The year began with the arrival of Michael F. Adams, left, the university's 21st president, whose formal
inauguration took place in March. He undertook an administrative reorganization, including a search for a senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
P. George Benson was appointed to the deanship of the Terry College of Business and David E. Shipley was named dean of the School of Law. Both will begin in July.
Other new faces included Henry M. Huckaby, director of the Vinson Institute of Government; Robert J. Maier, Eminent Scholar in Microbial Physiology; and Patricia W. Daugherty, director of student activities.
A star-spangled year
Edward J. Larson, professor of history and of law, won the Pulitzer Prize for history for his book about the Scopes trial.
Susan R. Wessler, Research Professor of Botany and Genetics, was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, a career summit for the nation's top-ranked scientists. Wessler is the ninth NAS member at UGA.
For the second time in three years, a UGA senior won a Rhodes Scholarship. Scott Hershovitz received a bachelor's degree in political science and philosophy and a master's in philosophy at Commencement and will study at Oxford University next year.
UGA students also won several other prestigious national scholarships. Ellen Sutherland, a junior, won a Harry S. Truman Scholarship. Neeraj Chugh, a senior, was awarded a Predoctoral Fellowship in Biological Sciences from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Four students--Laura Feldman, Jessica Metcalf, William Schomaker and Dhea Tolla--received Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships.
Several faculty members were elected Fellows in national professional organizations: Wyatt Anderson--American Association of Arts and Sciences; Keith Karnok and Judith Willis--American Association for the Advancement of Science; Lynne M. Sallot--Public Relations Society of America; and Paul Bertsch and Al Smith--American Society of Agronomy.
Outstanding teachers
Katharina Wilson, comparative literature, was named 1997 Georgia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Henry Edwards, mathematics, received the Regents' Teaching Excellence award from the University System of Georgia.
National teaching awards also went to Carl Pomerance--Mathematical Association of America; Keith Karnok--Crop Science Society of America; Darrel Morrison--American Horticultural Society; and Amy T. Galloway, a psychology graduate student--American Psychological Association.
UGA gave its highest teaching award, the Josiah Meigs Award, to Jeanne A. Barsanti, Dan T. Coenen, Shawn M. Glynn, John G. Hollingsworth and Judith C. Reiff.
Innovations
Betty Jean Craige, director of the Center for Humanities and Arts, President Michael Adams and Gary Bertsch, director of the Center for International Trade and Security, announced the creation of the Delta Prize for Global Understanding, to be administered by the university with the support of an $890,000 grant from the Delta Air Lines Foundation. The annual $10,000 prize will recognize individuals or groups who have promoted peace and cooperation.
Dan Rather served as master of ceremonies at this year's Peabody Awards luncheon in New York. President Adams attended, along with Peabody winner Ellen DeGeneres, Peabody board chair Bruce DuMont and Peabody program director Barry Sherman. The awards program received a $481,000 grant this year from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation in support of programming dealing with health issues.
National attention
Money magazine called UGA an "unbeatable deal" for in-state students in the fall and UGA's Honors Program was highlighted by U.S. News and World Report. When that magazine evaluated graduate programs in March, programs in public administration and in education were among the nation's best.
According to Black Issues in Higher Education, UGA ranked 11th among major research institutions in number of black faculty members.
Uga V, having been declared "best mascot in the nation" by Sports Illustrated, went on to a featured role in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, along with his owner, alumnus Sonny Seiler. Seiler's support for his alma mater was acknowledged by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, which named him Volunteer of the Year for the Southeastern district.
The ever-changing campus
Sanford Hall, the new addition to the Terry College of Business, opened in the fall, with 15 classrooms, an executive seminar room and a student lounge.
The University Health Center moved to spacious new quarters on East Campus at the beginning of winter quarter.
Other new facilities dedicated this year included the Seney-Stovall Chapel at the Lucy Cobb Institute, the Dowden Center for New Media Studies and Adinkra Hall in the African-American Cultural Center. Construction began on a parking deck for North Campus and a new diagnostic laboratory at the College of Veterinary Medicine.Planning began for the much-needed student-learning center with the legislature's appropriation of $1.7 million for design.
Visiting stars
Hundreds of visitors to UGA offered inspiring and thought-provoking lectures and performances this year. Pulitzer Prizewinning writer John Updike was among those brought to campus by University Union; others were poet Nikki Giovanni and jazz pianist Marcus Roberts.
The numerous performances at the Performing Arts Center included a visit from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Yoel Levi, who is also Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Music.
The biennial Russell Symposium, jointly sponsored by UGA and the Russell Foundation, dealt with U.S. policy toward China. Participants included former Secretary of Defense William Perry, Sam Nunn, former U.S. senator from Georgia, and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The B-52's returned to Athens for a Homecoming performance.
Charter Lectures were delivered by Mary L. Good, chemist and policy maker; Roald Hoffmann, poet and Nobel Prize-winner in chemistry; and religion scholar Martin E. Marty.
Other speakers included Washington Post correspondent Juan Williams, the Holmes-Hunter Lecture; C. Peter Magrath, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, the Louise McBee Lecture; New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis, the Sibley Lecture; and former White House press secretary Larry M. Speakes, the first C. Richard Yarbrough Lecture.
Stanley Fish, professor of English and law at Duke University, and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Rick Bragg were among the many visiting artists and lecturers brought to campus by the Center for Humanities and Arts.
Student winners
The gymnastics team and Coach Suzanne Yoculan won UGA's fourth NCAA national championship in April.
Sophomore swimmer Kristy Kowal won the world championship in the 100-meter breaststroke in January.
A team of MBA students from the Terry College of Business took first place at the 15th annual Moot Corp competition in Austin, Texas. The UGA victory closed out the best year any university has ever recorded in business-plan competitions, with wins in all four leading competitions.
Three MBA students won the $10,000 first prize in the Sybase computer-programming competition.
University Union, UGA's student programming board, received the 1997 Excellence in Programming award from the National Association for Campus Activities. UGA's chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America was named the nation's outstanding chapter for 1997 for its strong PR work for the university and the community.
University Theatre productions this year included the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches. Playwright Tony Kushner was on campus to see the performance and to work with drama students.
Farewell
Several long-time administrators announced their retirement, including William F. Prokasy (vice president for academic affairs), Bruce Shutt (registrar) and Carlton James (director of human resources).
UGA mourned the loss of several members of the community: J.W. Fanning, UGA's first vice president for services; Joshua Laerm, director of the Museum of Natural History; Leon Hargreaves, dean of the School of Forest Resources for 11 years; Emily Quinn Pou, 20-year dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences; Bess P. Aderhold, widow of UGA President O.C. Aderhold; and C. Herman Terry, alumnus and university supporter for whom the Terry College of Business is named.
Former UGA swimmer Lisa Coole, who was named NCAA Woman of the Year for 1997 on the basis of her record-setting career at UGA, was killed in an automobile accident this May as she finished her first year of veterinary studies.
