The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clayton State University president resigns, cites health issue
By Eric Stirgus
Clayton State University President T. Ramon Stuart announced his resignation after less than a year on the job, saying a recent health challenge prevents him from effectively serving in the position. “As many of you know, I have had some unfortunate health challenges this year that resulted in the removal of my kidney,” Stuart wrote to students, faculty and employees late Wednesday. “Unfortunately, my health challenges continue to plague me, and I am unable to effectively lead the University in a manner that it deserves.” Stuart, 43, had the surgery on Feb. 15. “I’ve got to sit down in order to stand up,” Stuart said concerning his health in a telephone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. … Kerry Heyward, attorney for Georgia State University, will serve as interim president.
See also:
The Clayton Crescent
Stuart resigns from Clayton State; Heyward in
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Smaller Georgia colleges grapple with declining enrollment
By Eric Stirgus
At a recent town hall meeting, the president of East Georgia State College told employees the school must do a better job of enrolling and retaining students. Enrollment was down nearly 17% last fall to about 2,000 students — the sharpest decline of any public college or university in the state. The consequences of a continuing decline could include losing state funding, which faculty fear could mean job cuts. They also worry it may result in the closure of some smaller colleges. “This truly is a game of inches,” said David Schecter, who became the college’s president in January. “One or two students at a time each day can really help us as a college.” …East Georgia State is one of six University System of Georgia schools with enrollment declines greater than 20% over the last five years.
GBPI
Georgia Invests $255 Million More In FY 2023 Budget for College Affordability
By Jennifer Lee
Two of the biggest higher education investments and policy changes this year come through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget, which will go into effect on July 1, 2022: state funding of the Special Institutional Fee (SIF), and an increase in HOPE awards at some schools to cover 90 percent of tuition. Combined, these two measures could mean significant savings for college students starting in the fall. For example, a student at the University of Georgia receiving HOPE would see a savings of $2,040 over two semesters: $900 from the removal of the Special Institutional Fee from their tuition bill and $1,140 from an increase in HOPE awards.
The Augusta Chronicle
Richard Franza: Treat business school like a business, see successful return on investment
I started my position as the dean of the James M. Hull College of Business at Augusta University in February 2017. The first time I met with our faculty, I told them that while we were indeed a business school, they should also think of us as a business. Although most institutions of higher education, particularly state institutions such as AU, are nonprofits, they have goals that are similar to those at for-profit businesses. For instance, the taxpayers and legislators of the state of Georgia are equivalent to the investors of for-profit firms for University System of Georgia institutions such as AU. As such, the taxpayers and legislature expect these institutions to provide a good return on investment for the funds provided to them. As I have spent almost 20 years in USG institutions, with more than 16 of those years as a business school administrator, I take that ROI obligation quite seriously.
WGAU Radio
UGA president: faculty, staff pay hikes will be permanent
Approval from Board of Regents anticipated in May
By Tim Bryant
University of Georgia president Jere Morehead tells faculty and staff the $5 thousand pay raises allocated by the Georgia legislature will, pending final approval from the state Board of Regents, be made permanent. Action from the Regents is anticipated at their next meeting next month. This year’s UGA pay raises were approved in the legislative session that ended earlier this week.
From UGA president Jere Morehead…
As noted in this March 29 memo, funds to make the $5,000 Cost of Living Adjustment pay increases permanent were included in the Governor’s FY 2023 budget recommendations. These increases needed to be approved by the General Assembly as part of the FY 2023 state budget and receive final approval by the Governor before becoming permanent.
Athens CEO
Donors make 9,339 Gifts to UGA on Georgia Giving Day
Staff Report
The University of Georgia’s first institution-wide, 24-hour fundraising effort, Georgia Giving Day, finished at midnight PST on April 1 after receiving 9,339 gifts. UGA’s goal for its inaugural giving day was 1,785 gifts, but overwhelming support pushed the campaign past its first goal, a second goal of 3,318 and even a third goal of 6,000.
Albany Herald
UGA students claim graduate research awards
By Jordan Powers CAES News
Four UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences graduate students, Keila Acevedo Villanueva, Changhyeon Kim, Matthew Holton and Grace Ingham, have been honored with an E. Broadus Browne Award for Outstanding Graduate Research. Given in honor of the former director of the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations, the award is presented to outstanding master’s and doctorate students in CAES based on both their research and effective communication.
Tifton Gazette
Roe retires, final concert honors Bridges, Chason
The delightful melodies of the top voices at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will be on display for all to hear 7 p.m., April 12, when the ABAC choral program presents its annual spring concert in Howard Auditorium. For Dr. Susan Roe, chair of the ABAC Fine Arts Department and the choral program director, the concert represents a bittersweet moment. She has announced her retirement from ABAC as June 30, college officials said in a statement. Roe said she is proud of all the improvements in ABAC since she joined the faculty as an adjunct professor in 1999. …Roe said the second song of the evening will be dedicated to two ABAC legends, President David Bridges and Mike Chason, director of public relations emeritus. Bridges is retiring this year and Chason retired in 2011. “We want to honor President Bridges and Mike Chason with Rene Clausen’s ‘Set Me as a Seal Upon Your Heart,’” Roe said. “I do not think anyone has done more for an institution out of love than Dr. David Bridges. “The song also contains the words, ‘Great Day,’ which pay homage to Mike Chason’s legendary ‘great day to be alive’ greetings on campus.”
Growing Produce
IR-4 Project Announces Winners of Its 2022 SOAR Award
Posted by Growing Produce Staff
The IR-4 Project has announced the winners of its 2022 SOAR Award. The award honors external partners who exemplify the areas of Service, Outreach, Altruism, and Research, while supporting specialty crop growers and the mission of the IR-4 Project. This year’s winners have made significant impacts to their individual research areas and the specialty crop industry as a whole.
Dr. Stanley Culpepper – Professor and Extension Weed Scientist, University of Georgia
Dr. Stanley Culpepper with the University of Georgia was selected as a recipient of the SOAR Award for his commitment to the future of agriculture in the state of Georgia and throughout the country.
Albany Herald
PHOTOS: Albany State University’s Founder’s Day – Spring into the Arts
Photos contributed by Reginald Christian
Every year, Albany State University honors their founder, Dr. Joseph Winthrop Holley, during the week of Founder’s Day. Students participated in Spring into Arts events including painting with Stephanie Wilkerson and drawing with Charles Williams on Monday, April 4, 2022.
Albany Herald
PHOTOS: Albany State University Founder’s Day Student Leadership Luncheon
Photos contributed by Reginald Christian
Albany State University held its Founder’s Day Student Leadership Luncheon on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
Archyde
Medicine endorses ‘forest baths’ to reduce anxiety
Since the rural exodus began in Spain and we massively abandoned our place in the countryside to inhabit the cities, human beings have progressively disconnected from nature. We are no longer attached to that part of our existence and now research has come to show that, beyond good views, contact with nature and the forest baths –an activity originating in Japan, with a long tradition in various cultures around the world–, reduce stress and provide endless benefits linked, especially, to psychological health. …
NATURE REDUCES STRESS AND ANXIETY
The team of researchers from the University of Georgia set out to assess and quantify the relationship that existed between our psychological health due to the coronavirus pandemic and the influence that our connection with nature has on it. To achieve this, they launched analyzes both in the United States and in Japan with which measure the impact that Covid-19 is having on our lives. The study ranged from the levels of stress and anxiety of the subjects, through the effect that the crisis had had on their income and their jobs, and the degree of connection that each of them had with nature.
WGAU Radio
UGA: changes to hunting season regs will help stabilize turkey population
The changes, say wildlife experts, will hopefully benefit both turkeys and hunters
By Kristin Morales, UGA Media Relations
Spring isn’t just for wildflowers and pollen—it’s also a time to hear wild turkeys gobble across Georgia and much of the Southeast. That telltale chortle is also a signal that turkey hunting season is about to open, although changes to Georgia’s state regulations will keep hunters on standby for a week or two longer this year. But the changes, say wildlife experts, will hopefully benefit both turkeys and hunters. Georgia’s turkey hunting season opened on private lands statewide on April 2 and hunting on public lands opens April 9. This is a week or two later than previous seasons to give female turkeys more time to breed with males and then lay their eggs. A delay of just a couple weeks could have a positive effect on turkey populations, which have been declining in recent decades.
The Spectator
Former VSU employee files lawsuit against the Board of Regents
The Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia is being sued by a former VSU employee, who is alleging a VSU administrator sexually harassed her and tampered with her employment status. Jamie T. Bird, who served as VSU’s dual enrollment director until her dismissal on Nov. 16, 2020, made a series of allegations against Dr. Rodney Carr, vice president for student success, in the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed on Jan. 20, 2021. The trial is set for Aug. 8 in Valdosta. Bird is seeking her job back and for Carr to pay at least most of her legal fees and damages for emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life. Bird alleged Dr. Carr gave her a “tight full body hug” in February 2019.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated April 6)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,940,541 | Note: The DPH reports that starting on March 30 and into the next several days, it expects to clear a backlog of cases from a laboratory that were not previously recorded. DPH noted that the majority of these cases were from December 2021 and January 2022, and do not represent a spike of new cases in late March.
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 31,241 | 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
Chancellor Resigns Amid Free Speech Survey Launch
By Sara Weissman
The interim chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater recently resigned after system leaders announced a planned systemwide survey on campus free speech, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The launch of the survey is scheduled for today, according to an announcement from the system, and it comes at a time when Republican state legislators have been proposing legislation on campus free speech issues and scrutiny of such issues has gotten national attention, the newspaper reported. The survey asks students about viewpoint diversity in the classroom and has them think through whether hypothetical scenarios are protected under the First Amendment.
Inside Higher Ed
Inflation Jumps—Professor Pay Doesn’t
AAUP releases annual faculty salary data, saying that average faculty pay effectively fell 5 percent this year over last when accounting for runaway inflation.
By Colleen Flaherty
Full-time faculty salaries increased 2 percent this academic year over last, according to annual faculty compensation data gathered by the American Association of University Professors. This is one of the smallest year-over-year increases the AAUP has recorded since it began tracking the measure in 1972—and that’s before factoring in this year’s surging inflation. Adjusted for inflation, real average salaries decreased 5 percent year over year, representing the greatest decrease in real-wage growth seen since 1979–80, according to the AAUP. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U, increased 7 percent in 2021 and 12.5 percent in 1979, the AAUP said in a preliminary analysis of its data. The association plans on releasing a much more detailed analysis of its full-time and part-time faculty salary survey data later this year, in the form of its “Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession.”
Inside Higher Ed
Bills to Help Adjuncts Garner Support in California Assembly
By Sara Weissman
The California Assembly’s Higher Education Committee approved two bills at a hearing Tuesday that would offer more financial stability to adjunct professors at California community colleges, EdSource reported. It remains unclear whether the bills will be signed into law by the governor. One bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Jose Medina, would allow adjuncts to do 85 percent of a full-time teaching load within one community college district. This would prevent them from having to work part-time at multiple districts to make ends meet. However, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed similar legislation last year. A second bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, would require pay parity for adjuncts relative to full-time faculty members, who generally earn better wages and are paid for work outside the classroom, like grading assignments and meeting with students.