Mural commemorates 20 years of UGA Tifton undergraduate programs

May 2—TIFTON — It was a reason to celebrate the Coastal Plain Experiment Station's National Environmentally Sound Production Agricultural Laboratory (NESPAL) Tuesday afternoon.

It is the 20th anniversary of NESPAL's undergraduate teaching program. The party at its building not only celebrated those years, but the future. The program continues to grow and has plenty to look forward to in the future. One of the ways NESPAL marked that was the unveiling of a Jill Whitley mural in the building that linked the Tifton campus with its parent program at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Dr. George Vellidis spoke of the initial art connection between UGA Tifton and Whitley.

"We were all thinking about ways to make our academic programs better known in our community," said Vellidis. "We decided to use art as a vehicle for that."

Vellidis' predecessor, Dr. Jason Peake, knew Whitley. An idea hatched to replicate painted bulldog statues found around Athens and place them around Tifton. Local business were keen to get on board and worked with Whitley to personalize the statues. Now, there are 20 of them.

As they neared their 20th anniversary, Vellidis said they wanted more art. Admittedly jealous of a mural Whitley did for ABAC, they commissioned her for a mural of their own, which is the first thing visitors will see inside the NESPAL building.

Whitley thanked everyone for involving her with the mural and the bulldogs. "It's been an awesome experience," she said. "I don't have the words for it." She said she's been blessed in her artistic ability.

The NESPAL mural combines images from UGA's Tifton and Athens campuses: Ag Hill from the latter and the Experiment Station buildings on Moore Highway for the former. Linking the two are images of cotton fields, the famous arch, Sanford Stadium and mascot Uga.

Whitley signed postcards of the mural. There will be a drawing for a portrait-sized version of the mural.

In addition to the mural, the Coastal Plain Experiment Station reflected on both the history of its academic programs and of its entire existence in Tifton and what its future will hold.

Vellidis introduced Assistant Dean Mike Toews, who gave a rundown of the history of the Experiment Station.

A state bill set up the creation of experiment stations in 1918 and they were granted to Tift and Spalding counties in 1919. Toews said this area was attractive for several reasons: Second District A&M (now known as Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College) and H.H. Tift. Tift donated 206 acres of land and $25,000, worth almost $475,000 in 2024 with inflation.

In 1932, the Coastal Plain Experiment Station came under the umbrella of the university system and joined the college of agriculture at the University of Georgia in 1950. It was rebranded UGA Tifton in 2003 with the addition with this program.

Vellidis, the director of academic programs, said graduate students have been on campus for decades, but undergraduate teaching programs here came about after a push from officials at the Tifton and Athens campuses.

After several months of preparation, Vellidis said they were ready to teach. The first class arrived in Fall 2003, all the students coming over from ABAC. "We developed a partnership with them and the students who wanted to pursue a four-year degree," he said.

There were 21 students in that first class, a number that almost tripled in the second year. Over the 20 years, Vellidis said more than 400 students have graduated from the Tifton campus.

Toews noted the UGA Conference Center was established in 2005 as "the front door to what we do," hosting 200 events per year.

"I'm proud to say today that UGA Tifton is a beacon of agricultural innovation, high-quality instruction and the model for cooperative extension across the state," said Toews. Far from Tift's original donation, he said the campus now compasses 5,600 acres, eight farms in four counties — three with beef cows and 50 different crops.

Scientists are here from the University of Georgia and with the USDA.

"Our campus population has swelled to nearly 650 people," said Toews. Beyond agriculture, there are forestry and engineering students in Tifton. "Our graduate enrollment continues to grow 10 percent, year over year."

To continue growing, Toews said grants and funding assistance were needed. Fortunately, in 2023, four different proposals netted $1 million. The 2023 state legislative session appropriated $5.2 million for UGA Tifton to develop a precision ag and demonstration laboratory. That will fill the RDC space at the UGA Conference Center.

"It gets better," said Toews.

A federal earmark, championed by Congressman Drew Ferguson and Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, netted $3 million more for the precision ag center. "The future looks really, really bright," Toews said.

Elsewhere on campus, ground was recently broken on the USDA-ARS (Agricultural Research Service) building and much other infrastructure has been updated.

Andrea Mullis, a counselor at Irwin County High, and one of the members of the first UGA Tifton undergraduate classes, spoke at the celebration, as did Nick Place, dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.