University System News:
WCTV
Georgia Gov. Kemp to speak at Valdosta State commencement ceremony
By: WCTV Eyewitness News
Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp will deliver the keynote address for Valdosta State University’s spring 2019 commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 11, on the Front Lawn. More than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students will be recognized during Valdosta State University’s 227th commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11. “We are delighted that the governor of this great state will be joining us as we recognize the outstanding efforts of our spring graduates and celebrate education as the foundation upon which success is built,” said Dr. Richard A. Carvajal, president of VSU.
Gwinnett Daily Post
Mill Creek student’s painting earns $6,000 scholarship
By Taylor Denman
Mill Creek High School senior America Garcia is bound for the University of Georgia after she graduates high school in May, but she’s still undecided on a major. But she’s starting to think more about following her love for painting after receiving a $6,000 scholarship from the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. She received the award at a surprise ceremony during her third-period art class on Monday. …America Garcia’s scholarship will go a long way to pay for books and other necessities once she’s enrolled at UGA. Garcia, who sports a 4.0 GPA, said she is grateful for the time she’s spent growing her abilities as an artist.
Douglas Now
South Georgia State College (SGSC) is beefing up its summer class offerings this year with a new program entitled Pre-flight Academic Summer Schedule (PASS). The eight-week summer program provides students just graduating from high school a chance to ease their transition into college and to build a strong academic foundation for success. Students participating in the program will receive full college credit for completed courses while enjoying a fun-filled summer at SGSC. Small classes and a flexible schedule allow students to hang out with friends, work or just relax while making the most of their summer break. The summer experience is not only for first-time college students. Current students who wish to get ahead with their studies as well as transient students who might take a class or two on either the Douglas or Waycross Campus will find lots to do through many planned outing and enrichment experiences linked to their classes. In addition, students can participate in other extracurricular activities both on and off campus too.
Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern Professor Named National Outstanding Faculty Advisor Merit Recipient
Staff Report From Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern University College of Education Assistant Professor Steven Tolman, Ed.D., was recently named the 2019 Georgia Southern merit recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Advisor award for the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). Institutional merit recipients are recommended for nomination to NACADA’s national awards. Criteria and scoring for awards are based on a culmination of qualities and practices including interpersonal skills, availability and frequency of contact with students, monitoring student progress toward academic and career goals, and attitude toward students, faculty and staff. Tolman joined the University in 2017 and teaches online and hybrid graduate-level courses in educational leadership.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
Jann Luciana Joseph Will Be the Next President of Georgia Gwinnett College
Jann Luciana Joseph has been named president of Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville. The college enrolls more than 12,000 students. African Americans are nearly one third of the student body. Dr. Joseph will assume her new duties on July 1, 2019.
Middle Georgia CEO
Middle Georgia State Again Among Enrollment Growth Leaders in State System
For the second semester in a row, Middle Georgia State University (MGA) posted the second-highest percentage enrollment increase in the University System of Georgia. MGA’s spring 2019 enrollment grew to 7,242 students, a four percent increase over the same period last year, according to the system’s official report released last week. MGA was second only to Georgia Tech, which saw a 14.6 percent increase in spring enrollment. The University System of Georgia is made up of 26 colleges and universities.
The Brunswick News
College to host student research symposium
College of Coastal Georgia will host the fifth annual Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Collaborative Exploration (SOURCE) conference on Friday at 9:30 a.m. in the Southeast Georgia Conference Center. The free event will showcase students’ faculty-mentored research. This year’s conference will feature 47 student presenters and nine faculty members. They will share a total of 30 research projects through 25 posters and five oral presentations.
Savannah Business Journal
Georgia Southern hosts fourth annual EdCamp on Statesboro Campus
Savannah Business Journal Staff Report
Georgia Southern University’s fourth annual EdCamp, a free, participant-driven professional development program for K-12 teachers and educational professionals, will take place on Saturday, April 27, at the University’s College of Education (COE) on the Statesboro Campus from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. EdCamp is a fun learning experience built on principles of connected and participatory learning.
Savannah Morning News
Georgia Southern students participate in Fort Stewart tactical athlete program in Savannah
In a recent visit to Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia Southern University Department of Rehabilitation Sciences students participated in interactive soldier demonstrations in an effort to better understand soldiers’ unique physical challenges and how they can help better prepare them for combat. “This added knowledge will help them to better tailor their education while working with soldiers,” said Nancy Henderson, assistant professor of rehabilitation sciences. Understanding the physical regiment of the soldiers at Fort Stewart is the key to success for the department’s Soldier Athlete Human Performance Optimization program, a collaborative effort between Georgia Southern and the 3rd Infantry Division. The program allows students to work with soldiers on injury prevention and improve medical readiness.
WGAU Radio
CHARLES SCHWAB CENTER OPENS AT UGA
By: Cal Powell
The College of Family and Consumer Sciences celebrated the growth of its financial planning program at a dedication ceremony for the Charles Schwab Financial Planning Center on April 11. On behalf of independent investment advisors, Schwab Advisor Services partnered with Charles Schwab Foundation to provide funding toward a major renovation project within one of the college’s oldest buildings that will enhance students’ experiential learning opportunities. Three independent advisory firms in Atlanta – SignatureFD, TrueWealth Management and Homrich Berg Wealth Management – contributed a total of $100,000 to the project. Combined with support from the University of Georgia, the college and additional private funds, the renovation represents an investment of nearly $1 million and dramatically expands the space available for a program that is steadily growing in enrollment.
The Newnan Times-Herald
UWG Newnan to expand business education offerings
The University of West Georgia Newnan is expanding its upper-level, in-class offerings for business majors. “A business major can already complete his or her bachelor’s degree with limited trips to the Carrollton campus through a combination of classroom learning and online courses,” said Monica Williams Smith, assistant dean of the Richards College of Business. “In the coming academic year, we are offering additional, upper-level learning opportunities.” These 3000- and 4000-level business courses will include Principles of Marketing in fall 2019 with Statistics for Business I and Management offered in spring 2020. The following academic year, UWG Newnan will add three additional in-class courses. These will include Statistics for Business II, Management of Information Systems, and Operations Management.
WGAU Radio
LAMAR DODD SHOW OPENS AT GA MUSEUM OF ART
By: Hillary Bown
The Georgia Museum of Art and the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia will present the annual exit show for Master of Fine Arts candidates starting Friday, April 12, with a two-part opening reception. One show will be on view at the museum, where the opening reception will run from 6 to 8 p.m., and one show will be on view at the Deupree Building, 458 E. Clayton St., in downtown Athens, where the reception will run from 8 to 10 p.m. the same night. Both shows will be on view through May 19. Together, these exhibitions feature the works of 20 MFA students in a variety of media across a diverse array of themes and theoretical frameworks including ecology, migration, surveillance, the inhuman, propaganda and the body. They include objects and ephemera; paintings, prints and photographs; lens-based work and installations; jewelry, textiles and ceramics; sonic art and relational situations, and are the culmination of three years of intensive study in the fields of art and design.
Savannah Morning News
By Will Peebles
Savannah College of Art and Design Junior Julia McKinney visited the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday, just hours before it began burning. McKinney, a photography major, had just arrived in Paris with her study abroad group. She said Notre Dame was the first place they visited. She didn’t know it at the time, but she would be one of the last people to see the cathedral as it was. When her group was done touring, she and her friends went to a cafe a few blocks away .Her friend noticed the smoke, and within 30 minutes, she saw the flames. …Monday afternoon Julie Klein, a Georgia Southern University student from Strasbourg, France, said she was heartbroken. Klein is studying business management at GSU, and was in the middle of her daily ritual of checking up on French news. “I check, almost every day, the French news on my phone, and when I was eating my lunch today, I was so shocked.” “I feel like a big part of history and the love of Paris, the love of France, is just ruined. That’s not just a building,” Klein said. “I feel very sad because that’s the most beautiful building in Paris just going up in flames.”
Tifton CEO
Historic Background for New Black Walnut Tree at ABAC Health Sciences Building
Staff Report From Tifton CEO
Roaring winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Michael last October took a toll on the landscape at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. ABAC Grounds Superintendent Brad Barbee and his crew members spent weeks putting the campus back into the pristine shape that characterizes one of the most picturesque campuses in the state. Most trees and plants survived but a legendary black walnut tree in front of the Health Sciences Building became a victim of the unforgiving force of the monumental hurricane. “That particular tree’s origin on the campus was said to be the work of Dr. Vernon Yow, professor of forestry and former Dean of Men at ABAC,” said Dr. Doug Waid, professor emeritus of wildlife and forestry at ABAC, said. “The black walnut he planted stood outside what was once the women’s dormitory, later renamed Creswell Hall.” When Creswell Hall was razed in 2005 to make way for the Health Sciences Building, the tree barely survived the impact of the heavy construction equipment. In fact, Wanda Golden, the former head of the nursing program, went to great lengths to make certain that Barbee and his team kept the tree alive. …Even though the original black walnut didn’t make through the natural disaster of Hurricane Michael, Waid knew there was a seedling just waiting to start a new generation. On a recent spring morning, that fresh start came to life when Barbee put shovel to dirt in front of the Health Sciences Building. “Hurricane Michael got the original but we’re hoping this seedling has a long life,” Barbee said. “We’re going to do our best to take care of it.”
WGAU Radio
WITH KEMP SIGNATURE, UGA COULD GROW MARIJUANA
By: Tim Bryant
It is legislation that would allow the University of Georgia to grow marijuana to allow for the extraction of cannabis oil that is legal for medical treatments in Georgia: Governor Brian Kemp has said he will sign the bill that passed on the final day of this year’s legislative session, and now we know when he intends to sign it: the Governor’s office says he will do so tomorrow. UGA, Fort Valley State University, and a handful of private companies would be allowed to cultivate the medical marijuana in Georgia.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Rethinking Federal Lending to Parents
Lending program for parents of undergraduates has expanded beyond its intended use, leaving many borrowers with debts they struggle to repay, report finds. Co-authors argue Congress should cap borrowing under the Parent PLUS program.
By Andrew Kreighbaum
While total federal student loan borrowing has actually been declining for several years amid dwindling enrollments, lending through a federal program for parent borrowers has been on the rise. The Parent PLUS loan program frequently issues debt to parents with little chance of successful repayment, a report released today finds, and functions as a “no-strings-attached” revenue source for many colleges. The program issued an average of $16,542 to the parents of 779,000 undergraduates in the 2017-18 academic year and now makes up nearly a quarter of undergraduate debt disbursed by the federal government annually. Parent PLUS loans are typically taken out when students have exhausted all other sources of aid, including federal direct loans. Concerns about unmanageable loan amounts for parent borrowers have prompted recent legislative solutions. Republicans in Congress have called for new standard lending caps for the parent loan program, which allows borrowing up to the cost of attendance. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have proposed making the loans eligible for income-driven repayment options.
Inside Higher Ed
Over past 18 months, the White House, federal agencies and Congress have all signaled concerns about theft of sensitive academic research by foreign competitors. Here’s what’s been happening.
By Elizabeth Redden
Tension between national security and science — by its nature open and international — is nothing new. But over the past year and a half, national security agencies, federal granting agencies, the White House and members of Congress have all signaled their increasing concern about international students or scholars who might seek to exploit the openness of the U.S. academic environment for their own — or their nations’ — gain. And they’re signaling that when it comes to the balance between scientific openness and national security — and, to add a third dimension, economic competitiveness — they’re not happy with where that balance is being struck, especially when it comes to China. Over the past year and a half, there has been a steady drumbeat of developments out of Washington on this issue. To summarize:
The Crimson
Graduate Student Union to Air National TV Ads on Harvard Sexual Harassment Protections
By James S. Bikales, Crimson Staff Writer
This Thursday, Harvard’s graduate student union will air video ads on prime-time national television criticizing the University’s response to sexual harassment complaints, according to a union press release. Harvard Graduate Students Union — United Automobile Workers is in its sixth month of contract negotiations with the University that began in October. HGSU-UAW has repeatedly called for including a provision that would allow student workers to pursue a third-party grievance procedure for sexual harassment and discrimination complaints. The ads will begin airing April 18, one year after the majority of Harvard’s eligible student workers voted to support unionization. The thirty-second advertisement — which will air on channels including CNN, MSNBC, and ESPN — opens with a narrator saying Harvard has a “world-class reputation, and a world-class #MeToo problem.” It goes on to reference the ongoing Title IX investigation into Government Professor emeritus Jorge I. Dominguez. The campaign will also extend to billboards, radio, and digital media, according to the press release.