Michael Bartlett, a professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences in the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, has been named the inaugural UGA Athletic Association Professor in Pharmacy effective Oct. 1. The professorship supports the academic mission of the university and recognizes Bartlett's outstanding national reputation. Bartlett, who is director of the college's new bachelor's degree in pharmaceutical sciences, is also interim assistant dean for non-traditional education and outreach.

Because of her contributions to an international understanding of veterinary medicine, University of Georgia professor Corrie Brown recently received the XIIth International Veterinary Congress Prize from the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Brown, a professor of anatomic pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s department of pathology, has worked locally and internationally for more than 25 years building animal health infrastructure and diagnostics. She specifically studies emerging diseases, pathogenesis of disease in food-producing animals and diagnostic infrastructure in developing countries.

Sylvia Schell, an assistant director in the University of Georgia Office of International Education, has been awarded the inaugural 2013 Excellence in Diversifying International Education Award by the Diversity Abroad Network, a national organization promoting diversity in international education.

The award recognizes individuals who have developed practices that increase access and foster diversity and inclusion in international education.

When students at the University of Georgia begin their fall semester classes on Monday, new computers and print kiosks will be available at the Miller Learning Center.

During the summer, Enterprise Information Technology Services replaced a total of 375 computers at the Miller Learning Center. The new computers feature smaller processing units that attach to the rear of computer monitors-thus saving space at each computer station.

The effort marks the first time in five years that computers in the Miller Learning Center have been replaced on a large scale.

The University of Georgia is welcoming the most academically qualified first-year class in school history, with the highest GPA and SAT averages on record for entering freshmen. UGA also experienced a record number of applications with nearly 20,300 received for fall 2013 admission. Since 2003, the number of freshman applications has increased by 72 percent. Approximately 5,150 first-year students-up 4 percent from 2012-and 1,100 transfer students are set to begin classes at UGA on Aug. 12.

University of Georgia plant genetics researcher Chung-Jui Tsai has been named an International Academy of Wood Science fellow, one of the highest honors given by the academy for scientists in this field of study.

Tsai is the Winfred N. "Hank" Haynes Professor in forest biotechnology in the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and also a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar with a split appointment in the department of genetics. Her work focuses on creating high-yielding trees for use in biofuel. She dissects the molecular mechanisms that affect tree fitness and biomass productivity.

She and her research partner, Scott Harding, have won several noteworthy grants since joining UGA in 2008, including two from the U.S. Department of Energy to study ways to increase tree productivity by genetically modifying proteins critical to wood formation and stress tolerance, two necessary traits for using trees as biofuel feedstock.

Sean B. McMillan has been appointed director of economic development for the Atlanta office of the University of Georgia as of July 16. Jennifer Frum, vice president for public service and outreach, and David Lee, vice president for research, made the announcement. Together they co-direct the university’s economic development efforts.

In its first rankings of Executive MBA programs, The Economist placed the University of Georgia Terry College of Business program No. 22 worldwide. The Economist’s rankings reflect each EMBA program’s performance in two broad categories: personal development/education experience and career development, with each category weighted equally. Terry College’s EMBA program received the highest ranking among schools in Georgia, and was ranked No. 10 among programs based solely in the U.S.

Michael P. Doyle, University of Georgia Regents Professor of Food Microbiology, has been awarded the 2013 Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Agriscience Award.

Doyle came to the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 1993 to establish the Center for Food Safety in Griffin. As director of the center, he has developed a research program that promotes collaboration among the food industry, the university, and federal and state agencies.

According to a recent study by the UGA Selig Center for Economic Growth that looked at the impact of all 35 University System of Georgia institutions, UGA’s economic impact on the local economy—which includes Clarke, Oconee, Madison, Oglethorpe, Jackson, Barrow, Walton and Gwinnett counties—was $2.161 billion, an increase of more than 5 percent from fiscal 2011. For university system schools, UGA’s impact was second in the state only to Georgia Tech.