University System News:
The Times
What you need to know about local colleges’ COVID-19 safety guidelines
Ben Anderson
Before college classes begin, here is what you need to know about the COVID-19 safety guidelines for Brenau, Piedmont, and the University of North Georgia. Will masks be required?
UNG and Brenau will not require masks but strongly encourage mask-wearing for individuals who are not vaccinated. Will students and staff be required to be vaccinated?
Vaccinations will not be required at UNG or Piedmont. Brenau University did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. What are the quarantine protocols for those exposed to COVID-19?
The Augusta Chronicle
MCG Foundation gets $66 million gift from Dr. J. Harold Harrison
After giving $10 million last year to help fund a building that bears his name, the late Dr. J. Harold Harrison and his family topped that by giving $66 million, what is believed to be the largest gift ever to a public university in Georgia, to fund scholarships and faculty at his beloved Medical College of Georgia. The Medical College of Georgia Foundation board voted unanimously Saturday to create the J. Harold Harrison, M.D. Fellows Fund to facilitate the gift from his estate and his private foundation. Harrison, a longtime member of the foundation who led it in 1974 and 1979, died June 2.
Benzinga
NSF investing $20 million in Georgia-led effort to transform online education for adults
The National Science Foundation announced today that it is investing $20 million in a collaborative effort to leverage artificial intelligence to transform adult learning in STEM fields. Led by the Georgia Research Alliance, the effort unites experts in computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive science, learning science and education from Arizona State University, Boeing, Drexel University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Harvard University, IBM, IMS Global, Technical College System of Georgia, University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Wiley. The NSF grant will establish the NSF AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (ALOE) to be headquartered at Georgia Tech, one of 11 NSF AI research institutes announced today.
Growing America
Bridges Says $14.4 Million Project Allows ABAC to ‘Step into the Future’
With funding secured for the construction phase of a $14.4 million agricultural facilities project, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College President David Bridges said ABAC is ready “to step into the future of agriculture. “Agricultural technology is the future of agriculture at ABAC,” Bridges said. “These new facilities will allow us to train ABAC students with cutting edge technology in state of the art facilities, making sure that ABAC graduates are ready to go to work. Agriculture continues to be Georgia’s largest industry, and we want to be a part of fueling the future.” Bridges said Georgia legislators approved $1.1 million in planning money for the agricultural facilities enhancement project in the 2021 fiscal year and then followed that up with $11.8 million in construction funding for the existing year. He hopes that lawmakers fund $1.5 million in equipment costs in Fiscal Year 2023 to complete the $14.4 million project.
Physician on Fire
The 25 Most Affordable Medical Schools in the United States
While the cost of higher education has gone up drastically in recent decades, there are affordable medical schools to be found if you nowhere to look (or live in the right state). …This guest post counting down the 25 most financially reasonable options for med school was submitted by Arush Chandna with Inspira Advantage. …The Cost: Public Vs. Private Medical Schools
Although tuition can widely vary between medical schools, regardless of whether they are public or private institutions, public schools will generally cost less. Recent data shows that the median cost of a medical degree at a public institution was approximately $250,000, while a private college costs roughly $330,000. This data suggests that you can generally expect more affordable tuition rates at public institutions, although there are some exceptions. …19. Augusta University Medical College of Georgia
The Medical College of Georgia is the state’s only public medical school and was founded nearly 200 years ago. The school offers large class sizes, and its researchers and clinicians maintain a focus on the health of Georgian adults and children. In-state: $28,296; Out-of-state: $57,850
Fox 5 Atlanta
Stargazing at the North Georgia Astronomical Observatory
By Paul Milliken
North Georgia observatory offers amazing views of space
It’s been just more than a year since Good Day Atlanta checked out the progress being made on the new $1.4 million observatory at the University of North Georgia. This morning, we finally got a look inside — not to mention a look at the stars through the facility’s two new telescopes. The North Georgia Astronomical Observatory is currently open to the general public for walk-in telescope viewing on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9 p.m. to midnight (weather permitting) and daytime hours by request. The new 3,200-square-foot facility was approved by the University System of Georgia in January of 2019 and funded by UNG and was built on the same site as the former observatory.
WRDW
Pressure can take a toll on athletes, Medical College of Georgia expert says
By Tyria Goines
With all the success that could come with winning in the Olympics, there also comes a lot of pressure. We’ve seen athletes’ mental health take the fore front this year after Sha’Carri Richardson admitted to dealing with mental health after the death of her biological mother and then again when Simone Biles took a step back to focus on herself. Dr. Christopher Drescher, a child and adolescent psychologist from the Medical College of Georgia, explained that while sports participation is overall a positive activity, he has seen situations were sports affected a young person’s mental health. Things like pressure from adults and peers – pressure to be perfect – or forcing a child to play a sport they are not interested in can take a toll, especially if the child already has depression or anxiety. And the mental stress can be more challenging if the person gets a physical injury that prevents them from playing that sport.
Growing America
UGA Students Gain Firsthand Experience in Vineyard Management and Winemaking
By: UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Posted: July 30, 2021
When students begin seeking internships, they look forward to gaining firsthand experience in their chosen fields and seek opportunities that will help further their education and develop future job skills. Some may get stuck making coffee, sorting files or answering phones, but for three University of Georgia interns, the summer internship experience has been much more engaging. Through a partnership between the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and the Winegrowers Association of Georgia, three UGA students were chosen to explore the world of viticulture and enology as Winegrowers of Georgia interns. The students were placed with host vineyards in north Georgia, allowing them to stay close to Athens while learning about an industry that spans the globe.
WJBF
MCG researchers studying effectiveness of antibodies against COVID-19 variants
by: Chloe Salsameda
Inside the labs at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG), researchers are testing samples to learn how COVID-19 can be killed. It is part of Sparta, a $1.9 million study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, involving MCG, the University of Georgia, UCLA and St Jude’s Research Hospital. At MCG, Dr. Ravindra Kolhe and his team collect blood and saliva from 500 participants each month to learn how long natural COVID-19 antibodies last and how strong they are.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated July 29)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 929,614
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 18,699 | 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
Judge Strikes Down Provision of Title IX Rule
By Elizabeth Redden
A federal judge largely upheld a controversial 2020 final rule on Title IX promulgated by former secretary of education Betsy DeVos, but he struck down a key provision that prohibits colleges adjudicating sexual misconduct allegations from considering statements not subject to cross-examination. Advocates for sexual assault survivors have argued that the provision prevents previous written or oral statements from police officers, nurses or other witnesses from being considered by an institution in the event that individual is unable to attend a hearing, and also means an accused student’s own statements admitting guilt could not be used if the student chose not to testify at the hearing. Judge William G. Young of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled that the department had failed to adequately consider such outcomes, and the provision was therefore put forward unlawfully, in an arbitrary and capricious manner.
Inside Higher Ed
Additional $3.2 Billion in Emergency Funds Headed to HBCUs and MSIs
By Alexis Gravely
The Department of Education announced it will be adding $3.2 billion in grants to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, specifically targeted toward historically underresourced institutions. Most of the funding comes from the American Rescue Plan, signed into law in March. Historically Black colleges and universities will receive $1.6 billion, and tribal colleges and universities will receive $143 million. Another $1.19 billion will be available for other minority-serving institutions, as well as underresourced institutions eligible for the Strengthening Institutions program.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges Are Using Federal Money to Wipe Away Unpaid Student Balances
By Oyin Adedoyin
A slew of colleges and universities are using Covid-19 relief funding from the federal government to clear unpaid student balances incurred during the pandemic. The City University of New York, Delaware State University, and Virginia State University are just a few of the institutions to take this step in recent days, a trend that experts predicted would spread to even more campuses.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
College Promise Programs Launch Innovative Solutions to Achieve Economic Mobility
by Sarah Wood
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment in the United States reached 14.8% in April 2020. Given the high number of hiring freezes and job losses, post-secondary enrollment and revenue plummeted. Earning an education was no longer attainable or affordable for many potential and current students. Now, as the nation turns toward recovery, College Promise—a non-profit aimed at eliminating college cost barriers—is implementing new models and training to promote economic mobility and post-college career success. Several of these programs were featured in the College Promise hosted webinar “Financial Sustainability for College Promise Programs: Navigating Through and Beyond COVID-19” on Thursday.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Faculty Power Has Risen at Department Level, Fallen at Campus Level, AAUP Finds
By Megan Zahneis
Has the state of shared governance in higher education improved in the past 50 years? The answer depends on how you measure it, according to survey results released on Thursday by the American Association of University Professors. First, the bad news: Faculty members have lost authority in such institution-level decision-making processes as budget planning and the selection of deans since 2001, when the AAUP last conducted a national governance survey. The slide marks a reversal in faculty input, which had increased from 1971 to 2001, according to AAUP data. The good news is that faculty members have simultaneously enjoyed more influence at the department or program level, on matters such as promotion and tenure decisions, program curricula, and picking department chairs. That trend has persisted over the last half-century.
Inside Higher Ed
31 Science Groups Partner on Transgender Name-Change Requests
By Colleen Flaherty
All 17 national laboratories and a group of scientific journals, publishers and other organizations said this week that they’ll partner to support name-change requests from researchers. The effort is aimed at making it easier — administratively and personally — for transgender scientists to claim their past work, which may have been published under another name. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is coordinating the changes, which will allow researchers to make name-change requests of publishers and journals through their institutions instead of on their own. Trans scholars and allies have long argued that it should be much easier to make name-change requests, and that scholars shouldn’t have to out themselves as trans; navigate individual publications’ policies, if they exist at all; or otherwise jump hurdles to continue to be linked to their own work.