University System News:
Statesboro Herald
East Georgia State College named to top 3 most affordable colleges for nursing
Special to the Herald
East Georgia State College’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program was recently nationally ranked on the 2020 Most Affordable Colleges by OnlineU. This list highlights 25 schools, all of which offer affordable online bachelor’s in nursing degrees. The rankings are based on a combination of manually researched tuition and accreditation. EGSC’s RN-BSN program costs on average around $2,850, giving EGSC the third place ranking on the list.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
UGA to Expand NSF-Sponsored Statewide STEM Program
By Arrman Kyaw
The University of Georgia (UGA) has received $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to expand a UGA STEM program statewide. The NSF-sponsored program, Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), is a coalition of six Georgia public colleges and universities formed to increase underrepresented students statewide who complete undergraduate and advanced STEM degrees. The six schools are UGA, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University-Perimeter College, Kennesaw State University, Fort Valley State University, and Savannah State University. The latter two schools are HBCUs.
The Jerusalem Post
Georgia State police return home after two-week Israeli training
By Ariella Roitman
Officers from the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) have returned home from Israel following an intensive two-week training program. GILEE, an award-winning law enforcement exchange program, aims to enhance law enforcement development and international cooperation. The partnership emphasized a “strong cultural, economic and academic bond between Georgia and Israel,” according to Brent Cummings, associate director of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.
Cobb Courier
Cobb Chamber to host economic development summit in October
By Larry Felton Johnson
The Cobb Chamber announced that registration is open for the 2022 Economic Development Summit. It will be held on Wednesday, October 5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cobb Galleria Centre. To register, visit https://bit.ly/3AdY9Ak. Tickets are $60 for Cobb Chamber members and $100 for non-members… Commissioner Pat Wilson, Georgia Department of Economic Development; Chancellor Sonny Perdue, University System of Georgia; Commissioner Greg Dozier, Technical College System of Georgia; Stacy B. Watson, Director of Economic & Industrial Development, Georgia Ports Authority; Chris Green, Director of Economic Development, University System of Georgia; Kim Menefee, Executive Director, Cumberland CID; Tracy Styf, Executive Director, Town Center CID; Caroline Whaley, Executive Director, Gateway Marietta CID.
WGAU
UGA researchers report sharp decline in deer population in NE Ga
By Tim Bryant
A new study from the University of Georgia says deer populations in the north Georgia mountains are down by almost two-thirds since 1979. Researchers in the University’s Forestry School say forest management policies are partly to blame. This decline has also led to a precipitous drop in deer hunting—68% fewer hunters head into the woods now compared with statistics gathered in 1979. And today, 75% of hunters leave the woods without a deer.
The Albany Herald
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College announces administrative changes
From staff reports
With the start of the fall semester just days away on Aug. 15, the administration at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has taken on a new look. ABAC President David Bridges recently appointed Amy Willis as acting provost and vice president for academic affairs and Mike Chason as acting vice president for communications and transition. Willis, who was serving as assistant vice president for academic affairs, will also continue her duties as registrar and academic data officer. She will assist Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jerry Baker until he retires on July 31.
The Albany Herald
Photos by Reginald Christian
Memories & Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art opens today in the Arthur R. Berry Gallery in Albany State University’s Dr. Joseph W. Holley Fine Arts Center. The collection on display consists of 67 works of art amassed over the years by the Davis’s. The couple began collecting in the mid-1980s and their collection grew to over 300 works by some of the most distinguished African American artists of the twentieth century. Works by Romare Bearden, Beverly Buchanan, Elizabeth Catlett, Ernest T. Crichlow, Sam Gilliam, Loïs Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks, Alma Thomas and Charles White are included. Memories & Inspiration will be on view from July 11 through August 24. Regular gallery hours are 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, or by appointment.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
McKinsey adding 700 jobs to nearly double Atlanta staff
By Michael E. Kanell
Global management consulting company McKinsey & Company on Thursday announced plans to nearly double its Atlanta workforce, hiring more than 700 people by 2025. The company, which already has about 800 employees in the area, intends to create a hub specializing in technology and innovation, and will put the center in Atlanta largely to maximize the amount of diversity in the expanded workforce, company officials said. The McKinsey announcement comes in the wake of other high-profile tech expansions in Atlanta in recent years, including Microsoft, Google, Visa and Cisco.
Atlanta Inno
Why are Atlanta tech companies laying off employees?
By Erin Schilling
Investors are pulling back from technology startups after record amounts of capital flooded company reserves last year. Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, is preparing employees for “the worst downturn that we’ve seen in recent history,” according to The New York Times. Netflix Inc. is cutting hundreds of jobs. Carvana cut 2,500 employees from its payroll.
Higher Education News:
Higher Ed Dive
Pennsylvania system receives ‘historic’ $553M in state funding
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Pennsylvania lawmakers gave their network of state-owned universities a nearly 16% boost in operating money, $552.5 million, which system leaders are hailing as the largest one-year funding increase it’s ever received. The amount is incorporated into the state’s fiscal 2022-23 budget, which Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, signed into law last week. It also includes a one-time investment of $125 million in federal aid for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, or PASSHE.
Inside Higher Ed
Why Academic Administrators Should Learn Business-speak
By Steven Mintz
In today’s challenging economic environment, it’s essential for academic administrators at all levels to acquire a firm grasp of data-informed decision making and academic program evaluation and management. A good place to start is Robert Gray Atkins’s Start, Stop, or Grow, an eminently digestible guide to understanding academic programs’ financials, course and department economics, shifting patterns of market demand and strategies for deciding which programs to launch, sustain, sunset or grow.
Inside Higher Ed
More Flexible Title IX Regs Pose New Dilemmas
By Brett A. Sokolow
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights recently published new proposed Title IX regulations. Once implemented, these regulations will govern how K-12 schools and colleges in America manage allegations of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and various other forms of sex- and gender-based discrimination. The proposed regulations consist of a curious mash-up of resurrected provisions from the 2011 OCR Dear Colleague Letter, the 2020 Title IX regulations (currently in place) and some new provisions concocted by President Biden’s OCR. It is commonly accepted that the compliance regime created by OCR in 2011 tilted the resolution process in favor of complainants (those impacted by sexual violence and harassment). The Trump administration offered the 2020 regulations as a correction to this imbalance but went overboard in its efforts to enhance due process for respondents (those accused) at the expense of protecting complainants.
Inside Higher Ed
By Sara Weissman
A new report found key differences in academic advising at higher ed institutions that narrowed racial and ethnic disparities in graduation rates. Advisers at those institutions, compared to institutions where disparities widened, typically had lower advising caseloads, greater use of advising technologies and more access to student data.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Megan Zahneis
A University of Minnesota regent who resigned his position in order to be considered for an interim chancellorship at one of the system’s campuses has now been recommended for the job. On Wednesday, the university’s Board of Regents will be asked to vote on their former colleague’s appointment. The unusual candidacy of the former regent, David J. McMillan, has raised conflict-of-interest concerns and intensified months of simmering conflicts over the governance and leadership of the university system, and over the pay and contract of its president.
Higher Ed Dive
3 major changes in Biden’s borrower defense proposal
By Natalie Schwartz
Last week, the Biden administration proposed sweeping regulations that would overhaul the nation’s student loan system. One element of the proposal is an updated borrower defense to repayment rule, which forgives federal loans for students who were defrauded by their institutions. The Biden administration’s rule seeks to make it easier for defrauded students to receive debt relief and aims to crack down on predatory marketing and recruiting practices by colleges. It lays out a timeline meant to streamline the review of borrower defense applications. And it would create one standard for reviewing claims, regardless of when a borrower took out their loans. Previous regulations had different standards for students to receive relief based on when they got their loans.
Inside Higher Ed
Public Opinion on Value of Higher Ed Remains Mixed
By Meghan Brink
Most Americans agree: there is increasingly limited value to higher education. Over the last decade, the American public has increasingly lost confidence in the economic benefits of a college degree. Americans across the political spectrum are questioning whether a college degree is worth it in the face of an economy that they view as benefiting the rich at the expense of the lower and middle classes. A new study from Public Agenda, a nonpartisan research organization, released Monday reflects several public opinion surveys across the years that demonstrate increasingly pessimistic attitudes on the value of higher education. The study shows that most Americans are concerned with affordability, access and the overall payoff of a college degree. Among the most skeptical were young Americans without college degrees.
EdScoop
University of Michigan ‘first’ university in nation to launch 6E network
By Emily Bamforth
The University of Michigan claims to be the first U.S. university to run a 6E wireless network, finishing up upgrades on its Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses at the end of June. Wi-Fi 6E hardware runs on standard radio bands, like 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, but taps into a 6GHz band to open up additional channels and accommodate more devices and activity. University of Michigan Chief Information Officer Ravi Pendse said introducing 6E, which he called a “next-generation standard,” makes it easier for researchers using wireless devices to collaborate with peers across campus, moving around and analyzing large amounts of data.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
After a Professor’s Scrutiny, ‘U.S. News’ Pulls Columbia University’s No. 2 Ranking
By Francie Diep
U.S. News & World Report has removed Columbia University’s national universities ranking after the university “failed to respond to multiple” requests from the magazine’s rankers “that the university substantiate certain data it previously submitted,” U.S. News analysts wrote on Thursday. U.S. News had ranked Columbia no. 2 in the country for its undergraduate programs. Now it has no numerical ranking. It’s rare for a university to lose its U.S. News position. In a separate blog post, Robert Morse, the magazine’s chief rankings analyst, wrote that “typically less than 0.1%” of the ranked colleges have their spots pulled each year.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Why One College Took the Unusual Step of Offering Need-Blind Admission to Foreign Students
By Karin Fischer
Bowdoin College will extend its need-blind admissions policy to international students, joining just a half-dozen other American colleges with comprehensive need-blind aid programs regardless of citizenship. The selective liberal-arts college’s pledge to admit overseas students without considering their ability to pay runs counter to the common paradigm of international students — as sources of revenue who typically cover most, if not all, of the cost of their education.