University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Couple donates $9 million to Kennesaw State University
By Eric Stirgus
A prominent Georgia couple has donated $9 million to Kennesaw State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, university officials announced Wednesday. The gift from Norman Radow, the university’s Board of Trustees chairman, and his wife, Lindy, is one of the largest gifts ever to Kennesaw State by a single donor. The couple’s donation includes $2 million to establish the Lindy Radow Humanities and Social Sciences Honors Scholarship Endowment Fund. The scholarship will be matched by funds from the KSU Journey Honors Scholarship to create a Humanities-Honors Scholarship Endowment of $5 million.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Teacher training programs evolve to prepare candidates in the pandemic and beyond
By Anika Chaturvedi
The coronavirus pandemic shut classroom doors in March altering the learning experience for students and student teachers. The shift to remote and limited face-to-face learning has Georgia colleges modifying their training programs to prepare future educators for the new normal of teaching. With class time for teacher candidates reduced, the programs are incorporating more digital learning and creative options for them to practice their skills. While many preparation programs were already integrating technology, the surge in video communication and other online platforms this year is reflected in the curriculum and assignments for teacher candidates. At Kennesaw State University, more professors and students are making use of the Avatar Lab. The lab is a mixed-reality simulation where teacher candidates can practice skills like classroom management along with their field experience. The lab has always had remote capabilities, but with classes held both remotely and in-person at KSU, most people are utilizing the remote option.
Becker Hospital Review
Georgia cancer center gets $576K to advance skin cancer care
Erica Carbajal
The U.S. Department of Agriculture granted the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University $576,035 Nov. 19 to expand access to skin cancer care, particularly for melanoma, in the state. As part of the USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants program, the cancer center will develop a telemedicine program in partnership with medical centers across the state, distribute dermatoscopes to satellite clinics and organize seminars focused on skin cancer health and awareness. The grant program aims to increase the probability of early diagnosis for a number of skin cancers.
The Augusta Chronicle
AU study seeks to understand antibody survival and vaccine longevity
By Tom Corwin
Recent announcements from Pfizer and Moderna about what appear to be highly effective vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19 have generated a lot of headlines and excitement. But what is still unanswered is how long that protection would last. That is the focus of Dr. Nagenda Singh, an immunologist at Augusta University, funded by a recent $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Research has already shown that antibodies against the virus can fade within weeks in some who have recovered, particularly those who did not have a severe infection. Another study at AU is focused on front-line workers and whether those who have already been infected can be reinfected. But this actually goes back many, many years, Singh said.
Americus Times Recorder
GSW offers unique opportunity for exam relief
By Tracy K. Hall
College exams are a special kind of stressful. For ages, students and the communities who support them have sought out ways to push through the pressure of being tested. Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) has found a new, yet old way to relieve the stress which every student knows at exam time. The Student Engagement Team at GSW went back to the school’s roots for inspiration
The Gainesville Times
Kelsey Podo
Edward Mienie, associate professor at the University of North Georgia, will soon offer high schoolers a glimpse into U.S. intelligence agencies with a new high school course he helped create.
Inverse
Birder Corina Newsome: I Want To See A Scientist Who Looks Like Me.
…One of the ringleaders of the movement, CORINA NEWSOME, an avid birder herself, is a graduate student at Georgia Southern University studying the seaside sparrow. Growing up, Newsome always had a love for the natural world but never dreamed of being a scientist; she wasn’t even aware it was a viable career path because she had never seen a Black person doing it. She wants things to be different for the young Black people that follow her; she envisions a world where Black kids can become whatever they choose to be. “What I want is that, when you ask a kid to physically describe a scientist, they don’t immediately think of an old white man … that has very tangible impacts on what a person chooses to do with their life and how they see themselves fitting into the world.” The following interview, edited for clarity and brevity, is part of Inverse’s FUTURE 50 series, a group of 50 people who will be forces of good in the 2020s.
Savannah CEO
Parker College of Business Teams Advance to Semifinals of National Student Challenge
After collaborating on 30-page pitch presentations and 90-second videos to convince selected retailers why and how their businesses should collaborate, two student teams from the Georgia Southern University Parker College of Business have made it into the semifinals of this year’s National Retail Federation (NRF) Student Challenge. The NRF Student Challenge gives undergraduate students the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom in a real-world setting by creating a set of products and pitching them to judges that represent a major retailer with the goal of the retailer picking up the product line for its stores.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Dec. 2)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 8,830 | 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: 428,980 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Governor, hospitals discuss COVID-19 surge in Atlanta and GA
By Ariel Hart
Staff shortages and profiteering are besetting Georgia hospitals as the pandemic climbs its third wave. A vaccine is cause for hope but not lost vigilance. Those are some of the few things Georgia hospital CEO’s can know for sure as December begins and COVID-19′s toll has climbed well past 8,000 in the state. They met with Gov. Brian Kemp at the state Capitol Wednesday to take stock of the situation. “As the colder months approach, we’ve got to continue to remain vigilant,” Kemp said. …The third pandemic wave is currently hitting Georgia less severely than almost all states, data indicates. No one can be sure whether that means Georgia’s hospitalizations will level off, or if the state will follow the same trend of the other states, just later. But the timing isn’t encouraging.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Did Students in College Housing Learn Better?
A large survey of students who lived on or near campus among peers during the fall semester showed that they had positive learning and social experiences, even if all of their classes were online.
By Greta Anderson
A new survey from American Campus Communities, one of the largest student housing developers and providers in the United States, found positive academic and social outcomes for students living on or near campus in college housing this fall and determined that students also closely followed coronavirus safety guidelines. The answers of the nearly 42,600 undergraduate and a small number of graduate students who responded to the survey, all of them residents of properties owned or managed by ACC, paints a rosy picture of their living conditions and their effects on learning. Whether they were learning fully online or had some in-person classes, due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions, all the students surveyed during late October to early November were living with other college students in one of 84 living communities across the United States, rather than at home with family members, said Jason Wills, senior vice president of development for ACC. Students in two housing facilities in Canada were also surveyed, Wills said.
Inside Higher Ed
College Groups Tell Congress They Need Money
By Kery Murakami
The need for federal aid for colleges and universities is even greater than the $120 billion anticipated, a number of higher education groups including associations representing the colleges said in a letter to congressional leaders Wednesday. “It has become evident that our prior estimates dramatically understated the challenges schools are facing,” wrote American Council on Education president Ted Mitchell in the letter signed by dozens of higher education groups, including the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the Association of American Universities. However, a proposal for another coronavirus relief package being circulated by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, obtained by The New York Times, would include only $105 billion in aid for K-12 and higher education.
Inside Higher Ed
Aide to DeVos Outlines Accomplishments
By Kery Murakami
Highlighting the Education Department’s accomplishments under the Trump administration, Principal Deputy Under Secretary Diane Auer Jones said the agency had listened to colleges’ call for regulatory relief. “We heard what you’ve said about regulatory burden and we’ve tried to address it,” she said remotely at the Federal Student Aid Training Conference Wednesday. This fall, for example, the agency replaced the 265-page Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting guiding higher education administrators in following the requirements of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act with a 13-page addendum to another department handbook on administering financial aid. That simplified the reporting process and gave institutions more discretion in deciding what to report, she said.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Federal Government Is Verifying Fewer Fafsa Filers. Here’s Why That Matters.
By Eric Hoover
A world tangled up in red tape just got some welcome news. The U.S. Education Department on Wednesday said that it had reduced the percentage of federal student-aid applicants it will select for verification, an onerous process that’s widely seen as a barrier to college for low-income and underrepresented students. In the past, the federal government has verified about 30 percent of all aid applications in each enrollment cycle; starting in 2020-21, it will verify 18 percent. That change, announced during a national conference for college financial-aid professionals, is an incremental but meaningful step toward simplifying the college-application process in an era of economic turmoil. Still, regardless of the overall selection rate nationally, this procedural burden will continue to fall most heavily on the students with the greatest need and fewest resources.
Inside Higher Ed
More than a third of prospective college students are reconsidering higher education. And 43 percent of prospective students for one- and two-year programs are looking to delay enrollment, survey finds.
By Scott Jaschik
More than one-third of prospective college students are reconsidering higher education in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Further, 43 percent of prospective students for one- and two-year programs are looking to delay enrollment. Those are two findings of a national survey of prospective college students by LaneTerralever, a national marketing and advertising agency for higher education. LaneTerralever surveyed 528 students across the U.S. in September. The company encourages colleges to take a very practical approach to dealing with the skeptical audience of students.
Inside Higher Ed
124,000 Registered to Take SAT and Won’t Be Able to Do So
By Scott Jaschik
About 383,000 students registered to take the SAT or SAT Subject Tests on Saturday. But because local test centers decided to close or reduce capacity due to COVID-19-related health and safety measures, 124,000 December-registered students are unable to test as of Nov. 30, with the remaining 259,000 able to test.
Inside Higher Ed
Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump Visa Rules
By Elizabeth Redden
A federal judge on Tuesday set aside two Trump administration rules that narrowed eligibility for H-1B skilled worker visas and substantially increased wages for many H-1B holders. Colleges joined with businesses in suing to roll back the rules, which the Trump administration promulgated without normal notice-and-comment procedures, citing emergency circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic.