University System News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: More money for HOPE students, busy days at UGA
By Eric Stirgus
Most Georgia colleges and universities have ended their classwork for the semester, a few have held commencement ceremonies, but there was still plenty of news in recent days. Students who receive the HOPE Scholarship should be particularly happy. Several headlines came from the University of Georgia. Here’s a round-up of it all in this week’s AJC On Campus. Dual enrollment & HOPE Scholarship changes The Georgia Student Finance Commission voted Friday for changes that aim to keep as many students as possible in its popular, but increasingly expensive, dual enrollment program. The commission will have colleges and universities offering the courses pay for books and fees to plug a projected $25 million budget gap. The board also voted to increase how much money HOPE and Zell Miller scholarship recipients will get this fall. …HOPE eligibility changes Speaking of the HOPE Scholarship, Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill Thursday extending the eligibility of students receiving it from seven to 10 years. …Vince Dooley’s new honor We told you there was plenty of news from Athens, so here we go. The University of Georgia athletic association’s board of directors last week unanimously endorsed naming the field at Sanford Stadium in honor of former UGA head football coach and former athletics department director Vince Dooley. AJC politics reporter Greg Bluestein, a UGA alum, wrote the inside story about Gov. Brian Kemp’s push to name the field after Dooley and the role of state Board of Regents member Don Leebern in the effort. …UGA bars professor from campus …UGA clears teaching assistant …UGA meets scholarship goal ahead of schedule …Georgia Tech’s new center …More women in charge at KSU
Poets and Quants for Undergrads
These Universities Were The Toughest To Get Into In 2019
BY: NATHAN ALLEN
Yes, the recent college admissions scandal has put a damper on college admissions — especially at the country’s most elite schools. Regardless, competition remains stiff for entry into the top schools. For entry this past fall, 14 schools had an acceptance rate of less than 10%. Another 14 had acceptance rates in the 10% to 15% range. The most selective school, however, was the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which only admitted 18 students out of 428 applicants, for an acceptance rate of 4.21%. Up next is Stanford University, which received 43,997 apps and admitted just 2,118 applicants — an acceptance rate of 4.81%. Harvard University had similar numbers, admitting 2,110 out of 39,041 applicants, or 5.4%. The Georgia Institute of Technology was the first major public school outside of California to make the list with an acceptance rate of 25.77%. Georgia Tech accepted 7,868 incoming students from an applicant pool of 30,528. Another major Southeastern public school — the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — followed with an acceptance rate of 26.94%, admitting 9,400 out of 34,889 applicants. The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor was the next most selective public school with an admittance rate of 28.59% — selecting 15,871 applicants out of 55,504.
Gainesville Times
This UNG student to continue Alzheimer’s fight at Yale
Kelsey Richardson
Caroline Brown, a senior chemistry student at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega, found herself in disbelief when she opened up her acceptance letter to Yale University. “I was like, ‘This is crazy,’” Brown said. “This doesn’t happen to someone from a tiny school in Georgia. “After graduating this year with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, she will start a new journey earning a doctorate at Yale.
WGAU
UGA HAS QUARTET OF GOLDWATER SCHOLARS
By: Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia third-year students Monte Fischer, Mackenzie Joy, Kaitlin Luedecke and Sarah Saddoris are among 496 undergraduates from across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars, earning the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. The increased number of national Goldwater Scholars in 2019—more than double last year’s 211—is the result of a new partnership between the Goldwater Foundation and the Department of Defense National Defense Education Programs, which views the partnership as a way to maintain global competitiveness and security in the U.S.
Savanah Morning News
Savannah 100 Foundation awards four Judge Eugene Gadsden scholarships
By Jan Skutch
Sarah Abdelrahim of Rincon will leave Savannah later this month for a month in Costa Rica where she will study Spanish as part of her career plan to become a lawyer and make a difference here. A rising junior at the University of West Georgia, she is a three-time recipient of the Savannah 100 Foundation Inc. Gadsden Memorial Scholarship for budding lawyers. And she is one of four area students to receive the 2019 scholarship designed to help reach their goals. Joining her this year were:
- Mecca Aikens, a sophomore at Mercer University. She was a 2018 Gadsden scholar.
- Nykobe Richardson, a graduating senior at Woodville-Tompkins High School who plans to attend Georgia College and State University
- Alexis Williamson, a graduating senior at Savannah Arts Academy who plans to attend Duke University on a merit scholarship in the fall.
Northwest Georgia News
Rome High student already ahead of the game of life
By John Popham
Georgia Northwestern Technical College students will be joined by a high school senior as they walk across the stage at the Forum River Center Thursday at 7 p.m. to receive their respective diplomas and certifications. Elizabeth Carpenter has not graduated from high school yet, however due to her work as a dual enrollment student she will receive an associate’s degree in business management with a specialization in general management before she graduates from Rome High School on May 25. …Carpenter is headed to Statesboro to attend Georgia Southern University where she hopes to graduate with a degree in marketing. She said she should have most or all of her pre-requisites complete thanks to her dual-enrolling during high school.
Marietta Daily Journal
Riverwood’s Ga. Tech-bound valedictorian looks to future
Bill Baldowski
While many high school seniors begin looking at what college or university best fits them in their junior and senior years, Riverwood International Charter School valedictorian Michelle Stanek had her mind made up entering her sophomore year. The 18-year-old Sandy Springs resident said her choice after graduation has always been Georgia Tech. She said it was a “fantastic” school to start working toward what he believes will be her career, chemical engineering. “I knew I wanted to major in chemical engineering and make a career out of it, and you can’t do better than Georgia Tech in studying chemical engineering,” she said.
Oconee Enterprise
Students sign to become future educators
by Michael Prochaska
Almost two dozen graduating seniors signed last week, declaring their intent to make a difference in the lives of children and teenagers. During Georgia’s Future Educator’s Signing Day, students talked about their love of education and why they want to make it their career. …The following North Oconee High School students have committed to obtaining a teaching degree from their college of choice:
Mehreen Ahmad, UGA to study early child education –
Brooklyn Bradberry, Georgia Southern University to study early child education and special education.
Ashley Clark, University of North Georgia to study early childhood education
Carson Dickens, University of North Georgia to study early childhood education
Thomas Exum, Georgia State University to study early childhood education
Katrina Guo, University of Georgia to study early childhood education
Jordan Lewis, University of North Georgia to study middle education
LeAnna Truluck, Georgia College & State University to study early childhood education
The following Oconee County High School students have committed to obtaining a teaching degree
Emalee Coker, Valdosta State University to study early childhood education
Alexus Cooper, University of North Georgia to study early childhood education
Tyler Craft, Georgia State University to study high school education with a goal of becoming a music teacher.
Juliana Hunt, University of Georgia
Margarita Gomez-Puche, University of Georgia
Blair Lee, University of North Georgia
Marin Lonnee, University of Georgia to study elementary education
Jordyn Lonsinger, Athens Technical College with the intention of transferring to the University of Georgia to study elementary education
Sarah Ohlsson, University of Georgia to study special education
Athens Banner-Herald
Father, daughter share in UGA graduation celebrations
By Sara Freeland / University of Georgia
When John W. Jackson gives the address at Terry College of Business Convocation on Friday, it will be an event almost 50 years in the making. Jackson first stepped onto campus in 1972 and became one of the first 10 African Americans to play football for the University of Georgia. He walked onto the football team as a free safety the year after the team was desegregated in 1971. The same day he is giving his convocation speech, Jackson’s daughter, Jenna Jackson, will be graduating with a Master of Public Administration and Policy in the Graduate Commencement ceremony.
WRDW
Bridge renamed along I-16 to honor memory of 5 GSU nursing students
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a resolution Tuesday to honor the memory of five Georgia Southern University nursing students killed in April of 2015. The bridge at U.S. 280 that goes over I-16 in Bryan County will now be known as the Georgia Southern Nursing Angels Memorial Bridge. Caitlyn Baggett, Morgan Bass, Emily Clark, Abbie DeLoach, and Catherine McKay Pittman were killed in a crash on I-16 when they were on their way to Savannah for a nursing clinical rotation. The Abbie DeLoach Foundation was created after the tragedy and has raised money for nursing scholarships and educational nurse travel programs.
Tifton Gazette
ABAC School of Arts and Sciences sends graduates to medical and law schools
When graduates of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College walk off the stage after the spring commencement ceremony on May 9, they will spread across the United States to take the next steps in their career paths. For some of those graduates from ABAC’s School of Arts and Sciences, the road to the future involves medical school, law school, and vet school as well as graduate programs in a variety of curriculums. “Our faculty are committed to helping our students while they’re enrolled at ABAC and beyond,” said Dr. Jordan Cofer, Interim Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. “Whether it’s helping them get into graduate school or job placement, we do a great job preparing our graduates for life after ABAC.”
Douglas Now
SYMPOSIUM HIGHLIGHTS UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EFFORTS AT SOUTH GEORGIA STATE COLLEGE
By: Dr. Frank Holiwski and Dr. Rosa Guedes
A visitor to Stubbs Hall on the Douglas Campus of South Georgia State College (SGSC) during the week of April 15 could be forgiven for being overwhelmed. A striking Harlem Renaissance-inspired painting catches the eye as soon as one enters room 143, a student presents on the ecology of the Sumatra tiger in room 142 and the hallway is lined with students standing by poster presentations detailing a plethora of facts about fungi. And that’s just a snapshot in a week-long Undergraduate Research (UR) Symposium that saw dozens of presentations viewed by over four hundred attendees. The SGSC UR Symposium has been held, in one form or another, since 2011. Created by one-time SGSC sociology professor Dr. Leonard A. Steverson, and now coordinated by Dr. Frank Holiwski, professor of psychology, the Symposium is a special event meant to celebrate student research efforts and promote the college’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), infusing research across the curriculum.
Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern Faculty, Staff Advisors Win National Honors
Staff Report From Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern University faculty and staff members Christy Mroczek and Lan-Anh Vo, respectively, have been honored by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) with Certificate of Merit Awards. Mroczek, senior lecturer in the Department of Writing and Linguistics and internships coordinator, earned the Certificate of Merit in the Faculty Advising category and Vo, academic advisor in the Waters College of Health Professions, earned the Certificate of Merit in the Outstanding New Advisor Award — Primary Advising Role
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
Five African American Faculty Members Honored With Prestigious Awards
Mary Atwater, a professor in the mathematics and science education department in the College of Education at the University of Georgia, has received the 2019 Distinguished Contributions to Science Education Through Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
Daily Report
GSU Law Prof Goes Across and Down to Create NY Times Crosswords
Getting a crossword puzzle published in The New York Times is “one of the few meritocracies left,” says Georgia State law professor Samuel Donaldson.
By Jonathan Ringel
Here is how you have to think to create a crossword puzzle that gets published in the Sunday New York Times Magazine.
Georgia State University College of Law professor Sam Donaldson was getting on an airplane some time ago and looked at the boarding pass in his hand. The phrase “fly paper” came to his mind. Donaldson, who teaches taxes and estates, later contacted Doug Peterson, a California friend who’s collaborated with Donaldson on previous puzzles. They came up with a list of nine other clues, such as “scratch paper,” “wax paper” and “term paper.” They stood for the phrases—spoiler alert!—”lottery ticket,” “record deal” and “contract.” From there they went to a software program that helps create a puzzle following strict rules set by the Times’ puzzle editor in the 1940s. On May 5, their opus “Paper Work” anchored the Times Magazine’s puzzles section, which hundreds of thousands of readers devour each week. …Donaldson said the Times receives about 125 daily crossword submissions each week and chooses, of course, only seven to be published. In the past 11 years, Donaldson has created or co-created 32 that made the Times’ grade and others that were published elsewhere.
Connect Savannah
Posted By Ivana del Pielago
Named a Library Journal 2019 Mover & Shaker, Gwinnett County Public Schools’ 2019 Library Media Specialist of the Year and the 2019 Metro Georgia Library Media Specialist of the Year, Georgia Southern University alumna and Read Woke creator Cicely Lewis is making a name for herself as an innovator in the field of education. With a talent for instructional technology and innovative reading curriculum, Lewis sought a school library media certificate from Georgia Southern’s College of Education to make the transition from the classroom to media specialist.
WJCL
Chad Lunsford helps Georgia Southern seniors make one last splash before Graduation
Head football coach keeps Social Media Promise
It all started with one simple tweet. Senior marketing and logistics major Parker Smith was hoping Georgia Southern head football coach Chad Lunsford would help make his wish come true. “It started as a joke tweet, but Coach Lunsford took it and ran with it,” Smith said. “He tweeted back at me the same day and said let’s make it happen.” So Wednesday afternoon, Smith joined fellow graduating seniors on the Banks of Beautiful Eagle Creek. At five o’clock, Lunsford joined the crowd. After a few words with the students, Lunsford took his place in the water. For the next 30-minutes, he shared laughs with the soon-to-be alumni. One by one the seniors took their turn in the creek, many taking advantage of a photo opportunity with the coach. …The tradition of Beautiful Eagle Creek dates back to 1981.
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Coca-Cola has donated $1 million to Columbus State University. Here’s why.
BY MARK RICE
Bill Turner (1922-2017) embodied servant leadership and promoted it through his years as a philanthropist in Columbus. Turner, who was chairman of the W.C. Bradley Co., served on the Coca-Cola board from 1980-96. While mentoring Servant Leadership Program students from Columbus State University, he would offer them classic bottles of Coke along with wisdom — in the town where Dr. Pemberton invented the soft drink’s secret formula. Now, the university’s place that’s been dedicated to teaching this concept in Columbus for nearly two decades will be named in his honor. The Coca-Cola Foundation has awarded $1 million to CSU to establish the William B. Turner Center for Servant Leadership.
WSAV
Georgia Southern sends early morning Eagle Alert on off-campus incident
By: Kim Wade
On Wednesday morning around 1 a.m., Georgia Southern University’s Statesboro Campus sent an Eagle Alert to let students and faculty know Statesboro Police are investigating an off-campus incident. They say the incident took place next to Cambridge the Pines on Lanier Drive and they are asking everyone to avoid the area.
Savannah Morning News
Suspect in custody after student shot at Savannah State University; GBI investigating
By Asha Gilbert
Savannah State police arrested one person after a student was shot near campus housing on Tuesday. Savannah State police and Savannah police responded to University Commons building 32 around 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, spokeswoman Loretta Heyward said. The male victim was transported to Memorial Health University Medical Center to be treated for injuries. No information on the severity of injuries was made available by press time. The suspect was identified as De’Ante Lamont Scott. Heyward said he is not an SSU student. He has been charged with aggravated assault and is currently booked in Chatham County Jail.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA grad student cleared after racially-charged campus speech dispute
By Eric Stirgus
A University of Georgia graduate student denounced administrators Tuesday for what he said was a contrived effort to punish him for comments about racial injustice after a student panel cleared him of charges he falsified his graduate school application. The charges against the student, Irami Osei-Frimpong, who is African American, came in January about a week after comments about race relations he made at a meeting were posted online. Those comments included statements such as “some white people may have to die for black communities to be made whole in this struggle to advance to freedom.”
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
Fort Valley State University Partners With the National College Resources Foundation
Historically Black Fort Valley State University in Georgia has partnered with the National College Resources Foundation to attract top students from around the country to FVSU. The five-year initiative, valued at over $2 million, will support FVSU’s Searchlight Scholars program, which will provide selected students who do not reside in Georgia with scholarship funding of up to $52,400 in increments of $13,100 per year, renewable for four years. In addition, scholars will also be provided with mentorship during a research experience. “Fort Valley State University has the unique ability to both challenge and nurture talented students by pushing them past their preconceived boundaries,” said President Jones. “The Searchlight Scholars Program will help students from across the country understand that there are no borders to their potential, literally and figuratively.”
The Red & Black
UGA Appalachian ecological research program is ending after 40 years of operation
Danielle Osakwe | Contributor
As funding for scientific research remains coveted, the University of Georgia is losing one of its resources. The UGA Coweeta Research Program is winding down after decades of data collection and the program will officially end in December. The Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research program, one of 28 Long Term Ecological Research Networks in the nation, is a USDA Forest Service Lab created in North Carolina in 1934 to research forest hydrology. The lab began its partnership with UGA in 1968.
Marietta Daily Journal
Georgia Tech Research Institute completes $42M expansion at Cobb South campus
Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), a nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology, has completed a $42 million redevelopment program which includes two specialized technical facilities and spans 350,000 square feet. The facilities serve as an expansion of GTRI’s Cobb South Campus in Marietta. Requiring additional space to support its research goals, GTRI purchased four buildings on an unused, 52-acre Lockheed Martin site adjacent to Dobbins Air Reserve Base in December 2017. TRI needed to redevelop two of the buildings in research facilities. The company selected McCarthy Building Companies with Flad Architects as their design-build team and designated JLL’s project and development services division to manage the design and construction phases in the complex, multi-million-dollar redevelopment program.
Marietta Daily Journal
Georgia Tech marks $42 million expanded research presence in Cobb
By Jon Gargis
A Cobb County facility expanded to the tune of $42 million is expected to play a larger role in the state’s aerospace industry and the country’s defense efforts. Officials with Georgia Tech Research Institute — a nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology — cut the ribbon Wednesday on its expanded Cobb County Research Facility off Atlanta Road and adjacent to both Dobbins Air Reserve Base and Lockheed Martin. Wednesday’s ceremony unveiled the redeveloped 350,000 square feet of space, which came to GTRI after it purchased for $21 million four buildings on an unused, 52-acre Lockheed Martin site in December 2017, the MDJ previously reported. The additional space will give the university entity more room to support its research goals, which its interim director, Lora Weiss, said is of “incredible importance” to national security.
See also:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech expands research operations in Cobb County
The Daily-Tribune News
County planning commission recommends Highway 20 development rezoning
JAMES SWIFT/THE DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS
The Bartow County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the rezoning of a parcel along Highway 20 — which is being eyed for a potential mixed-use development — at Monday evening’s public meeting. The 27.24-acre property, which is situated between the Clarence Brown Conference Center and Walmart Supercenter, is currently zoned A-1 agricultural. Applicant Brownstone Development Group, LLC, requested that the property be rezoned to Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning. According to blueprints presented by Brownstone legal representative Jeffrey Watkins, about 15.79 acres of the proposed development would be comprised of apartments running parallel to Roving Road and abutting the boundaries of the Collins Pointe Apartments. In front of that would be 4.16 acres dedicated to senior and/or student living and another 2.5 acres reserved for a hotel. …He said he would expect about 12 months before any construction on the property — which, per Bartow County Board of Assessors data, is currently owned by the University System of Georgia (USG) — would get underway. According to USG Board of Regents Vice Chancellor of Communications and Governmental Affairs Charles Sutlive, the official list price for the roughly 27-acre property is $3.375 million, with proceeds of the sale going to “advance agricultural education and experimentation in Georgia.” The USG, he said, will not have any real estate interests or affiliations with the purchaser of the property after closing. “The USG intends to work with the prospective purchaser to ensure, to the extent possible, that the development of the land post-closing will be compatible with the surrounding developments and Georgia Highlands College’s Cartersville campus,” Sutlive told The Daily Tribune News last June, “and consistent with Bartow County’s desire for balanced growth and a strong tax base.”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Community garden planned for Rhodes Jordan Park
By Karen Huppertz, For the AJC
Harvest Gwinnett, an initiative of Live Healthy Gwinnett, will host two public meetings to discuss and share ideas about a new community garden at Rhodes Jordan Park, 100 East Crogan St. “The Harvest Gwinnett Community Garden program will address the need for fresh, healthy options to supplement the dietary needs of seniors and families in our community,” said Lindsey Jorstad, Outreach Manager in Gwinnett County’s Department of Community Services. Gwinnett officials are collaborating with community partners, including Georgia Gwinnett College, Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office and city of Lawrenceville, to bring the sustainable community garden program to the park.
Americus Times Recorder
Dick Yarbrough: Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium pleasing in a thousand ways
By Beth Alston
What a nice way to celebrate my 1,000th syndicated newspaper column. University of Georgia President Dr. Jere Morehead and Athletic Director Greg McGarity have proposed that the field at Sanford Stadium be named for Hall of Fame football coach Vince Dooley. It’s about time. In fact, it is long overdue. I have known Vince Dooley for more than 50 years. I can say without equivocation he is finally getting what he deserves. The proposal must be approved by the Board of Regents, but since Gov. Brian Kemp — a UGA grad and local Athens boy — says he is looking forward to seeing the Dawgs playing on Dooley Field this season, I think we can pretty much put this one in the bag. Applause for Gov. Kemp. If it were not for him, we still might be waiting for the Board of Regents to do the right thing
Higher Education News:
Bloomberg Government
Student-Loan Outlook Is Reversed, Showing $31 Billion U.S. Cost
By Emily Wilkins
CBO forecasts burden on taxpayers over next decade
More borrowers enrolling in income-based repayment plans
Student loans, already a hardship for many young borrowers, now are projected to be a burden for another class of people: U.S. taxpayers. The federal student loan program will cost the federal government $31 billion over the next decade, according to recent estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That’s a shift from past CBO forecasts that the government would profit from the program. “The notion that the student loan portfolio generates huge profits for the federal government is false,” said Kenneth Megan, a senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “If anything, they’re small and declining.”
Inside Higher Ed
Partisan Contrast in Spending on Student Aid
Spending bill approved by Democratic appropriators proposes increases for Pell Grants, work-study and direct aid to colleges, but Republicans balk at price tag.
By Andrew Kreighbaum
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are moving forward with spending proposals that make for a clear contrast with the White House on student aid, for-profit colleges and support for minority-serving institutions. The appropriations committee approved a bill by a 30-to-23 margin Wednesday to fund the Education Department as well as the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. It’s the first chance Democrats have had to craft a spending bill since they took over the House after the midterm elections. The bill would boost the maximum Pell Grant award by $150, to $6,345. The White House budget proposal would provide flat funding for Pell. Democrats would add $304 million to the Federal Work-Study program and $188 million in new money for Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. The Trump proposal called for cutting funding to work-study by 56 percent and eliminating the SEOG program entirely. The bill also seeks $1.16 billion in spending on the TRIO program, $210 million above the White House request.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
It’s Time Colleges Stopped Feeling Shame About Mergers
By Goldie Blumenstyk
I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education covering innovation in and around academe. Subscribe here. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week.
Merger: Not a dirty word.
College mergers aren’t necessarily a sign of something bad. They shouldn’t be seen as just a last-ditch gambit by a college on the brink. In fact, mergers are a tactic that any number of successful colleges should probably think about right now. That has not been the conventional wisdom about higher-ed mergers. Ranch C. Kimball, a university trustee who has participated in more than 20 nonprofit and for-profit mergers over several decades, says it’s time that changed. I couldn’t agree more.