University System News:
Savannah Morning News
Georgia answering the nation’s call for more cybersecurity workers
Georgia again finds itself sitting on unique resources and is positioned to dominate this field critical to the economy and to national security
Charlie Harper
I had a long drive on a recent Tuesday, and much of it was punctuated by recurring news updates regarding President Joe Biden’s summit of leaders from the tech and financial industries on cybersecurity. While the meeting had been highly choreographed to emphasize what private industry is already doing to combat the ever present threat of cyber-attacks and ransom demands, one of the areas featured kept drawing my attention every time it was mentioned. Various companies talked about what they were doing to fill the 500,000 cybersecurity jobs that go unfilled year after year. …In the world of cybersecurity, Georgia again finds itself sitting on unique resources and is positioned to dominate this field critical to the economy and to national security. It’s not as if the state nor its corporate citizens have been asleep on this subject. The pieces have been put into place over the last few decades. …It was Gov. Zell Miller who saved the emerging fintech industry in Georgia by creating a workforce development program in Columbus. The partnership with Columbus College ensured that payment processor TSYS would have enough highly skilled workers to fuel its exponential growth without having to move to a state where IT workers were more plentiful. Instead, Georgia became a leader in financial technology with other companies moving or growing here. …Georgia is positioned to meet the challenge of developing the workers needed to protect our nation’s information infrastructure. With the White House now calling for a national discussion on the issue, it’s Georgia’s time to speak up.
WFXG
Cyber News Now: New pathway program offers cyber students opportunity to continue education
By Abby Bradshaw
There is a saying that goes “we are better together,” and the same could be said for cyber security education. With Augusta University and Augusta Technical College creating a new pathway, that means more opportunities for talent to enter our workforce. Two schools and multiple opportunities are all under one roof at the Georgia Cyber Center. It’s all thanks to a new Cybersecurity to Information Technology Pathway Program by Augusta University and Augusta Technical College. Tammy O’Brien is the dean of Augusta Tech’s School of Cyber and Design Media. She says there is a lot to look forward to in this program.
Northwest Georgia News
Georgia Archives announces September presentations
The Georgia Archives is offering two free virtual Teams live events in September. On Friday, Sept. 10, from noon to 1 p.m. is a Lunch and Learn presentation on Georgia politics by University of Georgia political science professor Charles S. Bullock III. …On Friday, Sept. 24, from noon to 1 p.m. the educational series Fourth Friday From the Archives presentation is “A New Collection at the Georgia Archives: The Downtown Development Design Assistance Materials Including the Georgia Downtown Main Street Program,” by Georgia Archives archivist Amanda Mros.
WALB
MCG introduces loan program to attract more health care students, workers
By Molly Godley
The Medical College of Georgia (MCG) is looking for new ways to increase access to healthcare and hire more health care workers in South Georgia. Congressman Sanford Bishop spent Monday touring the Medical College of Georgia’s Southwest Campus in Albany. He heard about strategies the college is using to keep more health care employees in rural areas. …One way MCG is working to keep doctors in South Georgia is through a new program called the 3+ Program. It’s an incentive program that offers loan forgiveness if students stay and work in an underserved rural area in Georgia.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech study: bicycling has $496 million impact in Georgia
By David Wickert
Need a nudge to get on that bike that’s been sitting in the garage for years? Here you go: You might give Georgia’s economy a boost. A new Georgia Tech study found bicycling-related industries generate $496 million a year and employ 4,529 people. The economic impact includes $361 million for bicycle-related businesses, $124 million in trail construction and $10 million for events and organizations.
Marietta Daily Journal
The University of Georgia (UGA) has launched the state’s first Master of Fine Arts degree in Film, Television, and Digital Media (MFA). As Georgia’s entertainment quickly rebounds after the pandemic shutdown, this program will produce highly trained filmmakers ready to give voice to stories that matter in today’s competitive global marketplace. UGA’s MFA in Film program combines classroom instruction, professional training, and hands-on filmmaking opportunities. It’s focused on writing, directing, producing, and post-production. The degree — a two year, six semester program — is taught on the UGA campus in Athens, through the Georgia Film Academy at Trilith Studios (formerly Pinewood Atlanta Studios), and at OFS Studios in Gwinnett County.
Growing Georgia
ABAC Honors Program Creates Community of Motivated Students
Eighty students beginning their first year at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College are now enrolled in the high merit honors program, pushing the total to 175 students on the books as honors program participants. Dr. Cyndy Hall, Director of the Honors Program, said that an honors section of a core class is different because students are learning with others who share the same academic interests in rigor and intellectual inquiry. …The honors program creates a community of students who support each other through academic success. The model for the program is a “Living and Learning Community” where students can take many of the same classes as their friends, and even live on the same residence hall during their freshman year.
Athens CEO
UGA Consultant Recognized as One of State’s Most Influential Asian Americans
Emilie Gille
As Georgia business communities continue to diversify, the UGA Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is expanding its service to include programs in foreign languages. SBDC consultant and Philippine-born Benny StaRomana is a key component to moving that agenda along. He brought his career in global sales and marketing to the United States 25 years ago, and since then has been both personally and professionally engaged with the Asian communities in Georgia. This summer, StaRomana was recognized as one of the 25 most influential Asian-Americans in Georgia by the Georgia Asian American Times, a biweekly newspaper based in Suwanee, Ga.
WGAU Radio
Cultural Affairs Commission names Athens’ first-ever poet laureate
First public appearance scheduled for Sept 25
By Tim Bryant
The Athens Cultural Affairs Commission names Athens’ first-ever Poet Laureate: the post goes to University of Georgia alum Jeff Fallis, who teaches in the English department at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville.
Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern University’s Business Innovation Group Launches BIGx Accelerator
Regional entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses now have access to an accelerated business growth and leadership development program through the Georgia Southern University Business Innovation Group (BIG). The new program, BIGx, is an opportunity for business owners to gather and work alongside other entrepreneurs to enhance their success.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Here’s how much UGA is paying its NIL advisory firm
By Eric Jackson – Sports Business Reporter
The University of Georgia is adapting to the new era, preparing its athletes for the potential wins and losses that come with them being able to legally profit from their name, image and likeness. UGA’s athletic association hasn’t done it alone — hiring advisory firm Altius Sports Partners (ASP) this past April to educate not only its athletes but essentially everyone involved from parents to administrators. UGA is paying the firm $75,000 during its one-year deal, according to documents obtained by Atlanta Business Chronicle. Monthly payments of $6,250 to ASP show how programs like UGA are making investments to adequately prepare for this historic chapter.
News Medical Life Sciences
Shorter survival of multiple myeloma subgroup linked to worse kidney damage
Reviewed by Emily Henderson
Nearly 20% of patients with multiple myeloma have a form in which they make extreme quantities of one component of the abnormal antibody they are producing, and these so-called “free monoclonal light chains” pile up and damage the kidneys, investigators say. These patients likely could benefit most from early identification and additional interventions like plasmapheresis and dialysis, which would help remove the damaging, circulating light chains, says Dr. Gurmukh Singh, vice chair of clinical affairs for the Department of Pathology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA study finds pecans can help to lower cholesterol
By Nancy Clanton
Pecans are high in healthy fatty acids and fiber, both of which have been linked to lower cholesterol
Your elevated cholesterol levels might be driving you nuts, so it’s only right that a nut — specifically, the pecan — can help lower them. A new study by researchers at the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences reports the tree nut can dramatically improve your cholesterol. Researchers reported participants who ate pecans experienced a 5% drop in total cholesterol and a 6-9% drop in LDL. …According to the study, after just eight-weeks, participants at risk for cardiovascular disease showed significant improvement in total cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein, otherwise called LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
NewsBreak
AU Health launches virtual clinic with device for patients with chronic pain, movement disorders
By Renetta DuBose
Patients with chronic pain and movement disorders who don’t live near Augusta University can get medical treatment without having to travel. Abbott’s NeuroSphere Virtual Clinic launched Monday. It allows patients to meet remotely with doctors
Albany Herald
UGA study offers evidence of global salmonella spread
By Jennifer L Reynolds CAES News
Researchers at the University of Georgia have provided multifaceted evidence to suggest the likely origins behind the global spread of Salmonella Enteritidis, which has caused recurring outbreaks of the foodborne pandemic linked to poultry products. Using hypothesis-driven data mining, the research team, led by Xiangyu Deng of UGA’s Center for Food Safety, analyzed over 30,000 genomes of Salmonella Enteritidis obtained from global sources and the international trade of live poultry over five decades. The team concluded that the spread likely originated in poultry breeding stocks, or the progenitors chosen to produce future generations of chickens.
WUGA
UGA committee seeks input on COVID
By Martin Matheny
UGA’s COVID Response Committee is seeking input from members of the UGA community. The committee, which is tasked with bringing comments, questions, and suggestions to UGA administrators and COVID-related task forces, has created a short, anonymous survey for UGA faculty, staff and students.
WSAV
Georgia Southern teachers, students concerned about contact tracing on campus
by: Chase Justice
Teachers and students at Georgia Southern University are speaking out regarding concerns they have with the contact tracing system currently in place across all 26 University System of Georgia schools. …Currently, when a student tests positive for COVID-19 he or she must turn over a list of people they deem to have had close contact with. The problem, many students might not know the names of those they’re sharing the classroom with, especially in class sizes exceeding 50 students.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia State faculty latest to protest for stronger COVID-19 safety protocols
By Eric Stirgus
About two dozen Georgia State University educators and students held a rare demonstration on its Atlanta campus Monday to demand a mask mandate to limit the spread of COVID-19. The protest came just days after a staffer was fired after refusing to teach in person unless students are required to wear masks. Chanting “Stop the spread!,” the demonstrators asked Georgia State officials to break with the University System of Georgia and the state’s Board of Regents, which have strongly recommended, but have not required students wear masks or face coverings. “It doesn’t make sense to not mandate masks or vaccines and take other measures to keep people safe,” said Wendy Simonds, a sociology and gerontology professor at the university for more than 25 years.
See also:
11Alive
‘Stop the spread’ | Students, staff ask GSU to do more in fight against COVID-19
Group asks GSU’s president to issue a mask and vaccine mandate.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion: Georgia’s current COVID-19 crisis was not inevitable
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion: As COVID marches through schools, colleges, state leaders clear a path
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
With delta variant’s surge, doctoral students in public health implore state to enact protections
My morning emails from AJC readers have started to sound like battlefield reports. The COVID casualties shared with me today include a school cafeteria worker and a bus driver. A note about a student hospitalized with the virus. Middle school students confined to their classrooms because there are no subs. College professors resigning because they can’t require masks even though their health or that of a family member puts them in real danger from COVID-19. The leadership of the state of Georgia is failing, and our schools and campuses are paying too high a price. What is happening now is more damaging and more chaotic than a year ago. The delta variant is marching through our schools, and Gov. Brian Kemp and leaders in his service are clearing a path for it. And that includes the Board of Regents. Doctoral students in public health at Georgia State University sent this letter to the Board of Regents, which has abdicated its responsibility to ensure order and safety on the state’s campuses. The Regents, Kemp and the University System of Georgia are watching the wreckage burn from their cozy political cocoon.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Aug. 30)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,084,225
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 19,594 | 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.
13WMAZ
Kemp’s latest order calls up 1,500 more Georgia National Guard troops for COVID response
The governor held a press conference Monday to discuss COVID in Georgia.
Governor Brian Kemp and state officials gave an update on COVID-19 in Georgia on Monday afternoon. In it, he detailed his latest executive order that he signed earlier in the day. It calls up 1,500 additional Georgia National Guard troops to help with the state’s COVID-19 response. That raises the total statewide up to 2,500 troops helping hospitals and other healthcare groups. …Kemp also encouraged Georgians on the fence about being vaccinated to speak with their healthcare providers.
Pipeline Magazine
AT&T is a Technology and Connectivity Provider for Georgia
State of Georgia Selects AT&T as a Provider of Georgia Technology Authority Direct Solutions
Providing State, Local and Education customers with the Solutions Needed to Best Serve the Citizens of Georgia
The Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) awarded AT&T* as a GTA Direct technology and connectivity provider for state, local and education government customers. As part of GTA’s selection of AT&T, several cost-effective solutions are now available to public agencies. These options will help enhance connections in our communities – supporting a safer, smarter and stronger Georgia. The GTA Direct program provides a quick path to managed information technology (IT) services from pre-qualified providers and makes those services available to Georgia agencies, local governments, colleges and universities, and boards of education statewide.
Science Daily
Turning cameras off during virtual meetings can reduce fatigue
More than a year after the pandemic resulted in many employees shifting to remote work, virtual meetings have become a familiar part of daily life. Along with that may come “Zoom fatigue” — a feeling of being drained and lacking energy following a day of virtual meetings. New research conducted by Allison Gabriel, McClelland Professor of Management and Organizations and University Distinguished Scholar in the University of Arizona Eller College of Management, suggests that the camera may be partially to blame. Gabriel’s research, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, looks at the role of cameras in employee fatigue and explores whether these feelings are worse for certain employees. … After a four-week experiment involving 103 participants and more than 1,400 observations, Gabriel and her colleagues found that it is indeed more tiring to have your camera on during a virtual meeting. … Gabriel suggests that expecting employees to turn cameras on during Zoom meetings is not the best way to go. Rather, she says employees should have the autonomy to choose whether or not to use their cameras, and others shouldn’t make assumptions about distractedness or productivity if someone chooses to keep the camera off. …This research was co-authored by Eller doctoral student Mahira Ganster, Kristen M. Shockley with the University of Georgia,
Higher Education News:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Most Voters Support More Federal Spending on Higher Education
Rebecca Kelliher
As Congress negotiates the reconciliation budget plan, a survey from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy found that a large majority of voters favor increasing federal spending for higher education, a key principle in the budget plan so far. The survey briefed 2,613 registered voter respondents on the cost of higher education and the arguments for as well as against increasing federal spending, specifically for tuition-free community college. When respondents were first asked if the federal government should offer more financial aid for a college or university education, 64% of voters said that they support the idea. …Specifically, respondents looked at a proposal to raise the maximum amount of a Pell Grant for low-income students from $6,500 to $8,300 a year, figures based on President Biden’s American Families Plan and 2022 budget proposal.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Virtual Learning Provides Opportunity To Reach Military Students
Rebecca Kelliher
The pandemic thrust higher education institutions into virtual delivery almost overnight, but active-duty military members had been learning online for years already. Experts say lesser-resourced campuses, especially some historically Black universities and colleges (HBCUs), can tap into their potential to compete for these students — and the millions of dollars in federal tuition assistance that follows them — by honing their virtual delivery models.
Inside Higher Ed
Tracking Attacks on Scholars’ Speech
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education says threats against scholars’ speech rights increasingly come from students — and from the political left.
By Colleen Flaherty
The number of scholars targeted for their speech has risen dramatically since 2015, and undergraduates increasingly are to blame, according to a database of these incidents released today by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Undergraduates aren’t the only ones seeking to censor graduate students, instructors, professors and other researchers, FIRE’s database and an accompanying report make clear. But undergraduates’ prevalence within FIRE’s new database concerns the pro-speech group nonetheless.