Letter From Department Head
AAE Colleagues, Students, Alumni, and Friends,
As the start of the new Fall semester draws near, I hope you’ll take a few moments to explore the highlights in this Summer edition of the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics newsletter. From Washington, D.C. to Athens, our students, faculty, and staff continue to exemplify excellence across teaching, research, and outreach.
This summer, we are especially proud of the six students representing CAES in Washington through the Congressional Agricultural Fellowship and internship programs. Five of which, Anna Clifton, Olivia Cook, Luke Krohn, Andrew Luckey, and Joseph Waters are students within the Department who were selected as 2025 Congressional Agricultural Fellows. In addition, Michael Howard, who previously participated in the program, returned to Capitol Hill for another impactful internship experience. These students are gaining first-hand insight into federal policymaking and helping represent Georgia agriculture at the national level. Learn more about their experience and other exciting experiential learning opportunities this summer including student internships and faculty abroad.
Back in Athens, we launched what we hope will become an annual tradition—the department’s first-ever Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, held in May. Graduate students presented their research in just three minutes to a panel of faculty judges. Congratulations to Haewon Oh, recipient of the Non-Graduating Student Award, and Wentian Jiang, recipient of the Graduating Student Award. Many thanks to our judges, Drs. Yangxuan Liu, Lusi Xie, and Gopi Munisamy for their time and thoughtful feedback.
Our departmental community continues to grow and evolve. We welcomed Jeanne Taylor as our new Graduate Program Administrator and Morgan Kang as our new Student Affairs and Communications Coordinator. We also congratulate Dr. Yukiko Hashida on her promotion to Associate Professor and Guy Hancock on his promotion to Public Service Associate. At the same time, we wish the very best to Dr. Garrett Stanford, who served as a postdoctoral researcher, and Chris Peters, who retired after an incredible 40-year career at the University of Georgia. We are grateful for their contributions to the department and their lasting impact on our students and programs.
One of the most transformative announcements this summer comes from our Hospitality and Food Industry Management (HFIM) program. Thanks to a $5 million investment from The Delta Air Lines Foundation, UGA will renovate the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and Hotel to create cutting-edge learning spaces for HFIM students. These facilities will include state-of-the-art labs for event and beverage management, a teaching kitchen, and more. The Delta donation underscores the growing importance of Georgia’s hospitality industry and the role our students will play in its future.
As always, we continue to celebrate the achievements of our students. This spring and summer we congratulated more than 110 new graduates across our undergraduate and graduate programs. We look forward to seeing where their careers will lead.
Thanks to everyone who helped make this past year such a success. Whether you are a student, alum, faculty member, or friend of the department, your support makes all the difference. I hope you enjoy reading about the highlights from the year, and I encourage you to stay connected with us through social media, including our new LinkedIn page.
Go Dawgs!
Greg Colson
Department Head and Professor