|
|
Columns::December 2, 2002
$6.3 million gift to Georgia Museum of Art honors painter
$3 million in new grants, contracts will support research on weapons of mass destruction
MRI now available for veterinary patients
Fall enrollment up at UGA and Gwinnett University Center
What all the buzz is about
Professor’s childhood interest in botany blossoms into career in plant pathology
Fanning Institute appoints associate director
Kudos
The bottom line
Military briefing
Campus News
Seminar focuses on UGA’s role in building ‘emergency-response community’
By Chuck Toney
ctoney@uga.edu
Approximately 75 UGA faculty, researchers and administrators attended a Nov. 13 seminar on the university’s role in homeland
 |
|
Asa Boynton
|
security efforts. The day-long meeting at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education featured a keynote address by L.Z. Johnson, director of the Center for Domestic Preparedness, a unit of the Department of Justice, as well as presentations on security and preparedness on campus, research opportunities, and training and continuing education.
The Office of the Vice President for Research organized the meeting.
“We are looking for ways to cooperate with colleges and universities to ensure that we are fulfilling our obligation to you,” said Johnson. “We have been engaged in dialogue with UGA for the past 18 months and look forward to continuing that as we work together to prepare the emergency-response community.”
The Center for Domestic Preparedness, located in Anniston, Ala., is capable of training up to 10,000 people per year. Training is available at several levels, ranging from the introductory to advanced sessions during which trainees are exposed to live agents such as nerve gas and Sarin.
 |
| Corrie Brown |
Asa Boynton, associate vice president for public safety, spoke about security issues that are unique to university campuses.
“The war on terrorism has created a strange set of circumstances for research universities like UGA,” he said. “The openness in academia is the weakest link in the chain of security. There must be a cultural change in academia. This does not mean that we have to change what we do, but it does mean changes in the nuances of security.”
Boynton’s office has established a security council and is in the process of developing a Web site for distribution of information about safety issues.
Corrie Brown, a professor of pathology and expert on agroterrorism in the College of Veterinary Medicine, described agriculture as the “soft, white underbelly of American security,” which could be attacked by terrorists after other targets have been hit. She described UGA’s role as one of 12 labs designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of a nationwide diagnostic response system.
 |
|
Cham Dallas
|
UGA also is a participant in the Center for Security of Agriculture and Environment, an organization established by Georgia Tech, which is seeking funding for research. Jeff Fisher, head of the department of environmental health science, addressed issues of funding opportunities.
The university also is involved in a variety of training and continuing education opportunities, according to Cham Dallas, head of the interdisciplinary toxicology program in the College of Pharmacy. For example, in fiscal year 2002, UGA received $820,000 for the Center for Leadership in Education and Applied Research in Mass Destruction Defense. |
|
|
|
|
