University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Magazine names KSU’s Executive MBA Program as the best in Georgia
By Kristal Dixon
For the fourth consecutive year, CEO Magazine has ranked Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program as the best in Georgia. The magazine’s 2020 Global Executive MBA listing ranks KSU’s program 13th on the list of the best Tier One executive MBA programs around the world. It places third on the list of best programs in the United States and ranks the best in Georgia.
Griffin Daily News
Partnership aims to turn paraprofessionals to teachers
By Jennifer Reynolds
Staff Writer
A signing was held Friday to mark the official launch of a new partnership between the Griffin-Spalding County School System and Gordon State College.
Metro Atlanta CEO
Staff Report
Clayton State University and Atlanta Metropolitan State College have announced a new partnership to provide a degree pathway for students interested in education careers. Under this new agreement, Atlanta Metropolitan State College (AMSC) students who complete an associate degree in teacher education may be eligible to be admitted to Clayton State University and transfer credits in order to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Education with a concentration in Elementary Education. The agreement would allow students to transfer without the risk of losing any credit hours. The presidents of both institutions signed a transfer articulation agreement on Wednesday, March 4, 2020.
WSB-TV
Georgia State, KSU students urge officials to switch to online classes amid coronavirus fears
Close Georgia State University campuses – Switch to online classes until further notice
Students at Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University are urging officials to switch to online classes to prevent the spread of coronavirus. A petition on Change.org is asking GSU to join other universities and colleges around the country in moving to online classes has gained over 12,000 signatures since Monday night. The petition argues that the campus is located next to a hospital and hosts numerous commuters from all over the state, making students at greater risk for exposure. The petitions allows signers to share their reasons for supporting online classes. Some students wrote that they are scared of getting sick and that the school should be proactive and cancel before any cases of coronavirus are confirmed on campus.
11Alive
Student-led petition calls for closure of Georgia State University campus on coronavirus fears
Author: Michael King (11ALIVE)
A petition launched by students at Georgia State University on Monday afternoon demanded that the university close its downtown Atlanta campus and shift to online-only classes as a result of the expanding coronavirus outbreak. The petition was started on the website Change.org at 3 p.m. Monday. By 1 a.m., Tuesday, the petition had grown to more than 9,300 signatures and additional signatures were still being added.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia State students urge online classes as coronavirus fears rise
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Overnight, a student petition to adopt virtual classes drew nearly 11,000 signatures
Georgia State University students are urging the campus to follow the example of dozens of colleges around the country and move to online classes in the face of the mounting coronavirus threat. A petition for online classes collected more than 11,000 signatures overnight, helped along by a news story about the effort in the Signal, the GSU student newspaper. There also appears to a surge in signatures this morning after Fulton County’s decision to shutter all its schools today because a middle school teacher was confirmed to have the highly contagious virus. Several new signers to the petition cited the Fulton decision.
Savannah Morning News
Coronavirus could close college campuses, including UGA
By Lee Shearer
Georgia colleges and universities are preparing for the possibility of eliminating in-person classes on account of the unfolding COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. “If social distancing becomes necessary, it is possible we would need to close the university for a period of time. To ensure that instruction continues, all faculty must be prepared to teach courses remotely from home. We know that some of you have never taught online and will find this daunting. We are committed to providing the support you need to be successful,” according to a post by Georgia State University Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Wendy Hensel. Georgia State University has created a guide for faculty on how they can build a basic online class, giving as an example a recorded voice with slides. Georgia College and State University has also announced plans to cope with a possible campus closure, instructing its faculty to familiarize them with available tools for teaching online in the college’s learning management system. Other universities, including the University of Georgia, are also planning for the possibility.
The Sentinel
University creates task force to handle coronavirus threat, cancels travel abroad trips
Kennesaw State President Dr. Pamela Whitten has created a coronavirus task force effective Tuesday, March 3, consisting of local officials to lead preparation should a case emerge within the campus community. In the meantime, KSU has suspended travel abroad trips. The task force, along with a large core working group, has been preparing for the safety and health of KSU students, faculty and staff, Assistant Vice President of Strategic Communication Tammy Demel said. “In the event of a confirmed case of the virus within the campus community, the university will work closely with local, state and federal health officials and the [University System of Georgia] to determine the most appropriate course of action on behalf of the campus community,” Demel said.
WJCL
National Youth At Risk Conference underway in Savannah
Dave Williams
Savannah is an important gathering place this week for educators from all over the country.
Georgia Southern University is hosting the National Youth-At-Risk Conference at the Hyatt Regency. With more and more issues facing today’s school age kids, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for educators and administrators to deal with those problems.
Reporter Newspapers
Georgia Chamber postpones Perimeter event due to coronavirus concerns; local groups still meeting
Posted by John Ruch
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has postponed two large conferences – including one in Perimeter Center that was to feature U.S. Sen. David Perdue – due to concerns about the new coronavirus. Meanwhile, smaller local business groups are continuing to meet for now. The Georgia Chamber’s “Future of Free Enterprise” event was to be held March 23 at a Dunwoody hotel. That and a “Future of Rural Healthcare” event scheduled for March 25 at Georgia Southern University are postponed “due to the heightened awareness of global health concerns” about the coronavirus, a staff member said.
See also:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Chamber postpones upcoming events amid coronavirus concerns
The Augusta Chronicle
University Hospital patient tests negative for coronavirus
By Miguel Legoas
Results for an Augusta-area resident tested for the novel coronavirus at University Hospital have come back negative. University Health Care System spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester provided the results shortly after 8:30 p.m. The person came to University on Saturday with respiratory symptoms after being in contact with a recent traveler from an affected area at the person’s home, Sylvester said in a news release earlier Sunday. She later confirmed that the traveler was from Italy, which has been one of the hot spots for the virus. Sylvester said the person came to the hospital directly and was isolated immediately. The patient was approved for testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a sample was promptly collected and taken to Atlanta for testing.
SaportaReport
Mount Hope Cemetery in Dahlonega
Megan Anderson
University of North Georgia students and faculty are collaborating to maintain Mount Hope Cemetery in Dahlonega. Thanks to a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, five of the students involved in the project joined Rosann Kent, director of the Appalachian Studies Center, and Chris Worick, chairman of the Dahlonega Cemetery Committee, to present their work at the Appalachian Teaching Project Symposium in Washington, D.C., in December. The cemetery is adjacent to the UNG Dahlonega campus.
Athens CEO
UGA Nonprofit Leadership Development Program Graduates 2020 Class
Staff Report From Georgia CEO
A leadership program at the University of Georgia continues to build a stronger nonprofit community equipped to address the state’s critical issues. Nineteen nonprofit leaders from around Georgia graduated from the 2020 Executive Leadership Program for Nonprofit Organizations (ELPNO), held in January at the UGA J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, a unit of Public Service and Outreach.
Albany Herald
UGA Extension to host solar energy seminar
By Chad Cain CAES News
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is offering a new seminar, “Solar Energy in Rural Georgia: Opportunities for Landowners,” on March 26 at the UGA-Tifton Campus Conference Center. The event, set for 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., is structured to help landowners understand the benefits and possible liabilities of hosting solar panels on their land. The public is welcome to attend for free, but advance online registration is required. Investing in solar panels as an energy provider or leasing to outside companies has been a growing topic in the last few years, and recently UGA Extension offices are fielding more questions on the subject.
WGAU
UGA Great Commitments Tour is underway
The Great Commitments Student Tour of Georgia hit the road Monday, with 34 University of Georgia undergraduate students spending their spring break on a weeklong trip around the state – learning firsthand how UGA is making a difference in Georgia communities. Ranging from the north Georgia mountains to the coast, stops on this year’s tour include Amicalola State Park, the state Capitol and Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, the city of Senoia, Hardy Farms, the Pinpoint Heritage Museum and the Augusta Cyber Institute.
Savannah Morning News
Opinion
David Breland column: ‘Un-merge’ movement pushing to end Armstrong consolidation
Last summer alumni from Armstrong State University and Georgia Southern gathered and formed a committee called “Un-Merge My University.” We represent a significant number of dissatisfied people who share the strong belief the merger was a disservice to both of our communities. Certainly school spirit, civic pride, and history factor into our displeasure. Among Armstrong’s goals were to build “strong ties to Savannah” and “lasting relationships with the local community.” That it did. Alumni love their alma mater. There are many practical reasons to roll back this consolidation. Post-merger, people are choosing not to attend school at the Armstrong campus. Enrollment at the Armstrong campus is down approximately 20% since the merger. In Statesboro enrollment is down as well. At the same time, enrollment is up about 4% across the state for the University System as a whole. People are going to Georgia colleges; many are just choosing to not attend here.
The Sentinel
Undergraduate student presents cervical cancer research at state Capitol
Kennesaw State senior molecular and cellular biology major Hope Didier has propelled her career and educational experience with her undergraduate research on cervical cancer cell death, presenting at the Posters at the Georgia State Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 25, according to KSU News. Didier presented her research titled “Induction of Cervical Cancer Cell Death via Reintroduction of Viral Protein E2.”
Marietta Daily Journal
Campus free-speech bill clears Georgia Senate amid discrimination worries
By Beau Evans Staff Writer Capitol Beat News Service
The Georgia Senate passed legislation Monday that would expand free-speech protections for religious and ideological groups, which opponents say could encourage on-campus discrimination. Senate Bill 318, called the “Forming Open and Robust University Minds Act,” would bar schools from designating so-called “free-speech zones” where student groups can convene outdoors on campus, including for protest events. Contentiously, the bill would also prohibit Georgia colleges and universities from denying meeting spaces and funding for “religious, political or ideological student organizations.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia House leaders cut teacher pay raise in half, ease Kemp spending reductions
By James Salzer
Georgia House leaders pushed back hard on Gov. Brian Kemp’s spending cuts Monday, backing a $28 billion budget that ignores many of his proposed reductions and slashes his plan for a $2,000 teacher pay raise in half. The House Appropriations Committee on Monday approved the budget plan for fiscal 2021, which starts July 1.The chamber’s leaders added 2% pay raises for state employees and an additional 2%-5% in several areas where low salaries have made it difficult to keep staffers, from food safety inspectors and prison guards to mental health workers. …Teachers would get a $1,000 pay raise, under the House plan, rather than the $2,000 Kemp proposed.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Workers With Skills But No Degree
By Madeline St. Amour
Do good jobs exist for those without four-year degrees? A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research sought to answer this question. While four-year degrees can easily signal the skills or level of preparation a worker might have for a job, it’s harder for those who are “skilled through alternative routes,” like previous jobs or experience, to signal what they know, the report says. The researchers looked at data on skill requirements of jobs to find the gaps between a worker’s current job and higher-wage jobs with similar skill requirements. They found that, of the 16 million workers without college education but with skills for high-wage work, about 11 million are currently working in low- to middle-wage work. Five million workers without four-year degrees already have jobs that pay greater than twice the median state cohort wage, which points to the possibility for workers without degrees to move up the wage scale.
Inside Higher Ed
GI Bill Enrollments to Be Halted at 5 Universities
In a move consumer groups said was long overdue, the Department of Veterans Affairs took aim at Temple, Phoenix and three other universities, saying they’ve misled prospective students.
By Kery Murakami
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it would soon stop approving the enrollment of new students receiving GI Bill benefits at the University of Phoenix, Temple University and three other institutions based on information from the Federal Trade Commission or state attorneys general that these institutions misled students about the value of getting a degree from these universities. The move, hailed as long overdue by veterans’ groups, will not immediately affect current students. But in a press release, the VA said it will stop approving new GI Bill enrollments at the universities in 60 days unless the institutions, including the Career Education Corporation’s Colorado Technical University and American InterContinental University, and Bellevue University, take corrective action.
Inside Higher Ed
Awareness and adoption of open educational resources continue to grow, a new report suggests. But the movement could be overshadowed by publisher initiatives like inclusive access.
By Lindsay McKenzie
The way instructors discover textbooks and the way students purchase them has changed rapidly over the past five years. Today, the textbook industry is at an inflection point, according to a new survey on educational resources by Bay View Analytics, formerly the Babson Survey Research Group. “The whole market has changed,” said Jeff Seaman, director of Bay View Analytics. The most recent data from the company suggest there is growing acceptance of digital materials over print among faculty. The survey of 4,339 faculty members and 1,431 chairpersons also finds that professors, college leaders and even entire college systems are increasingly concerned about how much students must pay for course materials. The open educational resources movement, which supports the creation and dissemination of freely accessible and openly copyrighted course materials, has played a huge role in driving the conversation about textbook affordability, Seaman said.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Coronavirus Has Ripple Effects Across Higher Ed Landscape
by Shailaja Neelakantan
The American Council on Education (ACE) said on Monday it is canceling its annual meeting, set for March 14-16 this year in San Diego, due to the threat posed by the novel coronavirus. However, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, or NADOHE, is still planning to go ahead with its March 11-14 annual meeting, but with “heightened levels of cleanliness” at the event venue in San Diego. These developments come even as more and more universities announce they are closing and/or moving classes online amid fears of a global pandemic.
Inside Higher Ed
Conference Cancellations Mount
American Council on Education’s decision could have a ripple effect on other upcoming conferences, as the association is often looked to as a leader among higher education groups.
By Emma Whitford
The American Council on Education announced Monday that it has canceled its annual meeting, citing the “ongoing and growing threat posed by the novel coronavirus.” The meeting had been scheduled to take place this weekend in San Diego. ACE’s decision could sway others to cancel their upcoming events, too. Other associations often look to ACE for guidance. They informally watch what the association does, and ACE’s president coordinates the Washington Higher Education Secretariat, a forum of 65 association chief executives who develop responses to important issues and challenges facing higher education. The Secretariat’s meeting last week was “all COVID-19, all the time,” said Ted Mitchell, ACE president, in a telephone interview. Attendees shared information and ideas with other associations and reported out what they were hearing from their members and boards. Asked if he expects other higher education associations to follow ACE’s lead, Mitchell said, “Some will, some won’t.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Will Coronavirus Cancel Your Conference?
By Scott Carlson
The rapid spread of the coronavirus is wreaking havoc on higher education’s business-as-usual, sometimes in unpredictable ways. The latest casualties came on Monday: The American Council on Education canceled its annual conference, set for March 14-16 in San Diego, and the American Association of Community Colleges pulled the plug on its 100th anniversary meeting, set for March 28-30 near Washington, D.C. Similar announcements will almost certainly follow. At risk are the conferences and seasonal convenings of higher education’s veritable alphabet soup of associations. Some take place at plush resorts in sunny locations, others in the humble ballrooms of a small-city Hilton or a Ramada Inn. The gatherings are a valuable place for academics and administrators to connect (or cut loose). But for the associations themselves, the meetings are also a significant source of income — more than half of the annual revenue for some small organizations.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Going Online in a Hurry: What to Do and Where to Start
By Michelle D. Miller
The coronavirus has colleges and universities swinging into action to move courses online. In the coming weeks, we’ll find out just how prepared (or not) academe is to do this on a large scale. Those of us in online teaching and educational technology have moved quickly to help, too, and it’s astonishing how many helpful resources have already been pulled together. Even just a few weeks into the crisis, and really only a few days since class cancellations started to become a reality, there are top-quality guides free for the taking, created by people who really know their stuff. I will make no claim to have read all or even a fraction of them, but there are several that are clearly share-worthy:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Empty classrooms and a shuttered welcome center are among the signs of the University of Washington’s response to the coronavirus
By Katherine Mangan
On a typical Monday morning, Celia Gale fields questions from a steady flow of students congregating in one of the most popular buildings here on the University of Washington’s main campus, the Husky Union Building. This Monday, though, as an eerie quiet descended on the partially closed main campus, the college junior spent more time sanitizing her reception counter and keyboards than greeting other students. The outbreak and rapid spread of the coronavirus in Washington State has upended this campus in the final weeks of the quarter, prompting the university to cancel in-person classes through March 20. The university, which has three Seattle-area campuses, was the first major university in the United States to take such action. Officials announced on March 6 that the university would stay open, but that classes would move online whenever possible to support regional efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. Stanford University made a similar announcement later the same day, and a growing list of other colleges across the country followed suit.
Inside Higher Ed
‘Community Spread’ and Campus Closures
Wave of universities suspend face-to-face instruction while higher education groups cancel annual meetings. Roundup of news from Mon., March 9.
By Paul Fain
Disruptions due to the coronavirus outbreak continued to ripple across higher education Monday, with more cancellations of in-person courses and meetings. Known cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus, topped 700 in the U.S. Monday. Public health authorities are encouraging colleges and other institutions to encourage “social distancing” in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. College and universities are focal points for this effort because many people who travel internationally are on campuses, which also feature dining halls and other public gathering spaces where people face higher odds of being infected.