USG e-clips for June 18, 2021

University System News:

Savannah Morning News

Savannah native named president of Georgia State University

Associated Press

Georgia’s largest public university will be led by a Savannah native.  The Georgia Board of Regents on Thursday named M. Brian Blake the newest president of Georgia State University. Blake is a 1989 graduate of Benedictine Military School.  The current provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Blake is the first Black president in the university’s 114-year history and will become Georgia State’s eighth president.

See also:

The Washington Post

Former George Washington U. provost to become Georgia State University president

The Hatchet

Former Provost Brian Blake officially named Georgia State University president

Patch

University Of Georgia: UGA Passport Initiative Puts The World Within Reach

The program will give students a head start on study abroad opportunities

International travel is still constrained by the coronavirus pandemic, but an initiative at the University of Georgia is helping put passports in the hands of students to give them a head start on future study abroad opportunities. With the support of the UGA Foundation, the university’s Office of Global Engagement has provided funding to nearly 400 students to cover the cost of purchasing a passport from Passport Services in the Tate Student Center.

Tifton CEO

ABAC, Georgia Southern Bolster Rural Georgia Communities with Community Health Partnership

A new partnership between Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Georgia Southern University ensures ABAC graduates a direct route to furthering their careers in public health. The partnership grants ABAC graduates who follow the Community Health track in the Bachelor of Science degree in Rural Community Development fast-track consideration for admission into the Georgia Southern Master of Public Health (MPH) or Public Health Certificate programs.

BDC Network

Georgia Southern’s new $60 million Engineering and Research Building completes

The facility will serve as the new epicenter for engineering excellence and innovation in southeast Georgia.

David Malone, Associate Editor

Georgia Southern’s new $60 million, 140,625-sf Engineering and Research Building has completed construction. The building was designed to facilitate academic and institutional partnerships, inspire creative engineering, and accelerate academic success for students in the College of Engineering and Computing. The new facility centralizes various departments and multiple disciplines whose activities previously took place in three buildings. The building will enhance the university’s research capabilities as well as opportunities for faculty to engage students in hands-on research and teaching projects.

WABE

Georgia State Professor’s New Book On The Sordid History Of The Floral Industry

Lisa Rayam

In a new book, “Strange Bright Blooms,” Randy Malamud, regents professor of English at Georgia State University, explores flowers’ complicated place in human history. He joined WABE’s “Morning Edition” to discuss how flowers have been used to inspire, celebrate, shock, demean — and even commit crimes.

Effingham Herald

Changes for Georgia grads, college students

Rep. Jon Burns

Dear Friends,

As the school year has drawn to a close across the state, our 2021 graduating seniors and their families have turned their attention to what the fall may bring.  For many Georgia seniors, fall will bring a new home on a campus far from their families and childhood communities. Others will stay closer to home and seek out educational and work opportunities there. Regardless, this fall will bring exciting new changes for these recent graduates and their families, and Dayle and I wish them all the best in whatever their next step may be! During the Session this year, we passed several pieces of legislation that may affect the path that Georgia students take to graduation and their experience as a college student if that is the path they choose after graduating. …Senate Bill 107, sponsored in the House by former Representative Bert Reeves, provides that students who are homeless or from a foster home situation can pay in-state tuition at the University System of Georgia and Georgia Technical College System institutions. These students may also qualify for additional waivers for other fees and costs associated with attendance.

MSN

SRS, Augusta University plan hiring events in coming days

Staff

Augusta University will host a job fair on behalf of Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home from 10 a.m. to noon June 23. The job fair is being held in collaboration with Goodwill Job Connection 3179 Washington Road. … Career opportunities are available for license practical nurses, nursing assistants and environmental services technicians.

Other News:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated June 17)

An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state

CONFIRMED DEATHS: 18,368 | 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: 900,368 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.

Higher Education News:

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

$1.5M Grant To Train Next Generation of Equity in Education Researchers

by Jessica Ruf

A $1.5 million “Pathways to Training” grant from the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) is striving to mold students into education researchers who could improve the “schooling experiences and academic attainment” of Black and Latino students from pre-K all the way through university.

Inside Higher Ed

Gender, Institutions and Bias

Male scholars are assessed more highly by journal editors if it is revealed they work at a top-ranked university, but the same bias does not materialize for female scholars, study finds.

By Jack Grove for Times Higher Education

Male academics are assessed more highly by journal editors if it is revealed they work at a top-ranked university, but the same bias does not materialize for female scholars, according to a new study. To explore the effect of institutional bias on peer-review decisions, researchers asked editors from the world’s leading economics journals to evaluate a handful of abstracts to guess whether the paper was published or not, the citations it received, and their overall assessment of its quality.

Inside Higher Ed

Arizona Governor Bars Public Colleges From Requiring COVID-19 Testing

By Scott Jaschik

Arizona governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, has issued an executive order barring public universities or community colleges in the state from requiring students to get the COVID-19 vaccination, to be tested for COVID-19 or to wear masks. …The governor criticized Arizona State University for requiring vaccination — or wearing a mask and being tested regularly. The University of Arizona has a similar policy.