Tags: Society

photo of reconstruct indigenous council house
The origins of democracy in the Americas

New research from the UGA Laboratory of Archaeology, together with its partners in the Muscogee Nation, indicates that inhabitants of the Americas may have been practicing democratic-style collective governance at least a millennium before European contact. According to a new paper published in the journal American Antiquity, artifacts from the Cold Springs site in central Georgia indicate the presence of a “council house” on the site…

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Howe awarded for lifetime achievement by Society for the Study of Southern Literature

University of Georgia professor LeAnne Howe was awarded the Richard Beale Davis Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service to Southern Letters by the Society for the Study of Southern Literature for her work as a scholar and writer. Howe received the award at the 2022 SSSL conference in Atlanta on June 26. The Richard Beale Davis Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service to Southern Letters is awarded every other year at the biennial…

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50th anniversary of Title IX

Title IX was part of the federal civil rights law in the United States of America that was passed on June 23, 1972 as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. The purpose of the Title IX of the Amendments was to update Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned several forms of…

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UGA student wins AMS Washington Scholarship for third consecutive year

Jada Smith, a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in atmospheric sciences, has won the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Warren and Mary Washington Scholarship.  “I am still in shock,” said Smith about receiving the scholarship. “When I first got the email, I had to reread it to process it fully.”  The AMS Washington Scholarship is funded by Dr. Warren and Mary Washington. They established a scholarship to be awarded to…

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UGA establishes School of Computing

Shortly after the close of the Spring semester, the University of Georgia gave the final approval to create the School of Computing, a new academic unit to be jointly administered by the Franklin College and the College of Engineering. In response to rising student enrollment and the growing role of computing in a range of fields, the University of Georgia has elevated its longstanding department of computer science to a School of Computing…

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UGA faculty participate in ‘Reflections on Race’ workshop

The University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Institutional Diversity sponsored the inaugural “Reflections on Race” Workshop on May 18-19 on the UGA campus, an effort led by Franklin College Associate Dean Jean Martin-Williams. Nine faculty members from nine departments representing all tenured and untenured ranks were selected to participate in the workshop, which included a distinguished group of…

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CFR: a powerful engine for examining family life

Very nice feature story on Triple Dawg Tracy Anderson, assistant director at the Center for Family Research, from our colleagues in the UGA Office of Research. A rich vein of longitudinal research, the Center for Family Research was established in 1985 as an integral part of the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research (OIBR). The purpose was to bring together scholars from diverse disciplines to explore innovative and dynamic…

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Experience UGA returns for local students

Experience UGA began in 2013 through a partnership between UGA and the Clarke County School District. Facilitated by the Office of Service-Learning, a UGA Public Service and Outreach unit, the program’s objective was to introduce even the youngest students to learning on a college campus and meeting UGA students. The program grew gradually each year with the full CCSD student body, almost 12,000 students, visiting UGA in 2018-19. Experience UGA…

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New UGA course explores the career possibilities for math majors

A new course at the University of Georgia is helping math students explore the wide variety of careers open to graduates in their field. During the course, students work on real-world, industry projects such as helping the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia determine whether food needs are being met and if there are areas of scarcity in the communities they serve. Other recent projects include developing an app to help visualize and…

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“Tell the Whole Story”

Two Athens historic sites will host the second annual event addressing the history of slavery at the University of Georgia this year. “History of Slavery at the University of Georgia: Tell the Whole Story” will take place Saturday, May 21, from 10 am to 9:15 pm, at the Brooklyn Cemetery and Morton Theatre, with this year’s focus on the Athens community. “We are excited that this year’s event is community-focused with programming…

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Spring Commencement 2022

Today's the day – all the hard work, late nights, early mornings, projects, papers, meetings, and exams – the passion for learning culminates in exhaltation and accomplishment with the conferring of degrees. Welcome to the thousands of family and friends on campus today, and congratulations to you, for the love and support that has guided your students to this moment.  The total of 7,603 students – 6,054 undergraduates and 1,549…

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The complexity of mixed-race ancestry

Some people see themselves as part of a sole racial group, others identify with multiple groups Mixed-race ancestry, a widespread fact of the human population for centuries, does not uniquely translate to any specific racial identity. A new study authored by a University of Georgia sociologist describes the experiences, beliefs, and personal characteristics such as skin color that play a role in self-identification. While the current era…

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2022 Giles Award Winners

The Institute for African American Studies announced the winners of the 2022 Lee Roy B. Giles Encouragement Award, established in 2010 by his wife, Freda Scott Giles, Professor Emerita in the Institute.  The Award honors the legacy of Mr. Giles with a $500 cash award given to a student who has exhibited excellence in the area of African American Studies, whether in research, practical application, or academic experience. The…

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Decoding Silence

Sometimes the meaning is in what you don’t say rather than in what you do say. For example, unlike English, many East Asian languages, as well as European languages including Spanish and Italian, don’t always use pronouns, such as I, he, she, it, him, or her. In English the answer to the question, “Did John see Mary?” is “He saw Mary.” But in Chinese the answer can simply be “Saw Mary.” A team led by University of Georgia researchers has been…

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Kudos, April 2022

Amidst awards season at the university, we also celebrated book awards, fellowships, scholarships, donors and three-minute thesis presentation during April. The university community celebrated Honors Week 2022 from April 18-22 with a series of events that recognized excellence among students, staff, faculty and alumni. Just a few of the many Franklin College highlights: Steve Lewis and Sarah Shannon are among five faculty members named Meigs…

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Noted and Quoted, April 2022

Racial disparities and COVID, personality traits of 'difficult' people, the war in Ukraine, and faster cheaper COVID tests headline Franklin faculty expertise in the media during the month of April. A sample of the recent news featuring our colleagues: How war in the world’s breadbasket “changes everything” – Scott Reynolds Nelson, Georgia Athletic Association Professor in the department of history, interviewed by  Ad Age, …

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Alumnus Robert Gilliard, chemistry groundbreaker

“The thing about synthetic chemistry that I really love,” said Robert Gilliard, who earned his doctorate from the University of Georgia in 2014, “is being able to make molecules that the world has never seen before. When you develop new fundamental chemistry, you inevitably discover significant properties you never could have predicted.” Gilliard, who is currently assistant professor at the University of Virginia, first became known for his…

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Math department receives Regents' Teaching Excellence Award

The University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of mathematics has received the 2022 Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award for Department or Program from the University System of Georgia. The award showcases an outstanding department or program—selected from among all 26 institutions within the university system—that promotes, supports and recognizes excellence in teaching and service to students. The University…

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Waste management can reduce greenhouse gasses

Earth Day 2022 – Make it Count The cycle of producing, consuming and eliminating waste in a closed system (a.k.a. Earth) is the primary challenge of our time. Sustainable stewardship of the products and processes common to everyday life is increasingly coming the fore as we reach limits on waste management practices and recycling capacity, and witness the changing conditions these limits precipitate. Scientists, governments and private industry…

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Graduate Student Excellence-in-Teaching Awards

The Excellence-in-Teaching Award was established by the Graduate School to recognize those students who have demonstrated superior teaching skills and have contributed to teaching beyond their own classroom responsibilities, making a significant contribution to the instructional mission of the university. Three of the five 2022 Graduate Student Excellence-in-Teaching awards went to Franklin College students: Elise Robinson is a Ph.D.…

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Stanley, Field, among 2022 Outstanding Academic Advisors

Molly Stanley, the academic advisor in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, and Katherine Field, Coordinator of the Franklin College Office of Transfer Academic Services (OTAS), are among the four University of Georgia academic advisors to received 2021 Outstanding Undergraduate Academic Advising Awards. Stanley and Field, along with Whitney Jones and Paul Welch were nominated by their supervisors and selected by a committee of three…

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Karinshak named 2022 Goldwater Scholar

University of Georgia Honors student Elise Karinshak is among 417 undergraduates across the nation to be recognized as 2022 Barry Goldwater Scholars, earning the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences. Karinshak, from Lawrenceville, is a third-year Foundation Fellow majoring in data science in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and marketing in the Terry College of…

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UGA’s Saunt awarded 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship

Claudio Saunt, Regents’ Professor and Russell Professor of American History in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a 2022 Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Saunt is one of 180 artists, writers, scholars, and scientists honored across 51 fields. Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for individuals who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or…

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Lewis, Shannon among 2022 Meigs Professors

Five University of Georgia faculty members have been named Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors, the university’s highest recognition for excellence in instruction. “Meigs Professors are an elite group of faculty members at an institution that places a great value on outstanding instruction,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “I congratulate the recipients of this significant honor…

graphic of Benjamin Franklin, surrounded by hearts
Benjamin Franklin, modern American

With a new PBS biographical documentary (premiering tonight), a new book on his philanthropic efforts, and an upcoming Apple TV series based on his life, Benjamin Franklin is again – and still – in the spotlight.  Recognizing his skills, perseverance, wisdom and work ethic, we remember many of the reasons we revere him as an American founder as well as the namesake of one of the finest College of Arts and Science anywhere: Why has the…
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