Tags: Human Nature

graphic on black for MLK
MLK Day 2020

Excellence. Service. Commitment. Greatness. The linkage connecting our ideals to their fulfillment is encapsulated in the work and life of a great American. As we observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2020, opportunities abound to make it a day of service to our community. The 4th annual MLK Day parade and festival begins at 3 p.m. Monday January 2o. University of Georgia offices will closed in observance. We celebrate the…

photo of a monk in meditation
How to reduce digital distractions: advice from medieval monks

Jamie Kriener, associate professor and head of the department of history, offers an excellent case in point about the power of the humanities without ever mentioning the word: Medieval monks had a terrible time concentrating. And concentration was their lifelong work. Their tech was obviously different from ours. But their anxiety about distraction was not. They complained about being overloaded with information, and about how, even once…

photo of two people with award and bust statue
Georgia Debate Union Begins 2020 at Georgetown Tournament

The Georgia Debate Union began the second half of its season with strong showings at the Georgetown College Debate Tournament held over the first weekend of 2020 in Washington, DC.   The JV team of Lauren Debranski (senior, Woodstock) and Eshaan Kalra (sophomore, Johns Creek) finished prelims as the only undefeated team with a 6-0 record. They finished the tournament in 3rd place. Their road to 3rd place included wins against George Mason…

photo of woman, indoors
Inaugural Chhabra-Landau Lecture features materials science engineer Sharon Glotzer

The Center for Simulational Physics presents the inaugural Chhabra-Landau lecture on Thursday Jan. 9, 2020 at 3:30 p.m. in room 202 of the Physics building. The speaker is Sharon Glotzer, the Anthony C. Lembke Department Chair of Chemical Engineering, the John Werner Cahn Distinguished University Professor of Engineering and the Stuart W. Churchill Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, where she is also…

composite grid of six photos with people and dog
Happy 2020!

The New Year welcomes new students and faculty in the semester beginning next week, a fresh new Sugar Bowl trophy making its way to campus, plus a host of new research stories, concert performances and lectures. Welcome, to the many new faces, and good luck to all students beginning fresh again in the new semester. Get ready! 2020!

photo mosaic image of building, sky and trees
Happy Holidays!

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences wishes you all the best for the holidays and in the new year 2020! University of Georgia offices will be closed beginning December 25 and re-open January 2, 2020.

photo of campus quad in waning daylight
2019 in Review

The many great Franklin College stories of 2019 create a vibrant image of ongoing excellence at every level. Our faculty, students and staff are leading the University of Georgia in its most dynamic era yet. From TED Fellows to Guggenheim Fellowships, imaginative research and teaching draw out the best in our students. Our colleagues provided elegant expression to the fire at Notre Dame de Paris and the death of Toni Morrison,…

photo of indoor commencement ceremony celebration, with streamers
Fall Commencement 2019

The University of Georgia will welcome its newest alumni Dec. 13 as 1,799 undergraduates and 1,263 graduate students—a total of 3,062—have met requirements to walk in the university’s fall Commencement ceremonies. The undergraduate Commencement ceremony is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in Stegeman Coliseum, and tickets are required. The graduate ceremony does not require tickets and will follow at 2:30 p.m. Regent Kessel D. Stelling Jr…

photo of student walking across red carpet at commencement
The [earning] power of humanities degrees

Fortune Magazine pushes back on the persistent misperception that links humanities degrees with low salaries: Robert B. Townsend, director of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Washington, D.C. office, says that humanities majors secure jobs at pretty much the same rate as other people with degrees. “It’s certainly not in line with that picture that gives you the impression that they’re all baristas drowning in debt, and…

photo of man outdoors, day
Amazing student: Michael Bowler

From the impact of great mentors to lab opportunities and guiding campus tours, senior biochemistry and molecular biology /psychology double-major Michael Bowler has learned the importance of helping others pursue their passions: My experiences at UGA have been shaped by numerous organizations and their members. Dawg Camp, an extended orientation program, created immediate connections with upperclassman mentors and a vision for how I…

photo of woman in a city scape
Oscar-winning alumna Lynn Appelle

She might not claim to be a documentarian, but Lynne Appelle's body of work just goes to show the creative breadth of a film career that started with a BFA in photography: A quick glance at her 20-plus year career in the TV and movie industry backs her up. A majority of Appelle’s credits are for line production (akin to being a budget director) or production management. But that one documentary short she produced in 2001—that was a…

Logo with red bulldog 100
Kudos, Nov-Dec. 2019

Students and alumni lead the kudos as we count down to the end of 2019. Congratulations all: Herb Girls Athens, a two-woman team, won the 2018-19 FABricate competition with its signature product, a healthy coffee additive called Rally Coffee. The FABricate competition is designed to empower students to turn their great ideas into working businesses. Eileen Schaffer, an agribusiness master’s degree student, and …

black white photo of beakers and test tubes, arms of a man
Noted and Quoted, November 2019

Gray's reef, the global carbon cycle and statistical significance were a few of the recent headlines supported with Franklin College faculty expertise. A sampling of the stories that appeared over the past month:   Scientists race to track oil from capsized ship – Regents Professor Samantha Joye quoted by GPB   After a giant ship goes belly up, many fear a shoreline is next – Samantha Joye quoted at…

photo of people making plates of food around a table
Dining across Differences

Commensality is the act of gathering to eat and drink. It is a fundamental social activity to create and cement relationships. Virginia Nazarea, professor of anthropology at the University of Georgia, takes this idea and uses it to discuss the creative responses of humans after the dislocation and placelessness that often comes with modernity and globalization.  As people, especially immigrants and refugees, move and change their…

photo of professor standing and seated woman with laptop computer
Focus on the Faculty: Cassia Roth

An extraordinary scholar of history and Latin American and Caribbean Studies, assistant professor Cassia Roth brings humility and a passion for scholarship into the classroom: My work looks at the intersection of medicine and law in women’s reproductive lives. My forthcoming book, “A Miscarriage of Justice: Women’s Reproductive Lives and the Law in Early Twentieth-Century Brazil” (Stanford University Press, 2020),…

photo of woman outdoors, day
Amazing student Cameron Liss

Senior biology and psychology double major Cameron Liss has used her many opportunities at UGA to pave a path to her future as a physician: One of my biggest highlights has been volunteering at Mercy Health Center. The summer after my freshman year, I decided to stay in Athens to take on the beast … Organic Chemistry. I met with my advisor, professor Karl Espelie, and I expressed that I wanted to do something more meaningful with my summer…

photo of three people with banner and book shelves
Faculty receive First-Year Odyssey Teaching Awards

First-Year Odyssey Seminars are some of the most important early academic experiences students can have at UGA. Broadly-themed courses taught by senior faculty feed a sense of discovery in students about knowledge, about the world, and importantly, about themselves as students begin to learn and cultivate their own interests. Four UGA faculty members, two from the Franklin College have received a 2019 First-Year Odyssey Teaching Award in…

graphic with yellow writing on red design
Holiday Concert Nov. 21-22

The Holidays come early this as the Hugh Hodgson School of Music presents its annual Holiday Concert Nov. 21-22 at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall as the final Thursday Scholarship Series performances of this calendar year. The program features the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra, combined choirs of Glee Clubs, University Chorus, and Hodgson Singers: The program will include a large portion of the orchestral music from…

red logo on white background of Bulldog 100
2020 Bulldog 100

The UGA Alumni Association has unveiled the 2020 Bulldog 100 list of fastest-growing businesses owned or operated by UGA alumni, Including 29 alumni honorees from the Franklin College: The 2020 Bulldog 100 includes businesses of all sizes and from industries such as technology, cosmetics, entertainment and education. Companies are based as far north as Virginia and as far west as Nevada. Of the 100 businesses, 84 are located…

photo of people with child, outdoors with tents
STEMzone brings research to Saturday tailgate

Students and faculty from anthropology, genetics, marine sciences and cellular biology offered up-close interaction with UGA research to young fans attending the UGA-Missouri game this past Saturday: STEMzone, now in its third year, hosted more than a dozen hands-on opportunities to engage people of all ages on research being done at UGA in the science, technology, engineering and math fields. “We are glad to report that STEMzone fall…

image of man and woman, woman holding a microphone
Oral history project for university veterans

From near death experiences to the best and worst days of their lives, the University of Georgia is keeping an archive of student veterans’ stories: The goal is to preserve history, and to date almost 90 histories have been recorded. The stories might include why the student joined the military, what a typical day was like, where they were on Sept. 11, 2001, if they saw active duty, how they would describe service, stories that best…

photo of man outside, with building, day
Veteran and history graduate student helps other veterans tell their story

Former cadet at the United States Military Academy Tom McShea will soon return to West Point on a two-year assignment to teach, after he finishes a master’s degree in American history at UGA: And while at UGA, he’s recording interviews for UGA’s Student Veterans Oral History Project. Working out of the Student Veterans Resource Center,  he asks open-ended questions and the students talk about what…

archival color illustration
22-member faculty team to study the history of slavery at UGA

The University of Georgia has awarded a grant to a 22-member UGA academic team to study the history of slavery at UGA from the institution’s founding in 1785 until the end of the Civil War in 1865. The research team—which spans multiple schools, colleges and other units across the university—will conduct a multidisciplinary study of enslaved African Americans who labored on the UGA campus. In September, the team submitted a proposal, which was…

photo of two women on stage with their arms held together at the wrist
Libraries, theatre collaboration brings incarceration history to the stage

Beginning this Friday, November 8, the first-of-its-kind endeavor, By Our Hands – a cross-institutional theatrical experience between Spelman College, the University of Georgia, librarians, archivists, students, professionals, incarcerated individuals, and community partners – takes the Fine Arts theatre stage. The Georgia Incarceration Performance Project incorporates scenes directly from Georgia history to negotiate our relationship…

black and white engraving of puritan discussion and service
Noted and Quoted, October 2019

Franklin faculty contributed popular press articles about issues of the day and had their research reported around the world. A sample from over the past month: The grimy history of the Attorney General’s Office, associate professor of history Stephen Mihm in his regular column at Bloomberg Here’s your answer when someone asks “How can it be so cold if there’s global warming?”  Georgia Athletic Association…
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.