University of North Georgia

A team of University of North Georgia (UNG) cadets finished fifth overall and won four out of nine events in the Spartan Ranger Challenge held Feb. 27-March 1 at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The competition included almost 24 hours straight of physical challenges at one point. UNG's black team earned event victories in one-rope bridge, hand grenade assault, obstacle course, and commander's challenge. Its gold team also competed at Fort Knox.

The University of North Georgia (UNG) finished fifth overall in the 76th annual Ted Cameron National Collegiate Poultry Judging Contest, which was held April 2-4 at Mississippi State University. UNG also took fourth place as a team in the market products category and fifth place in the breeds portion of the event.

Roughly 30 members of the University of North Georgia (UNG) Honors Program presented at the 2025 Georgia Collegiate Honors Conference (GCHC) at Georgia Tech in February, the largest delegation in the school's history.

Four University of North Georgia (UNG) students have been selected as student speakers for their respective commencement ceremonies this May.

Students, faculty and staff from the University of North Georgia (UNG) invested in the next generation of national leaders at the Youth in Government (YIG) Expo hosted Feb. 23-25 by the Georgia Center for Civic Engagement in St. Simons Island, Georgia. They assisted with the cybersecurity and national security academies within the expo. The academies each included hands-on learning activities such as escape rooms and dead-drop locations for exchanging secret information. It was all with an eye toward helping high school students gain an early taste of potential careers in government.

University of North Georgia (UNG) student Calvin Bowers has won awards at four film festivals for his eight-and-a-half-minute documentary "Per Amore Dei Gatti (For the Love of Cats)." Bowers directed the film and produced it with three fellow students during the Film in Italy study abroad program in Barga, Italy, in 2024. Grant Aldinger, Olivia Claudon and Jarred Taber were part of the production.

Three University of North Georgia (UNG) students and two faculty members from the Oconee Campus recently had a paper published in the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics (ICTCM) 2024 Conference Proceedings.

UNG established the first chapter of the Professional Agricultural Student (PAS) Organization in the South, and its team finished first in the nation in the Poultry Specialist career area the National PAS conference.

Twelve University of North Georgia film students spent spring break making connections and learning about the industry as part of a study away program in Los Angeles, California. Robyn Hicks, associate professor of film and digital media, led the professional development opportunity.

Students gave 69 poster presentations and 24 oral presentations at the University of North Georgia's (UNG) 30th Annual Research Conference (ARC), held March 21 in the Cottrell Ballroom at UNG's Dahlonega Campus. That includes many projects that included multiple students. Six of those students won awards.

Four University of North Georgia (UNG) students presented their research at the Conference on the Americas, held Feb. 21-22 at the University of Georgia (UGA). One of the students won an award.

University of North Georgia (UNG) students and faculty member Dr. Linda Purvis hosted their ninth annual Poultry 101 event for middle and high school students Feb. 22 at UNG's Gainesville Campus.

Twenty students and four faculty members from the University of North Georgia's (UNG) Department of Kinesiology attended the annual meeting of the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (SEACSM) from Feb. 20-22 in Greenville, South Carolina. Five of the students presented research posters at the event.

Student Tyler Simpson and his research mentor, Dr. Levi 'Zane' Miller, won a Best Poster Award at the American Chemical Society Southeast Undergraduate Research Conference.

Thirty-two University of North Georgia students held a variety of roles in the Gainesville Theatre Alliance's spring 2025 production of "Macbeth," which ran from Feb. 14-22 in the Hosch Theatre at Brenau University.

Four University of North Georgia students presented their research at Posters at the Capitol on Feb. 25. The event, which included 40 research projects from 16 universities across the state, provided students a forum to share their work with state legislators, lobbyists and the general public. Posters were selected from the Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference and similar events for their high quality and general interest in them.

Four students and a faculty member will perform in the Saarburg International Music Festival in Germany courtesy of a Halle Foundation grant awarded to the UNG Department of Music.

Thirteen students from the University of North Georgia (UNG) took part in the Harvard Undergraduate Latina Empowerment & Development (LEAD) Conference, which was held Feb. 7-8 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Fatima Santillan, a senior from Gainesville, Georgia, pursuing a degree in political science with a minor in public administration and public service, attended the LEAD Conference for a second time and served as an ambassador this year.

Two students are responsible for curating the first-ever exhibition of north Georgia regional art pulled from the UNG Permanent Collection.

The University of North Georgia (UNG) women's basketball team earned the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) tournament championship March 9. Later that night, the Nighthawks were announced as the No. 1 seed and host of the eight-team NCAA Division II Southeast Regional from March 14-17 at the Convocation Center in Dahlonega, Georgia.

The University of North Georgia's ninth annual Women's Leadership Recognition Luncheon honored 10 student leaders and three alumnae March 2 at the UNG Dining Hall Banquet Room at the Dahlonega Campus.

University of North Georgia (UNG) Cadet Connor Moore presented his cybersecurity capstone research in December at the International Conference on Modern Educational Technology (ICMET) in Tokyo, Japan.

Five University of North Georgia (UNG) students placed in the 2024 annual Concerto/Aria Competition in UNG's Department of Music with solo performances awarded to two competitors. The top five places went to CJ Yeager (euphonium), Lucymarie Dalton (euphonium), Jennifer Mandzyuk (soprano), Atira Murawski (trombone), and Rob Amoss (trombone).

Visual arts students at the University of North Georgia (UNG) have created art to promote the nonprofit Adult Children of Aging Parents (ACAP) at bus stops in Gainesville, Georgia. UNG's Institute for Healthy Aging and the nonprofit Legacy Link Inc. serve as sponsors for the Hall County chapter of ACAP, and this collaboration allowed the students to learn more about ACAP and figure out how to promote the way it serves caregivers.

The University of North Georgia's Corps of Cadets had 27 cadets graduate from the Army's Air Assault School at the Warrior Training Center at Fort Moore, Georgia, in December.

Almost 50 of the University of North Georgia's (UNG) newest cadets began their time in the Corps of Cadets with Freshman Recruit Orientation Group (FROG) Week from Jan. 7-11. The week mixed physical challenges with an array of workshops about available services and how to succeed as a cadet and a student.

Sophomore Mauricio Gonzalez became the first UNG student to be selected for the eight-week Douglas-O'Connell Internship in Ireland.

A record-breaking nine Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (CURCA) mini grants were awarded to University of North Georgia (UNG) students for the 2024-25 year. Each project will receive $1,000 to fund supplies and will be presented at either UNG's Annual Research Conference March 21 at the Dahlonega Campus; another CURCA-sponsored event; or a disciplinary conference or published. "The only way we can break the record of number of projects that we fund is because the Provost's office works with us," Dr. Diogo Pinheiro, CURCA assistant director and associate professor of sociology, said. "We wouldn't have the funds to support all nine without that help."

Students Dawson Yang and Alec Reeb have created an app aimed at helping people find available resources in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Augusta, Georgia.

Eight University of North Georgia (UNG) students in STEM degree programs were selected to attend the National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) conference in Chicago in November. They are part of UNG's STEM Scholars (STEMS) Program funded by a $1.5 million NSF grant. Students included: Rayya Abdullah, Micah Chandler, Jiselle Gonzalez, Hanzhen Guo, Shae Jolivette, Chase Manzanarez, Luke Millaway, and Albany Zavarce.