University System News:
Inside HigherEd
By Kery Murakami
Seemingly daily lately, officials in states around the country have announced the need to make major cuts that could hit colleges and universities. And Thursday was no exception, as California governor Gavin Newsom said the state would have to cut higher education by $1.7 billion to close a mammoth $54.3 billion budget hole caused by the pandemic. Among the $6 billion in cuts to the state budget Newsom announced is a $400 million hit to California State University, according to state budget documents. The University of California was cut about $363 million. California Community Colleges will get $740 million less than last year… In response to the letter, University of Georgia regents asked the system’s 26 campuses to ready a plan in which the system’s chancellor and presidents will be furloughed. All faculty and staff will also face furloughs of between four and eight days. Those with the highest salaries would have to take 16 days, resulting in a 6.2 percent pay cut.
Albany Herald
Albany State raises $27,000-plus at virtual social
By Rachel Lawrence
With “attendees” enjoying an evening of music, networking and fun, the Albany State University Foundation’s first Virtual Alumni and Friends Social raised more than $27,000 for various initiatives supporting the Golden RAM Guarantee, which is ASU’s promise to ensure continuity of instruction and continuous academic success. More than 5,000 ASU alumni and friends gathered virtually on May 5 to stream the event via social media for Giving Tuesday Now, an international movement to support those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Albany Herald
Gwinnett College to launch film/TV degree program
By Dave Williams
Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville is launching a new “nexus” degree program in professional sound design for film and television. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents unanimously approved the new program Tuesday. Gwinnett is home to both Eagle Rock Studios in Norcross and the forthcoming Atlanta Media Campus and Studios, located on the former OFS plant site along the Jimmy Carter Boulevard Corridor. GGC boasts a diverse student population, with 59.8% of its students identified as minority students. Women make up 56.2% of the student body.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion: Colleges ought to furlough administration, not teaching
By Maureen Downey
Quality instruction and student learning should be protected at all costs, say three researchers
Furloughs are coming to Georgia universities and colleges as state leaders respond to the economic wreckage of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a guest piece, three academics suggest which campus staff should be furloughed. And it’s not the folks in the front of classrooms. Matthew J. Mayhew is the William Ray and Marie Adamson Flesher professor of educational administration at Ohio State University. Gregory C. Wolniak is associate professor of higher education at the University of Georgia. Kevin Singer is a doctoral student in higher education at North Carolina State University. Here is their piece: …As authors of the book “How College Affects Students” – the most recent comprehensive synthesis of a decade’s-worth of findings on higher education — we believe it is time to invoke some empirically based evidence to send this message to colleges: If you’re going to furlough and cut salaries, it should be administrators, not educators.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2 Georgia College grads named Fulbright finalists
By Kelcie Willis
Two recent Georgia College graduates have been named Fullbright finalists. According to a news release from the public liberal arts university, Madison Graham of Louisville, Georgia, and Amara Tennessee of Roswell, Georgia, are Fullbright scholarship recipients. Laura Swarner of Buford, Georgia is an alternate.
Office of Governor Brian P. Kemp
SK innovation Donates $400,000 to Augusta University’s Free COVID-19 Screening Application
In recent addresses to Georgians regarding COVID-19, Governor Brian P. Kemp has applauded the launch of Augusta University’s COVID-19 telemedicine app and highlighted the value of public-private partnerships. Today Augusta University received a $400,000 donation from SK innovation to support Augusta University and Augusta University Health’s response and associated expenses pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Augusta University News
One plasma donation could save two lives in national trial at AU Health
By Henry Hanks
Now that many people have recovered from COVID-19, the Mayo Clinic has begun a large-scale national trial — the first of its kind — to transfer plasma from now-healthy people to the critically ill, and Augusta University Health is among those hospitals taking part. In order to donate, “you have to have evidence that you had COVID-19, that you recovered from it and that you’ve been out for an appropriately long period of time,” according to Dr. Rodger MacArthur, an infectious disease physician and professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Medical College of Georgia.
Gainesville Times
Healthy aging center to hold virtual town hall on COVID-19 for seniors
By Nathan Berg
The Northeast Georgia Health System is sponsoring coverage directly related to public safety so that it can be made available free to non-subscribers as a public service. News coverage is independently reported. We know that you need accurate and up-to-date information about the effects of the coronavirus in the state and our region. Please consider supporting our work by subscribing to The Gainesville Times. Older adults seeking information related to COVID-19 will have the perfect opportunity to ask questions next week. On Tuesday, May 19, at 2:30 p.m. the University of North Georgia’s Center for Healthy Aging will be hosting a virtual town hall meeting, featuring a panel of three experts prepared to answer a host of questions submitted by the senior community.
Albany Herald
Lee County man named to Georgia Southwestern alumni board
By Staff Reports
Georgia Southwestern State University’s Alumni Association recently announced the addition of two new members to its Board of Directors. Beau Barrett (Class of ‘14) of Macon and Ryan Garnto (‘13) of Leesburg were elected to join the board at its last meeting, held online on April 4. Both are GSW alumni and were nominated to serve two-year terms, beginning July 1. “I am delighted to welcome our newest board members,” Kathleen Lang-Tucker, president of the GSW Alumni Association, said. “Working with Mr. Barrett and Mr. Garnto will be exciting as they bring a wealth of untapped talent and energy to our organization’s goals and efforts.”
Moultrie Observer
ABAC museum curator solves mystery of the shoemakers
By Staff Reports
Polly Huff never considered a career as a detective, but she did become the Sherlock Holmes of the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture recently when she used her sleuthing and curatorial skills to solve the mystery of the shoemakers. The saga started innocently enough with a routine cleaning of an old storage space that produced leatherworking tools that turned out to be an entire collection from a shoemaker’s shop. The museum had a donation record from Stephen Middleton of Loogootee, Ind., and an old photo showing a man guiding a horse which pulled a Middleton’s Shoe Shop wagon.
Coosa Valley News
First Ever Virtual Signing Highlights Transfer Partnership into a GHC Four-Year-Degree
By Staff Reports
Georgia Highlands College (GHC) made history this month after holding a virtual signing for an articulation agreement with Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC). Students who earn an associate degree in applied sciences from GPTC will now have the option to transfer seamlessly into a bachelor’s in health science at GHC. In order to make this new transfer agreement possible for students without delay, GHC and GPTC participated in their first ever virtual articulation agreement signing.
Fun 101.1
Gordon State Prepares Newest Degree
By WTGA AM & FM
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted in Tuesday’s virtual meeting to approve Gordon State College’s newest bachelor degree. Gordon hopes to start offering classes for the new Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness beginning Spring 2021 Semester, pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Other News:
Albany Herald
State Technical College System gets $12 million work force grant
By Staff Reports
Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday that the Technical College System of Georgia’s Office of Workforce Development was awarded a Dislocated Worker Grant by the U.S. Department of Labor. The grant, totaling $12 million, will help address work force-related impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. “This federal funding will expand our capacity to serve Georgia workers who have experienced hardship due to COVID-19 closures,” Kemp said in a news release. “Through employment assistance and training services, TCSG’s Office of Workforce Development will help eligible individuals get back into the work force as quickly as possible.”
Access WDUN
Lifesaving blood arrives on area emergency vehicles
By Rob Moore
Rural North Georgia residents who are involved in a serious car wreck, experience trauma or hemorrhage miles from a medical care facility now have a better chance for survival, thanks to several emergency services agencies in the region carrying blood products.
The Brunswick News
Colorful player, coach Pepper Rodgers dies at age 88
By Paul Newberry
Pepper Rodgers, a colorful personality who helped Georgia Tech to an unbeaten season as a player in 1952 and went on to coach the Yellow Jackets as well as Kansas, UCLA and Memphis teams in both the USFL and CFL, died Thursday. He was 88. A statement from his alma mater said Rodgers died in Reston, Virginia, where he lived after retiring from his final job as Washington’s vice president of football operations in 2004. No cause of death was given, but he had recently suffered a fall.
The Brunswick News
Sea turtle nesting begins on Jekyll, St. Simons islands
By Lauren McDonald
Visitors have begun to return to the Golden Isles, but among the most anticipated returning visitors are the loggerhead sea turtles. Jekyll and St. Simons islands recently reported their first loggerhead nests of the season, which commences annually in May. As of Thursday, Jekyll reports 10 nests and St. Simons one nest.
Griffin Daily News
Collaborative gets update on Census
By Jennifer Reynolds
Terrell Perry, of the US Census Bureau, gave an update on Census statistics in Spalding County to the Spalding Collaborative during its virtual May meeting held Wednesday. At the time of her presentation, Georgia ranked 34th in the nation with a response rate of 54.9 percent. Within the state, Spalding County ranks 29th of responding counties and the City of Griffin ranks at 157th of responding cities.
The Washington Post
CDC offers brief checklists to guide businesses, schools and others on reopening
By Lenny Bernstein, William Wan, Josh Dawsey and Holly Bailey
With hundreds of millions of people still seeking advice on resuming their lives safely, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a scant six pages of recommendations Thursday to guide schools, businesses, day-care facilities and others into the next phase of the coronavirus pandemic. The six checklists — which also address restaurants, mass transit and camps — come days, and in some cases weeks, after many states have begun to lift restrictions on their own. The advice is less detailed than draft recommendations the agency sent to the White House for review last month.
Higher Education News:
IEEE Spectrum
How Online Learning Kept Higher Ed Open During the Coronavirus Crisis
By Robert Ubell
This spring, under the threat of mass infection and with little or no preparation or planning, millions of professors and instructors around the world shifted their lectures, seminars, discussion sessions, and other in-person classes to online learning platforms. Millions of college students made the shift with them. Steering the giant lifeboat of academia from on-campus to online in just a few weeks has to count as one of the most unimaginable and exceptional feats ever achieved in higher education. Before the pandemic, only a third of U.S. college students were enrolled in online classes. Now, essentially all of them are.
The Blade
UT, BGSU among state higher ed board’s major recipients for new round of algae research grants
By Tom Henry
Scientists from the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, Ohio State University, and the University of Akron are splitting another $2.08 million in state higher education grants announced Thursday for harmful algal bloom research. Information about each project can be found on the Ohio Sea Grant and Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory website.
Multichannel News
Hill Bill Targets Distance Learning Dollars to Higher Ed
By John Eggerton
Some Democratic House members have introduced a bill to fund distance learning for higher education, mirroring an effort in the Senate. The Supporting Connectivity for Higher Education Students in Need Act would provide $1 billion to colleges and universities for distance learning for students “in need.”
Inside HigherEd
House Dems Want Billions for States, Colleges
By Kery Murakami
Though it was immediately trashed by the Senate’s Republican majority as dead on arrival, House Democrats on Tuesday proposed a mammoth fourth stimulus package that would provide the possibility of more money for colleges and universities, specify that undocumented students are eligible for emergency grants, and expand relief for student loan borrowers beyond what was contained in the CARES Act.
Inside HigherEd
By Colleen Flaherty
Of all the faculty cuts made during COVID-19 pandemic so far, those at Missouri Western State University may be the deepest. The institution is laying off 31 nontenured instructors, including some on the tenure track, at the end of this year. Twenty remaining professors will receive terminal, one-year contracts, meaning that about one-quarter of the full-time faculty will be gone by 2021. Others will take early retirement. Dozens of majors, minors and concentrations are being cut, too, including English, history, philosophy, political science, economics, sociology, Spanish, French and the arts.
EducationDive
House Democrats’ relief bill sets aside $37B for higher ed
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
The new coronavirus relief effort by House Democrats earmarks more than $37 billion for higher education and makes clear that international and undocumented college students can’t be excluded from emergency aid. The proposed $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, was immediately written off by Republican lawmakers, making it unlikely to pass in its current form.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Teaching Finance for The Future
by Stevens Institute of Technology
When Stevens Institute of Technology decided to create a pathbreaking new undergraduate degree program to serve the exploding field of quantitative finance (QF) 12 years ago, the university’s first stop was only minutes away: Wall Street, almost directly across the Hudson River from the university’s hilltop campus. “I personally probably met 25 companies, mostly in the finance industry,” recalls Stevens finance professor George Calhoun, a telecom industry veteran who hammered out the nuts and bolts of Stevens’ QF program — among the nation’s first for undergrads. “I asked, ‘What do you need?'”
NYMAG
By James D. Walsh
In 2017, Scott Galloway anticipated Amazon’s $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods a month before it was announced. Last year, he called WeWork on its “seriously loco” $47 billion valuation a month before the company’s IPO imploded. Now, Galloway, a Silicon Valley runaway who teaches marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, believes the pandemic has greased the wheels for big tech’s entrée into higher education. The post-pandemic future, he says, will entail partnerships between the largest tech companies in the world and elite universities. MIT@Google. iStanford. HarvardxFacebook. According to Galloway, these partnerships will allow universities to expand enrollment dramatically by offering hybrid online-offline degrees, the affordability and value of which will seismically alter the landscape of higher education. Galloway, who also founded his own virtual classroom start-up, predicts hundreds, if not thousands, of brick-and-mortar universities will go out of business and those that remain will have student bodies composed primarily of the children of the one percent.
WGN TV
AP testing glitch frustrates suburban high school students trying to achieve college credit
By Shannon Halligan
Some suburban high school students trying to achieve college credit are being frustrated by a glitch with AP testing. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the test are being conducted online. Many students are running into glitch that prevents them from submitting their answers. Maine South junior Nelly Hadlaw has been reviewing her Advanced Placement tests for months. “Yesterday, “I took the AP Calculus BC exam,” said Hadlaw. “Monday, I took the AP Physics, C mechanics and AP C physics electricity and magnetism test. Hadlaw is like the millions of high school students taking AP exams for college credit over the next few weeks. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tests are all being conducted online. Many are running into a glitch that is not letting students submit their answers.
The Chronicle
By Carter Forinash
Facing a possible decline in revenues of more than a quarter-billion dollars, Duke will suspend University-paid contributions to the Duke Faculty and Staff Retirement 403(b) plan and cut salaries for highly compensated employees for the next 12 months, with President Vincent Price and other top administrators voluntarily taking larger cuts. In a Wednesday news release, Price described the changes as necessary to alleviate a loss of revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, which could reach up to 15% of Duke’s annual operating budget—a total loss of between $250 million and $350 million. The University will implement all of the new spending cuts July 1, according to the release.