University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia to borrow $1.1 billion for construction, retains low interest rating
By James Salzer
The state plans to sell $1.1 billion in construction bonds in a few weeks — much of it for schools and college buildings — and a key service said Georgia has again retained its AAA bond rating that allows it to save millions of dollars a year in interest payments. The AAA bond rating is the gold standards for governments looking to borrow to build schools and roads because it allows governments to borrow at relatively low interest rates.
Bryan County News
Gov. Kemp announces purchase of Bryan County Mega-Site
Special to the News
Governor Brian Kemp today announced the authorization to purchase a 2,284-acre economic development site in Bryan County in partnership between the State of Georgia and the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority (JDA). The strategic purchase of the Bryan County Mega-Site is the largest in state history, according to a press release from the governor’s office. Officials from the Georgia Department of Economic Development and members of the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor JDA, which includes Bryan County, Bulloch County, Chatham County, and Effingham County, were on hand at the State Capitol on Monday to mark the occasion. …The nearby Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport offers 31 daily direct flights including Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Dallas, and Washington D.C., and in addition to the connectivity benefits of the location, a skilled workforce of more than 453,000 is within a 60-mile radius, fueled in part by Georgia Southern University, nearby Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, and other colleges, universities, and industry ecosystems such as aerospace.
Athens CEO
UGA Launches State’s First Master of Fine Arts in Film, Television, and Digital Media Degree
Staff Report
The University of Georgia (UGA) has launched the state’s first Master of Fine Arts degree in Film, Television, and Digital Media (MFA). As Georgia’s entertainment quickly rebounds after the pandemic shutdown, this program will produce highly trained filmmakers ready to give voice to stories that matter in today’s competitive global marketplace. UGA’s MFA in Film program combines classroom instruction, professional training, and hands-on filmmaking opportunities. It’s focused on writing, directing, producing, and post-production. The degree — a two year, six semester program — is taught on the UGA campus in Athens, through the Georgia Film Academy at Trilith Studios (formerly Pinewood Atlanta Studios), and at OFS Studios in Gwinnett County.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘College Corridor’ projected to spur Lawrenceville development
By Tyler Wilkins
Billed as a “red carpet” between Georgia Gwinnett College and downtown Lawrenceville, Collins Hill Extension will be well-traveled by students, investors and real estate agents. Officials in the Gwinnett city foresee the recently opened 1.5-mile stretch becoming a hub for redevelopment, branding the two-lane road and the area around it as the College Corridor. …Traveling from downtown Lawrenceville to Georgia Gwinnett College once required drivers to go up meandering streets or hop on Ga. 316. “The new road splits the difference between North Clayton Street and Northdale Road and just connects Collins Hill all the way into the downtown area,” Warbington said. …About 3,600 out of about 12,000 students at the four-year college lived in Lawrenceville in the fall 2020 semester, said Jackie Todd, director of public relations. Only about 1,000 students live in on-campus student housing, she said.
Tifton Gazette
The memory of Dr. Ernest Aaron Edwards Jr. lives on at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College after the dedication ceremony earlier this month to name the new fine arts building Edwards Hall in honor of the longtime ABAC faculty member. “Dr. Edwards loved ABAC students, he loved music and he delighted in stirring the hearts of others with his finely tuned talent at the keyboard,” ABAC President David Bridges said. “As one who had the privilege and honor of having Dr. Edwards as an instructor when I was an ABAC student, he was a man who unselfishly served the college, the community and the state for more than five decades.” Edwards was a faculty member at ABAC for 35 years and the organist at Tifton’s First Baptist Church for more than 50 years, college officials said in a statement. In 1965, Edwards was honored as the first recipient of the Distinguished Professor Award at ABAC.
AllOnGeorgia
Georgia Southern’s Multimedia Development Center receives three professional Emmy nominations
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Southeast Chapter has recognized Georgia Southern University’s Multimedia Development Center (MDC) with three professional Emmy® nominations. “Georgia Southern Robots” and “The Eagle has Landed” both received a nomination in the Spanish language category. MDC Director Art Berger, Brianna Womack, Collin Crews, Ben Powell and Doug Thompson were nominated for the two short news features. Berger was also nominated for best director in the short form content category.
Marietta Daily Journal
KSU graduate selected for prestigious Harvard summer research program
Anjie Adeyemo wants to play a role in boosting the health of children and reducing infant deaths, an area she researched while studying at Kennesaw State University. She’s taking another step toward that goal as one of just 12 people selected for this year’s Harvard Summer Program in Biostatistics and Computational Biology. A biology major who graduated this month, Adeyemo served on the executive committee of KSU’s Undergraduate Research Club and says that her career goals changed a bit when she began doing research.
Growing Georgia
ABAC Faculty Member Selected for Georgia Agricultural Education Hall of Fame
Dr. Farish Mulkey, an assistant professor of agricultural education at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, has been selected for the Georgia Agricultural Education Hall of Fame. Mulkey joins two current ABAC faculty members, Dr. Frank Flanders and Von Peavy, in the Hall of Fame.
EurekaAlert!
Even among the insured, cost may delay follow up care for cancer survivors
Even among a large group of cancer survivors who were mostly insured, college educated and had annual incomes above the national average, up to 10% delayed care in the previous 12 months because they simply could not afford out of pocket expenses like copays and deductibles, investigators report. Being unable to get time off from work and being “nervous” about seeing a health care provider, were among the other frequently cited reasons for not always getting timely survivorship care, investigators at the Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Cancer Center report in the journal Cancer Medicine.
WALB
UGA wants you to watch the bees
By Dave Miller
University of Georgia entomologists want Georgians to help them document the presence of the sculptured resin bee — also known as the giant resin bee — an invasive bee that could threaten the native carpenter bee population. The sculptured resin bee is native to Japan and China and was first found in the U.S. in North Carolina in 1994. While they are not aggressive to people, these bees have the potential to create problems for native carpenter bees by taking over their nests, where they then lay their own eggs. They take advantage of the cavities created in wood by carpenter bees because they do not have the mandible strength to bore into the wood on their own.
accessWDUN
UNG Professor: pollinator decline could affect economy and agriculture
By Austin Eller Anchor/Reporter
Bees and other pollinators are key to keeping plants and crops alive, not just in North Georgia, but across the entire world. While wild native pollinators do contribute to local ecosystems, some pollination assistance comes in the form of honeybees, which are farmed for agricultural purposes. One example is Jarrett Apiaries, a family-operated honeybee apiary in North Georgia. …According to Susan Brantley, a senior lecturer of biology for the University of North Georgia, honeybees are prime pollinators specifically for crops that were brought to the United States from Europe. “They’re linked, those crops from Europe and also the bees, which are important for pollination,” Brantley said. “We’ve kind of created this need to have them.” However, while honeybees are incredibly important for the pollination of European crops in the United States, they can negatively affect the pollination efforts of native bees, which are just as important.
Inside Higher Ed
Want Your Honorarium? Sign an Anti-BDS Pledge First
Abby Martin, a journalist and filmmaker, sued Georgia Southern University after she was prevented from speaking at a conference there unless she agreed to refrain from boycotting Israel.
By Elizabeth Redden
When Abby Martin, a journalist and filmmaker, was invited to be the keynote speaker for a 2019 conference on critical media literacy at Georgia Southern University, she was sent an independent contractor agreement by university officials committing to pay her a $1,000 honorarium and the cost of travel and lodging. The agreement contained what for Martin was a poison pill: it required her to certify she was “not currently engaged in, and agree for the duration of this agreement not to engage in, a boycott of Israel.” The provision was pursuant to a 2016 Georgia law — one of more than two dozen similar state laws around the country targeting the boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts against Israel, commonly referred to as the BDS movement — that prohibits the state from entering into contracts valued at $1,000 or more with individuals or companies absent such an antiboycott certification.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated May 25)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 17,962 | 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: 894,057 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Higher Education News:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
American Federation of Teachers Applauds Planned Education Department Higher Ed Actions
by Arrman Kyaw
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten said that she applauds U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona’s announcement that the Education Department will review multiple higher ed regulations. But she also advocated for immediate student debt forgiveness.
Inside Higher Ed
State Higher Ed Funding Increases for 8th Straight Year
Despite the years of increases, state and local funding for public higher education has not fully recovered from cuts made during the 2008 recession, an annual State Higher Education Finance report shows. Experts worry what will come in the future after 2020 turned out better than expected.
By Emma Whitford
State and local education appropriations per full-time student increased for the eighth consecutive year in the 2020 fiscal year, rising by nearly 3 percent, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association’s latest State Higher Education Finance report.
Inside Higher Ed
‘A Watershed Moment’ for Shared Governance
AAUP investigation finds eight institutions flouted academic governance norms during COVID-19, as did other institutions that were not subject to the inquiry. The group warns that institutions will continue to challenge these norms even as the pandemic ends.
By Colleen Flaherty
Some institutions took the COVID-19 crisis as an “opportunity to turbocharge the corporate model,” says a new report from the American Association of University Professors. Without declaring financial exigency, they laid off faculty members “as expeditiously as if colleges and universities were businesses whose CEOs suddenly decided to stop making widgets or shut down the steelworks.” This phenomenon isn’t unfamiliar to the AAUP.
Inside Higher Ed
Study: Not All STEM Students Discouraged by Online Classes
By Greta Anderson
Undergraduates studying science, technology, engineering and math fields and who are traditionally at higher risk of dropping out of those majors were not significantly demotivated academically by the shift to online instruction during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a semester-long study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.