University System News:
The Georgia Virtue
Georgia Southern Celebrates First-Generation College Graduates This Week
This week, Georgia Southern University celebrates the accomplishments of faculty, staff, students and alumni who are among the first to graduate in their families during National First-Generation Celebration week. There is a slate of events planned to celebrate the accomplishments of first-generation students and graduates in the campus community including a True Blue Table Talk, networking reception and resource fair, and community service events.
WGAU Radio
UGA reports another semester low for COVID cases
Only 21 confirmed cases for the week ending Oct 31
By Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia is reporting the results of the latest week of campus coronavirus testing, with another fall semester low for cases of COVID 19, only 21 confirmed cases for the week that ended this past Sunday. That’s down more than twenty percent from the previous week and down 96 percent from testing conducted around Labor Day at UGA.
From UGA…
Nearly 11 weeks into the fall semester at the University of Georgia, reported cases of COVID-19 on campus have dropped significantly and the positivity rate for the university’s surveillance testing has reached a new all-time record low while classes are in session.
yahoo!news
Georgia Power Foundation supports ABAC with donations
The Albany Herald, Ga.
The Georgia Power Foundation recently made a donation to support Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in two areas: student scholarships and the Destination Ag program at ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture. “Georgia Power is proud to support ABAC student scholarships and innovative programs such as Destination Ag,” Georgia Power Area Manager Lynn Lovett said. “Education at all levels is very important to the quality of life in all of the communities that our company serves, and being actively involved in supporting these efforts is one way we can invest in the greater good.”
Augusta CEO
Hull College of Business offers Project Management Institute Exam Prep Course
Augusta University’s Hull College of Business is now offering a Project Management Institute Exam Prep Course at the Georgia Cyber Center. Hull College of Business is an authorized training partner for the highly coveted Project Management Professional certification.
accessWDUN
Georgia Film Festival begins Thursday
By Alyson Shields Reporter
The 2021 Georgia Film Festival, hosted by the University of North Georgia, will take place virtually this weekend, starting Thursday night at 8 p.m. The festival features 33 films, including two feature films and 16 student shorts, all available for free during the festival weekend. This year, more interactive elements have been included to enhance the free viewing experience. “Even though all the films are going to be available beginning at 8 o’clock on Thursday night, we’re organizing watch parties at certain times, and at the end of those watch parties we’re going to have live Q&As with the filmmakers whose films we just showed,” said GFF Co-Executive Director and University of North Georgia Communication, Media and Journalism Department Head Jeff Marker. There are also some prerecorded panels and workshops.
WRDW
Virtual College Night to feature recruiters, scholarships
By Staff
More than 114 recruiters from 77 colleges and universities will be available to meet with high school students and parents at this year’s CSRA Virtual College Night on Thursday. The free event will take place from 5-8:30 p.m., with seniors getting an opportunity to earn $15,000 in scholarships. “Due to COVID-19, we’re hosting College Night virtually this year,” said Gladys Moore of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Education Outreach. “We have a lot to offer area high school students.” …Seniors attending a portion of the event, maintaining a 2.5 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or equivalent, will be eligible to get one of fifteen $1,000 scholarships. All winners will be notified by text and email. …Some of the colleges and universities attending this year include: Augusta University; Georgia Southern University; Georgia State University; Valdosta State University
yahoo!news
The Way We Were: George Weiss made a fortune covering the news; then he gave it all away
Bill Kirby, Augusta Chronicle
George Weiss came to Augusta as a child of 6. Grew up here. Fought in World War II, then returned to his adopted hometown to make a name for himself in radio. He called his station WBBQ – combining the call letters of two of his favorite Chicago stations – WBM and WMAQ Weiss was the founder, owner and force behind WBBQ Radio. He created it. He grew it. He commanded it. …While that Weiss contribution was considerable, his biggest contribution to his community was something much grander. In June 1997, it was announced Weiss would be donating his popular radio stations, a music company and a shopping center on 15th Street to the Medical College of Georgia. The gift’s then-estimated value exceeded $10 million, making it at the time the largest single donation ever made to the college. Months later the foundation reached a deal to sell the stations for $14 million. Weiss also donated his body to the college for medical research.
Valdosta Today
Georgia Center of Innovation launches new website
Following a year of record impact on Georgia businesses, the Georgia Center of Innovation, a strategic arm of the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), has refined its branding through the launch of new website assets to ensure that Georgia businesses of all sizes understand the Center’s services and benefits. In addition, the Center has secured key partnerships and added a new area of expertise focused on Agricultural Technology (AgTech). …Over the past year, the Georgia Center of Innovation also expanded its IT team by establishing a unique partnership with Augusta University and the Georgia Cyber Center that creates a shared position to deliver better on-the-ground support for companies in Augusta’s growing cybersecurity ecosystem.
AP News
Georgia officials blast federal COVID-19 vaccine rules
By Jeff Amy
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black said Wednesday that he’s still trying to determine if some of his department’s employees are subject to an executive order by Democratic President Joe Biden requiring contractors to be vaccinated. Black, Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, all Republicans, spoke out against the federal requirement at a news conference discussing a lawsuit seeking to block the requirement, which Kemp called an “outrageous big-government power grab.” …The University System of Georgia is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, and some of Georgia’s 26 public universities have instructed contractor employees that they must get vaccinated. Kemp declined to comment on whether he thought universities moving ahead was a good idea, although he said regents joined the lawsuit “because they know what a disaster this is.”
WRDW
Mandate turns employers into ‘vaccine police,’ Kemp warns
By Staff
Calling President Joe Biden’s vaccination mandate for federal contractors a “nightmare” that will cripple Georgia’s economy, Gov. Brian Kemp outlined on Wednesday morning why he and other state officials filed a lawsuit to fight it. Georgia was joined by several other states in filing the lawsuit in Augusta federal court on Friday. Augusta University plays a prominent part in the state’s allegations of how the mandate could hurt the state. The lawsuit cites as a particular concern that not only are contractors mandated to be vaccinated, but also anyone else at the location who may have contact with them. This could cost AU millions in federal research contracts if it can’t get all employees fully vaccinated by the Dec. 8 deadline, the lawsuit alleges.
Savannah Business Journal
Savannah Business Journal Staff Report
Georgia Southern University has established a new research and outreach center, the Institute for Water and Health, to investigate the complex interactions between water and human activities, and protect and restore public health in a changing environment. As part of the University’s focus on public impact research, the center will foster collaboration among scientists, government agencies, industry, nonprofit organizations and communities. Coastal Georgia is the perfect location for such an institute to conduct interdisciplinary research because it lies at the intersection of many social, economic and ecological issues. The center supports the region through research, workforce training for students, and actively involving communities in water resource management decision-making process, said Asli Aslan, Ph.D., associate professor in Georgia Southern’s Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences.
NewsBreak
Small amounts of carbon monoxide may help protect vision in diabetes
An ingested liquid that ultimately delivers a small dose of carbon monoxide to the eye appears to target key factors that damage or destroy vision in both type 1 and 2 diabetes, scientists say. The Medical College of Georgia scientists have early evidence that HBI-002, a low-dose oral compound developed by Hillhurst Biopharmaceuticals and already in early stage trials for sickle cell disease, can safely reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the retina, both early, major contributors to diabetic retinopathy.
Savannah Morning News
Georgia Southern football coach Helton slated to make $4 million over 5 years in base salary
Nathan Dominitz
Georgia Southern’s new head football coach Clay Helton will average $800,000 in annual base salary over the five-year contract he signed Tuesday. Terms of the contract were obtained from Georgia Southern University through a state open records request by the Savannah Morning News. Helton will be introduced formally at a press conference Thursday afternoon in Statesboro, where he will be welcomed to a program currently mired in a 2-6 season, 1-4 in the Sun Belt Conference with four regular-season games remaining.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Nov. 3)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,266,880
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 24,974 | 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
Student Stress and Anxiety Are Declining, Survey Finds
By Susan H. Greenberg
The stress and anxiety that have plagued college students throughout the COVID-19 pandemic are starting to ease, according to a new report on mental health published by the Hi, How Are You Project and American Campus Communities. More than 8,900 students responded to the College Student 2021 Mental Wellness Survey, administered by email in September. While 93 percent agreed that “mental health is an important component of their overall health and wellbeing” — about the same as last year — 62 percent said their levels of stress and anxiety were greater than in previous years, down from 85 percent who answered the same way last year. And 22 percent said they were experiencing somewhat or considerably less anxiety and stress than in previous years, with 16 percent citing no change. Among respondents who said their levels were higher than in the past, the top source of anxiety and stress, named by 76 percent, was resuming a full course load or re-engaging in academics. COVID-19 worries — fears of contracting the disease or uncertainty about their institution’s policies — came in second, cited by 66 percent of respondents.
Inside Higher Ed
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation unveils a tool to help college leaders and policy makers carry out its recommendations on how institutions can increase equity and attainment.
By Scott Jaschik
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored a 115-page report in May that called for the release of more information to help students make better choices about where to go to college, in the hopes of eliminating “completion gaps” and “removing affordability as an impediment to postsecondary value.” The report noted that these goals very much relate to inequities in education by race, gender and class. “Without explicit attention to racial, socioeconomic, and gender equity, postsecondary education will continue to sustain and exacerbate inequalities, but a more equitable postsecondary education system can build a more just society,” it says. “We urgently need to transform the nation’s postsecondary system to ensure value for the very populations most impacted by racial and gender violence and the coronavirus pandemic and the dire economic — and life-or-death — consequences they impart to marginalized communities.”
Inside Higher Ed
Long-Term Care for Student Pandemic Pains: Student Voice Compilation
By Melissa Ezarik
Inside Higher Ed today publishes “Long-Term Care for Student Pandemic Pains,” a new collection of articles and essays from our Student Voice research project. The free booklet can be downloaded here. On Wednesday, Dec. 1, at 2 p.m., Inside Higher Ed’s editors will discuss the themes of the booklet during a free webcast. Please register for the virtual event here.