University System News:
The George-Anne
Students enjoy the rise of in-person classes
Eden Hodges, Managing Editor
Despite a rise in COVID-19 cases across the state in the wake of colder months, Georgia Southern students don’t seem to mind the increased foot-traffic on campus as more classes begin to meet face-to-face this semester. “I feel like they’ve taken as many precautions as they can,” said student Melanie Smith. Smith transferred from another school in Tennessee which she said did not take masks or COVID-19 protocols seriously. “I have a few hybrid classes and I feel like that’s a really good way to do things,” she said. Many students said they feel they perform better in a classroom setting like GS student Trinity Dozir.
WALB
GSW students and faculty step to the frontline by volunteering at vaccine clinic
By Keshawn Ward
Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) students and faculty are stepping to the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals have been overflowing with patients and GSW students have been volunteering by assisting Phoebe Sumter Medical Center. There are a handful of students and ten faculty members that are helping by administering vaccines to monitoring the post-vaccine waiting area. Bonnie Gary, senior lecturer in GSW’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences, tells me they’ve had a partnership with Phoebe in the past.
WTVM
CSU gives COVID-19 guidance reminders and updates
By Olivia Gunn
As a new semester begins, Columbus State University (CSU) is reminding its students and employees of the COVID-19 guidelines to follow on campus. The school’s current protocols, such as wearing face masks indoors and outdoors, social distancing, and washing hands remain in effect.
Technique
Tech begins vaccinating campus community
Morgan Whittemore
Early last week, Tech received its first allotment of COVID-19 vaccines and began vaccinating campus community members, signifying the start of Tech’s local eradication of the virus. As coronavirus cases continue to rise nationwide, a glimmer of hope has emerged in the form of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. These vaccines have been distributed all over the country in the past month to halt the spread of coronavirus, and just over 1,000 doses were recently sent to Tech. Tech received 975 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Jan. 12, and the Institute immediately began vaccinating those in the Phase 1A+ group of the Georgia Vaccine Plan on campus. This includes GTPD staff, COVID-19 surveillance testing personnel, medical staff on campus, and campus members aged 65 and older. William Smith, Director of Tech’s Office of Emergency Management, spoke about how Tech will handle vaccinating members of the community while following Georgia’s schedule for phases.
Savannah Morning News
With COVID-19 testing to cost at least $1M, how is Georgia Southern paying for it?
Nathan Dominitz
Savannah Morning News
Medical expenses are figured into every college athletic department’s annual budget, with the figures expected to vary from year to year. It’s hard to predict how many student-athletes will need health care from medications to surgeries to physical therapy and more. “The traditional costs are obviously a variable but you’re always going to have them,” Georgia Southern Athletic Director Jared Benko said. “It’s planned for, but every year it fluctuates. It’s not like budgeting team meals or travel. The medical piece is really a shot at the dartboard.” Because of COVID-19, that dartboard has grown exponentially, and it’s a moving target. Separate from other medical-related expenses, the cost for COVID-19 testing for Georgia Southern student-athletes, coaches, medical and other staff is expected to exceed $1 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year, Benko said last week. Georgia Southern, as a member of the Sun Belt, follows the conference guidelines on coronavirus testing.
Marietta Daily Journal
Kennesaw State breaks ground for new residence hall
Staff reports
Kennesaw State University officials broke ground Friday for a residence hall that will house more than 500 students on the Kennesaw Campus. The 508-bed, 109,388-square-foot building will provide another housing option for Kennesaw State’s growing student population as well as promote connections among the campus community, particularly for first-year students. Scheduled to open for the fall 2022 semester, the new residence hall will be built on the south end of the Kennesaw Campus adjacent to the existing Austin Residence Complex.
WGAU Radio
UGA expands Clarke Middle School program
“Grow It Know It” program
By Emilie Gille, UGA Today
Even as most Clarke County schools remain online only, students in East Athens are learning about agriculture and nutrition through an in-person, hands-on University of Georgia program offered at a neighborhood community center. UGA’s Grow It Know It (GIKI) program, a collaboration with Clarke County middle schools, is now offered two afternoons a week at the East Athens Community Center. About 15 students, from second through sixth grade, have participated in the program run by the Office of Service-Learning, a UGA Public Service and Outreach unit.
The Red & Black
UGA’s Farmers Market Friends connects students, Athens residents with local food systems
Kayla Borchers | Contributor
University of Georgia juniors Abraham Lebos and Reese MacMillan were looking for ways to give back to the community without putting anyone at risk for COVID-19. This led them to create an organization called Farmers Market Friends. Lebos and MacMillan launched Farmers Market Friends in August with the goal of supporting the Athens Farmers Market and connecting UGA students and Athens residents with locally grown produce. MacMillan and Lebos, who are pre-med students, said the inspiration for this organization came from another program called the Food As Real Medicine Rx Program. This program helps people in Athens who are identified as food insecure or have diet-related illnesses receive a prescription from their doctor for nutritious food from the farmers market that can be filled at no cost.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech lights up Bobby Dodd Stadium to honor Hank Aaron
By Ken Sugiura
Georgia Tech paid honor to the late Hank Aaron Saturday night, illuminating Bobby Dodd Stadium and Midtown Atlanta with blue stadium lights. The LED lights, which were installed prior to the 2020 season, were turned on at 8 p.m. and stayed lit for 44 minutes, in honor of Aaron’s jersey number with the Braves.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Kennesaw mushroom? Could be, says KSU prof
By H.M. Cauley
Many grocery shoppers may not think twice about where that package of white mushrooms in the blue Styrofoam box comes from. But the thought nagged Chris Cornelison. Since joining Kennesaw State’s microbiology department in 2016, Cornelison has been mulling over questions about mushrooms that he was first asked as a graduate student at Georgia State. “I began looking into the data of mushroom cultivation in the U.S. and was shocked to learn over 90% of all sold in U.S. markets come from Pennsylvania,” he said. …There’s no reason we shouldn’t be growing them closer to where they’re consumed.” Thanks to a recent $25,000 grant from the Georgia Research Alliance, Cornelison’s goal is to get more locals on board with the process he’s developed to grow the fungi in shipping containers. It turns out those containers are “ideal cultivation modules,” said Cornelison, who has set up prototypes on KSU’s field station a few miles from the main campus.
Medicalxpress
Fine tuning first-responder immune cells may reduce TBI damage
Immediately after a traumatic brain injury and as long as one year later, there are increased levels of immune cells called ILCs in the brain promoting inflammation, which can worsen brain damage, scientists report. They also report for the first time that the cell energy sensor AMPK is a brake that can stop what becomes a chronic state of destructive inflammation driven by these ILCs, or innate lymphoid cells. “We think ILCs are kind of a master regulator of all that inflammation happening within the brain,” says Dr. Krishnan Dhandapani, neuroscientist in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. “It’s like the thermostat in the room.” They report in the journal JCI Insight that using the common diabetes drug metformin to turn up AMPK, an enzyme essential to maintaining sufficient energy inside cells, restores a healthier balance between the three known subtypes of ILCs, says Dr. Babak Baban, immunologist and associate dean for research in the Dental College of Georgia at AU.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Jan. 24)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 11,801 | 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: 718,532 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BREAKING: Merck ends development of 2 potential COVID-19 vaccines
By The Associated Press
Merck is giving up on two potential COVID-19 vaccines after poor results in early-stage studies. The drugmaker said Monday it will focus instead on studying two possible treatments for the virus that also have yet to be approved by regulators. The company said its potential vaccines were well tolerated by patients, but they generated an inferior immune system response compared with other vaccines.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
The College Board’s (Smaller?) Future
Organization faces dangers in wake of eliminating the SAT Essay and Subject Tests.
By Scott Jaschik
The College Board’s announcement last week that it is killing the SAT Subject Tests and the SAT Essay was both rumored for some time and a surprise. Many had speculated that the board would be forced by the pandemic to make major changes. In the fall, it turned away hundreds of thousands of students who registered for the SAT (the main SAT and subject tests) because of test-site closures. And the vast majority of colleges are now test optional or test blind, at least for this year, meaning they will not even look at an SAT or ACT score when deciding whether to admit a student. The changes announced were clearly designed to preserve the main SAT and the Advanced Placement program. But what of the College Board?
Inside Higher Ed
President Biden’s proposal to make public colleges free could mean more students may be able to go to college, but it could also mean the end for some private institutions.
By Kery Murakami
…In the White House now is a president who is promising to make college — or at least public ones as well as those predominantly serving students of color — free. Removing the barrier of tuition could be transformative. Studies estimate millions more will be able to get a higher education at public and minority-serving institutions. But it would also mean private colleges and universities, which would still be charging thousands a year in tuition, would find themselves competing for students, who could go elsewhere and not have to pay tuition. Private colleges and universities could see their enrollment decrease by 7 to 14 percent over the next decade if President Biden’s plan is adopted, a study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce predicted in October.
WTOC
Savannah college gets $4.8M to train workers amid pandemic
By Associated Press
A community college in Savannah has been awarded $4.8 million to help train more workers, including those who have lost jobs during the pandemic. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter said in a news release that Savannah Technical College is among community colleges nationwide receiving the federal grants. The U.S. Department of Labor says the money will help colleges prepare workers for high-demand sectors such as health care and cybersecurity. Recipient schools can also use the grants to improve and expand their online course offerings.