College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Svoboda “Bodie” Vladimirova Pennisi, a full professor and UGA Cooperative Extension Specialist at the UGA Griffin campus, will work with the Small Business Development Center to implement online learning opportunities. Pennisi’s online business training module will be designed to help entrepreneurs and managers run a successful landscape management business by covering critical topics such as financials, marketing, cost estimating, employee retention and customer service, all catered to the landscape management field. In the future, the module will be used across UGA Extension and adopted for a new online class for undergraduate students. An experienced online educator, Pennisi will apply her horticulture and landscape expertise to help small businesses across Georgia.

In December of 1976, Sue Ellen McCullough took a job at the University of Georgia Griffin campus — then known as the Georgia Experiment Station — on the advice of a neighbor. On March 29 she retired from UGA-Griffin, taking with her a trove of memories and experiences.

“Dr. Wayne Bough was a faculty member and he was also my neighbor,” said McCullough, a native of Griffin. “We talked about me coming to work for him and he told me to ask my husband if I could work with him for about four months.”

The “temp” job turned into a nearly 40-year career with UGA’s Department of Food Science and Technology.

McCullough had worked at the local hospital and for Southern Bell, but she had no idea what to expect working in a laboratory at UGA. Bough was working on a grant project funded by UGA Marine Extension and the Georgia Sea Grant program, so McCullough’s first experiences were a little fishy.

“I was working with shrimp shells,” she remembers. “I had to dry them up in the shop in a big huge oven. When the men who worked in the shop saw me coming, they weren’t happy, because it did not smell good at all.”

When Bough left Griffin to accept a position with UGA Marine Extension in Brunswick, Georgia, McCullough went to work with UGA food scientist Kell Heaton. For the next six years, she helped him on various projects like canning peaches and peppers and working with other commodities, like pecans.

Anthony Flint, Julie Peters and Gary Ware were honored as the University of Georgia Griffin campus 2019 Classified Employees of the Year during the annual Classified Employee Recognition Ceremony held March 26.

“This is one of my favorite events each year. We come together to celebrate some of those who are the most important in making the Griffin campus what it is. I am proud of all the nominees and honorees this year and can say without hesitation that we have many more across campus who we also consider employees of the year,” said Lew Hunnicutt, assistant provost and director at UGA-Griffin.

A tried and true Georgia “boy,” University of Georgia blueberry breeder Scott NeSmith takes pride in creating new blueberry varieties for farmers in Georgia and across the Southeast. Now he can boast that blueberry varieties he’s bred through the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have gone global.

Two southern highbush blueberry varieties bred by NeSmith in research plots on the UGA Griffin campus are grown in territories in Europe and several countries in Africa, including Namibia and Zimbabwe, he said.

These UGA-bred blueberry plants grow well in the Southeastern United States and will now be grown by African farmers “primarily for export to Europe and some parts of Asia,” said NeSmith, who was named UGA Inventor of the Year in 2013.

At 54, Becky Griffin was the oldest University of Georgia student on the Griffin campus to be awarded a degree this fall, but that fact only fueled her drive to succeed.

After putting her graduate studies on hold for 30 years, Griffin juggled a full-time job and put thousands of miles on her car to complete her master’s degree. The mother of two adult daughters, both of whom are UGA graduates, Griffin was encouraged to finish her degree by Kris Braman, a former UGA Griffin researcher who now heads the UGA Department of Entomology.

“Deciding to go back to school after 30 years was a huge decision. When I told Dr. Kris Braman why I didn’t have a master’s degree, she said, ‘Well, we need to fix that.’ She encouraged me to apply, helped me map out a plan and served as my major professor throughout this process. She was the first person on my team,” Griffin said.

Three University of Georgia Griffin campus scientists have been awarded D.W. Brooks Awards for Excellence for their extraordinary commitment to the mission of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

CAES began selecting D.W. Brooks Awards recipients more than 30 years ago in honor of Brooks, who devoted his career to improving life through contributions to agriculture. The founder of Gold Kist Inc., Brooks was an alumnus and faculty member of the college.

The University of Georgia’s Double Dawgs program is now being offered on the UGA campus in Griffin. The program allows students to simultaneously work towards a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree and complete both degrees in five years or less. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) is the first to bring the Double Dawgs program to Griffin, Georgia.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 percent of all jobs will require a master’s degree by 2022. The Double Dawgs program is designed to help students reach that goal sooner.

“Double Dawgs programs give students the opportunity to earn a valuable second degree in about the same amount of time it would take to earn a bachelor’s degree, in most cases,” said Melissa Gordon, assistant director of academic affairs. “Basically, you start working on your master’s degree while you are finishing your bachelor’s degree. It’s amazing that you can get two UGA degrees in such a short length of time.”

More than 100 Double Dawgs programs are now available to UGA students at the university’s main campus in Athens, Georgia.

Students at the Griffin campus who are working toward a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource science from CAES can enter the Double Dawgs program to earn a master’s degree in plant protection and pest management. 

Renovation of a 1913 mule barn on the University of Georgia Griffin campus is complete, with a ceremonial ribbon cutting Oct. 4 signifying its new purpose as the Dundee Cafe.

Made possible by a $1 million gift from the Dundee Community Association, the cafe will serve students, employees and visitors as well as keep the memory of Dundee Mills and the historic mule barn alive through historical photos and exhibits.

“The University of Georgia is tremendously grateful to the Dundee Mills Community Association for this generous gift, which has allowed us to create a vibrant hub on the Griffin campus and further strengthen the connections between UGA-Griffin and the surrounding community,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead.

The mule barn was constructed in 1913 after the previous structure burned to the ground following a lightning strike. The replacement barn was constructed using the slip form concrete method to demonstrate what was then a new construction technique.

During the same time period, across the street from the campus, Dundee Mills produced towels and other textiles. It was the area’s largest employer for nearly a century, when Griffin was known as a textile town.

The 2018 Agro-Forestry & Wildlife Field Day was held Thursday, Sept. 20 at University of Georgia Griffin Campus Westbrook Research Farm on Ellis Road.

The event, which began in 1987 and is currently held every three years, is an opportunity for property owners and students to learn from and ask questions of experts in a variety of topics related to forestry and wildlife.

George Granade, Research Station Superintendent at UGA-Griffin, helped organize the event.

Pipette, check. Lab coat, check. A sense of scientific curiosity, double check.

It’s not your typical gear list for summer camp, but it covers just what Georgia high school students needed while they participated in this summer’s University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Young Scholars Program.

For almost three decades, the CAES Young Scholars Program has paired the college’s researchers with high school students to foster students’ love of science and introduce them to the breadth of study that forms the foundation of agriculture, Georgia’s largest industry.

During the Young Scholars Program, students are paid to work as research assistants in laboratories across the college to complete real research projects alongside their faculty mentors.

This year’s 59 Young Scholars represent more than 35 high schools from across the state.

“Each year, we are pleased with the level of research students are able to accomplish in six weeks,” said Victoria David, director of the CAES Office of Diversity Affairs. “Many Young Scholars alumni who got their initial exposure to science in this program currently work in labs across this campus and in industry.”