University System News:
InsiderAdvantage
Georgia Senate examining growth in university fees
by Dave Williams, James Magazine
Ever-increasing fees the University System of Georgia’s (USG) 26 colleges and universities charge students are making it harder to afford a college education in the Peach State, a state senator said Wednesday. The fees even part-time and graduate students are forced to pay each semester have grown significantly, particularly since the Great Recession, Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, told members of a Senate study committee created this year to examine the issue and make recommendations. “Every parent of a USG student sees a long list of fees when they pay the tuition bill,” she said. That bill doesn’t make them happy, especially when the HOPE scholarship doesn’t cover fees.” Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, who joined Harrell in sponsoring the resolution creating the study committee, said the fees became a greater concern when the coronavirus pandemic shut down college campuses last year, making student activities financed by many of the fees unavailable. “That made us all more interested in where the fees go,” he said.
See also:
Athens Banner-Herald
Georgia Senate examining growth in University System of Georgia fees
Augusta CEO
USG Institutions See Early Declines in COVID-19 Cases Amid Progress with Vaccination Campaigns
The University System of Georgia (USG) continues to encourage students, faculty and staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and wear masks inside campus facilities, with institutions beginning to report declines in early spikes of positive COVID-19 cases on their campuses. Each of USG’s 26 public colleges and universities continues to monitor COVID-19 positivity numbers. As happened last fall and spring, some campuses experienced increases in positive COVID-19 tests as classes launched for fall semester several weeks ago. These increases have typically been followed by declines as the semester has continued, and several USG institutions are reporting similar campus trends now. Those include Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Clayton State University, Columbus State University, Fort Valley State University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Southern University, Kennesaw State University, the University of North Georgia and the University of Georgia, which this week have all reported a decline in cases.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC COVID-19 college tracker: UGA reports big drop in new cases
By Eric Stirgus
University of Georgia COVID-19 cases declined significantly over the past week, a trend also seen in data from some of the state’s other large colleges and universities. A shortened school week due to the Labor Day holiday potentially contributed to the decline. New cases at UGA dropped from 514 between Aug. 30 and Sept. 5, to 164 between Sept. 6 and Sept. 12, according to a weekly report posted on its website Wednesday morning. UGA has consistently had the highest number of new cases among all Georgia colleges and universities since the semester started last month. UGA has pushed students to get vaccinated, through constant messages on social media and even offering prizes up to $1,000 for those who’ve been vaccinated.
WSB Radio
UGA seeing sharp decline in COVID cases
By Bill Caiaccio and Nicole Bennett
The University of Georgia is seeing a sharp decline in COVID cases. The University Health Center (UHC) reported a little more than 160 cases last week, down from more than 500 the week before. Cases are now below the number at the start of fall semester. UGA’s Dr. Shelley Nuss says she hopes the downward trend holds. She adds that there was a similar pattern last fall when cases peaked shortly after classes began, then fell substantially before eventually leveling off.
WGAU Radio
UGA to hold vaccine event on Gwinnett Co campus
Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson available
By Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia is holding a COVID 19 vaccination event at its Gwinnett County campus. UGA has partnered with the Gwinnett County Public Health Department for the event that gets underway at 1 o’clock at the campus in Lawrenceville.
From the UGA master calendar…
The Gwinnett campus has partnered with CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) and the Gwinnett County Health Department to bring COVID-19 vaccines to the Gwinnett campus. Students, faculty, staff, and members of the public are welcome to come and receive their Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Walk-ins are welcome, but registration in advance is encouraged.
Albany Herald
Report: Albany State has $181.9 million impact on local economy
From staff reports
Albany State University continues to be an important contributor to southwest Georgia’s regional economy. An annual economic impact study shows that in Fiscal Year 2020 ASU contributed $181.9 million to the local economy, supported 2,328 jobs and businesses in eight local counties where its students, faculty and staff live, work and shop. ASU’s regional impact is part of the University System of Georgia’s collective statewide impact. Albany State’s 2020 graduates who work in Georgia are expected to bring in a combined of $2.7 billion in lifetime earnings, of which $866.8 million can be attributed to their degrees. The University provides opportunities for nearly 6,000 students each year to grow and explore paths that can make a difference in the world and in the lives of others.
Digital Journal
2021 Most Affordable Online Master’s Programs Ranking Announced by EDsmart
By GetNews
EDsmart.org, a nationally recognized publisher of college resources and independent rankings, has released the 2021 edition of the Most Affordable Online Master’s Programs to help prospective students and their families research top online Master’s programs in the U.S. EDsmart’s ranking of the Most Affordable Online Master’s Programs is the most comprehensive and well-rounded to date. The ranking includes only fully accredited schools. Rankings are based on affordability according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.
2021 Most Affordable Online Master’s Programs
University of West Georgia; Valdosta State University; Georgia Southern University; Georgia College & State University; Kennesaw State University; Columbus State University; Georgia Institute of Technology
Gwinnett Daily Post
Georgia Gwinnett College student wins national awards for biodiesel research
From staff reports
A group of Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) students and faculty from across multiple disciplines have been doing research that is making a real-world impact on the science of biodiesel fuel. “Our Environmental Research Cluster is a collaboration of six students and faculty from throughout GGC, and not just science students as we have had students in the School of Liberal Arts also working on projects,” said David Pursell, professor of chemistry and environmental science and one of the overseeing faculty. …2021 graduate Evelyn Calina, who was part of an Environmental Research Cluster of six students and faculty from throughout GGC that worked on the biodiesel project, recently received the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Student Award for her work on the project and for her overall excellence in undergraduate studies. She is the fifth GGC student in the GGC Environmental Research Cluster to win the prestigious award, which is given to only about 20 students per year.
Albany Herald
PHOTOS: Albany State University What’s Up Wednesday – Plant Initiative Adoption Day
Photos contributed by Reginald Christian
Scenes from the What’s Up Wednesday event, Plant Initiative Adoption Day, on Wednesday, September 15, 2021.
Rockdale Newton Citizen
PHOTOS: The five players who integrated the University of Georgia’s football team in 1971
Valdosta Today
VSU Police Chief Alan Rowe honored with 40 Under 40 Award
The IACP 40 Under 40 Award annually recognizes talented, accomplished, and dedicated law enforcement professionals from around the world who demonstrate leadership and exemplify commitment to their profession. The 2021 honorees were 72.5 percent United States-based and 27.5 percent international-based law enforcement professionals. “While being included in this year’s class of 40 Under 40 is technically a personal achievement, it’s moreover a testament to the relationship the VSU Police Department has strived to build with our campus community,” said Rowe, who knew that he wanted to help serve and protect others from an early age. “Being part of this group of global leaders, representing nine countries, reinvigorates my drive to serve our students and help them succeed. I’m proud of the team our police department has built and am humbled to serve alongside them daily.”
Albany Herald
Georgia HOPE Scholarship Program reaches 2 million milestone
From staff reports
Gov. Brian Kemp has announced the HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) Scholarship Program has helped more than 2 million Georgia students pursue post-secondary education in Georgia. “The HOPE Scholarship Program has been a game-changer for our state and helped over 2 million Georgia students achieve greater opportunity,” Kemp said in a news release. “With more than $12.6 billion awarded, HOPE has allowed Georgia students to pursue education beyond high school and laid the foundation for Georgia’s recognition as the No. 1 state for business for eight years in a row.”
Georgia Recorder
Georgia’s college-bound students hit SAT highs despite pandemic turmoil
By: Ross Williams
Georgia’s class of 2021 showed significant increases in their SAT scores and performed better than the national average, though significantly fewer students took the test than in previous years. Public school students across the state increased their average math score from 511 to 531 over last year’s class, and evidence-based reading and writing went from 532 to 546. Overall, the average Georgia student’s SAT score was 1077, 39 points higher than the national average. “Despite the fact that part of their high-school education took place against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia’s class of 2021 did an outstanding job on the SAT — both increasing scores and outperforming their counterparts in the nation’s public schools,” said State School Superintendent Richard Woods in a statement. “I am extremely proud of these students and these scores are a testament to their hard work, and the hard work of educators in Georgia’s public schools who continue to offer stellar educational opportunities despite the challenges of the last year and a half.” Likely due to those challenges, fewer students signed up to take the test in the last year, according to data from the College Board, which administers the SAT. …Many Georgia universities allowed students to apply without submitting test scores last year. The University System of Georgia announced in May that test score admission requirements will resume for the spring 2022 semester, but many Georgia students are hoping to study out of state or at a private college, and those schools are taking a variety of approaches to testing.
The Current
Research connects black gill in shrimp to warming climate
Although harmless for human consumption, parasitic disease can cut harvests for coastal shrimpers.
by Mary Landers
…A pretty good haul this year to shrimpers like the Bennetts means fewer cases of the parasitic shrimp disease called black gill. Black gill is harmless to people who consume shellfish but it makes life difficult for the businesses involved in Georgia’s $11.5 million shrimp industry. The black color comes from the shrimp’s immune response to the pa-rasite, which decreases the harvest. It likely kills some shrimp outright and then slows down others enough to make them susceptible to non-human predators, who also like to dine on these little morsels. …The parasite is a ciliate called Hyalophysa lynni, named for a Canadian biologist, Denis Lynn, a “ciliate guru” and who died in 2018. Frischer and a group of scientists including Skidaway colleagues Dick Lee and Tina Walters and lead author Stephen Landers of Troy University published their identification of the species in a paper published in January 2020 in the European Journal of Protistology.
c&en
Australian wildfires caused unprecedented ocean algae blooms
The 2019-20 burns emitted twice as much CO2 than previously thought and seeded the ocean thousands of kilometers away with nutrients
by Emily Harwitz
Intensified by prolonged drought and high temperatures, the wildfires that blazed through Australia’s bush in 2019-20 were severe, torching around 74,000 km2 of eucalyptus forest. These fires spewed more than twice as much carbon dioxide as previously estimated, increasing the country’s anthropogenic carbon emissions by more than a third over the year before, according to a new analysis (Nature 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03712-y). The fires also released huge amounts of nutrient-containing aerosols into the atmosphere. Researchers have now linked these emissions to an extraordinary algal bloom bigger than the Australian continent that formed several thousand kilometers away in the Southern Ocean (Nature 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03805-8). …Cliffton Buck, a chemical oceanographer at University of Georgia’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography who was not involved with the study, was shocked at the size of the bloom, which he says was “far beyond anything and of such a greater magnitude than I would have anticipated.” Algae absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, but it is unclear where that captured carbon will go after the phytoplankton die. Buck is interested to see what happens as the bloom dissipates and how that will impact the carbon cycle and marine food webs.
Augusta CEO
MCG Student Writes Children’s Book on How to Deal with the Pandemic
A lot has been written about the coronavirus in the last 15 months — and most of it is intimidating medical content. But Medical College of Georgia student Wesley Walters took it to a different level by writing a children’s book, The Virus That Came To Town. Walters has been taught educating parents and children is just as important as healing them, thus the book. He got the idea just as the pandemic started. He was working with children at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and realized he had to reteach them some public health initiatives, like washing your hands and staying home when you’re not feeling well. He figured a book would be the best tool to do just that.
WTOC
GSU Statesboro campus takes part in statewide mask ban protest
By Dal Cannady
Many Georgia Southern University faculty in Statesboro and Savannah want the Board of Regents to require masks on campus and other steps to limit the spread of COVID. They’re gathering once a day each day this week. Faculty at Georgia Southern and around the state continue to gather and voice their concerns over what they say is a lack of COVID protections during this pandemic. Wednesday marked the third day of a week-long campaign to urge the Board of Regents to require masks and bring back more of the other protocols that were in place last year. Speakers pointed out local hospital case numbers and the strain felt in the medical community caring for COVID patients. Faculty members say they feel especially vulnerable in large class settings where they’re in even closer contact with people could be infected and not even know it.
Cobb County Courier
Kennesaw State Professors, Students Demonstrate In Favor Of Mask Mandates
By Arielle Robinson
A mix of Kennesaw State University student and faculty groups protested Monday and are protesting every weekday this week to call for mask mandates and other COVID-19 safety protocols at the university. The protests are directed at the University System of Georgia, rather than KSU, as KSU follows USG policies. The protests are also a coordinated effort between 16 USG schools. Similar protests are occurring at schools like Georgia State University, the University of Georgia, the University of West Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology, among others.
Fox5
Nearly all gorillas at Atlanta’s zoo test positive for COVID
By Ron Harris
At least 18 of the 20 gorillas at Atlanta’s zoo have now tested positive for COVID-19, an outbreak that began just days before the zoo had hoped to obtain a veterinary vaccine for the primates, officials said Tuesday. Zoo Atlanta had announced the first positive tests among the western lowland gorillas on Friday after employees noticed the gorillas had been coughing, had runny noses and showed changes in appetite. A veterinary lab at the University of Georgia returned positive tests for the respiratory illness.
WTOC
Georgia Southern Police investigating reported shooting on Statesboro campus
By WTOC Staff
Georgia Southern University Police are investigating a reported shooting on their Statesboro campus. The reported shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. near Kennedy Hall. Campus officials say a person who was injured reportedly refused treatment. The Georgia Southern University Office of Public Safety says the reported assailant was seen driving away from campus and police do not believe there is a continued threat to the campus community.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Sept. 15)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,173,584
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 20,971 | 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
Detailing Last Fall’s Online Enrollment Surge
Number of students studying exclusively or partially online ballooned in fall 2020, especially among undergraduates and at public universities.
By Doug Lederman
It won’t be clear for a good while whether and how much the last year’s grand, unplanned experiment with remote learning has permanently altered the landscape for using technology to deliver college instruction. A first step, though, is getting good data on how patterns shifted during the last year — and that is beginning to arrive. New data from the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, and additional information from the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA), offer an initial picture of how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped postsecondary enrollments patterns last fall. They show — likely surprising no one — that many more students received all or part of their education in fall 2020 through what the federal agency calls “distance education courses.” While colleges and universities enrolled 650,000 fewer students in fall 2020 than they did in fall 2019 (as Inside Higher Ed detailed Wednesday), roughly two-thirds of the remaining students were educated either wholly (44.7 percent) or partially (28 percent) virtually. About a quarter, 27 percent, were not enrolled in any remote education courses.
Inside Higher Ed
Did the exam lose the lowest-income students?
By Scott Jaschik
About 1.5 million students in the high school Class of 2021 took the SAT at least once — down 700,000 from the Class of 2020. “Many students attempted to take the SAT but were unfortunately unable to due to widespread COVID-related disruptions, with more than 1 million test registrations cancelled as schools and test centers had to close or reduce capacity,” said a report from the College Board. In response to the pandemic, the College Board paused testing in March, May and June of 2020, affecting the ability of members of the Class of 2021 to test.
Inside Higher Ed
Judging a Degree by the Program, Not the College
Two new studies examine which degree programs at which institutions offer graduates the best chance of recouping their costs and repaying their loans.
By Susan H. Greenberg
Students pursuing a college degree generally have a sense of where their institution ranks in comparison to others, but not necessarily how their particular course of study measures up. Now they can find out. Using data from the latest College Scorecard, two new studies look much more granularly at how specific programs — say, the bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Texas at Austin — rate in helping recent graduates recoup their investments. The two studies — one from the center-left think tank Third Way and the other from the more conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation — concur that while most college programs help graduates secure jobs that will allow them to repay their loans or recoup their costs within a few years, a sizable number do not. And knowing which is which, argue the authors of both, can not only help students make better-informed program choices but also guide policy makers in holding institutions accountable for failing programs.