Student News
Emily Lewis
 Emily Lewis, a spring 2006 agribusiness graduate from Conyers, Georgia, has been riding horses since the age of six and especially enjoys the English discipline. A member of the UGA Women’s Varsity Equestrian Team, she is a three-year letter winner. As head of the Special Events Committee on the Equestrian Team, she was in charge of inter-squad competition, helping coaches organize regular competitions. In high school, Emily was the AAHJA year-end high point winner in long stirrup division and placed third in equitation division.
While in college, Emily was on the Dean’s List, the Director’s Honor Roll for six semesters and was named to the SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll. She received the 2002-2003 Faculty Athletics Representatives Award for the team with the highest grade point average throughout the whole athletic department. She is a member of Pi Eta Sigma National Honor Fraternity and a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Emily participated in the Equestrian Team-sponsored after school program at Fowler Drive Elementary School and helped in fund-raising and participated in Relay for Life.
Abbey Williams
 Abbey Williams, a fourth year animal science major and agribusiness minor, is from McDonough, Georgia. She was selected as the Most Outstanding Junior in 2005-2006 and Most Outstanding Freshman in 2003-2004 in the Animal Science Department. In 2004, she was the winner of the Block and Bridle Club’s Freshman Workhorse Award.
Abbey served as rodeo chairman and club reporter for the Block and Bridle Club and as president and club reporter of the Dairy Science Club. She was a member of Blue Key, the Brass Gavel Leadership Society, the UGA Cattlemen’s Association, and the UGA Meat Animal Evaluation Team.
Abbey is fascinated by cows and interested in genetics and reproduction. She plans to go to graduate school in the field of genetics or possibly reproduction and then pursue a career working with beef cattle. She is open to any opportunities presented to her.
Church is very important to Abbey, and she is a member of McDonough Presbyterian Church. She enjoys volunteering to help those who are less fortunate than herself. Working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, she recently granted a 15 year old girl’s wish of being part of a professional rodeo. She enjoys working with children when given the opportunity.
In her leisure time, Abbey enjoys going to a lake and riding jet skis or fishing on the dock. She also enjoys listening to good music and going on road trips to fun events like rodeos or concerts. Most of all, she enjoys spending time with the people she loves and having a good time doing whatever seems like fun at the time.
So-jin Hwang
 So-jin Hwang (M.S. in agricultural economics in 2005) is now working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Korea. Previously, he worked for the Rural Development Administration in Korea. After Korea and the United States announced their intent to launch a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation, a search was initiated in Korea to find the right person to work on trade policy. So-jin’s education and experience at the University of Georgia qualified him for this unique position. While his main responsibility is to develop a proposal for changes in Korean and U.S. tariffs on agricultural products, he is temporarily working in the field of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Currently, he is working on plans to help refugees in Asia, including those from Afghanistan. One of his recent decisions was to invest $2 million in Mongolia to build a school. While his new job requires him to make tough decisions about where Korea will offer assistance, So-jin “loves” his work.
In his new position, So-jin is able to “put to good use” his areas of study at the University of Georgia. He states, “Thanks again to my school in Athens. UGA gave me a chance to change my life.”
Faculty News
Esendugue Greg Fonsah
 Esendugue Greg Fonsah, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the Rural Development Center, University of Georgia, Tifton Campus, was presented the 2006 President’s Volunteer Service Award. This award is presented by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation on behalf of the president of the United States in recognition of the best in the American spirit and to encourage all Americans to contribute through volunteer service. The award followed Dr. Fonsah’s two week assignment in Nanggung, Bogor, West Java and Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia where he assisted the World Agro Forestry Center, ICRAF and Winrock International in improving market linkages between small farmers, the fruit and vegetable industry and the government of Indonesia.
The Indonesian farmers with whom Dr. Fonsah worked are primarily small holders on or below the poverty level with access to less than two acres of land. They produce tropical fruits such as bananas, jack fruit, durian, mango, coffee, rambutan, pineapple, sugar palm, tea and papaya. Also, they produce vegetables such as black peppers, chili peppers, tomatoes, long leans, cucumbers, eggplants, spinach and other local varieties. Because these farmers do not employ advanced agricultural practices such as specialized inputs, irrigation and general farm management technologies necessary to improve quality and optimize yields, they are often unable to sell their produce because of inferior quality. There are no established marketing channels, farmer’s markets or linkages, and transportation is often a problem. Dr. Fonsah served as a volunteer marketing economic consultant to identify problems and recommend ways of improving small holders’ income.
In 2005, Dr. Fonsah was presented the Young Professional Award of the Southern Region and the Service Award for his service as Senior Director by the Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents (GACAA). His extension and outreach activities are focused on production, marketing, trade and policy for fruits, vegetables, and pecans. His research interests include agricultural marketing and consumer demand, agribusiness management, production economics, international trade and policy. Of special interest to Dr. Fonsah are international trade and marketing related issues. He provides updates on marketing and price information to help penetrate existing and new markets locally, regionally and internationally. By working hand-in-hand with other specialists, county agents, financial institutions, growers and the fruit and vegetable industry, Dr. Fonsah disseminates economic and marketing information to appropriate agencies and individuals. He develops enterprise costs and price trend analysis for Georgia Growers to help in their crop production decisions. To enable growers to take advantage of NAFTA and CAFTA-6 agreements and to facilitate exports to the member countries, he investigates, develops and provides new strategies. In addition, he conducts studies of the European Union (EU) import and export regulations to facilitate U.S. exports of fruits and vegetables to European markets.
Dr. Faonsah received a B.S. in Management and Executive Secretarial from Berea College in 1983, an M.B.A. in Business Administration/Management from Morehead State University in 1985, an M.S. in Agricultural economics from the University of Kentucky in 1987, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1993.
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