University System News:
The Augusta Chronicle
Good news: Potential raises and a decline in COVID cases, Keel says
Tom Corwin
Augusta University President Brooks Keel came bearing hopeful news for employees of a proposed raise and a potential decline in the currently raging COVID-19 pandemic fueled by the Omicron variant. Keel held a virtual town hall Tuesday to address a number of issues for students, faculty and employees. First was a proposed $5,000 raise for all full-time state employees from Gov. Brian Kemp. The raise is proposed for this fiscal year in the Amended Fiscal Year 2022 budget and would become permanent in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget that begins July 1.
See MGA’s School of Aviation in the new season of Jeff Goldblum’s Disney+ show
The latest batch of episodes of ‘The World According to Jeff Goldblum’ features the flight school at the university’s Eastman campus.
Author: Andrew Plaskowsky
Actor Jeff Goldblum surprised people in Dublin last February when he visited Holy Smokes BBQ. At the time, the production crew with him couldn’t say what they were working on… and now we know! The second half of Goldblum’s Disney+ show ‘The World According to Jeff Goldblum’ premiered Wednesday, and the episode about puzzles features Middle Georgia State University’s Eastman aviation campus. Now what IS the puzzle? Air traffic control. Goldblum and producers show viewers how air traffic controllers keep airways safe and on-time with planes and passengers on the line. An article from MGA says Goldblum spent three days at the campus speaking to faculty and students while using the school’s simulators and eventually directing a plane for a safe landing.
zdNet
Best online organizational leadership degrees 2022: Top picks
An organizational leadership degree blends coursework in business, social science, and communication to prepare you to guide and motivate employees.
Written by Melissa Sartore, Contributor
Organized leadership emphasizes management skills alongside business and communication fundamentals. An organizational leadership degree also trains you to lead people and teams toward organizational goals. Organizational managers enjoy working with others to foster talent and improve performance. Well-rounded organizational leadership graduates may land management positions in business, education, and government settings. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects more than 900,000 new positions in management occupations by 2030, a 9% increase. To find out more about the best online leadership degrees available, browse our top picks below. 10. University of West Georgia
Times-Georgian
UWG Cheer upholds reputation for winning
By Kennae Hunter
University of West Georgia’s all-girl cheerleading and dance team continues tradition as they became the 2022 Division I National Champions over the weekend. In Orlando, Fla. at the ESPN Complex, the cheer Wolves upheld their winning tradition as this accomplishment was the 28th United Cheer Association National title the program brought home in the past 21 years. This is the second consecutive year the all-girls squad celebrates after their 2021 victory.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tech program helps students EXCEL
By H.M. Cauley, For the AJC
Martha Haythorn is adamant that having Down Syndrome isn’t going to hamper her dream of becoming disability rights advocate. “It’s not a disease,” said the Decatur High graduate. “I don’t let it stop me doing what I want to work for.” Haythorn is on the way to fulfilling her dream with the help of the Expanding Career, Education and Leadership (EXCEL) program at Georgia Tech. Launched in 2014, it’s part of a growing national movement to create programs that serve students with mild disabilities who might otherwise not have college on their radars. “These are students with intellectual or developmental disabilities who would not qualify for a degree or associate program,” said Director Ken Surdin, who joined Tech to launch the initiative. “Many are coming from spec ed progs, and if they could get a degree or associate’s, they wouldn’t qualify for EXCEL.”
Valdosta Daily Times
Mike Chason selected for VSU Athletic Hall of Fame
Submitted Report
Longtime sports broadcaster Mike Chason was inducted into the Valdosta State University Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2022 on Saturday. …“Every day is a great day to be alive, but some days are greater than others, and this is one of those days,” Chason said in his acceptance speech. “Calling basketball and football games on the radio and television for Valdosta State has always been a ‘get to’ job rather than a ‘have to’ job for me. “When I sit down at the press table before a game, it’s a lot like life. You just never know what’s going to happen on the court in front of you.” A 1974 Valdosta State graduate, Chason has been the play-by-play voice for VSU basketball since 1990. He was also the play-by-play voice for Blazer football from 1992 through 1997.
Statesboro Herald
East Georgia State names interim director for Boro campus
From staff reports
Noah Kamsler was named recently the interim director of East Georgia State College in Statesboro. Kamsler began his career with East Georgia State in 2015 as an admissions recruiter at the Swainsboro location before moving to the Statesboro location where he served as an institutional services coordinator and assistant director of Student Affairs.
WFMZ
T5 Announces New 200MW Data Center Campus, T5@Augusta, in Georgia’s Cybersecurity Hub
T5 Data Centers (T5), the data center industry’s only full lifecycle service provider, announces T5@Augusta, the planned development of a 140 acre, 200 MW government and enterprise cloud data center campus in Augusta, Georgia, the Southeast’s cybersecurity hub. The property is immediately adjacent to Fort Gordon and the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command Headquarters with access to an abundant and unique pool of highly trained, certified IT and cybersecurity personnel with secret and top-secret federal credentials. This site is ideal for secure federal hyperscale, or government contracted enterprise businesses and builds on the cluster for advanced cybersecurity initiatives based in Augusta. Those initiatives include the Georgia Cyber Center, a collaboration between state, federal, and higher education institutions.
Albany Herald
Homeowners should test for deadly, invisible radon gas
By Carly Alyse Mirabile CAES News
January is National Radon Action month, and each year University of Georgia Cooperative Extension sponsors a poster contest for students across the state to help bring awareness to the importance of radon testing. The UGA Radon Program has selected its three Georgia radon poster contest winners for the year, with one selected to enter the National Radon Poster Contest sponsored by the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This year, Jayden Mulamoottil, a fourth-grade student at Barrow Elementary in Athens-Clarke County, placed first with a poster imploring Georgians to check their homes for radon gas.
trcp
Pending Mine Proposal Threatens Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp
Why the upcoming decision impacting this Southeast Georgia outdoor recreation haven is important to hunters and anglers
by: Guest Blogger Rena Ann Peck
The Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is a national treasure and angler’s paradise. Among the most visited national wildlife refuges in the country, the Okefenokee is an outdoor recreation engine, hosting some 600,000 visitors annually who help to create more than 750 local jobs and a total annual economic output of $64.7 million in the region. … But right now, the Okefenokee’s future hangs in the balance. …
What’s At Stake in South Georgia
Scientists, including experts from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Georgia, recognize the hydrologic link and have warned that as groundwater is lowered by mining operations, so goes the water level in the swamp. At only 1.5 to 3 feet deep, there is not much wiggle room for water loss that could make access to the swamp impossible as the canoe trails dry up. Lowering of the water table would also dry up the saturated peat that helps to store carbon and combat climate change. Even worse, lower water levels can induce drought conditions, and as the ecosystem changes from boggy and wet to parched, the peat fuels can easily catch fire and release a CO2 equivalent that would worsen climate effects.
WABE
USG employees call on system to change rules for smoking fee
Martha Dalton
Employees of Georgia’s university system are automatically categorized as smokers through the system’s health insurance plan. If employees don’t opt out of that status, they’re charged an additional monthly fee. Employees who don’t smoke have to opt out every year to avoid the fee. The system automatically defaults them to “smoker” status each year.
Opting Out
Tom Hochschild is a sociology professor at Valdosta State University. He says when he began working for the university system ten years ago, he and his wife at the time made it clear they weren’t smokers. “We sat down with the human resource person at Valdosta State University, and we were very careful going line by line what we wanted and had things explained to us,” he says. Hochschild assumed his status as a non-smoker would remain the same unless he changed it himself. That was true until 2015, when USG changed the process, automatically categorizing all employees as smokers. …UCW-G and UGA’s faculty Senate have both petitioned the system to change the opt-out rule after workers claimed to have been wrongly categorized as smokers.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech prof says COVID-19 ‘scamdemic’ measures bully students
By Eric Stirgus
Remarks made on class syllabus remarks angers students, graduates
Longtime Georgia Tech associate math professor John McCuan does not wear a mask in his classes, remains unvaccinated and says school administrators are embracing the “scamdemic” by “bullying” faculty and students to take such preventative measures against COVID-19. “If you’re sick, stay home. Don’t pass what you’ve got around to others. If you want an instructor who is hysterical concerning the scamdemic, perhaps I’m not your guy,” McCuan wrote in the instructions of his two classes. “I would hope you’re not going to complain about me not wearing a mask. I hope you’re not going to complain about me not being injected with experimental pharmaceuticals.” McCuan then told students a” little bit of critical thinking would save you from such pitfalls.” The remarks have drawn a large number of complaints on social media. Many have denounced his views and called for his removal.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Jan. 18)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,679,773
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 26,833 | 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.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Free at-home COVID tests: Here’s how to get them
By Zeke Miller, Associated Press
The White House says the federal website where Americans can request free COVID-19 tests will begin accepting orders on Wednesday
The federal website where Americans can request free COVID-19 tests will begin accepting orders on Wednesday as the White House looks to address nationwide shortages, but supplies will be limited to just four free tests per home. The website COVIDTests.gov will provide tests at no cost, including no shipping fee, the White House announced last week. The site explains the program and provides other resources, but the direct link to where it sends users to place orders through the U.S. Postal Service is https://special.usps.com/testkits.
Higher Education News:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Colleges and Universities Brace for the Full Impact of Omicron Variant
Lois Elfman
Just as plans for in-person learning were on the rise, campuses began bracing for a new challenge: COVID-19’s Omicron variant. Instead of loosening restrictions, colleges and universities are increasing random testing, sustaining indoor mask mandates and, where permissible, upping the requirements for being vaccinated to include booster shots. As was the case with the Delta variant over the summer, Omicron appears to be rapidly transmissible. While researchers examine whether booster vaccines should be enhanced to address the variants, the ability of existing vaccines to mitigate transmission remains the prevailing scientific advice.
Inside Higher Ed
No Satisfaction on Student Ratings of Instruction
Students’ happiness with their grade, not instructional quality, is a major driver of the correlation between high grades and high student ratings of instruction, according to a new working paper. Interventions don’t quite work, either.
By Colleen Flaherty
Yet another study is challenging the idea that student evaluations of teaching reliably measure what they’re intended to measure: instructional quality. The new study, available now as a preprint, builds on the well-documented correlation between students’ grades and how they rate teachers (i.e., students who earned better grades in a course tend to rate those instructors more highly than peers who got lower grades). After testing and eliminating other possible drivers of this correlation, the study ultimately asserts that it’s not about instructional quality, workload or grading stringency or leniency. Instead, the paper says, student grade satisfaction drives this correlation.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
A Playbook to Help Colleges Students Across the Degree Finish Line
Rebecca Kelliher
At least 36 million Americans have attended college but needed to stop before they earned a degree. In response as the pandemic continues to make completing a degree harder for many, the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, published a playbook to help institutions support these millions of people with some credits but no degree. “Higher education should be a pathway to a better living and life for all students, regardless of their background,” said Jennifer Pocai, a research and programs manager at IHEP and one of the playbook’s authors. …Pocai pointed out that institutions can use The Degree Reclamation Playbook step-by-step or, for colleges already doing this work, focus on a strategic assessment section. The guidelines center on two ways campus practitioners can bring individuals across that degree finish line: reverse transfer and adult reengagement.