USG eclips for April 8, 2019

University System News:

Albany Herald

Quartet to receive Leadership Georgia awards

Nominations being accepted for next Leadership Albany class

From Staff Reports

The Leadership Georgia Board of Trustees has announced the recipients of the organization’s most prestigious awards, presented to Georgians who exemplify the principles of Leadership Georgia and whose impact through leadership and stewardship has helped shaped communities and the state. The honorees – University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley; Rodney Bullard of Chick-fil-A; Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, and Stephanie and Jeb Stewart of Xana Management – will be officially recognized during the Leadership Georgia Gala and Awards Presentation on Nov. 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The annual black-tie event draws more than 700 alumni and guests and helps support the organization’s programs, enabling Leadership Georgia to continue its legacy of developing and inspiring leaders from all walks of life and all corners of Georgia.

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Macon Telegraph

Georgia Southern president outlines vision for the future

WTOC

Georgia Southern to make budget cuts next school year to balance drop in enrollment

By Dal Canady

This school year at Georgia Southern University still has some time left, but the upcoming year could be lean with budget cuts on the way to match a drop in enrollment in Savannah and Statesboro. The university’s new president, Dr. Kyle Marrero, says they’ve got to deal with what he hopes is a one-year cut and that numbers will rebound and bring the state budget back around. Departments across Georgia Southern must turn in leaner budgets than last year as the university braces for less state funding due to a drop in enrollment. Dr. Marrero explained the state calculates funding for the future based on numbers from more than a year before. “The allocation we’ll receive July 1 for fiscal year 2020 will actually be from our credit hour generation from year 2017 to 2018,” he said.

Statesboro Herald

New GS president born to perform

Marrero applies music background as university leader

Al Hackle

Georgia Southern University’s new president, Dr. Kyle Marrero, grew up in a musical and theatrical family and is part of one now. Passion for learning and attention to detail, essential for musical performance, are qualities he seeks to model as a university administrator.

Savannah Morning News

Editorial: Marrero brings gravitas to Georgia Southern president’s office

Kyle Marrero is already the best Georgia Southern University president ever.

At least the school’s best opera-singing president. And probably the most brand-savvy leader, too.

Marrero started in his new role Monday, and since the school has multiple campuses, he visited each of the sites on his first day. He and his family — wife Jane and 9-year-old daughter Lily — spent the car ride between Statesboro and Savannah learning the catchy Eagle fight song.

The George-Anne

President Marrero visits students at on campus Starbucks and Dining Commons

By Matthew Enfinger and Shiann Sivell

Georgia Southern University’s new president Kyle Marrero finished his first week by greeting students at the Statesboro campus’ Starbucks and Dining Commons on Friday. Since his first day on Monday, Marrero has held a series of meet and greets and campus walks on the Statesboro and Armstrong campuses. Biology Graduate student Bailey Chandler was working on an assignment in Starbucks when Morrero introduced himself to her. They spoke about the components of Chandler’s upcoming project, as well as Marrero’s the previous appearance Walk a Mile in her Shoes event on Tuesday. “I think he’s super outgoing and impressionable,” Chandler said. “I told him I really enjoyed his first PR stunt with walk a mile in her shoes. I think that’s good indication of the type of person he is.”

Albany Herald

ABAC Upward Bound robotics team claims awards

‘Rookie’ ABAC team advances to state competition

From Staff Reports

A group of students recently participated in a competition in Albany as the first robotics team for the Upward Bound program at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. The results were quite astounding. The students competed at the FIRST PCH Procter & Gamble district qualifier. They received awards for District Event Winner, Highest Rookie Seed Award, and National Instruments Rookie Inspiration Award. The team also competed at the District Qualifier at Columbus State University, where the ABAC students made it to the quarterfinals. The students are now going to compete at the FRC Peachtree State Championship in Emerson. Currently, the team is ranked 20th out of 85 teams in Georgia. Upward Bound at ABAC is a federally funded pre-college program serving high school students from Atkinson, Ben Hill, Berrien, Colquitt, Cook, Irwin, Tift and Turner counties.

AccessWDUN

UNG awards record $1.8M in scholarships, celebrates at annual gala

Officials with the University of North Georgia recently celebrated a record in student scholarship awards. The seventh annual UNG Scholarship Gala was held March 29 to commemorate a record $1.8 million in scholarship money that went to UNG students in fiscal year 2018. UNG President Bonita C. Jacobs thanked donors for their generosity and highlighted the university’s accomplishments, including record enrollment growth, expanded academic programs, numerous military awards as a senior military college, and being named a national top-producer of Fulbright students for two years.

Daily Herald

District 214 students build tiny homes for homeless veterans

Christopher Placek

Students from Rolling Meadows and John Hersey high schools spent Friday building homes for veterans more than 800 miles away — and they didn’t even have to leave the classroom. Dozens of the students donning safety glasses and gripping power tools pieced together walls and roofs that will be shipped to Savannah, Georgia, next month and assembled into 20 tiny homes as part of a new veterans community. …The student work crews Friday operated from Rolling Meadows High School’s manufacturing lab, where Rolling Meadows students enrolled in a Geometry in Construction course worked alongside Hersey students there for the day. Students at Buffalo Grove High School, in their geometry construction course, have also been framing walls for the homes. …The initiative is spearheaded by Savannah, Georgia-based Nine Line Foundation, along with Chatham Savannah Authority for the Homeless and Georgia Southern University.

Statesboro Herald

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes: Marching to raise funds, awareness

By SCOTT BRYANT/staff

You just don’t get it until you’ve walked a mile in someone else’s shoes. Or so the saying goes. Jannie Nell, 20, of Augusta demonstrates some nimbleness in his heels while participating in Tuesday’s Walk a Mile in Her Shoes at Georgia Southern. Red pumps are the symbol of the annual event. Nell was walking with Sigma Chi fraternity, which was one of several organizations participating.

Gainesville Times

Why nearly 1,200 people spent their Saturday cleaning the Chattahoochee River

Kelsey Richardson

Nearly 1,200 volunteers spent Saturday, April 6 wading, paddling or walking along the Chattahoochee River, picking up massive amounts of trash during the ninth-annual Sweep the Hooch event.

Sarah Pierce, a business students at the University of North Georgia Dahlonega, picks up a mop found along the shore during Sweep the Hooch at Lake Lanier Olympic Park on Saturday, April 6, 2019. The event is put on by Chattahoochee Riverkeeper with two cleanup sites in Hall County.

The George-Anne

Georgia Southern Professor named 2018 fellow of the National Collegiate Honors Council

By Madeline Branch, The George-Anne contributor

Steven Engel, Ph.D., director of the Honors Program at Georgia Southern University was named a 2018 fellow of the National Collegiate Honors Council. The NCHC awards fellows for their scholarship, service and leadership skills on their campus and within the national honors community. Back in 2013 Hew Joiner, Ph.D., director emeritus of the Bell Honors Program, was also named a fellow of the NCHC, making this the second time that a professor here at GS has won this award. “I have the greatest respect for Dr. Hew Joiner,” Engel said. “He developed the Bell Honors Program here into a genuine national model for honors education. To be included in the same group as him as an NCHC Fellow makes me incredibly proud.” Engel came to Southern in 1999 and has been the director of the Honors Program since 2005.

AlbamyHerald

Dr. Joseph Holley Fine Arts Building unveiled during ASU Founder’s Day

By Rachel Lord

ASU President Marion Fedrick and family members of Joseph Holley, the founder of ASU, were part of the unveiling of the new name of the fine arts building on Friday afternoon in Holley’s honor.

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Georgia Tech logistics startup Stord raises $12.4 million

By David Allison – Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle

Stord Inc., an Atlanta-based warehousing and distribution startup spun out of Georgia Tech, has raised $12.4 million, the company reported April 5. The new raise follows a $2.6 million funding round one year ago. Stord was launched in 2015 by Sean Henry and Jacob Boudreau through Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X program. The company provides an on-demand warehouse service through a technology platform that links companies that need warehouse space with a network of independent, third-party warehouses.

Athens Banner-Herald

UGA producing products, wants more startups

By Lee Shearer

The University of Georgia topped its so-called “comparator peers” in the number of new products, about 48 per year, based on UGA research that reached the marketplace in recent years. UGA actually was No. 1 in the nation among all universities in 2017 with 52 products, according to Derek Eberhart, UGA associate vice president for research and executive director of the university’s Innovation Gateway. Innovation Gateway is the office responsible for commercializing UGA research discoveries. Comparator peers are universities designated by the University System of Georgia as similar enough to UGA to provide valid comparisons. UGA also ranks high in licensing income, Eberhart told members of the University of Georgia Research Foundation board of directors on Thursday. The Research Foundation, a nonprofit corporation controlled by the UGA president, oversees and promotes research activities at UGA.

Tifton CEO

Synovus Provides ABAC Scholarships for Ashburn, Nashville Students

Staff Report From Tifton CEO

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.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

BREAKING: Seven indicted in Fort Valley State prostitution case

By Ernie Suggs

Alecia Jeanetta Johnson also faces counts of pimping and sodomy

Alecia Jeanetta Johnson, the former Fort Valley State University executive assistant to the president and the graduate advisor to one of the oldest sororities on campus, was indicted this week with six counts of prostitution, three counts of pimping and two counts of solicitation of sodomy in a scandal that rocked the tiny college last summer. Prosecutors say that the 49-year-old Johnson also performed sex acts in exchange for money and arranged to provide prominent men in the community with another prostitute. The Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office also indicted six men in connection with the case of one count each of solicitation of sodomy and two counts each of pandering stemming from conduct alleged to have occurred in 2017 and 2018.

The George-Anne

No Impact Week makes another impact at Georgia Southern

By William Cobb, The George-Anne contributor

Georgia Southern University’s Center for Sustainability started its eighth annual No Impact Week Sunday. Inspired by Colin Beavin’s film No Impact Man, the event aims to highlight people’s effect on the environment and teach sustainable living practices to help reduce our ecological footprints. “No Impact Week is a week-long carbon cleanse, a chance to really think about sustainability in your daily life and to reduce your impact,” Lissa Leege, director of the Center for Sustainability said. “Our hope is to raise awareness about all aspects of sustainability in an engaging and enjoyable way.” Every day of the week has a collection of events meant to help achieve this goal, with each day addressing a different topic.

The Brunswick News

Here’s hoping the shrimp season is bountiful this year

There is a big party in Darien this weekend. The 51st annual Blessing of the Fleet began Friday and continues Saturday and Sunday. The festival is the biggest event in Darien every year. The waterfront will be crawling with people perusing the wares of dozens of vendors, participating in the plethora of activities available and enjoying the performance of some talented musicians. It is also a huge weekend for Darien’s economy. The event brings in around 25,000 to the small town on the coast. That is a lot of people to visit Darien’s shops and restaurants. A previous study by Georgia Southern University showed that the festival brings in between $800,000 and $1 million. That number is probably higher today.

Savannah Morning News

Savannah State faculty, Nat Geo recipient debut documentary chronicling HBCU dancelines

On Friday, Savannah State University dance faculty member LaQuinda Grimes helped to spotlight a less recognized group that takes the field during halftime with a documentary on the history, culture and style of dancelines. Grimes documentary film, “Brains, Beauty, and Blackness: An Ode to HBCU Dancelines,” documents and strives to preserve the HBCU danceline style and honors the women that spearheaded the movement. The film premiered at Savannah State University along with an exhibit. “The film is the result of a three-year research project that I’ve been doing,” she said. Typically dancelines are accompanying subjects in other chronicles, according to Grimes. …The accompanying exhibit chronicles the roots and trajectory of HBCU dancelines across the southern United States. The film and the exhibit document the lives of the dancers, institutions and communities involved in HBCU dancelines. The artifacts include vintage uniforms and props. …The documentary is also part of Grimes’ work as a National Geographic Young Explorer. The NatGeo Society Young Explorers Grants is a grant program that provides individuals ages 18-25 some of their first opportunities to carry out field-based scientific research, exploration and conservation, said SSU spokeswoman Loretta Heyward. The program has since been phased into three grant applications that The National Geographic Society currently offers: Early Career, Exploration and Requests for Proposals.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

Alumni, Several Lawmakers Decry Proposed Georgia HBCU Bill

by Tiffany Pennamon

After backlash to proposed Georgia Senate Bill 273 that would consolidate the state’s three public historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) into the Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical University System, lawmakers swiftly withdrew and introduced in its place a second bill, SB278, allowing the institutions to keep their names under the system. However, the move did not alleviate the concerns of alumni and supporters of Albany State University, Fort Valley State University and Savannah State University, who wished for more transparency in the crafting of the bills by state senators. Five Georgia senators – Tonya Anderson, Gail Davenport, Harold Jones, Freddie Powell Sims and Nikema Williams – withdrew their names and support from the previous SB273 bill after mounting backlash, according to a statement issued by the group Monday. They have not signed onto SB278, which is now solely sponsored by State Senator Lester G. Jackson. “The bill, SB273, is something that, those of us signing on just didn’t pay attention to. We get hundreds of bills on our desk,” Sims told Diverse. “We have no intentions of being a part of any kind of discussion that deals with merging these schools without talking to alumni, or having discussions with students and community leaders.”

Florida Courier

‘GAMU’ PLAN HAS FLAWS, BUT IS WORTH HBCU CONSIDERATION

J.L. Carter, Sr. HBCU Digest

Lawmakers in Georgia are going to rescind a bill filed last week in state legislature to create a new “Georgia A&M University System” that would grant more fiscal autonomy over Albany State University, Fort Valley State University and Savannah State University. The bill was introduced with zero public notice and generated national reaction, mostly from students and alumni who want no parts of a merger or consolidation plan which changes school names, and possibly changes missions. But they can’t see what the lawmakers see. Georgia has pioneered mergers and consolidations of public colleges and universities dating back more than eight years, and the planning for such consolidations going back more than a decade. Many of their consolidations have created larger, fast-growing predominantly White campuses near the public HBCUs, and have spurred the growth of Georgia State University as the nation’s top destination for Black students – a direct threat even to the private Atlanta University Center schools. Georgia has sent a clear sign that it will not shut down HBCUs outright, but will close them down by directing Black students to increasingly diverse PWIs like Middle Georgia State University and Georgia Southern University. Black Democrats have been fully aware of this effort, and their bill, apparently filed inadvertently, gives away just how urgent the situation is for the HBCUs and their communities. In truth, the lawmakers may have developed an idea for Georgia that could save public HBCUs in the state and serve as a blueprint for Black colleges nationwide. If HBCUs facing falling enrollment, budget cuts and increasing competition from PWIs do not consider consolidation, they will suffer quickly and dramatically.

Higher Education News:

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

The Impact and Importance of HBCUs Emphasized at NAN Convention

by Lois Elfman

Several presidents of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) discussed the far-reaching influence of their institutions on American life during a panel held on Friday at the National Action Network (NAN) convention. Statistics make an emphatic point. Over one-third of all African-Americans with degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields earned their degrees at a HBCU. These are the institutions that produce Black electrical, civil and industrial engineers. “This whole question about how critical these institutions are to our country is moot,” said Dr. David Wilson, president of Morgan State University in Baltimore. “I don’t think we as a nation can sit in any room and have a serious conversation about the long-term competitiveness of America if HBCUs are not at the epicenter of that conversation.”

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

ORAU, TMCF Partner to Further STEM Research Opportunities at HBCUs

by Monica Levitan

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) has recently partnered with Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) to further student and faculty opportunities in STEM research at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). This partnership, which officially began with the signing of a memorandum of understand on March 29, will strive to provide resources to those schools to encourage faculty and student STEM research. ORAU is a consortium that effectively connects the most diverse and talented students, recent graduates, faculty members and professionals with mentored research experiences at national laboratories and other facilities.

Politico

Wells Fargo drops some fees on campus debit cards after criticism

By MICHAEL STRATFORD

Wells Fargo announced on Wednesday that it will stop charging some fees on its debit card product that is marketed on college campuses after facing months of criticism over the issue. The company said it expects that the changes in its fee structure, which took effect last month, will reduce by about half the average cost to students who use the campus debit cards. Several prominent Democratic lawmakers and consumer groups criticized Wells Fargo after an “unpublished” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report last year showed it was charging college students fees that were, on average, several times higher than some of its competitors. Wells Fargo said it would waive one overdraft fee each month and stop charging a fee for using its overdraft protection service. In addition, students will be allowed four no-fee withdrawals from non-Wells Fargo ATMs each month as well as one free incoming wire transfer.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Research Universities Need to Improve Their Teaching. But More Money Won’t Help, a Philosopher Says.

By Beckie Supiano

The undergraduate education provided by research universities could be greatly improved without much expense. Not only that, but making big public investments in such universities is the wrong approach for improving educational attainment or equity. That’s the provocative argument of a paper scheduled to be presented at the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting on Saturday. The Chronicle caught up before the meeting with Harry Brighouse, a professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who wrote the paper. We discussed his ideas and how they’ve been received so far. The following conversation has been edited and condensed.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Digital Distraction Is a Problem Far Beyond the Classroom. But Professors Can Still Help.

By Beckie Supiano

Digital distraction is a major source of frustration for professors. They’re split, however, on whether to do anything about it. Some believe the onus is on students to change their habits, while others see an overreliance on lecturing as at least part of the problem. Those are among the findings of a new paper, co-written by Abraham E. Flanigan, a postdoctoral research associate in Ohio University’s school of communication, set to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association on Sunday. In a different study, also scheduled to be presented at AERA, Flanigan and a co-author quantify the scope of the problem. Students in their sample at a large public university reported spending about a quarter of a typical class period in their least-favorite course using their devices for off-task purposes. But the problem didn’t stop there. Students were digitally distracted in their favorite course for 12 percent of the class period. That finding, Flanigan said, was a sobering one. “If I were to know that my most motivated student was going to spend 12 percent of the class looking through her Twitter feed,” he said, “that kind of stinks, you know?”

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USG eclips for April 8, 2019