Letter from Department Head
AAE Colleagues, Students, Alumni, and Friends:
Long-time faculty member, first-time interim department head here. It has only been a couple of months since I stepped into this role and it has been a whirlwind, but I am excited about the opportunity to continue to strengthen our beloved department across all mission areas. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone for welcoming me into this role particularly, our previous Department Head, Dr. Gopi Munisamy for his continued sage wisdom. After his term at the AAE helm, Dr. Munisamy has returned his focus to working with his graduate students, teaching international trade and agricultural policy, providing timely policy analysis for stakeholders, and continuing his innovative research on international trade utilizing advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence methods. We all thank Dr. Munisamy for his achievements as the AAE Department Head and look forward to more great things to come.
One of our signature events, the J.W. Fanning Lecture hosted in collaboration with the Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia, was held earlier this month with Dr. William Masters from Tufts University as our speaker. Dr. Masters gave a passionate and thought-provoking presentation at the nexus of food prices, nutritional needs, and the food supply using the economic perspective of a nutrition/calorie production model. One takeaway that certainly perked the ears of the diverse audience in the room, due to the tremendous nutrition-for-value of peanuts, the U.S. is not producing or consuming enough peanuts from an economic optimization perspective. As a daily consumer of peanuts and/or peanut butter, I’m trying to do my part! Thanks again to everyone who attended the event.
Trying to rebuild a sense of community that was weakened due to all of the disruptions during the pandemic, the AAE department held its 1st annual pumpkin painting competition that pitted our four student organizations against each other (The Ag Economics Club, the Environmental Economics and Management Club, the Graduate Student Association, and the Hospitality Honor Society, Eta Sigma Delta). The EEM club is the newcomer on the block, founded this Fall to offer opportunities for our students with interests in environmental economics to meet, network with each other and alumni, and learn more about sustainability from an economic perspective. When all of the votes were counted, their Lorax pumpkin was the winner, narrowly edging out a universally agreed upon adorable mummy pumpkin by Eta Sigma Delta, a not-so-adorable demonic cow by the Ag Econ Club, and a Georgia bulldog-inspired pumpkin by the GSA. Thank you to all of the students and staff who helped make this a fun event and a new annual tradition.
More fun and community building in Conner Hall! We held our annual Diwali celebration which featured a bit of history, song, storytelling, and, of course, delicious treats. Plus, because we all know competition is key to efficiency, we held our first Rangoli art competition with four teams consisting of faculty, students, and staff. I’m not sure any efficiency occurred, but the delicate works of art are currently on display on the 3rd floor. Swing by and cast your vote for the winner before the winds of Conner Hall’s HVAC system whisk the colorful grains away.
Continuing the AAE tradition of excellence, several faculty were recognized this fall for their many achievements. Dr. Greg Fonsah was awarded the 2023 Frank Panyko Distinguished Service Award by the Food Distribution Research Society. Dr. John Salazar was recognized by Visit Athens, the dedicated convention and visitor bureau for Athens, with the 2023 Louis Griffith Hospitality Leadership. Dr. Lusi Xie won the 2023 Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award by the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society. Congratulations to Greg, John, and Lusi for their well-deserved recognition.
Speaking of achievements, in just four years since the launch of the Hospitality and Food Industry Management (HFIM) major, it continues to receive accolade after accolade. Recently, UGA was recognized as the #1 public university in the country with a hospitality management degree according to Niche's ranking of the best colleges for 2024. In addition, the US News and World Report’s most recent rankings for US universities with a Hospitality Major ranked HFIM as the 4th best overall program in the country. This is a meteoric rise in stature and national reputation and speaks tremendously of the HFIM coordinator, John Salazar, HFIM faculty Angie Im and Dan Remar, and the major's robust blend of active learning classes, experiential learning opportunities, and ties with the hospitality industry across Georgia and beyond.
These are just a few of the many accomplishments and fun ongoings happening in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. As we continue to revamp and revitalize our professional communication on LinkedIn, and our social communication on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), I hope you will follow along and join in the journey.
Best wishes to all and GO DAWGS!
Greg Colson
Professor and Interim Department Head