News Archive - 2023

photo of building portico, with spring blooms
UGA writing center receives major gift

The University of Georgia Writing Center is being renamed for Jill and Marvin Willis III.  Housed under the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences in Park Hall, the Writing Center is now known as the Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing in recognition of their $1 million gift. “From the moment I met Jill, I sensed her generosity of spirit and her sincere interest in the work we do to support writers,” said Rebecca…

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UGA professor narrates a new 20-episode lecture series 

More than a year in the making, a new lecture series featuring University of Georgia faculty member Suzanne Pilaar Birch "Early Humans: Ice, Stone, and Survival" is now streaming on Wondrium. The 20-episode series tells the story of humanity's journey from our earliest origins in Africa to the emergence of agriculture, examines the role of climate and environmental change in driving these transitions, and how archaeological science is helping us…

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Kudos, April 2023

Honors Week, the Franklin Faculty Awards reception, Guggenheim Fellows, and Goldwater Scholars are among the Franklin College students, staff, and faculty achievements that took center stage during April. A sample of the excellence and accomplishments of our colleagues across the College: Tessa Andrews, associate professor of genetics, is one of four faculty members the University of Georgia honored with its highest accolade for…

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Noted and Quoted, April 2023

Weather and climate, baseball, ghosting, and Tupperware were some of the subjects Franklin faculty colleagues discussed and wrote about over the course of April. A sample of the many news stories and research reporting that appeared in media around the world:   The U.S. leads the world in weather catastrophes. Here’s why – Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor, quoted widely by AP News, …

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Franklin College Digitizes Buried Treasure

The Pantheon Website Operations Platform followed up its celebration of the Franklin College Office of Information Technology's Web Services Team with a feature on the Team's work exploring new projects – including digitizing enormous collections of specimens and artifacts in UGA collections:   The Web Services team has embarked on an exciting journey: seeking to digitize all of the collections housed within the Georgia Museum of…

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$14M from DOE renews bioenergy center

The Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI), a multi-institutional initiative based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and co-led by University of Georgia researchers, has been renewed by the U.S. Department of Energy as one of four bioenergy research centers across the nation that advance robust, economical production of plant-based fuels and chemicals. According to its announcement, DOE will provide $590…

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Student Commencement speaker reflects on community

If you ask Sudhan Chitgopkar about the highlights of his time at the University of Georgia, he’ll pause before responding. “I’ve got to think about this one,” he said. “It’s four years’ worth of memories.” It is a lot to condense into a few words, but Chitgopkar will do his best as undergraduate student speaker at the 2023 spring Commencement ceremony. “I think the most important thing that I carry with me is the community,” Chitgopkar said…

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Nora Benedict brings a digital dimension to book history

Books are a big deal. The invention of writing is one of the pivotal moments in the history of humanity, and—in terms of cultural significance—the distance from writing itself to the book is literally just the turn of a page. Books existed long before printing presses. As artifacts, they tell stories that range far beyond the mere words printed or written on their pages. Nora Benedict wants to tell those stories. An assistant professor of…

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Spring Commencement 2023

Let the Chapel bell ring, today is the day! The University of Georgia welcomes its newest alumni on May 12 as 6,008 undergraduates have met requirements to participate in the university’s spring Commencement ceremonies. Congratulations to the 1,665 graduate students—a total of 7,673—who had their Commencement ceremonies yesterday. Welcome to the many family members and friends visiting campus this week.  The undergraduate ceremony is…

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‘Play deserts’ common throughout Deep South, Southwest

Physical activity is crucial to children’s healthy physical and mental development. But new research from the University of Georgia shows hundreds of U.S. counties are play deserts. These play deserts are areas where parks and other spots to run around and play are nonexistent, hard to access or in less safe locations that make parents second-guess taking their children to play there. The study found that about 7% of the country…