University System News:
Growing America
ABAC’s Destination Ag Impacts Record Number of Students in Third Year
The buzz of children’s excited voices easily matched that of the bees inside the observation hive at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village. The observation beehive was one of the new additions to the Destination Ag program at the Museum during the 2018-19 year. It was also one of the favorite stations for the record 10,980 students who participated in the program in its third year of existence. “Destination Ag had a great year,” Museum Director Garrett Boone said. “We have the nuts and bolts of the program in place, and now we’re concentrating on minute details that will provide the best possible fun, educational experience.” Destination Ag allows school children an up-close and personal look at where their food, fiber, and shelter originate.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta Braves director, Kennesaw State VP among Leadership Cobb Class of 2020 (Slideshow)
By Eric Mandel – Digital Producer
The 2019-2020 class of Leadership Cobb is set. The Cobb Chamber on Monday announced the 50 members (26 men, 24 women) of this year’s leadership development program that’s focused on personal and professional growth. The 2020 class theme is “Focus. Insight. Vision” and is to be led by co-chairs Melissa Perignat, of Holt Ney Zatcoff & Wasserman, and Mike DeWitt, of Brightworth Financial; and vice co-Chairs, Wendy Bunch, of RE/MAX Pure, and Matt Teague, of Walton Communities. …Leadership Cobb, which is backed by Kennesaw State University Coles College of Business Executive MBA Program, began in 1983.Throughout the next year, the participants will train and study the art of effective leadership through lectures, dialogues and retreats. The 2020 Class includes (headshots above):
Julia Ayers — Kennesaw State University …Rachel Miller — Georgia Southern University
Columbus CEO
CSU Receives $1.18M Grant to Train STEM Teachers
Staff Report From Columbus CEO
Columbus State University’s UTeach program recently received a $1.18 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support 48 scholarships for secondary STEM teachers. The one-year scholarships totaling $15,000 each will be available beginning in the 2019-2020 academic year for a maximum of six students. “The NSF grant will help financially and professionally support students wishing to teach STEM subjects at the secondary school level,” said Michael Dentzau, principal investigator of the grant and assistant professor at CSU. “There is an ever increasing demand and need to provide high quality STEM teachers capable of supporting and developing science and technology literacy in our youth. This is essential to the economics of our region and the vitality of our nation.”
Athens Banner-Herald
UGA assists in 1st statewide assessment of peer support
By Laurie Anderson and Angelyn Dionysatos / Associated Press
Individuals in recovery from addiction or mental illness often struggle with managing wellness and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Without any assistance, many cycle back into hospitals, jails or homelessness. Georgia’s peer support program helps people achieve well-being and independence, and will soon benefit from work conducted by University of Georgia researchers. Over the next 16 months, researchers at the UGA School of Social Work will develop an assessment tool, or measurement standard, that the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities can use to gauge peer support settings across the state. The project will help state policymakers identify and address service inequalities. “This will be the first statewide assessment to look at all the different ways peer support is provided throughout the state,” said Orion Mowbray, associate professor of social work and principal investigator for the project. “We’re collecting data on the current system and will provide advice on how to better evaluate the peer support program.”
Inside NOVA
Principal tapped for new Arlington elementary school
Sun Gazette Newspapers
The inaugural principal at Alice West Fleet Elementary School comes with a local background. Francis Legagneur, who has been an assistant principal at Wakefield High School since 2011, was appointed to the post by the School Board, effective July 1. …Legagneur has been an educator for 19 years, beginning with the public-school system in Atlanta. His degrees include a doctorate in school improvement and administration from the University of West Georgia.
Insider Advantage
Georgia Southern Eagles Excel in the Classroom and on the Course
Georgia Southern’s Katherine Burns, a double major in math and biology, recently earned a Barry Goldwater Scholarship… She is one of fewer than 500 college students nationwide to earn the scholarship. Georgia Southern golfer Steven Fisk capped off a record-breaking career as the runner-up in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships. …being named Sun Belt Golfer of the Year and PING First-Team All-American. Dr. Kyle Marrero appointed president of Georgia Southern University in April after having been president of the University of West Georgia, brings previous experience building partnerships among colleges, public and private schools and the business community. …Staff Ted Wright asks what comes next for Georgia Southern.
Tifton Gazette
Rural Center to study regional health care simulation project
The Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation plans to evaluate the development of a regional medical education simulation and training center, according to a press release. The project’s goals are to build academic and clinical partnerships across south Georgia and to enhance experiential learning opportunities for students and providers while serving as a focal point and catalyst for the development, understanding and advancement of simulation and related technologies throughout the region. “Building capacity for health care simulation and training will aid in the development of the region’s health professions workforce while stimulating local economies,” said David Bridges, director of the Rural Center. “Additionally, this project will support the improvement of health care indicators, health care delivery and health outcomes in south Georgia.”
Chicago Sun Times
Chicago museum gives University of Georgia historian, educator $100,000 honor for military writing
John H. Morrow Jr., the winner of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for lifetime achievement, has written several books on World War I.
By Associated Press
Military historian and educator John H. Morrow Jr. has received the $100,000 Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for lifetime achievement in military writing from the Chicago museum. Morrow, 75, chairs the history department at the University of Georgia. He called the award “the ultimate affirmation” of his career.
WGAU Radio
UGA THEATER ENHANCES EXPERIENCE FOR HEARING-IMPAIRED
By: Heather Skyler
Have you ever watched a movie with subtitles and gotten frustrated by reading lines of dialogue at the bottom of the screen while you’re missing the action above the text? This is somewhat akin to how a deaf person has to watch a live show with a sign language interpreter. Constantly looking off to the side while the drama takes place on stage can ruin the immersive quality of theater. Two University of Georgia alumni sought to remedy that problem when they founded a theater in Athens called Hands In!, an educational nonprofit that produces original works in American Sign Language (ASL) with a special interest in theater and jukebox musicals. Here’s how a Hands In! production works: Both Deaf and hearing actors perform, but everyone signs their lines (a capital “D” signifies deaf culture as a whole, rather than the clinical term “deaf”). Voicers offstage speak the lines as they are being signed, so the hearing audience can understand what’s happening as well.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How University of Georgia helped put a man on the moon
By Bo Emerson
How did a professor of animal husbandry, who studied broiler chickens, get involved in the space race? Better yet, how did an Athens supercomputer help the University of Georgia win football games? Both things happened because a man named James L. Carmon, a professor in the School of Agriculture, talked his school into buying the biggest, costliest computer in existence. In 1964, that computer was the IBM 7094, a mainframe that took up an entire room and cost $3 million (about $25 million in 2019 dollars).Carmon was betting, in 1964, that computers would not only be useful but critical. He gambled that the expensive machine would eventually pay for itself. He bet right. Soon a customer came along who needed just that kind of computing power: NASA.
WJCL
Experts warn of possible East Coast earthquakes
The last major earthquake hit near Charleston in 1886.
Kyle Jones
After two back-to-back earthquakes in California, could the southeast get hit with a major earthquake? Experts say it’s possible. The last major earthquake was in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on August 31, 1886. It’s commonly referred to as the Charleston Earthquake. Its impact was felt down through Savannah. “The prism on the Tybee lighthouse shifted a few inches,” said Dr. Clark Alexander, Director of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, and professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia. “There were some chimneys that came down some china came down, but nothing like the kind of damage they saw in Charleston.” It’s estimated to be a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Each point on the Richter scale multiples intensity by 10, making it 10 times stronger than the Los Angeles earthquake this week. Could it happen again? “The likelihood of striking the east coast is quite good,” said Alexander. “There are a number of faults here, we just cant see them.” …”We typically don’t get very large ones but we can, and those are actually somewhat more dangerous because we’re not prepared,” said Dr. James Reichard, professor and chair of Georgia Southern University’s Department of Geology and Geography.
Fox News
‘World’s most dangerous glacier’ could cause catastrophic sea level rise, study warns
By Chris Ciaccia | Fox News
A glacier in West Antarctica, known as “the world’s most dangerous,” could completely melt away and cause a rapid and “catastrophic” sea-level rise, a new study warns. The study, published in the scientific journal PNAS, notes that the Thwaites Glacier is at a proverbial “tipping point” that could cause a neverending flow of ice into the world’s oceans. “If you trigger this instability, you don’t need to continue to force the ice sheet by cranking up temperatures. It will keep going by itself, and that’s the worry,” said the study’s lead author and Georgia Tech professor Alex Robel, in a statement. “Climate variations will still be important after that tipping point because they will determine how fast the ice will move.”
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
How Higher Education Became a Pawn in the Partisan Forever War
By Kevin Carey
…While conventional wisdom holds that states massively disinvested in higher education after the Great Recession, the national picture 10 years later has become more complex. Overall state funding per student, generously adjusted to account for college labor costs, is still about 10 percent lower than the pre-recession peak. But individual state paths have diverged. California and New York have increased spending on their enormous university systems while states including Maryland and Massachusetts have all but restored recession-era cuts. Others made different choices. Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Alabama all cut funding by 35 percent or more, a club Alaska is poised to join. What distinguishes these states? Mostly, the political party that governs them. …College leaders have historically stayed well above the partisan fray, wisely building a broad base of support that can absorb political oscillation. But the parties are now dividing along educational lines. The Alaska crisis suggests that if universities don’t pick sides, the sides will pick them.
Inside Higher Ed
Increasing Cybersecurity and Identity Theft Awareness
Colleges and universities have started using unique approaches to raise awareness among students of cybersecurity threats.
By Nick Hazelrigg
With college students facing issues such as phishing or identity theft, some university and college security departments are incorporating different strategies in order to raise awareness of cybersecurity issues. The number of individuals reporting identity theft in recent years has increased, and according to Consumer Reports, college students are more susceptible to identity theft than any other age group. Additionally, according to a report from the Federal Trade Commission, student loan identity theft increased in 2017 and 2018. One of the common ways identity thieves accomplish their task is through email phishing schemes. Such schemes involve sending the target a fake email with the intention of attempting to convince the target to input personal information. However, college security and information technology organizations have begun to realize the dangers such issues pose to students — who often are not always aware of the dangers of identity theft.
Fox Business
These colleges will pay tuition, but you’ll work for it
By Anna Helhoski of NerdWallet
When Collis Robinson attended Berea College in Kentucky, he worked typical campus jobs Opens a New Window. — cleaning restrooms and setting up events. But he also worked jobs Opens a New Window. students don’t usually do, including comptroller for the campus activities board and, as a senior, student director of the board. “I led 22 people and had a $70,000 budget to manage,” says Robinson, now the director of student labor at Berea. “I got to gain a lot of transferable skills.” Gaining work experience while getting an education was made even sweeter by the fact that Robinson didn’t pay a dime in tuition. Berea College is called a “work college,” meaning students must work as part of the learning experience toward a degree. There are nine official four-year work colleges, but only three offer free tuition, including Berea. Most free tuition programs are funded through a mix of endowments, alumni gifts and grants.
Inside Higher Ed
Texas will become the second state to require high school seniors to submit an application for federal student aid, a step that higher ed researchers say is linked to college enrollment.
By Andrew Kreighbaum
In a bid to boost the number of students receiving financial support for college, Texas will soon become the second state to require high school seniors to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid before graduating. A handful of states have looked at making FAFSA completion mandatory for graduating high school students. Beginning with the 2020-21 academic year, Texas will provide a serious test case for the policy after big successes in Louisiana, which enacted the requirement last year.
Reuters
Alaska lawmakers near showdown with governor over education cuts
Yereth Rosen
Alaska lawmakers were heading for a showdown with Governor Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday to try and stop his bid to slash spending on higher education – a move the state’s main university has warned could force it into bankruptcy. Minority Democrats and some Republicans said they were still working to get the votes to override the 41% cuts by the Republican at a special sitting of the state legislature. The University of Alaska has said the reductions – including $130 million from its own budgets – would force it to shut down programs and lay off up to 40 percent of staff. Dunleavy, in his first year as governor, has said his budget vetoes are needed to scale back what he sees as bloated spending, and to cope with a long-term fall in state oil revenues. Lawmakers needed 45 votes – three quarters of the state legislature – to overturn the cuts. Democrats, who have 22 seats, did not say how close they were to that target.