Fall2006 Vo l u m e 2

Number 2

The Univers i ty o f Georgia

SchoolM A G A Z I N E

Graduate

T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A G R A D U AT E S C H O O L N E W S & H I G H L I G H T S

paying forward 2 switching off cancer 6 it’s too tragic to outgrow magic 14 the man wholoves questions 17 la dolce vita in cortona 20 don’t swat that fly! 22

D E A N ’ S L E T T E R

Message f rom Dean Maureen Grasso

MAUREEN GRASSO

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Fall traditionally means the beginning of a new school year and the changing ofleaves. It is also a time of homecoming and reconnecting with our roots. Why notreconnect with UGA by making a gift to the Graduate School? A donation to graduateeducation enables the Graduate School to assist students in all departments at UGA,regardless of their degree or discipline. Your gift helps us recruit the best graduatestudents and faculty and provides resources for our current students. The GraduateSchool needs you to be the bridge between what we can offer today and what we canaccomplish tomorrow. Let this fall be a time to give back so that others can moveforward from every corner of our campus.

Financial commitments from alumni and friends really do make a difference tograduate students. In this issue of the Graduate School Magazine we share stories ofartists, researchers and students, all of whom epitomize the concepts of self-actualizationand self-determination—and who have benefited from the benevolence of others. Theirdrive to achieve influences their work and our future. Eladio Abreu chose graduateschool over medical school, and his cancer research holds much promise for generationsto come. Brian Snyder counts his parents and his faculty mentor as influencing his studyof the evolution of behavior, which he certainly believes will have significance beyond hislife. Donna Leigh Jackins repurposes fabric to create magnificent tapestries, disparateelements melding to produce wonderful results.

Eladio, Brian and Donna Leigh are engaged in work that will last long after they aregone. How many of us can say that? Actually, all of us, by supporting graduateeducation. Gifts made to the University of Georgia Graduate School are not disposableactions; they represent a most important form of recycling. What we give now in theform of fellowships, funds and scholarships, returns to us, to our children and to ourchildren’s children. Financial commitments provide tangible links to further research thatmust be pursued for diseases to be eradicated, for behaviors to be understood and forlives to be improved.

Our Graduate Education Advancement Board members, made up of alumni andfriends of the Graduate School, recently endowed a fellowship. Their collectivecommitment will have a positive impact on many, many students to come, because itrepresents a financial foundation on which the Graduate School can build. I ask that you,too, consider a gift that will become part of a legacy in the learning cycle. Plant the seedsfor future students to flourish in their graduate studies.

We’d love to hear from you this fall,

COVER: Eladio Abreu sees hope

for a cancer cure.

Photo by Nancy Evelyn

20 Ones to Watch Shannon Pritchard: Once upon a time in

Tuscany—see how an art historian pursues

sculptor Giambologna.

22 Scholars for TomorrowBrian Snyder: A man, a plan, a fly—

learn how Brian Snyder decodes the

mysteries of the sexes.

24 In Brief

back cover Last WordBank on a good education and you’re

forever enriched.

FALLCONTENTS

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Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 1

T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A G R A D U AT E S C H O O L N E W S & H I G H L I G H T S

features

2 Sheryl Sellaway Sellaway is purposeful and passionate

about her vocation and avocation. She and

the Graduate School have forged a

partnership that spills over into both

arenas of her full life.

6 Eladio Abreu Meet a young cancer researcher who

might one day flip the off-switch on cancer.

in every i ssue

10, 14 Generations Hardy Edwards speaks on dreams large

enough, and time.

Artist Donna Leigh Jackins composes her

creative life like a great pizza maker. Only

the freshest ingredients will do.

17 Where Are They Now?Michael Bunch: Why you don’t want to

play Jeopardy with this guy.

Graduate School

Administration

Maureen Grasso

Dean

Craig Edelbrock

Associate Dean

Michael Johnson

Assistant Dean

Outreach and Diversity

Krista Haynes

Admissions

Enrolled Student Services

Lollie Hoots

Communications

Elisabeth Butler

Development

David Knox

Information Technology

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Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 3

speaks softly. “My rule is, you don’tyell unless the building’s on fire,” shesays. “I don’t believe in handlingthings that way.”

Most astonishingly, the nextthing Sellaway does is turn off anincessantly ringing Blackberry.“Wireless technology is great,” shesays firmly. “But I’m trying to live inthe moment and trying to beattentive to you.” She places thephone on the glossy conference table.

“Our CEO (Dennis F. Strigl)

IT I S A N I N T E N S E workenvironment. Given Verizon’smarket dominance and her 18 yearsof telecommunications experience,Sellaway has a turbo-charged career.She is based at the Alpharettabusiness campus. Yet she devotesmuch of her time to the company’sSouth Area efforts, representing hercompany as a spokesperson.

Sellaway does not usually giveinterviews; instead, she directs them.She oversees media, public relations,

and executive and employeecommunications for the nation’ssecond largest wireless carrier. Thecompany’s record growth in 15consecutive profitable quartersshows; the offices are sleeklyminimal with gleaming granite andarchitectural refinements.

Sellaway, too, is sleek, entering aVerizon Wireless conference roomwearing a dark blue pantsuit andpearls. Smiling easily she introducesvisitors and offers bottled water. She

I N L E A D E R S H I P, DA R I N GAs an Emb l em o f Ach i e v emen t

SHERYLS E L L A WAY

Paying i t Forward

Living with Intention:

A High Sense of Purpose Exemplifies this Executive

On a cloudless morning in Alpharetta, Georgia, sunlight

reflects off the pond behind the wooded South Area headquarters

of Verizon Wireless. Hundreds of employees bustle through the

corporate buildings connected by walking trails.

Meanwhile Sheryl Sellaway has been in an upstairs corner office for

hours. She takes a daily run and breakfasts before others hit the

snooze button on their alarm. After downing a smoothie, she is off

to work. “That’s my routine,” she says. “By the time I get to work

I’ve been up at least three hours.”

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company paid for her last year ofundergraduate school. “I’m alwaysstriving to improve and grow,” she says.

Sellaway calls herself a“structured creative,” who does notwaste time and likes working for aperformance-based company. “Ienjoy what I do. Mainly because Ibelieve that we offer a reliableservice and a product that mostpeople use in their personal lives, forbusiness and especially in emergencysituations. Our company’s focus onnetwork reliability, customer serviceand best products and services reallydoes resonate with our customersand that makes me feel good aboutthe work I do every day. It really is a24/7 business.”

She also describes herself as anintrovert who adapts to extrovertedjobs. As a journalism andcommunications major, Sellawayonce intended to become a discjockey and deliver the news or

challenges us to communicateperson-to-person,” she explains.

Eyes Wide Open – and

Seldom Shut

Sellaway says she cannot think ofa time when she was bored. She is botha night owl and a morning person.“I’m not a big sleeper,” she admits.

Sellaway is determined to makea difference in the world. She startedworking when she was 11, helping inher mother’s Savannah retailbusiness. Sellaway credits hermother with teaching her to becomea self-starter—to recognize and fill aneed without being asked. Sellawaygraduated from high school a yearearly and was on her own by age 17.To make ends meet, she had a full-time manufacturing job andnumerous part-time jobs duringcollege and by her senior year, shewas working for Nortel. The

weather. But opportunities presentedthemselves elsewhere. Sincegraduation, all of the jobs she hasheld were newly created. “I know it’sunusual, but all of the jobs I’ve held Iwas the first one in the chair,” she says.

Carving Out Private Time

in a Public Life

Sellaway devours books of allkinds. She reads the Bible daily andrereads childhood books such as TheWizard of Oz. “That was my favoritebook. Oz is about adventures alongthe way—the yellow brick road.”She mentions that the book From theMixed up Files of Mrs. Basel E.Frankweiler is also about the “wonder-ment of going to another place.”

Sellaway knows a bit aboutgoing places, having jetted to avariety of places with her work.“And I have the battered luggage toprove it,” she adds. In her privatelife, Sellaway enjoys peace and quiet,reading, writing, pen collecting,running, doing community servicework, live theater, second run moviesand other pursuits. Each Wednesdayfor the past two years, Sellaway takespiano lessons.

Sellaway is often “on” evenduring her off time. Her beliefsystem is predicated in action. Shementions the “shadow of the leader”concept, a guiding principle at herworkplace, and discusses how itextends to her social involvements.She mentors young people as amatter of course at her alma materand is teaching a student to driveand to handle a budget. “I believeyou can’t receive with your handsclosed,” she says.

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 5

Sellaway especially seeks outmentoring opportunities with youngcollege women. Sellaway recallsleading a multi-cultural conferenceat the Graduate School last year. “I was in my element,” she explains.“I feel it’s very important to giveback.” Sellaway encouragesconstructive habits like establishing asavings account, self-improvementand self-reliance, with a collegeeducation at the top of the list. Shemeets several young studentsregularly. Together they chartprogression toward their goals.

“The community service work I feel most passionate about isdomestic violence awareness andprevention, our company’s keycommunity thrust. The fact that wecan use our company’s wirelessproducts and services to helpdomestic violence survivors rebuildtheir lives is certainly a lifeline thatwe don’t take for granted. And, weprovide grants to nonprofits with

Sheryl Sellaway, public relations executive at VerizonWireless and a Graduate Education Advancement Boardmember, “is one of the reasons you’re holding thismagazine in your hands,” says Dean Maureen Grasso.

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proceeds from the company’s phonerecycling program, Hope Line. Itreally does help us focus on domesticviolence and related issues such aschild abuse, elder abuse and datingviolence.”

In addition to serving on theboard of Partnership AgainstDomestic Violence, the largestdomestic violence agency inGeorgia, Sellaway is involved withother organizations that helpprevent domestic violence.

Verizon’s imprint is branded onGeorgia; Sheryl Sellaway’s is as well,and it is easy to see that the peoplehere are better for it. G

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Cell phones can be recycled at any Verizon

Wireless location for the benefit of Hope Line’s

programs.

Through the combined sponsorship of Verizon Wireless and printer Pictorial Offset, based in Carlstadt,

New Jersey, the Graduate School Magazine publishes twice annually. Sellaway championed the

publication from its inception a year ago after seeing the premier issue last fall.

That is not the extent of Sellaway’s support, or Verizon’s. In addition to the publication, Verizon Wireless sponsors this and other Graduate School

events such as the multicultural conference. Grasso says, “Verizon’s presence here and Sheryl’s personal contributions are enormous. Given her

level of commitment, you would guess Sheryl has a personal connection with this campus. We would surely like to claim her as a dawg, though.”

The Georgia native isn’t a University of Georgia alumna – Sellaway obtained degrees from Georgia State University and Amber University in Texas.

“I do feel like an honorary graduate of UGA,” Sellaway says, “because of Dean Grasso and the way they’ve embraced the board members. To

make a difference in the student’s life, is something that matters to me.”

Her first trip to UGA was memorable.

“The buildings, the trees…it’s just beautiful. I was even more amazed by the love students, faculty and administrators have for the school. Students

are wearing UGA attire and they’re excited just to be there – you can feel it. And UGA has one of the strongest alumni programs I’ve ever seen.

It’s almost like a family connection.”

Sellaway chuckles. “The water definitely runs red in Athens, doesn’t it?”

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YOUNG

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SCIENTIST

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 7

Numbers of gifted students eschew research work in favor of medical school. Not so, for graduate

student Eladio Abreu, who broke ranks owing to the guiding intervention of supportive University of Georgia

scientists and the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

Accompanied by Rebecca Terns (one of his two UGA thesis advisors), Abreu presented his lab’s work at

the Annual RNA Meeting in Seattle last June. The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

and the Graduate School provided funding for him to attend the Seattle conference.

“Scientists of every rank, members of the National Academy of Sciences and graduate students alike

commented on the clarity of Eladio’s presentation, his scientific knowledge and poise (as well as the

work)” says Terns. “Eladio is on the path to be a leader in the field of biomedical research and we

believe that he has the potential to make that happen.” Abreu is currently in his second year of

graduate studies.

YO U N G, D I S C I P L I N E D A N D

AC A D E M I C A L LY G I F T E D, EladioAbreu faced the summer of 2004with a decision to make.

Abreu is a member of the“millennial generation,” a grouptypified by drive and idealism. Heloved science and planned ongraduate school, but two questionsremained: Where and to whatpurpose?

He considered, like many of hisfellow graduates at MorehouseCollege in Atlanta, proceeding tomedical school and becoming aphysician. With his propensity forscience, it was a good defaultdecision. Yet something essentialbothered Abreu who doubted hismotivation to become a physician.

“If somebody were to ask why, Ididn’t really have an answer.”

At best, Abreu reasoned, he didnot have sufficient rationale forgoing to medical school—not one

that resonated on a deeper level.The prestige and achievement thedecision symbolized was certain, butfor the son of professionals (hisfather works in the correctionssystem, and his mother is a nurse)the thought of achievement withoutsocial consciousness was empty. Hisfamily values had stressed a socialawareness: “paying forward” issomething the Abreus taught.

“I feel that I have aresponsibility not only to myself, butmy family, my people and all thosearound me to earn all the blessings Ihave already received and get to aposition where I can help otherselevate themselves,” Abreu explains.

No question: Abreu was at acrossroads. Then he met two UGAprofessors, Jonathan Arnold (whooversees the NSF UndergraduateResearch Experience) and DavidLogan, co-investigators for theFungal Genomics and

Computational Biology project.Arnold and his colleague, Logan,reach out to students at Morehouseand other schools to acquaint themwith UGA’s programs. They engagethe students in four weeks of ashared research experience, andthen pair them with a mentor. Theprofessors introduced Abreu to hisnew mentors, the Terns. Abreu’sdestiny began to unfold.

Perhaps Abreu had been seekinga mentor since leaving a parochialNew York school in 1999—one thatunderstood his interest in developinghis mind over athletic abilities.

Before leaving Queens, Abreu’sfamily had talked about movingsouth for years. They fondly recalledtheir native North Carolina. Afterdeliberation, they chose Atlantainstead. “We found our own little sliceof happiness in Georgia,” he says.

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Cancer. The big C. The word connotes such dread no one likes saying it aloud. But hope lies inside a laboratory in UGA’s

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, where a young researcher works alongside principal investigators Michael and

Rebecca Terns to help relieve such dread. They’re conducting breakthrough research directed at the heart of cancer prevention.

The husband and wife’s research centers upon the enzyme telomerase. “It is,” Rebecca Terns stresses, “a very challenging enzyme

to study.” The enzyme telomerase interests researchers worldwide for its implications in cancer therapies. The National Cancer

Institute defines cancer as a group of diseases in which abnormal cells divide uncontrollably; an ability ironically described as

making cells “immortal.” Telomerase enables this uncontrolled cellular division that defines cancer.

Cancerous cells are the ultimate stealth invaders: Once active, they can spread throughout the body via the lymphatic system and

blood stream. There are many types of cancer that originate in various parts of the body: skin, tissue, fat, blood vessels, bone and

bone marrow and even the immune system. Despite their diverse origins, they share a common ability—to evade the systems that

normally limit the number of times a cell can divide. Telomerase allows this evasion.

Think of telomerase as a cellular relay switch, enabling cancerous cells to continue

their deadly progression. More than 90 percent of cancers of all origins have

“switched on” telomerase. Researchers hope to find ways to turn off telomerase with

anti-telomerase chemotherapies.

However, doing this has been incredibly difficult, in part because the enzyme itself is

difficult to study, let alone to subdue. There are very few molecules per cell.

“Our lab was able to develop methods to visualize both the RNA and protein

molecules that form the core of the enzyme,” explains Rebecca Terns. (The core is

known as telomerase RNA and telomerase reverse transcriptase, or TERT.) The Terns

focus on the intracellular trafficking and assembly of the enzyme. Meanwhile, their

protégé, Abreu, becomes increasingly involved in the process.

Aspects of the move were lessthan ideal. He arrived in NorthCobb as a high school student.

“My parents never forced me todo anything,” Abreu says. “Theyonly pushed me to do well in school,and to be sure that I was goingsomewhere.”

Abreu felt it was a good movefor him, but recalls that there wasfriction for him at the new school.His northern school had stressedacademics. At his new high school,Abreu felt pressured into sports at

the expense of academics. Abreu pushed back. The

scholar/athlete told a high schoolcoach that advanced-placementbiology and calculus would betterserve his future than sports. He toldhimself, “I’ll prove to them why I’mhere.” He abruptly quit football withhis parents’ support.

“My father was an athlete, buthe was always supportive. He said,‘You’re not me.’ He always wantedmy life and the path I travel throughit to be better than his own. … The

bottom line is that he is proud tohave me as his son, not his clone,and he is behind any decision that isbest for me,” says Abreu.

“My parents are the only peopleI have known to be totally selflesstoward not only their children, buteveryone around them. Their deepmoral and ethical values have and willalways guide their actions, and theywork harder than anyone I know.”

Abreu’s scholarship offerspoured in upon graduation. “I wasable to decide who I was and what I

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 9

was going to be.”One of his favorite TV

programs, “CSI: Crime SceneInvestigation,” interested him inforensics. Abreu suddenly realizedthat it could be very cool (USAToday reported that the dramaushered in an era of “geek chic”) tobe a forensics expert or another typeof scientist.

Abreu was accepted at UGA’sundergraduate school, but insteadaccepted a full scholarship atMorehouse College in Atlanta,intent upon going to medical schoolor into research afterwards. Hisinterest in biology waned, and at onepoint, Abreu came close to losing hisscholarship. In order to keep it, hehad to shoulder a heavy load andmaintain a perfect average. He did.Armed with the confidence that hecould do anything he wanted, Abreucompleted school recharged.

Many of his Morehouseprofessors lamented the lack ofminority research scientists andresearchers. Abreu began thinkingabout a career in research. By theend of his sophomore year, Arnoldand Logan contacted him about theresearch experience forundergraduates. Once Abreu sawthe lab, he was ready to sign up.

When Abreu arrived in Athenstwo summers ago, he still did notknow what he wanted to do.Medical school remained apossibility. He worked with a groupresearch project, but it wassomething he could not imaginedoing for five years of graduatestudy. Then Abreu attended a talkby Michael Terns concerning hiswork with novel RNAs like

telomerase. Telomerase, a kind ofcellular relay switch, enables theuncontrolled cellular division thatdefines cancer. When Terns said,“Many of us know RNA as themessenger that makes a copy of thegene. Telomerase RNA is different,”Abreu’s ears pricked up.

And with that, a researchscientist was born.

Abreu will graduate in 2010 or11. “I know I want to go into cancerresearch, either in a clinical orindustrial setting. Maybe inacademics.” Ten years from now, hesays he hopes to be “leadingresearch in my field in an industrialor academic setting.” In 20 years, heplans to be teaching at a small liberalarts college.

When he stands at the mirror,Abreu tells himself he wants to giveback. “Minority students ask wherewould I be if not for my almamater? I don’t know if others look attheirs and ask this. But I do.”

Eladio Abreu has found apurpose large enough to fit his ideals—one that just might flip the switchon cancer.

POSTSCRIPT: Abreu was recently awarded a

Research Supplement by the National Cancer

Institute “to support his work in our lab,”

according to Rebecca Terns.

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ABOUT CANCER

As a group of diseases, cancers vary

in origin, cause, symptomology,

treatment and cure.

However, their hallmark is ungoverned

cell growth. Physicians classify how the

cancer has advanced or spread by

“staging” it from Stage 1 to Stage 4.

Stage 1 means there is no lymph node

involvement, and it has not spread

from its place of origin (metastases).

Stage 4 refers to cancer with lymph

node involvement and other

metastases.

FACTS:

+ 5.3 million new cases of cancer and

3.5 million cancer deaths were

reported worldwide in 2000.

+ While cancer affects all races and

all ages of people, nearly 80 percent

of cancers occur at age 55 and

beyond.

+ U.S. males have a 1 in 2 probability

of a cancer diagnosis in their

lifetime.

+ U.S. females have a 1 in 3 probability

of developing cancer.

(Sources: The International Agency forResearch on Cancer and NYT Guide toKnowledge)

The National Cancer Institute

(NCI) is the nation’s leading agency

for cancer research and a partner with

private and nonprofit organizations.

NCI provides free cancer information

services with answers to questions,

prevention information, materials and

resources. Specialists provide the latest

information by telephone and e-mail.

For further information call,

800-4-CANCER (800-422-6237) or visit

www.cancer.gov.

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Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 11

HARDYEDWARDS�

The same year poultry scientist Hardy Edwards received his

doctorate from Cornell University, Francis Crick and James D.

Watson published their seminal work on DNA. President Truman

announced the hydrogen bomb’s development, and Albert

Schweitzer snared the Nobel Prize. It was 1953; in a few years Edwards

made his own mark as one of the nation’s foremost avian research

scientists. Honored by international research institutions and foreign

governments, Edwards was awarded four patents. By age 42 he

became the youngest academic dean at the University of Georgia.

When Edwards moved to Athens in 1957, dairy and poultry farms

were right on campus, an ideal situation for a man who saw infinite

research possibilities in commonplace animals.

DU R I N G A B RU TA L H E AT WAV E last summer, Hardy Edwards baledhay on his 170-acre farm near Winterville.

Back at his campus office, the scrappy professor shrugs off the idea ofretirement at age 76. The crease in his pressed khaki pants is as sharp as hisgray eyes, which narrow at the word. As far as Edwards is concerned, 50 yearsof work is not enough. As a professor in the poultry sciences department and

The Aptly Named

Soldiers on,Fueled by THE POWER

o f BIG IDEAS

NOW AND THEN.1953 was quite a

year! Scientists and historians were busy.

Elizabeth II was crowned, President

Dwight Eisenhower took office, England’s

future prime minister Tony Blair was born

and Joseph Stalin died.

The Korean War ended and Sir Edmund

Hillary scaled Mount Everest. The

Chevrolet Corvette roared off the

production line as Ian Fleming’s James

Bond novels debuted. Black and white

became passé; the first color televisions

(retail price: $1,100) hit stores. Meanwhile,

emerging young sc ient ist Hardy

Edwards received his doctorate at

Cornell University and would soon make

his mark at the University of Georgia.

At left, Dr. Hardy M. Edwards, Jr.,

Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor

of Poultry Science and Animal Nutrition

12

before a new challenge was presented.In June 1972, he was appointeddean of the Graduate School.

As an administrator, Edwardsopenly challenged practices hefound worrisome, speaking outagainst excessive use of funds forpost doctoral research andredundant programs. He spokebluntly and publicly about theseissues. “I thought graduate studentsought to be trained well enoughwhen they got their PhD that theyshould be able to walk out the daythey’re trained, do their ownresearch, be faculty members andhave full responsibilities. We don’tneed to keep them around for postdocs for three to five years.”

Meanwhile, Edwards memorizedthe names and departments of 1,100UGA staff and faculty, despite hiswork load. “They [his students] likedand broadened me,” he adds. Hespent what time he could in the lab,but Edwards missed student contactand research. He left administrationin 1979.

In the ’80s he resumedinternational work. Twice Edwardsreturned to Denmark as a visitingprofessor at the Danish Agriculturaland Veterinary Research Council.“It’s been an important part of mylife. An important part of what Igave to the University of Georgia.Back in those days it was notpromoted,” he recollects.

In 1988 he was made adistinguished professor. In 1992 hereceived the Tom NewmanMemorial Award for hiscontributions to poultry research.

an Army private posted to Germanyto run a medical services lab for acolonel.

“I was one of two PhDs in theunit,” he recalls. “At noon I had togo out and do my exercises and pickup cigarette butts with the otherenlisted men.” After service, Edwardsentered private research at theInternational Mineral and ChemicalCorporation in 1955.

“I made oodles of money inChicago in industry as a scientist,”

he says. “I took a cut in pay of 60percent to come here (to UGA) andenter academia.” Edwards was a co-discoverer of X-disease in chickensand of the antibiotic growthresponse in animals. Edwards wasthe first to recognize the significanceof zinc deficiency in chickens. Healso researched factors influencingthe utilization of detary phytatephosphorus and vitamin Drequirements of poultry.

In 1964 Edwards spent a year asa research associate at the Universityof Lund, Sweden. Then, faculty didnot normally seek out internationalresearch opportunities. “I madeinternational contacts, and it was notdone at that time.” His work nettedhim a coveted GuggenheimFellowship in 1971, allowingEdwards to further his research inboth France and in Britain atCambridge University. He returnedto the United States only a month

sometimes a farmer, he remainsfocused on the next problem, thenext big idea.

“I just enjoy working,” Edwardssays, explaining a preference for deskchairs over rocking chairs. Hismentor, Leo Chandler Norris,founded Cornell’s nutrition program.“He worked until right before hedied in 1986.” Norris was 95.

Edwards was born into aLouisiana family of physicians andlawyers. “I couldn’t imagine myself

digging around in a courthouse,dealing with musty old deed rooms,worrying about the language onsome silly contract. I can’t think ofanything more boring.” he admits.“I grew up and looked at it and said,I don’t want to do that. So I wentout and found something else.”Instead, Edwards elected to workwith pigs while beginning studies innutritional science. When he was 21,Edwards published his first paper,The Effect of Animal Protein Factoron Lowering Protein Needs of the Pig.

Turning to a computer screen,Edwards demonstrates his work isstill consulted. There are 117citations for work he published aslong ago as 1950. Later, he switchedhis research focus from pigs tochickens, discovering “they were awonderful experimental animal.”By 1953, Edwards completed hisdoctorate and was immediatelydrafted into the Army. He became

There are 117 citations for work Edwards published as long ago as 1950.

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 13

Liem. Together they are working ona statistical technique for what hecalls a considerable challenge for “arotatable design.” He alludes toother projects in the works.

Edwards delves into mail thathas backed up while he was inCanada accepting an award fromthe Poultry Science Association’smeeting at the University of Alberta.He modestly dismisses the award.

To keep in touch with colleaguesand friends, he lunches on the firstMonday of every month with somehistory professors at Red Lobster.On the second Wednesday, Edwardsmeets with retired faculty from hisdepartment.

Almost everyone in the lunchbunch is younger than Edwards.“Everybody’s in their 50s, 60, 70s …one’s in his 90s,” he says. But Edwardsisn’t retiring. “Not even close,” hesays with a triumphant grin.

“The award was for my researchregarding the cause and preventionof leg abnormalities,” Edwards says.“It was presented to me in theHouse of Commons by the Ministerof Food for Great Britain, Nicholas

Soames. He’s the grandson ofWinston Churchill.”

Sitting in his sparse, orderlycampus office, Edwards peers overstacks of research material on hisdesk. “I run a library here,” he says,chuckling. Edwards published threepapers this year. His reputation hasinternational distinction and isdocumented on serious scientificWeb sites. He is most enthusiasticabout the work of promisinggraduate students like Anastassia

G

Edwards’ work isinternationally renownand actively consulted.

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GRADUATE SCHOOL DEANS

Willis Henry Bocock (1910–1927)

Roswell Powell Stephens (1927–1943)

George Hugh Boyd (1943–1959)

Gerald Boone Huff (1959–1968)

Thomas Hillyer Whitehead (1968–1972)

Hardy Malcolm Edwards, Jr. (1972–1979)

John Clarkson Dowling (1979–1989)

Gordhan L. Patel (1989–2002)

Maureen Grasso (2002–Present)

In September of 1972, Hardy Edwards met the press concerning his new deanship. His appointment

triggered a “furor in the poultry industry” among those anxious for him to continue his research, the Georgia

Alumni Record wrote.

“I don’t plan to abandon my research,” Edwards assured industry leaders. “I’m still maintaining a laboratory

on campus and I hope to be there about two half-days a week.” At the time, Edwards held a Research-

Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, later becoming an Alumni Foundation

distinguished professor of poultry science and animal nutrition.

14

I t ’s Too Tragic to Outgrow Magic

of D O N NA L E I G H JAC K I N S

The Magical ArtInvent ion&

NA

NC

Y E

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Virginia Beach native Donna Leigh Dorer Jackins (BFA, ’57) sold jewelry, graded tomatoes and worked

for the county treasurer before turning to art fulltime. “I’ve done all kinds of things,” she admits in a

mirthful, conspiratorial tone. Grading tomatoes probably looked like fun to an exuberant Jackins, who

arrived in Athens in the ’50s, when accommodating locals still offered coeds rides.

Jackins’ white, cropped hair and her

nearly translucent green eyes are as

distinctive as her art forms. She works in

a basement studio where she constructs

art quilts and other textile art

embellished with her own poetry.

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 15

Jackins stopped.Too much commercialsuccess gave her pause; she does notintend to become formulaic.

Rubber chickens, playhouses,hand-painted T-shirts glommed withfantastical designs, spools of ribbon,pots of paint, post-it notes andtextiles spill out of bins carefullyarranged along the studio’s walls.Bits of plastic, sequins, buttons or aspray of feathers wind up beingincorporated into a new creation.

“One year, one of my teacherssaid, ‘When are you going to getserious?’” Jackins reveals. It was aquestion that nearly broke the magicspell pervading her art. She did notwork for two years. Finally, Jackinshad an epiphany. She would not getserious.

“I always say that art ought tomake you smile.”

Jackins teases recognition andconnection between the fanciful andthe pragmatic. Quilts are festoonedwith everything from a spoof ofMartha Stewart swinging acandelabrum and a wine bottle toephemeral mermaids. Jackins

DO N NA L E I G H JAC K I N S

T R A N S F E R R E D to the University ofGeorgia from The College ofWilliam and Mary to study art andbe close to her beau, George Jackins,an engineering student at GeorgiaTech. She was in Athens when Timemagazine sent a reporter to observehow an art professor made studentswork in the dark. “He flipped up aslide and told us to sketch what wesaw.” The students not only learnedskills but also to trust their intuitivestrengths. Jackins worked feverishlyfrom 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., catching upwith studio and lecture classes. Shelearned to rely upon her artistic self,taking in the world through thewide-open lenses of her opalescentgreen eyes.

While UGA offered serious artcredentials — “in the art world,UGA drew respect” — she says,Jackins moved beyond the serious tofind her signature style. Jackinsproduces art forms incorporatingpaper, fabric and other media fromher Birmingham, Alabama, studio.She is a member of the GraduateEducation Advancement Board,contributing the broad perspective ofa working artist.

Serendipity and scopeunderpins her artistic manifesto.“It’s too tragic to outgrow magic,”she writes. Jackins’ work nets honorsin juried shows across the nation; shesays she has been in too many showsto count, “more so in museums inthe southeast, but also in otherplaces.” As a result of her innovationin multi-media, the honors haveaccumulated. Jackins has been

invited to the White House topresent her work with other nationalartists. She has exhibited in Japan.She was asked to co-design achildren’s gallery for the BirminghamMuseum of Art. Jackins continuouslyconducts art programs at schoolsand speaks to organizations aboutart and creativity while producingher own work.

“You have to step beyond what’scommercial,” she says. “But that’s avery hard corner to turn. It’s veryhard to do it, but I have done it.”

Her current work includesfantasy art quilts that “deal withmagic,” intricate fabric art bookspainted with Jackins’ original verse,and paper making and collageforms. These are not grandmotherlyquilts: One depicts a golf course.Another features a genie with awicked grin. Jackins produces eightto 10 quilts each year.

It is perhaps Jackins herself thatis the most artful creation, stillreveling in the very magic of artmaking. Since the age of 10 whengiven her first set of oils, Jackinsapplied a fresh perspective. “Ipainted a hobo sitting on a tombstoneeating a hamburger,” she says,laughing. “I still have that painting.”

She describes a transition fromdrawing, painting and paper makingto devising new art forms inside herbasement studio. These days, Jackinsdresses expressively, too, preferring abrilliant palette.

“I was in a white period for along time,” she says. “I made paper‘quilts’ that were all white.” And justlike that—she snaps her finger—

16

Recently, “declaring myselfundomesticated — my husband sayscharred is a condiment,” — Jackinshas abandoned the kitchen for morehours in the studio. She works outdesigns on a pool table apportionedas a work table. She quotes herpoetry in a rush to explain her workas an artist and poet.

“Part of me is structured. Part of me is free. Part of me lives by the rulesAnd part is on a spree.

Society builds fences. Soul requires space. Conforming and confoundingI run my human race.”

merrily relates the pizza quotient ina more recent spate of work. Discsof cotton, fiber, and threadtransform into metaphoric quiltedpizzas that Jackins once served up inreal pizza boxes — her very firstforay into culinary quilts. Like asatisfying pizza, her art is aconfederation of ordinary objects.

Asian collectors and peopleworld-wide heard about the pizzas.“They were a big hit,” she admits.True to her own philosophy, she nolonger produces the successfulpizzas. “I don’t have any more left.”

What Jackins has left are ideas.Her art has turned mystical. TheWizard, a creation years in themaking, was one she “picked up andput it down … and while I worked

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on this I probably did a dozen otherquilts.” Jackins doesn’t know howmany hours she toiled over thewizard design or many of the others.Even the indomitable artist is notimmune to insecurity whenever awork is in progress. “I pick it up andput it down, and get so sick of themI fold them up and don’t even wantto look at them. I’ll think, ‘I killedmyself making this and it isn’t anygood!’ I just have to get away fromit,” Jackins admits.

“You just second guess it all thetime … and finally, I’ll bring it outand look at it and say, you know,that’s pretty good! I’ve had a pieceget Best in Show and then getrejected by the next show I entered itin,” Jackins says pensively. A recentlycompleted quilt diptych, composedof two pieces, will be entered in anupcoming competition.

She also accepts commissionsfor whimsical “biographical quilts,”incorporating objects drawn fromthe patron’s life. Jackins’ ownbiographical quilt hangs upstairs inthe living room. She points outirreverent details, grinning andreading a poem weaving through the design.

G

A Statement about the Art ist by the Art ist

“I am what I am — a southern, American, female, Mark Twain-Ogden Nash artist-poet — born and bred in historic Virginia, educated in Georgia (BFA from the

University of,) and married to the state of Alabama. The poetry is as important to me as the visual art work (and maybe it’s better). I belong to the right associations

and organizations (in some of which I work); have won a respectable number of “Best in Shows” and other awards (call for details;) and am included in the usual

corporate and private collections (call for details).

“I make art for the sheer joy of it using color, texture, design, imagination and more color to depict ideas that excite me. Humor always seems to find its way

into the work — be it painting or poetry. After trying for years to be a ‘serious’ artist, I was finally successful in surpressing that unnatural urge and gave in to

what happens naturally. Why not! Thus art/poems with a feel of fun and irony. I seek to make no profound statements about society; instead I would attempt to

interject a sense of the positive. That’s the way I feel thus that’s the way I work.

“I make art because I cannot NOT make art. If paintings/poems/quilts don’t put a smile in your life then YOU have not read them the way I wrote them.”

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 17

where are they now?

GRAY MATTER:

M E E T mastermindMichael Bunch

JOH

NN

Y C

OZA

RT

Remember f i l l ing tiny

circles with soft lead

pencils during

achievement tests?

When did England first lay claim to

Georgia?

A. 1633

B. 1717

C. 1730

D. 1732

The answer to this question depends

on your point of view. “If you are an

eighth grader hoping to pass Georgia

History, you’d better pick A,” says

Michael Bunch, senior vice president

of Measurement Incorporated. “But the

correct answer to this question and

others like it is E – who cares,” he

deadpans.

“This is cannon and king history in

its purest form and testing at its lowest

ebb.” claims Bunch, who adds, “we’re

really more concerned with whether or

not students can use or even

comprehend information that is readily

available.”

And he should know. This is the

business of psychometricians like

Bunch. His firm has written more than

20,000 questions for Georgia high

school graduation tests and thousands

more for tests given to Georgia

elementary and middle school students.

There haven’t been many like the one

shown above, he says. Bunch

describes his standard for accepting a

question this way: “If 80 questions

stand between a student and

graduation, is this question important

enough to be one of those 80?”

Bunch is preoccupied with

assessment, scoring, research and

evaluation. But now, as always,

Georgia is on his mind. Three UGA

diplomas hang over his office desk

and campus scenes dot the walls. He

returns there to contribute problem-

solving skills, for challenge delights

this Georgia-born psychologist.

HI S G O O D-NAT U R E D C O O L

defies measurement.Bunch sports a natty red UGA

tie and suspenders over a creaselesswhite shirt. Weeds wither yetMichael Bunch (BS, ’72; MS, ’74;

18

PhD, ’76) looks crisp as thethermometer tops 100 degreesoutside Measurement Incorporated’s(MI) headquarters in Durham,North Carolina.

From here, Bunch overseesresearch and development as asenior vice president and director.Since 1982, he has solidified MI’sposition as a trusted educational testdeveloper. He oversees 80+ projectdirectors, psychometricians, editorsand content specialists—all brainiacslike him. In psychometric-speak, MI“develops criterion-referenced, high-stakes testing programs.”

Bunch’s corporation occupiesthe site where BC Powder’smanufacturing headquarters once

stood. The building, with retrofittedoffices and exposed brick walls, oncehoused the world’s top grossingheadache remedy. Today, instead ofpreventing headaches, MI causesmany a K-12 student to developthem. In the last six years, MI hascreated 100,000 test items forvarious clients.

“The great problem,” heexplains, pushing wire rim glassesback, “is how to ask the rightquestion.” He settles back in aburgundy chair.

“Our business is coming up withthe right question.”

Game Show Wizard – OrJust Plain Wizard?

Bunch enjoys nothing betterthan a clever query, and shruggingadmits he is good at recognizingone. He’s addicted to Sudoku,bridge, Boggle, Scrabble and TrivialPursuit. He rarely watches gameshows, discounting them as popculture. “They’re trivia,” he saysabout Jeopardy’s questions. “And weavoid trivia like the plague.”

“If I were developing a gameshow,” Bunch jokes, “there would beabout 12 people to watch it.”

Bunch is privately dismayed thatpeople don’t ask the big questions,he mentions. Bunch thinks a great

deal about non-trivial pursuits,despite his affection for the boardgame. Education offers larger issuesin life. It develops the intellect andhelps form an outlook and a moralperspective, he says. “Everybody istoo concerned about a high score.Learning is what it’s about!”

“A score is just a number,”Bunch laments, equating the

obsession with higher test scores with“making the thermometer dance.”

A Non-Trivial Pursuit ofKnowledge

Growing up in Waycross,Georgia, with a population of23,000, Bunch didn’t know anyonewho was a psychologist or a psycho-metrician. He credits a wonderfulhigh school geometry teacher withimparting the basis of logic.

He was intent on going toschool at UGA even before his sister,Michele, began her studies in Athens.(Later, five of his family memberswere students at UGA in variousprograms. Michele and her husband,his brother and his future wife wereall on campus with Bunch.)

Bunch discovered his futureprofession under the tutelage ofprofessors Murray Tilman and PaulTorrance. The eureka moment camewhen he discovered the study ofindividual differences. He fondly

Education offers larger issues in life. It develops theintellect and helps form an outlook and a moralperspective, Bunch says.

“Parents sometimescomplain ‘You’re testingthose kids to death.’”

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 19

recalls professors Bill Owens, LyleSchoenfeldt, Carl Huberty and Bob Lissitz.

“Lyle was my major professorand head of our program. Dr.Owens was head of the Institute forBehavioral Research, over in theGraduate School.”

Bunch remained at UGA foreight years until completing thecourse work for his doctorate inpsychological measurement.

He also discovered his life’spartner. Bunch married fellowstudent Kathryn Campbell in 1970.The couple moved into marriedhousing (since razed) only a blockfrom the present day GraduateSchool. Their eldest daughter,Melissa, was born at St. Mary’sHospital in Athens as Bunch workedand studied full time.

By 1976, the young familymoved to Iowa — amidst cornfieldsand hogs, he chuckles. They relocatedto Durham in 1978. The ResearchTriangle Park located nearbyfostered enterprising research.

Bunch joined MI two years afterits founding. Since Waycross he haslived “where PhDs were a dime adozen.”

Kathryn Bunch works at MIpart-time, coaching contractors inquestion formulation. More than150 part time employees developcustom-designed tests. Clientsinclude state departments ofeducation nationwide, Georgiaamong them. Bunch and his teamhave worked closely with hundredsof teachers throughout Georgia to

make sure the graduation tests stayon target.

It is not, Bunch stresses, nearlyso complex a matter to know ananswer as it is to formulate a sizzling,succinct question.

So, what kind of question wouldpass Bunch’s test? Here’s anexample, taken from the GeorgiaDepartment of Education Web sitefor the graduation test:

How did the outcome of the tax revoltknown as the “Whiskey Rebellion”demonstrate the effectiveness ofHamilton’s economic policies?

A. It shifted the tax burden from themiddle to the upper class.

B. It protected the interests of the farmers.

C. It settled the issue of states’ rights.D. It proved that the federal

government could enforce the law.

Bunch defends the question andanswer (D) as important enough toput on a graduation test. Questionslike this one require students to thinkabout connections rather than justisolated facts.

One down, 79 to go, Bunchadds and grins. G

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Puzz les l ike Sudoku or crossword and

games like Scrabble and Boggle stimulate the

brain, just as regular physical exercise keeps

muscles in tone. For achievement tests, though,

there’s nothing like paying attention in class and

doing your homework if you want a high score,

advises Bunch.

For examples of the kinds of questions students

have to answer on national achievement tests,

go to nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states.

For more information about testing in Georgia,

go to doe.k12.ga.us/curriculum/testing.

Pictured above, Michael and

Katheryn Bunch with daughter Melissa

Bunch as a young UGA family.

20

courses in Italy this summer. I’m writing

a dissertation on Italian sculpture, so

this is the perfect blend of teaching

experience as well as a research

opportunity.

Q: What is it like to live in Italy,especially in such a storiedplace?

A: Cortona has a rich artistic heritage,

being the home to Luca Signorelli,

Pietro da Cortona and Gino Severini. It

is a vibrant town, with people who are

warm and generous, and despite its

small town appearance, is surprisingly

upscale in certain aspects (especially

shoes)! The whole town makes us all

feel welcome. They’ve held special

events for us and are genuinely happy

to have us here. As you can imagine,

the food here is great!

I live in an apartment that the

office manager helped me find. It is

about a five minute walk (uphill!) to

school. In the fall, I will be moving into

a slightly smaller apartment that sits

against the town walls and overlooks

the valley.

Share s He r Buono Fo r tuna w i t h Ar t S tud en t s Ab road

ARRIVIDERCI ATHENSC I A O C O R T O N A

Shannon Pri t chard

scholars worth watch ing

PE

TER

FR

EY

also the recipient of a 2006 Dean’s

Award, which furthers doctoral

research. The grant from the Graduate

School enabled Pritchard to

simultaneously teach and research the

Flemish-born Italian sculptor

Giambologna (Giovanni Bologna or

Jean du Boulogne).

Giambologna, the subject of

Pritchard’s dissertation, once enjoyed

success second only to Michelangelo.

During a return to Athens between

semesters, Pritchard shared some of

her experiences as an art historian and

scholar.

Q: Buongiorno! How did your

appointment to the post in

Cortona happen?

A: It came about through

conversations I had with my advisor,

Dr. Shelley Zuraw, and the director of

the Cortona programs, Rick Johnson.

The outgoing art historian had not yet

been replaced, and it was a perfect

opportunity for me to teach art history

The hillside village of Cortona,

Italy, has long been the locus of art

education for University of Georgia

students abroad. Since 1969, students

from the Lamar Dodd School of Art

spend a 13 or eight week semester

immersed in this Etruscan town of only

23,000 residents.

With a Medici fortress and the

Tuscan hillside beyond, Cortona is an

artistic experience in itself. Laced with

picturesque streets, the town is a rich

backdrop, offering historical

mementos preserved in the Museo

Diocesano by Pietro Lorenzetti and Fra

Angelico. Paintings by Luca Signorelli

are preserved in the 16th-century

church of San Niccolo. Students live in

a restored 15th-century monastery

while absorbing the vivid culture,

architecture and artistry of Italy.

Doctoral student Shannon

Pritchard (MA, ’03; PhD ’09) has

worked and lectured in Cortona since

last spring. Pritchard teaches art

history courses and is the academic

coordinator for the program. She is

will not only be at the Kunst, but also

utilizing the archives in Florence to go

through primary documents—

contracts, letters, and public records

to get first-hand source of information

that is very important to my work.

Even if other scholars have looked at

these same documents, they may have

been looking for very different

information than I would have been

looking for and other additional info

that might be helpful. At the library in

Florence they have an extraordinary

amount of research material that is just

not available in the United States. My

plan is to continue this aspect of my

research in the spring before the next

semester starts in Cortona.

Arrivederci!

There are two school buildings

here, and I have an office in one of

them, with a great view of the valley. I

do speak Italian, although not fluently.

The Cortonese are very willing to listen

to anyone who is trying to

communicate with them in their

language, and, luckily, many of the

locals here speak at least a little

English, so we all manage to get along

just fine!

Q: How will you use the Cortona

experience?

A: The work matters because it is my

chosen career…teaching a variety of

upper level art history courses at this

stage in my career is invaluable.

Hopefully, the outcome of my time

here will be that I will become a better

art historian, as well as art history

professor. I am also hoping that my

immersion in the Italian culture will

add a greater depth to my doctoral

research.

Q: Describe your work

experiences there as a teacher.

A: I‘ve studied Italian, through the

course of my academic career studying

Italian Renaissance Art. I’ve had to

learn to read and speak it to some

degree. For me, teaching art history

courses — it’s delightful. When we go

on a field trip each Saturday we can

actually go see the sculpture or

painting or building we’ve been

talking about all week. It’s a good

experience; it’s good for me to be able

to teach these different courses. You

never learn so much as when you’re

teaching and being directly involved

with the work. I think it will enhance my

dissertation and make me a better art

historian and teacher.

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 21

Q: What happens next?

A: The program ends November 21.

I’m gong to stay on in Florence for

another three weeks, to study at the

Kunsthistorisches Institut, a large

German research library.

Q: How will the Dean’s Award

further your research?

A: It’s important, especially for art

historians, to see the objects you’re

studying. And if possible, to see it in

its original location and context.

Florence is where Giambologna’s

home was…to walk around and see

the scale and proportion and finish to

the surface (of his sculptures). All

those things you just don’t get in a

photograph. The funding I received

from the graduate school will help

support me for two periods of study in

Florence. In late fall and early spring I

G

Pictured above, co-program and studio coordinator Christopher Robinson

with Shannon Pritchard at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

22

scholars for tomorrow

A MAN, A PLAN, A FLY

How BRIAN SNYDERDECODES THE MYSTERIES

of the SEXES

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B

Why are males and females so different?

An Internet search on the subject yields 19,500,000 responses. Researchers scrutinize barn swallows, rats

and even flies, dissecting differences embedded in genetic material searching for the answer.

Brian Snyder (PhD, ’08) does not reach for a swatter whenever a fly buzzes by. He reaches for a microscope.

Snyder, a promising University of Georgia doctoral student, spends his days pondering the classic work of

scientist A. J. Bateman. Sixty years ago, Bateman placed small numbers of male and female flies in vials and

counted their matings. He counted using observable, or phenotypic, mutations.

“The problem is,” Snyder says, “that Bateman’s study is horribly flawed. My advisor and I are about to

present a paper about the problems with Bateman’s study.” His own research replicates Bateman’s with a

major difference: Snyder uses modern molecular genetic techniques like DNA-based paternity analyses.

“Now a replication of a flawed, but classic experiment is kind of cool,” Snyder explains. “But what I am

really excited about is that we also have two independent methods for determining how much of the

variance we observe in mating success is due to chance and how much is heritable.” One method uses a

mathematic model developed by investigator Steve Hubbell. The other method uses inbred strains of flies

that are genetically identical.

“Since there can be no heritable variation between genetically identical individuals, then any variation that

exists must be due to chance or social environment. So I have set up a series of Bateman-like experiments

where I either allow social or genetic variation, or both or neither and can use all this data to get an

estimate of how much variance is due to genetics, social environment and chance.”

Snyder’s work may answer the question intriguing philosophers and scientists throughout the ages. “What

is exciting,” he continues, “is that I have the chance to figure out how much variance in male and female

mating success is due to chance and how much is due to heritable differences in males and females.”

Graduate School Magazine F A L L 2 0 0 6 23

the easiest,” he explains. “Thegeneration time is short. They’recheap to maintain.” Labs inArizona and Indiana supply threespecies, drosophila melanogaster,pseudoobscura and hydei to theUGA lab. Snyder breeds the stock,producing over 10,000 flies forresearch conducted with Gowaty.

His father, on the other hand,conducted research on rats. “Ofcourse I’d read Stuart Little,” hesays with a rueful grin. His dadpretended to spare the lab rats thatSnyder singled out. Snyder reflects.“It’s easier to kill flies than rats.”

Sometimes, when Snyderbecomes philosophical, he askshimself if what he’s doing is themost useful. But he knows it’simportant. “A guy namedApollonius, who was at the libraryin Alexandria in 200 B.C., studiedcones. Copernicus comesalong…and later Johannes Keplercomes along and used Apollonius’math on ellipses. Work done 1,800to 1,700 years ago—they actuallyused it!”

Snyder thinks about the legacyof his work, however mundane itmay seem at times, and of Greekmathematician Apollonius.“Thinking about why males andfemales are the way they are,” hesays pensively. “It’s of value.Scientific progress is good,” he adds, even when it arrives on thewings of an ordinary drosophilamelanogaster. G

AUGUST 15 IS A RED-LETTER

day, circled on Brian Snyder’scalendar. His pregnant wife’sultrasound is that day. Theubiquitous test will reveal the genderof their first child, due in January. Apensive Snyder, perched on a stoolin an Athens coffee house, sighs.

“I can’t wait,” he admits. Hisscientist side recognizes the geneticsignificance of gender. His humanside says it is irrelevant.

Weeks later, Snyder is at the labwhen the test results return.

“It took a couple of hours for thesmile to leave my face,” Snyder says.“It’s a girl. A Madeline or Katherine,perhaps,” he joyfully adds.

The human side of the scientistis clear. Like everyone else, the newfather to be is only anxious that littleMadeline or Katherine is healthy.And that a grown-up Madeline orKatherine will be fulfilled. StephenSnyder, Brian’s father, is a

neurobiologist at the NationalInstitutes of Health. There was noquestion what Snyder would becomewhen he was merely five, visiting hisdad’s Bethesda, Maryland laboratory.Snyder cannot yet say if he will urgehis daughter to become a scientist.

“I don’t know,” Snyder replies.“The disappointment… the grantrejections…” Snyder falls silent. Heand his advisors have writtennumerous grants. Some are gettingrecord numbers of rejections.

Federal budgetary cutbacks havebeen devastating for research andfor scientists.

Despite his father’s influence onSnyder’s chosen path, littleMadeline or Katherine may or maynot model her father’s behaviors.For not even scientists agree ifintelligence, personality andbehaviors are heritable traits.Snyder’s work, alongside principleinvestigators Patty Gowaty, SteveHubbell and Wyatt Anderson, offersa window into behaviors governingflies that may apply to humans aswell, including aggression, andsusceptibility to disease.

The Man Who Wouldn’tKi l l a Rat…

Snyder has always known he wantedto study the evolution of humanbehavior. While still in college, hetracked down Gowaty’s work on the

Internet and applied to UGA afterlooking at Cornell and Berkley.Gowaty’s work in the evolution ofbehavior sealed his interest inGeorgia. “Evolutionary psychologyhas gotten a lot of criticism,”Snyder observes. “It was tempting togo into that research.” Instead, heentered microbiology. Today,Snyder’s friends tease him about hisresearch centering upon flies.“People are generally confusedabout why I’m interested in flies. It’spractical. We use the fly because it’s

Snyder and his advisors have written numerous grants.Some are getting record numbers of rejections. Federalbudgetary cutbacks have been devastating for researchand for scientists.

24

Doris Bazzini, professor of psychology at Appalachian State University

and UGA “double dawg,” received in May the 2006 North Carolina Board of

Governors’ Award for Excellence in Teaching. Bazzini is one of 16 faculty

members from all University of North Carolina campuses to earn this

distinction, which recognizes and rewards superior teaching by tenured faculty

within the university. Recipients of this honor are presented with $7,500 and a

bronze medallion.

Bazzini earned both a master’s and doctorate in psychology (in 1991 and

1993 respectively) from the University of Georgia. While at UGA, she served as

a teaching assistant and received teaching awards for her efforts. She

continues to encourage students not to be afraid of failure and also mentors

new faculty members to succeed. A proponent of the use of creativity and

humor in the classroom, she has been a member of the faculty at Appalachian

State since 1993. G

Dorr is Bazz in i

N C G O V E N O R S ’ A W A R D

f o r E x c e l l e n c e i n Te a ch i n g

APP

ALA

CH

IAN

STA

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NIV

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SITY

PAU

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UIC

K

in br ief

From left, Graduate School Dean Maureen Grasso; Uttiyo Raychaudhuri (doctoral candidate); Tracy Lambert

(PhD, '06); Maria del Puig Andres (PhD, MEd, '06; MA, '02); Anita DeRouen (doctoral candidate); Kristy

Maddux (doctoral candidate); UGA President Michael F. Adams.

Each year, the Graduate School honors five exemplary graduate teaching assistants with the Graduate School

Excellence in Teaching Award. Talented students and respected teachers, these graduate students share a passion for their

subject matter and a desire to impart this passion in the classroom and laboratory. As part of this award, the 2006 recipients

each received $1,000 and were recognized at the Faculty Recognition Banquet last April.

The 2006 honorees are as follows: Maria del Puig Andres, who graduated spring semester 2006 with a doctorate in

romance languages and a master of education in instructional technology (Maria also earned a master of arts in Spanish from

UGA in summer 2002); Anita DeRouen, a doctoral candidate in English literature; Tracy Lambert, who graduated summer

semester 2006 with a doctorate in industrial and organizational psychology; Kristy Maddux, a doctoral candidate in speech

communication; and Uttiyo Raychaudhuri, a doctoral candidate in forest resources.

G R A D U AT E S T U D E N T

TEACHING Awards

G

In Spring 2006, the charter members of the

Graduate Education Advancement Board created a $100,000 graduate fellowship.

These alumni, educational and corporate leaders are setting a standard for advancing the

graduate work that touches us all. As funding requirements needed to attract the most promising

students continue to rise, the University of Georgia relies more and more on financial commit-

ments such as this endowment. By giving to graduate education, donors help the Graduate

School assist departments across campus recruit top students. Regardless of your discipline,

we hope you, like these board members, will support all graduate education at UGA.

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MAUREEN GRASSO

D e a n

GRADUATE SCHOOL DONORS

The Graduate School gratefully acknowledges all who have made

a financial commitment to graduate education at the University of

Georgia – from alumni to corporate sponsors to faculty and friends. By

supporting graduate students, you are enabling research and creative

works that affect so many facets of our lives. You are investing in our

future and our children’s future, as well as our nation’s economy and

security. You are also contributing to undergraduate education,

enhancing our workforce and advancing discoveries that benefit us all.

Whether you helped create a named fellowship or contributed to an

existing award, your gift is significant to enhancing all aspects of

graduate education, from the quality of faculty to the scholarship to

students. We appreciate your help in building a foundation of

educational excellence and hope you will encourage others to

participate in this worthwhile endeavor.

DEAN’S L IST OF DONORS TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

1910 Society ($50,000 +)

Beverly Hirsh Frank

Laureate Society ($25,000 +)

Verizon Wireless

Dr. Annella Brown

Benefactors ($10,000-$24,999)

Ashland Oil Foundation, Inc.

Terry Coffey

Dean’s Circle ($5,000-$9,999)

Susan Lanigan

Centennial Club ($1,000-$4,999)

Marc Ackerman

Hamid Arabnia

James Baine

Michael Bunch

Mary Case

W. Ford Calhoun

GlaxoSmithKline Foundation

Maureen Grasso

Michael Griffith

Murphy Oil Corporation

Russell T. Quarterman

Andrew Rosen

August Staub

Graduate Club ($500-$999)

Peter J. Anderson

Friends of the Graduate School

($100-$499)

Wyatt Anderson

Elisabeth Butler

Jennifer Gaver

Kenneth M. Gaver

Ruth B. Harris

Krista Haynes

Lollie Hoots

Michael Johnson

Pamela K. Orpinas

Madis Raukas

Thomas Edward Weiss, Jr.

NOTE: The above roster reflects gifts to the

Graduate School since the establishment of its formal

development program in 2002. The Graduate School

gratefully acknowledges all donors who contributed

before this date.

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development

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDATHENS, GA.

PERMIT NO. 165

The University of Georgia Graduate SchoolBoyd Graduate Studies Research CenterAthens, Georgia 30602-7401706-542-1739, FAX 706-542-3219

Bank on agood education

and you’re foreverenriched.

www.grad.uga.edu

Thurston LaDonnahue III wears a

pin-striped suit and quite an

attitude. Why shouldn’t he look a bit

smug? LaDonnahue, one of 36

“bulldawg” sculptures placed

temporarily in downtown Athens, Five

Points, Normaltown, Ben Epps

Airport and the parks, has made an

investment that will never devalue.

Beneath that vest beats the valiant

red heart of a Georgia scholar. Thurston LaDonnahue III, 124 E. Hancock Avenue, Athens, Georgia. Scott Sosebee, Artist

Editor

Cynthia Adams

Design

Julie Sanders.com

Photography

Paul Efland

Nancy Evelyn

Peter Frey

Dot Paul

Editorial Offices

UGA Graduate School

Boyd Graduate Studies

Research Center

Athens, Georgia 30602

© 2006 by the University of Georgia.

No part of this publication may be

reproduced in any way without the

written permission of the editor.

This publication was printed by generous gifts fromVerizon and Pictorial Offset.

ANDREW ROSEN