May 2021 University Judiciary Newsletter                                                View this email in your browser

2021 Jenny Penney Oliver University Judiciary Recognition & Induction Ceremony

Every year at the end of the spring semester, we celebrate incoming, current, and graduating members at the Jenny Penney Oliver University Judiciary Recognition and Induction Ceremony. On April 17th, we were thankful to host a socially distanced, in-person ceremony  for students to attend while family and friends tuned in over Zoom, so that we could recognize and celebrate the many achievements of University Judiciary throughout this year. Adrienne Teal, a graduating Advisor/Advocate, was the senior reflection speaker addressing her time in Judiciary and the responsibility and service that comprise the organization. The following outgoing Executive Council members were recognized for their work and commitment this past year (Jack Eubanks, Quinn Shelt, Samhita Ramesh, Emma Bakker, Jack Johanson, Sophia Volpe, Sydney Lowe, and Olga Diaz-Nasser), and afterwards the 18 new members (10 Justices and 8 Advisor/Advocates) took their oath of membership. The new Executive Council was also recognized and welcomed.

 

Members from both the General Body and the newly inducted class were presented with awards in recognition for their commitment and service to the organization. Listed below are this year's awards and recipients.

 

Awards of Commitment and Excellence for Justices and Advisor Advocates

Emma Bakker - Justice

Samhita Ramesh - Advisor/Advocate

 

William R. Bracewell Award for Distinguished Service

Jack Eubanks

 

Parsons-Fincher Award for Ethical Leadership

Jack Eubanks

 

Hearing Administrator of the Year 

Emily Boness - Public Service Associate for Youth Leadership Development within the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development

 

Outstanding New Justice

Sophia Milazzo

 

Outstanding New Advisor/Advocate

Disha Adama

 

Outstanding New Members for Compassion and Commitment

Emma Sorckoff - Justice

Nicholas Byrd - Advisor/Advocate

Click here to see more photos from this year's JPO Ceremony!

Georgia Resiliency and Integrity Training (G.R.I.T.)

This past year, two of our members, Grace Hayes and Kiana Powers, partnered with the Office of Student Conduct to create the Georgia Resiliency and Integrity Training (G.R.I.T.) Program, along with the help of our previous Executive Director, Jack Eubanks. Now that Grace has transitioned into her position as the new Executive Director and with Kiana graduating this semester, Quinn Shelt, our former Director of Operations, has taken over the role as the new Student Director of G.R.I.T. G.R.I.T. is a training course offered to students as an educational sanction. This entails students attending a one-hour workshop that addresses resiliency and integrity, how those definitions apply to the student’s own experience, and how they can build capacity for resiliency and integrity. Following the workshop, Judiciary members are given the opportunity to serve as mentors with G.R.I.T., which includes facilitating a follow up meeting with the student to help assess their goals and give advice beyond the conduct process. This year, G.R.I.T. was able to host their first five workshops with around 20 students attending the training. Furthermore, 12 General Body Members were able to serve as mentors, and we are working to expand the training for any future members seeking to be a mentor. The training has been a tremendous success and we hope to see it incorporated more into Judiciary training through both the general body members and with the upcoming provisional class.

2021 Alumni Panel

This February, University Judiciary was thankful to host our annual Alumni Panel in the Tate Theatre on UGA’s campus with our alumni speakers participating over Zoom, to ensure the health and safety of all participants. Each year, the Alumni Panel provides the opportunity for alumni to engage with current members and discuss how the University Judiciary has changed from their time in the organization to now and how their experiences can offer insight and advice to the present general body. After the main panel discussion in the Tate Theatre, members were assigned to breakout rooms in Tate where they had the opportunity to have interpersonal conversations with a Judiciary alumnus via Zoom.

 

Learn more about this year's panelists:

 

Susan Atkinson is a partner with Smith Gambrell and Russell leading the Health Care and Life Sciences Practice Group. During her undergraduate time at UGA, she served as a Justice for the Residence and Main Court as well working for two years on the Judicial Council as Residence Court Coordinator and Clerk.

 

John Timmons has practiced in criminal law and general practice law in Athens and Northeast Georgia for over 40 years, beginning while he was in the Marines stationed with the 3rd Marine Division in Okinawa. During his time on Judiciary, Mr. Timmons served as Chief Justice of the Main Courts when the Student Judiciary was first formed in 1969.

 

David Ian works as an assistant solicitor general in Athens-Clarke County prosecuting motor vehicle crimes, and he served as a Justice within the University Judiciary during his time at UGA from 2014-2017.

 

Ashley Miles is currently a Technology Project Manager for a charter school network in New York City that serves 21,000 scholars. During her time in University Judiciary from 2009-2013, she served as a Justice as well as the Director of Case Administration for Justices and the Executive Director.

 

A special guest alumnus, William Bracewell, joined us virtually for this year's panel. Mr. Bracewell served as the former Director of the Office of Judicial Programs for 34 years before retiring from UGA in 1999.

 

This was a wonderful event and was the organization's first in-person event for University Judiciary members. We are excited to host next year's Alumni Panel and to have our alumni and students together again!

101 Things to Do In Athens Outreach Event

In March, Olga Diaz-Nasser, our Director of Public Affairs, led the 101 Things to Do In Athens outreach event that highlights activities for students to do in Athens that do not involve alcohol or drugs. For the event, Judiciary members tabled for two days outside of the Tate Student Center handing out Insomnia cookies as well as flyers that detailed activities in Athens that students could do without drugs or alcohol. Activities included UGA athletic events such as football and basketball games, parks around Athens like Ben Burton Park, and local restaurants such as Cali N Tito’s. Overall, around 165 students interacted with our members at the table to discuss activities and events in the Athens area as well as University Judiciary. Olga also led a social media campaign that followed the event which highlighted a new activity suggested by a Judiciary member each day of the week. This is always one of our most popular events of the year and we’re excited to host it again in 2022.

Spring Retreat

Unfortunately, due to COVID, we were unable to have our annual Spring Retreat at Camp Twin Lakes. However, on April 19th, the newly inducted members as well as current members of University Judiciary were able to gather on the North Campus lawns for a modified Spring Retreat. While we were not able to participate in typical teambuilding activities, members were able to engage in group roundtable discussions that occur at each retreat. The roundtable discussions allowed both the newly inducted and current members to discuss the past year’s events of the organization and the training class, hearing experiences in a Zoom environment, and what University Judiciary hopes to achieve as an organization for the next year. The retreat was a great opportunity for the organization to grow closer together despite not being able to have our traditional, overnight retreat. We are looking forward to traveling again in person next year with the upcoming Provisional Class.

Looking Ahead

Hello everyone! My name is Grace Hayes, and I am so excited to serve as the Executive Director for University Judiciary for the 2021-2022 academic year. This past year has certainly been difficult. As individuals, we have all had to learn how to adjust to living in a pandemic and how to adapt to find peace within this new world. As an organization, we have had to cut back on in-person events and rework our traditional operations to prioritize the safety and health of our members. Over the course of this year, we have all come to know University Judiciary in a new way, and with that change in perspective has come new difficulties and concerns that we are still continuing to understand and process. Our 2020-2021 Executive Council did a fantastic job guiding us through a turbulent year, and in keeping with their legacy, the other members of this new Council and I are excited to continue growing and strengthening this organization despite what the future may hold. As we end this year and look forward to this next year, our Executive Council and I are working on a plan to transition back to more in-person opportunities. We are looking to prioritize building relationships and developing engagement within the organization through the provision of more service opportunities made available by our Director of Public Affairs (Olga Diaz-Nasser), the creation of a foundational new Engagement Committee chaired by our Directors of Case Administration (Jack Johanson and Nadia Coleman), the enhancement of our current mentorship program within our provisional class by our Directors of Recruitment and Development (Nicholas Byrd and Sophia Milazzo), and the transition back to in-person opportunities for our members to engage with our amazing alumni facilitated by our Director of Operations (Jamie McClellan). We also want to further expand the role of Judiciary in the conduct process into sanctioning through further engraining Georgia Resiliency and Integrity Training (or G.R.I.T.) in our organization. For those who are unaware, G.R.I.T. is a sanctioning program run by Rebecca Scarbro and University Judiciary members where students going through the conduct process participate in a workshop where we encourage these students to reflect on how they can become more resilient and positive in the midst of challenges they may face. I have had the privilege of working with Rebecca Scarbro, Kiana Powers, and Jack Eubanks on this program this past year, and as our new Student Director of G.R.I.T. (Quinn Shelt) takes over, I know this program will continue to grow. We have so many amazing people in this organization, and every single member of this new Council is ready to serve University Judiciary and play our part in the continuous effort to make this organization and the UGA campus a better space. 

Ways for Alumni to Get Involved

1. Alumni Mentorship Program: The Alumni Mentorship Program continued for its second year under Quinn Shelt who has helped to dramatically grow student and alumni mentorship involvement. This past year, 36 alumni have volunteered to participate and we are hopeful that this program will continue to grow in the future. Thank you to all of the alumni who have mentored a general body member this past year. We greatly appreciate your time and your advice.
2. General Body Meeting Speakers: The Judiciary General Body meets biweekly during each semester and we are looking for alumni to speak about their time in Judiciary, what lessons and experiences they took from Judiciary into their professional careers, and advice following graduation.
3. 2022 Alumni Panel: The annual Alumni Panel is a fantastic opportunity for our current members to learn from alumni about Judiciary and how its role has changed through the years as well as how time spent in the organization can influence members after they graduate. Be on the lookout for additional information about our upcoming Alumni Panel as we would love to have alumni who can be panelists as well as attend the event.

For more information, please contact Jamie McClellan at jsm63699@uga.edu. 

 

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