The Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety (DMVS) is giving the state’s current “Georgia ... On My Mind” plates a makeover next year, and the University has taken the opportunity to come up with a new look for Emory’s signature tags.

Instead of the old design, which featured the lamp that sits atop the Haygood-Hopkins Gate, the new plate incorporates the Emory Shield, colored in blue and gold, along with the words “Emory University” centered along the bottom edge.

Now the onus is on the Emory community in Georgia to submit 500 applications for commemorative tags by July 31 to guarantee the state will indeed manufacture them. According to the DMVS, there were just 681 active Emory tagholders in 2002, so each tagholder will make a big difference in guaranteeing the Shield rolls along Georgia roads and highways.

“I hope that all members of Emory’s extended family will, as I have, embrace this modest way of both celebrating and promoting the University,” said President Bill Chace. “My feelings about the ubiquitousness of the automobile in modern culture are well known, but as long as cars are so much a fixture in Georgia—and, particularly, in Atlanta—they may as well be made more attractive by the addition of the Emory Shield.”

There is a one-time manufacturing fee of $25 for a commemorative tag, plus the annual special tag fee of $25, in addition to the standard Georgia license plate fee and ad valorum tax. To request a tag, applicants must submit a MV-9C application to the DMVS, and these forms are available both online at www.dmvs.ga.gov or by calling 404-675-4947.