USG e-clips for June 23, 2022

University System News:

Emanuel County Live

EAC sponsors mini art camp for library

“Oceans of Possibilities” was the theme for the mini art camp created by Franklin Memorial Library. Emanuel Arts Council was asked to provide the art instructor and Terrie Daniel was selected to facilitate two short sessions at Vann Community Center in Swainsboro on June 13. “We were happy to help out,” said Jacquie Brasher, executive director of Emanuel Arts Council. “Terrie is an accomplished artist who has worked with the EAC art camp in previous years and I knew she would be perfect.” Daniel is a graduate of East Georgia State College, and a current student at Georgia Southern University working towards her Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art.

Patch

Georgia Southern University: Parker College Of Business Students Work With Local Nonprofit, Gain Marketing Experience

Georgia Southern University faculty member Travis Brickey attended the annual Haunted Forest fundraiser, hosted by the Boys & Girls Club.

When Georgia Southern University faculty member Travis Brickey attended the annual Haunted Forest fundraiser, hosted by the Boys & Girls Club of Bulloch County in Statesboro, he didn’t expect to come back to the classroom with a project idea for his students. … “When I got back to campus the next day, I polled nearly 200 of my students in class, and the vast majority had no awareness of the event despite many being interested,” Brickey added. He went on to propose a project for his students to help market and raise awareness of the Haunted Forest event and make it more appealing to the Generation Z demographic.

Douglas Now

Jenna Williams Selected For Georgia Foundation For Agriculture Scholarship

Citizens Christian Academy student Jenna Williams has been named recipient of a Georgia Foundation for Agriculture (GFA) Scholarship. Williams is one of seven graduating seniors statewide selected to receive a $3,000 GFB scholarship. Three other graduating seniors were awarded $4,000 scholarships. The GFA scholarships recognize deserving and outstanding college students pursuing degrees in agriculture or ag-related fields at colleges in the University System of Georgia, Berry College or Emmanuel College.

The Moultrie Observer

County commission approves $25.07 million budget

By Kevin C. Hall

The Colquitt County Board of Commissioners approved its budget Tuesday, followed by the approval of contracts related to the spending plan. The Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget ordinance includes a $25.07 million general fund budget and a $4.26 million solid waste budget. It will take effect July 1. …Separately, the county approved a contract with the Georgia Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service. The $179,935 contract covers the county’s portion of salaries, retirement, Social Security and Medicare for all Extension personnel serving Colquitt County. The contract is in effect July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. The Extension Service provides a variety of services to local farmers, homeowners, consumers, businesspeople and students.

The Advance News

GSU Raptors to Visit STC

Thanks to a donation to the Ohoopee Regional Library System by DOT Foods, the Georgia Southern University (GSU) Raptor Center will be bringing some of its wildlife to Southeastern Technical College (STC) on Monday, June 27, at 11 a.m. The event is part of the Library’s summer enrichment program. …The GSU Center for Wildlife Education and the Lamar Q. Ball, Jr. Raptor Center began in 1990, after a turkey vulture was misidentified as a bald eagle during the television broadcast of GSU’s fourth national championship win. After this mistake, GSU Supporter and Outdoor Enthusiast Harry Mathews suggested that GSU should have a bald eagle on campus, and the wildlife center began! Since opening in 1997, the Center has served to provide students throughout the region with wildlife encounters and education.

News Medical Life Sciences

Midgestation increase in leptin puts child and mother at risk of cardiovascular disease

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc

Before a baby is ever born, critical supply chain problems with nutrition and oxygen can result in premature birth or even death and increase the child and mother’s lifelong risk of cardiovascular disease. Scientists have found that a midgestation increase in the hormone leptin, which most of us associate with appetite suppression, produces problematic blood vessel dysfunction and restriction of the baby’s growth in preeclampsia that put mother and baby at risk. It’s known that about 20 weeks into a pregnancy, women with preeclampsia experience an increase in the production of leptin by the placenta but the consequences have been unknown. “It’s kind of emerging as a marker of preeclampsia,” says Dr. Jessica Faulkner, vascular physiologist in the Department of Physiology at the Medical College of Georgia and corresponding author of the study in the journal Hypertension.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Former Georgia Gwinnett students agree to $800,000 lawsuit settlement

By Eric Stirgus

Two former Georgia Gwinnett College students have agreed to a settlement of more than $800,000 stemming from complaints that the school violated their First Amendment speech rights on campus, attorneys representing the students announced Wednesday. The dispute began more than five years ago when a campus police officer told then-student Chike Uzuegbunam he couldn’t distribute written materials expressing his Christian faith at an outdoor plaza near the campus library. The college said it had two other free speech expression areas on campus for such activities. Uzuegbunam sued in 2016. Another student, Joseph Bradford, who also wanted to preach on campus, later joined the case as a plaintiff.

Higher Education News:

Inside Higher Ed

New Report Says College Graduates Increased in 2020–21

By Sara Weissman

The number of students graduating from college began rising again in the 2020–21 academic year after a temporary pause in growth during the previous academic year, according to a new report released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center Wednesday. The 2020–21 Undergraduate Degree Earners Report noted that the number of undergraduate credential earners increased by 1.1 percent that academic year, totaling 3.7 million graduates. The report concludes that much of the growth can be attributed to students earning stacked credentials, including 22,000 students who completed their bachelor’s degrees after transferring from community colleges. However, the growth was uneven across credential types.

Higher Ed Dive

Credential stacking drove 1.1% increase in undergraduate degrees earned last year

Rick Seltzer, Senior Editor

Dive Brief:

The number of undergraduates earning a credential ticked up slightly in 2020-21, increasing after holding flat the year before, according to data released Wednesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Undergraduate credential earners totaled 3.7 million. That’s up 1.1%, or about 39,000 people, from the number reported in each of the last two years. Growth came from students with prior awards who were stacking credentials. About 1 million students graduating in 2020-21 had prior awards, up 3.9% or 37,800 students from 2019-20. First-time graduates, meanwhile, held steady at 2.69 million after dropping from 2.71 million in 2018-19.

Inside Higher Ed

An Oft-Overlooked Task

Comparatively little attention has been paid to one of the most vital efforts of a new president: creating and sustaining a high-performing senior leadership team, Laurie Fenlason writes.

By Laurie Fenlason

If hiring trends hold true, this summer and fall will see hundreds of new college and university presidents stepping into leadership roles on campuses across the country. While much has been written about optimizing the initial days and weeks in such a campus leadership role, comparatively little attention has been paid to one of the most vital tasks of a new president: creating and sustaining a high-performing senior leadership team. The importance of this early work cannot be overstated. Whether you refer to it as your cabinet, senior staff, senior administrators or another term, this is the group that you, as president, will spend the most time with over the course of your administration.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

‘It’s Not About the Evidence Anymore’

By Beckie Supiano

Scott Freeman has assembled the evidence: When STEM courses are taught using active-learning techniques rather than a standard lecture, students perform better, according to a widely cited meta-analysis he published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. And not only that, Freeman’s work shows, when much of class time is devoted to active learning, it reduces gaps in student performance. So why aren’t more courses being taught this way? And how might that finally change? To find out, The Chronicle caught up with Freeman, who has retired from his position as a lecturer in biology at the University of Washington but continues to conduct research. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Inside Higher Ed

How Students Are Scrubbing Their Social Media Profiles

A new service for students flags inappropriate or offensive posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so would-be employers can see them in the best possible light.

By Maria Carrasco

Many current college students have had social media accounts since they were young teens, regularly posting on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook without fear of repercussions. But posts riddled with profanity or raucous party photos can come back to haunt them once they start looking for a job. According to a 2020 survey from the Harris Poll, a global market research and consulting firm, 71 percent of those who make hiring decisions in the U.S. agreed that looking at social media profiles is an effective way to screen job applicants. Among employers that use social media to vet candidates, 55 percent said they have found content that caused them to turn down an applicant. Now a new company called Filtari is partnering with institutions to help students clean up their social media profiles before they start the job-search process.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Death of a Student in a Fraternity House Sparked an Anti-Hazing Bill in Virginia. It Failed.

By Brianna Hatch

After students have died in apparent hazing incidents, some states have responded to public pressure by enacting more severe penalties for hazing, including making the practice a felony. But not Virginia. State lawmakers this month failed to pass an anti-hazing bill that would have allowed more such cases to be prosecuted as felonies. The lack of action has drawn criticism from the family of a Virginia Commonwealth University student who died last year at a fraternity event.

Higher Ed Dive

University System of Maryland ends admissions testing mandate

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter

Dive Brief:

The University System of Maryland’s governing board last week voted to remove an admissions requirement that first-year college applicants must submit an SAT or ACT score. While the vote removes a systemwide mandate, each institution can decide whether to require entrance exams. No campus president supported keeping standardized testing mandatory across the system at the board of regents’ meeting Friday.  Several officials raised concerns the tests reinforce discrimination in admissions. SAT and ACT critics have long argued the exams disadvantage low-income and other historically underrepresented populations who cannot afford the same extensive test preparation as their wealthier counterparts.

Inside Higher Ed

Virginia Redirecting Aid From DACA to HBCU Students

By Sara Weissman

Virginia’s new budget will take $10 million designated for state financial aid for undocumented students over two years and invest it in state aid for students at historically Black colleges and universities, The Washington Post reported. Critics of the measure say it unnecessarily pits groups of students with high financial need against each other at a time when the commonwealth has a budget surplus. The measure’s defenders say it should be praised for directing funding to students at underresourced HBCUs.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

Rutgers University Increases Tuition and Fees by 2.9%,

Arrman Kyaw

Rutgers University students will see a 2.9% increase in tuition and fees for the 2022-2023 academic year, which is almost two-thirds below the current rate of inflation. Rutgers University Camden This change comes as part of the Rutgers Board of Governors-approved $5.1 billion budget for the 2022-2023 school year.

Inside Higher Ed

Purdue Backs Off Income-Share Agreements

An early adopter of income-share agreements, Purdue has paused new enrollments in its plan, citing servicing challenges amid the switch to a new vendor. Critics won’t be sad to see them go.

By Josh Moody

Purdue University has paused new enrollments in its income-share agreement program, a financing mechanism both praised as a bold experiment to make college more accessible and criticized as a predatory scheme that traps students in dodgy and expensive contracts. Known as Back a Boiler, the program was quietly paused earlier this month, with a message posted on Purdue’s website around the same time that President Mitch Daniels announced his forthcoming retirement and a successor was selected through a secretive search process. Purdue officials say suspending Back a Boiler is a technical matter, citing a change from one vendor to a different one that doesn’t originate new income-share agreements but will continue to service existing ones. Critics, however, believe that pausing new enrollments marks the death of the Back a Boiler program.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

Recent CASE Study Looks Into Majors Gifts in U.S. Higher Ed

Arrman Kyaw

Only half the people giving the largest gifts to U.S. higher ed institutions are alumni, according to a recent study from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).Case “Our hope is that this information will serve as a unique asset to our members in understanding the nuances of transformative gifts and the role they play in fundraising,” said Cara Giacomini, CASE’s Vice President, Data, and Research and Technology. The CASE Study of Principal Gifts to U.S. Colleges and Universities – conducted with support from the Bank of America – gives a look and insights into the transformative impact of major gifts at U.S. educational institutions. This is CASE’s first major study on principal gifts.

Inside Higher Ed

Biden Pushes Gainful Employment to Spring

Key regulatory agenda items will not be completed until July 2024 at the earliest.

By Meghan Brink

The Biden administration is putting off a final proposal on gainful employment and several other regulatory matters until next spring. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs released an update on several negotiated rule-making agenda items that will not be completed this year and are now scheduled for release in April 2023 at the earliest. This includes a new gainful-employment rule, measures of financial responsibility for colleges, standards of administrative capability, certification procedures and ability to benefit.