University System News:
WGAU
UGA reports increase in four-year graduation rate
By Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia says its four-year completion rate has increased to a record 71 percent, up from 69 percent last year and an increase from 63 percent five years ago. UGA’s six-year completion rate is 87 percent. UGA’s 87% completion rate far exceeds the six-year completion rates for Southeastern Conference peer institutions and UGA’s comparator peers, which average 75% and 79%, respectively. UGA’s 87% six-year completion rate also exceeds the average 84% completion rate for its aspirational institutions. “These outstanding completion rates reflect the University of Georgia’s rise as one of the top public universities in the nation,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “I am proud of our students for their achievements, and I am grateful to our faculty and staff for their commitment to helping UGA students succeed.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five things to know about Georgia Tech’s new strategic plan
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia Tech unveiled a strategic plan Thursday it hopes will guide the school in the coming years to maintain its position as one of the nation’s top academic institutions while increasing its racial and gender diversity and expanding its reach globally. The school’s enrollment has grown by nearly 50% since 2016, from nearly 27,000 students to almost 40,000 this fall, largely due to about twice as many students taking master’s degree courses. Georgia Tech, though, has had challenges such as the departure of several top administrators in 2018 because of questionable ethics decisions. It’s also facing financial disruptions created by the coronavirus pandemic. Officials announced last week it is laying off 27 workers and not filling 129 vacant positions.
GrowingAmerica
Donors Can Assist ABAC on Giving Tuesday on December 1
By Staff Report
Giving Tuesday on Dec. 1 could become the most generous day of giving in the 112-year history of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. “Because of COVID-19, many students and their families are facing financial hardships,” Ric Stewart, the Annual Giving and Development Coordinator for ABAC, said. “It has been inspiring to see the generosity of ABAC alumni and the members of our community as they have come together to meet the unprecedented needs of our students.” Stewart said the goal for the Giving Tuesday campaign is $100,000. All gifts to the ABAC Foundation between now and then will count toward the goal. The theme of ABAC’s Giving Tuesday celebration is “Better Together.” Alumni and students are encouraged to think about the friendships they made during their time at ABAC.
WSAV
‘It’s literally indescribable’: GS student collecting supplies for hurricane-stricken Honduras
By Alex Bozarjian
Hurricane Eta was one of the worst natural disasters to hit Honduras in over 20 years. International Georgia Southern University student and Honduran native Oscar Moncada says the devastation is hard to watch from afar. “It’s literally indescribable,” said Moncada. Officials are still assessing damage and locating victims as rising water levels have trapped hundreds of communities. “At the moment we speak, my family still has no electricity in their house,” said Moncada. “They’ve been without light and without water for the whole week.”
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Midtown Columbus is getting a lot more colorful for the holidays thanks to a new project
By Mark Rice
A community partnership has brought professional and student artists together to help revitalize a major Columbus corridor. It’s called Light Up Midtown, organized by MidTown Inc., and it’s scheduled to debut Nov. 21. There will be four permanent murals and at least 10 temporary pieces of public art illuminated at night along 13th Street, between 10th and 13th avenues. Curated by Columbus State University associate professor of art Hannah Israel, the project will feature permanent murals at: 1323 11th Ave., the Ankerpak Building, where the mural will be painted by Andrew College associate professor of art Chris Johnson and five of his students. Johnson painted the mural on Heritage Tower in downtown Columbus.
GrowingGeorgia
ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture Copes with COVID, Gets Ready for Holidays
By Staff Report
After being closed for almost six months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture. “The team at the Museum and all of our visitors continue to be very understanding and patient as we adjust to pandemic operations,” Museum Director Garrett Boone said. “We have made changes to about every aspect of our operation, and now we are looking forward to a festive holiday season.” Museum Country Store Manager Tonia Carpenter said the venue’s convenient location at 1392 Whiddon Mill Road just off I-75 in Tifton makes it a popular Christmas shopping spot.
Bloomberg
CDC’s Last-Minute Advice on Travel for Thanksgiving: Don’t Do It
By Kristen V Brown and Josh Wingrove
With Thanksgiving a week away, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to skip holiday travel this year. The recommendation released Thursday by the CDC was a break from earlier messaging in which U.S. officials have largely declined to issue firm guidance for holiday gatherings, leaving it to American families to decide for themselves whether to risk infection at large dinners with the coronavirus pandemic still raging… Other organizations offer an array of tools to help people gauge the level of risk of their activities. The Georgia Institute of Technology, for example, created an interactive tool to allow people to assess how risky a gathering of any size might be in a particular area.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Slow-motion recovery picks up: Georgia jobless claims fall
By Michael E. Kanell
Georgia’s slow-motion economic recovery appears to have picked up some speed, as both the unemployment rate and the number new jobless claims fell. The state added 25,000 jobs last month to cut the unemployment rate — which had soared into double digits in the spring — to 4.5% from 6.3% in September. “The fact that we have so quickly reduced our unemployment rate to almost pre-pandemic levels demonstrates how strong our economy was prior to the crisis and how we are successfully recovering economically,” said Mark Butler, the state’s labor commissioner… “I think Georgia is in a much better position than the rest of the country,” said economist Jason Delaney of Georgia Gwinnett College. “It’s bad everywhere, but it’s less bad here.”
Other News
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Nov. 19)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 8,569 | 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: 396,641 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What does emergency use for a COVID-19 vaccine mean?
By The Associated Press
What does emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine mean? It’s when regulators allow shots to be given to certain people while studies of safety and effectiveness are ongoing. Before any vaccine is permitted in the U.S., it must be reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration, which requires study in thousands of people. Normally, the process to approve a new vaccine can take about a decade. But the federal government is using various methods to dramatically speed up the process for COVID-19 vaccines.
Higher Education News
Inside Higher Ed
By Lilah Burke
This week and next, college students across the country will be leaving campuses for Thanksgiving. Public health and medical experts have long warned that mass travel and family gatherings will lead to more outbreaks of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday advised Americans not to travel at all for the holiday, as the United States is entering its worst period for daily infections to date. Several colleges and universities have responded by creating plans to test students for COVID-19 before they leave for the break. (In many cases, students who leave are discouraged from coming back until the next term.) But those plans vary widely, and what’s more, many colleges and universities have none at all.
NBC News
Parent Plus loans are burying families in college debt
By Meredith Kolodner
Jay Rife was sitting in his pickup truck on the outskirts of Las Vegas when he answered a phone call that would permanently alter his life. A man from the federal government was on the line and told him that the loan he had taken out so his son and daughter could go to college had come due. The monthly payment was $1,200. “I thought I was going to pass out,” said Rife, who was making $13 an hour as a maintenance worker. “I hung up the phone and just kind of set there for an hour trying to figure out what I was going to do.” He didn’t want to tell his wife, Tina, hoping to protect her from the possibility of being plunged into poverty, but it wasn’t a secret he could keep.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Julie A. Reuben
In 1915, when the American Association of University Professors issued its seminal “Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure,” it identified three areas in which faculty members should enjoy the protection of academic freedom: their scholarship, their teaching, and their actions as citizens. In the century since, almost all analyses of academic freedom have focused on the last category — what the report called “extramural utterances.” We have heard a lot about our rights and responsibilities as citizens, and almost nothing about our rights and responsibilities as experts.