News Archive - 2020

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Palmer earns ACLS Fellowship

University of Georgia faculty member Jennifer Palmer has been named a 2020 recipient of an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship. The ACLS Fellowship program honors scholarship in the humanities and humanistic social sciences with the potential to make significant contributions to knowledge in their fields. The awards range from $40,000 to $75,000 and support six to 12 months of full-time research and writing. Palmer, associate…

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50th Anniversary Earth Day

The University of Georgia’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day 2020 will be held online. Most notably, the UGA Earth (Art) Day Challenge, open to the university and Athens community, to create an online exhibition of creative works expressing how participants are connecting with and appreciating the Earth, people or other living creatures during this time of uncertainty, and how this can inspire an even better future. The…

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Knox named Meigs Teaching Professor

Faculty awards during Honors Week include prestigious teaching professorships to five faculty members who were named Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professors for 2020, the university’s highest recognition for instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels. One of the five is Professor John Knox of the department of geography: After eight years as a lecturer and associate research scientist, a tenure-eligible position in 2008,…

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Morrison named Meigs Teaching Professor

Richard Morrison, associate professor in the department of chemistry, is one of five University of Georgia faculty members named Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professors for 2020, the university’s highest recognition for instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels: As director of Organic Chemistry Instruction in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of chemistry, Richard Morrison oversees all aspects of…


Archaeologists verify Florida’s Mound Key as site of elusive Spanish fort

Archaeologists from UGA and the Florida Museum of Natural History have discovered the location of Fort San Antón de Carlos, home of one of the first Jesuit missions in North America. The Spanish fort was built in 1566 in the capital of the Calusa, the most powerful Native American tribe in the region, on present-day Mound Key in the center of Estero Bay on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Archaeologists and historians have long suspected…

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Kudos, April 2020

New books, service, SEC and Honors Week highlights dominate the recent accolades for Franklin College faculty, postdocs and graduate students. A sample: The Poetry Society of America published  “Someone’s Getting the Best, the Best, the Best of You . . .”  a poem by Ed Pavlić, professor of English and creative writing on poem from and short essay about his new book. The poem is about Prince, on the…

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COVID-19 Well-Being Guide

The University of Georgia’s Clinical Psychology Program has made available a mental health guide to provide information and recommendations to members of the UGA and Athens community who are struggling with significant life changes accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic: The spread of the coronavirus throughout the United States and broader world poses a number of significant stressors, each with effects on our mental health and well-being…

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Noted and Quoted, April 2020

Franklin College faculty provided vital expertise and reminded us that ongoing work on many fronts continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample over the last month: Social scientists worldwide collaborate on COVID-19 – research project co-led by associate professor of psychology Michelle vanDellen reported by UGA Today Sophisticatedly engineered “watercourts” stored live fish, fueling Florida’s Calusa kingdom – …

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Alumnus M.D. on the front lines at Piedmont Athens Regional

For Dr. Andrew McKown (BS ’07, genetics) of Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center's intensive care unit, 12-hour days include multiple sets of gowns, masks and gloves, phone calls providing updates to patients’ families who can no longer visit their loved ones, a hooded face shield blowing air in his face and the research required to keep up with a global pandemic: “It’s … been interesting,” said McKown. “My work has changed…

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Angela Tsao named 2020 Udall Scholar

UGA junior Angela Tsao is working to advance research at the intersection of computer science and sustainability, and her focus has earned her national recognition as a 2020 Udall Scholar: She was one of 55 undergraduates selected from across the nation and U.S. territories for the scholarship, which is awarded to sophomores and juniors on the basis of their commitment to careers in the environment, Native health care or Tribal…