University System News:
WJBF
Opening up about mental illness may help stop the stigmas
by: Kim Vickers
May is Mental Health Awareness month. For centuries there has a been a stigma behind talking about mental illness. There’s a saying in the South. “Hide your crazy.” Miranda Lambert even has a song about it. But the idea of hiding depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses can have unhealthy and sometimes dangerous results. “I ended up starting to have suicidal thoughts. Nothing that I would have acted on, but they were there,” said Jackson Cooper. Nearly 44 million adults in the United States suffer from some form of mental illness. Being open about mental illness was taboo for a long time and many still refuse to talk about it. Dr. Michael Rollock, a psychologist from AU Health, said it’s time to normalize talking about mental health.
WKRN
COVID-19 impacting families’ moving decisions during pandemic
by: Nickelle Smith
New research from Vanderbilt University showed the COVID-19 pandemic was impacting where people decided to move their families. Researchers said that typically the choice of where to live was a big economic and social decision based on factors like labor markets, schools, housing costs and access to amenities. They looked at years of data from more than 300,000 inter-state moves within the United States to find out how and why the nature of relocation decisions has changed since the pandemic. They found a significant percentage of people were moving from larger cities to smaller cities with lower costs of living, and some of the findings were surprising. “What stood out to me was how little the infection rate in a city impacted the decision to move to or from there,” said Peter Haslag, assistant professor of finance at Vanderbilt University who worked on the research with Daniel Weagley from Georgia Institute of Technology.
American Library Association
By: Deborah Hakes, Director of Communications and Marketing, Georgia Public Library Service
Finding an innovative way to fit the needs of their community is something for the Cherokee Regional Library to take pride in, just as they hope Next Chapter may offer a model for other public libraries to emulate. Cherokee Regional Library was recently recognized by Georgia Public Library Service as the state’s public library of the year for efforts like Next Chapter. …A collaboration among the public library, Sheriff’s Office, and Bank of Dade seeks to reduce the county’s 70 percent recidivism rate through an enrichment program called Next Chapter, which promotes digital literacy, economic self-sufficiency, and stable living for inmates of the Dade County Jail.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Search firm cites ‘misinformation’ in decision to quit hunt for new Georgia chancellor
By Greg Bluestein
The head of a search firm cited “misinformation” as her reason for quitting a contract to help find a new leader of Georgia’s higher education system, a process dominated by a concerted effort to tap former Gov. Sonny Perdue to the coveted post.
Becker’s Hospital Review
9 recent health IT, innovation partnerships
Jackie Drees
Here are nine recent health IT vendor contracts and go-lives accelerating digital transformation efforts at healthcare organizations.
…6. Shriners Hospitals for Children and Georgia Institute of Technology are expanding their health innovation collaboration to include initiatives for precision medicine and big data research.
WSB-TV
CBD could be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, Ga. researchers say
By Tom Regan
People use CBD for everything from arthritis to insomnia to anxiety. But researchers in Georgia are studying whether it could be a breakthrough treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and give much needed hope to families living with the debilitating disease. …But researchers at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University believe CBD could be a game changer. “I think the potential of this drug to possibly modify disease and help symptoms, a two-edged sword is wonderful,” said Dr. John Morgan. He is a neurologist who treats Alzheimer’s patients and is involved in the CBD study. CBD is a chemical found in marijuana, but it does not cause a high. Researchers injected high doses of CBD into the bellies of mice for two weeks and found it helped reduce the accumulation of plaque in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, and improved cognition.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Looking for answers on the ACT and SAT
Get Schooled with Maureen Downy
Will eliminating college entrance exams open elite campuses to wider range of students?
A scheduling mix-up at a Forsyth County high school this weekend led to the last-minute cancellation of the SAT test, leaving many parents upset and some readers puzzled. Why, several asked, are high school students even bothering with the SAT or ACT since so many colleges made college admission tests optional for admissions this year and next? It’s a good question with a complicated answer, but one that parents and rising high school seniors need to understand, especially as 1,410 accredited, bachelor-degree granting colleges and universities, including Emory, Mercer and Duke, have already announced they will be ACT/SAT optional (or test-blind) for fall 2022 admission. Typically, high school students in Georgia begin taking the ACT and SAT in the spring of their junior year and throughout the summer and fall, but hundreds of test dates last year were canceled when the pandemic shuttered schools and campuses. For example, 79 sites in Georgia were initially scheduled to offer the ACT in July last year, but 55 did not, representing 70% of all testing sites in the state. Because of the challenges, the University System of Georgia allowed students to apply for fall 2021 admission without submitting ACT or SAT scores. There have been no USG updates on whether it will waive scores for 2022.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated May 9)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 17,701 | 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: 886,374 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
A Historic Decline in U.S. Births Signals More Enrollment Troubles
By Megan Zahneis
Already bracing for an enrollment crash expected to hit in 2025, higher education got more bad news this week: The U.S. birth rate fell 4 percent in 2020, marking the lowest number of births since 1979 and the sixth consecutive year of declining birth rates, according to a report released this week by the National Center for Health Statistics. Once that “demographic cliff” hits, the new data show, it won’t let up for more than a decade; babies born in 2020 won’t reach traditional college-going age until 2038. So enrollment managers who have already spent years stressing about declining birth rates and high-school graduation rates — some of the effects of which are already visible — should brace for the long haul, said Nanci Tessier, senior vice president at the Art & Science Group, a higher-education consulting firm.
Inside Higher Ed
In this webinar, experts share what they see across the educational landscape as it relates to establishing and operating a safe return to campus ecosystem. To watch the recorded webinar, click here.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Karin Fischer
Katie Koo wants to demystify the mental-health struggles international students face. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has separated many students from their families for more than a year, and the increase in anti-Asian racism in the United States have been difficult for international students, more than 70 percent of whom come from Asian countries. Koo, an assistant professor of higher education at Texas A&M University at Commerce, has won awards from American College Personnel Association and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators for her longitudinal research on the impact of campus climate and discrimination on international students’ mental health. Their challenges didn’t begin with the pandemic, Koo said, although recent events have exacerbated them.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Rowan U. Offers Students $1,000 to Get Covid-19 Vaccine
By Lindsay Ellis
Here’s another vaccine incentive, for those keeping track: Rowan University, in New Jersey, is offering up to $1,000 for many students who get the Covid-19 vaccine. The incentive is for full-time students who show proof of vaccination by August 7. They’ll get $500 toward course registration, and students who live on campus will get an additional $500 to pay for housing. It’s an unusually generous incentive, but it’s far from the only one. At the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, students who are vaccinated could enter a lottery for free housing, textbooks, or meal credits.
Forbes
Here’s The Latest On Student Loan Forgiveness
Zack Friedman, Contributor
What’s the latest news on student loan cancellation? Here’s what you need to know.
Student Loans
Will your student loans get cancelled? That’s the question that student loan borrowers and taxpayers have been asking. Given the proposals, the headlines, and the assumptions, let’s set the record straight. Here’s the latest:
1. We could have an answer on student loan cancellation soon
President Joe Biden wants student loan cancellation three ways. On a positive note, Biden has asked the U.S. Department of Education to provide a recommendation on whether he has the legal authority to enact student loan cancellation unilaterally by executive order.