University System News:

Patch.com
Rankings Roundup: Kennesaw State Ranked Nationally For Degree Programs
Staff reports
Kennesaw State University has been ranked recently as having some of the best academic

programs in the nation. During the Fall 2020 semester, several online organizations

and publications recognized Kennesaw State’s programs for affordability, program flexibility,

student satisfaction and curriculum quality.

The Augusta Chronicle
“I think it gives us a lot of hope”: Augusta hospitals vaccinate more front-line workers
By Tom Corwin
Minutes after getting the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 at University Hospital on Tuesday, registered nurse Norma Elizondo burst into tears. It wasn’t a reaction to the shot but her thinking back to earlier this year when she battled the disease for a month, and then her thoughts turned to her mother. “I’m thinking about my mom back home who battled it, too” for more than two months, said Elizondo, who flew home hours later to Rio Grande, Texas. The travel nurse, who has worked in University’s COVID-19 units for months, was one of hundreds of front-line workers at Augusta hospitals who lined up to get the vaccine after a new wave of shipments this week. Most of those were from 60,000 doses in Georgia’s second allocation of the Pfizer vaccine after receiving 72,000 the previous week, said Nancy Nydam, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health. About 20,000 of those doses will be set aside for nursing home residents, the other priority group for the first wave of vaccines, she said.

WRDW
[Why’s%20the%20flu%20down%20this%20year%3F%20Local%20experts%20point%20to%20COVID-19]Why’s the flu down this year? Local experts point to COVID-19
By Sydney Heiberger
The number of people getting their flu shots this year around the country is at a record high with more than 190 million people vaccinated. At the Kroger on Washington Road in Augusta, things are no different. “Definitely there’s been an increased interest this year — both flu vaccines, and even some of the other vaccines like shingles,” pharmacy manager David Rychly said… That high demand of flu shots is one of the reasons instances of the flu are so low this year. At Augusta University, it’s almost non-existent. “This year looks like a flat line,” AU Health’s Dr. Phillip Coule said. “Last year looks like a mountain.”

Northside Neighbor
International Paint Pals donates children’s artwork to Georgia State University
By Everett Catts
Christmas came early for Joe Peragine and Georgia State University when International Paint Pals, a Buckhead-based nonprofit, donated 1,200 pieces of children’s art earlier this month. “I haven’t even unpacked (all of them),” said Peragine, a professor of drawing, painting and printmaking at the college and director of its Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design. “There are seven or eight boxes. I have only opened one. I feel like it’s Christmas morning. I’m getting ready to open them up and see what we have. Maybe it will inspire us to do other things I haven’t even thought of yet.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: Critics say stimulus lacking, UGA desegregation 60 years later
By Eric Stirgus
Not good enough. That’s the message from several education groups regarding a congressional economic stimulus plan that includes about $23 billion for the nation’s colleges and universities. We take a look at some of the criticism, how the pandemic is impacting college enrollment and the University of Georgia’s plans to celebrate an important milestone in its history in the latest edition of AJC On Campus.

The Moultrie Observer
ABAC students photograph rare Eastern Indigo snake
Staff reports
Two Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College students recently photographed a rare six-foot long Eastern Indigo snake while preparing capstone project research for their bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Management at ABAC. “This is a really noteworthy observation and of significant conservation value,” Vanessa Lane, ABAC associate professor of wildlife ecology and management and a certified wildlife biologist, said. “The sighting of this federally threatened species has already been reported to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and a biologist will be conducting formal surveys sometime this month.” ABAC students Morgan Pierce from Hartwell and Scott Herkel from Norwood were using trail cameras to monitor gopher tortoise burrows on private property for their undergraduate research project. They were trying to learn what kinds of mammals and other animals were using gopher tortoise burrows when they serendipitously photographed the rare snake.

Other News:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Dec. 22)

An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state

CONFIRMED DEATHS: 9,503 | Deaths have been confirmed in all counties but one (Taliaferro). This figure does not include additional cases that the DPH reports as suspected COVID-19-related deaths. County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
CONFIRMED CASES: 518,902 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.

Associated Press
US public school enrollment dips as virus disrupts education
By Kalyn Belsha and Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee of Chalkbeat and Leah Willingham and Larry Fenn of Associated Press

Fearful of sending her two children back to school as the coronavirus pandemic raged in Mississippi, Angela Atkins decided to give virtual learning a chance this fall. Almost immediately, it was a struggle. Their district in Lafayette County didn’t offer live instruction to remote learners, and Atkins’ fourth grader became frustrated with doing worksheets all day and missed interacting with teachers and peers. Her seventh grader didn’t receive the extra support he did at school through his special education plan — and started getting failing grades. After nine weeks, Atkins switched to home schooling.

Higher Education News:

Inside Higher Ed
Biden’s Pick for Education Secretary
By Kery Murakami

President-elect Joe Biden selected Connecticut education commissioner Miguel Cardona as his education secretary on Tuesday. “Dr. Cardona has a proven track record as an innovative leader who will fight for all students, and for a better, fairer, more successful education system,” Biden said. “He will also strive to eliminate long-standing inequities and close racial and socioeconomic opportunity gaps — and expand access to community colleges, training, and public four-year colleges and universities to improve student success and grow a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive middle class.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education
Big Changes in the Federal Student-Aid System Are Coming. Here’s Why They Matter.
By Eric Hoover
Carrie Warick was working at home in her fuzzy red slippers earlier this week when she got some long-awaited news. Big changes in federal student-aid policy were coming — changes she and many other college-access advocates had long pushed for. On Sunday members of Congress on both sides of the aisle announced an agreement to include revisions in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the Fafsa, in the omnibus spending bill then under negotiation. Warick, director of policy and advocacy for the National College Attainment Network, or NCAN, wrote the organization’s first brief on simplifying the Fafsa back in 2012. She has since helped make the case for why streamlining the complicated aid form would help more students get to college. It’s been a grind. Each year Warick attended a dozen meetings about Fafsa simplification on Capitol Hill, handled follow-up phone calls and emails, collected a ton of data on Fafsa completion, gathered observations from on-the-ground college advisers, and wrote dozens of briefs, memos, and blog posts. All the while she helped students share powerful stories about their struggles to complete the onerous form.

Inside Higher Ed
Congressional Deal Would Give Higher Ed $23B
By Kery Murakami

A $900 billion coronavirus-relief package, passed by Congress late Monday night, gives colleges and universities another $23 billion in relief aid, which the head of the American Council on Education blasted as “wholly inadequate.” The Senate shortly before midnight followed the House in also approving overwhelmingly a larger $1.4 trillion budget deal to fund the government through next September. The proposed deal also brings an additional $1 billion in spending on medical research as well as major changes to financial aid, including simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid from 108 to 36 questions, and giving Republican education committee chairman Lamar Alexander one of his top priorities days before he retires from Congress. It also includes a number of Democratic priorities, including allowing more incarcerated prisoners to be eligible for Pell Grants. President Trump is expected to sign both pieces of legislation.

Inside Higher Ed
A Decline in Transfers
By Lilah Burke
Amid other enrollment challenges for colleges and universities, student transfers dropped precipitously this year. According to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the total number of transfer students fell slightly more than 8 percent this year compared to fall 2019. Student mobility in all transfer pathways, such as between four-year institutions or from two-year to four-year colleges, also declined. “Typical pathways of transfer and mobility may be altered due to student concerns borne out of the pandemic, related to family finances, health, childcare, or a sudden need to move closer to home,” the authors of the report wrote. “Early disruptions in institutional reopening plans due to COVID-19, coupled with the disparate economic and health impacts of the virus across different populations, make navigating these transfer options even more difficult.”