University System News:
Tifton Gazette
Kemp kicks off Tifton event
By Billy Malone
Gov. Brian Kemp attended the Georgia Museum of Agriculture for the Field to Closet kickoff event Friday. While extolling the virtues of business in South Georgia, the governor defended the controversial election law he signed a couple of weeks ago… The Georgia Museum of Agriculture is part of the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College campus. ABAC has been pushing to find ways to use more Georgia Grown products, ABAC President David Bridges said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: Commencement plans, Biden budget increases Pell grant funding
By Eric Stirgus
One of the many changes that resulted last year from the coronavirus pandemic was colleges halted in-person commencement ceremonies for graduating students. This year, many Georgia colleges and universities are planning to have in-person ceremonies, with some social distancing regulations… More Georgia colleges and universities announced last week plans to hold in-person commencement ceremonies in May, with some social distancing guidelines. Morehouse College, for example, said in its announcement Wednesday there will be mask requirements and social distancing in four-person family pods. Georgia Southern University will limit guests to 25% of the facility’s capacity. Spelman College is having socially-distant commencement ceremonies for the class of 2020 and 2021 outdoors on Georgia Tech’s campus at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The college typically holds its commencement indoors at the Georgia International Convention Center.
Valdosta Daily Times
VSU grant initiates opioid addiction project
By Desiree Carver
Valdosta State University’s Dr. Josphine Chaumba has been given a grant to tackle a pressing issue in surrounding counties through a new planning project. Chaumba’s project is called the Development of South Georgia Rural Communities Opioid Response Program Consortium. Opioid usage has been on the rise. Chaumba said the rise can be attributed to several possible factors, including a high availability of prescription drugs that can be misused. The grant will fund planning meetings, surveys and interviews with individuals affected by substance abuse, residents and service providers from Berrien, Coffee, Colquitt, Tift and Ware counties to gather views on available services for addressing opioid misuse and methamphetamine use.
Bioengineer.org
NIH training grant enhances opportunities for biomedical graduate students at AU
By Staff
Augusta University has received a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help support the graduate education of future scientists whose focus is cardiometabolic diseases — like hypertension and diabetes — which disproportionally affect minorities. The training grant (1HL155011-01A1) will support four graduate students in its first year, and scale up to six students per year by year four of the five-year grant. It will offer aspiring PhDs and MD/PhDs the opportunity to learn from 43 federally funded scientists focusing on different aspects of cardometabolic disease related to minority health. Student recruitment has just started.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Virtual visits bring colleges closer
H. M. Cauley
The tradition of aspiring college students making in-person campus visits is just another facet of life that’s been pinched by the pandemic. As institutions at both university and high school levels shut down, the opportunities for students to tour, sit in on a class, meet with advisors and check out the dorms have dwindled… Michelle Laury, a junior from Johns Creek, attended several virtual visits to explore options around child life studies. One call with Georgia Southern was so informative that it motivated her to make an in-person visit three months ago.
Red & Black
UGA graduate programs ranked top 40 in nation
By Rachel Menikoff
The U.S. News and World Report ranked many of the University of Georgia’s graduate programs in the top 40 in the nation in 2021. The U.S. News and World Report ranks colleges and graduate programs every year. They determine the academic quality of a school on factors such as faculty resources and graduation rates. Several of UGA’s graduate programs rankings have risen in 2021 or have remained highly ranked. The Master of Business Administration program in Terry moved up four sports this year, from 37th to 33rd out of all U.S. universities, which is its highest ranking to date, according to UGA Today.
WGAU
UGA webinar to focus on federal aid for businesses hit by pandemic
By Staff
The University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center is offering a webinar on April 14 to help explain a new federal program designed to help Georgia restaurants and bars hard hit financially by the pandemic. The Restaurant Revitalization Fund, expected to launch soon, will provide grants to restaurants and bars, with funding based on lost revenue. The RRF is provided through the American Rescue Plan and administered through the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated April 11)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 16,982| Deaths have been confirmed in every county. 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: 862,137| Cases have been confirmed in every county.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton, Atlanta schools online-only following spring break
By Vanessa McCray
Many metro Atlanta schools are returning from spring break, with students in Atlanta and Fulton County moving to online learning temporarily. Atlanta, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett school districts resume classes today after a week off for spring break.
11 Alive
Pfizer aims to offer COVID vaccine to children in time for 2021 school year, if authorized
By Joe Henke
In the coming weeks or months, a COVID-19 vaccine could be authorized for use amongst children 12 to 15-years-old. On Friday, pharmaceutical company Pfizer submitted a request to the FDA “to expand emergency use of our COVID-19 vaccine to adolescents 12 to 15 years of age.” The request came one week after the company claimed its vaccine was 100 percent effective based on vaccine trials involving children from that age group.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s corporate landscape: business incentives, political fights
By Tamar Hallerman and Kelly Yamanouchi
Companies have long been lured to Georgia by a business-friendly climate and generous tax incentives courtesy of the Republican-led state government. But the willingness of conservative legislators in recent years to wade into divisive issues like abortion, religious liberty and most recently voting rights has squeezed many of those very businesses the state has spent millions to woo.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
A Big Budget From Biden
By Lilah Burke
President’s proposed budget increases funding for Pell Grants, minority-serving institutions, research and more. But higher education organizations and experts say there are a few other things they would have liked to see. On Friday, President Biden released his request to the Senate for fiscal year 2022 discretionary funding, also known as the “skinny budget,” because details will follow. The document requests several funding increases for higher education.
The Washington Post
By Nick Anderson
The chase for the Ivy League and other prestige colleges, a perennial object of global fascination, grew a few degrees more frenzied during the coronavirus pandemic as applications soared and acceptance rates plummeted to, in some cases, crazy-low single digits. At 7 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, the eight private universities identified with the brand of the climbing vine released admission decisions for the entering fall class. New test-optional policies, in effect because the coronavirus clobbered ACT and SAT testing plans, had fueled a surge in applications as students worldwide said, in effect, “Why not me?”
The Washington Post
University of Richmond trustees ‘suspend’ decision on building names with ties to slavery and segregation
By Nick Anderson
The University of Richmond’s board of trustees said Monday it has decided to “suspend” its recent controversial decision to retain on two campus buildings the names of historical figures with ties to slavery and segregation. The board’s action, signaling a shift from what had seemed to be a dug-in position on the matter, followed a weeks-long uproar at the private 3,900-student liberal arts university. In February and then again in March, university leaders had proclaimed that they would continue to keep the surnames of the Rev. Robert Ryland and Douglas Southall Freeman on two prominent buildings.
Inside Higher Ed
Prospective Students Are Open to Vaccine Requirements
By Scott Jaschik
Some Republican governors have been busy blocking colleges from requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order barring the requirements at any college that receives state funds (as many private colleges do). In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order making it illegal for businesses to impose such requirements; it is unclear if colleges are covered by the law. In Utah, Governor Spencer Cox has signed legislation barring public colleges and universities from requiring proof of vaccination.
GPB News
More Colleges Say They’ll Require Students To Have COVID-19 Vaccines For Fall
By Elissa Nadworny
Duke University in North Carolina has announced that it will require students to have a COVID-19 vaccine when they return this fall. And the list of campuses with such policies is growing. Rutgers University in New Jersey was the first, and since then more than a dozen residential colleges have followed. The University of Notre Dame; two Ivy League universities, Brown and Cornell; and Northeastern University in Massachusetts are among those requiring the vaccine for the fall. Cleveland State University will do so for all students living on campus.