University System News:
The Union Recorder
COVID cases leveling out at GC
By Gil Pound
After making a few national and statewide headlines for the wrong reasons, Georgia College is experiencing a leveling out when it comes to COVID-19 cases among students and staff. Numbers were at their worst the week of Aug. 20-26, when 378 positives were reported by the university. Since then though, the new cases curve has declined sharply. As of Friday’s report, new cases had been in the single digits 12 out of 17 days this month with one “zero reported cases” day on Sept. 12. Reported cases throughout September sat at 108 Friday, which is less than one-third of the week-long spike that took place in late August.
Athens CEO
UGA Faculty will Collaborate on Evaluating COVID-19 Control Methods in Meat Processing
By Maria M. Lameiras
Poultry researchers at the University of Georgia are partnering with a team from Kansas State University to study how to effectively control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the nation’s meat and poultry processing facilities. The study seeks to protect meat plant workers and their surrounding communities from the spread of COVID-19 through practical solutions. The research is funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA fraternity suspends operations after offensive online comments
By Eric Stirgus
The University of Georgia’s Lambda Chi Alpha chapter self-suspended its operations over the weekend after sexist and racially-offensive remarks were posted in a chapter GroupMe page, according to the university’s Interfraternity Council. The remarks were posted on social media Saturday by an African American UGA student who said the comments were directed at her. The student, Arianna Mbunwe, has been critical of the efforts by university and state leaders to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Brunswick News
Local student named Southeast Military Youth of the Year
By Gordon Jackson
Marlon Grant caught a little razzing from classmates because of his continued participation in the Boys & Girls Club at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay when he was in high school. If his classmates could only see him now. Grant, now a freshman at Middle Georgia State University, has been named the Southeast Military Youth of the Year, earning a $20,000 scholarship, a finalist’s spot for the national youth of the year award and another $20,000 in scholarship money.
Fun101.1 FM
Health and Wellness Degree at Gordon State
By Staff
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) recently approved the Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness at Gordon State College. Advising for the new degree is available now for current students for courses that will be offered for Spring Semester 2021, which starts January 11. New or transfer students not enrolled at Gordon State will need to complete the admissions process. Health and Wellness Program Coordinator Jeff White said students taking a full load and summer schedules have the potential to complete the program in three years.
Global Atlanta
Fintech South’s Virtual Move to Place Atlanta on ‘World Stage’
By Trevor Williams
Fintech South, the premier conference on financial technology in Georgia and throughout the region, is looking at the bright side of going virtual next month due to the pandemic. While the move from Mercedes-Benz Stadium to a computer screen could be seen as diminishing the event’s cachet, it also comes with an opportunity: positioning Atlanta’s fintech prowess on multiple continents. This year’s event will include an all-day World Stage Oct. 6, with staggered content “following the sun” across three world regions, starting in the morning in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, moving to the Americas in the afternoon and culminating in the evening in Asia (the next morning on that side of the globe).
Growing America
UGA Animal and Dairy Science Class Collaborates With Counterparts in China
By UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
An animal and dairy science class at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) is gaining international experience by establishing a virtual collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the Institute of Animal Science (CAAS-IAS) in Beijing, China. This intercultural partnership allows students and faculty to sustain a joint scientific effort while travel is largely suspended due to COVID-19. Todd Callaway, now an associate professor of animal and dairy science at UGA, traveled to Beijing in 2017 to present at the American Dairy Science Association meeting as an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.
Metro Atlanta CEO
Staff Report
Dr. Steven McLaughlin will assume the role of Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs effective October 1, 2020. “After an extensive national search, the candidate who rose to the top was our own Steve McLaughlin, the current Dean of our top-ranking College of Engineering,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “Steve has served in leadership roles at Georgia Tech for nearly 25 years and is co-chairing the Steering Committee for the Institute’s new strategic plan, which will be launched later this fall. He is an inclusive leader who puts words into action as evidenced by the flagship CREATE-X program for student entrepreneurship that he helped develop and launch six years ago, as well as the work he’s done across campus in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and student mental health and well-being, which he is so passionate about.”
WALB
Over $33K raised for GSW’s Day of Giving
By Bobby Poitevint
Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) recently raised over $33,000 for students and staff. This was from their second-ever Day of Giving. This year, the university surpassed its goal of $25,000 dollars. Most of the donors this year were alumni. School leaders said they are proud to be putting the money towards students and staff.
WTOC
Georgia Southern University offering new Facebook campus platform
By Dal Cannady
Georgia Southern students have the chance to become part of a virtual campus through Facebook. The company debuted a new feature for students at GSU and 29 other schools across the nation. When Facebook started 16 years ago, it was intended for college students to talk to each other. Since then, their parents, grandparents, and the whole world crashed the party. Now, Facebook is adding a new feature. Students in 2020 may rely more and more on social media at school with some classes going virtual. Facebook product manager Charmaine Hung says they’ve been developing Facebook Campus for a while, but it seems especially timely now.
Albany Herald
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College bass fishing team ‘hooks’ new members
Staff reports
Students from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College compete in intercollegiate sports across the Southeastern portion of the United States. But ABAC athletes also compete on the lakes and ponds of the U.S. in another sport … bass fishing. Yes, ABAC has an official bass fishing team as one of more than 60 clubs and organizations on campus. The ABAC bass fishing team consists of nearly 30 members who meet every second Wednesday of the month. For more than four years, the club has been competing in numerous tournaments and teaching new members how to fish.
Venture Beat
Black tech organizations grow amid calls for racial justice
By Khari Johnson
In opening remarks, Georgia Tech professor Dr. Ayanna Howard said that systemic racism in the tech industry is a problem, but as AI and robotics become more common, systematic bias and other negative aspects of technology will impact the rest of the world unless we can change course. “If we do it right, it means that we leave the world a better place. And I think as a roboticist, this is the reason why I still remain a roboticist, still build my robots and program them and work with people, is because I truly believe that as roboticists we can impact the world and change it,” Howard said.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Sept. 20)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
Deaths: 6,602 | Confirmed cases: 306,155 | 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.
Law.com
Supreme Court Attorney Proposes Alternative Bar License Path for Recent Law Grads
By Cheryl Miller
The principal attorney to Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye on Friday floated the idea of allowing some law school graduates who failed past bar exams to become fully licensed lawyers without attempting to pass the test again if they complete a two-year supervised practice program.
The Wall Street Journal
U.S. Medical School Applications Soar in Covid-19 Era
By Patrick Thomas
Medical schools are reporting record application numbers as the coronavirus sparks a new wave of prospective students to become doctors. Through the end of August, the number of applicants rose nearly 17% from a year earlier, marking an interest not seen in more than a decade, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which administers the main medical-school entry exam. Compared with past years, this year’s numbers are unprecedented, said Patrick Fritz, a senior director with AAMC.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Priority No. 1: Keeping Students on Track to Graduate
By Lynn Perry Wooten
As colleges pivot, delay or reverse plans for fall instruction, we risk losing sight of what is the greatest potential tragedy for higher education: millions of students have had their learning and path to their degrees disrupted, again. Low-income, first-generation and minority students are hit the hardest. And it’s not a one-and-done for the 2020-21 academic year, either. The consequences of this disruption will be with students, our society and our economy for years ahead, as the ripple effects delay degree completion or lead students to drop out.
University World News
Rising student mental health problems need urgent action
By Lesley Andrew
Prompted by rising reports of student distress and suicide, universities are becoming increasingly responsive to the mental health and well-being needs of their students. But the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the day-to-day experiences of international students calls for immediate, whole-of-university action that is proactive, visible and accessible.
Bloomberg
Colleges Become Reservoirs of Covid Threatening to Spill Over
By Janet Lorin , Emma Court , and Keshia Clukey
College administrators and government officials summoned students back to campus. Now, they are presiding over viral reservoirs poised to release a flood of infected undergraduates at Thanksgiving — if they make it that far. Schools have turned into de facto sanitariums: Covid-19 infections are sweeping student populations, though health departments are seeing relatively few hospitalizations or deaths so far. Colleges that tried to hold classes in person have had to send students into seclusion.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
How the ‘U.S. News’ rankings helped change Florida’s public-college funding
By Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz
When our Francie Diep traveled to the University of Florida in November 2019 to talk to students about science journalism, she didn’t think she’d end up writing a story about how the institution had climbed U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings and reshaped the state’s public funding of colleges. During that trip, Francie said, several people talked about UF’s efforts to rise in the rankings. She started work on a story about how the institution had hired faculty members to increase its research production and lower its student-to-faculty ratio. She ended up writing about how the ratings had driven Florida to spend more on its public colleges, with some side effects.
Diverse Education
SEC Business Deans Band Together To Spotlight Issues of Diversity and Inclusion
by Sara Weissman
Amid Black Lives Matter protests this summer, the 14 college of business deans of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) decided to make a joint statement in support of diversity, equity and inclusion in their programs. They are “soundly committed to fostering a sense of community that is welcoming to and respectful of all individuals — students, faculty and staff,” their statement read. “Likewise, it is our duty to prepare our future business leaders for careers in an international and increasingly diverse workforce. We strive for inclusion, equity and diversity where all voices, viewpoints and backgrounds are valued and supported.”
Inside Higher Ed
2020 Survey of Admissions Leaders: A Mess of a Year
By Scott Jaschik
The process of building a class to educate has never been easy. In recent years, community colleges and nonelite liberal arts colleges have had great difficulties.
But this year, fear and anxiety spread throughout higher education, according to the 2020 Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Admissions Officials, conducted by Gallup between Aug. 6 and 30. The survey of 433 senior admissions officials (only one per institution) found:
· A record number were very concerned about filling their classes.
· A majority (also a record) not only did not fill their classes by May 1 (the traditional deadline) but did not fill their classes by July 1.
Inside Higher Ed
Ginsburg Was Advocate for Equity
By Scott Jaschik
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, was known for her strongly worded dissents. But she wrote several decisions that set precedents and policy for higher education. The decision for which Ginsburg is best known came in 1996, when the Supreme Court ruled that Virginia could not maintain the Virginia Military Institute for male students only. The commonwealth maintained that the “adversative” system at VMI was appropriate only for men.
University World News
Students still want to study abroad, but for new reasons
By Yojana Sharma
The disruption in international student mobility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not made a major dent in the aspirations of school-leavers in India and Nepal to study abroad, but generational changes in attitudes coupled with opportunities within India mean universities overseas cannot just sit back and expect that their international reputation will draw students.
The Washington Post
The fall opening of colleges: Upheaval, pandemic weirdness and a fragile stability
By Nick Anderson, Susan Svrluga, Lauren Lumpkin, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel and Joe Heim
When the school year began, Gettysburg College looked well-positioned to weather the tumult of the coronavirus pandemic and Arizona State University seemed vulnerable. The private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania planned meticulously for the arrival of more than 2,200 students to its small-town campus in August, pledging to test them all for the novel coronavirus and do its utmost to safeguard public health while teaching as much as possible in person.