University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett, Georgia Gwinnett College to open Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center
By Karen Huppertz
Gwinnett and Georgia Gwinnett College are partnering to operate and staff the new Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center, an incubator for fledgling Gwinnett start-ups and small businesses looking to grow. The 6,718-square-foot center on Perry Street in downtown Lawrenceville, will open in the spring. The center will actively recruit business owners from low-to-moderate income households, as well as diverse business owners. Gwinnett will provide the facilities, such as co-working spaces, a training room with technological equipment, conference rooms, a breakroom/dining area, outdoor workspace and offices. GGC will supply instruction and supporting services, such as workshops, coaching, peer learning, connections to customers and capital and market research, plus membership opportunities. The project is being headed by the county’s Office of Economic Development.
Savannah Morning News
‘I am 65 years old, and I am not done yet’: Georgia Southern graduates adapt, overcome
Katie Nussbaum
More than 2,000 Georgia Southern University students earned their degrees this month with many of them walking across the stage during the first in-person ceremonies of the year. One of those graduates received a Master’s degree after not attending college for more than 37 years. Following a 30-year career in sales and marketing, Darlene Williams, 65, decided to chase a new dream. …Williams was able to continue working while pursuing her degree online through the university’s College of Education. She completed her course work in July and walked across the stage at Paulson Stadium on the Statesboro Campus on Dec. 17.
Griffin Daily News
Faculty and staff excel at Gordon State
Gordon State College is proud of its talented professionals and acknowledges their accomplishments are key to the institution’s strength. In 2020, Candi Babcock and Samantha Bishop are two recent examples of staff leadership and academic excellence at the institution.
Athens Banner-Herald
Wayne Ford
The University of Georgia is honoring a longtime employee in its food services operation with a giving campaign in her name to help students who cannot afford a meal plan. “I feel honored to help take care of the kids whose parents can’t afford a meal plan. That’s a big honor,” said Sandra Patterson, an Athens woman who retired this month after 33 years at UGA. The “Let All the Big Dawgs Eat Meal Plan Scholarship” is coordinated by Evan Tighe, a senior director of Annual Giving at UGA, who said Patterson is well known by students who over the years went through the serving line at Snelling Dining Hall. The ‘Say Thank you to Mis Sandra’ giving campaign goes toward the scholarship funds.
GameReactor
Pokémon fan raises medical school tuition selling Pokémon Cards
An ingenious junior from the University of Georgia found a way to put himself through medical school.
Ben Lyons
It can be tough getting the funds necessary to go through university or college, especially if you are a medical student and need around $80,000 in total. Well, an ingenious University of Georgia junior figured out a solution that would allow him to put himself through medical school, and all it involved was selling Pokémon Cards to various bidders. Caleb King, the junior in question was first discovered in a Fox 5 Atlanta segment where he detailed how he achieved such a feat. He said that he spent approximately $5000 on Pokémon Cards back in 2016, a decision his parents seemed less than excited about, and then sold off his collection recently making massive profits due to the cards drastically increasing in value. … King’s story is an impressive one, but at its core it does highlight some rather large societal issues, issues that require scholars to sell collectible cards to be able to become doctors. And we wonder why this pandemic hit so hard.
Georgia Trend
Our State: Americus | Sumter County – Looking Ahead
New investments, community improvements and education
by K.K. Snyder
Like the rest of the world, Sumter County was relieved to put 2020 behind it, though the fourth quarter did bring some announcements to cheer about. And while many of the issues from last year remain, Sumter leaders are looking straight ahead.
…Downtown Living
Americus Mayor Barry Blount says many planned projects moved forward last year despite the pandemic, including the repaving of Lamar Street – the west-east corridor through Americus – taking it from three lanes to two and adding about 50 angled parking spots on the south side of the street. …Downtown Americus continues moving forward with projects in its Renaissance Strategic Vision and Plan. Also known as RSVP, the planning process and resulting document are facilitated by the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
…Top of Their Game
Like all schools, South Georgia Technical College altered its delivery of instruction for students because of the pandemic. The coronavirus also halted the streak of record enrollment it experienced each semester for the past five years. …Interest in post-secondary education is also strong at Georgia Southwestern State University. President Neal Weaver reports that despite the pandemic, enrollment was up about 7.5% overall last fall. “We saw about a 17% increase in our freshman class and graduate programs are up about 15%. We saw a nice improvement in a lot of different areas that certainly leads us to believe it’s not strictly a COVID-related change,” he says. The education and business master’s programs saw the biggest increases, he adds. Enrollment is solid for the long-term care management program launched in 2019, which combines business, nursing and caregiving. …Partnerships with Magnolia Manor, Phoebe Putney Health System and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving make the program unique.
Albany Herald
UGA, Ohio State offer 4-H programming to Honduran schools
By Austin Clark CAES News
The University of Georgia, Ohio State University and Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural University, a private university in Honduras, partnered to facilitate 4-H programming during the COVID-19 pandemic at six Honduran schools, reaching 180 students. The project culminated on Dec. 4 with a Virtual 4S Fair — 4S is what Hondurans call 4-H — featuring video presentations from participating schools, virtual blue ribbon awards and recognition of each student participant. Like traditional 4-H fairs, the excitement was infectious as students showcased their produce and, in this case, saw themselves in on-screen presentations.
WSBradio
UGA’s Shepherd is said to be in line for Biden appointment
Dr. Shepherd chairs the NASA Earth Sciences Advisory Committee
By Tim Bryant
Marshal Shepherd, head of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia, is hearing his name mentioned as a candidate for a position in the incoming Joe Biden administration: Shepherd, a former president of the American Meteorological Society, is said to a candidate for head of NOAA, or possibly NASA, after president-elect Biden takes office later this month.
YouTube
77-Year old Pole Vaulter Credits Farm Life
Alumnus of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
Each morning, Cook Holliday makes the short walk from his house in Walton County to his pole barn. But it’s not just a pole barn in the traditional sense. You see, at the age of 77, Cook Holliday is an accomplished pole vaulter, and credits his roots to the farm as his inspiration.
Savannah Tribune
J.C. Lewis Primary Announces Rena M. Douse As New CEO
J.C. Lewis Primary Health Care Center and its board of directors are pleased to announce Dr. Rena M. Douse has accepted the position of CEO. In her new role, Dr. Douse will provide detailed oversight, strategy, and vision for the nonprofit organization’s future growth and successful execution of its founding mission to provide affordable health care services to individuals in the Savannah community. Dr. Douse who will assume her new role on January 1, 2021; currently serves Chief Operations Officer for J.C. Lewis Primary Health Care Center. As Chief Operations Officer Dr. Douse has provided oversight of the day to day operations. …Dr. Rena M. Douse earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Troy University, a Master of Science in Nursing from Georgia Southern University, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Armstrong Atlantic State University (now Georgia Southern University).
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Jan. 3)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 9,893 | 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: 587,076 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Journal Sentinel
Federal education campaign to emphasize power of COVID-19 vaccine set to launch in January
Elizabeth Weise
USA TODAY
A long-delayed education campaign aimed at encouraging Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus will launch in January, federal health officials said Tuesday. An earlier effort ran into trouble over concerns it was part of a $265 million, celebrity-studded campaign to “defeat despair” surrounding COVID-19 before the presidential election. A review of the campaign was conducted, and the Department of Health and Human Services was cleared to proceed Nov. 13, a senior agency public affairs official said in a background briefing. The science-based campaign will include TV, radio and print ads that emphasize the power of the vaccines to stop the spread of the virus and help communities. …Beginning the media campaign in January makes sense, said Glen Nowak, director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Health and Risk Communications and a former communication director for the National Immunization Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. …HHS officials said it was better to provide general education now and push later. There was only so much that could be done before it was known which vaccines were going to be approved and what their characteristics were, Nowak said.
Infosurhoy
Researchers Report That Traditional Model for Disease Spread May Not Work With COVID-19
By Denis Bedoya
A mathematical model that can help project the contagiousness and spread of infectious diseases like the seasonal flu may not be the best way to predict the continuing spread of the novel coronavirus, especially during lockdowns that alter the normal mix of the population, researchers report. Called the R-naught, or basic reproductive number, the model predicts the average number of susceptible people who will be infected by one infectious person. It’s calculated using three main factors — the infectious period of the disease, how the disease spreads and how many people an infected individual will likely come into contact with. …The COVID-19 pandemic had an early R-naught between two and three. In a letter published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, corresponding author Dr. Arni S.R. Srinivasa Rao, a mathematical modeler at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, argues that while it’s never possible to track down every single case of an infectious disease, the lockdowns that have become necessary to help mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic have complicated predicting the disease’s spread. Rao and his co-authors instead suggest more of a dynamic, moment in time approach using a model called the geometric mean.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Higher Ed Inflation Slows in Fiscal 2020
By Emma Whitford
Inflation for U.S. colleges and universities rose 1.9 percent in the 2020 fiscal year — a smaller increase than the 3 percent jump in 2019 — according to the Commonfund Higher Education Price Index. The index tracks changes to eight higher education cost components: faculty salaries, administrative salaries, clerical costs, service employee costs, fringe benefits, utilities, miscellaneous services and supplies and materials costs. Year over year, costs rose in fiscal 2020 for six of the eight components.
Inside Higher Ed
Health association recommends twice-weekly testing for campuses that are reopening. Twin social distancing and mask policies are (cost) effective, new study says.
By Colleen Flaherty
Colleges should test students and employees for COVID-19 at least twice a week, with results available within 48 hours, says a new report from the American College Health Association. The report was released at the same time a new study in Annals of Internal Medicine found that the combination of extensive social distancing and mandatory mask wearing prevents 87 percent of campus COVID-19 cases, and does so cost-effectively. Layering routine testing with a one-day lag in results onto these twin policies is even better, preventing 96 percent of infections, the study says. But doing so would require low-cost tests to be economically attractive to most institutions. The ACHA report noted that “students with COVID-19 are frequently asymptomatic. Preventing transmission by asymptomatic and presymptomatic individuals requires universal masking, physical distancing, swift identification through testing and contact tracing; and isolation and quarantine.
Inside Higher Ed
Biden’s Choice for Education Secretary
Miguel Cardona, education commissioner in Connecticut, is a strong defender of public schools. Biden reiterates support for free community college and all public colleges for families earning less than $125,000.
By Kery Murakami
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Connecticut education commissioner Miguel Cardona as his education secretary. “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 in a pre-Christmas announcement. “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.”
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Sara Weissman
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, college applications dropped, especially among first-generation and low-income students, according to the latest Common App data, which analyzed applications submitted through Nov. 16. For first-generation students and students eligible for fee waivers, applications fell by 10% compared to fall 2019. Common App is launching a new initiative aimed at addressing the problem – an artificial intelligence chatbot named Ollie, designed to guide students through the admissions process.
Inside Higher Ed
Colleges Delay In-Person Instruction
Some colleges opt for a month of online courses before shifting to face-to-face learning. Other colleges move back the start of the spring semester.
By Scott Jaschik
Rising COVID-19 infection and death rates are prompting colleges and universities that are hoping for in-person instruction in 2021 to again shift their calendars and push back the start of the spring semester. After adjusting their calendars last year — including eliminating spring and fall breaks to reduce student travel and spread of the coronavirus, and delaying the start of the spring semester to make it safer to have in-person instruction — many institutions are now scrambling again to respond to the changing picture on the ground. Some colleges are having the first month of instruction online and will then switch to in-person instruction. Other colleges are moving back the start of the spring semester. Many institutions have not changed their plans for the spring but have said they are watching the situation. And colleges that plan mostly online semesters aren’t worried.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
The Stimulus Package: A Win For Incarcerated Students
by Sara Weissman
As Congress’s stimulus package heads to the president’s desk for signing, the legislation has major implications for students in prison. Notably, the bill pushed forward on Dec. 21 moves to end a 26-year ban on Pell grants for incarcerated students, a major victory for students and their advocates after years of activism. The reversal “will increase access to opportunity for people leaving prison, in terms of their career paths and their ability to take care of themselves and their families post-release,” said Margaret diZerega, who directs the Center on Sentencing and Corrections at the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit for criminal justice reform. “Really it’s an equity issue also, given the disproportionate number of Black and brown people in prison.”