13WMAZ
Altogether, the state has funded $5.7 million in improvements to Middle Georgia State University’s nursing program in Dublin.
Author: Raime Cohen
Governor Brian Kemp is allocating $900,000 to Middle Georgia State University’s Dublin’s campus to help the college to graduate more nurses and address the state’s critical nursing shortage. Freeman Shepard, a nursing student, says Middle Georgia State University welcomed him with, “Open arms — MGA has been outstanding, faculty and staff has been amazing. I was just inspired. I felt the call to serve my community and be a part of the medical field.”
Savannah CEO
The public relations program within Georgia Southern University’s Communication Arts has now joined 52 schools recognized with Certification for Education in Public Relations (CEPR). The Public Relations Society of America manages CEPR, and the review process follows standards established by the Commission on Public Relations Education. The review process involves practitioners and professors reviewing the program, conducting interviews and visiting the campus. While one other school has received CEPR recognition within the state, Georgia Southern is the first university sponsored by the Georgia Chapter of PRSA. According to Lisa Muller, J.D., who coordinated the report and visit, “Much work went into preparing for the review, and we are thrilled to have had such a positive experience. This has been a work in progress, and after several departmental moves around campus, we decided that with our new home in Sanford Hall, it was time to apply.”
Americus Times Recorder
Georgia Southwestern to host 42nd annual MLK Convocation
By Ken Gustafson
By Chelsea Collins, GSW Director of Marketing and Communications
Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) will host its 42nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation in the GSW Student Success Center Convocation Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 11 a.m. with Dr. Myron Pope, vice president for Student Life at The University of Alabama (UA), serving as keynote speaker. This year’s theme for the convocation is “Building A BOLD Dream in Reality: ‘Who You See vs. Who I Am.’” …The MLK Convocation is sponsored by the African American Male Institute (AAMI), GSW’s Division of Business and Finance, GSW MLK Convocation Committee, GSW Gospel Choir, National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), Strong United Assertive Virtuous Educated Women (SUAVE), Division of Student Engagement and Success (SES), and Student Government Association (SGA). The MLK Convocation is an open event and community members are welcome to attend.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
‘Global powerhouse’: Georgia lured Visa expansion with $20M in tax breaks
By Erin Schilling – Technology Reporter/ Atlanta Inno
Visa Inc. received $20.3 million in tax breaks to open its 1,000-person office in Atlanta, documents from the Georgia Department of Economic Development reveal. Atlanta competed with Dublin, Ireland, and Toronto for the Visa unit, according to the documents. That shortlist shows Atlanta has become a “major global tech and banking services powerhouse,” said John Boyd Jr., principal of site selection firm The Boyd Co. …A breakdown of Visa’s tax savings:
$2.5 million REBA grant
$422,240 in University System of Georgia out-of-state tuition waivers
$16.2 million quality jobs and jobs tax credits over five years
$1.2 million property tax abatement over 10 years
Research and development tax credit available depending on Visa’s expenditures
The grant for furniture and equipment costs was available to Visa under the state’s Regional Economic Business Assistance incentive program which is used to “close the deal” with companies looking at Georgia expansions. For comparison, Georgia offered Microsoft a $6 million REBA grant for its 1,500-person office in Atlantic Yards because of its investments into the University System of Georgia training programs. Visa’s expansion was a big catch. Economic development officials sought the company “for years as a key player missing from our ecosystem,” according to the documents.
The Tifton Gazette
ABAC presents American Spiritual Ensemble
A mesmerizing performance of classic spirituals is sure to sweep over the audience like a warm wave of hospitality when Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College presents the American Spiritual Ensemble, college officials said in a statement. The concert is scheduled for 3 p.m., Jan. 23, at the First Baptist Church of Tifton main sanctuary. The performance is a part of the ABAC Presents! Performing Arts Series. ABAC Presents! is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. Georgia Council for the Arts also receives support from its partner agency — the National Endowment for the Arts.
Times-Georgian
Leveling Up: Lee Named Inaugural UWG Esports Coach
By Colton Campbell University of West Georgia
Joseph Lee’s mission at the University of West Georgia is to help the institution level up — in more ways than one. Lee has been named the university’s inaugural coach of Esports, a form of competition using video games. He will oversee recruiting, coaching and team development of UWG’s Esports program, which will compete as an associate member of the Peach Belt Conference in “League of Legends” and in the National Association of Collegiate Esports.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
‘Unbridled joy’: Some notable UGA alumni are proud and thankful for long-awaited title
A national championship on college football’s largest stage puts the University of Georgia – and virtually everything in its orbit – in reach of opportunities not seen in 41 years. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reached out to some notable alumni for reaction to the big win. See their responses below.
See also:
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Three things winning the National Championship means for UGA football
Atlanta Business Chronicle
UGA title means a lot to Atlanta as a college football hub
Savannah Morning News
‘Feel like an NHL player for the weekend’: Teams rave about Savannah Hockey Classic
Nathan Dominitz
The players who joined the college ice hockey teams last season had no real idea what they missed, but they’re about to find out. The Enmarket Savannah Hockey Classic returns for its 23rd edition on Friday and Saturday after the annual event was canceled in January 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Club teams from Georgia, Georgia Tech and Florida have been battling since 1999, and Florida State joined them in 2000 at the Savannah Civic Center. Title sponsors have changed over the years, but the classic format has basically remained the same: conference rivalry games the first night, in-state rivalries the second. The team with the best record (or through tiebreakers) skates away with the Thrasher Cup — a very distant cousin, perhaps, of the NHL’s iconic Stanley Cup, but a fitting reward given the stakes and the setting, as the civic center regularly fills to at or near capacity for the final matches.
CBS46
Georgia Tech expands on-campus COVID-19 testing for students, staff
Rebekka Schramm
Health officials at Georgia Tech opened a new drive-through COVID-19 testing site Wednesday aimed at enhancing on-campus testing capabilities as cases soar because of the omicron variant. Like everywhere, Georgia Tech has seen its share of COVID cases lately. Kelly Thomson is part of a post-doctoral program. A few weeks ago, he drove to several locations looking for an at-home test kit. He was glad to hear about the new testing site. …Faculty, staff and students who register through their school account can now drive into a parking garage on State Street near 10th Street and get tested for COVID-19 without leaving their cars.
Markets Insider
Global Plasma Solutions, a leader in indoor air quality, today announced a new collaborative effort with The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) to further advance the science of electronic indoor air cleaning technology. To help promote scholarship in the area of IAQ, indoor air quality leader Global Plasma Solutions (GPSR) – a charter member of the consortium – will create and fund the GPS Fellowship program for IAQ to support academic opportunities for graduate students that will include two student research scholarships and the GPS Termed Professorship. Additionally, and separately, GPS will support and fund the GPS Ionization Initiative, a significant, multi-year sponsored research program that will be managed through the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC).
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Group urges Emory to remove names honoring ‘leading figures of racism’
By Eric Stirgus
University’s president evaluating committee recommendations
Several dozen Emory University graduates, faculty members and students are pressuring the school to change the names of buildings and professorships named after four men they call “leading figures of racism, slavery, antisemitism and eugenics.” The group recently sent a letter to Emory’s president, Gregory Fenves, demanding he act on recommendations by a university committee in May to remove the honors for Atticus Greene Haygood, Lucius Q.C. Lamar, George Foster Pierce and Robert Yerkes. “(T)hey should no longer be celebrated as heroes at our beloved school,” the letter said. The committee recommended removing naming honors of five men. …The Georgia Board of Regents was criticized in November when it decided not to act on an advisory group’s recommendations to rename more than six dozen buildings and colleges named after men who were slaveowners and ardent segregationists. The board said it considered factors, such as the totality of the person’s contributions to the state and nation.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Jan. 13)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,622,845
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 26,709 | 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.
accessWDUN
Supreme Court halts COVID-19 vaccine rule for US businesses
By The Associated Press
The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most health care workers in the U.S. The court’s orders Thursday came during a spike in coronavirus cases caused by the omicron variant.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Supreme Court Blocks OSHA Vaccine Mandate
By Elizabeth Redden
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked an Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule mandating that large employers require employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. The court allowed a separate rule mandating vaccination for employees of health-care facilities receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding to go into effect. In blocking the OSHA rule, which would have applied to colleges and other workplaces with 100 or more employees, and which would have affected an estimated 84 million workers, a six-member majority of the court found that the states, businesses and nonprofit groups that sued were likely to prevail in their arguments that OSHA exceeded its authority as set out in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
Inside Higher Ed
Navient Reaches $1.85B Settlement With States
By Scott Jaschik
Thirty-nine state attorneys general announced a settlement with Navient over the servicing of student loans. “For too long, Navient contributed to the national student debt crisis by deceptively trapping thousands of students into more debt,” said Attorney General Letitia James of New York State. “Today’s billion-dollar agreement will bring relief to thousands of borrowers in New York and across the nation and help them get back on their feet. Navient will no longer be able to line its pockets at the expense of students who are trying to earn a college degree. Student loan servicers that operate through deception and wrongdoing will not be tolerated and will be held accountable by my office.” The investigation found, according to James, that Navient also provided predatory, subprime, private loans to students attending for-profit schools and colleges with low graduation rates, although the company knew that a very high percentage of those borrowers would be unable to repay the loans. Navient allegedly made these risky subprime loans as an inducement to get schools to use Navient as a preferred lender for highly profitable federal and private loans, without regard for borrowers and their families, many of whom it unknowingly ensnared in debts they could never repay.