News

Continuing his support to the state’s college students five years after his retirement, former University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley and his wife Lynne dedicated a study room at the University of Georgia’s Miller Learning Center.

The Wrigley Study is located in the busiest academic building on campus, a UGA Libraries facility named for late Georgia Governor and U.S. Senator Zell Miller. Wrigley served as Governor Miller’s chief of staff for five years.

“Without question, the University of Georgia and our state have benefitted as a result of Steve’s dedication to excellence and long-standing commitment to serving the public good,” UGA President Jere W. Morehead said at the naming ceremony. “Steve and Lynne’s generosity has touched so much of the university’s campus, and their investment in our libraries will leave a legacy that will benefit the UGA community for generations to come.”

Books chronicling the suppression of Black literacy in the American South and highlighting the leadership of Black women in battling for human rights around the globe are the 2026 Lillian Smith Book Awards, recognizing the best writing on social justice in the United States.

The 2026 awards, administered by the University of Georgia Libraries, recognize:

• Dangerous Learning: The South’s Long War on Black Literacy (Yale University Press), by Derek W. Black

• Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (W.W. Norton & Company), by Keisha N. Blain

Bats and magnolia trees, birds and bees are the focus of ecological research projects in the works along Georgia’s coastline.

Two doctoral students are joining the slate of researchers delving into the flora and fauna of one of the most ecologically and historically significant sites along Georgia’s coast, becoming the newest members of the Wormsloe Fellows program, administered by the University of Georgia Libraries.

With funding from the UGA Graduate School and the Wormsloe Foundation, the fellowship will allow Piper Cole and Marisa Mizzoni to pursue field work at the Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe, a libraries facility on the Isle of Hope dedicated to experiential learning related to ecology, cultural history, and historical land use.

Records from two of Georgia’s highest-ranking politicians of the 1990s and early 2000s are now freely available to the public, as the University of Georgia’s Russell Library for Political Research and Studies opens collections from U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson.

The collections provide insider perspectives into 21^st century congressional debates, including budget and tax reform battles, the Affordable Care Act, and the Global War on Terror and the 2003-2011 Iraq War, as well as immigration issues and federal agriculture policy. In addition, the collections include campaign memorabilia, constituent correspondence, photographs, and other objects from Chambliss’s and Isakson’s life and service in state politics dating back to the 1970s.

Bulldog fans from every corner of Georgia can relive the history of University of Georgia athletics this summer. Sports memorabilia and other artifacts will be on display at local libraries as part of the “UGA Athletics in Your Town” tour, featuring a traveling exhibit of materials from the UGA Libraries archives.

Featured in the traveling exhibit is the famed “Silver Chalice,” the oldest piece in the UGA Athletics archive. The trophy was awarded to the Georgia football team in 1894 — before they were known as the Bulldogs — after a victory over Auburn University. In addition to tickets and a program from the first game played at Sanford Stadium in 1929, visitors can get a look at a hand-written playbook from the Wally Butts era and football helmets from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1980s. Plus, the exhibit will include memorabilia from UGA’s baseball, women’s tennis, and track & field teams.

Clarke Central High School in Athens, GA, has announced a Summer Book Club for student athletes featuring The Crimson and Gold: Football and Integration in Athens, Georgia (UGA Press, 2024) by local author Mark Clegg (Economics A.B., University of Georgia). What started as a conversation in August 2025 with Assistant Head Football Coach Damien Gray and Clarke Central High librarians Angela Pendley and Naomi Craver evolved into a desire to educate students and the community about the history of integration at Clarke Central.

UGA student researchers earned top honors in this year’s Libraries Undergraduate Research Award with reflections on their work that show off their creativity, from collages that tell a story to projects that solve mysteries. 

After saving researchers more than $2 million in 2025, UGA Libraries’ open access publishing agreements are expanding even further this year.

A newly signed read-and-publish agreement with publisher Taylor & Francis brings the list of open access publishing opportunities at UGA to more than 9,000 journal titles across 14 scholarly publishers. 

Twelve­ University of Georgia faculty members will reimagine historical pieces into active-learning opportunities for students as part of UGA’s Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows program, now in its 11^th year on campus.

While projects are in the beginning stages, the newest Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows are planning unique class activities in fields from English and history to international affairs, fashion, chemistry, and physics, incorporating a broad array of materials from the UGA Libraries three special collections departments.