University System News:
11Alive
Johnny Isakson’s legacy will continue on through Parkinson’s research at UGA
By Jonathan Raymond (11Alive), Dawn White
As Johnny Isakson’s health declined in recent years and he was forced to retire from the Senate in 2019, he worked to ensure his legacy would include an enduring fight against the disease he was battling: Parkinson’s. Isakson died Sunday at 76 after a roughly six-year fight with the disease. Earlier this year his beloved alma mater, the University of Georgia, announced a position that will keep the fight going long into the future. The school announced in February it had established the John H. “Johnny” Isakson Chair for Parkinson’s Research and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar position after reaching a goal of $4.5 million in private funds, the last of which came from none other than Isakson himself.
Athens Banner-Herald
UGA honors fall 2021 graduates during commencement ceremony
By Kayla Renie
University of Georgia graduates and their family and friends attend the 2021 Fall Commencement ceremony at Sanford Stadium on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021 in Athens. Thousands gathered to celebrate the fall class of 2021.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Undergraduate research at Kennesaw State provides students with a career foundation
Kennesaw State University centers itself on its nearly 43,000 students, prioritizing research opportunities and engaged learning that help students succeed and prepare them for day one of their careers. As an R2 research university, KSU’s commitment to offering every student opportunities for success reflects an education that fosters independence, critical thinking and thirst for knowledge. Student-centered faculty mentoring relationships developed at the University also provide long-term support to ensure success beyond the nest.
Columbus CEO
Georgia Tech Leads Effort to Strengthen State’s Defense Manufacturing Industry
The global supply chain has been rocked by disruptions triggered largely by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a cascade of shortages on a host of products ranging from computer chips to medications. But supply chain disruptions also highlight the potential vulnerabilities in the U.S. manufacturing sector’s critical segments like defense. To help manufacturers across the state, the Georgia Institute of Technology has launched the Georgia Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium to work with those businesses in defense and related industries become more resilient and less susceptible to supply chain disruptions. The Consortium, which will begin accepting members in April 2022, will work with Georgia defense manufacturers to incorporate cybersecurity protocols, smart technologies such as sensor packs, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other best practices under Industry 4.0 technology standards.
Grice Connect
2,100 graduate during Georgia Southern’s 2021 Fall Commencement
by DeWayne Grice
This week, approximately 2,100 undergraduate and graduate students from Georgia Southern University’s Statesboro, Armstrong and Liberty campuses received associate, baccalaureate, master’s, specialist and doctoral degrees in three Fall 2021 Commencement ceremonies. Georgia Southern President Kyle Marrero welcomed the graduates and their families to the University’s Fall Commencement ceremonies, held at the Savannah Convention Center in Savannah on Dec. 11, and the Allen E. Paulson Stadium in Statesboro on Dec. 13 and 14. He commended the graduates on their achievements and tenacity.
Savannah CEO
Fall Graduate Finds Home as an Eagle in Parker College of Business
Staff Reports
On her first visit to Georgia Southern University, graduating senior Brianna Shirey felt like she was home. So she packed her bags and moved from Rentz, Georgia, to Statesboro to begin her college journey in fall of 2018. “After my tour, I was 100% committed to becoming a Georgia Southern Eagle,” Shirey said. “I just knew from that tour that I could find my place on campus and I enjoyed how beautiful the campus was.” Shirey found her place in the Parker College of Business, eventually choosing to study marketing after exploring other majors.
Savannah Business Journal
UGA receives gifts to support student athletes, new lecture series in memory of Abbie DeLoach
Staff Report
The University of Georgia recently received two gifts from alumnus Jimmy DeLoach Jr. (B.S.Ed. ’82), president of the Abbie DeLoach Foundation (ADF) and vice president of Tidewater Landscape Management; his wife Maria; and his younger daughter Anna DeLoach (B.S.H.P. ’18). The gifts will support a new lecture series in the Mary Frances Early College of Education and provide scholarships for student athletes at the University.
WTOC
East Georgia, Georgia Southern swapping buildings
By Dal Cannady
If moving from one house to another sounds hectic, imagine moving students, faculty, and a whole campus. Crews from East Georgia College installed office computers as the school relocates from Hwy 301 South of Statesboro into Georgia Southern University’s former Continuing Education Center. The move actually gives East Georgia more space for classrooms and gives their faculty their own offices. While East Georgia students have traditionally had access to amenities on the Southern campus since the campus opened, this move makes the access more accessible.
KQ Education Group
Kleinheksel appointed Medical College of Georgia assistant dean of educational simulation
Dr. AJ Kleinheksel, a healthcare simulation expert with experience in both designing and conducting simulations that help educate future and current healthcare professionals, has been appointed Assistant Dean of the Educational Simulation Program at the Medical College of Georgia at the ‘University of Augusta. Simulation education is a bridge between classroom learning and real-life clinical experience, according to the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. Simulations are increasingly used in medical education and allow students to learn from their mistakes without fear of harming a patient and help them develop their own professional identity as doctors.
Other News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Johnny Isakson, 76, Georgia politician respected by both sides, dies
By Tamar Hallerman
Johnny Isakson spent his life cutting deals. From his successful career in real estate to when Georgia’s Republican Party was mostly confined to a small knot in Cobb County to Congress, Isakson learned early on what it took to get two sides to an agreement. And he continued to ply those skills even after the GOP cemented its political dominance in the state, making him a uniquely beloved figure among Democrats and Republicans alike for more than four decades. Isakson’s motto was a simple one: “There are two types of people in this world: friends and future friends.”
The story also appeared in the Marietta Daily Journal, Albany Herald, Statesboro Herald, Griffin Daily News, Athens Banner-Herald and AccessWDUN.
Athens Banner-Herald
First COVID-19 vaccines administered in Clarke County 1 year ago. Here’s where we stand now
By Stephanie Allen
Dec.18 marks the anniversary of the first COVID-19 vaccine administered in Clarke County. One year later, nearly half the county is fully vaccinated: 51% of the population has had at least one dose and 47% are fully vaccinated. Clarke County’s vaccination rate is lower than Georgia’s at 52% full vaccinated. As of Dec. 16, there have been 141,794 doses, including initial doses and follow-up, administered in Athens-Clarke County. Booster shots became available for all adults in November. The Georgia Department of Public Health reports that 20,433 additional doses have been administered in Athens, which includes the booster shot as well as a third dose in the primary vaccine series, which is for immunocompromised individuals.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Dec. 17)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,305,860
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 26,090 | 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:
AccessWDUN
Brenau University expands its international program
By Kimberly Sizemore
Students come from all over the world to study in Gainesville, not only learning English but also what life looks like as an American. Brenau University has partnerships with several countries, including China, and now Panama, allowing students to come from those countries and study here. University President Dr. Anne Skleder says it not only benefits those international students who participate in the program but the American students, as well. Dr. Skleder recently spoke on WDUN’s Newsroom talking about how the partnerships are good for American students, international students, and even our communities.
Inside Higher Ed
COVID-19 Changes Plans for Next Semester
By Scott Jaschik
COVID-19 is leading some colleges to alter their plans for the next semester, even as it continues to impact the semester that is finishing up. The concern is the Omicron variant of the virus, which transmits much more quickly than other versions and appears to infect some people who are vaccinated. In most cases thus far, the Omicron variant does not cause vaccinated individuals to experience anything but mild symptoms, according to public health experts. But college officials are still worried. Stanford University announced that it will start the winter quarter online, from Jan. 3 until Jan. 18.
Inside Higher Ed
‘COVID Was the Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back’
By Colleen Flaherty
Thirteen tenure-track or tenured professors are finishing up their last semester at William Paterson University in New Jersey, having been laid off this year due to budget problems exacerbated by COVID-19. Now professors who thought their jobs were safe—and who agreed to a number of concessions in order to save as many colleagues’ jobs as possible in the first round of cuts—are facing another, bigger round of layoffs: citing ongoing declining enrollment and a $30 million structural deficit, William Paterson proposed cutting 150 more professors over three years, or about 40 percent of the full-time faculty.
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Susan Snyder
The son of a school administrator from Media was excited to start classes at Millersville University, until he learned that a roommate hadn’t been vaccinated and didn’t plan on it. So he asked the university in Lancaster County for a vaccinated roommate, which it said it couldn’t guarantee but assigned him to another room, according to his father, who asked that their names not be published for fear of backlash. That roommate also turned out to be unvaccinated. So the university offered a private room in an area with upperclassmen, but the father said at that point his son withdrew and enrolled at a private university in New York that has a vaccine mandate for students.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Extension of Harvard’s Test-Optional Policy Fires ‘a Shot Across the Bow’ of Higher Ed
By Eric Hoover
The latest news about changes in standardized-testing policies tends to pique people’s interest. But the latest news about changes in standardized-testing policies at Harvard University? That sends folks into breathless fits of joy or despair, depending on their view of the universe and the rightful place of the ACT and SAT within it. Because, you know, Harvard. On Thursday The Washington Post first reported that the nation’s oldest university, which temporarily suspended its ACT and SAT requirement due to Covid-19, would extend its test-optional policy for four years, through 2026. Why? Harvard cited just one reason: concerns about how the pandemic might continue to limit high-school students’ access to testing centers. The bottom line is significant: The granddaddy of the Ivy League, which played a huge role in popularizing the SAT, just told the world it would forgo its testing requirements until today’s eighth graders finish high school.
The State Journal
West Virginia higher education institutions waive ACT/SAT requirements for fall enrollment
by Josiah Cork
Over 1,815 accredited four-year colleges and universities across the United States have adopted test optional policies for fall 2022 enrollment. Most higher education institutions in West Virginia have followed the trend and waived the requirement for ACT/SAT test scores to be submitted for 2022 general enrollment. The decision came about following decreased access to exams due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to officials.