University System News:
The Brunswick News
College of Coastal Georgia sees some enrollment increases for fall semester
By Lauren McDonald
College of Coastal Georgia students are back on campus for their fall semester, and the college is continuing to encourage all on campus to get vaccinated and to wear face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The fall semester began Aug. 16, and while enrollment numbers for this semester are still in flux, the college has seen a slight increase in the number of students from the Coastal Georgia area as well as students returning from a temporary pause in their enrollment.
Tifton CEO
ABAC Migrant Education Program Receives $410,000 Funding
The Migrant Education Program (MEP) Consortium at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College recently received Department of Education funding in the amount of $410,000 for Fiscal Year 2022. Scott Pierce, ABAC’s Director of Sponsored Programs, said the Migrant Education Program is a Title I-C, federally funded program designed to support comprehensive educational programs for migrant children to help reduce the educational disruption and other problems that result from repeated moves. ABAC’s MEP Consortium enrolled 536 participants last school year.
WJCL
Georgia state employees already using paid parental leave
More than 450 Georgia state and public university employees have already used time under the new law.
The Associated Press
More than 450 Georgia state and public university employees have already used a new law that grants new parents up to three weeks of paid leave. …Overall, 260,000 employees can now get paid time off after the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child. Before, state employees were only eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave as required by federal law.
Marietta Daily Journal
Two evacuated from balcony, no injuries in apartment fire near KSU Marietta
By Thomas Hartwell
Marietta firefighters rescued two people stranded on a balcony during an apartment fire near Kennesaw State University’s Marietta campus Sunday night, fire officials told the MDJ. No injuries were reported. Marietta Fire Chief Tim Milligan said firefighters were dispatched to Campus Edge Apartments, at 950 Hudson Road, around 7:40 p.m. and used a ladder to help the two people off the balcony.
Albany Herald
UGA researchers partner with Cairo University to address poultry water scarcity
By Claire Sanders CAES News
With nearly 2.5 million employed in an industry that produces 1.1 billion broilers per year, Egypt’s poultry industry is booming. Because of its dry climate, however, the country’s production levels are heavily reliant on producers’ ability to use resources efficiently without compromising output. One of the most precious resources required for that production is water. …Sammy Aggrey, a professor in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Poultry Science, says that all it took was one research visit to the region to spark his curiosity — how do we increase efficient water utilization in chickens? After 10 years researching feed utilization, a concurrent issue of optimizing poultry production, Aggrey is now shifting directions to answer that question. …To support efforts to isolate genes responsible for water intake, Aggrey has been awarded a grant through the U.S.-Egypt Science and Technology Joint Fund to pursue a project titled “Improving the Efficiency of Water Intake Utilization in Poultry.”
Albany Herald
UGA-Griffin’s FoodPIC offers support for new product feasibility
By Ligaya Figueras CAES News
As farmers across the state swelter in the summer heat tending crops and livestock, food scientists inside a state-of-the-art 14,500-square-foot facility on the University of Georgia campus in Griffin are laboring over a different side of the agricultural equation: How can we get the biggest bang for the buck from Georgia’s food commodities? UGA’s Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center is a one-stop shop for food businesses looking to launch a product. FoodPIC, as it’s known, provides support for product feasibility, development, packaging, food safety, consumer acceptance (for example, crickets, even in powdered form, are a tricky food sell) and marketing. The center, part of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, primarily works with Georgia companies and commodities, although it also conducts research and development for entities in other states as well as overseas.
The George-Anne
University System of Georgia’s Aaron Diamant, and Georgia Southern Medical Director Dr. Brian Deloach clarify COVID-19 questions
Rebecca Munday, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Aaron Diamant, the Vice Chancellor of Communications at University System of Georgia (USG), spoke about USG guidelines on masks and vaccinations. Georgia Southern Medical Director, Dr. Brian Deloach, answered questions about university policy on masking, social distancing and vaccination as well as where the university is getting their guidelines from and what other measures students can take to protect themselves against illness. Georgia Southern does not mandate students, faculty or staff to get the COVID-19 vaccine to participate in co-curricular activities, attend classes, or live on campus. However, partnering organizations may require students to show proof of vaccination in order to complete their internship, externship, and study abroad programs. “While we urge vaccination for everyone, we recognize it is an individual decision to receive one and not required to be on our campuses,” Aaron Diamant, the Vice Chancellor of Communications at the University System of Georgia, said.
The West Georgian
HEALTH SERVICES PROVIDING FREE COVID VACCINES TO UWG COMMUNITY
By Emma Pence
The COVID-19 vaccine is available now at the University of West Georgia through the Health Services on the Carrollton Campus. UWG’s students and faculty can make an appointment through Health Services which will be available Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Not only is the vaccine available to students and faculty but it is also available to immediate family members of employees that are over the age of 12 years old. The Manager of Media Relations, Sam Gentry, was unavailable to comment in regards to questions about the vaccine and its availability. According to the University Health Center, students and employees are not required to get the vaccine; those who choose not to get vaccinated are encouraged to continue wearing a mask and practicing social distancing.
WUGA
UGA Provides COVID Vaccine Shots to Underserved Communities in Athens
By Martin Matheny
The University of Georgia says that it has provided some 3,700 vaccine shots to underserved communities in Athens since February. The shots have primarily come through a mobile clinic, which is sponsored by the Augusta University/UGA medical partnership. Vaccines are administered by faculty and students at UGA, and the mobile clinic has partnered with, among other organizations, the state Department of Public Health, the Clarke County School District, and the Athens Community Council on Aging. The university is also offering vaccinations on campus for faculty, students, and staff at the University Health Center, which UGA officials say has administered more than 25,000 shots.
The Red & Black
UGA professor resigns mid-class after student refuses to wear mask
Dania Kalaji
A University of Georgia retiree-rehire professor resigned on Tuesday after one of his students refused to properly wear a mask in an upper division psychology seminar class held at the psychology building. During Irwin Bernstein’s second class of the semester, the student, who was not present on the first day of class, arrived at the 25-person class unmasked and was asked by Bernstein to retrieve one from the advising office. The student was given a spare disposable mask from a peer but did not wear it over her nose. Bernstein asked the student to pull her mask up to wear it correctly, but she said she “couldn’t breathe” and “had a really hard time breathing” with the cloth over her mouth and nose. …The 88-year-old psychology professor explained to the student that he could die from COVID-19 due to underlying health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and age-related problems, Bernstein said in an email to The Red & Black. Only about 15 minutes into the Tuesday lecture, which consisted of Bernstein taking the student attendance, he asked the student to pull her mask up again, but this time, the student did not respond. Bernstein, who was already informed that two of his absent students tested positive for COVID-19, then announced his resignation on the spot and left the class immediately.
See also:
Inside Higher Ed
COVID-19 Roundup: Professor Quits Midclass
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia professor bucks administrators to order masks in classrooms
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A UGA professor begs students to mask up to protect her compromised child
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA professor: We must protect students from storms and pandemics
Athens Banner-Herald
Group pleas for UGA mask mandate in same week professor quits over lack of masking
The Gainesville Times
UNG Faculty Senate passes mask resolution
Ben Anderson
Update: The University of North Georgia Faculty Senate passed a resolution on Friday, Aug. 27, that “calls on the Chancellor of the USG system and the President of UNG to issue executive orders mandating adherence to CDC mask guidelines.” The resolution passed overwhelmingly with 43 yeas, 7 nays and 2 abstains and was sent to both Bonita Jacobs, UNG president, and Teresa MacCartney, acting chancellor for the University System of Georgia.
Georgia Recorder
Georgia college professors back to campus lecturing on COVID delta 101
By: Ross Williams
College students across Georgia are back to hitting the books and tablets as a new semester began this month on campuses across the state. But this fall semester, many professors say they have more than grading and lecturing to worry about. COVID-19 cases are surging as the delta variant spreads among Georgia’s unvaccinated masses, and some college faculty members are pressing for more aggressive rules on masks and vaccines. A petition from the University System of Georgia Regents Advisory Council for Biological Sciences demanding universal indoor masking and vaccine requirements secured more than 4,000 signatures from students, faculty and staff.
WSB-TV
GBI investigating deadly officer-involved shooting near Georgia Tech campus
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called to assist after one man was killed near the Georgia Tech campus Sunday afternoon. The GBI said the shooting involved a Georgia State Patrol officer. Multiple local law enforcement agencies were at the scene Sunday evening. Georgia Tech police said the incident happened in the area of 10th and State Street. Students who live in the Home Park area were asked to stay inside.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Aug. 27)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,065,167
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 19,510 | 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
How Higher Ed Can Aid Afghanistan
First Thought
Insights drawn weekly from Karin Fischer’s global-education newsletter, latitude(s). Subscribe here.
An Afghan student studying abroad fears for the safety of siblings still at home. A university president works to evacuate students from Afghanistan and find them places to study. Higher-education groups raise emergency funds. As the precipitous and tragic crisis in Afghanistan unfolds, students, scholars, and researchers are vulnerable. For years, the Taliban has targeted academics and universities in its attacks. In particular, it has opposed the education of women and girls. Some American colleges are erasing any mention of past collaborations with Afghan colleagues from their websites or social media out of fear that such western ties could make them Taliban targets.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
College workers are burning out and quitting. Here’s why.
Look around your college or talk to colleagues, and you’ve probably heard: Another person is leaving. Sometimes they are taking a job in the corporate sector, other times they are switching institutions, and then there are some people who don’t have anything lined up next. The pandemic forced many Americans to shift their priorities and to realize that we, as a society, work too much. In every sector, but especially in higher ed, people put in long hours, and sometimes work creeps into nights and weekends (we send this newsletter on Saturday for a reason). A survey by Microsoft found that more than 40 percent of workers are considering leaving their employer this year. College employees are no exception.