University System News:
southgatech.edu
USG Chancellor And TCSG Commissioner Speak At GEAC Conference
Dr. Steve Wrigley, Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, and Matt Arthur, Commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia were the featured speakers at the Georgia Education Advancement Council (GEAC) meeting in Young Harris, GA recently. They spoke to nearly 250 representatives from the University System of Georgia higher education institutions and the Technical College System of Georgia colleges. Both Chancellor Wrigley and Commissioner Arthur talked with the advancement, marketing, alumni, and foundation representatives from 45 educational institutions across the state. Representatives from South Georgia Technical College and Georgia Southwestern State University were in attendance. Chancellor Wrigley gave an overview of the state of education in the University System of Georgia and talked about the importance of individuals receiving some type of educational certification after high school. He also shared that the University System is in the business of creating “knowledge” for the individuals who choose to attend a four-year institution. He revealed some of the different ways that his universities and colleges were working to create a more seamless pathway for individuals to continue their education in the 26 public colleges and universities in his system.
The Brunswick News
CCGA participates in Ethics Awareness Week
By Lauren Mcdonald
College of Coastal Georgia participated this year in the University System of Georgia’s Ethics Awareness Week, which aimed to remind the college’s employees of the system’s commitment to an ethical culture and shared values and expectations. The week of events, held Nov. 11 to 17, concluded with a presentation from Chris McCraw, USG associate vice chancellor for legal affairs. McGraw shared how the USG’s Code of Conduct and the organization’s core values of integrity, excellence, accountability and respect are lived out daily in ethical behavior.
Statesboro Herald
Marrero unites with local law to “Protect the Nest”
New initiative strives to make campus safer
Holli Deal Saxon/staff
Usually, when college and university students interact with law enforcement, it’s not for pizza. However, a recent effort by Georgia Southern University to bridge the gap involved local officers and students sharing a meal.
Albany Herald
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words — College
Albany Museum of Art Special to The Albany Herald
College winners in the Albany Museum of Art’s fifth annual “A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words” essay contest were Will Tomlinson, Georgia Southwestern State University and Colleen Colman, dual enrollment at GSW and Lee County High School, both honorable mention; Alana Dapper, Albany State University, first place; Chloe Butts, GSW, second place, and Ashlynn Dapper, dual enrollment at Sherwood Christian Academy and Truett McConnell University, third place.
Albany Herald
South Georgia Banking Co. supports ABAC scholarship program
From staff reports
On GivingTuesday on Dec. 3, friends and supporters of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will have an opportunity to support the ABAC student scholarship program as one of their giving options. South Georgia Banking Company is ahead of the pack in that regard, since SGBC is already sponsoring a scholarship for ABAC student Kasey Kight as a result of its annual sponsorship of “An Evening for ABAC.” “For the past 50 years, we have made it a priority to invest in the communities we serve,” SGBC President Glenn Willis said. “Our partnership with the ABAC Foundation allows us to help build the future of south Georgia and change the lives of young people through their education.”
Savannah Business Journal
Deep Center Receives $150,000 Grant to Improve the Health of Boys and Young Men of Color
Staff Report
Deep Center has received a $150,000 grant from Forward Promise, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant will support Deep Center’s efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of boys and young men of color. The award supports Deep Center’s work over 18 months to foster the healing, thriving and creative leadership of boys and young men of color as well as to collaborate with institutions in Chatham County to remove systemic barriers for boys and young men of color. Key partners include the Savannah Chatham County Public School System, the Chatham County Juvenile Court, Healthy Savannah and educational research scholars at the University of Georgia’s College of Education and Georgia Southern University’s Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading.
Albany Herald
Four UGA instructors receive D.W. Brooks Awards
By Merritt Melancon CAES News
The students and faculty of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences came together Nov. 12 to celebrate the progress that agriculture has made in the past 50 years and the promise of innovations to come. As part of the annual D.W. Brooks Lecture and Awards, the college recognized four of its most innovative and dedicated faculty members with D.W. Brooks Awards for Excellence. “These winners have been nominated by their peers and selected by a panel of judges, and they represent some of the most noteworthy scientists and extension professionals in the college,” said CAES Dean and Director Sam Pardue. Marc van Iersel, the Vincent J. Dooley Professor of Horticulture; Patricia J. Moore, professor and senior teaching fellow in the Department of Entomology; Alfredo Martinez-Espinoza, professor in the Department of Plant Pathology; Lori Purcell Bledsoe, Northwest District 4-H program development coordinator …The college has awarded D.W. Brooks Faculty Awards for Excellence in research, teaching and extension since 1983. The D.W. Brooks Faculty Awards for Excellence include a plaque and a $5,000 cash award.
The Center Square
Georgia to receive $1.4M from USDA for distance learning and telemedicine
By Nyamekye Daniel
Georgia is among 37 states that would receive grants earmarked for rural technology. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued $1.4 million for distance learning and telemedicine projects for five Georgia organizations. “Distance learning and telemedicine make it easier for thousands of rural residents to take advantage of economic, health care and educational opportunities without having to travel long distances,” Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Donald “DJ” LaVoy said in a statement. Telemedicine allows health care providers to care for patients remotely while distance learning offers students virtual education. The USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program funds the services in rural areas. The grants could be used for equipment, capital, software, broadband transmission facilities and other programming assets. …Oconee Fall Line Technical College and Augusta University plan to use their grants, both under $200,000, for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classes and medical studies.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Swastikas at Georgia campuses create unease, calls for more security
By Eric Stirgus
…Jewish students, their parents and supporting organizations are exploring additional safety measures after recent acts of anti-Semitic vandalism at campuses nationwide, including at UGA, the state’s flagship school, and at Georgia College & State University. The incidents have unnerved students and their families, and the presidents of both Georgia schools have condemned the acts. But others say more must be done.
Inside Higher Ed
Gratitude and Stress Reduction
Thank you from the writers at University of Venus
By University of Venus
We know that research tells us that feeling grateful is good for our mental and physical well-being. In the spirit of gratitude, we encourage you to pause and consider all the things in your life that are going well. What are you grateful for and how does expressing gratitude help you cope with stress?
Jaime O’Connor, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA
I have developed some significant health issues over the past year, and I am exceedingly grateful for my supportive colleagues and the accommodations my university have provided to allow me to continue to do work that I love and find fulfilling. On rough days, it helps to remember and be grateful for this opportunity that many others with my condition do not have.
Georgia Health News
All in the family: Relatives serving vital role as caregivers
Judi Kanne
Juggling several responsibilities
AARP says that more than 1 million Georgians are caregivers.
Nationally, 24 percent of caregivers are millennials (people born in the early 1980s to the mid-1990s) and 40 percent are men, according to an AARP report. The estimated economic value of caregivers’ unpaid contributions was about $470 billion in 2017 (the most recent available data). Many volunteer caregivers are raising their own children while caring for an ailing parent. In Georgia, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter established an Institute for Caregiving at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus.
Savannah Morning News
Georgia Medical Society recognizes 19th annual health care heroes
he Georgia Medical Society has recognized its 19th annual Health Care Heroes Awards to individuals in the community who have involved themselves in making health care better in this community. Nominations were accepted by organizations/individuals for the following categories:
Health Care Education: An individual or an organization that has conducted or sponsored educational activities that have improved the quality of life for a segment of our community. • Dr. Barry Joyner: dean, Georgia Southern University, Armstrong Campus, Waters College of Health Professions
Athens Banner-Herald
UGA looks to close health care workforce gap
By Leigh Beeson
You can’t solve a public health crisis if you don’t have the workforce to tackle it. And the U.S. — Georgia, in particular — has a massive shortage of health care professionals trained to address substance use disorders. The University of Georgia’s School of Social Work is aiming to close that gap, by partnering with local behavioral health agencies and a federal grant designed to help students get the hands-on training they need to hit the ground running after they graduate.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Biopharma ex-chairman ‘Pete’ Petit facing criminal fraud charges
By Johnny Edwards
Another former top MiMedx executive also implicated in scheme to inflate revenues.
When his biopharma company fell under suspicion of over-shipping products to VA hospitals to inflate revenues, Parker “Pete” Petit pointed fingers. He blamed short sellers, employee whistleblowers and his own “rogue” salespeople for sweeping him up in the allegations. But on Tuesday, federal authorities who have been investigating Marietta-based MiMedx Group for more than two years laid blame on the 80-year-old Petit, the company’s former chairman and chief executive. Known for decades as a politically-connected Atlanta business leader and a well-heeled philanthropist for higher education, Petit now faces criminal accounting fraud charges. He’s accused of orchestrating several channel-stuffing schemes and secret side deals with distributors designed to inflate sales revenues and keep stock prices up. The fraud went on for years, prosecutors say, inflating revenues by millions of dollars. …For 37 years, Petit ran publicly traded companies in the healthcare and biotech industries. He also donated millions of dollars to local institutions, getting his name on biotech and sciences buildings at Georgia Tech and Georgia State University. The football field at GSU stadium carries his name, the result of a $10 million pledge. In an email late Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Board of Regents said the board was aware the SEC’s actions and will closely monitor the situation as it develops.
IotNow
Georgia Tech Internet of Things Research Centre releases white paper on Digital Transformation
The Georgia Institute of Technology’s Centre for the Development and Application of Internet of Things Technologies (CDAIT) announces the release of a white paper that offers some pathways for business leaders as they explore digital transformation and the Internet of Things (IoT). The study gives context for IoT and Digital Business Transformation (DBT) relative to ongoing digital change bounded on one hand by the basic digitalisation of information and processes and, on the other, the broader digital societal transformation that will enable a connected and digitally engaged society.
Medical Design Briefs
Coming Soon – Soft Wearable Health Monitor Uses Stretchable Electronics
A wireless, wearable monitor built with stretchable electronics could allow comfortable, long-term health monitoring of adults, babies, and small children without concern for skin injury or allergic reactions caused by conventional adhesive sensors with conductive gels. The soft and conformable monitor can broadcast electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate, respiratory rate, and motion activity data as much as 15 meters to a portable recording device such as a smartphone or tablet computer. The electronics are mounted on a stretchable substrate and connected to gold, skin-like electrodes through printed connectors that can stretch with the medical film in which they are embedded. “This health monitor has a key advantage for young children who are always moving, since the soft conformal device can accommodate that activity with a gentle integration onto the skin,” said Woon-Hong Yeo, an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “This is designed to meet the electronic health monitoring needs of people whose sensitive skin may be harmed by conventional monitors.”
Athens Banner-Herald
UGA aims to improve safety of self-driving cars
By Mike Wooten
Millions of American motorists will take to the streets and highways this week and next month to visit friends and family during the holidays. More vehicles on the road inevitably means more wrecks and injuries. Some area scientists are working on ways to make such trips more safe for when cars no longer require a driver. Researchers in the University of Georgia College of Engineering will use a Cyber-Physical Systems grant from the National Science Foundation to develop systems that help autonomous vehicles safely navigate the nation’s streets and highways.
13WMAZ
PETA: Georgia ‘must retire Uga immediately’ because ‘animals are NOT mascots’
The animal activist group took a clip from Saturday’s game of Uga sitting in his doghouse and said he looked miserable.
Author: Jonathan Raymond
The animal activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling on the University of Georgia to stop using Uga the bulldog as a mascot. PETA seized on a clip from Saturday’s game, showing Uga in his doghouse appearing to sleep while it rained, and said: “HE LOOKS MISERABLE!”
Higher Education News:
AP News
As stigma ebbs, college students seek mental health help
By Collin Binkley and Larry Fenn
More college students are turning to their schools for help with anxiety, depression and other mental health problems, and many must wait weeks for treatment or find help elsewhere as campus clinics struggle to meet demand, an Associated Press review of more than three dozen public universities found. On some campuses, the number of students seeking treatment has nearly doubled over the last five years while overall enrollment has remained relatively flat. The increase has been tied to reduced stigma around mental health, along with rising rates of depression and other disorders. Universities have expanded their mental health clinics, but the growth is often slow, and demand keeps surging.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
The Steve Fund Improves Mental Health Services for Students of Color
by Sara Weissman
The Steve Fund – a nonprofit dedicated to improving mental health for students of color – hosted a series of on-campus, daylong conferences called “Young, Gifted and @Risk.” Each conference brought faculty, administration, students and mental health experts together for in-depth discussions on the emotional well-being of minority students. …While all of the conferences focused on the same broader theme of mental health for students of color, The Steve Fund worked with each school to create a conference agenda tailored to their interests.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Study: Veterans More Likely to Hold Non-Degree Credentials
by Sarah Wood
A new study found that United States military veterans are more likely than the general population to hold certificates or certifications. Strada Education Network and the Lumina Foundation collaborated to produce the “Veterans Without Degrees: The Benefits and Opportunities of Certificates and Certifications” report. Perspectives from veterans were used to analyze both the challenges and benefits of holding non-degree credentials. “[Veterans have] received all kinds of education and training after high school that isn’t necessarily always something that’s recognized or takes place in a traditional community college or classroom,” said Dr. Nichole Torpey-Saboe, who is the head researcher of the report. “They have an incredible amount of experience, education and training but are they seeing the benefits of that when they leave the military?”