Rome News-Tribune
GHC is semifinalist for $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence
Georgia Highlands College has been named an Aspen Prize semifinalist by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. It’s one of 25 colleges across the country competing for a $1 million prize recognizing excellence in equitable outcomes for students in and after college — and the only institution in the University System of Georgia to be named. The award is considered one of the signature recognitions of high achievement and performance among the nation’s more than 1,000 community colleges. The colleges selected stand out as having high and improving levels of student success as well as equitable outcomes for Black and Hispanic students and those from lower-income backgrounds.
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Sonny Perdue counting on executive experience in new role as university system chancellor
by Dave Williams
Sonny Perdue isn’t your typical University System of Georgia (USG) chancellor. His two immediate predecessors – Steve Wrigley and Hank Huckaby – spent large portions of their careers in academia. Huckaby was a professor and later administrator at several USG institutions including the University of Georgia, while Wrigley served inside the system’s central office as executive vice chancellor of administration. …He thinks that executive experience will stand him in good stead as he takes the helm at Georgia’s 26 public colleges and universities. “This is a big job,” Perdue said last Thursday, four weeks after succeeding Teresa MacCartney, an executive vice chancellor who had assumed the top role on an acting basis last summer when Wrigley retired. …To be fair, Perdue isn’t a novice when it comes to higher education. He chaired the state Senate Higher Education Committee during the 1990s, before his election in 2002 as Georgia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction. His tenure with the committee coincided with the launching of the lottery-funded HOPE Scholarships program, which incentivized Georgia’s top high school students to attend the university system’s top colleges instead of heading out of state.
Fox Business
Sonny Perdue talks impact of Ukraine war on food exports: It’ll take ‘a while’ to work out
By FOX Business Staff
Chancellor Sonny Perdue joined “Cavuto: Coast to Coast” Thursday to talk about the University System of Georgia and the value of a college degree, as well as the impact of the Ukraine war on food exports based on his experience as the former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. (Segment that includes USG begins at the 3:12 mark of the 2nd video, which has a picture of an ear of corn and is labeled “Watch the full interview.”)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp signs bill to aid Georgia college students with financial need
By Eric Stirgus
Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Friday that would provide financial aid up to $2,500 to some undergraduate college students in Georgia who can’t pay their tuition. House Bill 1435, sponsored by Rep. Chuck Martin, R-Alpharetta, chairman of House’s higher education committee, is an attempt by Georgia lawmakers to provide a more robust need-based aid program for students attending the state’s public colleges and universities. Georgia is one of only two states that lacks broad need-based financial aid, experts say.
WTXL
Valdosta State helps Adel with economic development
Students researched idea to attract new business
By: Channing Frampton
Adel’s leaders are teaming up with college students to bring business back to the downtown area. Census bureau data from 2019 shows nearly a quarter of the 5,500 people living in Adel are living in poverty. Progress seems to keep passing by in Adel, Ga. …Now, they’re taking ideas from the next generation. “It turned out to be a very interesting learning opportunity,” said Dr. Joseph Robbins. Working through Valdosta State University’s Center for South Georgia Regional Impact, Robbins led a group of students researching opportunities for economic growth in Adel.
Griffin Daily News
Gordon Hosts First-Year Finish Celebration
By Karolina Philmon Marketing Manager Gordon State College
Gordon State College hosted its 2nd Annual First-Year Finish celebration at the GSC Student Center Auditorium on April 21. The event honored the freshman class for its perseverance and success during the 2021-22 academic year. It also recognized the substantial developmental transition of students making it through the first year of college. …President Nooks continued his speech by stating he was a first-generation college graduate and experienced challenges along the way. “With my parent’s support, along with the support from the institution’s entrusted faculty and staff, I was able to complete my undergraduate degree,” Nooks said.
11Alive
Here’s how metro Atlanta high school seniors can make a college decision in minutes
Filling out the application only takes 10 minutes and receiving a college decision takes about two minutes said John Cash, GGC Assistant Director of Admissions.
Author: Dalia Perez
One school is making the college admission process easier for students. Georgia Gwinnett College is offering metro Atlanta high school seniors Instant Decision Days. The event allows students to get the admission process right in their high school. They meet with GGC’s admissions counselors, who help them fill out GGC application forms and evaluate their transcripts. If students meet GPA requirements, then an instant admissions decision is given on the spot. …Cash said that they’ve admitted over 400 students at this point, just from the Instant Decision Days GGC has administered this Spring.
Columbus CEO
CSU’s Turner College of Business Hosts the Financial Forecast Breakfast
Staff Report
On Thursday morning, Columbus State University ’s D. Abbott Turner College of Business welcomed regional leaders in business, government and education to the Cunningham Center for the university’s annual Financial Forecast Breakfast. Dr. Deborah Kidder, dean of the Turner College of Business, presented findings from the college’s Butler Center for Business and Economic Leadership research findings on the local economy, including consumer buying trends and a business attitudes survey. “The results of the survey for consumers and local business owners unfortunately were a bit pessimistic and there were several indicators that people are worried,” Kidder shared, “but one of the positive signs is the consistency in planned capital expenditures by local businesses, which suggests some confidence in the economy.” Speaking on the future of banking, Synovus President and CEO Kevin Blair shared his perspective on how the bank relationships of the future will evolve from the branch model to serving customers with a new balance of high touch and high tech.
Statesboro Herald
Behavioral Pediatrics Resource Center marks Autism Awareness Month
For Autism Awareness Month in April, Behavioral Pediatrics Resource Center – a local non-profit dedicated to providing resources and awareness for autism, ADHD and anxiety in children – partnered with a group of students from Georgia Southern University to expand autism awareness in Bulloch County. The Resource Center worked with students Isabella Nelson, Mambwe Mutiti and Jordan Bordeaux to provide information on autism so the group could create posters and flyer designs to be located in local businesses.
Patch
New Peachtree Corners Shopping App + This Weekend In Gwinnett
The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Duluth.
Nicole Tess Kazora, Patch Contributing Writer
…Georgia Gwinnett College will host a poet laureate as its commencement speaker next month for the first time in the college’s history. In a recent announcement, Hank Stewart will deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2022.
WRBL
Columbus State’s Robert Brooks closing in on home run record
by: Jack Patterson
The Columbus State Cougars are on a roll this season especially at the play. One of the reasons why CSU has been so good this season, has been the play of Robert Brooks. The grad student catcher leads CSU starters in batting average, RBI’s and home runs. In fact, Brooks is on the cusp of history. In his career, he has 61 home runs which is second all-time in Peach Belt Conference history. He’s just two home runs behind former CSU Cougar Brad Bouras.
yahoo!news
Stallions qualify for national golf tournament
Becky Taylor, The Tifton Gazette, Ga.
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will make its way back to the NJCAA Division II golf national championship next month after a strong showing at the Southeastern Championship. Behind tournament low medalist Hagen Marion, the Stallions were second overall, despite a lengthy rain delay that limited the final round to nine holes. The tournament, held at Bristol Country Club, was played April 25-26. Marion finished at -1 overall. The Stallions, 14th in Golfstat’s national rankings, shot 732 for the tournament, seven shots behind Walters State (Tenn.). Both teams qualified for nationals, along with third place Cleveland State (Tenn.).
Higher Education News:
Higher Ed Dive
How can colleges assess their own well-being initiatives?
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
A few years ago, Butler University launched a wellness initiative called BU Be Well, which focuses on several pillars, including finding one’s meaning and purpose, engaging in lifelong learning and finding harmony in relationships. The roughly 5,500-student private nonprofit university in Indianapolis is in good company. Universities nationwide — from George Mason University in Virginia to the University of California, Los Angeles — have launched efforts to increase student and employee well-being. The efforts take many forms. Some are simple, such as having napping pods on campus and hosting yoga classes to encourage physical activity. Others are more involved, like centralizing or bolstering an institution’s mental health services. More recently, Butler has set its sights on ramping up these types of services by launching the Institute for Well-Being.
Higher Ed Dive
FAFSA completion falls about 9% from previous year, report says
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Reporter
Dive Brief:
About 9% fewer students completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms as of the end of March than had done so at the same point last year, according to new data from the National College Attainment Network. This amounts to 873,489 fewer students filing a FAFSA. This was driven by a decline in FAFSA renewals, as the share of new FAFSA filers rose, the college access organization found. Completions among students already enrolled in college fell by about 12% from last year, or 880,831 fewer students renewing. Renewals among enrolled students eligible for federal Pell Grants, a proxy for low-income status, dropped by more than 15%, or 545,667 students, in that period. NCAN said the data, which the Office of Federal Student Aid provided, suggests “very bad news in the short term for college student retention, persistence, and completion rates.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education
3 Things We Learned From the Latest Federal Employment and Enrollment Report
By Dan Bauman
America’s colleges and universities last October enrolled the smallest share of graduating high-school seniors in over a decade. According to new estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 61.8 percent of the Class of 2021 elected to attend college as of October 2021, down slightly from 62.7 percent for the Class of 2020. Prior to 2020, higher ed could typically count on at least 65 percent of each year’s cohort of graduating high schoolers to seek out a postsecondary education. Covid, though, broke that streak. Those data points were in a new report from BLS on the enrollment and work activity of recent high-school and college graduates. Here are three other items of interest from this latest report from the government:
Inside Higher Ed
Withholding Transcripts to Collect Student Debt: Key Podcast
By Doug Lederman
The U.S. government is casting a skeptical eye on college policies that withhold academic transcripts and otherwise punish students because they owe the institutions money. This week’s episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, explores why some institutions have those policies and why consumer advocates think they’re pernicious, even though they’re a tiny piece of the $1.7 trillion student debt problem in American higher education.
Inside Higher Ed
Humanities Graduate Education Is Shrinking
A new report from the Humanities Indicators Project finds that master’s degrees in humanities fields peaked in 2012 and Ph.D.s three years later. There are no signs of a bounce back.
By Scott Jaschik
Graduate education in the humanities is shrinking, according to a new report issued today by the Humanities Indicators Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Master’s degrees in the humanities, of which 16,057 were awarded in 1988, rose to 32,584 in 2012, the year they peaked. In 2020, they fell to 26,566, the report said. The number of doctoral degrees awarded also rose and fell during that time. There were 3,110 doctoral degrees in the humanities in 1998. The number rose steadily to 6,010 in 2015 but fell to 5,483 in 2020.
Inside Higher Ed
NASA Launches Plans to Support Minority-Serving Institutions
By Sara Weissman
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration recently launched an equity action plan with steps to offer more resources and opportunities to faculty members and students at minority-serving institutions. The plan is in response to an executive order issued by President Joe Biden last year that aims to promote diversity in the federal workforce. As a part of the new plan, the agency will conduct an analysis of the hurdles researchers at minority-serving institutions face in securing NASA grants and cooperation agreements. NASA is also in the process of transitioning to a dual anonymous peer-review system for grant proposals, where names of reviewers and proposers are kept anonymous to reduce implicit bias.
Inside Higher Ed
Betting on Pennsylvania Students
Pennsylvania’s governor is proposing a scholarship program for in-state college students for a third time. The stakes haven’t changed, but neither has the opposition from the horse-racing industry, whose revenues would partly fund the program.
By David Steele
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf and his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly are pushing hard for $200 million in funding for scholarships for students enrolled at community colleges and four-year institutions that are part of the state higher education system. Wolf made the same budget request in the previous two years, and it was rejected both times by the Republican-controlled Legislature. But a notable change in the source of the funding, and the support he’s gained in both chambers of the state Legislature, may reverse the trend. The primary reason for the opposition to the request remains the same—a significant portion of the $200 million would come from the state’s Race Horse Development Trust, which is funded by casino revenues and supports the racing industry. The current scholarship proposal includes $88 million from the trust; the rest would come from federal COVID-19 relief funds, according to a spokesperson for the governor.
Inside Higher Ed
Athletic Scholarships in Exchange for Military Service?
By Susan H. Greenberg
The U.S. military is discussing a proposal to fund scholarships for college athletes in return for their military service, Sportico reported. Conceived by a defense contractor, the initiative proposes that the Department of Defense replace college-funded athletic scholarships for every sport except football and basketball. Athletes who receive scholarships would be required to serve for a yet-to-be-determined period of time after they graduate. The plan promises to be mutually beneficial to both the armed forces and college sports. It would ensure the military a steady stream of fit recruits while helping college athletic departments compensate for funding cuts to nonmarquee sports.
yahoo!sports
NCAA to Allow Sports Betting Data Deals for Schools, Conferences
Eben Novy-Williams
The NCAA is further loosening its long-held opposition to sports betting, paving the way for individual schools and conferences to sign lucrative deals with data companies that sell that information on to sportsbooks. The Division I Interpretations Committee met Wednesday to discuss the topic, and determined that an individual, school or conference can provide stats to sports wagering companies if that information is also available to the general public, according to an NCAA spokesperson. Membership was informed of the ruling Thursday afternoon. The decision will likely open the door for conferences large and small ( and maybe individual schools themselves) to capitalize directly on the rush of money being spent by betting operators and data middlemen as more states legalize gambling on pro and college games.
Inside Higher Ed
For Those Most at Risk, COVID-19 Is Not Over
With the lethal threat of COVID-19 on the decline, many colleges are relaxing policies to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Disability advocates fear that high-risk individuals will suffer.
By Josh Moody
As higher education slowly returns to a long-awaited sense of normalcy, college students and employees with disabilities worry that they’ll be forgotten in the rush to dial down coronavirus mitigation factors, noting that COVID-19 continues to pose a lethal threat to high-risk individuals. Case rates vary significantly at the state, county and city levels. Some colleges have recently dropped mask and vaccine mandates, even as others restore such practices or shift classes online amid local surges. But regardless of the numbers, some advocates for students and employees want to see universal standards in place to protect those most at risk. Some advocates say students are being asked to choose between their education and their lives.