University System News:
Inside Higher Ed
Judge Halts Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate
Officials with Georgia public universities had testified in the case challenging the Biden order that mandates vaccination for employees of federal contractors.
By Elizabeth Redden
A federal judge for the Southern District of Georgia issued a nationwide preliminary injunction on Tuesday barring the Biden administration from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees of federal contractors. Universities that receive federal contracts are subject to the Biden administration mandate, which was scheduled to go into effect in January and which had prompted many universities in red states, where mandates are politically unpopular, to move ahead with requiring vaccination for employees, including student employees, so as not to jeopardize federal contract dollars. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the states of Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia and various state agencies, including the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. The lawsuit argued that public universities in Georgia would “suffer significant harm” as a result of the mandate.
See also:
Higher Ed Dive
Colleges roll back employee vaccine requirements after injunction blocks federal contractor mandate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Report slams University System of Georgia’s tenure review changes
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia system leader ‘strongly disagrees’ with findings
A national faculty association released a report Wednesday that says the University System of Georgia and its Board of Regents conducted “flagrant violations … of academic governance” when it changed its post-tenure review process two months ago. The American Association of University Professors said it will likely vote soon on censuring the system, a rare move that could result in fewer faculty members coming to work in Georgia. There are about 8,400 tenure-track and tenured faculty in the Georgia system, according to the report. The system’s acting chancellor, Teresa MacCartney, wrote a letter to the group Wednesday saying she “wholly and strongly” disagrees with the report’s conclusions.
See also:
Fox5 Atlanta
University System of Georgia could face censure after changing tenure review policy
By Brian Hill
The Augusta Chronicle
USG policy changes ‘abolished tenure,’ national faculty organization moves to censure
Athens Banner-Herald
USG policy changes ‘abolished tenure,’ national faculty organization moves to censure
Higher Ed Dive
Ahead of likely censure, AAUP blasts Georgia system for tenure changes
Inside Higher Ed
AAUP Tenure Report Sets Stage for Georgia System Censure
41 WMGT
MGA sets record for number of graduates
It’s graduation time for seniors at Middle Georgia State University.
Lizbeth Gutierrez
It’s graduation time for seniors at Middle Georgia State University. A record number of students are walking the stage. A total of 800 of them are expected to graduate this year. The university is making graduation a little more special because this year by allowing students to sit with three family members during the ceremony in pod seating arrangement. Ember Bentley, the Chief of Staff at the university, says several factors contribute to the rate of graduates.
Growing Georgia
Hazlehurst Graduate Named Donaldson Award Recipient at ABAC
Rebecca Mims Butler, a nursing major from Hazlehurst, received the George P. Donaldson award at Thursday’s fall commencement ceremony at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. The award honors the top associate degree graduate participating in the ceremony. The recipient receives a plaque and a check for $500 from the ABAC Alumni Association, which sponsors the award and conducts the interviews which lead to the selection of the recipient.
Columbus CEO
Columbus State to Award Over 900 Degrees During Dec. 9-11 In-person Graduation Ceremonies
Columbus State University will award 963 degrees and certificates to summer and fall graduates through seven commencement-related ceremonies and events Dec. 9-11. The in-person ceremonies, all scheduled to occur on the CSU Main Campus, will mark the university’s return to in-person celebrations for graduates and their guests. Additionally, each ceremony will be livestreamed to help Cougars everywhere celebrate these graduates’ academic milestones. In all, Columbus State anticipates awarding 94 certificates, seven nexus, 19 associate, 545 bachelor’s, 277 master’s, 11 specialist and 10 doctoral degrees across four colleges. Degree-completers include 283 summer graduates and 680 fall graduates.
MSN
An ‘ah-ha’ moment links rare lung disease with cancer and a rogue gene
Tom Corwin, Augusta Chronicle
Cancer researcher Caryn Bird, 29, was walking down the hall at Augusta University with her boss when she found she didn’t have the breath to carry on a conversation. She stopped, but it didn’t get better, even after reaching his office. Her shortness of breath was getting worse and wasn’t responding to asthma treatments. Bird wondered aloud if it was her heart and not her lungs but the other researcher suggested it might be both. Turns out, he was right. It was pulmonary arterial hypertension. And it was almost too late. …But just up the street from Bird’s lab in the Georgia Cancer Center research building are other AU researchers who are looking into the fundamental mechanisms of the disease with an eye toward treating or even preventing the damage.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
3 ways to grow Georgia’s digital media industries, according to TAG
By Erin Schilling – Technology Reporter/ Atlanta Inno
The media and entertainment industries generate $14.7 billion per year in revenue for Georgia. It includes 40,000 employees and more than 700 local companies, according to a new Technology Association of Georgia report. The media and entertainment industries, especially in film, television, music and e-sports, show a strong growth trajectory, according to the report. The COVID-19 pandemic caused some slowdowns, but the industries affected are expected to recover and continue to grow. …Growth is already happening. Here’s three ways to accelerate that momentum, according to TAG. …Georgia already has a tax incentive structure under the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act to attract more gaming development, according to the report. The Georgia High School Association recognizes esports as an office sport, and Georgia State University and Georgia Southern University have e-sports teams. …The Georgia Institute of Technology’s Tech Square innovation district brings together startups, university resources and corporations.
AARC
Adding a Neonatal Track to Your Curriculum
By: Debbie Bunch
RT educational programs are largely focused on the care and treatment of adults with respiratory conditions, and rightly so. After all, adults make up the lion’s share of people who need the services of a therapist. But infants and children need RTs too, and many therapists get into the profession with the clear idea that this is where they want their careers to take them. Jasmine Brown, MS, RRT, RRT-ACCS, COPD-Ed, CHSE, an associate professor and director of clinical education at Middle Georgia State University (MGA), had an experience earlier in her career that led her to the strong conviction that more therapists can and should get out of school with some solid bedside experience taking care of infants in particular.
WGAU Radio
UGA reports slight uptick in campus COVID count
21 students, eight staffers test positive
By Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia, in one of the last weekly reports for fall semester, says there was an increase in positive tests for coronavirus during the week that ended this past Sunday, ten more than the previous week for a total of 29, still down 95 percent from the fall semester high reported after Labor Day at UGA. Of the 29 most recent COVID cases, 21 were in University students, while the other eight were campus staffers.
From UGA Media Relations…
The University Health Center posted the data as part of the weekly update on its website Wednesday morning. Of the 29 cases reported in DawgCheck, 21 were students and eight were staff members. There were no cases reported among members of the faculty.
The Times
UNG student’s claims of homicide, sexual assault were unfounded, police say
Nick Watson
After a week of investigation, the University of North Georgia’s Department of Public Safety determined a report of a homicide and sexual assault were unfounded due to a UNG student telling “elaborate false stories to multiple people in her life,” according to a report. UNG’s officers first received reports Nov. 30 from two UNG students reporting that their roommate told them she had poisoned her rapist with hemlock years ago, though they did not remember his name. Police were also told the victim died in a car wreck because of a heart attack induced by the hemlock. Despite other people telling police about hearing similar versions of the story alleging murder, the student denied saying it when talking with police during an interview. The report noted the “severe disruption and interference” with the university’s operations caused by this incident.
13 WMAZ
Milledgeville man charged after bomb threat at Georgia College
The school says the suspect was employed by a food service company contracted for campus dining services.
A Milledgeville man is facing a charge of terroristic threats after a bomb threat at the Georgia College student union building Wednesday. According to a news release, the GBI and Georgia College Public Safety arrested 28-year-old Wilson Harper Jr. The school says Harper was employed by Sodexo, a food service company contracted for campus dining services. The investigation began around 8 a.m. after a threat was called in. The Maxwell Student Union building was evacuated as campus law enforcement and GBI responded.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Dec. 8)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,293,370
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 25,874 | 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
UNC’s $97 Million Plan to Reach Adult Online Learners
University of North Carolina will create an internal unit to build and manage online programs from the system’s 17 campuses for learners largely ignored by many universities.
By Suzanne Smalley
The University of North Carolina system is leveraging $97 million in pandemic recovery funding to launch a nonprofit ed-tech start-up intended to bolster adult online education in a state with a looming need for more skilled workers. Project Kitty Hawk is named after the North Carolina beach town the Wright brothers returned to repeatedly before achieving their dream of flight, an apt metaphor for an undertaking that UNC leaders herald as a transformative effort to reach the state’s estimated one million working adults who have some college education but no degree. Sweeping in its ambition, Project Kitty Hawk’s five-year financial plan projects 120 new online program launches and 24,000 net new enrollments across the system’s 16 university campuses by the 2026–27 academic year, according to working papers project leaders shared with Inside Higher Ed.