University System News:
Columbus CEO
President Markwood Receives Award Honoring Partnership Between CSU, Fort Benning
Staff Report
The impact of the decades-long partnership between Columbus State University and Fort Benning was recently highlighted at the State of Fort Benning program. The Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce presented the community event on Friday, June 25. As part of the program, CSU President Dr. Chris Markwood received the U.S. Army’s Meritorious Public Service Medal for his outstanding vision and leadership as president that has sustained the strong relationship with the installation and the city of Columbus. While presenting Markwood with the award, Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Donahoe, commanding general of the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning, said the partnership between the university and the installation is helping educate military leaders.
Metro Atlanta CEO
Georgia Southern President Dr. Kyle Marrero on the Importance of Collaboration Across Georgia
President of Georgia Southern University Dr. Kyle Marrero talks about the many partnerships Georgia Southern has across the state.
Americus Times Recorder
Ian Wynn named 2021 GSW Outstanding Scholar
Ian Wynn, a senior from Plains, Ga., was named Georgia Southwestern State University’s (GSW) 2021 Outstanding Scholar, the university’s highest academic honor. Wynn, along with other top scholars from University System of Georgia (USG) institutions, represent the system’s highest scholastic ideals and best qualities.
Growing Georgia
ABAC Anticipates ‘Full House’ for Fall Semester
With almost every room filled at ABAC Lakeside and ABAC Place, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College expects a “full house” when fall semester classes begin on Aug. 10. “I am really excited about returning to normal this fall,” ABAC President David Bridges said. “Our students can expect the full college experience. They will be living in on-campus housing, going to club meetings, playing sports, and eating in the dining hall. Our students deserve the total college experience, and they will get it here at ABAC.” A year ago, during the pandemic-tightened 2020 fall term, ABAC students took a mix of online classes and in-person classes. In the 2021 spring semester, ABAC students took mostly in-person classes with some online classes.
Healio
AHA donates $11 million toward cardio-oncology research on disparities
The American Heart Association announced it donated more than $11 million in research grants to four multidisciplinary teams researching disparities in cardio-oncology. …AHA chose research teams at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Boston University School of Medicine, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Pennsylvania to receive $2.7 million each for this project. The funding is for projects designed to reduce deficiencies related to disparities in cardio-oncology while also exploring new ways to prevent CVD among patients with cancer, according to the release.
Athens Banner-Herald
Doing ‘a little good along the way’: Lessie Smithgall’s impact on Grady College & Peabody
Sarah Freeman UGA
It is with sadness that we announce the death of Celestia “Lessie” Bailey Smithgall (ABJ ’33), an alumna who played a pivotal role in the creation of the Peabody Awards. Smithgall celebrated her 110th birthday in April and died at her home on June 25 in Gainesville, Georgia. “Lessie Smithgall is a foundational, iconic member of the Grady College family,” said Charles Davis, dean of Grady College. “What a story! What a woman.”
Emanuel County Live
Franklin Memorial Library Summer Reading Program hosts Georgia Southern Wildlife
On June 22, the Georgia Southern Wildlife Program visited the Vann Community Center. They brought reptiles and birds to show off to a crowd of almost 100 people. …The children were very brave to touch the animals under handler’s supervision.
Business Northeast
Excessive Sugar Intake May Affect Learning And Memory
By Stella Webb
A research team from the University of Georgia and the University of Southern California found in the rodent model that mice that drank sugary beverages had difficulty in memory using Hippocampus. These mice had memory impairments in adulthood. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the main source of sugar in the daily diet of Americans. In the United States, nearly two-thirds of young people consume at least one sugar-sweetened beverage every day. Even if a high-sugar diet is associated with obesity and cardiovascular disease, many children still consume too much sugar.
Clayton News-Daily
UGA dairy scientist pairs exceptional cows with exceptional students
By Becky Mills CAES News
Jillian Fain Bohlen doesn’t try to hide her love for Jersey dairy cattle. Upon joining UGA in 2013, Assistant Professor Bohlen sought to diversify the dairy cattle herd in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science at the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “It’s their personalities. They are like perpetual 2-year-olds. They’re always in your back pocket, wanting something,” said Bohlen, adding that their toddler-like behavior even includes tantrums. When the students start halter-breaking them, if the heifers aren’t in the mood, they will go rigid, fall over, and refuse to get up until the halter comes off. …The University of Georgia associate professor and state dairy specialist for UGA Cooperative Extension shows the same passion for her students.
Victory Sports Network
Georgia Gwinnett’s Jeremy Sheetinger Named 2021 Rawlings-NAIA Coach of the Year
Georgia Gwinnett College Head Baseball Jeremy Sheetinger has added the Rawlings-NAIA Coach of the Year to his postseason honors after leading the Grizzlies to the 2021 NAIA national championship. Sheetinger also received the College Baseball Foundation’s Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year award, recognizing the top coach among all collegiate baseball divisions. He became the first NAIA coach to receive that national honor since its creation in 2013.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Invisible Histories Project tells stories of LGBTQ life in South
By Shelia Poole
…It was still the South and being LGBTQ in rural areas could divide families, affect jobs and at times be dangerous. Wilson and Lymburner didn’t tell their surviving parents about their relationship until they had been together 20 years. The two recently decided to share their stories and treasured items as part of an initiative at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, called the Invisible Histories Project. The IHP is a nonprofit whose goal is to establish repositories for the preservation of the rich presence of LGBTQ life in the South, a presence that has often been relegated to the shadows of history.
Georgia Recorder
GOP furor over ‘critical race theory’ hits college campuses
By Daniel C. Vock
Professors say the Republican crusade to root out “critical race theory” is taking a toll on college campuses around the nation—places where academic freedom is supposed to encourage thought, discussion and analysis. Much of the “critical race theory” uproar to date has centered on teaching in K-12 schools. But several high-profile incidents, combined with new laws with unexpected effects, are raising worries about political interference in higher education. …The attempts by lawmakers to influence college curriculums undermine one of the principles that makes U.S. higher education so widely regarded across the globe: encouraging students to reach their own conclusions about the subjects they study. …Georgia’s 2021 legislative session ended in early spring before the wave of critical race theory angst rippled across the country, and no bills addressing the subject were filed. But Gillsville Republican Rep. Emory Dunahoo raised the subject in January when he sent a letter to University System of Georgia administrators asking a series of questions including whether students are taught about the concepts of privilege and oppression, that some races are inherently privileged, or that white, male, heterosexual Christians are intrinsically oppressive. In response, then-Chancellor Steve Wrigley said the university system strives to balance their cause of expanding students’ minds and ensuring they are free from harassment and indoctrination. “It is a constant balancing effort, and I am certain we do not always get the balance right,” he wrote. “I believe the vast majority of time we do, and work hard to do so. Part of our purpose is to challenge students to deepen their thinking, hone their research, and sharpen their skills so they can analyze and then explain their views. These are abilities essential for success in life, as you know, and basic to fostering innovation.”
Albany Herald
UGA Poultry Science Building gets $100,000 pledge from AgGeorgia Farm Credit
By Maria M. Lameiras CAES News
With a $100,000 pledge to the new Poultry Science Building at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, AgGeorgia Farm Credit is the first six-figure donor to a campaign that will accelerate research, scholarship and applied solutions for the largest sector of Georgia’s No. 1 industry. AgGeorgia Farm Credit is an agricultural lending cooperative owned by nearly 5,000 member-borrowers with a mission to improve the lives of Georgia’s farmers, families and rural communities.
SaportaReport
Yet another land deal story clouds Perdue’s campaign for educational eminence
By Tom Baxter
At a charity roast several years ago in Louisiana, a former aide to Gov. Edwin Edwards recounted the problems Edwards had satisfying the demands of a Lafayette pol whose appetite for grift surpassed even the generous standards of that state and time. Finally, the aide said, a look of relief came over the legendary kingpin of bayou politics. “I know what we’ll do,” the aide said Edwards told him triumphantly. “Let’s make him an educator!” That line drew hearty guffaws from an audience which included the pol/educator in question. Listen and you will hear echoes of that laughter in the story of Sonny Perdue’s quest to become chancellor of the University System of Georgia.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated July 2)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 18,517 | 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: 904,073
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Navigating Vaccine Requirements for International Students
What foreign COVID vaccines should colleges accept? What protocols should be in place for international students who weren’t able to be vaccinated at home prior to coming to campus?
By Elizabeth Redden
AstraZeneca or Moderna? Sinopharm or Sputnik? For the more than 500 American colleges that plan to require COVID-19 vaccines for students coming to campus this fall, a major challenge will be implementing this requirement for international students who might not have access to one of the three vaccines currently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S. Some of those students may have access to a different vaccine authorized by a different national regulator in their home country, or they might not have access to a COVID-19 vaccine at all.