University System News:
Georgia Trend
100 Most Influential Georgians of 2019: Propelling Positive Change
The 2019 roster of people making an impact on the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.
Edited by Mary Ann DeMuth, Karen Kirkpatrick, Patty Rasmussen and Christy Simo
According to Henry David Thoreau, “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” His assessment is an apt description of the individuals included in Georgia Trend’s 21st annual listing of the 100 Most Influential Georgians. Not only are they successful in their careers, but they also wield remarkable power and influence and have contributed to making life better for Georgians. On the following pages, you’ll find CEOs, politicians, college presidents and economic development leaders, among others, who have challenged, inspired and led efforts to bring about positive change in virtually every corner of the Peach State. Some are very public figures, while others work quietly behind the scenes. …Mark Becker, President, Georgia State University … Brooks Keel, President, Augusta University, CEO, Augusta University Health System …Christopher Markwood, President, Columbus State University …Jere Morehead, President, University of Georgia …G.P. “Bud” Peterson, President, Georgia Institute of Technology …Kessel Stelling, Chair & CEO, Synovus Financial Corp. …Steve Wrigley, Chancellor, University System of Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia leaders hope to educate students on borrowing for college
By Eric Stirgus
The University System of Georgia is preparing a new program to make students better aware of college costs, particularly borrowing, and how much they’ll have to pay after graduation. The plans, scheduled to start in early 2019, include giving students detailed student-award letters with the recommended borrowing amount, sending students messages — possibly via text message and/or email — explaining how much they’ll owe in student loans, and utilizing artificial intelligence and chatbots to answer questions during the financial aid application process.“We want (students) to know more and borrow less,” the system’s chancellor, Steve Wrigley, said of the goals of the initiative in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.In Georgia, like much of the nation, students are borrowing more to attend college. In 2010-11, students who graduated from some of Georgia’s top public colleges, such as the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech, borrowed an average of $16,705, according to a recent Southern Regional Education Board report. By 2015-16, the average amount borrowed was $21,907, the report found — a 31 percent increase. In all, students and parents in the University System borrow more than $1.5 billion a year, officials said.Nearly one-half of University System students are getting federal loans to pay for school, Wrigley said. On average, students borrow about $6,200 a year, he said.
Savannah Morning News
Editorial: State college enrollment data paints mixed picture
When the University System of Georgia (USG) released its official fall 2018 enrollment data, the system office in Atlanta painted a rosy picture of enrollment at the state’s 26 public college and universities. Overall, fall 2018 enrollment at USG institutions is up 1.1 percent, or 3,509 additional students, compared to the previous year, setting an all-time record enrollment of 328,712 students across the state. However, enrollment decreased at 14 of 26 USG institutions in the fall 2018, which means more than half of the public colleges and universities in Georgia — including Georgia Southern University and Savannah State University — are currently experiencing enrollment declines. Impressive 11.4 percent enrollment growth at Georgia Tech, which added more than 3,000 new students between fall 2017 and fall 2018, coupled with modest 2.8 percent growth at the University of Georgia and 2.4 percent growth at Georgia State has, fueled record higher-education enrollment in Georgia.
The George-Anne
Presidential Search and Screen Committee selects finalists for next GS president
By Emma Smith, The George-Anne staff
The Presidential Search and Screen Committee has selected its final candidates for Georgia Southern University’s next president. According to a report from chair Dustin Anderson, the committee has sent its list of candidates to the Regent’s Special Committee, which will make the final decision on the new president. An official date for the announcement of GS’ next president has not been set.
See also:
WTOC
Georgia Southern University another step closer to finding new president
Gwinnett Daily Post
2018: The stories that made the biggest impact on Gwinnett County
From Staff Reports
…Georgia Gwinnett College president announces plans to retire
Stas Preczewski sent shock waves through the Georgia Gwinnett College campus, and throughout the rest of Gwinnett County, in September when he announced he planned to retire as the college’s president at the end of the academic year. Preczewski was chosen to be GGC’s president in 2014, although he’d served as interim president for a year before that. He is the second person to ever hold the position at the Lawrenceville-based college, and was its vice president of academic and student affairs for eight years before he became interim president in 2013. The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents is expected to conduct a national search and hire a new president in 2019.
Marietta Daily Journal
DICK YARBROUGH: Taking care of unfinished business before taking care of the shrimp
I am trying to get away to St. Simons for my annual New Year’s tradition of trying to eat all the shrimp located between the coast of Georgia and Morocco, but I have much unfinished business before I can go. Many of you depend on my advice and counsel throughout the year and it worries me that you will feel lost if I am out of touch for a few days. So, let me leave you some thoughts and suggestions until I can waddle back to Cobb County smelling like a fish market and tartar sauce. …To Kennesaw State University president Pamela Whitten: I don’t have any advice for you except to keep doing what you are doing because it seems to be working. You have settled the place down quicker than I could ever have imagined. My wife and my daughter-in-law are both graduates of the nursing program at KSU and, at one time, I was proud as punch of the place. That changed when the inmates got control of the asylum and made a fine academic institution a laughingstock with their self-absorbed antics. It looks like you have gotten that control back. On behalf of the KSU graduates in my family, thank you.
Marietta Daily Journal
Staff reports
♦ Kennesaw State University engineering student Danica Roberts of Marietta was selected for a competitive National Science Foundation Travel Grant, allowing her to attend the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Vehicular Networking Conference in Taipei, Taiwan from Dec. 5-7. At the three-day event, which provides a platform for world-leading scholars in the vehicular networking and communication community to showcase their research, Roberts will have the opportunity to interact with industry experts and present her findings in a literature review. The grant will cover the more than $1,600 required to attend the conference.
The Tifton Gazette
ABAC nursing honors graduates at pinning ceremony
Caroline Frederick from Helen and Robert Seward from Athens received two new awards presented by the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College at the recent pinning ceremony in Howard Auditorium on the ABAC campus. Dr. Jaibun Earp, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, said the two awards were presented for the first time in the 52-year history of the program. Frederick received the Carillion Award, which goes to the student with the highest-grade point average among the graduates. Seward received the Clinical Excellence Award, which recognizes a student who demonstrated excellence in evidence-based clinical practice and patient-centered care. “This award further exemplifies a student who creatively combined the caring and curing of nursing science by restoring patients back to dynamic equilibrium in clinical settings,” Earp said.
The Albany Herald
UGA educator New Innovator Award recipient
Jason Wallace will use award to fund study of how crops are affected by microbes that live inside them
By Merritt Melancon & Sarah Goldberg
Jason Wallace, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), has received one of nine 2018 New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Awards from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. The New Innovator Award provides the early investment needed to successfully launch a scientific career in food and agriculture. Award recipients were selected based on a number of criteria, including scientific merit, innovation and a demonstrated commitment to mentoring other young scientists. FFAR has awarded $292,000 to Wallace, a researcher in the CAES Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, an amount that will be matched by funding from UGA. Wallace will use the award to fund his study of how crops are affected by the microbes that live inside them, referred to as the “microbiome,” and how the environment impacts this relationship. This work will help researchers understand how microbes affect crop production and how they can be harnessed to improve agriculture. This new funding will allow his lab to scale up experiments to test hundreds of corn varieties for how they are affected by microbes, sample corn growing at dozens of locations across the U.S., and “breed” microbes that improve corn growth.
The Albany Herald
Nolan named Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
ABAC grad was first female general surgeon in history of Tift Regional Medical Center
From Staff Reports
Dr. Tracy Nolan of Tifton was named a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons at a recent convocation ceremony in Boston. Nolan, the first female general surgeon in the history of Tift Regional Medical Center, was one of 1,970 initiates in the 2018 class from the United States, Canada and 73 other countries, ranging from Afghanistan to Zambia. The designation means that the surgeon’s education and training, professional qualifications, surgical competence, and ethical conduct have undergone a rigorous evaluation and have been found to be consistent with the high standards established and demanded by the American College of Surgeons. “My life as a surgeon is difficult, but it’s also exciting and challenging,” Nolan said. “That’s one reason I love being a surgeon so much.” After graduating from Tift County High School as an honor graduate in 1995, Nolan compiled a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in five academic quarters at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and was selected as the 1997 J.G. Woodroof Scholar, awarded to the top academic student at ABAC. Nolan continued her pattern of academic success at the University of Georgia, where she also compiled a 4.0 GPA, earning her First Honor Graduate status, signifying an “A” in every subject. She graduated from UGA in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in dietetics.
Savannah Morning News
By Ann Meyer
Georgia Southern University and Savannah State University have agreed to partner on educational programs where students enrolled in one university can take the other university’s courses seamlessly, the provosts of the two universities said. “What we want to be able to do is offer some programs to enhance access for students that want to take select programs,” said Carl Reiber, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Georgia Southern. “It really comes down to Georgia Southern and Savannah State (being) in the same city. Rather than compete, we should collaborate to get students the program they need to be successful and gain employment.” Savannah State will offer a Homeland Security and Emergency Management degree at Georgia Southern’s Liberty campus in Hinesville in January, said Michael Laney, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Savannah State. Savannah State has developed a niche program leading to a bachelor’s degree in homeland security and emergency management.
The Augusta Chronicle
Augusta uses cyber to cultivate business, economic growth
By Sarah LeBlanc
To encourage more companies to move to the Augusta area, the community needs to improve the quality of life and establish a skilled workforce. In less than two years, Army Cyber Command will march into Augusta. The facility will bring with it about 5,000 soldiers and their families, another 4,000 potential residents. Since the announcement of the Cyber Command’s arrival, one of the key tasks of area economic development officials has been figuring out how best to leverage this economic godsend into something lasting and far-reaching. Augusta is competing against about 30 countries and many top cities in the nation for the most modern technology and best cybersecurity firms, said Cal Wray, the president and chief executive officer of the Augusta Economic Development Authority. Leveraging Cyber Command will be important in making Augusta a viable competitor. …Some things have already been done. The city has built the $100 million Georgia Cyber Center on the riverfront that will house cybersecurity businesses and help educate students to become a skilled workforce. The Richmond County school system has created a cyber pathways program to filter students into cybersecurity majors at Augusta Technical College and Augusta University. And cyber-focused businesses such as Unisys and EDTS have created centers in Augusta.
The Athens Banner-Herald
Renovations underway for UGA engineering center
By Mike Wooten
The University of Georgia College of Engineering this month launched a major renovation of the Driftmier Engineering Center. Scheduled to open in fall 2019, the first phase of the project will significantly expand and enhance the College of Engineering’s undergraduate teaching laboratories and classrooms. The new space is designed to promote project-based learning and teamwork. “In the six years since the College of Engineering was formed at UGA, enrollment in engineering has grown exponentially. We’ve added more than 30 new faculty members, and we’ve significantly expanded the breadth of our research activities,” said Dean Donald Leo. “All of these changes mean we must examine our facilities and plan effectively for the future.” The project will convert more than 13,000 square feet of the building’s existing footprint into state-of-the-art instructional space. The majority of the new space will be assigned to modern wet and dry instructional labs designed to support the college’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs and undergraduate research. Future phases of the renovation work will expand and upgrade classrooms and spaces for team-based, collaborative projects.
Gainesville Times
The University of North Georgia is trying to build a better harness for guide dogs
A new harness would help relieve pain for the visually impaired
Layne Saliba
Researchers in Dahlonega are working to make life a little easier on the visually impaired.
The Athens Banner-Herald
Respect the Specs: UGA kicker graduates cum laude
By Kellyn Amodeo / University of Georgia
He’s known throughout Bulldog Nation by many names; Goggles and Hot Rod to name a couple. But now he’s got a new title to add to his resume: alumnus. Earlier this month, Rodrigo Blankenship, kicker for the University of Georgia football team, graduated cum laude from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, completing his degree a semester early. Blankenship earned a journalism degree with a focus on digital broadcasting in hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps as a sports journalist. “My dad wrote for the ‘Atlanta Journal Constitution’ and the ‘Marietta Daily Journal.’ I always thought it was cool how he got to talk to the players after games,” he said. “I knew from a young age that I wanted to go into journalism.” UGA has been on his radar since he was a middle schooler attending kicking camps in Athens. After receiving scholarship offers from smaller schools, Blankenship decided to walk on at UGA because of the strong journalism program. During his time as a student and local celebrity — he has his own Wikipedia page and social media hashtag (#respectthespecs) — Blankenship had to learn the art of balance, a feat he’s most proud of as a graduate. “It takes a lot of discipline [to balance academics and athletics.] You have to be fully committed to everything that’s going on in your life,” he said. “You have to have the discipline to not lose your motivation, no matter what time you get done. Football took up a big chunk of my day, but I knew that I was here to get an education and I did everything I could to make that my priority.”
The Albany Herald
Former Georgia football coach, Miami coach Mark Richt announces retirement
From Staff Reports
Miami Hurricanes head coach Mark Richt announced his retirement from coaching Sunday. The university released a statement from Richt, 58, whose Hurricanes capped a 7-6 season with a 35-3 blowout loss to Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl on Thursday. “A few hours ago, I informed UM Director of Athletics Blake James that it is time for me to retire from coaching so I am stepping down as the Head Coach of UM Football. The decision came after a great deal of thought, discussions with my family, and prayer. This was my decision,” he wrote. Richt compiled a 26-13 record in three seasons at Miami, highlighted by a 10-win season in 2017 and a trip to the Orange Bowl. Before taking over at his alma mater, Richt went 145-51 at the University of Georgia from 2001-15 and appeared in a bowl game every year. The Bulldogs won SEC titles in 2002 and 2005. He ‘stepped down’ from that position in 2015.
Higher Education News:
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
The Youngest Black Woman Ever Elected to Congress Eyes Student Loan Debt Reform
Lauren Underwood won election to Congress this past November in Illinois 14th Congressional District. She had won the Democratic primary in March 2018 with 57 percent of the vote against six opponents. In November, she defeated Republican incumbent Randy Hultgren by just over 10,000 votes in a tight election. When she takes office on January 3, at the age of 32, Underwood will be the youngest Black women to have ever served in the U.S. House of Representatives. …Among Underwood’s top priorities when she comes to Washington is to tackle the student loan debt crisis. She stated that “I support increased funding for Pell grants, increased availability of affordable subsidized student loans, and the continuance of the public service loan forgiveness program. Higher education should not be a privilege of a certain class of people.”
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
A New Effort to Revitalize Neighborhoods Surrounding HBCUs
The HBCU Community Development Action Coalition based in Miami, Florida, promotes, supports, and advocates for historically Black colleges and minority serving institutions, community development corporations, and the community economic development industry. The coalition’s goal is to create wealth, build healthy and sustainable communities, and achieve lasting economic viability. The coalition has recently partnered with Renaissance Equity Partners of Washington, D.C., to form an Opportunity Fund to foster investment in neighborhoods surrounding historically Black colleges and universities. The Renaissance HBCU Opportunity Fund aims to attract investment capital to help fund development of mixed-use projects on or near HBCU campuses in federally designated Opportunity Zones. The fund has also been selected to receive support from the Kresge and Rockefeller Foundations.