University System News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: Morehouse’s big gift, Kemp fills college board slots
By Eric Stirgus
Much of the conversation beforehand surrounding the Atlanta University Center commencement ceremonies focused on some folks planning to come from Kansas to protest. The focus quickly shifted when billionaire investor and philanthropist Robert F. Smith announced in his commencement speech at Morehouse College that he would pay the student loan debt for each graduating senior. Here’s more about that and other news in this week’s AJC On Campus.
Board appointments Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday some appointments to two key agencies that oversee public higher education in Georgia. Kemp named Carvel Lewis, Artesius Miller and Lisa Winton to the Technical College System of Georgia Board of Directors. …The governor tapped Edward Pease, David Perez and Thad Thompson to the Georgia Student Finance Commission.
…Pell Grant cut
Critics are blasting a plan announced by the White House earlier this month to redirect $1.9 billion from a Pell Grant surplus and use the money for other projects, primarily a NASA effort to put astronauts back on the moon. Pell Grants are a primary funding source for college students. The Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (the University System of Georgia is a member) wrote in a May 14 letter to Congress the move would be “deeply misguided and contrary to the national interest.”
…The College Board’s new SAT measurement For more than a year, the folks who manage the SAT have quietly worked with about 50 colleges and universities nationwide, including some in Georgia, on a new way to measure some academic, financial and other characteristics of students taking the exams. The College Board calls it the Environmental Context Dashboard. Others have labeled it an “adversity score.” Emory University, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia participated with the College Board.
…KSU’s new look The Georgia Board of Regents recently approved Kennesaw State University’s request to spend $1.8 million to give the main entrance to its Kennesaw campus a facelift.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Georgia State U. Made Its Graduation Rate Jump. How?
By Beth McMurtrie
The college-going population is growing more diverse, requiring instructors to teach students with a wide array of educational backgrounds and skills. Tax-funded support of higher education continues to dwindle, and a majority of states now use some type of performance-based funding to reward — or punish — institutions on measures like graduation rates and job placement. Meanwhile, data and analytics have come to higher education, enabling colleges to track with greater precision who is struggling, and when and how. Yet colleges continue to see high dropout rates and inequity of outcomes. The Chronicle recently released a special report, “The Future of Learning: How Colleges Can Transform the Educational Experience,” examining obstacles and opportunities around transformational teaching to improve student success — both with and without technology. As part of our research, we looked at how Georgia State University used big data and analytics as a springboard into rethinking undergraduate education, with remarkable results.
Albany Herald
Grant to Georgia Southwestern State University Foundation contributes to student success
Georgia Southwestern State University Office of First-Year Experience focuses on student retention and overall success
From Staff Reports
The Georgia Southwestern State University Foundation recently received a $5,000 grant from Flint Energies Foundation, made possible by its Operation Round Up campaign. Funds from the grant will be used to purchase five iPads to increase mobility with the GSW Office of First-Year Experience, which focuses on student retention and overall success. The iPads are designed to allow staff to immediately serve students one-on-one during registration, orientation and advisement at any meeting place. “We are grateful to Flint Energies for investing in our students’ success,” FYE Director David Jenkins said. “Their financial support will allow for much-needed technology within FYE to better serve our students.”
GPB News
Grant Brings Fresh Produce To UGA Student Pantry
By ELLEN ELDRIDGE
Nearly half of college students on campus experience food insecurity, according to a recent study. It’s an issue University of Georgia students wanted to do something about. Food insecurity can mean students don’t have access to nutritious food, but many simply can’t afford meals and must choose between paying rent or buying lunch. That’s why University of Georgia student and UGArden President John McGinnis applied for a grant this year to fund delivery and storage of fresh produce in the UGA food pantry.
Albany Herald
ABAC student attends first lady’s luncheon
From Staff Reports
When Brittany Braddy developed an interest in floral design as an eighth-grade student in tiny Mount Vernon, she never knew that her love for flowers would pave a path to a gigantic ballroom in our nation’s capital with the first lady of the United States standing directly in front of her. Braddy, a freshman agricultural education major at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, was the youngest of 30 floral designers from across America selected to put together flower arrangements for the recent Congressional Club’s 107th annual First Lady’s Luncheon in Washington D.C.
Tifton Gazette
Tift High graduates earn college degree before graduating high school
By Eve Copeland-Brechbiel
Emily Kathrine Eason and Coleman Whitfield Byers both graduated with an associates degree from ABAC before they walked across the stage to graduate from TCHS. Byers, who is looking at going into environmental engineering, and Eason, who wants to major in accounting and minor in forensic accounting, utilized the Move On When Ready program. Move On When Ready courses count as both high school credit and college credit at the same time, which helps students who have the ability and focus to complete the classes get a jump start for college, according to Jonathan Judy, director of communications and innovation at the Tift County School System. Eason, who began taking college level classes in the fall of 2017, said that when she realized she had two years until she graduated from high school and it took two years to earn an associates, she decided to go for it. …“It’s two years of free college, which is amazing,” Byers, who started in summer semester of 2017 said. “Getting our associates is guaranteed by USG (The University System of Georgia) so those credits have to transfer. It doesn’t matter if it’s (to) another school, they have to transfer. That’s one of the reasons I decided not to just take as many classes as I want and instead go for the degree.” Byers is going to the University of Georgia and Eason will be attending Valdosta State University.
Statesboro Herald
2019 Bulloch REACH scholars twice honored
AL HACKLE/Staff
Bulloch County’s five 2019 REACH Georgia scholars, completing a program they have been committed to for five years and garnering at least $20,000 each for college, were doubly honored by state and local education leaders before graduating from high school this week. Students are selected for Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen, a needs-based scholarship and mentoring program, on the basis of recommendations and other information from their seventh-grade year. Beginning in eighth grade, these students are each assigned both a mentor, who is a community volunteer, and an academic coach, usually a school staff member, to check up on them and their progress through high school. “These REACH graduates will be receiving a $10,000 REACH scholarship, plus $10,000 in matching funds from their chosen Georgia college or university,” said Bulloch County Schools lead counselor Renee Perry. “Some of the colleges also double-match, and so some students may be awarded $30,000 for their education. …Of more 60 participating colleges and universities statewide that match the scholarships, Georgia Southern University is one of a few that double-match. It is a chosen destination of three of this year’s Bulloch County REACH scholars.
Tifton Gazette
Chason calls 30th high school graduation
Anyone who has attended a graduation from Tift County High School in the past 30 years will be familiar with the ringing tones of Mike Chason as he calls each student’s name. Chason, who is Director of Public Relations Emeritus at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College , called his 30th TCHS graduation on May 25 for the graduating class of 2019. The first Tift County graduation he called was 1990.
CBS
Drowning goes unnoticed at massive Midtown pool party
Mandy Radeline
Police were called to break-up a pool party in Midtown Monday night and when they arrived they discovered a drowning victim. People called police to complain about the party at 500 Northside Circle NW just before 8 p.m. When police arrived, the party-goers scattered. Officers found 19-year-old Shomari Billings, who they believe drowned. They performed CPR, but could not save him. Billings was a student at Georgia Southern University.
Albany Herald
ABAC professor Jeff Newberry to speak at Southeastern Writer’s Association Conference
By Rachel Lord
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College professor Jeff Newberry, a poet and novelist, will be featured as the poetry workshop faculty for the 2019 Southeaster Writers Association Conference. The conference will be held from June 7-11 on St. Simons Island. Fellow ABAC professor Sandra Giles, a board member for the conference, recommended Newberry to lead the poetry workshop, which is geared toward young writers trying to hone their craft.
Inside Higher Ed
By Scott Jaschik
Columbus State University is starting a bachelor of science and a master of science in robotics engineering.
The Dahlonega Nugget
NEW SNAKE APP CREATED BY UNG FACULTY MEMBERS
BY: J.K. DEVINE
A copperhead, worm snake, scarlet snake, black racer and timber rattlesnake are among the 20-plus species that can be identified with the “Snake ID for Citizens” app developed by University of North Georgia (UNG) faculty and students. Jessica Patterson, lecturer of biology at the Dahlonega campus, collaborated with Dr. Allison Bailey, associate professor of geography and environmental studies in the Lewis F. Rogers Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis (IESA) at UNG, and UNG student Jacob Lougee to develop the app. Its purpose is to find snakes possibly suffering from a deadly fungal pathogen and pinpoint their location. This information can then be viewed in a web map in ArcGIS online and shared with the student researchers at UNG’s SCALE lab.
The Gainesville Times
What Northeast Georgia Health System is planning in Lumpkin County
Megan Reed
Lumpkin County will soon have its own hospital again, a change officials are embracing as they prepare for growth the new Northeast Georgia Medical Center Lumpkin could bring. The Northeast Georgia Health System will open a temporary hospital at the former Chestatee Regional Hospital building in Dahlonega on July 16. The hospital will have an emergency department, some inpatient beds and imaging services. Chestatee Regional closed in 2018, and NGHS expanded urgent care hours in Lumpkin to fill the void. …NGHS is leasing the Chestatee Regional property from The University System of Georgia Board of Regents. The University of North Georgia hopes to eventually relocate some of its health sciences programs and services to the building. UNG spokeswoman Sylvia Carson said the university is looking forward to having a hospital nearby again.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
$153.9 million budget approved by UGA athletics board
By Eric Jackson
The University of Georgia Athletic Association Board of Directors approved a $153.9 million budget for fiscal year 2020 at its annual spring meeting on St. Simon’s Island Friday. The $153,891,331 budget figure represents an overall increase of 7% from the 2019 fiscal year. Director of Athletics Greg McGarity pointed out during the meeting that the 2020 budget is a 45% increase from the 2011 budget, which was $84.8 million. ”Sustainability in college athletics is an ongoing challenge around the country,” McGarity said in a press release. ‘We are very fortunate to be one of the few institutions in college athletics that stands on very solid ground.”
Victory Sports Network
Georgia Gwinnett Softball: Final Four Bound
The Georgia Gwinnett College softball team is among the last four teams left standing at the NAIA World Series following a 1-0 victory against No. 2-seeded Marian University (Ind.) on Monday afternoon in Springfield, Mo. The Grizzlies (46-15) have advanced to the semifinal round of the championship tournament for the first time in program history. They will have a rematch against top-seeded University of Science & Arts (Okla.) on Tuesday, May 28, at noon central time.
Higher Education News:
Statesboro Herald
Ga. education chiefs hear calls for clarity in accountability
RESA in Brooklet hosted listening session
AL HACKLE/Staff
A need to clarify their agencies’ roles in holding schools accountable is one of the concerns state School Superintendent Richard Woods and Governor’s Office of Student Achievement Executive Director Joy Hawkins hear as they listen to local school system leaders around Georgia. Their two-hour listening session Tuesday morning at the First District Regional Educational Service Agency headquarters in Brooklet was the 13th of 16 such sessions, one in each RESA region. About 50 people, including superintendents of most of the 19 public school systems that First District RESA serves, filled the room. Woods reported seeing similar levels of interest and participation from local superintendents and support staff in other regions. …Quality Basic Education, or QBE, is Georgia’s decades-old formula for delivering state funding to local school systems. By many accounts, the budget year now ending was the first for which the Legislature and a governor – it was accomplished under former Gov. Nathan Deal – ever fully funded the formula. …For several years now the College and Career Ready Performance Index, or CCRPI, has been Georgia’s main measure of schools’ success, but the state changes something every year, making the index “a moving target,” Smith said. CCRPI relies mainly on test scores but includes a limited amount of other data.
The Chronicle of Higher Education