University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATE: Georgia Gwinnett College issues all-clear after nearby fatal shooting
By Chelsea Prince
UPDATE [11:30 A.M.]: Georgia Gwinnett College has issued an all-clear after a deadly shooting near its Lawrenceville campus prompted a manhunt and a lockdown Thursday morning. Students and faculty were cleared to resume normal operations at 11:30 a.m., according to a public safety alert by the school. It was unclear if police were still searching for the shooting suspect.
Athens CEO
Reports of COVID-19 at UGA Decrease Again
Reports of positive cases of COVID-19 among faculty, staff and students at the University of Georgia continued to decline last week, falling nearly 30 percent from the previous week. In addition, the positivity rate for surveillance testing dropped as well. A total of 2,407 tests were administered at the Legion Field surveillance site and in pop-up locations that included high-traffic areas on campus. Of those tested, 60 yielded positive results for a positivity rate of 2.49 percent. Overall, 190 individuals reported positive tests through the DawgCheck system for January 18 – 24. Of those, 135 were students, 50 were staff, and five were faculty members.
Fox28
GSU nursing students prepare to potentially help administer COVID vaccines
by Allie Jennerjahn
Nursing students at the Georgia Southern Armstrong campus are being called to action. Catherine Gilbert, Nursing School chair, said local hospitals and the Dept. of Public Health have reached out asking for her student’s help with their COVID-19 clinics. “I know there’s a lot of apprehension around the thought of student nurses participating in something like this, but again this is what they’ve been studying for, this is what they’ve been training for,” Gilbert said. Gilbert said staff has spent extra time talking to students about the impact of the pandemic on the body and the mind.
Atlanta Jewish Times
Pre-Vaccine, Students Head Back to Campus
College-age students aren’t eligible yet to receive the COVID vaccine, but many campuses are increasing in-person teaching following feedback from the fall semester.
By Nathan Posner
As students prepare to return to their colleges across Georgia, both in-person and online, students face a variety of situations, depending on each school. While there aren’t universal policies for the Georgia university system, many colleges are taking similar approaches to their fall 2020 semesters, as college-age students haven’t been eligible yet to receive the vaccine. …While the University System of Georgia generally oversees how public colleges and universities respond to COVID this upcoming spring semester, Gov. Brian Kemp said in a press conference Jan. 8 he believes that schools had enough time to create safe protocols for in-person school. “Students of that age bracket do not meet the qualifications yet [for vaccination] … The data we are seeing in young people in our state is very clear. The kids should be in the classroom.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ga Tech resolves complaint with Jewish campus leader kept from meeting
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia Tech has agreed to a resolution with the former director of a Jewish student support organization who filed a federal complaint accusing the school of “blatant anti-Semitic exclusion” for its handling of an incident in which she said she was denied entry to a student meeting. Lauren Blazofsky, then-director of Hillel at Georgia Tech, said she was not allowed inside a Young Democratic Socialists of America meeting on campus in April 2019 although she registered online for the meeting.
Science Daily
Hospital worker flu shots could mean fewer early deaths
State vaccination mandates can reduce the spread of flu in vulnerable patients
Pneumonia and the flu kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, racking up billions of dollars in medical costs and even more in lost productivity. But new research from the University of Georgia shows that state laws promoting flu vaccinations for hospital workers can substantially reduce the number of influenza-related deaths.
13WMAZ
Middle Georgia State Cochran Campus completes renovations on Roberts Library and Dillard Hall
The two buildings have updated technology, bigger classrooms, advanced health science labs and a new coffee shop for students to use.
Author: Pepper Baker
A brand new coffee shop, more study space and computer labs. Students on the Middle Georgia State Cochran Campus say the Roberts Library renovations make life here much better. …Library Assistant Tammy Coody is going on 30 years working at Middle Georgia State. She says every college needs a library with updated technology and space for students. …Just a short walk over, Dillard Hall also got some work done. That’s where Dawn Knight and Betsy McDaniel head the nursing and occupational therapy assistance programs.
Marietta Daily Journal
KSU, Moroccan university partnering in women’s leadership initiative
Looking toward focusing her career on global issues and social causes, Kennesaw State University senior Grace Stafford became one of the first students to participate in a new cultural exchange program to promote and develop women’s leadership through research, analysis and digital storytelling. As a member of KSU’s Model United Nations team for three years, Stafford conducted policy research about several countries including Indonesia, Palestinian Territories, Russia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. She brought that experience, and built on it, during KSU’s women’s leadership virtual exchange with Hassan II University Casablanca in Morocco.
Growing America
ABAC, Cumberland Create Opportunities for Athletic Training Careers
A collaboration between Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Cumberland University will open the doors for ABAC graduates pursuing careers in athletic training. A new articulation agreement between the schools gives qualifying ABAC graduates who complete a bachelor’s degree in biology an interview and consideration for acceptance into the Master of Science in Athletic Training program at Cumberland University.
Savannah CEO
With Final Accreditation, New Georgia Southern Music Industry Degree Ready to Launch
Georgia Southern University’s Department of Music earned national accreditation for a new music industry degree, the final step for an innovative program that combines music, technology and entrepreneurship. Launching in the fall of 2021, the new music industry program will prepare musicians for evolving careers in music. The program curriculum combines a traditional degree with 21st-century technology and performance opportunities. Accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) allows the new program, Bachelor of Arts in Music with a concentration in music industry, to be offered at the Armstrong Campus in Savannah. Students will have the option of declaring an emphasis area in music technology or music business.
Forsyth County News
UNG accounting, finance students will offer free tax prep
From staff reports
For a fifth year, students pursuing accounting and finance degrees in the University of North Georgia’s Mike Cottrell College of Business will build on their tax preparation skills and aid the surrounding communities as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program sponsored by the IRS. The program served more than 100 taxpayers in the 2019 filing season. The free tax preparation services are open by appointment only from 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays from Feb. 2 through March 2 in room 011 of Newton Oakes on UNG’s Dahlonega Campus. For the in-person appointments, participants must adhere to UNG’s requirements to wear a mask inside all university buildings and practice social distancing.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Disability, access, and education in a pandemic
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Even with Ph.D. in education, mother struggles with ‘this lost year of support, this lost year of normalcy’
Usree Bhattacharya is an assistant professor of language and literacy education in the College of Education at the University of Georgia. She is also the parent of a child with a rare neurological disorder, Rett syndrome. In this guest column, Bhattacharya talks about the challenges of remote learning with a child with special needs who relies on a sophisticated eye-tracking device to communicate with her teachers and therapists. You can read an earlier column by Bhattacharya here. This is a fascinating story about a parent’s challenges, struggles and rewards.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Jan. 27)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 12,135 | 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: 731,826 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
11Alive
Georgia among the top 10 worst states in almost every metric for COVID-19, White House report says
The state is 4th in the nation for new hospital admissions, 6th for the rate of new cases, 7th for test positivity and 8th for the rate of deaths.
Author: Adrianne M Haney
There are glimmers of positive news in the latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report – the state’s first under the new Biden Administration. However, Georgia still has a long way to go in gaining control over the raging COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, it is among the top 10 worst states in almost every category for tracking the virus. According to the report dated Jan. 24, the state’s rate of new cases, hospitalizations and test positivity has fallen slightly over the last week. However, those rates – especially hospitalizations – remain highly elevated. The only category in which Georgia saw an increase from last week was the rate of new deaths – which saw a 12 percent increase. Data from the report also shows that Georgia ranks among the top 10 worst states for each of those categories: hospitalizations, new cases per 100,000, test positivity, and deaths per 100,000.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Survey: Most Students Willing to Be Vaccinated
By Greta Anderson
About three-quarters of undergraduates anticipate getting the coronavirus vaccine as soon as it becomes available to them, according to a survey of 1,000 students released today by College Pulse, a research company that polled the college students from Jan. 7 to 15.
Inside Higher Ed
Land-Grant Universities Tell Congress They Lost $17 Billion During Pandemic
By Kery Murakami
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ 199 public research universities have lost $17.7 billion in revenues during the pandemic and had to spend another $3.1 billion to take safety measures last fall. However, they have only received $5.7 billion in help from the CARES Act and the COVID relief package approved in December, the association wrote members of Congress on Tuesday, asking for more aid. In addition, the association said its institutions are facing cuts in state funding.
Inside Higher Ed
Survey: Pandemic Hurt Students, but They Aren’t Seeking Help
By Greta Anderson
The coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted students’ academics, mental health and outlook on the future, but a majority of students are not utilizing nonacademic support services provided by colleges to get help, according to a wide-ranging new survey report published by Hobsons, an education technology company, in partnership with Hanover Research.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
College Presidents Need Help Lately, Too
More than ever, campus leaders are struggling with a long list of crises facing higher education.
By Shelly Weiss Storbeck
Earlier this month, a group of college and university presidents, meeting on Zoom to talk shop, ended up chatting about yet another American crisis: the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Every president reported drawing harsh criticism, no matter how they commented on the riot. Those who condemned the violence too pointedly got angry calls and emails from conservative alumni and trustees. Those who were too mild in their condemnation were shamed on social media. But that’s been the nature of the college presidency lately. Every campus leader woke up in 2020 to the ringing alarm clock of the three p’s: pandemic, protests, and politics. And so far in 2021, those leaders haven’t been able to hit the snooze button or turn the damn thing off.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Heavy Cost of an Empty Campus
Decades of disinvestment left public research universities overexposed to Covid-19.
By Karin Fischer and Lindsay Ellis
Well before Covid-19, Ed Walton, a top finance official at the University of South Carolina, would convene colleagues to plan for the future. Pressured by lower state appropriations, the university needed to expand enrollment and reduce costs. But over the years, the conversations would sometimes spin out to extreme hypotheticals. What if students didn’t show up? Walton tried to urge his colleagues to focus on more realistic possibilities — not, as he called it, the Zombie Apocalypse. …Nearly a year has passed since Covid-19 tore up higher education’s playbook, and the ghosts of past decisions are haunting its leaders. Just as the pandemic laid bare longstanding health and economic disparities in the United States, it has exposed the ramifications of choices made by flagship universities like South Carolina as they responded to years of state disinvestment. They had built up the student body and changed its composition. They had made big commitments to new construction. They had supercharged athletics. Covid-19 threatened each of those levers, long coveted by regional public colleges and many private universities. It is this very change in circumstances in recent years — the shift, as the saying goes, from state supported to state located — that has hemmed in public research universities as they respond to the pandemic. Now, their reliance on enrollment is on full display. The consequences of the long-fretted-about privatization of public education have caught up with them.
Inside Higher Ed
University of Michigan Students Under Stay-at-Home Order
By Doug Lederman
Health officials in Washtenaw County recommended Wednesday that all students on or near the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus remain at home for two weeks to help slow the spread of COVID-19 — including the more easily transmitted variant that led to a shutdown of the university’s sports programs last weekend. University officials supported the county’s recommendation. Since the start of the winter term, the university has identified 175 COVID-19 cases among students, including 14 of the B.1.1.7 variant that was first identified in Britain.