UGA Nation
News Report Determines UGA Good School and Good Value
The 2006 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” guide has again named the University of Georgia one of the ranking public universities.
“This is the sixth year we’ve been earmarked as being among the best,” says Dean Maureen Grasso of the Graduate School.
“We’re recognized as nineteenth among all public universities – and we’re a good value at that!” Grasso’s reference is to UGA placing sixth on the report’s “Great Schools, Great Prices” listing, which evaluates reputation, class sizes, retention, graduation rates, alumni giving and other factors in compiling the report.
The rankings are available on line at: www.usnews.com.
Editor’s Note:
U.S. News & World Report’s “2005 Best Graduate Schools” recently ranked the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Administration (SPIA) third in the nation. Other graduate programs at UGA also receiving top ranking include print making, education and business.
UGA joined Harvard, Princeton, Syracuse, Indiana (Bloomington) and California-Berkeley universities as leading institutions according to the publication’s annual listing.
Dean Grasso attends the Peabody’s
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| Grasso (L) with Dan Rather. |
Since 1940 the Peabody Awards have been synonymous with talent. First conceived of in the 1930s by an Atlanta radio station manager, it was adopted by the dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at UGA. The program’s namesake is Georgia businessman and benefactor George Foster Peabody.
Dean Maureen Grasso attended the awards program this year, where she chatted with Peabody honoree Dan Rather.
Graduate Students Volunteer in Wake of Katrina
Graduate students Robby Luckett and Cassie Sheldon, both Mississippi natives, galvanized into action shortly after hurricane Katrina savaged the gulf. According to published reports, the students organized an on-campus collection for the relief of storm victims, placing collection bins in the history and journalism buildings.
Luckett, a doctoral student in history and Sheldon, who is studying journalism, collected water, food, blankets and essentials for the hurricane relief effort. Packing a Toyota truck with the goods, Luckett then made his way to Mississippi accompanied by friends.
They then delivered the donations personally, despite gasoline shortages and midst reported looting and vandalism in the disaster-hit areas.
The donated items were safely delivered to a Red Cross shelter in a Pascagoula, Mississippi church. Afterwards, Luckett and two friends volunteered to help with clean up before returning to Athens and planning a return mission.
Graduate School Reception Honors Stellar Students
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| Julie Askew |
More than 60 students gathered on a sunny afternoon August 31 at the State Botanical Gardens of Georgia in Athens for a reception hosted by the Graduate School. Among the attendees were those receiving Dean’s Awards in the arts and humanities, social sciences and other fields. In addition, those awarded assistantships, dissertation completion awards and scholarships enjoyed the fraternity of other scholars during an afternoon of accolades and refreshments.
Masters and doctoral students represented scholarly work ranging from theater and film to mathematics. Dean Grasso addressed the gathering, saying, “You make us so proud – you make the graduate school stronger and brighter.”
The recipients of the J. William Fanning and Phelps-Stokes Graduate Fellowships were also among the invitees.
“I don’t have to worry about giving my time to work not related to my dissertation,” said Sohyun Park, whose research concerns low-income elderly and nutrition. Park is a recipient of a dissertation completion award. Julie Askew, a British student also slated to graduate in May, has researched issues in women’s reproductive health. She echoed Park’s comments, stressing the value of dissertation completion monies in her own scholarship.
Dean’s Award Supports Appalachian-Based Sociolinguistics Research
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| Becky Childs |
Becky Childs, a sociolinguist and recipient of the 2004 Graduate School Dean’s Award, had an immediate and practical need for the proceeds from the award. Childs applied the monies to successfully conduct and complete pilot research in a remote Appalachian community in North Carolina.
Childs purchased recording equipment that she used to record the speech of a targeted population in Texana, North Carolina. She credits the pilot with determining the focus of her dissertation, which concerned social and acoustic issues in her field. “The pilot research that I was able to perform with the aid of the award helped to shape my dissertation,” says Childs. As a direct result of the preliminary linguistics work, Childs also received a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant.
“As a sociolinguist that studies phonetics, I need high quality equipment in order to perform my acoustic analysis. Through the award, I was able to purchase a high-quality CD recorder and microphone that I used for my recordings in the field.” She adds that by no longer being restricted to borrowing school equipment she was “free to do research whenever the opportunity arose, which is critical since I depend upon the availability of others for my data.”
The completed research led to several papers that Childs published. She also presented her research at three academic conferences.|
Since completing the collection of data, Childs advanced to candidacy and graduated in August. She has accepted a tenure-track sociolinguistics position in Newfoundland at Memorial University’s Linguistics department. “Without the aid of my award,” says Childs, “my research, dissertation, job talks and job possibilities would have been severely limited.”
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(L-R) Letha Mosley, Hiliary Johnson, Anika Francis, Dean Grasso, Dana Jennings and Joy Harden
Hotdogging
Dean Grasso joined members of Graduate and Professional Scholars (GAPS) selling concessions at a recent UGA Home football game. Proceeds benefit GAPS events and
lectures. |
Surgeon Honors Brother with UGA Gift
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| Dean Grasso and Dr. Annella Brown (R). |
While in the Miami area last August, Dean Grasso caught up with Dr. Annella Brown, a retired surgeon. Dr. Brown recently honored her brother Alfred, a UGA alumnus, with a gift to the university, although she herself is not an alumna. Brown graduated from the Georgia State College for Women in 1938, and taught school in Cairo, Georgia before attending medical school in Augusta.
Dr. Brown’s bequest honors Alfred Brown (BBA ’55), a former football player, stockbroker and real estate agent.
The funds will be used to establish a scholarship in his name, according to Dean Grasso. “I wanted to do something to remember him,” Brown explained. “Alfred played football. He had a stockbroker’s license and a real estate license. He made lots of money and was very funny.”
Dr. Brown met an assortment of celebrity clients through her “very successful brother.” She chose instead to study medicine and was among the nation’s first female surgeons.
“I always wanted to be a doctor. Alfred was sick, and they took him to the hospital. I went up there, and the nurses dressed me up in a nurse’s cap, and I said, ‘Oh, no, the doctors are in charge, I’m going to be a doctor!’”
“I couldn’t afford the University of Georgia, so I went to the Georgia State College for women,” recalls Brown. “I graduated from there in ’38 – I had no money; so I taught school in Cairo, Georgia for two years while I tried to get together the $200 for the fee to go to medical school.” Brown excelled there, earning five A pluses and four A’s. While riding on a bus with two other ladies, she showed them her grades. “And so I got a letter from one of them saying anybody who makes those grades shouldn’t have to work so hard, so they sent me a check for my third year, and my fourth year also,” the doctor recalls.
Scholarship has a very personal connection to Dr. Annella Brown’s own odyssey, explains Dean Grasso. “This gift is especially moving given the doctor’s own experience with the generosity of strangers.”
Frank Gift to Further Significant Research
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| Dean Grasso is shown above with benefactor Beverly Hirsh Frank (R). |
Beverly Hirsh Frank (AB, ’54) was a high-profile UGA student with an aptitude for leadership. Now she has made what Dean Maureen Grasso calls “an historic commitment” to the Graduate School for the benefit of women in the sciences.
“The gift assures future scholastic achievement. It is a remarkable and significant contribution that will make it possible for us to fund important research,” adds the dean.
While an undergraduate, Frank was an active member of Sigma Delta Tau, Hillel, treasurer of Pan Hellenic, and vice president of her Junior Class. Following graduation, she attended the Management Training Program at Radcliffe College in 1955.
Yet the native Georgian has never forgotten her alma mater. For the past 21 years, “Mrs. Frank has been a generous supporter of UGA,” says Elisabeth Butler, director of development for the Graduate School. It is all the more significant that she is, given that Frank has two children, but neither is a UGA graduate. Frank’s husband, Howard, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
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