University System News:
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia colleges tackle coming ‘demographic cliff’ with multiple strategies
By Randy Southerland – Contributing Writer
American higher education is facing a “demographic cliff.” A steep drop in the birth rate during the 2008 Great Recession is about to show up as a smaller number of traditional college-age students after 2025, reducing college enrollments and revenue. To meet this challenge, college and university officials, nationally and in Georgia, are pondering how to compete for fewer students. “We are beginning to see the effects of declining birth rates as the number of high school graduates has already decreased nationally,” said Lance Wallace, associate vice chancellor, communications, at the University System of Georgia (USG). The number of high school graduates nationally grew 8.8% from 2010 to 2020, according to a report by The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) quoted by Wallace. The number of high school graduates in the U.S is expected to decline by 1.7% from 2020 to 2030, according to the report.
Rome News-Tribune
New articulation agreement guarantees admission from GHC to UGA
An articulation agreement between Georgia Highlands College and the University of Georgia, GHC students will ensure that students who complete their associate degree in biology while taking specific courses in the biology pathway will be admitted into UGA’s Bachelor of Science in Microbiology program on their Griffin Campus, easing the transition toward obtaining a higher-level degree. “As most know, UGA has a very competitive admissions process, and this agreement gives students an alternative to admission into UGA,” Interim Dean for GHC’s School of science, technology, engineering and math Jason Christian said. This program is ideal for students interested in working in the growing fields around microbiology, immunology, industrial hygiene or public health. It also would allow a student to apply to medical school, veterinary school, physician assistant programs, or a whole variety of graduate schools. The articulation agreement is effective for the fall 2021 semester.
Capitol Beat
Rural Georgia lagging rest of state in quality-of-life indicators
by Dave Williams
Rural Georgia is suffering from failing schools, inadequate health care and lack of economic opportunity, conditions that make politicians’ boasts the state is No. 1 for doing business ring hollow. That’s the message Georgia lawmakers heard this week from experts who have been studying the plight of the Peach State’s rural communities for years. “With the exception of 11 or 12 counties, much of Georgia is in a very distressed situation,” David Bridges, interim director of the Georgia Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation, told members of the House Rural Development Council Wednesday. “If we’re going to be the No.-1 state for business, we must define the state as 159 counties, not 11 or 12.” It’s a message lawmakers have been hearing since 2017, when House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, created the council to look for ways to improve rural Georgia’s economy. Wednesday’s meeting marked a reboot of the council after a period of inactivity with new co-chairmen and many new members.
C4isrnet
Georgia cyber incubator tries to stoke military innovation
By Mark Pomerleau
The Georgia Cyber Center, a public-private collaboration to strengthen cybersecurity, wants to help improve the way the military develops technology. The two-building campus in this city about two hours outside Atlanta started with $106 million from the state as it tries to create a reputation as a “Silicon Valley of the South.” Companies, academic teams, and federal and state government entities — including varied defense contractors and some military satellite offices — rent spaces and collaborate in hopes of leading a revolution in cybersecurity.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Bojangles aims for bigger splash in college sports with UGA, Georgia Tech athlete deals
By Eric Jackson – Sports Business Reporter
Bojangles Inc. has partnered with college athletic programs for decades, but, over the last two months, the company has taken a slightly different approach — cutting deals with the athletes directly. The chain is using the opportunity provided by collegiate athletes gaining the right to profit from their name, image and likeness to double down on its effort to win over college sports fans nationwide while driving more engagement for its brand across the Southeast. In some areas of the country, the partnership with college athletes will help introduce their brand in new markets with franchises coming soon to Orlando and Columbus, Ohio. University of Georgia football players running back James Cook, defensive back Kelee Ringo and linebacker Adam Anderson have all signed on as brand ambassadors. Georgia Tech outfielder Stephen Reid has also inked a deal to promote their food, namely a new chicken sandwich.
The Science Times
Ron Jefferson
The asteroid Vesta was identified as one of the biggest asteroids at the cosmic wall floating between Jupiter and Mars, called the asteroid belt. The discovery of the massive asteroid poses new baffling questions to the astronomy experts, and these questions may not be resolved sooner than we expect.
…University of Georgia geology expert and co-author of the study Christian Klimczak said in a Space report that Vesta was apparently on is its transition to becoming a planet comparable to Earth. However, the planetary formation was disrupted sometime in the early age of the solar system. The expert said that the research revolving around Vesta could help us understand better what really happened during the asteroid’s early years and learn more about the details of our planet’s origin.
WTOC
GSU offering incentives to students to get vaccinated
By Dal Cannady
Georgia Southern University students can get money in their accounts for getting vaccinated. The university is offering incentives for them to get the shot. Students can put $50 in their campus account by getting vaccinated here. If they get vaccinated during this month, they’re in the running for weekly drawings or one grand prize. Campus leaders say they’re willing to do what it takes to get more students covered.
WSB Radio
UGA researcher thinks many are misinformed when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations
By Hunter Boyce and Sabrina Cupit
The COVID-19 delta variant is proverbially running rampant across the country. On Aug. 27, Georgia recorded its second-highest daily total of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. On Thursday, it was reported that the Peach State is now facing the highest number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Despite health officials repeatedly claiming that vaccination is a useful weapon against the pandemic, many Georgians still feel hesitant about receiving Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson or Moderna’s vaccine shots. One UGA researcher believes that many people are simply misinformed when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination. “I think there is some misunderstanding going around that if you had COVID-19, you don’t need to be vaccinated.” University of Georgia researcher John Drake said, speaking to 95.5 WSB’s Sabrina Cupit. “That’s not true.” John Drake also noted that receiving a COVID-19 vaccination also provides significant protection against the threatening delta variant.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
What pandemic-induced online learning taught Georgia colleges and universities
By Martin Sinderman – Contributing Writer
Whether Atlanta area colleges were newcomers to online learning or experienced at it, they are taking lessons learned from fully remote learning during the pandemic into the future. Among the experienced institutions is the University of West Georgia, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and serves more than 13,400 students across campuses in Carrollton, Douglasville, and Newnan. UWG has been investing in online learning since the early 1990s. In 1999, its distance education graduate programs ranked number one in producing more credit hours than any other similar program in the University System of Georgia (USG).
The Washington Post
By Andrea Salcedo
After more than a year of working from home, lecturer Cornelia Lambert was days away from returning to the University of North Georgia to teach a seminar on the history of infectious diseases when she began having second thoughts. Several things worried her. Coronavirus cases tied to the highly transmissible delta variant were on the rise. Although she is vaccinated, Lambert feared the possibility of infecting her immunocompromised husband. But above all, she said, there was no way to make her classroom safe for her students since she could not require masks or proof of vaccination. Lambert, who received her university’s “Excellence in Online Teaching Award” earlier this year, asked if she could teach her fall courses virtually. The university declined, she said. “The next day, I quit,” Lambert, 45, told The Washington Post. “I was going to feel like a fraud sitting there and talking to my students about public health while being paid by an institution that’s ignoring public health.”
WTVM
CSU professor talks leading demonstration over COVID-19 safety concerns
By Dajhea Jones
Columbus State University(CSU) professor Brian Schwartz joined WTVM anchor Barbara Gauthier on News Leader 9 at 5:30 Thursday evening over Zoom. Schwartz is the leader of the demonstration calling attention to he says are “unsafe working and learning conditions.” Students and professors plan on calling on CSU officials to reinstate the indoor mask mandate and make changes to social distancing in the classroom. Right now no mask, vaccine or social distancing mandates are in place at any of the colleges within the University system of Georgia including CSU and the University of Georgia.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
KSU placed on lockdown after deadly shooting near campus
By Shaddi Abusaid
Students told to resume normal operations after suspect detained
Kennesaw State University was placed on lockdown Thursday afternoon following a deadly shooting at an apartment complex near campus. Students and staff were instructed to shelter in place after a man was killed at the TownPark Crossing apartments along Busbee Parkway near Kennesaw, officials said. Cobb County police were called to the complex about 3:30 p.m. and found a man shot inside an apartment, agency spokesman Sgt. Wayne Delk told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The victim, whose name has not been released, died of his injuries. …There was a large police presence on campus during the search, and one KSU officer was seen carrying a rifle outside a dormitory as students looked on from their balconies. The lockdown was lifted shortly after 6 p.m. when one suspect was taken into custody, police and school officials said.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Sept. 2)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,103,756
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 19,936 | 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
How Online Learning Fits in This Fall
Colleges are taking different approaches in terms of how they’re using online learning in the second fall with COVID.
By Elizabeth Redden
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, originally planned to hold about 80 percent of its courses this year in person, and 20 percent online, which would have compared with a pre-pandemic baseline of about 90 percent of courses in person and 10 percent online. But with the summer surge in coronavirus cases, the university in July opted to rethink the schedule. About 60 percent of fall courses will now be in person, and 40 percent will be remote. “We were hearing concerns from students who, given the circumstances in Las Vegas and Nevada, were not as comfortable coming to campus as they had anticipated being,” said Chris L. Heavey, UNLV’s provost. “We opened up the schedule in July and asked people to try to accommodate student requests for online instruction and also gave faculty who felt like they were no longer comfortable teaching in-person the option of switching their courses to remote, with a preference toward remote synchronous.” UNLV is not alone in grappling with how to respond to the changing public health circumstances. With vaccines to prevent COVID-19 having become readily available, many colleges by and large planned for a return to in-person instruction this fall — and then the highly transmissible Delta variant came along.
Inside Higher Ed
Advocates say now is the time for colleges and universities to move “beyond the box” and stop asking criminal history questions on admissions applications. A Senate bill would help make that happen.
By Alexis Gravely
At the end of last year, Congress directed the Department of Education to make changes to federal financial aid by allowing incarcerated students to access Pell Grants and removing the drug conviction question from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. But there’s still one more action the Legislature can take to boost access to higher education for those in the criminal justice system — guiding colleges and universities to remove criminal history questions from their admissions processes. Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, reintroduced a bill at the beginning of August that would do just that. Called the Beyond the Box for Higher Education Act of 2021, it would direct the department to issue guidance and recommendations for institutions on removing criminal and juvenile justice questions from admissions applications. The legislation is the result of extensive conversations between the senator, individuals in the criminal justice system and higher education institutions and associations, said David Hawkins, chief education and policy officer at the National Association for College Admission Counseling.