University System News:

The Savannah Tribune

Savannah State Hosts Presidential Investiture Honoring Kimberly Ballard-Washington

The Presidential Investiture of Kimberly Ballard-Washington, J.D., the 14th President of Savannah State University, will be held on Friday, Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. in Tiger Arena, 3219 College St. Counted among the oldest of traditions in academia, an investiture ceremony is one of dignity with many academic traditions and protocols. Special guests including University System of Georgia colleagues, community leaders and stakeholders will deliver greetings during the program. Open to the public, the ceremony will also be live streamed and there is no cost to attend. Face masks are encouraged while inside campus facilities. A week of special events are planned to celebrate this momentous occasion, including historic campus tours, a Music on the Marsh concert, the Founders Day celebration and annual Scholarship Gala. Event details, including registration information and live stream links, can be found by visiting savannahstate.edu/investiture/ events.

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WSAV

Savannah State University prepares to honor new president with ceremony

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia Tech to name student center after John Lewis

By Eric Stirgus

The state’s Board of Regents on Tuesday approved a request by Georgia Tech to name its student center after John Lewis, the late Atlanta congressman and civil rights activist. Lewis, who died last year, represented the congressional district that includes Georgia Tech. “This is a big deal,” said Board of Regents chairman Sachin Shailendra, a Georgia Tech graduate.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

UGA to spend $30 million to renovate historic campus building

By Eric Stirgus

The state’s Board of Regents on Tuesday approved the University of Georgia’s $30 million plan to renovate one of its oldest and most historic buildings. The school’s Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, named after the first two Black students to enroll at the university — Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault — is in need of major repairs, officials said. The planned renovations include installing new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems; an elevator and additional stairwells; a classroom for small group classes and restoring an interior courtyard.

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Athens CEO

University of Georgia to Renovate Historic Holmes-Hunter Academic Building

Atlanta Business Chronicle

GeorgiaCIO names its 2021 CIO of the Year ORBIE Award winners

By Jessica Saunders  –  Senior Editor/Print

GeorgiaCIO has named its 2021 CIO of the Year ORBIE Award winners. …Hundreds of technology executives from around Georgia turned out for the in-person awards breakfast honoring high-achieving chief information officers on Nov. 5 at the Cobb Galleria Centre. …Michael Casdorph, Augusta University, took home the 2021 CIO of the Year ORBIE Award in the Public Sector category. …The winning CIOs were chosen from 35 finalists named in August, who were themselves selected from 178 nominations.

NewsBreak

Students learning to hack, improve security of hospital medical devices

By Mary Calkins

The push to protect your personal health information is front and center at the Georgia Cyber Center this week. Students are learning how to hack into medical devices and uncover weak spots in a hospital’s cyber security. “They’re really focused on blocking and tackling right now. How do you secure these medical devices that are all now connected to the internet? Augusta University has taken on to lead a medical device security initiative,” executive director of the Georgia Cyber Center, Eric Toler said. In the past, medical devices could only be accessed physically, but now they communicate over wireless networks.

Middle Georgia CEO

MGA Earns ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Silver Seal For Student Voter Participation

ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge awarded Middle Georgia State University (MGA) a Silver Seal for achieving between a 60 percent and 70 percent voting rate among students in 2020. On Monday, Nov. 8, ALL IN announced the awards received by various institutions of higher education. About 840 colleges and universities in the U.S. participate in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a national, non-partisan initiative of Civic Nation. ALL IN strives to help institutions strengthen efforts to improve civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation. Ensuring that students are registered to vote and participate in all elections is a key component of the organization’s work.

Agribusiness Update

UGA Team Wins Sunbelt Ag Expo Competition and Young Consumers Boost Organic

Bob Larson

A team from the University of Georgia won the college division of the first Advocacy in Action competition at Sunbelt Ag Expo, and Cottondale High School from Florida’s Panhandle won the high school division. According to www.gfb.org, a total of 28 teams entered the competition. UGA and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College were the collegiate finalists.

Patch

Georgia Gwinnett College Celebrates International Education Week With Early Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving came early as students, faculty and staff gathered for Georgia Gwinnett College’s (GGC) International Thanksgiving Feast and Study Abroad Fair. Along with the traditional American turkey and dressing, the event offered Costa Rican fried plantains, Moroccan couscous, Vietnamese spring rolls, and other delicious staples from around the world. … The event was part of GGC’s International Education Week celebration and sponsored by GGC’s internationalization committee.

The Georgia Virtue

Lt. Gen. Smith Named Carter Chair Of Leadership At Georgia Southern

Lt. Gen. Leslie C. Smith, a distinguished Georgia Southern University alumnus, will serve as the W.E. Carter Chair of Leadership in the University’s Parker College of Business after finishing a 38-year Army career. …Smith will hold the W.E. Carter Chair in Leadership and Business Administration, which was established in 1999 in honor of the late W.E. Carter Sr. and the late W.E. Carter Jr. …As the Carter Chair, Smith will focus on leadership development and education for students in the Parker College and at Georgia Southern, as well as for civic leaders across the state and region. He will serve as an ambassador for the College and for leadership education and development, while working with faculty and staff across the University to launch a sustainable leadership program that will accelerate the positive impact of the Parker College and the University. He will begin immediately.

WJCL

Savannah State University and Harlem Globetrotters teaming up for new program

Students will learn first hand about live events

Dave Williams, Reporter

Savannah State University students interested in live events now have a new opportunity awaiting them. The university is teaming up with an organization that knows a thing or two about live events. “Excellence matters, ” said Malik Boyd, Director of Publicity, Harlem Globetrotters. …The Trotters teaming up with Savannah State University to offer a Live Events certificate program for its students. … This partnership is especially meaningful for Harlem Globetrotter Rochell “Wham” Middleton who attended Savannah State from 2011 to 2015. “It’s amazing,” Middleton said. “These are my old stomping grounds and just the fact this is the first thing ever and for it to be Savannah State University and the partnership here, it’s amazing.” This new live events program at Savannah State will begin in April of next year and they hope it becomes a degree program about a year or two after that.

Other News:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Nov. 9)

An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state

CONFIRMED CASES: 1,270,625

CONFIRMED DEATHS: 25,189 | 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.

Campus Safety Magazine

Preparing for the Next Pandemic: 11 Lessons Learned from COVID-19 by Universities

With us now hopefully being near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to review, remember and apply what we’ve learned over the past 20 months.

By Andy Altizer, Tricia Chastain, Brian Deloach, Tracy Skibins, & Jennifer Swails

COVID-19 has been a challenge for every organization, including institutes of higher education (IHE). Undoubtedly every university planned for a pandemic, but then quickly learned that their plans had to be adjusted for a sustained public health emergency. Complicating the response was a pandemic generated from a “novel” virus that brought many uncertainties and changes, especially in the early response phase. Previous experience with H1N1 and other campus public health emergencies (bacterial meningitis, measles, tuberculosis, etc.) provided invaluable information that has been applied to the COVID-19 response over the past 18 months. In turn, we must learn from our collective experiences managing COVID-19 on college and university campuses as we plan for the next public health emergency. The lessons shared will likely only be a starting point for the countless after actions reports (AARs) generated from individual IHEs and a variety of public health organizations. Understanding that the pandemic is not over, we must continue to adjust our plans and response both now and when this pandemic is behind us.

Higher Education News:

Inside Higher Ed

Academic Minute: Student Stress and Mental Health

By Doug Lederman

Today on the Academic Minute: Mahtab Jafari, professor in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, explores the pandemic’s toll on mental health.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

How the Onset of the Pandemic Affected the 2020 Admissions Season

By Jacquelyn Elias

Just as the 2020 admissions cycle was reaching its climax, along came Covid-19. Campuses were forced to send students home, pivot to virtual and hybrid learning, and fret about the fall. Admissions officers and students had to make decisions about the uncertain academic year that loomed. How did all of this ambiguity play out in the numbers? The Chronicle analyzed admissions data at over 1,000 four-year, public and private-nonprofit institutions to see how college admissions experienced those first few months of the pandemic, and how things changed from fall 2019 to fall 2020. Now, these data give just an initial look at how the pandemic may have affected college admissions.