WJBF
Augusta University’s new saliva testing method could make coronavirus testing a whole lot easier
by: Devin Johnson
Augusta University continues to be a leader in the fight against coronavirus. “What we have discovered is, we can test saliva, Dr. Philip Coule. “We have been working to validate that method of testing. We are also in the process of finalizing that, to submit to the FDA.” The minds at Augusta University are keeping pace with Yale and Rutgers in developing the saliva testing. Dr. Coule told NewsChannel 6’s Devin Johnson that the saliva test is a solution to reduce errors, and the number of medical staff needed to administer the test. The test also helps keep the vulnerable medical frontline out of harm’s way. …Experts for The Georgia Esoteric and Molecular Laboratory at the Medical College are studying a few samples. The director says this new method, could be the best way to determine whether you have the virus or not.
Benzing
Covis Pharma B.V. today announced the initiation of a Phase 3 clinical study to assess the safety and efficacy of its asthma drug Alvesco (ciclesonide) in non-hospitalized patients 12 years of age and older with symptomatic COVID-19. Patient recruitment for the multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Alvesco is underway. The study is being initiated after FDA approval of the company’s IND filing for Alvesco for the treatment of COVID-19. …”There is promising scientific evidence that Alvesco, an inhaled glucocorticoid, may both reduce COVID-19 symptoms and suppress viral replication,” said Michael Blaiss, M.D., Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia. “Evaluating Alvesco in this Phase 3 clinical trial is an important step towards determining its efficacy in treating individuals who have tested positive for the virus, and we are hopeful that it will become an important tool in the world’s response to this public health emergency.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Why developing a COVID-19 vaccine is only part of the struggle
By Eric Stirgus
Dr. Lilly Immergluck last week gave what she called “the vaccine lecture” to a group of Morehouse School of Medicine students. Immergluck, a pediatrician, infectious disease specialist and an assistant professor at the Atlanta school since 2005, talks each year to all students there about how vaccines have helped control the spread of the measles and other diseases. Part of her goal is to encourage students to share with patients — and their communities — the effectiveness of vaccines, a conversation that’s taken on greater importance as researchers work on a COVID-19 vaccine. “We don’t know where (we are on vaccine research), but we need to be informed,” Immergluck said in a telephone interview. …Glen Nowak, a former CDC communications director who now runs the University of Georgia’s journalism and mass communication Center for Health & Risk Communication, says there are pockets of vaccine hesitancy among conservatives who don’t trust government and some progressives worried about safety. Nowak believes a public campaign is critical.
Fox 5
Georgia Tech student helps build barrier protection devices to battle COVID-19
In another effort to flatten the curve, a Georgia Tech graduate student is part of an innovative collaboration to develop personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. This is in honor of his parents who have each worked in public service for more than 30 years. … His school has partnered with Emory University to develop a protective barrier separating a doctor and patient during intubation.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech, Emory students win $10K prizes in COVID-19 hackathon
By Raisa Habersham
Teams of Georgia Tech and Emory students won $10,000 prizes at a hackathon geared toward finding solutions to problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Twenty students were members of the top three squads competing in the product creation contest that featured 105 teams from the universities. The winners were also selected for Tech’s Create-X startup launch program, where they can use their winnings to turn their ideas into a business, a Georgia Tech spokesman said. A fourth team received an honorable mention and $5,000 and will also participate in the program.
GPB
Microsoft To Open Atlanta Office, Create 1,500 Jobs
By Ben Abrams
Microsoft is opening a new facility next year that will create 1,500 new high-tech jobs in Atlanta, the governor’s office said in a statement. The $75 million investment would strengthen both Georgia’s and Microsoft’s roles in the innovation of new technology, Gov. Brian Kemp said. “I am confident that our top-notch tech talent and education pipeline will continue to be an asset to Microsoft,” Kemp said. “We are laser-focused on providing high-quality jobs for hardworking Georgians, and I thank Microsoft for our growing partnership.” The forthcoming facility in the Atlantic Yard Complex in Atlantic Station is an expansion of Microsoft’s investment in Atlanta. The tech giant already made its mark in the city with a cloud computing engineering center in the Coda Building at Technology Square. …University System of Georgia Chairman Steve Wrigley said he is looking forward to working with college graduates who may be interested in technology jobs with Microsoft. “This is a fantastic economic development opportunity, and our 26 institutions are excited to show our capability and commitment toward fostering the company’s growth and success in the state,” Wrigley said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia University System schools work on fall reopening plan
By Eric Stirgus
University System of Georgia officials are working with its schools on plans the system hopes to review next week to determine how they could reopen campuses for in-person instruction this fall and contingency options if they must continue virtual learning. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week obtained a copy of a 31-page memo outlining the options, with many involving social distancing in classrooms, dorms and dining halls. A USG official confirmed the memo’s authenticity, but declined to comment about it and stressed the plans are subject to change. Colleges and universities in Georgia and across the nation are exploring options about the best ways to reopen campuses after closing them in mid-March to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
WGAU
By: Tim Bryant
The state Board of Regents has given a green light to the first PhD program at the University of North Georgia: UNG will offer a doctorate in criminal justice. It will become the second criminal justice Ph.D. in Georgia. The other is at Georgia State University in Atlanta. “This degree is hugely significant for UNG because while we have three existing doctoral degrees, this is our first Ph.D. and represents a significant benchmark in the growth of research and graduate programs at the university,” said Dr. Chaudron Gille, UNG provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs.
Savannah Business Journal
Georgia Southern launches ‘Finish Strong’ campaign
Staff Report
Georgia Southern University recently launched a fundraising campaign to help students facing financial hardships during these unprecedented times. The University kicked off the “Ensure Our Eagles Finish Strong” campaign with a goal of raising $250,000 for up to 250 students on a need-based priority, as well as $140,000 to assist up to 14 returning spring sport seniors who saw their 2019-20 collegiate seasons cut short. “The Eagle Nation family cares deeply for this University and its students,” stated Georgia Southern President Kyle Marrero. “We invite them to support our mission of providing transformative learning opportunities, and contribute to the success of our students as they continue on their educational paths.”
Fun 101.1
GORDON STATE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM WINNERS
Gordon State College held its first virtual Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) last week. Lenix Carter of Newnan won the Podium Presentations “Politics of Hopelessness: Ideological Trends in Pat the Bunny’s Lyrics” and August Meads of McDonough took top honors in the Poster Presentations, “The Changing Brightness of the Star Betelgeuse.”
Columbus CEO
CSU Recognized in Top Tier for Affordability, Job Outlook, & Online Learning
Staff Report
Educate to Career (ETC) recently ranked Columbus State University in its top tier rank. ETC bases the rankings on the university’s affordability, ability to place graduates into high-earning jobs, and experience in distance learning. …Colleges that rank within ETC’s Tier 1 must meet the following criteria: a physical campus for in-classroom instruction should the health authorities allow colleges to open in the fall; robust software and systems to support distance learning programs; faculty experience in teaching online, and reasonable tuitions and fees on a relative basis. CSU was one of 14 universities in Georgia to receive the top ranking.
Fun 101.1
GORDON STATE’S VIRTUAL SPRING COMMENCEMENT FRIDAY
Gordon State College’s Class of 2020 may always be the class of perseverance. Highlander Nation celebrated this milestone as 269 graduates turned their tassels with a virtual ceremony Friday. “Given the fact that you have had to endure a mid-semester transition to remote learning, make plans to stabilize housing accommodations, re-learn how to greet friends and loved ones using elbows and figure out how to access the D2L content and not drop the internet signal is proof – you can do just about anything,” said President Kirk A. Nooks in his video address. …Graduates were recognized individually with a photo as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. C. Jeffery Knighton presented 125 baccalaureate degree candidates and 144 associate degree candidates to President Nooks for confirmation of their degrees. Baccalaureate degrees represent 46.4 percent of all degrees awarded this graduation, which is the highest percentage on record for baccalaureates conferred and part of the college’s strategic plan. Bachelor of Science in Nursing served as the largest group at 33 graduates for spring commencement. For the academic year, the largest degree group is the Bachelor of Science in Human Services at 48 total graduates combined from fall and spring.
11Alive
UGA graduate replicates famous arch, Michelle Obama surprises future grads
This was the opportunity of a lifetime. (Video)
Business Insider
The 50 best American colleges and universities of 2020
Madison Hoff
Education research firm Quacquarelli Symonds shared its first-ever ranking of the best colleges and universities in the United States with Business Insider. The research firm looked at four categories to create an overall index score for 300 universities. 32. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
Growing Georgia
ABAC, VSU Sign Agreement to Alleviate Shortage of Mental Health Providers
Alleviating a shortage of mental health providers in rural areas will be one of the goals of a new articulation agreement between Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) and Valdosta State University (VSU). Dr. Matthew Anderson, Dean of the ABAC School of Arts and Sciences, said the agreement guarantees qualified ABAC graduates with a bachelor’s degree in Rural Community Development an interview and consideration for acceptance into VSU’s Marriage and Family Therapy master’s degree program.
The Clayton Crescent
PODCAST: Clayton State’s Brian Hunt on COVID-19 economic impact
Brian Hunt, lecturer in economics at Clayton State University, explains how the price of oil in Saudi Arabia and current affairs in Brazil affect household budgets in Clayton County during the COVID-19 crisis.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Metro Atlanta leaders left to make COVID-19 decisions with shaky data
By Ben Brasch,Tyler, Estep,Jennifer, Peebles, Amanda C. Coyne and Kristal Dixon
The data behind Georgia’s count of COVID-19 cases and deaths is being gathered in the most suboptimal of scientific circumstances: real life. But whether the data is perfect or not, and there are reasons to believe it is not perfect, metro Atlanta leaders are using those numbers to make decisions that affect everyone, like when city hall re-opens or which neighborhood gets extra testing today. The numbers aren’t clean-cut or unimpeachable, but officials are going to war with the numbers they have.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s COVID-19 hospitalizations drop by a third, state’s data shows
By Willoughby Mariano
Current statewide hospitalizations for COVID-19 dropped by about a third in the last two weeks, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of data published by the Georgia Emergency Management & Homeland Security Agency. The decline is significant, but it does not mean that infections are down since Georgia began to re-open at the end of April. There is about a two week lag between when a person is infected, shows symptoms, is admitted to the hospital, gets tested and receives the results.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Latest Atlanta coronavirus news: Georgia COVID-19 deaths near 1,700
There are now 1,675 deaths from COVID-19 and 38,855 confirmed cases
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Inside the Scramble for Students
By Lee Gardner
…Then Covid-19 upended almost everything about college operations, including the highly choreographed charm offensive of the admissions process. Overnight, many of college admissions’s most useful tools and tactics to appeal to potential students were swept off the table. No more campus visits. No more widely shared and commonly observed deadlines. No more predictive models carefully calibrated using years of granular data to predict the size of the entering class in the fall. “We are truly going to be flying blind,” Collins says. While it’s true that the yawning uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic presents a new and unprecedented challenge for colleges, in many ways the current crisis is just accelerating or steepening challenges that colleges already face. Thanks to declining demographics, stagnant incomes, and escalating costs, the business model of many colleges is coming under increasing pressure. Old certainties, and old rules, apply less and less. The competition for students — and the increasingly critical revenue they represent — grows ever more intense. The value of what a college offers stands in question, and students’ willingness and ability to pay for it wanes. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing colleges trying to predict what students are going to do is that many students aren’t sure themselves.
Inside Higher Ed
Niche surveyed students on the “15 Fall Scenarios” blog post that attracted massive traffic. Here are the results.
By Scott Jaschik
Few blog posts at Inside Higher Ed have generated as much interest as “15 Fall Scenarios,” by Joshua Kim of Dartmouth College and Edward J. Maloney of Georgetown University. It received more than 327,000 pageviews — and it continues to get more. The piece ran in April and offered colleges 15 scenarios for the upcoming fall semester, from back to normal to a fully remote program. The timing was perfect, as colleges were just starting to consider what they would do. In the weeks since, colleges have not been uniform in their planning, but most of the options colleges are taking can be found in the post. Of course one question was: What would students think? Niche, a website that reviews colleges for prospective students, decided to survey those who come to its website about the scenarios. Some of what it found from a survey of 10,000 students — in high school and college — is similar to other surveys. But its findings reinforce the view of many college leaders that getting students to campus is the best way to function … if it can be done safely.
Inside Higher Ed
Several universities have said they will open for in-person instruction this fall but will end on-campus instruction by Thanksgiving. Can that plan work?
By Lilah Burke
In the past few weeks, visions of the coming fall semester on college campuses have become increasingly divergent. A few weeks ago, several institutions announced their intention to reopen in the fall. Last week, California State University campuses became some of the first major American universities to say a majority of instruction in the fall likely will be online. Now, several universities have tried to split the difference, saying they will begin the fall in person but make a shift at Thanksgiving break. …Colleges have been under pressure to reopen campuses, from elected officials who want to reboot the economy as well as students and families. Many prospective students are wary of committing to a college if instruction is online, and current students have pushed their administrations for answers.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
No Longer the ‘Policy Police’: How the Coronavirus Is Reshaping HR
By Scott Carlson
Last year, colleges and universities — like many companies and state agencies — were in a scramble for talent amid a historically low unemployment rate. Jobs in higher education might have paid less than in the corporate world, but colleges could always sell candidates on their mission, a sense of community, and — at mid- to upper-tier institutions, at least — job security. How times have changed. Now colleges and universities are looking at not only historic layoffs but also the possibility of permanent closure. And with nearly everyone working from a basement couch or a dining-room table, support services for employees have been transformed in a scramble to deal with connectivity issues and work-life balance. For human-resources offices in higher education, those trends — and more disruptions to come — could prove especially challenging. HR offices in higher-ed — “pits of bureaucracy,” some complain — are too often at the edges of decisions about work-force planning on campus, HR officials say. “One of the huge challenges for human resources over all is perception — the perception that we are the record keepers, the policy police, and that we are the doers and not the planners and the strategy focus group,” says Andy Brantley, president of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.
Forbes
Who Is Responsible If A University Reopens And A Student Dies From Covid-19?
Anna Esaki-Smith, Contributor
Education
In testimony to the Senate last week, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that vaccines and therapies would probably not be ready for the nation’s 5,000 universities and colleges to welcome their 20 million students back to campuses this fall. He called such hope “a bridge too far.” It was precisely that kind of caution that prompted California State University, the country’s biggest four-year public university system with nearly half a million students, to cancel in-person classes for next semester. “It might not be possible for some students, faculty and staff to safely travel to campus,” the system’s Chancellor Timothy White, said in a statement. He said all 23 CSU schools will deliver courses fully online for the fall. At the same time, though, a number of higher education institutions have released plans to open their doors despite the pandemic. …So, who’s right? The divergence of opinions expressed by universities indicates the complexity of assessing the risk Covid-19 presents on campuses. Because the situation is unprecedented, it’s hard to predict the liability a university may face should it allow students to return and there be an outbreak or, worse, deaths.