University System News:
AllOnGeorgia
New heights: UWG makes increasingly strong impact on region’s economy
USG recorded a statewide economic impact of $18.5 billion for fiscal year 2019, a 4.5% increase from fiscal year 2018
The University of West Georgia contributed more than $632.3 million to the region’s economy during the state’s 2019 fiscal year, according to the annual economic impact study recently released by the University System of Georgia (USG). USG recorded a statewide economic impact of $18.5 billion for fiscal year 2019, a 4.5 percent increase from fiscal year 2018, while UWG’s economic impact climbed 4.6 percent over last year’s figure of $604.5 million. Over the past decade, the impact has grown 54 percent from $410 million in Fiscal Year 2010.
Columbus CEO
CSU’s Bo Bartlett Center, Harris Co. School District Partner on New STEAM Education Initiative
Staff Report
Columbus State University’s Bo Bartlett Center will assist Harris County School District in providing science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) learning to the district’s 2,201 elementary students. The partnership supports a new program called “SENSE: STEAM Engagement: Now Serving Everyone.” Developed to inspire artistic inquiry in the age of post-pandemic education, the SENSE curriculum was created by Harris County elementary art educators with innovative strategies to orient students’ senses of self, place, and community. The Bo Bartlett Center will collaborate with the system to inspire an interest in art among students by providing them with Bo Bartlett coloring books, art supplies, virtual tours, and virtual conversations with legendary artist and Columbus-native Bo Bartlett. “This partnership fits right into the Bo Bartlett Center mission,” explained Mike McFalls, interim director of the Bo Bartlett Center. “We are impacting a young group of potential creative thinkers through a cross-disciplinary project. In the long-run, I think it will have a positive impact for the university, and we’ll hopefully help to develop new creative artists.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech student takes road trip to Pennsylvania to vote
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia Tech student Hannah Tindall trekked with her friends through five states and more than 800 miles to vote Tuesday. Tindall, 22, who is registered to vote in Pennsylvania, planned to vote by absentee ballot, but she and friends worried her ballot may not be counted because of some damage to the return envelope. The group discussed the situation Monday night and tried to call elections officials in Montgomery County in that state, but couldn’t get anyone on the phone. They soon discussed another idea, a road trip to Pennsylvania. Tindall and her three housemates left Atlanta at about 10:30 p.m. Monday and hit the interstate in her friend’s Honda Accord. They arrived at the polling location in Harleysville, Pennsylvania., around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, where she was greeted by her parents. She cast her ballot in about 15 minutes. They had lunch afterwards at her parents’ house. …Tindall said it is her civic duty to vote.
Tifton Gazette
Becky Taylor
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s baseball team stepped out recently on campus to bring attention to a worldwide epidemic: crimes against women. Head coach Brandon Reeder’s Stallions continued their annual participation in Walk a Mile in Her Shoes. Reeder’s not sure how many Walk a Mile events his team has participated in — “It’s at least five” — but they’ve been a constant since he took over as a head coach in 2015. Walk a Mile’s aim, according to its website, is to “actively confront gender stereotypes and expectations.” The ABAC event is held in conjunction with Ruth’s Cottage and The Patticake House. Troy Spicer, former dean of ABAC’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences, is the one who got the Stallions started.
11Alive
Gwinnett high school, non-profit transform boy’s wheelchair into superhero ride
D.J. Johnson is a huge Black Panther fan. So a group of locals, a non-profit and Georgia Tech teamed up to give him a Halloween surprise
Author: Brittany Kleinpeter
All eyes will be on D.J. Johnson tonight after the 12-year-old was gifted the Halloween costume of a lifetime. After surviving a near-drowning experience in 2014, D.J. began having up to 30 seizures a day. At age 9, he had brain surgery which left him with no feeling on the left side of his body. Ever since then, he’s been in a wheelchair. D.J. has battled more than most in his first few years a life. So. when a group of Central Gwinnett High School students and teachers reached out to him about making him a Halloween costume this year, his mom said it meant everything. A mega-fan of the movie Black Panther, D.J.’s only request was that his costume incorporates the film. …It took the group two months and over 60 hours of labor to create D.J.’s new ride using PVC pipes. Staff at Georgia Tech assisted with the electronics and coding of the chair.
Athens CEO
Georgia Blue Key Recognizes UGA Graduate Student for Commitment to Public Service
Charlie Bauder
GA graduate student Nipuna Ambanpola has engaged in public service since he was a child in Sri Lanka. In 2017, he created an online nonprofit organization to link volunteers around the world to projects in their local communities. Here in Athens during the pandemic, Ambanpola used the same technology to create GroceryAid, which connects Georgia residents at high risk of the virus with volunteers who can grocery shop for them. “Volunteerism has always been a major part of my life,” said Ambanpola, a graduate student in the UGA School of Public and International Affairs and a graduate assistant with the J.W. Fanning Center for Leadership Development, a UGA public service unit….” The Georgia Chapter of Blue Key recognized Ambanpola by naming him the winner of the 2020 Tucker Dorsey Award during a virtual ceremony on Oct. 23. The annual award, which includes a $750 scholarship, goes to students whose leadership, dedication and ideals reflect those of Tucker Dorsey, founder of the Blue Key Awards Banquet. Tucker was an outstanding student leader dedicated to UGA, its heritage, its tradition, its ideals and its goals. He exemplified the quality of mind and spirit that the university seeks to cultivate through a well-rounded education. Ambanpola is the 2020-21 vice president of Georgia Blue Key.
News Break
Annual bike ride highlights connection between Georgia Gwinnett College and Lawrenceville
Despite leftover wind gusts from Hurricane Zeta, it was a great day to ride a bike. That’s exactly what Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) students, faculty and staff did this afternoon as part of the Link to Lawrenceville event, a 2.5-mile bike ride from the center of GGC’s main campus to downtown Lawrenceville.
Gwinnett Daily Post
Gwinnett BOC reaches agreement with Georgia Gwinnett College to run entrepreneur center
By Curt Yeomans
Gwinnett County is teaming up with Georgia Gwinnett College to help entrepreneurs in the county get their businesses off the ground. County commissioners approved an agreement that will have the college operate and staff the Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center in Lawrenceville. County attorney Michael Ludwiczak said the center has been a goal of county leaders. “The establishment of the Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center is a product of the board’s current strategic priority for the growth and maintenance of a strong and vibrantly connected local economy,” Ludwiczak said. The county’s economic development department has collaborated with GGC’s business school to develop an operational and management plan for the center.
Barnesville Dispatch
Gordon State Hosts Roundtable For Regional Principals
Gordon State College hosted regional high-school leaders Friday for a Principals’ Roundtable which featured both in-person and virtual discussions regarding the distinctive attributes for Gordon State.
Dr. John Head, vice president for enrollment management and student affairs, led the roundtable, which provided an opportunity for principals to hear from students, staff, faculty and administration regarding the efforts Gordon has established to provide The Highlander EDGE. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs C. Jeffrey Knighton defined The Highlander EDGE as noted qualities that set Gordon graduates apart: Engaged Innovators, Dedicated Scholars, Gifted Communicators and Ethical Leaders and shared the college’s high-impact practices to implement the EDGE. In mid-October, President Kirk A. Nooks hosted a virtual Superintendents’ Roundtable to strengthen the link between leaders in higher education with regional K-12 school systems. Both roundtables coincide with Gordon’s five-year strategic plan, Building the Power of WE!, which strives to convene and nurture partnerships to build an education ecosystem approach with K-12 partners focused on increasing the regional college rate.
SciTechDaily
Hot or Cold, Weather Has Little Effect on COVID-19 Spread
By University Of Texas At Austin
At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, there were high hopes that hot summer temperatures could reduce its spread. Although summer didn’t bring widespread relief, the connection between the weather and COVID-19 continues to be a hot topic. The link between weather and COVID-19 is complicated. Weather influences the environment in which the coronavirus must survive before infecting a new host. But it also influences human behavior, which moves the virus from one host to another. Research led by The University of Texas at Austin is adding some clarity on weather’s role in COVID-19 infection, with a new study finding that temperature and humidity do not play a significant role in coronavirus spread. That means whether it’s hot or cold outside, the transmission of COVID-19 from one person to the next depends almost entirely on human behavior. …Marshall Shepherd, an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Georgia who was not part of the study, said that the research offers important insights about weather and coronavirus across scales.
The Red & Black
UGA professor conducting COVID-19 antibody study to understand lasting effects of infection
Jacqueline GaNun | Coronavirus Reporter
University of Georgia professor Ted Ross is hoping to gain some insight on the impact of COVID-19 antibodies — how effective they are at protecting people and for how long — with a three-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The SPARTA project, which stands for SARS2 SeroPrevalence and Respiratory Tract Assessment, is run through UGA’s Center for Vaccines and Immunology, where Ross is the director. The goal of the study is to gain insight into whether COVID-19 antibodies protect people from reinfection, and, if they do, for how long. Ross said the results of the study are important to understanding the coronavirus more, and could help vaccine production move forward. If COVID-19 is a recurring infection like the flu, a vaccine might need to be administered more than once. The study will also investigate the effects of vaccines once one is released, Ross said.
WVXU
UC Doctor Wants To Get Health Information To Black Community Through New App
By Tana Weingartner
A UC cardiologist is teaming with researchers in Missouri and Georgia to create a smartphone app providing COVID-19 information and education tailored to Black communities. …Lynch and public health researchers at Georgia Southern University and Washington University in St. Louis aim to bridge those gaps using mobile technology to reach more people who may or may not be connected with a health care system or have access to medical care. They’re starting with focus groups and community leaders in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Princeton, Georgia. Lynch expects it will take several months to get an idea of what kind of information people need and want, what features an app should have, and what gaps need addressing. It will then be beta-tested by community members interested in volunteering. He envisions the app providing information on COVID-19 testing sites, self-screening, and providing resources on testing, general health information, and how to access a health care center if necessary.
Georgia Trend
As the Georgia Research Alliance celebrates 30 years, the state’s research community is attacking COVID-19 with expertise, scientific know-how and unbridled commitment.
By Susan Percy
The harsh reality of the COVID-19 crisis that hit last winter may have taken a lot of people by surprise, when something they knew only as an obscure virus in a distant part of the world changed their lives practically overnight. But Georgia’s scientific community was prepared and eager to join the fight against the pandemic that has killed or sickened millions worldwide and thousands in the state. “They were ready to hunker down,” says Susan Shows, president of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), of Georgia’s top scientists, many of them brought to the state through the organization’s efforts. “They started collaborating with each other and collaborating all over the world.” Consequently, Georgia has become a major center for COVID-19-related research, with its scientists and institutions receiving more than $120 million in grants. “That’s new money coming to Georgia, and it’s because they have all the scientific know-how,” Shows says of the research community’s well-established reputation. “When they submitted a grant [application], people understood this is somebody very qualified and very skilled.” Investigators at the University of Georgia (UGA), Emory University and Georgia State University are working on vaccines, in many instances drawing on their experience in studying influenza. Emory scientists are taking part in a clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine; researchers at Georgia State and Augusta University are actively involved in COVID testing. Morehouse School of Medicine is heading a project to promote health equity in communities hit hardest by the virus.
IndieWire
Election Outcome Won’t Hurt Georgia Film Production Tax Credits, No Matter What Happens
Georgia implemented reforms earlier this year to the $870 million program, which remains widely popular
Chris Lindahl
On Tuesday, the state government in Georgia could get shaken up, with all 236 of its Senate and House seats up for election. For the film industry, the possibility of a newly constituted Statehouse raises the question: What changes could be in store for Georgia’s entertainment tax credit program, which handed out $870 million in subsidies in 2019? Since the program was introduced in 2008, Georgia has grown from a state that hosted a smattering of productions into a full-fledged “Hollywood of the South …The fact that the tax credit program has not been a campaign issue comes after reforms signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, in August. A state review of the program in January found millions in ineligible expenditures by production companies and that the state lacked an adequate oversight system. Though lawmakers considered caps or other reforms, the bill that arrived on Kemp’s desk in August kept the uncapped system while requiring productions to undergo mandatory audits while tweaking some other rules.
Savannah Morning News
Georgia Southern athletes have schedule cleared for time to vote
By McClain Baxley
Anthony Wilson Jr. was excited to vote. The redshirt-freshman safety for Georgia Southern understands the importance of voting and the impact it has on the country. “Being able to make a change and make history is always big,” the Columbia, South Carolina native said Monday. “That’s something major.” The NCAA announced on Sept. 16 that Division 1 athletes would have Election Day, Nov. 3, off from all practices, workouts and activities. The GS football program already was planning on giving its team the day off, they announced in a tweet on June 13. Head coach Chad Lunsford was insistent that his players and staff be given time off Tuesday to exercise their right to vote. …Many of his players were first-time voters. Lunsford and his staff helped the players get registered to vote. That included Wilson and other out-of-state players getting absentee ballots and knowing when to vote.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
How Higher Ed Intersected With the 2020 Election: By the Numbers
By Audrey Williams June
Polarizing political ads. Heated rhetoric. Election anxiety. It’s been a long presidential-campaign season. And colleges and universities have played a role throughout. They’ve hosted presidential debates, served as popular stops on the campaign trail, and been at the center of efforts to get young people to vote. Meanwhile, a college degree has become the dividing line in American politics. The data below paint a picture of some of the ways that higher education has intersected with the 2020 election, both publicly and behind the scenes. 1 Day for the University of Georgia to reverse its decision not to host an on-campus voting site. For students at the University of Georgia, early voting in recent years has meant taking a trip to the student center in the heart of campus. But this fall, the university decided that the possibility of long lines of people indoors during a pandemic would make voting too risky. Officials scrapped on-campus early voting and instead offered to shuttle students to a polling place in downtown Athens, Ga.
Clayton Crescent
Clayton State’s Maunula: Election tensions nothing new in U.S. politics
by Robin Kemp
While stores board up their windows, preppers stockpile ammunition and supplies, strangers insult each other in public, and neighbors plead for everyone to look past each other’s ideologies, a Clayton State University historian says this kind of election angst is nothing new. Dr. Marko Maunula is a professor of post-WWII U.S. history who specializes in economic and political history. For the past 12 years, Maunula also has written a paid blog, Suomen Kuvalehti, covering American politics for the Finnish and Scandinavian equivalent of Newsweek. He is also the author of Guten Tag, Y’all and Globalization and the American South, both published by the University of Georgia Press.
The Gainesville Times
UNG’s Gainesville campus vice president to retire by the end of November
Kelsey Podo
Richard Oates, vice president of the University of North Georgia’s Gainesville campus, plans to retire Nov. 30 after working at the institution for 38 years. Bonita Jacobs, president of UNG, announced Oates’ retirement in an email sent to the university’s faculty and staff Monday, Nov. 2. “Richard has been a valued member of my leadership team, and his work across the university has been exceptional,” Jacobs stated in the email. She noted that earlier this year, Oates received the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education Distinguished Service Award. Jacobs said he is also a board member of many civic and nonprofit organizations “whose goals are to improve educational opportunities and community health.” Since beginning his career at UNG in 1982, Oates has held several positions including physical education instructor, intramural director and professor of physical education. …Sylvia Carson, UNG’s director of communications, said Kate Maine, chief of staff and vice president of university relations, will serve as the interim vice president of the Gainesville campus until the role is filled.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia passes 8,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths
By Tim Darnell
Georgia has now recorded more than 8,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began, according to the latest figures released Tuesday afternoon from the state Department of Public Health. On Tuesday, the state reported 8,029 confirmed deaths and 364,589 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The Department of Public Health added a new column Tuesday, “probable deaths,” to its dashboard. According to the latest global and national data compiled by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, more than 47 million cases of the coronavirus have been reported around the world, with 1.2 million deaths. The U.S. continues to lead the world in number of cases — more than 9.3 million — and deaths, with more than 232,000.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Nov. 3)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 8,029 | 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: 364,589 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Edge
From: Goldie Blumenstyk
Subject: The Edge: Whoever the Winners Are, These Adult-Student Priorities Should Be High on the Agenda
Now more than ever, adult students should be front and center.
But first … we’re finishing up this week’s issue of The Edge on Tuesday evening, Eastern time, long before all the voting has even been completed. If you’re wondering how weird it feels to write a higher-ed newsletter not knowing if, when you read this, we’ll know whether the country decided to re-elect a president who has undermined science, driven away international students, threatened academic freedom, and tried to punish institutions that teach about structural racism, the answer is simple: very. Weirdness aside, let’s get to it. Because no matter who is president, the social and economic imperatives for colleges to serve older students — offering them convenient, affordable academic programs — have never been more compelling. Millions of people have been put out of work by the pandemic, and countless others have had their studies interrupted by financial or health emergencies in their families. Economic dislocations have also hastened many industries’ pace of automation by as much as five years, which means that millions more people — who were just getting by in low-wage, “noncollege” service jobs — could be forced out of the labor market by 2025 without additional education, according to an analysis by the Southern Regional Education Board, a nonprofit group that works to improve public education. (The board estimates that 30 percent of all work across the South could be automated in five years, and 34 percent across the entire country.) As for colleges that aren’t already committed to serving adults, the pre-existing demographic cliff will mean fewer traditional-age students in the population by 2026. So yeah, focusing on adults right about now makes good sense.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
With Presidency Uncertain, an Anxious Higher Ed Braces for What’s Next
Will colleges have another four years of jousting with Trump, or a return to the Obama-era policies Biden embraced as vice president?
By Jack Stripling
The future of Donald J. Trump’s presidency, which has been defined by an embrace of anti-intellectualism and a rejection of the kind of international collaboration that is so central to higher education’s ethos, remained uncertain in the wee hours of Wednesday, as votes continued to be counted in his race against Joseph R. Biden Jr. The absence of a clear winner in Tuesday’s election, which has been expected to drag on because of a surge in mail-in voting related to the Covid-19 pandemic, left unclear whether higher education is in for four more years of jousting with President Trump or a return to many of the policies that Biden championed as vice president under Barack Obama. Trump’s presidency, predicated on an “America First” principle that many academics see as a threat to the global exchange of ideas, has featured regular onslaughts against the values and practices of higher education, which Trump has condemned as politically correct and corrosive. Through executive orders and legal action, the Trump administration has blocked international travel into the U.S. from certain foreign countries, banned diversity training for recipients of federal contracts, challenged racial considerations in college admissions, and threatened (briefly) to deport international students if they did not take in-person classes amid the threat of Covid-19. Biden would very likely undo much of the Trump administration’s approach to higher education, while pressing a proposal to make college tuition-free for families with incomes less than $125,000.
Inside Higher Ed
Likely Defeat for Affirmative Action
California voters are rejecting a proposal to restore affirmative action at the state’s public colleges and universities.
By Scott Jaschik
California voters rejected Proposition 16, which would have restored the right of public colleges and universities to consider race and ethnicity in admissions and financial aid. The measure proved widely unpopular among voters, who voted against it on Election Day. With 80.4 percent of precincts reporting, the measure had 44.3 percent of the vote. Opponents had 55.7 percent — and more than 1 million more votes.
Inside Higher Ed
Voters in North Dakota rejected a measure to increase the size of the state’s higher education governing board, but the fate of a measure to change Nevada’s board was up in the air.
By Kery Murakami
Lost in the drama and angst of the presidential election on Tuesday, nearly three-fourths of voters in North Dakota rejected a state ballot measure that would have almost doubled the size of that state’s higher education commission. But with about a third of the votes yet to be counted early this morning, voters in Nevada were split over a measure that would strip the state’s Board of Regents of its constitutional autonomy, paving the way for legislators to make reforms like beginning to elect members to the higher education governing board.