University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: UGA, KSU receive large gifts, Spelman and student loan debt
By Eric Stirgus
‘Tis the season. A few Georgia colleges and universities last week received major contributions and commitments for their academic operations. Student loan borrowers also got some good news last week from the federal government that should temporarily help financially. Here are some details in the latest edition of AJC On Campus. Chick-fil-A gives UGA $10 million …KSU’s big gift A prominent couple last week gave Kennesaw State University one of its largest gifts ever, $9 million for its College of Humanities and Social Sciences. …University of West Georgia’s “bark-chelor” degree recipient …Georgia Tech early admissions
WSAV
Savannah State’s future entrepreneurs gain real-world experience running marketing business
by: Ashley Williams
Business students at Savannah State University are getting the opportunity to gain real-world experience thanks to an on-campus program. A group of interns is in charge of running TigerCo Marketing, an online retail company founded at SSU in September by Savannah Sauce Company owners Mike Roberson and Tracey Richburg. The company sells bottles of Awesome Sauce, also created by the Savannah Sauce Company.
PND
University of Georgia receives $10 million for leadership institute
The University of Georgia has announced a $10 million pledge from Chick-fil-A in support of the Institute for Leadership Advancement in the Terry College of Business. The largest single gift ever in support of the institute and its programming will underwrite an expansion of the ILA Leadership Fellows program to a new cohort of UGA undergraduates each fall and spring semester, instead of every year; an expansion of leadership class offerings to all UGA students; the launch of an annual professional development symposium; and leadership training for the region’s business community.
Patch
Fall Commencement Full Of Firsts For Graduates
University of North Georgia (UNG) student David Esteban Loarca always knew he would go to college. …Esteban Loarca made the most of it. On Dec. 5, he was among 594 UNG students who walked across the stage of the Convocation Center as part of the fall 2020 commencement experience2. Up to four family members or friends stood in front of the stage to see the monumental moment. …UNG implemented the new mini-ceremonies totaling 56 to follow social distancing guidelines and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Smaller commissioning ceremonies for 26 UNG cadets took place on Dec. 3-4 at the Pennington Military Leadership Center. The advantage was graduates were accompanied by guests throughout the process.
Gainesville Times
Commissioners to vote Thursday on UNG student housing complex proposal
Megan Reed
A proposal for a 560-bedroom student housing complex near the University of North Georgia in Oakwood will go before the Hall County Board of Commissioners for a decision on Thursday, Dec. 10.
The Red & Black
How UGA students are staying fit responsibly during COVID-19
Martina Essert | Contributor
Between TikTok fitness challenges, viral workout routine videos from YouTuber Chloe Ting and countless free exercise apps and courses, the unprecedented health crisis of COVID-19 has inspired people to focus on their personal health and fitness more than ever. Months spent in quarantine offered many people the free time needed to reflect and be introspective about the importance of health and personal wellbeing. Many students want to take control of their health beyond just wearing their masks. …When walking through campus, students and locals are often seen jogging and cycling for exercise, catching the bus to the gym, doing yoga on North Campus and even exercising in dorm rooms and apartments.
Science Magazine
Tension Between Awareness And Fatigue Shapes Covid-19 Spread
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, two human factors are battling it out: awareness of the virus’s severe consequences and fatigue from nine months of pandemic precautions. The results of that battle can be seen in the oddly shaped case, hospitalization, and fatality-count graphs, a new study suggests. The tension between awareness and fatigue can lead to case-count plateaus, shoulder-like dynamics, and oscillations as rising numbers of deaths cause people to become more cautious before they let down their guard to engage once again in behaviors that increase risk for transmission, which, in turn, leads to rising death counts — and renewed awareness. …A paper describing the connection between human behavior and viral spread was published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It was authored by researchers at Georgia Tech, McMaster University, Princeton University, and Texas A&M.
Markets Insider
ApelinDx Broad-Spectrum CBD Inhaler
TM Global Bioscience, LLC, a medically-focused division of ThriftMaster Global Holdings, today announced that the patent-pending broad-spectrum CBD formulation in its ApelinDx™ metered dose inhaler may increase survival rates of COVID-19 patients. In mouse studies conducted by Augusta University’s associate dean of research Dr. Babak Baban and Dr. Jack Yu, recipient of America’s Top Doctors award five years in a row, ApelinDx showed positive results in reducing the COVID-19-induced cytokine storm that causes deadly inflammation and tissue damage in the lungs by increasing levels of apelin.
Savannah Morning News
Parent expresses COVID concerns over Georgia Southern indoor graduation
Katie Nussbaum
Nearly 300 Georgia Southern University (GS) graduates from the Armstrong Campus are set to walk across the stage at the Savannah Convention Center (SCC) on Sunday, but St. Simons Island resident Becky Lynch said her son won’t be in attendance. Including students, guests, faculty and staff, there will be an estimated 1,552 attendees at the indoor graduation ceremony on Sunday and Lynch feels the event could be a super spreader of COVID-19. The decision not to receive his diploma in-person was an “agonizing decision” for her son to make, she said, adding that while she, her husband and son had COVID this summer, her husband is high-risk and they couldn’t take another chance. “That was a relief for me, but it’s still heartbreaking,” she said of her son’s decision not to walk. The ceremony will be at 25% occupancy and seats on stage will be spaced at a minimum of six feet apart. Guests in the audience will be seated in pods of four, with a minimum of six feet between pods and between rows and masks will be required for the entire ceremony, entrance and exit of the building. “We have had a few people reach out concerned about an in-person event, but overwhelmingly people are happy that we will have an in-person ceremony, versus virtual like we did last spring, and we are confident that the precautions we have put into practice will make it a safe and enjoyable ceremony for all,” said Scot Lingrell, Vice President for Enrollment Management for GS.
Tifton CEO
Garrett Boone on Community Support for ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture
Director of ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture Garrett Boone talks about the tremendous support the community has shown to the Georgia Museum of Agriculture and how you can get involved.
Northwest Georgia News
Three vice presidents set to retire after lengthy tenure with GHC
Three employees in leadership roles at Georgia Highlands College are set to retire from the University System of Georgia at the beginning of February in 2021 after serving several years in the system and with GHC. These vice presidents direct the work of multiple divisions within the institution:
Jeff Patty, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
Ginni Siler, Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resource Officer
Mary Transue, Senior Vice President for Advancement and Enrollment Management and the Executive Director of the GHC Foundation Inc.
Growing Georgia
UGA Poultry Science Dept. Creates High School Curriculum, Transfer Pathway
By: Georgia Farm Bureau
Students interested in careers in the poultry industry will now have access to more poultry science-based resources and a new path to pursue an undergraduate degree through a transfer agreement between the University of Georgia and the University of North Georgia. The opportunities for good-paying jobs in poultry and related industries are plentiful, with graduates receiving between one and five job offers, according to Todd Applegate, head of the UGA Department of Poultry Science in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Technology Networks
Targeting Senescent Cells To Improve Cervical Cancer Survival
How well women with cervical cancer respond to treatment and survive correlates with the level of 10 proteins in their blood that also are associated with a “zombie” cell state called senescence, Medical College of Georgia scientists report. They looked at pretreatment levels of these proteins in the blood of 565 Peruvian women with stage 2 and 3 cervical cancer, who received standard treatments of internal radiation, called brachytherapy, external radiation or both. They found that women with low levels of the proteins secreted by senescent cells had higher survival rates than those with high levels of these senescence-associated secreted phenotypes, or SASPs. Additionally, they found that brachytherapy, which implants a radiation source close to the cervix, greatly improved survival of patients who had high levels of these SASPs but had little impact on those with low levels.
Scientific American
Deep-learning robot Shimon writes and rhymes in real time
By Shi En Kim
What if your digital assistant could battle rap? That may sound far-fetched, but Gil Weinberg, a music technologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has adapted a musical robot called Shimon to compose lyrics and perform in real time. That means it can engage in rap “conversations” with humans, and maybe even help them compose their own lyrics. Shimon, which was intentionally designed to sound machinelike (listen here), is meant to be a one-of-a-kind musical collaborator—or an inhuman rap-battle opponent.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Dec. 8)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 9,027 | 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: 452,369 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
WSB-TV
Gov. Kemp says 1st delivery of COVID-19 vaccines is week to 10 days away
Governor Brian Kemp says the first batch of COVID-19 is a week to 10 days from arriving in Georgia. In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Kemp said the first doses will go to the elderly and health care workers. But Kemp warned that the first shipments won’t be enough to stop the spread of the coronavirus, so he reminded the public to continue wearing masks, washing hands and practicing social distance. “The general public will not be able to be vaccinated for months,” Kemp said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC COVID-19 vaccine tracker: Dosages may initially be in short supply
By Eric Stirgus, Helena Oliviero and Kelly Yamanouchi
Here’s an update on some Georgia-based news involving COVID-19 vaccines and treatments: Georgia officials said Tuesday they likely won’t have enough COVID-19 vaccine dosages to give to everyone in the groups they want to vaccinate first: health care workers and people living in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Federal officials have said they hope to have about 20 million Americans vaccinated by the end of December, if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants emergency use authorization for a vaccine. That may come as soon as Thursday, when FDA convenes a meeting of its vaccine advisory committee.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Live Coronavirus Updates: Here’s the Latest
…Higher-Education Job Losses Now Top 500,000
Preliminary estimates suggest that a net 560,000 fewer workers were employed by America’s private (nonprofit and for-profit) and state-controlled institutions of higher education in October, compared with February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which calculates industry-specific employee figures. Put another way, American universities and colleges have shed at least 12 percent of the workers they employed at the start of the pandemic.
Inside Higher Ed
Rating Agencies Issue Dour Higher Ed Outlook for Next Year
By Rick Seltzer
Two bond rating agencies on Tuesday issued pessimistic outlooks for the U.S. higher education sector for 2021 as the coronavirus pandemic continues to strain enrollment and revenue, heighten long-term pressures, and hit certain types of institutions harder than others. Operating revenue will decline by between 5 percent and 10 percent across the sector, predicted Moody’s Investors Service, which issued a negative outlook for U.S. higher education. An estimated 60 percent of public universities and 75 percent of private universities are expected to see net tuition revenue decline amid soft enrollment — even as auxiliary revenue, philanthropy and state funding streams are under pressure.
Inside Higher Ed
Campus COVID Testing Advocate Chosen to Head CDC
Dr. Rochelle Walensky has written about the importance of frequent COVID testing of students and has been involved in discussions about how the pandemic has changed campus life.
By Elizabeth Redden
President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an advocate for frequent, mass COVID-19 testing of college students. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is co-author of an influential modeling study arguing for the need for colleges to test students every two days in order to prevent outbreaks. The article, published in July in JAMA Network Open, proposed a testing strategy that far exceeded that recommended by the CDC, which has not to date recommended mass testing of students.
Inside Higher Ed
Federal Guidance on Foreign Students Remains Same for Spring
By Elizabeth Redden
Federal guidance for enrolling international students in programs operating in hybrid or online modes due to the pandemic remains the same for the spring term, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program said Tuesday. …Continuing international students who were enrolled at a U.S. college as of March 9 can re-enter the U.S. even if their college is engaged in 100 percent distance learning, but new students since March 9 will not be permitted to enter the U.S. to take a fully online course of study this spring. New students will be able to enter the U.S. to take hybrid programs consisting of a mix of in-person and online coursework this spring.
Inside Higher Ed
Report Chronicles Changes in Law Education
By Lilah Burke
The Law School Survey of Student Engagement, released Tuesday, chronicles changes in law education in the United States from 2004 to 2019. While law education has become more diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, those gains have been unequal. For example, Black men doubled their percentage of the total number of law students — from 3 to 6 percent — in the 15 years of the survey, while Black women saw no similar gains. White men are still the majority of law students, though that group fell from 86 percent of total students in 2004 to 74 percent in 2019. The report also details ballooning debt burdens for law students.