The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bill to improve mental health care services in Georgia wins final approval
By Maya T. Prabhu
House Speaker David Ralston set out this year to pass legislation that would make it significantly easier for Georgians to access mental health services. On Wednesday, that goal was achieved. The Georgia House voted unanimously to approve House Bill 1013, which would enforce a federal law that requires “parity” in health coverage, forgive student loans for mental health providers who work in underserved areas of the state and take other steps to improve care. About an hour earlier, the Georgia Senate unanimously approved the measure. The bill now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his consideration.
Higher Ed Dive
Emergency microgrants help students graduate quicker, with less debt
Published March 31, 2022
Laura Spitalniak, Associate Editor
Students who received emergency grants from a completion program at Georgia State University graduated more quickly than their counterparts, according to a new report from Ithaka S+R, an educational research nonprofit. The grants benefited Pell Grant recipients and students from underrepresented racial or ethnic backgrounds similarly. The university’s Panther Retention Grant program automatically awards students up to $2,500 to clear unpaid balances and stay enrolled for the term. Grant recipients also had less overall debt, likely due to fewer tuition payments from graduating sooner. They owed an average of $3,728 less than nonrecipients, which is more than the value of the funding they received.
The Baldwin Bulletin
Georgia College professor earns Felton Jenkins Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award
Bailey Ballard
Brooke Conaway, associate professor of economics at Georgia College & State University, received the 2022 University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents Felton Jenkins Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award. Conaway is the fourth Georgia College professor in five years and the second in her department to earn this award. According to the USG website, “The prestigious Regents’ Awards represent our highest recognition for teaching and advising and illustrate the USG’s commitment to ensuring academic excellence for the citizens of Georgia.” Conaway is originally from Milledgeville, a Georgia College graduate and has been teaching at Georgia College since 2010.
Emanuel County Live
EGSC-Statesboro Ribbon Cutting, Open House set for April 18
The East Georgia State College Statesboro location is hosting a ribbon cutting and open house at its new location Monday, April 18, at 11 a.m. EGSC-Statesboro completed renovations and moved into the Nessmith-Lane Building on Georgia Southern University’s campus in January. The new space offers offices for faculty and staff, an Academic Center for Excellence (A.C.E.), classrooms and convenient access to Georgia Southern’s campus. Being located on their campus provides an easy transfer pathway to Georgia Southern. The two institutions launched the Bobcat to Eagle Program (B2E) program last year to help the partnership between the two institutions continue to grow. The program increases access and simplifies the process for progression to Georgia Southern for those students who start out at EGSC-Statesboro. The concept of the program is not new, but the recent collaboration, the Bobcat to Eagle Program (B2E), signifies the commitment to the students of the region.
Fox5 Atlanta
Clark Atlanta University partners with Georgia Film Academy to offer new course (Video)
Atlanta is the Hollywood of the South with countless productions calling the Peach State home. Students at Clark Atlanta are getting in on the action thanks to a partnership with the Georgia Film Academy.
Marietta Daily Journal
Kennesaw State student earns prestigious Goldwater scholarship
Kennesaw State University sophomore Angel Vasquez has been awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, presented annually to the nation’s top undergraduate scholars in the sciences, mathematics and engineering. Vasquez is one of 417 recipients selected this year and is the fourth KSU student to earn a Goldwater scholarship, joining Jiexi Liao in 2013, Biya Haile in 2019 and Trae Dunn in 2020.
HBCU Buzz
Savannah State University Kicks Off New Live Events Certificate Program
By HBCU Editors
Savannah State University is kicking off a new certificate program with an unlikely partner! Get the full story from Destiny Wiggins at Fox 28 below.
Savannah State University has partnered with an American exhibition basketball team to give students real-world experience on what it takes to build a career in the live entertainment industry. …SSU’S new live events certificate program will create opportunities for students to learn about merchandising operations, tour management, licensing requirements and all things to play a role in putting together live entertainment. School officials say students have already shown interest in the program.
41WMGT
Georgia College receives grant to help strengthen literacy, writing in Baldwin County
Georgia College is hoping to strengthen writing and literacy in Baldwin County.
By Lizbeth Gutierrez
Georgia College is hoping to strengthen writing and literacy in Baldwin County. The college plans to do it with the help of a nearly $400,000 federal grant from the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill. The goal is to create a program where the school can reach students of all ages in the Baldwin County School District. Programs will include workshops, one-on-one consultations and peer advising. Provost and VP of Academic Affairs of the College, Dr. Costas Spirou, says he’s hoping the program will help spark student interest.
41WMGT
Georgia College students introduce third graders to Spanish
“It was really fun to do this, I don’t want this to be the last day, because I go to so used to it for them to be here.”
By Lizbeth Gutierrez
Georgia College students are currently helping elementary school students learn a new language. This is the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, they’ve been able to go inside the classroom of Midway Hills Academy. Georgia College students in the course known as ‘Language Service Learning,’ teach third graders how to speak Spanish. Through greetings, animals and colors, the students in Ms. Jackson’s class are having fun learning.
Metro Atlanta CEO
Georgia Southern’s New Advanced Processing Research Network Launched with $1M Gift from Crider, Inc.
Staff Report
Georgia Southern’s Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing received a $1 million gift to develop the Advanced Processing Research Network (APRN) from Crider, Inc. of Stillmore, Georgia, a global processor of shelf-stable and fully cooked protein products. Father and son, Billy Crider Jr. and Bill Crider III (‘96) made their gift announcement at the Engineering Research Building on the Statesboro Campus surrounded by robots and robotic imaging devices. As the Criders have seen their business grow through automation technology, the need for talented engineers to program and maintain that technology is growing with it. They believe Georgia Southern holds a local opportunity to find the talent they need.
The George-Anne
Georgia Southern thrift store returns, collecting donations for store credit
Vanessa Countryman, Digital Managing Editor
The campus thrift store asked students, faculty and staff to clean out their closets and pantries for their second year, offering store credit for donations until Friday. …The shop opens next week at the Russell Union rotunda each day from 11-1 p.m., coinciding with Sustain Southern’s Southern Sustainability Week. The Thrift Store began as a way to fight fast fashion on our campus by selling the clothes donated.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A proposed state Senate bill would ‘crush’ the film and TV industry in Georgia
By Rodney Ho
A state Senate panel’s proposal on tax reform Monday featured a measure that could significantly reduce the value of the film and TV tax credits for production companies. The changes would cap the credits at $900 million a year and make them non-transferable to other parties. “It would crush the industry in Georgia as we know it,” said Ray Brown, president of the local International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees and Motion Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE). …Bruce Seaman, a retired economics professor at Georgia State University who remains a litigation consultant, calls this change “pretty dramatic no matter what your view on the debate about the merits of the credits is in general.” …J.C. Bradbury, an economics professor at the Kennesaw State University who has been critical of the tax credits over the years, said a $900 million cap in and of itself is “a reasonable step. It puts some brakes on it.” He notes that the tax credits encompass more than 4% of the entire state budget.
See also:
Atlanta Business Chronicle
‘A jobs issue:’ Studio execs say pullback of Georgia film and TV incentives threatens industry
Times-Georgian
UWG set to host first track meet in decades on Saturday
By Tucker Cole
The University of West Georgia is set to host their first track meet in several decades with the Inaugural UWG Legends Track Meet. This historic event will be held at the newly-renovated track complex on Plant Op Drive on Saturday. The track was originally used by UWG (then West Georgia College) for the track teams until the programs were canceled in 1985. After that, the track went unattended until it was renovated in 1995 to serve as a training facility for the Ukrainian Olympic track team during the 1996 Olympics. Since then, the track had received very little attention, especially considering West Georgia still did not have a track program.
EurekAlert!
CBI early career program develops next generation of bioenergy leaders
The Center for Bioenergy Innovation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory offers a unique opportunity for early career scientists to conduct groundbreaking research while learning what it takes to manage a large collaborative science center. Eight talented scientists from CBI’s partnering institutions have participated in the Early Career Development program, benefitting their career, their science and the center. CBI is one of four Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers focused on advancing biofuel and bioproduct production processes to grow a vibrant domestic bioeconomy. CBI is accelerating the development of bioenergy-relevant plants and microbes to enable production of sustainable aviation fuel, bioproducts that sequester carbon and renewable replacements for plastics and other environmentally harmful products. …Learn more about some of these young scientists, their experiences as Early Career Development, or ECD, participants and how they are shaping the future of bioenergy. …Breeanna Urbanowicz is an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and lead of the Plant Biopolymers Group at the University of Georgia. She is also a faculty member of both the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and New Materials Institute at UGA. Her core research is centered on the structure, synthesis and biological function of the plant cell wall, a cellular component that is integral to many facets of plant biology. Within CBI, she is working with ORNL’s Wellington Muchero and NREL’s Yannick Bomble to identify and characterize proteins and pathways that are crucial to complex carbohydrate synthesis in Populus.
Connect Savannah
SSU launches new Live Events Certificate program with Harlem Globetrotters
By Alex Arango
Savannah State University (SSU) officially launched its Live Events Certificate program in partnership with the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters on Thurs., March 24, at the Wilcox-Wiley Gymnasium on SSU’s campus. The certificate program will be part of SSU’s Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), and offers non-credit, development courses for students registered in the CIE. The certificate provides students with a detailed understanding of the live events industry, from sporting events to music concerts.
Times-Georgian
Art Takeover returns to Carrollton today
The tradition continues. “Art Takeover” returns to Adamson Square, this Thursday, March 31st when the University of West Georgia School of the Arts, Carrollton Center for the Arts, Carrollton Mainstreet, Carrollton Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Carrollton Artist Guild team up to bring this annual event downtown. Visitors are encouraged to stroll through the vibrant downtown, meet area artists and admire their work as they explore shops, restaurants and galleries while enjoying art demonstrations and live music. …Also in front of the Carrollton Center for the Arts, 3-D chalk artists, Jessi and Zach Queen, will create sidewalk art, and art work of UWG students will displayed in the Galleria of the Arts Center. The exhibit will be available for public viewing Tuesday, March 22nd thru April 2. Awards for “Best in Show” will be presented to UWG students beginning at 5:45 p.m. on April 2.
Savannah Tribune
Savannah State University To Unveil Photography Exhibition of 100 Pastors’ Rally
Display Includes 32 Photographs Captured by Students and Faculty During Historic Arbery Trial
Savannah State University’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications will unveil a photography exhibition featuring a collection of photographs captured during the historic Ahmaud Arbery state trial in Brunswick, Georgia at a special event to be held Saturday, April 2. Free and open to the public, the event will take place at 1 p.m. in Whiting Hall on the campus of the university, 3219 College St. The exhibition consists of 32 photographs taken outside the Glynn County Courthouse during the 100 Pastors’ Rally in support of the Arbery family on November 18, 2021. Mass Communications students Kalel Akins, Damien Bryant, Beyoncé Gordon, Alonzo McKinney, and instructor Jason Miccolo Johnson captured the images featured in the exhibition. Johnson, an award-winning photographer and SSU instructor, organized the field trip as part of his African Americans in the Media class.
The George-Anne
We check out all the animals The Georgia southern Wildlife Center has to offer
Ashley Watts, Multimedia Journalist
Opened in 1997, the Center for Wildlife Education was developed with a specific goal in mind: acquire an eagle for Georgia Southern. University alumni and master falconer, Steve Hein, was contacted to begin the search after the misidentification of a large bird during a national championship game. …Since 1990 the mission of the wildlife center has evolved greatly from simply finding an eagle. Today, the center focuses on keeping humans involved with the natural world. “The mission of the wildlife center is really just to connect humans and people to nature. Really to use that to sorta create that relationship, that connection. We allow people to touch and hold the animals, which isn’t always done at a lot of other centers.” said Education Coordinator, Wayne Paulk. After 7 years open, with the permission of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in 2004 the center finally was able to acquire our own bald eagle, Freedom.
The Center Square
Georgia doling out more than $11M in COVID relief to help teachers
By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor
The Georgia Department of Education is dishing out more than $11 million in federal COVID-19 relief to help more than 14,600 Georgia teachers. The State Board of Education approved $6.8 million in Expanding Opportunities for Teachers Grants for 19 school districts, higher education institutions and Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESAs). Recipients can use the money to pay for tuition, fees and exam costs for Georgia public school teachers enrolled in approved Teacher and Teacher Leader Endorsement programs. …The state pulled money from the federal American Rescue Plan’s (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund to cover the cost of the grants. Recipients are Augusta University, Central Savannah RESA, Coastal Plains RESA, Chattahoochee-Flint RESA, DeKalb County School District, Georgia State University, Griffin RESA, Mercer University, Metro RESA, Middle Georgia RESA, North Georgia RESA, Northeast Georgia RESA, Northwest Georgia RESA, Oconee RESA, Okefenokee RESA, Pioneer RESA, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, Southwest Georgia RESA, Thomas University, University of Georgia, West Georgia RESA and Wiregrass Technical College.
WGAU Radio
UGA study: plastic bag bans don’t work
Study published in the journal Environmental and Resource Economics
By Kristin Morales, UGA Media Relations
When cities or counties institute plastic bag bans or fees, the idea is to reduce the amount of plastic headed to the landfill. But a new analysis by a University of Georgia researcher finds these policies, while created with good intentions, may cause more plastic bags to be purchased in the communities where they are in place. The study was published earlier this year in the journal Environmental and Resource Economics. That’s because while plastic grocery bags are viewed as a single-use item, they often find a second use as liners for small trash cans. When these shopping bags are taxed or taken away, people look for alternatives—which means they buy small plastic garbage bags.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion: Part-time faculty at Georgia colleges deserve better pay
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Longtime Kennesaw State University instructor says system undervalues adjuncts
Yvonne Wichman is a longtime instructor at Kennesaw State University. She founded the Part-Time Faculty Council, which represents part-timers across both the Kennesaw and Marietta campuses. She is a member of the United Campus Workers of Georgia.In this guest column, Wichman addresses the status and salary of part-time college instructors in Georgia, an issue roiling campuses nationwide. A 2020 American Federation of Teachers report, “An Army of Temps,” found nearly 25% of adjunct faculty rely on public assistance and 40% have trouble covering basic household expenses. “Adjuncts anchor their institutions’ instructional work, yet so many are living hand to mouth,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten at the time.
Athens Banner-Herald
Oconee grand jury indicts murder suspect in 2021 RaceTrac shooting death
Wayne Ford
An Oconee County grand jury on Monday indicted the suspect charged in the 2021 slaying of RaceTrac clerk Elijah Wood on a murder charge. The grand jury returned an indictment charging Ahkil Nasir Crumpton of Philadelphia, Pa., with felony murder, aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit a felony, and two counts of possessing a firearm during a felony. Crumpton, a University of Georgia football player for two years, from 2017 to 2018, is in a Philadelphia jail, where he has opposed extradition to Oconee County.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated March 30)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,935,540
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 31,051 | 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
Education Dept. Plans Title IX Rules to Protect Transgender Status
By Scott Jaschik
The Education Department is planning rules that state clearly that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects transgender students, The Washington Post reported. The department is currently finalizing the rules.
Inside Higher Ed
Women’s Teams Shortchanged on Funding, ‘USA Today’ Analysis Finds
By Doug Lederman
Colleges and universities that compete at the highest level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association spend 71 cents on women’s sports teams for every dollar they spend on comparable men’s teams, a USA Today analysis of NCAA financial reports shows. The newspaper analyzed financial reports from 107 sports programs in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision from 2018–19 and 2019—20 to assess how they allocated resources for travel, equipment and recruiting for men’s and women’s teams. The analysis found that the universities spent $125 million more for men’s teams in basketball, baseball, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, and tennis than for their women’s counterparts.
Inside Higher Ed
Twenty-eight percent of academic women surveyed by Gallup say they’ve been passed over for promotion or advancement opportunities due to their gender. That’s a bigger share than female workers in the U.S. in general.
By Colleen Flaherty
About three in 10 female faculty and staff members say they’ve been passed over for a promotion or other opportunity for advancement at work because of their gender. That’s compared to 11 percent of male workers, according to a new Gallup survey of some 10,500 U.S. academics at a two- and four-year institutions. Some 33 percent of Hispanic women and 30 percent of Asian women surveyed said they’d been professionally passed over due to their gender, compared to 28 percent of white women (and 28 percent of women overall). Black women were the least likely group of female workers to say they’d lost out on a professional opportunity or advancement due to their gender, at 24 percent; Gallup attributes this more to a sample size issue than any major challenge what’s known about how gender and race intersect in the workplace. …In this most recent survey, female faculty and staff members were also less likely than their male counterparts to strongly agree they have the same opportunities for advancement at their institution as do other employees, at 23 percent of women versus 32 percent of men.