University System News:
The Albany Herald
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College nursing program a ‘great value’ for students
From staff reports
The nursing program at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College provides a quality education at a low cost to students, according to a new survey that rates ABAC as one of the 15 lowest-cost nursing programs for international students in the United States. ABAC offers both Associate of Science in Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs for future nurses. Once students graduate the ASN program and pass the National Council Licensure Examination, they qualify as Registered Nurses.
WTOC 11
GSU’s continuing education classes will have new home after building swap with East Georgia
By Dal Cannady
Two higher education campuses in Statesboro will swap locations for at least part of their schools. While East Georgia State College moves from Highway 301 on to the Georgia Southern campus, GSU prepares to move its Continuing Education Center to the building on Hwy 301. University officials say they could not have asked for a better fit if they’d built something from the ground up.
Saporta Report
Georgia State University Research Center Will House Georgia Association for Infant Mental Health
As a result of these recommendations and the work of state agencies and community partners led by the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS), the Georgia Association for Infant Mental Health (GA-AIMH) was established to raise awareness of young children’s social and emotional needs, develop and support that state’s IECMH workforce, and foster cross-system collaboration. The Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development (MCCHD), a Georgia State University research center housed in the School of Public Health, has been chosen as the future home for GA-AIMH.
WJBF 6
AU Healthy Grandparents program supporting families during holidays
By Chloe Salsameda
It had been years since Natasha and Steve Lewis had a little one living in their home. When their granddaughter, Madison, needed to be cared for, they stepped in to raise her. “It was day by day learning how to be a grandmother slash momma overnight,” Natasha Lewis said. It was a big adjustment but one the Lewis’ did not have to do alone. They got in contact with Augusta University’s Healthy Grandparents program, which helps grandparents and great grandparents who are raising their grandkids in Richmond and Columbia Counties.
11 Alive
What are the vaccine mandate lawsuits Georgia is involved in, and where do they stand?
By Jonathan Raymond
Georgia is among the states challenging Biden administration vaccine mandate policies, and several legal developments occurred this week involving lawsuits seeking to halt the mandates. The state’s Republican leadership, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, have argued the Biden administration policies are overreaching, “illegal” uses of federal bureaucratic rulemaking… This executive order was issued in early September, and Georgia, along with several other states as well as the University System of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Agriculture – state agencies that do federal contract work – filed suit in late October. The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Georgia federal court in Augusta. Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and Augusta University were among the USG schools the lawsuit claimed would effectively be unable to work with the federal government under the policy.
Biz News Post
Researchers help Miami fight plastic pollution
BNP News Team
A team of University of Georgia (UGA) researchers is hard at work in Miami to help leaders there tackle a problem that affects nearly every city in the world: Plastic pollution. Jenna Jambeck, an environmental engineering professor in UGA’s College of Engineering, and her students have partnered with Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, and the City of Miami to better understand the life cycle of plastic pollution, and more importantly, what steps must be taken to keep the Magic City and its famous waterways pristine.
Georgia Recorder
Rocket launchpad approved for coastal Georgia
By Stanley Dunlap
Camden County officials celebrated Monday after receiving the long-awaited word that the Federal Aviation Administration granted a license to run the coastal Georgia spaceport. With the operator’s permit, Spaceport Camden is one of more than a dozen licensed spaceports in the country. The controversial rocket launching plan has now passed its most significant hurdle after years of effort and multiple delays this year for ongoing negotiations among local officials, state and federal regulators… Spaceport backers cite a Georgia Southern University study that says the project will generate about $3 million in local tourism business and Bank of America predicts that the U.S. commercial space industry could grow to $3 trillion by 2047.
Augusta Chronicle
Coastal development endangers salt marshes, a resource vital to the Southeast’s economy
By Sammy Fretwell, David Raynor and Adam Wagner
Thousands of acres of salt marshes that buffer the South Atlantic coast from hurricanes, sustain the seafood industry and bolster the tourism economy are in danger of washing away, victims of booming development and limited government oversight that have made the threat of sea level rise more menacing. State regulators in the Carolinas and Georgia have issued at least 28,000 permits during the past three decades to build, expand, replace or repair docks, bulkheads, piers and other structures in tidelands that hug the coast, a McClatchy investigation has found… The state did release a single Georgia Southern University study that found about 1,000 bulkheads and nearly 13,000 docks. Overall, the study found 17,775 man-made structures in tidal areas. Georgia has as many as 685 approved bulkheads, according to state records.
Savannah Business Journal
Inaugural Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum announces first round of speakers
Savannah Business Journal Staff Report
Morris Multimedia recently announced the speakers for day one of the inaugural Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum in Savannah, now scheduled for Feb. 28-March 1, 2022 at Kehoe Iron Works at Trustees’ Garden.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Dec. 20)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,313,529
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 26,120 | 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.
Atlanta Inno
3 innovations Atlanta tech leaders say could alleviate supply chain stress
By Erin Schilling
The 2021 holiday season has become synonymous with supply chain disruptions. Demand for e-commerce rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, but labor shortages within the supply chain created strains for delivery and processing, said Sid Mookerji, managing partner of Atlanta-based Silicon Road Ventures, which invests in commerce innovations.
Higher Education News:
Atlanta Business Chronicle
University endowments experiment with cryptocurrency
By Hilary Burns
Signs point to more universities dipping their toes into the digital assets.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
A look back at higher education in 2021: The year of the ‘haves and have-nots’
By Hilary Burns
The wealthiest and most selective colleges and universities reported enrollment increases and posted soaring endowment returns in 2021 while the majority of higher-ed institutions — community colleges and regional private and public schools — experienced enrollment declines and continued financial woes.
Hartford Courant
By John J. Petillo
As 2021 nears its tumultuous end and the fall semester wraps up, I cannot help but wonder what chaos and new challenges our students will return to in 2022, beyond the academic trials they face and continuing adjustments to young adulthood. I ponder how well-informed they will be about the world around them and how they will face the significant dangers from within our borders, including the rise of fascist ideologies, racism and demagoguery, the politicizing of religion and media, intense polarization, the decay of liberties and the relentless attacks on truth and our democratic principles. If this year was any indication, we, as educational leaders, might not deserve a good grade for how well we have prepared our charges for the evolving social and political infrastructures
The Washington Post
Return to campus sometimes comes with an unsettling sense of unreality
By Doris Iarovici
The first-year student in my office was terrified. Here he was, finally living on the campus of the college he had dreamed of attending, and instead of joy, he experienced an unsettling sense of unreality. The world around him felt off; strange. Worse: He felt off, detached from himself. Too aware of everything he said and did, and at the same time, removed, not relating. The numbness and inability to connect had persisted over a couple of days, triggering panic. How would he navigate the transition from high school to college if he could not connect? Was he losing his mind?
The New York Times
Professor Put Clues to a Cash Prize in His Syllabus. No One Noticed.
By Isabella Grullón Paz
Kenyon Wilson, a professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, wanted to test whether any of his students fully read the syllabus for his music seminar. Of the more than 70 students enrolled in the class, none apparently did. Professor Wilson said he knows this because on the second page of the three-page syllabus he included the location and combination to a locker, inside of which was a $50 cash prize.