Tags: Arts
Extending the reach of its talented faculty and curriculum, Franklin College is introducing three new online master's programs: Applied Data Science, Environmental Geology, and Art Education. Programs start August 2025 and will provide career advancement opportunities for busy, working individuals seeking to earn a master’s online in two years. These three new online master’s degrees join Franklin’s successful Online Master of Music Education…
The UGA Office of Transfer Services announced the winners of the 2025 Transfer Advocate Awards. Each year students nominate advisors, staff, and faculty who have made an incredible impact on the transfer student experience at UGA. The 2025 first place winner is Ryan Smith of the Franklin College Office of Student Academic Services.
The winners were chosen based on student nominations that detailed how these individuals went above and beyond to…
The University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences celebrated its dedicated staff members during the 2025 Staff Appreciation Awards and Reception, held on May 21. This annual event honored staff for their outstanding contributions, commitment, passion and service to the college, recognizing both individual excellence and years of service milestones.
The ceremony opened with remarks from Hollis Yates, Publications Manager and…
After returning to the U.S. following World War II, Victor Riden Jr. graduated from the UGA while his wife Annette worked as a secretary for the university. The Riden family's deep connections to UGA, both historically and in the future have taken form in generous support for the UGA department of dance as the newly named Victor and Annette Riden Lobby in the Dance Building:
The couple had two children, Martha and Vic Riden III, who earned his…
Designed to spur innovative uses for the technology, the second UGA Generative AI Competition, sponsored by the Office of Instruction and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ department of philosophy, recognized student AI projects that enrich the UGA community or experience. The three top prizes went to Franklin College students who submitted projects to used generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, DALL-E and Amper to bring their creations to…
Jarryd Wallace, (AB Communications Studies '19) keynote speaker as well as four-time Paralympian and two-time bronze medalist, shared lessons he learned from the tests he’s faced during UGA’s undergraduate Commencement ceremony held May 9.
“That’s what trials do — they forge something in us that comfort never could. They teach us to keep going when nothing makes sense. To believe when hope feels distant. To see ourselves not by what we’…
The Franklin College Innovation Initiative is designed to guide our efforts and focus into the next era of American higher education. Dean Anna Stenport provides an outline of the three-part initiative 1) Academic Innovation, 2) Research Partnerships and Public Engagement, and 3) Student Success, in a series of interviews discussing the context of this ambitious enterprise and plans for implementation.
"The Franklin College commitment to…
Today is the day! The culmination of our students' hard work, where they put their creativity, ambitions, curiosity and leadership all together to take the all-important next step.
Congratulation to all of the 2,100+ Franklin students graduating today! And welcome to campus to the family and friends joining us on this wonderful occasion.
Go Dawgs! Go Franklin! Congratulations to the many new UGA alumni – welcome to the family!
Photo by…
Fuad Elhage, a senior lecturer of Spanish in Franklin College’s Romance languages department, has taught Diversity Through Dance since 2010. The course allows students to spend each class period connecting to the Spanish language and culture through music and dance:
However, for two semesters, the course has been adapted to integrate a service-learning component, giving students the chance to expand their participation beyond the music. Service-…
Part 3 of 3 – Student Success
Franklin College has introduced a three-part Innovation Initiative guiding its efforts and focus into the next era of American higher education. The initiative consists of three pillars designed to complement each other and work together: 1) Academic Innovation, 2) Research Partnerships and Public Engagement, and 3) Student Success. In the third of a three-part series of interviews, Franklin College Dean Anna…
The Franklin College announced the latest round of funding through the Franklin Forward graduate student seed grant program. In the spring 2025 cycle, six projects were funded, with donor support.
The six Franklin Forward recipients for spring 2025, and their projects:
Carsynn Miller, doctoral student, industrial/Organizational Psychology: Effective Talent Management Strategies for Autistic Employees
Sloan Garner, doctoral student,Theatre and…
Ally Smith, 2025 Dodd commencement speaker and recipient of Art Director’s Award for Outstanding undergraduate student, is a fourth-year graphic design student with a minor in studio art, design and media at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. Smith has worked closely with alumna Kelly Layton (BFA graphic design, '90) and credits her own interests in participating in the newly introduced Layton Design Studio to Layton herself. Layton Design Studio…
Part 2 of 3 – Research Partnerships and Public Engagement
Franklin College has introduced a three-part Innovation Initiative guiding its efforts and focus into the next era of American higher education. The initiative consists of three pillars designed to complement each other and work together: 1) Academic Innovation, 2) Research Partnerships and Public Engagement, and 3) Student Success. In the second of a three-part series of interviews,…
The Franklin College honored donors and alumni April 11 at the annual Franklin College Alumni Awards and Donor Celebration. Philanthropic support for new professorships and expanded Study Away opportunities and scholarships for students, as well as facilities and instructional innovations in the Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing and the Layton Design Studio provided a snapshot of an outstanding 2025 and the building blocks for new…
Part 1 of 3 - Academic Innovation
Franklin College has introduced a three-part Innovation Initiative guiding its efforts and focus into the next era of American higher education. The initiative consists of three pillars designed to complement each other and work together: 1) Academic Innovation, 2) Research Partnerships and Public Engagement, and 3) Student Success. In the first of a three-part series of interviews, Franklin College Dean…
Greeted by a round of applause from a class full of students, "Dead Poets Society" screenwriter and Academy Award winner Tom Schulman visited UGA on April 10. Schulman was interviewed by religion professor and department head Derrick Lemons about his process writing the film and his experiences in the movie industry as a part of Lemons’ Anthropology of American Religion course.
Students watched the film to prepare for Schulman’s visit, which…
As visitors descended the escalator of the Classic Center and walked through the doors of the Grand Hall, they encountered hundreds of hardworking students eager to present their research. An atmosphere of education and engagement filled the air.
On April 7 and 8, undergraduate students from UGA came together to present at the annual Center for Undergraduate Research (CURO) Symposium with a record-breaking number of 723 presentations…
The University of Georgia celebrated the 2025 Alumni Awards honorees during a luncheon on April 4 in Athens. The awards are a long-standing tradition intended to celebrate individuals and organizations that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to UGA.
Among the six honorees, Cathie and John Crawford III were recognized with the 2025 Family of the Year Award:
John Crawford III began his family’s legacy at UGA when he graduated in 1962 …
For the second consecutive year, the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Multidisciplinary Seed Grant Program has funded two new tracks of collaborative research projects: Rapid Interdisciplinary Proposals (RIP) and Innovation in Interdisciplinary Instruction (I-Cubed). The seed grant program responds to the need for new paradigms that shape future research, life-long learning, public discourse, service, and dynamic entrepreneurship. $50,…
A new certificate program in the Lamar Dodd School of Art confirms a long-held connection: just as a jeweler peers through a magnifying glass to set a gem, a dentist wears a pair of loupes and wields a mouth mirror to check for tartar. Over the spring semester, pre-dental students at the University of Georgia have become quick learners of the art of working with their hands thanks to a novel partnership between the UGA Pre-Professional Advising…
A first-year UGA student with big musical dreams got a chance to showcase her singing Tuesday morning during a surprise moment on The Today Show. She did not disappoint:
Laila Carter, a journalism and political science major minoring in music who attended North Oconee High School, was on the TODAY plaza on spring break with other members of UGA when host Craig Melvin asked for her. Carter told Melvin that she wanted to one day be on Broadway, '…
With 33 study abroad programs across five continents and 57 countries, the Franklin College is a significant driver of international UGA student experiential opportunities. As the home of many of UGA's longest-standing programs, our faculty and advisors remind students at every turn to dial-up their campus learning experience by integrating one or more of these well-established programs into their university. That's one reason why we are so…
Set in a high school English classroom in rural Georgia, “John Proctor is the Villain” depicts a group of students as they grapple with Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and discover unsettling parallels to their own lives in the process in UGA Theatre’s next production, “John Proctor is the Villain” by Kimberly Belflower and directed by Sloan Elle Garner.
As the story unfolds, deep-seated secrets surface, challenging their notions of heroism,…
UGA welcomes renowned conductor and orchestra director Robert Spano on March 24 as the Willson Center’s annual Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding.
Spano’s visit, which will include two public talks on campus and a workshop for UGA student composers with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, is part of the Willson Center’s Global Georgia public event series and the UGA Humanities Festival:
Spano is music director of the Fort Worth…
Nika Shlomi, an Honors student in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences studying biology, psychology and dance. Recently returned from a UGA Oxford study abroad experience, she shares details about her international experience as well as how her minor in dance compliments her majors and aligns with her pre-med aspirations in this interview.
What first attracted you to the UGA Department of Dance?
My upbringing in the dance world…