Tags: Human Nature

compose photo of four people, two men, two women
Four UGA faculty members named AAAS Fellows

Four University of Georgia faculty members, three from the Franklin College, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed by their peers for “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.” These four faculty members are among 489 new AAAS Fellows who will receive an official certificate and a gold and blue—representing…

aerial photo of marching band practice
The Redcoat Band plays on

Brett Bawcum is no stranger to planning. As director of athletic bands, his preparation begins 10 months ahead of the next fall season. When COVID-19 hit, planning took on a whole new challenge: a heavy dose of unpredictability. “We were already looking at second and third shows when it started becoming clear last spring that this was not going to be a ‘normal’ year,” said Bawcum. Whether or not the band would even be able to attend games…

photo of man in lab
Working to increase diversity among STEM faculty

Franklin College faculty members are leading efforts of UGA faculty, staff and administrators to increase faculty diversity and the use of inclusive teaching practices in STEM fields: Among their first steps is a survey of the university’s STEM faculty to gather input and assess current efforts to recruit and retain diverse faculty. “We want to accurately assess our past efforts in our quest to recruit and retain a diverse STEM…

photo of man with painting
Artwork celebrates the student-veteran experience

Art majors and student veteran Eric Martin recently completed a commissioned painting titled “We Came by Land, Sea, Air and Space” for the University of Georgia Student Veterans Resource Center: Martin, who enlisted in response to the 9/11 attacks, was on active duty in the Army for almost six years and went on a 15-month tour of Iraq. He served as a mortarman in the infantry, operating with 81mm and 121mm mortars, with the…

photo of four women pulling rope line on boat
Marine study away programs harness science and wonder

Just down the coast from Savannah, Sapelo Island houses the University of Georgia Marine Institute, a world-renowned center for marine ecological research. Located within the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, UGAMI is a living laboratory that offers uncommon access to coastal habitats, making it the perfect location to offer UGA’s flagship field study programs in marine sciences, the Marine Biology Spring Semester…

headshots of four people, with red block and logo
MFA Film program announces Distinguished Industry Mentor initiative; applications open until Dec. 1

As the application timeline opens for its second year, the University of Georgia’s Master of Fine Arts in Film, Television and Digital Media announces a new addition: the start of the Distinguished Industry Mentor program: The Distinguished Industry Mentors initiative will draw on top talent from more than 45 professional writers, producers and directors to work with the students by providing master classes, hosted conversations,…

photo of scientists in lab with mask, gloves, pipette
Graduate students adapt to new lab protocols

With new protocols in place to safeguard against COVID-19, most University of Georgia graduate students have safely returned to their work in labs and field settings. Continuing their important research has been a positive development, but the changes have required adjustments. Those adaptations have varied immensely, depending on the students’ areas of study: “We conduct lab meetings predominantly over Zoom,” she said. “We sign up to use…

graphic with black and green letters
Noted and Quoted, October 2020

A few of the stories we've been following over the course of October, written by or featuring the work of Franklin College faculty members: Some COVID-19 rule-breakers could be narcissists, experts say — here’s how to approach them – psychology professor Keith Campbell quoted by The Spokesman-Review, Longview News Journal A post-presidential debate reality check on carbon dioxide and climate – Marshall Shepherd, Georgia…

CGI rendering with figure and plants in greenhouse
Geologists simulate soil conditions to help grow plants on Mars

Manned missions to Mars, much less permanent human settlement, will require scientific breakthroughs in many fields including interstellar agriculture. Growing food presents one of the primary challenges to sending human crews to the Red Planet. The last decade of Martian surface exploration has expanded the understanding of the chemistry of its atmosphere and surface.providing valuable knowledge that support research for growing food…

photo of rocket launch at night
Kudos, October 2020

Congratulations to our colleagues, students and alumni on important recent accomplishments over the month of October: Liftoff: UGA’s first-ever satellite heads to space –WGAU,WSB,Trenton Daily News,Albany Herald,ABH, AJC,  "Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory" by Claudio Saunt, Richard B. Russell Professor in American History, has been named as a finalist for the National Book…

photo of man gesturing, blue background
Franklin College Visiting Scholar Rashawn Ray

Rashawn Ray, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution, Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR) at the University of Maryland, College Park, will deliver a talk at 2 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26 as part of the Franklin College Visiting Scholars Program. Ray’s research addresses the mechanisms that manufacture and maintain racial and social…

photo of woman holding paper, indoors
Building better teams through psychology

Dorothy Carter spends her days developing strategies that can help astronauts prepare for missions to Mars, assist military leaders in maximizing their troops’ performance, and coach corporate leaders to optimize organizational plans. It’s not what she thought she would be doing in the early 2000s when she was a professional dancer for a ballet company in Ohio. But, her long-range future was limited, she realized then. “There was no real…

photo of woman outside of building, day
Focus on the Faculty: Sally Walker

Sally E. Walker, the inaugural Shellebarger Professor in Geology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, gives students field research experiences through which they propose hypotheses, collect and analyze data, and communicate their findings: What are your favorite courses and why? My favorite courses concern connections: how evolution of life on Earth affected geological and atmospheric processes and vice versa. The naturalist John Muir…

photo of fireworks at night
October Undergraduate Ceremony

Welcome to the friends and families of our graduates on campus today as UGA recognizes Spring and Summer 2020 graduates in a special, rescheduled ceremony tonight in Sanford Stadium. The speaker for tonight's event is University of Georgia vice president for Student Affairs, Victor Wilson: During his nearly four decades of experience in higher education, he has been a strong advocate for students and student development, particularly the…

Photo of man in blue shirt outdoors, day
Black Student Union chair works in minority recruitment

Nice feature story on sociology major Joshua Patton, a senior from Decatur who leads tours through UGA’s Visitors Center and served as a 2019 orientation leader sharing the best of UGA: “When people of color come to the university for tours, I want them to see other successful people of color. I want them to think ‘I can see myself doing that. I can see myself in that position. I can see myself getting involved in this organization,’”…

heads of 20 people in three rows
UGA welcomes 2024 Ramsey Scholars, Foundation Fellows

UGA announced 20 new Foundation Fellows and seven new Ramsey Scholars today, the highest academic scholarships and grants the university awards. While the combined lists reflect a healthy geographic variety, with Georgia's finest high school scholars well-represented, both are also predominately Franklin College majors, which is precisely as it should be at a top-tier major research university. The great diversity of…

photo of woman in studio, with dancers in background
Focus on the Faculty: Lisa Fusillo

Professor of dance in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Lisa Fusillo loves seeing students thrive and excel, and witnessing their successes as artists and as individuals, is her greatest joy: My favorite courses are dance history, ballet technique, pointe and First-Year Odyssey seminars. These topics encompass everything that I love to teach! My teaching is greatly informed by my professional experience and training in classical ballet…

book cover with red text, border and seal
Saunt named finalist for National Book Award

***Update***  Saunt named a finalist on Oct. 6. Final announcement 11/18 Claudio Saunt’s book, Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory, has been named to the 2020 longlist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. “It’s a great honor to be one of the 10 authors selected for the National Book Award longlist. The category is nonfiction, not just history, and it is really…

photo of four people in lab, man in foreground with small rectangular box
Dawgs in Space

UPDATE: Launch re-scheduled for 9:16 EST Oct. 2 – A Franklin College-student-led effort to get the University of Georgia’s first research satellite into space is ready for launch. The small satellite SPOC, short for Spectral Ocean Color, is due for takeoff at 9:38 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1. That's tonight: The satellite will be on board an Antares rocket set to launch from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia…

photo of iron sculpture, blue sky
Noted and Quoted, September 2020

Elections and hurricanes led the media coverage featuring Franklin faculty expertise during September. A sample of the many recent stories in print, on the air and screen: Mathematicians open a new front on an ancient number problem – mathematics professor Paul Pollack quoted by Quanta Magazine, Wired Flooding, blackouts in the wake of Laura – Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor …

photo of basketball court with people at the center, from above
Dodd October exhibitions

The Lamar Dodd School of Art presents four new exhibitions at the Dodd Galleries that will run through October 9. In Tony Cokes: Five Weeks, the Dodd galleries present a new video by the seminal conceptual and video artist every week, spanning his decades-long career. Disarticulate Ground, a solo show by Dodd graduate candidate, Annie Simpson, deconstructs historic Georgia roadside markers through photography, video, and…

headshots of two women and one man
Kudos, September 2020

Congratulations to our many colleagues on recent accolades and achievements, inspiring our work with their excellence in teaching, research and outreach: Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt, Richard B. Russell Professor in American History, was named to the nonfiction Longlist for the 2020 National Book Award Three University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and…

group photo of men and woman outdoors
UGA part of $52M NIH study on early detection of schizophrenia in young people

Researchers from the University of Georgia are part of an international investigation led by the Yale Department of Psychiatry to better understand the cause and effect of schizophrenia in some high-risk adolescents and young adults. The research, funded by a $52 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, will fund the development of the Psychosis Risk Outcomes Network, or ProNET. The consortium will be based at 27 institutions, where…

photo of woman on mountain hike, with walking stick
The Invisible Backpack We Carry

The UGA Graduate School magazine features one of our newest colleagues in the Franklin College Office of Student Academic Services and 2019 TEDxUGA Student Idea Showcase presenter Kestrina Shrestha, who took the TED stage with a black backpack that she had carried into the Annapurna Himalayas during an ambitious climb in December of 2017: Taking the stage at UGA’s Fine Arts Theater, Shrestha plunked down a large backpack. She…

Photo of man outdoors
Religion & Common Good Seminar: Disrupting Racism

The department of religion presents the next Religion & Common Good seminar on Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. with Jerry Taylor, director of the Center for Race Studies and Spiritual Action at Abilene Christian University. Dr. Taylor's presentation is “The Influence of White Supremacy on the Church in the South.” Founding Director of the Carl Spain Center, [Taylor] is Associate Professor of Bible, Missions and Ministry at Abilene…
Subscribe to Human Nature

Support Franklin College

We appreciate your financial support. Your gift is important to us and helps support critical opportunities for students and faculty alike, including lectures, travel support, and any number of educational events that augment the classroom experience.

 Click here to learn more about giving

Every dollar given has a direct impact upon our students and faculty.