Bios

Karen Baynes, associate director at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, oversees the Institute’s child and family policy initiative, which aims to improve child wellbeing in Georgia. From 1995 to 2002, Ms. Baynes worked in the Fulton County juvenile court system, most recently as an associate judge. She also led the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program that trains volunteers who advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children in the courts. She is a 1989 graduate of Wake Forest and earned a law degree (J.D.) from the University of California, Berkley, in 1992.

Mentor: Ivery Clifton (Retired, UGA) - Senior Associate Dean, College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (CAES)

Shirley Berry, assistant director of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, joined the garden in 1984. She has worked in several departments including horticulture and grounds, administration, and Friends of the Garden. She is interested in woody ornamentals including hardy palms and conifers for the Southeastern United States. Additionally, botanical garden administration and fiscal accountability are professional and continuing educational pursuits. Ms. Berry earned bachelor’s degrees in accounting (Evangel University) and horticulture (University of Georgia), and a master’s degree in public administration (UGA).

Mentor: Helen Mills (Retired UGA) - Associate Vice President, Office of the VP for Public Service & Outreach; Former Associate Director, Georgia Center

Eric Bonaparte, director of minority business development, joined UGA’s Small Business Development Center in 1991. He works with several communities and business groups, has provided technical assistance to more than 700 business owners, and has delivered more than 200 training programs. The Association of Small Business Development Centers honored him with a national “Star Performer Award” for his consulting and community involvement. Most recently, Mr. Bonaparte helped SBDC clients obtain more than $6 million dollars in funding. He also researched and co-presented a study on “Minority Access to Capital.”

Mentor: Trish Kalivoda - Associate Vice President, Office of the VP for Public Service and Outreach

Paul Brooks is the director of postgraduate continuing education and outreach for UGA’s College of Pharmacy. Prior to joining UGA in 1995, he helped promote new standards for pharmacy residency training as part of his role at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. He also was a faculty member at the University of North Carolina and Duke University.

Mentor: Robert Leiter - Director, Georgia Center for Cont. Ed Conf Ctr & Hotel

Brad Cahoon, associate director for distance education at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education, oversees the creation and administration of online courses. Dr. Cahoon joined the public service faculty at the University of Georgia in 1987. Since then, he has designed, written, and managed the production of distance learning courses, both credit- and CEU-awarding, and also has created a variety of instructional multimedia, Web sites, and Web-based systems for electronic commerce. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and a doctorate (EdD) in adult education from the University of Georgia.

Mentor: Bob Boehmer - Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness

Sue Chapman administers the state office for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Georgia. Dr. Chapman serves as a liaison between state specialists, county agents, and Extension/College administration. Prior to joining UGA Cooperative Extension, she worked for 15 years as director of education and volunteer services for a health care system in Athens, Ga. She earned a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Valdosta State University and a doctorate in adult education from the University of Georgia.

Mentor: Louise Hyers (Retired, UGA) - District Director, Cooperative Extension, CAES; Currently Athens Realtor

Rich Clark is a political scientist with a strong background in public opinion and survey research methodology. He manages a unit of UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government that conducts surveys and program evaluations for local governments and state agencies. Dr. Clark also initiated and conducts the Peach State Poll �a general population survey that examines public attitudes on issues central to public life, community, and government in Georgia. Previously, he was a faculty member at the University of Connecticut and a research associate at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, the world’s largest public opinion data archive.

Mentor: Del Dunn - Vice President for Instruction

Wes Clarke joined the Carl Vinson Institute of Government in July 2004. He serves as associate director of the Research and Policy Analysis Division, which provides policymakers with research to help them make informed decisions. Previously, he spent nine years on the faculty at the University of North Texas where he taught graduate courses in public budgeting, capital budgeting and planning, and research methods. He serves as a reviewer for the Government Finance Officers Association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award and annually reviews more than 30 state and local government budget documents.

Mentor: Margaret Holt (Retired, UGA) - Professor, College of Education; Currently Consultant, Kettering Foundation and Pew Charitable Trust

Craig Edelen, associate director of auxiliary operations at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, oversees operations for the Georgia Center Hotel, Savannah Room and the Courtyard Cafe, banquets, environmental design, gift shop, grounds and building maintenance. Previously, he held various management positions at Hyatt Regency Hotels throughout the Southeast. Mr. Edelen also started and owned a restaurant in Atlanta and he has been a manager for a restaurant and catering business, nightclubs, a disco, a country Western bar and more. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Georgia.

Mentor: Rodney Bennett - Vice President for Student Affairs

Dennis Epps is currently on leave from the Fanning Institute while he serves as coordinator of the UGA Archway Project for the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach. Mr. Epps works with state, regional, and local government, not-for-profit organizations and public private-partnerships in projects that involve agribusiness and natural resource management, community assessment, strategic planning, workforce development, master facilities planning, and community and economic development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture (University of Georgia), a master’s degree in adult education (Georgia Southern University) and is pursuing a doctorate (GSU).

Mentor: David Knauft - Former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, CAES; Currently Department of Horticulture Endowed Professorship

Jennifer Frum, assistant director of International Public Service and Outreach, designs international development projects and implements outreach programs targeted to the Latino community. For four years she served as coordinator of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents Hispanic Pilot Project, a consortium project of six Georgia colleges and universities focused on improving educational opportunities for Latino K-12 students in Georgia. She earned a degree in political science from West Virginia University, a master’s degree in international relations from George Washington University, and is undertaking Ph.D. studies in higher education at UGA.

Mentor: Sylvia Hutchinson (Retired, UGA) - Professor, College of Education and Institute of Higher Education

Brenda Hayes, a community ethnographer at the Fanning Institute, studies and digitally documents social and cultural dimensions of communities in Georgia and abroad. Prior to July 2005, she served for three years as the associate director for community and regional development at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Ms. Hayes was director of the Office of Downtown Development at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, regional representative for the thirteen Northeast Georgia counties, and chair of the Hall County Commission. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s of public administration.

Mentor: Betty Jean Craige - Director, Center for Humanities and Arts

Elizabeth Humphreys, associate director of the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, directs the business administration division. The Alabama native has been at the University of Georgia since 2002. Prior to that she worked as a grant and budget accountant at Athens Technical College, as a controller at Athens First Bank and Trust, and as an accountant at Deloitte, Haskins and Sells in Atlanta. Ms. Humphreys graduated from Colorado College in 1975 with a degree in environmental science. She completed an M.A. in accounting from Georgia State University and is a certified public accountant.

Mentor: Sylvia Hutchinson (Retired, UGA) - Professor, College of Education and Institute of Higher Education

Jim Maloney, public service assistant at the Fanning Institute, serves as executive director of the Community Leadership Association, a non-profit organization that nurtures community leadership programs in the United States and abroad. Mr. Maloney is accountable for membership, program, conference, grants and contracts, and the efforts of the CLA’s board. He has written or contributed to more than 50 books, monographs, and training manuals in technology and leadership (including CLA’s Trusteeship Program and its first program development guide). Previously, he did contract research for the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City.

Mentor: Mel Garber - Director of Strategic Initiatives, Cooperative Extension, CAES

Eric McRae, interim associate director of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, manages and provides vision for the Institute’s information technology division (ITOS). His unit has undertaken a variety of projects for governments (local, state, national, international) that involve geographic information systems (GIS). For example, ITOS created digital maps for Georgia in coordination with other state and federal agencies. The ITOS maps provide highly detailed information about Georgia such as fire access roads, waterways, and flood plains. Mr. McRae has a bachelor’s degree in geography (UGA).

Mentor: Asa Boynton (Retired, UGA) - Chief of Police and Homeland Security

Beth Melnik is the assistant director for organizational development at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). She conducts needs assessments for Georgia’s small businesses, coordinates the unit’s strategic planning process, and evaluates the economic impact of SBDC services. She also provides technical assistance to business and economic development research projects. Prior to joining the SBDC, Ms. Melnik worked for a marketing firm based in Peachtree City and for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia in Atlanta.

Mentor: Opal Haley - Director, Security and Emergency Preparedness

Karen Payne, public service associate for the Marine Extension Service, holds adjunct faculty status with the Department of Marine Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering, and the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute. In the last four years, Dr. Payne has generated nearly one million dollars in grant funds through her lab, the Marine Extension Spatial Technologies Lab. She has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a minor concentration in physics and a doctorate in geography and engineering from Australian National University. She used artificial intelligence techniques to interpret satellite imagery to create land cover maps.

Mentor: Pat Clifton (Retired, Principal, Hilsman Middle School) - Program Manager, Young Scholars Program, CAES

Raye Rawls, public service associate at the Fanning Institute, helps develop programs in leadership, conflict management, community building and others. She is a former administrative law judge for Georgia and former assistant dean of law at Georgia State University. In previous positions, Ms. Rawls developed curricula and training in mediation (general and divorce), arbitration, case evaluation, and domestic violence case mediation. Her courses have been approved by the Georgia Supreme Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission. Ms. Rawls has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, master’s degree in human resources and J.D. in law.

Mentor: Sam Mitchell (Retired UGA) - Associate Director for Human Services, Carl Vinson Institute of Government; Served as Interim Director of CVIOG for 18 months

Jeff Sanford, senior public service associate at the Small Business Development Center, has consulted with hundreds of businesses, developed and taught specialized business education programs, facilitated dozens of economic projects, and built innovative evaluation tools during the past 11 years. Mr. Sanford has helped clients obtain more than $15 million in loans and grants. He is the director of the Federal and State Technology Partnership program, which in the past two years has helped more than 250 technology-based businesses with commercialization strategies and alternative funding.

Mentor: Tom Rodgers (Retired UGA) - Associate Vice President, Office of the VP for Public Service & Outreach; Former Associate Dean for Outreach, College of Family & Consumer Sciences; Former State 4-H Leader

Beverly Sparks was appointed assistant dean for Cooperative Extension in March 2006. Previously, she spent four years as the district extension director for Northeast Georgia and supervised operations in 34 to 39 counties. Prior to that, she held various faculty positions in extension entomology at the University of Georgia and Texas A&M. In those positions, she provided educational support to county agents and their clientele related to insect pest management programs. She also conducted applied research on imported red fire ant control. Dr. Sparks holds a bachelor’s degree in horticulture, and master’s and doctorate degrees in entomology.

Mentor: M. K. “Curly” Cook (Retired, UGA) - Associate Director of ANR; Professor Animal & Dairy Science, CAES

Courtney Tobin, public service assistant at the Fanning Institute, coordinates public stakeholder groups in the environmental policy and rule-making areas, including Flint River basin water management, coastal community dock and marina permitting, stream buffer zones, and the upcoming statewide water planning initiative. Previously, she led the Indiana Development Finance Authority, a quasi-public agency dedicated to economic and community development finance, and served as general counsel for serveral Indiana government agencies. Before entering public service, Ms. Tobin practiced corporate law and worked on environmental and healthcare legislation. She holds a Juris Doctorate from Indiana University-Bloomington.

Mentor: Louise McBee (Retired UGA) - Vice President for Academic Affairs; Former Member of Ga. House of Representatives

Tony Tyson has been director of county operations for Cooperative Extension since October 2004. He has held various positions in Extension for nearly 25 years. Prior to that, he worked for Reliable Tractor Company as an irrigation sales and design engineer and earlier as an irrigation research engineer at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Tifton, Ga. He is the author of more than 50 publications including refereed journal articles and extension bulletins. Mr. Tyson earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering at the University of Georgia.

Mentor: Tal Duvall (Retired, UGA) - Director Cooperative Extension, CAES; Former Clarke County Commissioner; Former Director, Georgia Agribusiness Association