University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia colleges plan furloughs as lawmakers get bad news on economy
By James Salzer and Eric Stirgus
Having just listened to details of the $1 billion fall in state revenue collections last month, House Appropriations Chairman Terry England closed the first legislative meeting since mid-March by stating the obvious. “There is not a whole lot of positive news in this at all,” said England, a Republican from Auburn, who served in the same role through the tail end of the Great Recession. One example of what the new pandemic recession means for state government was made clear before the House and Senate Appropriations committees held their virtual meeting Thursday: The Georgia Board of Regents approved a plan giving University System of Georgia leaders the authority to furlough employees, with those earning higher salaries taking larger cuts.
Albany Herald
University system staff, faculty facing furlough days to offset losses from coronavirus
By Dave Williams Bureau Chief Capitol Beat News Service
University System of Georgia faculty and staff are facing potential furlough days to help offset the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The system’s Board of Regents voted Thursday to authorize either four or eight furlough days for most employees at all 26 of Georgia’s public colleges and universities, depending on their salary level. Employees earning salaries of $99,000 a year to $154,000 would take 12 furlough days, while those earning $154,000 or above would take 16 furlough days. System Chancellor Steve Wrigley and all university and college presidents would take 26 furlough days, equivalent to a salary reduction of 10%.
The Red & Black
University System of Georgia to take tiered approach to furloughs during budget cut
Jacqueline GaNun | City News Editor
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents authorized a plan Thursday to include unpaid time off for faculty and staff at all 26 university system institutions for fiscal year 2021. The plan is not final and must be implemented into a state appropriations bill, passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor. All state agencies have been directed to develop new spending plans that include a 14% budget reduction for fiscal year 2021, which begins July 1. USG must reduce its fiscal year 2021 budget by $361 million. If approved, university system presidents and Chancellor Steve Wrigley would take the largest pay cut for fiscal year 2021 to help fulfill the state’s request to cut expenses by 14% due to the coronavirus, Wrigley said during the meeting. …The number of furlough days will be determined by salary, Wrigley said.
See also:
Inside Higher Ed
Furlough, Job Cut Plan Approved for University System of Georgia
WJCL
Athletic administrators and coaches in Georgia face furloughs
Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia plan for possible staffing reductions and furloughs due to rapid changes in expected state revenue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
Frank Sulkowski
Athletic administrators and coaches at colleges and universities around the state of Georgia are facing possible furloughs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia provided authority Thursday for a plan for possible staffing reductions and furloughs due to rapid changes in expected state revenue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Athletic Directors and coaches at schools like the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern University would be impacted.
The Augusta Chronicle
Opinion
Editorial: Regents earn A-plus on pass-fail
By Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Say you’re about to undergo brain surgery. Would you prefer a surgeon who earned straight A’s in medical school, or a surgeon who merely didn’t fail? The answer you likely chose helps prove the discernment of the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents when it decided against a pass-fail grading system for colleges’ spring semesters derailed by COVID-19. Schools across the state shut down earlier this year to help protect students from the coronavirus. Faculties then pivoted to online learning so students could complete their classes and coursework remotely. The transition was not smooth for everyone. Students from many of Georgia’s colleges aired their grievances in an online town hall meeting this week, renewing their call to the Regents to switch to pass-fail grading, which other institutions nationwide – including four Ivy League schools – have already done.
WJBF
Augusta University encouraging alumni to send congratulations messages to graduating students
By: Brandon Dawson
It’s May, which would have usually been the time when students would be getting ready for graduation. But, because of the current pandemic, most of those plans have been cancelled. Augusta University has come up with a way to engage their alumni and are asking them to send videos congratulating the upcoming graduating class. “Our graduation looks a lot different than it has in years past and things are very much up in the air compared to what they normally are and we want to honor those graduates, honor that hard work they put in over the last few years,” said Rich Rogers, President of the Augusta University Alumni Association. Alumni from Augusta University, or any of its legacy institutions, are being encouraged to send a message to the students through the school’s website in an effort to send a positive message during these hard times.
Marietta Daily Journal
KSU grads get creative as 3,500 go without spring commencement
By Thomas Hartwell
Cody Hixon has waited seven years to walk the stage at Kennesaw State University and receive his bachelor’s degree, and now the spring graduate will have to wait at least a couple more months. Hixon, who earned a degree in philosophy and plans to pursue a job as a social worker, was supposed to celebrate his commencement ceremony Tuesday. But the widespread business and school campus closures caused by the coronavirus put a stop to those plans. Hixon is one of more than 3,500 spring graduates who KSU officials say will have graduated this week but won’t get to walk the stage right away.
AllOnGeorgia
Record graduating class to be honored during commencement livestream
by Sam Gentry
The University of West Georgia will confer a record 1,415 degrees to its largest-ever graduating class during a virtual commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 9. The unprecedented event will be live-streamed beginning at 3 p.m. Dr. Brendan B. Kelly, UWG’s new president who took office during the COVID-19 outbreak, will speak during the ceremony, along with Khareem Leslie, Student Government Association president. All graduates’ names will be announced by Kelly and Dr. David Jenks, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, during the stream. The number of spring 2020 graduates exceeds the previous record by more than a hundred students. Of the 1,415 degrees to be awarded, 972 are undergraduate degrees and 443 are graduate-level.
Savannah Business Journal
May 8 – Georgia Southern manufactures 3D printed equipment for healthcare workers
Staff Report
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded and healthcare organizations began experiencing shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), faculty, staff and students at Georgia Southern University stepped up to fulfill a need. Making use of the 3D printers on the Statesboro and Armstrong campuses, as well as at the FabLab at the Business Innovation Group’s (BIG) downtown Statesboro location, the campus communities quickly began production of protective face shields and respirators.
11Alive
Augusta University president gives update on mobile app that helps screen for virus
He gave the update Thursday during a briefing on COVID-19 (Video)
Author: 11alive.com
Augusta CEO
USG Continues to Increase Wireless Connectivity
Staff Report
Since shifting to online instruction March 30, 2020, the University System of Georgia (USG) has increased services and support across the state to facilitate internet connectivity for students and digital learning. Of particular use to students in rural areas of the state, USG recently added the free “eduroam” service for all 26 USG institutions, allowing users to connect to campus WiFi through their account no matter which USG institution they may be visiting. Aimed specifically at higher education, eduroam is a wireless service that will allow faculty, staff, and students to easily access wireless networks at thousands of locations, including more than 600 colleges, universities, and research facilities in the U.S. and in more than 100 countries. …The Georgia Public Library Service, a USG agency, and the University of Georgia Extension Service has been offering limited services while their facilities are closed to the public, including WiFi outside their buildings where students and the public can access the internet from their vehicles while maintaining safe social distancing.
WTOC
Savannah State University will hold virtual graduation ceremony
Savannah State University’s 2020 commencement ceremony is going virtual, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Lyndsey Gough
Savannah State University’s 2020 commencement ceremony is going virtual, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. SSU Interim President Kimberly Ballard-Washington brought up the idea weeks ago, and the staff put it into action. Students were able to submit a photo that will be shown during the live stream, while their dean reads their name and degree. Ballard-Washington said this is Savannah State’s largest graduating class in school history with more than 480 students. “They are going through something that no one else has,” Ballard-Washington said. “They’ve had to study, and really prepare themselves for graduation and complete what they started four years ago during an unprecedented time. This will prepare them to do anything.” Graduation is Saturday, May 9, 2020 and begins at 10:00 A.M. EST.
WGAU
This is the graduation weekend that wasn’t at UGA
By: Tim Bryant
This was supposed to have been graduation weekend at the University of Georgia, with commencement exercises and convocations that have been canceled because of coronavirus. There are tentative plans for in-person graduation ceremonies, maybe in October for UGA’s Class of 2020.
The Augusta Chronicle
Editorial: New law spares dual enrollment
By Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
More people need to know the difference between slashing a worthwhile government program and saving it. So to be clear, by signing House Bill 444 into law, Gov. Brian Kemp saved Georgia’s dual enrollment program, and he did it by saving money. The program allows high-school students to enroll in college and tech-school courses before they graduate. The earned college credit then can be applied after the student leaves high school behind actually enters college. Here’s what the new law does: Effective July 1, dual enrollment is capped to 30 hours per eligible student for college or tech-school courses funded by the state-run student-finance agency. If students want to take more classes, they’d have to pay like every other college student.
Dawson County News
UNG Student Affairs emphasizes outreach as the best way to help students finish strong
Erica Schmidt
DCN Staff
Since the closure of in-person classes due to COVID-19, the Student Affairs office at the University of North Georgia has been doing all it can to help students finish the semester successfully. Dr. James Conneely, vice president of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, emphasized that student outreach has been the biggest part of helping students succeed and that the university has been going about reaching students in many different ways. “Our business is very people-oriented, so we’re trying to reach out to students to continue to help them know what resources are available and that we’re here to assist them,” Conneely said. “We might not be in the same room as them but we’re here to do what we can to help them be successful.” One of the ways Student Affairs has been going about this has been posting short videos in a series titled “Student Affairs Cares”. The videos are two- to three-minute-long video segments highlighting different departments within students affairs and what they are doing to help students during the campus closures.
WABE
Despite Coronavirus, Soon-To-Be Teachers Finish Training — Using Videos, Case Studies, Avatars
Martha Dalton
Many college seniors who are in teacher-training programs finish their student teaching or internship in the spring. This year is different. Most Georgia K-12 public school classrooms shifted to online learning in March, due to the coronavirus. So, college education programs have had to come up with alternatives so teaching candidates can finish their training.
Virtual Reality
Soon-to-be teachers at Kennesaw State University use an avatar lab to train. Teaching candidates interact with a screen of student avatars who all have different personalities and academic needs.
WALB
GSW plans to hold in-person classes fall semester
By Bradford Ambrose | May 8, 2020 at 12:24 AM EDT – Updated May 8 at 1:12 AM
Georgia Southwestern State University announced it will begin reopening its campus to staff at the beginning of June and plans to hold in-person classes this fall. Dr. Neal Weaver, the GSW president, said they need employees on campus to prepare for the fall semester. “We need to start having employees come back to campus in order to do the things that have to be done to get our classes and our buildings and our facilities ready for fall classes,” said Weaver. Some of those include staff in maintenance, the business office and the enrollment office. Dr. Weaver said they have a staggered plan in place. He said that will happen over the first half of June. Weaver said the university still needs to sort out how it will follow social distancing guidelines in school buildings.
The Union-Recorder
Georgia College launches Honors College, selects dean to lead
Special to The U-R
Dr. W. Brian Newsome has been selected as the dean of the Honors College, which is set to launch fall 2020. Newsome comes to Georgia College from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, where he is currently the Dean for Curriculum and Honors and a professor of history. During his 11 years with Elizabethtown College, Newsome has also served as assistant Dean for General Education and Assessment and Dean for Curriculum and Assessment and College Registrar. “I am delighted that Dr. Newsome will be joining Georgia College to provide our intellectually gifted student scholars with a stimulating academic experience,” said Georgia College Provost Costas Spirou. “Our cross disciplinary approach combined with our high quality discipline-specific honors courses will provide the type of transformative experiences that makes Georgia College so unique.” On the heels of the 50th anniversary of the Honors Program at Georgia College, the university is set to launch the Honors College this fall.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
UGA-born bioplastics startup raises $133M, plans $260M facility in Athens
By Madison Hogan – Atlanta Inno Staff Writer
RWDC Industries, a biodegradable plastics startup based in Athens and Singapore, has raised $133 million in a two-stage Series B round. The investment was co-led by Vickers Venture Partners, Flint Hills Resources, CPV/CAP Pensionskasse Coop and International SA. Existing investors Eversource Retirement Plan Master Trust and WI Harper Group also participated in the round. The company will use the funding to meet the demand for PHAs — biodegradable polyester fibers. …RWDC plans to invest $260 million to expand its operations in Athens-Clarke County. The repurposed idled factory will bring 200 jobs to the community, according to The Red & Black, the student newspaper at the University of Georgia in Athens.
Athens Banner-Herald
What risk factors contribute to COVID-19 severity? UGA study working to identify
By Writer: Lauren Baggett
Researchers at the University of Georgia College of Public Health are working to determine risk factors for severe cases of COVID-19. The team, led by physician and epidemiologist Mark Ebell, is collecting information on patients suspected of having COVID-19, including a catalog of their symptoms and results from a common test used to determine levels of inflammation in the body. The study is being done in partnership with the Whitefoord Clinic, a federally qualified health center in Atlanta that serves a population at higher risk for severe COVID-19 infections. “Ultimately, we’d like to identify predictors of who is more likely to have a prolonged or serious course of COVID-19,” said Ebell.
Other News:
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Gov. Kemp asks all Georgians, even those with no symptoms, to be screened for Covid-19
By Dyana Bagby – Reporter
Gov. Brian Kemp is now encouraging all Georgians to be screened for Covid-19, even if they have no symptoms of the disease, as part of the state’s ongoing efforts to increase its testing numbers. The state’s new guidance comes as the federal government has promised to send more than 200,000 testing swabs and kits to the state this month. More testing and education are also being prioritized in the new hot spot in Gainesville where many Hispanic poultry workers have recently tested positive for Covid-19. This effort comes as growing numbers of meatpacking workers are becoming ill with the potentially fatal Covid-19 disease that has forced dozens of plants across the country to temporarily close, including one poultry processing facility in Moultrie. During his Covid-19 update held May 7, Kemp said the state has doubled its daily testing capacity with more than 60 testing sites throughout Georgia.
The Daily Tribune
COVID-19 tests now available for all Georgians, governor says
STAFF REPORT
Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday that anyone in Georgia can be tested for coronavirus after expanding the criteria beyond only those with symptoms, health-care workers, the elderly and the chronically ill. Shortages in testing supplies like nasal swabs and diagnostic kits had previously forced state health officials to limit tests to groups most at risk of contracting the virus. But help from universities, corporations and the federal government has boosted the state’s testing capacity in recent weeks ahead of a push for contact tracing to head off local outbreaks before they start, the governor said at a news conference Thursday. “Let’s build on this momentum in the days and weeks to come,” Kemp said.
Albany Herald
Normalcy needed for better Georgia budget, state economist says
By Beau Evans Staff Writer Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia’s chief economist told lawmakers Thursday that a return to normalcy is needed to soften the blow to the state’s $27 billion budget, which is set for deep cuts amid coronavirus-prompted closures. That assessment was one of several that budget-writing state lawmakers got Thursday in a sobering overview of the sharp drop in tax revenues poised drive the General Assembly’s upcoming budget negotiations. Whether Georgia bounces back enough to soften the budgetary blow will depend on how confident consumers feel to venture out of their homes to shop and return to work, Jeffrey Dorfman, the state economist, told lawmakers Thursday.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Latest Atlanta coronavirus news: Georgia’s COVID-19 cases pass 31.5K
There are now 1,340 deaths from COVID-19 and 31,575 confirmed cases
8 a.m.: All of Georgia’s 159 counties now have at least one case of COVID-19, Jeremy Redmon reports.7:30 a.m.: Across Georgia, local governments are trying to decide if the time is right to go back to the office — and if so, how to do it. Leon Stafford and Arielle Kass tell you want city leaders are planning.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All of Georgia’s 159 counties now have at least one case of COVID-19
By Jeremy Redmon
Two rural counties learned of their first illnesses recently
And then there were none. Tiny Glascock County recently learned a patient had tested positive for COVID-19 at a nursing home in Gibson, the county seat. That left just one of Georgia’s 159 counties without an illness, Taliaferro. But then Taliaferro officials announced this week that their county now has a confirmed case. The highly contagious disease has spared no corner of Georgia. Not metro Atlanta. Not the state’s coastal areas. And not its rural, out-of-the-way communities like Taliaferro and Glascock. As of Friday morning, 31,611 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in Georgia and 1,352 people had died from the disease, according to Georgia Department of Public Health data.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
House Dems Want More Education Spending in Stimulus
By Kery Murakami
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are planning to propose adding more money for education aid for states in the next coronavirus relief package, a House Democratic aide told Inside Higher Ed. Democratic lawmakers said they want to add more money for state and local governments, which face large budget shortfalls from the economic fallout from the pandemic. And Representative Bobby Scott, the Virginia Democrat who leads the education committee, said during a morning call with reporters that helping states is essential for preventing cuts to education, including higher education.
Inside Higher Ed
Another Crack at Measuring Colleges’ Financial Strength
Amid debate over government financial responsibility scores, a company estimates the coronavirus pandemic drove a 47 percent increase in private colleges at risk of closure.
By Rick Seltzer
Efforts to clearly quantify colleges’ and universities’ financial health are back in the limelight amid two developments at the end of this week — one relating to regulatory oversight and the other focused on students and families as consumers. A regulatory body for postsecondary distance education on Wednesday decided to keep using a federal financial composite score over higher education associations’ objections. And a start-up company that last year was beaten back from releasing estimates of individual private nonprofit colleges’ years left before closing is publishing a new, modified version of its findings.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Coronavirus Enrollment Crash
Five admissions leaders on the pandemic’s impact — and what can be done about it
Last fall, Bill Conley, vice president for enrollment management at Bucknell University, wrote in The Chronicle Review of a “new structural reality” in higher ed. Enrollment-deposit spigots were running dry across the country, and alarms were going off in admissions offices. In a forum responding to his essay, enrollment managers spoke of “crisis,” “complacency,” and “unprecedented uncertainty.” Then the coronavirus struck. While 419 colleges reported space available for new applicants after last year’s May 1 deposit deadline, this year 729 did so, by far the most such colleges the National Association for College Admission Counseling has listed in recent years. In a recent survey of college presidents, 86 percent said fall or summer enrollment was now among their most pressing issues. With unprecedented turmoil over standardized testing, the unmooring of the admissions calendar, and uncertainty around whether campuses will reopen for the fall-2020 semester, enrollment managers and consultants are confronting greater challenges than ever before. How do things look from where they sit? Here’s what they told us.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Its Eyes on the Fall, One Campus Is Conducting a Public-Health Dry Run. Here’s What That Looks Like.
By Francie Diep
While dozens of colleges have announced they’re planning to reopen in the fall, few have said how they’ll do so while preventing the new coronavirus from spreading in their dorms, dining halls, and classrooms. But this week, the University of California at San Diego released one of the most detailed and ambitious plans yet made public for bringing students back to campus. And starting on Monday, it will put part of the plan to the test, conducting a dry run of a monitoring regime that would offer a coronavirus test to every single one of the 5,000 students now on campus. Ultimately the university hopes to run tens of thousands of tests a month, and to allow the 65,000-person campus to achieve a loose semblance of normal operations come fall.