The fine folks in Hall County rolled out the red carpet for me today, first at the mayor’s office, then at the Gainesville Kiwanis Club.  What a pleasure it was to meet Gainesville Mayor Myrtle Figueras ‘74 and present her with our Top Dawg certificate, which honors our grads who are mayors.  She’s truly a joy.  Current UGA Alumni Association president Trey Paris ‘84, ‘85, and former Association president Abit Massey ‘49…both from Gainesville…joined me for the presentation.

Afterward we addressed a very lively Gainesville Kiwanis Club, where Trey gave his last talk as Alumni Association president (Vic Sullivan ‘80 of Albany takes over July 1).  Association board member Martha Zoller ‘79, a syndicated radio talk show host based at WDUN in Gainesville, also joined us.  Carolyn Crist, a rising senior at UGA and incoming editor of the Red & Black, covered the story as a summer intern with the Gainesville Times.  It was great to see Carolyn; she was our 2008 summer CURO scholar.

There’s a lot going on in the Greater Gainesville area, and with more than 6,000 alums, I am so pleased we established an alumni chapter there within the past year.  2007 MBA grad Lori Kose is the chapter president.  If you’re an alum in the area I hope you’ll consider joining them the first Thursday of each month at Poor Richard’s Restaurant.

After 37 years at UGA Larry Dendy ‘65 is calling it quits and hanging up his typewriter.  He was in the university’s public affairs office his entire career at UGA, writing articles, press releases, fact sheets and numerous other items.  One thing Larry was most known for was writing the scripts for commencement, and probably attended more graduation exercises than anyone on campus.  It’s been a real pleasure knowing him during my 12 years here…I’ll miss his keen insight and dry sense of humor.  Click here for more about Larry’s long UGA career.  Enjoy your retirement, Larry.

As I mentioned last spring, Roger Hunter ‘78 has the honor and privilege of being the manager of NASA’s Kepler-Ames mission, an undertaking by the space agency to find other Earth-like planets.  In March, NASA launched a one ton craft, outfitted with an enormous telescope, to search the heavens.  Right now, Roger says Kepler is more than 6.5 million miles from Earth and has been collecting data since mid-May.  I have asked him to stay in touch with us during the project’s three-and-a-half year mission.

I hope you’ll take advantage of all the great alumni events.  Check our web site for what’s going on in your area. 

Women of UGA Lunch Groups today:

-Five Points area in Atlanta

-Perimeter group in Dunwoody

UGA Alumni Art Exhibit Opening and Reception in McDonough this evening from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

We are pleased to present our 2009 Summer Reading List, compiled from submissions by UGA alums all over the world.  I’m always interested to see what our graduates are reading.  Enjoyable books such as Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen submitted by Beth Sullivan ‘73 to Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary submitted by 2008 grad Ryan Spell are included in our Summer Reading List.  Please browse it and see what you like, then next year submit your favorites.

1984 graduate Scott Howard was named last week as the permanent successor to long-time Bulldog play-by-play announcer Larry Munson.  Scott had served as Larry’s broadcast sidekick for more than 15 seasons, and joining him in the booth will be former Georgia quarterback Eric Zeier ‘07, who set many records at UGA from 1991-94.  Congratulations to Scott and Eric!   

UGA gymnast Courtney Kupets has been named the Honda-Broderick Cup recipient for 2009, celebrating her as the top collegiate female athlete in the country.  In fact, just a couple of months ago she won, for a second time, the Honda Award for being the nation’s top gymnast.  Congratulations, Courtney.     

Bulldogs After Business Hours in Sandy Springs tonight at Hearth Pizza Tavern and in Marietta Thursday evening at Houlihans.

Bulldog Breakfast Club with ‘07 grad Tucker Brown Wednesday morning at Wray-Nicholson House.  Hear about his year-long academic experience in Israel at the University of Haifa where he studied Arabic.

I hope you’ll take advantage of these and other Alumni Association activities.  Please visit our web site for a full list of events.  Not a member?  Click here to join the UGA Alumni Association.

Philander Smith College President Walter Kimbrough ‘89 is featured in the latest issue of Diverse Issues in Higher Education as one of 25 up-and-coming leaders.  Dr. Kimbrough has led this Little Rock school since 2004 and is one of the younger college presidents in the country.  According to the magazine, Walter “is cultivating a new generation of academically accomplished and socially conscious African-American students while continuing to confront the many challenges facing historically Black colleges.”

You are all familiar with the Georgia Theatre in downtown Athens, and this morning that classic landmark burned.  With emergency crews still on the scene, there’s no word yet on the cause.  Depending on when you came through UGA, the Georgia Theatre was a center of entertainment for years.  It was first a traditional movie theater then in the 70s it was re-fashioned into an intimate concert hall.  We share your sadness today with the burning of this Athens iconic structure.