winter 10 - ugags magazine

The Univers i ty o f Georgia

SchoolM A G A Z I N E

Graduate

Winter 2010

The Lives ofFrances Cowart Reeves p.4

Valerie Cadet Pictures HerselfStopping an Epidemic p.12

Wormsloe's Belly p.28

http://issuu.com/action/page?page=6



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Graduate

“The future belongs to those who believe inthe beauty of their dreams.”

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 1 0 1

Front Cover: Valerie Cadet is keeping an eye

on the big picture, by Nancy Evelyn.

Winter 2010

CONTENTS

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news and highl ights

Letter from the Dean

Where Are They Now?Frances Cowart ReevesWorld War II barred her studies at theUniversity of Munich. Yet she prevailed andearned a graduate degree.

Cover StoryValerie CadetCan this mother and doctoral student help sparethe world a recurring, virulent epidemic?

Sarah Carlton ProctorShe finds a classroom irresistible. We find her justas compelling.

Centennial of the Graduate School

Scholars for TomorrowWormsloeUGA’s Drew Swanson, a Wormsloe Fellow,offers tasty tidbits from Georgia’s oldest tidewaterplantation.

Dorinda G. DallmeyerThis alumna is loyal to her roots and passionate about

learning and giving.

In BriefGraduate Student News and Notes

Last WordEdu-Dawg

NANCYEVELYN










A UGA EducationEquals Money Well Spent

The University of Georgia ranked among the top

four universities listed in Smart Money magazine’s

publication “Best Payback” published late last year.

Texas A&M, the University of Texas at Austin, and

Georgia Tech were included with UGA among the

top rankings.

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NANCYEVELYN

message from

Dean Mau reen G r a s so

Welcome to 2010, the Centennial year for graduate education atthe University of Georgia!

Every day I wake up feeling energized about what we aredoing in graduate education at the University of Georgia. I amthrilled to be apart of this exciting and stimulating enterprise—our work concerns human capital and investing in the future!

The UGA Graduate School is currently developing whatwill become our nation’s most sophisticated work force.Graduate education ensures our nation competes within aknowledge-based global economy—through innovation, discoveryand complex problem solving. Advanced education is the criticalgear driving the industries and processes shaping our future.

For 100 years, this has been the case—we have awardedmaster’s, specialist, and doctoral degrees to more than 73,000individuals. The research and teaching contributions of UGAgraduates are astonishing and varied. They underpin theknowledge and economic development goals of Georgia and ournation. Currently we have more than 7,100 graduate studentsengaged in advanced study in more than 350 fields of study.These students enable the discovery of new knowledge,contribute to advances in science and technology, aid economicdevelopment, and seek fresh perspectives on issues ofimportance on a state and national level.

I am excited about how graduate education has become anessential component of work force development. Our economichealth depends on educated, knowledgeable and skilled peoplewho are ready to take on the task of strengthening our economy.This issue becomes all the more important in an age whentechnology and knowledge creation take precedence, even infields such as agriculture and forestry that historically have reliedupon manual labor.

I hope that when you are called to invest in graduateeducation, you will say yes!

MAUREEN GRASSO

D e a n

AT AGE 90, FRANCES COWART REEVES (AB ’39, MA ’40) is contentedly settled in rural

Georgia not far from where she came of age.During the past 70 years, she has come

full circle, from academics to the military to the rural life once again.

The Remarkable (True) Story of

Frances Cowart Reeves

BY CYNTHIA ADAMS PHOTOS BY NANCY EVELYN

INIMITABLE LEADER of a

THREE-GENERATION DAWG PACK!

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where are they now?


educated. Cowart’s three daughters wenton to college after completing their earlyeducation. One, the youngest, carriedCowart’s name as well as his ambitionsfor his children.

Walter Frances Cowart, known asFrances, was born in 1919. She recallswalking to Union City Grammar Schooluntil she was 12. “In 1931,” she says,“schools were consolidated, and I rodethe school bus to Campbell High Schoolin Fairburn. There were only 11 grades inhigh school, so I graduated in 1935 at age16.”

In 1935, she applied to the Universityof Georgia. UGA was the only schoolthat interested her. With her excellentgrades, she easily won acceptance.(“Imagine,” Cowart marvels, “a naïve 16-year-old entering the University ofGeorgia today!”) Once on campus, shequickly adjusted and made friends.Majoring in economics and minoring inGerman, she received her AB degree in1939. “I was granted an exchangescholarship to the University of Munichin Germany. The graduate assistantshipin German became available, and I wasgiven the opportunity to work while I gotmy master’s degree.”

Then, the unthinkable happened.As Frances Reeves (nee Cowart)

packed her bags for European studies, thepolitical landscape was shifting beneathher. “It was 1939,” Reeves reminds. “Theworld was coming undone.” BySeptember 1, overseas travel was gravelydangerous. Germany had invaded Polandand by September 6, the Germans werealso bombing Britain.

The world she had known at homewas also slipping away as rumors of warintensified. “I couldn’t take the scholarship.That was knocked in the head,” she says.The 20-year-old watched her plansabruptly changed. At the time the UGAscholar would have been unpacking herbooks in Munich, she was instead visitingher sister in Clintondale, N.Y., weighingher options. Meanwhile, a male studentwho was supposed to become the next

ithin her remarkable 90

years, Frances Reeves has

not only been an

accomplished scholar, but also a civil

servant, military officer, Girl Scout

executive, a law student, a chicken

farmer (who bought a farm on her own

before marr iage ) , a succes s fu l

encyclopedia saleswoman, accountant,

wife, and mother of five. (Four of her

offspring are UGA Dawgs.)

Her eyes sparkle as she remembers

those stints; Reeves has used her agile

and adaptive mind to its best advantage

for 90 years.

A Front Seat in the Theatre of War

In 1939 Georgia, the general mood wasgloomy. And it was even worseelsewhere. John Steinbeck’s Grapes ofWrath, published that year to greatacclaim, reflected the grim realities forthose farming and working the land inthe Dust Bowl under painfully harshconditions. Soon thereafter, thegovernment initiated a food stampsprogram addressing widespreadhardship and hunger for so manynationwide during the Great Depression.Steinbeck’s words had furthered anunderstanding of the depth of sufferingwithin the nation. Those who escapedjob losses, lost homes, and even gnawinghunger were the lucky few.

But the Cowart family had faredmuch better than farming families inrural Georgia. Walter Cowart grew upin south Georgia and attended businessschool in Columbus, Ga. Aftergraduating, Cowart found workopportunities in Atlanta, and thendeveloped a successful mail order barbersupply business based in Fairburn, Ga.

Walter Cowart was also anenlightened man who believed ineducation and planned that his children,irrespective of gender, would be

W

Frances Reeves during leave at

home in Georgia.

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The Power of Positive Thinking:

“I thought I’d go to Germany on a

scholarship and haven’t; otherwise, I

cannot remember anything I’ve

missed,” says Reeves. “I went with

the flow and did what was necessary

at the time.” Reeves, age 90, has

two living siblings. Her older sister is

96; her half- sister is 75.

6

German language graduate assistant leftUGA.

Reeves received word in New Yorkthat she could take the young man’splace as a graduate assistant, and theopportunity opened to begin hergraduate studies. She gladly accepted,repacked her bags and set out for Athenswhere her destiny unfolded.

A Window on History

“I began Graduate School in 1939,”Reeves says during a cursory review ofher life. As a freshman, Reeves lived inMiller Hall with roommate GraceWilbanks, who also studied German. Forpleasure, she attended football gamesand cheered for the Dawgs.

“I worked hard,” Reeves remembers.During her graduate education, shetaught, coached students in German,and studied. Reeves also read Germanin the original, and pulls a text off theshelf.

“I still think in German,” sheconfides. She graduated June 26, 1940with a master’s degree. By then she hada different plan for her life, she jokes. “Iwanted to go to Washington, DC andrun the government of the UnitedStates,” Reeves says, her blue eyesshining with merriment. The followingyear she entered Civil Service inWashington.

At noon on December 8, 1941, shestood on the balcony of the House officebuilding and listened to PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt deliver his stirringInfamy Speech inside. It was one dayafter the Japanese attacked Americanwarships in Pearl Harbor. Rooseveltfamously called December 7 “a datewhich will live in infamy.” An hour later,Congress declared war against Japanand America was formally involved inWorld War II.

“The war changed the wholeoutlook on things,” she says. Unlikeduring World War I, “women weregiven new opportunities.”

Life in the WAACs

In December of 1942, Reeves joined theWAACs, which later became theWomen’s Army Corps. Reeve’s maidenname posed humorous complications, asher legal name was Walter FrancesCowart. She was frequently mistaken fora man. She reported for active duty inthe Women’s Army Auxiliary CorpsTraining Center at Fort Des Moines,Iowa, where she completed officertraining March 6, 1943. In April of1944, she finished Adjutant GeneralSchool. On April 17, 1943, Reeves wascommissioned as a third officer.Throughout her military service, sheserved in clerical and personnel jobs.Women in service of their country werea new phenomenon, and things wereevolving, she says. Initially, servicewomen were simply issued overcoats.The young Reeves, now a secondlieutenant, had a full uniform and hadearned her officer’s bars.

En route to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.by overnight train, the young femaleofficer noticed her military jackethanging overhead. The bars glinted; aproud moment registered solidly.

“I looked up and saw those goldbars on my uniform. Oh, they were theprettiest thing I’d ever seen!”

After seven months in Georgia, shewas transferred to the Air Force and wassent to a North Carolina air base whereshe worked in personnel. Later she wassent to New York and Connecticut. Sheremained in New England until thewar’s end, and vividly remembers thedropping of the atomic bombs inNagasaki and Hiroshima. She was sentto Fort Dix, New Jersey, for her officialdischarge from duty in May of 1946.

Civilian Life for Lt. Reeves

Reeves remembers the strangeacclimation to less proscribed civilianlife. “I had to think about how to dress.They gave us some counseling and

Soldiering On: Frances Cowart,

before marriage circa 1945, owned a

car she named Breathless. “I couldn’t

buy tires for it, due to rationing, until

I was transferred to Fort Dix.” Today,

she tools around her farm on a golf

cart. "The golf cart is my feet..." and

is now her way of getting around her

house and land.

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where are they now?

8

Young Frances Cowart was only 11 years old and living in Fayette County when times grew increasingly bleak throughout the rest

of the state of Georgia. At times, it must have seemed that the only thing gaining momentum was the Great Depression. Although she surely

faced other kinds of hardship—including the early loss of her mother in a tragic auto accident—the family were spared the tragic fate of

many who were dependent upon farming incomes. Farming families faced incredibly difficult times.

The majority of Georgians remained on farms in 1930. Just under half of all Georgians had employment. Only about one third of the state’s

population lived in cities and sizeable communities. For those living in the countryside, farming was not an easy means to eek out an

existence, or even subsistence. The soil had grown depleted due to deforestation and poor farming practices—much of the farmland in the

South had been drained by cotton farming. (Those dependent upon cotton as their primary crop faced additional devastation due to the

unending ravages of the predatory boll weevil.) Also in 1930, Georgia experienced a catastrophic drought—the worst on record. The many

ways one could suffer seemed unthinkable as people often lived without adequate food, running water, basic hygiene, or access to education

and health care.

Forward-thinking farmers reconsidered and undertook other crops, including peanuts, corn, soybeans and livestock. Others began poultry

farming, something Frances Cowart later undertook herself as an enterprising young and unmarried woman. Not only did she and her sisters

have the advantage of an advanced education, but she also made certain her five children would as well.

With Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck had shone a light on suffering in the Dust Bowl, but the suffering of those in the South was

documented and exposed by New Deal photographer Walker Evans. Years later, Georgia-born president Jimmy Carter described the

challenging realities of cotton and peanut farming life in his many books. Novelists Carson McCullers and Erskine Caldwell provided less

romantic visions of the times. By the time of World War II, the Great Depression finally loosened its death choke on the South.

Frances Cowart Reeves successfully sold record numbers of encyclopedias to still-challenged rural families, some living in pitiful homes with

cardboard covering the walls. She sold sets of hard-bound books in homes on the installment plan, where books of any kind were

uncommon. She sold them their release from poverty; she sold them education.

“SOME PEOPLE I SOLD WORLD BOOK TO lived in houses where the inner walls were

cardboard, but they bought World Book for their children. It spoke worlds about those

parents.” —Frances Cowart Reeves

The Great Depression and Georgia(and why it’s so darned amazing that FRANCES REEVES could sell $500 encyclopedias)

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where are they now?

9Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 1 0

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where are they now?


preparation on this; we looked at whatopportunities were available. I foundtraining as a Girl Scout executive as Iwas getting out and went to Tallahassee,Fla., and worked for the Girl ScoutCouncil.”

Reeves stayed with the Girl Scoutsfor a year before deciding to takeadvantage of the G.I. Bill and enteredAtlanta Law School. Formerly robust,her health suddenly declined. Reeveswas told that she was at risk ofdeveloping diabetes. She was convincedthat regaining her health required beingdiligent about nutrition and studied howthe soil produced nutrient-rich foods. (Atthat time, much of the South wasemerging from a harsh lesson in theoutcomes of soil depletion.)

Afterward, Reeves bought a 25-acrefarm and small house in Inman, Ga. “Istarted farming. I wanted to havechickens as my main source of income,so I bought a new tractor and built achicken house,” she says matter-of-factly.She set out to renovate the house, whichshe laughingly describes as “Not much!”

When a girlfriend threw her ahousewarming party, a young mannamed Frank Reeves was one of theguests. He was a poultry farmer withagricultural teaching experience. Shesmiles recalling how he came by oftenand helped her with chores and farmingadvice.

“Time went by; we got married atthe end of the year. I sold my farm andtook the chickens to his place. We had amerger and a marriage!” Now she wasMrs. Reeves and immersed in farmingwith her new husband.

The school superintendent inFayetteville found out the new Mrs.Reeves had a college degree (“Heprobably didn’t know that I had two,”she adds.) The superintendent needed ateacher and teaching provided a morereliable income for the young couplethan chicken farming did. Reeves taught

for a year or so and then becamepregnant with her first child.

“You couldn’t teach whenpregnant,” she recalls. She stayed homewith her family and did part time work,including accounting and work for theFarm Bureau. Her mother-in-law livedwith the couple. “And she made awonderful babysitter,” Reeves praises.

Reeves also began selling WorldBook Encyclopedias throughout FayetteCounty. “I sold enough that one sonwent on to college on a World BookScholarship.”

The books were not inexpensive. “Aset cost $300, way back. But the costsgot to $500 in time.” Reeves told proudbut poor rural parents the encyclopediaskept children from being ignorant.

“Some people I soldWorld Book tolived in houses where the inner wallswere cardboard, but they bought WorldBook for their children. It spoke worldsabout those parents. You’re proud ofthem; I meet up with them now and thenand we still discuss and remember it.”

Through hardship and difficulties,including their house burning in 1994,Reeves continued to supplement thefamily’s income through bookkeeping

and accounting. She continues to do thework today.

All but one of her children attendedUGA; all five earned college degrees.Her granddaughter recently graduatedfrom UGA law school.

She still keeps in touch with herUGA friends, but fellow alums from herclass are rare. “There aren’t manyclassmates left from UGA. It’s a thincrowd when you’re 90 years old!”

Postscript: Among many honors, FrancesReeves received the WXIA-TVCommunity Service Award for her yearsof devotion to the Fayette Countycommunity and the United Way. She iscredited with having started the FayetteCounty 4-H, the PTA and the FayetteCounty Historical Society where sheserves on the board.

She received the Community ServiceAward from the Fayette County Chapterof the NAACP. Reeves is working to geta new building for the Fayette CountySenior Center.

THREE GENERATIONS OF DAWGS: Frances Cowart Reeves’

granddaughter Erin Reeves graduated from UGA law school

this past May. One of her sons, Walter Reeves (BS ’73), is a

known horticultural expert (also known as the “garden guru,”)

who attended UGA, as did her son Robert and daughters

Carol and Nancy. (Walter Reeves is

the popular host of GPTV’s “Georgia

Gardener.”) Only her son Alan chose to

attend college elsewhere at Berry College

in Rome, Ga.

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What Ifand This is a Very Big If,

SmallpoxReturned?

“AS A YOUNG GIRL, I ALWAYS WONDERED WHY DISEASES WERE SO

DIFFICULT TO CURE. Working on a therapeutic for the only one that

has been eradicated by mankind is amazing to me.” Smallpox is

considered by many as a “credible, potential bioterrorism

threat, which doesmake you think. It’s possible that one-third of all

the individuals who become infected would die from it,” says Valerie

Cadet, a fourth year UGA doctoral student.

cover story

BY CYNTHIA ADAMS

PHOTOS BY NANCY EVELYN

smallpox plague is not aWest

Wing television plot invention,

although it was once used as

one in a doomsday scenario.The once-rampant smallpox is

believed to hold no future threat—yet itformerly brought fiefdoms and kingdomsdown. Scarring and disfiguring,smallpox can blind. Worse yet, it just asoften wields an exquisitely painful death.

The vaccine that famously eradicatedsmallpox is made using an attenuatedvaccinia virus. Closely related tocowpox, vaccinia has uncertain origins.Smallpox is caused by Variola major orVariola minor. Once smallpox wasbelieved eradicated, only the UnitedStates, Britain and the Soviet Unionretained research quantities of live virusin guarded laboratories. (Britaindestroyed theirs after a devastatingaccident that led to the death of amedical photographer.)

Now a number of researchers arepondering a different sort of smallpoxplague—one deliberately introducedand unleashed. Valerie Cadet, a fourthyear UGA doctoral student, would loveto be a modern day Edward Jenner andstop it in its tracks. Cadet is a student inthe department of Infectious Diseases,which is within the College ofVeterinary Medicine.

What might happen if smallpoxwere used as a bioterrorist weapon?With the predominance of air travel, thepox could spread from continent tocontinent in less than 48 hours. “Thecontinual outbreaks of monkeypox andits transference to other countries areworth noting,” says Cadet. It’s thereason she studies poxviruses.

“All countries agree, however, thateven a single case of smallpox anywherein the world would be an internationalhealth emergency. In this event, allnations would respond to contain andprevent spread of the infection,” reportsPublic Health of Canada’s Web site.

A “Soccer Mom” Working to Stopa Once and Future Plague

In a UGA biosafety level-two laboratory,Cadet, a researcher and commutingmom, spends long hours with her eyestrained upon a lens. Beneath the lens isthe vaccinia virus. Vaccinia, a poxvirus,is brick-shaped and contains DNA.

Cadet is working to combat thesmallpox virus if such a possibility—anoutbreak striking an unprotectedpopulation—occurred. “My researchinvolves the silencing of pox viral genesusing RNA interference (RNAi),”explains Cadet. “What makes thisrelevant to study is because vaccinia

virus, a member of the Poxviridaefamily, is the vaccine agent used tovaccinate against variola virus, the virusthat causes smallpox disease.” Cadet’swork is timely, possibly urgent.

“Since the eradication of smallpoxdisease in the late 1970s, globalimmunization against it has ceased. Inlight of the events that have taken placepost September 2001, there is heightenedconcern that variola virus could be usedas a weapon of bioterrorism.

“Due to this, there is a need todevelop possible therapeutic interventionsthat could be used to protect the naïvepopulation—should an intentionaloutbreak of smallpox occur.” (Naïverefers to the vulnerable population whoare unvaccinated against smallpox. Byexample, indigenous people in theAmericas were tragically vulnerablewhen the explorer Cortez brought thesmallpox virus with him to the NewWorld. And tribal Indians were decimatedwhen British troops deliberately infectedblankets during the French and IndianWars in North America.)

Gene Manipulation Meant toSilence a Killer

Cadet continues her explanation on apositive note. “One promising approachis based on RNAi, a tool widely used for

14

A

As the largely self-taught British physician Edward Jenner proceeded in his scientific work, he began deliberately

infecting human subjects by placing cowpox pus in an incision site. To put Jenner’s crude methods in perspective, remember

that blood letting was very popular at the time. Like others had observed long ago, Jenner noticed that milkmaids in his

English village who contracted cowpox seemed later to become impervious to the far deadlier smallpox.

The penny had dropped: Jenner observed that the milkmaids achieved immunity. As a medical doctor, he soon used this

information to immunize others. His methods may have been questionable, but the outcome revolutionized modern medicine.

Jenner is credited within the vaccine world as the first to demonstrate the efficacy of his “new” vaccine.

cover story


silencing gene expression through thetargeted degradation of mRNAs.”Messenger RNA, the key intermediaryin gene expression, translates the DNA'sgenetic code into the amino acids thatmake up proteins.

“We worked closely with scientistsat Thermo-Fisher/Dharmacon, Inc.and the CDC to develop a tool forstudying poxvirus replication.” Foradditional information, Cadet suggestsDharmacon’s Web site.

“The goal of my research is to useRNAi in hopes of identifying a gene, orgenes, that when inhibited block viralreplication…and can thus be used as atherapeutic target.”

The government recognizes thevalue of research toward this end. “Theinitial reason for studying poxviruses waseradication. However, this is a double-edged sword. There’s now a largepercentage of the population that isnaïve to the virus because they wereborn after 1972,” explains Cadet, “whenthey stopped vaccinating in the US.”Some scientists argue that vaccinationshould have continued despiteeradication.

Yet Cadet tries not to conjectureabout what might happen to theunprotected if an outbreak should occur.She uses her energies differently.

“We are focused on a therapeutic.Once exposed to the virus, there is anincubation period of seven to 12 dayswhereby the smallpox vaccine can beadministered and result in protection.”However, she points out, not everyonecould safely receive the vaccine.

There are many exceptions. Indi-viduals who are immune compromisedor undergoing chemotherapy, or whohave had organ transplants and receive

immunosuppressive drugs—even thosewith common skin diseases such aseczema—cannot be given the vaccine.For them, Cadet explains that thevaccine could cause more harm thangood, potentially killing them.

Should Cadet’s RNA researchwork, when would she know? Soon, shehopes.

“I already know I have a couple ofgenes that could be potential targets fortherapeutic drugs. It is possible to moveforward using our current RNAi-basedapproach, but there are many issues interms of delivering the active siRNAmolecules. We would be more interestedin finding chemical compounds thatwould prevent the function of the

identified genes rather than administra-tion of siRNAs. Finding those activecompounds will take years and extensivefunding.” However, this soccer mom isnot willing to give in so easily.

The possibility of another smallpoxoutbreak begs the question: How manypeople are working on this researchat UGA? The answer: one full-timeresearcher.

“Me,” Cadet responds, who worksunder her major professor, Robert J.Hogan, known as Jeff. “We are in an all-time low in terms of NIH (NationalInstitutes of Health) funding, and thiscan be a major obstacle to scientificprogress. If we had tons of cash, we’dhave lots of people working on it.”

Cadetworks on RNA research with

her major professor Robert J. Hogan.He is in the department of anatomy and

radiology and the department of infectious

diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

14

Cadet gradually realized understanding

the illness and PREVENTING IT IN THE FIRST

PLACE was her calling.

cover story

Overcoming Obstacles

“Yes, I am a soccer mom,” Cadetaffirms, hastily grabbing a snack duringa break from the lab, “with a 10-year-oldson and 8-year-old daughter.”

She is used to eating and living inhigh gear, balancing family life inMonroe, Ga., with doctoral studies inAthens. The daily commute has had itschallenges, with Cadet hurrying hometo meet her obligations, to watch asoccer game with her child or help out atthe school. Yet she manages. Her ownparents both returned to college as adultnursing students. A positive outlook is inthe family genetic structure; Cadetexudes a make-it-happen spirit.

“Every parent works hard. I’m aparent and a student, with a greatsupervisor (Hogan) who understandsbecause he’s also one. He knows howdifficult it is. I don’t need special treatment,just enough flexibility to ensure myfamily obligations are met.”

At age 31, Cadet has developed aresolute nature that makes the longhours of parenting and of scientificstudy bearable. “I’ll work around theobstacles. However, I have issues withpeople who allow the obstacles stopthem…everything is doable.”

Cadet never imagined this is whereshe would wind up—the mother of twofigured she would become a pediatricianone day. “I just want to knoweverything,” she says, since being agrade school kid living in New York whoasked a lot of questions.

“I asked why all the time. I went tothe doctor and asked why they weregiving me the shot. As I got older, Irealized doctors couldn’t always give methe answer behind it. Doctors treat thecondition and scientists determine thecauses. I used to want to be a doctor.Now, I’m most interested in being a partof the research end of determiningcauses and designing treatments.”

From Zebra Fish to Finding aNiche That Fit

Cadet graduated from Georgia StateUniversity in August 2003 with abachelor’s in biology and a chemistryminor. While at Georgia State, she met aprofessor who had a small child. Theprofessor urged her to begin her ownresearch. Cadet, who was already marriedand had an infant, was still trying tofigure out “which career angle?”

Undaunted by the demands of herfirst child, she prepared for medicalschool. “After having my second child Irealized medical school and thebeginning years as a physician wouldkeep me away from my children morethan I would like.”

Cadet discovered her true vocationwhile working with zebra fish embryoson a drug-screening project. She suddenlyrealized how much she enjoyed doing

the type of research that would ultimatelybenefit humans.

After graduation, Cadet beganworking at Spelman College in Atlanta,Ga., for the NIH Minority BiomedicalResearch Support Research Initiativefor Scientific Enhancement. Theundergraduate research program soughtto interest students in biomedical research.

Cadet managed the program, and


She may be a self-described

soccer mom, but this Monroe, Ga.

parent gives parenting, family time, and

research work equal devotion. “I admire

a lot of people,” Cadet says, “both

historically and in my personal life.”

As recently as 1967 the World Health Organization

reported 15 million illnesses from smallpox and two million

deaths. Smallpox caused a third of all human blindness.

worked with researchers at severalAtlanta colleges and universities as wellas U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (the CDC). She began tofocus on viral research and her growingambition. She envisioned herselfworking for the CDC or NIH in aresearch and policy-making role.

“The program (at Spelman) wasgeared at exposing undergrads to thepossibility of getting their PhD in thebiomedical sciences. As the programonly had one staff member—me—forthe first year, I administered and ranalmost everything. In helping my studentsfor a year or so, I realized I wanted to doresearch myself and wanted the PhD.”

A colleague suggested anilluminating idea, urging Cadet toconsider doctoral programs at veterinaryschools. “A lot of the actual (veterinary)research is targeted towards animals oran animal infection which can affecthumans,” Cadet found. It was theresearch fit she had sought.

She now understood her researchinterests “didn’t lie with helping peopleget better, but understanding the illnessand preventing it in the first place.”

That, Cadet says, is how she enteredthe veterinary school as a graduatestudent in the fall of 2006. She willfinish in 2011. And that is also where shebegan working with pox viral genes.

Human Research Within theVeterinary College

Why is human research done under therubric of the veterinary college?

The query about infectious diseasesbeing studied in the veterinary school isa common one explains Liliana Jaso-Friedmann, graduate coordinator for thedepartment of infectious diseases.

“We get that same question all thetime because we are in the vet schooland in fact we have some people doingresearch in exclusively human diseases.However, the thing that is hard forpeople to understand is that research inany area can lead to discoveries that arefar reaching and may equally affectanimal and human health,” says Jaso-Friedmann.

“Our department’s research fallsinto infectious disease of all animalsincluding humans.” As she makes clear,most infectious diseases emerge fromanimals.

By way of example, Jaso-Friedmannadds, “We have a few researchersworking on malaria, a human disease.Some of the ongoing research ondiseases that affect animals are alsozoonotic; that is, they can infect thehuman population. The most obviousexample of that is influenza in poultryand pigs.”

Inside BSL-2…

Cadet’s work is done within acontainment laboratory. “Containment”labs range from levels one to four, withvarious guidelines. The governmentdetermines the bio safety level for apathogen, based upon its severity andthe treatment. Level 1, or BSL-1, is thedesignated level of laboratory whereresearch is done with microorganismsnot known to cause disease in healthyhumans. Even a level 2 lab is wellsecured. Level 4 is the most secure—andis typically overseen by the federalgovernment. This level laboratory iswhere work is done with dangerous andexotic agents posing a high, potentiallyfatal risk to humans. For level 4 relatedresearch, there are no vaccines ortreatments available.

Cadet works with vaccinia andcowpox viruses, which belong to thefamily poxviridae, at biosafety level 2, orBSL-2. She references a biosafetymanual and explains: “The agentsmanipulated at BSL-2 are often ones towhich the workers have had exposure inthe community, often as children, and towhich they have already experienced animmune response. It includes variousbacteria and viruses that cause only milddisease to humans, or are difficult tocontract via aerosol in a lab setting.

“If I were to get infected, there aretreatments. As for smallpox itself, I can’twork with the actual virus, becausevariola can be anywhere from 30-40percent lethal and it’s transmissible byaerosol. It can only be worked withunder BSL-4 conditions.”

Are all the poxviruses related?“No!” Cadet says emphatically. “Thatwas drilled into me 10,000 times,” shelaughs. Although the word “pox” evokesmany diseases, plum pox virus, forexample, is a plant pathogen. Chickenpox is a herpes virus. And while there’s a

18

“All countries agree, however, that even a single case of smallpox

anywhere in the world would be an international health emergency.

In this event, all nations would respond to contain and prevent

spread of the infection,” reports Public Health of Canada’s Web site.

cover story

continued on page 22


Cadet is working to combat the smallpoxvirus if such a possibility—an outbreak striking

an unprotected population—occurred.

Why Viruses Are So Effective and Deadly…

Time magazine warned of a potential influenza pandemic in an August 2009 issue. Inside its

pages, it discussed how this or other viruses work. Viruses are minute parasites that cause everything from

the common cold to influenza or even plagues such as smallpox.

Viruses are insidious and effective, gaining entry into an organism via many routes. The first line of

human defense against viruses includes skin, tears and mucous. In the case of influenza, the virus typically

enters via the respiratory system (most often through the nose and mouth.) Upon entry, the influenza virus

launches a cellular invasion. Once a virus invades a cell, it replicates a copy of itself and proceeds to release

the new viruses, who repeat the process again and again.

The body mounts a counter attack. Fortunately, the immune system possesses a memory for previous

infections. In time, it creates and releases anti-viral antibodies, including “killer” T cells, which seek out and

destroy an invading virus, blocking its progression. But many things may complicate or thwart our bodily

defenses. If a virus makes a mistake—and doesn’t copy itself exactly—a mutation occurs. A virus that has

mutated can “reassort” itself, and in so doing becomes deadlier. The mutated virus disarms the immune

system, which cannot recognize it. If the virus doesn’t mutate, it means it has become “genetically” stable.

(Compounds such as acyclovir or Tamiflu are specifically engineered to disarm and further weaken the power

and spread of the virus.)

Researchers at the American College of Sports Medicine and Appalachian State University

in North Carolina recently announced that people who exercise receive an immune boost. (However,

there is also evidence that excessive or extreme exercise has the opposite effect, and actually suppresses

immunity.) Judicious exercise also helps counters inflammation. and may reduce illness by up to 50 percent

according to this newest study.

Stories abounded of farmers (and evenone account of a nun) testing out thiscowpox/smallpox premise with humansubjects. However, if actual smallpoxmaterial was used in theirexperimentations, the hoped-for vaccinesometimes actually killed rather thansaved the patient.

By some accounts, a Dorset, Englandcattle breeder, named Benjamin Jesty,had experimented with crude

How did it happen that a countryphysician cum scientist in 1796purportedly, and almost single-handedly,stopped a plague? A vitally importantconnection established—between milkmaids’ cowpox-marked hands and amuch more virulent, scarring diseasecalled smallpox—spurred the practice ofvaccination and the study of immunology.

20

?Who Stopped Smallpox andHow?

Today, any scientist who works in infectiousdisease or immunology stands on theshoulders of a man named EdwardJenner, who did pioneering work in thelate 1700s. Two centuries ago, rumorsheld that cowpox exposure could preventor mitigate smallpox. (For smallpox,sometimes called simply the pox, wasonce estimated to kill 400,000 annually inEurope, but two million worldwide.Scientists estimate that another 20 to 60percent of smallpox victims lived.)

cover story


vaccination as early as 1774. Jestyvaccinated himself and his family withcowpox some 20 years before a Britishphysician named Jenner set out to provethat vaccination (his coined term) withthe less lethal virus, cowpox, worked toprotect against the often-deadlysmallpox. Jenner formally named theprocess vaccination, based upon theLatin word vaccinus. Vaccinus translatesto: “of or derived from a cow.”

And so it happened that it was Jenner’swell-publicized work with humansubjects which eclipsed Jesty’s. TheGloucester doctor (Jenner) famouslyinfected the arm of a young boy first withcowpox pus and subsequently tested itsefficacy against smallpox. Jenner’s workeventually helped halt a plague—something no royal edict could do.

For disease was immune to rank andprivilege. The pox’s victims includednobles across Europe. Airborne, andeasily transmitted via infected poxmaterial—a blanket, handkerchief, orpiece of clothing—it swept across allsocial classes without discrimination.

In 1562, Elizabeth I fell ill with smallpoxand, unexpectedly, survived. Henceforth,the monarch wore heavy makeup todisguise the trademark facial scars it left.Many rulers were less fortunate. Smallpoxfelled Pharaoh Ramses V, two queens,two kings, a tsar and an emperor. Smallpoxvictims included Queens Mary II ofEngland and Ulrika Elenora of Sweden;Kings Louis XV of France and Luis I ofSpain; Tsar Peter II of Russia andEmperor Joseph I of Austria. Mary II’syoung son, the Duke of Gloucester, diedof smallpox as well, and historians mentionthis smallpox death as also having endedthe Stuart family’s dynastic longevity.

(Historically, the term the pox alsoreferred to syphilis. But it was smallpoxthat decimated enormous numbers ofinnocently infected peasants andnobility, adults and children.)

Who Stopped Smallpox andHow?

Jenner re-approached the boy weeksafter his first experimentation. The boyhad contracted cowpox, which wasunpleasant but not lethal. This time, here-infected the child’s arm with smallpoxmaterial. The eight-year-old’s survival wasa scientific triumph for Jenner.

Could the ends justify Jenner’s means?It’s unthinkable today to contemplatethat scientists would use uninformedchildren and innocents to test apotentially lethal vaccine. Yet Jenner alsoknew smallpox’s victims died or weremaimed in staggering numbers.Eventually Jenner even tested the vaccineon his own son. Jenner (who lived from1749-1823) was said to possess bothaudacious courage of his ideas and nosmall talent for self promotion.

By 1776, Jenner’s forays into vaccinationfinally offered promise of immunityagainst a viral plague that had ravagedfrom Africa to Asia before spreading toEurope and on to the Americas. Thishorrific plague gave birth to a big andvery important idea—that of immunology.Jenner’s estate near Gloucester ispreserved as the Edward Jenner Museum,and is a tribute to his accomplishment.

However, the concept of vaccines wasneither new nor original to either Jenneror Jesty. Attempts had been experimentedwith long before the 18th century.Experimentation with inhalation ofpowdered smallpox scabs (calledvariolation) originated in Asia in the 1700s.Again, this was a dangerous preventative,and took victims of its own. The son ofKing George III, a boy named Octavius,died of smallpox variolation.

In America, a slave owned by CottonMather first introduced Mather to theconcept and practice of variolation.Jenner, who published his findings in1798 (Jesty had never published hisexperimentations) effectively spared theworld further blindness, disfigurement ordeath from smallpox. By the late 1940s,smallpox no longer presented a

STAY WELL AND BOOST YOUR

IMMUNITY!

Researcher Valerie Cadet shares with

readers the same advice she shares

with family:

· Wash your hands.

· Listen to your body.

· Eat properly. (“It’s true; I’ve seen it

with myself.”) If you don’t take care

of yourself, you get run down, then

you’re more susceptible to catching

cold and different viral infections.

· I believe there’s merit to taking

vitamins; in addition to eating properly,

take vitamins and supplements.

· Sleep!

significant threat. Now smallpox wasviewed as an infamous event in thetimeline of infectious diseases.

By the middle of the 20th century,smallpox was considered an eradicateddisease. But what if history repeateditself and smallpox raged once again? And what if smallpox was loosed acrosscontinents and the disfiguring, incurabledisease was out of control once more?

At UGA, scientists are trying toanswer that “what if?” To this day,there is no known cure for smallpox.

poxvirus for almost every vertebrate thatexists, Cadet’s work is solely withpoxviridae.

Silencing the Gene

What is the hoped outcome of Cadet’swork? She hopes her RNAi research willprovide a specific means to block thereplication of the virus.

“A virus hijacks the cellularmachinery. If I can block the generationor translation of virus messenger RNA,the virus will never be able to replicate.”

Cadet breaks the methodologydown. “The process, by which foreign,double-stranded RNA is recognized anddegraded by specialized proteincomplexes within many eukaryotic cells,is believed to be an evolutionarilyconserved defense mechanism againstRNA viruses and transposable elements,”she writes in an email. “A method inwhich the introduction of double-stranded RNA into a cell inhibits theexpression of genes.”

Cadet uses algorithms that plug inthe genome and uses two strands ofvariola virus (the smallpox virus) andtwo strands of vacinnia virus (thecowpox virus), as well as a couple ofstrands of monkeypox.

“In 2003 we had the first outbreakof monkeypox in the westernhemisphere. With the help of scientistsat the CDC and Dharmacon, we lookedat six genomes and plugged them intothe system to find areas of similarityamong the different viruses.”

If Cadet’s able to identify them, intheory they should translate to otherpoxviruses, including strains ofmonkeypox.

Again, the goal is to find a therapeuticintervention, should there be a needto fight smallpox or a monkeypoxoutbreak. “There are some antivirals butnone specifically approved. In recentyears, poxviruses have mutated aroundspecific antivirals.”

How is cowpox transmitted?“Typically from contact,” says Cadet.(Remember those English milkmaidsthat inspired Jenner’s work? Cowpoxscars often marked their hands andforearms.) “The smallpox virus isairborne or spread by contact.”

Multiple Roles for aSerious Scientist

Today, the mother and scholar hasfound her true passions. “I love what Ido,” says Cadet with gusto. “But being a

mother has always been my passion.” She is multi-lingual, like her own

children. Growing up, her first languagewas French. Cadet is a first-generationAmerican, born of Haitian parents. Athome she spoke conversational Frenchor Creole.

Creole, a patois, is a colorfullanguage. “Sak passé?” Cadet asks andtranslates: “‘What’s happening?’ It’s theCreole expression, the catchphrase

A “Golden Era” for Vaccines

Since Edward Jenner introduced immunology to the world, we have had vaccines in our arsenal of defenses. Antivirals

and vaccines made headlines world-wide with the threat of an H1N1 pandemic.

The profits and advancements in vaccines have rekindled pharmaceutical companies’ interest in producing them. Vaccine research

certainly isn’t confined to viruses—research is now underway to produce vaccines for everything from malaria to Alzheimer’s

disease. According to the Associated Press, companies such as Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson are racing to take advantage

of what is described as a “golden era” of private sector partnerships in getting vaccines to the marketplace. The market research

firm Kalorama Information predicts vaccine sales will reach $39 billion by 2013 —up from $8 billion in 2004.

cover story

continued from page 18


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everyone knows. The answer is: ‘Na’pboulee,’ which literally means, ‘I’mburning,’ but it actually means, ‘I’mcool.’”

She laughs and indicates a pictureof her parents. “My mom’s been here solong, she speaks what I lovingly callCringlish, a mixture of Creole andEnglish, when she’s talking to us.”

As a mother herself, Cadetoccasionally worries when her son, MarcAntoniyo, and daughter, Elena, are sick.She knows the many pathways androutes of infection, but tries to besensible.

“Well. Yes and no,”she says with alaugh. “Sometimes I feel guilty andwonder if there was something Ishould’ve done to prevent them fromgetting a cold or fever. That’s the parentside of me.” But as a scientist, her alarmdoes grow if her child’s fever goes toohigh. She knows all the symptomologyof disease.

“I never had the flu growing up ortook a flu shot. It wasn’t until I startedhere at UGA, when I was working in thelab, where it was recommended to havea flu shot my first semester.” Cadetpresented her arm, and just like her son,she reflexively closed her eyes as thesmall needle found its target and piercedher skin.

Cadet could visualize the immuneresponse it triggered as clearly as shecould see the comedy of the situation asshe sheepishly re-opened her eyes. Self-consciously, the good scientist laughedaloud. She already knew why sheneeded the flu shot. She didn’t have toask; it was her job to find answers.

For Further Reading: Fenn, Elizabeth.Pox Americana: The Great SmallpoxEpidemic of 1775-82. G

http://issuu.com/action/openurl?url=http://verizonwireless.com

24

One Lifetime

BUT MANY LIVES

Contained Within

for This UGA Scholar

A ZEAL FOR LEARNING

A ZEST FOR LIFE

A ZIPPITY ATTITUDE

At age 96, Sarah Carlton Proctor approaches her own centennial, and is currently auditing two classes while

debating another graduate degree.


Ganschow are also on her list of much-

admired academics. Geographer Clifton

Pannell is another. It’s a long list, and it

keeps growing as she adds classes.

Proctor pays great attention to these

chosen professors, and takes courses that

enhance her world travels. And the

professors themselves are learning from

Proctor, an intellectual bon vivant. In an

interview last year, Vance commented,

“She shows the path to a full life…a

hunger to learn more.”

Lately, Proctor, a triple Dawg who

completed a master’s in education in

1973 and a specialist’s in education in

1975, is hungry again. She’s thinking of

returning to Graduate School for further

studies. One fine August morning she

presented herself to the Graduate School

to begin the process. Proctor, replete in

hat and patrician summer garb, spurred a

flurry of responses—graduate assistants in

jeans, tank tops and Nikes spilled out of

cubicles to see the woman with the

hungry mind who has been studying for

decades and who intends to continue,

well, forever.

And why not, Proctor wonders?

“I’m not interested in any more

degrees,” she says. “I’m 96! I’m just

satisfying my curiosity.”

Testing Traditions

While she may admire, even embrace,

tradition, Proctor clearly is of different

minds. There is the traditionalist and the

free-thinking Proctor. The traditionalist

married at age 24 and had three children.

Proctor lives in the same house she has

occupied since 1948 as a young mother. It

is so close it’s practically in the university’s

pockets. She still attends the same church

(First Presbyterian). As for modern

inventions, she doesn’t care for them, she

says, especially computers. “I don’t have

a computer. I don’t have any computer

problems,” she ad libs, “but I rely upon

Uncle Sam’s mail and Fed Ex.”

The free-thinking Proctor decided

she wanted to return to school when her

children were grown circa 1963.

“I was 50 and most of the students

were 20,” she marvels. Taking two courses

each quarter she finished her

undergraduate degree in business

education. She began teaching at age 55

at Clark Central in Athens. Five years later,

her husband, Henry Clay Pearson, Jr.,

whom she called “Daddy,” died.

“It (teaching) not only gave me

something to do, but something that felt

like the right thing to do.” It was

something she never wanted to stop but

did, retiring in 1982 at age 70.

Athens Forever!

Proctor remains stubbornly, ardently

dedicated to Athens, her home since she

and her husband moved there in 1940

when he accepted a job with the YMCA.

“All of my children live west of the

Mississippi,” she sighs. She has dug into

the heart of Athens, with its leafy streets,

colorful student life, an important

museum blocks away, and good lectures

and fine company easily had. “What on

earth would I do west of the Mississippi?”

she asks archly. “I would be bored to

death!”

“I only will leave Athens,” she

pronounces, with a dignified intake of

breath through the nose, mouth firmly

drawn, “feet first. Preferably dead.”

Her eyes narrow behind the wire-

rimmed glasses. “Yes,” she repeats,

“that’s right. Feet first.”

Hungering to experience more of

the world, Proctor began to travel broadly

after her husband’s death. She met a

fascinating man named Jack Proctor in

the Atlanta airport. Their conversation en

route to the Soviet Union on a UGA

alumni tour led to a six-week courtship,

which led to another happy marriage. The

pair traveled happily until his death four

years later.

Always, Proctor studied. She signed

up for one or two courses a semester. Her

BY CYNTHIA ADAMS


hese are a few of Sarah Carlton

Proctor’s favorite things: Oscar

Wilde and George Bernard

Shaw, history, the classics, political

science, The Banner Herald, The

Economist, the Georgia Museum of Art,

her family, a close community of friends,

and travel. Then, there are the

pleasantries that make life worthwhile:

good manners, gracious living, hot teas

and pre-warmed tea cups, long lunches

where she catches up on Athens’ gossip

at a good table with a central view of the

crowd, hats, sparkling brooches and a

good story well told.

She evokes Katharine Hepburn in her

memorable turn in the film On Golden

Pond. Like Hepburn, Proctor strikes a

determined, elegant figure and has lived

long enough to earn a few innocent vices.

Unlike Hepburn, she is no Yankee but was

born and raised in the South proper—

Savannah, Ga., and surrounding salt

marshes near the Isle of Hope. Her

southern accent is saline-tinged and is as

precise as her mind.

A Hunger to Know…

Sarah Carlton Proctor, 96, known to her

intimates and classmates as “Ms. Sarah,”

flings a pink mohair shawl around her,

gathers her purse, and then tests the

door. Satisfied, she heads out to lunch

with apologies about the walker. Only her

gait is slowing.

She has a great deal to talk about

over lunch. She discusses her approach—

a personal manifesto—about continuing

education. It boils down to this: keep

continuing! Find good professors and

latch onto them! In some cases, Proctor

has taken every course a professor

teaches. John Vance, an English professor,

is one she follows closely. Historians Kirk

Willis and Professor Emeritus Thomas

T

blue eyes grow serious as she discusses

how lifelong learning has expanded,

filling her life.

You could not invent Proctor; she’s

much too colorfully complete to spring

from the imagination. With her tan-

colored Tilley hat embellished with pins,

the colorful scarves looped about, and

proud carriage, she cocks an eyebrow,

laughs, and listens intently. Proctor

believes in the give-and-take of social

exchange. She especially believes in good

manners and southern gentility. She

reminds just how much civility has been

lost as she listens politely without

interruption, and comments often, “That’s

right.”

Even more than the value of civility,

Proctor demonstrates a consciously

cultivated capacity for growth.

And that is absolutely right.

26

Salt-Water Love: Proctor says her

early life in Savannah created a

permanent longing to be near or in

water. “I like to get some part of me

in water!” she says. While in the

Soviet Union, she wanted to dip her

toes into the Bay of Finland, and

did. Her new admirer, Jack Proctor,

obliged her and escorted her to the

water despite freezing

temperatures, and the memory is

especially happy.

Sarah Carlton Proctor discusses her approach—a personal manifesto—about continuing education. “It boils

down to this: keep continuing!“ Wearing her signature Tilley hat with a bee brooch attached, Proctor cuts a

very colorful figure throughout Athens.

G


become well educated, and then theymade real contributions to the world.

“The people contained in thesepages inspire me; we are all participatingin history and we can all be agents ofchange in the times we are born into nomatter the circumstance. Those whowent before us at UGA understood this;they strove to be more, know more andcontribute more. The graduate students,faculty, and administration inherited thistradition—to collaboratively lift ourvision, our sights, ever higher.”

Centennial: Graduate Educationat the University of Georgia 1910-2010 is now available for $29.95 at thecampus bookstore. For furtherinformation, contact the GraduateSchool at 706-425-3111.

his postcard archives for the project.Doster’s private collection includes morethan 10,000 early Georgia postcards,and it is believed to be the largest inexistence.

“Graduate education is criticallyimportant to the future of our society,”says Grasso. “This book expresses how itcontributed to the intellectual andeconomic welfare of the State ofGeorgia and the nation as well.”

In the book’s foreword, she wrote:“When we sing the alma mater, and saythe words about the rising sons anddaughters, and the rising hope ofGeorgia, I always think of the graduatestudents—they are our rising hope.Since arriving at the University ofGeorgia in 2002, my dreams and hopesfor graduate education have only risenhigher and higher. Yet even my greatestdreams are exceeded by the spectacularscholarship and academic superiority ofgraduate education at UGA.

“We stand on hallowed groundwhen we walk through the Arch andenter the familiar, beautiful site of one ofAmerica’s oldest and most revereduniversities. Here at UGA, the men andwomen who attempt great thingsscholastically surely set their sights upona distant star. Often against the greatestodds—wartime, discrimination, povertyand hardship—they elevated themselvesand their world by claiming their right to

BY CYNTHIA ADAMS


ean Maureen Grasso

announces the publication of

a new commemorative book,

celebrating 100 years of graduate

education at the University of Georgia.

Centennial: Graduate Education at the

University of Georgia 1910-2010 is

available for purchase through the

Graduate School, which will receive all

proceeds from the sale. The 128-page hardback book

contains profiles of alumni as well ashistoric and new photographs of boththe campus and town of Athens. “Oneof the initial reviewers called the book ‘ajewel,’” says Grasso.

Centennial: Graduate Educationat the University of Georgia 1910-2010 was developed and produced bythe Graduate School Magazine’seditorial team. It was written by CynthiaAdams and designed by Julie Sanders.The book’s images were edited byNancy Evelyn.

The book contains new imagesproduced by Evelyn, as well as archivalphotos from the collection of theUniversity of Georgia Libraries andfrom the collection of Gary Doster.Doster is the author of seven books onGeorgia history, including A Post CardHistory of Athens, Georgia, which waspublished in 2002. He lent full access to

Centennial: Graduate Education at the University of Georgia 1910-2010 Released to Commemorate Historic Milestone

Graduate Educat ion at the Univers i ty of Georg ia ��-��

cynth ia adams

centennial

D

WE STAND ON HALLOWED GROUND when we walk through the Arch and enter the familiar,

beautiful sight of one of America’s oldest and most revered universities. Here at UGA, the men

and women WHO ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS SCHOLASTICALLY surely set their sights on a distant star.

G

Gradu ate Educat ion at the Univers i t y of Georg ia ��-��

cynth ia ad ams

centennial

28

scholars for tomorrow

BY CYNTHIA ADAMS


uring the past year, Drew

Swanson, a fellow for the

Wormsloe Institute for

Environmental History, has been

composing a land-use history of

Wormsloe Plantation working from

existing archives. In the course of this

work, Swanson describes the physical

landscape of the site from the colonization

of Georgia to the mid-20th century,

explaining what the forests, marshes and

fields of the plantation looked like over

time, and how the property’s residents

thought about their surrounding

environment.

D


Wormsloe’s

Belly

FOOD forTHOUGHT

at the Table ofOne of the SOUTH’S

WORKINGPLANTATIONS

24


But now, he’s taking a different tack:what exactly did Wormsloe residents eat,and what can be learned from this? Withthe recent publication of the article“Wormsloe’s Belly: The History of aSouthern Plantation through Food,”Swanson gives us an intriguing glimpseand offers us a seat at the table. He isalso in the preliminary stages ofresearching a book.

“Scholars have written a good dealabout the Jones/De Renne/Barrowfamily that inhabited Wormsloe, butrelatively little about the plantation itself.As far as we can determine, Wormsloe isthe only tract of Georgia land that hasremained in the same family from theTrustees’ era to the present day. Thatpermanence of ownership has helpedpreserve the property in a relativelyundeveloped state, and I believe it offersus valuable management lessons forpreserving lands of natural and culturalsignificance along the coast in thefuture,” Swanson says. “At the present Iam in the process of converting thatland-use history into a book manuscript,with the generous help of the instituteand advice from the various facultyinvolved with Wormsloe. In thismanuscript I am attempting to not onlytell the story of a particular Lowcountrylandscape, but to connect local

environmental changes and evolvingconceptions of nature with broadernational and global themes.”

Q. How did you first becomeinvolved with this project?

A. I got involved with the WormsloeInstitute through a stroke of gook luck.My advisor, Paul Sutter, serves on theinstitute’s Science Advisory Council. AsI understand it, the council was searchingfor a history graduate student to createthis land-use history, and Paul thought ofme. I, of course, jumped at the chanceto become involved with such afascinating piece of Georgia’s past.

Q: Let’s get into the kitchen—yourown. Are you a cook yourself ?Have you tried anything interestinglately that is out of your comfortzone, like the items you mentionedin your article?

A: I am the cook in the household, andMargaret, my wife, eats most of what Ifix without complaining, so I guess I ampassable in the kitchen. But by no meansam I a gourmet. I would equate mycooking skills with my experience in foodhistory; I am an enthusiastic amateur atboth.

I grew up in rural Virginia andspent much of my time on a small farmwhere my family produced much oftheir food, so I have a fairly widecomfort zone. In fact, two of my favoritedishes as a child were venison heartsandwiches and fried squirrel, and mymother and grandmother preparedeverything from snapping turtle to porkbrains and eggs the morning after hog-killing. That being said, I stumbledacross a number of recipes in theWormsloe papers that gave me pause.Two that leap to mind are “calves headà la terrapin,” and pickled oysters. Ithink I will pass on both.


Wormsloe's plantation house, shown

above left, is the residence of Craig and

Diana Barrow, founders of the Wormsloe

Institute for Environmental History.

Scholar Drew Swanson, shown above, right.

20


Q: Do you read food memoirs, likethose of MFK Fisher or JuliaChild?

A: I do. It seems like no matter what sortof food you aspire to write about, Fisherhas already written something terriblywitty and insightful. I am particularlyfond of Craig Claiborne’s cookbooksand recollections of growing up in theMississippi Delta. He seemed able tosimultaneously convey the comfort andthe simple elegance that I admire insouthern cooking. I also enjoy thecontemporary food writing of John T.Edge and John Egerton, among others.

Q: The article just published is inthe tradition of what you referenceas culinary historical work, whichwe knew as cultural anthropologi-cal work back in my own gradschool days. Tell me how your ownstudy is a reflection of the interdis-ciplinary work at Wormsloe, andhow this differs from traditionalhistorical research.

A: This Wormsloe project has a numberof scholars from different disciplinesdoing work on the site—from GISprofessors mapping the historic andpresent landscape to ecologists workingwith local flora—and their research hashelped my study immensely. Drawing ontheir work has encouraged me to thinkabout alternate ways of finding evidenceabout the past, and records of food andeating have proven a fruitful way ofconnecting people’s actions to theWormsloe landscape. There are anumber of periods where the letters,diaries and other narrative sources aremissing, and for those stretches accountsof food purchases, recipe books andgarden lists proved exceptionally helpful.The article “Wormsloe’s Belly” cameout of that process.

That being said, I am not sure that

there is such a thing as “traditionalhistorical research.” Historians arealways confronted with stories that haverich sources in some places and are thinin others, and they have to think of waysto flesh out the records of the past. I dobelieve that records of food and eatingare an exceptionally productive set ofalternative sources, and I hope my workencourages historians to look evenharder at these sorts of records. After all,eating is a universal action across timeand space, one of the human constants.

Q: Have you actually tried any ofthe foods you cite in this article onWormsloe's diet?

A: Part of my childhood was spent nearthe Chesapeake Bay, and a lot of whatwe ate involved many of the ingredientspopular in Lowcountry cooking, so anumber of the dishes served on 19th

century Wormsloe seem familiar. I lovegumbo filé and fried oysters, twopopular historic dishes, and I still oftenprepare meals involving okra, shrimp,sweet potatoes, wild game, rice, andhoecakes. Our meals tend to be a littleless elaborate though; it is tough tosqueeze a five course meal into theweekday work schedule!

Q: Any cautionary tales for us asAmerica's relationship with foodbecomes more and more institu-tionalized? When was the last timesomeone pulled oysters out of thebay and ate them, or threw afishing line out and caught theirnext meal—and what happens as we lose these immediateconnections with our food?

A: I think there is a certain morality inknowing where our food comes fromand what is involved in its production. Itis only through understanding the basicconnections between production and


consumption that we can act asresponsible consumers. When we relycompletely on others to raise andprepare our food we miss out on one ofour most basic links to nature; we beginto mistake fruit roll-ups for fruit and fishsticks for fish. As you can tell, this is a bitof a soapbox issue for me.

That being said, I think there are anumber of folks out there, both scholarsand popular writers, that are doing atremendous job raising awareness aboutthe importance of healthy food andtraditional foodways. Michael Pollanand Barbara Kingsolver are two of thebest known, of course, but people likeJohn Soluri and Douglas Sackman aredoing equally interesting work oneveryday foods. I think this sort ofscholarship is vital, as industrial foodcontinues to dominate most people’sdaily diets.

Q: The lens trained upon culturalmores via food and eating isespecially fascinating (esp. therecipe for the terrapin soup—something my grandmother and

father liked!). Do you plan topursue this further?

A: I have thought about writing a bookdescribing an attempt to prepare theseOld South dishes. What I envision at thispoint is a book of 50 or so recipes—ranging across the region and theculinary spectrum—that documents myefforts (or struggles) to prepare eachdish. I would walk readers throughassembling the ingredients, following therecipe, and using my family as guineapigs tasting the food. I think it would bean entertaining and enjoyable process,but it would also be an opportunity todiscuss basic elements of historicfoodways, hopefully in a way that will bemore engaging than the averagescholarly monograph.

I believe there is great value inscholarship that makes an honest effortto delve into the nitty gritty details of its

34

subject, whether that involvesagricultural scientists who tend theirown small farms or environmentalhistorians who go out and get mud ontheir boots. A project of this natureappeals to me because it would force meto examine some of the practical issuesof 19th-century cooking: exactly howdoes one make filé powder or clean aterrapin? Obviously I cannot reproducethe full historic experience (for example,I doubt Margaret will let me build abrick cooking hearth in our home), but Ithink there is great value in activities thatengage the past with our hands as wellas our heads.

Of course I have a dissertation andthis Wormsloe project to complete first,so it may be a little while before I can getaround to this food project...but when Ido, you are invited over for chicken pilauand shrewsbury pudding. Wish me luck!

For Further Reading: Drew A. Swanson,“Wormsloe’s Belly: The History of aSouthern Plantation through Food,”Southern Cultures 15, 4 (Winter2009): pp. 50-66. Swanson’s article ispart of a special southern foodwaysissue, The Edible South, available now.


G

At left, the Wormsloe Greek Revival

library. The library formerly housed

a collection of Georgiana, which

now resides in the De Renne

Collection at UGA. G. W. De Renne,

a descendant of Noble Jones,

acquired important letters and

documents, including some

belonging to Benjamin Franklin and

General Robert E. Lee.

At right, Drew Swanson studies

Wormsloe photographs in the

Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript

Library at UGA.

Flora’s Recipe for Cooking Terrapins

“Cut off heads and let them bleed. Put into a pot of scalding

water to take off black skin. Then parboil and cut up. Throw

away entrails but reserve liver, and put eggs aside to be

dropped in the stew a minute before serving. Stew meat and

shell thoroughly. After the meat is done enough to be scraped

from shell take out of liquor, pick out bones and pick the meat

from shell. About half an hour before dishing, put meat and

liver into a fine boil with liquor which ought to have been well

skimmed while the whole was boiling and kept hot. Season

with thyme allspice, black pepper, onion cut fine, salt and

butter. Stew with sufficient quantity of liquor until well done.

Just before dishing, thicken with flour and butter, and the raw

yolks of five eggs (to four terrapins). Add a wine glass of sherry.

Only the brown meat ought to be served in stews and soups.”

Recipe book, mid-19th century, De Renne Family Receipts and Remedies,mss 1120, folder

11, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Collection/University of Georgia Libraries.

�

�

36

Before Dallmeyer’s speech, Dean

Maureen Grasso of the Graduate School

discussed scholarship and how the honorees

“should be proud of the academic

achievements that brought you here.” The

guests were honored for their academic

achievement by senior administrators,

including Jere Morehed, vice president for

instruction and associate provost; Bob Scott,

associate vice president for research; Deans

Andy Horne, College of Education, Daniel

Nadenick, of the School of Environmental

Design and Laura Jolly, College of Family

and Consumer Sciences; and Mark Harrison,

chair of the College of Agricultural and

Environmental Sciences Graduate

Committee.

Here’s the question I pose for usall—Why are we here? Having been agraduate student, first in geology andthen law school, ‘free food and drink’ arean obvious answer. But let me pose thequestion to you three ways.

First—why are we HERE—bythat, I mean why is the University ofGeorgia here in the first place? MertonCoulter, the great UGA historian, wrotethe following about choosing the site forthe university:

After debating various eminences,they agreed on a small plateau highabove the Oconee River where it swirleddown over some rocks near a clump ofcedar trees.... [T]his region was unques-tionably beautiful in all its primevalglory, and its streams of cool, clearwater. Abraham Baldwin had long heldthat just such scenes should surround acollege....

The springs also became the sourceof scientific inquiry itself.

[President Josiah] Meigs seemednever to be quite content unless he weremeasuring something or seeking anexplanation for some force of nature.He found out that the campus springwould flow 9,000 gallons of sparklingwater in twenty-four hours in May oronly 7,700 gallons in January....

We are here in part because of theway nature sustains us, not onlyphysically, but emotionally andspiritually. This university was set up toprovide for the acquisition of knowledgein the broadest sense—book-learningand self-knowledge—and to be aware,each day, of our intimate connection tothe natural world. So promise me that

either when you leave here this eveningor some time soon, certainly before youleave Athens, that you will look aroundyourself at your place in nature, theanswer to why are we here.

The next way to ask the question isWHY are we here? A flip answer mightbe ‘I couldn’t get a job,’ but surely that’snot your only reason. I suspect that foryou, there’s more to it than money, moreto it than simply adding value to theeconomy. No one puts in the grindinghours of sitting still doing tedious things—in my case, counting microfossils orreading law texts—only because ofsome future monetary payoff. You arepeople who are deeply curious abouthow the world works, how to hone yourtalent to move others with your music or

Why Are We Here?

Dorinda G. Dallmeyer, a member of the Graduate School Advancement Board, gave the following address to

fellowship awards and assistantship recipients on August 26, 2009, in Athens. Dallmeyer, who is the director of

UGA’s Environmental Ethics Certificate Program at the School of Environmental Design, also teaches environmental

dispute resolution and marine environmental ethics. She is a triple dawg, who holds a graduate degree and law

degree. She serves on the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council, and is also a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations. She is past vice-president of the American Society of International Law.

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Here was someone who could help mecombine my knowledge of marinescience with international law. For LouisSohn, his students were paramount.This man, the only member of hisfamily in Poland to survive theHolocaust, gave himself so abundantlyto us.

3. I also had the great privilege to work with Dean Rusk at the law school. Wehad things in common we enjoyedtalking about, especially having spentour childhood on dirt roads in ruralGeorgia. Mr. Rusk made the most of hisintellect and love of learning to becomeone of the pivotal figures in Americanhistory. Yet after he left government, heplaced himself at the service of hisstudents, the university, Athens, and thestate, setting an indelible example for usto follow.

So we come to the question, whyare WE here? When the originaltrustees established the University on ahill by the Oconee in 1785, they musthave seemed like dreamers. 125 yearslater in 1910 when our graduate schoolwas established, less than 10 percent ofthe U.S. population graduated from highschool. The graduate school’s founderswere dreamers, too. WE are herebecause of their dreams.

All of you have received prestigiousawards of financial support from theGraduate School. In my time, I was abeneficiary of those funds, too. I was thefirst person in my family to receive acollege degree, and the University has

nurtured me across decades as aprofessional. I know what a differencegraduate education has made in my life,how much I owe to people I never met.As Georgia author Harry StillwellEdwards counseled ‘The value ofmoney is not an inherent element; thevalue lies in the handling of it. Give andgive and give to the cause of education.Here is your field, the workshop of yourdollars.’ Across those 40 years I havealways given what I could to helpunderwrite scholarships and fellowshipsfor people like me, like you. And Iencourage you to begin—before youever leave—to give back, as part of theanswer to the question ‘why are we here?’

art or words, how to feed people, how toheal people and the world.

You will master your field in greatdepth. But hold yourself open tobroadening the reach of your mind asyour path crosses that of other studentsand your mentors in ways you couldnever plan.

Let me give you three examplesfrom my own life.

1.When I began my master’s programin geology studying deep-sea foraminiferafrom the eastern Caribbean, my majorprofessor Barun Sen Gupta didn’t sendme off on some tropical cruise inturquoise waters. Instead I went toHalifax, Nova Scotia in January tosample cores that were archived in afreezer! My long hours of microscopework revealed that the relativeabundance of different species of thesesmall, one-celled organisms changeddepending on glacial cycles, that thedeep tropical ocean was affected by whathappened at the poles. This may haveseemed esoteric at the time, but 30 yearslater, there’s hardly anyone who is notfamiliar with global climate change.

2. The year that I entered the UGA School of Law, Louis Sohn joined itsfaculty, after 38 years of teachinginternational law at Harvard. ProfessorSohn also was one of the leadnegotiators for the United States at theUN Conference on the Law of the Sea.

“You are people WHO ARE DEEPLY CURIOUS about how the worldworks, how to hone your talent to move others with your music or artor words, how to feed people, how to heal people and the world.

—Dorinda G. Dallmeyer

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38

John Douglas Powers (MFA ’08)recently took seventh place in the 2009ArtPrize competition, which is based inGrand Rapids, Michigan. The prizecarried a cash award of $7,000.Douglas, currently an assistant professorof sculpture at the University ofAlabama at Birmingham, won for hiswork Field of Dreams. The sculpturewas profiled in the Winter 2009 issue ofthe Graduate School Magazine.

In 2008, Powers was among 15emerging artists who won MFA grantsfrom the Joan Mitchell Foundation inNew York. That year he also receivedthe 2008 Southeastern College ArtConference Individual Artist Fellowship.

Field of Dreams is a kineticsculpture measuring approximately 4.5feet high, 14 feet long and 10 feet wide.According to the artist’s statementprinted on the ArtPrize Web site, it iscomposed of 1001 vertical “reeds” heldin place and supported by an articulatedwooden assemblage connected to anelectric motor via a series of offset cams.

F I E L D O F D R E A M SA W INNER IN 2 0 0 9A r t P r i z e C ompe t i t i o n

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in br ief

In 1910, when the University of Georgia Graduate School was formally established, less than 10 percent of the population of theUnited States graduated from high school. By 1940, only 3.3 percent of the population of Georgia held a bachelor’s degree orhigher. Today, 24.3 percent of Georgians hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 24.4, the national average.

“More than 58,000 individuals who hold graduate degrees from the University of Georgia touch our lives everyday,” saysMaureen Grasso, dean of the Graduate School. “Whether it’s teaching our children, creating new drugs, addressing critical healthissues, managing hallmark programs, or contributing to our local and global communities in other ways.

“Our graduates make positive changes in a variety of settings—from leading large corporations to inventing new technologies,to serving in nonprofits or working in the government. Their contributions enhance our quality of life and help ensure thedemocratic ideals of a nation. They make a difference!”

Last fall, the Graduate School saw its largest enrollment ever, with a total of 7,125 students. The Graduate School also sawenrollment increases of African-American students increase 5.6 percent over 2007. Latino graduate students increased by 9.6percent. Further information on graduate programs and enrollment initiatives can be found at www.grad.uga.edu.

En ro l lm e n t s S o a r i n g as Graduate Alums Exce l- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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Melissa Barry was appointed assistant dean of the Graduate School onDecember 1, 2009. According to Dean Grasso, Barry will work with increasing andmanaging graduate enrollment at the University of Georgia. She will also coordinaterecruitment activities, with the goal to further diversify the graduate student body.

Barry previously served the Graduate School from 2004 to 2008, whilecompleting her doctoral degree in educational psychology at UGA. She is a doubledawg, who also holds an MEd in school psychology. While earning her doctoraldegree, Barry worked with the PhD Completion Project, a program funded by theCouncil of Graduate Schools. She has previous professional experience working atthe Georgia Department of Education in strategic planning, project management,research coordination and data analysis.

MEL I S SA BARRYNAMED A s s i s t a n t D e a n

New records are being set withincreasing numbers of UGA scholarsreceiving awards from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for the academicyear 2009-2010, according to anannouncement released by the universityin September. Four of the 10 UGAFulbright recipients are doctoral students.

According to the public affairs bureau,the doctoral students chosen for theprestigious Fulbright include: Christine Beitlof Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., David Porcaroof Winterville, Julie Rushmore ofAlpharetta, and Desiree Seponski ofStatham. Each were chosen to receivegrants designated for research and study. Afifth recipient, Samantha Haggard ofAtlanta, recently earned a master’s degree.

FULBR IGHT SCHOLARS : RECORD NUMBER OF R EC I P I ENTSf o r C u r r e n t Ye a r

Beitl, whose doctoral studies are in ecological and environmentalanthropology, will investigate adaptationof local fishermen to environmentalchanges while in Ecuador. She will also study grassroots conservationorganization. Beitl has also been offeredthe Fulbright-Hays Doctoral DissertationResearch Award.

Both Porcaro and Seponski aredoctoral students in the College ofEducation. Porcaro, a Presidential fellow,is a doctoral student in learning, designand technology. He will travel to Oman,where he will create a multi-medialearning module at Sultan QuaboosUniversity. Seponski, a doctoral studentin child and family development will

study in Cambodia. Her focus is creatingculturally responsive family therapyprotocols for Cambodian therapists andclients.

Rushmore is earning doctorates inboth ecology and in veterinary medicine.She will travel to Uganda where herresearch concerns close-contact pathogentransmission rates and African great apes.

Haggard, a May 2009 graduatestudent who received a master’s degreein foreign language education withteaching certification, received anEnglish Teaching Assistantship Grant.Haggard will spend a year studying inArgentina.

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Christine Beitl (measuring shellfish with

children in Ecuador)

David Porcaro Julie Rushmore

Desiree Seponski (with children in Cambodia)

NANCY EVELYN

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40

Graduate SchoolAdministration

Maureen Grasso

Dean

David Knauft

Associate Dean

Melissa Barry

Assistant Dean

Judy Milton

Assistant Dean

Tonia Gantt

Business

Krista Haynes

Admissions

Enrolled Student Services

Tom Wilfong

Development

The Graduate School at theUniversity of Georgia hasbeen enhancing learningenvironments and inspiringscholarly endeavors since itsformal establishment in 1910.Through our professionaldevelopment programs andfunding opportunities, wepromote excellence ingraduate education in alldisciplines

This year the Graduate SchoolMagazine received the APEX Award forPublication Excellence for the Winter2009 issue. The award was given in July2009. The 21st annual award program,sponsored by Writing That Works,recognizes publications work byprofessional communicators in bothnonprofit and for-profit organizations.Publications are evaluated based uponexcellence in graphic design, editorialcontent, and overall communicationseffectiveness.

According to the APEX judges,3,785 entries were evaluated and awardswere presented in 11 categories. Othersrecognized in the magazines and journal

Graduate School Magazine WINS APEX AWARD

category with UGA’s Graduate SchoolMagazine included St. Joseph’s Hospitaland the United States Air Force. Thisyear, there were no other universitymagazines recognized. Last year, themagazine also won an APEX award forthe summer 2007 issue.

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During the Thanksgiving holiday, DavidKnauft, associate dean of the Graduate School,delivered 249 pounds of food to the Food Bankof Northeast Georgia. The donated foodstuffswere contributed by Graduate School staff andgraduate students.

The Food Bank’s annual food drive, whichran between November 11 and November 25,played off the competitive rivalry between theUniversity of Georgia and Georgia Tech. PittingUGA against Georgia Tech, the “Tech FoodFight” turned rivals’ competitiveness into anopportunity for generosity. The drive sought toraise more than 50,000 pounds of food forGeorgia families in need. Knauft proudlyreported that the Graduate School, as well as theentire university, responded.

“The number of people in our local community who are in need of support forlife's basics, including food, continues to increase,” says Knauft. “The Graduate Schoolis pleased we could play a small role in contributing to the Food Bank of NortheastGeorgia to help some of our neighbors with the food they need.”

T h e M i l k (Peanut But t er, and CannedGoods) OF HUMAN K INDNESS

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GraduateWinter2009 Vo l u m e 4

Number 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

headliners who made history

alvetta thomas’uga dream p.4

saving preemies!p.14

p.8

NANCY EVELYN

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PAIDATHENS, GA.PERMIT NO. 165

www.grad.uga.eduEditor/Writer

Cynthia Adams

Design

Julie Sanders

Photo Editor

Nancy Evelyn

© 2010 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 from Verizon Wireless.

The University of Georgia Graduate School

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Athens, Georgia 30602-4401

706-425-3111, FAX 706-425-3096

said John Dewey, a progressive-minded educator. As of 2010, the University of Georgia has

fostered graduate education for a century. Today, thousands of Graduate School alumni are at

work in the world, empowered by an advanced education, using their gifts for the greater good.

Edu-Dawg, Kelly Stevens Anderson, artist

the last word

See Page 36 FOR DORINDA DALLMEYER’STAKE ON Why Are We Here?

see page 27FOR NEWS ABOUT THE

Graduate School’s

NEW BOOKCentennial:Graduate Educationat the University ofGeorgia 1910-2010.

PLEASE CONS IDER US ING THE Ways ToGive Envelope INCLUDED IN THIS FINE

PUBLICATION.

“The fundamental purpose of education is to put people in posession of their powers,”

ANDREW ROSEN

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