University System News:
Americus Times Recorder
Georgia Southwestern just shy of another record-breaking enrollment for Fall 2021
GSW continues to see an increase in graduate students in the College of Business and Computing, College of Education, and College of Nursing and Health Sciences. This can be attributed to GSW’s quality, accredited programs that are both top-ranked regionally and nationally at an affordable cost, many of which are offered online. While the number of undergraduate and graduate students fluctuates year to year, GSW is hopeful that the number of undergraduate students will increase with its continued aggressive recruitment strategy, expansion of scholarships, student success initiatives, and campus enhancements. These enrollment numbers were released in the USG’s “Fall 2021 Semester Enrollment Report,” which breaks down enrollment by institution, class, race and ethnicity, in-state, out-of-state and international students, as well as gender and age.
Columbus CEO
Columbus State University Unveiled New TSYS Center for Cybersecurity
Columbus State University unveiled on Thursday, Nov. 4, its new TSYS Center for Cybersecurity, a state-of-the-art facility designed to enrich students’ academic experiences, broaden industry partnerships and meet workforce demands for high-tech cyber warriors. The range is the first-of-its kind in Georgia — designed for and available to train both industry professionals and college students. CSU’s TSYS Center for Cybersecurity is a $2.5 million project and part of the $5 million gift CSU received from TSYS during the university’s First Choice fundraising campaign. TSYS, a Global Payments company, sees its investment in CSU as a broader investment in strengthening global networks and the workforce that builds, maintains and defends them.
SaportaReport
Rural Georgia: $30 million in federal stimulus to improve student learning outcomes
By David Pendered
Georgia’s initiative for improving education in rural areas continues to take shape as policymakers evaluate Census figures showing ongoing population declines that challenge efforts to maintain rural communities. The education platform is a recent addition to existing efforts to maintain the viability of rural Georgia by improving broadband connectivity and roads in those communities. Gov. Brian Kemp and House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) have spoken repeatedly about the importance of supporting rural Georgians as well as urban areas. …On Sept. 1, the State House Rural Development Council heard a report from David Tanner, of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, that illustrated how the dwindling number of residents in rural Georgia could be overlooked.
Americus Times-Recorder
GSW Visual Arts participates in 9th Annual ‘Empty Bowls’ project helping to eliminate hunger locally
By Ken Gustafson
Faculty and students in the Department of Visual Arts at Georgia Southwestern State University’s (GSW), along with several other local artists, are coming together once again to feed the hungry by selling hand-crafted ceramic bowls. GSW Visual Arts and Americus-Sumter County Arts Council ‘Empty Bowls’ project will take place Saturday, Nov. 6 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Americus. 125 S Jackson St, Americus, GA 31709.
Athens CEO
Students Help Install Trash Trap to Clean Up Creek
University of Georgia alumni are using their passion for sustainability to reduce plastic pollution in Athens — and inspiring current students to do the same. Last February, UGA alumnus Gary Hopkins, founder and president of Storm Water Systems, partnered with Athens-Clarke County and UGA’s Office of Sustainability to install a device known as a “trash trap” in Trail Creek. The trap captures litter that falls into the creek, which prevents it from reaching larger bodies of water like the Atlantic Ocean. To date, the Trail Creek trap has caught over 100 pounds of litter.
Big News Network
Small amounts of carbon monoxide may help protect vision in diabetes
Washington [US], November 4 (ANI): 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 CEO
Disc Golf Course Coming to Georgia Southern’s Armstrong Campus
An idea inspired by social distancing during the pandemic is coming to fruition with the installation of a disc golf course on the Armstrong Campus in Savannah. Opening next week, the new disc golf course will consist of nine holes that can be played from multiple tee spots to provide an 18-hole course experience. Sean Willett, assistant director of Intramurals and Club Sports on the Armstrong Campus, proposed the project as he considered new activities to offer students while indoor recreation was infeasible due to COVID-19 precautions. He was excited by the overwhelming encouragement he received for this project.
Americus Times-Recorder
He’s No Hobby Horse, He’s a Working ‘Cane!
By Ken Gustafson
Georgia Southwestern has welcomed eager and hardworking Hurricanes for decades, accumulating storm clouds from all backgrounds and walks of life to create a single, unified community. The footprints left behind by students, faculty, staff and all who are connected to GSW have led many to the eye of the storm. One particular honorary Hurricane has, with his personality and presence alone, become a natural recruiter, an off-campus Storm Spotter who has marked a path across the United States with his…hoofprints. Bradley, known in the professional competition world as Only a Natural, is a 16-year-old black American Quarter Horse who has traveled and competed for years alongside his partner Dawn Hart, a senior lecturer in GSW’s College of Business and Computing. …Members of the GSW community are nestled into the equine world, and Hart explains that genuine interest in people and their stories not only strengthens the bond between kindred hearts, but opens and extends the arms of GSW.
Fast Company
These seaweed-inspired generators create underwater wave power
Imagine fields of power-generating seaweed gently swaying under the ocean’s surface.
By Kristin Toussaint
Under the ocean’s surface, tentacle-like stems of seaweed sway with the current, bending back and forth as they get tossed about by underwater waves. These movements are a physical representation of the invisible energy contained in waves, and researchers took inspiration from those motions to develop flexible generators that mimic seaweed to harvest wave energy. Wave power could be a significant source of renewable energy, but harvesting that energy has been tricky. Wave turbines are often big, expensive, and float at the surface of the ocean. …But those more gentle underwater waves can be an important source of energy, too, so researchers created a generator to mimic seaweed, which sways even in small waves or currents. The idea started when Minyi Xu, a professor in marine engineering at China’s Dallan Maritime University and visiting scholar to Georgia Institute of Technology, was speaking with Zhong Lin Wang, founding director of Georgia Tech’s Center on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, about how to develop quiet, environmentally-friendly ocean energy harvesters.
GPB
High university fees concern lawmakers
By: Neby Moges
Steve Rios, a 22-year-old student from Snellville, was stuck. He could either rush through college, taking as many classes as possible to save money on tuition and fees, or he could take fewer classes, working to pay for school as he went. He chose both. “I lived at home with parents the first two years and was taking classes at Georgia Gwinnett College to work and save money, but even now I still need loans to pay for school,” said Rios, who transferred to Kennesaw State University and is now a senior finance major. “It just didn’t make sense anymore,” said Rios. “For me, it was better to take seven classes now and quit my job in order to save money in the long run.” Rios is among many college students who are struggling to find ways to finance their education at Georgia’s public universities. A Georgia Senate study committee is looking into the high costs of schools in the University System of Georgia, particularly their ongoing fees introduced after the 2008 recession that were supposed to be a temporary measure.
Athens Banner-Herald
Athens-Clarke police investigating rape allegation against Georgia football linebacker
Marc Weiszer
Athens-Clarke County police are investigating an allegation of rape against Georgia outside linebacker Adam Anderson, according to a police incident report obtained Thursday by the Athens Banner-Herald. No arrest has been made, according to ACC Police Lt. Shaun Barnett, who said he did not know if charges will be filed. …The same day that the report was filed, UGA had a football game and Anderson played in that game. Police have not confirmed whether or not they have contacted him since that time.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Nov. 4)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,267,762
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 25,042 | 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
A Rough Week for Higher Education: The Key Podcast
By Doug Lederman
Last week delivered unwelcome news to colleges and universities. New data from the National Student Clearinghouse showed that college enrollments tumbled again this fall, with hundreds of thousands fewer students opting to start or continue their educations than even during the heart of the pandemic last fall. And a scaled-back version of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act contained about $40 billion in new funds for colleges and their students — barely a third of the previous iteration and missing key initiatives such as the much-touted tuition-free community college initiative.
National Review
The Excessive Cost of Going to College
By GEORGE LEEF
Everyone knows that the cost of college has risen much faster than inflation for the last several decades. Why is it now so high, and is the cost benefitting students? Those questions were addressed in a recent study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), and I examine it in today’s Martin Center article. The authors of the study write, “Institutional spending continues to rise while contributing little to graduation rates. Moreover, investment in instructional staff—particularly tenured or tenure-track professors—has been overshadowed by increases in administrative staff, namely well-paid, professional employees.”
Inside Higher Ed
Feds Roll Out More Vaccine Mandates
Most colleges and universities will have to abide by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s rule requiring employers with 100 or more employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccination or weekly testing.
By Elizabeth Redden
The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled the details of a new rule requiring employers with 100 or more employees to mandate employees either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule requires employees be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4 in order to avoid COVID-19 testing requirements. It also requires employers to ensure that unvaccinated employees wear face masks in the workplace. The OSHA rule promises to further expand the number of colleges subject to a federal vaccine mandate — albeit a soft mandate in this case, with a testing alternative. Steven Bloom, assistant vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education, said the OSHA rule would apply to all private colleges with 100 or more employees as well as to public colleges in the 26 states and two territories where government workers are under OSHA’s jurisdiction.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
ASHE Conference Focuses on Spanning and Unsettling the Borders of Higher Education
Jamal Watson
SAN JUAN, P.R—Hundreds of scholars converged on this island on Thursday to strategize about current issues and trends impacting the future of higher education. “Spanning & Unsettling the Borders of Higher Education,” the theme of this year’s Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) explored a range of topics from access and diversity in international education, to the racialization of minoritized college students. A panel titled, “Pell Restoration for Incarcerated Individuals: Unsettling the Borders of Higher Education in Prison,” organized by The Education Trust—a national nonprofit that works to close opportunity gaps that disproportionately affect students of color and students from low-income families— centered the voices of formerly incarcerated individuals who overcame odds and attained their bachelor’s or master’s degree. These participants in the Justice Fellows Policy Program have created programs and organizations for the formerly incarcerated community and engaged in state legislative advocacy efforts.
Forbes
The Big, Unexpected Cybersecurity Threat Coming For Our Colleges
Derek Newton, Contributor
Education
American colleges and universities have a cybersecurity problem, though maybe not the one you’ve already read about. Ransom attacks at schools do make news. And there’s no question our education institutions remain vulnerable to those types of threats. But this new threat, experts say, is not coming from malicious actors seeking profit or leverage, but from the people who are trying stop those people. It comes in the form of the cybersecurity, maturity model certification – or CMMC. In short, it’s a high-level security protocol established by and for the Department of Defense (DoD) intended to harden critical or vulnerable digital assets. It requires constant monitoring of networks, an awareness of those who can access data as well as outside audits and certifications of compliance. And, for defense and other critical infrastructure, that’s good. But there is a problem.
Forbes
The Urgent Need For Cybersecurity To Diversify
Adi Gaskell, Contributor
It’s estimated that the number of cybersecurity jobs will grow by around 31% until 2029, which is seven times faster than the national average. This growth is in large part a response to the huge pressure organizations are under in the face of a surge in cyberattacks during the Covid pandemic. While this is far from a new issue, and indeed I touched on it back in 2018, the pandemic has exacerbated the situation. At the backend of last year, analysis from Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that the cost of cybercrime would reach around $6 trillion during 2021, with this figure growing by around 15% per year in the next five years. If that growth curve is accurate, it would represent a tripling of the cost of cybercrime from the $3 trillion it was at in 2015. To put this into a degree of perspective, the Covid pandemic was estimated to have cost the global economy around $4 trillion. While Microsoft’s recent Digital Defense Report highlights the immense value of doing fairly basic digital hygiene, such as ensuring software is patched and changing the default password on devices is enough to rebuff the vast majority of cyberattacks, it’s also clear that the industry needs to do more to unearth talent in previously unchartered areas.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
How Black Enrollments in Higher Education Have Been Impacted by the Global Pandemic
New research from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center finds that college enrollments have continued to fall this year after a decrease a year ago due to the global pandemic. Undergraduate enrollment is down 3.2 percent from a year ago. Undergraduate student numbers have now fallen by 6.5 percent from two years ago. First-year enrollments declined by 3.1 percent overall this year and 3.9 percent among traditional-age students. When we examine the data by racial and ethnic groups, we find that Black enrollments are down 5.1 percent from a year ago. This is slightly deeper than the decline for Whites. Over the two-year period from 2019 to 2021, Black enrollments are down 11.1 percent, compared to a drop of 10.6 percent for Whites.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Georgetown Report Highlights Widening Gap Between Workers Earnings and Cost of College
Liann Herder
“Postsecondary education policy has failed to keep higher education affordable even as formal education beyond high school has become more essential.” That’s the conclusion of a new report from Georgetown University that shines a light on the growing gap between how much young workers make and how much they must pay to earn a college degree. Researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics data from 1980 to 2019. The results show that the cost of college has increased by 169% over the past forty years, while earnings for workers ages 22 to 27 have only increased by 19%.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
New Tool Shows Economic Returns of Colleges
Rebecca Kelliher
With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) this week released a web-based, interactive tool outlining students’ economic returns at colleges and universities nationwide. This resource aims to inform leaders and policymakers on equity gaps and gains in student outcomes. Yet the tool’s makers stressed making sense of the numbers in each college’s context. “Americans know that colleges bring value, but that value is not going evenly to everyone,” said Patrick Methvin, director of the postsecondary success in the United States program at the Gates Foundation. “Institutions need to know their numbers to see existing gaps in how they are serving specific populations. And to use that information to change their policies and practices.” Called the Equitable Value Explorer, the easy-to-use tool came out of the Postsecondary Value Commission, a national working group managed by IHEP and supported by the Foundation since the Commission started in 2019.