Douglas Now
SOUTH GEORGIA STATE COLLEGE PROVIDES $59.6 MILLION ANNUAL BENEFIT FOR LOCAL ECONOMIES
South Georgia State College provides $59.6 million annual benefit for local economies
South Georgia State College (SGSC) made a $59.6 million impact to the regional economy and was responsible for more than 622 jobs locally during fiscal year 2021. SGSC’s President Dr. Ingrid Thompson-Sellers shared, “As an economic driver for the communities we serve, it is important to share this information annually and recognize its correlation to the work we do. SGSC always strives to provide students with the education and skills they need to compete and succeed in today’s global economy. From focusing on the needs of the community and creating new opportunities, SGSC is proud to provide positive economic benefits to our regional area.” Dr. Thompson-Sellers emphasized that with the recent addition of the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology (BSMET) program to the institution’s academic offerings, SGSC continues to increase its number of baccalaureate degrees in order to develop academic programs to meet the needs of local businesses and industries.
Americus Times-Recorder
Harris Family Scholarship endowed at GSW
By Chelsea Collins
Having served as leaders of the Americus community and within the GSW Foundation for many years, Ann and Bill Harris recently endowed the Ann and Bill Harris Family Scholarship at Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW). The scholarship will benefit GSW student-athletes from the state of Georgia.
MSN
Georgia student suffers stroke and brain damage at routine chiropractor visit
Graig Graziosi
Caitlin Jensen’s back hurt. Then her heart stopped.
The Georgia Southern University student had just graduated, her eyes set to the future and all of its possibilities, when she decided to start her first summer free from the shackles of school by having her back adjusted. On 16 June, she visited a chiropractor and booked a basic adjustment. They tweaked her neck, and shortly after Ms. Jensen began to feel ill. Her condition deteriorated quickly — enough to alarm those around her and prompt a 911 call. Ms. Jensen was rushed to the hospital, where doctors found that her neck adjustment has dissected four arteries. When arteries are dissected, blood can pool near the tears and form hematomas. Those hematomas can block further blood flow, resulting in cardiac arrest and potentially death. Ms. Jensen suffered from both cardiac arrest and a stroke. Her heart stopped beating, leaving her at the edge of death for nearly 10 minutes before she was resuscitated. …Though Ms. Jensen survived her heart stopping for nearly 10 minutes, that much time without blood pumping to the brain can cause the organ catastrophic damage. Much of her body is paralysed, though she is awake and has responded to verbal commands by wiggling her toes and blinking her eyes.
The Red & Black
Annual UGA Foundation meeting creates new scholarships and more
Lauren Minnick
The UGA Foundation elected new trustees and added an additional scholarship fund in honor of a staff member at their annual meeting this past month. From June 8-10, the UGA Foundation Board of Trustees met at their annual convention in Washington D.C. to work towards implementing these changes to their platform going to serve the UGA community, according to a press release from the University of Georgia Media Relations. The new scholarship comes after establishing a Distinguished Service Award program last fall to provide $100,000 of allocated funds to go towards a new student scholarship. The annual award given to a long-serving UGA employee or volunteer who the board believes conducts selfless service to others to make an impact on their community establishes a scholarship in the honorees name. Karin Lichey Usry, UGA director of board relations, was named the second recipient of the Distinguished Service Award at this year’s meeting, creating a need-based scholarship with preference to students studying entomology, which is a focus of Usry’s family business, Southland Organics. The first recipient of this award was Kathy R. Pharr this past fall, who is UGA’s vice president of marketing and communications as well as the chief of staff to President Jere W. Morehead.
Morning AgClips
UGA Engineering, The Nature Conservancy team up to protect Ga.’s coast
New interdisciplinary pilot program explores funding salt marsh preservation and recovery
How much is a salt marsh worth? That’s one of the questions the University of Georgia and The Nature Conservancy will try to answer as they launch a pilot study funded by Georgia Sea Grant to determine the socioeconomic value of salt marsh ecosystems in Georgia. Experts estimate that 70 percent of all salt marshes have already been lost across the eastern seaboard, largely due to human development. Sea level rise from climate change also threatens their continued existence. …Answering these questions will take a network of its own. There’s Bilskie, a coastal modeler and head of the UGA Coastal Ocean Analysis and Simulation Team (COAST), a research group with expertise in computational modeling coastal and estuarine systems.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
A Trio of Black Scholars Who Are Taking on New Assignments
…Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey, was named interim co-director of the Center for the Advancement of Students and Alumni at Georgia State University. She has been serving as the pre-Ph.D. faculty associate for the center. Dr. Bonnette-Bailey is an associate professor and the graduate director in the department of Africana studies. She is the author of Pulse of the People: Rap Music and Black Political Attitudes (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015).
Griffin Daily News
GSC athletics director appointed chief of staff
By Karolina Philmon Marketing Manager Gordon State College
Dr. Tonya Y. Moore, director of athletics at Gordon State College, is the new chief of staff for the Office of the President. Moore has more than 20 years of management experience and has served within higher education since 2006. She has dedicated more than 13 years at GSC and recently served as the director of career services. …A Michigan native, Moore earned her bachelor of business administration in management from Tennessee State University in May 1993. She earned her master of business administration from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 1999 and her master of science in mental health counseling from Fort Valley State University in December 2017 in Georgia.
Times-Georgian
UWG adds 2 athletic trainers to sports medicine staff
By Jared Boggus Uwg Sports
The University of West Georgia Department of Athletics has added two full-time staff members in the Sports Medicine department, announcing the hiring of Mallory Morrell and Ashley Perdue as Assistant Athletic Trainers. “UWG Athletics is committed to providing high-level experiences for our student-athletes, and at the core of that is the pursuit of championships,” said Director of Athletics Jason Carmichael. “We believe to achieve that goal, we need to provide championship-level support on a myriad of fronts, including the sports medicine space.” Both Morrell and Perdue move into newly created full-time roles within the Sports Medicine department, bringing UWG’s full-time athletic trainer total to five.
247 Sports
Ex-Auburn DB Malcolm Askew joins Georgia Southern’s coaching staff as graduate assistant
By Will Backus
Former Auburn defensive back Malcolm Askew took to Twitter Wednesday to announce that he is joining Georgia Southern’s football coaching staff as a graduate assistant. Askew also revealed that he will be working specifically with the wide receivers. He will also join new Georgia Southern coach Clay Helton, who was hired in November after almost seven seasons at USC.
13WMAZ
Baldwin High School alum makes NFL history with Chicago Bears
This season, Doree Stephens will become the first African-American female to ever work in the Bears’ equipment room.
Author: Connor Hines
This fall, one of Central Georgia’s own is making history in the National Football League. For Doree Stephens, it’s about building on a passion that was first discovered at Baldwin High School. “My dream was always to work in the NFL, but I just didn’t know it was going to be this soon,” Stephens said. Stephens has served as a basketball equipment manager at Baldwin High School and Gordon State College, as well as a football equipment manager at Georgia Southern University. But now? Stephens will become the first African-American female to work in the Chicago Bears’ equipment department beginning this season.
Augusta CEO
Stacey Eidson
Bill Andrews, the recently retired chair of Augusta University’s medical illustration graduate program, is a giant among medical illustrators. He is known for his impeccable artwork and his dedicated mentorship of students and colleagues for more than 23 years. …Outstanding career at Augusta University
Andrews began as an assistant professor and quickly rose through the academic ranks to full professor with tenure in 2012. His reputation in medical illustration was forged in the specialty of cardiothoracic surgery with Dr. Denton A. Cooley at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. But he has also illustrated more than 20 textbooks, including those focusing on pediatrics, spine surgery, urinary tract surgery, hand surgery, general surgery and head and neck cancer surgery. Today, Andrews said he is proud that Augusta University’s medical illustration graduate program within the College of Allied Health Sciences and The Graduate School is one of only four accredited programs in North America. And in 2000, he became director of the David J. Mascaro Teaching Gallery of Medical Illustration, named in honor of his mentor and close friend. Over the past 22 years in his curatorial position, he has amassed an impressive collection of more than 500 original medical illustrations for the gallery at Augusta University.
Coastal Courier
Think Big Youth Organization rucks for a cause
On Friday, June 24, the Think Big Youth Organization completed a community service project in the form of a ruck march, from Fort Stewart’s Army Education Center to the Liberty County Manna House. Forty-six students, parents and members of the community met that morning for Operation Fill-a-Ruck, with backpacks and rucksacks containing canned and nonperishable food items to donate to the local food bank, as well as to raise awareness about food disparity. Walking in twos down West General Stewart Way, North Main Street, and ending at the local food bank on Memorial Drive, students actively participated in Operation Fill-a-Ruck as part of their Character Does Matter Camp program. The six-week- long camp, which takes place at the Georgia Southern University Liberty campus and is in its second year, is free to all participants and encourages a culture of mentoring and safety, where discussions about real-life issues are highly encouraged.
Coastal Courier
Corvette Club awards seniors continuing their education
Special to the Courier
On Saturday, June 25, Chosen Liberty Corvette Club, LLC, of Liberty County hosted its fourth annual Celebration and Corvette Car Show at Bryant Commons Park in Hinesville. Each year, the club honors a graduating senior from each of the local high schools who are continuing their educational journeys. The Counselor’s Choice Award gifts a deserving student, selected by school guidance counselors, with a new computer or monetary funds toward college. Each student also receives a Chosen Liberty Corvette Club “Badge of Excellence” certificate. The club is proud to award the following recipients for their hard work and dedication during their educational journeys: Amara Reese (Bradwell High School), Georgia Southern University; Keontrae Williams (Liberty High School), Johnson C. Smith University; and Courtney Harwood (Richmond Hill High School), Columbus State University.
Albany Herald
PHOTOS: Albany State University hosts Summer Transportation Institute
Photos by: Reginald Christian
The Summer Transportation Institute is a free 4-week program designed for high schoolers. The program is designed to create awareness and stimulate interest in opportunities that exist in the transportation industry. Curriculum includes: highway design, transportation of people and cargo, intermodalism, laws, regulations, safety and career opportunities.
Charlotte Observer
SC Gov. McMaster tells donor’s family he will not let USC lose its barrier island to UGA
By Sarah Haselhorst
Gov. Henry McMaster says South Carolina won’t be giving up a Beaufort County barrier island to the University of Georgia. The governor said in a voice message that the state will honor the commitments it made when Pritchards Island was donated to the University of South Carolina in the 1980s. The message was left with family representative Martha Rhodes, whose grandfather, Philip Rhodes, donated the island. “South Carolina will live up to every single thing that is in the agreement, which is between the… university and your grandfather,” McMaster said in the Wednesday voicemail. He reiterated his backing during a later call. The State and Island Packet reported last month that Rhodes and her family believed USC was not honoring its commitments. Under the agreement Philip Rhodes reached with USC, control of the island could transfer to the University of Georgia if USC didn’t follow the donor’s wishes to use it for scientific research and education.
News Medical Life Sciences
Researchers find a way to kill recurring prostate cancer with a lot of iron
Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
Prostate cancer can come back from common hormone deprivation therapy with a vengeance and no clear treatment option, but scientists have early evidence that one way to kill these recurring cancer cells may be with a lot of iron. The metal that is key to our red blood cells carrying oxygen and other body fundamentals also is known to be lethal to cells in big doses, but prostate cancer cells are essentially impervious to it, says Dr. Chunhong Yan, molecular biologist at the Georgia Cancer Center and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical College of Georgia. Yan is putting together a strategy to change that and enable death by iron for treatment resistant prostate cancer through a process called ferroptosis.
Athens CEO
New Site Helps Locals Find Access to Meals
Roy Parry
One of the challenges facing Athens residents with food insecurity during the pandemic was the lack of a directory listing locations and requirements for recipients. Thanks to a website created and operated by the University of Georgia, residents now have direct access to information about dozens of food distribution sites throughout Athens every month. The Community Food Resources database for Athens-Clarke County is housed on Engage Georgia, a platform the UGA Office of Service-Learning launched for local volunteer opportunities. The site lists the food distribution sites available each day, their addresses, the kind of meal or food offered, and any requirements for recipients.
National Hog Farmer
Study aims to determine the effectiveness of probiotics in humans
With funding from the USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture, University of Georgia researchers are undertaking a comprehensive study to examine the factors that impact probiotic supplement survival — from materials used for microencapsulation to the dynamic conditions in the gastrointestinal tract — to help determine the most effective delivery systems for probiotics and other bioactive compounds. “Probiotics are one of the major interests of consumers for health and have become a very hot topic in how food can help improve our bodies’ health,” says Fanbin Kong, professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and primary investigator on the project. Over the course of the study, Kong’s team will work with FST colleague and Professor Rakesh Singh to prepare microencapsulated probiotics with spray drying, emulsification and extrusion technologies using six different encapsulating materials, including polysaccharides, proteins and lipids, with the goal of understanding how different wall materials survive the dynamic conditions within the GI tract, including the effect of pH, viscosity and contraction force.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Starbucks union push in Atlanta part of national organizing trend
By Michael E. Kanell
Three Georgia Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, and other efforts are afoot to organize lower-wage workers.
About a dozen customers were spread around the Ansley Mall Starbucks on a recent Friday, quietly working at tables or fiddling on their smartphones. From behind the counter came the tapping of brewing tools, the crinkling of wrappers, a bean-grinder straining. Two baristas wore shirts with rainbows and the words, “So glad you’re here.” The café felt laid-back, friendly, bright, welcoming and diverse. The only sign that this one was any different than 9,000 other Starbucks stores was a button, half-hidden in the folds on one barista’s apron. The Ansley Mall store in mid-June became the third Starbucks in Georgia to vote for a union, part of what seems to be a low-key, yet undeniable ripple of union organizing. Between October and March, petitions to unionize jumped 57% nationally from a year earlier, according to the National Labor Relations Board. …Maybe it’s the tight labor market that gives workers more leverage. After all, the historically low unemployment rate during a time of economic growth has many employers desperate for workers, less able to dictate terms and pay, said Anthony Barilla, economist at Georgia Southern University, who has researched labor issues.
Daily Wire
Two Big Pharma Firms To Test ‘Universal’ COVID Vaccines To Protect Against Multiple Variants
By Joseph Curl
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, has been morphing to stay alive — and there are now at least 11 variants and subvariants, according to one health site. Scientists have noted that various vaccines out there — all created to battle the original strain — are less effective against newer variants. “While two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine were 85% effective in preventing hospital admission for infection with the Alpha and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2, they were only 65% effective in preventing hospitalization following an Omicron infection,” Medical News Today noted in a report on Thursday. But now, two pharmaceutical giants, Pfizer and BioNTech, are working together to create a new super “universal” vaccine that will target multiple variants of the virus. “A universal coronavirus vaccine has the potential to better protect against future variants of SARS-CoV-2 as well as other coronaviruses that have the potential to spill over into the human population,” Dr. Jarrod Mousa, assistant professor at the Center for Vaccines and Immunology at the University of Georgia, told MNT. Researchers say boosters and new vaccines might not be needed with a universal vaccine.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Illinois public colleges and universities, prodded by new state law, become latest to end the use of withholding transcripts from students with institutional debts.
By Doug Lederman
On a recent episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, Martin Kurzweil of Ithaka S+R described college and university policies that withhold academic transcripts from students who owe money to the institution as “pernicious.” Students often need those transcripts, which prove that they have previously earned credits or credentials, to continue their educations or get jobs that might pay them enough to repay their debts, Kurzweil said, so the policies are not only problematic for the students but also unwise for the colleges and universities themselves. Officials in more and more states and at more and more colleges seem to agree. On Thursday, the University of Illinois system announced that its institutions had “ended the practice of restricting access to transcripts for students with past-due balances.” The move comes in the wake of a law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in May barring the use of the practice as of the 2022-23 academic year, although the Illinois system said the change was in the works when legislators passed the law. …Also on Thursday, Ithaka S+R published its latest report on the problem of what it calls “stranded credits,” because students have completed the academic courses but are unable to prove it to employers or educational institutions because they lack access to their transcripts.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
How college endowments are faring amid inflation, stock-market volatility
By Joshua Mann – Editor, The National Observer: Higher Education Edition,
There’s something unusual going on in university endowment portfolios right now. Typically, in the contest between stocks and bonds for endowment money, stocks tend to look better during high inflation periods because the companies they represent can simply pass inflation on to customers, said John Griffith, endowment specialist at Hirtle Callaghan & Co. Griffith is also the former CFO of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. But as inflation rockets upward in recent months — reaching 8.6% from May 2021 to May 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — volatility in the stock market has gone up with it, making those assets less attractive in the short term. Conversely, bonds have gotten more desirable as rising interest rates have outpaced the long-term expectations for inflation for the first time in a long time, Griffith said. That means bonds will produce what is expected to be a positive inflation-adjusted return for the universities that own them as inflation settles down, he said.
Inside Higher Ed
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s involvement in the search process for a new leader of the state’s community colleges system troubles state policymakers and higher ed advocates.
By Sara Weissman
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has rankled Democratic state lawmakers and some higher ed advocates by seeking to influence the search for a new chancellor of the state’s community college system. Some see his intrusion in the search as part of a broader, more heavy-handed approach to overseeing the state’s colleges and universities and trying to set their agenda and control their policies and practices. Youngkin has been pushing the Virginia State Board for Community Colleges to involve his administration in the search process for the system’s new chancellor after Glenn DuBois, the former chancellor, announced his retirement last summer. The board relented last week and agreed to put a nonvoting representative of Youngkin’s administration on the search committee after he sent members a strongly worded letter saying they could fully “commit” to the search or leave their roles. …Douglas Garcia, the incoming board chair and chair of the chancellor search committee, said in a statement last week that the board was “committed to working with the governor and his team.” …Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg called the move “partisan strong-arming” and “a shameful overreach to seize control of Virginia’s public education systems.”