Office of Communications: Personnel
Anne Young
Most of the 23 hats gracing Anne Young’s conference table have been bagged for years, but today she pulls them out, dusts them off and recalls the memories as she watches the clock tick toward retirement.
In her 22 years with the University of Georgia, the Office of Communications’ director has collected quite a few. Now as Anne sorts papers and packs boxes in preparation for the end of her full-time career with CAES (she’ll be back on a part-time basis starting in November), she’s ready for some reminiscing.
First up are her peanut tour hats. When she joined the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in Tifton on July 1, 1987, Anne was assigned to work with the committee that planned the first, now annual Georgia Peanut Tour. As an information specialist, it was Anne’s job to organize events, write speeches for Dean Buchanan and continue reporting on the college’s research (her previous job had her working as managing editor of the Tifton Gazette).
She doesn’t have a hat for her favorite research article. It would be hard to illustrate pigs on a treadmill on a ball cap.
"One of our animal scientists was doing research on how exercise would benefit hogs, or swine, and he felt like too it could benefit human research, because pigs and humans are supposed to have similar makeup," she said. "And it was fascinating."
She’s especially proud of the hardhat and straw hat from her work on the 1996 Olympics. In 1994, she started coordinating agriculture’s presence at the Centennial Olympic Games along with representatives from 22 commodity groups.
"It was the first time agriculture was ever highlighted in an Olympic Games," Anne said. "I honestly feel that was the best professional experience I ever had."
The other event that she counts among her favorites was the National Association of County Extension Agents meeting in Savannah.
After the Olympics, Anne returned to Athens, where years earlier she had attended UGA as a journalism student. There she was part of the merger of the Extension and research communications groups. She then went to work as head of the Athens Conference Office. In 2002, she was named interim director for the Office of Communications, which soon evolved into a permanent position.
"I could not ask for a better way to end my career," she said. "I have absolutely loved being in the communications unit. I’m always overwhelmed by the work everybody does here and the amazing results. I’m always thrilled to see the teamwork here."
Reflecting once more, she said, "It has been so rewarding to work in the agricultural arena these years. I love the industry and the CAES. But most of all it’s the people."
After discussing her career, Anne pulls out her most favorite hat – a small, black cowboy hat that’s bent from the beating it’s taken on her many trail rides.
"I’m looking forward to riding trails all over the country with (my horse) Molly" and with her husband Charles. She’s also ready to spend more time with her five grandchildren, who "are my heart. They are my precious angels," she said.