University System News:
Marietta Daily Journal
Kennesaw State named top institution for cybersecurity outreach
Kennesaw State University has been recognized by its peers as the top institution in the U.S. for spreading cybersecurity best practices in its community, developing cybersecurity programs and faculty, and empowering students to pursue careers in the industry. The colleges and universities that make up the National Security Agency’s National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity recently awarded KSU the 2022 First Place Outstanding Outreach Award. All 347 colleges and universities in the NCAE program were eligible for the honor. NCAE is a partnership between the NSA’s National Cryptologic School, several federal agencies including the FBI and the Department of Defense, and hundreds of institutions across the country to enhance cybersecurity education through setting curriculum standards and encouraging the adoption of security best practices. KSU has been an NCAE-designated Center of Excellence since 2004.
Capitol Beat News Service
Sanford Stadium slated for $68.5 million in improvements
by Dave Williams
The home of the national champion Georgia Bulldogs is getting some upgrades. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted Tuesday to make a series of improvements to the south side of Sanford Stadium. The $68.5 million project will be built in two phases to minimize disruption during the 2022 and 2023 football seasons… In other business Tuesday, the university system launched a website designed as a central location for Georgia high school students and others considering enrolling in one of the system’s 26 colleges and universities to find information on the schools so they can compare them. “We want students and their families to be able to make informed decisions about what degree they want to have and where to go to get it,” system Chancellor Sonny Perdue told the regents. The Georgia Degrees Pay website will include data on the costs to attend each school, a link to information on student aid including the HOPE Scholarships program, and the future earnings potential of various degree programs at one, five and 10 years after graduation.
See also:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia regents approve $68.5 million renovation to Sanford Stadium
Ledger-Enquirer
Could the Columbus area become a regional technology hub? It’s possible.
By Nick Woote
Could the Columbus-Auburn-Opelika area become a regional technology hub? Will Columbus State University get more federal grant dollars? Both are possibilities once President Joe Biden signs the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, as he’s expected to on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock told the Ledger-Enquirer in an interview. The bipartisan bill passed by Congress in late July includes more than $52 billion for U.S. companies producing computer chips with billions more in tax breaks via tax credits that incentivize chip manufacturing — a move that will help area manufacturers like KIA as well Pratt and Whitney. … As a smaller institution, Columbus State could gain from the expanded pool of federal STEM funding promised. One NSF program that Columbus State University currently participates in, the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, should see a 50% increase in the number of scholarships awarded over the next five years, according to the bill.
Athens CEO
Inaugural Class of Rising Scholars Spends Summer Conducting Research with CAES
Caroline Hinton
In a lab on the bottom floor of the Miller Plant Sciences building, Dakota Walker pulled a sample of plant tissue to further examine gene expression under the microscope — an experience she never foresaw having at the University of Georgia, having originally applied to Fort Valley State University (FVSU) as a marketing major. A rising junior at FVSU studying plant science with an emphasis in biotechnology, Walker is one of ten students in the inaugural class of Rising Scholars interns in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES). The internship is a nine-week program allowing FVSU students the opportunity to conduct research with CAES scientists and reside on UGA’s Athens campus. This program highlights the long-lasting partnership between Georgia’s two land-grant universities and furthers the research and teaching tenets of both institutions.
Art Daily
Georgia Museum of Art director to retire in 2023
Dr. William Underwood Eiland, who has served as director of the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia since 1992, recently announced that he will retire effective March 31, 2023. Under Eiland’s leadership, the Georgia Museum of Art has seen its collections, stature and reach grow dramatically. Since he became director, the museum has won more than 250 awards for its publications, programming, staff and exhibitions and become recognized as one of the leading university art museums in the country. Over that same period, its collection has grown exponentially, to total more than 17,000 objects. …Throughout his tenure, he has ably balanced the museum’s dual mission as an academic institution that pursues and publishes scholarship and as the official state museum of art with a strong sense of public service. A national search will be conducted to find the museum’s next director.
The Red & Black
Additions to campus: New buildings and projects at UGA
Lauren Minnick
The University of Georgia continually makes changes to campus infrastructure. Here are some of the most notable recent changes are advancements and additions to its buildings and architecture.
Building 2264
The newest freshman dorm, …The dorm will be co-ed and was built by the same construction company, Turner Construction, that also recently renovated Brumby Hall. This will be UGA’s first new residence hall since the construction of Rutherford Hall in 2013.
STEM Buildings
UGA continues their construction of the new STEM buildings located off of East Campus Road.
Athletic Complex and Stadium Advancements
After winning the 2022 national championship, Georgia Football dedicated itself to the newest Butts-Mehre building expansion in May of 2022.
North Campus Infrastructure Project
The work for these advancements are centered on Herty Drive near New College, with the completion of Phase II of this project taking place over the summer. This ongoing infrastructure project targets modernizing portions of underground infrastructure and also supports the renovations to the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building.
Smaller and in-progress projects
Other smaller and in-progress projects include advancements to the Hull Street Parking Deck, improvements to the Hill Community, modernization to UGA’s Science Hill, creation of a multidisciplinary greenhouse, updates to the Grady College lawn and advancements to the Poultry Science Complex.
The Tifton Gazette
All You Need Is Love: 33rd Run for Love supports cross country
Becky Taylor
Eyan Zupko and Emily Golden were the overall male and female winners Saturday at the 33rd annual Run for Love. Zupa, first overall, crossed the finish line in 17:52. Golden ran in 21:12. The yearly event supports the Tift County Schools’ cross country teams. …Trophies were given out for the main four winners in the 5K as well as the top overall male and female runners in the mile. …Special medals were given to the top three in each age group of the 5K. Everyone who finished the mile course earned their own medal. …Run for Love was held at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, which has been its location for almost all of its years.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bounce houses can be dangerous, even lethal, UGA study finds
By Ty Tagami
More than two dozen have died in weather-related accidents since 2000, researchers say
Bounce houses, those springy, inflatable play structures that are popular to rent for birthday parties and other children’s events, can be lethal on windy days, even in conditions assumed to be safe, a new study led by the University of Georgia found. The researchers determined that 28 people died and at least 479 were injured in more than 130 weather-related bounce house accidents worldwide since 2000, according to UGA. “What could go wrong? The answer is that it could blow away in winds that are not anywhere near severe levels. Some of these cases were in purely clear skies,” John Knox, lead author of the study and a geography professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, said in a university statement.
SeedQuest
University of Georgia genomicist seeks to offset climate impacts on important food crop
The common bean — which includes many varieties of dry beans, from navy and black beans to red, pinto and green beans — are an important nutritional source for many world populations. However, rapidly changing climate conditions are making them increasingly difficult to grow in many locations due to high temperatures and susceptibility to diseases and pests. At the University of Georgia, researchers have received more than $799,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) to address increasing difficulties in growing common bean by cross breeding with tepary bean, a species native to the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico that has been cultivated by indigenous cultures for thousands of years.
Higher Education News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lawmakers to introduce bill for fellowships honoring John Lewis
By Eric Stirgus
Two Georgia congressmembers are leading efforts to create student fellowships in honor of the late civil rights leader and Atlanta congressman John Lewis. The John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship would fund international internships and research placements to study nonviolent movements to establish and protect civil rights, according to a draft version of the legislation U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams’ office provided The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Williams, an Atlanta Democrat, is serving in the congressional district once represented by Lewis. On Monday, she will co-sponsor the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, her office said. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is expected to co-sponsor the legislation in the U.S. Senate, Williams’ office said.
The Wall Street Journal
Colleges, Parents Fight in Court Over Tuition Charged During Pandemic Closures
Some rulings have provided a boost to plaintiffs, as the Covid-19 tuition wars mount toward a decisive phase
By Jacob Gershman
Colleges and universities faced a barrage of lawsuits in the peak pandemic days of 2020 after schools shut down their campuses and moved classes online while charging students their usual tuition rates. Two years later, the Covid-19 tuition wars are building toward a decisive phase.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
3 Takeaways From Supporting Briefs in the Case That Could Change College Admissions
By Nell Gluckman
Only about two months remain before the Supreme Court hears arguments for the most-watched legislative challenge in higher education: two cases that could undo the practice of race-conscious admissions. The cases were brought by the anti-affirmative-action nonprofit Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard College and the University of North Carolina in 2014. They are the most recent attempt by conservative activists and plaintiffs to challenge a precedent that the court has previously upheld. A decision in these cases could be felt beyond the world of selective admissions. That fact was made clear last week when dozens of groups, ranging from former military leaders, the Biden administration, large corporations, and many higher-education coalitions filed briefs explaining why Harvard and UNC should be allowed to consider race when admitting applicants. Those briefs followed another set that was filed in May in support of the plaintiffs, arguing that the practice should no longer be allowed. Oral arguments will take place on October 31.
Higher Ed Dive
Chief online officers predict shift to hybrid education by 2025, survey finds
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
Dive Brief:
A majority of surveyed chief online officers predict the undergraduate experience will feature at least some online elements by 2025, according to the CHLOE 7 Report, the latest in a series of annual polls tracking trends in online education. Almost 45% of respondents expect the undergraduate experience will be primarily on-campus, with some online elements, for traditionally aged students. Meanwhile, around 40% say it will balance between in-person and virtual components. In comparison, roughly one-third of chief online officers predict the graduate experience will be split between online and on-campus elements. A similar share expects it will be primarily online. Almost no leaders anticipate the undergraduate or graduate experience won’t have online elements by 2025.
Inside Higher Ed
OPINION
New Leaders Face a Daunting Foe: Themselves
As the fall semester inches closer and newly appointed education leaders assume their roles, Angel B. Pérez offers four strategies they can use to succeed.
By Angel B. Pérez
A new leadership position brings excitement, expectations and no shortage of challenges in the world of education. Such roles involve an unforgiving pace with intense pressure amid a pandemic, a racial reckoning, divisive politics and a looming recession. The work is not for the faint of heart. Across industries, including higher education, studies show that more than two-thirds of leaders in different sectors feel burned out and are considering leaving their jobs for the sake of their well-being. So, if you’re a new (or experienced) leader in education facing constant and contradictory pressures from diverse constituencies, how do you thrive? As a former senior college administrator myself, I’ve found that four strategies can help.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
It’s Time to End Higher Ed’s Gimmicky Sales Tactics
Teaming up with online program managers comes at a steep reputational cost.
By Barmak Nassirian
Private-public partnerships — arrangements in which college projects or services are outsourced to for-profit providers — have been all the rage in American higher education for some time. Acronym-laden conferences now meet regularly to celebrate the lucrative arrangement: SXSW EDU, ASU+GSV, FetC, the P3 Higher Education Summit. The latest trend in this space is colleges’ entering into opaque tuition-sharing agreements with for-profit “online program management” companies like 2U, Academic Partnerships, and Pearson to offer distance-education programs. Initially trumpeted as an innovative model to expand access and drive down costs, the programs have seen a spate of recent media stories that paints a far less favorable picture: College-OPM partnerships are Faustian bargains that drive up tuition costs and reduce educational quality. How did it come to this? In 2011, in what would prove to be an exercise of spectacularly poor judgment, the U.S. Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter that remade how colleges do business. The letter, known as “the bundled-services guidance,” created a loophole around a law that had prohibited certain dodgy sales practices by institutions participating in federal student aid programs. That “incentive-compensation ban,” part of the 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, helped stamp out the 1980s’ epidemic of waste, fraud, and abuse by for-profit colleges. But by 2011 the Education Department wanted to turn back the clock.
EdScoop
Louisiana work agency to offer residents free online IT classes
Written by EdScoop Staff
The Louisiana Workforce Commission announced last week it’s launching a new program through which the state’s residents can learn tech skills provided by the online education vendor Coursera. “Tech Ready Louisiana,” as the program’s known, will give people access to more than 5,000 classes in subjects including digital skills, data analytics, hospitality and tourism, health care and general career preparation, according to a press release. “This is about giving Louisianans the opportunity to learn new, marketable skills to advance in their current job or get the career they’ve always wanted,” Ava Cates, secretary of the Workforce Commission, said in a press release. The program also includes access to Coursera’s Career Academy product, which is designed to train users for careers in new fields — and earn professional credentials from the likes of IBM, Salesforce, Google and Facebook — in as little as six months. In addition to the free class offerings, the Louisiana Workforce Commission said it is also making the program available to access in the roughly 60 job centers it operates around the state.
Inside Higher Ed
A Public Feud Over Access and Accommodation
A Caltech student who couldn’t regularly attend class because of a seizure disorder was denied flexibility on attendance. She chronicled her dispute with the university in the campus newspaper. The university defended itself in a letter to the editor.
By Katherine Knott
For students with disabilities on college campuses, the last two years of the pandemic have highlighted and magnified vulnerabilities and inequities in their access to higher education. As a result, more of these students are speaking out about the challenges they faced and forming campus groups to advocate for themselves. They’re also requesting expanded accommodations and more inclusive environments — challenging college administrators to figure out a path forward. The increased activism by these students has led to growing tensions between them and college administrators. One such case recently spilled onto the pages of the California Tech, the student newspaper at The California Institute of Technology, with dueling perspectives on these challenges and how to best handle them. Riley Brooker, a rising sophomore at Caltech, detailed her experience seeking accommodations from the university in a recent front-page opinion piece in the newspaper. She requested permission to miss classes, without being penalized on grades, after she started having frequent, recurrent seizures in April that made it difficult to regularly attend class. She said administrators were unwilling to change class polices so she went on medical leave, moved off-campus, and began working on a complaint to Caltech’s Equity and Title IX Office, alleging disability-based discrimination.
Higher Ed Dive
Nondegree pathways interest employers and Gen Z — but they still view them as too risky
Laura Spitalniak, Associate Editor
Dive Brief:
Employers and high school students both believe in the value of nondegree career pathways, but both groups still view those options as too risky to fully rely on them, according to a new report from Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit focused on workforce and education systems. The report, released in partnership with the student success nonprofit American Student Assistance, found that four out of five employers think companies should hire candidates based on skills, not degrees. Even so, 52% said they still hire from degree programs because they believe it’s the less risky option. Among high schoolers, three in four want to focus on skills that prepare them for in-demand jobs. But 65% said they worry about choosing the wrong postsecondary pathway and 37% said they believe employers favor degrees.
Higher Ed Dive
College leaders appear at White House to discuss Dobbs fallout
Rick Seltzer, Senior Editor
Dive Brief:
A group of college leaders were at the White House on Monday to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this summer to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion. They told Vice President Kamala Harris about concerns affecting students and their campuses’ operations, such as how families traveling across state lines will navigate different laws affecting reproductive healthcare. They also flagged an increased burden on those who have been sexually assaulted and concerns about how their own medical schools and hospitals will adapt. Harris highlighted response ideas like flexible attendance and leave policies, emergency funds and bolstered privacy policies for students seeking care.
Inside Higher Ed
Opinion
CHIPS Act is Win for Combatting Sexual Harassment
One of many reasons to celebrate the CHIPS and Science Act is the inclusion of provisions that address sexual and sex-based harassment in science, Katherine Jordan writes.
By Katherine Jordan
The first time I visited a congressional office, we talked extensively about ways to combat sexual harassment in academia, and particularly in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. That conversation was in 2019. On my latest visit in 2022, that was still one of the main topics of conversation on the Hill. Sexual harassment is rampant in academia. When universities should be leading and inspiring change in other organizations, the rate of sexual harassment in academia exceeds that of government or the private sector and is second only to the U.S. military. We hear countless stories across universities of early-career scientists and researchers being forced out of academia due to sexual and gender harassment. The CHIPS and Science Act, recently passed by Congress, made headlines for appropriating billions of dollars for semiconductor manufacturing and authorizing hundreds of billions for science research and development. While scientists and researchers heralded the bill’s passage, many are seemingly unaware of the inclusion in the final legislation of a bipartisan bill: the Combatting Sexual Harassment in Science Act. By including this provision in the CHIPS and Science Act, Congress has taken on an aggressive commitment toward addressing rampant sexual harassment in scientific fields. The bill, which President Biden is expected to sign today, outlines a plan to radically redesign anti-harassment efforts in higher education and scientific research, and ensure we are not losing the talents of our next generation of scientists and researchers because of widespread sexual harassment in academia.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges Rely on Outdated Consent Education. Experts Say They Need to Get With the Times.
By Kate Hidalgo Bellows
Many of the most popular teen-focused shows on television — Euphoria, Sex Education, Normal People, to name a few — depict or discuss rough or aggressive sex. In great detail. There may be a reason for that. Research shows that more young people are having rough sex, which can include hair-pulling, spanking, choking, scratching, and slapping. But the consent education college students get when they land on campus hasn’t caught up with this shift, experts say. Rough sexual experiences require asking for consent before introducing each new element. That may not be obvious to students. Consent education — the talks and trainings colleges require for new students as a form of sexual-assault prevention — needs to keep up with the changing face of hookup culture, experts say. Failing to update the curriculum could leave students unprepared to navigate gray areas and could lead to physical injury or sexual assault.