The 23 Stories That Defined 2023

By Jaden Song / Feb. 1

Out of 105 candidates, Emory’s African American Studies Ph.D. program accepted four students to join the inaugural class starting in fall 2023, 52 years after the University established the first degree-granting African American studies program in the South. The program plans to accept four to five new students each year.

This is the first African American studies Ph.D. program in the Southeast and the first at a private university in the South. Emory also has the largest collection of African American studies Ph.D. faculty in the United States.

Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Religion and African American Studies Dianne Stewart said the program will encourage “cutting-edge” research by encouraging collaboration between faculty and doctoral students and invigorating the undergraduate curriculum.

By Matthew Chupack & Madi Olivier / Feb. 9

Nearly three years after the COVID-19 pandemic forced Emory to send students home, University President Gregory Fenves announced the University would no longer require students, faculty and staff to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The University implemented the vaccine requirement for students in April 2021, later expanding this requirement to faculty, staff and post-doctoral fellows in July 2021.

Additionally, students, faculty and staff were no longer required to report if they tested positive before returning to campus.

Emory Healthcare loosened COVID-19 precautions later, lifting COVID-19 vaccination requirements for employment or medical staff privileges and removing mask mandates in outpatient settings in July.

By Madi Olivier / Feb. 18

Over 40 years after he joined the Emory community as a university distinguished professor in 1982, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter entered hospice care on Feb. 18 to “spend his remaining time at home with his family,” the Carter Center said in a February statement.

Carter, who turned 99 on Oct. 1 and is the oldest living president in U.S. history, underwent treatment at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute and the Emory University Hospital for several health concerns over the past eight years. 

The former president has deep ties to Emory, holding the keynote speaker role for the annual Carter Town Hall’s first 38 years. The Carter Center, which Carter founded alongside his wife Rosalynn Carter in 1982, has partnered with Emory to advance health and human rights.

By Ashley Zhu / March 15

Emory selected Kristina Bethea Odejimi as dean of students and associate vice president for belonging, engagement and community in the spring. She officially began the role on June 1.

Odejimi, who previously served as Bowdoin College’s (Maine) dean of students, manages eight departments under Campus Life, including Belonging and Community Justice, Deliberation and Dialogue, Student Case Management and Intervention Services, the Barkley Forum for Debate and Student Involvement, Leadership and Transitions.

“I’m thrilled to join Campus Life and embrace Emory’s ongoing commitment to excellence, student flourishing and service to humanity,” Odejimi wrote in a March 15 University press release.

By Spencer Friedland / March 29

Emory’s Office of Master Planning, DeKalb County and the PATH Foundation proposed constructing a 10-foot wide cement path through Lullwater. The path would allow DeKalb County to repair sewers overflowing into county creeks among other environmental benefits, according to Associate Vice President for Planning and Engagement David Payne.

 However, the Emory Ecological Society published a joint statement with nine student organizations outlining how the path could negatively impact the environment, such as by threatening the starvine and Chattahoochee crayfish populations.

Additionally, the Student Government Association voted in favor of a resolution recommending that project leaders consult with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to account for the land’s “cultural and traditional ecological significance,” while the University Senate sent a request to University President Fenves for more transparency about the project.

By Eva Roytburg & Amelia Dasari / April 3

Although this year was marked by new businesses moving into Emory Village, such as Sweetgreen, Cava and Savi Provisions, the shopping center has continued to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hit to local business during this time pushed the Emory Village Alliance to spearhead an ordinance revising the Village’s zoning overlay to “ensure a compatible and diverse mix” of businesses in the shopping center. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners delayed the decision until late April before ultimately voting in favor of the motion, which is currently waiting for a public hearing.

The proposed changes to the overlay include counting porches and open-air patios as a second story to meet the two-story minimum required of Village buildings, removing minimum square-foot requirements for housing and maximum square-foot requirements for offices to make the Village more appealing for business owners.

By Marian Moss / April 23

Despite the University Senate’s 2017 endorsement of a resolution to decrease the Emory Student Center’s (ESC) emissions to net-zero by the end of 2022, only 15% of the ESC’s energy was sustainable in April, according to Vice President and Chief Planning Officer of Campus Services Robin Morey. Morey wrote in an email to the Wheel in April that “unprecedented events related to the COVID-19 pandemic” prevented Emory from reaching net-zero, which would include using renewable energy sources to offset greenhouse gas emissions and cut carbon emissions close to zero. 

Morey noted that Emory is working to meet the ESC’s goal, which would likely cost about $3 million. Developments include developing a conceptual net-zero design for the ESC and hiring a sustainability engineer and energy analyst.

By Matthew Chupack & Madi Olivier / April 25

Former University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts Dean Barbara Krauthamer joined the Emory College of Arts and Sciences (ECAS) as its newest dean in July after the University’s spring announcement of her appointment. Krauthamer assumed the role over a year after former ECAS Dean Michael Elliott stepped down from the position in June 2022 to become the president of Amherst College (Mass.).

This announcement came less than a month before the University named Badia Ahad as the next dean of Oxford College. Former Oxford College Dean Douglas Hicks departed from the position in April 2022.

By Matthew Chupack & Madi Olivier / June 29

The Supreme Court of the United States struck down affirmative action on June 29, barring U.S. colleges and universities from explicitly considering race during the admission process. In the 40-page opinion of the conservative majority, Justice John Roberts wrote that students must be treated based on their individual experiences, not race.

President Fenves expressed disagreement with the ruling in an email to the University community, writing that diversity would remain a “bedrock value” at Emory. In response to the ruling, Emory added new essay prompts to this year’s application that are aimed at understanding applicants’ cultural backgrounds, such as asking students to name a “community” they have been a part of and how their participation changed the community for the better.

By Sarah Davis / Aug. 17

A Fulton County grand jury indicted former U.S. President Donald Trump and allies for their attempts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. This marked Trump’s fourth criminal indictment in the course of five months. District Attorney of Fulton County Fani Willis used Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in her investigation.

Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law Morgan Cloud broke down the significance of these RICO charges and Associate Professor of Political Science Bernard Fraga explained how the indictment might affect the 2024 presidential race.

By Spencer Friedland & Kari Zhou / Sept. 20

First Lady Jill Biden discussed the Curing the Uncurable via RNA-Encoded Immunogene Tuning (CUREIT) project during a visit to Emory’s Health Sciences Research Building on Sept. 15. Philip Santangelo, a professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory and the Georgia Institute of Technology, is leading CUREIT in hopes of using mRNA technology to train immune systems to improve outcomes for patients battling cancer and other diseases.

In February 2022, the Biden administration reginited the Cancer Moonshot Initiative to mobilize the effort to end cancer. The Biden Cancer Moonshot then launched CUREIT, which is funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), in August.

By Spencer Friedland / Oct. 4

Emory increased its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) research this year through the AI.Humanity project. In October, the University officially inaugurated the Atlanta Interdisciplinary AI network, which is dedicated to combating racial and civil justice issues with AI. Emory also held an opening ceremony for the Center for Artificial Intelligence Learning in September. 

Quantitative Theory and Methods Department Chair Clifford Carrubba said that Emory’s center is making one of higher education’s most “aggressive” and “significant” investments in AI.

This comes as students were able to declare a minor in AI for the first time this semester. Seven students signed up for the minor by October, although Computer Science Department Chair Vaidy Sunderam expects the number of students to grow to several hundred in the next few years.

By Holden Vance / Oct. 24

The Belonging and Community Justice Identity Spaces opened on the newly-constructed third floor of Cox Hall at the start of the semester after moving from the bottom floor of the Alumni Memorial University Center (AMUC). 

The University held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Homecoming weekend to celebrate the new spaces, which include the Center for Women, Centro Latinx, Emory Black Student Union, the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Life and the Asian Student Center.

The University will add Emory First, a group for low-income and first generation students, to the floor by August 2024. The group spent the fall semester gathering opinions on how to use and design the space, according to Emory First intern Terrence Lurry (25C).

By Matthew Chupack, Sarah Davis & Jack Rutherford / Oct. 26

President Fenves condemned the use of “antisemitic phrases and slogans” during an on-campus protest denouncing Emory’s financial ties to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center and demanding that the University condemn the death of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war. The president wrote that he was “appalled” by some of the protesters’ actions in an email to the Emory community.

While Fenves did not specify which of the protestor’s phrases were antisemitic, the crowd used the controversial chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during the rally, drawing backlash from some community members. 

However, Emory Stop Cop City (ESCC), which organized the protest, rejected claims of antisemitism in a statement posted online a few days after the president’s email. 

“Shared content related to the protest has weaponized vagueness and misleading information in a deeply anti-Black diversion from the goals of ESCC,” the group wrote.

By Ilah Ross / Nov. 28

Laney Graduate School Ph.D. students voted to officially unionize after seven years of activism from EmoryUnite!, which earned recognition under the National Labor Relations Board. University administration is now required to negotiate a contract with graduate students, making Emory the first private university to have a graduate-worker union in Georgia and the second in the South.

“The people have spoken loud and clear,” said EmoryUnite! co-Chair David Meer (27G). “We want a union.”

Among EmoryUnite!’s demands is an increase in graduate student stipends, which currently average at $36,637.53 — about $3,000 below Atlanta’s living wage. Other goals include improved medical insurance coverage and more support for student parents.