The Univers i ty o f Georgia

SchoolM A G A Z I N E

Graduate

THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA GRADUATE SCHOOL NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS

Graduate School Magazine S U M M E R 2 0 0 6 1

24 LIFE AMONG THE CLOUDS

Perhaps the UGA Costa Rica Campus is best

described as a living laboratory of natural beauty,

say those who travel there for immersion and

study. With lush valleys and staggering waterfalls

in the background, it looks like a surreal movie

set – actually, it is the place of mystical beauty

that inspired Green Mansions. It is also a place of

ongoing research and academic programs by

UGA attracting a variety of institutions to one

of Costa Rica’s best kept cloud forests. Image

photographed at the State Botanical Garden of

Georgia.

Front Cover In Fast Company: Elizabeth Rahn

likes motorcycles and microscopes. She has plans to

make her mark in neuroscience. At age 23, she shed

her leather jacket for a lab coat and headed to

Lindau, Germany. Find out what it was like hanging

out with 17 Nobel Laureates last summer.

winter

CONTENTS

53

9

24

28

32

16

20

12

34

news and h ighl ights

Letter from the Dean

GenerationsMaxine Youngblood“Artists, just like Picasso, are always studying. I took

French and Photoshop and all kinds of courses while I

was still doing my art and finishing my master’s degree.

It’s better than watching TV all the time!”

Scholars Worth Watching Hang LiuLearn how nantotextiles can produce a better suture

material, preventing millions of surgical infections.

Cheryldee HuddlestonA playwright with a passion for Nijinsky and the South

finds rich material. “Speaking of the impermissible is

at the crux of my love of Nijinsky.”

Elizabeth RahnFive days shared with 17 Nobel Laureates has left this

neuroscientist feeling humbled and grateful.

Where Are They Now?John DowlingA former Graduate School dean and brainiac confesses

to a lifetime of bibliomania.

Scholars for TomorrowJustin Welch and Sofia Arce Flores discuss UGA’s Costa

Rica Campus.

Lawrence J. Wheeler How this historian became one of the South's savviest

art administrators.

In Brief Graduate School news and notes

Last WordABC Dawg

2

“Children see so deeplyand see the truth. Wecreate too many expectationsand barriers. Each work of artis an experience unto itself.”— LAWRENCE J. WHEELER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART, RALEIGH, NC

“I still have my book in whichI wrote the date 1936. Thatwas the year the Spanish Civil Warbegan, so it was a long time before Igot to Spain.”— JOHN C. DOWLING, DEAN EMERITUS OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

“In my field, the greatest recognition of scientificprowess is to win the Nobel Prize. To meet someonewho has attained such a feat is amazing.”— ELIZABETH RAHN, GRADUATE STUDENT

“I plan to graduate next summer, and I lookat my dissertation almost as a narrative.Like any play I write, I hope tomake truly original connections.”— CHERYLDEE HUDDLESTON, PLAYWRIGHT

D E A N ’ S L E T T E R

Message f rom

D e a n M a u r e e n G r a s s o

MAUREEN GRASSO

D e a n

Being at this particular place at this extraordinary time is something I’m

mindful of and thankful for, especially as this exceptional year draws to

an end. In the spirit of the season, a time of summing up and looking

ahead, I reflect on the roles I have played this past year: educator, leader,

and investor—all at UGA as dean of the Graduate School. The most

exciting role has been that of investor, because I passionately believe in

investing in our students and thus investing in our future. I thankfully

acknowledge how much the gifts you made to the Graduate School have

meant to our students and their future endeavors. Your gifts made a

difference to graduate students across our campus.

As for the future, I’m also excited about new roles I will assume with

an approaching landmark that is only two years away. Preparations are

underway for the Graduate School’s 100th anniversary in 2010. As

developments unfold, Web site updates will keep everyone informed,

and we seek your involvement on multiple levels. A special book, mark-

ing this anniversary event, is in currently in development. If you have

special memories, ephemera or photographs you’d like to share, please

contact us either in writing or via our Web site at: www.grad.uga.edu.

Within this issue of the Graduate School Magazine you will meet

Elizabeth Rahn, a doctoral student in psychology at UGA. She is a dedicated

researcher, working quietly and methodically to add to her field’s body

of knowledge. She is also a motorcycle enthusiast, seeking the open road

of adventure. Both roles are taking her on the road less traveled and are

enriching her life—and soon those of others through her research

accomplishments. That is the beauty of graduate education: exploring

the unexplored and achieving the only imagined.

Throughout the holidays, as we look for meaningful ways to share with others, I again

ask that you make a gift to graduate education. It really will matter in the life of a student,

allowing new roads to be explored in the quest for knowledge. Your gift also makes you a true

proponent of scholarly life. Won’t you join me as an investor in our future as the Graduate

School approaches 100 years of incredible achievement?

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 3

generat ions

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 5

“IT’S SO LIBERATING TO BE 70...”Artist Maxine YoungbloodSets Sights on a Fourth Degree

“I feel like education is wasted on the young,” says the inimitable Maxine

Youngblood. “I’ve always gone to school. We’ve so many adults wasting their later

years.” Youngblood begins doctoral studies in adult education next spring as she

currently audits art classes. She credits college life for her youthful zest and creativity.

Artist Maxine Youngblood (MFA ’97) will be late for the art history class

she takes on Tuesdays and Thursdays if she doesn’t time her day right. She’s in

luck so far: she parks her dusty turquoise blue Dodge pickup just outside the

Espresso Royale Café on Broad Street in Athens. One of her newest sculptures is

carefully wrapped and stowed on the floorboard for delivery. She nips through

the café in search of fresh orange juice, waves to the counter clerks, and hurries

out via a side door.

Youngblood shakes her red curls energetically as she attacks the stairs, declar-

ing she is “sick of people working on their bodies and not their brains,” while

climbing several steep flights of stairs to a studio over the coffee shop. The air

itself must be caffeinated it is so heavily laced with coffee and steamed milk, and

Youngblood is so energized. Wearing black clogs and jeans, the grandmother of

three firmly strikes each step as she hurries up, then turns and patiently waits on

the interviewer.

Not even panting, Youngblood turns a key in the lock and whistles lowly when

the door swings opens and escaping heat slams into her compact body. The stu-

dio is in a colorful state of chaos: boxes of artwork spilling out, a jumble of styles

and media. Youngblood explains she keeps some of her own paintings stored

there as well as the work of student friends. She sculpts in yet another studio

across town. In Atlanta, her hometown, she keeps a third studio.

Youngblood looks appraisingly at one of her own unstretched canvases.

“I cannot begin to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed life. My daughter has a saying,‘Don’t ask my Mom, she likes everything.’”

Above: Madonna’s Book Signing.

Oil on linen, 79 x 73.

Paintings shown on left: The

Storm. Oil on linen, 48 x 60; Tsunami.

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 42 x 58.

Many of her paintings are really large,

she says. (As is her life.) Her work and

life philosophy are entangled, con-

cerning themes of freedom, ageless-

ness, beauty and fiercely held

individualism.

She patches together an artistic

manifesto while working furiously, pro-

ducing canvases and sculptures which

are sandwiched between travels, art

classes, and shows. Youngblood has

no lack of interests. She’s a vegetarian

who is also fond of cooking classes but

devours more books than calories.

She’s inclined to stay up late hours

reading biographies and art criticism.

She likes real estate and chasing down

bargain properties. When she wants a

workout, she enjoys tennis.

At age 70, it is as if Youngblood is

setting out to ravage life, rather than

be ravaged by it, and so far the score

appears to be: Life: Love; Youngblood:

Matchpoint.

FROM BBA, TO MFA, TO MBA

A N D O N WA R D The Blackshear,

Georgia native launched her career as

a business woman after graduating

from Georgia State University in

1965. It would be another 25 years

before Youngblood would give herself

over to art, her first passion.

She received her MFA at the

University in Georgia in 1997, and in

2001 completed an MBA with a con-

centration in art business at Brenau

University. She needed a challenge,

and when a high school teacher

named Mary Lee Childs urged

Youngblood to study business, she fol-

lowed her advice.

Art, however, was always central

to Youngblood’s consciousness.

Through childhood, she drew studies

of animals, (especially fond of goats,

she chortles) and as a youth learned an

appreciation for visuals and design

from Aline Keller, her expert seam-

stress mother. Following stints on Wall

Street (where she was assistant to the

partner in charge of the commodities

division of a New York Stock

Exchange member firm) and in

Atlanta (as an apparel buyer), she

finally began studying art in earnest.

“I cannot understand people who

cannot do a lot,” she explains when

questioned about her many roles.

Youngblood possesses several degrees,

and is now weighing a full-time return

to school. “You have to reinvent your-

self all the time,” she says, squinting

blue eyes that grow hazel in the slant-

ing sunlight.

The artist, businesswoman and

sometimes realtor reinvented herself

several times already. The Graduate

School Magazine interviewed

Youngblood about her remarkable

work, life and study as she prepares to

begin adult education doctoral studies

next year.

GS: What are you reading?

YOUNGBLOOD: Louise Bourgeois

by Marielle Bernadette. Bourgeois is

96 and still working in New York.

[Reading aloud from the book:] ‘The

final string to her bow is her age…’

I think the secret to a great artist

is, they never give up youthfulness. We

keep our youthfulness, through old age

or disability. It was so liberating to

become 70! My daughter, Kathryn

Minotto, says that 70 is the new 40 for

me…I feel so good, and I’m so happy.

I’m concerned with the fact that so

many women are not living fully, have

never expressed their dreams.

GS: So you view your age not as a

hindrance, but as having given you

newfound freedom ?

YOUNGBLOOD: I do feel that the

older I get, the younger I get in my

mind, because I’ve learned how to live,

and I’ve learned about my art.

A free woman should never let

any age stop what she wants to

do …whether she’s 80 and wants to go

to graduate school, or just to go back

and finish high school.

GS: Are there drawbacks?

YOUNGBLOOD: Do you know

how some people will say, ‘Oh, that

was easy, I didn’t even crack a book.’

Everything I ever did, I did the best I

can, and nothing was ever easy.

And…you do feel alone, because

you cannot talk about this issue of

being an artist to people who are not

in the art world. You can only talk to

people who can understand your

hardship. But, it’s the same for

lawyers, or people in medicine or

construction—we like to be around

people who do our work.

GS: Was there one person or mentor,

who had a big impact on your

working life?

YOUNGBLOOD: The late Horace

Farlow. He taught sculpture and model

carving at UGA. And my major

professor, Judy McWillie. Also, Art

Rosenbaum, a painter. But I fear I’ll

leave somebody out. Everybody had

an influence on my life…. all my

teachers and my professors. I remem-

ber each of them. They were all heroes.

What is the most important in art are

the people who have taught me art

history. Artists cannot do art without

art history. The art history department

at Georgia is amazing…Andrew Ladis

and Tom Polk. So many—but those

are a few I must mention.

GS: What do you fear?

YOUNGBLOOD: I was afraid to

show my work. Last night, I moved

6

some paintings and thought, what if I

sold them? I couldn’t stand it. You pay

such a price for being an artist.

GS: You have an MBA and an MFA,

which is a rarity. How do you explain

this dichotomy, this equal passion for

business and art?

YOUNGBLOOD: When I came

back from New York and after work-

ing on Wall Street, I was getting a

business degree, and actually thinking

about law. But I didn’t want to conflict

with what my husband, Jim

Youngblood, was doing. He got two

graduate degrees and a Juris Doctorate.

He became a lawyer and was very

business-focused, and I decided, I’m

going to do what I want to do. You see,

I had been waiting for him to repre-

sent me—to be my fulfillment. I

decided, I will develop myself, and

became suddenly free. And the older I

get the freer I get.

GS: When did you start driving the

blue truck?

YOUNGBLOOD: (Laughing) I

tried to get a truck to move some art

for a show, and I couldn’t get a moving

van. But I saw this Dodge truck (on a

car lot) and I said to the salesman if

you can sell it to me in 45 minutes, I’ll

buy it. Also, my friend Katie Walker

had a truck and she loved her truck.

GS: Where are you going next? You

mentioned Paris in October…

YOUNGBLOOD: I’m usually avail-

able all the time if you can catch me.

(Laughs.) I’m leaving for Paris on

October 26th. I’m hoping to one day

show my work and have a show there.

GS: What’s the worst thing you’ve

faced?

YOUNGBLOOD: I’ve had some

tragic things happen to me. I’ve been

snake bitten twice in my life. Once

when I was fishing with my cousins,

and another time when I was in a

sweet potato patch—by a diamond-

back rattler and a cottonmouth

moccasin. So anywhere I go, I’m

afraid of where to step. I check. I’ve

very watchful in that way.

GS: What made you to choose UGA

for graduate school?

YOUNGBLOOD: I had gotten to

know professors there; I did look into

Cornell and the University of Texas. I

didn’t want to leave too far from home

because of my Mom.

GS: What was your experience?

YOUNGBLOOD: I do school really

well. But I wasn’t a perfect undergrad-

uate. But even so, I don’t regret

anything, because I got to enjoy my

young life. �

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 7

Maxine Youngblood will pursue a

doctorate in art education while

creating her sculptures and

paintings. She credits UGA art

professor Larry W. Millard as one

of her important influences.

The torso shown above is one of

Youngblood’s recent castings.

8

scholars worth watching

spinner as her tools, the textile sciences

doctoral student works feverishly

towards the creation of an antimicro-

bial and biodegradable surgical suture

material, which she hopes to develop

by next spring.

Liu’s goal is producing a suture

material which is not merely coated,

but rather infused, with antimicrobial

properties.

“Electrospinning is a new meth-

od,” says Liu, explaining that scientists

use the weaving innovation to spin fine

fibers into nanofibers. “You can adjust

the electrospinning parameters to

make the fibers that you want.”

Why is Liu’s research important?

This particular nanotextile research is

not being done elsewhere. And the

applications are potentially life-saving.

Such a suture material has positive

health implications for an estimated

one million patients

aff licted with surgical

infections annually.

More than a few

onlookers are interested in

Liu’s labors and potential

for success. Her disserta-

tion studies garnered full

financial support, as well

as several prestigious

research awards, including

a 2005 Student Research

Award from the American

Association of Textile

Chemists and Colorists

Foundation. For 2007-

2008, she won a

Dissertation Completion

Award from the UGA

Graduate School. Like

much of nanoscience, there

are practical manufactur-

ing applications.

In order to develop

and employ the method-

ologies to create this

advanced medical material,

Liu assembled an interdis-

ciplinary dissertation

committee at UGA,

including lead professor

Leonas. (Leonas recently left UGA to

become department chair of apparel,

merchandising, design and textiles at

Washington State University.) Liu’s

five committee members are drawn

from four different departments:

textiles, physics, microbiology and

bioengineering.

Traditionally, in medicine, a cut

on the finger was remedied by stitch-

ing the wound closed with an ancient

suture material called catgut. Catgut, a

misnomer, actually derives from

sheep’s intestines, and not feline’s.

Today, sutures are commonly made

from synthetic polymer

fibers (and yes, catgut is

still sometimes used). Silk,

polypropylene, polyester

and nylon are also in use,

depending upon the

strength, biodegradability

and longevity required for

healing.

But catgut has grown

problematic (due to mad

cow disease and other

factors, including strength).

Natural fibers are not

always sufficiently durable

for slower-healing or

internal wounds, and

synthetics are not usually

biodegradable. Although

traditional suture materi-

als often work quite well

insofar as strength or

absorption, there is another

troublesome issue at stake:

infections often enter at

the suture site.

In 2003, Hang Liu

and her major professor,

Karen Leonas, had a bril-

liant idea. They envi-

sioned a high-tech solution

thanks to nanotextiles research.

Electrospinning, employed in nano-

textiles, was the key.

Fast forward to 2007 when, at

work in a UGA physics laboratory,

Hang Liu tediously creates fiber bun-

dles from infinitesimal materials.

Using a microscope and an electro-

�How a High-Tech Stitch

I S B E I N G C R E AT E D

Just in the

NICK OF TIME:A N T I M I C RO B I A L

S U RG I C A L M AT E R I A L

Under Development by UGA Researcher

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 9

10

for applications in sutures. But she

believed the production of sutures

with controlled, prolonged release

of antimicrobial agents held great

promise for biomedicine.

If Liu was right, “this would

reduce the subsequent prolonged

hospital stays, extra financial cost to

insurance companies, health care

facilities and the patient,” she wrote in

a persuasive research description. The

outcome, she said, could provide a

base for further research and indus-

trial applications. Understanding the

electrospinning process “would

enhance suture process controllability

and enlarge its application.”

Liu, despite her slight frame and

soft-spoken nature, not only possessed

inspiration but also the conviction to

launch her idea. Having maintained a

near-perfect grade point average

throughout her doctoral studies, Liu

had already won academic credibility.

With the help of her interdisciplinary

committee, her scientific idea found

traction. There was only one compli-

cation: Liu didn’t actually have access

to an electrospinner.

Despite the high-tech name,

electrospinners are relatively simple,

and Liu felt she could construct the

equipment needed. “I spent much

time and energy on the design of my

equipment. People working on this

(electrospinning) design their own

setup.” Her setup enables her to align

individual fibers into bundles meas-

ured in nanometers less than one

micro in size.

“It’s very small and simple com-

pared to traditional textile fiber

spinners. It’s even portable,” Liu adds.

At 28, Liu is walking the path of

an emerging academic and research

scientist. It was the path she chose

end up costing in excess of $2.5 bil-

lion in related health care.

Electrospinning, a very new

fiber-spinning technique, offers a

promising remedy. Liu’s research used

the technique to incorporate antimi-

crobial agents with polymer solutions.

The resulting new suture materials

with antimicrobial characteristics

“can inhibit the adherence and

colonization of bacteria on sutures,”

Liu says.

Electrospinning is such a new and

versatile technique that electrospun

products offer potential in a wide vari-

ety of applications, such as high-per-

formance filters, barriers in

protective apparatus and scaffolds

used in tissue bio-engineering.

“Some research concerned the

incorporation of antimicrobial agents

into bio-implants, and satisfactory in

vitro and in vivo experimental results

have been achieved,” Liu adds.

P R O G R E S S I O N O F I D E A S …

Three years ago, Liu found no pub-

lished studies discussing combining

antimicrobial agents with polymers

W H E N S U T U R E S A R E A L S O

PA R A D O X I C A L LY A G E N T S

OF INFECT ION … Sutures are one

of the earliest recorded and most fre-

quently used surgical devices in

operating theaters and emergency

rooms. Their designed purpose is

well-known, simply facilitating wound

and tissue healing by holding an open

incision together. At best, sutures work

to reduce the critical number of bac-

teria able to penetrate the skin’s

surface to cause infection.

But sutures are also well known

as the vehicle by which microorgan-

isms can enter into a wound. In this

common event, Liu says that sutures

serve to foster rather than inhibit

infection, becoming the conduit for

pathogens.

Then, the simple device intended

to spare life actually can cause death.

“Sutures can lead to patients’

morbidity and mortality,” says Liu,

citing significant biomedical statistics.

Although sutures are well known for

this attendant problem of infection, it

is lesser known that a high number of

surgical suture-associated infections

Nanotextiles usher in a new generation of research and

products: “I’m always interested in microbial textiles (e.g., surgical

face masks). Another thing I’m interested in is antimicrobial

finishing in textiles,” says Liu. Her research incorporates the prop-

erties of antimicrobial finishing with a fiber-weaving process

called electrospinning. “With electrospinning, the new technique,

we can incorporate this antimicrobial agent into fibers without

reducing its effectiveness.” She says that while other researchers

are trying to produce a microbial “scaffold” used for bio-engi-

neered implants, no one else was working to produce sutures with

the new technology. “The difference is the fiber. If you want to use

it as sutures, the fibers must be well-aligned. In the scaffold, you

only need a fiber web that is randomly oriented.”

years ago as a very young girl growing

up with her sister and parents in the

resort setting of ChengDe, in China’s

HeBei province.

ChengDe, four hours north of

Beijing, attracts tourists because of its

famous antiquities, including palaces,

Buddhist temples and the largest

imperial garden in China. It is also an

important textiles and manufacturing

center. Greatly influenced by a high

school science teacher, Liu began to

pursue her growing dream many miles

from Athens, Georgia.

“There were no scientists in the

family,” she says. Yet she describes a

family who shared curiosity about

everything. “When I was young, my

parents told me why this happened

and why that happened.” Liu com-

pleted high school by age 17 and

decided to study textile engineering.

Liu describes her dream-seeking

as a journey, and it literally was, for

she knew she would have to leave

ChengDe to seek fulfillment. Her

plans required Liu to move 1,000

miles away to Shanghai, to attend the

China Textile University.

She dedicated herself to her work.

XiuBao Huang, a female professor at

China Textile University, deeply

inspired her. “She is my role model,”

Liu says, confessing, “I want to be her.”

Liu was awarded more than 10

scholarships during her bachelor’s and

master’s studies in Shanghai, and

published several academic papers.

As a result of her research experi-

ence and course work, Liu seized upon

her research idea within two years of

arriving in Athens. Her sense of

purpose was confirmed after seeing

Huang, her favorite professor, back in

China. “She’s one of the people who

gave me this suggestion. I went to

Nanotechnologies and biotech-

nologies are the new frontier in

science, spawning innovation.

But what does it mean?

It means the future is in thinking

small…very, very small. It requires

the beam of high-resolution

electron microscopy to glimpse

the possibilities within minute

particles known as nanostructure

matter, or nanoparticles.

BUT What Exactly is a Nano?

A nano is only one billionth of a

meter. Fewer than 10 atoms fit

into a nano…. and that nano is

1/80,000 the width of a single

human hair.

Nanoscience, or nanotech, preoc-

cupies the foremost researchers

of our time. Nanoscience has

fomented a new era in technolog-

ical advancement and pundits

call it the biggest “little” thing of

our time. Visionaries like Bill

Gates of Microsoft fame predict

the rush is on to nanotechnolo-

gies, and declare it is the “gold

rush” of our times.

By the next decade, the nation-

wide demand for nanostructure

products and materials may reach

as much as $1 trillion. The largest

application of nanoscience includes

manufacturing.

Here at UGA, researchers like doc-

toral student Hang Liu are part of

this intellectual gold rush to adopt

exciting new technologies.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

China last November to attend a

meeting and we met at a conference,

and she asked me all about my life.”

Since 2005, Liu has been

researching suture material. “It’s a

huge project…it could be a career

goal.” Her scientific dreams are on

their way to fruition. She also carries a

sense of mission to fulfill her parents’

unrealized wishes. “I think this (scien-

tific endeavor) is my parents’ dream. I

think they didn’t realize it, but that I

did realize it.” �

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 11

The Biggest Little Thing of

Our Times …

The Nano Tak e s C en t e r S t ag e

Left: Liu at the ChengDe Summer

Resorts, the largest existing

imperial garden. The Chinese

characters read "Re He,"as

ChengDe was formerly known.

12

Cheryldee Huddleston, a playwright, is a

doctoral student attending UGA. Huddleston’s

play, Who Loves You, Jimmie Orrio?, won the 2002

PEN USA West Coast Literary Award for Drama.

Prodigals, another of Huddleston’s plays, was once

produced at L.A.’s Odyssey Theatre and at the off-

Broadway Vital Theatre.

Cheryldee Huddleston, playwright

of the award-winning Who Loves You

Jimmie Orrio?, could easily be a char-

acter inhabiting the plays she writes, or

at the very least an actress in one. With

dramatic red hair brushed to one side

and sparkling hazel eyes, the colorfully

dressed artist/scholar plumps a luxuri-

ous cushion before plopping onto the

floor of her Victorian-era apartment.

The apartment is a cheerful

mélange of Huddleston’s past and

present. There are hints of her former

lives in California, New York and

Tennessee scattered around the

apartment. Shiny bits, including the

obelisk-shaped, amethyst-colored PEN

award she won in 2002, reflect the

filtered yet fierce August light.

“I find this town the most home-

like. Whimsical and extremely invit-

ing,” Huddleston offers, extending a

sweating glass of ice tea. It is a stultify-

ing afternoon and the air conditioner

moans. Nonetheless, Huddleston

accepts the summer doldrums as the

price of admission to the South she

loves, a place of colorful speech, family

and connection. She first arrived in

Athens during another August heat

wave in 2003. Beforehand, “I was talk-

ing the talk of being a second-hand

Southerner,” Huddleston admits,

describing her teaching stint on the

West Coast.

“In California, I always used

expressions like ‘honey’ and ‘y’all,’”

Huddleston confesses with a grin.

“Now I can say it to my heart’s

content.”

All ashimmer, the apartment

almost seems another sort of character,

this one competing for attention and

murmuring pleasantries. The rooms

could easily be a setting for one of the

Tennessee Williams’ plays Huddleston

admires. She happily explains that the

Oglethorpe Street dwelling was a 19th-

century university rooming house, and

while the exterior has seen better days,

Huddleston’s walkup apartment is

spotlessly tended—albeit quirky. The

floor itself tilts at a slightly alarming

angle. A French door directly behind

Huddleston leads onto the rooftop –

not to a terrace but a vertiginous, slant-

ing roof. Huddleston watches through

Who Loves You, Cheryldee Huddleston?

The South, That’s Who! This Successful

Playwright’s Life is a Study in the Art of Southern Living

NAME: Cheryldee Huddleston PROFESSION: Scholar andplaywright doctoral student in the department of film andtheatre studies INFLUENCES: Tennessee Williams, Shakespeareand the Greeks FAVORITE PLAY: The Glass Menagerie “Ithink it is the only piece of theater that I’ve been equallymoved by seeing it and reading it. That play is an example ofwriting the impermissible, the secret of each soul that is sofrightening to reveal.”

�

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 13

14

the glass door as a raspberry-capped

finch feeds at one of many birdfeeders

stationed on the rooftop.

The main room is pleasantly scat-

tered with memorabilia from the

artist’s works and awards, and brood-

ing studies of Russian dancer Vaslav

Nijinsky, whose legendary perform-

ances are the subject of Huddleston’s

dissertation. “I plan to graduate next

summer,” she says, “and I look at my

dissertation almost as a narrative. Like

any play I write, I hope to make con-

nections, and truly original connec-

tions.” She explains that these

connections stem from her disserta-

tion’s “perceptual discovery of traces of

Nijinsky’s performance.” While no

footage of Nijinsky’s dancing exists,

Huddleston describes analytically lay-

ering present-day performance and

historical research. “My methodologies

include phenomenology, ‘memory

studies,’ and Nijinsky’s photographs.”

A CHOREOGRAPHED CAREER

In recent years, the University of

Georgia’s department of film and the-

atre studies sought out practitioners,

and Huddleston fit the bill. After win-

ning the prestigious PEN Literary

Award for Drama for Who Loves You

Jimmie Orrio?, a play that ran in Marin

County near San Francisco to positive

acclaim, Huddleston’s work was pub-

lished. She completed an MFA in play-

writing at the University of Nevada

before moving to Athens, where she

has settled deeply and contentedly.

Huddleston now teaches playwriting

part-time at UGA while completing

her dissertation. Occasionally, her

plays are staged or developed in

Athens or nearby Atlanta.

Huddleston’s other works include

Children of an Idol Moon and April 10,

1535. Her department produced the

former last year, and she herself

performed as Clytemnestra last spring

in Euripides’ Trojan Women. Both

productions were directed by UGA

professor George Contini. She worked

with professor Ray Paolino on a read-

ing of her play Madame John’s Legacy

this November.

“I have been doing rewrites on

April 10, 1535. I worked with the

wonderful actor Nicolas Coster [an

adjunct professor], and had a reading

at Essential Theater in Atlanta last fall.

She was drawn to Nijinsky from

her early training in ballet. She recalls

spotting his picture in an Encyclopedia

Britannica when she was 10 or 11.

Nijinsky’s haunting, sepia-toned images

had such an impact that she collected

them and displayed them in every

apartment she’s ever inhabited. Along

the way, she collected information

about the famous yet doomed dancer,

who eventually suffered a mental

collapse.

She describes going to the New

York City public library to study pho-

tographs of the star, who is now

entombed in a Paris cemetery. Despite

his eventual ruin, Nijinsky found

acclaim for his ground-breaking per-

formance in Afternoon of a Faun

(L’Après-midi d’un Faune), the revolu-

tionary 1912 ballet he also choreo-

graphed. Huddleston traveled to New

York to research a revealing film pro-

duced in 1989 by The Juilliard School.

“That was the first reconstruction

of Nijinsky’s actual choreography in

over 70 years,” Huddleston says. While

reviewing the archival film of the

reconstructed Faun, she kept saying to

herself, “Oh, this is right. Nureyev’s

performance [the famous 1981 Joffrey

Ballet production of Faune] was wrong.”

Huddleston’s memory of Baron

hard to imagine I could have seen

this.” She also interviewed Yoav

Kaddar, the very dancer performing

Faune in the 1989 Juilliard School

production. In January, 2008,

Huddleston and Kaddar will present

their combined Nijinsky research at

an international humanities conference

in Hawaii.

This year, Huddleston also trav-

eled to London for further Nijinsky

research. “I interviewed Anne

Hutchinson Guest, who broke Nijinsky’s

code–he created an original dance

notation system that parallels the musi-

cal score, but unlike other systems at

the time, allowed for tremendous detail

of movement to be recorded.”

Huddleston sees herself continu-

ing as an academic and Nijinsky

scholar, while also writing plays. “I would

love to be able to combine my work as

a scholar with my passion for playwrit-

ing. I think I can combine them.”

Her attention breaks as Penworthy,

an 18-year-old cat, mewls petulantly

from the bedroom yet refuses to join

Huddleston despite entreaties. The

setting sun, a virtual fireball on the

horizon, prompts Huddleston’s men-

tion that soldiers at the nearby Navy

School “play Taps every evening at 10

and Reveille every morning at 8.”

At dusk, with Taps approaching,

Nijinsky’s photographs appear even

more brooding.

Refilling tea glasses like a gracious

Southern host, Huddleston says with a

laugh that she much prefers Taps at

night to Reveille in the morning, but

appreciates the dramatic tension and

the drama of both. �

ABOUT VASLAV NIJ INSKY Vaslav Nijinsky (1890–1950) was born to traveling Polish

dancers. He became the star pupil of the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, Russia, and

the premiere danseur of the company known as Ballets Russes. Ballets Russes took Paris by

storm in 1909.

“From his transformative, phenomenal performances in Les Sylphides, Scheherazade, Le

Spectre de la Rose, Petruschka, and in his own ballet, L’Apres-midi d’un Faune (Afternoon of

a Faun), Nijinsky became the greatest male ballet dancer in the world, arguably the greatest

male ballet dancer who has ever lived,” says Huddleston. A devastating mental illness cut

Nijinsky’s dance career short in 1919.

“Although there is no known or existing motion-picture footage of Nijinsky dancing, from his

photographs and the eyewitness accounts of those who saw him perform on the stage, his

legend continues to mesmerize dancers and lovers of dance to this day,” Huddleston notes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nijinsky by Richard Buckle, and

Nijinsky by Vera Krasovskaya, are

both excellent sources, according

to Huddleston. She adds this caveat:

·“I think the best is his sister

Bronislava Nijinska’s, titled Early

Memoirs; it weaves Nijinsky’s

biography with her own life—but

her point of view as a dancer and

choreographer (and an adoring

sister) provides invaluable intimacy

to the portrayal.” For incredible

photographs and lyrical writing

about his performance, Huddleston

recommends Lincoln Kirstein’s

Nijinsky Dancing.

·To learn about Nijinsky’s original

dance notation system, Huddleston

recommends Nijinsky’s Faune

Restored by Anne Hutchinson

Guest and Claudia Jeschke.

“Films — good ones, that is — are

rather few and far between,”

Huddleston says. “But the French

film Revoir Nijinsky Danser is the

best, I think. I didn’t like the recent

The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -� Fo r Fu r t h e r S t ud y

Adolf De Meyer’s famous gelatin-silver

photographs of Nijinsky’s ballet, taken

in sequence, “informed this experien-

tial encounter.”

She unfolds her legs, favoring a

sore back, and muses about the ways in

which the photographs led her to

conclusions about Nijinsky’s perform-

ance. “Had I not been a dancer, it’s

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 15

16

cover story

On hearing that she had been chosento attend the 57th meeting of NobelLaureates in Lindau, Germany,Elizabeth Rahn said: “I have learnedthat if you want to be successful inscience, you have to be aggressive.”

ELIZABETH RAHN, A NEUROSCIENTIST, recently returned from a heady

trip to Lindau, Germany. She was among 500 people chosen for the 57th meeting

of Nobel Laureates to attend a forum dedicated to physiology or medicine.

Despite this, Rahn narrows her hazel eyes and says she’s still playing catch up with

her dad who finished medical school when he was basically a kid.

At 23, Rahn may not quite be Doogie Howser, TV’s fictional medical prodigy,

but she sure seems gifted enough to make her retired physician father proud.

Rahn’s work in behavioral neuroscience under University of Georgia professor

Andrea Hohmann may one day help chemotherapy patients experience less pain

in the course of their cancer treatment.

Rahn brushes back her dark hair and exhales, explaining she has lost signifi-

cant time already. Because Rahn (MS ’06) first began academic study in electrical

engineering, she feels she’s racing to catch up after changing disciplines. Given that

she was among only 49 graduate students from the U.S. invited to Lindau to learn

from the world’s most renowned scientists and achievers, Rahn is the odds-on

favorite to win that race.

Children 50 years ago played with the silvery beads of mercury that

spilled out and skittered across the floor whenever a thermometer crashed and

broke. No one realized then what threat mercury posed to human health—mercury

was once widely used by haberdashers to size hats (hence the expression, mad as a

hatter) and by miners to process gold. In a sense, Rahn had a “mercurial” experience

of her own that eventually led her to meet some of the world’s most acclaimed sci-

entific intellectuals. In her case, the experience was a controlled experiment while

she was an Auburn University undergraduate, rather than by accident.

At the time, Rahn intended to become an electrical engineer—until mercury

ME

RC

UR

Y R

ISIN

G

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 17

18

actually changed her course.

When Rahn took a psychology

research methods course, she says the

work resonated with her in a way that

engineering never had. Rahn subse-

quently became a lab assistant study-

ing the effects of methyl-mercury

toxicity on learning behavior in ani-

mals exposed to the substance during

gestation, as well as throughout their

lifespan.

“Dr. Christopher Newland’s

behavioral toxicology laboratory at

Auburn University was the first time

that I was working on a project that

had a direct impact on the real world,”

notes Rahn. She shifted her academic

direction, abandoning engineering

for behavioral neuroscience after

“You think of the Olympic gold

medals. It is the ultimate achieve-

ment in sports. In my field, the

greatest recognition of scientific

prowess is to win the Nobel Prize.

To meet someone who has attained

such a feat is amazing. To be able

to interact with these prestigious,

intelligent people in such a close

atmosphere… they’re not just fig-

ureheads, they’re scientists and

researchers. It really is attainable,”

Rahn says, marveling. “It was won-

derful to interact and to learn what

was interesting and important to

them in science and in life.”

“The work we do in her lab [Andea Hohmann]is the best of both worlds, because we arecombining basic research with practical,real-world applications.”

researching the effects of exposure to

methyl-mercury. Rahn says she went

from being a student looking for her

passion to one “stoked” to catch up

with her scientific peers. As she com-

pleted her undergraduate study,

Rahn won the Georgia Vallery Award

for the most outstanding graduating

senior in Auburn’s psychology

department.

Afterward, Rahn applied to sev-

eral southeastern graduate schools, in

order to remain close to family. She

chose the University of Georgia and

received a Graduate School fellowship

and stipend. She later received a

graduate student research award.

At UGA, Rahn works as a

research assistant to Andrea Hohmann

in the Pain and Neurosensory

Mechanisms Research Lab. “The

work we do in her lab is the best of

both worlds, because we are combin-

ing basic research with practical, real-

world applications,” Rahn says. “I am

studying the therapeutic value of

cannabinoids, synthetic cannabis-like

compounds, on neurotoxicity and

pathological pain induced by

chemotherapeutic agents.” Rahn goes

on to explain that cannabinoids

naturally occur within the body’s own

physiological responses. “Our body

produces its own cannabinoids.”

In the short time she has been at

UGA, Rahn has won a slew of awards

for her scientific papers and posters.

But none of her many awards were

more exciting than when Rahn

learned she was among only 10 dele-

gates selected by ORAU, Oak Ridge

Associated Universities, to attend

the aforementioned laureates meeting

at the invitation of the Council for

the Lindau. UGA belongs to ORAU,

a university consortium aligned with

N O B E L L AU R E AT E S Founded by wealthy inventor Alfred Nobel (1833–1896) at his

death, the Nobel Prize was this man’s bequest to the world. Since the first award presentation

on December 10, 1901, the Nobel Foundation has honored 766 Nobel Laureates and 19 organ-

izations (excluding new Laureates this December). Of those 766 individuals, 33 were women.

Alfred Nobel’s prize, devised by a will he produced a year before his death, is said to have been

prompted by a widely published report of his death. The erroneous report was memorable for

grimly crediting Nobel, who held patents for dynamite and explosives, as an architect of death.

After reading this, he chose to apply his fortune toward a different and redemptive legacy. The

million-dollar prizes bearing Nobel’s imprimatur not only honor scientific and mathematical

endeavor but also literature and peace-keeping initiatives.

The awards and process selection remain extremely quiet. All information surrounding an award

is kept secret for 50 years, according to the Nobel organization’s Web site. An interesting

insight into the awards process can be glimpsed by reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography

of Albert Einstein. Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Prize for physics for his work on the photo-elec-

tric effect rather than for his work on gravity and relativity. Isaacson offers fascinating details as

to why—and the answer may surprise you.

For further information see: www.nobelprize.org.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -98 national research institutions and

laboratories.

She raced back to the US in June

from other foreign travel to make the

meeting. Earlier, Rahn presented her

research at international conferences

in Berlin and Canada before joining

fellow student delegates for lectures at

the Department of Energy in

Washington, D.C., and then returning

to Germany. The students continued

from Munich by bus to Lindau, situ-

ated on the borders of Germany,

Austria and Switzerland.

Rahn is still processing the five-

day experience. She describes how

sitting in on morning lectures led by

the 17 laureates, attending and joining

discussions with other promising

graduate students, left her feeling

humbled and grateful. �

UGA doctoral student Elizabeth

Rahn joined a student delegation

for a meeting of Nobel Laureates

in Lindau, Germany on July 1-6.

The delegation was funded by the

U.S. Department of Energy’s

Office of Science, the National

Science Foundation Directorate

for Mathematical and Physical

Sciences, the National Institutes of

Health’s Graduate Partnerships

Program, Mars Incorporated and

Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

The delegates were selected based

upon academic achievement.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -�

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 19

I N O C T O B E R 2 0 0 2 ,

Dean Emeritus John

Clarkson Dowling and his

wife, Constance, left Athens

following Dowling’s academic

career that spanned 45 years.

Their move was complicated

by 100 cartons including

ancient texts—the rare and

finely bound books the biblio-

philes lovingly collected and

curated over a lifetime.

The collection mirrored

Dowling’s exceptional life as a

Romance languages scholar.

The books powerfully show-

cased his love of Spanish lit-

erature, especially drama and

poetry. The physical presence

of these carefully chosen

books exemplified one of his

favorite lines from the

Spanish poet Bécquer, “por una

mirada, un mundo …” By a glance, a

world.

The Dowlings’ oldest book, La

Historia d’Italia by Guicciardini, is

dated 1623. According to Constance

Dowling, a former librarian, it once

belonged to Canovas de Castillo, a

19th-century Spanish statesman. The

moving cartons contained books span-

ning from the 15th century until 1835.

This was the cut-off date, Constance

explained, as “1835 is when Spanish

book publishing was modernized.”

Today, the pair of book lovers is

resettled in Williamsburg, Virginia

and their books occupy an

extraordinary and compact

l iving l ibrary. The

Dowlings’ tidy and light-

filled home features 14 7-

foot bookcases, and two

dozen smaller ones. One tall

case holds rare books from

the 17th through the 19th

century. Throughout the

couple’s sunroom, living

room, studies and corridors,

even spilling into bedrooms,

the elegant volumes are

carefully categorized within

each case.

Bullfighting posters

from the Dowlings’ trips to

Spain, objets d’art, Spanish-

influenced furnishings and

African batiks and memen-

tos within the house hint of

the Dowlings’ frequent treks abroad.

Yet it is the Dowlings’ books that

beguile; the spines and bindings of

their books are works of art in easy

reach of eager fingertips. The texts are

bound in every hue of leather from

carmine red to the palest, creamiest gray.

Each survived their intercontinental

20

CATCHING UP with John DowlingRetired Dean Immersed in History

within a House of Books

where are they now?

journeys in fine mettle.

The stupefying numbers of

Spanish books represented on the

shelves pertain to John Dowlings’s field

of study, Romance languages with an

emphasis on Spanish literature. Many

of the finest books within their collec-

tion were selected with the help of

Spanish scholars in Madrid, where

Dowling spent a year as a Guggenheim

scholar and frequently returned to

lecture and work.

ONE VERSION OF PARADISE:

BIBLIOMANIA The Dowlings’ mutual

obsession with books began early.

John Dowling still owns the ency-

clopedia set he was given as a child.

He once rescued an abandoned book

from the gutter when he was a student

at the University of Colorado. “It was

a ‘crib’ volume of Caesar—an illegal

possession in any Latin class,” his

wife wrote later in an article titled

Bibliomania.

She added, “Alarmed, he took it

back to his room and hid it—we still

have it.” She was delighted by the

serendipitous way their collecting

evolved. They were people who amassed

books rather than collecting them.

Constance Dowling began a library

career in Gloversville, New York as a

young girl working at the local

Carnegie library for 30 cents an hour.

Later, she earned graduate degrees in

art history and library science. “When

an academic becomes absorbed in

a subject, he accumulates as much

information as possible about it,” she

wrote. She took charge of their private

collection and maintained catalogued

notes. John Dowling’s fascination

with the writings of Cervantes and José

Zorilla is evidenced by the large num-

ber of books dealing with them both.

Yet there are notable exceptions

among the stacks filling their two

story home. And it is this, the unex-

pected, which delights. While serving

in Shanghai during World War II as a

translator and interpreter, young Lt.

John Dowling found a pirated copy of

Lady Chatterly’s Lover. He already

owned an autographed copy of Not I

But The Wind, originally given to his

father in Taos, New Mexico by none

other than the author Frieda

Lawrence, widow of D. H. Lawrence.

Naturally, “around these two

books, a little collection of Lawrenciana

is growing,” Constance Dowling

observed in Bibliomania. She added,

“as far as we are concerned, all books

are desirable.” Today, she locates a

1930 edition of Mother Goose given to

her as a childhood Christmas present

and opens it with a smile. It is still in

admirable condition. “It might be

valuable,” she muses. The pair was

destined to become collectors—or, as

Constance Dowling corrects—amassers.

L I F E A M O N G T H E S TA C K S

When the Dowlings left Athens five

years ago, they chose a familiar

place. John Dowling frequented

Williamsburg as an officer in the Naval

Reserves, and they selected the area

for its proximity to historical sites and

to their only child, Robert Dowling,

now retired from the Army and living

in Virginia.

Married on December 26, 1949,

the Dowlings celebrate their 58th wed-

ding anniversary this year. Long

before they left Athens, they marked

their golden anniversary with many of

their closest friends and UGA

colleagues. Today, they are the same

elegant pair shown in their anniver-

sary photographs. John Dowling, silver

H I G H L I G H T So f J O H N C L A R K S O N

D OW L I N G ’ S C A R E E R

Birthdate: November 14, 1920 inStrawn, Texas

Education: Undergraduate degree

from the University of Colorado;

PhD from the University of

Wisconsin (’50). Graduate of the

Navy Japanese Language School,

Boulder, Colorado.

Experience: Lieutenant Com-

mander (retired), The United States

Naval Reserve; Dean Emeritus of

the Graduate School, 1979–1989;

the University of Georgia Alumni

Foundations Distinguished Professor

of Romance Languages (1992);

Department Chair at Texas Tech

University, Lubbock; Indiana

University, Bloomington; The

University of Georgia; Graduate

Programs Initiated: mass commu-

nications, musical arts, social work,

historic preservation, agricultural

economics and artificial intelligence.

Honors and Awards: Festschrift,

Studies in Honor of John Clarkson

Dowling (1985); Guggenheim

Fellowship (1959–60); Corresponding

member of the Hispanic Society of

America; Directed National

Defense Education Act Summer

Language Institute and a National

Endowment for the Humanities

Summer Seminar.

Books and Pub l i ca t ions :

Dowling’s publishing experience is

extensive. During the years 1957

to 1977, he published four schol-

arly books in the Spanish lan-

guage. He authored seven editions

of literary texts between 1967 and

1982. From 1952 to 1982, Dowling

wrote 48 articles of research and

criticism and contributed 38 book

reviews which were published here

and abroad. In addition, he wrote

18 miscellaneous publications,

contributed seven articles to The

Scriblerian, and produced another

10 abstract and research reports.

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 21

council and the Graduate School

operated.

“He (Dean John Dowling) was

well-traveled and had a global view of

the world,” says Mary Ann Keller,

former director of graduate admissions

at UGA. “He was committed to the

internationalization of the campus.”

In 1988, the Conference of Southern

Graduate Schools gave Dowling the

Award for Outstanding Contributions

to Graduate Education in the

Southern Region.

Fluent in Spanish, French,

Japanese and Latin, Dowling returned

to the department as interim depart-

ment head for a while after his retirement

from the Graduate School in 1992.

“One day he retired, and the next day

he went back to work,” his wife adds

as he grins and shrugs.

Despite John Dowling’s fluency in

Japanese, acquired during World War

II while translating and interpreting

for the Navy, he remained with

Spanish, his first love, though other

offers had surfaced during his career.

Dowling did accept post retire-

ment opportunities. He became a vis-

iting professor at the University of

Iowa and an adjunct professor at the

University of South Carolina, Beaufort.

Dowling also was interim dean of the

Schmidt College of Arts and Humanities

at Boca Raton, Florida.

Before he left academia, former

students Douglas and Linda Jane

Barnette honored Dowling with the

publication of a Festchrift, a book

commemorating his scholarship that

contains research articles written by

former colleagues. The book, Studies

in Eighteenth-Century Spanish Literature

and Romanticism in Honor of John

Clarkson Dowling, debuted in 1985.

In the introduction, Dowling

of Romance languages. During his

deanship, Dowling cooperated with

the graduate faculty to initiate new

masters and doctoral programs,

including mass communications,

musical arts, social work, historic

preservation, agricultural economics

and artificial intelligence. He also

worked with the Graduate Council to

revise the by-laws under which the

haired and trim, smiles as his wife

interjects two facts about her husband.

As an academic, her husband never

took sick leave and never took the ele-

vator at the Boyd Graduate Research

building, says Constance Dowling with

obvious pride.

Dean of UGA’s Graduate School

from 1979-1989, Dowling previously

served as the head of the department

22

Assuredly, this is not a pursuit for ordinary people with ordinary bank accounts. Only the likes of Microsoft

magnate Bill Gates and fellow billionaires can now afford the world’s most collectible books. According to

Georgia writer Phillipp Harper, “Every passion has its Holy Grail, and rare-book collecting is no exception.”

Harper says that if a group of bibliophiles were asked to name the rarest of the rare books, one answer

would be consistent: the Gutenberg Bible dated 1456. The Gutenberg Bible, printed by Johannes

Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany was the printer’s most notable work using movable type. Were you to ever

find a complete first-edition Gutenberg Bible, Harper says the experts would value it at anywhere from

$25 million to $35 million. Other books making Harper’s short list of exceedingly rare and valuable books

include: Leonardo Da Vinci’s manuscripts, the 1623 first edition of William Shakespeare’s collected

works, and even a first-edition copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Beyond the Gutenberg Bible, relative worth would differ somewhat according to a collector’s own area of

interest. (Old or even scarce texts do not necessarily translate into rare and therefore valuable in the book

world.) Modern day collectors may be more interested in snagging a first edition of Harper Lee’s classic To

Kill a Mockingbird.

For further reading, visit bibliophile Web sites such as BookFinder.com and Antiquarian Booksellers’

Association of America. Alibris.com also has a rare book auction feature.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bibliophile’s Holy Grail: COLLECTING THE RAREST OF RARE BOOKS

You’re powered by a great team:Verizon Wireless and the University of Georgia.

spoke to his love of Cervantes, of the

great Spanish poets, and of the artist

Goya. He discussed the significance of

coming of age in Taos, New Mexico,

where Dowling was a minority native

speaker of English. Taos High School

had an excellent Spanish program and

he was fluent by age 16. Jacob Bernal

introduced Dowling to the classics of

Spanish Romantic literature. In Bernal’s

class he read about Spain and

dreamed of visiting. He scrawled a

note about that dream in the margins

of a textbook.

“I still have my book in which I

wrote the date 1936,” he noted. “That

was the year the Spanish Civil War

began, so it was a long time before I

got to Spain.”

His first book, published in 1957,

won Dowling a cash prize from the

Academia de Alfonso X el Sabio of

Murcia, Spain. Two years later, at age

39, Dowling arrived in Madrid, Spain

as a Guggenheim Fellow. He became

a corresponding member of the

Hispanic Society of America. Dowling

observed that spending 1959-60 in

Madrid was like doing a second PhD.

That Christmas, the Dowlings

celebrated their 10th anniversary in

Madrid by throwing a big party for

their friends. He wrote that the lights

went out “as they often did in Madrid,

and late-comers had to climb seven

flights or wait for the electricity to

come back on.”

John Dowling never abandoned

his childhood dreams of Spain nor the

language he loved. “Spanish was in

my blood,” he wrote. He has lived to

experience the fullest expressions of

his childhood dreams. �

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 23

20

�Pura Vida Meshes with

Scholarly Pursuitsfo r these Ticos! (The Good Li fe

Meshes with Academia for these Costa Ricans)

scholars for tomorrow

EACH MORNING, A MUG OF LOCALLY GROWN CAFÉ CON

LECHE IN HAND, Justin Welch (MS ’06) and Sofia Arce Flores (MS ’06) step

outside their offices and into a rain cloud. Actually, they walk into the sort of post-

card worthy scene that Costa Rica’s ecotourism hinges upon. The University of

Georgia’s Costa Rica Campus, elevation 3,600 feet, is set within the lush San Luis

Valley, a place literally drenched with natural beauty as well as copious amounts

of rain. · Farmers drive yoked oxen on the rugged road intersecting the campus’

long drive, and horses bearing tin buckets of fresh milk pass en route to the nearby

dairy factory in Monteverde. In this authentic agrarian setting, Welch and Arce

Flores prepare for the weekly onslaught of students, artists, naturalists, language

instructors, horticulturalists, agronomists, researchers, botanists and ecotourists

who live and work at the rustic campus. Groups from Oregon, Washington and

Idaho recently arrived for study. A toucan calls, and a hummingbird zips behind

Arce Flores in vivid illustration of why so many who come loathe leaving. · “A

huge aspect of the research station is its setting within a rural environment, and

how that shapes the natural environment and all consequential studies,” says Welch.

· Fabricio Camacho Céspedes is a full time resident of San Luis and also the sta-

tion’s general manager. In tandem, Costa Ricans and the national government

have instituted programs to promote sustainable agronomy and ecotourism. At

San Luis, sustainable development underscores every UGA program offering.

P U T T I N G L E A D E R S H I P I N T O

P R A C T I C E In 2005, while serving

as a graduate student representative in

the department of ecology, Welch was

selected to participate in the Future

Leaders Development Training pro-

gram sponsored by the Graduate School.

Water resources management,

Welch’s area of focus, took him to San

Luis where he studied the Upper Ro

Guacimal Watershed. He currently

participates in research and outreach

programs with local schools and insti-

tutions. He also coordinated data col-

lection for a biological corridor in the

Monteverde region. On a practical level,

Welch analyzed water use and man-

agement for the research station itself.

“Although Monteverde stands out

as a prized jewel among Costa Rica’s

many places of natural beauty, the

region faces complex challenges in pro-

tecting its natural resources from the

exploding ecotourism,” says Welch.

“For me, this scenario provides a valu-

able opportunity to learn how to work

with communities within their unique

cultural, historical and economic

development contexts, in order to

address local water resource manage-

ment issues.”

Arce Flores and Welch are mutu-

ally invested in the practice, education

and implementation of sound conser-

vation, and work closely with the

throngs of students and researchers

drawn to San Luis annually. The cou-

ple met two years ago as graduate

students in the conservation ecology

and sustainable development program

at UGA. They studied water resource

policy and sustainable practices, and

now put their knowledge into practice

in their adopted home. For Welch, a

native Tennessean, San Luis life and

work here is much like inhabiting a

National Geographic special and he’s

still marveling at his good fortune. Arce

San Luis is a microcosm of positive

advances in green practices exem-

plified by Costa Rica as a whole.

Costa Rica is a model for a world

increasingly concerned with

conservation. Many Costa Rican

farmers have adopted pesticide-

free and no-burn practices. The

outside world now associates the

small country with organically pro-

duced exports such as coffee.

While the word “organic” is often

used in reference to Costa Rican

agri-products, Sofia Arce Flores

and Justin Welch caution that it is

a sometimes politicized buzzword

with varying meanings. Each coun-

try has strictly enacted and varying

regulations as to what actually

constitutes “organic” produce.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -�

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 25

26

expressed interest in furthering their

graduate research at UGA.

“The CURO international

research symposium in Costa Rica

was the most dynamic study abroad

program experience that I have

witnessed at the UGA Costa Rica

campus to date,” said Quint Newcomer,

who directs overseas international

education programs in Costa Rica.

IN A PLACE OF GREEN FORESTS

AND CLEAR WATERS As the

researchers wave to farmers traversing

the busy road between San Luis and

Santa Elena, Welch and Arce Flores

discuss the locals’ receptivity to green

practices. Welch mentions the case of

the Finca La Bella project that has 20

farmers adhering to environmentally

conscious and integrated agricultural

practices. The research station itself is

in close proximity to coffee plantations

and dairies that dot the hillsides.

Arce Flores points out a rubiaceae,

a plant in the coffee family. She identi-

Meanwhile, Arce Flores supports

other UGA programs such as the first

international undergraduate research

symposium hosted by the Center for

Undergraduate Research Opportunities,

or CURO. Last May, 12 UGA students

traveled to the Costa Rican campus to

present research abstracts with 12

University of Costa Rica students.

A N I N T E R A C T I V E A N D H I S -

TO R I C 2 0 0 6 INTERNATIONAL

SYMPOSIUM AT S A N L U I S The

cross-cultural and interdisciplinary

symposium was instigated and designed

by Pamela Kleiber, associate director

of the Honors program and CURO.

Kleiber developed the program concept

after meeting with receptive UCR

administrators, faculty and students.

Arce Flores, who holds degrees

from UGA and UCR, helped orches-

trate the bilingual event, a first-time

partnership between the two universities.

Kleiber worked with Arce Flores

and María Ruth Martinez, a UGA

doctoral student in environmental and

ecological anthropology. Martinez,

now completing her dissertation in

Athens, provided translation services

throughout the symposium.

As an advocate of the San Luis’

craftspeople, musicians and farmers,

Arce Flores sought ways to showcase

their abilities. During the evenings, she

arranged to have San Luis musicians

perform, and locals demonstrated

needlecraft and other skills for the

students.

Dean Maureen Grasso of the

Graduate School participated as a

faculty discussant at the symposium,

joined by Betty Jean Craige, director

of the Wilson Center for Humanities

and Arts, and Kleiber. Afterward,

Grasso says several UCR participants

Flores is a native Costa Rican, or as

Costa Ricans say, a Tica. She is familiar

with the surrounding beauty but not

inured to San Luis’ easy charms or to

the graciousness of its people.

Welch works as an intern

professor in the Monteverde region via

the UGA San Luis Research Station

for the University of Costa Rica’s

Center for Research in Environmental

Contamination. Meanwhile, Arce

Flores, who is the academic programs

and volunteer coordinator in San Luis,

devotes much of her time to coordi-

nating educational programs and the

naturalists at the station. She is trained

as an agronomy engineer, is in charge

of the naturalists’ training, and also

overseeing community programs

involving local residents and the

station’s visitors.

Arce Flores herself arrived in San

Luis for only a week’s study, and

remained. Like her colleague and

partner Welch, she plans to continue

work indefinitely in San Luis, further-

ing community-collaborative research

and programs such as the establish-

ment of a local farmer’s market.

“We build and implement our

programs at the Costa Rica campus to

fulfill the same mission as UGA-

Athens,” says Arce Flores. “Therefore,

our involvement with the community

plays a key aspect in academic pro-

gramming.

Students take on diverse activities

that range from home stays with local

families and teaching English in the

schools to community service projects

such as reforestation and helping to

establish a medicinal plant garden.

Being an active member of this com-

munity is one of the most important

components to ensuring the long-term

success of our campus.”

Hibiscus and hummingbirds (of 30

varieties) are constants in the Costa Rican

landscape, according to Justin Welch and

Sofia Arce Flores. The conservationists,

shown on page 24, were recently pho-

tographed at the State Botanical Garden

of Georgia during a visit to Athens.

Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties

and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.

R a c h e l C a r s o n

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -fies a vivid flower that is in the same

family as bird of paradise. Balancing

on a rough hewn bridge for a moment,

the couple watches the crystalline

water rushing below. Water policy,

management and mechanisms are

Welch’s career focus. He leans over for

closer scrutiny and then glances up, his

eyes knowing mirrors.

“The Monteverde region, and the

San Luis Valley specifically, is an envi-

able place to work and call home due

to its evident natural beauty, its

hospitable community and the appre-

ciable reality it presents. Sofia and I

are extremely lucky to have found such

a great place where we can continue to

learn from our surroundings while also

applying our professional training,”

says Welch. �

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 27

Representative horticultural specimens commonplace at the UGA Costa Rica campus

(at left and above) can be enjoyed at the UGA botanical gardens.

a Johns and a Richter. For a child, art

is as accessible as air.

“I think children are the best

audience there is,” says Wheeler

thoughtfully, while seated at a sleek

wooden conference table overlooking

the museum grounds and the enor-

mous museum expansion site below.

As a noisy army of front-end

loaders scoops red clay, further

delighting the schoolchildren, Wheeler

chats about the first thing children

tend to notice at the museum. He

points out a mobile by Ralph Helmick

and Stuart Schechter at the museum’s

lively, and for visitors to experience it

on their own terms.

“In the 21st century, unlike the

last, the arts are becoming the main-

stream of our culture. There are more

galleries now. The art life of the com-

munity makes art more available, a

more powerful commodity. Now there

are more collectors than ever wanting

to find the next Jasper Johns or

Gerhardt Richter,” he says.

Yet Wheeler’s favorite art patrons,

the schoolchildren who decamp by the

busload and carload, are too young to

give a fig about the difference between

LARRY WHEELER (MA ’69; PHD

’72 ) , now a member of the French

Order of the Arts, is the same man who

admits with a wry grin he “never went

into a museum until I was in college.”

Before then, Wheeler thought of

museums as closely guarded, preten-

tious bastions. Growing up in Lakeland,

Florida, with a commonsensical mother

who would have preferred he stayed

put in one place, Wheeler was suspi-

cious of pretense of any sort. Now, as

overseer of one of the most successful

museums in the national public sector,

Wheeler wants this museum to be

28

RISES in the Art F i rmamentA WHITE-HOT STAR

LAWRENCE J. (LARRY) WHEELER, executive director of the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, is an

alumnus with an artful edge. Although he keeps company with artists, intelligentsia, art collectors, governors, educators and

power brokers, Wheeler also knows how to keep the common touch. In truth, he’s happiest when the museum reaches those

most intimidated by art, for he understands their hesitance. As a young man, Wheeler was reluctant to enter the formidable

quiet of a museum. He has changed since then. He has literally turned the North Carolina museum inside out, by

creating a wildly successful museum that melds park space with the museum itself, and the barriers to art appreciation keep

tumbling down.· Today, Wheeler ranks among North Carolina’s most influential cultural figures, having transformed the

state’s public art museum from owlish to dynamic. He’s also made sure that this museum never intimidates. There is a ver-

dant park on the museum grounds and patrons arrive by the carload to enjoy the trails, outdoor theater and user-friendly

exhibits. While the museum is historically renowned for its collection of European Old Master paintings, Wheeler has

expanded those holdings while building up a gutsy contemporary collection.· Recent blockbuster exhibitions (by artists

including Monet, Rodin, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso) broke all standing attendance records.· When the

museum’s massive refurbishment wraps up in 2011, there’s no doubt that the public will be wowed. The new plans integrate

“green initiatives,” including water features that run through the museum; solar lighting; and exterior wetlands. In fact, it will

become one of the state’s largest green projects. Fittingly, even the cultural medal awarded to Wheeler by the French is a

fetching green enamel.·“The Raleigh museum is the marriage of art and nature,” Wheeler observes. So, too, is Wheeler himself.

�Meet Larry Wheeler :

Graduate School Magazine S U M M E R 2 0 0 7 27

30

entrance. Adult eyes must focus to fully

realize the airplane is composed of

hundreds of Mylar butterflies sus-

pended from steel cables. Contrails of

fabric flowers spew from the rear of

the plane. The mobile delights

Wheeler.

“Kids pass by and say, ‘Mama!

Look!’ Unencumbered by expecta-

tions, they see that airplane made of

butterflies, flapping their wings.

Children see so deeply and see the

truth. We [adults] create too many

expectations and barriers. Each work

of art is an experience unto itself.”

Children, Wheeler observes, sim-

ply say, “I see.” Adults worry about

what they don’t know.

“Art needs to be a part of routine

conversation, part of their value sys-

tem. Our traditional values don’t place

great emphasis on creativity in the

artistic sense,” he explains. “The most

exciting thing is to connect people

with art. This museum belongs to

them. It’s an opportunity for them to

learn, to have their spirits raised.”

THE EDUCATION OF A PUBLIC

MAN Wheeler speaks much like the

educator that he trained to become.

He earned his doctorate in 1972,

anticipating an academic life. He was

not involved in the art scene at the

University of Georgia, but instead

immersed in European history.

“The old campus was the center

of my life,” Wheeler remembers.

“The quad, the library... I spent days

and nights there. I wore a tie to school

every day,” he says laughing. “We all

wore coats and ties. Even to football

games!” Now sporting rimless glasses

and a fastidious pinstriped suit with a

red tie, Wheeler still wears the uniform.

In essence, dressing well as a stu-

dent was good preparation for success,

Wheeler suggests. He believed then, as

now, that “You’ve got to behave like

who you want to be.”

Vince Dooley was the football

coach when Wheeler was a UGA

student, and he fondly recalls the

excitement of the games. He lived a

typical graduate student’s life, teaching

and attending ball games—and art

was entirely peripheral to his Athens

experience.

While the old UGA art museum

was still there, “I didn’t know I was

interested,” he admits candidly.

Wheeler remembers Warren

Spencer, a French historian and pipe-

smoking, major professor. “I was his

first PhD student.” He fondly recol-

lects other UGA professors, including

“Lee Kinett, a French professor, and a

Dr. Smith, a great historian, particu-

larly in World War II history.”

However, for all of its charm,

Athens then was small and insular.

Wheeler took an apartment in a

Victorian house on Milledge Circle.

The landlady, Mrs. Bradfield, served

boarders “lovely casseroles and fresh

tomatoes, and spiked milk punches.”

Wheeler appreciated Bradfield’s

charming eccentricities and Athens

itself.

Wheeler left Athens to teach at

Lander College in Greenwood, SC,

and afterwards at Pfeiffer College near

Albemarle, NC. Both towns were even

smaller than Athens. Still in his 20’s,

Wheeler was not much older than his

students, and soon found he “needed a

bigger place.”

Wheeler’s arrival in North Carolina

coincided with a planning initiative for

the state’s 1974 bicentennial. He left

teaching to become director of com-

munity programs for the bicentennial,

and steered cultural programs

statewide during Jim Hunt’s guberna-

torial campaign. Following his election

victory, Governor Hunt appointed

Wheeler deputy secretary of the NC

Department of Cultural Resources.

He oversaw the creation of the state’s

first real art museum complex. The

state’s art collection was formerly housed

in a forlorn highway patrol building.

Building the museum was a fore-

shadowing of things to come.

Wheeler realized he wanted to be

in fundraising and art administration.

After the museum was completed,

Wheeler accepted a position as assistant

director of the museum and director of

development at the Cleveland Museum

of Art from 1985-1994. His years in

Cleveland taught him that this was his

calling. He returned to North Carolina

TOAST OF PARIS IS TAR HEELS’ PRIDE

In 2000, the Raleigh News and

Observer described Wheeler as

the “godfather of the Triangle’s

cultural boom,” naming him Tar

Heel of the Year. (Past honorees

include Bank of America’s CEO

and passionate art patron, Hugh

McColl.)

In 2001, the French government

awarded Wheeler the Chevalier of

the Order of Arts and Letters

given in honor of “significant

contribution to the enrichment of

the French cultural inheritance.”

(William Faulkner, Allen Ginsberg

and Meryl Streep are past medal

recipients.) Not to be outdone,

the City of Raleigh gave Wheeler

the Medal of Arts in 2002. And last

year, the Design Guild at North

Carolina State University also

honored Wheeler for contribu-

tions to the arts.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

visual and performing arts ...” In 1999

and 2000, Wheeler ushered in the ‘era

of the blockbuster shows’ at the museum

with record-breaking back-to-back

exhibitions, Monet to Moore and

Rodin. The Rodin exhibition attracted

over 300,000 people to the museum and

was the cornerstone of Festival Rodin,

another of Wheeler’s initiatives. His

most recent success was the Monet in

Normandy exhibition, which closed in

January 2007. The exhibition attracted

nearly 215,000 visitors and pumped

more than $24 million into the area

economy, with visitors from all 50 states

and all 100 North Carolina counties.

in 1994 to direct the state’s Museum of

Art. Since then, Wheeler has nurtured

programs and exhibitions that have

met with startling success. People from

all 50 states came to see the Monet

exhibition, he says proudly.

Wheeler is building toward the

“ultimate show…a Rembrandt show,”

he says with a broad smile. He’s

“always imagining what a great Andy

Warhol show would look like. Or

maybe a Venice exhibition. We’ll

bring Rodin to the new building,” he

promises.

A TAR HEEL IN PARIS He left for

Paris the next day. There, Wheeler led

a group of museum supporters on a

French art tour (North Carolina’s First

Lady, Mary Easley, was the honoree at

a dinner Wheeler hosted in Paris.)

He is, as previously mentioned,

behaving as the man he wants to

become. And what Wheeler has

become is a man fluent in the ordinary

and the extraordinary; he is both the

toast of Paris and the adopted pride of

Tar Heels. Wheeler has caused new

generations of North Carolinians to

connect how the flutter of a butterfly’s

wing in a mobile can launch a tsunami

of bold initiatives and creative dreams.

With another oh-so-subtle tweak

of his natty red tie, Wheeler appeared

ready for Paris. �

Postscript ...

In July 2007, Larry Wheeler was

honored with the Thad Eure, Jr.

Memorial Award, the NC Visitor and

Convention’s Bureau’s most prestigious

award. At the presentation, it was noted:

“Dr. Larry Wheeler has trans-

formed the NC Museum of Art into one

of the region’s and the nation’s most

popular and dynamic centers for the

Top left and right: “MAMA!

LOOK!” Ralph Helmick and Stuart

Schechter, Rabble, 2003, Mylar

butterflies are suspended from

stainless-steel cables installed

in the ceiling and anchored by

pewter weights with contrails of

fabric flowers.

© Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter

Above: DRESSED FOR SUCCESS:

Wheeler on the UGA campus circa

1969.

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART

Graduate School Magazine W I N T E R 2 0 0 7 31

This summer Elizabeth Irvin, a PhD can-

didate in toxicology in the department of

environmental health science, won the Marie

Taubeneck Award at the annual meeting

of the Teratology Society in Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania. According to toxicology pro-

fessor, Mary Alice Smith, “Elizabeth won two

prestigious, competitive awards at the

meeting: best oral presentation by a student

or postdoc and the Marie Taubeneck

Award. Elizabeth’s abstract was one of only

six selected to compete in the oral competi-

tion, and from those six, two were selected

for the award.”

The Marie Taubeneck Award is pre-

sented to one student or new investigator, in

recognition of scholarship in teratology;

courage to pursue new areas of research;

mentoring of fellow students and service to

the Teratology Society, adds Smith.

“Needless to say, I ’m very proud of

Elizabeth’s accomplishments.”

Irvin also received a travel award.

Dean Maureen Grasso announces that

Bonney Reed-Knight is the second recip-

ient of the Alfred E. Brown Scholarship.

Reed-Knight is a first year graduate student

in the clinical psychology program. Her

research interests lie in the broad field of

pediatric psychology, with an emphasis on

children with chronic medical conditions and

pediatric pain. She plans to continue her

work on developing and implementing a

coping skills training program for adolescent

girls with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD),

a chronic gastrointestinal disease. Reed-

Knight is also pursuing research aimed at

improving patient quality of life in popula-

tions including pediatric organ recipients.

The Alfred E. Brown Scholarship was

established in 2005 by Brown’s surviving

sister, Dr. Annella Brown, a retired surgeon in

Miami, Florida. Alfred E. Brown (BBA '55)

became a stockbroker and real estate agent.

32

Graduate School

Administration

Maureen Grasso

Dean

Craig Edelbrock

Associate Dean

Michael Johnson

Assistant Dean

Judy Milton

Assistant Dean

Krista Haynes

Admissions

Enrolled Student Services

Tonia Gantt

Business

Lollie Hoots

Communications

David Knox

Information Technology

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Alfred E. BrownS C H O L A R S H I P

Aw a r d e d

M A R I E TA U B E N E C KAw a r d An n o u n c e d

in br ief

Mike Hussey, animator and mechanical engineer,

founded the department of film and theatre studies program in

3-D computer animation and was featured on our first cover in

2005. Hussey has since produced a number of animations for documentaries which were aired

internationally, including recreations of ships and other artifacts for the documentaries

The Japanese Navy and Boneyards.

Comic book industry veteran

SID JACOBSEN lectured

on his graphic novel adapta-

tion of the 9/11 Commission

report in November at UGA.

Jacobsen is the stepfather of

Last Word photographer

Andrew Rosen.

You’re powered by a great team:Verizon Wireless and the University of Georgia.

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDATHENS, GA.

PERMIT NO. 165

ABC Dawg

www.grad.uga.edu

ABC Dawg stands for education in action,

which is why UGA dawgs always win Best of

Show. One of 36 bulldawg sculptures origi-

nally placed temporarily throughout Athens-

Clarke County, ABC Dawg remains a permanent

fixture, helping transform the area into an

outdoor museum.

Editor/Writer

Cynthia Adams

Design

Julie Sanders

Editor of

Photography

Nancy Evelyn

Copy Editors

Annie Ferguson

Maura Barber

© 2007 by the University of Georgia.

No part of this publication may be

reproduced in any way without the

written permission of the editor.

This publication was printed by generous gifts from Verizon

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The University of Georgia Graduate School

320 East Clayton Street, Suite 400

Athens, Georgia 30602-4401

706-425-3111, FAX 706-425-3096

the last word

ANDREW ROSENABC Dawg, Margot Dorn and students of Gaines Elementary, artists