University System News:
WTVM
Columbus State students complete internship by working on ‘The Long Night’
By Alex Jones
Ten Columbus State University students have completed another step in their degree program by working on a Bruce Willis movie that was recently filmed in Columbus. The executive producer of ‘The Long Night,’ Alex Eckert worked with the university to place student interns in roles that would benefit them in their career goals. “We were pleased to be the first film project to secure funding from the newly created Columbus Film Fund and to offer this valuable opportunity for students at CSU to earn course credit, while also gaining real world experience in film production,” Eckert said. Student interns earned six credit hours for their participation that ranged from two weeks to a month. Some of the students are pursuing communication degrees with a concentration in film production while others are obtaining a film certificate to coincide with their degree.
Dawson News
AT&T awards $25K to support Steps to College initiative
From staff reports
AT&T is helping the University of North Georgia (UNG) make a difference in the lives of more than 115 area high school students for whom English is not their primary language. Through a $25,000 grant, the company will help ensure that first generation non-English native speaking students receive academic enrichment support that will help them to succeed in high school and beyond. Now entering its 20th year, Steps to College (S2C) is a summer for-credit program designed to meet the unique needs of bilingual or multilingual area high school students who are also English learners.
Albany Herald
Hawkins named Teacher, Faculty Member of Year for UGA College of Pharmacy
UGA pharmacy faculty member Dr. Anthony Hawkins has had a number of publications, posters and invited presentations
From Staff Reports
Dr. Anthony Hawkins, clinical assistant professor at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy’s Southwest Georgia Clinical Campus in Albany, was recently selected as Teacher of the Year for the UGA College of Pharmacy. Officials with UGA said his interactions with students, collaboration with colleagues and passion for his chosen teaching profession led to the selection. In addition to serving as faculty for the UGA College of Pharmacy, Hawkins is adjunct faculty in the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. He was recently awarded the 2019 Southwest Georgia Critical Care Clinical Faculty Member of the Year by the medical school.
AP News
Georgia professor awarded grant to study bias in elections
A political science professor in Georgia has been awarded a grant to study electoral bias in congressional elections over the past 150 years. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab awarded nearly $8,000 to Valdosta State University associate professor Bernard Tamas. His was among 11 projects to receive money from the MIT lab. Valdosta State says in a news release that Tamas will spend the next year compiling data on district-level election results in U.S. House races from 1870 to 2018.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Start date, salary set for incoming Georgia Tech president
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia Tech’s incoming president will start work there on Sept. 1, officials said Wednesday. Ángel Cabrera’s total first-year compensation will be $975,000, according to an offer letter he signed.
GPB News
Political Rewind: Migrant Shelters Face Scrutiny As HHS Considers New Facility In Georgia
By BILL NIGUT
On this edition of Political Rewind, Rep. John Lewis tours a detention center in Florida housing migrant children that has become a focal point of the immigration battle. Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services works to prepare more facilities, including one in Georgia. The federal government has passed a disaster relief package to help the farmers of South Georgia following Hurricane Michael. As Federal agencies work with Congress to regulate who may receive the emergency funding, it could be months before any money arrives. …Plus, Georgia plays an important part in President Trump’s Fourth of July extravaganza in Washington.
Panelists: …Karen Owen — Political Science Professor, University of West Georgia
The Daily Tribune News
GHC invites Bartow community to use its library
BY DONNA HARRIS
Georgia Highlands College may be sitting on one of the best-kept secrets in Bartow County. The library on its Cartersville campus, as well as libraries at its Rome, Dallas and Douglasville sites, is open to the public year-round and offers a variety of services, including book checkouts, free of charge to members of the community. “GHC libraries have always been an open resource to the community,” Cartersville campus librarian Jessica Osborne said. “Because GHC is a part of the University System of Georgia, a state institution, GHC libraries are open to the public. We love engaging with our community members, and we actively encourage community members to visit us.” Having open scholarly access for the public is a “directive of any college or university library,” Osborne said. “We feel very strongly at GHC that by engaging our community in literacy and scholarly activity, everyone benefits,” she said.
Union Recorder
State librarian addresses commissioners
Billy Hobbs
Julie Walker, who serves as state librarian and associate vice chancellor of libraries for the University System of Georgia, addressed members of the Baldwin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night related to concerns about the Twin Lakes Library System. She was among 10 people, all of whom compassionately spoke about the importance of fully funding the libraries so they can remain open in downtown Milledgeville, as well as the Lake Sinclair Branch, located off Log Cabin Road. Each was given three minutes to address commissioners during the public comment portion of the meeting. “I realize that you all are taking a series of complex issues here in Baldwin County, but I’m here tonight to specifically address the issue of funding for the Twin Lakes Library System,” Walker told commissioners. She explained that in her role as state librarian she works with all 62 library systems in Georgia, which includes 406 libraries across the state — at least one in every county.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
University System of Georgia: Georgia Tech students can keep free Fitbits
Get Schooled
By Maureen Downey
Students were scrambling to meet Monday deadline to return the devices or pay for them
Georgia Tech students who received free Fitbits through a promotion intended for University System of Georgia employees will not have to return the fitness trackers after all. USG said 8,000 Fitbits were sent to students and some employees who tapped into a promotion limited to USG staffers enrolled in a wellness program. Students were facing a Monday deadline to either return the Fitbits or pay for them. Many students were frustrated over a confusing return process and misinformation about how to send the trackers back. But students are now receiving an email notification from Fitbit that they can keep the devices. USG Executive Vice Chancellor for Operations Teresa MacCartney confirmed tonight: “All unauthorized employees and students that received a Fitbit will be allowed to keep it. If someone mailed it back, Fitbit plans to return it. The cost is being covered by Fitbit. USG will cover the cost of all authorized purchases.”
See also:
accessWDUN
Georgia Tech students clear to keep free fitness trackers
Morning Ag Clips
Teachers can use pollinator gardens in STEAM education
School gardens can be an integral part of a school’s STEAM curriculum
School gardens can be an integral part of a school’s STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) curriculum. Pollinator gardens are also an important part of the overall school gardening program as they attract pollinating insects to food crops and provide resources for all types of beneficial insects. Happily, it is possible for these gardens to also play a role in a school’s STEAM programming. Here are some tips from University of Georgia Cooperative Extension to help teachers use gardens for STEAM education.
Suwnee Democrat
Wiregrass Freedom Festival celebrates American history
By Jack Jordan
The second Wiregrass Freedom Festival was held at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture on Saturday, June 29. The festival is a July 4th celebration that demonstrates how those in the early 1900’s would’ve celebrated the holiday. The festival featured events and demonstrations throughout the Historic Village. The festival was kicked off by a game of historic baseball played by interpreters at the GMA. Onlookers got to see the beginnings of America’s greatest pastime, learning the origins and rules that were unique to early days of the game.
Savannah Morning News
Editorial: Coaches’ salary fund a winning move fund a winning move for GSU
Big-time college football success is said to be about the Jimmys and the Joes, not the Xs and the Os. Except if you can’t retain your coaching talent — the Xs and the Os — you’ll have trouble attracting those top-notch Jimmys and Joes. Especially at a school that plays at the major college level but isn’t a major player just yet. Word last month that Georgia Southern had awarded significant raises to Head Coach Chad Lunsford and every member of his coaching staff generated plenty of conversation. Aside from the faction that bemoans the fact that the coaches earn more than many faculty members, the public response was positive. Those with a deeper knowledge of college athletics’ inner workings were downright impressed. Georgia Southern boosted pay by tapping private dollars raised through the athletic foundation and earmarked to ensure GSU stays competitive when it comes to coaches’ compensation. Known as the Coaches’ Continuity Fund, the reserve was established two years ago.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Sorry, Headhunters, but the Healthiest Presidential Searches Are Open
By Kevin Dettmar and Sam Glick
A decade ago, members of a campus search committee pretty well knew the game plan for picking a president. Hire a search firm to help develop the applicant pool. Screen the applications and conduct a round of off-campus, “airport” interviews with promising candidates. Invite a shortlist of three or four finalists to the campus for daylong interviews. And finally, recommend someone (or present a ranking) to the full Board of Trustees. But at some point in the last decade — in the time since 2003, when our institution, Pomona College, hired its ninth president, and 2016, when we began a search for his successor — an important step in that process had changed radically across higher education. So radically, in fact, that it’s just gone. Increasingly, institutions of higher education select a president without the candidates ever having met with any faculty members, students, and staff members beyond the few who sit on the search committee. In 2003 it would have flown in the face of convention to argue that the identities of finalists should be kept confidential. Today, however, the default setting of most presidential searches seems to be “closed.” And while a closed process conveys obvious benefits for finalists — and, arguably, collateral benefits for search firms — we believe it’s a very bad way to hire leaders for colleges and universities. In his recent commentary, “Sorry, Professors, but Presidential Searches Should Be Secret,” Matthew Tzuker goes to great lengths to defend a foregone conclusion.