University System News:
Statesboro Herald
MCG moves forward with efforts to send rural Georgia more primary-care doctors
Shortens curriculum to 3 years; grows full-tuition scholarship for doctors to practice in rural areas
Al Hackle/Staff
Since Augusta University President Brooks Keel first talked about the initiative during a visit to Statesboro two years ago, the university and its Medical College of Georgia have moved forward with efforts to speed more doctors to the state’s rural and underserved areas.
Americus Times Recorder
By Ken Gustafson
Georgia Southwestern State University is celebrating its 115 Anniversary this year. The University is holding multiple events throughout the year as they look back on 115 years of educational excellence, tradition, and transformation. They hosted a Birthday Bash, complete with a custom 115-logo birthday cake, on Tuesday, Oct. 5 as part of Blue and Gold Week – the school’s fall spirit week. Numerous GSW students and alumni shared their personal GSW experiences and brief tidbits of institution history on the school’s founding, historical buildings, traditions, prestigious alumni, and the evolving names.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
These Were Last Fall’s Winners and Losers in Undergraduate Enrollment
By Jacquelyn Elias
A steady stream of surveys last year revealed drops in undergraduate enrollment, by 3.6 percent in the fall and 4.9 percent in the spring. Beneath those top-line numbers, many questions remained unanswered: How did different states, regions, and locales fare? Which institutions, specifically, experienced gains and losses? The Chronicle used preliminary federal data released last month to gauge how enrollment varied last fall and whether geography was a factor in how colleges performed. We analyzed fall 2020 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics for over 3,000 institutions across regions and sectors. Fewer than a third of those institutions saw undergraduate enrollment grow from 2019. The biggest growth was among for-profit colleges. Of the 124 institutions whose undergraduate enrollment grew by more than a third, seven out of 10 were for-profit colleges — though they also account for just 15 percent of the total group analyzed.
Explore Biggest Gains and Losses Among Colleges, by State
Table depicts the 10 colleges in each state with the biggest increases and the 10 with the biggest drops in the number of first-time, full-time freshmen enrolled. …Kennesaw State University; Georgia Southern University; Valdosta State University; Fort Valley State University; Georgia State University; Columbus State University; Clayton State University; Georgia Institute of Technology; University of North Georgia; University of Georgia
Douglas Now
Sgsc Signs Articulation Agreement, Students Can Now Receive Four-Year Education Degree Locally
South Georgia State College (SGSC), Wiregrass Georgia Technical College (WGTC) and Coastal Pines Technical College (CPTC) announced a historic collaboration that will provide education students an opportunity to obtain an elementary and special education four-year degree locally. With the signing of the articulation agreement on September 29, 2021, students can now seamlessly transfer from WGTC and CPTC into the Bachelor of Science in Elementary and Special Education program at SGSC. The dream of a four-year program became a reality when SGSC partnered with the University of North Georgia in 2018 to design, develop and implement an elementary and special education degree that was much needed and requested for this community and region. With the support of the University System of Georgia and the Board of Regents and the work of many at SGSC, the program officially began fall semester of 2019. Memorandums of understanding have been signed with local school districts in order for the education students to train with college professors and also participate in intensive levels of clinical experiences in public school classrooms.
NewsBreak
Paceline Ride Donates $126,000 to Advance Research Projects at the Georgia Cancer Center
The Paceline Ride, LLC team delivered a check for $126,000 to the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University. The Paceline Ride, LLC team delivered a check for $126,000 to the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University. The money will be divided up and handed out through an application process for cancer research projects.
Athens CEO
UGA Again Ranks in the Top 5 for New Products to Market
Michael Terrazas
For the eighth straight year, the University of Georgia has placed among the top U.S. universities for number of commercial products created from its research by industry partners. This year, UGA ranked No. 2 in the latest survey data provided by the organization AUTM. AUTM, formerly known as the Association of University Technology Managers, supports research commercialization activities among universities and other research institutions. For the past four years, UGA has been ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 for new commercial products brought to market by industry partners. In each of the eight years AUTM has collected data for this metric, UGA has placed in the Top 5. The new report is based on data from fiscal year 2020.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Pharma giant Gilead Sciences considered Atlanta before selecting Raleigh for 275-job expansion
By Erin Schilling – Technology Reporter/ Atlanta Inno,
A global pharmaceutical company considered Atlanta for hundreds of high-paying jobs before choosing to expand in Raleigh. California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) opened the $5 million, 275-job business center earlier this year. It is estimated to grow North Carolina’s economy by $1.1 billion in the next 12 years, according to the Triangle Business Journal. Atlanta was a frontrunner for the center during negotiations in late 2020. The Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Development Authority of Fulton County offered $7 million in tax incentives to lure the $24 billion company, according to project documents. The incentives included a development grant, University System of Georgia out-of-state tuition waivers for employees, a Georgia Quick Start training grant and tax credits calculated based on the number of high-paying jobs, according to the documents.
Albany Herald
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College returns to Sunbelt Expo Oct. 19-21
From staff reports
From ABAC souvenirs to a basket of prizes every day, visitors to the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition at Spence Field near Moultrie on Oct. 19-21 have plenty of reasons to make a stop at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College building. Because of the pandemic, the Expo was not held last year. Director of Alumni Relations Lynda Fisher said she is ready to be back with ABAC at the Expo. “I am looking forward to seeing many of our alumni that we have not been able to be with during the pandemic,” Fisher said. “The Expo is an event where we see hundreds of our fabulous alumni, so I hope many will come by the ABAC building and check in with us.”
ncaa.org
LA CAASA aims to increase Hispanic/Latinx representation in college athletics
New group launched in summer and looks to hold first summit in 2022
Corbin McGuire
Ben Rodriguez was at the annual Black Student-Athlete Summit in 2019 when a thought dawned on him. “This is great, but does anything like this exist for people that look like me?” Rodriguez remembered thinking at the summit in Austin, Texas. As a Puerto Rican who grew up in New York, played football at Stony Brook and is now associate director of major gifts at Georgia Southern, Rodriguez did some research and couldn’t find any Hispanic or Latinx equivalent to the summit. “And that’s when I started to reach out to a bunch of people across the industry,” he said. That’s also how the Latinx Association for Collegiate Athletics Administrators and Student-Athletes was born. LA CAASA, a play on the Spanish word for “home,” is meant to be exactly that for Hispanic and Latinx administrators and college athletes.
Athens Banner-Herald
Caitlyn Stroh-Page
A 20-year-old woman was killed in a hit-and-run in downtown Athens early Saturday, according to Athens-Clarke County police. Ariana Zarse, who ACCPD confirmed to be a University of Georgia student, was crossing Broad Street, just east of Foundry Street, when a Honda Accord struck the 20-year-old just after midnight, according to police. The vehicle then left the scene. Zarse was transported to a local hospital by EMS where she died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
News Medical Life Sciences
Kidney transplant patients are more susceptible to harmless bacterium, finds study
It’s a pervasive bacterium found in soil and water that rarely causes disease, but a new national review of nocardia infection in people who have had a kidney transplant shows that when it occurs it most commonly causes pneumonia and brain abscess, and reminds their physicians to stay on the lookout for it, investigators say. Nocardia is called an “opportunistic” agent because it doesn’t make most of us sick, but those with compromised immune responses, like patients who have had an organ transplant or cancer treatment, are more vulnerable, says Dr. Stephanie L. Baer, infectious disease physician at the Medical College of Georgia and chief of Infection Control and Epidemiology at the Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta.
Patch
Georgia Southern University Museum Reopens, Celebrates Earth Sciences Week
After nearly three years and following extensive architectural renovations, the Georgia Southern Museum, one of the longest-standing educational centers on the University’s Statesboro Campus, reopens to visitors on Oct. 10. …The Georgia Southern Museum serves as the premier institution interpreting the natural and cultural history of Georgia’s coastal plain. The museum displays permanent exhibits and changing exhibits curated by the University’s faculty and students, and provides a place where researchers can explore its collections and students of all ages can learn.
Athens CEO
Journalism Students to Play Integral Role in Saving Community Newspaper
Sarah Freeman
Grady College journalists are teaming with one of their alums to rescue a 148-year-old weekly newspaper in nearby Oglethorpe County with the help of an innovative experiential learning project. Within hours of hearing that the county newspaper, the Oglethorpe Echo, was announcing its final publication, Dink NeSmith (ABJ ’70) created a plan to save the newspaper. The centerpiece of the plan includes senior journalism students at Grady College, who will learn in a working community newsroom. “We’re honored and excited to work with a great team to save the Oglethorpe Echo,” said Charles N. Davis, dean of Grady College. “This is an incredible hands-on learning opportunity for our students, and it means a great deal to us to keep a 148-year tradition moving forward.” The plan was created when Echo publisher Ralph Maxwell announced that he was ceasing publication due to health issues. NeSmith quickly put a plan in place to purchase the paper and transition The Echo into a non-profit organization, The Oglethorpe Echo Legacy Inc. Integral to that plan is the opportunity for Grady College journalism students to design, report, write and take photographs for the newspaper. …“When you look for writing talent, you just look fifteen miles up the road to Grady College,” NeSmith, a 1970 graduate of the UGA journalism program, said. “Students will get real-life experience and a chance to hone wordsmithing skills to better prepare them for wherever they land after graduation.”
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Oct. 8)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,240,641
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 23,342 | 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:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
What Happens When Student Loan Payments Restart?
Rebecca Kelliher
Since March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic started, tens of millions of people have not needed to make payments on their federal student loans thanks to an interest-free pause that the Department of Education (ED) issued. But after January 31, 2022, that nearly two-year freeze will end. What’s next? “This is an all-hands-on-deck effort,” said Sarah Sattelmeyer, project director for education, opportunity, and mobility in the higher education initiative at New America, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization. “We’re trying to move tens of millions of people back into repayment. Something like this hasn’t happened before.” According to experts and advocates, challenges with the restart center on getting word out to borrowers, especially those who were at risk of default or delinquency before the pandemic. Loan servicers will also likely need to staff up to manage the expected deluge of borrower calls come February.