University System News:
Savannah Morning News
Georgia’s university system looks out 4 years
By Ann Meyer ameyer@savannahnow.com
Edna Jackson, a former mayor of Savannah, was glad to see the University System of Georgia make a stop at the Savannah Convention Center Thursday during its a strategic planning process to guide Georgia’s public university system over the next four years. “We have to say when you’re planning, plan with us and not necessarily make it all for us,” Jackson said. Kimberly Ballard-Washington, Savannah State University’s interim president, said the diversity of thought gained by including the Southeast area of Georgia will be helpful to the University System of Georgia. “It depends on where you are in the state of Georgia on what your perspective might be, so I think it’s important to have this sector of the population have an opportunity to present what we think and what we want,” Washington said. “Strategic plans are big picture plans,” said Shelley Nickel, who served as interim president of Georgia Southern University until Kyle Marrero started as university president in April. “It’s all about student success,” Nickel said.
Tifton CEO
Dr. David Bridges of ABAC, Ag Grads at Abraham Baldwin
David Bridges, President of ABAC, discusses their pride in their agriculture graduates and the need they are looking to fill in the state.
Faithwire
A Louisiana State University football fan has created a fundraising campaign for the children of two Georgia Southern University football fans who were killed in a horror car crash while traveling home from Southern’s first football game of the season in Baton Rouge. They were attending the game in celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary. … that the couple had three children who all attended Georgia Southern University, one fan decided to do something to help the family at this difficult time — so he set up a GoFundMe page. …The GoFundMe has already reached its goal of $45,000. Another separate fundraiser has exceeded $35,000.
Middle Georgia CEO
Middle Georgia State University Launches Strategic Partnerships Office to Support Online Campus
Middle Georgia State University (MGA) announces the creation of a Strategic Partnerships office to work directly with businesses of all sizes, government, and various community organizations interested in helping their employees grow professionally by advancing their education through the University’s fully online degree programs. Dr. Melinda Robinson-Moffett is leading the office, part of the Division of Enrollment Management, as executive director. She and her staff are working to support the workforce needs of employers and help their employees complete their education goals through MGA Direct, Middle Georgia State’s online campus.
Savannah CEO
Area small businesses will have the opportunity to learn valuable retail strategies during a full day class being offered on October 1st in Statesboro and October 8th in Vidalia. The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is partnering with the Toombs-Montgomery Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority to host the Accelerate Your Retail Business twice in the area to allow local retailers time to brush up on their sales techniques and learn new strategies before the 2019 holiday rush. Valerie McElveen, Area Director for the UGA SBDC at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro explained, “Business owners who attend this class will learn three key human resources practices, how to reach customers in today’s digital world and other business and sales strategies that impact profitability.
Tifton Gazette
FOX 5 Atlanta photojournalist visits ABAC campus
Fox 5 Atlanta photojournalist Dixon Fletcher visited the campus of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College recently to speak to media classes about the importance of lighting in television broadcasting. A 2014 ABAC graduate, Fletcher gave demonstrations to five media classes as well as offering advice and tips to students and prospective journalists. “I stumbled upon this career path, not seeking it out,” Fletcher said. “The first time I talked to my [ABAC] advisor, Dr. Thomas Grant, I said, ‘I’m not interested in journalism. I’m taking your classes because they’re the most easily transferable thing to another institution, but don’t expect me to stick around.’ Two years later, I graduated from the journalism program. Looks like he had the last laugh.” …Fletcher volunteered his time at ABAC because the college helped him so much.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia State releases renderings of new Convocation Center
By Eric Jackson – Sports Business Reporter
Georgia State has released the renderings for its new Convocation Center, which is expected by completed by 2022, according to the university. The $85 million project will be a multi-purpose facility that will sit north of Georgia State Stadium (Turner Field). The center is designed by Atlanta-based firm CBRE| Heery and Perkins & Will and features a glass front which faces the downtown skyline. The facility will not only be the new home of Georgia State’s basketball teams, but also a much-needed space for graduation ceremonies, conferences and other large gatherings. Georgia State will finally have an indoor facility to host commencement, no longer having to do so on the stadium field as the school did this past spring. Earlier this month, the Board of Regents approved the funding for the project, which remains in the design phase.
Tifton Gazette
UGA breaks ground on new farm animal veterinary medical center
The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine recently broke ground on a new facility on their campus in Tifton. The UGA Tifton Farm Animal Veterinary Medical Center will improve the CVM’s ability to serve Georgia’s animal agricultural industries and will strengthen the South Georgia region overall, according to a press release. The 9,000-square-foot facility will feature space for the clinicians in Tifton to perform both routine and specialized food animal medical procedures in a controlled and safe environment thanks to the availability of a large hydraulic tilt chute and enclosed treatment room. In addition, this facility will help bring access to advanced reproductive technologies such as in-vitro fertilization procedures to smaller producers who may not have had access to these technologies in the past. The college expects that they will be able to offer additional services once the facility is completed in early 2020.
The George-Anne
SGA meeting covers a building project that could change the Georgia Southern campus
By Davon Johnson
At their weekly Wednesday meeting, the Student Government Association welcomed an organization called Sasaki Associates to talk about new building projects on Georgia Southern University campuses. Sasaki Associates is a Massachusetts based japenese interior and urban design firm that has been working with the university for about nine months working on expanding the features of GS. The Sasaki design program that Sasaki Associates presented at the meeting helps explain how to fix areas around GS that are too congested. The project is a long term plan that is still in process. SGA President Juwan Smith said he hopes that students see that the project was proof that GS was investing in them.
WGAU Radio
Historic artwork on display at UGA
By: Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia, just in time for Notre Dame weekend, is hosting an art exhibit, featuring George Cooke’s Interior of St Peter’s Rome.
From Larry Dendy…
Enjoy a rare opportunity to view at close range an acknowledged 19th century art masterpiece by American artist George Cooke from 3 to 6 pm Friday, September 20, on the University of Georgia campus. Interior of St. Peter’s Rome, which is 17 feet high, 23 feet long, and weighs more than a ton, was described as the largest framed oil painting in the United States when it was exhibited in the 1840s. George Cooke (1793-1849), an itinerant artist whose paintings have been found in private collections in a dozen states spent much time in Athens. His 1845 painting titled View of Athens from Carr’s Hill, is housed in the Rare Books section of the University of Georgia Libraries. Another of his works Tallulah Falls 1841, is part of the permanent collection at UGA’s Georgia Museum of Art.
Savannah Business Journal
Visit Savannah Collaborates with County Wexford, Ireland on Historical Exhibit
Visit Savannah has collaborated with the Dunbrody Famine Ship interactive museum experience to tell a complete story of the Irish people who left the country during the Great Famine and arrived at the port of Savannah. A new attraction at the Dunbrody called “Savannah Landing Point” depicts what Irish immigrants would have experienced when they arrived in Savannah in the 1840s and 1850s. The Savannah portion of the attraction includes a tour of a period-authentic ship and reenactment experience of the difficulty of crossing the Atlantic, followed up with the life-like representation of arriving at the port of Savannah in the mid-19th century. Savannah’s long-standing Irish population can mostly trace its roots back to County Wexford Irishmen and women who fled Europe during this time with the hope of a new start. The Savannah exhibit also features videos produced by Visit Savannah and a computer monitor encouraging visitors to explore the Visit Savannah website and Insider’s Guide for more information on visiting Savannah. …Led by Visit Savannah, the exhibit was supported by an array of partners including the Savannah Economic Development Authority, the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, Bonitz, and Georgia Grown, with much of the factual research provided by Georgia Southern University professor Howard Keeley.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Research Alliance gets Kemp’s backing, still has to cut spending
By Dave Williams – Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Gov. Brian Kemp gave a strong show of support to the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Thursday. But the nonprofit organization launched in 1990 with seed money from the state to grow Georgia’s technology industry still will be subject to same budget cuts Kemp has ordered for state agencies. The governor told members of the GRA board his ties to the organization go back to the early 2000s, when he was serving as a state senator representing an Athens, Ga.-based district that included The University of Georgia campus. Kemp helped with efforts to attract top academic researchers to UGA as part of the GRA’s Eminent Scholars program. “I believe the research alliance is worth funding,” Kemp said. “[But] we’re facing interesting times in state government. We’re asking people to be creative and innovative and more efficient, so we can fund priorities. … All we’re asking of people in state government is to justify the money they need.”
WTOC
GSU Police awarded new vehicle to patrol traffic
By Dal Cannady
Police and sheriffs’ departments all over Georgia gathered this week to recognize those who go above and beyond to help keep you safe on the roads. It looked and sounded like a game show when officers turned the key Wednesday and won the fully-equipped Chevy Tahoe. Georgia Southern University’s police department is teaming up with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to track their traffic stops and safety enforcement. The chief says they face a lot more traffic issues than people might realize.
Rockdale Newton Citizen
Newton County Schools announces top three in the running for district 2020 Teacher of the Year
By Hunter Terrell
The three candidates earning the highest point totals and thus entering the final round of the judging are, in alphabetical order: Dr. Shannon Price, Flint Hill Elementary School; Betsy Proffitt, Eastside High School; and Eboni Simmons, Alcovy High School. On Tuesday, Sept. 24, the Teacher of the Year selection committee will observe each of the three finalists in their classroom and the teacher with the highest combined score on the essay, interview, and observation will be announced as the 2020 Newton County Teacher of the Year during a special ceremony at Newton High School on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 4:45 p.m. Dr. Shannon Price is a fourth-grade teacher at Flint Hill Elementary School. She began her teaching career in the Newton County School System when she was hired as a teacher at Palmer-Stone Elementary School in 1995. …She earned her bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Georgia College in 1994. …Betsy Proffitt is a physical science and chemistry teacher at Eastside High School. She began her teaching career in Newton County School System in 1992 when she was hired as a science, math and language arts instructor at Porterdale Elementary School. …Proffitt earned both her bachelor’s in education and masters in education from the University of Georgia. She holds an additional certificate to teach gifted. …Eboni Simmons has served as a biology teacher at Alcovy High School since she joined the Newton County School System in 2009. She previously served as a science teacher for both middle and high school at New Birth Christian Academy from 2006 to 2009. Simmons earned her bachelor of science degree in biology from Georgia Southern University in 2005 and her master of arts in teaching in secondary science from Georgia State University in 2012. She also holds an additional certification to teach gifted-secondary science.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Student Debt Levels Rise, but More Slowly
Last year’s bachelor’s degree graduates had $29,200 in cumulative student debt, 2 percent more than their peers the year before.
By Elin Johnson
Student loan borrowers who earned bachelor’s degrees in 2018 had an average debt of $29,200, up 2 percent from their peers in the Class of 2017, the Institute for College Access & Success said in its annual student debt report Thursday. That represents a slight slowing in the rate of borrowing, as the average debt level for borrowers rose at a steady average of 4 percent a year between 1996 and 2012 and slowed after that between 2012 and 2016 before reaching the 2 percent it rests at now. The data in the annual study by TICAS, as the group is known, come from self-reporting from universities. The study looks at students who earn bachelor’s degrees from four-year institutions.