University System News:
Albany CEO
Regional Leadership Program Pivots to Focus on High Priority Needs in South Georgia
Staff Report
Five years into fostering and developing the leadership capacity of South Georgia, South GeorgiaLEADS (SGL) is hitting pause on its traditional leadership development program to drill down on one of its original objectives—“to work collectively towards creating effective solutions to address significant challenges related to workforce development, education, and economic growth throughout the region.” They are doing so by identifying a select, 28-member cohort of alumni from the five years and over 160 graduates of SGL to develop implementable action plans directly related to the most pressing issues and challenges facing South Georgia today. With what is being called South GeorgiaLEADS 2.0 (SGL2), the SGL Board of Directors is endeavoring into unchartered territory with a first-of-its-kind alumni leadership engagement experience that challenges those selected to work collaboratively across the region on real issues and real solutions that will make a difference in South Georgia.
WSAV
Savannah city leaders, advocates discuss sexual assault prevention
by: Brian Rea
Tea Lynor saw red flags and knew to speak up. “If you have something to say, say it,” Lynor said. “Speak loud and without shame.” Lynor said she reported her college professor for sexual misconduct and harassment in 2019. “It’s disturbing to have your discomfort, your fear and the predatory actions of your professor be so out in the open that everyone sees it and everyone feels it,” she said. Lynor claimed the investigation was finished after two months and the professor still works at the school. …Local colleges’ annual crime reports show between 2017 and 2019,
Savannah State University reported 18 sex offenses
Savannah College of Art and Design reported 44 sex offenses
Georgia Southern University (Statesboro) reported 41 sex offenses
The Astrals, a non-profit group, offer anonymous support under the guise of superhero costumes. Organizers said after hearing multiple testimonies like Lynor’s, they are working on their own investigation. For that reason, they would not disclose the school where the professor works.
Savannah Business Journal
Savannah Business Journal Staff Report
Georgia Southern University’s latest Economic Monitor reports that the Savannah metro area economy surged for the third-consecutive quarter through the midpoint of the year. “All major indicators of the regional economy increased during the second quarter,” stated Michael Toma, Ph.D., Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Economics. “Tourism indicators skyrocketed along with consumer confidence. Employment growth was steady and sustainable, while port activity and electricity sales contributed more modestly to regional growth.” Employment growth is expected to be moderate during the third quarter but remain positive, said Toma.
11Alive
GSU instructor fired after disagreement over mask policy | ‘It crossed a moral boundary’
Georgia State University looks to the Board of Regents, which states masks and vaccinations are not required on campus.
Author: Paola Suro (WXIA)
Cody Luedtke was looking forward to teaching another group of students this school year at Georgia State University. She hoped it would look more normal than last year and was excited about the possibility of in-person classes — until the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and the Delta variant. Some university systems nationwide are requiring masks – some even vaccinations – but public campuses in Georgia do not require either of those. “I had offered to teach online or face-to-face with a mask mandate… and after I didn’t resign, I was fired by the end of the week and my last day was Friday,” says Luedtke. She was scheduled to coordinate and teach biology labs this semester. After drafting a letter to the department leadership saying she “refused respectfully” to teach in an in-person environment where students were not required to wear masks, she says she was asked to resign.
See also:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Get Schooled: Georgia State instructor loses job over her mask stand
The Chronicle of Higher Education
She Wouldn’t Teach Without Being Able to Require Masks. So She Was Fired.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As COVID-19 cases rise, groups demand UGA mandate masks, vaccinations
By Eric Stirgus
Clarke County public health leaders and University of Georgia faculty are urging administrators to mandate students and employees wear masks on campus and get the COVID-19 vaccine amid a rise in positive reported cases at the state’s flagship school.
Athens CEO
UGA Vaccine Clinics Making an Impact
On-campus clinics offer walk-up availability, chance to win incentives
Vaccine clinics offered on the University of Georgia’s campus have provided easy and convenient opportunities for students, faculty and staff to receive COVID-19 vaccinations – and those opportunities are continuing through Sept. 2. The University Health Center and local office of the Georgia Department of Health have partnered to offer the first of several vaccine clinics at the Tate Student Center on campus. In addition to vaccine appointments available at the UHC, these on-campus clinics offer walk-ups for those looking for a timely and practical option. The on-campus clinics with walk-up availability will continue to be held at the Tate Center from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Aug. 23-26, 30-31, and Sept. 2. Vaccinations are also available by appointment at the UHC.
WTOC
Georgia Southern University using CARES Center to contact trace COVID-19 cases
By Amanda Aguilar
It’s been two weeks since Georgia Southern University started school. All three campuses are seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases. Just last week, there were 96 positive cases. While Georgia Southern University doesn’t require vaccinations, they are encouraging it. At the Armstrong campus and over at the Statesboro campus, there are weekly vaccination clinics. However, university officials say it’s not getting the turnout they’d like to see. … The university’s data shows, last week, there were 96 university confirmed positive cases and 338 unconfirmed self-reported positive cases, meaning reports submitted to the CARES Center from those who claim to have a positive test result. Lester says the university’s CARES Center plays a huge role in COVID-19 prevention and contact tracing.
Boston Globe
Could a spritz in the nose stop COVID’s spread?
Scientists are readying human trials of a nasal spray that might prove more effective than a shot in the arm.
By Emily Mullin
It’s clear that our current COVID-19 vaccines continue to be very effective at preventing hospitalization and death, even as the more transmissible Delta variant surges. But we now know they’re less good at thwarting the spread of the virus. And one reason could be where in the body the shots are delivered. Vaccines that are injected into the arm, including the ones for COVID-19, do a great job of producing antibodies in the bloodstream. They don’t, however, generate high levels of antibodies in the nasal passages, which is where SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID, is most likely to enter the body. …That’s why he and other scientists believe that stopping the virus at its point of entry — the upper respiratory tract — could be a more effective strategy for halting its spread. “We literally want to vaccinate the site of virus entry — the mucosal surface of the nose,” says Biao He, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Georgia who also has a company, CyanVac, that is developing a nasal spray vaccine for COVID-19.
Growing America
ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture Hosts Educator Appreciation Day September 11
The Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture will host an Educator Appreciation Day from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sept. 11. Museum Assistant Director Sara Hand said educators and up to three guests can enjoy the Museum at no cost. A school ID must be presented upon check-in at the Country Store to receive free admission. “Educator Appreciation Day offers an opportunity to experience the Museum and Historic Village, preview upcoming special events, and learn about programs and resources offered on-site and virtually,” Hand said.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Aug. 25)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,048,892
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 19,364 | 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:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Did Covid Break Students’ Mental Health?
As the fall semester begins, students are stressed out and burned out.
By Sarah Brown
Anushka Gupta and Stephen Chen are excited for the fall semester. But they aren’t sure how it’ll go. Gupta, a first-year student at New York University, is worried about adjusting to college coursework and putting her rusty social skills to use. “It’s been so long since I’ve been around so many people,” she said. Sometimes she wishes she could have gone to college a few years ago, so she didn’t have to think about only going to Covid-safe places or hanging out with Covid-safe friends. Chen, a senior at the Savannah College of Art and Design, experienced pre-pandemic college and strongly prefers it that way. Last academic year he was largely confined to Zoom classes. He’s noticing a pattern during the pandemic era: He starts each term well, he said, “but then fatigue and burnout sets in pretty early — earlier than usual.” Data have made clear that students are experiencing heightened stress — particularly academic stress — and burnout as the pandemic continues. With the Delta variant thwarting colleges’ plans for a near-normal campus experience this fall, those stressors could compound student mental-health concerns that have been on the rise for years. But so far, the pandemic hasn’t caused a deluge of new psychological diagnoses among students. The emerging picture of Covid-19’s effect on student well-being is more complex.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
College workers are burning out just when they’ll be needed most.
By Lindsay Ellis
Talk to people who work in higher education right now, and you’ll quickly find someone ready for a change. There’s the assistant director for student diversity at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas who is leaving his job this month, feeling unsupported by his supervisors. The career-services coordinator at Oklahoma State University who just wants to not feel guilty about using paid leave for mental-health days. The assistant director of sorority and fraternity life at a private college in California who wanted to move closer to family in New York — and who promised herself she would resign by the fall even if she didn’t have a new job. The associate dean of students at Lawrence University, in Wisconsin, who is pledging to stop checking email in the evenings. The tenured professor and department chair at the University of Northern Colorado who, fed up with the culture of “just gotta do more,” quit because she wanted to focus on being a parent. …The Chronicle interviewed nearly 60 current and former higher-education professionals this summer about how the pandemic and the approaching fall term have affected their attitudes about work. They expressed a desire for long-established dynamics that have governed the relationship between colleges and their employees to change in ways big and small.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
How to Adjust Your Employment Policies for the Covid Era
Tips for avoiding a legal quagmire.
By Peter Lake
Academic-employment policies are designed to accommodate some level of uncertainty, but no colleges were prepared for the disruptions to our working lives caused by the global pandemic — or the many legal issues that have come along with it. Colleges can barely use the most equivalent situation in history to help guide them. The business of higher education was scarcely a business at all during the last major pandemic over 100 years ago; the structures of modern academic employment were in their infancy at that time. Yet colleges are not in completely uncharted legal waters either. Here are some tips for institutions on how to avoid major legal pitfalls in the Covid era.
Inside Higher Ed
Removing Barriers for Students With Disabilities
A bill supported by Democrats and Republicans would eliminate the costs and burdens that students with disabilities face in accessing college accommodations.
By Alexis Gravely
A bipartisan, bicameral bill introduced last month contains a proposal for a simple policy change that would make a considerable difference in how students with disabilities access postsecondary education. The Respond, Innovate, Succeed and Empower Act, or RISE Act, would allow students with a disability to use documentation from their secondary education as proof that they have a disability and need accommodations while attending a college or university. It would also authorize an additional $10 million in funding for a resource center to provide students and families with information on college disability services and professional development for professors about disability.