University System News:
The Red & Black
UGA administration discusses self-isolation, economic impacts, class formats for fall semester
Jacqueline GaNun | News Editor
A Tuesday Zoom call between members of the University of Georgia administration began with questions directed to the president of the university: “What scares you about this fall? What keeps you up at night?” “You worry about what you haven’t thought about and you worry about what could happen,” President Jere Morehead responded. As the beginning of the fall semester draws nearer, members of the administration discussed questions submitted by students, faculty members, staff and parents about UGA’s reopening plan in a public Zoom meeting called “Campus Conversation on COVID-19.” Questions ranged from class formats and online learning to what students should do if they test positive for COVID-19.
Fun 101.1
Gordon State Receives Additional Ppe Supplies
After spending the summer semester online and the majority of the employees working remotely, Gordon State College resumed normal operating hours Monday as the institution prepares for the first day of fall semester, which begins on August 12. Gordon also received additional personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) provided for The University System of Georgia (USG) to distribute to its 26 institutions ahead of this month’s return to on-campus instruction. The GSC campus will be open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for regular business hours and strongly urges students and guests to make an appointment through the website (https://www.gordonstate.edu/departments). The Gordon campus will be closed on Wednesday, Aug. 5, to allow staff and faculty to participate in the fifth annual Student Success Summit. The in-service training will be held virtually this year. Regular hours will resume on Thursday, Aug. 6.
Savannah Morning News
A swarm of food-delivery robots could be on the way at Georgia Southern’s Armstrong campus
By Barbara Augsdorfer
Posted at 8:44 AM
For students going to college in the new normal of a COVID-19 world, food delivery by robot might seem like a natural progression of “contact-less delivery.” Students at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro will soon see these machines humming around campus as the pilot program kicks off this fall. Depending on the reaction, Armstrong’s campus could see the machines afterwards. “The plan is to test it on the Statesboro campus and then expand it to Armstrong if it’s well-received and works out as well as we hope,” wrote Melanie Simon, GSU communications manager, in a follow-up email. The robotic food delivery system is designed to allow students to obtain meals from their favorite on-campus restaurants while maintaining a level of safety and without having to congregate in large groups inside a dining hall.
Georgia Recorder
Georgia college students, faculty want more COVID-19 safety on campus
By Ross Williams
Nearly 1,000 graduate students and supporters from across the state are calling for changes to the University System of Georgia’s reopening plans. With many Georgia college students set to return to campuses this month for in-person instruction, the students’ open letter represents the latest tension between the university system, which is urging face-to-face classes, and some students, faculty and staff, who are calling for tighter precautions. And graduate students who teach play a hybrid role.
WRDW
Mental health pods promise pandemic relief for hospital staff
By Brady Trapnell
New cases come into our hospitals every day, as our health care workers continue to fight COVID-19. Now some of them are getting a little refuge. At Augusta University Health, nurses and staff members are experiencing stress like never before. The entire hospital is under their emergency staffing plan to ease the burden, with nurses helping other nurses. It’s likely COVID-19 is taking a mental burden on all of us. Just imagine being on the frontlines every day. …After a nurse was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago, other nurses and pastoral care said something needed to change. AU Health now has mental health pods for its medical workers.
WFXG
Augusta University students move in
By Danielle Ledbetter
Augusta University says this year’s move in is completely different than previous years. Normally, move in is a big event on a Friday and Saturday with tons of volunteers. But this year, due to the pandemic, freshmen are moving in over the span of six days rather than two. All the students had to sign up for a specific time to move in and they’re only allowed two guests to help them move in. The university says this will help them practice social distancing.
Intelligent Transport
USDOT awards $4.9 million to four new University Transportation Centers
The University Transportation Centers have been awarded the grants in a bid to accelerate research and education into American transportation solutions.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has announced $4.925 million in grants to fund four new Tier 1 University Transportation Centers (UTCs) which aim to advance research and education programmes that address critical transportation challenges facing the U.S.. “These investments in four new transportation research centres will help advance innovation and create new solutions to increase accessibility,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary, Elaine L. Chao. The Department received 67 grant applications for the four new Tier 1 UTCs for important and topical research. From those applications, the Department selected: …Strategic Implications of Changing Public Transportation Travel Trends ($1 million) – Georgia Institute of Technology (in consortium with the University of Tennessee, the University of Kentucky, and Brigham Young University). “Researchers at these four new UTCs and their consortium members will address important 21st century transportation topics,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, Diana Furchtgott-Roth.
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
This giant reptile was so big, it ate dinosaurs. Now it’s named after CSU professor.
By Mark Rice
A prehistoric species has been named after a Columbus State University professor. CSU geology professor David Schwimmer is the namesake for Deinosuchus schwimmeri. That’s the scientific identity of the giant reptiles that were so big — estimated as long as 35 feet, equivalent to a 72-passenger school bus — they feasted on dinosaurs and were considered the largest predators in the coastal wetlands of what is now the southeastern United States 75-82 million years ago.
Savannah CEO
HunterMaclean Attorney Nicole Pope Recognized as Georgia Southern University Alumni 40 Under 40
Staff Report
HunterMaclean, a leading law firm with offices in Savannah and St. Simons Island, is pleased to announce that attorney Nicole Pope was recognized as one of Georgia Southern University Alumni Association’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2020. In its fifth year, the 40 Under 40 program recognizes alumni who have made significant achievements in leadership, business, community, and educational or philanthropic endeavors. “Nicole’s inclusion in this influential group of young leaders is a reflection of the dedication she brings to her practice and her community,” said HunterMaclean’s Managing Partner Brad Harmon. “This is a well-deserved honor, and we are proud to have Nicole as part of our team at HunterMaclean.”
Other News:
The Washington Post
Remote work really does mean longer days — and more meetings
Those who sense that this grand experiment in working from home comes with plenty of downsides — longer days, more meetings and more emails to answer — are now backed up by data
By Jena McGregor
The massive global shift to remote work since the pandemic began has led to some upsides: More flexibility, no commute, more comfortable pants. But those who sense this grand experiment in working from home also comes with plenty of downsides — longer days, more meetings and more email to answer — are now backed up by data from 3.1 million workers. The average workday lengthened by 48.5 minutes in the weeks following stay-at-home orders and lockdowns, and the number of meetings increased by 13 percent, a working paper published Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research showed. The study, which examined the anonymous email and calendar data of more than three million users from an unnamed tech provider, also found significant increases in internal email and in meeting sizes. Anyone who has been working from home amid the unyielding health crisis — especially those also juggling the education or care of children — will not be surprised.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Your work from home setup may cause back, shoulder injuries
By Courtney Kueppers
Is your work from home set up less than ideal? New research shows that it can be worth the investment to improve it in order to prevent injuries. With many workers across the country home from offices for the foreseeable future amid the ongoing pandemic, Kermit Davis, an expert in office ergonomics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, found that static posture or position could lead to injuries in your neck, back and shoulders.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Aug. 4, 3 p.m.)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 3,921 | Deaths have been confirmed in 153 counties. County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
CONFIRMED CASES: 197,948 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Interactive Tool Shows Financial Stress on Colleges
By Emma Whitford
Curious about your college’s financial health? A new interactive tool from the Hechinger Report and NBC News evaluates colleges’ financial stress at the end of the 2019-20 academic year. The Financial Fitness Tracker was developed using methodology from The College Stress Test by Robert Zemsky, Susan Shaman and Susan Campbell Baldridge. The scores are based on enrollment, revenue, endowment and state appropriations data from the National Center for Education Statistics, as well as resulting projections from those data.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
What Should College-Admissions Reform Look Like? Researchers Share New Ideas
By Eric Hoover
Last fall, more than 100 admissions leaders, policy makers, and researchers gathered in Washington, D.C., to discuss the system that just about everyone thinks is broken but no one is quite sure how to fix. The summit was part of Hack the Gates, a yearlong initiative to reimagine college admissions, sponsored by Admissions Community Cultivating Equity and Peace Today, known as Accept, and the Race and Intersectional Studies in Educational Equity Center at Colorado State University at Fort Collins. Heavy on small-group brainstorming sessions, the two-day event was meant to drive potential answers to a big question: How can the process better serve low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented minority students? Those discussions inspired eight new research briefs that were published online on Tuesday. Each contains recommendations that were previously shared with admissions officials, who gave feedback on their practicality.
Inside Higher Ed
Challenges of the Socially Distanced Classroom
Professors’ experiment suggests the limits of on-campus, hybrid instruction this fall. Big Ten universities expand sharing of online courses.
By Doug Lederman
Even as more colleges announce plans to offer all instruction virtually this fall, many remain committed to at least some in-person courses — and to providing them in classrooms that are safe and effective for students and faculty members alike. Which leads to experiments like the one that Anna L. McLoon and her colleagues conducted on the Siena College campus this summer, as described in an essay on Inside Higher Ed Monday read by tens of thousands of readers. (Others are described here and here.) Like many small, residential colleges, the 3,100-student Franciscan institution 150 miles north of New York City deeply values in-person learning and still plans to bring many if not most students back to its campus this fall. The college’s current plan for fall calls for a mix of hybrid and remote learning, with classroom capacity limited to 50 percent of normal or students “seated at least three feet apart, whichever amounts to lower capacity.”
Inside Higher Ed
Democrats Again Call for Aid to Undocumented Students
By Kery Murakami
Nineteen Democrats on the House education committee wrote Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday protesting her decision to withhold about $7 billion of emergency coronavirus grants in the CARES Act from undocumented immigrants and other college students. DeVos’s decision, based in part on a federal prohibition on non-U.S. citizens receiving most kinds of federal aid, has angered Democrats. It is also a dividing point in the current stalemate in Congress over the next coronavirus relief package after Democrats called for reversing her decision in their proposal for the package, while the Republican proposal called for no changes.
Inside Higher Ed
House Republicans Examine Foreign Money to Colleges
Representatives wrote Harvard, Yale and four other universities asking for records into any deals they have with foreign countries.
By Kery Murakami
The top Republicans on three House committees, including one that has been investigating foreign influence on U.S. higher education, asked Harvard and Yale Universities and four other institutions that have received tens of millions of dollars from China and other countries for records of any contracts, agreements or gifts with those nations. However, Terry Hartle, the senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, quickly called it an “unwarranted partisan fishing expedition aimed solely at schools in blue states in an election year.”