University System News:
The Signal
By Ada Wood
The path of higher education in Georgia is up for discussion as the University System of Georgia charts the next four years with their 2019 strategic planning efforts. Georgia State served as the venue to kick off the five-event series on Sept. 3, allowing students and faculty from across Georgia to weigh in on the priorities and problems to solve in the coming years. Georgia State University President Mark Becker provided introductions as the hosting university for the day’s event. “We know there is still room for the USG and its member institutions to do even better,” Becker said. “If you think key points are missing, please speak up. If you have an idea about how the goals can be met, please say so.” As a backdrop to the path forward, Tracey Cook, executive vice chancellor for strategy and fiscal affairs at the USG, explained the current challenges higher education is facing in Georgia.
Patch
UNG Rises In US News & World Report Rankings
In U.S. News’ annual ranking of universities and colleges, UNG also ranked for the second time on the magazine’s Most Innovative Schools.
By Kathleen Sturgeon
The University of North Georgia (UNG) ranks 16th among all public regional universities in the South on the U.S. News & World Report 2020 Best Colleges list released Sept. 9, up four spots from the previous year’s ranking. In U.S. News’ annual ranking of universities and colleges, UNG was also ranked for the second time on the magazine’s Most Innovative Schools list, earning the 17th spot among regional universities in the South. This listing highlights colleges or universities making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology, or facilities.
Albany CEO
Georgia Southwestern State University Contributes $94M Economic Impact on Region
Staff Report From Albany CEO
Georgia Southwestern State University’s (GSW) economic impact on the region was $93.6 million in fiscal year 2018, up nearly $5 million from last year’s total. This data was published in the recent annual study conducted by the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. The study, commissioned by the University System of Georgia (USG), included economic data for all 28 System Schools and for the USG as a whole. Georgia Southwestern’s economic impact grew by 5 percent from fiscal year 2017 to 2018, while the USG’s economic impact also increased by 5 percent. The report stated that the increase at GSW and across the USG is attributed to “spending by the institution and spending by the students” in each economic region.
13WMAZ
Bibb County program helps students with disabilities develop career skills
Bibb County Schools and Middle Georgia State University teamed up to offer a program called Project SEARCH to help their special needs students with career skills
Author: Pepper Baker
Whether it’s organizing books in the library, assisting the cooks in the cafeteria, or working at the campus bookstore, high school seniors in Bibb County are learning valuable skills through Project SEARCH. “They told me it was a good idea for people with special needs like me and my friends with disabilities to help us find jobs,” Howard High School Senior Parker Perry said. …Program Executive Director Jennifer Mellor says she’s worked to bring the program to the district for the last two years. “We’ve reached out to businesses throughout Macon, and Middle Georgia State University kind of questioned us about it and started a conversation,” Mellor said. Mellor monitors the program’s success across the nation and sees its impact at the state-level.
Moultrie Observer
First Archway Partnership community continues to build on its successes
When they keep inviting you back, you must be doing something right. Colquitt County leaders have continued to fund the Archway Partnership here, nine years beyond the original five-year commitment to the program. “We just really believe in it,” said Chip Blalock, executive director of the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie and chair of the Colquitt County Archway Partnership. “Our funding partners invest in the program because they know we’ll get a good return on it.” An impact study from March 2017 shows that in the 12 years between 2005, when the University of Georgia launched its Archway Partnership in Colquitt County, through 2017, the area realized an additional $226.9 million in economic activity, an average of nearly $19 million a year. And the program is going strong today, Archway officials say, as the community continues to tap into UGA resources to help create businesses and jobs, develop leaders and address critical challenges, like public healthcare, infrastructure needs, education, housing, zoning and downtown design.
WTOC
Body of Georgia Southern PD officer escorted from Savannah to Statesboro
By Dal Cannady
The body of a Georgia Southern Police Department officer was escorted back to Statesboro from Memorial Health in Savannah, Monday morning. The department says Officer Tristan Clemmons died from injuries he sustained in an off-duty motorcycle crash last week. The flag outside Georgia Southern Police Headquarters flew at half-staff, and flowers and a blue line ribbon showed the sadness for Clemmons’ death.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Cost of new Georgia State University Convocation Center jumps to $85M
By David Allison – Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle
The projected cost of a big new meeting and event facility for Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta is going up. At its Sept. 10 meeting, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia is scheduled to consider a request to increase the cost of Georgia State’s new Convocation Center by $6 million. The Convocation Center will be a state-of-the-art, 123,000-square-foot facility located on the corner of Fulton Street and Capitol Avenue, near Georgia State Stadium and adjacent to property owned by real estate developer Carter. The proposed building is envisioned to be a multi-level facility with “an elegant presence” and include a large multi-purpose arena with a seating capacity of 8,000. The total budget for the project had been $79.2 million. But the Board of Regents says it now expects the cost to total $85.2 million. “In response to bids that were higher than anticipated, the design team performed a value analysis in hopes of reducing the overall cost of the project,” says a notice in the agenda for the Sept. 10 Board of Regents meeting.
Athens CEO
UGA Dedicates Buildings Named for Ivester, Orkins
Matt Weeks
The University of Georgia dedicated the final two buildings of the Business Learning Community in a ceremony on the Coca-Cola Plaza Sept. 6. The new buildings, Sanford and Barbara Orkin Hall and M. Douglas Ivester Hall, complete the nearly 300,000-square-foot home of the Terry College of Business. Totaling $140 million, the Business Learning Community represents one of the largest capital projects in the history of the University System of Georgia. Construction of the six-building complex — built in three phases over six years — was funded through a 50-50 split of state and private support. “This project is a great example of how a public-private partnership can invest in the future of our state,” said Gov. Brian Kemp. “Terry College alumni and graduates of the University of Georgia make a positive impact on communities across our state and nation. Our state is better today because of students who have chosen this college and university as the place to start their careers.”
The Red & Black
Ceremony marks completion of North Oconee River Greenway East Campus Connector bridge
Megan Mittelhammer | Digital News Producer
The University of Georgia and Athens-Clarke County communities have bridged a gap by completing a new 235-foot long bridge that links the North Oconee River Greenway to the University of Georgia’s East Campus. “This is the first bridge in Athens-Clarke County traversing the North Oconee River in over 40 years,” Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz said. “To borrow from Robert Frost, ‘We believe good bridges make good neighbors,’” Oconee Rivers Greenway Commission chair Nat Kuykendall said in a speech on Sept. 5 to mark the completion of the newest addition to the North Oconee River Greenway. The project took just under 15 months to complete and features a concrete elevated walkway in order “to keep everything as much as possible out of the flood plain,” ACC SPLOST administrator Derek Doster said.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
UGA continues facilities arms race with $80M expansion project
By Eric Jackson – Sports Business Reporter, Atlanta Business Chronicle
The Bulldogs continue to make major plays in the SEC’s competitive facilities arms race. An $80 million project, which includes an expanded weight room and sports medicine facility, was approved by the University of Georgia Athletics Association Board of Directors on Friday. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents will vote on the project later this fall. The major expansion to the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall was unanimously approved during the quarterly meeting last week in Athens. The Butts-Mehre building serves as the administrative center for the athletic association as well as the operational hub for UGA’s football team.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some programs dear to rural Georgia lawmakers in planned budget cuts
By James Salzer
Some areas of the University System of Georgia’s budget that are near and dear to the small-town lawmakers who dominate the General Assembly — from farm research to libraries — are being targeted for millions of dollars in cuts under plans developed to meet Gov. Brian Kemp’s call to reduce spending. Kemp has ordered state agencies to develop proposals to cut their budgets 4% this fiscal year and 6% in fiscal 2021, which begins next July 1.The biggest chunk of the University System’s budget is exempted from those cuts — the part that goes to run Georgia’s colleges and universities. But almost two-dozen areas of the system’s budget, including so-called “attached agencies” such as the Georgia Military College and Georgia Public Broadcasting, would be hit. The Board of Regents is scheduled to get a briefing Tuesday on the system’s plans to cut $27.6 million this year and next to meet Kemp’s requirement. The system responded to requests for comment or explanation by saying only that the Regents will consider the proposal Tuesday. The governor’s office noted that any proposed cuts are subject to review by Kemp and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
Jackson Progress-Argus
UGA Extension training helps keep Georgia’s produce safe
By Merritt Melancon
Over the past decade, Americans have fallen in love with locally grown produce, but just because something is grown nearby doesn’t automatically make it safe. Small and beginning farmers, who put a lot of their energy into producing quality vegetables, might not have the education or experience to know how to keep their produce as safe as possible. That’s why the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is partnering with local food advocates and farmers across the state to offer produce safety training. The training helps farmers ensure that they’re providing their customers the safest produce possible and helps them meet new food safety regulations without the added expense of consultants or private trainers.
Tifton Gazette
UGA-Tifton scientist conducts research to help dairy cattle deal with heat stress
By Clint Thompson
Georgia’s summer heat can make it hard to do almost anything outside and, for dairy cows, that includes producing milk. Heat stress is inevitable in the Southeast U.S., and the first week of August had temperatures soaring past 100 degrees Fahrenheit. As Georgians fight to keep themselves cool and hydrated, the state’s farmers are working to keep their farm animals as cool as possible. On the University of Georgia Tifton campus, dairy scientist Sha Tao’s research focuses on how to help dairy farmers manage heat stress. Heat stress can negatively impact dairy cows and their milk production, but UGA researchers are working to keep cows happier, healthier and producing milk. When cows are exposed to a temperature-humidity index above 68, their milk production level begins to decrease, Tao said. Tao has been studying how nutrition, cattle management, and physiology can impact milk production, dairy cow fertility and overall health since joining the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Animal and Dairy Science in 2014.