UGA News Roundup

Two people will be doing the job of one very productive University of Georgia administrator as he moves on to yet another position.

Steve Wrigley was Zell Miller’s chief of staff when Miller was governor of Georgia. He came to the university after Miller left office, holding various positions, most recently directing external affairs, government affairs and public service.

Wrigley is headed to Atlanta to be the executive vice chancellor for administration for the University System of Georgia. His former boss, , is now the chancellor of the University system.

Assuming Wrigley’s duties, at least on an interim basis, will be Jennifer Frum, who’s the interim director of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, and Griff Doyle, who has been serving as director of federal relations since the job was created in 2003. Frum will oversee public service and outreach, while Doyle will be in charge of government relations.

Frum holds a Master’s in International Relations from Georgetown. She earned her doctorate from UGA’s Institute of Higher Education. Doyle holds a history degree and a law degree from UGA.

Doris Christopher has been a senior administrator at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville. She will soon be the assistant vice president for academic affairs and director of academic programs for the UGA’s Griffin Campus.

Starting August 1, Christopher will be a professor in the department of workforce education, leadership and social foundations in UGA’s College of Education. She will be based in Griffin, traveling as needed to Athens. She will provide leadership and day-to-day coordination of academic programs and academic support activities in Griffin. UGA offers bachelor’s degree-completion programs and graduate degree programs on that campus. 

University of Georgia reading education professor Bob Fecho recently published “Writing in the Dialogical Classroom: Students and Teachers Responding to the Texts of Their Lives,” with the National Council of Teachers of English.

Fecho coordinates the reading education program in the UGA College of Education’s department of language and literacy education. In his book, he focuses on adolescent students and argues that teachers need to help students explore subject matter more thoroughly in their writing. He creates an ongoing conversation between classroom practice, theory and research.

“The book is intended to marry the National Council of Teachers of English principles for strong writing instruction with the work of practicing teachers who model those principles,” said Fecho, who has co-directed the Red Clay Writing Project, a UGA-sponsored program for teachers focused on literacy and writing, with faculty colleague JoBeth Allen since 2003.

An international conference on Advanced Learning Technologies will be held at UGA July 6-8. More than 200 faculty members and doctoral students from universities around the world in fields such as computer science, educational psychology and instructional technology will hear the latest research for learning. Topics will include virtual worlds as well as mobile and wireless technologies.

Talks will be on topics such as “Creationism, Evolution and Advanced Learning Technologies”; “Advanced Learning Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges”; and “Technology-Enhanced Learning in Europe.”