SPRING 2010

A Magazine for the Families of UGA Residence Hall Students

Best Female Room: Taylor Parrish & Soleil Robichaud – Myers Hall

Best Male Room: Chris Garland & Ashton Summers – Creswell Hall

Best Video Tour: Blake Reynolds & Chrissy Henderson – Creswell Hall

Editors

Tracy Giese

ContributorsTamara Burke

Larry Correll-HughesCarla DennisDiana FruthTracy Giese

Ryan HillScott Sanders

Yan ShenDanielle Vitale

DesignRonda Wynveen

Bill ReevesUGA Printing

Bulldog Families is written and published by the

Department of University Housing Russell Hall

Athens, GA 30602-5575

Bulldog Families is distributed free of charge to

families of University of Georgia residence hall students.

Comments or questions about articles should be directed to

Tracy Giese706-542-1421

Email: housing@uga.edu

All suggestions and ideas for articles are welcomed.

•©2010 The University of Georgia

•The University of Georgia is committedto principles of equal opportunity and

affirmative action.

Our Mission: The Department of University Housing provides comfortable,

affordable and secure on-campus housing options in residential communities

where the academic success and personal growth of residents are encouraged

and supported.

Do you want to… Register for housing? Tour the residence halls? Learn about our academic initiatives? Review our rates and policies? Apply for a job with UGA Housing? Contact us?

Visit us online! www.uga.edu/housing

c o n t e n t s

2009 Room-of-the-Year Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Living Green: University HousingIs Dedicated to Sustainability Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

RHA Celebrates 40 Years at UGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2010 Returning Resident Room Sign-Up Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

UGA Food Services: Spring Special Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

First-hand view of the New Residence Hall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

UGA Housing Phone Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

S P R I N G 2 0 1 0

BULLDOGFamilies

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2009 Room-of-the-Year Contest

For the second year, the Department of University

Housing and the UGA Residence Hall Association

teamed up to host the 2009 Room-of-the-Year

Contest. Residents from all 20 halls were eligible

to submit entries in three categories. Winners were

determined based on more than 1,800 combined

resident votes for three categories cast during a week

of on-line polling. Grand prize winners for 2009 were:

Best Female Room: Taylor Parrish & Soleil Robichaud – Myers Hall

Best Male Room: Chris Garland & Ashton Sommers – Creswell Hall

Best Tour Video: Blake Reynolds & Chrissy Henderson – Creswell Hall

Grand prize winners in each category received first

pick of all available residence hall spaces during the

Returning Resident Room Sign-Up process.

In addition, the judges selected the following

superlatives:

Most Creative Use of Fabric:Renee Wetli & Brittany Young – Myers Hall

Best Color-Coordination:Caroline Wagerman & Callie Settle – Russell Hall

Best Use of Space:Erin Kemp & Cate Gasper – Russell Hall

Most Elegant:Mamie Shepherd & Haley Sellers – Brumby Hall

Most Inviting:Anna Bauer & Katie Yealy – Brumby Hall

Thanks to all residents who entered the contest. Your

creativity and originality were impressive!

To see photos of the winning rooms and the winning

tour video, please visit:

www.uga.edu/housing/contest

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Sustainability seeks to provide the best outcomes for individuals and the natural environment both now and into the future. University Housing has incorporated the principles of sustainability into the department’s day-to-day operations. In addition, University Housing strives to

increase environmental awareness among students and staff as well as promote a sustainable community by example and through the education of residents.

Through the year, University Housing’s sustainability initiatives have focused on four main themes: maintaining a healthy living environment, recycling efforts on facility projects, water and energy conservation efforts, and educational programs and campaigns. Although University Housing has accomplished much under each of these categories, the following initiatives are great examples of the department’s commitment toward sustainability.

Maintaining a healthy living environmentThe construction of the New Residence Hall at East Campus (Building 1516) – the University of Georgia’s first “green” residence hall – is well underway and will provide residents with the opportunity to not only practice conservation efforts on campus, but to live in an intentionally-designed facility that supports sustainability. More information on Building 1516 is available at www.uga.edu/housing/tour/new.html.

Recycling efforts on facility projectsMuch of the beds, mattresses, carpet and other building materials replaced during last summer’s facilities projects were sold, repurposed or recycled.

Water and energy conservation effortsBetween September 14 and October 19, the Green Cup competition took place among Boggs, Church, Hill, Lipscomb and Mell Halls. The Green Cup – a program designed to reduce student electrical and water consumption – is a partnership between University Housing and the River Basin Center and is sponsored by a grant from the UGA Parents and Families Association.

Educational programs and campaignsDuring this past year, events included a program on eating sustainably in the dining halls, the Living Green at UGA campaign – where residents could pledge to live more sustainably for a month – and two Dumpster Dives – in which housing staff filtered through 24-hours worth of trash placed in a housing dumpster by residents in order to demonstrate how much could have been diverted from the landfill had students recycled. Also introduced this year was a sustainability film series. Although the series has already begun, there are two remaining movies this semester, Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice (Monday, March 15) and Blue Gold: World Water Wars (Monday, April 19), which will be shown in the Rooker Fireside Lounge (ECV) at 7pm. Also upcoming is the Residence Hall Association’s Kiss Me, I’m Sustainable program, scheduled to take place on the Myers Quad Wednesday, March 16, at 5pm.

Finally, Living Green is a great resource for residents to receive updates regarding University Housing’s sustainability efforts as well as get tips and information about upcoming events. This newsletter is published twice a semester and latest edition is available at www.uga.edu/housing/livinggreen.html.

SustainabilityLiving Green

University Housing is dedicated to sustainability initiatives

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RHA Marks40th Year Anniversarywith AwardsThe University of Georgia Residence Hall Association celebrated its 40th anniversary on January 19, 2010, with a ceremony and reception in the Tate Student Center. Several RHA and Student Affairs leaders, including Dr. Rodney Bennett, Dr. Diana Fruth, Dr. Gerard Kowalski, and RHA President Ryan Hill, were on hand to give tribute to an organization that has served many roles throughout its 40-year history at UGA. With active participation on campus since 1969, as the voice of the students during the abolishment of the Student Government Association from 1979-1987, and as a change agent over the years in establishing ATMs on campus and safe walkways between residence halls and other parts of campus, UGA’s RHA also has become a national leader among peer institutions. RHA continues to garner awards and recognition at the national, regional and state levels, with RHA officers serving on all of these levels. On the heels of their 40th anniversary celebration, the University of Georgia’s Residence Hall Association took home top awards in four out of five categories at the 2010 Georgia Residence Hall Organization (GRHO) annual conference last month. GRHO is a student-run organization that is operated by and for the benefit of residence hall programs at public and private higher education institutions in Georgia. GHRO provides college and university housing officers with personal and professional growth through attendance at annual conferences, along with the facilitation of an exchange of ideas and dialogue with professional colleagues. RHA members attended the GRHO conference January 29-31, 2010, and received four awards. Ryan Hill, executive board president of UGA’s RHA and state director of GRHO, won the Student Leader of the Year award. Tamara Burke, UGA’s RHA advisor, received the Advisor of the Year award. In addition, UGA won School of the Year, and the environmental awareness program “Kiss Me! I’m Sustainable” won for Program of the Year. Ryan Hill is quick to point out that the vision of UGA’s RHA reaches beyond the boundaries of the organization and looks to other student organizations on campus to host programs that benefit the residents. “Our mantra over the past few years—‘How does this benefit our residents?’—is a question that will persist into the

future of RHA. RHA has a radiant future, with some of the best and brightest students the southeast region has to offer at the helm. We will continue to grow and be a strong, relevant force not only on campus, but also in the state, region and nation. We will strive to make the 20 buildings (soon to be 21) in which we work and live more than just dormitories for residents, but a home-away-from-home.” UGA will host the regional South Atlantic Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls Annual Conference in October 2010, which will bring in hundreds of student housing leaders to the Athens campus. SAACURH is an affiliate of the national organization NACURH, the largest student-run corporation in the world that attempts to improve communities within college residence halls by providing network opportunities through conferences and other resources designed to help schools improve their residence hall organizations.

For more information about UGA’s Residence Hall Association, visit www.uga.edu/rha. b u l l d o g f a m i l i e s 5

New for 2010-2011:

Residents living in McWhorter, Rooker and Vandiver Halls will commit to an 11.5 month contract cycle.

Residents of Building 1512 will commit to a nine-month contract ending in May 2011.

The New Hall at East Campus (Building 1516) will open Fall 2010. Located adjacent to East Campus Village, Building 1516 is the fourth building to comprise the Reed Community, providing traditional double and single rooms with private bath accommodations geared toward non-first year, undergraduate students. For more information about UGA’s first “green” residence hall, visit www.uga.edu/housing and click on the “Living Green in the New Hall at East Campus” feature.

2010 Returning Resident Room Sign-Up Update

Returning Resident Room Sign-Up 2010 is well underway! To ensure all residents were notified about Returning Resident Room Sign-Up 2010, all residents were sent informative e-mails; table tents were placed

in all dining halls; Question & Answer sessions were conducted in all seven residential communities; and posters were hung in the Tate Student Center, the Student Learning Center, in all residence halls and on the UGA buses. The result? More than 2,850 current resident students requested to participate in Room Sign-Up 2010 and registered online before the January 24, 2010, deadline. After this deadline passed, students were notified of their status in the process, whether they had been awarded a space on campus or were assigned to the waiting list.

UGA Housing Capacity

There are approximately 7,180 spaces in the 21 residence halls available for undergraduate students. Prior to Returning Resident Room Sign-Up, spaces are set aside for incoming, new students in order to comply with the University of Georgia’s First Year Live-On Requirement. Since 2003, UGA has mandated that all first-year students live on campus – a policy that was adopted in response to the national research that consistently indicates that students who live on campus during their first year are more satisfied with their collegiate experience, more

involved on campus, and more likely to continue their enrollment than students who live off campus. In 2010, we anticipate that the incoming first-year class will reach 4,800 students. UGA Housing is also required to reserve spaces for students who are enrolled in our academic-residential programs, including the Franklin Residential College in Rutherford Hall, the Language Communities in Mary Lyndon Hall, the Honors Magnet Program in Myers Hall, and One World Multicultural Community in Oglethorpe House. Detailed descriptions of these programs can be found at the Academic Initiatives section of our Web site.

The popularity of these programs coupled with the number of spaces needed for first-year students leaves a small number of available spaces for returning students, requiring many of our interested current residents to be assigned to a waiting list.

Waiting List

Students who have been placed on the waiting list may monitor their position simply by visiting the UGA Housing Web site. Just follow the “Registration and Contracts” link to the “Returning Resident Room Sign-Up” section where they initially enrolled to participate in this process. Of course, residents are always welcome to call or e-mail the University Housing Assignments Office for information about the waiting list. We will continue to pull people from this waiting list as spaces become available throughout the summer.

Other Options

Students who participate in any of the academic programs cited earlier, including the Franklin Residential College and the French and Spanish Language Communities, are guaranteed spaces in the residence halls where these programs are based. More information on these programs can be found at the Academic Initiatives section of our Web site at: www.uga.edu/housing/academic.

Conclusion

The Housing Assignments Office continues to make every effort to provide housing for as many students as possible and will continue working to place those residents who currently populate the waiting list. Students on the waiting list should check their UGA e-mail accounts regularly, as that is our primary means of official communication. All students and parents are welcome to contact the Housing Assignments Office at 706-542-1421 or housing@uga.edu to discuss any questions or concerns.

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Food Services

www.uga.edu/foodservice

Each year UGA Food Services celebrates spring with diverse and exciting special events.

In January the dining commons kicked off the New Year right with a journey through time to when dinosaurs roamed the earth with the Café Cretaceous special

event. Menu features included Primordial Soup, Tricera Chops, Pterodactyl Wings, Broccoliasaurus Flower with Ferocious Fire Sauce, and Molten Lava Cakes.

Representing food and festivals celebrated around the world, the Carnivale – Taste of the World Dinner in February was adventurous, colorful, and fun. Featured favorites included Spanakopita with Spinach and Feta, Leeks and Lamb Stir Fried, Brazilian Baked Salmon, and King Cake.

The National Nutrition Month Nutrition Exposition held the first week of March in each dining commons helped motivate meal plan patrons to make healthy lifestyle changes through nutrition and fitness assessment activities.

March also marked the sweetest event of the year: the Confection Connection Dinner. Celebrating candy and sweets, this special event introduced delectable dishes such as Cinnamon Spiced Sweet Potato Bisque, Strawberry Salad with Chocolate Balsamic Dressing, Filet Mignon with Caramel-Brandy Mushroom Sauce, and Chewy Rolo Brownies.

Coming March 25, our next event will honor great food and friendly service found at truck stops across America with the Keep on Truckin’ special event. Menu items will include Whistle Stop Chili, Arizona Big Rig Pistachio Chicken, Exit 239A BBQ Catfish, Kentucky Long Haul Squash Casserole, and Munger Moss Cherry Cream Pie.

We’ll wrap up the year with our End of the Year Beach Blast on April 28. From California to Jamaica, Coney Island to Hawaii – how good are your party hopping skills? Each year students try to make it to all four of our end of the year celebration meals.

Spring Special Events

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The old saying, “If you build it, they will come,” holds true. Construction crews worked diligently for two weeks to build a room mock-up—a sneak preview of the New Residence

Hall at East Campus (Building 1516)—in the middle of the Brumby Hall rotunda before students arrived back on campus from winter break. Between Jan. 13-29, Brumby Hall had 928 visitors to see the life-sized room, which was fully furnished with bedroom furniture and bathroom fixtures, as well as working lights in the bathroom and over the sink. “Feedback on the room was very positive,” said residence hall director Nadia Roberts. “The students like the fact that there is a private bath and that the university is incorporating sustainability into the design.” Building 1516 is set to open August 2010, and is the first “green” residence hall on campus. For more photos of the room mock-up, go to www.uga.edu/housing/tour/mockup.html.

First-hand View of theNew Residence Hall

Division of Student AffairsDepartment of University HousingRussell HallAthens, Georgia 30602-5575

Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDAthens, GA

Permit No. 165

University Housing Phone Numbers

Assignments (Central) Office . . . . . .(706) 542-1421

Brumby Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (706) 542-8250

Creswell Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . (706) 542-8344

East Campus Village Community . . . . . . (706) 542-2041(Building 1512; McWhorter, Rooker and Vandiver Halls)

Hill Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (706) 542-5934 (Boggs, Church, Hill, Lipscomb andMell Halls; Oglethorpe House)

Myers Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (706) 542-5217 (Mary Lyndon, Myers, Rutherford and Soule Halls)

Reed Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (706) 542-3753 (Morris, Payne and Reed Halls)

Russell Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (706) 542-8331

Work Order Office . . . . . . . . . . . . .(706) 542-3999

Bedding and room decorations supplied by the University Bookstore gave students a vision of what their room would look like in Building 1516.

The room featured movable furniture made with wood from sustainable forests that will actually be in the new residence hall.

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