Monday, January 10, 2000
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of public service at UGA, the annual Public Service and Outreach Conference opened Dec. 16 with a panel discussion about the past and the future of the public service mission. Panelists included former UGA Fred Davison, who is currently president and chief executive officer of the National Science Center Foundation, and Tom Murphy, speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. Some excerpts from their presentations:

Davison: “When I came here there was a consistent undercurrent of conversation about research, service and instruction, and the competition among them. . . . But this institution deals in one thing, and that is the learning experience. . . . It’s a truism that if you teach someone you create freedom, but if you help them without teaching them you create dependency.”

On public service in the digital future:
Davison: “There are certain things that can only be handled person to person. . . . It’s going to take an even more sophisticated program of public service to handle the digital age . . . more personal contact, not less.”
Murphy: “Well . . . it won’t affect me, for the simple reason that I don’t know how to turn the computer on. . . . History teaches us that all these things will never replace what’s up there in that gray matter, and that’s where you [service faculty and staff] come in.”
--Beth Roberts
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