University System News:
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia State University sets records for enrollment and size of freshman class
By Grace Donnelly – Reporter
Georgia State University set new records for the largest enrollment and freshman class size in the school’s history. Classes began Monday with more than 54,000 students enrolled this semester, compared to last year’s record of about 53,000. While university president Mark Becker expressed concern about the size of freshman enrollment due to the Covid-19 pandemic during an Atlanta Business Chronicle panel discussion in late July, the incoming freshman class at the Atlanta campus includes more than 5,200 students and is the largest, most qualified and most diverse group of freshmen in Georgia State’s history. Last year’s freshman class consisted of more than 4,600 students, setting the previous record.
Effingham Herald
Responding to campus needs as a new semester begins
Rep. Jon Burns
Friends,
As college students start the fall semester, it is essential to note the pivotal role that the University System of Georgia (USG) and the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) have played in our state’s fight against COVID-19. Many doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who serve Georgians were trained in these very institutions. USG and TCSG provided personal protective equipment and testing supplies to hospitals and clinics all over the state to replenish dwindling supplies. These institutions also began utilizing their 3D printers and other manufacturing capabilities, creating face shields and other resources needed by healthcare workers. Additionally, Augusta University continues to provide logistical and healthcare support as our state responds to our citizens’ needs. Both Albany State University and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College have provided housing for traveling healthcare workers, and Valdosta State University lab facilities have been used for nurses to train on ventilator usage and other procedures specific to COVID-19.
Gwinnett Daily Post
Classes resume at Georgia Gwinnett College
By Curt Yeomans
Georgia Gwinnett College resumed in-person instruction earlier this month as students returned to campus for the fall 2020 semester. Classes are resuming as GGC, like other schools around the world, work to keep students safe amid the COVID-19 novel coronavirus disease pandemic.
Growing America
ABAC and VSU Sign New Articulation Agreements to Bring Needed Skills to Rural Communities
Two freshly-inked articulation agreements between Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) and Valdosta State University (VSU) aim to provide students the necessary skills needed to help build America’s rural communities. The agreements guarantee qualified Bachelor of Science degree graduates in Rural Community Development from ABAC an interview and consideration for admission into VSU’s Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology or Counselor Education master’s degree programs. Dr. Adrian Israel Martinez-Franco said that ABAC’s Rural Community Development bachelor’s degree program prepares students to make a positive impact in rural areas
Inside Higher Ed
COVID-19 Roundup: 6% of a College’s Students Have It
More than 400 students at Georgia College have COVID-19; Arizona State releases health data, in part; Oregon goes virtual; and Towson and North Carolina State largely close campuses to students.
By Doug Lederman
A total of 447 people — 427 of them students — at Georgia College have contracted COVID-19, according to the college’s public dashboard. That is more than 6 percent of the nearly 7,000 students at the public liberal arts institution. Inside Higher Ed’s reporting has not to date revealed any other campus with anywhere near that proportion of COVID-19 positivity among the student body. To be clear, these are cumulative numbers and not the number of current positive cases. They do not reflect those students and employees who have recovered and completed their quarantine periods. Omar Odeh, associate vice president for strategic communications at the college, said the large number of COVID-19 cases are “cumulative” and include “students and employees who have recovered and completed their quarantine periods.” But the college’s dashboard shows 391 cases reported in the last eight days, through Tuesday. Faculty members at Georgia estimate that between a quarter and a third of Georgia College’s students are in quarantine because of possible exposure to the coronavirus. Odeh did not respond to emails seeking confirmation of that estimate.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC College COVID Tracker: Ga. Tech reports single-day high 58 cases
By Eric Stirgus
Here are the latest developments of COVID-19 cases on metro Atlanta’s college campuses and in other parts of Georgia:
Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech on Wednesday reported 58 new positive cases, its highest single-day total since it began tracking the data in March. Forty-one of the 58 cases involved students who were living on campus or in Greek organization housing. The 17 other positive cases came from students who were off campus, Georgia Tech’s website shows. The previous single-day high was on Sunday with 51 cases. Georgia Tech has reported 432 positive cases since March.
Georgia Southern The university had 71 positive cases during a seven-day stretch that ended Sunday, according to its website. It is the first set of numbers Georgia Southern has reported online about positive COVID-19 cases. …
Savannah Morning News
Capacity for Georgia Southern football home games set at up to 25%
By Nathan Dominitz
Georgia Southern home football games this season will be limited to up to 25% capacity at 25,000-seat Paulson Stadium, or approximately 6,250 spectators, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The athletics department announced Monday that Georgia Southern University President Kyle Marrero has approved a plan for the Eagles’ six scheduled home games, beginning with the season opener Sept. 12 against Campbell. Season-ticket holders will have the ability to attend all six home games this season, and must let the athletic department know by Sept. 1 whether or not they will “opt in” for tickets in 2020.
goingconcern
These Colleges Have Cranked Out the Most Public Accounting Firm CEOs and Managing Partners (2020)
by Jason Bramwell
Now that INSIDE Public Accounting has released its latest ranking of the top public accounting firms in the nation by revenue, we thought we’d update a post from last year about which colleges and universities have graduated the most firm CEOs, chairmen, and managing partners. As we did last year, we looked at IPA’s most recent ranking of the top 200 firms, which names the current CEO, chairman, or managing partner for each firm. We’ve had to update our list because there have been leadership changes at several firms over the past year, as well as new firms entering and leaving the top 200. …Here are the rest of the schools that have produced the most leaders of top 200 public accounting firms: 2. (tie) University of Georgia: 4
Other News:
WSB
White House coronavirus task force says Georgia seeing ‘fragile’ improvements in fight against virus
By: Nicole Carr, WSB-TV
The White House coronavirus task force now says Georgia is seeing “fragile” improvements. Cases are going down across the state, but members of the task force say they still have concerns for the Peach State and is still in need of aggressive action. It echoes a call last week between states’ leaders and Dr. Deborah Birx that was made public by the center for public integrity. “We did have 13 states in the red zone. We now have nine states, and in those nine states we do see most of them with a decline in test positivity,” Birx said during the call. She said Georgia is now in a yellow zone – and out of the red.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Aug. 26, 3 p.m.)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 5,311 | Deaths have been confirmed in 157 counties. County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
CONFIRMED CASES: 260,590 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Live Updates: Latest News on Coronavirus and Higher Education
By IHE Staff
Georgia College Has 447 Cases, More Than 6% of Student Body
A total of 447 people — and roughly 440 students — at Georgia College have contracted COVID-19, according to the public liberal arts institution’s public dashboard. That is more than 6 percent of its nearly 7,000 students. Inside Higher Ed’s reporting has not revealed any other campus with anywhere near that proportion of COVID-19 positivity among the student body to date. Officials at the college did not respond to several inquiries from Inside Higher Ed about how many students are in isolation or quarantining, or about the college’s plans to restrict in-person events or learning.
— Doug Lederman
Under Pressure, Arizona State Publishes Some COVID-19 Data …
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Blame Pollyanna Presidents When COVID-19 Plans Fail
Too many college leaders aren’t doing enough to prevent outbreaks, and trying to shift responsibility to students.
By Gregg Gonsalves
As the pandemic rages in many states, some college presidents are engaging in wishful thinking and hubris, believing they can keep the coronavirus at bay by relying on piecemeal responses. Sadly, we’re already experiencing outbreaks on campuses and retreats to remote learning: the University of Notre Dame, Michigan State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are the first major institutions that have seen the virus outwit their best plans. There will be many more over the coming weeks.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
10 Ways the Coronavirus Has Shaped Higher Ed and Its World
New lawsuits, more hunger, fewer jobs, and shaken local economies
By Audrey Williams June
The coronavirus pandemic has shifted the way institutions of higher education operate, altered the college experience for students, and triggered protests by faculty members and staff against plans to reopen in the fall. It has also affected the economies and normal operations of the towns that rely on their local colleges. The data below paint a picture of the many ways that Covid-19 has tested higher ed, strained its students and work force, and spilled outward into surrounding communities, sometimes in unexpected ways.
Inside Higher Ed
Faculty members say they’re working harder than ever to meet students’ needs through remote instruction, even if critics of the model don’t know it.
By Colleen Flaherty
The spring semester and its full-throttle move to remote instruction proved brutal for many if not most faculty members. The summer offered little relief, as professors used the time to transition their fall courses to a fully online format or, more time-consumingly, to multiple formats for a range of reopening scenarios. In light of these ongoing demands, faculty members say they’re working harder than ever to be effective instructors. Many have taken online teaching courses, gotten comfortable with new technology, revamped syllabi and course content, and been more available to students. So it’s disheartening that critics inside and outside academe are questioning the value of a remote education, these professors say.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Will Covid-19 Revive Faculty Power?
The pandemic has spurred professors across the country to organize. Are they too late?
By Emma Pettit
…That shift is not isolated to Hopkins. Across the country, faculty members are campaigning to be meaningfully heard by the powers that be at their institutions — big and small, elite and open access. They’re laying the bricks of new structures of faculty and staff governance after decades of erosion. In some ways, the pandemic has become this “great leveler,” says Jennifer Fredette, an associate professor of political science at Ohio University. Tenured professors are feeling the insecurity that contingent faculty members have long experienced. A raw deal has reached their doorstep, she says, and they’re now saying, “Nobody deserves this.”
Inside Higher Ed
Alternative Credentials on the Rise
Interest is growing in short-term, online credentials amid the pandemic. Will they become viable alternative pathways to well-paying jobs?
By Paul Fain
Shorter-term, online alternatives to the college degree are having a moment. A growing body of evidence has found strong consumer interest in recent months in skills-based, online credentials that are clearly tied to careers, particularly among adult learners from diverse and lower-income backgrounds, whom four-year colleges often have struggled to attract and graduate.