Past Chairman's Letter

Winter 2008
by Bill Young, Jr.

Dear Friends:

It is gratifying to reflect on 2007 and to see that we have so many folks who share our love for the University of Georgia. It was a tremendous year for the University of Georgia Foundation as our assets rose to an all-time record, thanks to the generosity of donors like you. I am honored and humbled to know supporters of the university recognize that the foundation remains a primary avenue through which gifts may be offered. We will continue to earn your trust by managing your funds in a way that maximizes every dollar and assures the University of Georgia derives the greatest benefit.

Foundation Fellows Earn Rhodes Scholarships
There is little disputing that the Foundation Fellows program attracts students to the University of Georgia that rank with the very best in the world. That is clearly evident in the fact that two fellows (one current and one past) have been named as Rhodes Scholars for 2008. Deep Shah of Duluth, GA and Katherine Vyborny of Washington, D.C. are among a group of only 32 U.S. students worldwide to be accorded one of academia’s highest honors. Students from more than 300 American colleges and universities competed for the scholarships, which date to 1902 and are the oldest international awards in existence offered to U.S. students each year.

Levengood Earns Scholarship to Study Abroad
Recent graduate and Foundation Fellow Michael Levengood was one of six University of Georgia students to win a Fulbright Scholarship. The award will fund his studies at the Universidad Austral in Valdivia, Chile, where he plans to conduct research in city planning and development. The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and is the largest international exchange program offered in America.

Foundation Fellows Interview Weekend Slated for February 22-23
One of the most exciting and rewarding events in which we, as trustees, participate is the annual Foundation Fellows Interview Weekend, when some of the world’s very best high school seniors converge on Athens to compete for coveted Foundation Fellowships. Finalists, selected from hundreds of applicants, are treated to seminars, social events with other students, and participate in a round of interviews with senior faculty, UGA Foundation trustees, admissions staff and representatives from student affairs. Students are awarded Foundation Fellowships based on their high school academic records, community service and extra-curricular achievements, as well as their performance during Interview Weekend. All finalists are winners, as those not selected for the fellowship are offered Bernand Ramsey Scholarships, which stand among the university’s most sought-after awards.

Trustee Garry Bridgeman Elected President of Prestigious Investment Organization
The Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) has elected University of Georgia Foundation Trustee Garry Bridgeman its president for 2008 and 2009. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, IMCA has more than 6,800 of the world’s top financial industry professionals in its membership. Garry is a private wealth advisor for Merrill Lynch in Atlanta and has been with the firm for more than 27 years. He has been an active and valued member of the UGA Foundation board since 2005 and also serves on the boards of the Metro Atlanta YMCA and Zoo Atlanta. Congratulations Garry!

Jane Willson is Subject of Cover Feature in Current Issue of University Publication
I hope you had a moment to read the current issue of Georgia Magazine and specifically the cover story on University of Georgia Foundation Trustee Jane Willson. It is a wonderful piece that details her life with the late Harry Willson and gives us insight into how the couple founded Sunnyland Farms in Albany back in 1948. It is a business enterprise that she and her husband grew into what is today one of the nation’s leading purveyors of fine nuts, candies and dried fruits. It is a very interesting and enjoyable piece and well worth your time.

Jane, of course, is an active trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation and gives tirelessly of her time to further our mission of supporting academic endeavors at the university. The generous financial support she has offered over the years is evident throughout campus in buildings and in many faculty and scholarship endowments. We are deeply honored to have Jane on our board. She is truly one of a kind!

J-School instructor awarded professorship named for UGA Foundation emeritus trustee
Congratulations to C. Ann Hollifield, University of Georgia associate professor of telecommunications, who was recently awarded the Thomas C. Dowden Professorship in Media Research in UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

As Dowden Professor, Hollifeld directs research on social, political and economic issues involving media. She plans to host a Dowden Symposium this year on “Media in the Age of Audience Empowerment.” The symposium will bring leading scholars and media professionals to UGA from around the world to examine how the relationship between audiences and the media are changing and what that will mean for media business models.

Thomas Dowden is a Grady alumnus who was a pioneer in cable media and is an emeritus trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation.

UGA’s Bennetzen part of team that wins major funding from U.S. Department of Energy
Congratulations to Jeffrey Bennetzen, the Norman and Doris Giles/Georgia ResearchAlliance professor of molecular genetics. He is part of a team, which includes researchers from many major universities, national research laboratories, and private companies that recently won $125 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy for a bio-energy research center dedicated to seeking new ways to produce biofuels.

Funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the Bioenergy Science Center is one of three selected from more than 20 proposals submitted. It will employ the interdisciplinary expertise of the team’s partners in biology, engineering and agricultural science and commercialization to develop processes for converting plants such as switchgrass and poplar trees into fuels. UGA’s portion of the research funding is $20 million over five years.

Bennetzen’s professorship is funded through gifts made to the University of Georgia Foundation.

Additional Copies of UGA Foundation 2007 Annual Report Available
In October we sent copies of the 2007 Annual Report to donors and I trust that your copy arrived on time and in good shape. If for some reason you did not receive the Annual Report or you would like an extra copy to share with a friend or family member, we do have a limited number remaining and would be pleased to provide them while supplies last. Contact Chip Stewart with our communications firm and he’ll be glad to drop a copy in the mail to you. You may reach him via telephone at 404-816-2037 or email at chip@cookerly.com.

I’m very optimistic about what 2008 holds for the University of Georgia and for the University of Georgia Foundation. With donors such as you who support the foundation so generously and faithfully, why wouldn’t I be? From my perspective, we have the greatest folks in the world on our donor rolls, and we share a common goal of helping to assure the University of Georgia is one of the world’s preeminent institutions of higher learning. As evidenced by the outstanding faculty and students residing on campus, it is a mission we are fulfilling with great success and I expect that success to continue this year. Here’s wishing the very best to you and yours for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008!

Bill Young Jr.