University System News:
Thomasville Times Enterprise
Local students earn degrees from Georgia Southwestern State
The following area residents were among approximately 258 students who graduated from Georgia Southwestern State University during the Spring 2020 Virtual Graduation Ceremony on Friday, May 15. …During the virtual ceremony, President Weaver and Provost Suzanne Smith, Ph.D., shared brief remarks and words of encouragement, conferred undergraduate and graduate degrees, and signaled the turning of the tassels. …Spring 2020 graduates also have the option of returning to campus to walk across the stage in a special face-to-face August 15, 2020 ceremony.
Douglass Now
SGSC Holds Virtual Spring Graduation
South Georgia State College celebrated a momentous annual tradition as 377 graduates were honored with a virtual commencement ceremony on Friday, May 28, 2020. …Graduates were recognized individually as Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Dr. Robert Page presented 69 baccalaureate degree candidates and 308 associate degree candidates to President Thompson-Sellers for confirmation of their degrees. Nineteen graduates were awarded two degrees. Eighteen dual-enrolled students had their associate degree conferred before graduating from high school. Three of whom graduated with an associate of arts and an associate of science degree. The 2020 SGSC graduates were from the Cayman Islands, ten states in the US including Georgia and forty-two counties in Georgia.
Williamson Source
Six Local Students Graduate From Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology awarded degrees to approximately 4,050 undergraduate and graduate students at the conclusion of spring semester. Students were celebrated during a virtual celebration held on May 1. They will also be honored during in-person commencement ceremonies to be held on campus later this year. Among the graduates were six Williamson County students:
Cordele Dispatch
SGTC Dual Enrollment Student Earns Criminal Justice Degree While Still in High School
By Gabe Jordan
MarKayla Henderson of Cordele recently graduated with honors from both Crisp County High School and South Georgia Technical College (SGTC). Through the Dual Enrollment Program, Henderson was able to complete the requirements for an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice from SGTC while still attending high school. Though she initially intended to become a teacher, Henderson’s experience with dual enrollment led to a new career choice. “My college professors made it so exciting and interesting that I changed my future plans of becoming a teacher to wanting to be involved in criminal justice” Henderson said. “From the moment I took my first class, I was determined to see it to the end.” Now, Henderson plans to continue her criminal justice education at the University of West Georgia.
Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern Student Wins Next Generation of Campus Rec Writing Contest
Staff Report
Working with Campus Recreation and Intramurals (CRI) at Georgia Southern University not only inspired Samantha Estep to pursue a degree in exercise science, but it also encouraged her to write an article that was selected as the grand prize winner of the inaugural Next Generation of Campus Rec writing contest. …To be eligible, students had to write an article about their experience working for their institution’s recreation department, the impacts of college recreation programming on the student body and the future of college recreation. A native of Canton, Georgia, Estep wrote an article, “Work in Rec Opens Up New World of Possibilities,” that was published in the April edition of Athletic Business and highlights Estep’s time working with CRI and how it has shaped her into the person she is today.
Search & News
Ty Ty Student Selected For Leadership Award At Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
Laura Agundis, a recent ABAC graduate from Ty Ty, has been selected for the Stafford School of Business Dean’s Leadership Award at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. “The qualities that Laura’s instructors ascribe to her are leadership, independence, and dedication,” Renata Elad, dean of ABAC’s Stafford School of Business, said. “She is truly a go-getter, and we expect her to go places.” Elad said the award is presented to an outstanding ABAC graduate who distinguishes himself or herself through leadership and service to the school. She said Agundis distinguished herself through her service and dedication to ABAC.
The Augusta Chronicle
COVID-19, budget cut affect plans for fall at Augusta University
By Tom Corwin
Augusta University faces a lot of uncertainty over how it will resume classes in the fall due to COVID-19 and potential budget cuts, AU President Brooks Keel said, It has been just 93 days since the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in Georgia, Augusta University President Brooks Keel said. “It seems like years ago,” he said Tuesday during a virtual town hall. “It seems like a lifetime ago.” But in less than 70 days, it may still be hanging over AU as it prepares for its first day of classes for the fall semester, Keel said. The school has prepared four different scenarios for how it will conduct classes and operations. One is with minimal social distancing of at least six feet and some large classes perhaps split and alternating who attends in person and who attends online to a return to online only classes and instruction.
WGAU
UGA’s May classes end, planning for fall continues
By: Tim Bryant
Today is the last day of Maymester classes at the University of Georgia, classes UGA students have been taking on-line: the University continues to plan for a fall semester that has students back on campus. UGA staffers, who have been off campus since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, are due to beginning returning to their offices later this month. University administrators continue to plan for a fall semester that will include students on campus, something that hasn’t happened since before spring break more than two months ago. UGA’s fall classes are scheduled to begin in August.
WJBF
Augusta University’s President says school will start on campus in the fall
he “Now-Normal,” a term Augusta University’s President emphasized during Tuesday’s town-hall. Dr. Brooks Keel discussed potential budget cuts, plans for students to return to campus, and how the fall semester could look. “We’re getting ready for you,” expressed Dr. Keel. “We’re excited to welcome you back this fall, and we are committed to offering you a college experience that so many of you want.” Like many colleges nation-wide, AU is working on a plan to bring back its students and staff safe. Dr. Keel announced the school would use the next two months to start phasing employees back to its campuses.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: Racial unrest impacts students, schools
By Eric Stirgus
Here’s a breakdown of some recent developments: …Several Georgia State University buildings on its Atlanta campus were vandalized Friday, including the Aderhold Learning Center, the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and Rialto Center for the Arts. A few Georgia Tech police vehicles were damaged, including a SUV that was burned on Park Avenue near Marietta Street. …Georgia State President Mark Becker: “Atlanta’s many decades of peaceful protest and advocacy for social justice have resulted in real and positive change for our society. Georgia State is an example of that change … We’re on the right track, and through continued hard work and sustained commitment we will together help bring an end to the pain and injustice that ail our society.” …University of Georgia President Jere Morehead: “In the days ahead, let us move forward in seeking racial justice by practicing acts of kindness, love and understanding, thoughtful listening and constructive dialogue, and by demonstrating our ongoing commitment to do better while working together for a more united and just society.” …Kennesaw State University President Pamela Whitten: “I know that I am not alone at my university stating unequivocally that there is no room for the existence of or the tolerance for any form of racism. Let us move forward with a goal toward real change. Let us move forward with a sincere commitment to a constructive dialogue where we listen respectfully with a goal toward real change.” …Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera: “Last September, we had the privilege to meet, listen to, and honor the first four African American students in the Institute’s history. That day helped me better appreciate our long struggle to become more just and inclusive — and how, by being more just and inclusive, we have become much stronger. Today, we must reflect on how much further we have to go.”
GPB
Political Rewind: Could Current Moment Mark A Turning Point?
By Bill Nigut
Tuesday on Political Rewind, demonstrations continue in Atlanta and across Georgia as protesters voiced opposition and anguish over the death of George Floyd and patterns of police violence against black communities. We discussed the response from local officials and what comes next with our panel.
Panelists:
Tamar Hallerman – Senior Reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Karen Owen – Professor of Political Science, University of West Georgia
Monica Pearson – Former WSB Anchor
Christine White – Former WSB Anchor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion: Has moment come to strip Grady name from Atlanta high school and UGA college?
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Past efforts to erase Henry Grady from facades failed but patience with racist holdovers has run out
A column today in the University of Georgia student newspaper urges UGA to rid its journalism school of the Henry Grady name. Grady’s name is also on an Atlanta high school, the city’s public hospital and a South Georgia county. A native son of Athens, Ga., Grady was an acclaimed orator and journalist whose views were steeped in white supremacy. Past arguments that Grady’s diatribes disqualify his name from gracing major Atlanta institutions went nowhere. But this week’s national protests show many Americans are fed up with the vestiges of racism, in their police departments, their laws and their lives. They are demanding foundational change that will require institutions rebuild from the floorboards. Painting over a tainted name could be an easy first step.
The George-Anne
By Andy Cole
Three Georgia Southern students were arrested by Atlanta Police (APD) officers while protesting at Centennial Olympic Park on Saturday. Kyah Viner, an incoming sophomore psychology major, Tahli Viner, an incoming junior psychology major and K’Hari Viner, an incoming senior health sciences major were all charged with pedestrian walking in the roadway.
11Alive
Former Georgia Tech player turned cop walks with protesters
(Video) Lt. Knapp; His wife said it was truly a tear-jerking moment.
EcoWatch
First-Ever Black Birders Week Tackles Racism Outdoors
By Olivia Rosane
A video of an incident in Central Park last Monday, in which a white woman named Amy Cooper called the cops on African American birder Christian Cooper after he asked her to put her dog on a leash, went viral last week, raising awareness of the racism black people face for simply trying to enjoy nature.
In response, a group of more than 30 black scientists and nature lovers decided to launch the first-ever Black Birders Week, a social media event intended to raise awareness of African American participation in outdoor activities and the challenges they face, Audubon Magazine reported. “For far too long, black people in the United States have been shown that outdoor exploration activities are not for us,” Corina Newsome, who studies seaside sparrows at Georgia Southern University, said in a video announcing the week.
Connect Savannah
Skidaway Institute of Oceanography’s Clark Alexander talks special projects, what’s next
By Rachael Flora
WHILE it feels like our world is shutting down, the ocean never stops. Neither does the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, the research and training institution that’s part of the University of Georgia family. The institute has been a Skidaway Island regular for half a century, formally joining UGA in 2013. Clark Alexander is the director of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, where he’s been for 31 years—first as a postdoctoral scientist, then as a faculty member, and now as director. We spoke with him about the exciting goings-on last week.
Nature
How scientific conferences will survive the coronavirus shock
Virtual meetings are becoming the norm under COVID-19 and winning over many researchers: part 3 in a series on science after the pandemic.
Giuliana Viglione
…Since the coronavirus spread worldwide in early March, many scientific conferences scheduled for the first half of the year have migrated online, and organizers of meetings due to take place in the second half of 2020 are deciding whether they will go fully or partially virtual. Some researchers hope that the pandemic will finally push scientific societies to embrace a shift towards online conferences — a move that many scientists have long desired for environmental reasons and to allow broader participation. Scientists with disabilities and parents of young children are just two examples of the researchers who are benefiting from online meetings, says Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Cobb has been cutting back her own air travel since 2017, both to reduce her personal carbon footprint and to blaze a trail towards structural change in her discipline. She hopes the changes as a result of the pandemic will last long after it has ended. “In five years, we’ll be in a remarkably different place.” But other researchers say that in-person conferences will once again dominate after the threat of COVID-19 has faded. For them, in-person meetings offer too many opportunities that virtual meetings can’t replicate.
Athens CEO
UGA Offering COVID-19 Resources Throughout Georgia
From helping local governments navigate their changing financials to providing online assistance to small businesses in applying for federal loans to providing meals for food insecure Georgians, University of Georgia’s Public Service and Outreach is working throughout the state to help communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, May 22, UGA launched a comprehensive webpage intended to help the public identify outreach programs and services that would help them address challenges created by the crisis. Information is compiled under “buckets” that include how to apply for federal funding for small businesses, webinars for local government officials and economic development professionals, financial assistance for nonprofits, and programs for communities and youths.
The Augusta Chronicle
Augusta University Health will use AI to assess COVID-19 workplace risks
By Damon Cline
Returning to the office? A web-based AU Health service can help assess your COVID-19 risk. Am I safe to go back to work? It’s a question on the minds of many workers as employers decide to reopen offices, stores and production facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Area workers seeking an answer have primarily had to rely on their own intuition. But now a new Augusta University Health System website aims to give workers an objective risk assessment using artificial intelligence technology. AU has been beta-testing the service for the past few weeks by working with a select group of local employers. The tool will eventually be accessible to the public through the health system’s website.
Pharmaceutical Technology
Intravacc and EpiVax to develop Covid-19 vaccine candidate
Dutch research and development vaccine institute Intravacc has partnered with US-based biotechnology firm EpiVax to advance a Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The vaccine is based on Intravacc’s Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMV) platform. Under the collaboration agreement, Intravacc’s immunogenic OMV delivery platform will unite with EpiVax’s synthetically generated Covid-19 epitopes designed and optimised using immunoinformatics tools. The aim is to produce a safe and effective T-cell response against SARS-CoV-2 and other related coronaviruses. …In March, EpiVax partnered with University of Georgia (UGA) researcher Ted Ross to develop a vaccine against Covid-19 caused by the coronavirus. Separately, Generex Biotechnology signed a contract with EpiVax to leverage computational tools for identifying epitopes that can produce peptide vaccines against Covid-19. Later, in April, biotechnology firm Immunomic Therapeutics collaborated with EpiVax and PharmaJet to develop a Covid-19 vaccine candidate.
WRDW
Don’t like nasal swab? AU leads the way in new saliva test for coronavirus
The Gem Lab at the Medical College of Georgia is on the forefront of the fight against COVID-19. It’s often behind the scenes, but a recent innovation at the lab will be available soon to all of us. We can likely all agree that spitting in a tube is much easier than a nasal swab. “This appears to be just as good and there may be other advantages, as well as, it may be more sensitive,” said Dr. Phillip Coule, the chief medical officer at AU Health. Coule speaks from personal experience. A saliva test will be more comfortable for everyone. …AU says the FDA approval is a work in progress. But it’s promising, and the hope is you and I could be saliva tested by the fall. AU says they won’t stop nasal testing even after saliva testing is approved. There will be multiple methods available for the public.
Other News:
WRDW
Here are 3 positive signs in the two-state’s coronavirus fight
There’s positive news today about the two-state region’s battle against coronavirus.
Here are three things to know:
1. Hard-hit Georgia city sees some hope
In a part of Georgia that’s been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the phoebe hospital system in Albany says it now has its lowest number of coronavirus patients since mid-March. …
2. Antiviral drug remdesivir shows promise
A new study on an antiviral drug that’s been shipped to Augusta University Health shows it can help patients with moderate COVID-19 pneumonia. …
3. Antibody therapy trials have begun
The first human trials have begun in Atlanta for antibody therapy as a way to treat coronavirus. Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly says patients in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta are now receiving the treatment. …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Latest Atlanta coronavirus news: Deaths from COVID-19 pass 2,100; cases pass 48K
There are at least 2,102 deaths and 48,207 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Georgia
WRDW
Local blood donations of all types are urgently needed
Shepeard Community Blood Center says it has an urgent and immediate need for donors with all blood types, but especially O positive and O negative. The summer months are usually difficult for community blood centers like Shepeard. The center said the closure of schools, businesses and churches due to the coronavirus pandemic has led to a decrease in blood donations while the need for blood products continues to rise.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
As Covid-19 Constrains SAT Capacity, College Board Urges Admissions Offices to ‘Provide Flexibility’
By Eric Hoover
The novel coronavirus slammed the door on more than a million first-time SAT takers in the high-school class of 2021 who weren’t able to sit for the exam this spring. Now, the College Board, which owns the exam, is urging admissions officials to “provide flexibility” to the next round of college applicants. After all, for some rising seniors, finding a place to take the exam in the coming months might not be easy. During a webinar on Tuesday, David Coleman, the College Board’s chief executive, said that the organization would continue to expand the availability of test centers where possible, but that numerous locations would have fewer seats because of social-distancing guidelines. In many states and districts, there are still plenty of seats for test takers, according to the College Board.
Inside Higher Ed
College Board Asks College for Flexibility
By Scott Jaschik
The College Board on Tuesday asked colleges to be flexible on SAT scores and other matters for next year’s applicants. Specifically, the board asked colleges: To accept “scores as late as possible in their process, especially by extending early action and early decision deadlines to take some pressure off on students and give them more time to test and send their scores.” …
Inside Higher Ed
Coalition Application Adds Questions on COVID-19
By Scott Jaschik
The Coalition for College will add a question to its application that enables students and counselors to describe how the coronavirus pandemic has affected education at the students’ schools. For both first-year and transfer students, an optional checkbox-style question will allow them to choose the statements that describe how COVID-19 has affected their ability to engage in schoolwork. Statements cover a range of impacts, such as if the student has dealt with unreliable access to the internet or a home computer, or if they or a parent or guardian have suffered job loss or been designated as an essential worker. An optional text field will be available for students who choose to say more.
Inside Higher Ed
Lawyers Lay Out Legal Issues Colleges Face This Fall
A litany of legal issues looms for colleges considering reopening in the fall, from safety to online accessibility to federal stimulus funding. Here’s what higher education lawyers say should be on college leaders’ radars.
Lindsay McKenzie and Emma Whitford
Whether institutions can be held liable for students, faculty and staff members contracting COVID-19 on campus is top of mind for leaders mulling reopening plans, but that’s not the only legal pitfall they have to worry about. Lawyers in higher education say an abundance of legal issues await them come September. In the final months of the spring semester, lawsuits cropped up in response to room and board reimbursements, or lack thereof, and online AP testing complications. Colleges have for weeks lobbied Congress for liability protection should students or employees get sick. …Additionally, there are questions regarding how much power colleges will have to mandate testing, temperature checks, mask wearing, social distancing and other precautions, Keller said.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Plan for College Budgets Next Year? Improvise
Revenues are fuzzy, and every new safety measure carries a price tag
By Scott Carlson
In the drive to reopen campuses — in the fall? in the spring? — college leaders have to consider a dizzying array of challenges: how often to test, how to rejigger classrooms and residences, what technology to acquire for hybrid courses, and what kinds of protective gear professors and staff members need, among many others. …Perhaps the only certainty about budgets for the coming year is this: They’re going to have to be malleable enough to adapt to a wider range of scenarios than anyone can remember. “It is entirely possible that the biggest risk for institutions financially is to come back in the fall and then have to send people home again,” Hardin said. …Colleges are planning now for the infrastructure they will need in the fall, but typically reliable areas of profit and loss might quickly become complicated.
The New York Times
Opinion
How Colleges Can Keep the Coronavirus Off Campus
Schools must build cultures of physical distancing to protect campuses.
By David Wippman and Glenn Altschuler
Mr. Wippman is the president of Hamilton College and Dr. Altschuler is a professor at Cornell.
Colleges and universities like ours are hoping to reopen campuses and resume in-person instruction in the fall, but they face significant physical and logistical obstacles in protecting their students. Residential colleges are sometimes described as “landlocked cruise ships,” because students live, eat, study and socialize together, often in close quarters. Under ordinary circumstances, that is a good thing. But such tightly knit campus communities are tailor-made for spreading an easily transmissible illness like the coronavirus. The American College Health Association and others have laid out a basic process for reopening: Test all students on arrival, then again after one to two weeks, and periodically throughout the semester (though where colleges will get all these tests and the personnel to administer them remains a mystery). Isolate students who test positive, trace all close contacts and quarantine those exposed for two weeks. Maintain physical distancing protocols by reconfiguring residence halls, dining facilities, classrooms and other gathering places. …Doing all this is much easier said than done. Reconfiguring physical spaces and controlling access to promote physical distancing will be complicated and costly. Achieving six feet of separation in classrooms, for example, may involve having half of the students attending in person on alternating days, while the other half joins remotely from residence halls.
Inside Higher Ed
Academics are called to help interpret and guide a national response to police violence and related civil unrest.
By Colleen Flaherty
There is a biting senselessness in what happened to George Floyd, whose death catalyzed national protests: he was denied breath for nearly nine minutes by police for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at a corner store, all of it caught on video by a gathering crowd. The same senselessness hangs over the deaths of so many other unarmed black men and women killed by police. It hangs, too, over the shooting death of black runner Ahmaud Arbery, whose white alleged killers evaded criminal charges until recently, when a video of the incident surfaced. Yet trying to make sense of seemingly inscrutable problems is what academics do. So just as they’re emerging from the deep end of rapid remote spring term instruction, they’re being plunged into another national crisis. This time, it’s racially motivated police violence, subsequent protests and myriad related questions, and how academe must respond. In print, on social media and TV, and in comments to Inside Higher Ed, academics who study race, culture and criminal justice are sharing their interpretations of recent events. They’re also sharing what those events mean for academe, especially the curriculum.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Students Demand That More Colleges Break Ties With the Local Police
By Katherine Mangan
Calls to limit ties between colleges and local police forces grew stronger this week as student leaders from at least three more universities demanded that they follow the University of Minnesota’s lead and take strong stands against police violence and institutional racism. In a letter to Ohio State University officials on Monday, leaders of three student organizations called on the university’s police department to cut its contractual ties to the Columbus Police Department for all on-campus investigations, services, and events. They criticized the city police department’s decision to use wooden bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray to disperse protesters last week after largely peaceful protests became heated.