Featured Students
Xiaohui Sarah Deng
Sarah Deng with her husband Yingzhuo Yu at Tallulah Gorge, GAXiaohui "Sarah" Deng is a Ph.D. student majoring in Agricultural Economics. Originally from Qingdao, China, she has been at the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics two years. Sarah received a B.A. in International Trade in 1998 and an M.S. in Enterprise Management in 2001, both from Ocean University of China. In 1997, she received the Tian Tai Scholarship, and in 2001, she received the Excellent Master Thesis Prize from Ocean University of China. Sarah is currently serving as president of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Graduate Student Association (AEC GSA) and Co-Chair of Social Activity for the Chinese Student Union (CSU).
After graduation, Sarah would like to be an academic researcher and empirical analyst and "travel more places to see the world." She is married to Yingzhuo Yu. In her leisure time, she enjoys listening to music, reading, playing ping-pong, cooking, and practicing Chinese calligraphy.
Laxmi Paudel
Laxmi Paudel is a Ph.D. student from Chitwan, Nepal majoring in Agricultural Economics. She has been at UGA for two years and works as a research assistant. Laxmi served as president of the Graduate Student Association and has received the Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award and has twice received the Outstanding Student Paper Award. In 2002, Laxmi received her M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Auburn University where she was awarded a Presidential Fellowship.
Laxmi is currently working on her dissertation and hopes to graduate by December, 2004. After graduating, she hopes to work as an economist assisting with women's issues and educational opportunities for orphans in developing countries.In her leisure time, Laxmi enjoys reading novels, hiking, and visiting new places. She is married to Murali Adhikari, also a departmental graduate student. They have two sons, Anupam and Asim.
Cliff Tippens
Cliff Tippens is the current Georgia State President of the Future Farmers of America (FFA). He was previously awarded the Georgia State FFA Degree.
Cliff is a first year student at the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics majoring in Environmental Economics and Management. He is from Homerville, GA and is actively involved in a number of activities outside of academics and FFA. Cliff is an Eagle Scout and serves as an assistant scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America. He is a member of the Baptist Student Union on campus and a member of the First Baptist Church of Homerville.
In his leisure time, Cliff enjoys reading, hiking, camping, and canoeing. His favorite activities are those that allow him to enjoy the "great outdoors." Cliff intends to find a career path that will allow him to serve the best interest of the public. He wants to say "thank you to all of the individuals who have helped me become the person I am today."
Featured Staff
Chris Peters
Chris Peters, an Information Analyst II, is Head of Computer Support Services for the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in Athens. He has worked in the department seventeen years, and his work is vital to the performance of numerous departmental personnel. It is his responsibility to see that computers in the department are functioning properly. In addition, he oversees the staff who provide network and computer support to the department's faculty, staff and students. The Agricultural and Environmental Economics Club presented Chris with the Award for Outstanding Staff Contributions to Undergraduate Education for the 1997-98 academic year.
Chris is one of our own. He graduated from UGA in 1985 with a degree in Agricultural Economics. Immediately after graduation, he worked on his family farm which operates greenhouses and produces peanuts, pecans, soybeans, wheat, and corn. In 1986 he accepted a position as a Research Technician III in the UGA Farm Economic Information Center. He remained there until 1990 when he became a Computer Service Specialist III in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. He was promoted in 1997 to Computer Service Specialist IV, and again in 2000 to his present position.
Chris and his wife, Kathy, spent several summer vacations backpacking, camping and hiking. They have backpacked in Alaska twice, spending most back-country time in Denali National Park and Kachemak Bay State Park. They have camped and hiked in many other parks, including Glacier National Park (twice), Mount Ranier National Park, Olympic National Park, and twice in Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park. Both Chris and Kathy are looking forward to revisiting these same parks with their son, two-year-old Thomas Clifton.
Another passion in the life of Chris and Kathy is their love of roller coasters. The two of them, along with Chris's brother and niece, took a four day trip from Greensboro, North Carolina to Cedar Point, the roller coaster capital of the world, which is in Sandusky, Ohio. After a couple of days enjoying the roller coasters, on their drive home, they stopped off to play 18 holes of golf at Cook's Creek near Columbus, Ohio. Sports, especially golf, which he confesses is more of an addiction than a hobby, is another of Chris's varied interests. Currently, Chris is spending most of his leisure time at home with his family, but he does manage to occasionally attend Athens/Clarke County Commissioners' meetings at City Hall.
Featured Faculty
Keith D. Kightlinger
Keith D. Kightlinger, an Extension Farm Business Management Specialist, works in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the Tifton Campus. He develops and conducts the Extension Farm Business Management Advisory Program (FBMAP) which provides Georgia farm business operators education, information, and analytical assistance on a long-term, one-on-one basis. Keith assists farm businesses in obtaining and analyzing information for successful farm business decision making. Seventy-five per cent of the participants have been involved in the program for at least ten years. Keith also serves as extension subject matter specialist for taxation, including income, estate, sales, and excise taxes. He is the coordinator and instructor in Extension Farm and Small Business Income Tax Schools for Tax Practitioners in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service. The schools provide sixteen hours of continuing professional education (CPE) per year to professional income tax practitioners.
Twenty-five years of service as an Extension Specialist in farm business management and taxation have kept Keith on the "front line" of providing information and education to farm operators and tax practitioners. The ability to quickly assess the impact of law and policy changes, and to provide accurate information on these changes to the extension audience is a critical skill. Keith is one of a limited number of extension professionals working in the area of taxation; thus, tax-related issues create demands for information from beyond the borders of the state of Georgia. The elimination of the peanut marketing quota program under the 2002 Farm Bill led to inquiries on the treatment of income from the quota buyout from peanut quota holders and income tax practitioners throughout the U.S. peanut production region from New Mexico to Virginia.
Keith was a contributing author and editor of National Income Tax Workbook, Land Grant University Tax Education Foundation, Inc. in 2002 and 2003 and contributing editor of Farm Income Tax Workbook, Board of Regents, University of Illinois, 1994-2001. He has been a member of the National Farm Income Tax Extension Committee since 1996, working directly with the Internal Revenue Service in reviewing and developing new content as needed for IRS Publication 225 (Farmers's Tax Guide). Keith co-chaired the 1993 Annual Meeting of the National Association of Farm Business Analysis Specialists. Since 1979 he has been a member of NAFBAS and a member of the board of directors since 1989. Before joining the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in 1989, Keith worked as an Area Extension Specialist in Farm Business Analysis at the University of Kentucky with members of the Pennyroyal Farm Analysis Group while based in Hopkinsville and Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Keith and his wife Carolyn, a first grade teacher in Tift County Schools, met through family participating in FBMAP. They have two children, Catheryn, a fourth-grader and Ross, a second-grader. The family is actively involved in the Tifton First United Methodist Church. In his leisure time, Keith likes to hunt and studies Taekwondo (Korean martial art) with his son. Both father and son currently rank brown belt, decided. Keith helps coach his son's soccer and baseball teams and the family enjoys weekends camping at Georgia state parks.
