News

The Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach invites tenure-track faculty and all public service faculty members to submit research proposals related to the educational pipeline for Latino students. The Latino Students and the Educational Pipeline (LSEP) research grants will range from $2,500 to $5,000 and will be awarded in May 2008. The proposal deadline is April 4, 2008. Proposal criteria and eligibility requirements may be found at http://quest.fanning.uga.edu/publications. Continue reading »

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The Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach is accepting proposals for the 2008-2009 Scholarship of Engagement Grants. Continue reading »

Posted in Grants |

The Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach and the Institute of Higher Education are seeking submissions for the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. Continue reading »

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Athens, Ga. (January 15, 2008) – Your new year’s challenge is simple: Spend eight weeks “walking” Georgia.

Through a new program called Walk Georgia, the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension invites you to spend eight weeks increasing your physical activity level in a fun, community-oriented way. The goal is to be active, whether you’re walking, biking or dancing.

Plus, with Walk Georgia starting the first week of March, you have time to get ready.

“We hope that participants will start being active if they aren’t already and continue to do some kind of physical activity when the eight-week period ends,” said Maria Bowie, a marketing specialist with UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “We hope the program will be a lifestyle change that will improve participant’s quality of life.”

Walk Georgia is an online program where you can log your real time exercise virtually. Your aerobics class during your lunch break counts, and so does a walk with your dog at home or pick-up game of basketball at the rec department. Using a dropdown menu, you can record these activities. The time is then translated into miles, and the Web site gives you the go-ahead to “move” around the state.

“Through an online map, you can electronically chart a course as you ‘walk’ Georgia,” Bowie said. “Whether you visit the coast or hike the mountains, as you move you will read about the counties you visit and learn new ways to improve your health.”

Walk Georgia is a statewide program, so a woman in Thomasville could challenge her cousin in Canton and her brother in Savannah to a Walk Georgia contest. Or a family spread across the state could walk as a four-person team.

“We wanted to do a statewide program that all of Georgia’s counties could be involved in at the same time,” Bowie said.

Registration for Walk Georgia is free and opens Feb. 18. Visit www.walkgeorgia.org to register yourself or your four-person team. While an email address is required to register, individuals without one can join as part of a team as long as the team captain has an email address.

In the first week of March, participants can start logging their physical activity at www.walkgeorgia.org. The program concludes April 30.

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Athens, Ga. (January 15, 2008) – The Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan 2008-2013 is now available from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The plan outlines major trends, priorities and critical elements for success for providing outdoor recreation opportunities for future generations of all Georgians.

The University of Georgia’s Fanning Institute worked with the Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to develop the plan, identifying the current condition of outdoor recreation in Georgia and making key recommendations on what needs to be done to meet future demand. Fanning faculty served as project managers for the planning effort, designed and facilitated the public participation program and managed the writing, layout and production of the final plan document. Leigh Askew, Danny Bivins, Jan Coyne, and Langford D. Holbrook made up the Fanning team, and collaborated with other key UGA planning partners: the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the Institute of Ecology, the Warnell School of Forestry and the Center for Community Design and Preservation.To learn more about SCORP 2008-2013 or to download the report, visit http://gastateparks.org/net/content/go.aspx?s=132975.0.1.5

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Athens, Ga. (January 8, 2008) – Dr. Karl V. Miller, professor of wildlife management in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, will co-host Quality Whitetails, a new television program to air weekly on the Outdoor Channel.

Developed and produced by the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) – a highly respected whitetail conservation organization – the program will offer an “innovative” format that features “a unique blend of deer biology, deer management and deer hunting,” according to the Outdoor Channel website featuring the show (www.outdoorchannel.com/Shows/QualityWhitetails.aspx). Miller is excited to serve as co-host of the new outdoors show and believes that the format will make it a unique showcase about white-tailed deer management and hunting that is attractive to traditional viewers of such programs.

“Quality Whitetails is different than most other hunting programs in that it focuses on sound management and stewardship of the resource, as well as a forum for the education of hunters and land managers,” Miller said.

Brian Murphy (MS, Forest Resources ‘93), executive director of the QDMA who received his degree at the Warnell School, will also serve as co-host of the program along with Kip Adams and Joe Hamilton (MS, Forest Resources ‘78).

The QDMA currently has more than 42,000 members in all 50 states and several foreign countries including over 800 deer management professionals – more than any other white-tailed deer organization, according to their website (www.qdma.com).

Dr. Miller (PhD ‘85) has developed a distinguished reputation as a widely-respected authority in deer management research over the past 20 years with numerous peer-reviewed publications and books.

The Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources provides UGA students with five degree path programs in forestry and natural resource science and management, including the forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, natural resources recreation and tourism, water and soil resources, and wildlife management and ecology majors. With more than fifty faculty and 23,000 acres of teaching lands, the Warnell School is the southeast’s oldest, and one of the most respected forestry and natural resource education providers in the United States. The school also houses one of the largest study abroad programs in the nation covering all seven continents to provide global learning opportunities for its students. For more information visit the Warnell School website at www.warnell.uga.edu.

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Athens, GA (January 8, 2008) – The University of Georgia Marine Extension Service’s oyster restoration project located on Jekyll Island, Ga., and directed by Alan Power, a MAREX assistant research scientist, will receive a Five-Star Restoration Program Bronze Plaque on January 15, 2008.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which sponsors the program, the Five-Star Restoration Program “provides grants, technical support and information exchange to help communities across the country build strong partnerships that work together on riparian, coastal or wetland restoration projects.”

The bronze plaque, which is placed at each site by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), commemorates the project sponsors’ contributions.

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Savannah, GA (January 8, 2008) — The University of Georgia Marine Extension Service’s Skidaway Interpretive Cabin Project has been recognized by Savannah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) with a “2007 Merit Award for Architectural Distinction.” The award was presented to Anne Lindsay Frick, public service assistant with the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service, in December 2007 for “recognition of her commitment to the design professions, craftsmanship, and pursuit of architectural excellence.”

UGA’s Marine Extension Service has completed two years of historic restoration and rehabilitation of the building and begun a third year of adaptive re-use of “The Quarters” duplex on Skidaway Island near Savannah. The wooden structure was built in the 1930s and served as housing for employees of the Roebling Family’s Modena Plantation. In 1967, Dorothy Ripling Roebling donated almost 800 acres of Roebling land along with existing buildings and docks to the State of Georgia. It was moved into the University System in the early 1970s for use as an oceanographic research center.

Today, The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia owns the acreage. The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SKIO) serves as caretaker of the land and the historic buildings still standing on the property, now known as the Skidaway Marine Science Campus. The Marine Extension Service has restored “The Quarters” building to its original state, in collaboration with the Roebling family, SKIO, and a dedicated team of local historic preservationists, architects, carpenters, graphic artists and educators.

The Marine Extension Service is an active partner on the Skidaway Marine Science Campus, fulfilling its public service mission of applied marine science research and education. Frick secured funds for the three-year restoration project through a Coastal Incentive Grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program and leads the initiative to re-use it as a teaching space and public interpretive center.

The restored building will offer trailside educational opportunities to public visitors and student groups. Interior displays will provide information about the natural and human history of the adjacent Jay Wolfe Nature Trail, Modena Plantation, Skidaway Island, and highlight research and education work being done today on the Skidaway Marine Science Campus by its partner institutions. The Skidaway Interpretive Cabin Project will be completed in Fall 2008.

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