Tags: Society

Fantastic news from grants and awards to scholarships and fellowships highlight faculty and student accomplishments during February. A sample: Georgia Coastal Ecosystems, a research program based at the University of Georgia Marine Institute, was renewed for another six years by the National Science Foundation with $6.7 million in funding. According to Marine Institute director and professor of marine sciences…
Come explore one of the most fascinating disciplines on campus as we celebrate World Anthropology Day today, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Baldwin Hall: Anthropology Day is a day for anthropologists to celebrate their discipline while sharing it with the world. The Department of Anthropology at UGA has organized activities and displays to showcase how this field helps in understanding humanity's past, present and future. All members of the public and…
Benjamin Boward, a Ph.D. student in biochemistry and molecular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, was among the UGA people and programs recognized by Georgia Bio, the association for Georgia’s life sciences industry, at its 2019 annual awards dinner Feb. 8 in Atlanta: Boward accepted an Emerging Leader of the Year Award, presented to young individuals who have made a significant impact on the life sciences…
More than 300 students from around the state descended on the Lamar Dodd School of Art this weekend for UGAHacks4, a computer programming event where teams worked on an array of projects: The student-organized 36-hour hackathon was an opportunity for students ranging from novice coder to experienced programmer to work together on “challenges” and earn prizes. They hacked together projects that tackled everything from tech to…
Research scientists Irene Glowinski and Jim Vaught have established the Christopher Henry Vaught Scholarship in Science Policy at the University of Georgia. The scholarship, named in memory of Glowinski and Vaught’s son Christopher who lived for only 13 days in 1988, will encourage UGA undergraduates to spend a semester in Washington, D.C. and learn about the myriad aspects of science policy beyond what they might be exposed to on the Athens…
President Morehead invites the University of Georgia community to attend and/or watch and listen to the 2019 State of the University address today at 3:30 p.m.
Franklin faculty and students continue to distinguish the University of Georgia through their scholarship, awards and honors. A sample from the past month: Professor of microbiology Xiaorong Lin been elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology.  The Academy, the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, recognizes excellence, originality, and leadership in the microbiological…
Franklin College faculty appeared in a wide variety of media over the month of January: New method to classify schizophrenia symptoms should improve care - assistant professor of psychology Gregory Strauss quoted by Psych Central   Scientists could engineer a spicy tomato. Is it worth it? Research by professor of plant biology Esther van der Knaap reported in Popular Science, Tahlequah Daily Press…
 Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, assistant professor in the department of theatre and film studies, has been selected as a TED Fellow, joining a class of 20 change-makers from around the world to deliver a talk on the TED stage this April in Vancouver: Dr. Amma was selected for her original and hyper-collaborative approach to creating artistic works based on archival research for the stage and screen, including her new musical in…
One of the finest accomplishments a UGA debate team has ever achieved, the team of Swapnil Agrawal and Advait Ramanan won the 2019 Herbert L. James Debates at Dartmouth College, known as the Dartmouth Round Robin debate competition, this past weekend in Hanover, NH. The win bodes well for the Georgia Debate Union's chances of winning a national championship later this spring. The competition included the top 7 debate teams in…
The University of Georgia Laboratory of Archeology, established in the late 1940's, marked another important milestone in its distinguished history on January 18 at the celebration of its new location in Athens. Organized within the department of anthropology, the Laboratory provides opportunities for students of varied backgrounds to engage in archaeology and history, serving the intellectual growth of our undergraduate and graduate…
Senior biology major Anita Qualls of Johns Creek became the first student in UGA’s history to receive a Churchill Scholarship, which funds American students as they pursue a one-year master’s program in science, mathematics and engineering at the University of Cambridge (UK): The scholarship, which was first awarded in 1963, is given to 15 students each year after a rigorous application and interview process. This year’s…
During fall 2018, UGA Libraries and the Office of Research sponsored the Capturing Science Contest. The contest, now in its second year, challenged UGA students to communicate STEM concepts using any media or genre. Organizers received 36 submissions covering STEM concepts in a variety of disciplines, including games, videos, poetry, art, illustrations, photography, …
During the fall semester, our Franklin College Student Ambassadors took to their own Instagram account to introduce themselves. We introduced the first half on the chronicles blog last fall and are now happy to introduce you to the rest of these ambitious students. With a wide range of majors and ambitions, these students exemplify the range of opportunities available to students at Franklin College and UGA more broadly. Now, we're…
Lamar Dodd School of Art professor Joe Norman has taken art students into the world of public art commissions with the creation and restoration of murals and wall signs across the state: Joseph Norman’s work graces the collections of such institutions as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. His pieces have been acquired by the Smithsonian—oh, and also by Oprah. But these days, Norman is…
UGA alumna Betsy Fretwell AB ’89, MPA ’91 provides an inspiring example of impact, intuition and service: As part of her high school’s Government for a Day program, Fretwell fatefully pulled the position of city manager from a hat. After a day spent in a position she had never even heard of, playing pretend for her city government, a seed was planted in her mind. Fretwell didn’t always intend to join the public service arena…
The Georgia Debate Union finished the fall semester ranked as the top ranked varsity debate team in the country according to both the American Debate Association and National Debate Tournament varsity rankings. The team is ranked third in the Cross Examination Debate Association Rankings.   The rankings are based on a points-based system whereby individual two-person teams from a university or college accumulate points based off…
The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences wishes you a safe, happy and healthy New Year.
This is the 222nd post of 2018 on the Franklin Chronicles, and what an incredible year it has been for UGA's oldest, largest and most academically diverse college. We look back: 17(!) Amazing students [and counting] Eight Focus on the Faculty features And from January though today, a plethora of rich activity that defines the modern academy - groundbreaking scholarship, outreach, research, performance, milestones, new initiatives, books,…
With the undergraduates this morning and graduate students in the afternoon, Stegman coliseum is the setting today for nearly 2,800 new degrees presented to graduates during fall commencement ceremonies: Eleven students will be recognized as First Honor Graduates during the undergraduate exercises for maintaining a 4.0 cumulative GPA in all work attempted at UGA as well as all college-level transfer work prior to or following…
How do students find their way into the laboratory? Integrating research experiences into lab courses, where students are tackling a problem related to a faculty member’s ongoing research, can introduce undergraduates to a world of career paths and opportunities as they come to understand research. Students learning research skills in the context of solving real research problems is the focus of work by Georgia Athletic…
English major, Red & Black staff writer, Franklin College SGA senator, Foundation Fellow, world traveler... what can't Griffin Hamstead do with an A.B. degree? I was thrilled to be chosen for board and used my place as a representative in the Senate to pass legislation providing greater transparency for club dues on the Involvement Network. This program was also invaluable for my professional development and I made many terrific and lasting…
A TED talk by Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences J. Marshall Shepherd is featured today on TED.com, 3 kinds of bias that shape your worldview: What shapes our perceptions (and misperceptions) about science? In an eye-opening talk, meteorologist J. Marshall Shepherd explains how confirmation bias, the Dunning-Kruger effect and cognitive dissonance impact what we…
New research by an international team based at UGA raises questions about the timing and nature of early interactions between Indigenous Peoples and Europeans in North America: The European side of first contact with indigenous people and settlement in northeast North America is well known from European sources. Until now it's been assumed that the finds of dated European artifacts provide a timeline for the indigenous peoples and…
Too much screen time, the Deepwater Horizon spill, and Thanksgiving were a few of the leading headlines over the last month that quoted and reported Franklin College faculty experts: The great family exodus – associate professor of history Stephen Mihm quoted in a news story on families fleeing the city at – Axios, and reported as‘Increasingly in big cities, youth isn’t being served’ in Crain’s Cleveland Business  …