Two acclaimed faculty members at the University of Georgia will discuss their influential research in the fields of labor geography and infectious diseases during the 2025 Charter Lecture.
Andrew Herod, Distinguished Research Professor in the department of geography in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and M. Stephen Trent, UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor in the department of infectious diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine, will deliver the Charter Lecture at 11 a.m. on March 26 in the Chapel. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Both Herod and Trent were named Regents’ Professors this year, an honor bestowed by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents on distinguished faculty whose scholarship or creative activity is recognized both nationally and internationally as innovative and pace-setting.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Drs. Herod and Trent are among the world’s leading scholars in their respective fields,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “The 2025 Charter Lecture presents an outstanding opportunity for our campus community to hear from these groundbreaking researchers.”
Herod is widely considered the world’s leading expert in the field of labor geography, which he helped create in the 1990s. Herod’s research projects have ranged from exploring how U.S. dock workers adapted to technological innovations in the 1950s to studying the impact of COVID-19 on labor markets. In 2023, Herod was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, presented annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to scientists, writers, scholars and artists “who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.”
Herod has published 12 books and more than 100 refereed journal articles, several of which have won national and international awards. ScholarGPS, a leading online research information and analysis platform, lists Herod among the top 0.5% of scholars cited worldwide.
Trent is an internationally recognized researcher in bacterial cell surfaces and cell envelope biology. One of his main focuses is how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, including “last resort” medicines used to fight bacteria when nothing else will work. His findings are critical in shaping scientists’ understanding of antibiotic resistance, and they impact the treatment of infectious diseases through the development of novel antibiotics and vaccines.
Trent’s research has attracted more than $30 million in external funding from organizations including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. His work has also addressed significant gaps in scientists’ understanding of bacterial physiology and led to more than 130 published studies in leading scientific journals.
Sponsored by the Provost’s Office, the Charter Lecture series was established in 1988 to honor the high ideals expressed in the 1785 charter that made UGA the birthplace of public higher education in America. The event is part of UGA’s spring 2025 Signature Lecture Series.
Requests for accommodations for those with disabilities should be made as soon as possible but at least seven days prior to the scheduled lecture. Please contact Will Richardson in the Office of the Provost at 706-542-0415 or willr@uga.edu to request accommodations.
