University System News:
Capitol Beat
Hundreds of buildings being eyed for possible renaming on Georgia college campuses
by Beau Evans
An advisory group mulling whether to rename buildings and academic colleges on the University System of Georgia’s 26 campuses has whittled down to a list of 840 buildings and nearly 40 college and university names for further research. Albany State University President Marion Ross Fredrick, who chairs the advisory group, said at a meeting Wednesday the group had culled those names from more than 3,000 buildings that dot Georgia’s university system. Fredrick said the group has also brought on board two historians to research the roughly 880 building and college names and is eyeing an early 2021 date to wrap up work after forming in June. The group has also fielded more than 1,700 public comments about the renaming project, Fredrick said. “We want to make sure we do have a product at the end of this that was well-thought through,” Fredrick said at Wednesday’s meeting.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC College COVID Tracker: UGA reports another drop in new cases
By Eric Stirgus
Other Georgia colleges also seeing declines
University of Georgia officials reported Wednesday a third consecutive weekly decline in positive COVID-19 cases. The university reported 63 positive cases from Sept. 21 through Sept. 25. It reported 170 cases between Sept. 14 and Sept. 20. Just a few weeks ago, UGA reported more than 1,500 new cases in a seven-day stretch, sparking major concerns among university administrators, parents and students. Wednesday’s total is the lowest total since the week before the semester began Aug. 20.
Henry Herald
Clayton State University reaches third highest enrollment in school’s history
From staff reports
Enrollment at Clayton State University has reached its third highest point in the school’s history. The university reported 7,045 students enrolled for the fall semester, higher than the previous year’s fall enrollment of 6,879. The freshman class exceeds 700 thanks to a 17% increase in traditional freshman enrollment. Waivers for college entrance exams, including the SAT, ACT, GRE and GMAT due to testing barriers because of COIVD-19, helped offer a greater number of prospective students the opportunity to apply for admission to Clayton State, CSU officials said in a press release.
Fox28 Media
Georgia Film Academy announces new Savannah program
by Nicholas Papadimas
The Georgia Film Academy (GFA) has begun teaching students in Georgia’s second most-filmed city, the academy announced Wednesday. At Georgia Tech’s Savannah campus, the GFA said it has opened a new collaborative production training hub, where they are teaching students from Georgia Southern University. The program is open to all Georgians enrolled in universities and technical colleges. GFA expects students from several additional institutions in the Savannah region to register for courses at the hub over the next year. “We are thrilled to be able to offer incredibly affordable film production training in high demand career fields to students from Georgia Southern and other institutions in the region at our new hub on the Georgia Tech campus,” said GFA executive director, Jeffrey Stepakoff. “We are excited to help build the film industry in Savannah and to support our partners in the region.”
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Hard work pays off for Chickamauga native
by Jennifer Bardoner
While a sophomore at Ridgeland High School, Dequila Byrd decided her stomach was too weak to become a doctor, her childhood ambition. Instead, she decided she would become an attorney. There was just one problem: how to pay for college. Byrd — who is now in her freshman year at the University of West Georgia — is the first person in her family to attend college. She is only the second of her relatives to graduate high school, according to the Chickamauga native.
Savannah Tribune
Georgia Trend Selects Parker and James
During September 2020, the Georgia Trend Magazine celebrated 35 years as a statewide magazine dedicated to business, politics and economic development. To commemorate this milestone, the Magazine recognized 15 “Legacy Leaders” from around Georgia who according to the Magazine “have contributed for many years to making Georgia No. 1 for business – as well as a great place to live, work and raise a family.” Two well-known Savannah business leaders, Robert E. James and Greg Parker, were among the 15. …The Georgia Trend quotes Parker in its tribute. “With success comes a responsibility to give back, and we’ve been doing it for years.” Parker donated $5 million to Georgia Southern University in 2018;
Georgia Trend
Our 24th annual celebration of the state’s best and brightest under age 40.
Anna Bentley, Jennifer Hafer, Karen Kirkpatrick, Mary Ann DeMuth, Patty Rasmussen, Randy Southerland, Mary Welch
It’s been 24 years since Georgia Trend’s inaugural 40 Under 40, and each year the winners continue to leave us awed and inspired. That’s especially true during this troubling year, as many in this group of young leaders are working to keep our economy afloat and our citizens healthy. These outstanding people – Georgia’s best and brightest – come from every corner of the state and represent the nonprofit, healthcare and legal sectors, large corporations and startup entrepreneurial ventures. As important as their day jobs are, however, they also find time to volunteer and give back to strengthen and grow the communities around them. This year’s 40 Under 40 were selected by the Georgia Trend staff from nominations provided by readers throughout the state who know them well. We’re proud to share their stories. …Elise Blasingame 33, Doctoral Student, School of Public & International Affairs, University of Georgia …Stephen Houser 37, Director, Twin Lakes Library System …Debra Lam 39, Executive, Director, Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, Georgia Institute of Technology
Library Journal
Georgia Public Library Service Is Empowering Libraries | Marketer of the Year 2020
by Meredith Schwartz
The Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) is part of the University System of Georgia, an unusual arrangement for a state library. Both the state and the university are big institutions. Yet GPLS’s entire marketing department is a small and scrappy two-person team, consisting of Deborah Hakes, communications and marketing director, and Roy Cummings, digital communications manager. Still, that’s two more dedicated marketing experts than most public libraries in Georgia can afford. When Hakes joined GPLS, she found that only 12 of 62 Georgia library systems had a dedicated marketing position, and those that didn’t also had the smallest percentage of library card holders, local funding support, and programming engagement. To remedy that, the GPLS team is dedicated not only to getting the word out about the many services public libraries offer beyond books, and creating tools that make it easy for individual libraries to reach their own audiences with effective messaging, but to building capacity and confidence in those libraries’ workers to market themselves. That triple play is what makes GPLS LJ’s 2020 Marketer of the Year, sponsored by Library Ideas.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA professor: In-person teaching endangers my 4-year-old, who has rare disorder
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Faculty member implores University of Georgia to reconsider plight of teachers with family members at high risk from COVID-19
In a guest column, a University of Georgia education professor whose 4-year-old has a rare and catastrophic neurological disorder asks why UGA and other colleges cannot show more compassion and allow her and other faculty in similar situations to teach remotely during COVID-19. Usree Bhattacharya is an assistant professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education. Her daughter has Rett syndrome, a genetic neurological disorder that occurs almost exclusively in girls and leads to severe impairments, affecting nearly every aspect of the child’s life: their ability to speak, walk, eat, and breathe. According to the Rett syndrome support organization: “Due to low core tone, poor cough and airway clearance and abnormal breathing patterns there is concern that our patients are at high risk for not doing well if they get infected.”
Athens CEO
Regions Bank Pledges $500,000 to UGA for Service-learning, Small Business Aid
Staff Report
Staying true to its vision to be an institution “deeply embedded in its communities,” Regions Bank has pledged $500,000 to the University of Georgia to impact communities around the state of Georgia. “The educational and economic impacts of the University of Georgia reach throughout the state, the nation and even the world,” said John Turner, President and CEO of Regions Financial Corp. “At Regions Bank, we are proud to be part of these important programs, which will serve as valuable resources for entrepreneurs looking to start or strengthen businesses – and for students who are learning the important qualities needed to serve as tomorrow’s leaders.” Through Regions Bank’s financial support, the Institute for Leadership Advancement (ILA) in the Terry College of Business will receive $300,000 to endow a fellowship program for service-learning projects across the state.
Statesboro Herald
U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock makes campaign visit to Georgia Southern, Statesboro
Talks about health care, racism, challenges to democracy
Al Hackle/Staff
The Rev. Raphael Warnock, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, told people attending a campaign stop Saturday on Georgia Southern University’s campus in Statesboro that the nation now faces four historic challenges at the same time.
Albany Herald
By Aaron Hale
A student-led effort to get the University of Georgia’s first research satellite into space is ready for launch. The small satellite SPOC, short for Spectral Ocean Color, is due for takeoff a little after 9 p.m. on Thursday. The satellite will be on board an Antares rocket set to launch from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Once deployed, the small satellite will monitor the health of coastal ecosystems from space. SPOC is poised to provide valuable data to researchers at UGA and beyond. It features an advanced optic system that can zoom in on coastal areas to detect chemical composition and physical characteristics on ocean and wetland surfaces — all of which fits into a spacecraft that’s about the size of a loaf of bread.
WSAV
Georgia Southern, county agencies participate in cyberattack simulation
by: Alex Bozarjian
Thousands of cyberattacks have occurred within the past year, often targeting major cities and even small towns. In Savannah on Wednesday, local agencies conducted a simulation to prepare for the unexpected. The simulation was made possible by West Point’s Army Cyber Institute. Frank Katz, director of Georgia’s Southern University’s Cyber Education Center, was tasked with observing how agencies react to signs of an attack. He says a successful simulation starts with the what-ifs.
Growing Georgia
ABAC Horticulture Club Offers Classes for Public on Air Plants, Succulents
Community members can take advantage of two classes being offered by the Horticulture Club at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on air plants on Oct. 15 and succulents on Oct. 22. Horticulture Club President Morgan Fritze said tickets are available for each class on the ABAC Horticulture Club’s Facebook page. The cost is $20 per person for the air plant care and design class and $15 per person for the succulents’ class. “The air plant care and design class will include all materials for participants to create their own design, which they can take home with them,” Fritze said. “Attendees at the succulents’ class will learn how to care for succulents and create arrangements for their home.”
WSAV
Georgia Southern’s special goat offers unique approach to animal-assisted therapy
by: Ashley Williams
While most people may have heard of dogs being used as assisted-therapy animals, there’s a special goat that’s making her own impact on people’s lives. Moonpie, a 2-year-old Nigerian Dwarf goat, has visited nursing homes and schools throughout Bulloch and surrounding counties to help people dealing with anxiety and issues with communicating and socializing. Georgia Southern University special education instructor Tonya Cooper owns Moonpie, along with three other goats who live with Cooper’s family. The instructor says the effect Moonpie has had on others has been hard to put into words.
Fox28 Media
Georgia Southern honors former Rep. John Lewis with film event
by Ariana Mount
Georgia Southern University students got a lesson in history Wednesday night, while also getting the chance to register to vote. The university showed the film ‘Good Trouble’, which follows the life of former U.S. Representative John Lewis.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp extends Georgia’s coronavirus restrictions with minor changes
By Greg Bluestein
Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday extended the state’s coronavirus restrictions an additional two weeks, signing an order that relaxes rules for restaurant and bar employees exposed to the disease. Kemp stopped short of making more significant changes to state guidelines set to expire this week, rejecting calls to impose new limits on gatherings while also saying he’s not yet ready to scale back broader restrictions that have been in place for months. The new rules, which expire Oct. 15, allow restaurant and bar employees to return to work after 24 hours if they’re confirmed to be symptom-free after they were confirmed or suspected of contracting COVID-19. Previous rules required them to stay away for three days; the new limits adhere to guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Sept. 30)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 7,021 | Deaths have been confirmed in all counties but one (Taliaferro). County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
CONFIRMED CASES: 318,026 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Retirement Wave Hits Presidents Amid Pandemic
An aging cohort of college presidents, some of whom postponed retirements in the spring, could be contributing to a flurry of departure plans announced this fall.
By Emma Whitford
Dozens of college presidents have announced that they will retire or otherwise step down before or at the end of June 2021, the close of the current fiscal and academic year. The pandemic provides an unusual backdrop for leadership transitions, although many retiring presidents have said the pandemic was not the primary reason for their departure. The apparent flood of retirement announcements makes perfect sense, said Rod McDavis, managing principal at AGB Search, a higher education leadership search firm. Many presidents who would have announced their departures in the spring held off. Instead, they’re sharing their plans this September, alongside other planned fall announcements.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Teaching: How to Reduce Cheating in Online Exams
Beckie Supiano
How to Handle Cheating
Professors can’t completely stop students from cheating in online exams. But they can do a great deal to make it less tempting and less prevalent, as Flower Darby describes in the latest installment of her series on effective online teaching for The Chronicle. Some professors rely on proctoring and other prevention tools, and others reduce the importance of grades in their courses. Darby, an instructional designer and the author, with James M. Lang, of Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes, lays out a middle course: Make exams open-book, open-note, and lower-stakes. Students are more inclined to cheat under stress, she writes, so reducing the pressure they feel can go a long way. Darby offers seven ideas for assessing students while mitigating cheating. Among them: Giving more tests that each carry less weight and having students sign an honor statement. The broader goal, she writes, is finding ways to “both meaningfully assess student learning and foster academic integrity.”
Inside Higher Ed
Common App Ditches High School Discipline Question
Individual colleges can still choose to ask applicants about their history of being disciplined in school, but the Common App is striking the question from its standard process, citing racial inequities.
By Lindsay McKenzie
Admissions staff members have grappled for years with whether applicants should be required to disclose their high school disciplinary history when applying to college. The Common Application, a nonprofit organization that offers the most widely used college admissions tool in the U.S., announced yesterday that its answer is no. The Common App will no longer ask college applicants to share whether they got in trouble in high school as part of its standard application process. Common App members, of which there are more than 800 — including all eight Ivy League institutions — may still request this information as part of a supplementary process. “It’s time to evolve the application. Eliminating disciplinary reporting requirements is a necessary step to creating a more equitable admissions process — and, in turn, a more just economy,” reads a statement on the Common App website.