PDF - Georgia State University Magazine

College
wasn’t in
the cards
CONTENTS
7 Klasse, Coach!
Head Baseball Coach Greg Frady
is the first American elected to the
German Baseball Hall of Fame.
9 Super Deciders
Professor Henry Carey explains
the role of the superdelegate in the
presidential election.
22
ORIGIN OF SPECIES
In the wilds of Kenya, Professor
David Wojnowski discovered
two unidentified geckos.
One now bears his name.
11 Dr. Sue
Sue Henderson (M.P.H. ’10) leads
the charge in keeping Peace Corps
volunteers healthy.
...until you showed up.
Actual size
Hundreds of students in the Class of 2016 would not
have graduated without the help of private donations.
Consider including Georgia State University in your estate
plans and give a gift that reaches beyond campus borders.
CON TA CT A PL ANNE D G IVING O F F IC E R T O D AY AT 4 0 4 - 4 1 3 - 3 4 2 5 O R E M AI L
GI FT P L ANN IN G @ G SU. E DU.
W I LL R U N
F O R O F F I CE
JOINS THE
SY M P H O N Y
16
REEL VISION
Five filmmaking friends,
making movies on their terms,
just won the top award at
the prestigious South By
Southwest film festival.
FUTUR E H EA R T
SU R G EO N
S TAR T S A
N O N PR O F I T
28
MACON GOOD
Born into rock ‘n’ roll royalty,
Jessica Walden (B.A. ’00)
is using her hometown’s rich
music history to preserve
its legacy.
G E O R G I A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y F O U N D A T I O N / P. O . B O X 3 9 8 4 / A T L A N T A , G A 3 0 3 0 2 - 3 9 8 4 / G I V I N G . G S U . E D U
COVER PHOTO BY BEN ROLLINS; THIS PAGE ILLUSTRATION BY JOE McKENDRY
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
03
FROM THE PRESIDENT
LETTERS
Financial problems remain
the No. 1 reason students
drop out of college and we are
committed to aggressively
addressing this barrier
to graduation.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHING
I
N THE LAST few months we have
had another round of remarkable national attention related to our progress improving student success.
We recently hosted U.S. Secretary
of Education John King and Undersecretary Ted Mitchell, who toured our newly
renovated advising center and met with
students and advisers to learn more about
what we do to help students succeed.
Dr. Tim Renick, our dynamic vice provost and vice president for enrollment
and student success, was invited to the
White House in March to talk about Georgia State’s $8.9 million First in the World
grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant funds a four-year research
study in partnership with the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) to examine
the effectiveness of predicative analytics
and proactive advising in helping 10,000
low-income and first-generation students
complete their degrees across the UIA’s 11
member campuses.
And I was honored to accept a $2 million gift from SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers
04
STUDENT SUCCESS INITIATIVES SHOW RESOUNDING RESULTS
HALFWAY THROUGH OUR 10-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN.
to help build a first-of-its-kind financial
management center to help students address financial issues.
The SunTrust Financial Management
Center constitutes another important
step in guiding our students to success.
Financial problems remain the No. 1 reason students drop out of college and we
are committed to aggressively addressing
this barrier to graduation. We want to continue to find innovative ways to use data
to identify problems our students face
when there is still time to help.
SunTrust will provide financial mentors
and the center staff will use the system to
contact students and develop a series of
outreach programs. Because many students and their parents have limited ability to be on campus during the day, the
center will offer online and phone counselors after hours. The center will also provide financial counseling and outreach to
low-income and hard-to-reach families
that rarely have access to financial guidance from credible institutions.
As part of the project, Georgia State will
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
•
Download a PDF
of the magazine to
your favorite tablet or
device by visiting
magazine.gsu.edu.
develop a detailed playbook on how to use
predictive analytics to reach financially
at-risk students to share with other educational institutions. It is yet another way we are sharing
what we have learned and helping not
only our students, but college students
around the country as we identify new
ways to remove the obstacles to success.
Our strategic plan, introduced in 2011,
outlined our goal to become “a national
model for undergraduate education by
demonstrating that students from all
backgrounds can achieve academic and
career success at high rates.” Five years
into the 10-year plan, we have firmly established our position as a national leader
in enabling student success.
Sincerely,
VIA
TWITTER
LESSONS LEARNED
Thank you for the interesting article regarding helicopter parenting.
While I understand concerns regarding safety and crime, a student’s
time in college is exactly when he or she should become autonomous. ¶ I still remember to this day the first time my mom instilled in
me that I was my own advocate. My freshman year, I had been given
incorrect advice as to what classes I should be taking to get into
the degree I wanted to pursue. I called my mother to complain and
see what she could do. I’ll
never forget her words to
me: “You’re on your own.
You can figure this out.”
Thank goodness, I was
able to follow her initial
guidance. It was the best
lesson she ever taught
me. Jenn Dixon, M.H.P. ‘12
A MISSING MALOOF
The article “One For the Road” about Manuel’s Tavern in the current
issue is a great piece of work. I enjoyed the history and the project details. There was one major fact missing. Manuel’s Tavern was owned
by two brothers. Manuel was the majority partner, but his younger
brother Robert was his partner and a major part of the development
and success of the business. It was especially disheartening when the
author mentioned that Manuel’s ashes were behind the bar but omitted a third urn containing the ashes of Robert Maloof. Beverly Maloof
Hiegel, sister of Manuel and Robert Maloof
Loving this
@gsumagazine
story about
Georgia wines
and the @GeorgiaStateU alumni uncorking
the industry
@joshuagrotheer
Joshua Grotheer
Excellent
testimonial
from Dr. Angela
Hall-Godsey
in @gsumagazine’s article
on helicopter
parenting in
higher ed
@bard387
Donna Wroble
VISIT US ONLINE AT
MAGAZINE.GSU.EDU
Follow us on
Facebook at
facebook.com/
GSUMagazine WRONG RUSH
It was with great interest and pleasure that we read the article about
the wine industry in White County. I do want to let you know of an error in the article. The first gold rush in the United States began, as you
mentioned, in White County; however, the date was 1828, long before
the California ‘49ers or the Alaskan strikes of the 1890s. Jennie Inglis,
White County Chamber of Commerce
Editor’s Note: We regret the omission and the error.
Follow us
onTwitter at
twitter.com/
gsumagazine
Follow us on
Instagram at
instagram.com/
georgiastateuniversity
On the day Dr. King
was killed, I didn’t
attend class. My
professor counted
this against me, and
my father was ready
to go have a talk with
him. Fortunately,
he was dissuaded
and I continued my
education without
his “help.”
Karen Nelson McCarthy (B.A. ‘71)
Summer 2016, Vol 7, Number 2
Publisher Don Hale Executive Editor Andrea Jones Editor William Inman Contributors Perri Campis (M.P.P. ‘16) Alexis Green (B.A. ‘16) LaTina Emerson, Charles McNair, Tony Rehagen,
Anna Varela Copy Editor Ben Hodges (B.A. ‘08) Creative Director José Reyes for Metaleap Creative MetaleapCreative.com Associate Creative Director Eric Capossela Designer Harold Velarde
Contributing Illustrators Joe Ciardiello, Adam Cruft, Andy Friedman, Joe McKendry, Diego Patiño, Thomas Porostocky Contributing Photographers Ryan Hayslip, Greg Kahn, Matt Kalinowski,
Ben Rollins Send address changes to: Georgia State University Gifts and Records P.O. Box 3963 Atlanta Ga. 30302-3963 Fax: 404-413-3441 e-mail: [email protected] Send letters to the editor
and story ideas to: William Inman, editor, Georgia State University Magazine P.O. Box 3983 Atlanta Ga. 30302-3983 Fax: 404-413-1381 e-mail: [email protected] Georgia State University Magazine
is published four times annually by Georgia State University. The magazine is dedicated to communicating and promoting the high level of academic achievement, research, faculty scholarship and
teaching, and service at Georgia State University, as well as the outstanding accomplishments of its alumni and the intellectual, cultural, social and athletic endeavors of Georgia State University’s
vibrant and diverse student body. © 2016 Georgia State University
Mark P. Becker
President
ILLUSTRATION BY ANDY FRIEDMAN
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
05
IN THE CITY
DER COACH
Head baseball coach and former German national
team coach Greg Frady will be the first American
elected into the German Baseball Hall of Fame.
BY ALEXIS GREEN (B.A. ’16)
PHOTOS BY BEN ROLLINS
CAMPUS
BIG DATA INSIGHT
Robinson College partners with leading
financial institutions to form new
institute focused on analytics.
Starr Companies, a global insurance and
investment organization, and SunTrust
Banks Inc., a national financial services
company, have teamed to create the new
Institute for Insight at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
The Institute for Insight brings students and institutions together to explore
new business opportunities that can be
drawn from big data analytics.
The institute is home to the Robinson
College’s newest specialized master’s degree, the master of science in analytics. The
degree combines “hard skills” in statistics,
computer science and business along with
“soft skills” through a deep immersion
program where students work with experienced industry data scientists and Georgia
State researchers in the institute’s Insight
Lab. The institute is being built around an
interdisciplinary research faculty.
“Through the Institute for Insight, Robinson is exploring and solving data issues,
dissecting the problems and creating management plans,” said Richard Phillips,
dean of the Robinson College. “Students
master a set of mathematical, computational and statistical methods that are
then applied in a variety of settings, including marketing analytics, health analytics and risk analytics.”
LONG TO STEP DOWN
College of Arts and Sciences Dean
William Long’s tenure has been marked
by success and growth.
Dr. William Long has announced he will
step down from the deanCONT’D ON P.9
06
FOUR DECADES OF CINEMA
THE ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL, HOUSED AT GEORGIA STATE
AND LED BY A TWO-TIME ALUMNUS, CELEBRATES ITS 40TH.
A GEORGIA STATE CAST Chris Escobar (B.A. ’08, M.A. ’13), the festival’s
executive director since 2011, says most of his staff are Georgia
State grads or students, including program director Kristy
Breneman (B.A. ’10) and senior short film programmer Christina
Humphrey (M.A. ’16). “The entire programming staff is from
Georgia State,” Escobar said.
EARLY DAYS Kay Beck, associate professor of communications, is one of the founders of the long-running film festival and is a member of the Board of Directors.
ATL-CENTRIC Escobar said the festival has evolved in the last few years to create a
more local experience, such as moving from nondescript multiplexes to the Plaza
Theatre, the city’s oldest independently owned cinema, and showcasing locally
made films. “We’ve moved away from ‘what can happen anywhere’ to ‘what can
uniquely happen here in Atlanta,’” he said.
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
ILLUSTRATION BY DIEGO PATIÑO
07
• Saving the Bats Visit
magazine.gsu.edu for an
editorial by researcher
Chris Cornelison (M.S.
DER COACH
’11, Ph.D. ’13) on the war
against white-nose syndrome, a vicious disease
that’s killing bats.
• Best of the Beach
Visit magazine.gsu.edu
for a recap of Beach Volleyball’s stellar season.
The Panthers were in
the eight-team field that
competed for the national championship.
$2 million
Awarded to the student financial center from
SunTrust Foundation to create the SunTrust
Student Financial Management Center, a firstof-its kind program to help students address
financial issues that can be obstacles to earning their degrees.
ship of the College of Arts and Sciences in
June at the end of his five-year term.
The college has introduced policy innovations and made major achievements
under Long’s leadership, including the
development of six new undergraduate
degree programs, 18 new five-year dual
bachelor’s-master’s degree programs,
three new graduate concentrations and
four new graduate certificates.
Long has also been involved in many other groundbreaking initiatives, such as the
creation of the Creative Media Industries
Institute and the Global Studies Institute.
“He has been a tireless advocate of success in both research and learning, setting
high standards for achievement for the units
within the college,” said Provost Risa Palm.
A national search for his replacement
is underway.
IN THE TEETH
Perimeter students bring dental care
to Georgia’s most vulnerable.
W
hen Greg Frady was invited to lunch with members of the German
parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin last spring, a bundle
of nerves went with him. However, Frady wasn’t feeling pressured
about representing the United States in the way you might expect.
“I wasn’t nervous about meeting the politicians,” he said, “it was
about knowing which spoon to eat with.”
Frady calls that luncheon, where he was honored for his 12 years as head coach and
general manager of the German national baseball team, one of the most memorable experiences of his career. This summer, Frady will become the German Baseball Hall of Fame’s
first American inductee and 12th overall.
Prior to his arrival, the Germans were foundering in international competition. The team
was invited to play in the 2003 European championship, lost every game, and at that point
had never finished higher than seventh place in a European competition. Today, they’re
ranked 17th in the world and have sent two players to the major leagues in the U.S.
Although Frady was the architect of that turnaround, the recognition caught him off guard.
“It was a big surprise to me, to be honest,” he said.
Frady became an expert at balancing his family life with his two positions on opposite
hemispheres. Frady’s family spent summers in Germany when his children’s schools were
on break, and Frady would often appear to both his baseball teams via satellite.
The cross-cultural coaching experiences in Germany have definitely changed the way
08
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
Frady approaches baseball, he said.
“I started with young men who were 18
years old and [was] still coaching them when
they were 30,” he said. “You see them transition from young adult to fathers and real
leaders. They became a lot like family to me.”
He gives his experience in Germany
credit for making him more patient and
open-minded with his team at Georgia
State. He even managed to scout and recruit players from his time in Germany to
play for the Panthers.
“As a coach, I was able to bring back theories, ideas, concepts, information and opportunities to grow my own players so that
they would have better opportunities in the
future,” he said.
For more than 20 years, Perimeter’s dental hygiene students have teamed up with
the Georgia Department of Public Health
to provide dental hygiene for low-income
and at-risk elementary school students in
DeKalb County.
This past winter, Perimeter College
dental hygiene students provided sealants and fluoride treatments, plus a dose
of education to students at Hightower Elementary School in DeKalb County as part
of an all-day oral health fair. For some kids,
it may be the only dental care they get.
“In Georgia, there are many barriers to
dental care, including cost, lack of dental insurance, transportation and widespread dental health professional shortage areas,” said Pam Cushenan, a dental
hygiene instructor. “We want to make a
positive impact on our most vulnerable
populations. And our students also gain a
great appreciation for how they can make
a difference.”
CONT’D ON P.10
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE CIARDIELLO
ELECTION ARBITERS
POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR HENRY “CHIP” CAREY
EXPLAINS THE ROLE OF SUPERDELEGATES IN THE
2016 PRESIDENTIAL RACE.
Exactly what is a superdelegate? An unelected delegate to the Democratic — not the Republican
— National Convention who
is seated automatically and
who votes for whomever he
or she wants. They encompass all Democrat members
of the House and Senate
and state governors, and additional superdelegates are
chosen during the primaries
and by each state party. What about the Republican Party? By contrast,
the Republican National
Convention has only three
non-elected delegates per
state, the state chairperson
and two district-level committee members. However,
they have no discretion and
must vote for their state’s
leading vote gainer in the
caucus or primary. What’s the history of the
superdelegate? After
the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the party
made changes in its delegate selection process. The
purpose was to make the
composition of the convention less subject to control
by party leaders and more
responsive to the votes cast
during the campaign for the
nomination. Superdelegates
are more likely to prefer
better-known candidates.
At the 2008 Democratic
National Convention, the
superdelegates made up
approximately one-fifth
of the total number of
delegates.
Can a superdelegate
change his or her mind
on their candidate before the convention? Yes.
And because they are free to
support anyone they want,
superdelegates can change
the lead and nominate
the candidate in second
place, i.e. Bernie Sanders
instead of Hillary Clinton. •
Read more at magazine.gsu.edu
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
09
IN THE CITY
Perimeter students also provide regular
oral health education at battered women’s
shelters, homeless shelters and adult day
care centers, as well as oral health exams
and cleanings in Perry and Moultrie, Ga.,
during the Georgia Mission of Mercy and
migrant farmer health care events.
EYE ON CAMPUS SAFETY
Georgia State partners with Atlanta Police
Department on security camera initiative.
Exterior video surveillance cameras at
Georgia State are now fully integrated with
the Atlanta Police Department’s (APD) Operation Shield Video Integration Center,
enabling Atlanta police officers to monitor
video footage from 253 campus cameras.
“Georgia State University sits in the
heart of Atlanta, and through this partnership, we can monitor the areas and provide
an extra layer of security to protect Georgia State students, faculty and staff,” said
Atlanta Police Chief George Turner. “We
believe these cameras can deter crime, help
our investigators solve crimes and speed
our response to emergency incidents in
the areas around campus.”
The Georgia State cameras are joining a
network of more than 6,000 cameras that
are already operational 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.
“This system strengthens the long-term
partnership between Georgia State Police
and APD,” said acting Georgia State Police
Chief Carlton Mullis. “Our strong working
relationships with law enforcement agencies downtown help to keep our campus
community secure.”
DISCOVERY
RADIATION RESEARCH
Georgia State scientists explore the power
of radiation in cancer treatments.
A team of researchers from Georgia State
is fighting cancers using newly discovered ways that radiation can maximize
10
responses to immune-based therapeutic
approaches to cancer treatment.
The researchers have shown that radiation is capable of changing the expression
of such genes by influencing key enzymes
that control whether a gene is open and
expressed or not. “Previously, there were several pathways that were thought to control changes
in gene expression within treated cancer
cells and most of these were related to well
described DNA repair pathways since radiation induces DNA damage,” said Charlie Garnett Benson, assistant professor
of biology and lead author on the study.
“However, we showed that radiation
can change the expression of genes not
typically considered a part of the known
DNA damage response pathways. More
important, some
of the modulated
genes are known
stimulators of killer T cell function,”
Academic programs
he said.
offered at the five
The work being
campuses of Perimperformed in Beneter College of
son’s lab is dediGeorgia State.
cated to understanding how the
activity of immune cells is increased to
fight cancers after radiation treatment,
and how best to apply radiation therapy
to enhance cancer immunotherapy effectiveness.
31
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Lewis School Of Nursing will offer
master’s in occupational therapy.
Georgia State has received Board of Regents approval to offer a master of occupational therapy degree, the entry-level
degree required for occupational therapy,
making it the first public college or university in Atlanta and third in Georgia to offer
an occupational therapy degree.
The Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions began accepting applications for the two-year, full-time
program last fall. Students are expected to
enroll this fall.
Kinsuik Miara, former professor and
chair of Occupational Therapy at Florida
Atlantic University, has joined the faculty
as professor and founding chair.
Occupational therapists help people
of all ages and walks of
CONT’D ON P.12
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
DR. SUE
As chief of epidemiology and surveillance for
the Peace Corps, Sue Henderson (M.P.H. ‘10)
keeps the organization healthy.
BY ANNA VARELA
PHOTO BY GREG KAHN
D
r. Susan Henderson started on her
career path two
decades ago as a
Peace Corps volunteer in the small,
tropical West African nation of Togo.
Her journey has carried her
around the world and back again.
Now based in Washington, D.C., Henderson is chief of epidemiology and
surveillance for the Peace Corps.
“I saw an ad when I was nine or 10
of Peace Corps volunteers working in
a rural area, and it just seemed like a
neat thing to do,” Henderson recalled.
“I told my parents I was going to be a
Peace Corps volunteer one day.”
True to her word, Henderson began a two-year stint in Togo in 1991,
living in a concrete house with no
running water where she educated
villagers about the spread and prevention of the Guinea worm that was
common in Togo.
“There was no treatment for it,”
Henderson said.
Through education, which emphasized water filtration, Togo finally eradicated Guinea worm in 2008
— an accomplishment Henderson
was able to verify with her own eyes.
In 2012, Henderson went to China to implement tobacco reduction strategies as part of the World
Health Organization’s Tobacco Free
Initiative. A short time later, she accepted a job that took her back to
the Peace Corps to serve as a onewoman public health department
where she tracks the health of volunteers around the world.
“My job now is amazing because
I’m able to use so many skills that I
have gained along the way,” she said.
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
11
IN THE CITY
life to improve their daily lives or regain
lost skills. They work with young and old,
from children with developmental disabilities to seniors recovering from strokes
or other cognitive impairments. Occupational therapy is ranked ninth among the
best healthcare jobs and 14th among all
occupations, according to U.S. News and
World Report.
At least a master’s degree in occupational therapy is required to enter the field. In
addition, graduates must pass a national
certification exam to be licensed.
VIRAL UNDERSTANDING
Research leader named founding director
of new center for microbial pathogenesis.
Chris Basler, a world-renowned leader in
the study of emerging viruses, including
the Ebola virus, has been named founding
director of Georgia State’s new Center for
Microbial Pathogenesis in the Institute for
Biomedical Sciences.
His research seeks to understand how
the Ebola virus alters and evades immune
responses and how this influences the severe disease caused by the deadly virus.
In addition, he is devising novel antiviral
approaches targeting these viral immune
evasion functions.
“Dr. Basler will lead the university’s effort to translate laboratory research discoveries to clinical applications and treat
life-threatening RNA virus infections, addressing significant health issues of concern to Georgia,” said James Weyhenmeyer, vice president for research and
economic development
The new Center for Microbial Pathogenesis was established to better understand the molecular basis of life-threatening infectious diseases, such as the
Ebola virus disease and tuberculosis, so
novel therapeutic strategies can be further developed. Basler will hire additional
faculty members under Georgia State’s
Second Century Initiative to serve as part
of the center.
FIGHTING FAT
Biologist will apply major grant to combat
obesity by exploring epigenetics.
Bingzhong Xue, associate professor of
biology, has received a four-year, $1.37
million grant from the National Institute
12
• The Rivalry
Visit magazine.gsu.edu
for a web exclusive story
about the inaugural Geor-
10
Georgia State’s ranking by Time magazine
of top urban campuses offering a
world-class education.
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases to identify a therapeutic target
in obesity.
“Obesity as a complex metabolic disease is the result of gene and environmental interactions, and epigenetic mechanisms have recently emerged as important
links between environmental factors and
obesity,” said Xue.
Epigenetics is a mechanism the body
uses to regulate gene expression in response to environmental changes without altering the DNA sequence.
In the body, white adipose tissue stores
extra energy as fat, and brown adipose
tissue generates heat using available energy sources from the body. The presence
of additional brown adipose tissue in the
body may lead to increased energy expenditure rather than storing extra energy in
fat tissues.
“Inducing brown adipocytes in white
fat may represent a novel approach in the
prevention and treatment of obesity,” Xue
said. “We hope to identify novel epigenetic
targets that link environmental factors,
such as diet, to obesity.”
The Philip Levine Prize for Poetry includes a $2,000 gift as well as publication
and distribution by Anhinga Press.
Jurjević, a visiting lecturer in the English Department, wrote “Small Crimes”
while pursuing her master of fine arts
degree in creative writing and poetry at
Georgia State.
The collection is centered on the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s and includes themes
of conflict, war and relationships, said
Jurjević, who is originally from Croatia.
“So much of the process of writing poetry isn’t intentional but hinges on discovery,” she said. “You’re guided by nothing more than a
hunch, and I kept
following that urge
like a road back
home. In one of her
Former Georgia
poems, Emily DickState studentinson says ‘narcotathletes playing
ics cannot still the
professional sports,
tooth that nibbles
from the NFL to
at the soul,’ and
the LPGA.
often times some
kinds of nibbling
cannot be resolved. It’s what poetry is —
the desire itself. I had to do it.”
Jurjević’s poems have been featured
in journals such as The Missouri Review, Subtropics and the Southern Humanities Review.
CREATIVITY
LITERARY HONOR
Faculty member Andrea Jurjević wins
Philip Levine Prize for Poetry.
It was a dreary Sunday when Andrea
Jurjević received the call that she had been
selected as the winner of the Philip Levine
Prize for Poetry. Out of more than 900 submissions, her first book, “Small Crimes,”
was the winner.
“I was about to take a nap when they
called,” she said. “I was in disbelief because this is my first collection.”
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
“I hope that my music can bring new listeners to jazz and help promote the genre
and jazz education,” Otts said. Estimates of PIU
across the U.S.
population run as
high as 15 percent.
15%
ATHLETICS
FIRST CLASS
Georgia State inducted 10 into the
inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame.
11
ALL THAT JAZZ
Rising saxophone star and School of
Music master’s student Chris Otts wins
BMI Foundation scholarship.
Thirteen is Chris Otts’ lucky number.
The jazz saxophonist, composer and
master’s student in the School of Music
first picked up the sax 13 years ago. Ever
since, music has been a big part of his
life, he said.
Otts has been named the winner of the
the BMI Future Jazz Master Scholarship,
awarded annually to a rising jazz star pursuing an advanced academic degree in
jazz studies or jazz performance. He received the $5,000 scholarship in April
at the Jazz Masters annual luncheon in
New York.
In New York, he was able to meet and
thank the scholarship judging panel,
which included bassist Ron Carter of the
Miles Davis Quintet and legendary saxophonist Jimmy Heath.
gia State-Georgia Southern Rivalry Series. (Spoiler
alert: We won this year.)
PIU has been linked with
negative mental health
consequences such as
depression, hostility, social
phobia, alcohol abuse,
self-injuries and sleep
difficulties.
Individuals with PIU
may have difficulty
reducing their Internet
use and may lie to
conceal their use.
ONLINE ADDICTION
STUDY UNCOVERS HOW FAMILIES ARE AFFECTED BY COLLEGE
STUDENTS WITH PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE.
Young adults are at an
especially high risk for
behavioral addictions, and
problematic Internet use
(PIU) is now considered a
behavioral addiction with
characteristics similar to
substance abuse disorders.
Susan Snyder, a child
welfare expert and assistant professor of social
work, is part of a research
team that conducted the
first study to show how
college students in the
United States diagnosed
with PIU perceive its role in
their families.
The students reported
their time on the Internet
often improved family connectedness when they and
ILLUSTRATION BY THOMAS POROSTOCKY
their family were apart.
However, their excessive Internet use led to
increased family conflict
when family members
were together.
“We wanted to better
understand students with
problematic Internet use,”
Snyder said, “those who
reported spending more
than 25 hours a week on
the Internet on non-school
or non-work-related activities, and who experienced
Internet-associated health
or psychosocial problems.”
Examples of positive
connections include the
use of Skype, Facebook or
email to maintain relationships with family while stu-
dents were away at college.
“Too much Internet use
caused family relationships
to disconnect or become
conflicted,” Snyder said.
For example, instead
of interacting with their
family when they were at
home, participants reported they were “on the computer the whole time.” Most students with PIU
felt their families also overused the Internet.
“This study offers a
first step toward effective
interventions to address
PIU among the college-age
population,” Snyder said,
“and we hope it will inform
clinical practice and
health policy.”
A select group of 10 Panthers made up the
inaugural class of the Georgia State Athletics Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Famers were honored in
April during the annual Student-Athlete
Banquet when they received their plaques
during the unveiling of the new Wall of
Fame in the Sports Arena.
The inaugural class included: Terese
Allen, Charles “Lefty” Driesell, Don Floyd
(B.C.S. ‘49), Rodney Hamilton (B.B.A. ‘98),
Bob Heck (MBA ‘80), Bruce LaBudde
(M.Ed. ‘78), Sheryl Martin (B.S. ‘85), Kevin Morris (B.B.A. ‘01), Sarah-Jane Mungo
(B.B.A. ‘93) and contributors Su and Bill
Reeves (B.B.A ‘59).
The Hall of Fame Election Committee
was appointed last spring to create guidelines for nomination and selection. The
committee decided the inaugural class in
early September.
A total of 76 nominees were among
those on the ballot for the inaugural class.
OLYMPIC HOPEFULS
Three Panthers train for 2016 Summer
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Former cross country star Rachel Hannah
(B.S. ’09) is a registered dietician by trade
and a professional runner with Olympic
aspirations. The Canadian won a bronze
medal in last summer’s Pan Am Games,
and her sights are set on making the Canadian Olympic team for Rio.
Former beach volleyball player Lane
Carico began her professional career in
2013 and promptly earned the Association
of Volleyball Players NewCONT’D ON P.15
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
13
CHURCH AND STATE
Manikka Bowman (M.S. ‘06) puts her
faith in public service.
BY PERRI CAMPIS (M.P.P. ‘16)
14
PHOTO BY MATT KALINOWSKI
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
M
anikka Bowman has
always seen the connection between public policy and theology.
“I grew up in Louisiana, and my pastor
was a city councilman, so this intersection
has always been a part of my frame of reference,” she said. “It’s a built-in organized
mechanism. If you want to affect policy at
any level, you have to have a base of people
who share a belief or passion,”
For Bowman, that intersection inspired
her, but as a woman it was hard for her to
figure out how to fit in.
“Particularly in the black church,” she
said, “you always see men in those roles.”
Bowman was one of the first to receive
a joint master’s degree in urban policy and
divinity from the Andrew Young School
and Columbia Theological Seminary. After graduating, she moved to the Boston
metropolitan area, where the ordained clergywoman worked on issues ranging from
working to raise wages for laborers to improving food insecurity issues.
Last year, Bowman was elected to the
Cambridge (Mass.) School Committee, her
first foray into politics.
“It was a local — but competitive —
race,” she said. “I was one of 11 candidates
running to fill six spots. I’ve always been
passionate about education, and I’ve always seen myself in public office.”
Bowman said she chose to run for the
school committee because she sees education as the basis for opportunity and participation in the global economy.
Her post has given her a new perspective of what holding public office means.
“I’ve realized that it’s important to work
across differences — from a national to a
local level — something that our country
is struggling with,” she said. “I’m glad I’ve
been able to work with people whom I don’t
always agree with, and I understand the importance of that.”
She’s not only learned a lot about working with fellow elected officials, but also
with the constituents she serves.
“No one calls their elected official when
things are great,” Bowman says. “A point of
growth for me has been to address [constituents] needs. I’ve become sensitive to
the bureaucracy of the system and how
policy can help.”
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plate when you purchase
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comer of the Year Award. The 26-year-old
has continued to play around the world
and has earned more than $100,000 in
competition. Three-time Olympian and
fellow professional player Holly McPeak
thinks Carico has a great shot to make the
U.S. Olympic team.
“ She’s really
quick defensively,
has really good instincts and is aweNational ranking of
some offensivethe College of Law’s
ly,” McPeak said.
Center for Law,
“She wants it, and
Health & Society
she doesn’t make
by the U.S. News &
excuses for stuff.
World Report. It’s
She’s hungry.”
the 10th consecuIn addition to
tive year it has been
Carico, senior Allnamed one of the
American beach
top 10 health law
volleyball player
programs.
Sara Olivova could
contend for an
Olympic spot. A native of the Czech Republic, she competed last summer in the
Czech Republic under-22 national event,
finishing seventh among the 32 pairs.
6
HENRI NYAKARUNDI (B.S. ’03)
ALUMNI
SOLAR START-UP
Henri Nyakarundi (B.S. ’03) is using the
sun to solve energy problems that have
plagued East Africa for decades.
A few years ago, while visiting his mother in
Burundi, Henri Nyakarundi found himself
unable to manage a simple task he took for
granted in Atlanta: charging his cell phone.
Like other East African countries, Burundi’s electrical grid struggles to keep up
with demand, and Nyakarundi couldn’t
find dependable electricity access.
“Everybody in the city had a mobile
phone, and unfortunately there were huge
problems with electricity,” said Nyakarundi, who’s originally from neighboring
Rwanda. “It’s even worse now.”
Nearly 70 percent of Rwandans own cell
phones, and only 22 percent of the popu-
ILLUSTRATION BY ADAM CRUFT
“We’re talking about a population
that’s going to double in the next
25 to 30 years, and there’s massive
need for agricultural and energy
improvements.”
lation has access to electrical service, according to the World Bank.
Nyakarundi’s solution? Solar-powered
mobile kiosks where people can pay a
small fee to charge their phones. Each of
Nyakarundi’s kiosks serves 30 to 40 people, with some walking miles to get there.
Most of those customers need additional
services, he said.
His stations have brought Wi-Fi access
to refugee camps in parts of East Africa.
Nyakarundi came to the United States
as a teenager in the 1990s after civil war
ravaged Rwanda. After graduation, he
started a successful trucking company.
But by the late 2000s, seeing Rwanda’s recovery from the war and its growing economy, he was ready to go home.
Now, Nyakarundi is seeking to expand
into other countries in the next few years.
“We’re talking about a population
that’s going to double in the next 25 to
30 years, and there’s massive need for
agricultural and energy improvements,”
Nyakarundi said.
Got a promotion? A new addition to the family? Go ahead,
brag a little. Visit magazine.gsu.edu for news from your classmates and fellow Georgia State alumni.
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
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* * * * *
FADE IN:
PARAMOUNT THEATRE, AUSTIN, TEXAS. AWARDS PODIUM AT SOUTH
BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL. EXTREME CLOSEUP OF WOODEN
PLAQUE WITH ENGRAVED BELT-BUCKLE INSET THAT READS:
SXSW FILM CHAMPION 2016 CONFETTI FALLS.
We hear raucous applause, with VOICEOVER as ADAM PINNEY
thoughtfully hums Pharrell Williams’ “HAPPY” and then:
ADAM
You know, it seems like just yesterday
that Mike Brune, and Alex and Katie Orr,
and Hugh Braselton and yours truly
spliced together our collective dreams
at Georgia State and set out to make films
together. Now, here we are, winners at
South By Southwest, one of the world’s
great film festivals.
O
ALEX
18
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
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five kids met while students of film, theater and creative writing classes at Georgia State. They found themselves to be
similar pieces on the same game board
— five cinenthusiasts who wanted, more
than sleep or square meals, to make films
of their own. They shared a taste for onthe-run tacos and off-kilter movies, many
of the films laced with dark humor like
arsenic. Think Kubrick. Antonioni. David
Lynch. The Coen brothers.
Still, in some ways their story reads less
like a movie, more like a sitcom.
Five college buddies, four guys and a
girl, start writing, acting, producing, casting, editing — and living — together.
(Imagine “Friends” mating with “Seinfeld.”) One of the guys marries the girl,
and pretty babies come along, and the
rest seek sweethearts, too. Some of the
cast and crew scatter to Los Angeles and
Chicago, trying young wings, learning the
craft and craftiness of filmmaking.
Then their home city, to everyone’s
surprise, takes a star turn as Hollywood’s
brawny little brother. The film industry
explodes in Atlanta the way the city did
in “Gone with the Wind.” Friends return
to the nest, and — all film professionals
now — pick up where they never left off …
writing, acting, producing, casting, editing
… and living close together again.
They name their collective “Fake Wood
Wallpaper Films.” Magnifying one another’s talents and energies, they have a
knack for making things happen. Scripts
move to screens. Pipe dreams get real
enough to enter the dream factory. The
collective somehow bootstraps into existence a series of shorts and low-budget
indie films. And then this past March, preposterously, wins all the marbles at South
by Southwest with “The Arbalest,” their
latest full-length film effort.
characters. Brune slips effortlessly from
one Foster Kalt downgrade into another, morphing from a dreamy schlemiel of
a young wannabe toy inventor to a bilebitter mogul.
All of Fake Wood Wallpaper’s fantastic “Arbalest” accomplishments, from big
idea to big award, find their roots at Georgia State.
O
KATIE
RR
* * * * *
INSERT: LAKE CLAIRE BEDROOM OF ALEX AND KATIE ORR (NIGHT)
CLOSEUP of ALEX’s peacefully sleeping face. We HEAR KATIE,
very excited:
KATIE
Alex! ALEX! I got up to nurse the baby,
and I just looked at Instagram! It won, Alex!
The Arbalest WON! We won SXSW!
VOICE OF ALEX, very sleepy
No way … hell yeah … ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…
The movie? Think metaphor for one thing — it’s a cinematic symbol of what kids in love
with their art and with no fear of busting their humps can conjure from thin air.
Adam Pinney (B.A. ‘02) wrote and directed “The Arbalest.” Alex Orr (no degree, but
five years of classes) produced it. Mike Brune (rhymes with “Rooney” – B.A. ‘02) stars
in it. Hugh Braselton (B.A. 03) filmed it. And Katie Orr, née Rowlett (B.A. ‘03) worked as
prop master while teeming with life, carrying her and Alex’s second baby.
In “The Arbalest,” the Fake Wood Wallpaper band of brothers-and-sister created a
76-minute period film (1968–1978) about an intellectual property thief named Foster
Kalt. Fate taps Kalt (played with great range by Brune) to savor credit, fame and wealth
from a Rubik’s Cube invention (the Kalt Cube in the movie) filched at a toy convention
from an anonymous dead man in a hotel room. Kalt falls in love with a lovely lass named
Sylvia who conspires to steal the cube concept, and he then obsessively woos her for
years, in a creepier and creepier unrequited effort to win her love in return.
Pinney wrote and directed a Kalt Cube of a movie, twisting and turning time and
Once upon a time, back in their student years, Berlin-born army brat (Atlantan from age 10) Adam Pinney directed a
one-act play he wrote about a kid taking
part in a Rubik’s Cube competition on the
day of a family funeral. Pinney called the
play “L’algorithme de Dieu” (God’s Algorithm), which refers to the algorithm for
solving Rubik’s Cube — or the shortest
number of moves to solve any puzzle.
Pinney cast a spindly, charismatic classmate, Mike Brune, as the lead.
“Mike was Kramer, on ‘Seinfeld,’” Pinney recalls. “He used to have hair like
Kramer in college, spiky, and he looked
like a Slim Jim. He’s always been sort of
the cartoon character in our group, the
comedian, the improviser.”
Literally. Brune practiced improvisational comedy locally for 10 years, applying
the tricks of that trade to acting.
“I feel very at home improvising on a
stage — it’s very second nature,” Brune
says. “On-camera has always been the
hardest type of acting to me. When you
have a script and have to hit marks and hit
beats, build a character, it makes it more
onerous than having no time to build a
character and doing it instantaneously.”
Brune improvised the Fake Wood Wallpaper name straight from an episode of
“Seinfeld.” (“I love ‘Seinfeld,’” he says, “it
never gets old.”) Kramer decides to decorate his New York apartment with … wait
for it now … fake wood wallpaper for a
ski-lodge effect.
The cross-pollination proved serendipitous to all. In her theatre class, Katie
Rowlett cast a restless, good-looking kid
named Alex Orr as the lead in her original
play, “Finger Food.” They would later fall
in love and marry.
“Georgia State did what college is supposed to do,” Katie Orr says. “It developed
me in a creative sense, and it gave me the
great friends that I still have.”
Says Pinney, “Georgia State’s a real
place not just to learn, but to meet other
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
19
people, interact, be inspired. That happened to all of us.”
Alex Orr brought his friend Tony Holley into Fake Wood Wallpaper. They met
working at an Outback Steakhouse, Alex
just 16 and unable to comprehend that
certain things in life just weren’t possible. Tony, seven years older, was newly
returned from vagabonding in Europe,
where he “enjoyed myself to destitution,”
as he says. The pair bonded over cinema,
then teamed up to create a TV show on
the local public access channel.
Film would be their next horizon.
“I’m not one to make declarative statements that film makes the world change,
but I really love the fact that film gives you
the ability to escape from everything,” Holley says. “I’ve always thought that the magic of the movies was what it let you escape.”
Alex Orr would eventually discover
more magic in moving and shaking — producing, in other words — than in acting
and shooting.
“I don’t love being on set when the cameras are rolling,” Orr says. “I like when
someone else has an idea and something
on the page. I just have a good time making that into something we can actually
see on a screen.”
Orr shared a $600 a month starter
apartment on Myrtle Avenue in midtown
Atlanta with Hugh Braselton. Hugh got
turned on to movies at age 13 by a sneak
preview screening of “Jurassic Park” he
saw with his dad.
“When we left seeing that movie,” Hugh
says, “I told my dad I was going to make
movies when I grew up. I was going to
fight my way in, no matter what. I had a
real drive for it.”
Creative Space
NEW MEDIA CENTER BEGINS INCUBATING INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS
HUG
* * * * *
INSERT: MEXICO, A CANTINA TABLE. SEATED, HUGH BRASELTON AND
HIS WIFE (MORNING)
CLOSEUP of HUGH’s fingers tapping smart phone screen.
VOICE OF HUGH
Ahh … finally … WiFi at last down here south
of the border on our vacation … honey, how long has
it been? Two days at least … and … and …
Wow! Look! LOOK BABY! The Arbalest won at SXSW!
WE WON!
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G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
SCREAMS. LOUDER SCREAMS.
hung out between classes, made short films, kicked around ideas.
Everyone wrote scripts, shared them with the group, suffered
slings and arrows of feedback, and got better. They developed a
sort of shorthand for communication based on intimate understandings of one another’s lives and personalities. A revelation
came when Georgia State showed a night of student films, and
Atlanta alternative newspaper Creative Loafing chose only the
ones created by the five Wallpaper members worthy of review.
They all took day jobs but, more and more, found satisfaction
and signs of success in dreaming, and working, as an ensemble.
In 2007, Fake Wood Wallpaper teamed up on its first featurelength film, “Blood Car.” Its cult-classic premise: A car runs on
blood instead of gasoline. (Refueling at the pump takes on a
whole new meaning.)
ON
If the Fake Wood Wallpaper
gang of five re-enrolled at
Georgia State to study film
production in the fall, they’d
find things have changed
pretty dramatically.
First off, there are three
times the number of entrylevel production classes
offered, and there are new,
advanced post-production
and documentary film
courses, as well as seminars that teach production
for new web-based and
shorter-format distribution.
Second, they’d discover
a new facility in the new
Creative Media Industries
Institute (CMII) that could
help them develop and
leverage their films in ways
they couldn’t have imagined
15 years ago.
David Cheshier, director
of the CMII, says student
“media makers” such as
the Fake Wood Wallpaper
filmmakers will soon have
access to an arts entrepreneurship center where they
can find mentorship and access to new technologies.
“The continued growth
of the media and art sector
[will come] from a group
of grads from various
backgrounds and aca-
demic disciplines who get
together to form startups,”
says Cheshier.
Construction is underway on the facility — at the
corner of Park Place and
Edgewood Avenue — that
will house new media and
creative industry labs.
The CMII is an interdisciplinary institute that builds
on the university’s strengths
in media production, research, design, the arts,
music management and
digital publishing by preparing students for careers
that transcend traditional
degree programs.
The Georgia State five, with co-producer Holley, applied the tried-and-true Wallpaper formula.
Alex Orr directed (and scared up funding). Alex
and Pinney scripted. Brune and Katie starred. Braselton manned the camera. The movie pinned
Fake Wood Wallpaper Films onto the late-night
movie radar.
They followed with “Congratulations,” a comedy/drama about a kid who goes missing in his
own house. Brune wrote and directed this one,
and the ensemble once again puzzled together its
time and talents to make the film.
More creations came. The Wallpapers branched
into shows for Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. They placed a short in the Rotterdam Film
Festival. They honed their craft individually, too.
Their personal stars rose alongside the reputation
of the collective.
A short list of individual credits:
At this writing, Brune shoots as an assistant director for an Atlanta-area production
that he can’t name for legal reasons. He continues to act and write as well, but says,
“I’m a little more at home behind the camera than in front. I love
seeing things come together from behind the camera — the prep
Charles McNair
and planning and shot listing and figuring out the best way to tell
publishes nationally
the story in a visual way.”
and internationally.
Alex Orr works as executive producer for two television series:
He is the author of
“Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell” (Season 3) on Adult Swim
two novels, “Pickett’s
and Joe Swanberg’s eight-part Netflix anthology, “Easy.” He’s
Charge” and “Land
line producer for FX’s “Atlanta” and producer of a Swanberg
O’ Goshen.” He was
movie, “Win It All.”
books editor at Paste
And, maybe best of all, he’s producer for Katie Orr’s upcoming
Magazine from 2005–
feature, “Poor Jane” — the next full-length feature film by Fake
2015. McNair lives in
Wood Wallpaper.
Bogota, Colombia.
T
LL
O
H
Y
ON
EY
“A housewife stops loving her husband,
and her life falls apart,” Katie describes it.
“I’m hoping to ride the coattails of ‘The
Arbalest’ and do some good festivals.”
It looks promising. Like “The Arbalest”
last year, Katie’s film won acceptance into
the notoriously competitive Independent
Filmmaker Project (IFP) Labs. (Only 10
films make the IFP cut annually.) Pinney edited, plus “Mike and Hugh sort of
helped when they could,” Katie says.
In addition to editing “Poor Jane,” Pinney has two new scripts under construction. (Why two? “In case I have to throw
them both away,” he wryly answers.) All
snark aside, with the South by Southwest
award in hand, Pinney and his Wallpaper
friends have a rising star to hitch to.
“The award’s amazing, very exciting,”
Pinney marvels. “We made this strange
thing, and it’s out in the world with a much
bigger audience than any of us every expected. It’s put more eyes on us and put
our feet in doors we didn’t get in before.”
And Braselton? The others mention him
with a kind of awe: “Hugh’s working on
these giant movies,” says Katie.
Giant. Big-time, big budget, big exposure. Braselton helped shoot the last two
“Fast and Furious” flicks, and he starts
“Fast and Furious 8” soon. He recently
wrapped an assistant cinematographer assignment on “Captain America: Civil War.”
He worked on “The Hunger Games.”
Georgia State, he says, focused his future.
“The film biz is all about meeting the
right guys who see something in you that
makes them reach out to help,” Braselton
says. “At Georgia State, I met the teachers and people who are still my filmmaking compadres.
“Evan Lieberman (producer, director,
cinematographer and former professor in
the Georgia State film department) gave
me my first job. Eddy Von Mueller (also
a professor) gave me another. Bill Burton (B.I.S. ’90, M.A. ’00, cinematographer)
is one of my most significant friends. He
taught me so much.”
Kay Beck, professor of communication
and director of the Digital Arts and Entertainment Lab at Georgia State, taught
members of the Wallpaper crew in a producing for film and TV class. She spotted
something special.
“I recall thinking then that these guys
have what it takes,” Beck says. “I thought
that I would hear some day about their
success.” M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
21
the
ORIGIN
of
I LLUST R ATIONS
BY
JOE
Mc KE N DRY
In the wilds
of Kenya,
Georgia State
Professor
david
wojnowski
discovered two
unidentified
geckos. One now
bears his name.
The story of
Lygodactylus wojnowskii
BY
22
L AT IN A
EMER S ON
SPECIES
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
23
GECKO JUNIOR
fter the five-hour drive from Nairobi to Chogo-
24
ria, Kenya, David Wojnowski sipped chai and awaited
his lunch at a covered table outside a small restaurant at
the base of Mount Kenya. He’d come to climb the peak the next day
with his stepson Neil Woodruff, a professional mountain guide. ¶
It was 2009, and Woodruff was there to scout mountain routes for
clients, but foremost on Wojnowski’s agenda for the ascent was to
track down two chameleons, Trioceros schubotzi, the Mount Kenya
side-striped chameleon, and Kinyongia boehmei, the Mount Kenya
hornless chameleon. The first is endemic to the mountain’s higher elevations, where it is quite cool, a rare climate for these lizards.
The latter is found in the lower, warmer elevations. ¶ Wojnowski, a
clinical assistant professor in the College of Education and Human
Development and longtime science educator, has been fascinated
with reptiles and amphibians as long as he can remember. His first
pet was a banded gecko. His father converted an old console television into a terrarium for it. ¶ As the two dove into their lunch,
Wojnowski noticed an unusual gecko crawling along a fencepost. At
first glance, he figured it to be a Lygodactylus punctatus, the yellowheaded dwarf gecko, but something was different about this one.
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
PHOTO BY BEN ROLLINS
“I thought, ‘Let me go catch this guy
and see if it’s different,’” he remembers.
It was déjà vu for Wojnowski.
Four years earlier and 600 miles south,
he was sipping tea in the Kenyan village
of Bungule at the base of Mount Kasigau
when he spotted two small geckos skittering along a wood railing. He also caught
those thinking he might have stumbled
upon a yet undiscovered species of gecko.
Compared to the yellow-headed dwarf
gecko, as well as the geckos he’d found in
Bungule, the Mount Kenya lizard’s head
was slightly larger in proportion to its
body, the pattern on its throat was different and the yellow coloration along
its underside continued past the base of
the tail.
“That was a big clue that this one was
different,” he says.
Wojnowski brought the gecko back to
the table to take a closer look.
“He named off two or three species,
what they looked like, and how this gecko
was close, but it was still different” Woodruff, his stepson, remembers. “And that
was how the whole thing took off. That’s
when the idea maybe started clicking that
he had found something new. You could
kind of watch the light turn on.”
Animal and plant species are named through binomial nomenclature, a scientific
system of classifying and naming living things according to their genus and species.
Each animal or plant receives a name composed of two parts. The first part identifies
the genus to which it belongs, and the second part names the species within the
genus. The terms are usually Latin, although they can be based on words from other
languages. Usually, the person who discovers the animal or plant has the privilege of
giving the living organism a name.
To name the new gecko species Lygodactylus wojnowskii, scientists first determined it belonged to Lygodactylus, a genus of about 60 species of small day geckos
living mainly in Africa and Madagascar. When they confirmed it was different from other
existing species in this genus, they created the species name by using Wojnowski’s last
name and adding the letter “i” to Latinize the name, making it wojnowskii. After lunch, they left to meet their
mountain guides, but Wojnowski couldn’t
stop thinking about the gecko he just
found. He set off to collect a few more.
A few days after their climb, he brought
the geckos to Patrick Malonza, head of
the Herpetology Section at the National
Museums of Kenya in Nairobi, on the
hunch they were a new species.
But Malonza had a backlog of other reptiles and amphibians to identify, including
the gecko Wojnowski found in Bungule four
years earlier, so it took him more than a year
to get around to making an examination.
“So I’m kind of sitting on pins and needles for a year,” Wojnowski says.
PAT T E R N R E C O G N I T I O N
Lygodactylus wojnowskii has unusual black and
white stripes on its head that almost form the shape
of a Y. Its head is also slightly larger in proportion to
its body than similar gecko species.
PROOF
For Wojnowski, it was an agonizing wait.
“One of my childhood dreams was to
find a new species of reptile or amphibian,” he says.
And Wojnowski, convinced he’d found
not one, but two new species of gecko,
called in a scientific big gun. He showed
photos of the gecko he found near Mount
Kenya to Aaron Bauer, one of the world’s
leading gecko taxonomists, and asked his
opinion on whether he thought it was a
new species.
“And he says, ‘Yeah, it looks different to
me, too,’” Wojnowski says.
Wojnowski contacted Malonza to share
Bauer’s stamp of approval. Impressed,
Malonza sped up the process of evaluating Wojnowski’s geckos. After several extensive rounds of morphometrics,
or measurement analysis, he agreed the
geckos were different from what he’d seen
before. But to confirm, they would need
to do some DNA analysis — extensive,
comparative DNA analysis. Wojnowski’s
wait endured.
Wojnowski sought out Dean Williams, a
colleague and biologist at Texas Christian
University, who was already performing
DNA analysis on other lizards. Wojnowski sent DNA samples but was told that it
could potentially take several more years
because of Williams’ workload.
Wojnowski teaches science methods to
future science teachers at Georgia State,
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
25
NEW SPECIES
C O L O R AT I O N
I D E N T I F I C AT I O N
The yellow stripe along the underside
of Lygodactylus wojnowskii stopped
at the base of the tail. “That was a big
clue that this gecko was different,” says
Wojnowski. The female has a black
pattern on its throat, while the male’s
throat is solid black.
and worked for the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural
Resources before starting his career in
academia, so he’s fully aware of the meticulous review involved in making a scientific discovery such as this.
“Finding a new vertebrate species is not
an everyday occurrence, and it takes a fair
amount of work before it can be considered a new species,” says Williams. “The
process includes comparing its morphology to similar species, determining how
genetically distinct it is from other similar
species, and describing its behavior and
ecology relative to other similar species.”
26
For the DNA analysis, Williams’ lab analyzed fragments of DNA based on their
size. This determines if the DNA pattern
is different compared to other similar species. Researchers also found physical differences between males and females. The
female has a black pattern on its throat,
while the male’s throat is solid black.
In 2012, Williams’ lab confirmed that
the gecko Wojnowski plucked from the
fencepost at the foot of Mount Kenya
was indeed a new species. In the process,
Williams also confirmed that the gecko
Wojnowski found in 2005 near the village
of Bungule was a new species, too.
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
But the wait wasn’t over. Wojnowski’s
Mount Kenya geckos wouldn’t be recognized as a new species until a manuscript
of the discovery was published in a peerreviewed journal and allowed to be scrutinized by the scientific community.
What Wojnowski did know is that his
colleagues in the scientific community
had picked out a name for his most recent
gecko discovery: Lygodactylus wojnowskii.
Last December, Malonza, lead author
of the scientific paper on Lygodactylus
wojnowskii, broke the news: the manuscript had been accepted and would appear in the journal Zootaxa. It was finally
official six years after Wojnowski discovered the new species.
Because Lygodactylus wojnowskii has
more distinct genetic differences from other geckos in this genus, Malonza decided
to report their findings about it first. The
name of the additional new species that
Wojnowski discovered near Bungule will
be revealed this year when the scientific
paper is published.
A CLOSE RELATIVE TO
THE GEICO GECKO
The charming, bright green gecko with
the English accent that has become the
spokesman for GEICO, an American
insurance company, actually has several
similarities to this new gecko species,
Lygodactylus wojnowskii.
GEICO’s gecko belongs to the genus
Phelsuma and has a close taxonomy, or
classification, to the genus Lygodactylus.
Lygodactylus wojnowskii was discovered in the town of Chogoria on the
eastern lower slopes of Mount Kenya in
central Kenya, a country in East Africa. The
Phelsuma genus lives nearby on the island
of Madagascar off the coast of East Africa.
Most geckos are nocturnal, but Phelsuma and Lygodactylus are active in the daytime, which is also known as being diurnal.
“New species will never be
discovered if everyone
thinks, ‘Oh, it’s just a
lizard,’” says Wojnowski.
“One thing I tell my
students is noticing
subtle differences when
trying to identify animals
is very important.”
A SCIENTIST ’S
DREAM
Wojnowski never set out to find a new
species.
“It still gives me goosebumps to think
about it,” he says.
After the scientific paper was published,
Wojnowski shared with his students the
story about discovering the gecko, the
long road to determining it was a new species and having it named after him.
“I would say he was bouncing with joy,”
says Christy Visaggi, a lecturer in the Department of Geosciences who, alongside
Wojnowski, teaches an integrated science
class on life and earth sciences for preservice early childhood education. “He
was so excited, and then being able to
share that with future teachers was really meaningful.”
Malonza notes that Wojnowski’s discoveries are significant because they have
increased the number of lizard species
found in Kenya, as well as lizards in this
genus found in the east African country.
“It is also significant because it raises
Scientists estimate there are more
than 8.7 million species on Earth,
plus or minus 1.3 million. Only 1.2
million species are officially
registered, and new species are
being discovered every day.
the conservation profile of central Kenya
because of the increased number of species in the area,” he says.
Most people would have looked at the
gecko on the fence post and assumed it
was the same as all the others.
“New species will never be discovered if
everyone thinks, ‘Oh, it’s just a lizard,’” says
Wojnowski. “One thing I tell my students is
noticing subtle differences when trying to
identify animals is very important.”
These small differences are important
for protecting diversity in biology. If people think a particular lizard is everywhere,
they won’t notice if it starts to disappear,
which could lead to the extinction of an
entire species, Wojnowski says.
All people, not just scientists, play a role
in discovering new species, adds Malonza.
“If you find anything peculiar, especially
a reptile or amphibian, take initiative and
take a photo or specimen to the nearest
museum or relevant institution for identification,” he says.
Wojnowski, now two for two when it
comes to finding new species, hopes to
find others someday.
“If I do retire, I plan on going to exotic
places and looking for critters because I
think that’s the most fun thing to do in the
world,” he says. M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
27
BORN INTO ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ROYALTY,
JESSICA WALDEN
(B.A. ’00)
IS USING HER HOMETOWN’S RICH MUSIC HISTORY
TO PRESERVE ITS LEGACY.
MACON
GOOD
BY TONY REHAGEN
PHOTOS BY BEN ROLLINS
28
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
29
H&H
RESTAURANT
IS A DOWNTOWN MACON, GA.,
LANDMARK THAT’S
EASY TO MISS.
Tucked into the ground floor of a squat,
red-brick cube at the corner of Forsyth and
New streets, the breakfast and lunch spot
is marked only by a white painted-over
Coca-Cola light-box sign hanging above
the door. The swinging glass door and a
small front window let in the sun and eyes
of passersby. Since it opened back in 1959,
locals have sought out the hidden lunch
and breakfast gem for its soul food — pork
chops, collard greens, succotash and some
of the best fried chicken in the South.
Inside, however, the greasy spoon is a
time capsule from the 1970s. The servers
wear tie-dye T-shirts. Southern rock jams
over the bare-bones sound system and
framed posters, playbills and autographed
photos cover the walls. Molly Hatchet. The
Marshall Tucker Band. And of course, Macon’s own Allman Brothers Band. The only
thing missing is a plaque or sign explaining
the connection.
Enter Jessica Walden, a petite blonde
stepping out of a sun-drenched Wednesday afternoon into H&H wearing sunglasses, a cheetah-print faux fur coat and
jeans, purple knee-high boots clacking on
the concrete floor. The waitress knows
Walden by sight and brings her iced tea in
a to-go cup. Not only is Walden a Macon
native and a regular customer, but H&H
is the meeting spot and the first stop on
Walden’s weekly rock ‘n’ roll stroll tour
— a two-and-a-half-hour walk through
in-town and downtown Macon featuring
the famous, not-so-famous and altogether
forgotten scenes of musical events that
changed the world. These are the celebrated homes and haunts of legends such as
30
Little Richard, Otis Redding and Capricorn
Records. But also dives and street corners
where lesser-known artists were forged,
such as blues pioneer Lucille Hegamin and
gospel street performer the Rev. Pearly
Brown, and places where little-known moments of pop culture history took place.
(“Greg Allman proposed to Cher in that alleyway,” Walden points out along the tour.)
Walden and her husband Jamie Weatherford, a local candy manufacturer, started
Rock Candy Tours in summer 2011 when
the Georgia Music Hall of Fame closed its
downtown doors because of low attendance and reduced funding.
Jessica, Jamie and Walden at home in Macon.
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
“Macon’s music history doesn’t have to
live in a museum,” says Walden. “It’s on
the streets and in these buildings. If these
walls could talk, they’d sing.”
The cinderblock walls of H&H have a particularly melodious ballad, she says, pointing to the shrine of Southern rock signage.
She starts spinning the yarn of one day in
the early 1970s when two skinny, longhaired
guys walked in and asked owner Mama Louise for help. They were musicians leaving on
tour, and they had no money.
“They looked so hungry,” Walden says,
building drama.
Mama Louise gave them two plates of
food. The men left and quickly returned
with the band and crew. They promised
to repay Mama Louise when they returned
from the road. That was the Allman Brothers Band. They eventually repaid their outstanding tab, and even hired “Their Mama”
to cook for them on tour, making her and
H&H famous.
“Now,” says Walden, “you have to eat
here as part of the pilgrimage.”
***
Walden will be the first to tell you
she’s not a historian. Nor is she a musician. She doesn’t even claim to be a music
buff. She graduated from Georgia State
in 2000 with a degree in journalism and
has worked mostly in communication and
public relations. But she’s more than just
a tour guide. Walden is a living stop on her
own tour.
As she leaves H&H, having forgotten
her iced tea, Walden heads east on DT
Walton Sr. Way, formerly Cotton Avenue. She points out Hutchings Funeral
Home where Otis Redding’s wake was
held in 1967.
“Imagine 10,000 people lined up along
this sidewalk, waiting to see his body,”
she says, not missing a beat as she strides
through crosswalks, barely noticing the
stoplights, as if she has internalized the
ebb and flow of traffic. She stops only
when she reaches a windowless concrete
façade behind a black wooden barricade,
the structure’s crumbling white paint
streaked with dirt and rain. By the tinted
front door, one can see the shadows of
lettering that have been removed, stains
that time has almost completely wiped
away. They faintly read: “Capricorn Records, Phil Walden & Assoc.”
PHOTO BY MARYANN BATES
P
hil Walden was Jessica’s uncle, a Macon
native who had fallen hopelessly in love
with the blues, R&B and early rock ‘n’ roll
that had sprung up in Macon’s black community in the 1950s. In the late 1950s, as a
student booking bands for his fraternity at
nearby Mercer University, Phil convinced
budding local soul singer Otis Redding to
let him become his manager. Phil’s younger brother Alan, Jessica’s father, came
aboard a few years later and the three
formed RedWal Music in 1965. Through
Redding, the Walden boys would meet and
manage a number of other acts, including
Percy Sledge, who gave their agency its
first No. 1 hit with 1966’s “When a Man
Loves a Woman,” followed by Redding’s
own “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” in
1968. Redding died in a plane crash before
the record was released. Two years later,
the Walden brothers regrouped and started Capricorn Records, future home of The
Marshall Tucker Band, Elvin Bishop and,
TOP LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WALDEN FAMILY
MACON HISTORY ABOVE LEFT: In 1965, Alan (top left) and Phil Walden
(far right), Jessica Walden’s father and uncle, joke around with bespectacled RedWal Music intern Jimmy Molton while Otis Redding takes
a phone call. LEFT: The historic Capricorn Records studio will soon be
revitalized into a modern rehearsal space. ABOVE: The Allman Brothers
Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd cut their teeth at Grant’s Lounge.
of course, The Allman Brothers Band, in
this very building.
Alan split off into his own publishing
and management company in 1970. The
first band he signed was Lynyrd Skynyrd,
a band that, along with the Allmans, would
define Southern rock over the next decade. And it was into this world that Jessica Walden was born.
“She grew up with a lot of music around
her,” says Alan Walden, now retired. “Although I’m sure she got tired of hearing
her daddy’s long stories about Otis, Skynyrd and The Outlaws.”
When she was a child, Jessica got to participate in a few crazy stories of her own
when she and her mother would tag along
to certain events. One of her earliest memories is of a trip to New York to watch The
Outlaws play The Beacon Theatre. Prior to
the show, as the opening acts were starting, a dozen or so members of the Hell’s
Angels motorcycle gang had stormed the
upstairs dressing rooms and blocked the
path to the stage. They refused to move
unless The Outlaws promised not to play
their song called “Angels Hide.”
“They thought that the song was about
the Hell’s Angels hiding,” says Alan. “We
tried to explain that it wasn’t about them
— it was about trees!”
That seemed to calm the bikers, and
the show went on. Two-year-old Jessica
and her mother were standing right next
to Alan as The Outlaws kicked off their set
when Alan spotted a gang member just
to their left.
“I was petrified,” he says. “I was thinking ahead to whom I would grab first to
run away with.”
But when the band launched into the
opening chords of “Angels Hide,” the bikers just clapped and yelled. Alan exhaled.
Perhaps it was that early memory, or that
she really was tired of all her dad’s stories,
or maybe it was because her friends’ parents never wanted to let their children play
at the house of a guy who looked like Willie
Nelson, but when Jessica got to high school,
she did what most teenagers do: She re-
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
31
The Allman Brothers Band
immortalized Bond’s Tomb in
Macon’s historic Rose Hill
Cemetery on the back cover of
their self-titled first album. It’s
now a stop on a Rock Candy
Tour. The cemetery is also the
final resting place of Duane
Allman and Berry Oakley, two
original members of the band.
belled. For Jessica, that meant steering clear
of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.
“I went to a conservative private
school,” she says. “I’d choose reading a
book over going to a concert.”
“When she would go out, she would call
me religiously,” Alan remembers. “She’d
always tell me where she was and ask to
stay out a little later. I’d always let her. She
was a good kid.”
***
Youthful rebellion aside, Jessica
couldn’t avoid the fact that royalties from
songs like “Freebird,” “Simple Man” and
“Sweet Home Alabama” were going to
help put her through Georgia State. And
as fate would have it, the year before she
started college, her Uncle Phil had moved a
second incarnation of Capricorn to Atlanta
into the Walton Building just blocks from
the Georgia State campus. (The original
closed in 1979.) There, she went to work
as an office assistant in between classes,
helping promote the label’s next generation of musicians such as Widespread
Panic, 311 and Cake. She was reconnected
with her family history and the music history they made.
Upon graduation, with that Walden
rock pedigree and a journalism degree in
tow, she was offered a position in public relations and events with the Georgia
Music Hall of Fame back home in Macon.
She loved Atlanta and was not anxious to
move back to the smaller city. Ultimately,
the job was too much to pass up.
“I came back kicking and screaming,”
she says. “But now I’m in love with it.”
Love notwithstanding, the Macon she
returned to was not the music mecca of
her childhood. Capricorn was gone. Her
dad was retired. Many of the buildings,
monuments to Macon and the music that
was forged there, were shuttered, neglected and endangered. After four years at the
Hall of Fame, two years editing “The 11th
Hour,” Macon’s alternative weekly newspaper, Walden took a gig with the College Hill Alliance, working with the city
and Mercer University to preserve and
enhance the historic neighborhoods on a
two-mile stretch of downtown. Her area
of expertise was community outreach,
and she planned events such as a monthly music series in Washington Park. One
of those was the homecoming of sorts for
Percy Sledge, her uncle’s first No. 1 performer, that filled the park with more than
5,000 people.
Walden started giving informal music history tours of the College Hill area
in 2010. But when the
Music Hall of Fame
closed in 2011, Walden
and her husband were
spurred into action.
She mined her father
and researched interviews of her late uncle
for information, and
he hit the Internet
and the local library
to research Macon’s
storied musical past.
Rock Candy Tours
now offers several different types of tours,
some weekly, others by appointment only.
There’s the Friday night Free Birds and
Night Owls Tour that takes advantage of
Macon’s open container allowance and
features Grant’s Lounge, a dive dripping
with magic of the bands that have played
there, and where Jessica held her own
wedding rehearsal dinner. There are also
step-on shuttle and bus tours that go out
as far as Rose Hill Cemetery, where Duane
Allman is buried.
Rock Candy Tour’s purpose is two-fold:
First, its goal is preservation. By awakening people to the stories within those disintegrating walls, Walden brings attention
to their beauty and significance. And there
has been positive impact. The Capricorn
office building has been bought by local investors who are searching for a new function. And closer to the river, the old Capricorn recording studio, which was one of the
Georgia Trust’s “Ten Places In Peril,” is set
to reopen as an extension for the Mercer
music school.
The second aim is awareness: To showcase Macon’s rightful place among the five
M’s of American music (Manhattan, Miami, Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Macon). Thus far, the
strolls down music
memory lane have attracted fans from all
over the world.
A
“M ACON’S MUSIC HISTORY DOESN’T HAVE TO
LIVE IN A MUSEUM,” SAYS WALDEN. “IT’S ON
THE STREETS AND IN THESE BUILDINGS.
IF THESE WALLS COULD
TALK, THEY’D SING.”
fter a couple hours of
walking around downtown, past Grant’s
Lounge, past the Macon City Auditorium
where Little Richard
was pulled onto the
stage as a young boy by Sister Rosetta
Tharpe, past the Douglass Theatre where
Otis won his first talent shows, the tour
ends back at H&H. Walden says her goodbyes. Time to go home to her husband
and their son — named Walden.
In addition to bringing revitalization
and awareness to Walden’s hometown,
Rock Candy Tours
has a third, if possibly
Tony Rehagen a
unintended, consefreelance writer
quence — it has reconbased in Atlanta.
nected Jessica Walden,
He is a contributthe once rebellious
ing writer for
preppy, with her rock
Atlanta Magazine.
‘n’ roll birthright.
His work has also
“I was delighted
appeared in ESPN
when she started the
The Magazine,
tours,” says her father,
Men’s Health and
Alan, the man who first
the book “Next
signed Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Wave: America’s
“I learned some things
New Generation
about Macon that even
of Great Literary
I didn’t know.” Journalists.”
M A G A Z I N E. G S U. E D U
33
INSIDE INSIGHT
HONORING
JOURNEY’S END • Remember this feeling? Kaila Yancey (B.A. ’16) revels in that incredible moment when she realizes she’s officially
the Women in Our Lives
a college graduate. Photographers followed Yancey, who earned her degree in journalism with a double minor in marketing and
hospitality management, before and after Georgia State’s Commencement on May 7. Visit magazine.gsu.edu for a
behind-the-scenes video on Yancey’s graduation day.
The Women’s Philanthropy Initiative (WPI) helps students
reach goals by bridging financial gaps. Make a donation in a special
woman’s name to Georgia State Student Scholarships. Ensure that her
values get passed on to future generations.
A special thanks to the DONORS for choosing to honor
the women in their lives.
— in honor of —
To learn more about the WPI
or to honor a special woman,
visit giving.gsu.edu/wpi or
contact Stephanie Alvarez at
404-413-3413 or [email protected].
34
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