News from the Chronicles - May 2012


Liberal Arts Under Scrutiny

That fount of conventional wisdom, National Public Radio, aired a segment this morning on pressures faced by liberal arts colleges during the current economy, though it could have run anytime in the last 25 years such did it trot out the tried-and-true elements of a good news story:   Liberal arts schools have long had a rap of being a kind of luxury, where learning is for learning's sake, and not because understanding Aristotle will come…


Dean's Staff Appreciation Lunch

With over 600 faculty teaching in 84 undergraduate majors (and over 80 graduate degree programs), the Franklin College requires a lot of people to function properly. Especially in lean budgetary environments like the current epoch, faculty and support staff, development officers and instructors are pressed to do more and more with less and less. Interim Dean Hugh Ruppersburg will express his appreciation for all the effort and committment that…


The Morrill Act: the building of a country

First proposed in 1857 and passed in 1859, President Lincoln signed the first Morrill Act on July 2, 1862, whereby the federal government granted each state 30,000 acres of public land for each member of congress that state had. In exchange, the states would sell the land and create an endowment meant to support the establishment and perpetuation of institutes of higher learning. UGA historian Nash Boney: As soon as the war ended the Confederate…


New study links hypoxia to cancer growth

A research team led by Ying Xu, Regents-Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and professor of bioinformatics and computational biology in the Franklin College, has published some compeeling new findings on the growth of cancer cells: Low oxygen levels in cells may be a primary cause of uncontrollable tumor growth in some cancers, according to a new University of Georgia study. The authors' findings run counter to widely accepted…


NSF Graduate Fellowships

Ten UGA students and alums received graduate fellowships from the National Science Foundation to conduct research during their master's and doctoral studies, including four from Franklin College: Christopher Abin, of Miami, Fla., is pursuing a doctorate in microbiology at the University of Georgia. As a Florida International University undergraduate student, Abin made the dean’s list every semester and received a National Institutes of Health…

Photo of Fossil Brachiopods
Predicting risks of extinction

Brachiopods are marine shell fish that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces. The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago. Both are crucial to understanding a new study from Franklin scientists: A team of scientists analyzed more than 46,000 fossils from 52 sites and…


Franklin alum Mitcham named Georgia's Poet Laureate

UGA alumnus Judson C. Mitcham (AB '69, MS '71) was named by Governor Nathan Deal as the new poet laureate of Georgia. Mitcham succeeds David Bottoms in the post. A former adjunct professor of creative writing at UGA, Mitcham was very active on campus as a Man of Letters during his time in Athens and has many connections to Franklin College. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Mitcham currently teaches creative writing at Mercer…


The Value of a College Education

Maybe this is too easy. For NPR. But another week and more reportage on National Public Radio about the value of a college education and whether it's worth it. Maybe it's just that I drive once a week and only catch these then; maybe they run similar pieces like this morning's interview everyday. But this is a very important to topic to everyone, and one that is on everyone's mind especially at this time of year. I attended a wonderful…

Photo of Danielle Sobol
Amazing student(s)

Spring 2012 graduates, their friends and familes have all been blessed with beautiful weather the past few days as anticipation grows for tonight's graduation ceremony at the stadium. The campus is teeming with visitors being given imprompu tours of favored haunts by excited grads-to-be - the orderly line at the arch for photos is a testament to patience and a gentle nature that many will hopefully be able to remember in later, more, trying…


New jewelry/metals studios

The jewelry and metals area within the Lamar Dodd School of Art moved into newly renovated studio spaces earlier this year in the Thomas Street complex adjacent to North campus. A dynamic area of the art school with many hardworking (and some celebrated) students, J/M has long been a cornerstone of the art program. It's great that students and faculty can now work in these specifically tailored spaces, which you can get a feel for in the video…

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