Tags: Society

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Spring 2021 Innovation Fellows

UGA Faculty members Melanie Reber and Eric Harvill have been named Innovation Fellows for spring 2021, a semester-long fellowship designed to help faculty align their research activities with industry needs and bring their discoveries to the marketplace: Reber, an assistant professor of chemistry in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is developing a cavity-enhanced, two-dimensional spectroscopy that uniquely combines…

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Roth awarded NEH fellowship

Cassia Roth, assistant professor of History & Latin American and Caribbean studies, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship. Roth’s award is among the grants announced by the NEH Dec. 16 to support 213 humanities projects in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The fellowship will support Roth’s writing a book based on her scholarship, “Birthing Abolition: Enslaved Women, Reproduction, and…

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Learn to Live Together

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. explained it succinctly in a March 22, 1964 speech in St. Louis, that "We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools." Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We can do better, let's do better.

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How people solve global problems

What do the 3,000-year-old actions of an Egyptian pharaoh say about how we should tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century? Quite a bit, according to anthropologists at the University of Georgia who analyzed archeological evidence over thousands of years to examine how societies have approached adversity. Their work suggests that rigid, top-down approaches to complex problems have been a doomed strategy throughout human history.…

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[Not] sharing child care during the shutdown

Traditional gendered patterns of child care persisted during the COVID-19 shutdown, with more than a third of couples relying on women to provide most or all of it, according to a study from University of Georgia researcher Kristen Shockley. Some previous research has found that typical familial patterns may get upended during crises, but that’s not what Shockley and her colleagues found in the early months of the COVID-19 shutdown. “Most people…

Surveillance Testing
Spring semester surveillance testing

UGA has increased capacity of its COVID-19 voluntary surveillance testing program for spring 2021, with an increasing reliance on saliva-based testing. The campus community is encouraged to participate in these important efforts to support a successful semester for everyone: The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has developed a saliva-based test that has proved to be just as reliable as the nasopharyngeal swabs that have…

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New service-learning course, Philosophy for Children

The Department of Philosophy is excited to announce a partnership with the Office of Service Learning to introduce the new course, Philosophy for Children (PHIL 3900S). Developed by PhD student Michael Lindquist, the course allows UGA students an opportunity to do philosophy with K-12 students in programs at the Athens-Clarke County Library as well as at the East Athens Community Center, enabling them to fulfill UGA’s…

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Virtual Commencement Dec. 18

Graduates and their families, friends and Bulldogs worldwide are invited to gather online to welcome the University of Georgia’s newest alumni on Dec. 18 as 1,874 undergraduates and 2,526 graduate students—a total of 4,400—have met requirements to graduate: This virtual ceremony brought on by the novel coronavirus will integrate traditional ceremonial components, such as the singing of the national anthem, formal remarks by President Morehead…

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UGA Teaching Academy Fellows

The UGA Teaching Academy program brings together promising instructional faculty with experienced mentors across campus to promote excellence in the classroom. The Teaching Academy launched its 10th cohort of early-career fellows program in August: In addition to workshops with campus leaders, fellows participate monthly in small group sessions, led by mentors from the Teaching Academy, throughout the academic year. The Teaching…

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Top stories of 2020

Prior to and throughout the pandemic and the switch to online instruction, work and life as we know it, news about Franklin College faculty and students garnered media attention near and far. In a non-scientific sampling, we look back at some of the year's most impactful stories, the sheer breadth of which define a great university in this or any year: In January, a new UGA study a described a way to attack…

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Helping minorities navigate racial trauma

Psychology faculty member Isha Metzger is engaged in vital work towards improving the health of our community, developing an expertise that grew out of her own experience as well as a heart for public health and wellness. The Office of Research shares a terrific deep-dive into her program and projects: For Isha Metzger, it’s a chicken and egg question. Which came first—her interest in psychology, or her interest in helping…

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Kudos, Nov-Dec 2020

An  extraordinary array of honors and accomplishments among our students, alumni and colleagues were announced over recent weeks. Congratulations to each and all – your excellence inspires us as it propels the campus community to ever-greater heights: The Curtis Institute of Music has appointed Vince Ford as senior vice president of digital strategy and innovation, executive director of the Performance Innovation Lab, and, in…

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Noted and Quoted, Nov/Dec 2020

COVID-19, election news and analysis, personality traits, weather and climate round out the recent trending topics for Franklin College faculty expertise in the media. A sample of the many stories: Study links cognitive disorders with severe COVID-19 risk – research led by Kaixiong Ye, assistant professor of genetics, reported by Devdiscourse, News Break, and Postdoctoral Fellow Jingqi Zhou, Drugs.com Hot or cold, weather…

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UGA staffer participates in Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trial

University of Georgia staff member Doug Lloyd, a systems administrator in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Office of Information Technology, is participating in the two-year Phase 3 trial of the investigational COVID-19 vaccine known as mRNA-1273. An interim analysis of the trial data suggests that the vaccine is safe and effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in adults. For Lloyd, the experience provides an…

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2021 Bulldog 100

The UGA Alumni Association unveiled the 2021 Bulldog 100, a list of the 100 fastest-growing businesses owned or operated by UGA alumni, with 26 Franklin College alumni honorees representing 24 businesses: The 2021 Bulldog 100 celebrates organizations from over two dozen industries, including agriculture, construction, health care, nonprofits and software. Of the 100 businesses, 81 are located within the state of Georgia. In…

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UGA Student Emergency Fund, Black Alumni Scholarship

In honor of Giving Tuesday, a national day of support for nonprofit organizations, UGA is spotlighting three funds that address timely issues for those seeking to give back to the university this holiday season: UGA Student Emergency Fund The UGA Student Emergency Fund is available to provide limited, one-time financial assistance to enrolled students who are unable to meet immediate, essential expenses because of temporary hardship…

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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…

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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…

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UGA’s 2021 Rhodes Scholar makes a difference in the Athens community

University of Georgia student Phaidra Buchanan joined recipients from 64 countries around the world this weekend as she was named a 2021 Rhodes Scholar, bringing the total number of UGA Rhodes Scholars to 25. Ms. Buchanan, an Honors student in the Mary Frances Early College of Education with a minor in German, works hard to make a difference in the Athens community: As an undergraduate pre-service teacher, she investigated structural…

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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…

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Digging into the plant and microbe relationship

A new project by UGA researchers will explore the largely unknown relationship between plants and soil microbes, generating new information that’s expected to be a game changer for plant science. The five-year project, funded by an $11.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, will deliver findings ranging from basic information about plants and microbes to applied knowledge that can be used by plant breeders to improve…

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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…

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Cognitive disorders linked to severe COVID-19 risk

Dementia and other cognitive disorders now appear to be risk factorsfor developing severe COVID-19, according to research from the University of Georgia. The findings highlight the need for special care for populations with these preexisting conditions during the pandemic. In a blind study, the researchers analyzed data from nearly 1,000 diseases and two specific genes to compare the health profiles of COVID-19 patients with those testing…

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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…

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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…
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