Tags: Human Nature

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Staff Appreciation and Awards

UGA and Franklin College staff are the people who make our campus work in every way imaginable and this week, staff will be the focus of events to show how much they are appreciated. First up is our Franklin College Staff Appreciation Reception this afternoon at 3 p.m. at the MLC, an annual event that includes the presentition of staff excellence awards and recognition of years of service for longtime employees. Then on Friday, the University…

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Commencement 2015

Amazing. Today is the day - the culmination of so many individual, familial and collective efforts. It's why all the buildings are here and the reason we need a word for 'campus.' The desks and chairs, the technology and the books, the assembly of learning and the skill to share it all present together in the diplomas that will be handed out this evening in that edifice normally reserved for contests of will and strength. Today and this evening…

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Chemists trap molecular species of silicon oxides

In an inspiring breakthrough, chemistry researchers have stablized one of the most abundant silicon oxides in the universe: Using a technique they developed in 2008, the UGA team succeeded in isolating silicon oxide fragments for the first time, at room temperature, by trapping them between stabilizing organic bases. "In the 2008 discovery, we were able to stabilize the disilicon molecule, which previously could only be studied at extremely low…

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Franklin faculty in the media

Faculty representing thirteen different departments within the Franklin College were quoted and thier work referenced across a wide variety of international media. A sampling of the terrific public engagement by our experts: Five things to know about tornadoes – Front-page feature in today’s Athens Banner-Herald quotes associate professor of geography John Knox UGA researchers growing trees faster and easier to turn into fuel, reports the Athens…

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Kudos, April - May

Tremendous accomplishments by Franklin faculty of late, as noted below. But we share our our top item with great pride and no small measure of sadness as the Franklin College bids farewell and good luck to one of our great colleagues, Linda Bachman, as she begins an important new job at UGA: Assistant dean Linda Bachman has been named director of university experiential learning. Her appointment is effective May 1 in the Office of the Vice…

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Experiential Learning

The University continues to tweak the undergraduate experience toward broader preparation for the variety of next steps after graduation: [UGA] has taken a significant step toward ensuring that all of its students engage in the kinds of hands-on experiences that enhance learning and position them for success after graduation. All undergraduate students will be required to engage in experiential learning-through opportunities that include…

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2015 Creative Teaching Awards

Creative teaching is not just something professors do, but it's about who they are, where they come from, the vision they have for students, plus a host of other attributes to intuitive scholarship in the classroom. This year, UGA recognizes four great ones, including two from the Franklin College: Richard Menke and Montgomery Wolf, in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and Brock Woodson and Siddharth Savadatti…


21st Coley Lecture

UGA and the Franklin College welcomes Juana María Rodríguez, professor of gender and women's studies at the University of California, Berkeley, to campus to deliver the 21st annual Andrea Carson Coley Lecture on April 10 at 12:30 p.m. in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. Rodríguez's lecture, "Sexual Affects: Visualizing Pleasure, Troubling Politics" will follow a reception honoring the Coley family at 11:30 a.m…

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Goldwater Scholarship winners

Three Franklin College students are UGA's 2015 Goldwater Scholarship recipients: Lauren Dennison, Erin Hollanderand Karishma Sriram—have received 2015 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, the premier undergraduate scholarship in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The UGA students are among a group of 260 recipients of the one- and two-year scholarships that recognize exceptional sophomores and juniors. The…

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Kudos, March 2015

If you've noticed recent issues of Columns, you know that Franklin College faculty are among the recipients of this year's top university honors, awards and professorships. Here are some of those honors plus appearances and grants. Congratulations on all of these important professional accomplishments. Congratulations to Franklin College faculty members Jennifer Palmer (department of history) and Peter Jutras (Hugh Hodgson School of Music) who…

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Fast-growing trees

The creation of biofuels from trees involves a host of challenges, including but certainy not limited to the breakdown of lignin. So researchers have been approaching the problem from a variety of angles and here is the latest glancing blow for renewable energy production: Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that manipulation of a specific gene in a hardwood tree species not only makes it easier to break down the wood into…

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UGA classics student at Hellenic Studies Symposium

Latin and Greek major in the department of classics Elizabeth Ridgeway recently presented her research at the Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies' Undergraduate Symposium in Washington, D.C.: Ridgeway traveled with UGA professor Charles Platter, her faculty adviser, and presented her paper at the event. "The workshop gives select undergraduate students the ‘opportunity to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their work in…

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Women's roles in the sciences

Very interesting, topical and timely conference coming up next week at the Georgia Center: Top women who study topics in medicine, global hunger and obesity will share their experiences at the ninth annual Global Educational Forum on March 19 at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education. This year's conference theme, "Women in Science and Medicine: Challenges, Achievements and Way Forward," brings experts from around the globe to…

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Happy Holi, and Spring Break

Apno ka pyar, yhi to hai HOLI ka tyohar. And next week the UGA campus will be under strict observance of Spring Break! A much deserved pause from courses, exams, papers and planning for faculty and students. Time to rest and re-charge, and prepare to come back ready for the great run of festivals, conferences (and more studying!) on campus through the end of the semester.

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Brain Structure and Trust

Compelling new research from the department of psychology on how brain structure in people differs according to how trusting people are of others: The research may have implications for future treatments of psychological conditions such as autism, said the study's lead author Brian Haas, an assistant professor in the department of psychology. Each autism diagnosis is on a spectrum and varies, but some diagnosed with the condition exhibit…


The Trans-Atlantic Choctaw Irish Exchange

In 1847, the Choctaw Indians at Skullyville, Indian Territory, were saddened to hear the news of the starvation in Ireland due to the potato famine. The Choctaw had experienced starvation only sixteen years earlier, when the entire Choctaw nation of people were forced to walk west by Andrew Jackson's government. On the mass forced migraiton known as the Trail of Tears, Choctaws were the first to be "removed" out of the Southeast and their…

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Editing genome sequences to correct mutations

Extraordinary new research on how the bacterial immune system provides a way forward on correcting genetic mutations:  [UGA] researchers Michael and Rebecca Terns were among the first to begin to study the bacterial immune system. They now have identified a key link in how bacteria respond and adapt to foreign invaders. The new study, authored by the Terns and postdoctoral research associate Yunzhou Wei in the Franklin College of Arts and…

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Kudos, February 2015

Our congratulations and appreciation for the awards, presentations, new books and professional honors that distinguish Frankln faculty and their scholarship at home and abroad. A few recent examples: Assistant professor of history Jennifer Palmer and associate professor in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music Peter Jutras are 2015 recipients of the Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Noel Fallows, professor of…


Conference on Holocaust theatre Feb. 26-28

In conjunction with the ongoing performances of "Mein Kampf" we mentioned yesterday (performances continung this weekend and Tues. through Sat. next week), the departments of theatre and film studies & German and Slavic studies will host of an international conference on Holocaust theatre featuring the work of playwright George Tabori: [The] international conference on "George Tabori and the Theatre of the Holocaust" Feb. 26-28. The…

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Allin p’unchay - Indigenous languages of Latin America

This we learn from the new, and very first, issue of Allin p’unchay - the newsletter from the department of Romances Languages dedicated to Indigenous Languages and Cultures of Latin America:  The Quechua language is most popularly recognized as being the language of the Incan Empire, which was located in what is now Peru and had spread across the Andean region (referring to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia), expanding from…

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Global Georgia 2015: Loung Ung

The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts' Global Georgia Initiative brings author and human rights activist Loung Ung to campus for a public lecture on Thursday January 29 at 4 p.m. in the Larry Walker Room on the 4th floor of the Rusk Center. Her lecture is titled, "First They Killed My Father," Loung Ung was only 5 years old when the Khmer Rouge soldiers stormed into her native city of Phnom Penh. Four years later, in one of the bloodiest…

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Georgia Debate Union takes 2nd at US naval Academy

The University of Georgia Debate Union recently placed 2nd in the Crowe-Warken intercollegiate debate tournament, held annually at the United States Naval Academy.  The Crowe-Warken debates featured 100 individual debate teams from across the East Coast and Midwest, including teams from Boston College, Northwestern University, Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Florida, the University of Minnesota, and both the…

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Science advances: the marine carbon cycle

The amount of dissolved carbon in the world's oceans is roughly equivalent, and likely greater, than atmospheric concentrations of CO2. Some of it gets semi-permanently sequestered, some gets released up into the atmospheric in a process that has been in place for millions of years. But with the global carbon picture changing, understanding the details of these processes has become more urgent: the slightest changes in ocean temperature or…


Welcome to the newly re-designed Chronicles!

In a major step forward in confirming once and for all that the arts and sciences do matter - and how! - the Franklin Chronicles - Arts and Sciences Matters - presents its newest iteration. In fact, an entire suite of newly designed Franklin College sites were launched on Friday, January 16. Just look at all those new pages, now with better organization, easier-to-find information for all of our audiences. All to serve you better. Enormous…


Treating worms, teaching screenwriting

To prove we're not [always] Franklin College centric, here is some other cool news from around UGA: Treating animals for worms can be good, but also help spread infectious disease: Parasitic worms, which infect millions of people and animals around the world, have been shown to influence how the immune system responds to diseases like HIV and tuberculosis. In a new study of African buffalo, University of Georgia ecologist Vanessa Ezenwa found…
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