University System News

Albany Herald
PHOTOS: First day of classes at Albany State University
Students began classes at Albany State University on Monday, August 16, 2021. Check out photos from campus on the first day of the Fall Semester.

Gwinnett Daily Post
PHOTOS: Scenes from Georgia Gwinnett College’s School of Liberal Arts ‘Dance Into CommUNITY’ party
Georgia Gwinnett College’s School of Liberal Arts hosted its Dance Into CommUNITY Party as part of the college’s Return to Community events. The event introduced liberal arts students to campus resources, while allowing them to explore SLA minors, certificates, clubs, and study abroad programs. Students met their professors and connected with their peers while dancing on the college lawn. GGC’s School of Liberal Arts offers students study in seven majors, 13 minors and four certificate programs.

WGAU
UGA is on the eve of a new fall semester
By Tim Bryant
We are on the eve of a new fall semester at the University of Georgia: registration for the classes that start tomorrow takes place today at UGA. From the University of Georgia website… Freshman Welcome, August 17, 6 pm  Sanford Stadium, Welcome to campus, Class of 2025! Join classmates to take a “Super G” photo, learn gameday cheers, meet Hairy Dawg and hear from President Morehead and other special guests. There will also be free food, T-shirts and more.

The Brunswick News
CCGA launches five-part grant program
By Lauren McDonald
College of Coastal Georgia recently announced a five-part program meant to provide relief to students facing financial hardships. The college’s Cares3 Student Grant Program aims to assist students who may be experiencing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is designed to address student need and remove obstacles to help students earn their college degrees. Funding for the grants has been made possible by the CARES Act passed by Congress in January.

Athens CEO

UGA Launches Major Hiring Initiative in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
By Staff Reports
As data science and artificial intelligence transform a range of fields, the University of Georgia is making a significant investment in faculty with expertise in using big data to address some of society’s most urgent challenges. The Presidential Interdisciplinary Faculty Hiring Initiative in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence aims to recruit 50 faculty members who will educate students and advance research in data science and AI. Rather than being housed exclusively in a single department, however, the majority of UGA’s newly recruited faculty will focus on the fusion of data science and AI in cross-cutting areas such as infectious diseases, integrative precision agriculture, ethics, cybersecurity, resilient communities and the environment.

The American Bazaar
Indian American Dr. Gagan Agrawal named associate dean at Augusta University
By Arun Kumar
Indian American scientist Dr. Gagan Agrawal has been named associate dean for research and graduate education for the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Augusta University, Georgia, effective Aug. 1. Agrawal has served in this position in the interim since January 2021 at the public university and academic medical center in Augusta, Georgia, which is a part of the University System of Georgia. “I am very excited to have this opportunity. Building on top of the investment the state of Georgia and Augusta University have made toward the school, we have an excellent opportunity to build research momentum and grow our research-oriented graduate programs,” said Agrawal.

Savannah Morning News
Classes at Savannah State University started Monday. Some students still need housing.
By Raisa Habersham and Asha C. Gilbert
When Savannah State University decided in mid-April to schedule renovations for one of its largest residence halls, a project that could take nearly a year to complete, it did so considering only 114 students had registered to live in that dormitory. But students who had been placed on a waitlist for housing — and who were already hedging their bets on room availability at the university — weren’t notified of the closure until July 28, about three weeks before classes started Monday. The short notice left them little time to make accommodations. University Village, an upperclassman dorm, holds 660 beds and was built in 2008.

Statesboro Herald
COVID surge continues in Bulloch
By Jim Healy
New cases of COVID-19 saw significant increases across Bulloch County over the weekend and during the past week, including big jumps in Bulloch County Schools and at Georgia Southern University. In his report Monday, Ted Wynn, Bulloch’s Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency director, said Bulloch County recorded more than 200 new confirmed cases according to the Georgia Department of Public Health, pushing the county’s total number of cases to 6,104 since the pandemic started.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Faculty urge Georgia campuses: Mandate vaccines and masks

By Maureen Downey

I believe institutions of higher education must be committed to facts and science and educate not only students, but state leaders to what is important, true and necessary. What’s important, true and necessary now is that Georgia is seeing a resurgence of the coronavirus, especially among the unvaccinated. We also understand the best defenses against COVID are vaccinations and masks. And we know about half of new COVID cases in Georgia are among 18- to 39-year-olds, and more young people are being hospitalized. As Amber Schmidtke, a public health expert who studies Georgia’s pandemic data, said in her most recent state COVID update, “The other thing that is alarming is the steady increase we’re seeing for hospital admissions among 18- 49 year olds.

Other News

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Aug. 16)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is keeping track of reported coronavirus deaths and cases across Georgia according to the Department of Public Health. See details in the map below. See the DPH’s guide to their data for more information about definitions.

CONFIRMED DEATHS: 19,020 | 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: 996,653

Marietta Daily Journal
Kemp sending more hospital staff to fight COVID-19 surge
By Dave Williams, Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia’s health agency will more than double the number of temporary hospital staff to help cope with the current surge in COVID-19 patients, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday. The Department of Community Health (DCH) will commit $125 million in addition to $500 million the state already is spending to increase state-supported hospital staff at 68 hospitals across Georgia from 1,300 to 2,800, Kemp said. Specifically, 170 of the new staff will go to rural hospitals, the governor told reporters during a news conference at the state Capitol.

Higher Education News

Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Building for Tomorrow: Congress To Consider Significant Investments in HBCUs
By Lois Elfman

The Institutional Grants for New Infrastructure, Technology and Education (IGNITE) for HBCU Excellence Act aims to address long-standing infrastructure issues at the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities. As of mid-July, the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act had more than 75 supporters between the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate with both Democrats and Republicans giving their endorsement. Organizations — including the United Negro College Fund, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund — and companies — such as Visa, IBM, Capital One and Nielsen ­— have also endorsed the bill. The goal of the legislation is to recognize the contributions of HBCUs by providing the support and investment needed to strengthen their work.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Spelman College president announces retirement in June 2022
By Eric Stirgus
Spelman College President Mary Schmidt Campbell announced Tuesday she is retiring at the end of June, saying she’s accomplished most of her goals for the school and wants to spend more time with her family. “If you are to savor your family fully, it really had to be now,” Campbell, 73, a mother of three sons who are married and grandmother of seven, said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Campbell, who became Spelman’s president in August 2015, said she decided next year is a good time to leave, which is when the Atlanta college will have completed a capital fundraising campaign and its strategic plan. The college has already reached its $250 million goal, she said.

Inside Higher Ed

Data Collection Comforts: Most Students Trust Their Colleges
By Melissa Ezarik
The graduate students in Carrie Klein’s higher education administration courses are well aware that the colleges and universities where they work collect and use data about their undergraduates. But when Klein asks them to estimate how much data they’d be likely to gather about an individual student on a typical day on campus, they’re usually way off. The day-in-the-life module lists activities a student might go through, including parking, going to class, hitting the gym, checking email, logging on to the learning management system, dropping in to see an adviser, stopping at the health center, participating in an event and using an ID to buy lunch and later get into a residence hall.

Inside Higher Ed

Incoming Freshmen Are Mentally Exhausted
By Maria Carrasco
As incoming college students start their first weeks of postsecondary education, many are optimistic about a new beginning, but they are also struggling with mental health and academic challenges created by the pandemic. The annual Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement found that 53 percent of first-year students reported a substantial increase in mental and emotional exhaustion. Of those, nearly 70 percent indicated “high expectations of academic difficulty,” compared to 42 percent of their peers who did not experience greater exhaustion. Additionally, 30 percent of students surveyed reported increased depression, 27 percent said they experienced greater loneliness and 20 percent felt more hopeless.