March 1999: Vol. 78, No. 2

KNAPP'S PORTRAIT UNVEILED Former president Charles Knapp and wife Lynne were back on campus in January for the unveiling of his official portrait, which will hang in the conference room at Lustrat House with portraits of Knapp's predecessors. Painted by Atlanta artist Bruce Hafley, the Knapp portrait shows UGA's 20th president in an academic robe standing in front of a map of East Campus, which Knapp helped create before leaving the University in 1997 to lead the Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute. "I'm proud to be on the walls with Abraham Baldwin, Josiah Meigs, Fred Davison, and Henry King Stanford—all people I admire," said Knapp. "When you sit in their chair, you understand a lot about what it takes to lead a major university." Events surrounding the unveiling included a luncheon, a campus reception, and a black-tie dinner sponsored by UGA trustees at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead.

They said it TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS Writer, naturalist, and environmental activist Terry Tempest Williams spent a week on campus in October visiting classes and delivering lectures. The author of eight books and three anthologies, Williams argues that the restoration of community, wildness, and natural harmony begins in imagination. "When we talk about wildness, ecosystem, and community, in my mind the one underlying emotion is love." "I don't know of any place that isn't under siege from mining, development, and greed. What are our small acts of reclamation? How do we begin to see the world as whole, even holy?" "There is a tremendous longing among us for a sense of connection. We're tired of living these lives of fragmentation. I think a great revolution is coming. In the same way I think great writing comes out of a sense of loss, social change comes from crisis. I have tremendous faith in the power of people." ALEX KOTLOWITZ Alex Kotlowitz, an award-winning writer on race and poverty, delivered the Charter Lecture Nov. 2 in the Chapel. Kotlowitz is the author of There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America and The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, a Death and America's Dilemma. "Part of my obsession with race is that I believe race and poverty are American fault lines. And yet they're the things we have difficulty talking about. A quarter of a century ago, race was part of everyday discussion. Today it haunts us silently." "For a writer, the question is, how do you engage people who might not otherwise talk about the subject? So much of the story about race is about absence. There's nothing harder than writing about absence." KURT VONNEGUT Kurt Vonnegut, author of Slaughterhouse Five and Hocus Pocus, among other works, spoke to a packed audience in Georgia Hall on Oct. 28. Vonnegut, 75, expounded on a range of subjects. On divorce: "We don't have extended families. When husband and wife fight, it's not about power, it's not about sex, it's not about money . . . He/she is simply saying, 'You are not enough people! You are just one lousy person.'" On enjoyment: "When things are going sweetly and peacefully, pause for a moment, and say, 'If this isn't nice, what is?' We are on earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different." On technology: "All that [hi-tech] stuff is so redundant. I don't mind getting up and walking to the shelf, and flipping through the pages with my hands. When I write and mail letters, I feel as if I am feeding a great big bullfrog painted blue, and that's nice." CARL BERNSTEIN Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporter who helped break the Watergate scandal, spoke Dec. 3 on the state of the media. He has worked for ABC, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. He's the co-author of All the President's Men. "The huge media companies of this country continue to erase the distinction between real reporting—the best obtainable version of the truth—and a radical sensation and celebrity and scandal machine . . ." "For the first time in our history the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideals. Good journalism is popular culture, but it's popular culture that informs the consumer, rather than that which appeals to the ever-descending lowest common denominator."

All Rhodes lead to Oxford for Shapiro

When Beth Shapiro was in the 10th grade, she auditioned for the morning anchor position at the Rome, Ga., TV station. People laughed at her. College grads with broadcast journalism degrees were applying for the job, and everyone doubted Shapiro would get it, even though she already worked at the station as a camera operator.

Shapiro got it, and spent the next two years arriving at the station by 6 a.m., anchoring the morning news, and getting to high school during second period. At the end of the school day, she'd head for the soccer fields or to drama practice before returning to the TV station to write, produce, videotape, and edit stories.

Ecology student Beth Shapiro is UGA's third Rhodes Scholar in four years.

Shapiro also maintained top grades, was president of her school's chapter of the National Honor Society, and graduated as salutatorian. But her crowning honor came this past December when she was selected as a Rhodes Scholar, one of 32 from the United States for 1999. She is UGA's third Rhodes Scholar in four years.

"I'm really honored by this," says Shapiro. "I think it will be important in my career as a scientist, and I hope I can live up to all the opportunities offered me there."

There is Oxford University in England, where she will begin classes for a doctoral degree in evolutionary biology this September. This spring, Shapiro will graduate from UGA with joint bachelor of science and master of science degrees in ecology.

Shapiro is UGA's 18th Rhodes Scholar, and she was the only student from Georgia honored this year. She follows '98 Rhodes recipient Scott Hershovitz of Duluth and '96 recipient Rob Sutherland of Dunwoody. Shapiro is a Foundation Fellow, UGA's most prestigious scholarship program for undergraduate students, which provides full tuition, travel-study grants and opportunities to participate in special activities.

Though she came to UGA to study broadcast journalism, Shapiro soon realized she wanted to be a research scientist. With the help of the travel-study grants offered through the Foundation Fellows program, she visited Costa Rica and Panama, and plans an additional trip this spring.

"I'm delighted because Beth is a superb student, is always challenging, and is a pleasure to teach," says ecologist John Pickering, Shapiro's major professor. "The Rhodes gives her a wonderful opportunity to develop the community ecology that she's learned at UGA in Oxford's strong program in evolutionary biology."

The challenge is likely to be just another spate of delight for the energetic Shapiro, who has taken Chinese just for fun, tutored other students, and is active in several honor societies.

"This is ecology's second Rhodes Scholar in four years," says Pickering. "It's fantastic the quality of students we're now attracting. We're on a roll!"

Phil Williams and Sharron Hannon

Carters to receive inaugural Delta Prize

Former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalyn Carter have been chosen as the recipients of the inaugural Delta Prize for Global Understanding, a new award administered by the University of Georgia through a grant from the Delta Air Lines Foundation.

The Delta Prize was created to recognize groups or individuals for "globally significant efforts that provide opportunities for greater understanding among nations and cultures."

The Carters' contributions to global understanding include the former president's peace-keeping missions and the couple's work for Habitat for Humanity.

The Carters will be honored at an April award ceremony in Atlanta. Preceding the event will be an afternoon symposium that addresses their personal efforts to further world peace as well as the work done through the Carter Center at Emory University.

"The creation of the Delta Prize for Global Understanding demonstrates the University of Georgia's commitment to advancing international understanding and cooperation," says UGA President Michael F. Adams. "We are delighted that the inaugural award will go to Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, who truly embody what it means to be a world citizen. And we are grateful to Delta Air Lines for partnering with us to make this award possible."

The Delta Prize includes a $10,000 cash award, plus an original work of art designed by Gary Noffke, a professor in UGA's Lamar Dodd School of Art.

The selection of the prize recipients was determined by a distinguished international board appointed by Adams and including Maurice Worth, Delta's chief operating officer.

UGA's Center for International Trade and Security and Center for Humanities and Arts solicited nominees for the prize from around the world. Selected students were involved in researching the work of those nominated and preparing information for the selection board.

The nomination process for the Delta Prize to be presented in 2000 is currently under way. To suggest candidates, visit the Delta Prize web site. To learn more about the Carter Center, go to this address.

Chancellor Portch's pop quiz

Chancellor Portch told students that millions of new jobs will be opening up in the next decade and that they will be living in a "knowledge-based economy."

When Chancellor Stephen Portch paid a visit to campus in December, he gave a pop quiz to his audience at the Chapel. How many of the chancellor's questions about UGA, Georgia, and the University System can you answer correctly?

1. How much has UGA's enrollment grown in the last 10 years?
a. 9 percent b. 27 percent c. 35 percent d. 42 percent

2. In fall 1998, what percentage of UGA students were African Americans?
a. 6 percent b. 9 percent c. 22 percent d. 26 percent

3. What was UGA's average freshman SAT score in FY98?
a. 974 b. 988 c. 1173 d. 1290

4. How different is UGA's average SAT today than 10 years ago?
a. 4 points higher b. 8 points higher c. 40 points higher d. 63 pointshigher

5. What percentage of 1998 college-bound seniors took calculus in high school?
a. 11 percent b. 17 percent c. 25 percent d. 35 percent

6. What percentage of UGA freshman received the HOPE Scholarship in fall 1997?
a. 73 percent b. 79 percent c. 89 percent d. 90 percent

7. What is the average state appropriation per UGA student in FY99?
a. $6,429 b. $6,820 c. $8,684 d. $14,033

8. What was the total dollar amount for UGA's research grants and contracts in FY97?
a. $26 million b. $37 million c. $126 million d. $197 million

9. Where did the state of Georgia rank in the U.S. in percentage of persons 25 and over who had at least a bachelor's degree in 1996?
a. 45th b. 37th c. 26th d. 14th

10. What is the projected increase in occupations requiring a college degree from 1996 to 2006?
a. 7 percent b. 14 percent c. 25 percent d. 32 percent

Answers: (1.) 9 percent; System 27 percent (2.) 6 percent; Tech 9 percent, System 22 (3.) 1173, incl. full-year admits; fall quarter was 1191; System 988, Tech 1290. (4.) 63 points higher; System 8 points (5.) 17 percent; U.S. 25 percent (6.) 90 percent for all freshmen; fall class 95 percent; System 73 percent (7.) $14,033; System $8,684 (8.) $126 million; Tech $197 million (9.) 26th (10.) 25 percent

TV correspondent Michel McQueen

McQueen: U.S. needs honest race reporting

Emmy Award winner Michel McQueen, a news correspondent for ABC-TV, delivered the 14th annual Holmes-Hunter Lecture on Nov. 5. Speaking on the current state of race relations in America, McQueen said:

"I think it's almost as if we're in a marriage in this country where divorce is not possible, and yet we will never fully commit ourselves to a more fulfilling relationship."

McQueen argued the necessity of reporting the whole truth about newsmakers. "You know, nobody's Martin Luther King Jr. And nobody's Bull Connor," she said. "We have traces of each man in all of us."

Ted Turner will speak at May 8 commencement

Ted Turner, vice chairman of Time Warner, will be the spring commencement speaker. The May 8 ceremony is expected to begin at 9 a.m. in either Sanford Stadium or Stegeman Coliseum.

As vice chairman, Turner oversees Time Warner's cable networks division, which includes several networks that he created (TBS, CNN, TNT, Superstation, Turner Classic Movies), and several sports teams (Braves, Hawks, Thrashers) that he owned before he merged his interests with Time Warner. Turner also oversees Home Box Office, Cinemax, New Line Cinema, CNN/SI, Cartoon Network, and Time Warner's interest in Comedy Central and Court TV.

Turner received a personal Peabody Award from UGA last year for his contributions to the broadcast-cable industry. As commencement speaker, he will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

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