University of Georgia Magazine Spring 2019

the magazine of the university of georgia

Drawn to Campus Online learning series brings UGA’s iconic architecture to life

spring 2019

CONTENTS

See UGA through the eyes of its students in the First-Year Odyssey drawing class. p. 22

the magazine of the university of georgia spring 2019

INSIDE 5 7

The President’s Pen President Jere W. Morehead on the State of the University 2019.

Meet Lee Thomas and five other alumni making Georgia into the new Hollywood. p. 27

UGA to Z Accomplishments and accolades from across the UGA community.

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On the Bulldog Beat There are 88 UGA alumni chapters around the world. One of them is probably near you.

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Bulldog Bulletin News, events, and photos from the UGA Alumni Association.

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Class Notes From the new chief justice of Georgia’s Supreme Court to the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year, UGA alumni are ascendent leaders.

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Faculty Focus Get to know Scott Jackson, GRA Eminent Scholar and Professor in Plant Functional Genomics.

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FEATURE

ON THE COVER

16 Please Don’t Lecture Me UGA deepens its commitment to evidence-based learning environments.

18 Legends in Their Own Time

With a combined 90 years of teaching experience, SPIA faculty members Charles Bullock and Loch Johnson have stories to tell.

Composition by Jackie Baxter Roberts

22 Ready, Set, Draw!

For years, students have sketched UGA’s iconic architecture in class. Now, through a partnership with Office of Online Learning, you can learn how too.

26 Made in Georgia

These Bulldogs have found their showbiz niche in Georgia and are paving the way for future UGA storytellers.

Students in Amitabh Verma’s First-Year Odyssey course on sketching produce truly remarkable work. Sketches by China Duncanson (Chapel) and Kelly Scollard (Park Hall and the Arch) are representative of the exciting results. See more examples on page 22.

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Night Lights park hall, baxter hill, the miller learning Center, and the new Business Learning Community all shine on this January night. UGA photographer Brett Szczepanski took this long-exposure, panoramic photo looking southwest from the roof of the Main Library.

The panorama seen here is made up of five vertical images put together.

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spring 2019

VOLUME 98

ISSUE NO. 2

georgia magazine

Editor · Eric Rangus MA ’94 Associate Editor · Aaron Hale MA ’16 Writers · Kellyn Amodeo ABJ ’09, Leigh Beeson MA ’17 Art Director · Jackie Baxter Roberts Advertising Director · Pamela Leed Office Manager · Fran Burke UGA Photographers · Peter Frey BFA ’94, Rick O’Quinn ABJ ’87, Andrew Davis Tucker, Dorothy Kozlowski BLA ’06, ABJ ’10, Chad Osburn Contributing Writer · Elizabeth Elmore BBA ’08, ABJ ’08 Editorial Interns · Katherine Costikyan AB ’18, Rachel Floyd

marketing & communications Vice President · Karri Hobson-Pape Executive Director · Janis Gleason Brand Strategy Director · Michele Horn

administration President · Jere W. Morehead JD ’80 Interim Senior VP for Academic Affairs & Provost · Libby Morris VP for Finance & Administration · Ryan Nesbit MBA ’91 VP for Development & Alumni Relations · Kelly Kerner VP for Instruction · Rahul Shrivastav VP for Research · David C. Lee VP for Public Service & Outreach · Jennifer Frum PhD ’09 VP for Student Affairs · Victor Wilson BSW ’82, MEd ’87 VP for Government Relations · Toby Carr BBA ’01, BSAE ’01 VP for Information Technology · Timothy M. Chester

Change your mailing address by contacting e: records@uga.edu or ph: 888-268-5442 Find Georgia Magazine online at news.uga.edu/georgia-magazine Submit Class Notes or story ideas to gmeditor@uga.edu

advertise in Georgia Magazine by contacting Kipp Mullis at e: gmsales@uga.edu or ph: 706-542-9877 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

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andrew davis tucker

The University of Georgia does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or military service in its administrations of educational policies, programs, or activities; its admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other University-administered programs; or employment. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to 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. https://eoo.uga.edu/

THE PRESIDENT’S PEN

Reaching New Heights 2019 State of the University Address

During my recent State of the University address, I had the great privilege of sharing how our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends have helped the University of Georgia amplify its positive impact on the state and the world.

Working together over the past five years, we have enhanced the learning environment at UGA through new facilities, academic programs, and hiring initiatives; we have raised graduation and career placement rates to record levels; we have increased research productivity and brought more world-renowned faculty to campus; and we have achieved record fundraising and scholarship support, among many other accomplishments.

In the speech, I discussed several initiatives that will ensure our great momentum continues into the future, including:

“I am honored to work alongside everyone in the Bulldog Nation as we educate the next generation of leaders, expand research and innovation, and improve the quality of life in communities across Georgia and beyond.”

• Development of a 2020–2025 strategic plan focused on the mission-centered areas of (1) promoting excellence in teaching and learning; (2) growing research, innovation, and entrepreneurship; and (3) strengthening partnerships in Georgia and around the world.

• Creation of an innovation district at the interface of historic North Campus and Downtown Athens that will serve as a hub for experiential learning, university startups, and industry engagement.

• New programs for faculty and students to commercialize their ideas and inventions, build strong industry partnerships around their research, and expand leadership development and entrepreneurship education.

• An Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program to encourage new research partnerships around the grand challenges of our time and to generate new external funding.

• A New Approaches to Diversity Grant Program to enhance the academic experience of underrepresented, first generation, rural, and other underserved students.

When we commit to a common purpose, there is no goal or aspiration beyond our reach.

I am honored to work alongside everyone in the Bulldog Nation as we educate the next generation of leaders, expand research and innovation, and improve the quality of life in communities across Georgia and beyond. I look forward to all that we will accomplish together in the year ahead.

Jere W. Morehead President

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UGA Z to

News, accomplishments, and accolades from the UGA community

CONTINUED SERVICE

Lifetime Achievement He’s easily the most famous peanut farmer in history, and he is now the first president of the United States to be inducted into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame.

On Nov. 9, President Jimmy Carter was inducted into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame at the 64th College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Association Awards in Athens.

“This has been the highlight of my life in agriculture, my induction tonight,” Carter said. “It’s my honor to join all of my friends who are here, and those who are not here, as a member of Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame.”

The CAES Alumni Association established the Hall of Fame in 1972.

“When you think of notable Georgia farmers, you can’t help but think about President Carter,” said CAES Alumni Association President Van McCall AB ’77. “He was a community and agribusiness leader in southwest Georgia and really worked to develop agriculture in that region.”

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INNOVATION AT UGA WE’RE NO. 1

UGA Leads in New Products to Market

UGA ranked first among 193 U.S. institutions for the number of commercial products reaching the market in 2017, a clear sign that research and innovation is thriving at the university.

In 2017, 52 new products based on UGA research reached the market, far outpacing the second place University of Michigan, which had 37. UGA also ranked fourth among universities for the number of new intellectual property licenses to industry. This is UGA’s 11th consecutive year ranking in the top 10, which is compiled by AUTM, a nonprofit organization that tracks technology transfer among universities, colleges, and other research institutions.

In 2018, UGA’s new products to market included a poultry vaccine; eco-friendly charcoal lighter; soil remediation products; research and educational tools; and new peanut, pecan, soybean, wheat, citrus, and ornamental plant varieties.

special

Brian Kemp is the 26th UGA alumnus to serve as governor of Georgia.

LET IT GROW

Children’s Garden

Prepare to celebrate the world of nature with a journey through dark caves brimming with dinosaur fossils. Climb through a larger-than-life overturned chestnut tree, and soar above the tree canopy in a magical treehouse in the woods.

The Alice H. Richards Children’s Garden, opening March 23 at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at UGA, will be a destination for children to learn more about the wonders of Georgia’s natural resources while planting, climbing, crawling, and skipping through a 2.5-acre environment.

“The children’s garden is an exploration, a journey, not something you just walk through,” says Jennifer Cruse-Sanders MS ’97, PhD ’03, director of the State Botanical Garden. “Everything is designed with attention to detail and an educational component.”

The Alice H. Richards Children’s Garden opens March 23 at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at UGA.

graphic by lindsay bland robinson

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GOVERNOR AND ALUMNUS

Gov. Kemp Addresses Lawmakers on Campus

In his first major speech after being elected governor of Georgia, UGA alumnus Brian Kemp BSA ’87 visited campus and informed an audience of more than 100 state legislators that his agenda will focus, in part, on boosting rural Georgia and small businesses across the state.

Gov. Kemp shared his vision for Georgia at the 31st Biennial Institute for Newly Elected Officials, an event hosted by UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government that provides an orientation on the legislative process for new lawmakers and timely policy sessions for all legislators.

A fourth-generation Bulldog, Kemp’s ties to the Georgia family run deep. He earned an agricultural mechanization degree from UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and his wife, first lady Marty Argo Kemp BSHE ’90, also graduated from UGA, earning a consumer economshannah montgomery ics degree from the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Together, they have raised their family in Athens, and they remain engaged members of the local community.

As Georgia’s 83rd governor, Kemp is advancing the long tradition of UGA alumni who have led the state. He is the 26th UGA alumnus to hold the role of Georgia’s governor.

UGA to Z IMPROVING PUBLIC HEALTH

Predicting the Next Ebola

UGA researchers have developed a model to predict which viruses that jump from animals to people can also be transmitted from person to person.

The study, published in PLOS One, identified several viruses that are not yet known to spread among humans but may have that potential, suggesting possible targets for future disease surveillance and research efforts.

John Drake, Distinguished Research Professor of Ecology and director of the Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases, led the team that compiled the most comprehensive list to date of viruses known to infect humans and the biological characteristics of those viruses.

The team identified several traits that were most common among the viruses on their list that are known to spread among humans. Those traits—characteristics indicative of the virus’s ability to survive in different environments and to evolve—accurately predicted 84 percent of the viruses known to spread from human to human.

Life, Love, and Marriage Chests in Renaissance Florence Georgia Museum of Art March 9 through May 26, 2019

TREASURE CHESTS

Wedding Season at the Georgia Museum of Art

PORTRAIT OF EXCELLENCE

Groundbreaking Administrator Honored

The University of Georgia celebrated the lifetime achievements of Louise McBee by unveiling her portrait in the Administration Building at a ceremony on Nov. 28. McBee held leadership positions at UGA for more than 25 years before serving for more than a decade as a champion for higher education in the Georgia State House.

McBee came to UGA in the early 1960s and served for four years as the dean of women, a position that was later broadened and renamed the associate dean of student affairs. She went on to hold several other positions at UGA, including dean of student affairs. At the time, she was one of four women in the U.S. holding top jobs in student personnel in schools with more than 10,000 students.

McBee retired from UGA in 1988, but her career in leadership was far from over. She was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1991 and served for 14 years. Among her many accomplishments in office, McBee was key to establishing the successful Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program.

Louise McBee held a variety of senior leadership positions at UGA. Her portrait was unveiled at a ceremony on campus, Nov. 28.

Just in time for wedding season, the Georgia Museum of Art will present the exhibition “Life, Love, and Marriage Chests in Renaissance Florence” from March 9 through May 26. These elaborately decorated wooden wedding chests, known as cassoni, were an integral part of Italian Renaissance marriage rituals and often painted with mythological scenes about love.

The chests were used as storage and seating and were among the most prestigious furnishings in a home. Few survive intact today, as most were dismantled for sale. The exhibition also features other art pieces made for the home, including devotional paintings, pottery, textiles, and even a pair of highheeled shoes.

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UGA to Z COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE

CHASING CORAL

Highest Honors

Emmy-Winning Doc

Two professors emeritus received the President’s Medal, one of the university’s highest honors, as part of Founders Day on Jan. 28.

Sylvia Hutchinson BSEd ’61, MEd ’62, PhD ’76, professor emerita of reading education, taught in the College of Education for 24 years, and she served as an associate dean of education and coordinator for a number of UGA faculty support and development programs, including postdoctoral teaching and peer consulting.

After she retired in 2002, Hutchinson worked with the Emeriti Scholars who mentored students in The Coca-Cola Foundation’s First Generation Scholarship program on campus, among her many other volunteer activities.

Brahm Verma was instrumental in founding UGA’s Faculty of Engineering and ultimately UGA’s College of Engineering. Verma, who served on the faculty from 1970 to 2007, also led in the formulation of the Institute of Biological Engineering, a professional society for Advancing Biology-Inspired Engineering, and served as its founding president.

His research focuses on the theory of models and principles of similitude, engineering design and decision methodology, and the application of computational intelligence for modeling agricultural and biological systems.

HONOR ROLL

Student Success

Two University of Georgia students were selected for prestigious scholarships for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Swapnil Agrawal, a senior from Dunwoody, was one of 147 students selected internationally as a Schwarzman Scholar, a graduate fellowship designed to prepare the next generation of leaders with an understanding of China’s role in global trends.

Agrawal, an international affairs and economics major, is UGA’s fourth Schwarzman Scholar.

Anita Qualls, a senior biology major from Johns Creek, was awarded the Churchill Scholarship, which funds American graduate students studying science, mathematics, and engineering at the University of Cambridge in England through their one-year master’s program.

Qualls is the first UGA student to be awarded the scholarship, which is given to 15 students from public and private institutions across the country.

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UGA ecologist James Porter was among the cast and crew to accept an Emmy Award for the documentary Chasing Coral, which follows scientists charting the loss of coral reefs around the world.

The film focuses on the spread of coral bleaching, a phenomenon caused by rising ocean temperatures. When the ocean becomes too warm, the algae that normally covers coral dies, revealing the bone-white, limestone skeleton underneath. Without the protective blanket of algae, the coral eventually dies. To illustrate the progression of the condition, the film features a series of underwater photos taken by Porter, an emeritus professor in the Odum School of Ecology.

Although coral reefs make up only 1 percent of the world’s oceans, they are critically important ecologically and economically, Porter says. Coral reefs support more biodiversity than tropical rainforests and serve as home to roughly 25 percent of all marine life. They also buffer shorelines from storms, help prevent coastal erosion, and provide economic benefits from tourism and fishing.

Sylvia Hutchinson, from the College of Education, and Brahm Verma, of engineering, are the newest recipients of the President’s Medal.

UGA ecologist James Porter contributed underwater photos like this one to the Emmy-winning documentary, Chasing Coral.

Swapnil Agrawal, top, was selected as UGA’s fourth Schwarzman Scholar, and Anita Qualls is the first UGA student to be selected as a Churchill Scholar. special

UGA to Z POWERING POSSIBILITIES

CLIMATE GROUP

National Recognition

Rain Check

Six University of Georgia faculty members have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor bestowed by their peers for “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.”

The new fellows include: • Karen Burg, a professor and Harbor Lights Chair in Small Animal Studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

• Pejman Rohani, a professor who has a joint appointment in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Odum School of Ecology.

• John Drake, Distinguished Research Professor and director of UGA’s Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases in the Odum School of Ecology.

• Xiaorong Lin PhD ’03, Gene E. Michaels Professor in Medical Mycology and Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

• Eric V. Stabb, professor of microbiology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

• Kathrin F. Stanger-Hall, associate professor of plant biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Karen Webber, an associate professor in UGA’s Institute of Higher Education, was also recognized as a leading scholar in her field. Webber received the 2018 Sidney Suslow Scholar Award from the Association for Institutional Research. It’s the highest honor the association presents to an individual.

AS OF JAN. 2019

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A spring storm rolls in at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography along the Georgia coast.

353 GEORGIA COMMITMENT SCHOLARSHIPS

HAVE BEEN CREATED IN JUST OVER TWO YEARS. THE GOAL IS TO REACH 400 BY THE END OF FY20.

A UGA-led collaboration is among 13 projects focused on analyzing weather and climate patterns being funded by $10 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The projects will support development and analysis of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, known as E3SM, which seeks to provide more accurate and higher resolution representation of weather and climate events by taking advantage of the cutting-edge supercomputing facilities at DOE National Laboratories.

Extreme weather events can cover tens to thousands of kilometers and include systems from individual thunderstorms to large winter storm systems, says Gabriel J. Kooperman, assistant professor of geography in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator on one of the 13 projects.

“The objectives of this work are to improve our understanding of the smalland large-scale processes that govern these events,” he says, “and improve our ability to predict and prepare for their changes under the influences of natural variability and human activities.”

REMOVING BARRIERS AND OPENING DOORS

Major Commitment

In less than two years, the Georgia Commitment Scholarship Program has led to the creation of more than 300 need-based scholarships, a resounding success in the University of Georgia’s ongoing mission to remove financial barriers and open doors for students.

Through the Georgia Commitment Scholarship Program, the UGA Foundation matches—dollar for dollar—any gift in the amount of $50,000, $75,000, or $100,000 to establish an endowed undergraduate need-based scholarship. The scholarship is awarded by the Office of Student Financial Aid within a year of the donor making his or her gift, and from that point forward, the endowment grows, increasing the size of the scholarship award over time.

The university also announced an additional five scholarships for incoming students, beginning in fall 2019. The Synovus Georgia Commitment Scholarships are renewable for up to four years and will then be awarded in perpetuity.

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UGA to Z FALL COMMENCEMENT

PL ASTIC PROBLEM

The Next Challenge

2018 Stat of the Year

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“As long as there are problems in the world, there is a need for your achievement,“ the Honorable Steve C. Jones said to UGA’s newly minted undergraduate alumni.

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As nearly 2,800 UGA students joined the ranks of UGA alumni, two accomplished alumni each had a request.

The Honorable Steve C. Jones BBA ’78, JD ’87, U.S. district court judge of the Northern District of Georgia, told newly minted alumni at the fall undergraduate Commencement ceremony, “As long as there are problems in the world, there is a need for your involvement. Therefore, my challenge to you is to find ways to make things better.

If from your efforts, someone’s life is better, then you have taken us to the next level of excellence.”

Jones is a member of the executive committee of the University of Georgia Athletic Association board of directors and serves as a trustee and secretary for the UGA Foundation.

At the graduate ceremony, internationally recognized neurobiologist and geneticist Cori Bargmann BS ’81 spoke of the cooperative nature of discovery.

“The secret of learning is that it increases,” she said. “If people build on each other’s discoveries, then small discoveries become big discoveries.”

With this in mind, Bargmann, the president of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, had a request.

“Please share your knowledge,” she said.

“Share it with others in the community so that they can build on it. It may seem small to you, but it could be the exact piece that someone else is missing.”

Some 1,575 undergraduates and 1,224 graduate students met requirements to walk in the university’s fall Commencement ceremonies.

Of the graduate students, 284 received doctoral degrees and 940 received their master’s or specialist degrees.

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What’s the Stat of the Year?

UGA’s Jenna Jambeck found that 90.5 percent of the world’s plastic has never been recycled.

A finding from University of Georgia research was named the 2018 International Statistic of the Year by the Royal Statistical Society.

Jenna Jambeck, an associate professor in the College of Engineering, worked with colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Sea Education Association to find that 90.5 percent of plastic has never been recycled. Prior to their research, it was unclear exactly how much plastic was ending up in landfills or, even more problematic, in oceans and forests around the world. The new statistic lends a sense of scale to the problem of global plastic pollution.

Jambeck’s previous work includes a 2015 study that was the first to estimate how much of the plastic waste produced on land made its way into the world’s waterways. Her follow-up two years later determined the amount of plastic produced worldwide since large-scale production of the synthetic materials began in the early 1950s.

ENHANCING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Final Phase

The Business Learning Community’s sixth and final building will be named for Doug Ivester.

The final building to become part of the Business Learning Community at the University of Georgia will be named for M. Douglas “Doug” Ivester BBA ’69 of Atlanta.

M. Douglas Ivester Hall will be the sixth building at the new home of UGA’s Terry College of Business. It will house undergraduate classrooms, along with staff and administrative offices.

Ivester’s longstanding support of the university includes a $7 million gift to the Terry College. A large auditorium inside the building will bear his name in recognition of his commitment to the university.

Ivester graduated from UGA with an accounting degree and now leads Deer Run Investments.

Before that, Ivester was at The Coca-Cola Company from 1979 to 2000, serving as chairman of the board and CEO from 1997 until his retirement.

Phase III of the Business Learning Community, the result of a public-private partnership between the state and hundreds of donors, opens this spring. The other Phase III building at the Business Learning Community was named for Sanford and Barbara Orkin of Atlanta, and it opened in 2018.

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c o m m i t t o g e o r g i a c a m pa i g n

ENHANCING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

research

extends lessons beyond the classroom.

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“I believe education is the great equalizer in our society and money should never keep students from pursuing their dreams. When you don’t have to worry about money, it sets the mind free to create and explore.

Unleashing possibility in talented young adults is a massive honor.”

—becky winkler ab ’ 98

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t the University of Georgia, we are committed to giving students every opportunity as they prepare to take on the challenges facing our state and our world. That’s why every student is required to participate in hands-on learning experiences before graduation. Research opportunities are among the most transformative experiences and can be found in a lab on South Campus, in a community in South Georgia, or along the coast in South America.

The Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) offers UGA undergraduates the chance to conduct research as early as their first year on campus—regardless of major or GPA. Research stimulates students’ interest in scientific inquiry and connects them with faculty investigators who are leaders in their fields. In spring 2018, more than 575 students participated in the CURO Symposium, representing the wide number of research opportunities they participated in across campus. Summer fellowship grants, research assistantships and research scholarships make these opportunities more affordable for students by providing them with stipends so they can focus on research and building relationships with faculty members. That financial support also can ensure students are able to attend conferences related to their research goals.

Alumni like Becky Winkler AB ’98 benefited from research opportunities while at UGA. The corporate psychologist from Charlotte, North Carolina, understands how the learning environment is enhanced by research offerings and can prepare students for future theses and dissertations. So she decided to fund two CURO Research Scholarships to help ensure that cost didn’t prevent a student from conducting research.

PROVIDING MORE FOR OUR STUDENTS. IT’S HOW WE CHANGE THE WORLD.

ii: enhancing the learning environment

TAYLOR WITHROW FOURTH-YEAR STUDENT | CURO HONORS SCHOLAR | ASPIRING ATTORNEY

“At UGA, I have had remarkable opportunities to explore my interests in law, criminal justice, and civil and human rights. My research allowed me to focus more on civil rights and further piqued my interest in the criminal justice system.�

Taylor Withrow is committed to becoming a compassionate lawyer who stands up for what is right.

When the Suwanee native was considering her college options, she determined that UGA would be the best stepping stone on her path to pursuing that dream. Since her first week on campus, the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) has been instrumental in giving her the freedom to explore her interests. She has studied the identity development of multiracial individuals and the role race plays in social institutions such as education, employment, and criminal justice. This past fall, she and Associate Professor of Political Science Christina L. Boyd explored a federal trial court appellate review of denied Social Security Administration disability claims.

Withrow will graduate in May with degrees in political science and sociology. She plans to teach English abroad before enrolling in law school. chad osburn

Donating to the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities will provide students like Taylor Withrow with hands-on learning experiences that will enhance their career journey. GIVE.UGA.EDU/CURO.

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peter frey

written by aaron hale ma ’16

The university deepens its commitment to evidence-based learning environments

C

ompetition can bring out people’s best efforts. It’s true on the playing field, in the marketplace, and even in the classroom. UGA lecturer Leah Carmichael taps into her students’ competitive nature with impressive results every week in her undergraduate international law course in the School of Public and International Affairs.

Every Friday, the course holds a moot court in which two groups of students argue cases before a panel of student justices. Each case touches on a facet of international law, such as whether the U.S. is legally bound to afford a suspected terrorist, detained at Guantanamo, certain legal rights.

The students are all in. They arrive early to huddle with their teams and talk through strategy one last time.

The competition serves a purpose. Sure,

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it’s fun and gets the students invested, but that’s not exactly the point. Nor is it simply to learn the finer points of international affairs. The goal is to help the students develop critical thinking skills and knowledge they can apply for the rest of their lives.

Kellsie Davis, a third-year international affairs student with designs on becoming an attorney, says, “I feel like I’m actually developing skills that I will need one day instead of just regurgitating information onto an exam.”

What skills? They practice how to present an argument, consider a conflict from multiple points of view, and learn through experience (although simulated) the importance of the letter of the law.

Where is the instructor in all of this?

Carmichael MA ’09, PhD ’14, a lecturer in the School of Public and International affairs, facilitates. She probes each team’s strate-

gies, makes suggestions on how to present, and encourages effective collaboration.

But, mostly, she creates an environment where students can take charge of what they learn.

This is “active learning,” a teaching philosophy that pulls instructors out from behind a podium and fully engages them with their students.

Megan Mittelstadt, director of UGA’s Center for Teaching and Learning, describes active learning as a “two-way information exchange.” Instructors aren’t just transmitting information to students; they’re looking for feedback from students to gauge their understanding of the material. Instructors adapt their courses—sometimes on the fly—based on what students already know or think they know.

The evidence that active learning boosts student performance stretches back de-

Lecturer Leah Carmichael (top) leads her class in a moot court. Assistant professor Tarkesh Singh employs active learning methods into his biochemistry course

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cades. Studies have found students are less likely to fail in an active learning environment than in a traditional lecture-based course, and they do better on assessments.

Plus, the strategy has been effective across all disciplines—from physics and chemistry to business and political science.

In 2018, President Jere W. Morehead JD ’80 launched the Active Learning Initiative to invest $250,000 in training faculty and $1 million in transforming traditional classrooms into active learning environments across campus. The focus on active learning works in tandem with other initiatives (such as those focused on experiential learning, writing skills, and data literacy) to elevate an already exceptional undergraduate learning environment at UGA. The aim of all these initiatives is to prepare students to be successful in a rapidly changing global economy.

Carmichael was one of 32 faculty in last year’s Active Learning Summer Institute, a six-week deep dive into transforming courses with active learning. The institute helped her refocus what she wanted students to learn from her course. “It reminded me to actually think about these students and the skills they will need 10 years from now,” she says.

This new active learning pedagogy,

CLASSROOM RENOVATION

either learned or adopted from the summer institute, impacted approximately 8,400 students in fall 2018 and spring 2019 courses. The Center for Teaching and Learning will begin to assess learning outcomes later this spring to determine the real impact active learning has on UGA students in these courses.

“Preliminary data based on improved test scores suggest that students have learned more than in the previous traditional learning environment in those same courses,” Mittelstadt says. “We project the impact to be much deeper as students progress through college and apply their knowledge to their other courses.”

In practice, active learning takes many different forms, and an in-class competition is only one tool in the active learning chest.

For example, role-playing games have limited utility for assistant professor Tarkesh Singh’s 75-seat Biomechanics course in the College of Education’s Department of Kinesiology. The class, which explores how the intricate laws of mechanics affect human movement, is intended for future clinicians: doctors, physical therado pists, and athletic trainers. ro th yk ozlo For students to understand the comw s ki plexity of how Newton’s laws of motion apply to, let’s say, a tightrope walker, Singh has to stand in front of the class and explain concepts of balance and rotational dynamics. But he uses group discussions and mobile technology to keep up the two-way flow of information. Students submit individual answers to in-class math problems from their phones or laptops. From there, Singh can figure out what percentage of his class is getting the right answer. If most are correct, he moves on. Otherwise, he refocuses on helping students understand the concept.

“He explains something, lets us process it with classmates, and asks practice questions. That solidifies it in your brain,” says Sarah Williamson BSEd ’18, an aspiring doctor who took Singh’s course in the fall.

Williamson says what she really took away from the class, beyond just facts and formulas, is how to think through problems and come up with solutions. That’s exactly the skillset that faculty are trying to instill in tomorrow’s doctors, attorneys, and the rest of the future leaders who are shaped at the University of Georgia.

As UGA faculty continue to adapt their teaching strategies to help students prepare for a rapidly evolving economy, the university is making sure the physical classrooms are conducive to active learning environments. This means redesigning rooms and lecture halls to promote group work and pull the instructor into the students’ learning space.

New classrooms are being constructed with active learning in mind. And the university is invested in retrofitting older classrooms— many built with rigid chairs directed to the front of the classroom—into active learning spaces with rotating or movable chairs and interactive technology.

Park Hall (left), an iconic rite-of-passage building for the majority of firstyear students taking core English and foreign language courses, is one of six buildings undergoing this transformation. Chairs bolted to the floor and old-fashioned chalkboards are being replaced with movable desks and chairs facing newly installed white boards and computer-operated overhead projectors. The rooms will be reconfigured to transform instruction to more actively engage students in the learning process. Nine classrooms across campus, including those in Park, Aderhold, Boyd, and Caldwell Halls, as well as the Geography Building and the Miller Learning Center, are undergoing a major redesign that will be completed next summer.

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Legends in Their Own Time

written by leigh beeson ma ’17 photos by peter frey bfa ’94

With a combined 90 years of teaching experience, Charles Bullock and Loch Johnson are University of Georgia institutions. Both named Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching professors, Bullock, a professor of political science, and Johnson, a professor of international affairs, have formed a close bond—both academic and personal—during their years teaching at UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs. The pair have done everything from running marathons to writing books together. Describing their relationship as being “almost like brothers,” Johnson will certainly be missed by both Bullock and his many former and current students when he retires at the end of the spring semester.

In honor of their combined long commitment to UGA, Georgia Magazine sat down with the distinguished professors to discuss their time at the university.

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Charles Bullock You’ve been at UGA for more than 50 years. What’s kept you here?

I grew up in Georgia, and I’ve always liked the state. Three years into my position here, I took a year’s leave to work on Bill Stuckey’s (who served in the House of Representatives from 1967-1977) staff in D.C., then came back and said, “Geez, you just keep coming back to Georgia. Might as well stay here.” I like Georgia. I think it’s a great place to live.

Do you have a favorite class to teach?

Southern Politics. I tell the students at the beginning of the semester, “You’re going to hear some things you’re not going to believe, but everything I tell you is true. I’m not making any of this stuff up. There are some characters who have been important in southern politics who have done things that you just really aren’t going to believe.”

Take the Three Governors controversy, for example. In 1947, there were three individuals who simultaneously claimed that he should be governor of Georgia. The governor-elect died a couple weeks before he was sworn in. The lieutenant governor-elect says, “Well, had he been sworn in, then I would take over. So, I should be the governor.”

Unbeknownst to the dead governor-elect, there had been a write-in campaign mounted during the general election, and several hundred people had written in the name of his son. One of the political Machiavellis of the state interpreted part of the constitution as indicating that if the governor-elect died, the legislature could choose the governor from among the top two finishers, one of whom was the governor-elect’s son. At that point, you could only serve one term as governor, but the sitting governor wanted to do another term and tried to get the constitution changed to allow him to be governor. It was pretty extraordinary.

You’re quoted in various media outlets pretty frequently. Why is it important to you to share your research in this way?

In the course of a year, I will teach 200 students. If I say something that gets picked up in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, it will be read by thousands.

Something that gets picked up by The New York Times or The Washington Post, it may reach tens of thousands.

So, I view the work that I do with the media as being a continuation of the education process but one that reaches far more individuals. I try not to be partisan. What I’m trying to provide is information that a person can take and look at and say, “Okay, yeah. I agree,” or “I disagree,” or “Alright, that explains what’s happening here.” That’s why I think it’s important that researchers do that, that we share that kind of information. Because, think about it, if you’re college educated, you probably took an American government class somewhere but maybe just one. If you’re not college educated, you probably took something maybe in high school.

And you may or may not remember that.

Right.

What really stands out to you after being an instructor for so many years?

There are people who you haven’t seen in decades who drop you an email. You sometimes remember them; other times, it’s someone you vaguely remember. Yet they write you and say, “Hey, I just wanted to tell you that you had an impact on my life.”

What do the next five to 10 years look like for you?

Well, I don’t have any plans to retire. At some point, that’ll happen. But I really enjoy what I do, so I hope to continue it for as long as I can.

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Loch Johnson What’s kept you at UGA for 40 years?

I remained here because the administration was always so good to me and helpful with my research and always encouraged my teaching. In that sense, it was such a wonderful place to be because people were so friendly. I’ve always had good colleagues here, and then the town itself is a lovely place to live. It’s just about the right size.

I did have other offers and went out and took a look at them, but I always felt the tug to come back here. I’ve learned more recently, however, that there’s an even greater tug than the joys of UGA, and that’s grandchildren. So I’m retiring in May and going up with my wife to live near our grandchildren in New York.

How has your approach to teaching changed over time?

I remember when I first came to class, I was what I would call the “Oxford Don.” They’re infamous for getting behind a podium and reading their lectures for about an hour and a half. It’s just deadly.

It’s quite comprehensive in detail, but I got away from that fairly soon. These days, my classes are more of a Q&A than anything, so there’s interaction in the classroom and an opportunity to find out what the students think. I’ve also found out that the students really love to hear one another, and they learn from one another. (See page 16) What is one of the biggest issues facing the field of intelligence?

I think one of the big issues is ethics.

What should be the boundaries for the nation’s intelligence agencies? Of course, we can disagree; people have different views. I think the greatest strength of the United States, though, is its reputation around the world, a reputation based on fair play, free and open elections, a very strong and independent press, and a judicial system that’s by and large highly regarded. When we throw that aside by engaging in assassinations of foreign leaders or torture or rendition or we’re spying on American citizens even though there are laws to prevent that, then we’ve really gone in the wrong direction. Another aspect that’s important is knowing how good we are at understanding events and

conditions around the world. It’s rather dismaying to realize that we failed to predict the 9/11 attacks. There are things, in retrospect, we could’ve done to prevent those attacks.

At the same time, these agencies have had many successes, some large and some small. I remember a U.S. ambassador in an African country who, after two years, was about to go home the next day. One of the representatives of a national security agency came to him and said, “Mr. Ambassador, we’ve intercepted a terrorist communication, and they’re planning to ambush your car tomorrow with your wife and your three children and murder all of you as you proceed to the airport.”

That may not be as big as knowing what the Soviet Union is up to during the Cold War (and we did know a great deal), but it’s big in the life of that family. So they took a different direction, and they were saved. There are a lot of little stories like that and they are extremely important to the individuals involved.

You have a balance here of a few really horrible intelligence mistakes and then many really valuable successes (such as helping guide President John F. Kennedy through the missile crisis of 1962 by providing accurate intelligence about Soviet activities in Cuba). Of course we want strong, effective intelligence agencies but not ones that are dangerous to our own liberties.

what our foreign policy should be. There’s a distinction here between hard power and soft power. Hard power means relying on military and economic pressure to get one’s way in the world, and, unfortunately (from my point-of-view), that tends to be the American approach—to a fault. Naturally, we will always seek to maintain a strong defense against our adversaries, and we will always pursue economic prosperity, but we often tilt too much toward militarism. For example, does the United States really need 12 aircraft carriers? China only has two, one of which is a leaky bucket of bolts. Russia has none. If you look at the Defense Department budget in the United States compared to the State Department budget, you’ll know what I mean. The ratio is about 20-to-1. The soft power I refer to is much more concerned with setting a good example for the rest of the world, reaching out and trying to help. What if, for some of these countries, instead of sending in special forces, we send in teams of physicians, nurses, and people who know how to construct roads and provide clean water? That’s what would really win us friends around the world.

If students only take one thing away from one of your classes, what would you want it to be?

Yes, I view it as quite an honor, and, yes, it is a capstone to my enjoyable career at the University of Georgia. I hope my legacy in the university community will be to have left a sense that I was dedicated to helping UGA rise through the ranks of public universities, on its way (and now near to) the top tier. I have tried to contribute toward this goal by emphasizing deep research related to national security issues, by stressing the importance of teaching at research-oriented universities, and by leading the establishment of the School of Public and International Affairs (an effort that took from 1997 to 2001). We’ve helped build a sense of history on campus with the establishment of the Service Memorial adjacent to the Miller Learning Center and the tribute to Abraham Baldwin on the North Quad. I’ve served (on leave from the university) in the federal government, on a presidential commission, and in other capacities. And I’ve

I think really two things. One would be a sense that they’re needed. We need young Americans to get involved in public service. It doesn’t have to be in foreign policy in Washington, D.C. It might be at the state capitol or even more likely in their local communities. A democracy can only survive to the extent that its citizens are actively informed and involved. So what I try to do—and with this generation it’s not that hard because they are already quite motivated in this direction—is light fires under them to think of public service.

And, of course, I’d love some of them to become ambassadors and Cabinet members, as well as lawmakers, judges, and perhaps even president of the United States.

The other goal I like them to ponder is

You’ll be speaking at the graduate spring Commencement ceremony. It’s quite an honor to be chosen. What kind of legacy do you hope to leave behind when you retire in May?

continued on next page

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engaged in civic affairs in Athens over the years of my residence here, spearheading the new Cedar Shoals High School construction initiative, serving on the Athens Regional Hospital Board, campaigning for various local reform political candidates, and serving as president of my neighborhood association.

These are the kinds of activities all citizens in a democracy should happily pursue, and they are ones I hope have made a genuine contribution to the advancement of our great university. GM

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written by eric rangus ma ’94

O

ne of the toughest things to draw, according to Amitabh Verma MLA ’94, associate professor in UGA’s College of Environment and Design, is a straight line.

Really?

“A lot of students want to start drawing on the computer, but I make them start on paper,” says Verma, who teaches both hand and computer drawing in the college. “Drawing a line on a computer is easy, but you are just going to end up with a box. That’s not original. If you draw a line on a piece of paper, that’s yours. No one has ever drawn that line before. And that’s where the students’ personalities come through.”

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andrew davis tucker

Verma’s First-Year Odyssey course, “Understanding Architecture Through Drawing and Sketching,� definitely has personality. He began teaching it in 2011 and has repeated it each fall since then. Verma was inspired to create the class as a way to teach the fundamentals of architecture (his expertise) through drawing (his passion).

Rather than walk around campus explaining the importance of each building, he wanted to teach students to draw them. Drawing something, Verma says, allows you to really see it.

Over the years, Verma has gathered hundreds of student drawings, many done by students who had never picked up a sketch pad before. Beginning this year, Verma has dramatically expanded his outreach, and now, with only a few keystrokes and a browser, anyone can Sketch UGA.

clockwise from top left: herty fountain, gabby ross; the chapel, grace dusenbury; park hall cupola, kelly scollard; new college, anna jordan; detail of chapel column, frances plunkett; tree, kelly scollard.

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Last summer, Verma cold-called the Office of Online Learning and connected with director Steve Balfour. Verma wanted to learn more about online teaching and was curious about what sort of ideas the office might have. Turns out, there were a few.

“Some skills are perceived as being more difficult to learn online, but all of us know there are tons of art classes out there online,” Balfour says.

Since its formation in 2012, the Office of Online Learning has shepherded more than 30 online master’s and certificate programs across multiple colleges, with around 600 students enrolled. The goal is to add several hundred more students over the next five years and expand class offerings as well.

In addition to the online courses, the

office creates instructional content for faculty. That’s how Balfour and Verma came up with the idea of doing video tutorials on how to draw the two primary images from the Sketching UGA course: the Arch and the Chapel.

Even though Verma is a dynamic presence in front of the class, he had never been in front of a camera. He was nervous. Guiding him through the process, and serving as videographer, was instructional designer Stephen Bridges ABJ ’06, MEd ’16.

“When you teach a course, there is a performance aspect to it,” Bridges says.

“Once you get faculty away from the newness of being on camera, they kind of slide into that performer role that they are used to.”

Verma clearly did. There isn’t a hint

of nervousness in his presentation, and he explains the processes for sketching in ways that are easy for beginners to pick up. Verma employed the videos with students for the first time in fall 2018.

Instead of explaining fundamentals of sketching during class time, students watched the videos on their own time, then came to class ready to sketch.

Previous classes had time to complete between 12 and 14 sketches over the semester. With the videos freeing up class time, Verma’s students now produce 20 sketches each.

The Sketching UGA video experience was so successful that Verma, Bridges, and Balfour came up with an innovative way to expand its reach by creating a Sketching UGA YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/SketchingUGA) so that

“The videos are all about making sketching simple for people. Just like anything else, if you demystify it, it becomes manageable.”

—amitabh verma,

associate professor, college of environment and design

Stephen Bridges, Amitabh Verma, and Steve Balfour (from left to right) partnered to bring Sketching UGA online. Additional videos are planned for later in 2019.

LEARN TO SKETCH UGA @ BIT.LY/SKETCHINGUGA

college of environment and design building, ethan pu

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peter frey

anyone could learn how to draw UGA’s architecture.

The videos, none of which run more than eight-and-a-half minutes, are informative and easy to follow. And considering the content, they are tailor-made for a UGA audience.

The Arch and the Chapel are not only iconic symbols of Georgia, they are ideal for teaching the fundamentals of sketching. In reality, the Arch and the Chapel are elaborate, highly detailed works of art. But as Verma explains in the videos, from a sketching standpoint, it helps to deconstruct them and see them as a simple collection of geometric shapes—rectangles and triangles and semicircles— with specific relationships to each other.

“The videos are all about making sketching simple for people,” Verma says. “Just like anything else, if you demystify it, it becomes manageable.”

For his part, Verma is excited to grow his online presence. Verma and Bridges plan to work together on some new videos, including lessons on sketching the Chapel Bell and New College. Each is slightly more advanced than the current examples, making for a logical progression in learning.

“This project has a lot of amazing elements,” Balfour says. “You showcase UGA’s campus, which markets the university. You help people learn a skill they want to know, and it connects us with people who want to watch. We thought alumni would be particularly interested. One of the things I learned when I took the new faculty tour is that there are people in Georgia who have never visited campus, but they love us.” Prior to coming to UGA in 2017, he spent 24 years at Texas A&M, building an information technology organization and facilitating and creating research and instructional technologies.

“Sketching UGA is an excellent way to reach out to everybody who has a little Bulldog in their heart,” he says. GM

THE FUTURE OF UGA’S ONLINE LEARNING uga has more than

online master’s and certificate programs

for 2018–19,

students are enrolled in uga online classes

of those,

are graduate students

When the University of Georgia’s Office of Online Learning launched in 2012, it brought together the university’s disparate online course offerings under one campuswide management structure.

In 2018, UGA was named the best online college in the state by bestcolleges.com.

The university may have experienced rapid success in the online education world, but it didn’t come out of nowhere. To build its quality online programs, Georgia leveraged its academic strengths in areas ranging from education to journalism and agriculture, translating them in an online context.

For further growth areas, director Steve Balfour has his eyes focused on the future.

“What we’re doing is looking at what the Georgia job market is going to be like in 10 years. And we’ll continue to match that up with Georgia’s strengths.”

—steve balfour

director, office of online learning

Currently, Georgia’s portfolio of online master’s and certificate programs numbers more than 30. Undergraduate courses are concentrated on summer sessions and geared toward helping students graduate in four years or less.

For 2018-19, UGA has some 600 students enrolled in online courses and about 470 of them are enrolled in online graduate programs. The goal is to double those numbers in the next five years.

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W

Georgia MADE IN

written by katherine costikyan ab ’18 and aaron hale ma ’16 photos by peter frey bfa ’94

F

or the film and TV industry in Georgia, business is booming.

Georgia is now the busiest on-location production center in the nation, and it’s helping produce some of Hollywood’s biggest hits, from last year’s blockbusters Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War to the cultural TV touchstones Stranger Things and Atlanta.

In fiscal year 2018, the state hosted 455 projects with an estimated economic impact of $9.5 billion, compared to about $241 million in 2007.

The state’s industry employs over 92,000 workers with an average salary of $84,000.

And UGA alumni are among the leading drivers of the thriving industry in Georgia. These Bulldogs have found their showbiz niche in Georgia and are paving the way for future UGA storytellers.

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hen lee thomas ABJ ’87, deputy commissioner at the state’s Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office, tells the history of film and TV in Georgia, the genesis always begins with Deliverance, the 1972 classic that prompted Gov. Jimmy Carter and the state to invest in bringing more films to Georgia.

But a film that wasn’t shot in Georgia may be most responsible for the state’s current showbusiness renaissance.

Thomas says everything changed with the 2004 biopic Ray, about Georgia native Ray Charles. The state’s film office was courting producers to shoot in Georgia. They thought they had a good case and good locations. The studio even set up a production office in Atlanta. But then the moviemakers reversed course, lured by newly minted tax incentives offered by the state of Louisiana.

Georgia lost the movie, essentially because studios were lured by the bottom line. Canada started offering generous incentives for film production, and some U.S. states, including Louisiana, quickly followed suit. Before incentives, Georgia’s scenery was the biggest draw to film here—think Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit, Glory, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Born and raised in Georgia, Thomas got her start as a location scout in the state. The job allowed her to truly see every corner and feature of Georgia.

“I’ve been to almost every jail here, on top of most buildings, in tunnels, in every little town,” she says. “It really gives you a great, broad perspective of the state you’re living in. You meet interesting people. You get to see all types of houses. You get access to see things that most people don’t get a chance to see.”

But things had to change for Georgia to stay competitive.

In 2008, the Georgia General Assembly passed a new tax incentive package to lure studios back.

And it worked. The industry has been growing since 2009. In fact, it provided steady work and economic development in the state even during the Great Recession.

Thomas has been advocating for the kind of steps that will continue to cultivate the thriving industry. In 2016, her office worked with Gov. Nathan Deal to establish the Georgia Film Academy, which helps train industry set-builders, painters, and accountants. And as the state is becoming more established, the job opportunities are growing for casting directors, costume designers, studios managers, and more.

Looking ahead, Thomas sees a role for UGA to train students who can make a creative impact on the industry. She says the state needs a visual ef-

F E AT U R I N G

Lee Thomas T H E C A R E TA K E R

ABJ ‘87

“All of these students who are being prepared for careers in film know that they can stay in Georgia, and they’re better off staying here when they get out.”

FAVO R I T E G E O R G I A F I L M AND TV SERIES

Zombieland Ozark

georgia writers room

Furnishing the

fects house and thinks there is going to be a need for writing rooms, too—something UGA’s screenwriting MFA program (right) could help stock.

“I think we’re getting to the precipice where a lot of content will be originating out of the state,” she says. “That’s where UGA would come in, to create these con-

CREDITS INCLUDE

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

tent producers—the people who are actually conceptualizing and developing these shows.”

It makes for exciting times.

“All of these students who are being prepared for careers in film know that they can stay in Georgia, and they’re better off staying here when they get out.”

UGA’s Low-Residency MFA in Narrative Media Writing If Georgia is going to establish itself as a hub for original content, it will need to stock a writers’ room with talented storytellers. UGA’s MFA program for Narrative Media Writing could fill that role.

The two-year program is designed to give screenwriters the resources to develop a marketable film or TV script. It is aimed at experienced writers who want to explore new creative opportunities in telling stories for large and small screens. Students sharpen their skills working one-on-one with mentors who are established in the entertainment community.

Learn more at: t.uga.edu/4FS

Zombieland

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F E AT U R I N G

Chase Paris AB ‘06

THE GOLDEN BOY

CREDITS INCLUDE

Stranger Things Guardians of the Galaxy 2

C

hase paris AB ’06 doesn’t like being in front of the camera. He’s just really good at spotting the actors who would be.

So, when Paris and his business partner Tara Feldstein Bennett won an Emmy in 2017 for the breakout Netflix show Stranger Things (they had also been nominated for Atlanta), he was out of his element, weaving through the press lines as photographers snapped his picture. A post-win interview made it to YouTube, but even then, Paris wouldn’t watch his shining moment.

“I forwarded it to my wife and family, but I can’t hit play on it ever,” he says. “I just have no interest watching myself on camera.”

As a location casting director with Feldstein|Paris Casting, Paris helps identify local actors for small roles in some of the big movies and shows shot in Georgia.

Paris isn’t the one casting Winona Ryder in Stranger Things; that’s done by Hollywood casting. But that doesn’t mean his work doesn’t have an impact. Paris and Bennett were the ones who discovered Shannon Purser, who played Stranger Things’ breakout character, Barb.

Paris got his start in the business as an agent, working for actors instead of for the studios. He was considering making a jump to L.A., when his friend and colleague Bennett approached him about going into the casting business together.

In the beginning, he recalls, producers wouldn’t answer their calls or emails. But they kept at it. Their business was just getting up and running when the industry in Georgia really took off. Now, Paris works on some of the biggest productions coming through Georgia. That development is not just good for his business; it’s a boost for the state’s acting community.

“When we first started, before we had any cachet, we’d hire the smallest roles and the studios would fly everyone else in,” he says. “As we’ve gotten more respect, more locals get opportunities.”

Ozark Atlanta The Haunting at Hill House

FAVO R I T E G E O R G I A F I L M A N D T V S E R I E S

Deliverance 28

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Atlanta

“As we’ve gotten more respect, more locals get opportunities.”

F E AT U R I N G

Viviana Chavez AB ’10, ABJ ‘10

T H E AT L A N TA N

CREDITS INCLUDE

The Walking Dead Homeland The Accountant

“We all want to see Atlanta thrive and live up to its potential.”

FAVO R I T E G E O R G I A F I L M A N D T V S E R I E S

Stranger Things

F

or Viviana Chavez AB ’10, ABJ ’10, working in film and TV isn’t just a profession. The born-and-raised Atlantan, whose career in the Georgia entertainment world began straight out of college, finds that her role in the industry hits much closer to home.

With a slew of titles like actress, producer, and casting director attached to her name, Chavez is already well-seasoned when it comes to film and television. And though her love of acting is what got her started, her love for her city and her faith in the growing industry has transformed her into an entertainment renaissance woman.

“The industry in Atlanta is unique because it’s not about competition; it’s not cutthroat,” says Chavez. “We all want to see

The Haunting of Hill House the city thrive and live up to its potential, because it has the potential to be a hugely successful industry.”

Chavez, a dual-theatre and telecommunications major, has used her experience to garner over 40 credits across all levels of production, primarily on-screen roles in productions like The Walking Dead, Baby Driver, Nightcrawler, and Ozark. But her main hope for her career is not just to gain fame as an actor; it’s to nourish and grow an industry that can sustain many more people like her.

On top of her on-screen roles, Chavez has set her focus off-screen in the hopes of becoming a resource for other industry members.

Baby Driver To that end, she created The Media Room, a biweekly workshop where actors and directors can come together to collaborate and gain practical experience working with other industry professionals. She’s also focusing on collaborative projects like il-legally Latinos, a showcase of one-act plays written, directed, and performed by up-and-coming artists within the Atlanta Latino community.

“Atlanta is a place that should be about collaboration and community,” says Chavez. “I want to help people foster their own careers, to help Atlanta to grow. There are so many amazing artists and creators in this city, and I want their work to be seen and recognized in the way that it deserves.”

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F E AT U R I N G

Andy Rusk AB ‘03

T H E S E L F S TA R T E R CREDITS INCLUDE

The Walking Dead Atlanta Stranger Things Furious 7 Anchorman 2

FAVO R I T E G E O R G I A F I L M A N D T V S E R I E S

Atlanta

The Accountant

I

f you’ve watched the walking Dead, you’ve seen Andy Rusk AB ’03.

You just might not know it for all the makeup and, at times, flames covering his face and body.

Rusk has been maimed or killed (or whatever it’s called when you knock off a zombie) in a few dozen episodes as a stunt performer. His most memorable stunt is an episode when the undead start falling through the ceiling of a convenience store and attacking the show’s heroes. “I’m the zombie who got tangled up on a busted beam and hung by my entrails,” Rusk says.

After Rusk studied acting in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ theatre and film studies department, he was getting spotty work in films, both big and small, working in props, armory, carpentry, and set construction. In the meantime, he kept doing what he calls “survival” jobs to pay the bills, includingworking as a high-rise window cleaner.

He also served as a volunteer firefighter.

And then he saw an opportunity. He realized there was a dearth of stunt performers in Georgia and a growing need for them. So, he used his fire safety and rope-rigging skills—along with his high risk tolerance—to reinvent himself. He built a tower for falling and learned how to concoct homemade flame-resistant gel (used to protect performers during fire stunts). Then he practiced stunt falls and setting himself on fire with a group of friends. “We sort of trained ourselves up,” he says.

He’s been at work for nearly a decade with it—always risking a blown-out knee or a blow to the head.

Most recently, he’s moved into the role of stunt coordinator. He’s planned and overseen stunts as assistant stunt coordinator for the short-lived TV series Constantine (also filmed in Georgia) and as head stunt coordinator for the Peabody Award-winning Atlanta. As a coordinator, Rusk gets to draw on his theatre training at UGA, particularly script analysis. “You get to shape these stunt sequences from early draft to shooting script to budget meetings and location scouting all the way to the execution.”

Rusk likes the longevity coordinating affords him. His risk for a career-ending injury has dropped. “Instead, it gives me the opportunity to do what I can to make sure that nobody else gets knocked out or blows their knee out,” he says. “It’s just entertainment. It’s not worth an ambulance ride.”

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31

F E AT U R I N G

Olubajo Sonubi T H E P R O B L E M S O LV E R

AB ‘06 CREDITS INCLUDE

The Vampire Diaries Dynasty Scream Originals Flight

“I want to see more representation, and I want a say in what’s being told.”

T

he world of television and film was miles away from Olubajo Sonubi’s AB ’06 plans when he first enrolled at UGA. An aspiring lawyer from the age of 9, Sonubi found his way into the acting world by coincidence.

While shaping his career in law as an undergrad, he enrolled in drama courses to enhance his courtroom presence. A new dream began to take shape after that, and after graduation, he traded his law school plans for an MFA in acting from Southern Methodist University.

“I realized that I liked the idea of playing a lawyer more than I liked the idea of being one,” Sonubi says.

Soon, he moved back to Atlanta and landed an agent. An unpaid internship led

32

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a gig teaching acting workshops with local casting director and mentor Marty Cherrix. That connection led to his first big break: working on the massively popular CW show The Vampire Diaries, which was filmed in Georgia. Sonubi worked his way up from assistant casting director to leading local casting for the show.

His credits continued to build from there; he’s worked casting for films like Netflix’s Come Sunday and television shows such as Cobra Kai and Dynasty.

For Sonubi, who started his own agency, OAS Casting, his work is all about problem-solving. Each script put into the hands of a casting director is a problem, he says, and finding the perfect person for each role is an immensely satisfying solution.

But further than that, he views his work as a discipline in storytelling.

“How we move about the world depends on the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell each other,” he says. “I want to be a part of that.”

Casting, he says, is just the beginning.

Looking ahead, Sonubi hopes to be the one creating the stories, inspired by those underrepresented in the world of entertainment.

“I believe the types of stories that are told are limited by the people telling them,” Sonubi says. “And there are many perspectives left off of the page. I want to see more representation, and I want a say in what’s being told.”

F E AT U R I N G

John Rooker T H E S O U N D S TA G E O W N E R

BBA ‘02

AT L A N TA M E T R O STUDIOS CREDITS INCLUDE

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Pitch Perfect 3 24: Legacy Boss Level The Passage The Gifted FAVO R I T E GEORGIA FILM

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

W

here georgia shoppers once bought khakis and ate food-court Chinese, now vicious jaguars can chase a motorcycle-mounted Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson through the jungle.

That’s the story of Atlanta Metro Studios, a soundstage hosting film and TV shows ranging from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and 24: Legacy to Pitch Perfect 3.

The studio’s owner is John Rooker BBA ’02, who joined the family real estate business but found himself a part of Georgia’s thriving showbusiness.

Rooker, as CEO of the Rooker industrial real estate firm, had acquired the old Union City Shannon Mall, which closed in 2010.

“We had these 20 acres left over from the mall redevelopment, and we weren’t sure what we were going to do with it,” he recalls.

That’s when he was approached by a cou-

ple of film industry veterans about turning the mall into a purpose-built film and television campus. Rooker had been observing the expansion of the industry. Even during the economic downturn, from 2009-2012, production companies had come asking to transform warehouse spaces into movie sets. And until Pinewood Studios opened in Fayetteville, Georgia, in 2014, there were no studios in the area.

And so Atlanta Metro Studios was born.

Almost four years later, the studio is booked for the foreseeable future and is a leading studio operator along with Pinewood and Tyler Perry Studios.

Despite the success, Rooker is still wowed by the magic of moviemaking. For example, the characters in Jumanji by all appearances are on a dense and perilous jungle island.

“But I watched them shoot the scenes at the

studio in front of a green screen,” Rooker says. “It’s amazing what they can do both with sets and the effects they use in these movies.”

Beyond just offering space for shooting, Atlanta Metro Studios acts as a concierge service for productions—aiding in booking hotels, transportation, food, heavy equipment, and a variety of other vendors for the production. In that role, Rooker sees that the industry provides steady work for businesses and families, such as the momand-pop dry cleaner business in Union City, that is getting year-round business from productions for costumes.

“Why wouldn’t they go to the guy across the street if they needed something hemmed or cleaned?” he says. “And that’s just one example. There are all sorts of things this business touches.” GM

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33

ON THE BULLDOG BEAT

T

he University of Georgia’s main campus is in Athens, of course, but whether you live 100 or 1,000 miles away, the UGA community is never far from you.

All alumni are automatically members of the UGA Alumni Association, and there are no association fees.

UGA’s 88 alumni chapters around the world bring alumni of all ages and experiences together in their local communities. From game-watching parties to service projects and professional networking, UGA alumni chapters held more than 840 events in 2018.

Chapters are led by passionate alumni who participate in leadership training on campus and return home to help host events and programs for local alumni and friends. Some corporations that employ significant numbers of alumni have their own networking chapters as well. There really is no better way to bring the Bulldog family together than through alumni chapters.

88

chapters.

To find out what your chapter will host next, visit ALUMNI.UGA.EDU/CHAPTERS Update your email and mailing address at ALUMNI.UGA.EDU/MYINFO.

INTERNATIONAL CHAPTERS: China Germany Kabul, Afghanistan London, England Seville, Spain Taiwan

34

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ONE alumni

...

community

LARGEST CHAPTER:

Metro Atlanta (more than 93,000 local alumni)

LARGEST CHAPTER: Outside Georgia

Washington, D.C. (more than 6,700 local alumni)

MOST ACTIVE CHAPTER:

Metro Atlanta (26 events in 2018) See Chapter Spotlight, p. 36.

FURTHEST CHAPTER: COLDEST CHAPTER: Anchorage, Alaska

NEWEST CHAPTERS: Taiwan and China

EARLIEST GAME-WATCHING PARTY:

Kabul (2:30 a.m. for a noon start in Athens)

from Athens

Taiwan (8,140 miles)

FURTHEST U.S. CHAPTER: from Athens

Anchorage, Alaska (4,456 miles)

FURTHEST U.S. CHAPTER:

in the lower 48 states from Athens

Seattle, Washington (2,217 miles)

geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 019

35

THE NATION

news and events

Congratulations, Terminus!

On Jan. 26, the 10th annual Bulldog 100 Celebration took place in Atlanta. The final rankings of the fastest growing Bulldog businesses were revealed, and Terminus, an Atlanta-based B2B marketing firm, landed at No. 1. CEO Eric Spett BBA ’10 established Terminus in 2014, and this was the first year Terminus was named to the Bulldog 100. Check out the rest of the fastestgrowing Bulldog businesses at alumni.uga.edu/b100/gm.

from the uga alumni association

We’re Changing Lives

The UGA Alumni Association has committed to changing lives by establishing scholarships that will remove financial barriers for students pursuing a UGA degree. This past fall, the Women of UGA affinity group reached its fundraising goal of $50,000 to establish a Georgia Commitment Scholarship. In addition, UGA’s more than 80 chapters around the world helped raise $33,000 to fund an Alumni Chapters Scholarship—far exceeding the original goal of $25,000. Help change more lives at alumni.uga.edu/give/gm.

A BULLDOG BARK TO ...

CHAPTER NAME:

36

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The UGA Alumni Association has opened nominations for the 40 Under 40 Class of 2019 and the 2020 Bulldog 100. If you know successful young alumni or a graduate who owns a business, this is your chance to nominate them for these recognitions. More at alumni.uga.edu/40u40/gm and alumni.uga.edu/b100/gm.

CHAPTER SPOTLIGHT

adam linke

Congratulations to the 2019 Bulldog 100! These alumni are leading the way in business and are helping build better communities. Whenever communities are seeking stronger leaders and better solutions, the Bulldog 100 are there to answer the call. Congratulations to these top Dawgs!

More at alumni.uga.edu/b100/gm.

Nominations are Open

Metro Atlanta

CHAPTER PRESIDENT: Jessi Fawley BS ’11

NUMBER OF ALUMNI IN THE AREA: 93,798

By hosting community service events, a family day at Zoo Atlanta, spirited game-watching parties, a dinner for UGA IMPACT students, and discounted “UGA Nights” with three local pro sports teams, this chapter is maintaining a strong calendar of events they hope engage alumni of all ages.

DON’T MISS OUT MARCH 21-23 Alumni Weekend Spring Alumni Weekend is March 21-23 in Athens. Alumni, parents, and friends are invited to campus to feel like a student again. Registration closes soon! alumni.uga.edu/weekend/gm

SOCIAL MEDIA

Stay connected with @ugaalumniassoc on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Kailie Sanders BSED ’17 and David Detweiler BSAE ’15 showed their Bulldog spirit in Times Square in September.

MARCH 22 TEDxUGA 2019: Amplify

@dcwdetweiler

Join the UGA community for an evening with an inspiring group of faculty, alumni, and students who will share their philosophies, art, and ideas worth spreading. tedxuga.com

The NYC Alumni Chapter hosted a tacky sweater holiday party in December for alumni in the Big Apple.

More than 50 Bulldogs turned out for the festive gathering.

MARCH 31 Senior Signature Deadline All students graduating in May or December 2019 have until March 31 to donate to Senior Signature and ensure their names appear on the Class of 2019 plaque in Tate Plaza. alumni.uga.edu/seniorsignature/gm

APRIL 5 82nd Annual Alumni Awards Luncheon Celebrate the achievements of distinguished alumni, faculty, and friends of UGA. alumni.uga.edu/alumniawards/gm

For more events, visit alumni.uga.edu/calendar/gm.

contact us: Have you moved?

Changed your name?

Keep your record up to date at alumni.uga.edu/myinfo.

@nycdawgs Michelle Gooden BSFCS ’07, a clinical dietician and the dietetic internship coordinator for Emory Healthcare, returned to campus in November to speak to students and faculty in the College of Family & Consumer Sciences. “To hear all the amazing work @ugafacs students are doing and speak with the amazing leaders who encourage them makes me so proud to be a FACS graduate,” she says. @onemoremichelle

Andrew Fleischer BBA ’17 showed his UGA pride all the way from Baghdad, Iraq, in October as the Bulldogs prepared to take on the Florida Gators.

For more information: (800) 606-8786 alumni.uga.edu @rfplus4

geo rgia maga z ine | s pring 2 019

37

class notes Compiled by Rachel Floyd and Katherine Costikyan AB ’18.

1955-1959

published her third full-length

Carlos Adkins Jr. BSPH ’55 is

book of poems, Pineapple

a pharmacist at Convenient

Wine: Poems of Maui.

Care Pharmacy in Thomasville.

Lether Sapp BBA ’55 published

1970-1974

Put the Chairs in the Wagon;

Lawrence Hall AB ’71 retired

Church is Over, a book of sto-

from his position as a chem-

ries about growing up in South

istry teacher at Dublin High

Georgia during the 1930s,

School.

’40s, and ’50s.

Tom Poland ABJ ’71, MEd ’75

Beverly Copen ABJ ’58 is an

received the Order of Palmet-

entrepreneur, published author

to, South Carolina’s highest

of four nonfiction books, and

civilian award. He is the author

professional photographer.

of several books on South Carolina’s people, history, and

1960-1964

environment.

Judy Kurtz Goldman BSEd ’63

Lamar Paris BBA ’72 is the sole

published Together: A Memoir

county commissioner of Union

of a Marriage and a Medical

County, Georgia.

Mishap.

Drew Whalen III BBA ’73 was sworn in as president of the In-

1965-1969

ternational Municipal Lawyers

Ed Beattie BBA ’65 is CFO

Association at its 83rd annual

of Extreme Powersports in

conference in Houston in

Columbus, Georgia.

October 2018.

Jim Toole Jr. AB ’67 was

Sherril York BSEd ’73 received

appointed to North Carolina

the 2018 National Accessibil-

Cooperative Extension State

ity Leadership Achievement

Advisory Council in August

Award from the Department

2018.

of Interior-National Park

Mimi Kaegebein BS ’68 is a

Service. York is the executive

medical laboratory scientist at

director of the National Center

North Memorial Medical Cen-

on Accessibility at Indiana

ter in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.

University.

Jill Jennings AB ’69, MA ’75

Anne Benefield ABJ ’74, MBA ’80

38

geo rg i a mag a z in e | s p r in g 2 01 9

special

CAREER HONOR

Prolific Author Joins Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Michael Bishop AB ’67, MA ’68 had a big year in 2018. In June, he earned a Georgia Author of the Year Award for his short story collection, Other Arms Reach Out To Me. Then, in November, at a ceremony in the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries, he was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

“I’m delighted to be among the many fine writers so honored, included such favorites of mine as Flannery O’Connor and Judson Mitcham,” he says.

Much of Bishop’s work falls in the science fiction/fantasy genre, but his wide-ranging output includes mysteries, Southern gothic tales, satire, and most everything in between. A resident of Pine Mountain, Bishop (shown above with his granddaughter Annabel, daughter Stephanie, and wife, Jen) has written more than 30 books over the course of a nearly 50-year career that includes two years as an English instructor at UGA. From 1996 to 2012, he was writer-in-residence at LaGrange College.

Bishop’s most recent short story collection, The Sacerdotal Owl and Three Other Long Tales, came out in August.

CLASS NOTES is a hospice chaplain working for Kindred Hospice in the Bay Area of San Francisco, California.

Mike Davis BSPH ’74 is serving

APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

Facing the Music

his 16th year on the Lowndes County Board of Education.

Donny Roberson Jr. AB ’74, MEd ’92, MEd ’00, PhD ’03 is an associate professor in the college of physical culture at Palacky University in the Czech Republic.

Shelly Wischhusen BFA ’74 retired from her position as chief preparator of exhibitions at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. 1975-1979 Penny Alderman AB ’75 is a senior lecturer in the Bachelor of Social Work program in the Department of Social Sciences at Augusta University.

Rhett Harrison BBA ’75 is owner of Rhett Harrison Commercial Insurance in Milledgeville.

Dennis McBride BS ’75, MS ’78, PhD ’79 is chief strategy officer for Source America. McBride is also strategy officer and senior scientist at NeuroRX Pharmaceutical and an affiliated profes-

special

special

D

espite its rich history and cultural significance, opera’s place within the world of music has, in some ways, fallen to the wayside.

Megan Gillis BMus ’13 is working every day to change that.

A lifelong performer, Gillis first fell in love with opera at a young age after being encouraged by vocal instructors to pursue the art, due to her strong soprano voice.

After many years of practice, she eventually found an ideal place to hone her passion at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music,

Megan Gillis BMus ’13

where she continued to find her voice.

Upon graduation, Gillis followed her dreams of a career in musical performance all the way to New York City, where she earned a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. It was in Manhattan where she and fellow performer Kathleen Spencer got the idea to start their own company: City Lyric Opera.

“We wanted to create new and inventive programs that not only benefit different and diverse opera audiences but also are equally beneficial to young, thriving artists here in New York City that wouldn’t otherwise have performance opportunities,” Gillis says.

City Lyric Opera aims to serve local artists in the New York City area and to create a home within the opera world for performers and audiences alike. As City Lyric’s co-executive director, Gillis hopes to bring her own love for opera to the masses in a relatable way.

Many of City Lyric’s programs focus on giving back to the artistic community, like their WorkshOpera program, which gives opportunities for members of the performing arts community—like artists and stage and music directors—to collaborate in a low-pressure environment. In another vein, their Salon Series presents smallscale performances in relaxed, intimate settings within people’s homes, bringing artists and patrons closer together.

Audiences can look forward to full-scale productions from the opera company as well. In May, they will stage a production of La Tragédie de Carmen. Through productions like this, up-and-coming artists, seasoned fans, and curious beginners alike will be able to experience the opera within their own city.

“Everyone is invited to the opera. Everyone can come and enjoy and feel personally connected to it,” says Gillis. “That’s something that we’re very passionate about and something we want to integrate into all of our performances.”

written by katherine costikyan AB '18

geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 019

39

CLASS NOTES Mark Bolen AB ’84 is owner of Teton Wild Custom Wildlife Tours in Jackson, Wyoming.

Teton Wild provides scenic and wildlife tours in Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.

Stacy Chick BBA ’84 was named chief commercial officer of Inivata, a global clinical cancer genomics company.

Trey Paris III BBA ’84, MBA ’85 was recognized in James Magazine’s Hall of Fame. Paris is managing director of Taylor English Decisions.

Tina Roddenbery ABJ ’84, JD ’87 became an equity shareholder at Boyd Collar Nolen Tuggle & Roddenbery in September 2018.

Marshall Welsh ABJ ’84 is a culinary instructor at Nicholls State University’s Chef John sor at Georgetown Medical

Laird Miller BSPH ’78 received

Chigozie Asiabaka BSA ’81,

Folse Culinary Institute in

School in Washington, D.C.

the 2018 Calvin J. Anthony

MEd ’82 is a visiting professor

Thibodaux, Louisiana.

Christy Dimon BSEd ’76, MEd

Lifetime Achievement Award

at the University of Calabar,

’77 retired from her position at

from the National Community

Nigeria.

1985-1989

the Federal Reserve Bank with

Pharmacists Association.

Andy Satterfield AB ’81 was

Barbara Collins BS ’79 is

Mike Feely AB ’85 is director

the U.S. Treasury.

elected as a Fellow of the

of development for Camp

Bev Stewart AB ’76, MEd

founder of Serenity Women’s

College of Labor and Employ-

Lookout, a United Methodist

’77, EdS ’80 retired from her

Resource Center in Conyers.

ment Lawyers in the Class of

camp and retreat center in

position as a library media

David Lee ABJ ’79, EDs ’98 is

2018.

Rising Fawn, Georgia.

specialist in Hamilton County

executive producer of the

Pam Fountain ABJ ’82 is the

Barney Morris BS ’85 retired

after 36 years.

documentary film Alex Cooley

director of alumni and annual

from his position as assistant

Carolyn Cunningham ABJ ’77

Presents: Time Has Come

giving at Piedmont College in

inspector in charge with the

published Go Git Em, Gizmo:

Today.

Demorest.

United States Postal Inspec-

Marty French BS ’83 is an

tion Service. Morris is presi-

WWII Sgt. L. J. Wildes 1917-99 in honor of her late father

1980-1984

obstetrician-gynecologist in

dent of the 100 Black Men of

who served in the U.S. Navy

Cindy Wilborn BSHE ’80 is

Greenville, South Carolina.

Tampa Bay.

and Army.

owner of Southern Style, pro-

Jeff Jowdy ABJ ’83 was

Becky Reynolds BSHE ’77 is

Tim Forrest AB ’87 is CEO

viding interior design, event

re-elected as chairman of Phi

and senior consultant at his

the house director for Kappa

planning, personal shopping,

Kappa Theta Foundation and

consumer product consulting

Kappa Gamma at Louisiana

and style consultation in

named to the Editorial Advi-

firm, Tim Forrest Consulting.

State University.

Atlanta.

sory Board of NonProfit PRO.

Forrest recently celebrat-

40

geo rg i a mag a z in e | s p r in g 2 01 9

CLASS NOTES APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

All Rise

W

alking into the office of the Supreme Court of Georgia’s chief justice, with its wood-paneled walls and marble nameplate, you feel a sense of awe and perhaps a bit out-of-place in your blue jeans.

Then you see Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby-Doo as the background of the chief justice’s computer, and you know he doesn’t take himself too seriously. His sense of humor comes across when he talks about his journey to the state’s highest court of law.

“The University of Georgia did prepare me well,” says Chief Justice Harold Melton JD ’91. “I joke that I was in the top of the middle of the class, but I really do feel like they prepared me on the knowledge of the law and the exposure to the culture of the legal community, which is just as important.”

After graduating from the School of Law, Melton spent more than a decade in the attorney general’s office, where he started off in property tax law. At the time, Georgia was reassessing property values.

“We were going across the state making sure counties updated their values, and then the local communities were howling because the values had gone up,” he says.

Harold Melton JD ’91

peter frey

“So I got to walk into these remote counties throughout the state and say, ‘Hi, I’m from Atlanta. I’m the guy that’s trying to make your tax base go up.’”

But the experience turned out to be a surprisingly fun way to see the state and work out solutions with constituents.

When he was selected to serve as executive counsel to Gov. Sonny Perdue DVM ’71, Melton was able to return some of his focus to one of the issues that first piqued his interest in law: criminal justice reform. Increasing incarceration rates were putting a strain on an already overcrowded prison system, and something had to be done to stem the flow of inmates.

“If we kept up with those incarceration rates, we would probably have to build one prison per year or close to it,” he says. “It just wasn’t sustainable. And we also realized that when you incarcerate somebody, that has an impact on the person, but it also has an impact on the families, the household that person came from.”

The solution: Find a way to allow some non-violent offenders to be committed to the Department of Corrections without necessarily incarcerating those individu-

als. Lawbreakers could be required to wear an ankle monitor, for instance, and if they violated their probation, they could quickly be moved to a hard prison bed.

Gov. Perdue appointed Melton to the state’s Supreme Court in 2005. It was a bit of an adjustment going from the highintensity, high-energy governor’s office to the quieter halls of the judicial building, but the position quickly became one of his favorites. When his fellow justices unanimously elected him to serve as chief justice in 2018, Melton was honored.

“One of the most challenging things when you’re on this court is you want to get it right,” he says. “We have a really good court, and I really enjoy collaborating with each of the eight other justices. Most of our decisions are 9-0—I would say 95-98 percent are 9-0—because we work hard to bring everybody into the fold and address concerns that are raised by any of the other justices.”

As for the case of the Scooby-Doo backdrop, his 18-year-old daughter was found guilty.

“I took my new computer home,” Melton laughed. “Within two minutes she had Scooby on there.”

written by leigh beeson MA ’17

geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 019

41

CLASS NOTES Keysa Davis AB ’93 was appointed to serve as chief communications officer for the State Road and Tollway Authority. Davis was also elected vice president of the UGA Black Alumni Leadership Council.

Brian Patterson BBA ’93, JD ’96 of Athens was elected president of the Western Judicial Circuit Bar Association.

Kerry Courchaine BSA ’94, MS ’96 joined Darling Ingredients in Irving, Texas, as director of technical services.

Lillian Sneed BSFCS ’94 is the administrator for Jayda Lives, which guides high school students through the dual enrollment process to graduate with an associate degree and high school diploma at the same time.

Eric Strumpf BBA ’94 is a mared three years of success

financial officer of Greater

Christy Stillwell AB ’91

keting executive for Madwire,

assisting the NGO Prayasam

Community Bank in Wood-

published her debut novel

provider for Marketing 360.

program with vocational food

stock.

The Wolf Tone, which received

service school charity work in

Alesia Scott AB ’89 is the

the Elixir Press Fiction award.

1995-1999

Calcutta, India.

regional director of public

Toni Waymer AB ’91 is a

Marc Bailey AB ’95 is

Jeff Kellar BBA ’88, MACc ’90

affairs for EMEA & The

project manager in clinical

president and CEO of Track

was named tax director at

Americas.

research at Social & Scientific

Legend Brand.

Systems.

Amy Hokkanen ABJ ’95

Smith Adcock and Company

42

public accounting firm.

1990-1994

Susan Mullis BSEd ’92 is an

launched her own company,

Lisa Reavis BBA ’88 is presi-

Lynn Appelle BFA ’90 has been

adapted physical education

Amy’s Star Meetings, in

dent of Sand Dollar Account-

a production manager for film

teacher in Barrow County.

Atlanta. Hokkanen won the

ing and Sand Dollar Property

and TV for 20 years.

Mullis is co-director for

Stephen Styrch Award from

Management in Savannah.

Laura Green BSEd ’90 is

the local Special Olympics

the Georgia Society of Asso-

Reavis is also the board pres-

founder of Ovation Funding

chapter.

ciation Executives.

ident of Oglethorpe Charter

Solutions and is a dance

Jeff Robinson ABJ ’92 is lead

Tara Ingle BSEd ’95 is a

School.

teacher at the East Athens

pastor for Christ Fellowship

French teacher at Woodward

Phaedra Corso AB ’89,

Dance Center.

Church of Louisville, adjunct

Academy Upper School in

MPA ’91 was named vice

LaNeesha Brown BSEH ’91 is

professor of church history at

College Park.

president for research at

an environmental protection

the Southern Baptist Theo-

Jon Milavec ABJ ’96 is owner,

Kennesaw State University.

specialist in facilities engi-

logical Seminary of Louisville,

executive producer, and

Brian Hawkins BBA ’89 is se-

neering for the Department

and senior editor for The

creative director at Mixed

nior vice president and chief

of Navy.

Gospel Coalition.

Bag Media, an Atlanta-based

g eo rg i a mag a z in e | s p r in g 2 01 9

CLASS NOTES APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

Game Night

I

n many ways, the rook & pawn, located at 294 W. Washington St. in downtown Athens, is a typical Classic City establishment. Good café food.

Friendly atmosphere. A nice spot to have a drink and unwind.

What sets the Rook & Pawn apart is its floor-to-ceiling shelves of board games available to patrons—800 in all. That, and the charm of owners Carrie and Tim Kelly.

“I’m not that competitive,” Carrie says.

“But Tim is different. Not only does he want to win, he wants to make sure you lose.”

“If there is an evil way to win, that’s the way I want to do it,” he laughs.

The Kellys met as student workers in the Georgia Center and moved together to Augusta when Carrie BS ’00 went to medical school. When Carrie did her pediatrics residency in Greenville, South Carolina, Tim BSEd ’00, JD ’07 returned to UGA for law school. Three years later, Carrie’s residency finished and Tim had earned his law degree.

They reunited in Athens and started their

Carrie BS ’00 and Tim Kelly BSEd ’00, JD ’07

peter frey

careers, Carrie as a pediatrician and Tim in UGA’s general counsel’s office. Somewhere along the way, they learned of their shared love of board games.

The idea of opening a café that catered to others’ love of them didn’t come until a few years ago, but when it did, they dove in. The Kellys visited a similar cafés in Los Angels and Washington and spoke to other owners across the U.S. and Canada. Cafés that provide customers with board games to play while they eat or drink isn’t a new concept, but it’s one that’s mostly confined to larger cities. The Kellys, though, thought Athens would be a perfect market, and in June 2015, they found the perfect spot at the west end of downtown.

The weekend before they opened, Tim, Carrie, and several friends from their board game group and their kids stayed up until 4 a.m. unwrapping all the games and punching out cardboard tokens.

“When we finished with the last game, I put it on the shelf and it fit perfectly,”

Carrie says.

Carrie ran the day-to-day operations for the first few months after opening, but soon she returned full time to her practice. Tim then left his job at UGA to take the lead, which he continues to do today.

It’s truly a labor of love and a perfect hangout for the Kellys, their 8- and 5-yearold boys, and their friends. With upwards of 800 games for all ages available and an additional 400 or so in storage, you’d think it would be tough for the Kellys to keep track of inventory. But that’s not the case. Ask about the location of a particular game and they can immediately point to it. Ask about whether another game is fun and the couple can offer a 15-30 second review.

“We see lots of families with kids early in the evening, and they’ll play Uno and have coffee,” Tim says. “Later on, the younger crowd comes in, and they play party games and have a beer. That was our dream scenario, and that’s how it’s worked out.”

written by eric rangus MA ’94

geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 019

43

CLASS NOTES video and photo production

December 2018.

South Carolina. Williams is a

one in-home tutoring service

company. Milavec and his

Jenny De Witt BSEd ’97 is a

certified child care trainer for

designed to help students of all

wife, Lynn Medcalf AB ’90,

public information officer for

the state of South Carolina and

ages and subject levels.

MA ’94, opened a second

Lake County, Florida.

sits on the Board of Directors

Allison Priebe BSFCS ’00 is

branch of the business in

Bret Jefferson BLA ’97 is a land-

for the Montessori Charter

owner of Queen Bee Designs,

California.

scape architect at Jefferson

School of Camden.

with a showroom and gallery in

Steven Patrick BSFR ’96, MS ’98

Land Consulting and Solu-

is a county extension coordi-

tions in Atlanta. Jefferson is a

2000-2004

Pierce Campbell BBA ’01 was

nator with UGA Extension.

certified arborist and erosion

Julie Cheney AB ’00, MEd ’11

named CEO of Turner Padget

Andy Price BBA ’96 was select-

control design professional.

was named president and CEO

Graham & Laney law firm in

ed as scout executive/CEO

Amy Tapley ABJ ’97 is associate

of the Florida State University

Florence, South Carolina.

of the Boy Scouts of America

director of marketing at TSYS

Alumni Association.

George Emami AB ’01, MBA ’10 is

Grand Canyon Council.

Payment Solutions.

Lindsey Gary-Ford BS ’00 is

founder, broker, and principal of

Lanora Yates BFA ’96, MFA ’05 is

Han Vance AB ’98 published

employed at the Community

The Brokery in Bibb County.

curator and gallery manager

the third edition of his book,

Services Board for the city of

Jordan Hendrick BS ’01 was

at LaGrange College’s Lamar

Golden State Misadventures, in

Richmond, Virginia.

added as a name partner at

Dodd Art Center. Her first solo

August 2018.

Erica Gwyn BSEd ’00 was select-

Abernathy Bitzel Hendrick Bryce

exhibition of paintings, “Inti-

Camisha Williams BSEd ’98

ed as a FINRA public arbitrator.

law firm in Marietta.

mations of the Sublime,” was

is co-owner of Lighthouse

Suzanne Phillips BBA ’00, BSAE ’01

Ethan Armentrout BSBE ’02, MBA

on display at the Lamar Dodd

Therapeutics, a pediatric

is owner of the franchise, Tutor

’05 obtained the designation of

Art Center from September to

based therapy company in

Doctor, a customizable one-to-

certified commercial investment

44

geo rg i a mag a zin e | s p r in g 2 01 9

Alexandria, Virginia.

CLASS NOTES

APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

All-Around Champion

Keturah Orji AB ’18

cory a. cole

dorothy kozlowski

W

hen she realized she could give the boys a run for their money in a foot race, Keturah Orji decided to join her high school’s track and field team. Now, the former UGA national champion and U.S. Olympian has been named the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes for their academic and athletic excellence, as well as their commitment to community service and leadership.

No stranger to success, Orji AB’18 earned nine individual SEC championships. She is the first woman to win eight NCAA individual titles in field events and was named SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2016 and 2018. She also was a major contributor to UGA’s 2018 national championship in wom-

en’s indoor track.

Orji spent four years competing in the long jump and triple jump for Georgia’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams.

She says she knew UGA was where she was meant to be because of the people who influenced her on her first trip to campus.

“I really had fun with the team on my visit. I feel like the coach already had me, but when I went on my visit, the team was what really kept me here,” says Orji, who was track team captain as well as serving three years on the Student Athletes Advisory Committee.

Her accomplishments were not limited to the college ranks. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Orji competed in triple jump— set the American record in the process— and finished fourth, the best result ever for an American woman in the event. Even though she has been recognized for all these accomplishments, Orji says the NCAA Woman of the Year is more than just an award.

“I’ve always been recognized for my

athletic accomplishments but never for the other parts of me,” she says. “So to be recognized at the highest level for the total package of who I am was really exciting, and I was just honored to win that.”

Orji is currently pursuing a master’s degree in kinesiology at UGA and is focused on staying healthy and consistent in her sport. She hopes to make the 2019 World Championships team and aims to compete in the 2020 Olympics.

While Orji always pushes herself to be the best at her sport, she knows people look up to her, and she says it’s important to stay motivated and understand sports aren’t the only things in life that matter.

“Being named NCAA Woman of the Year shows that life isn’t just about sport,” she says. “Sometimes I feel like people put a lot of pressure on themselves to be the best athlete in the world, but life is bigger than just winning competitions and games.”

written by rachel floyd

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45

CLASS NOTES member. Armentrout is an investment real estate broker with Marcus & Millichap in Atlanta.

Jason Corbin ABJ ’02 is a creative director at Lewis Communications in Birmingham, Alabama.

Chad Groves BBA ’02 is owner of Studio 882 Furniture + Design in Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania.

Matt Koperniak BMus ’02, MMEd ’04 joined the music education faculty at the Armstrong campus of Georgia Southern University in Savannah.

Tiffany Tooley BFA ’02, MMC ’04 is the director for product marketing at Salesforce in San Francisco, California.

Carey Clinton Jr. AB ’03 and his wife, Christin McConnell, welcomed a daughter, Rose Marguerite, in April 2018.

Chandler Conner BSA ’03, PharmD ’08 is owner of C2 Medical Solutions, a specialty compounding and infusion pharmacy in Athens.

Ben Lindsey AB ’03 was named district claim agent for Norfolk Southern Corporation’s Piedmont Division based in Greenville, South Carolina.

Emily Robinson AB ’03, MEd ’05 co-authored a lesson plan focusing on global education in the book 12 Lessons to Open Classrooms and Minds to the World.

Stephanie Wonderlick ABJ ’03 was named vice president of corporate communications at Red Hat, a multinational software company in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.

2005-2009 Scott Donner AB ’05 is an AP

46

g eo rg i a mag a z in e | s p r in g 2 01 9

CLASS NOTES

our georgia commitment paying forward the gift of higher education Prashanthi and Rohini Jella were thrilled when their son earned UGA’s most prestigious merit scholarship. Now, the couple is paying forward their financial commitment to his education to help other students pursue their dreams.

H

special

igher education brought Prashanthi and Rohini Jella to the U.S. from India. The couple met while Rohini was earning master’s degrees in transportation and computer science and Prashanthi was completing her Ph.D. in food science.

“We had phenomenal student experiences despite the cultural and learning adjustments,” Rohini says. “We are who we are today due to the mentors we had throughout our college years.”

Today, the couple resides in Lawrenceville.

Rohini is an Oracle software development manager, and Prashanthi is a vice president of research and development at The

GIVE.UGA.EDU

Coca-Cola Company. Their son Satya is a first-year Honors student at Georgia whose decision to attend the university was influenced by the Foundation Fellowship, UGA’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarship which is housed in the UGA Honors Program.

“Satya was offered presidential scholarships at other universities, but we are extremely happy that he chose to join the Dawg Nation,” Rohini says. “He visited UGA on multiple occasions and was impressed by the research opportunities, academic rigor, outside-the-classroom activities, and the fun he’d have living on campus.”

Satya is studying biochemistry, molecular biology, and economics, and he’s conducting research in the glycoimmunology and vaccinology lab of Fikri Avci, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Satya knows that his experiences at UGA will help him pursue his dream of working in hospital administration. That experiential learning is what his parents value most.

“Prashanthi and I are huge believers in an education that shapes an individual into a compassionate human being while achieving their career goals,” Rohini says.

“We discussed with our children that we would make the investment in their education as a foundational gift that will reap them lifelong benefits.”

Since Satya’s education is being supported by the Foundation Fellowship, Rohini and Prashanthi decided to pass along their financial commitment to assist other UGA students.

“Because we arrived in the early 1990s with international student status, Prashanthi and I know what it means to be a college student in the U.S. with very limited financial resources,” Rohini says. “We also know what an education from a great institution can do for someone’s life.”

The Jellas worked with UGA to determine the most impactful way to support students.

Their initial gift was more than quintupled thanks to Coca-Cola’s matching gift program, which tripled their contribution, and UGA’s Georgia Commitment Scholarship Program, which doubled that amount. Their scholarships will assist students with financial need who are pursuing a degree in food science in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and will provide Honors Program students with enhanced experiential learning opportunities, such as travel and research.

The couple hopes that students who receive a Jella family scholarship will become successful and compassionate individuals— and will consider giving back to UGA in the future to help the next generation of Bulldogs achieve their dreams, too.

Employer matching gift programs and UGA’s Georgia Commitment Scholarship can enhance the impact of your support for the University of Georgia. More at GIVE.UGA.EDU/MATCHING-GIFTS and GIVE.UGA.EDU/GEORGIA-COMMITMENT.

geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 019

47

CLASS NOTES U.S. history teacher at Elizabeth

White House and CNN for daily

High School Frank J. Cicarell

and long term coverage.

Academy in Elizabeth, New

Erin White AB ’07, ABJ ’07 married

Jersey.

Courtnie Wolfgang BFA ’00,

Joan Kaminer AB ’05 is an attor-

MAEd ’08. White is head of

ney-adviser with the Office of

digital engagement at Virginia

General Counsel at the Environ-

Commonwealth University and

mental Protection Agency.

associate professor at VCU li-

Mia Kilby BSFCS ’05 is a family

braries. Wolfgang is an assistant

nurse practitioner at Langford

professor in the department of

Allergy in Milledgeville.

Art Education at VCU.

Lee Mimbs Jr. BBA ’05 is partner-

Adam Speas ABJ ’08 married

ship income tax operations man-

Kasha Speas AB ’08 in May 2016.

ager with Marathon Petroleum

Chris Szutz BBA ’08 is the

Company.

account manager at StaffBuild-

Catherine Moore AB ’05 is a legal

ersHR, a Georgia- and Florida-

officer with the United Nations

based human resources partner

Organizations Stabilization Mis-

and staffing firm that assists in

sion in the Democratic Republic

employee recruitment and place-

of Congo.

ment in Atlanta.

Piotr Stapor AB ’05 is a pilot for

Emily Norris BS ’09 is a lieutenant

Envoy Air out of LaGuardia and

in the U.S. Navy and recently

JFK airports.

served a month on the USNS

Jordan White BSEd ’05 was

Comfort, where she worked with

named the 2018-19 Teacher of

staff surgeons on over 50 proce-

the Year for Duluth High School.

dures during Operation Enduring

Phillip Blume ABJ ’06, AB ’06 and

Promise 2018.

his wife Eileen are founders of

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g eo rg i a mag a z in e | s p r in g 2 01 9

Blume Photography in Athens.

2010-2014

Their business was recognized

Marlin Goforth AB ’10 is on active

as a Bulldog 100 company.

duty with the U.S. Coast Guard

Phillip is a monthly contributor

after joining in 2012.

for Shutter Magazine, and Blume

Michael Mannino BBA ’10, JD ’13

Photography has appeared on

is a corporate attorney at Ever-

CreativeLIVE and TEDxUGA.

sheds Sutherland in Atlanta.

Cheryl Harris BSEd ’06, MEd ’07

Conor Richardson BBA ’10 is a

was reappointed to the Board

finance manager at Aeglea Bio-

of the State Independent Living

therapeutics. Richardson is also

Council by Gov. Nathan Deal for

the founder of MillenialMoney-

the 2019 term.

Makeover.com, where he helps

Chase Martin BSFCS ’06 is a

millennials master essential

clinical sales representative at

money matters.

Mazor Robotics in Birmingham,

Barbara Zeller BSHP ’10, MPH ’12

Alabama.

is program coordinator for The

Christie Johnson ABJ ’07 is a se-

Free Clinic of Meridan, a health

nior producer at CNN, acting as

and wellness grant program in

the official liaison between the

Meridan, Mississippi.

CLASS NOTES APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

Call of Duty

I

special

n october, latham saddler received the Blue Key Young Alumnus Award at a banquet in Athens.

The award honors Blue Key Honor Society members whose early- and mid-career contributions indicate a special level of service to the state and nation.

It’s one of the university’s highest alumni honors with regard to Saddler BBA ’05, and it barely scratches the surface of his accomplishments.

As a student, Saddler watched the terrorist attacks of 9/11 unfold from his TV in Russell Hall. The tragedy motivated him to serve. He considered transferring to West Point or the Naval Academy, but that would

written by eric rangus MA '94

Latham Saddler BBA ’05

have required him to start his college studies over. Instead, he devoted himself to UGA student government. He was elected Student Government Association president as a sophomore and served as Interfraternity Council president as a junior.

“The more involved I became at the university, the more I fell in love with it,” Saddler says. “At a young age, UGA really helped shape me as a leader. I learned how to deal with different factions of people, people with different personalities and interests. Every day, I draw on lessons I learned at UGA.” After graduating with a degree in economics, Saddler moved to New York City and entered the business world, but he was

restless. He still wanted to serve his country. Knowing that the U.S. military needed additional experts in Middle Eastern studies, he began teaching himself Farsi. Saddler eventually went back to school, earned two master’s degrees, and became fluent in the language.

Then, in 2011, Saddler was ready to embark on his greatest challenge. He joined the Navy through Officer Candidate School and, at 28, entered SEAL Training as the oldest member of his class and upon graduation reported to the SEAL Teams. “It was a privilege simply to serve alongside SEALs, let alone lead them,” Saddler says.

During his eight years on active duty, Saddler deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and other posts in the Middle East. In 2017-2018, his final years in active service, Saddler was assigned to the National Security Council in Washington, and it was there that he met members of the 2017 class of White House fellows and saw the impact they were having on the nation.

The White House Fellowship is a nonpartisan program intended for mid-career leaders. They come to Washington to work at the highest levels of federal government for a year and then take that leadership experience back to their communities. It’s a program that’s for the best of the best, so Saddler decided to apply.

Just 14 fellows from across the nation were chosen for 2018-19, and Saddler was one of them. He was placed at the White House Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship, and he’ll be there through the summer. It’s another challenge Saddler is excited to accept.

“I wanted to do the fellowship to get out of my comfort zone,” Saddler says. He has been working on a wide range of projects ranging from workforce development to prison reform—subjects he knew little about before the fellowship.

“It’s fascinating,” he says. When asked about his plans for after the fellowship, Saddler says, “I’ve got some time to figure out what I want to do next, but I’m really looking forward to the future.”

To learn more about the White House Fellows Program, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/fellows/. geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 019

49

CLASS NOTES Carolina.

Mary Flynn Nieto AB ’15 is a community-based program coordinator for Girl Scouts of Northern California.

Dean Ruth BSA ’15 works for Bunge North America in Decatur, Alabama.

Robert Shaw BBA ’15 is a commercial agent for Insurance Office of America in Atlanta.

Cat Smith BSA ’15, MS ’17 is a sensory analyst and panel leader at E. & J. Gallo Winery in Modesto, California.

Miranda Stapleton AB ’15 is employed at her family’s locally run Athens business, Dixie Canner Company.

Adriana Vicuna AB ’15, ABJ ’15 is an associate news producer at NBC 6 in Miami, Florida.

Joey Whitlock BBA ’15 is a middle market sales underwriter with The Hanover Ryan Giles AB ’11, JD ’18 is a

is founder of R.A.D.I.A.N.C.E.

of Honolulu at Tipler Army

Insurance Group.

judge on the U.S. Court of

Mentoring for Girls. Jackson

Medical Center.

Kimberlyn Wilson BSEd ’15 is

Appeals.

is also an author and literary

Samantha Karlin BS ’14 is

a physical therapist with the

Cory Raines BBA ’11, JD ’14 is

consultant and is currently

a resident in internal medicine

University of Kentucky sports

owner of Raines Legal Group

pursuing a graduate degree in

at Tulane University. Karlin

rehab unit.

in Atlanta.

marriage and family therapy

graduated from the LSU

Darrell Ballard BBA ’16 is lead

Ameshea Taylor BSEd ’11 is

from Capella University.

School of Medicine in

merchandise manager for

employed in recruitment at

Alli Albright BSHP ’13 married

May 2018.

PepsiCo in Stone Mountain.

Scripps Health, a nonprofit

Blake Albright BS ’13 in Oc-

Savannah Thaler BSFCS ’14 is a

Jake Candler BBA ’16 is a

health care system based in

tober 2018 in Atlanta. Blake

registered dietician and owner

consultant at FTI Strategic

San Diego, California.

recently received his PhD in

of Savvy Wellness and Health

Communications in New York.

Ashley Davis BS ’12 is a

genetic and molecular biology

in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

Caroline Holden AB ’16 is a

surgical resident at New York

from the University of North

Medical College.

Carolina at Chapel Hill.

2015-2018

office of U.S. Representative

Sarah Giarratana ABJ ’12 is a

Maggie Gaskins BSEd ’13 is

Erik Beltran BS ’15 is a brewer

Buddy Carter.

senior user experience writer

a sixth grade science and

and cellerman at Alltech

John Molinari BS ’16 is a med-

for Apple.

social studies teacher in

Lexington Brewing & Distilling

ical student attending Wayne

Katie Herren BSHP ’12 is a

Newton County.

Co. in Lexington, Kentucky.

State School of Medicine in

registered nurse at Navicent

Angelina Donohue BS ’14 is

Jared Gillis BSA ’15 is a man-

Detroit, Michigan.

Health in Macon.

military program coordinator

ager for Goldsboro Milling

Kris Towers BSHP ’16 is an

Brittney Jackson ABJ ’12, BS ’12

at Chaminade University

Company in Bethel, North

event planner with the Ethics

50

geo rg i a mag a z in e | s p r in g 2 01 9

legislative assistant in the

CLASS NOTES APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

Always Asking Questions

M

alena cunningham anderson’s life changed following a fundraiser she attended only because she couldn’t find a way to get out of it.

It was Christmastime 2012 in Birmingham, Alabama. At the time, Anderson ABJ ’80 was running a media relations company.

Prior to that, she’d been a news anchor and reporter at Birmingham’s NBC station for more than 12 years and was a well-known and well-liked member of the community.

The fundraiser was hosted by the president of a local bank, and the goal was to raise money for a talented 11-year-old cellist named Malik Kofi who needed money for additional lessons. It wasn’t that Anderson wasn’t interested; she just didn’t have a lot of time to stay that evening. Her plan was to shake a couple of hands, engage in some small talk, and then sneak out early.

That’s not what happened.

“I heard this child play the cello and it was amazing. The voice inside my head said, ‘Tell this story,’” Anderson says. And that’s

Malena Cunningham Anderson ABJ ’80

special

the night a documentarian was born.

“A documentary is just a long-form news story,” says Anderson, whose first TV job was at CNN. She also worked at stations in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Savannah before moving to Birmingham, where she won multiple local Emmys. “I was used to telling stories in two minutes or less. So to be able to get more into a person’s life and really let the story breathe was exciting.”

After hearing Malik play, Anderson asked his grandmother if she could follow him for a couple weeks to put something together. Those two weeks turned into three months, and her work eventually was used for another fundraiser to help Malik with additional lessons.

That was it until 2017, when Anderson, who had by then moved back to Georgia, was encouraged to enter the documentary into film festivals. It was the right move.

Little Music Manchild: The Malik Kofi Story was named Best Documentary at the 2017 BronzeLens Film Festival, Atlanta’s show-

case for filmmakers of color.

Anderson, who launched her company Newslady Productions shortly before winning her award, is now at work on her follow-up film. Like her debut, her inspiration came from an unexpected place. In March 2017, she went to what she thought would be a typical event at the Georgia Capitol and met Rashid Nuri. The 69-year-old was a Harvard graduate, he worked four years in the Department of Agriculture in the 1990s, and he recently retired from an urban garden in Atlanta’s West End that he started in 2015.

Anderson’s film SEED tells his story. She is hoping to wrap production in March, then enter it in film festivals later in the year.

“I originally thought this story would just be about urban agriculture,” Anderson says about her upcoming film, “but it’s also about gentrification, community, and economic empowerment. You have to ask questions and find out what the story is.”

written by eric rangus MA '94

geo rgia maga z ine | s pri ng 2 019

51

CLASS NOTES and Religious Liberty Commis-

compensation client specialist

Alison Adams BS ’18 is pursu-

Anna Myers BBA ’18 is a

sion and Getty Music Label.

for Alight Solutions.

ing a PhD in genome science

customer business analyst at

Nicholas Butler BS ’17 is

Aimee Okotie-Oyekan BS

and technology at the Univer-

The Kraft Heinz Company.

pursuing a masters of science

’17 is pursuing a master’s in

sity of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Taylor Smith BS ’18, MS ’18

in biology degree at Georgia

environmental studies at the

Hannah Austin BBA ’18 is a

is a baseball research and

State University.

University of Oregon.

treasury management analyst

development analyst with the

Ashley Pacilio Cornell BSFCS

Nathan Schlies BSEd ’17 is a

for PNC Financial Services.

Tampa Bay Rays.

’17 married John Cornell AB ’15

first-year medical student at

Natale Benkert BSFCS ’18 is in

Jonas Taylor AB ’18 is a sales

in July 2018.

Edward Via College of Osteo-

the rotational management

development representative at

Chesley Nichols BSEd ’17 is a

pathic Medicine.

program at Gap Inc.

Agolia in Atlanta.

ninth grade English teacher in

Andy Tabeling AB ’17 is pursuing

Blythe Coker AB ’18 is an intern

Taylor Tidaback BBA ’18 is a

Muscogee County.

a degree at the University of

at Reformed Youth Ministries

customer management senior

Martha Nixon AB ’17 is a direct

North Carolina School of Law.

in Fort Worth, Texas.

associate with PepsiCo in Atlanta.

Madison Whitley AB ’18 is pursuing a degree at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.

gradnotes arts & sciences Joseph Hester PhD ’73 is on the editorial board for the Journal of Values-Based Leadership and the advisory board for the Humanities Bulletin. He published the article, Veiled Assumptions and the Failure of Ethical Conversations in the Humanities Bulletin in fall 2018.

Greg Gorman PhD ’93 is a professor in the pharmacy school at Samford University in Birmingham.

Samir Tartir PhD ’09 is a senior research scientist of artificial intelligence and the head of the semantic web team at Mawdoo3 in Amman, Jordan.

Andy Peeks DMA ’17 is an assistant professor of music at Southern Arkansas University.

Meirav Shvorin MFA ’17 is an assistant professor of art at

52

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CLASS NOTES APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

Up to Par

Richard Mandell BLA ’90

W

hen richard mandell BLA ’90 steps onto a golf course, he’s approaching it not only as a seasoned player but also as a professional who might be sizing up his next project.

A native of Rye, New York, Mandell picked up golf in the eighth grade. It took him no time at all to decide that he wanted to be the one designing the beautiful, challenging courses he played on, and from there he envisioned a future that has played out precisely on track.

It started at UGA, where he studied landscape architecture.

“I enjoyed every moment I was at Georgia,” says Mandell. “Landscape architecture was a great program. I learned a lot, and they definitely set me up for success in my field.”

Operating out of Pinehurst, North Carolina, Mandell’s career as a golf course architect spans from coast to coast and even outside of the country.

This year alone his firm is building new courses or completing renovations in the Carolinas, Ohio, Florida, and Minnesota. Future projects could take his

work as far as India or France.

In the past decade alone, Richard Mandell Golf Architecture has received 15 different awards from such organizations as Golf Digest and Golf Inc. In 2017, he was chosen by Boardroom Magazine as Golf Course Architect of the Year.

Mandell’s expertise extends far past the drawing board. He’s taught courses on golf course architecture at North Carolina State University and even published Pinehurst: Home of American Golf (The Evolution of a Legend), which won the 2007 International Network of Golf Book of The Year. He’s also written articles for Links Magazine, Golf Illustrated, and many other publications.

But his true measure of success is the experience people get from his design work.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is to see people enjoy the work that we do and be excited about what we’ve done,” he says. “To see the excitement in a golfer’s eyes when they play a course that we’ve designed is a great feeling.” special

written by katherine costikyan AB '18

Converse College in Spartan-

and managing principal of

investment management

inclusion officer at Grand

burg, South Carolina.

Beyond Theory to Practice, a

leader at Deloitte.

Rapids Community College in

consultation service. Staggs is

Christopher Vaughan MBA ’16

Michigan.

business

also an adjunct professor

was promoted to vice presi-

Justus Inyega PhD ’05 is an

Shawn Vincent Sr. MBA ’05 was

in the PMBA program at

dent of government affairs for

associate professor in science

named president and CEO of

UGA’s Terry College and chair

McKesson Corporation.

education at the University

Loyola Medicine and regional

of the Board for Global Health

president of Trinity Health

Action.

education

a director for the Center of

Illinois.

Karl Ehrsam MBA ’08 was

Afeni Cobham MEd ’96 was

Pedagogy and Andragogy.

Julie Staggs MBA ’07 is founder

named the global risk advisory

named chief equity and

Donna Jo Dillard MEd ’11, EDd

of Nairobi, Kenya. Inyega is

geo rgia maga z ine | s prin g 2 019

53

CLASS NOTES APPLAUSE FOR ALUMNI

Safe Handling

Kathleen McAnally BS ’77, DVM ‘81

W

hen you tear open a pack of chicken breasts for dinner, you’re probably not thinking about the rigorous screening process they went through to make it onto store shelves and into your shopping cart.

Kathleen McAnally, on the other hand, has devoted her career to making sure the meats you buy at the grocery store are safe.

“People are always surprised when I tell them every animal that goes for public sale is examined by a USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) inspector,” says McAnally BS ’77, DVM ’81. “Every bird or animal gets an individual inspection. When I tell them the level of inspection that we have in this country, that’s when people go, ‘Wow.’” McAnally began her career at a small animal veterinary practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, and she actually still sees animal patients during her work with the Tennessee Valley Cattle Dog Rescue in Georgetown, northeast of Chattanooga. But she had taken a meat inspection course during vet school at UGA and found the pathology of foodborne illnesses fascinating.

So she decided to take a chance and

special

applied for a job with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

More than 30 years later, she’s still there, serving as a frontline supervisor and making sure any meat or poultry with the USDA mark on it has been thoroughly inspected.

Before becoming a supervisor with FSIS, she trained to perform pathological examinations, analyzing the bugs that can grow on food when not stored properly and helping to trace the origins of any meat-borne outbreaks.

But the most common questions she gets from friends and families aren’t about E. coli or salmonella. They’re a bit more practical.

“The main question I get from my family is about leftovers,” McAnally says. McAnally keeps homemade food for up to five days if it’s been properly refrigerated.

“Now, if it’s a restaurant leftover,” she says, “get it in the fridge as soon as you get home and maybe the next day it’s OK. After that, that’s it.

“I had a friend that went to a restaurant and had, believe it or not, sushi and left it in their vehicle overnight and then snacked on it the next day.

They got sick. It’s just so obvious: What were you thinking?”

special

written by leigh beeson MA '17

’16 is an assistant principal at

versity of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, and general supervisor of

journalism & mass communication

law

Gwinnett County Public Schools.

Tequila Morgan EdS ’12 is head

the Center for Addressing

Bret Kofford MA ’85 is a writer for

attorney at the U.S. Securities

counselor at the DeKalb School

Young Adults’ Issues.

the new film, Christmas in July.

and Exchange Commission in

of the Arts in the DeKalb County

Jackie Clark PhD ’17 is an assistant

His previous screenwriting cred-

Atlanta. Lipson guest lectured

School District.

professor of education at St. Mar-

its include the film 12 Dog Days

for UGA School of Law professor

Erika Grimm MS ’16 is coordina-

tin’s University in Lacey, Wash-

Till Christmas and the short film

Usha Rodrigues’ class during the

tor of partner services for Lear-

ington. Clark is also the program

Margaret. Kofford is an English

fall 2018 semester.

field at JMU Sports Properties.

director for the Higher Education

professor at San Diego State

Elizabeth Brown JD ’10 is a part-

Mohammed Alasmrai PhD ’17 is

and Student Affairs MEd program.

University-Imperial Valley.

ner at Alston and Bird law firm in

an assistant professor at the Uni-

54

geo rg i a mag a z in e | s p r in g 2 01 9

Aaron Lipson JD ’00 is an

CLASS NOTES

Atlanta. Brown was installed as presi-

Academic and Professional Development

dent of the Georgia Association of Black

and Congressional Fellowship Program

Women Attorneys in January 2019.

for the American Political Science

Elliot Engstrom JD ’13 is senior staff

Association.

attorney for Cleveland County, North

Amanda Edmondson MPA ’05 and Nathan

Carolina, advising and representing

Edmondson completed their eighth

all departments of Cleveland County

year operating Edmondson Commercial

government.

Interiors, a locally sourced sustainable commercial mill work company.

public health Ashley Thompson MPH ’06 was named

social work

to Becker’s Hospital Review’s 2018 Rising

Dania Ebanks MSW ’18 is a clinical social

Stars: 90 Healthcare Leaders under 40

worker with Affinis Hospice in Gray.

for her work in public health policy and advocacy for UnityPoint Health in West

veterinary medicine

Des Moines, Iowa.

Russ Wiessinger III DVM ’91 retired from 30 years in the U.S. Army as an infan-

public & international affairs

tryman, medical services officer, and veterinarian.

Janna Deitz PhD ’04 is senior director of

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55

FACULTY FOCUS

Scott Jackson GRA Eminent Scholar and Professor in Plant Functional Genomics, Department of Crop & Soil Sciences College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Director, Center for Applied Genetic Technologies

“Contributing to a sustainable and healthful food supply will help agriculture in the U.S. and will also impact millions of lives in the developing world. Our lab is using molecular tools to make peanuts and soybeans more sustainable and profitable for growers. The impact in the developing world is manifold.

Varieties that can withstand drought, pests, and disease will allow the growers to be profitable and provide for their families.”

For Scott Jackson, genomics isn’t just a scientific field. It’s a detective story, where researchers study clues and piece them together to unlock the mysteries of genetics and gene regulation. One of his proudest accomplishments was sequencing the peanut genome and discovering the more than 50,000 genes that comprise the surprisingly complex plant. But it’s not just about solving any mystery; it’s about solving the mysteries that can lead to a more secure future and sustainable food supply.

GREAT COMMITMENTS

A DEPENDABLE FOOD SUPPLY

andrew davis tucker

Endowed chairs, positions that receive supplemental support generated from private donations, are essential to recruiting and retaining leading faculty who are committed to world-changing research and preparing the next generation of problem-solvers, pioneers, and leaders. Learn more about supporting UGA’s leading faculty at give.uga.edu/gm.

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