Two newly configured academic units—the School of Public and International Affairs and the College of Environment and Design—will produce graduates who are better equipped to solve the problems of the 21st Century

B Y - D O U G - M O N R O E - ( A B J - '6 9 )

s international tensions flare and terrorism invades our shores, as urban sprawl dulls the senses and air quality is a daily cause for concern as near as Atlanta, the University of Georgia is moving quickly and decisively to produce graduates who will be better equipped to solve the problems of the 21st Century.

At the urging of President Michael F. Adams, the University has created its first two new academic units since 1969. The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and the College of Environment and Design (CED) officially began operations this fall. They bring together a critical mass of talent and expertise that will give a real-world focus to academic areas where UGA was already considered strong.

"The formulation of these new academic units," says Adams, "addresses the educational needs of students while at the same time tackling critical issues facing society."

SPIA is an evolution of the traditional political science department into three academic divisions: a reconstituted political science department, a new Department of International Affairs, and a new Department of Public Administration and Policy. The dean is Thomas P. Lauth, who had served as chair of the political science department since 1988. A specialist in public administration, Lauth briefs new state legislators every two years on the arcane world of budgeting and finance.

CED fuses two award-winning units—the Institute of Ecology and the School of Environmental Design—into a new college headed by former environmental design dean Jack Crowley.

A one-time UGA professor who made a name for himself in urban planning and downtown development projects and then headed the greening of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Crowley's task is to guide the merger between the practical world of landscape architecture on North Campus—the largest program of its kind in the nation—with the academically focused and world-renowned Institute of Ecology on South Campus.

School of Public and International Affairs

egents Professor Loch Johnson descends to the bottom of a pit-like auditorium in the Journalism-Psychology complex, sheds his sport coat, and hooks a microphone to his tie so 250 students can hear him in the only class on campus required by law: Political Science 1101, Introduction to American Government. Each year, 4,000 students take the course.

"Today, we're going into the president's closet," says Johnson. "During the Clinton Administration, that could be dangerous."

The students laugh and Johnson goes on to describe the five hats worn by the president of the United States: public opinion leader, legislative leader, chief administrator, chief diplomat, and commander-in-chief of the military.

Author of the prescient book, Bombs, Bugs, Drugs, and Thugs: Intelligence and America's Quest for Security, Johnson was infused with the idea of creating a new, expanded school for public policy and service while studying nuclear weapons strategy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and lecturing at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton.

"I was overwhelmed with the excellence of what they were offering," says Johnson. "Not so much the abstract theory but the emphasis on preparing young people for public service."

Johnson drew up a proposal to create such a school at UGA, shared it with colleagues in political science, then took it to Adams and then-provost Karen Holbrook. With their blessing, combined with support throughout campus, he took the necessary steps to win formal approval. He made his case before University Council and in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Senate, which was asked to relinquish one of its most popular and revered departments.

"It was torture by medieval standards," Johnson admits. "It was pure politics. But we're well prepared to do that here. It's what we study and teach."

The proposal squeaked through the Franklin College Senate by one vote out of nearly 50. Representatives from history all voted no. They were concerned that the departure of a top department like political science and its 1,100 majors would diminish the quality of a liberal arts education.

"I kept telling people, 'We're not moving to Macon. We'll be right here,'" says Johnson. "Nothing will be really different except we'll have a new college dedicated to preparing young people for a career in public service."

The timing of the creation of SPIA is propitious. After the horrendous events of Sept. 11, 2001, student interest seems to be shifting to government.

"The world has changed and there is a greater demand for a school like this," says Johnson, who is an expert on the U.S. intelligence community. "There has been a great increase nationally in the number of undergraduate applications for government jobs—state department, defense department, intelligence services, U.N., you name it. Before 9/11 most of the students I ran into were interested in business or law. Now more and more of them are interested in public service."

Stefanie Lindquist, a political science professor who also teaches law, says today's students care about everyone's future, not just their own. "They're concerned about the common good," says Lindquist. "This is a time of crisis. Classrooms are buzzing. This is a great time to be teaching about government. All of us are energized by the new school."

The new degrees offered by the School of Public and International Affairs will equip students with the critical skills needed for jobs in government, foreign service and non-profit organizations. For the first time, UGA will offer undergraduate degrees in international affairs, public policy analysis, and public administration.

"Before 9/11, most of the students I ran into were interested in business or law. Now more and more of them are interested in public service."—political science professor Loch Johnson

Dean Lauth believes SPIA will help reverse the trends toward anti-government sentiment and a lack of civic involvement that have existed in America in recent decades.

SPIA's master's degree in public administration, ranked sixth nationally by U.S. News & World Report, is specifically designed to train students for careers in government service. Lauth notes that a large proportion of the federal workforce is going to retire in the next few years, so opportunities for jobs should be plentiful.

Also under the umbrella of the new school will be two respected research organizations: the Center for International Trade and Security (CITS) and the Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS). Headed by political science professors Gary Bertsch and Han Park, who are actively involved in peace-keeping efforts in the former Soviet Union and Korea, respectively, CITS and GLOBIS provide real-world service and research opportunities for UGA faculty and students. For example, CITS researchers testified before the U.S. Senate in September that current international agreements are insufficient to control the spread of sensitive components used to make weapons of mass destruction.

The new school also retains close ties to the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, which offers opportunities for students and faculty to interact with government officials.

Candler Hall, which overlooks Herty Field on North Campus, is being renovated and will serve as SPIA's new home beginning next fall. Lauth also hopes to find a way to construct a new building for the school by the end of the decade. He has hired a director of development, Laura Horne, who will join him in looking for foundation dollars to help fund the school's expanded activities. Faculty members will be encouraged to obtain external funding for their research as well.

Funding directed to the new school by Karen Holbrook will make it possible to hire seven new faculty members, which Lauth says couldn't have happened before. The long-time political science dean also acknowledges that the new school, with its expanded offerings in public policy and international affairs, is even more of a lure for top students than the highly regarded political science department was.

"We've got an exceptional faculty and we're adding to it," says political science doctoral student Brian Harward. "It became clear that if we were going to compete for the best students, we had to reflect where the discipline was going and what the top-tier institutions were offering.

"I'm quite pleased about the creation of the school. It extends what we already did so well to all sorts of opportunities to make interesting connections with other elements of the University, in particular the College of Environment and Design and the law school. Before, we weren't as aggressive in making those connections. But the nature of what we are doing is going to require that we make the connections now."

Loch Johnson notes that the emphasis on careers in public service does not mean SPIA will be a vocational school, as research and academic demands will be even more rigorous.

"We're just taking the extra step," says Johnson, "and applying the research to real-world problems."

But he can't contain his enthusiasm in talking to his Political Science 1101 class.

"Maybe there's even a future U.S. Secretary of State in here," he tells the busy note-takers. "It wouldn't be the first one from Georgia. One of the best diplomats this country had was Dean Rusk, who grew up in Cherokee County and was on the faculty here."

College of Environment and Design

hile UGA geneticists were making headlines around the world by successfully cloning a cow that had been dead nearly two days, a studio course in the College of Environment and Design was doing something along the same lines: planning how to bring a degraded urban stream back to life.

Dean Jack Crowley took his penchant for real-world action to the street last summer, asking faculty and students from both design and ecology to draw up plans to resurrect Tanyard Creek from its concrete bed that runs through campus before disappearing beneath Sanford Stadium.

"It's so hidden most people don't know it's there," says Jessica Buesching, who is working on her master's degree in landscape architecture. She curated an October exhibit in the Circle Gallery on the first floor of Caldwell Hall titled "Exploration and Discovery: Field Studies 2002." The exhibit summed up the promise of the new college by showing that students and faculty already are working across disciplines to bring practical solutions to real-world problems from as close as a campus creek to as far away as Costa Rica.

Buesching took part in Crowley's Tanyard Creek Summer Studio, and she proudly points to two team designs that would turn the creek into a paradisiacal park, just south of the Tate Center, with an ecologically protected 100-foot buffer filled with native plants.

The designs, which have been presented to the University for further study, show exactly what the new college can do to marshal its talents to improve the environment without even venturing off campus.

"We have three missions," says Crowley. "A research mission—what do we need to know to solve the problem; a teaching mission—what kinds of professional practitioners and scientists do we need to develop to go out and address the problems that are sitting in front of us; and a public service outreach mission—can we assemble the expertise to go out and solve the problems?"

In order to practice what they preach, Crowley and his faculty will tackle an ambitious 40-acre project at the Lamar Dodd School of Art building on Jackson Street at the eastern edge of North Campus. When the art school moves to its new building on East Campus, the College of Environment and Design will inherit the old building and the area around it.

During the summer of 2001, the first formal interdisciplinary course between design and ecology was conducted to design plans for the CED campus, led by professors William Ramsey from Environment and Design and Amy Rosemond, assistant director of the Institute of Ecology. The result was an innovative plan, requiring perhaps 20 years to implement, that would transform an area that extends from downtown Athens to the Oconee River, bringing a hidden stream into daylight, providing housing for students, and devising self-contained wastewater treatment facilities.

"The idea," says Crowley, "is to build an exciting, live-in laboratory that is the campus itself and that is sound ecologically." In Crowley's view, the creation of the new college brings out the best in the distinctly different disciplines beneath its umbrella.

"Ecological scientists might be developing new knowledge on ecological systems and the environmental design faculty might be applying that knowledge to problem solving," he says. "The continuum we talk about is developing new knowledge and solving problems."

Environmental planning will also be added to the mix.

"Now the college offers the full gamut," says Crowley. "It offers ecology, conservation, sustainable development, landscape architecture, and historic preservation. The missing link is environmental planning, which is physical planning. How do you physically plan to make both natural and social environmental sense and how do you make sure it's aesthetic?"

From a practical point of view, the new college has to bridge some significant gaps in where faculty are located. The ecologists are spread around South Campus, while the designers are on the northern edge of North Campus.

"The faculty bought an eco-bike to try to get across campus more quickly," says Amy Rosemond of the Institute of Ecology, "but with all the construction going on and all the hills, it hasn't worked out that well."

"Ecological scientists might be developing new knowledge on ecological systems and the environmental design faculty might be applying that knowledge to problem-solving."—Dean Jack Crowley

Allen D. Stovall, director of the master's degree program in landscape architecture, acknowledges there is concern about the tenure track because design faculty often have a master's as their terminal degree, while ecologists tend to hold doctorates. But Stovall says the additional scientific expertise will help improve the way his students approach urban design and seek solutions to problems such as heat islands and glare.

Laurie Fowler, an attorney who holds a joint appointment with the law school and Institute of Ecology, says the creation of the college "will mean access to the best minds in design and ecology working together. We're already seeing it: many students are taking classes in the other institution."

Fowler led a course in which students from ecology and design produced a plan for the Etowah River watershed in the fall of 2001 that won a national design award.

Buesching has already encountered opportunities for synergy. "It's been great," she says. "I've gotten so many ideas from ecology that I never thought of. We have a new pool of ideas to work from."

Hugo Collantes, an ecology graduate student, will take his practical knowledge home to Peru, where he hopes to avoid the mistakes he's seen Atlanta make. What drew him to UGA was the powerful reputation of the late emeritus professor Eugene Odum (see Back Page). As an undergraduate, Collantes studied Odum's classic text, Fundamentals of Ecology.

"Up until the day he died," says Crowley, "Gene was actively participating and advising us on how this college ought to be constructed."

Rosemond believes the new college perfectly fits Odum's philosophy: "He said that until you blend art and science, and social science and physical science, you're never going to get environmental problems solved. He took a holistic approach."

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