WJBF
Inspiring Augusta University student graduates despite the odds
Thursday night, the first of three graduation ceremonies for Augusta University Spring 2022 graduates will take place. They had multiple ceremonies the last couple of years because of the pandemic. Prior to that, there was just one. This year, the university decided on three because they were unsure about what the state of the James Brown Arena would be, because of potential construction. …Sontonia Browner is an undergrad student who despite serious health problems and a learning disability– is finally getting her degree at 32 years old. …Sontonia Browner earned her Bachelor of Social Work after years of struggling through school because of a learning disability and congenital heart disease. She had multiple surgeries including a tracheotomy at 1 year old and a pacemaker at 3 years old. Doctors told her parents she wouldn’t live past 16. She said no one thought she’d ever go to college.
Albany Herald
PHOTOS: More than 6,000 graduate during UGA spring commencement
Photos by Lee Shearer, Staff Correspondent
The University of Georgia welcomed more than 6,000 new alums during a graduation ceremony in Athens on Friday, May, 13, 2022.
Ledger-Enquirer
Photo Gallery: Columbus State’s School of Nursing hosts honors convocation, pinning ceremony
By Darrell Roaden
Columbus State University’s School of Nursing had their honors convocation and pinning ceremony May 13 for the class of 2022 at the University Hall auditorium on CSU’s main campus. Here are our favorite photos from the event.
Ledger-Enquirer
Photo Gallery: CSU celebrates 2022 ROTC Spring Commissioning Ceremony
By Darrell Roaden
Columbus State University’s Cougar Battalion celebrated its Reserve Officers’ Training Corps 2022 spring commissioning ceremony May 13 at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Georgia. Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Donahoe administered the oath of office.
Valdosta CEO
VSU Secures Funds to Update Space for Students with Disabilities
Staff Report
A state-funded renovation project will support Valdosta State University’s efforts to remove physical, educational, and other barriers and create an inclusive and diverse living and learning environment that is accessible to all. The Georgia General Assembly, during the final hours of the 2022 Legislative Session, approved a $30.2 billion state budget that includes $2 million in funding for the renovation of VSU’s Farbar Hall. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the budget on May 12.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
GSU, Grady Hospital join forces to combat nursing shortage
By Nancy Clanton
Program lets nursing students do their clinicals at the hospital
Two words have been linked since even before the pandemic: “nursing” and “shortage.” With nonstop COVID-19 patients leading to longer shifts, fewer breaks and a higher risk of contamination, some nurses have left the profession. Now, Grady Hospital has teamed up with Georgia State University‘s Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions to refill those ranks.
Marietta Daily Journal
Yarbrough scholarship will fund nontraditional Kennesaw State nursing students
Staff reports
A longtime nurse’s memory will live on at Kennesaw State University, with the recently established Jane J. Yarbrough Endowed Nursing Scholarship. Funded by Jane Yarbrough’s husband, syndicated Marietta Daily Journal columnist Dick Yarbrough, the scholarship will be awarded to non-traditional students who have earned a bachelor’s degree but are interested in pursuing nursing through KSU’s Wellstar School of Nursing. “My greatest achievement in life is this scholarship,” Dick Yarbrough, who endowed $50,000 toward the scholarship, said in a news release. “This is very important to me to help the next generation of students pursue a critical profession through the inspiration of my wife, who has made this possible.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia to invest nearly $1.5 million to teach teachers about dyslexia
By Ty Tagami
Georgia will help public school educators cover the cost of training to teach students with dyslexia. Some experts report that as many as one in five children have dyslexia, a condition that makes reading difficult. Students who can’t read well by third grade tend to do worse in their academic careers, since reading becomes essential for broader learning by that point. “Students’ future options increase exponentially when they master reading, a foundational skill that every child in Georgia should learn,” state school Superintendent Richard Woods said Friday in announcing nearly $1.5 million in grants. The money from Woods’ agency, the Georgia Department of Education, will go to seven of the state’s 16 Regional Education Service Agencies, including the one covering the core counties of metro Atlanta. Recipients also include seven state universities, including Georgia State University and the University of Georgia.
WGAU Radio
UGA begins work on next phase of North Campus infrastructure project
Work centered on Herty Drive near New College
By Tim Bryant
With spring semester over, the University of Georgia begins what it says is the second phase of work on a North Campus infrastructure project. It’s work that is expected to continue until the mid-August start of fall semester, mostly on Herty Drive near UGA’s New College.
The Current
The Tide: Presentation shows segregated history of Savannah facilities, parks
New digital presentation documents how segregation was designed into, enforced in public spaces.
by Susan Catron
The City of Savannah’s Municipal Archives isa massive trove of history. And this week, in partnership with Georgia Southern University, it posted a new online exhibit “Jim Crow in Savannah’s Parks,” examining how Savannah denied Black people access to the best public parks and recreational facilities and how Black taxpayers paid for a superior park system for whites. The multimedia work was prepared by Jeffrey M. Ofgang, an intern with the City of Savannah’s Municipal Archives who now holds a Public History Graduate Certificate from Georgia Southern University. The exhibit utilizes the city archives to show how segregation manifested in planning documents, news stories, city code, meetings and engineering department work for parks, playgrounds, pools, sports, and cemeteries. Hosted by GSU University Libraries, the exhibit can be accessed at https://georgiasouthern.libguides.com/savannahparks.
Higher Education News:
Higher Ed Dive
Financial aid administrators call for student loan system reforms
NASFAA helped develop more than two dozen recommendations on components like loan plan design and servicer oversight.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
The federal government’s student financial aid system has long come under fire, drawing a range of accusations: the U.S. Department of Education is lax in monitoring loan servicers, loan forgiveness is difficult for borrowers to secure, students are shepherded into plans that make little sense for their financial circumstances. These criticisms took on new fervor as the Biden administration began to rework federal financial aid and approved more than $18.5 billion in loan discharges for more than 750,000 borrowers. The White House is also reportedly considering using executive action to grant broader loan forgiveness. In light of these discussions, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, along with a cadre of 21 higher education organizations, developed recommendations to improve the federal loan system. More than two-dozen resulting suggestions range from how to streamline loan plans to how to better oversee servicers.
See also:
Inside Higher Ed
Student Aid Group Releases Ideas for Loan Reforms
University Business
The college campus of the future will be hybrid
Effectively blending online and face-to-face instruction can enhance the quality of degrees for all types of learners while decreasing the cost of attendance.
By: Jeffrey Docking
Total undergraduate enrollment dropped 3.1 percent from the fall of 2020 to the fall of 2021, bringing the total decline since the fall of 2019 to 6.6 percent. That is the equivalent of 1.2 million students. In response, higher ed leaders are searching for innovative ways to enhance their school’s value and grow enrollment. Faced with headwinds, college leadership teams are tasked with coming up with the next new thing. A rebranded website, a catchy slogan, revamped tuition discounting, or a scholarship giveaway. However, while creativity is important to remain competitive, I have also found that the best creative answers often start by recalibrating with an obvious question – what do students want most from their college experience?
Inside Higher Ed
Are High School GPAs Rising? Should You Care?
ACT says grades are rising. But a testing critic says ACT is exaggerating the problem.
By Scott Jaschik
The average high school grade point average increased significantly from 2010 to 2021, with most of the gains coming during the last five years, according to a new report released today by ACT. During the same time, composite scores on the ACT fell from 21.0 to 20.3, suggesting that grade inflation is a serious problem, the testing company said. In that same time period, most of the students studied changed the way they classify themselves, with A becoming the most common way and the number of B students and C students going down.
Inside Higher Ed
Making Their Arguments Against Affirmative Action
Thirty-four briefs argue that Harvard and UNC, and other colleges that base their admissions plans on the Grutter decision, should be forced to change.
By Scott Jaschik
Thirty-four briefs were filed, most of them last week, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its past support for affirmative action in college admissions. The briefs could be cited in the Supreme Court’s decision, expected next year, on the admissions systems at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. No college or university filed a brief, although the deadline for briefs in favor of Harvard and UNC is more than a month away. Many colleges and higher education associations are expected to weigh in at that time. Within some academic circles, it is simply accepted that Harvard and UNC should win the cases. The briefs filed last week may not win over those who believe that. But they do demonstrate the breadth of the forces opposed to affirmative action.
Inside Higher Ed
Va. Governor Urges Hiring of Faculty Members With ‘Diverse’ Views
By Scott Jaschik
Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, told college presidents last week that he expects them to promote free speech on campus and hire faculty and other staff “with diverse political perspectives,” The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Youngkin sent the five-page letter to the Council of Presidents, setting his expectations on a range of cultural issues important to his conservative political base—from in-person instruction during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to creation of lab schools as a kind of charter school outside of traditional K-12 public education. He also doesn’t want any tuition increases, which some Virginia colleges have proposed for next year. He said free speech on campus is “an issue and priority.”
Inside Higher Ed
Unusual Gift for Roxbury Community College Graduates
By Scott Jaschik
Robert Hale Jr. was the speaker at Roxbury Community College’s commencement ceremony Friday. And the co-owner of the Boston Celtics had a surprise gift for the graduates. WCVB News reported that he gave each of the 150 graduates $1,000: $500 for themselves and $500 to give away to anyone they wanted.