Tags: State Botanical Garden of Georgia

digital mapping of the U.S. with blue dots
Saunt's USNewsMap wins NEH prize

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced the winners of the Chronicling America Data Challenge, and among them is Claudio Saunt from the department of history for his USNewsMap.com. The project maps patterns, explores regions, investigates how stories and terms spread around the country, and watches information go viral before the era of the internet: This site argues that newspapers better capture the public discourse because of…

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Willson Center Faculty Fellows 2016-17

Franklin College of Arts and Sciences faculty from an interdisciplinary cross section of research disciplines in the arts and humanities were selected as Willson Center Fellows for 2016-2017: The Willson Center [Willson Fellows 2016-17]  has awarded its 2016-2017 Research Fellowships to twelve members of the UGA faculty in the humanities and arts. These fellowships are awarded in partnership with the Franklin College of Arts…

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De-Mystifying the Humanities

Often shrouded in the mysteries of ancient texts, perceptions about what the humanities are and why we need them might persist until students enter a university classroom. A perhaps counter-intuitive model also exists, however; introduce them earlier: "If you look at what allows people to succeed at college-level math," says Grant, "you have to look at the foundation they receive from K through 12." It’s important to build those foundations,…

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A 'Big Picture' Education

No better time than Graduation Day to share this exit interview with outgoing president of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, Carol Geary Schneider. A prime advocate for the ideals of a liberal education and the skills today's graduates need most, Dr. Schneider is passionate about the value of a liberal education in the face skepticism in state houses and among policy makers: I think the most important thing…

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Georgia Debate Union finishes season ranked fifth in the nation

The hardwork and determination of students on the UGA debate team has developed a competitive advantage out of the stellar UGA undergraduate experience: The Georgia Debate Union at the University of Georgia finished the 2015-16 season ranked fifth in the varsity rankings of the American Debate Association. These rankings are based on an institution's success over the course of an entire season, which begins in mid-September and goes through the…

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Peace Corps Certificate Program

The intent of the partnership between UGA and the Peace Corps is to promote skills in four key areas identified by the Peace Corps as being essential to future volunteers: foreign language proficiency, intercultural competence, professional savvy and leadership, and other sector-specific skills. Many students enter UGA with much more on their mind than financial or material success: they want to make a contribution, positively affect the larger…

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A world of languages at UGA

Comment on dit, "world class university?" UGA has the programs and the people that make it second-to-none in teaching and learning foreign languages - a set of capabilities that is the sine qua non for a premier university: “It’s a truly diverse blend, that both harkens back to the roots of classical liberal arts education as it builds on the world as we know it today and looks forward to both the challenges and the opportunities of the…

Star Wars scroll
The Star Wars Gaze

Spoiler alert: No spoilers herein about the new film whatsoever. A 40-year-old essay with nearly 9,000 citations on Google scholar is the focus of a series of articles in the Chronicle of Higher Ed that, taken together, present an affirmative case for the humanities, and for understanding how popular art reflects our mores can introduce fascinating revelations that support positive individual and societal change: 40 years later, "…

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Humanities events recap

Similar to how the world was grieving and in shock after 9/11, many of the public records after Lincoln's death presented a nation in mourning, Hodes said, but individual feelings and reactions varied.  And religion professor Derrick Lemons recently hosted the mini-conference "Theologically-Engaged Anthropology:" Along with Lemons, the scholars met Sept. 20-22 in Atlanta to discuss what theology could contribute to cultural…

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Willson Center Grants and Awards

The deadline for Willson Center Research Fellowship applications is coming up next week, October 6: The Willson Center Research Fellowship supports excellence in arts and humanities research. Applicants must hold doctorate or equivalent scholarly credentials. Tenured and Tenure-track scholars are eligible to apply. Fellowships can be held every five years. The Willson Center Research Fellowships are intended to support…

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On truth

Astute piece in the Chronicle Review about the opportunism of disputing the truth that actually grew out of the academy: It’s not just garden-variety ignorance that periodically appears in public-opinion polls that makes us cringe or laugh. A 2009 survey by the California Academy of Sciences found that only 53 percent of American adults knew how long it takes for Earth to revolve around the sun. Only 59 percent knew that the earliest…

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National Humanities Alliance

When a university's humanities programs are strong, as they are at UGA, we don't hear much about the threats to instruction and research in its many disciplines. But that humanites strength on our campus comes from a supportive community that fosters collaboration at critical junctures - both physical and in time - that makes innovative faculty and student initiatives a reality. In other words, we recognize the importance of having the Willson…

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Kudos, April - May

Tremendous accomplishments by Franklin faculty of late, as noted below. But we share our our top item with great pride and no small measure of sadness as the Franklin College bids farewell and good luck to one of our great colleagues, Linda Bachman, as she begins an important new job at UGA: Assistant dean Linda Bachman has been named director of university experiential learning. Her appointment is effective May 1 in the Office of the Vice…

SE U.S. map
Mapping Reconstruction

This is certainly no joke, and already getting a lot of attention in the media. The digital humanities continue to take significant leaps forward with the use of maps as information graphics - and maybe they always have been, even in 2D, but add history, technology, data, narrative and... wow. Mapping Occupation, a recently launched web-based project by UGA and City University of New York historians, provides the first detailed look at where the…

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New home for the Willson Center

Support for and promotion of the humanities and arts might appear to be a lower priority in many instances, for reasons we need not go back through. But one thing (at least) remains clear: vigorous support for the humanities and arts lets all and sundry know how and where they are vital, while providing inestimable opportunities for faculty, students and the campus community. That describes our Willson Center, and in a mark of our campus…

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Table's Edge

Edge is interested in the stories that can be told about people through discussions about food and how those stories may help lead to better understanding across cultural lines. His organization's mission statement reads: "The Southern Foodways Alliance documents, studies and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the changing American South. We set a common table where black and white, rich and poor-all who gather-may consider our history and…


Imagining America

Connecting the arts and humanities to a democratic revivial in the United States is more than an intriguing idea - the future of the cultural and political ideals of a diverse nation hangs in the balance. And while that may sound like hyperbole, consider the headwinds of violence, apathy, low-voter turnout, politcal disillusionment and eroding trust in institutions into which American society has turned in recent years. As much as that 'decision…


Teaching Ferguson's lessons

Hot-off-the-presses is not usually a part of lesson plans in university classrooms - unless it is. History, political science, economics... social sciences and humanities classtime can easily and sometimes should be convulsed in topical isses. Faculty at institutions in the immediate area don't have the luxury of remove and often need to incorporate the events for multiple reasons. The Chronicle of Higher Education shares some lessons plans from…


The Humanities: towards greater empathy

News and current events today challenge us to be able to see the world from the persepctive of others. The more insulated we become - socially, economically, politically - the more difficult it can be to understand the broader issues and events swirling around us. Of course, an education steeped in the humanities can go a long way towards making us better people, better citizens who can relate to our fellow citizens constructively, who want to…


Changing the Humanities

It is difficult to defend the humanities and simultaneously champion the idea that they must change with the times. An article in the CHE shows the Mellon Foundation grappling with this contradiction: Other private donors and foundations—the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, for instance—foot the bill for occasional humanities projects. But the Mellon foundation and the National Endowment for…

US map
Uncommon History

The new book by Russell Professor of History and department head Claudio Saunt in gaining great interest right out of the gate, and for good reason: This interactive map, produced by University of Georgia historian Claudio Saunt to accompany his new book West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776, offers a time-lapse vision of the transfer of Indian land between 1776 and 1887. As blue “Indian homelands” disappear, small red…


Creative Curricula

The future of higher education is always a hot topic - though it can be difficult to predict from this side of the arch, front-loaded as we are with the present, if not the past. That being said, there are important elements of what we do and teach that, if arranged differently, could re-inforce traditional disiciplines and provide next-generation skills in the context in which they will be needed. For example, this Baltimore Magazine article…

the seven liberal arts painting
Do humanities compute?

Cheeky title but good article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on digitized humanities in the classroom: Colleges see the fresh digital focus as an opportunity to demonstrate the continued importance of the humanities. And students hope that credentialing themselves in this field, known as "digital humanities," will strengthen their job prospects. "Critical engagement with the digital infrastructure that permeates every aspect of our…


Georgia Virtual History Project

One of the new Faculty Research Clusters recently launched by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts is the Digital Humanities Lab co-directed by Franklin faculty in the departments of English (Bill Kretzschmar) and history (Stephen Berry and Claudio Saunt). This initiative combines digital humanities courses and the strengthening of the university’s digital humanities research core through projects such as the Linguistic Atlas Project and…


Faculty Research Clusters in the Humanities

In continuing with our Humanities Week theme, today the Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at UGA launches its new Faculty Research Clusters initiative with a reception at 4 p.m. in the Russell Building Special Collections Libraries: The program supports groups of University of Georgia faculty who are organized to address large-scale humanities and arts questions in partnership with colleagues from allied departments, colleges…
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