University System News:
The Augusta Chronicle
Georgia Cyber Center could add third building as jobs, companies seeing Augusta as destination
Joe Hotchkiss
What’s five stories tall, has three legs and hasn’t stopped growing? The Georgia Cyber Center. “We talk about academics, government and industry being the three legs of this, the three important ingredients,” said Michael Shaffer, the center’s executive vice president of strategic partnerships and economic development. With cybersecurity company SealingTech moving an office into the center’s Shaffer McCartney Building in July, about 90% of the two-building center is occupied. Only one 33,000-square-foot floor of the center is vacant, as talks among Augusta University officials continue in earnest about erecting a third building. …There is no firm timetable for when ground might be broken on a third Cyber Center building, Shaffer said, but it definitely will be a building devoted to academics. It will be anchored by AU’s new School of Computer and Cyber Sciences, which he says has “exploded.” Teams of recently hired researchers are running out of workspace, and the downtown AU Riverfront Campus is expected to be their next destination.
WGAU Radio
Record number of students attend North of the Arch
Events features more than two dozen businesses in downtown Athens
By Reaganne Coile, UGA Today
More than 400 University of Georgia students, ranging from newly admitted to graduate students, visited 26 local businesses in the downtown Athens district on Monday, Aug. 16, as part of North of the Arch 2021. The event—sponsored by the UGA Office of Government Relations, UGA Student Affairs and the Athens Downtown Development Authority (ADDA)—traditionally welcomes first-year students, hallmates and friends, but shifted this year to welcome all students back to Athens. Participating locations included restaurants, boutiques, churches, gyms and more.
The Red & Black
COVID-19 vaccine incentives available to students
Martina Essert
Excitement isn’t the only thing in the air this fall as students return to campus for the upcoming semester. As the University of Georgia and Athens brace for the inevitable rise in COVID-19 cases, both are also pursuing incentive programs to encourage vaccines. Positive coronavirus tests reported through the UGA DawgCheck tool climbed in recent weeks from only one positive test in the week of July 5 to 58 in the week of Aug. 2, according to data from the University Health Center website. Getting fully vaccinated is the most effective way to protect against COVID-19. Mask wearing, though encouraged, is not currently required for students in UGA campus buildings, which means vaccines are the first line of defense against the virus for many. UGA is offering multiple incentives to those who choose to get vaccinated at the UHC or the Tate Center Mobile Clinic between now and Sept. 3. Those vaccinated may enter a pool from which 10 names will be drawn each Friday who will then receive a $100 gift card. In addition to the entry to this drawing, anyone vaccinated prior to Sept. 3 will receive a $20 gift card as well as an exclusively-designed UGA T-shirt. Vaccine appointments are free, and can be made through the UHC website.
accessWDUN
As COVID cases rise, local colleges still hopeful for a more normal return for fall semester
By Haley Bartoletta Reporter
This week local students will step back into their college homes and back into the unknown that the COVID pandemic has projected on college campuses for the past two years, but local college administrators are hopeful that this year will mirror the normalcy that has ceased to exist for college students throughout the pandemic. Officials from two universities with Gainesville campuses feel confident that students’ experiences on campus this upcoming fall will be very different from last year.
…University of North Georgia (UNG)
“In terms of our delivery of courses we are in a mode that is, if you want to say, back to normal,” said University of North Georgia Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Chaudron Gille. “We always have some online courses and some hybrid courses so that is continuing as it did before COVID. But 75% of our courses are face to face.” During the previous academic term, UNG offered on-ground courses with social distancing guidelines as well as providing students online options. This fall, UNG plans to have its students return to courses at full capacity, without social distancing guidelines. Following the University System of Georgia guidelines, students will not be required to wear masks in class or campus buildings at UNG. However, Gille said UNG officials are strongly encouraging faculty and students to get vaccinated and continue wearing masks.
13WMAZ
Georgia offers free tuition for residents that are 62 and older
Middle Georgia State University is one of 31 colleges in Georgia Participating.
Author: Raime Cohen
It’s never too late to pursue your dreams of higher education in Georgia. Residents that are 62 and older are offered free tuition if they choose to go back to school. Middle Georgia State University is one of 31 participating Georgia colleges. Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management at Middle Georgia State, Melinda Robinson-Moffett said Georgia residents who are 62 years and older can take advantage of the tuition waiver.
WALB
GSW gives out millions and erases student debts
By Gabrielle Ware
Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) is giving out millions of dollars to help students continue their education. The pandemic created financial challenges for many on campus. GSW applied Higher Education Emergency Relief Funding to its students’ accounts this school year. It’s a part of the American Rescue Plan’s goal to help people the pandemic affected. “Students have been hurt financially in a variety of different ways, whether they lost a job or their family suffered some loss of income,” said GSW President Dr. Neal Weaver.
Georgia Trend
by Mary Ann DeMuth
Columbus State University (CSU) is once again hosting The Forum, one of Georgia’s largest gatherings of business and civic leaders. The 16th annual event will be held Tuesday, Aug. 31, beginning at 9 a.m. at the historic Iron Works, home of the Columbus Convention and Trade Center. This year’s theme is “Leadership Reinvented” and speakers include investor Kat Cole, former COO and president of Focus Brands. Cole is an example of the American entrepreneurial dream, having risen from restaurant hostess at age 17 to company president 15 years later.
Growing America
ABAC Horticulture Club Offers Succulents Workshop Aug. 26
Community members can attend a succulent garden workshop on Aug. 26 from 6-8 p.m. offered by the Horticulture Club at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. Horticulture Club President Morgan Fritze said tickets are available for the class on the ABAC Horticulture Club’s Facebook page. The cost is $15 per person for the workshop. “The cost of the community program will include all materials for participants to create an arrangement, which they can take home with them,” Fritze said. “Attendees at the succulents’ class will learn how to care for succulents and create arrangements for their home.”
ScitechDaily
Neuroscientists Discover Beige Fat “Indispensable” in Protecting Brain From Dementia
Beige is considered a calming paint color, and scientists have new evidence that beige fat has a similar impact on the brain, bringing down the inflammation associated with the more common white fat and providing protection from dementia. They have found that beige fat cells, which are typically intermingled with white fat cells in the subcutaneous fat present on “pear shaped” people, mediate subcutaneous fat’s brain protection, Dr. Alexis M. Stranahan and her colleagues report in the journal Nature Communications. Pear-shaped people, whose weight is generally distributed more evenly, rather than “apple shaped” individuals with fat clustered around their middle and often around internal organs like the liver in the abdominal cavity, are considered less at risk for cardiometabolic problems like heart disease and diabetes, as well as cognitive decline, says Stranahan, neuroscientist at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Now the scientists have shown that beige fat cells, or adipocytes, are “indispensable” to the neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of subcutaneous fat, says Stranahan, the study’s corresponding author.
Tifton Gazette
Growing Relationships: Professors work to help African farmers
By Davis Cobb
Professors of the University of Georgia’s Tifton campus and their team have recently returned from their latest trip to Nigeria, the latest in their contribution to a nationwide project to help Nigerian farmers develop a joint agriculture-aquaculture farming plan that would diversify their output. Supported by a $100 million grant, UGA professors Dr. Gary Burtle, Department of Animal and Dairy Science, and Dr. Esendugue Greg Fonash, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, have routinely made trips to Nigeria during the past two years. They travel with a carefully picked team of fellow professors and graduate students to develop a system the Nigerian farmers can adapt and use.
Jackson Progress-Argus
Cotton virus confirmed in 24 Georgia counties
By Maria M. Lameiras CAES News
The UGA cotton research team identified 24 Georgia counties where the presence of cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV) has been confirmed from commercial fields and UGA research farms during 2018-19. While aphids aren’t a direct threat to cotton plants, they can carry a persistent virus that is difficult to control and can cause significant losses in one of Georgia’s most important crops.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BREAKING: Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine gets full FDA approval
By The Associated Press
The U.S. gave full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, a milestone that may help lift public confidence in the shots as the nation battles the most contagious coronavirus mutant yet. The vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech now carries the strongest endorsement from the Food and Drug Administration, which has never before had so much evidence to judge a shot’s safety. More than 200 million Pfizer doses already have been administered in the U.S. — and hundreds of millions more worldwide — since emergency use began in December. …The U.S. becomes the first country to fully approve the shot, according to Pfizer, and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement he hoped the decision “will help increase confidence in our vaccine, as vaccination remains the best tool we have to help protect lives.”
See also:
Albany Herald
FDA grants full approval to Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, opening door to more vaccine mandates
WSB-TV
Model predicts Georgia could see 20k daily COVID-19 cases by Sept. 2
By WSBTV.com News Staff
Georgia will have the highest rate of COVID-19 cases in the country by Sept. 2, with an average of up to 20,000 new daily cases, according to forecasting data from the Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic tracks 7-day averages of new cases to predict how case rates will trend in the next 14 days. By September 2nd, the organization predicts that Georgia will see soaring numbers of new cases across the state, averaging around 20,000. The prediction models released for just one day earlier, Sept. 1, predicts around 15,000 new cases.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Aug. 20)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,019,585
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 19,179 | 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.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Department Waives Loan Interest for Service Members
By Alexis Gravely
Interest on student loans has been retroactively waived by the Office of Federal Student Aid at the Department of Education for more than 47,000 current and former active-duty service members. Service members deployed to areas where they’re subject to the threat of physical harm or imminent danger are eligible to have no interest accrue on certain federal loans, but they had to individually request the benefit, so only a small portion of those eligible were able to access it. The department is now utilizing data matching with the Department of Defense to provide the interest waiver to service members automatically.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Spelman College Faculty Will Return to the Classroom, After Refusing to Teach in Person
By Kate Hidalgo Bellows
In a Thursday-morning email to students, Spelman College’s Faculty Council announced that faculty members would not teach in person, protesting the lack of “clear and enforceable protocol and safety guidelines” for face-to-face teaching. “Most faculty will use alternative instructional methods for course delivery,” said the email, from an 11-member body of tenured professors elected to represent the faculty’s interest to leadership. On Friday, Spelman’s president, Mary Schmidt Campbell, announced that faculty members had decided to return to teaching in person on Monday, August 23. The administration had responded to faculty concerns on Thursday by posting a 22-page document detailing safety procedures for in-person class.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
As Delta Variant Surges, Faculty Urge Their Colleges to Change Course
By Emma Pettit
A handful of professors gathered this week under the hot sun on a large grassy field at Clemson University. Propped up next to them were signs that read, “All In for Masks,” and, “A Mask Is a Small Ask.” Kimberly Paul, an associate professor of genetics and biochemistry, had staged the demonstration. She had been galvanized by a tweet posted by James P. Clements, the university president, of the new-student convocation on August 13. In the photos, students are seated shoulder to shoulder, indoors, many of them maskless. Paul got angry. “I was like, That is it. The university is not taking this seriously.” New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in South Carolina were on the rise. Clemson hadn’t yet issued a mask mandate. The state’s attorney general had told the University of South Carolina that lawmakers had intended to ban such requirements, prompting the flagship to back off its mandate. But Paul wanted Clemson to “be brave,” push back, and “own their power in the state,” she said. So she made a Facebook post, announcing “Walkout Wednesday.” … Faculty groups at colleges across the country are asking or demanding more protective measures be put in place. They worry about the Delta variant of the coronavirus, straggling vaccination rates in some states, and the fact that — though it’s rare — vaccinated people can catch and transmit the virus. …At other institutions, faculty groups have made their mounting concerns known. Because faculty members at Spelman College have not received “clear and enforceable protocol and safety guidelines” to “ensure our health and well-being,” they would not be teaching face to face, the Faculty Council told students in a Thursday email. …In Alabama, one scholar reached his tipping point. State lawmakers have banned colleges from requiring students to get Covid vaccines. Colleges also can’t require students to prove their vaccination status before returning to campus or fine unvaccinated students. Jeremy Fischer, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, considered his institution’s Covid-19 policies inadequate and raised concerns in a petition. Eventually, he began to ask himself whether his relationship with the university “might render me complicit in a moral atrocity.” It did, he decided. He tendered his resignation.