In observance of the university’s 222nd anniversary, Clifton W. Pannell will present the annual Founders’ Day Lecture on Jan. 25. Emeritus professor of geography at UGA, Pannell will speak at 3 p.m. in the Chapel on the topic “The China Challenge: Outlook for the 21st Century.” The lecture is open to the public.
The lecture will be in recognition of the date, Jan. 27, that UGA was established in 1785 when the Georgia General Assembly adopted a charter creating the university as America’s first state-chartered institution of higher education.
The Founders’ Day Lecture is sponsored by the University of Georgia Alumni Association and the Emeriti Scholars, a group of retired faculty members who are especially known for their teaching abilities and continue to be involved in the university’s academic life through part-time teaching, research and service assignments. Pannell is a member of the Emeriti Scholars.
After Pannell’s lecture, Thomas W. Ganschow, retired associate professor of history and member of the Emeriti Scholars, and Yi Lee, a UGA doctoral student, will make brief commentaries on his remarks.
Deborah Dietzler, executive director of the Alumni Association, urges faculty, staff and students to join alumni for the lecture.
“The Alumni Association welcomes all who share a commitment to a greater future for our students, state and nation to attend the lecture,” she said. “The anniversary of the University of Georgia is a time to celebrate the many achievements the university has made to the growth of the state of Georgia.”
All of the Emeriti Scholars are members of UGA’s Teaching Academy and have received honors for outstanding classroom teaching. In addition to developing the Founders’ Day Lecture, members of the group have worked with the Honors Program, taught courses and seminars, lectured at special events and served as mentors to Honors students.
The Alumni Association and the Emeriti Scholars place a book each year in the collection they created together in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The book being added this year is China’s Geography by Gregory Veeck, Clifton Pannell, Christopher Smith and Youqin Huang.
Pannell joined the UGA faculty in 1971 and retired in 2006. Before becoming the associate dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, he was a professor in the department of geography.
Pannell has traveled to China on collaborative research for geographical mapping land use in China and also research on Chinese urbanization in small cities and towns. Pannell was a faculty member of the Center for Asian Studies and a Senior Teaching Fellow in 1989.