Tags: Society

digital portal matrix in blue
Big Data heads South

• Habitat planning, including urban infrastructure, smart cities efforts, transportation, rural-urban infrastructure and wildlife habitat and conservation. Dr. Ramaswamy and his colleagues are already engaged in some vsionary work monitoring algal blooms in the region's ponds and lakes using cloud computing and corwd-sourcing, so his participation in the initiative is a natural fit. More importantly, it engages the university in wider Big Data…

media logos
Noted and Quoted, October 2015

Franklin faculty engagement and the impact of public scholarship on policy debates to understanding the news takes shape in media around the world. A sample from the month of October: Evidence of water found on Mars, reports the Athens Banner-Herald. Monday’s announcement by NASA “provides a more concrete result on such a claim based on the most recent Mars mission data,” said Inseok Song, associate professor of astronomy New research from…

photo of James Baldwin
James Baldwin Review, vol.1, no.1

One of America's greatest writers is now the focus of an annual, peer-reviewed journal that brings together a wide array of critical and creative work on the life, writings, and legacy of James Baldwin: In addition to these cutting-edge contributions, each issue contains a review of recent Baldwin scholarship and an award-winning graduate student essay. The James Baldwin Review publishes essays that invigorate scholarship on James…

albumen portrait of Abraham Lincoln
Gregory Distinguished Lecture: Martha Hodes

At 4 p.m. this afternoon in the Chapel, NYU professor Martha Hodes will deliver the Gregory Distinguished Lecture: "Mourning Lincoln: The Assassination and the Aftermath of the Civil War," presented by  Martha Hodes, a professor of history at New York University. Public responses to Lincoln's assassination have been well chronicled, but Hodes is the first to delve into personal and private responses—of African-Americans and whites,…

woman photo
Alice Walker: Delta Chair lecture

Today at 3:30 pm in the Chapel, UGA welcomes Pulitzer Prize-wining American novelist Alice Walker to campus for the Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding Lecture: Walker will hold public speaking events on and off the UGA campus, as well as participate in more personal interactions with students and faculty during her visit. The Delta Visiting Chair, established by the Willson Center through the support of the Delta Air Lines…

woman photo with glasses
Sixth Women and Girls in Georgia Conference

Friday and Saturday October 9-10, the Sixth Women and Girls in Georgia conference will be held in the Miller Learning Center: The theme of this year's conference is sustainability. Presentation topics throughout the conference will explore the intersections of social, economic and environmental challenges as they relate to women and girls in the state, including environmental justice, local food, food insecurity, climate change, environmental…

compass and map
"What’s a History Degree Good for Anyway?”

Parker's talk is one in a series of “History at Work” talks, in which history alumni discuss how their BA in history helped them excel at their careers.  The talks are aimed at undergraduates.  Free and open to the public, with pizza. 101 LeConte at 12:30 pm. Today.  

sign photo - On Air
Noted and Quoted

Franklin College faculty share their expertise in a variety of media every day, in pixels, print and on the air waves. A sampling from the past month: Scientists study how rising seas will reshape the Georgia coast, reports the Associated Press. Clark Alexander, a researcher at UGA’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, and colleagues are working on a project to more accurately forecast expected changes from encroaching seawater. Also WABE-FM How…

women in three photos
Women's Leadership Fellows

"The Women's Leadership Fellows Program seeks to identify and develop emerging leaders in higher education," said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. "We have talented faculty members throughout our campuses, and I am confident that we will have a strong applicant pool for this innovative program. Nominations by deans and other senior administrators are welcome, as are self-nominations. Application materials…

woman with award
The New South: People of the New America

The screening and public discussion are sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association. Hinojosa's visit kicks off community events organized by LACSI and UGA Libraries to coincide with National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. During the observance, the importance of Latinos in Georgia's social, economic and political fabric as well as the challenges…

woman close up
"Oh, don't try me": Pavlić on the politics of style and Serena Williams

Professor of English and creative writing Ed Pavlić presents a wonderful meditation on Serena Williams today on Africa Is A Country: If craft—as opposed to mechanical technique—bears some similarity to style—as opposed to the vanity of surfaces, of disguises—then, possibly, it, too, exists in an inverse relationship to “make believe.” We’ll come back to the “make believe” connection at the end. For now, let’s imagine that to develop a craft…

professor with students
Focus on the Faculty: Paula Lemons

Associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology Paula Lemons uses findings from her research on science education to design curricula for her classes and tailor her interactions with students to enhance their learning outcomes: What are your favorite courses and why? My favorite course is “Introductory Biochemistry” (BCMB 3100). I started teaching BCMB 3100 a few years ago, and moving to this course allowed me to prioritize changing…

painting of children
Targeting Empathy

Researchers in the department of psychology analyzing borderline personality disorder (BPD) have contributed something very interesting in conceptualizing the disorder's connections to empathy: "Our results showed that people with BPD traits had reduced activity in brain regions that support empathy," said the study's lead author Brian Haas, an assistant professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences psychology department. "This…

women in classroom, dancing, outdoors
Women in campus leadership

The percentage of women holding leadership positions in UGA's administration has remained flat for more than a decade, even as the proportion of female faculty has grown steadily. This is reflective of national trends in higher education and in the private sector, and UGA is taking several steps to increase the representation of women in leadership roles: In spring 2015, UGA President Jere W. Morehead and Provost Pamela Whitten launched the…

painting of woman on lined paper
'Return from Exile' exhibition of Native American art

The idea of being out of balance, whether we speak of the Earth or society, is one with which we are unfortunately quite familiar. The causes are myriad, and bound up with our urge to progress and 'get ahead.' Balance maybe a goal, but not one we prioritize. Native Americans, on the other hand and even in the face of centuries of violence and oppression, have long-sought harmony with the environment, their history and ancestors, and their very-…

temple of Athena, photo
College life: the future for fraternities

With our small town about to be convulsed into the intricacies [and traffic] of fraternity and sorority rush in the lead up to the fall term, the Chronicle of Higher Education raises an important, timely question: Is there a place for fraternities on the modern campus? In some ways, they appear a relic of a bygone era, in which college was largely the purview of white, well-off men. It's no surprise, critics say, that these homogenous,…

classroom with students
Narrative in the Classroom

Instructive article in the CHE that echoes the recent Reacting to the Past conference at UGA on pedagogy that connects students to history. Telling stories can help students learn, certainly: But research by cognitive psychologist Roger Schank suggests that the long-term effects of narrative-based learning are more limited than it sometimes seems. We learn by hearing stories from others — like from a professor, say — mostly when the…

UGA arch
D.O.E. grant to support low-income families

UGA recently announced a grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will help support first-generation and college students from low-income families. Beginning in September, UGA will receive funding distributed over the next five years under the Federal TRIO's Student Support Services Program: The Federal TRIO Programs are outreach and student services programs that provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds…

colorful infographic
Informatics Initiative

You can read about the Information Age on almost any page, on practically any day. More data has been created in the last fifteen years than in all previous human history. What does this mean for science? For research? For scholarship? Quite a byte(!), it turns out. Managing, storing and making this data accessible is a Herculean task that is growing by the day. It is arguably one of the greatest next-challenges of civilization, not to mention…

ice cream graphic
Athens Science Café

Billed as conversations not lectures, science cafés are meetings held in places like coffee houses, pubs and community centers where everyday people come together and learn about a variety of topics from professional scientists. Tonight, July 9 is the next meeting, and it couldn't be timed better: the science of ice cream. It’s summer in Athens and what screams “summer” more than incessant heat and 100% humidity levels? ICE CREAM! The Athens…

flag with pole
Cobb in TIME

Spalding Distinguished Professor of History James Cobb takes to the pages of TIME magazine (via Zocalo Public Square, a not-for-profit Ideas Exchange that blends live events and humanities journalism) to discuss the issues surrounding the removal of the confederate flag: In South Carolina, that flag might still be flying atop the state capitol had a torrent of threatened economic and tourist boycotts and pressure from the state’s…

American Flag
American Independence Day

It was on this date in history, July 2, 1776, that the Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence in June 1776. The Declaration was not delivered to Great Britain until November of that year. The document was signed on August 2, 1776. But on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence. They'd…

book cover DADA
Destruction was my Beatrice

DADA was a between-the-world-wars movement that is either responsible for or guilty of many of the art 'isms' that would decorate the twentieth century, depending on one's view about that history. Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor of English Jed Rasula has a new book out on the subject of DADA, recently reviewed in The Economist and the Los Angeles Times: When telling a story of individuals as incandescent as the Dadaists, it’s easy to…

headshot with graphic
Alice Walker at UGA

The Willson Center announced that the great Alice Walker will visit UGA in the fall, as the inaugural Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding Oct. 14-15: Walker is the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for her 1982 novel "The Color Purple," which also earned a National Book Award. She has written six other novels, four collections of short stories, four children's books and volumes of essays and poetry. Her…

musicians celebration
Juneteenth

One hundred and fifty years ago today, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect and two months after Appomattox, the U.S. Army took possession of Galveston Island and began a late-arriving battle against slavery in Texas: The historical origins of Juneteenth are clear. On June 19, 1865, U.S. Major General Gordon Granger, newly arrived with 1,800 men in Texas, ordered that “all slaves are free” in Texas and that…
Subscribe to Society

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.