The nine schools that make up Emory University have extensive plans for the 2015-16 academic year. Here's a roundup of what's new and noteworthy, as listed by each school.
Candler School of Theology
Incoming class: Candler welcomes 218 incoming students from 13 countries, 25 states and 32 denominations.
Noteworthy: Jesuit priest and professor of film studies Lloyd Baugh will present the 2015 McDonald Lecture, "The 'God Question' in Contemporary Cinema I: A Courageous Break with Tradition," on Sept. 24 from 4 to 6 p.m. Free and open to the public.
New programs: In the first such partnership between Emory and the University of Georgia, Candler and the UGA School of Social Work are offering a dual master's degree in divinity and social work. Candler's new one-year Master of Religion and Public Life degree explores the dynamics of faith in the public sphere.
New faculty: Candler welcomes its first assistant professor in the practice of history of religions and multi-faith relations, Deanna Ferree Womack. This position was created as part of the Leadership and Multi-Faith Program recently established by Candler and Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. The school also welcomes Lang Lowrey 04T, distinguished visiting professor of Episcopal studies; Shelby Haggray, director of Baptist Studies; Toni Belin Ingram 07T, director of Black Church Studies; and Ellen Shepard, director of Women, Theology and Ministry.
Learn more at candler.emory.edu
Emory College of Arts and Sciences
Incoming class: The Class of 2019 in the College of Arts and Sciences includes 1,369 students. They are citizens of 37 countries; domestic students call 47 states and the District of Columbia home. They will be joined by 32 new members of the faculty whose teaching and scholarship span fields ranging from paleoanthropology to information science, and from film production to the interdisciplinary study of literature and medicine.
New pathways of study: Five new majors have been launched — Engineering Sciences, Biophysics, Physics for Life Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and a combined major in Spanish and Portuguese — as well as two new minors in Environmental Sciences: Sustainability Sciences and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and a minor in nutrition in the Center for the Study of Human Health. As part of our inaugural Emory College Online (ECO) program, four new summer courses debuted including Biochemistry and Sociology of Sex and Gender.
New spaces: The Atwood Chemistry building's innovative expansion has opened its new science hub featuring a library, interactive classrooms, glass enclosed laboratories and faculty offices, a café and a performance space.
Learn more at college.emory.edu
Goizueta Business School
Incoming classes: This fall, Goizueta welcomes to campus a new class of one-year, two-year and part-time MBA students. In the one-year program, a record number of female students enrolled (40 percent of the class). Sixteen countries are represented in the two-year program, including 18 military veterans from the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. The part-time (evening) program is 18 percent international students. Seventeen part-time students already hold advanced degrees.
Experience leads:Lynne Segall begins the academic year at Goizueta as associate dean for management practice initiatives. She joins Emory after nearly 15 years at Accenture, where she most recently served as director of talent and organization offering development. Management Practice refers to the experiential and project-based learning that is central to the school's MBA programs.
Studying startups: Associate Professor Peter Roberts and Social Enterprise @ Goizueta have partnered with the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs for a $2.3 million, three-year project to study the effectiveness of business accelerators. According to Forbes, the partnership was created by U.S. Global Development Lab at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Omidyar Network, The Lemelson Foundation and Argidius Foundation.
Learn more at goizueta.emory.edu
Laney Graduate School
Incoming class: The Laney Graduate School welcomes 358 new students from 37 countries. Eight-three percent are pursuing the PhD.
New partnership: Emory University, led by the Laney Graduate School, has been accepted to the National GEM Consortium, a unique and powerful connection to a national network of universities and employers that links highly qualified students from underrepresented groups to STEM graduate programs.
New fellowship: Established to honor the memory of Andrew Morris "Andy" Zebrowitz, the Andy Zebrowitz Memorial Brain Research Fellowship will support biomedical engineering doctoral students in the Laney Graduate School as they work to develop new ways to diagnose and treat brain injury, trauma and bleeding disorders.
New event: On Sept. 30, Theater Delta and the Laney Graduate School will present two performances of ProAction: An Interactive Theater Performance on the Graduate Student-Faculty Mentor Relationship, with one performance for graduate students and the other for graduate faculty. The performances will use interactive theater — scripted and improvisational audience participatory theater — to promote dialogue and solutions around the graduate student-faculty mentor relationship. Participants will witness a scene, have an opportunity to interact with and challenge the characters, and then take part in a facilitated conversation about the issues raised.
Learn more at graduateschool.emory.edu
School of Law
Incoming class: This fall, Emory Law welcomes new students from 34 countries, 35 states, and more than 150 undergraduate institutions to its Juris Doctor (JD), Juris Master (JM), Master of Laws (LLM), and Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) degree programs.
Program highlights: Emory Law is offering a new specialization in law and development, in collaboration with the Law and Development Institute. Designed for students enrolled in the JM or LLM program, core coursework is being taught by Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Y.S. (Steve) Lee.
New and visiting faculty: Deborah Dinner has joined the faculty from Washington University School of Law. Nicole Morris will lead the Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER) program, offered in partnership with Georgia Tech. Leetra Harris and Robert Parrish have joined the legal writing faculty. Fred Smith Jris visiting from the University of California-Berkeley School of Law. Margo Bagley 96L, Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, will return in spring 2016 as a visiting professor. Allison Thornton and Julia Crewson will be visiting legal writing faculty.
Faculty honors: Mary L. Dudziak, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, and John Witte Jr., Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law and McDonald Distinguished Professor, and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, will both spend the fall semester conducting research at the Library of Congress, as recipients of prestigious John W. Kluge Chairs. Teemu Ruskola will spend the year at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Study.
Learn more at law.emory.edu
School of Medicine
Incoming class: The incoming medical class has 139 students (84 women, 55 men) ages 21 to 32; 42 are from Georgia, 24 were born outside the US. Allied health has 189 students in entering classes: 71 in physical therapy, 54 in the physician assistant program, 37 in anesthesiology, 10 in genetic counseling and 17 in medical imaging.
Appointments:Gary Bassell, chair of cell biology; Marilane Bond, associate dean of medical education; Jeremy Boss, associate dean for basic research; Haian Fu, associate dean for innovation and international strategies; Robert Gross, director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD); Kate Heilpern, executive associate dean of faculty affairs and professional development; Lucky Jain, interim chair of pediatrics; Amy Langston, interim chair of hematology and medical oncology; Ted Johnson, physician director of Emory Medicine Primary Care and Population Health and chair of family and preventive medicine; John Sweeney, Joseph Brown Whitehead Professor and chair of surgery; Michael Zwick, assistant dean of research.
Taking the lead: The Genetic Counseling Training Program was awarded full accreditation. Emory is lead coordinating center of the National Ebola Training and Education Center. The SOM Diversity Committee recently launched. Cognitively Based Compassion Training is being offered to faculty, staff and medical students. The first SOM Celebration of Faculty Excellence occurred in October.
Brain health: The departments of neurology, psychiatry and behavioral sciences moved to Executive Park, joining adult, child and adolescent psychiatry as the core of the Emory Brain Health Center, made up of more than 400 researchers and clinicians.
Learn more at med.emory.edu
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
Incoming and returning classes: The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing welcomes 143 new BSN students and 191 returning BSN students who hail from 35 states and four countries. There are 170 students enrolled in the school's MSN program, 54 percent of whom earned their BSN degrees from Emory. There are 30 students enrolled in the PhD program and 15 students enrolled in the DNP program.
New programs: The School of Nursing is now offering online prerequisites for health professions. These 10-week online courses are offered every fall, spring and summer term for students who need to complete the required prerequisites prior to enrolling in health-related academic programs such as nursing, medicine, physical therapy and more.
New faculty: Jennifer Adamski, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, assistant clinical professor; Brenda Baker, PhD RN, assistant clinical professor; Molly Bachtel, DNP, FNP-C, assistant clinical professor; Rasheeta Chandler, ARNP, FNP-BC, assistant professor; Vicki Hertzberg, PhD, professor; Ann Horigan, PhD, RN, assistant clinical professor; Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, PhD, RN, assistant research professor; Nadine Matthie, PhD, RN, assistant research professor; Virginia Secor, PhD, RN, assistant clinical professor; Trisha Sheridan, DNP, WHNP-BC, SANE-A, CFN, assistant clinical professor; Jessica Wells, PhD, RN, assistant research professor; Janice Withycombe, PhD, RN, CCRP, assistant professor; Kathryn Wood, PhD, RN, FAHA, associate professor.
Learn more at nursing.emory.edu
Oxford College
Incoming class: Oxford welcomes an incoming class of approximately 490 students, drawn from 9,737 applications, an increase of 31 percent from the previous year. They come from 38 states and 13 countries. Total enrollment is approximately 938.
New faculty and associate deans: New faculty include Tasha Dobbin-Bennett, assistant professor of art history and studio arts; Sarah Fankhauser, assistant professor of biology; Joshua Mousie, assistant professor of philosophy; and Benjamin Purkis, assistant professor of mathematics. Faculty promotions include Alicia DeNicola, associate professor of anthropology; and Nichole Powell, associate professor of chemistry. Also joining are Catherine Chastain-Elliott 98PhD, associate dean of academic affairs, and Rhiannon Hubert 05Ox 07C, associate dean of campus life.
Science building: Construction on Oxford's new science building, begun in spring 2014, is expected to finish in late fall. The 57,500-square-foot building located on the northwest corner of the quad will open to students when spring-semester classes begin in January. A grand-opening ceremony is planned for Feb. 21.
Learn more at oxford.emory.edu
Rollins School of Public Health
Incoming class: Rollins welcomes more than 530 MPH and MSPH incoming students.
Milestones: The Rollins School of Public Health celebrates its 25th anniversary as a school and 40th as a program. Dean James W. Curran celebrates his 20th anniversary as dean of the school.
Recognition and appointments: Dean James Curran was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Carlos del Rio, Hubert Professor and chair of the Hubert Department of Global Health, received the 2014 School of Medicine's R. Wayne Alexander Excellence in Research Award. Amanda Garcia-Williams 09MPH 15PhD was the 2015 recipient of Emory's highest student honor, the Marion Luther Brittain Award. Carla Berg, associate professor of behavioral sciences and health education, has joined the Winship Cancer Institute executive committee as the new associate director for population sciences.
Development: Part of a recent $10 million gift from the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation will be used to match scholarship gifts of between $50,000 and $100,000. This increased funding for endowed scholarships will enable Rollins to compete with other leading schools of public health for outstanding students, reduce their education debt, and make the field of public health accessible to the brightest and most committed scholars.
Learn more at sph.emory.edu