University System News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp announces more than $80 million in federal pandemic funding for Georgia school programs
By James Salzer
Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday announced the first $80 million allocation for K-12 school and college programs from his Emergency Education Relief fund approved by Congress earlier this year as part of its coronavirus relief efforts. The state will allocate: $29.3 million to provide school districts with more options to connect students to the internet, ensuring all schools have broadband signal extenders and expanding other options. $11.5 million to support mental health and student support services in the University System of Georgia. $10.4 million to provide more online courses and programs to technical college students.
Albany CEO
Georgia Southwestern Continues Momentum with Fall Enrollment Increase
Staff Report
The largest freshman class in the past 50 years highlights an enrollment surge at Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW). One week into a return to face-to-face instruction, GSW’s enrollment has jumped more than 11%, bringing the total student body to 3,158. The freshman class of nearly 500 students represents a 29% increase from one year ago and validates the ongoing investment in campus facilities, new academic programs and increased scholarship support. “We are very excited to have students back on campus after a long five months,” said Weaver. “The first day of class excitement is still lingering in the Hurricane atmosphere, and these students are more eager than ever to learn and get engaged on campus. While things may look a little different around here with a few modifications in operations, our students have been incredible in following the safety protocols and remaining open-minded and flexible to these changes. Our students want to be here learning in the classroom, and I think our numbers for fall indicate that.”
WSAV
By McKenna Cieslak
As students at Georgia Southern’s Armstrong campus head back to face-to-face instruction, the University is making clear their health precautions around campus. Classroom sizes have been cut in half and and masks have been mandated on campus and inside buildings. The University says they’ve been planning for this week for more than four months. “We’ve created lots of contingencies, lots of scenarios and we are now enacting that plan and part of that plan involves a continuing constant assessment with local and state health officials,” says Vice President of Communications for the University, John Lester.
NPR
Move-In Day: Cornavirus Reshapes The College Experience
By Elissa Nadworny
Th first stop on an NPR college road trip: move-in day at the University of Georgia, where thousands are beginning an unusual fall semester… The University of North Carolina announced yesterday that it was backing away from its plans to hold classes in person just one week into the fall semester. This has been the concern all summer long, that colleges would welcome students to campus and then they’d have to shut down right away. NPR’s Elissa Nadworny has been covering this. She is in Georgia this week, where students at that state’s flagship university are moving onto campus.
Growing Georgia
Record Number of Students Choose Majors in the Great Outdoors at ABAC
Staff Report
A record number of students decided on a major in the great outdoors at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College when ABAC returned to in-person classes for the recent start of the fall semester. ABAC President David Bridges said early numbers showed a record 1,371 students majoring in the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Of that number, an all-time high of 273 students chose Natural Resource Management which features programs in forestry, wildlife, and conservation law enforcement. ABAC’s overall enrollment is nearly 4,000 students. “Believe it or not, it might have something to do with the pandemic,” Bridges said. “Like many people in America today, some of our students are choosing careers that take them away from big cities. Because of the coronavirus and its effect on highly populated areas, that could be what we are seeing.
GPB News
University System Of Georgia: No Definitive COVID-19 Threshold For Moving Classes Online
By Josephine Bennett
With class back in session this week at the University of Georgia amid the coronavirus pandemic, the University System of Georgia says it still has not established an infection threshold that would force all classes online. Lance Wallace, the USG associate vice chancellor for communications, said the governing body of the state’s 26 public universities and colleges will make that decision as conditions change and after looking at data from local health officials in partnership with the Georgia Department of Public Health. “We can’t say that there is a definitive number that if this number is reached, then it triggers this particular response,” Wallace said. “It’s taken in a day-by-day basis as the climate and environment are evaluated.”
Savannah Business Journal
SAMETRIA MCFALL, Ph.D., named interim provost and vice president for SSU Academic Affairs
Staff Report
Savannah State University Interim President Kimberly Ballard-Washington has named Sametria McFall, Ph.D., as interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs effective Aug. 1, 2020. “We are fortunate to have Dr. McFall assume this important leadership role,” said Ballard-Washington. “Her background, experience and commitment to the university makes her the right person at the right time to lead Academic Affairs in planning, developing, and implementing the university’s academic vision and goals.” McFall, appointed assistant vice president for Academic Affairs in 2019, has held numerous faculty and administrative roles since returning to her alma mater in 2005. She completed the University System of Georgia (USG) 2015-2016 Executive Leadership Institute, an eight-month professional development program that includes group learning formats, independent study, teleconferences and job shadowing to prepare participants for high-level advancement with the USG.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia college students make case for cut in online tuition costs
By Eric Stirgus
Many Georgia college students whose schools have switched to online learning for the fall semester are pleading for tuition decreases, echoing calls by students across the country who say the online instruction is not what they paid for. The students say online classes omit some key elements of in-person learning, such as face-to-face meetings with instructors that allow for greater dialogue than online conversations — and important networking that could lead to a job upon graduation. Locally, the most vocal complaints are coming from Emory University law school students. More than 300 of them signed a petition noting their tuition has increased while the university froze tuition for undergraduate students.
WSAV
New Georgia Southern program offers certificate, college credits for soldiers
By WSAV Staff
The Waters College of Health Professions at Georgia Southern University is helping soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division (ID) rank up their readiness by offering a new Tactical Athlete Certificate (TAC) program. Georgia Southern say the program is designed to help soldiers “improve their performance, avoid musculoskeletal injuries in physical training, and receive college credits and points toward promotions.” The program is made of three courses including a basic course, a trainer course, and a programming course. “The Tactical Athlete Certificate is a beneficial program for both the military as a whole and the individual soldier,” said Nancy Henderson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. “The military gains more knowledgeable soldiers who can develop science-based and comprehensive physical training plans, and the individual soldier benefits by receiving college credits, which can help them as they advance in their military careers.”
Yahoo! News
North GA Moves To Virtual Format For Saturday Of Service
Staff Report
The University of North Georgia already planned to expand its Saturday of Service, traditionally held the first week of the fall semester on the Dahlonega Campus, to all five campuses this August. Now with the COVID-19 pandemic limiting large gatherings, the university will employ a “pay it forward” strategy that leads to service throughout the northeast Georgia region, culminating on Saturday. The virtual event encourages UNG students, faculty, staff, and alumni to engage in community service and random acts of kindness from Aug. 17-22 and post their efforts on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #NighthawksTogether.
News Medical
Study fills crucial knowledge gaps on myasthenia gravis
By James Ives
A study of 181 patients at 16 sites across the country who test negative for two antibodies long known to cause muscle-weakening myasthenia gravis, found that about 15% test positive for one of two newly discovered antibodies that also attack the point of communication between nerves and muscle. About 13% tested positive for antibodies to both LRP4 and agrin, proteins critical to healthy nerve-muscle communication, investigators report in the journal Muscle & Nerve about the largest group of patients examined for the new antibodies. Those who tested positive for antibodies to LRP4, agrin or both, tended to be sicker when diagnosed and have a more severe disease course, investigators at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University report.
WGXA
What college students want to see from the next president
By Noel Espinal
The Democratic National Convention has moved to a virtual platform and begins tonight at 9 PM EST.
WGXA spoke with students from Georgia College & State University that affiliate with both the Young Democrats and College Republican organizations on campus. Of course, both students had differing opinions on many topics, but their thoughts on Joe Biden’s pick for Vice President, Kamala Harris, were similar.
Patch
Weeks Of Welcome Maintain Presence Across All Campuses At N. Georgia
Staff Report
For two weeks, the University of North Georgia (UNG) welcomes students to all five campuses with various activities as part of Weeks of Welcome2, which has a different look this semester. All of the traditional events, such as Student Convocation on Aug. 17 and Nighthawks Fest from Aug. 24-28, are mostly virtual because of limitations from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Stacie Rowley3, associate dean of students at UNG. Students watched the Convocation via YouTube Live and Zoom. Speakers included Dr. Bonita Jacobs, president of UNG; Dr. Chaudron Gille, provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs; Dr. James Conneely, vice president of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management; and students. For students unable to watch live, a recording will be posted online 48 hours after the event.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
White House says Georgia now leads nation in rate of new virus cases
By J. Scott Trubey and Greg Bluestein
Georgia reported the highest rate of new cases of the coronavirus in the country in the seven days ending on Friday, President Trump’s coronavirus task force said in its latest report, urging the state again to take stronger action to mitigate spread of COVID-19. Though conditions in some areas of Georgia have improved modestly in recent weeks, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said Georgia remains in the red zone for severity of the outbreak as measured by rate of case growth and test positivity. “Georgia’s small gains are fragile and statewide progress will require continued, expanded, and stronger mitigation efforts, including in all open schools,” according to the White House report, which was dated Sunday.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LATEST GEORGIA FIGURES (updated Aug. 18, 3 p.m.): Deaths: 4,794 | Confirmed cases: 241,677 | More detail here. The AJC is covering the coronavirus outbreak with a focus on what it means to Atlanta and Georgia. Follow AJC for news updates, health information and helpful resources.
Higher Education News:
The Washington Post
The virus isn’t going away. That’s why campuses need to reopen.
By Joseph E. Aoun
Communities across the country are watching closely, in these late-summer weeks, as universities decide whether to welcome students back to campus — or to reverse their reopening decisions based on the current state of the covid-19 pandemic. At Northeastern University, we announced in May our intention to reopen, after consulting with epidemiologists, biologists and network scientists on our faculty. Their work convinced us that bringing students back to the university would be crucial — not because the covid-19 virus isn’t a serious, highly transmissible threat, but because it is. The pandemic, we realized, is going to be endemic: an ongoing threat to manage, not a brief blip in history, cleanly wiped out by a miracle vaccine. The science will take time. But the world cannot.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Live Coronavirus Updates: Here’s the Latest
Staff Report
The fall semester has begun for many colleges, and Covid-19 is surging. The Chronicle is tracking developments across higher ed here. Read on for daily live updates and information.
5:33 p.m. Eastern, 8/18/2020 Michigan State Moves Fall Term Online, Asks Students to Stay Home
Michigan State University is taking the fall semester entirely online, reversing its plan to hold some classes in person, the university’s president, Samuel Stanley, announced on Tuesday. Stanley said the university was asking students who had planned to live in residence halls to stay home. “Given the current status of the virus in our country — particularly what we are seeing at other institutions as they repopulate their campus communities — it has become evident to me that, despite our best efforts and strong planning, it is unlikely we can prevent widespread transmission of Covid-19 between students if our undergraduates return to campus,” Stanley wrote.
Inside Higher Ed
Michigan State, Notre Dame Back Off From Fall Reopening Plans
By Rick Seltzer
Two more major research universities are walking back plans to resume in-person undergraduate instruction, continuing a rocky rollout for fall reopening efforts across higher education. The University of Notre Dame announced Tuesday afternoon it was suspending in-person classes for almost 12,000 students, moving undergraduate classes to remote instruction for two weeks while keeping students on campus and giving leaders a chance to reassess plans and a rising coronavirus infection rate. The announcement came at virtually the same time Michigan State University asked undergraduates who had planned to live in residence halls to stay home and announced that it will transition classes planned for in-person instruction to remote formats.
Inside Higher Ed
Pressure Mounts on In-Person Holdouts
By Lilah Burke
When the dominoes fell in March, it was swift. The University of Washington was the first to switch to remote learning, followed by other Seattle colleges, the West Coast and eventually the country. For months, observers have been on the lookout for fall’s first domino, the one that will take them all down. Worthy contenders — Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst — have all come and gone. Some thought the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could be that domino. Chapel Hill is a major research university, a Football Bowl Subdivision player and — like many other universities planning to bring back students — a public university in a largely Republican-controlled state. After 135 coronavirus cases, a media frenzy and a foulmouthed editorial in the student newspaper, Chapel Hill decided to send students home Monday after nine days of class, a potential warning to any college leader hoping to resume in-person classes.
Inside Higher Ed
COVID-19 College Marketing Draws Criticism
By Lindsay McKenzie
For-profit online colleges are already ramping up efforts to attract vulnerable students who have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by the Century Foundation, a consumer advocacy group. In past economic downturns, some predatory institutions saw an opportunity to target people who were struggling, and the same thing is likely happening again, says author Taela Dudley, a senior policy associate at the foundation. Dudley and colleagues have been tracking advertising spending by the 100 for-profit and nonprofit colleges with the largest online enrollments. The analysis found that some colleges have increased their marketing budgets since March.
Inside Higher Ed
Registered for the SAT, Unable to Take the Test
By Scott Jaschik
Of the 402,000 students registered to take the SAT and SAT Subject Tests on Aug. 29, 178,600 will be unable to take the test for which they signed up because so many testing centers have closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Forty-six percent of testing centers have closed, according to the College Board, which administers the SAT and other standardized tests. Of 54 percent of testing centers that are open, some have reduced capacity, the College Board announced. “We know this is a challenging time for students who want to take the SAT. We are working with local communities to help ensure as many students who want to test have the opportunity to do so, safely, during next week’s SAT administration and those that follow each month this year,” said Priscilla Rodriguez, the College Board’s vice president of college readiness assessments.