University System News:
11Alive
GSU public health doctor: Don’t let down your guard, yet
Dr. Harry Heiman remains cautious, believing it will be another couple of weeks before the impact of Georgia beginning to reopen will be clear.
Author: Jon Shirek
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday underscored how he continues to base his decisions on reopening the state on the best health data and advice from medical professionals available. Even now, though, voices of concern continue to caution everyone to be grateful for positive signs, but also to go slow. There is preliminary good news in Georgia, on the one hand, cases are remaining steady and hospitalizations are going down. On the other hand, there are medical concerns, still, about reopening “smart.” “I’m still very concerned,” said Dr. Harry Heiman of Georgia State University’s School of Public Health. He told 11Alive News on Thursday that, from his medical perspective, it will be another couple of weeks before we will know the impact, if any, of Georgia’s first steps in reopening.
The Augusta Chronicle
Saluda company donates thousands of instant noodles to Augusta University Medical Center
By Jozsef Papp
One by one boxes containing dozens of instant ramen noodles from Palmetto Gourmet Foods were unloaded as part of a donation to help feed healthcare workers at AU Medical Center. ″ We are pleased to be here partnering with the community and we just want to let everyone know we care and anything we can do to support the community, we are here to reach out,” said Roy Wills, human resources director for Saluda, S.C.-based Palmetto Gourmet Foods. Wills said the idea came as they were brainstorming how to show support and help healthcare workers fighting on the front lines against the coronavirus. In total, over 100 boxes containing 12 cups each were donated Thursday, for a total of over 1,000 meals. The ramen noodles donated are a new product by Palmetto that hasn’t been released on the market yet. This is not the first hospital donation by the company, but it is the first in Augusta.
PR Newswire
Georgia-based health organizations launch Well-Being Georgia to educate, boost testing, track real-time status of pandemic on behalf of all Georgians
Sharecare, the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place, today announced a strategic partnership with Augusta University and Augusta University Health to support Gov. Brian Kemp’s efforts to better inform Georgians about the pandemic while bolstering COVID-19 testing across the state. “Through partnerships with the private sector and academia, our state has made bold progress in the fight against COVID-19,” said Gov. Kemp. “We are setting national records among states in testing and continue to see a drop in hospitalizations and ventilator use. I am encouraged by this favorable data, but there’s more work to be done. While already making an impact, the collaboration between Augusta University and Sharecare will become even more important, especially as we work to test as many Georgians as possible. As I’ve said many times before, testing determines the battlefield. This partnership will help us win the war.”
CBS46
UGA researchers create new maps to help with COVID-19 response
Researchers at the University of Georgia analyzed county-level data to create a series of maps to help officials and policymakers make more informed decisions as they decide what to re-open during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the University, the “team mapped counties based on population characteristics such as age, income, heart disease risk and prevalence of heart disease to show how local outbreaks overlap with existing disparities, including health disparities, that make them more vulnerable to COVID-19 infections.”
The Red & Black
Q&A: UGA professor participates in international coronavirus study
Lara Strydom | Contributor
Psychologists and data scientists from all around the world are teaming up for PsyCorona, a global project analyzing the different ways people are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team, composed of professionals from 28 countries, is studying how certain factors such as culture, religion and government responses might be influencing people’s thoughts and feelings regarding the coronavirus. Michelle vanDellen, a University of Georgia associate social psychology professor, is one of seven professionals from the United States contributing to the study. VanDellen shared some of her experience with the project so far, as well as what she hopes to see come out of it. The Red & Black: How did you end up getting involved with PsyCorona?
Ledger-Enquirer
Which colleges are best amid coronavirus? Here’s how Columbus State and others rank
By Mark Rice
Columbus State University shines in a new ranking designed to measure how well colleges can serve students amid the coronavirus pandemic. Educate To Career, a nonprofit organization based in Michigan, put CSU in the top tier of its 2020 rankings, along with 18 other colleges in Georgia out of the 35 ranked in the state.
GPB
2020 Graduates Doing Things Differently During A Pandemic
By Jenna Sanders & Micah Johnston & Sofi Gratas
Many 2020 graduates have been forced to forego the usual celebrations due to the coronavirus pandemic. They won’t take the traditional walk across the stage or move the tassels on their graduation caps from one side to the other in front of a cheering crowd because such gatherings are deemed unsafe and could spread COVID-19. In addition, those graduating high school have been unable to attend proms, perform in plays or hold assemblies celebrating their achievements. Our GPB summer interns: Jenna Sanders, Micah Johnston and Sofi Gratas spoke to three students from Georgia about graduation in the time of COVID-19. McKenzie Artman graduated from Georgia Southern University during the coronavirus pandemic. Her parents planned a surprise drive-through graduation party outside the family’s home in Peachtree City. “Graduation meant so much to me because I graduated college in three years,” …Artman is attending graduate school this fall at Georgia State University where she will be studying environmental health.
ESPN
Financial toll of coronavirus could cost college football at least $4 billion
As more and more college athletic departments cut sports programs, the financial wreckage due to the coronavirus pandemic is becoming devastatingly clear — and that’s without factoring in a $4 billion loss if the 2020 football season is canceled, a development that would forever alter college-level sports. University systems have suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in losses thus far, which could grow significantly as decisions are made about whether to return students to campuses this fall.
Athens CEO
USG Administrator Says Government/Constitution Requirement Restored
Phil Kent
Several months ago University System of Georgia (USG) chief academic officer, Dr. Tristan Denley, floated a plan to reduce core courses students must take upon enrollment. It included abolition of the American government requirement— POLS 1101, which incorporates study of the U.S. Constitution and federalism. Yesterday, however, Denley made news. He told this writer that not as many core courses will be reduced and that POLS 1101 will not be undermined after all. Criticism had been mounting over aspects of Denley’s proposal since it was presented to state lawmakers and to his bosses, the University System Board of Regents. Over the course of three months various Regents told InsiderAdvantage they either weren’t aware of the full extent of Denley’s initial plan or they were flat-out opposed.
WGAU
Morehead: UGA jobs, programs on the line as state trims budget
By: Tim Bryant
University of Georgia president Jere Morehead is warning, in an email to the University’s faculty and staff, off jobs and programs that will be eliminated if, as appears likely, the Georgia legislature follows up on plans for a 14 percent cut in the state budget. Lawmakers reconvene in Atlanta in June to finish work on a budget that will be dramatically downsized because of state revenue lost in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. From UGA President Jere Morehead…
The Chronicle of Higher Education
How to Cope With Covid-19 Burnout
By Beth McMurtrie
How to Manage Burnout
Rebecca Pope-Ruark was the kind of professor whom other professors could be forgiven for envying. Hard-working, accomplished, and inventive, she spent years at Elon University happily teaching professional writing and rhetoric. She wrote a book on how to juggle the many responsibilities of being an academic. And when the chance to build a capstone project for juniors and seniors came up, she dove in with enthusiasm. It was a complex challenge, requiring hours every day negotiating with multiple service-learning partners, other faculty members, and students… Pope-Ruark, who is writing a book about professor burnout, eventually left Elon and moved into a different kind of academic career. She is now a teaching-and-learning specialist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she has recently helped to support instructors in the shift to remote teaching.
The Bell Ringer
AU town hall discusses plans to reopen in Fall 2020
Jenna Ingalls
Staff writer
Augusta University’s plans for reopening its campuses are to be submitted to University System of Georgia for approval by May 25, said Gretchen Caughman, AU’s provost, in the most recent AU town hall meeting held online. Plans for reopening must go through the University System of Georgia for approval before AU can take any action. Several task forces have been working on the restart for weeks. In short, the plan is to get students back on campus in the fall, said Dr. Brooks Keel, the AU president.
Athens Banner-Herald
UGA enrollment could be up this summer, down in fall
By Lee Shearer
College officials across the country fear enrollment declines because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but enrollment this summer at the University of Georgia may actually be up while most classes will be online only. Indications for freshman class enrollment this fall also look “strong,” according to a lengthy memo UGA president Jere Morehead and other top administrators sent to UGA faculty and staff Thursday. Forecasts for graduate student enrollment this fall, particularly of international students, are not so good, they wrote. Some programs may be cut, and some layoffs are likely, they also warned. “We are pleased to report that summer enrollment is going well,” the administrators wrote. “In fact, enrollment appears to be slightly higher than this time last year.”
Gainesville Times
UNG to offer doctorate in criminal justice
Nathan Berg
The University of North Georgia made a major stride this month with the approval of its first Ph.D. program. The University System of Georgia voted to approve a criminal justice Ph.D. with a focus in intelligence at UNG during a board of regents meeting on May 12. The first cohort of the program will begin classes in the fall of 2021. “I think we’re a big player now,” said Douglas Orr, who will take over as UNG’s criminal justice department head on June 1. “This just further exemplifies that UNG is a big partner in the USG system. Not to say the others are not meaningful. I’m just saying that we’re a heavy hitter now.” The program will include two years of coursework followed by an allotted five years to write and defend a dissertation, although Orr said some students will finish their dissertations in as little as a year and a half to two years. It is only the second criminal justice Ph.D. program in the state of Georgia, and the first to focus on intelligence.
Clayton Crescent
Clayton State historian Dr. Jelani Favors wins Lillian Smith Book Award
By Robin Kemp
Clayton State University historian and author Dr. Jelani Favors has won the 2020 Lillian Smith Book Award for his book Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism (University of North Carolina Press, 2019). A paperback version of the book is due out this August. Favors’ book examines the role of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in raising up generations of students who have gone on to fight for human rights in the African-American community and beyond.
Tifton Gazette
SGB presents scholarship to Tifton student
Staff Reports
Chase Beckham of Tifton is the 2020 local winner of the $500 Julian & Jan Hester Memorial Scholarship from South Georgia Banking Company. Beckham was chosen by a regional panel of judges for his impressive academic performance at Tift County High School as well as his long list of extracurricular activities within the community including volunteering at local events such as Special Olympics and Mims Kids Back-to-School events. He has mentored youth through the Watch Dogs Program, coached a basketball team of 12- and 13-year-olds and served on six mission trips, traveling both domestically and internationally. Looking ahead, Beckham, dual-enrolled at ABAC, will attend Georgia Southern University in the fall. Beckham will go on to compete for one of the four Hester Memorial $1,000 scholarships chosen by the Community Bankers Association (CBA). The Julian & Jan Hester Memorial Scholarship program awards $1,000 annually to four deserving high school seniors planning to attend a Georgia college, university or technical school beginning the fall semester after graduation from high school.
Growing Georgia
Adel Student Receives Award of Distinction in ABAC School of Arts and Sciences
Jaylee Bass from Adel has been selected as the top student in the School of Arts and Sciences at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. Dr. Matthew Anderson, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, said Bass will receive the Award of Distinction. Bass has compiled a 3.97 grade point average on a 4.0 scale in the bachelor’s degree in Writing and Communication. An ABAC Foundation Scholar, she received the AT&T Georgia Scholarship from the ABAC Foundation. …Bass is a member of the prestigious ABAC Ambassadors’ leadership team and the ABAC Honors Program. She presented research at her first Honors Conference in February.
Albany Herald
Virtual pet visit provides breakthrough with elderly therapy
By Leigh Beeson
Kim Wolf had plans to visit her grandma at a nursing home in Maryland. Then, the global pandemic hit. …With her trip up north canceled, Wolf started thinking about ways she could still “visit” her grandmother — and maybe cheer up other residents in the process. …Wolf had been in the middle of a Zoom call with dementia patients and their caregivers for work when her dog, Rosalynn Carter, a pit bull with a sweet face, hopped into her lap and demanded attention. “I felt bad because it totally distracted the conversation,” said Wolf, who is pursuing master’s degrees in social work and public health at the University of Georgia. “As soon as they saw her, other people started holding up their pets, too. At one point, the screen was just a bunch of people holding up their pets.” The excitement gave her an idea: What about using Zoom for virtual pet visits? During her more than 15 years working with older adults and caregivers, Wolf had seen how residents lit up when she brought therapy dogs. So she decided to pilot the project with her grandmother’s facility, where residents were used to seeing in-house therapy pets weekly. …The virtual visit was a success, and it got Wolf thinking that maybe this experience was something sorely needed in other group home or health care settings that are currently on lockdown.
Statesboro Herald
Mike Anthony
On March 15, the Georgia Southern University Golf Course hosted a few final rounds before closing due to the coronavirus outbreak. The course is set to reopen on Friday after shutting down for two months due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Design Build
Construction on UNG’s Blue Ridge Campus nears completion
Construction on the University of North Georgia’s (UNG) Blue Ridge Campus is nearing completion after the roof and exterior walls are finished. This will allow the construction to progress without being affected by inclement weather. This substantial milestone was achieved eight months after construction started on the more than 12,000-square-foot building. Located about three miles from the present Dunbarton Road facility, the new building consists of four classrooms with one that doubles as a computer lab. A full biology lab that can be converted into a chemistry lab is also part of the independent facility.
Southeast Ag Net
Georgia Cotton Farmers Overcoming Challenges During Planting Season
By Clint Thompson
Georgia cotton growers are busy planting this year’s crop. According to Phillip Roberts, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension cotton entomologist, the state’s farmers have already had to overcome various challenges from Mother Nature. “If we think back, we had some pretty significant rainfall events (in April). That really created some problems for us, just trying to get a stand,” Roberts said. “There’s probably going to have be replanting on some of that cotton. That’s one challenge we’ve had.” Roberts said that the challenge now is the complete opposite.
GBPI
Commonsense Solutions Can Mitigate Unprecedented Cuts to Higher Education
By Jennifer Lee
Key Takeaways
Pending budget cuts to the University System of Georgia have the potential to reverse years of progress, lowering instructional quality, increasing dropout rates and hampering upward mobility.
Similar cuts to the Technical College System could have negative long-term effects as less money flows to colleges for retraining displaced workers and educating Dual Enrollment high school students.
By modernizing the tax code, maintaining HOPE and prioritizing funding for technical colleges and institutions and programs that support struggling students, lawmakers can mitigate some of the worst effects of the budget cuts.
Big Budget Cuts Would Hurt Colleges, A Key Driver of Economic Mobility
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget sent all state agencies instructions to prepare budgets with 14 percent cuts for fiscal year 2021. The Legislature must approve a 2021 budget before the fiscal year begins on July 1. If put into effect, these cuts would be unprecedented in their damage to colleges that are often a lifeline to displaced workers, critical to rural areas and key to economic recovery.
Other News:
Albany Herald
Gov. Brian Kemp urges patience for Georgia’s COVID-19 data
By Beau Evans Staff Writer Capitol Beat News Service
Gov. Brian Kemp urged Georgians on Thursday to have patience with public health officials amid reports over questionable data-keeping methods for positive cases of coronavirus in the state. The governor’s request came as the state Department of Public Health acknowledged in local news reports that it is combining test results for viral and antibody testing, which health experts worry could skew data trends that guide the state’s response and economic recovery. At a news conference Thursday, Kemp said public health officials have been “working at breakneck speed” to collect testing data and organize the results in practical ways. That has led to some slip-ups in the way testing data has been presented on the agency’s website in recent weeks.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Latest Atlanta coronavirus news: COVID-19 deaths in Georgia near 1,800
By Clanton Nancy
There are now 1,775 deaths from COVID-19 and 40,663 confirmed cases
Higher Education News:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Some Colleges Are Already Planning for the Next Wave of COVID-19
by Shailaja Neelakantan
Even as many colleges are struggling to figure out what the beginning of the new academic year will look like, a few have made public schedules for the next semester that already account for another wave of COVID-19 infections in the fall, which epidemiologists have said is more or less inevitable. The colleges that have made plans anticipating the next wave of infection have scheduled one or a combination of measures that include opening earlier than usual — or in one case, later than usual — for the fall; foregoing or shortening the fall break; ending in-person classes at Thanksgiving and moving to remote instruction after; and even altering the spring 2021 semester. The intention is to reduce mass travel during the brief fall break and then a return to campus after, which could lead to a spike in infections. In addition, institutions want to eliminate in-person interactions after the Thanksgiving break, because if there is another wave of COVID-19 in the winter, mass travel and the return to campus after will be unsafe.
Inside Higher Ed
Is Testing Students for COVID Feasible?
Diagnostic testing is part of every college’s plan for reopening campus. But whether college administrations can get their hands on enough tests, or afford them, is still being worked out.
By Lilah Burke
Test and trace, test and trace, test and trace. So goes nearly every college announcement that campus will be open for students in the fall. “We intend to know as much as possible about the viral health status of our community,” Mitch Daniels, Purdue University’s president, wrote in a letter to the campus community announcing an intention to reopen. “It will include a robust testing system during the school year.” … The American College Health Association included in guidelines to institutions that a “return to an active on-campus environment will depend upon widespread testing, contact tracing and isolation/quarantine of ill and exposed individuals both on campus and in the community.” But can colleges get access to the those diagnostic tests, or even afford them? The answer is complicated.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Golden State Blockbuster: U. of California Will Replace ACT and SAT With New Test — or None at All
By Eric Hoover
In the span of 117 seconds, the national conversation about standardized tests changed, perhaps forever. The University of California’s Board of Regents on Thursday unanimously approved a plan to suspend its ACT/SAT requirement for admission until 2024. In 2025 the system would either introduce a new college-entrance exam for in-state applicants — or eliminate its standardized-testing requirement for all California students.