University System News:
Albany CEO
USG Institutions well Represented in Latest U.S. News Rankings
Georgia remains one of only three states with at least two institutions in the top 16 public institutions in the nation, with a number of University System of Georgia (USG) institutions appearing in significant categories for the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings. Georgia Institute of Technology ranked 10th in the nation and the University of Georgia ranked 16th in the best public universities category while Georgia State University ranked as the nation’s No. 2 most innovative university in the nation, as well as No. 2 for best undergraduate teaching. Several USG institutions also scored among the best in the South, and overall USG institutions performed well in the regional rankings.
11Alive
54 people in the university’s faculty say they are requiring masks inside their classrooms until COVID transmission rates improve.
Author: 11Alive Staff, Thais Ackerman
The chancellor of the University of Georgia is now responding after over 50 faculty members said they are requiring masks. Fifty four people in the university’s faculty are requiring masks inside their classrooms until COVID transmission rates improve, and say they are aware of the possible consequences that follow their decision. In a Sept. 20 letter, UGA Professor Jeffrey Bennetzen wrote the following on behalf of faculty members: “In order to protect our students, staff and faculty colleagues, we will wear masks and will require all of our students and staff to wear masks in our classes and laboratories until local community transmission rates improve, despite the ban on mask mandates and the USG policy to punish, and potentially fire, any faculty taking this action.” Teresa MacCartney, Chancellor of University of Georgia, responded on Wednesday. “Due to this decline in transmission, your intent to disregard USG policy and require masks ‘until local transmission rates improve’ is not necessary,” she said in a statement. The move goes against the University System of Georgia’s guidance, which encourages masks but does not mandate them. Right now, UGA’s voluntary surveillance testing data suggests COVID-19 cases on campus are declining.
11Alive (video broadcast)
USG chancellor responds to faculty’s mask mandate
Athens CEO
Reports of COVID-19 Decline Sharply at UGA for Second Consecutive Week
For the second consecutive week, cases of COVID-19 have declined significantly at the University of Georgia, with 77 cases reported for the week of Sept. 13-19, compared to 164 cases the preceding week. The decline represents a 53% drop in cases over a one-week period and an 85% decline since the peak two weeks ago. The University Health Center (UHC) posted the data as part of the weekly update on its website Wednesday morning. Of the 77 cases reported in DawgCheck, 51 were students, 24 were staff members and two were faculty.
Americus Times Recorder
GSW raises nearly $100,000 on Day of Giving from 44 states
By Ken Gustafson
Georgia Southwestern State University’s (GSW) third annual Day of Giving, which ran midnight to midnight on Thursday, September 16, doubled the initial goal of $50,000, netting a total of $99,925.50 for the University surpassing last year’s amount by over 188%.
WGAU Radio
UNG to use federal grant for work on STEM pilot program
Funding from the National Science Foundation
By Tim Bryant
The University of North Georgia gets a $359 thousand grant from the National Science Foundation. UNG says the money will be used on a pilot program designed to increase the ranks of teachers in the STEM disciplines.
13WMAZ
Middle Georgia State University, Macon leaders cut ribbon for new enrollment center
The Peyton T. Anderson Enrollment Center sits at the front of the Macon campus.
Author: Kayla Solomon
Middle Georgia State University hopes to attract more students by making it easier to get started at their university. That’s why they’ve invested millions of dollars in a new enrollment center. Macon-Bibb and Middle Georgia State University gathered for a ribbon cutting of the Peyton T. Anderson Enrollment Center on Thursday. Prospective students will use the 8,000 square foot building to apply for admission, get financial aid, register for classes, and more. Dr. Christopher Blake, president of the university, says this center is more than just an addition for the school. He says it can help the surrounding community as well.
WTOC
Tybee organizations, Georgia Southern working to create Black history trail
By Mariah Congedo
Georgia Southern University and several organizations on Tybee Island are working together to create a Black history trail on the island. Their idea is to uncover the stories, often untold, about the island’s Black community. This all stems from last summer when the island passed the Race and Equity Resolution. Right now, the project is in its early stages, but one day those involved say everyone here, visitors and residents, will know of Tybee’s sometimes overlooked historic black community. The Tybee MLK Organization, Tybee Historical Society and GSU are partnering up to discover the stories of the Black community that organizers say once thrived on the island.
WGAU Radio
Report ranks UGA, other schools on graduating Pell Grant recipients
79.5 six-year graduation rate
By Tim Bryant
In a list published by The Chronicle of Higher Education, the University of Georgia ranks 23rd among four-year public universities for its graduation rate among students who receive federal Pell Grants. The report says UGA has a 79.5 percent six-year graduation rate for its Pell Grant recipients. The Chronicle says the University has the twentieth highest number of students who get the grants.
Athens CEO
Congressional Agricultural Fellowship Creating Generations of Leaders
Caroline Hinton
For more than 20 years, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) has encouraged students to explore an important, yet often overlooked, side of Georgia’s leading industry. Since its creation in 1997, the Congressional Agricultural Fellowship has offered 123 students a firsthand look into the world of agricultural policy by placing them in legislative offices located in the nation’s capital. Each summer, a handful of CAES students move to Delta Hall in Washington, D.C., to represent the college and serve as agricultural liaisons in Georgia’s congressional offices. Regardless of when these students served as Ag Fellows, there is a universal agreement among them: The experience is instrumental to personal and professional growth.
Tifton Gazette
New Dawg unleashed at veterinary lab
By Davis Cobb
The University of Georgia’s Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Laboratory recently acquired a new team member in the form of Bunson, the latest Dawg statue. Part of an initiative by the UGA Tifton campus’ Agribusiness Club and Collegiate FFA, Bunson is the 16th in a series of Dawgs that have been placed around town to observe the 100th anniversary of UGA’s Tifton campus. For the Veterinary and Diagnostic Investigational Lab, the statue represents its anniversary also, mark the 75th anniversary of the lab’s presence in Tifton. The lab has been a part of Tifton and UGA for more than 75 years. It has supported not only the university but more than 150 Georgia counties and some neighboring states in its full-service animal diagnostics.
MedicalXpress
Mathematical constructions of COVID virus activity could provide new insight for vaccines, treatment
Mathematical constructions of the action of SARS-CoV-2 and its multiple spikes, which enable its success at infecting cells, can give vaccine developers and pharmaceutical companies alike a more precise picture of what the virus is doing inside us and help fine tune prevention and treatment, mathematical modelers say. Mathematical construction enables examination of the activity of individual virus particles including the emergence of new spikes—and more severe infection potential—that can result when a single virus particle infects a human cell, says Dr. Arni S.R. Rao, director of the Laboratory for Theory and Mathematical Modeling in the Section of Infectious Diseases at the Medical College of Georgia. The number of spikes and the way they are distributed on a virus particle are believed to be key in the spread of the virus, Rao and his colleague Dr. Steven G. Krantz, professor of mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, write in the Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications.
The Red & Black
Protests for campus COVID-19 mandates went beyond UGA
Jake Drukman
The University of Georgia’s campus was alight with protests between Sept. 13-17, as some students, faculty and staff called for the University System of Georgia to implement mask and vaccine mandates on its 26 campuses. The calls for these precautions were not confined to UGA, but spanned 16 USG campuses across the state, according to Mikaela Warner, a member of UGA’s chapter of the United Campus Workers of Georgia. The protests were organized by UCWGA — which has members at 20 campuses, according to the organization’s website — and the American Association of University Professors. Student newsrooms at Kennesaw State University, Columbus State University, Georgia Southern University and other campuses have covered the protests around the state. Paul Grant, co-president of UCWGA and a professor at Georgia Gwinnett College, said he felt the protests were well-attended and respectful.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Sept. 23)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,203,812
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 21,865 | 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 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Comcast expanding low-cost Internet to Pell Grant recipients
By Leon Stafford
Comcast is expanding one of its lower-cost monthly plans to college students receiving Pell Grants. The cable giant announced earlier this week that students receiving the federal funding will now qualify for its Internet Essentials offering, which costs about $10 a month for residents meeting a specific income threshold. The Pell Grant expansion is part of Comcast’s Project Up, a $1 billion effort by the Philadelphia-based company to help 50 million people better connect and prosper digitally.
Inside Higher Ed
Groups Ask Senate to Repeal Pell Grant Taxability
By Alexis Gravely
Nineteen higher education organizations and associations are urging senators to preserve a provision in the Build Back Better Act that would repeal the taxability of Pell Grants once the upper chamber begins its work on the budget reconciliation bill. Currently, the portion of Pell Grants spent on nontuition expenses is taxable, adding to the cost of attendance for low-income students, the groups wrote in a letter to Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and ranking member Mike Crapo, a Republican from Idaho. The tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee included the repeal in its portion of the budget reconciliation bill last week.
Inside Higher Ed
COVID’s Impact on the Return to Campus: The Key Podcast
By Doug Lederman
This week’s episode of The Key examines how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting institutions, students and employees as most colleges and universities strive to keep their reopened campuses … open. Elizabeth Redden, a senior reporter who has driven Inside Higher Ed’s coverage of the pandemic since its earliest days, joins The Key to discuss a wide range of issues: Enormous variation in how the coronavirus — and politics related to the pandemic — are playing out in different parts of the country.
How students are complying with their colleges’ vaccination mandates.
What we know, and may not know, about the state of COVID infection on campuses.
Inside Higher Ed
University of Notre Dame to Require Flu Shots for Students
By Maria Carrasco
The University of Notre Dame announced Wednesday it is requiring all students to get vaccinated against the flu in order to minimize the cases of influenza on campus and preserve testing resources for COVID-19. Undergraduate, graduate and professional students must get a flu shot by Monday, Nov. 1. Those who don’t receive the shot or have a valid exemption will find a hold on their accounts, preventing them from registering for classes.
Inside Higher Ed
Colleges Scramble to Educate Students on Sexual Health
Back on campus, students are ready to party. Officials are ramping up efforts to promote safe sex and prevent assault.
By Maria Carrasco
Students are returning to campus after more than a year of remote learning, and they’re ready to party. Already, reports show raucous parties on some campuses, with students drinking, dancing, socializing and hooking up until late into the night. While students reunite with one another and their campus communities, many colleges are trying to figure out how to help them socialize responsibly by re-engaging them on matters of sexual health and sexual assault prevention. Laura Palumbo, communications director for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, said it’s especially important for colleges to educate new students on sexual assault prevention during the red zone, the time spanning the start of the fall semester through Thanksgiving break, when, statistically, more than 50 percent of all college sexual assaults occur.