News Archive - 2023

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Franklin students, alumni lead UGA as top producer of Fulbright students

For the fifth time in 11 years the University of Georgia has been named a top producer of Fulbright U.S. students, a recognition given by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to the U.S. institutions that received the highest number of Fulbright offers. Eleven UGA students and alumni were offered Fulbright awards for 2022-2023, with 10 students able to accept. Seven are teaching English in countries…

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How active learning affects STEM students with learning disabilities

Active learning is an instructional approach that involves engaging students with the learning process through group work, case studies, class discussions and other methods. This type of approach places a greater degree of responsibility on the learner. Students with disabilities may have unique experiences in active-learning STEM courses because most active-learning practices were designed with limited input from students with disabilities.…

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Three professors elected into National Academy of Inventors

The National Academy of Inventors has selected three University of Georgia faculty as 2023 NAI Senior Members. NAI Senior Members are faculty, scientists and administrators selected for their proven ability to invent and innovate. The UGA representatives of the 2023 class are Christine Szymanski, Hitesh Handa and Leidong Mao. With their selections, UGA now has 11 Senior Members overall: Szymanski is a professor, associate head of…

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New book provides scholarship on mountainscapes

Fausto Sarmiento, professor of geography in the Franklin College and director of the Neotropical Montology Collaboratory, continues his excellent work on the broad subject of Montology with the publication of a new book. With the ecological acceleration and the indigenous revival trend of the present, the need for critical views of the reality of mountain systems has become evident in academic circles, such as the Commission of Mountain Studies…

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UGA Opera Theatre presents ‘Postcard from Morocco’

As part of the UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music spring season, UGA Opera Theatre presents “Postcard from Morocco” by Dominick Argento Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. This work is the most performed American Chamber Opera in the world. This also marks the department’s first return to a fully staged work since before the COVID-19 pandemic. “A surreal, entertaining and emotionally charged work, ‘Postcard…

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Cody Marrs and beauty as an omnipresent force

Over the past few years, the entire world has faced some harsh realities. A pandemic seemingly without end. A war between Ukraine and Russia. An international social movement in Black Lives Matter. For many, these moments in time are only seen through the lens of the fear, unrest and change they ignite.  Cody Marrs takes a different approach. Head of the English department in the Franklin College of Arts & Sciences who…

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Noted and Quoted, February 2023

A climate change summit with Vice President Kamala Harris, the impossible quest of fake meat, and using machine learning to find new exoplanets are just a few of the many stories where our faculty colleagues lead, explain, and advise in media around the world. A sample of distinguished research and time comment from February:   In Atlanta, VP Harris focuses on climate, finding solutions – event co-moderated by Georgia Athletic Association…

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Kudos, February 2023

Even the shortest month has been replete with accolades and awards across UGA and the Franklin College. A few of the colleagues, alumni, and campus organizations we congratulated during February: UGA senior vice provost Michelle Garfield Cook named vice president for student affairs – UGA Today, WGAU, Athens CEO   Christine Szymanski, professor and associate head of the department of microbiology, is one of three…

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Landau, Terns named Regents’ Professors

Three University of Georgia faculty members have been named Regents’ Professors in recognition of the national and international reach of their innovative and pace-setting scholarship. Regents’ professorships are bestowed by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and are the highest professorial recognition in the state’s system of public colleges and universities. The university’s 2022–2023 Regents’ Professors are Jenna…

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On science fiction & Afrofuturism: Q&A with Isiah Lavender III

For Isiah Lavender III, science fiction isn’t just a passing interest or favorite genre. The Sterling Goodman Professor of English in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences says science fiction is a storytelling device that can capture the human experience on an otherworldly level. In this Q&A, he goes over his earliest memory of “Star Wars,” the history of science fiction and Afrofuturism, and his latest book on intersectional…