA Moot Court

by Kelly Simmons (MPA ’10)

Feb. 10, 2014, New York City Bar Association courtroom.

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PETER FREY

The case: A challenge to a state law that requires retailers of sugar-sweetened beverages to post signs in their stores about the dangers associated with the drinks and that requires manufacturers to mark bottles sold in the state to prevent people from outside the state from redeeming the bottles for the 10cent refundable deposit.

Emily Westberry is at the podium in this dark paneled room on the second floor of the New York City Bar Association building near Times Square. Today, she and fellow third-year UGA law student Ben Thorpe are the respondents in a moot court competition, facing a team from Case Western Reserve University.

The law is not narrowly tailored, Westberry tells the panel of justices, a faux appellate court bench of local lawyers and judges.

“It would not pass strict scrutiny,” she argues on behalf of retailers and manufacturers of sugar-sweetened beverages.

She gets out a few more words of her argument before one of the justices interrupts to ask about the claim that advertisements for soft drinks deceive consumers into thinking they are healthy.

“Here there is no deception,” Westberry says. “The advertisements said the drinks were invigorating and refreshing.”

She is interrupted again. What about studies by government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that indicate an association between sugar-sweetened beverages and diseases related to obesity, a justice asks.

“There’s a difference between association and causation,” Westberry responds.

Third-year law students Benjamin Thorpe, Steven Strasberg and Emily Westberry (left to right), shown in the law school’s Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom, won the 2014 National Moot Court Competition, the oldest and most prestigious tournament in the country, in February. One month before, another team won the invitation-only Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship. During the last decade, Georgia Law teams have won 11 national championship and 21 regional/state moot court titles.

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O

Once she has finished, Thorpe Competition championship, the oldest undefeated and win the competition, argues against the mark on the bottles and most prestigious tournament in sponsored by the New York City on the basis that it puts an added the country. Moot court, which dates Bar Association and the American burden on the manufacturer. back to the beginning of formal legal College of Trial Lawyers. In all, 190 The petitioner, from Case education in the 18th century, is a teams from law schools across the Western, makes a brief rebuttal. The simulated court experience in which nation competed, placing in regional courtroom is cleared as the justices students argue a fictitious appellate tournaments to earn a berth in New discuss each team’s merits. court case to demonstrate application York.

Minutes later the students are of the law. Moot court competitors The last time a UGA team ushered back inside. The justices submit a written brief before the oral won the National Moot Court rule in favor of the respondents, rounds of the competition begin.

Competition was in 1997. UGA Westberry and also won this Thorpe. competition in “I’ve been in when Jere “We’ve argued in front of all kinds of judges. 1992, the law business a W. Morehead (JD long time,” one of ’80), now UGA’s The intimidation factor is gone.” the justices, a New president, led the

— Emily Westberry York attorney, tells school’s moot court the teams when the program. The 2013 first round of the team from UGA competition is complete. “You people Competing in teams of two, finished in second place. are impressive. You all did a great Westberry, Thorpe and Strasberg Law school Advocacy Director job.” beat teams from Case Western, Kellie Casey (AB ’87, JD ’90) coaches Over the next four days, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Drake the students competing in moot Westberry, Thorpe and Steven University Law School, Hofstra court, critiquing their arguments Strasberg will compete against University School of Law, Seattle as they spend a semester or longer teams from 30 law schools vying University Law School and Emory learning case law to back their for the 2014 National Moot Court University School of Law to go positions. Students are only allowed to compete in one moot court competition a year, so she’s strategic in selecting those who participate.

“We do our best to try and identify their strengths beforehand and pair up the teams,” she says.

Over the last decade, UGA has won 11 national championships and 21 regional/state titles, making it one of the nation’s premier moot court programs.

Maggy Randels (left) looks on as Utrophia Robinson argues a case during the invitation-only Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship in Houston in January. Robinson and Randels, both third-year law students, went undefeated to win the tournament, which aims to field the 16 best advocacy programs in the country based on performance during the previous academic year.

Robinson also received the competition’s award for second-best oralist.

PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER

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PETER FREY

In addition to the National Moot Court Competition, a team from UGA also won the 2014 invitation-only Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship in Houston in January.

This year was the first time that UGA has attended the Andrews Kurth competition, named for the Houston law firm that sponsors it, which aims to field the 16 best advocacy programs in the country—based on performance during the previous academic year.

UGA’s team of third-year law students Maggy Randels and Utrophia Robinson went undefeated in that competition, twice beating a team from the South Texas College of Law, which has for several years been considered the top advocacy program in the country.

The case before Randels and Robinson involved a suit by a mock community organization, The Friends of Newtonian, against the U.S. Department of Defense and Mainstay Resources (MR). MR is a private company that was awarded a contract to extract natural gas from an area of the town and had decided to use hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—a process that pumps large amounts of water, sand and chemicals underground to break apart rock in order to reach the gas.

Critics argue that the chemicals used in the process threaten the land and water near the fracking site.

About a week before the January competition, Randels

Thorpe confers with law school Advocacy Director Kellie Casey (AB ’87, JD ’90) after a practice round for the National Moot Court Competition, where Thorpe received the award for best oralist.

and Robinson meet to practice in a courtroom in UGA’s Dean Rusk Hall. Serving as practice justices are Georgia Law professors Hillel Levin and Peter Appel.

Robinson, representing the Friends of Newtonian, argues that the case is ripe for review because there has been no environmental assessment of the potential harm to the land since MR opted to use fracking instead of traditional drilling.

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was performed in 2002, before fracking was financially feasible, so it was not included in the review.

“What’s the government’s obligation to update the EIS?” Levin asks.

Robinson responds that significant technological advances that made fracking an option have occurred since the EIS and therefore the government should be required to update the review to take fracking into account.

“The court is leery about taking a stand on government inaction,” Appel says.

A few minutes later, the roles are reversed and Robinson argues in defense of the federal government and the contractor.

There is no need for a revised EIS, she says.

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Strasberg practices his argument for the National Moot Court Competition before a bench that includes Casey, Dean Rebecca White (center) and Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, associate dean for faculty development and Herman E. Talmadge Chair of Law. Strasberg was named best oralist in the regional competition, which the team won to advance to nationals.

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PETER FREY

“What if there was a major impact study that showed fracking is harmful?”

Levin asks.

“The burden is on the plaintiff to prove that,” Robinson says.

Teams don’t know going into the competitions which side of the case they will argue. In some cases it is decided by the flip of a coin. Once preliminary rounds are over and teams are seeded, the higher seed sometimes can select the side they want to argue. Judges in competitions include state Supreme Court justices, federal district and appellate court judges and seasoned trial lawyers.

During the tournaments Casey, who was a moot court participant on teams coached by President Morehead in the late 1980s, keeps a steady tally of which teams are arguing which side and how well they do so that her teams can be in the best position to win. She networks with coaches from other teams to find out their scores on written briefs, which are completed in advance of the competitions but are shared only with each individual team. It’s up to a coach whether he or she wants to share their scores.

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

Casey and Thomas Burch, who teaches appellate advocacy at the law school, coach the students as they draft their arguments, using real case law to defend their points.

But Casey also performs other tasks critical to helping her students win.

Respect the bench, she tells them. Say, “yes, your honor,” or “no, your honor.”

Introduce yourself to the bench by saying, “Chief justice and fellow justices, may it please the court?”

She helps them decide their wardrobes and inspects their appearance before a round begins. Nothing should distract the judges from a student’s argument. During a practice session in a Houston hotel, she stops Robinson midsentence to ask her to tone down her lipstick.

When the students graduate they know how to present themselves and argue before the bench, valuable experience for the future attorneys, even those who don’t foresee a career in appellate advocacy.

So many cases are based on motions, which require attorneys to make an oral argument in court, says Westberry, now an attorney with Ogletree Deakins, a labor and employment law firm in Greenville, S.C. “It requires the same skills, being able to articulate in front of a judge,” she says. “We’ve argued in front of all kinds of judges. The intimidation factor is gone.”

All of the roughly 200 first-year law students are required to write an appellate brief and prepare an appellate argument. The top 64 then participate in the Richard B. Russell Moot Court Competition, named for the former governor and U.S. senator who earned a bachelor of law degree from UGA in 1918. Of those, the top eight earn a spot on the moot court team their second year.

Students in moot court spend months researching their cases and rehearsing their positions, often in front

of law school faculty who are experts in fields debated within each case. At UGA the work is extracurricular; students get no credit for the hours spent on moot court.

Merritt McAlister (JD ’07) was a second-year student on the UGA moot court team that won the Dean Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Competition, hosted by the Brooklyn

Law School Moot Court Honor Society in New York, in 2006. (A UGA team of second-year law students also won this competition this year.)

Though McAlister also participated in mock trial, which she had done in high school, and served on the Georgia Law Review, she says the moot court experience helped her decide she wanted a career as an appellate litigator.

First-year law student Eleanor “Keith” Hall accepts congratulations from President Jere W. Morehead (JD ’80) after winning the annual Richard B. Russell Moot Court Competition held at the School of Law in April. Hall’s competition was fellow first-year law student Aaron Parks (second from right).

Morehead served as judge with Lisa Godbey Wood (second from left) and Steve Jones (right). Wood (AB ’85, JD ’90) is chief judge of the U.S. District Court in the southern district of Georgia, and Jones (BBA ’78, JD ’87) is a U.S. District Court judge in the northern district of Georgia.

“It’s the most fun thing we get to do—stand up there and talk about the law,” says McAlister, who clerked for an 11th circuit federal judge in Macon and later for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired in 2010.

She now works at King & Spalding in Atlanta.

“It gave me a level of confidence in talking with judges about what the law is.”

—Kelly Simmons is director of communications for the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach.

She formerly was editor of GM. Want to give? www.law.uga.edu/giving

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

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SPECIAL EDUCATION UGA clinic trains students while providing support for families

by Mary Jessica Hammes (ABJ ’99) photos by Peter Frey (BFA ’94)

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icolas Hicks, age 7, is sitting in a small room in Aderhold Hall on the UGA campus, watching graduate student Anna Bennett theatrically dance around.

“What is she doing?” Emma Barr, the other graduate student in the room, asks.

“Dancing!” Nicolas says.

Bennett pretends to cry.

“What is she doing?” Barr asks.

“Crying!” Nicolas says.

Bennett bounces a ball, knocks on a table, sings a song; each time, Nicolas is prompted to describe what he sees. His parents, Stephen Hicks, a stay-at-home dad, and Bonny Hicks, an accountant in Human Resources at UGA, watch in another room via a mirror that is transparent from their side. Big sister Natalie, 8, giggles when Nicolas makes faces at himself from his side of the mirror.

Nicolas was diagnosed with autism at age 3. At the UGA Applied Behavior Analysis Support Clinic, based in the College of Education, he is learning how to describe others’ actions, but also how to transition between activities

and spontaneously communicate.

These goals and others are written into his Individualized Education Program, a plan required for each child who receives special education services in Georgia public schools. Developed by parents and educators, the IEP addresses a child’s abilities and needs and describes how he or she will access the general curriculum.

Nicolas is just one of many who benefits from the UGA clinic, which works with around a dozen cases— usually children, occasionally adults—each semester. Clients may be on the autism spectrum, have other developmental or intellectual disabilities or struggle with maladaptive behavior. Their sessions might be focused on skill acquisition for day-to-day living (anything from communication skills to teeth brushing), or they might target behaviors such as self-injury or aggression to others.

Children learning skills typically go to the clinic and receive subsequent home visits for a full semester.

Others needing help with behavior usually attend sessions for three to six weeks for assessment, so therapy

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teams can test different intervention strategies to see what works, train caregivers on how to implement them and check on progress at home periodically.

Clinic Director Kevin Ayres, associate professor in UGA’s department of communication sciences and special education, says the clinic was started in 2013 “to fill a gap in the community.”

At the time, the Athens area had only five Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) in the area, and

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD):

1/68

source: CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network

Emma Barr works with 7-year-old Nicolas Hicks at UGA’s Applied Behavior Analysis Support Clinic. Hicks was diagnosed with autism at age 3. Barr, a UGA master’s student in education, is studying to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).

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Kevin Ayres (left), director of the Applied Behavior Analysis Support Clinic, meets before therapy sessions with graduate students (left to right) Man Fung Lam, a Ph.D. student in special education; Barr; and Courtney Sievers, a full-time teacher at Monarch School in Lawrenceville who’s training to become a BCBA. The clinic is housed in UGA’s College of Education, where Ayres is an associate professor in the department of communication sciences and special education.

Extra cost per year to care for a child with ASD:

three of them were at UGA (Ayres and two of his students). In fact, Ayres says UGA doctoral students and BCBAs Jen Alexander, Katie Smith and Sally Shepley were instrumental in launching the clinic.

Alicia Davis, another BCBA and faculty member in communication sciences and special education, handles intake and is the face of the clinic to many first-time families seeking help.

Such services can cost $100 to $150 a session elsewhere. The UGA clinic is currently free. Even though Ayres notes that eventually there will be some fees required to offset insurance and materials, the clinic will still remain the affordable option for many families, and it prioritizes those most in need. The arrangement benefits both the families served and the UGA students who train there.

$17,000 source: Pediatrics

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“The students working at the clinic are so knowledgeable and truly love working with these clients and their families,” says Smith, who—like Alexander and Shepley—previously taught special education in Gwinnett County.

“The families have an opportunity to receive services from these students that are all overseen by a BCBA. Even if there were a multitude of BCBAs in the Athens area, it is often difficult to afford weekly services from these individuals.”

A five-year, $1.25 million federal grant awarded last November mostly covers the tuition and living expenses of the UGA students working at the clinic, which receives no grant funds itself, Ayres says. The clinic would exist with no federal money at all, but would likely be a smaller operation with fewer students involved. At present, 10 to 15 UGA students work in the clinic any given semester, with those who are BCBAs—mostly doctoral students in special education or school psychology— in supervisory roles.

“We have no reason to think that we will not be able to keep moving forward as we are once the grant funds run out,” Ayres says.

The clinic doesn’t diagnose nor require formal diagnoses, though some clients already have them.

“We take on kids whose parents communicate that they really need help with the most severe and dangerous behaviors that we are equipped and qualified to help [with],” he says.

Family involvement is crucial, according to Ayres. Clinicians not only work with the children, but also train and coach the parents and caregivers so strategies can be consistent at UGA and at home. Home visits bolster support for the family, as well as target ways to improve the child’s environment for success.

“Our approach is looking at environmental causes and those things we can manipulate,” Ayres says. “The family is an integral part.”

Ann Evans has steadfastly worked with her 8-year-old daughter, Cori, at home, in support of the clinic strategies.

Cori was diagnosed with autism at age 2, communicates using pictures and has some mobility issues. Clinic workers are helping her learn how to walk some distance to reach a “communication partner,” so that at home, she can learn to find someone to initiate conversation, rather than needing someone constantly by her side.

A typical clinic session works like this: Cori, sitting at a table, selects an image card to ask for a cracker. The clinic worker moves her chair about a foot away. Cori gets up, takes the card from the table, hands it to the clinic worker and receives the cracker. When Cori returns to the table to get the card to ask for another cracker, the clinic worker scoots her chair a little

bit farther away. In this way, Cori is soon walking several feet away from the table to get the cracker.

Cori is also learning to selfcalm with music by independently choosing headphones. She also takes walks in the hallway, learning to stop and wait when the adults stop, with the idea that this skill will translate to shopping and other outings where Cori might otherwise wander off.

Before the UGA clinical visits, Cori’s behavior was often problematic.

“We tried all the conventional ways to deal with her behavior,” says Evans, a registered nurse at the Women’s Center of Athens. “Nothing really worked. She scratched, pulled hair and grabbed others. She bites her hand. Things were terrible for us.

Estimated lifetime costs for an individual with ASD:

1.4 million

$

source: Autism Speaks

Claire Ledford (right), a teacher at Summerour Middle School in Norcross, works with Cori Evans, 8. Ledford is training to become a BCBA; she and other UGA students at the clinic work on motor skills, communication strategies and self-calming techniques with Cori, who was diagnosed with autism at age 2.

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Katie Smith (left), a Ph.D. student in special education, and Ann Evans (right), Cori’s mother, watch from the clinic’s observation room in Aderhold Hall while Cori works with Ledford during a therapy session.

No one really wanted to come near her. I begged for a behavior plan from school, but was told that Cori does not really fit the profile.

Our house was so full of tension.

We stopped going to church, we limited the time that she was out in public, our children stopped having friends over and we stopped visiting family.”

Cori’s involvement at the UGA clinic, says Evans, has been life changing.

“It wasn’t until I started the clinic that I made the connection between her behavior and the lack of communication,” she says.

“I tried to imagine just one day without communicating. Not just talking, but not writing, not pointing to objects and not pulling pictures. Add to this perhaps not understanding what someone is saying to you, and this person is expecting you to perform. I would be an angry chick as well.”

In the months since starting at the clinic, Cori has improved at both school and at home. She has learned to walk and wait on an adult, request items with pictures, imitate simple actions, understand

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schedules with a picture system and more.

“Overall, Cori is a different child,” says Evans. “She is becoming more independent and less aggressive… We take Cori everywhere we go, and she is learning to wait and to continue to use headphones to help. We have made several appearances back in church, and she has been able to sit through an entire service with very few disruptions.”

As the clients learn new skills, so do the UGA students who work there.

The weekly opportunities for students to brainstorm interventions and get immediate feedback is “far more than you would get in a typical student teaching or practicum placement,” Smith says.

Students at the clinic also have unique access to interacting with clients’ families.

“Learning how to interview parents, the importance of interviewing parents, and learning how to work with families and listen to families about what goals are most important to them is a great opportunity,” she says.

Barr agrees.

A former behavioral therapist for children with autism at a clinic in Huntsville, Ala., Barr is pursuing a master’s degree in educational psychology, with a specialization in applied cognition and development. Her goal is to eventually become a BCBA, and she says getting to know Nicolas’ family has been invaluable.

“Nic’s family was extremely helpful in walking us through his

Estimated lifetime costs for an individual with ASD and intellectual disability (intellectual disabilities affect about 40 percent of those with autism):

2.3 million +

$

source: Autism Speaks

daily routines, and we worked to incorporate the skills he was learning in the clinic into his home environment,” she says.

“Being able to engage with Nicolas in his favorite outdoor activities in a more relaxed setting helped us build a great relationship with him, which seemed to carry over to his visits with us in the clinic.”

These days, Nicolas follows directions, has become more independent in selecting clothes and food and is working on his reading skills, his parents report. Recently, Nicolas told his teachers, unprompted, that he had eaten tacos for dinner.

“That’s what we’re excited to see—he’s being spontaneous,” Stephen Hicks says. “He’s understanding more and knows more what’s going on. It’s hard to quantify that, but you can feel that.”

The ability to express his needs more fully has significantly lessened the physical behavior that comes from frustration, he adds.

“It makes his whole world so much better,” Hicks says.

“When he can express himself, it’s huge… It makes all of our

lives so much better. He’s doing really well.”

Ann Evans says the UGA Applied Behavior Analysis Support Clinic has given her the tools she needs to make sure that Cori is successful.

“I love, love, love UGA. The clinic has really changed our lives, and Cori is all the better for it,” she says. “This program truly cares about the success of the child. When someone loves your child like that, only positive things can result. Our family is so truly blessed. It is my hope that every child in need of this program would have the opportunity to be served. What a difference it has made in our lives.” GM Kendra Southard, a master’s student in special education, and Barr (center) review an activity board with Nicolas during a home visit. The board lists their activities—working on prepositions and handwriting, but also taking a break for fun things like trampoline and basketball—and gives Nicolas a visual reference that helps him stay focused. Engaging with Nicolas at home made for a stronger working relationship during his sessions at the clinic, Barr says.

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The peach state

With help from UGA, blueberries have surpassed peaches as Georgia’s largest crop

by J. Merritt Melancon (ABJ ’02) photos by Peter Frey (BFA ’94)

G

Graduate student Danielle Rosensteel picks blueberries from a test plot at UGA’s Blueberry Research and Demonstration Farm in Alma. Rosensteel works with Ashfaq A. Sial, an entomologist and one of three new faculty members hired by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to help with research and outreach for Georgia’s blueberry industry.

eorgia may be officially known as the Peach State, but there’s a blue tide rising.

Starting in the 1980s, Georgia farmers have taken advantage of the state’s climate and sandy soils to build a blueberry industry that now has close to a $1 billion dollar impact on the state’s economy. Today, the state’s blueberry crop is about seven times as large as the peach crop and worth roughly $229 million annually.

“We’re not known as a traditional blueberry-producing area, but we’re trying to get the word out,” says Joe Cornelius Jr., chairman of the Georgia Blueberry Commission.

Outside of growers’ circles, Georgia may not be known as the blueberry state yet, but it’s one of the top five growers of the fruit in the country—producing about 62 million pounds a year.

Michigan, which has a longer history of growing the berries, produces about 72 million pounds a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

From food scientists working to uncover the health benefits of antioxidant-rich blueberries, to entomologists and horticulturists trying to help farmers produce their crops more sustainably, to engineers helping to ensure more efficient packaging, UGA researchers and Extension specialists have helped build the blue tsunami that has transformed Georgia’s agricultural landscape in just three decades.

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Blueberry boom With a long growing season of about 10 months, strong support for agriculture and ample farmland, Georgia provides a lot of options when it comes to crops. Despite rapid urbanization, most of the state’s geographic area is still covered with cotton, peanut, corn and soybean fields, pasture for cattle, poultry houses and managed forests.

Farmers started to add blueberries to this mix to replace acreage that once was planted with tobacco. Mostly based in the central to southeastern corner of the state, blueberries helped fill a niche that farmers had been working for years to address.

“There wasn’t the intense agriculture in that part of the state that you see further west,” says Steve Brown, acting associate dean for UGA Extension. “They were out of that traditional peanut region and outside of the big cotton area.

Blueberries were just a fit for an area that hadn’t been a great fit for other crops. Blueberries have made a significant economic impact in that part of the state, and it’s just hard to ignore.”

Today, Georgia’s blueberry country stretches from sandy small towns like Alma and Alapaha to the Augusta area. Each year the number of Georgia acres planted in blueberries increases—from 3,500 in 1992 to close to 20,000 in 2013. In the last few years, the meteoric

Blueberry consumption has risen by 500 percent in recent years.

The average American ate 1.3 pounds of berries a year in 2011 compared to the quarter pound of berries a year they ate in 2000.*

*according to the USDA

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growth may have leveled out some, says Albert Wildes, Georgia Blueberry Growers Association president. But he says farmers continue to add small amounts of acreage every year.

“I think we’re still adding acreage but probably not at the rate we were,” says Wildes, who represents about 230 of the state’s blueberry growers. “You don’t hear of people putting in 100 acres of blueberries right now, but you do hear about one neighbor putting in 10 acres and another neighbor putting in 15. You have enough people turning over 10 acres at a time and it starts to add up, but nobody’s really tracking that.”

One farmer’s tale Dick Byne, who planted his first 17 acres of blueberries at Byne Blueberry Farms in Waynesboro in 1980, decided to move toward blueberries when he was looking to find a crop for some of his family’s fallow acreage.

“We had some acreage set aside, and we needed to do something with it,” Byne says.

“We knew that we didn’t want traditional row crops, and we had grown up with peaches and knew we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to do something different, and I’ve always liked the color blue.”

A trip to California convinced Byne (BSA ’78) that blueberries would boom in the future.

Out West he saw consumers eating more fruits and vegetables. Supermarket produce departments were getting larger, and somebody and something had to help fill those coolers and display shelves, he says.

It turns out he, and hundreds of other Georgia farmers, were right to gamble on fresh fruit. Blueberry consumption has risen by 500 percent in recent years. The average American ate 1.3 pounds of berries a year in 2011 compared to the quarter pound of berries a year they ate in 2000, according to the USDA. Georgia farmers took full advantage of changing consumer habits and the state’s relatively long harvest window, from about April to July. While growers in California and northern Florida are starting to edge into Georgia’s early market window, most early season blueberries—especially those found in Eastern U.S. grocery stores—are grown in Georgia.

A story of public and private innovation When those pioneering farmers planted their first bushes, they took a huge risk. First, there were no blueberry packers—venues where fruit is graded and packed for shipping—or storage facilities in Georgia. Farmers had to build that infrastructure gradually over the years.

Second, Georgia doesn’t have much in common with other major blueberry producing states like Maine, which is known for wild berries, and Michigan. Varieties that had been bred over generations to thrive in the relatively mild Northern summers weren’t suited to produce berries in Georgia’s 90- to 100-degree weather.

That’s where research from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) has played an integral role. UGA started its blueberry-breeding program back in 1926, when the first 12 Georgia-adapted variety selections were tested at the Coastal Plain Station in Tifton. In 1945, Thomas Brightwell helped establish 25 acres of blueberry research plots in Alapaha, about 20 miles east of Tifton.

For the first 50 years, UGA researchers focused on the rabbiteye varieties, which bloom later in the summer. But in recent decades, researchers have turned their attention to Southern highbush varieties, which can be harvested earlier in the year and produce larger berries that are more suited for fresh markets.

(Top) Albert Wildes, president of the Georgia Blueberry Growers Association, starts seedling blueberry plants in opened milktype cartons at his farm in Alma. The cartons protect the roots and act as a mini-greenhouse during early development.

(Bottom) Dick Byne (BSA ’78) empties a flat of freshly picked berries onto the conveyer for packaging at Byne Blueberry Farms in Waynesboro. He first planted blueberries in 1980, when he was searching for another crop to plant in his family’s fallow acreage.

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UGA started its blueberry-breeding program in 1926, when the first 12 Georgia-adapted variety selections were tested at the Coastal Plain Station in Tifton.

Horticulturist Erick Smith, shown at UGA’s Blueberry Research Farm in Alapaha, worked with cherries, apples and hops before arriving at the university in 2013. Based at UGA’s campus in Tifton, Smith works to help farmers maximize their fruit production with strategies like improved pruning and plant management strategies.

Scott NeSmith, leader of the UGA blueberry-breeding program, produces new blueberry varieties that are specialized for Georgia’s climate and soil. Since 2001, the program has released and patented 12 new varieties.

Working from UGA’s Griffin campus, NeSmith (BSA ’83, MS ’86) spends 12 to 14 years developing one new blueberry variety. He started working on those first 2001 releases in the early 1990s, breeding about 5,000 blueberry bush crosses each year and then observing and testing each cross’s performance for a number of years before releasing a variety.

During variety trials, he eats about one gallon of blueberries a week, working to find the besttasting berries. “I can’t wait to eat the first one, and then I can’t wait to eat the last one,” he jokes.

Each year he talks to Georgia’s farmers to find out what they need.

Then he looks for berry plants that meet those needs—increased berry

size, novel color, improved drought or disease resistance and, most importantly, berries that ripen and are ready for harvest at different times throughout the season.

Developing a berry that ripens in South Georgia in early April means farmers can ask top dollar for their berries before berries from California or other states can flood the market.

“When I came to UGA, there were a little over 3,000 and now there’s close to 20,000 acres,” NeSmith says. “I’ve enjoyed being part of a really booming industry.

Sometimes you’re just fighting for an old industry to hang on. This has been the opposite.”

Today, many of Georgia’s blueberry farmers are reinvesting in their fields and installing some of UGA’s newer varieties, hoping to improve their yields and fruit quality.

Tackling new challenges In addition to new blueberry varieties, UGA also helps farmers tackle the major disease and pest problems that have emerged as the industry has grown. As the state’s budget conditions improved, UGA Extension was able to fill vacant positions left by retired fruit specialists to help Georgia farmers.

The overly wet weather in summer 2013 and subsequent disease and pest pressure was one of the fledgling industry’s lower points. In contrast, growers actually produced so many blueberries in 2014 that prices dropped somewhat, which is a problem for growers but one that can be overcome by rising demand.

“Now that UGA Extension is fully staffed we’re really moving forward,” Wildes says. “We were really at a loss until we started to get those people in. We had an area [blueberry] agent here but with his retirement we were really without

30 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

guidance. We had been without a blueberry horticulturist for so long, and the blueberry industry had been evolving at such a pace that we were really getting behind.”

Erick Smith, who was hired from Washington State University, had a history of working with cherries, apples and hops before coming to UGA in April 2013 to work as the university’s go-to blueberry horticulturist.

He’s looking to help farmers maximize their fruit production by improving their cultural practices using as few chemical inputs as possible. Basic measures, like improved pruning and plant management strategies, have helped improve production, Wildes says.

Renée Holland (MS ’13), who was hired in 2013 to serve as the area blueberry agent for Georgia’s topproducing blueberry counties, also runs the UGA Blueberry Demonstration and Research Farm in Alma. Her annual field days and workshops attract hundreds of Georgia farmers who are hungry for new insight into how to best manage their crops.

Also in 2013, CAES hired an entomologist who specializes in lower-impact pest management—called integrated pest management—dedicated to blueberries.

Ashfaq A. Sial last served as a post-doctoral researcher at Cornell University and the University of California at Berkeley before coming to UGA. He specializes in control of the spotted wing drosophila fly, the first major pest Georgia’s blueberry farmers have had to fight. Sial produced a number of videos and information sheets with recommendations for battling the drosophila pest.

While seasoned Extension plant pathologists, entomologists and county agents have been working with growers for years, these three new faculty members round out UGA’s research and outreach efforts for blueberries. In fall 2013, the UGA blueberry team launched a blueberry blog (blog.caes.uga.edu/blueberry) to keep growers informed of the latest research.

Next steps As farmers gear up for the summer 2015 season, they know that they have support from UGA Extension and CAES researchers to tackle the next challenges—whatever those challenges happen to be.

“You could probably ask 10 different farmers and get 10 different answers to that question,” Wildes says when asked what the future holds. “Personally, I think that marketing is what we need to really focus on. We still don’t have the per capita consumption that we would like to have. There are a lot of products out there that could contain blueberries.”

Get more at t.uga.edu/Pv

(Top) Sial looks at a stock bottle from a fly colony in his laboratory in Athens. He raises the spotted wing drosophila for testing; the drosophila feeds on blueberries and is the first major pest Georgia’s blueberry farmers have had to fight. Sial has produced videos and information sheets with recommendations for battling the drosophila.

(Bottom) Steve Mullis, a blueberry farmer and packing shed owner in Alma, looks at mummy berry spores through a hand lens. The fungus isn’t harmful to humans but can decrease yield.

This rabbiteye variety is one of the test bushes in a plot at UGA’s Blueberry Research and Demonstration Farm.

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Plays like this one put football players at risk for concussion. UGA Bulldogs take down an opponent from Louisiana State University in September 2013. UGA won 44-41.

32 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

HEAD ON

Ron Courson is tackling a crucial issue—how to prevent concussions

by April Reese Sorrow (BSA ’03, MPA ’14)

B

PERRY MCINTYRE JR.

randon Burrows remembers being struck on the left side of his head in spring 2013.

“I wasn’t able to see really,” he says.

“And the left side of my body felt numb, nearly limp. I had been hit, and I was stumbling around.”

Burrows (AB ’14), an outside linebacker for the Georgia Bulldogs, had sustained a concussion. When it happened, Ron Courson was there. As senior associate athletic director for sports medicine, Courson is on the sidelines for every football practice and game, ready to evaluate any injury that occurs. And he’s responsible for injury prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation of student athletes in all sports.

“I see every person who is injured,” Courson says. “I physically put my hands on every injured athlete. I cannot evaluate them if I don’t see them.”

Football accounts for 37 percent of concussions according to an NCAA national annual estimate of concussions for practice and competition in 14 NCAA sports (data from 2004-09). The next largest percentage was women’s soccer at 12 percent. Last year, UGA reported 10 concussions among football team players, although two were from accidents that occurred outside of practice and games.

With nearly 20 years of experience at UGA, Courson is quite familiar with concussions—injuries caused by a direct or indirect force to the head that leads to

a disturbance in brain function. Longterm problems can result from repeated concussions, so he’s conducting research that he hopes will reduce the number he treats.

“Ultimately, what we want to do is impact performance,” Courson says.

“We’ve done a good job in evaluating and diagnosing concussions in the past few years. Now, we need to prevent them.”

P

reventing a concussion is harder than it might sound. The brain sits inside the skull, suspended in cerebral fluid. When the head stops and the brain keeps moving, it can hit the skull, causing trauma on the surface of the brain as well as in the center where it is tethered by the spinal cord.

“No helmet will ever prevent a concussion because it will never tether the brain within the skull,” says Julianne

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Ron Courson, UGA senior associate athletic director for sports medicine, is responsible for injury prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation of student athletes in all sports.

Courson has been at UGA nearly 20 years, and his expertise is widely recognized; in 2013, he was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame.

SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

33

most injurious play because you’ve got guys running long distance at high speeds, and it causes a violent collision,” Courson says.

Rules for the kickoff favor touchbacks by moving the players to the 35-yard-line and the ball to the 25-yard-line. And new targeting guidelines prevent players from making contact with the top of the helmet, encouraging them to pick their heads up.

“We saw a dramatic difference in the number of head injuries from the first three games versus the last nine after that [targeting] rule was put into play,” Courson says.

JOHN KELLEY

Football player Shaun McGee tests his neck strength by pushing against a padded sensor that measures force. Players with stronger necks are thought to have a reduced risk of concussion.

Schmidt, assistant professor of exercise science in the College of Education’s kinesiology department, who specializes in concussion research.

While helmets can’t stop concussions, Schmidt and Courson are using them to gather information. At the start of the 2013-14 season, the UGA Sports Medicine Team wired 25 helmets with accelerometers, or sensors, that measure impact severity, hit location and frequency.

Information from the sensors goes into athlete profiles that indicate who’s being hit and where contact is made on the helmet. This allows coaches to talk to players about dangerous habits.

“We had one lineman with significantly more impacts than the others,” Courson says. “We could see from the data he was leading with his head rather than his hands.”

Rule changes influenced by recent concussion research are making the game safer.

“We knew that kickoff was the

34 GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

I

n addition to rules aimed at providing a safer playing environment, such as prohibiting helmet-to-helmet contact, the NCAA requires each member school to have a concussion management plan in place. Plans dictate when a player should be removed from practice or competition and give guidelines for evaluation from a health care provider before returning to play.

More than half of the concussions suffered by UGA athletes are self-reported. For the others, the sports medicine team monitors players on the field, looking for contact that could cause the brain to jolt and for immediate symptoms such as dizziness and vomiting.

“With an ankle sprain, I can ask an athlete why they are limping,” Courson says. “I can’t see a headache, or dizziness, or light or

“

noise sensitivity, so I have to rely on them to report it to me.”

“We are hoping imaging techniques improve and maybe with biomarkers we could have some way of detecting it,” says Schmidt, who also serves as director of UGA’s Concussion Research Laboratory in the Athletics Department. “But I think we are always going to rely on people reporting them.”

In addition to identifying the kinds of impacts that result in concussions and exploring the effects of non-concussive impacts on short- and long-term health, Schmidt works on refining the evaluation process for concussions.

“Right now, we have a set of tools that most people use, and we think they are good. But there is a growing body of research that suggests there may be more going on, so we want to look at that a little further,” she says.

At UGA, the medical team uses a dynamic balance measure; a vision test that shows visual reaction time; and a neuropsychological test that measures memory, reaction time and cognition against an alreadyestablished baseline.

“An athlete complaining of headache, dizziness and confusion could be [showing] symptoms of a concussion. It could also be heat exertion—they have the exact same signs and symptoms,” Courson says. “Every headache is not a concussion.”

If a diagnosis is in question, the team follows this mantra: “When in doubt, sit them out.”

Ultimately, what we want to do is impact performance. We’ve done a good job in evaluating and diagnosing concussions in the past few years. Now, we need to prevent them.”

—Courson

B

randon Burrows remembers the frustration of recovering from a concussion. The only thing he could do was rest—not just physically, but mentally.

“The healing process is very involved, but I couldn’t even read a book to kill time,” he says. “While I was doing nothing, it was a very meditative nothing. It adds another load to the concussion because you’ve already got whatever symptoms you are dealing with, and then you are even further removed from everything else in your life because of the nature of the injury and how delicate it is. You really can’t do anything, so … you’ve got to pretty much sit there until you feel better.”

Most concussions heal within seven to 10 days, but student athletes face an additional challenge. If they go to class, their symptoms often get worse.

“It’s like running on an injured knee.

It would hurt if you ran on it, which is an indicator that you put too high a load on that knee,” Schmidt says. “It is the same thing if you go into a classroom with a concussion.

You have to remember things to study for an exam, and it is putting too much load on the brain that is trying to repair itself.”

After his recovery, Burrows wore one of the helmets with sensors.

“It felt different, but you get used to it really quickly, and I’ve come to like it actually,” he says. “It was semi-reassuring to have the sensors there because I would know if something went awry.”

When it comes to concussions, the best medicine may be prevention—which Courson and Schmidt will continue to explore. “[Football] is a collision sport, a violent game,” Courson says, “but I think we can make significant strides in preventing concussions.” GM Top, Courson treats basketball player Marcus Thornton’s foot with extracorporeal shock wave therapy. Bottom, Julianne Schmidt, assistant professor of exercise science, works on baseline testing with football player Amarlo Herrera (seated). If Herrara sustains a head injury in the future, his baseline results can be compared to his post-injury results. Courson and Schmidt are conducting research aimed at finding ways to prevent concussions.

PHOTOS BY ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

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Better late than never

Chuck Barham earned a degree in marketing at UGA nearly 50 years ago, but he never got to enjoy being recognized at commencement ceremonies. Instead, Barham finished classes and reported for active duty in the U.S. Navy, where he served as an air traffic controller and helped train pilots in Meridian, Miss. He and wife Sandie, both from Rossville, raised two daughters, Michele and Chandra, and now live in Tyler, Texas. This spring, Barham (BBA ’67) surprised his wife; as one of their daughters was finishing her second degree, he told Sandie that the only thing missing from his life was that he didn’t get to walk across the stage after earning his degree.

Sandie had read about veterans who’d returned to their colleges to go through graduation exercises, so she contacted the Terry College of Business. In March she got the green light, and on their 48th wedding anniversary she presented her husband with a handmade invitation to return to UGA for commencement. On May 9, Barham fulfilled his long-held dream, putting on a cap and gown and walking across the stage—to a standing ovation—at the Terry College commencement ceremony in Stegeman Coliseum.

CLASS

NOTES

CLASSNOTES

HERB NYGREN JR./TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH

CLASS NOTES

Compiled by Daniel Funke

1945-1949 Willie Kate Friar (ABJ ’47) of Lafayette, Colo., completed her 116th cruise, on which she gave lectures about destinations around the world.

Friar began giving lectures on cruises after retiring from the Panama Canal Commission, where she worked for 28 years.

1950-1954 Carolyn Goodman Gold (ABJ ’50) of Atlanta writes a column for The Jewish Georgian, a bimonthly newspaper

36

serving the Jewish community in Atlanta. Balfoura “Bo” Friend Levine (ABJ ’50) of Atlanta writes a column for The Jewish Georgian as well as a monthly column for the Renaissance Journal, a publication of the senior community in Atlanta. Jack Stodghill (BFA ’50) of Newport News, Va., was inducted into the American Institute of Certified Planners College of Fellows in April.

1960-1964 Glenda R. Elliott (AB ’62, MEd ’66) of Birmingham, Ala., was selected as an icon of the Alabama Counseling Association and received the Bill Jack Gaither Humanitarian Award from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

and Transgender human rights organization Equality Alabama for her work in education and advocacy for LGBT youth. Wyckliffe “Wyck” A. Knox Jr. (BBA ’62, LLB ’64) of Augusta received the Distinguished Service Scroll Award from the UGA School of Law alumni association.

The award is the association’s highest honor and recognizes individuals for their dedication and service to their profession and the law school. Peter Vig (BBA ’62, MBA ’64) of Dallas, Texas, received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Terry College of Business May 3 at the school’s 2014 Alumni Awards and Gala for his work as managing partner of RoundRock Capital Partners. Larry Walker (BBA

ALUMNI PROFILE

Continuing a legacy Hamilton Holmes’ son knew UGA was the place for him—then and now

by Lori Johnston (ABJ ’95) Hamilton E. Holmes Jr. was attracted to UGA because of his father’s legacy as one of the first two students to integrate the university in 1961. But his dad didn’t push him to apply.

“He supported my interest, but he didn’t really comment about me attending one way or the other,” says Holmes (BBA ’90), community relations manager for Lockheed Martin in Marietta. “I think that he had sort of blocked out some of his experience because of the things he had to go through when he was there.”

The late Hamilton Holmes (BS ’63), Hamilton Holmes Jr. who endured racial slurs and violence when he and Charlayne Hunter-Gault (ABJ ’63) entered UGA under a court order, his wife of 21 years, Gail (BBA ’92), who works for The had lost his connection with UGA for nearly two decades Coca-Cola Co., at UGA (they have two teenage children). after graduating cum laude. The beauty of North Campus, His father died in 1995, but before his death, the elder reputation of the Terry College of Business and conversations Holmes and Hunter-Gault established an academic with students won his son over during a campus tour in the scholarship in their names. mid-1980s.

Terry professors taught Holmes Jr. how to develop

After Holmes received his acceptance letter, his dad ideas and proposals, build a brand image and work with encouraged him to join campus groups, since he kept to a team—skills he uses in his role at Lockheed Martin to himself as a student. promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

“My father really didn’t even have one friend,” Holmes careers. He also serves on the Georgia Department of says.

Education STEM Business/Industry Advisory Committee

The elder Holmes, who graduated in 1967 as the first and the Peach State STARBASE board.

African-American student at Emory University School of

An emeritus member of the Terry College Alumni Medicine and went on to a successful career as a physician, Board, Holmes frequently returns to campus for athletic was detached from UGA until then-University President events, lectures and to talk to students. In spring he Fred Davison asked him to help plan the 1985 bicentennial joined President Jere W. Morehead at the inaugural celebration. That event established the annual HunterGeorgia African-American Male Experience (GAAME) Holmes lecture; Holmes also became the first Africanrecruitment weekend, an event that brings prospective American member of the board of trustees of the UGA students to campus for an overnight visit.

Foundation in 1983.

“UGA helped develop a part of who I am today,”

After entering UGA in 1986, the younger Holmes joined says Holmes, who served as keynote speaker and the Zeta Pi chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Holmes helped steer a new generation to UGA. participated in Leadership UGA and served as a resident

Twenty-three out of the 29 prospective students assistant in Russell Hall, following his father’s advice to who attended the GAAME event have committed to make a difference in students’ lives. African-American attending UGA. students represented 4.8 percent of the total student body his freshman year, but Holmes says he didn’t feel isolation

—Lori Johnston is a writer living in Watkinsville. or racism and cultivated diverse, lifelong friendships. He met

PAUL EFLAND

SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

® There is nothing like being in Athens in the fall.

Campus is a hotbed of renewable energy as new (and highly qualified) students settle into their class schedules, residence halls and routines. The hallowed grounds of the University of Georgia seemingly tremble with excitement as fall semester arrives.

My family and I spent much of the summer in “Athens South”—also known as St. Simons Island.

Tim Keadle We enjoyed visits from family and friends and counted our many blessings. However, when the football pads started popping, it was time to put summer behind us, return to the Classic City and begin preparations for fall.

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome Kelly Kerner to campus as vice president for development and alumni relations. Kelly joins the Bulldog Nation from Bowdoin College in Maine, where he was the senior vice president for development and alumni relations and secretary of the college. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Kelly since his arrival and look forward to the leadership and excitement he will bring to the university’s comprehensive fundraising campaign. I’ve heard that he’s already practicing his Dawg bark and preparing for Georgia’s tamer winters. Welcome to the Peach State, Kelly!

I would also like to recognize and congratulate the 40 Under 40 Class of 2014, which was unveiled in early July. These outstanding young alumni are just remarkable. I encourage you to visit www.alumni.uga.edu/40u40 to review the complete list and learn more about the annual 40 Under 40 Awards Luncheon that will take place on Sept. 18. This year’s luncheon will once again be held at the Georgia Aquarium, complete with beluga whales and live music!

As football season heats up, I invite you to gather with fellow Bulldogs who live in your area. Alumni chapters across the globe are hosting game-watching parties for local alumni; visit www.alumni.uga.edu/gamewatchings for details.

I hope to see many of you back on campus during the weekend of Oct. 3-4 for Homecoming. In addition to the Homecoming football game against Vanderbilt on Saturday, the family-friendly parade will take place in downtown Athens on Friday evening. It is sure to be another incredible weekend in the Classic City, at the Arch and Between the Hedges.

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

38

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

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

’64, JD ’65) of Perry received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division for his public service and leadership in the law industry.

1965-1969 John Konenkamp (AB ’67) of Rapid City, S.D., will retire from his position as a justice in the state Supreme Court Dec. 31 after 20 years of service. Tyron Spearman (BSA ’67, MS ’69) of Tifton was selected to be president of the Georgia District Exchange Club, a service organization aimed at bettering local communities, for 2014-15. J. Randall Frost (BBA ’68) of Gainesville was appointed to the Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority by Gov. Nathan Deal in June.

1970-1974 Alan Griggs (ABJ ’72) of Nashville, Tenn., received the John Holliman Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. David Garfinkel (AB ’73, MPA ’75) of Jacksonville, Fla., was listed among 58 Florida Super Lawyers in Super Lawyers magazine for his work at the law firm GrayRobinson P.A. Lawson Thompson (AB ’74) of Marietta is now a registered neutral at Miles Mediation in Atlanta.

1975-1979 Paula Robertson (BFA ’76) of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded the rank of associate fellow for the nonprofit organization Society for Technical Communication.

1980-1984 Robert L. Crutchfield (AB ’80) of Birmingham, Ala., joined the board of directors of the Florida Venture Forum, an organization supporting venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

ALUMNI calendar Game-Watching Parties Alumni chapters across the country will host football game-watching parties throughout the fall to cheer the Bulldogs on to victory. Locate a gathering near you at www.alumni.uga.edu/gamewatchings.

Thursday, Sept. 18 40 Under 40 Awards Luncheon Join the UGA Alumni Association as it recognizes 40 of the university’s most accomplished young alumni during a luncheon at the Georgia Aquarium. Go to www.alumni.uga.edu/40u40 for more information and to view the complete list of honorees.

Friday, Sept. 19, and Saturday, Sept. 20 UGA Parents and Families Weekend Parents and Families Weekend brings families to campus to visit their students and participate in faculty lectures, an ice cream social and a tailgate breakfast, plus it offers the opportunity to attend the UGA football game against Troy University.

Visit www.dar.uga.edu/parents_families for more information.

CONTRIBUTED

Luke Rini, son of Katrina Kinnard Rini (BBA ’92), asked Football Coach Mark Richt the final question of the evening during UGA Day in Orlando on April 30.

Friday, Oct. 3, and Saturday, Oct. 4 Homecoming Weekend UGA’s Homecoming Weekend will take place Oct. 3-4. In addition to the football game against Vanderbilt University on Oct. 4, the family-friendly Homecoming parade will take place in downtown Athens the Friday evening before. A number of schools and colleges will also host Homecoming tailgates and gatherings. Visit http://calendar.uga.edu for details on those activities.

Friday, Nov. 21 Alumni Night at the Bookstore Graduates are invited to the UGA Bookstore on campus to shop for items at 20 percent off. The event, which takes place the night before the football game against Charleston Southern, includes alumni authors signing books and photos with Uga IX. To learn about these and other events, please visit www.alumni.uga.edu/calendar.

CONTRIBUTED

The Richmond, Va., Chapter of the UGA Alumni Association donated $500 to purchase honor cords for graduating student veterans from the Class of 2014. U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, seen here with Student Veterans Association President Matthew Fowler (AB ’14), presented students with the cords in May.

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

SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

I

WHY give

Scott Taylor

SPECIAL

“I wanted to give back in a way that would benefit students like me who need help in paying for an education. Had it not been for the scholarships and financial aid I received in middle and high school, I might not have gotten into UGA.” — Scott Taylor (BBA ’88), who made a gift to the Gateway to Georgia Scholarship Program. Taylor is president and part owner of Carter, a real estate investment, development and advisory firm in Atlanta that has managed numerous building projects on the UGA campus.

Scott Taylor credits his experience at a private high school—which he couldn’t have attended without the help of scholarships—with getting admitted to UGA. As a UGA alumnus, he wanted to give other students the opportunity to go to college.

“I feel such an affinity for UGA and am incredibly fortunate to have gone here,” he says. “It’s wonderful being on campus, and it’s always nice to have a reason to come back.”

The Georgia Access Scholarship Fund, one of three scholarship funds aided by Taylor’s gift to the Gateway to Georgia Scholarship Program, is a need-based scholarship that helps support students who are qualified to attend UGA but may not have the financial means to pay for a college education.

Want to support the University of Georgia? Go to give.uga.edu

1985-1989 Gina Drosos (BBA ’85) of Mason, Ohio, was named chief executive officer of Assurex Health. Mark Papanicolaou (BBA ’85) of Bogart joined the National Bank of Georgia as group vice president at the company’s Athens location.

Scott Wayne (BBA ’85) of Athens was named regional president of Community Bank & Trust, where he will be in charge of northeast Georgia. Darren DeVore (BBA ’86) of Atlanta received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Terry College of Business May 3 at the school’s 2014 Alumni Awards and Gala for his work as principal of The Carroll Organization. Kyle George (AB ’86) of Macon was appointed clerk of court of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Andrew McCullough (AB ’86) of Lafayette, Colo., was a finalist for the Impact for Education Award in the Boulder Valley School District for his work in leading a community partnership for lowincome students. John Boles (AB ’87) of Springfield, Va., was selected to serve as assistant director of the International Operations Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C. Tony W. Woodard (BBA ’89) of Marietta was appointed interim chief financial officer at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc.

1990-1994 Krysta Harden (ABJ ’81) of Alexandria, Va., was the keynote speaker for the 79th annual Delta Council meeting May 30 at Delta State University. The council focuses on economic development in northwest Mississippi. Elaine Powell Cook (BFA ’83) of Bogart was named the 2014 Athens Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia in May. Stephen G. “Steve” Daniel

40

(BBA ’83) of Thomaston was named president of West Georgia Technical College. Frank Hanna (BBA ’83, JD ’86) of Atlanta was elected to the Catholic Leadership Institute’s board of directors. Kathy Daly-Jennings (BS ’84) of Atlanta joined Haverty Furniture Companies Inc. as senior vice president of marketing. Bill Rhyne Jr. (AB ’84) of LaFayette was appointed chief assistant solicitor of Walker County.

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

Amy Glennon (ABJ ’90) of Atlanta received the Henry W. Grady Mid-Career Alumni Award from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. James McVaney (AB ’92) of Arlington, Va., graduated from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business with a Master of Business Administration degree in May. He now runs his own government affairs

THE book that’s captivating the Bulldog Nation...

Ganeshan receives

Urann Fellowship Smitha Ganeshan (BS ’14) was awarded a $15,000 Marcus L. Urann Fellowship from Phi Kappa Phi honor society. Ganeshan, who’s now attending Harvard Medical School, was a UGA Honors student, a Foundation Fellow and a 2013 Truman Scholar.

As an undergraduate, Ganeshan focused on the intersection between SPECIAL health and policy. She directed the health Smitha Ganeshan and environmental policy centers at the Roosevelt Institute (RI), a student-run think tank. Through RI, she drafted a federal Health Professional Shortage Area designation application on behalf of Athens-Clarke County that has enhanced the ability of safety net providers to compete for grants. She interned at the Greater New York Hospital Association and the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Ganeshan studied at Oxford University through the UGA at Oxford program, interned at the World Health Organization’s M.V. Hospital for Diabetes in Chennai, India, and assisted physicians in Peru and Nicaragua. She volunteered at the Athens Nurses Clinic and interned at the Athens Health Network, which works to reduce health care disparities by coordinating services for the indigent population.

and investment banking advisory firm.

Mark Spain (BBA ’93) of Cumming and his associates at Keller Williams Realty were named the top real estate team for sales at the Atlanta Board of Realtors’ Multi-Million Dollar Sales Club Banquet. Jay Ferguson (AB ’94) of Atlanta was recognized as an Outstanding General Counsel honoree at the Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognize business leaders in both the public and private sectors. Vasu Murthy (BS ’94) of Athens opened Johnson and Murthy Family Practice with business partner and fellow medical doctor Farris T. Johnson in Athens. Brian Sutton (BBA ’94) of Norcross was named the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties Georgia top industrial producer for his work in negotiating leases.

“A fabulous book, a treasure trove.”

— Beth Andrew Sweat, Class of 1958

“For all UGA alums, a must-read and must-buy. . .”

— Charles Russell, Class of 1979

Available at:

BOOKSTORE brought to you by

1995-1999 Calvin O’Keeffe (BSA ’96) of Atlanta received the Workhorse Award from the Georgia chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. O’Keeffe has won this award every year for the past decade for his work in overseeing lease transactions. Amy Ellerbee Johnson (BBA ’97) of Acworth was named Advanced Wound Care Sales Representative of the Year by Smith and Nephew Advanced Wound Management. Lisa Gay Heins (BA ’98) of Chesapeake, Va., became engaged March 22 and was married July 19. Jenny Jacobs Hubler (AB ’98) of Richmond, Va., will serve as president of the Virginia School Counselor Association for the 2014-15 school year.

Serving

One-Sixth Page GEORGIA Vertical

nourishment with culinary spirit

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

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CLASSNOTES

ALUMNI PROFILE

High hopes for special education Ann Woodruff-Conley uses trapeze, movement to connect with kids

by Lori Johnston (ABJ ’95) Hanging upside down from a trapeze bar, Ann WoodruffConley hooks her hands around 10-year-old Jessie Johnson’s waist and flips her 8 feet into the air. Jessie, who has autism, pulls herself up the ropes and sits next to Woodruff-Conley.

The choreographed movements demonstrate how the free lessons at Athens’ Canopy Studio have improved Jessie’s memorization, coordination and communication skills.

At one point, Jessie sits on the floor reading the trick lineup for a routine. Away from the trapeze, reading is challenging for the 4th grader.

“She wants to read here. Reading here is knowledge, and power,” says Woodruff-Conley (BSEd ’05), children’s programming and outreach coordinator for Canopy, a flying aerial arts center founded in 2002.

Woodruff-Conley believes that getting kids to move can make them stronger physically and mentally and boost their confidence.

“When I’m teaching trapeze to a child with a disability, it’s from an educational side,” she says. “We want kids to have kid experiences, and that includes the swinging, the running, the crashing, the movement.”

Stacey Johnson originally thought trapeze would be a fun activity for her fearless daughter. The aerial feats have strengthened Jessie’s arms, back, legs and even her grip so much over two years that her hands no longer shake from her disabilities. She doesn’t have to use weighted utensils, and it’s becoming easier to write. Plus, “she likes being here. She likes to perform,” says Johnson, who adopted Jessie from Brazil.

Woodruff-Conley coordinates private and group lessons, after-school programs, special classes and field trips. An occupational therapist works out of Canopy, and WoodruffConley’s program is separate—not covered by insurance—but reinforces the fine and gross motor skills taught to children with disabilities. Most of the special education private lessons are full or partial scholarship.

“We can serve anybody and everybody,” she says.

At UGA, Woodruff-Conley took a PE class from Canopy founder Susan Murphy and believed in Murphy’s vision when she announced plans for a center where adults and children of all abilities could learn aerial dance. WoodruffConley taught self-contained special education classes at public schools in Boston and Atlanta for four years and then returned to Athens.

“I wanted to be at Canopy doing trapeze,” she says.

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DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI

Jessie Johnson (left) and Ann Woodruff-Conley

Woodruff-Conley and her team have worked with northeast Georgia schools and organizations to grow Canopy’s outreach efforts to include an after-school program for elementary students, at-risk teens program and late-night young adult class. Canopy also hosts field trips, and even brings a freestanding trapeze rig to schools and community events. No other aerial dance studio in North America appears to match the scope of outreach at Canopy, says Woodruff-Conley, who represented Canopy last month at the American Youth Circus Organization Educators Conference in Montreal.

During a water break, Jessie says other kids shouldn’t be afraid to get on the trapeze.

“It’s good exercise for them,” she says.

As Jessie lays down in a blue swing shaped like a sling, Woodruff-Conley gives her legs a push and she shoots off across the gym, giggling. Her teacher smiles and adds: “She’s surrounded by adults and other kids, and she’s part of this community. They’re all here working. She’s sees herself as just as capable.”

—Lori Johnston is a writer living in Watkinsville.

Learn more at canopystudio.org and trapezetherapy.com

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

COURTNEY JOHNSON

Honoring a legend UGA honored retired federal judge Horace Ward—the university’s first African-American applicant—with an honorary doctor of laws degree during spring graduation in May. A native of LaGrange, Ward earned degrees at Morehouse College and Atlanta University before applying to the UGA School of Law in 1950. When his application was denied Ward sought legal resolution, starting a quest said to have established an important precedent in the civil rights movement in Georgia.

After earning a law degree from Northwestern University in 1959, Ward returned to his home state and joined the legal team that represented Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault in their landmark efforts to enroll at UGA in 1961.

While a partner in the law firm of Hollowell, Ward, Moore and Alexander, Ward worked on several other significant civil rights cases throughout Georgia, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s case in DeKalb County.

In 1964, Ward became the second African-American since Reconstruction elected to the Georgia General Assembly. In 1974, he was appointed to the Civil Court of Fulton County, making him the first African-American trial court judge in Georgia. He was elevated to Fulton County Superior Court judge in 1977. Two years later, Ward was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Ward took senior status in 1994 and retired from his post in 2012.

Charles Jennings (ABJ ’98) of Columbia, Md., is the new associate director of employer relations at the Career and Professional Development Center at the University of Baltimore.

Mark Brescia Johnson (BS ’98) of Acworth was promoted to area vice president of sales for Smith and Nephew Advanced Surgical Devices. Seth Katz (AB ’98) of Peachtree Corners opened the Law Office of Seth N. Katz LLC,

which specializes in business and employment law and litigation. Hines Ward (BSFCS ’98) of Atlanta was the keynote speaker at the Savannah Morning News’ fourth annual Best of Preps banquet in May. Brian Culp (BSEd ’99, EdD ’05) of Indianapolis, Ind., was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to serve as a visiting chair of research at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

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Support Art at UGA

Help us support the School of Art through purchasing a seat in one of the two auditoriums that hosts lectures, presentations and classes.

With a gift of $500, your name or dedication will be inscribed on one of the 300 seats in the building’s auditoriums. Proceeds will help support critical opportunities for our students and faculty.

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SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES

Reading list

Books by UGA Alumni

The Detective & The Pipe Girl: A Mystery Bourbon Street Books (2014)

By Michael Craven (AB ’92) Private detective John Darvelle unravels a kidnapping case in the underground world of Los Angeles, Calif.

Crash Course: Life Lessons My Students Taught Me Simon & Schuster (2014)

By Kim Bearden (BSEd ’87) Bearden, co-founder and executive director of the Ron Clark Academy, recounts the lessons she’s learned from students during her three decades in education.

Domestic Abuse in the Novels of African American Women: A Critical Study McFarland (2014)

By Heather Duerre Humann (AB ’98) This book examines the treatment of female characters in the works of African-American authors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker and the literary tradition they inspired.

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

The Rubik Memorandum CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2014)

By Gary Glancz (BBA ’72) under the pen name Jeremy Logan Part one of a planned trilogy, this novel follows the chief investigator of a crisis management firm probing the cause of a fire at a U.S. military fuel depot.

The Sum of His Worth Cliff Edge Publishing (2014)

By Ron Argo (ABJ ’68) In this novel set during the civil rights movement, a teenager’s life is changed after he witnesses a lynching.

The Curse of the Thrax CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2014)

By Mark Murphy (BS ’84) This fantasy tells the story of a young man who seeks to avenge the death of his father by killing a dragon.

Data Smart Wiley (2013)

By John W. Foreman (BS ’06) Foreman shows readers the relatively simple process companies go through to collect and apply data about their customers.

Year of Little Lesson Plans: 10 Minutes of Smart, Fun Things to Teach Your Little Ones Ages 3-8 Each Weekday CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2012)

By Courtney Loquasto (BBA ’97) A how-to that includes lesson plans for parents to teach their children as a supplement to schoolwork.

Wallace, Darwin, and the Origin of Species Harvard University Press (2014)

By James T. Costa (MS ’88, PhD ’92) Costa examines the biological works of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, noting how both developed similar theories of evolution.

Phobia WestBow Press (2013)

By Ty Wheeler (BSA ’95) This novel follows a detective as he attempts to track down a serial killer in his formerly peaceful hometown.

Woodhall Stories Saint Johann Press (2014)

By R. Cary Bynum (BFA ’62) This collection of short stories details strange occurrences in an old Atlanta neighborhood during the 1940s and ’50s.

Submit new books written by UGA alumni to gmeditor@uga.edu. Please include a brief description of the book and a hi-res cover.

Servants of the Storm Simon Pulse (2014)

By Delores “Delilah” Southard Dawson (AB ’99) A young adult novel that follows a girl as she uncovers the dark secrets of Savannah in the destruction following a hurricane.

Vanishing Towns of Rural Georgia Backroad Books (2010)

By Andy Kite (AB ’14) This history and photography book highlights 14 communities in Georgia that have all but disappeared.

Far South of Dixie Amazon Digital Services (2014)

By Willie Kate Thrower Friar (ABJ ’47) This fictional account follows a Georgia family that immigrates to Brazil after the Civil War. The Legendary Evolution of Pinehurst: Home of American Golf T. Eliot Press (2014)

By Richard Mandell (BLA ’90) An updated, redesigned version of the author’s 2007 history of the Pinehurst golf course, the site of the 2014 U.S. Open.

Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice Routledge (2012)

By Claire Howell Major (PhD ’98) and Maggi Savin-Baden Written with a focus on making sense of difficult terminology, this book is a resource for those wishing to conduct qualitative research studies.

The 365 Project: The Year of Getting Back to Me CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2014)

By Bridgette Burton (AB ’11, ABJ ’11) This collection of poems delves into the mental, emotional, spiritual and sexual growth and healing of the author during 2012.

A Campaign of Quiet Persuasion: How the College Board Desegregated SAT Test Centers in the Deep South Louisiana State University Press (2013)

By Jan Bates Wheeler (EdD ’07) A Campaign tells the previously untold story of how two men traveled from state to state to establish a roster of desegregated test centers within segregated school districts.

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

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

End Run: How the Supercapitalists Took Over The U.S. Government Right from the Start Amazon Digital Services (2014)

By Frank Conner (BSA ’65) An examination of the U.S. political system offering the late Conner’s view of the country and the “supercapitalists” that run it.

Unstoppable Amazon Digital Services (2014)

By Shelli “S.R.” Johannes (BBA ’92) Grace attempts to stop conservation threats to the North Carolina wilderness in this third installment of the Nature of Grace young adult series.

India Unveiled: Spirit, Tradition, People Atman Press (2014)

By Robert Arnett (AB ’64, MA ’66) A portrait of the people, landscape and culture of India.

Gardening with Young Children Redleaf Press (2014)

By Karen Stoelzle Midden (MLA ’83), Marla Olthof and Sara Starbuck A book with practical gardening advice and inspirational ideas for parents.

Throwing Rocks in the River CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2011)

By Gale Nemec (BSEd ’73, MEd ’74) In this children’s book, two friends’ find a pastime that helps them solve disagreements.

Miss Dimple Picks A Peck of Trouble Minotaur Books (2014)

By Mignon Franklin Ballard (ABJ ’56) The newest edition to the series follows the rural Georgia schoolteacher as she investigates who killed an 18-year old girl with many secrets.

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ALUMNI PROFILE

The talented Ms. Ripley Attorney by day, artist by night

by Tracy Coley Giese (ABJ ’90) This spring alumna Heather Ripley spent a week on campus. The project that brought her back to Athens was a labor of love—painting a fiberglass bulldog statue that greets visitors in the lobby of Terrell Hall.

Painting isn’t an obvious activity for Ripley (BBA ’06, MAcc ’06), who earned a law degree at Harvard after graduating from UGA with degrees in accounting. But Ripley, now an associate tax attorney with Alston & Bird in New York City, has been painting since the 10th grade at Woodward Academy in College Park.

“I’ve always kept up with my art,” she says.

“I actually sold a few paintings to my accounting professors while I was at UGA. I’ve toyed with the idea of art as a career, but just leaned more toward business and law.”

Heather Ripley

She practices in her free time, dabbling in charcoal, pencil, acrylics and oil pastels.

“Some of my artwork is commissioned, some pieces I do as gifts, and some are just for fun. It’s relaxing, it expands my mind,” she says. “Tax law can be creative in its own way, but art stretches my mind in a different way, particularly with hand-eye coordination.”

UGA is a tradition in Ripley’s family. Her parents met at UGA, her sister graduated from UGA and her brother is a student. She’s active with the New York City Alumni Association and Terry College alumni and socializes with UGA friends at game-watching parties. So when UGA’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions put out a call for artists, she submitted a proposal.

The result is Terrell Archie Jackson, named for Terrell Hall, the UGA Arch and Jackson Street (the address for UGA Admissions), a canine-shaped mural that features elements of the undergraduate experience—applying online, touring North Campus, the fireworks display of graduation, and a walk through the Arch.

It took Ripley about 35 hours to paint the statue, time she was glad to donate to her alma mater. She credits her experiences traveling as a Foundation Fellow with exposing her to different cultures—now useful in her daily work with international clients—and her Spanish minor has helped in her volunteer work with tax assistance for the Latino population.

“I just love UGA and the time that I spent here,” Ripley says. “I remember hanging out and being able to relax in Moore College and Brooks Hall between classes, and playing Frisbee at the intramural fields. And of course, I loved going to the football games. So this is my way of giving back.”

See more of Ripley’s art at heatherripleyart.com

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PAUL EFLAND

Margarett McIntosh (BS ’99) of Savannah was named chief of civil works programs and project management for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District. David Mowery (ABJ ’99) of Montgomery, Ala., and his political advisement company, Mowery Consulting Group LLC, received a Pollie Award from the American Association of Political Consultants. MCG was recognized as a bronze winner for best website in the category of public affairs. Nicole S. Zellweger (AB ’99, AB ’00) of Frontenac, Mo., was named on Franchise Times’ 2014 Legal Eagle list for her work as an attorney at Stinson Leonard Street LLP.

2000-2004 Matt Almand (ABJ ’00, JD ’04) and Jamison Fulks Almand (BBA ’00) of Fayetteville welcomed their third daughter, Hollace Prince, in March.

Rachel Greene Ayers (AB ’00, MSW ’07) and husband Patrick Ayers of Gainesville welcomed son Liam Greene Ayers in April.

Amanda Parker Baggett (ABJ ’00) of Jacksonville, Fla., was appointed to the Construction Law Certification Committee of the Florida Bar and will serve a three-year term. Paul Belk (AB ’00) of Clarkesville is now president and CEO of North Georgia Network, a regional fiber optic system. Zachary R. Cowart (AB ’00, JD ’03) of Valdosta was selected as a board member of the Scintilla Charter Academy, which will open in the Valdosta area for the 2015-16 school year. Matt Forshee (BLA ’00) of Fayetteville was hired as east Georgia manager of community and economic development for Georgia Power. He was also recognized on Development Councilors International’s top 40 under 40 list of the best economic developers.

Scott Bryan Hunter (BBA ’00) of Albany was named a member of Wells Fargo Advisors’ Premier Advisors Program for the fourth consecutive year, recognizing his achievements in revenue generation, educational attainment and client-service best practices. Kevin Wuzzardo (ABJ ’00) of Leland, N.C., was promoted to assistant news director at WWAYTV in Wilmington, N.C., where he has worked for nearly eight years.

Kristen Paul Hunt (ABJ ’01) and Samuel Hunt (ABJ ’02) of Woodstock welcomed their second son, Holden Calder, March 1. Cindy Bazzell (BBA ’02, EdS ’09) of Loganville was named the 2014 Georgia Marketing Education Association Teacher of the Year for her work in teaching business education and advising the DECA marketing club at Brookwood High School. Alecia “Red” White Barrett (BSEd ’03) and Thomas Barrett (BSFR ’01) and their son Bradlee, 2, of Soperton welcomed identical twin

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SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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ALUMNI PROFILE

The sound of music Tanzania’s musical heritage will be accessible to its people, thanks to alumna Rebecca Corey

by John W. English Rebecca Corey earned her outlook as a young world citizen. Born in South Korea, she was raised in Athens, yet now lives and works in the East African nation of Tanzania. As a UGA Foundation Fellow (AB ’09), Corey traveled widely—South America, Europe, North Asia and the South Pacific. She spent the summer of 2007 in Tanzania researching the transmission of cultural knowledge and the impact globalization was having on young Africans.

After graduating summa cum laude, Corey NICOLAS CALVIN was drawn back to Tanzania for graduate Interim Director Rebecca Corey dances onstage at “Sauti za Busara,” studies and some appealing public service a music festival on the island of Zanzibar. She lives in Tanzania, initiatives. She won a Rotary Ambassadorial where the cuisine reminds her of Southern food—okra, greens, grilled Scholarship and signed on as a Kiva Fellow to chicken and ugali, a thick cornmeal gruel that tastes like grits. assist, in Tanzania, the San Francisco-based web platform that facilitates peer-to-peer micro-lending.

Despite an unexpected delay (Corey was seriously

Predictably, as an Athens native, Corey’s passion for injured in a motorbike accident and returned to the U.S. music loomed large. She discovered that Tanzanians’ access to convalesce for almost two years), the project is again to their popular music was severely limited because much developing momentum. A crowd-funding campaign and online of the recent musical past—from the 1960s to the middonations to their website have raised enough funds to buy ’80s—had only been recorded in analog reel-to-reel tape the necessary transfer equipment. format in a lone government-run radio studio and had never

“We are slowly working through thorny bureaucratic been digitized for modern media formats. That cultural gap— obstacles and intellectual property/copyright challenges, but stored on some 20,000 reels—is a mother lode waiting to be we hope to begin the digitalization soon,” Corey says. mined.

Her unabashed affinity for African music led to another

“Imagine growing up in the U.S. and never being able opportunity. After she returned to Tanzania in the fall of to hear a Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan recording,” Corey says 2012, she was invited to become interim director of Busara via email. “That musical heritage is such an important part Promotions, an NGO that presents an internationally of growing up and finding your identity, learning the history renowned music festival called “Sauti za Busara” (“Sounds of your culture and country. That’s what is at risk if the of Wisdom” in Swahili). The 2014 festival on the island of Radio Tanzania archives aren’t digitized, and that’s why I got Zanzibar featured 32 acts from 18 countries, and some involved.”

20,000 fans attended during its four-day run.

With a Tanzanian friend, Corey co-founded the Tanzania

“I believe music is truly a universal language that Heritage Project, which seeks to promote the existence of transcends borders and has the power to bring people these musical archives and their digitization. The founders together regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, class, spent nearly two years planning the details of the project. gender, sexuality or religion,” Corey says. “I’m lucky to be in a

“In the process we’ve built a network of musicians, community of people who feel the same.” producers, DJs, record labels, journalists and other cultural

—John W. English, UGA professor emeritus of journalism, practitioners and stakeholders who are also passionate about is a frequent contributor to GM. preservation and creating access to these forgotten treasures.”

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boys, Alec William and Allen Robert, was named the National Association May 6. Red is the director of school of Industrial and Office Properties nutrition for the Treutlen County Million Dollar Club top office producer school district, and Thomas is the for his work in managing real estate.

Rural Conservation and Development Steven Lee Sanders (ABJ ’03) of state forester. Blake Bruce (BBA ’03) Augusta was selected by the Augusta of Atlanta received the Outstanding Metro Chamber of Commerce and Young Alumni Award from the Terry Augusta Magazine as one of the Top College of Business May 3 at the 10 Young Professionals to Watch. school’s 2014 Alumni Awards and Gala Greg Bluestein (AB ’04, ABJ ’04) for his work as a senior vice president of Dunwoody received the John E. within the Global Wealth Management Drewry Young Alumni Award from the division of Merrill Lynch. Geary Grady College of Journalism and Mass D. Bush (BSA ’03) of Donalsonville Communication. Michael Konomos joined the department of surgery at (BFA ’04) of Decatur works for the The Longstreet Clinic, where he will Emory University School of Medicine, serve as a general surgeon. Lea C. where he helped develop an iPad Dearing (BBA ’03) of Terrell, Texas, application to teach surgical residents joined the Atlanta-based law firm about the anatomy of the liver. Thomas Berman Fink Van Horn P.C. as senior S. Rasmussen (BBA ’04) of Concord, associate attorney, where she will Calif., was named site manager of the continue to practice business litigation.

Progressive Insurance Service Center UGA Law MSL-7x4.375_UGA 6/18/14 12:01 PM PageCreek, 1 Travis Garland (BBA ’03) ofLaw Atlanta in Walnut Calif.

2005-2009 Jeremy Clouse (BSFCS ’06) of Houston, Texas, became a consultant to Bookacoach, an online marketplace for booking sports lessons, in a merger with his website Trainlete, which aimed at connecting trainers and athletes.

Jason O’Rouke (AB ’06, MPA ’11) of Atlanta received the 2014 30 Under 30 Award from Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.

Jonathan W. Riffle (BS ’06) of Martinez earned a doctor of pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine – Georgia Campus. He began a neurosurgery residency at Tulane University in July.

David Stein (AB ’06) of Athens opened his new brewery Creature Comforts in downtown Athens in April. Jeremy Adams (BBA ’07) of Atlanta received the Rookie of the Year Award from the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors

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Apply today to enroll in classes beginning in August 2015.

www.law.uga.edu/MSL

SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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1.

ALUMNI PROFILE

Taking flight An alumna grows her international balloon and gift business

by Daniel Funke They adorn birthday parties, weddings and gatherings of all kinds, but for one UGA alumna, balloons are much more than simply an eye-catching decoration—they are her livelihood.

Maxine Hubbard Burton (BSEd ’72, MEd ’78) is the founder and president of burton + BURTON, a wholesale supplier that specializes in balloons and related gifts. A multimillion dollar international business, burton + BURTON’s success has afforded Burton widespread Maxine Hubbard Burton recognition since her graduation from the University of Georgia.

In 2013 she was appointed to the Georgia Council for the Arts by Gov. Nathan Deal, and she’s won several awards over the years, including Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in the Retail and Wholesale Category in 2001. Burton served on the Georgia Ports Authority for several terms and ended her service last year as one of the longest serving members of the organization.

She got her start in small business much like any other aspiring entrepreneur—in a humble, almost archetypal fashion while living in Athens.

“When I married my husband, I was an elementary school teacher but I soon joined him in the wholesale floral business. We were always looking for ways to grow the business, and I came upon a new idea,” she says.

“Metallic balloons were really new back in the early ’80s, and I thought by adding a message to a balloon and then adding the balloon to a floral arrangement, our floral customers could enhance their profits. The idea quickly took off, and in 1982 I started a new business to sell balloons to retail flower shops.”

With the help of husband Bob Burton (BSA ’71), she was soon expanding her inventory and selling to several large product lines. Today, the company enjoys a global customer base, and Burton works closely with vendors around the world to create new and interesting products.

“I may not have visualized such an international business when we first began, but I always aspired to create a successful business with a strong foundation,” she says. “I believe that being successful is a continuous path.

Your goals should be hour by hour, day by day and year by year, and they must be flexible enough to allow for changing demands.”

Despite the challenges of managing an international enterprise, Burton shows no signs of slowing down.

“It has been my privilege to work so closely with my family and with so many wonderful people over the years,” she says. “We have developed friendships all over the world, and I look forward to each and every day.”

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PETER FREY

for his involvement with the Young Council of Realtors and the Million Dollar Club. Michelle Floyd (ABJ ’07) of Social Circle now manages The Cork Boutique and Gifts, a family-owned and operated wine and gift shop in Covington. Scott A. Miller (ABJ ’07) and Erin L. Greer (ABJ ’03) of Atlanta are engaged to be married and will wed May 17. Brendon Todd (BBA ’07) of Atlanta won the Byron Nelson Championship golf tournament for his first PGA Tour title. Michael Wesley Broome (BS ’08) of Martinez graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tenn., in May with his doctor of optometry degree.

He now works alongside his father Paul Wesley Broome at Broome Family Eye Care in Evans. Evangeline George (AB ’08) of Washington, D.C., was named deputy communications director of Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s staff. She has served on Pelosi’s staff since 2009. Sara Lloyd (BFA ’08) of Athens and her sister Molly are the creative team behind Atlanta-based fashion line Mimi and Muff. Rachel Morgan Webster (ABJ ’08) of Atlanta accepted a position as a wealth advisory associate at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management,

where she will create personal financial plans for clients. Lauren Culbertson (ABJ ’09) of Washington, D.C., left her position as press secretary for Sen. Johnny Isakson and is now a director at Story Partners public affairs firm.

Peyton Ethridge (BBA ’09, JD ’12) of Gray was administered the Oath of Attorney at Law for the Commonwealth of Virginia June 3 in Richmond, Va. Ben Katz (BBA ’09) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., relocated to the law firm Burr & Forman’s office in Nashville, Tenn., where he will practice financial services litigation.

2010-2014 Nicole Elizabeth Phipps (BS ’10) of Winder earned a doctor of pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine – Georgia Campus. Aline Adams (ABJ ’11) of Washington, D.C., was hired as account coordinator at Zehnder Communications, where she will support marketing efforts for clients such as Perkins Rowe and JD Bank. Nicholas B. Adams (BS ’11) of Woodstock completed advanced jet flight training with Training Squadron Nine at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi, marking the culmination of his aviation training.

John King (BBA ’11) of Demorest released his debut country music single “Tonight, Tonight” in April. King signed with Black River Entertainment in January and has opened for artists such as Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean. Mary Ellen Klein (AB ’11) of Nashville, Tenn., and her indie pop band Melon & The Mayhem released their new album, “Bluerise,” in March.

Jospeh Bartels Teskey (AB ’11) of Athens married Bridget Bolmgren May 3. Teskey also opened a hobby store, Dragon Star Hobbies, in February. Jed Aaron Vorhoff (BBA ’11, BSEd ’11) of New Orleans, La., received an Aldrich Fellowship from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, where he is enrolled in the MBA program.

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SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

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CLASSNOTES ALUMNI PROFILE

Fashionista

GRAD NOTES

Graphic designer makes her mark on high fashion

Arts & Sciences

by Kelly Simmons (MPA ’10) Diane von Furstenberg. Kate Spade.

Oscar de la Renta. Ivanka Trump. Marissa Kraxberger’s resume includes powerhouses in the fashion industry.

It’s hardly where Kraxberger (AB ’02) CONTRIBUTED Marissa Kraxberger saw her career headed when she left UGA with degrees in art history and Spanish.

But it set the stage for the Atlanta native to become one of the most sought-after art directors in New York City.

“All of the fashion designers pull from art history references,” Kraxberger says. “Everywhere I’ve worked there have been nods to various art movements I studied.”

Her first jobs included waiting tables and teaching art and Spanish at a small private school. Neither provided the satisfaction she wanted in a career.

Through a job in paper sales she met a client who needed some graphic design work. Kraxberger took on the task.

“I thought, wait a second, I’d rather be doing this than that,” she says. “I realized I should be on the creative side.”

In 2004 she applied to the Portfolio Center, a private art school in Atlanta.

She also married Nate Kraxberger (AB ’97), now a New York photographer.

While doing an internship in New York she was hired as graphic designer for Diane von Furstenberg.

Kraxberger worked for Diane von Furstenberg for two years before going to a digital design agency to focus on social media and branding. A year later she was back at DVF as art director.

“I realized I loved and missed fashion so I had to go back,” she says.

Her life was a “whirlwind,” preparing for fashion shows and traveling exhibits.

Her first child was 1 and Kraxberger was six months pregnant when she oversaw her biggest projects to date, an ad campaign shoot and the DVF Journey of a Dress exhibit in Shanghai and Beijing, China.

While the work was exciting, Kraxberger craved a slower pace. At nine months pregnant, she became Web art director for Kate Spade New York. A year later she became vice president of creative for the Oscar de la Renta brand.

There she managed all creative marketing and advertising and oversaw ad campaigns, all e-commerce and fashion shows. She also launched a blog called “George and Ruby” for their children’s line.

In fall 2013 she took a break from high fashion to launch her own blog called “Lady & Prince” (ladyandprince.com), where she blogs about fashion, her life and her career.

But soon she was back in the industry, as vice president of creative for the Ivanka Trump fashion portfolio, overseeing marketing for apparel, shoes, handbags, accessories, fine jewelry, fragrance and home.

Though she doesn’t know what the future holds, living in New York opens new doors everyday, she says.

“The thing I learned the most throughout all of it is that there would never be anything I couldn’t do. That’s the reason I was able to move up so quickly in my career. I said yes and pursued what I thought would be the most challenging.”

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GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

Jean Morrison (MS ’83) of Brookline, Mass., was appointed provost and chief academic officer at the University of Southern California, where she has been a faculty member since 1988. Gregory Reish (MA ’93, PhD ’01) of Oak Park, Ill., was appointed director of the Center for Popular Music and professor of music history at Middle Tennessee State University. Marie Hardin (PhD ’98) of State College, Pa., was appointed dean of Pennsylvania State University’s College of Communications in May. Marybeth C. Stalp (PhD ’01) of Waterloo, Iowa, was promoted to full professor at the University of Northern Iowa. Lauren Hand (MS ’08) of Atlanta received the Outstanding Achievement Award in Emergency Management from the National Hurricane Conference for her work in developing a user-friendly geospatial tool that gives emergency managers detailed data on hurricane and weather patterns.

Business Carol Reeves (PhD ’88) of Fayetteville, Ark., received the 2014 Faculty Achievement Award from the Southeastern Conference for her work as the Cecil & Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Arkansas. John M. Kelley (MBA ’97) of Atlanta, a partner and vice president of development for North American Properties, is working on a mixed-use real estate venture called Avalon in Alpharetta. Greg Michaud (MBA ’07) of Woodstock was promoted to managing director of real estate finance at ING Investment Management, where he has worked for 20 years. Jared Barnett (MBA ’10, JD ’10) of Atlanta joined SK

Sweetness follows

In 2007, UGA student Sam Lane was riding his bicycle on Prince Avenue when he was hit by a suspected drunken driver. The accident left Lane comatose for five weeks. During his long rehabilitation, Katy Houston—the mother of Sam’s best friend, Andrew Houston (AB ’08)—baked a homemade dessert for him every week for more than a year. Those recipes have been gathered together in Sweetness Follows: The Story of Sam and the Treat of the Week. Named LAURA MEEK Sam Lane (with permission) after an R.E.M. song, the book features 80 recipes for everything from Almond Apricot Shortbread to White Chocolate Pound Cake.

Lane was walking again three months after the accident, and in 2011, he graduated from UGA after completing his final classes via Skype. Now living in his hometown of Jackson, Miss., he works at a local bar and has produced several short films written and directed by a friend. Lane (AB ’11) enjoys growing vegetables—designing a garden that applies principles of permaculture—and practices Iyengar yoga and Transcendental Meditation.

Commercial Realty as vice president of investments in May. Spencer Coan (MBA ’10) of Atlanta joined SK Commercial Realty as senior vice president of investments in May.

Education Amy Lou Meltzer Rady (EdD ’81) of Portland, Maine, now works as an associate professor and the director of physical education teacher education at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine. Randy Kamphaus (PhD ’83) of Athens was named dean of the College of Education at Georgia State University in June.

Angela Bell (MEd ’96, PhD ’08) of Charleston, W.Va., was named senior executive director for research, policy and analysis for the University System of Georgia in June. Alvetta Peterman Thomas (EdD ’04) of Fayetteville has been president of Atlanta Technical College for six years. She is the only African-American woman serving as president of a technical college

In the South, friends, family and food are all tied together.

This story about Sam Lane celebrates all three. Follow the story of Sam and his remarkable recovery from a serious brain injury.

Recipes are included for the desserts that encouraged him along the way.

To purchase for $21.95 visit www.sweetnessfollows.com

in Georgia. Sue Henderson (PhD ’08) of Jersey City, N.J., has been appointed to the state government’s Task Force on the Alignment of Higher Education Programs and Workforce Development for her experience as president of New Jersey City University, a position she has held since August 2012. Michael Wright (MEd ’08) of Americus was named director of Student Financial Services at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. Adrian Bailey (MEd ’11) of Disputanta, Va., works for Triumph Enterprises Inc. on Fort Lee, supporting the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command.

He is author of U.S. Army Field Manual 4-30, Ordnance Operations, and was recognized as a Core Value Award Recipient for Client Focus in April.

Jounalism and Mass Communication Kathy Richardson (MA ’83, PhD ’92) of Rome received the Distinguished

SEPTEMBER 2014 • GEORGIA MAGAZINE

53

CLASSNOTES

Public & International Affairs

Cecilia Seiler,

1934-2014 Cecilia Seiler (M ’56), wife of Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler (BBA ’56, JD ’57) and owner of the UGA lineage of “Uga” bulldog mascots for more than 50 years, died June 5 in Savannah. The former Cecilia Gunn was a native of Columbus; she and Sonny married while they were UGA students. In 1956 the couple received an English bulldog as a belated wedding gift from a family friend. Cecilia altered a red children’s T-shirt to fit the puppy and added a “G” she cut out of black felt. On Sept. 19, 1956, the Seilers dressed the bulldog in the shirt SPECIAL Cecilia Seiler and took him to a party at Sigma Chi fraternity house, where Sonny had been president as a UGA undergraduate, and then to the Bulldogs’ football game against Florida State. Shortly thereafter, Uga I was “collared” as UGA’s official mascot, starting a dynasty that continues today with Russ, who was installed as Uga IX in 2012. Cecilia is survived by Sonny; children Swann Seiler (ABJ ’78) and Charles Seiler (AB ’83) of Savannah, Bess Thompson of St. Simons and Sara Story of Athens; and seven grandchildren.

Alumni Scholar Award from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Law John Thompson (JD ’78) of Atlanta was featured on the 2014 America’s Leading Lawyers of Business list

by Chambers USA for the fifth consecutive year for his work in wage and hour law. Jere W. Morehead (JD ’80) of Athens, president of UGA, received the Distinguished Service Scroll Award from the UGA School of Law alumni association. The award is the law school association’s highest honor and recognizes individuals for their dedication and service to their profession and the law school. Patrick T. O’Connor (JD ’81) of Savannah was sworn in as secretary of the State Bar of Georgia in June. Jonathan R. Levine (JD ’85) and Alvah O. Smith (JD ’83)

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of Atlanta welcomed new associates to their family law firm, Levine Smith Snider & Wilson LLC. Audrey Boone Tillman (JD ’89) of Columbus was named general counsel for Aflac Inc. after nearly a decade of working in the company’s legal department. Verda M. Colvin (JD ’90) of Macon was appointed as a new Superior Court judge by Gov. Nathan Deal. Colvin is the first African-American female Superior Court judge appointed in the circuit. Joan Gabel (JD ’93) of Columbia, Mo., was appointed to the board of directors for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

She is dean of the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business at the University of Missouri. Jennifer Jordan (JD ’01) of Atlanta is principal and owner of the Jordan Firm and recently developed an iPad application called JuryStrike to aid attorneys in selecting juries more efficiently and effectively.

GEORGIA MAGAZINE • www.ugamagazine.uga.edu

Kelly Simmons (MPA ’10) of Watkinsville was named director of communications for the UGA Office of Public Service and Outreach in May. She had been editor of Georgia Magazine since 2006.

Social Work Bruce A. Thyer (MSW ’78) of Tallahassee, Fla., was elected a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research as well as the Association of Psychological Science.

Veterinary Medicine Esco Hall Jr. (DVM ’73) of Baxley received a 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine for his public service and leadership in the community. Susan M. LaRue (DVM ’77) of Fort Collins, Colo., received a 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine for her work as a radiation oncology professor at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Jan Sosnowski Nichol (DVM ’80) of Camden, Del., received a 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine for her work in managing a veterinary clinic and public service leadership.

Gary Brown (DVM ’84) of Princeton, W. Va., received a 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine for his leadership in higher education and involvement with schools. Wesley Roach (DVM ’05) of Nashville, Tenn., received the 2014 Young Achiever Award from the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine for his work as a veterinary surgeon.

Ashley Isbell (DVM ’11) of Clover, S.C., opened her own practice, York Veterinary Services in York, S.C., and offers a wide range of veterinary care for small and large animals and exotic pets.

Graduate

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BACK

PAGE “That first encounter with statistics can be intimidating for students. So often students don’t care about the context you talk about—politics, health, the economy—but everyone can relate to sports, either as a fan or as a player. The sports context provides the appetizer to where hopefully students want to learn more about statistical reasoning, an essential skill in today’s datacentric world, by moving to the main entrée. Sports scenarios provide the ideal context for motivating students (and teachers) at both the K-12 and college level.”

—Christine Franklin is co-author with Josh Tabor of Statistical Reasoning in Sports. She will spend the first half of 2015 as a Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand, focusing on statistics in K-12 education.

Christine Franklin Senior Lecturer/Undergraduate Coordinator and Lothar Tresp Honoratus Honors Professor Department of Statistics, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences www.stat.uga.edu/people/faculty/christine-franklin 56

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Photo shot by Andrew Davis Tucker at the UGA photography studio in the Georgia Center.

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