University System News:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

What spring break looks like for Georgia colleges this year

By Savannah Sicurella

As the coronavirus pandemic passes its first anniversary, the traditionally weeklong spring break for some Georgia colleges and universities looks different in 2021. For others, nothing has changed. To curb COVID-19 surges from student travel, a number of Georgia universities canceled or modified spring breaks this year. Many, including the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Atlanta’s HBCUs Morehouse and Spelman colleges and Clark Atlanta University, opted to stagger shorter instructional breaks or three-day weekends throughout the semester instead. The University of North Georgia also shortened its break to a four-day weekend. Others, like Emory and Middle Georgia State universities, have entirely eliminated the break without any added off days. Emory president Gregory L. Fenves noted in an Oct. 15 announcement that the school added additional mental health resources and services for students, staff and faculty in light of the cancellation and compressed spring schedule. Columbus State University is following the same path, though the school added a week onto its winter break in exchange.

Gwinnett Daily Post

PHOTOS: Georgia Gwinnett College students tackle alternative service break project in Grayson

By Curt Yeomans

A Georgia Gwinnett College student cleans out the gutter at Grayson resident Lillie Champion’s home on Saturday. GGC students partnered with Gwinnett Habitat for Humanity this week for their alternative service break program.

Middle Georgia CEO

MGA Students Are Four Of Top 10 In Major Cybersecurity Competition

Middle Georgia State University current or recently graduated students made up four of the top 10 finalists in the 2020 “Secure the Future” event, a grueling multi-month academic competition where contestants come up with strategies to fight major cybersecurity threats. MGA was the only university in the nation with that many finalists. The students/alumni are Victor Fordham, captain of MGA’s CyberKnights organization; Kartavya Trivedi; Caleb Knight; and Laurent Espinosa. As the competition’s third-place winner, Trivedi won a $2,500 cash prize. “Secure the Future” is sponsored by Palo Alto Networks, a prestigious network and cybersecurity company headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., to help identify up-and-coming talent in that field. The company’s global threat intelligence team has helped solve multiple cybercrime cases.

WJBF

$5.2 million grant to help Medical College of Georgia to address rural physician shortage

by: Deirnesa Jefferson

Scotty Hall says being a doctor has been a life long dream ” I can’t think of something that I would rather do where I would feel more needed and part of that is I want to practice somewhere would I feel needed as well,” Hall said. He and other students at the Medical College of Georgia are part of an interest group for a program that would put them into rural areas in Georgia to help with the shortage of physicians. “This will address the physician shortage by encouraging medical students to stay in Georgia by reducing their debt load by paying their tuition,” Dr. David Hess, dean of the Medical College of Georgia said. For years, people living in those areas have struggled with access to health care.

The Red & Black

UGA pre-health students adapt to evolving COVID-19 situations

Eva Pound | Contributor

In the past year, premedical students at UGA learned about health and medicine through the lens of the COVD-19 health crisis. When they normally would have studied in hospitals and shadowed doctors, students watched the pandemic unfold on the front-line workers from the outside. …Students have shifted from thinking about a medical career in the future to constantly experiencing and analyzing evolving health scenarios.

Tifton CEO

Phoebe and ABAC Sign Agreement To Increase Nursing Graduates

A partnership between Phoebe and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) will increase the number of nursing students at ABAC and help address the growing nursing shortage in southwest Georgia.  “We would like to hire 250 nurses today to alleviate our reliance on contract labor, but a labor pool that large does not exist in our area.  Across the country, the number of nursing school graduates simply isn’t keeping up the number of nurses hospitals need, and we are eager to work closely with educational partners in our region to help them increase enrollment and help us develop a larger group of potential new members of the Phoebe Family,” said Evelyn Olenick, DNP, RN, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital Chief Nursing Officer. Under a new agreement recently signed by Phoebe and ABAC, Phoebe will fund a new nursing faculty position at the college and provide ABAC nursing students access to clinical rotations at Phoebe facilities and training opportunities at the Phoebe Simulation and Innovation Center.  For its part, ABAC agreed to fund an additional nursing faculty position, admit an additional 40 nursing students and take steps to recruit more nursing students who live within 100 miles of its campuses in Tifton and Bainbridge.

Athens CEO

Advice for Implementing Workplace Wellness Policies

Many adults spend the majority of their waking hours at work, and the influence of the workplace on personal health has gained attention from health experts and employers. In the U.S. today, nearly half of workplaces offer some type of wellness support or programming to their employees. Few, however, implement wellness policies. For the few that do, they may find designing and implementing effective policies to be a big challenge. Now, new research from the University of Georgia could shed light on how to successfully roll out wellness policies. The study evaluated the implementation of healthy eating and physical activity policies in a large, multisite organization.

WALB

Free virtual legal clinic for veterans held March 27

By Dave Miller

A free virtual legal clinic for Georgia veterans will be held Saturday, March 27, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Veterans in the southern part of Georgia will be able to access the clinic through physical locations located near the southeastern and southwestern Georgia/Florida borders, while veterans from across the state can connect for services via webcam or telephone. The Georgia Veterans Outreach Project provides quick advice and brief service on issues with special relevance to former military members, including veterans and military benefits and other civil legal matters, such as consumer, family, housing, shelter, and other civil issues, but not criminal legal issues. Co-organizer Alexander W. Scherr, who directs the University of Georgia School of Law’s Veterans Legal Clinic, said the project seeks to reach veterans in smaller communities and rural areas around the state, where lawyers are not always easily available.

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Hank Aaron museum coming to Georgia State, as memorial to be bigger than expected

By Eric Jackson  –  Sports Business Reporter, Atlanta Business Chronicle

Georgia State has been working with Hank Aaron’s widow, Billye, on the design concept for the project, which will be a new tourist destination for the city.

WGXA

Memorial planned for Dublin HS principal, family

by Claire Helm

A memorial is set for this Saturday to remember the lives of Jaroy Stuckey, his wife Elysea, and their 3-year-old son AJ. The family of three was killed in an accident and discovered in a vehicle on I-16 last weekend, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed. …Dr. Anthony Jaroy Stuckey was the principal at Dublin High School. There’s been an outpouring of support and condolences from the community, and the school system this week made virtual and in-person counseling available to all students. …Stuckey was from Dublin and attended Georgia Southern University.

WSB-TV

Georgia college tennis team now has longest winning streak in collegiate history

Georgia Gwinnett College men’s tennis program is unstoppable – literally. It has now set the record for the most wins for any college tennis team after its 138th straight victory. …During the winning streak, GGC has won six National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ national championships and has a 180-3 all-time record since the program started in 2013.

Statesboro Herald

Pay for college athletes in Georgia pitched in General Assembly bill

BEAU EVANS/Capitol Beat News Service

Legislation before the General Assembly would pave the way for college student athletes in Georgia to receive financial compensation when institutions profit from their playing abilities.

Higher Education News:

Inside Higher Ed

Desperate for Spring Break, Settling for Less

Most colleges and universities replaced spring break with scattered “wellness days” students could take off. The intent was to discourage travel during the pandemic, but students who stayed put found the replacement options less than satisfying.

By Greta Anderson

…Students at other colleges and universities around the country have generally taken note of and appreciate the efforts by administrators to provide a couple of days off from classes, in the absence of a full week for spring break. However, some students have found the wellness days to be better in theory than in practice, Davis said. Students don’t actually get a break unless professors are explicit about not scheduling assignments around the wellness days and unless the students can also take off from work, childcare duties or other responsibilities not related to their academic work.

Inside Higher Ed

Report: NCAA Bent March Madness COVID-19 Testing Rules

By Greta Anderson

The National Collegiate Athletic Association allowed Iona College’s men’s basketball team to sidestep written coronavirus testing protocols for players, coaches and other members of team travel parties arriving in Indianapolis for the Division I men’s March Madness tournament, The New York Times reported. The protocols require teams competing in the Division I men’s and women’s basketball championship to quarantine upon arrival to the tournament site “until two consecutive tests on separate days are confirmed negative” and wait to hold practices until those results are in. However, Iona’s team arrived in the early-morning hours of March 14, were tested once upon arrival and performed the second tests during the afternoon on the same day, the Times reported. They were able to practice the same day they arrived.

Inside Higher Ed

Preparing students for post-pandemic success

Three ways universities can help students stand out

When COVID-19 hit last year, students who were just months from graduation faced uncertainty not only about their studies but also their prospects in an uncertain labor market. While some optimists hoped things would turn around by summer, the pandemic has continued to ravage communities and the economy. Still, there’s reason for optimism for students entering the workforce this summer, especially for those pursuing degrees with programs that closely track trends and needs of industry. Universities can help their students become more competitive and enhance their own degree offerings in the following ways.