University System News:
Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern’s Online Elementary Education Master’s among Top-ranked in Nation
Staff Report From Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern University’s elementary education program, formerly called the early childhood education program, was recently named one of the best online master’s, according to OnlineMasters.com. Of the top 50 programs identified in the nation, the University’s M.Ed. in Elementary Education, housed in the Department of Elementary and Special Education of the College of Education, was ranked No. 28 and received the “Best for Professionals” recognition. …OnlineMasters.com highlighted the program’s in-depth curriculum and field experiences to help current educators improve both their quality of teaching as well as the academic success of students in their classrooms. Education programs at Georgia Southern also include a focus on teaching diverse students and considering social justice issues in the classroom.
WGAU Radio
UGA DEBATE DUO WINS NATIONAL TITLE
By: Alan Flurry, UGA Campus News
The Georgia Debate Union won the American Debate Association national championship tournament this past weekend in Athens. Nearly 100 teams from around the country attended the American Debate Association’s end of the year championship tournament, hosted at the University of Georgia. Seniors Advait Ramanan and Swapnil Agrawal won the American Debate Association’s varsity division national championship and finished the tournament undefeated, with wins over the University of Kentucky, the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Indiana University. Advait Ramanan was also recognized as the top overall speaker in the varsity division. Ramanan and Agrawal are the first team in the history of the Georgia Debate Union to win a national championship in intercollegiate debate. Their teammates, seniors Nathan Rice and Johnnie Stupek, also had a tremendously successful ADA Nationals, finishing in third place with wins over Northwestern University, the United States Naval Academy, Indiana University, and the University of Kentucky. All 4 UGA students finished in the top 5 speakers in the varsity division.
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
18,000 entered IBM’s mainframe competition. 3 winners were selected. 1 lives in Columbus.
BY MARK RICE
Out of more than 18,000 participants worldwide, one of the three winners in the 14thannual IBM Master the Mainframe competition is a Columbus resident. Matthew Bowen, 21, is the valedictorian of Shaw High School’s Class of 2015, now majoring in computer science with a concentration in cybersecurity at Columbus State University. He went into his senior year unsure about his job prospects when he graduates this spring. But now, thanks to this success, he has multiple options.
Tifton CEO
Ashburn, Nashville Students Reap Dividends of Synovus Investment at ABAC
Staff Report From Tifton CEO
Synovus knows all about good investments that pay dividends. That’s why Synovus invested $5,000 in a Platinum sponsorship at the 2018 edition of An Evening for ABAC at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. That investment paid off in two ABAC scholarships, one of those for Quenterion Tennille, an ABAC sophomore from Ashburn, and another for Emily Boyd from Nashville. A General Studies major, Tennille plans to continue his studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design when his ABAC education is complete. Boyd has graduated from ABAC with her agribusiness degree and is putting that degree to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Growing Georgia
ABAC Museum of Agriculture Apprentice Applications Due March 22
High school students who want to get a taste of the past while gaining valuable experience for the future can become a part of the Youth Apprentice Program at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture (GMA) and Historic Village. Applications for the program will be accepted through March 22. “Designed to involve young adults ages 14 to 18, the apprentice program provides a way for participants to make friends, gain skills and work experience, and learn about the past,” Lynn McDonald, the Museum’s coordinator of volunteers, said. “Fun is also a part of the program. Some apprentices have not known anyone at the start of the summer only to make some very good friends while participating.” Former apprentice Alana Griffin gained a lot from the program.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC EXCLUSIVE: Georgia Tech receives notice of recruiting violations from NCAA
By Ken Sugiura
Update 9:50 a.m.: Georgia Tech has acknowledged that it has received the notice of allegations from the NCAA.
Here’s the statement released by the school: The Georgia Institute of Technology announced Friday that it has received a notice of allegations from the NCAA. The notice, which alleges three violations of NCAA rules within Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball program, was received following a joint review by Georgia Tech and the NCAA. A notice of allegations is a step in the NCAA’s process of investigating potential rules violations, but the process is ongoing. Georgia Tech has until May 16, 2019, to respond to the allegations. Because the NCAA process remains open, Georgia Tech will not have further comment at this time. Original story
The Augusta Chronicle
AU Health to open new Grovetown location
By Amanda King
The former Boots, Bridles and Britches at the intersection of Robinson Avenue and Harlem-Grovetown Road in Grovetown is being demolished to make room for another Augusta University Health location. Site preparation for the new facility is scheduled to begin next week. This will be AU Health’s second Grovetown location. The first opened on Lewiston Road in January and features pediatric services. The new location, scheduled to open in the fall, will offer general women’s and children’s care, as well as pediatric cardiology. Perfect Health, an urgent care and weight loss center, will lease a portion of the 10,590-square-foot from AU Health. This will be Perfect Health’s fifth location in the CSRA.
WSAV
Algae bloom blamed for oyster kill on Skidaway Island
Thousands of larvae died after water change in tanks in 2017
By: Martin Staunton
A two-year investigation is pointing a finger at rare algae bloom on the Skidaway River as the cause for a crop loss inside Georgia’s only oyster hatchery. The University of Georgia’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography houses tanks where oyster larvae are researched and hatched. But in 2017, thousands died in their tanks overnight following a water change. That water had been filtered and the Skidaway River was the source. By chance, another team of scientists took a water test that day unrelated to the larvae kill. This is what led scientists to discover that the deaths were caused by an unlikely algae bloom. “What we didn’t know is that it could create these blooms and it could get very dense,” said Elizabeth Harvey, Assistant Professor at the institute. “We didn’t know that it had this negative impact on shellfish.” While researchers are fairly certain they have found the source of the problem, they are still unclear how the algae are harming the oyster larvae, and, more importantly, how to prevent it in the future.
Suwannee Democrat
ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame announces 2019 inductees
Five individuals and one team will be honored with their induction into the Class of 2019 of the Athletics Hall of Fame on April 5 at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. ABAC Athletics Director Alan Kramer said the 2019 class includes the 1968-69 men’s basketball team, former softball standout Jenny McCarthy, former tennis star Lisa English, former football player and longtime high school coach Sidney White, former basketball player and college basketball coach Alfred Barney, and former baseball player and outstanding high school coach Terry Mixon. “This group takes us all the way back to the football years of the Georgia State College for Men,” Kramer said. “From the ABAC tennis courts to the baseball field, it’s a great group of inductees. I look forward to hearing stories from their ABAC playing days.”
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Stanford Students Sue Elite Universities After Admissions Scandal
By Lindsay Ellis
Two Stanford University students are suing colleges named in the unfolding admissions-bribery scandal, saying this week’s allegations show that the applications of students who played by the rules were reviewed under a fraudulent process. The Stanford students, Erica Olsen and Kalea Woods, said in the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, that they would not have paid about $80 in application fees to Yale University and the University of Southern California had they known the systems were “warped and rigged by fraud.” …The students who filed the lawsuit said they had not received what they paid for — a fair evaluation of their materials — with those application fees. Both students said they had paid “without any understanding or warning that unqualified students were slipping in through the back door of the admissions process by committing fraud, bribery, cheating, and dishonesty.” In the lawsuit, both students said the scandal would lower the value of their Stanford degrees: “Prospective employers may now question whether she was admitted to the university on her own merits, versus having parents who were willing to bribe school officials.”