AllOnGeorgia
USG Foundation Raises Over $600,000 for Need-Based Scholarships Across State
The 18th annual Regents’ Scholarship Gala on Friday, Sept. 9, raised more than $600,000 from generous sponsors to support and provide need-based scholarships for University System of Georgia (USG) students across the state. Hosted by the USG Foundation, the annual event included Governor Brian P. Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp as well as supporters, donors, alumni, legislators, members of the Board of Regents and presidents from USG’s 26 public colleges and universities. The need-based scholarships funded through the gala will be awarded for the 2022-23 academic year. Each institution’s president selects scholarship recipients at their respective campuses. Over the 18 years it has held this annual event, the USG Foundation has awarded more than $18 million to support scholarships, faculty recognition and key USG initiatives. …The Regents’ Scholarship Gala also honors faculty, alumni and an individual or couple who exemplify true leadership and support of higher education in Georgia.
Dawson County News
UNG officially opens Cottrell Center for Business, Technology & Innovation
Erica Jones, DCN Staff
On Sept. 16, the University of North Georgia (UNG) held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the official opening of the Cottrell Center for Business, Technology & Innovation at the school’s Dahlonega campus. According to a press release by the university, the Cottrell Center is a $35 million, state-of-the-art, 86,483 square foot building and is the new home for the Mike Cottrell College of Business (MCCB). The MCCB offers undergraduate programs in accounting, finance, information systems, marketing, management, cybersecurity and technology management, as well as graduate degrees in accountancy and business administration and several graduate-level certificate programs.
WALB
Tifton man honored with scholarship dedication
By Alicia Lewis
One man, lovingly known as “Mr. Tifton” by many, was honored Friday with a scholarship in his name. The University of Georgia (UGA) and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College( ABAC) are recognizing him for his impact in the community. Tyron Spearman is well known for marketing and advertising for Tifton’s tourism association and for being heavily involved in the peanut industry. Spearman had quite the surprise when attending the recent pre-harvest peanut meeting as $50,000 was pledged to fund a UGA scholarship in his honor, and the National Peanut Buying Point Association committed $5,000 annually in support of a freshman at ABAC. The scholarship will provide support to future leaders in agricultural and environmental sciences.
Albany Herald
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College students celebrate National Teach Ag Day
From staff reports
National Teach Ag Day was held Sept. 15, and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College students had solid reasons to celebrate. For the fourth consecutive year at the spring term commencement ceremony, when 34 agricultural education graduates walked across the stage, ABAC produced more graduates with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education than any other college or university east of the Mississippi River.
yahoo!news
Thousands come out for CSRA College Night as in-person event returns
Stephanie Hill, Aiken Standard, S.C.
Thousands came out Thursday for the CSRA College Night. The event returned this year after not being held in-person the last two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Kim Mitchell, SRNS education programs outreach lead. There were 85 colleges and universities in attendance from across the U.S. in attendance. “This is the place if you’re interested in higher education,” Mitchell said. “We have … experts that are going to be able to tell students about college life, about the majors that they have, about the opportunities and why they should come to their college and university.” …Some of the specific schools that Arcacy said he wanted to look at were Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, Georgia State and Emory. During the event there were five seminars available to attendees on financial aid in Georgia and South Carolina, SRS apprenticeships, work grants and scholarships, and financial literary.
Savannah Business Journal
Savannah Business Journal Staff Report
The Coastal Health District Adolescent Health and Youth Development program is partnering with the Beta Phi Lamda, Delta Eta, and XI Tau chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., to host a workshop for young men ages 12 to 18 that will focus on the importance of behavior, especially as it relates to sexual responsibility. The workshop, called Project Alpha, will take place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Georgia Southern University, Armstrong Campus Student Union. The event is free and meals will be provided.
WJCL
‘When is the Debt Paid’ Conference in Savannah works to help those coming out of incarceration
Dr. Maxine Bryant says she’s made it her life’s work to help those coming out of the system, and Saturday she will do just that.
Olivia Wile, Anchor Reporter
A Georgia Southern Professor is working to help those coming out of incarceration reintegrate into daily life. Dr. Maxine Bryant says she’s made it her life’s work to help those coming out of the system, and Saturday she will do just that. She’s hosting “When is the Debt Paid” conference from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Armstrong Center on Georgia Southern’s Armstrong campus. The conference is designed to help people tackle reentry barriers and access community support and resources.
WSAV
Feed the Boro hosts food giveaway for local families
by: Lewis Levine/Coastal News Service
Feed the Boro served the community by providing meals for families in need on Saturday. Organizers say cars were lining up at Statesboro High School as early as 4 a.m. this morning—the giveaway didn’t start until 8 a.m. …Eventually, organizers had to cut the number of items given to families to make sure there was enough. They say inflation is driving more people to their giveaways. …Volunteers from Statesboro High and Georgia Southern’s ROTC program helped with this morning’s giveaway.
Athens CEO
UGA Announces Fall 2022 Signature Lectures
Mike Wooten
The University of Georgia will host renowned scholars and leaders in the arts, business, civil rights, government, philosophy and the sciences this semester as part of the fall 2022 Signature Lectures series. “The University of Georgia is excited to bring nationally recognized speakers from a wide range of disciplines to campus through our Signature Lecture series,” said Sarah Covert, interim associate provost for academic programs. “This lecture series provides faculty, staff, students and members of the Athens community an opportunity to explore important topics through the insights of our renowned speakers.” Signature Lecture speakers are noted for their broad, multidisciplinary appeal and compelling bodies of work. Many of the lectures are supported by endowments, while others honor notable figures and milestones in the university’s history. All Signature Lectures are free and open to the public.
Dalton Daily Citizen
Kyle Wingfield: The academic market in full effect
An uncomfortable debate just got a little personal. One consequence of President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive large chunks of student debt is a focus on what kinds of degrees the taxpayer is funding. If one personal decision — to borrow money for college — is now the public’s business, then why not another? Should all degrees be treated equally when it comes to forgiving debt? … Here, the universities that aided and abetted the student loan crisis by shepherding all comers on all educational paths into the welcoming arms of the federalized financing facility, at ever higher rates of tuition, fees, living expense and more, may find there is a consequence they hadn’t fully appreciated. Degrees will be scrutinized for their wider utility beyond the intellectual satisfaction of their pursuers. …So it was a fascinating coincidence this month to see the University System of Georgia unveil a list of 215 degrees it was discontinuing across its 26 campuses. And a bit of a stunner to see my own listed among the casualties. The bachelor’s degree in publication management, along with its near-cousins in newspapers and magazines, will cease to be offered at the University of Georgia.
yahoo!news
ABAC competes in first cross country meet
Becky Taylor, The Tifton Gazette, Ga.
Cross country made its official debut for Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Sept. 9, with head coach Mike Beeman’s Stallions and Fillies participating in Georgia Military College’s Brickyard Invitational. This was the first meet in school history. Beeman felt it in several ways, but not in the outcome. “They performed above expectations,” said Beeman. …Beeman is appreciating the support from all of ABAC. He said faculty and other teams have been very encouraging, telling cross country that it is making history. Cross country is ABAC’s first new sport since women’s soccer was added.
Albany Herald
UGA moves closer to sale of Lake Blackshear property
By Carlton Fletcher
The University of Georgia is moving closer to finalizing a sale of property on Lake Blackshear in south Georgia. The 2,500-acre lakefront parcel was donated to the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources by Charles Wheatley in 1989. UGA is now working with Forest Resource Consultants to sell the entire parcel, as changing market forces and unsolicited inquiries revealed selling the entire property would be the best option for the school.
Verywell Mind
How the Lesser Known “Good Stress” Improves Brain Function
By LaKeisha Fleming
Key Takeaways
Low to moderate stress can act as a vaccine against mental health problems and future stress. Some types of stress help with cognitive functioning. Good stress can become bad stress if not handled properly.
…The Research
Researchers from the University of Georgia studied data from the Human Connectome Project. They culled information from 1,206 young adults who answered a questionnaire that detailed their stress levels, as well as the impact of stress in their lives. Researchers also examined participants’ neurocognitive abilities, including memory, attention, and the ability to switch between tasks. They were able to draw correlations between stress levels and brain functioning. Low to moderate stress can strengthen a person cognitively, improve resilience, and even serve as a barrier to psychological problems.
U.S. Pharmacist
Brightly Colored Foods Can Fend Off Women’s Health Issues
Robert Davidson, Editor-in-Chief
Women tend to live longer than men but typically have higher rates of illness. Now, new research from University of Georgia (UGA) suggests these higher rates of illness can be improved by a better diet, one that is high in pigmented carotenoids such as yams, kale, spinach, watermelon, bell peppers, tomatoes, oranges, and carrots. These bright-colored fruits and vegetables are particularly important in preventing visual and cognitive loss.
CBS46 News
Scientists need your pictures, data for spider management research
The Joro spider, native to Japan, was introduced to Georgia in 2014
By Savannah Louie
The next time you see a massive black and yellow spider overhead, snap a picture. That’s the directive from researchers studying the Joro spider. Joro Watch is an online tool that collects public data to help experts learn more about the species. Rebekah Wallace with the University of Georgia’s Center of Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health said the resource was released over the summer. As Joro spider season begins in fall, Wallace called on the public to work with scientists to collect more information. “There are questions about where it’ll show up, when it’ll show up, how fast it’s spreading,” explained Wallace. “We don’t know enough about Joro spiders.”
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Admissions Survey in a World of Change
By Scott Jaschik
The 2022 Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Admissions Directors arrives at a time of significant change for admissions, with more change coming soon: The Supreme Court will hear two cases involving affirmative action next month. Standardized testing’s importance in admissions is greatly diminished due to the pandemic (and the potential of the Supreme Court to rule against affirmative action). And a new way of doing admissions, in which students provide a portfolio but don’t actually apply to colleges, is gaining favor among the majority of colleges that are not competitive in traditional admissions. At the same time, most colleges continue with their efforts to build their classes, going after groups of students they want. And colleges continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Key findings of the 2022 survey, which had 271 respondents, are:
Inside Higher Ed
Common App Sees Rise in Minority Applicants
Between 2013–14 and 2021–22, total applications grew by 72 percent. Underrepresented minority applicants grew by 131 percent.
By Scott Jaschik
The Common Application has experienced a large rise in minority applications over the last eight years. While the total number of applications grew by 72 percent, underrepresented minority applications grew by 131 percent. The Common App was created among a small group of liberal arts colleges in an era (1975) when most of them were not known for their diversity. In the intervening years, the Common App has grown to have more than 1,000 member institutions. But beyond the growth in numbers, it has added many flagship institutions (and other public universities). It has also added historically Black colleges. In 2014, it changed its rules so a college can be a member even if it admits students solely on their grades and test scores, as some historically Black colleges do. During the last eight years, the number of underrepresented minority applicants reached 337,904, including 139,588 Black applicants (up 138 percent) and 193,851 Latino applicants (up 129 percent).
Inside Higher Ed
‘Do I Belong Here?’ Students’ Service Experiences Through the Lens of Campus Climate
Colleges can amplify the experiences of students reaching out to campus offices by ensuring they feel safe and comfortable, write campus climate consultants Genevieve Weber, Sue Rankin and Erik Malewski.
For a long time, colleges and universities pushed back on the idea that students are customers. Colleges and universities don’t like to think of themselves as serving customers, but as enrollment challenges persist, many campuses have adopted a “serving the customer” mind-set with the goal of helping students matriculate and thrive. Persistence and thriving start with a sense of belonging on campus. …Because campus environments shape students’ sense of belonging, students’ perceptions of and experiences within the campus environment, including institutional policies and practices, known as campus climate, may determine how much they engage with the campus community (including utilizing student support services), the success of their adjustment and achievement, and, ultimately, whether they stay. Results of a recent Student Voice survey, conducted by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse with support from Kaplan, start to connect good student services and a sense of belonging on campus. The bad news is that only 15 percent of the 2,239 undergraduate students surveyed indicate that they have been receiving better student services since the pandemic began. …Without students making those deep connections to campus services that support their success, departure is more likely. Furthermore, the students who are most likely to need these services and leave our institutions if they don’t get them are minoritized students.
Inside Higher Ed
Why Some Professors Don’t Post PDFs by Marginalized Scholars
Altmetrics track how scholarly works are discussed, shared, read and reused online. Such real-time feedback may especially matter for underrepresented and early-career researchers, though the metrics have limitations.
By Susan D’Agostino
…Scholars have long relied on a variety of metrics to understand the relative value of their research. A journal’s impact factor, for example, is often thought to confer prestige to the journal’s authors. Likewise, an author’s h-index combines information about the author’s number of papers with the number of citations to suggest value. Authors also count citations as a stand-alone measure. Proponents argue that altmetrics may supplement traditional scholarly metrics in important ways, especially given the limitations of traditional scholarly metrics. Citations, for example, often take years to accumulate. Journal impact factors do not provide granular information about individual articles and may rely on flawed statistical arguments, at least according to some. In contrast, altmetrics arrive promptly, in real time, and provide insight into how research influences societal conversations, thought and behavior. Such feedback may be especially meaningful to underrepresented and early-career researchers. But altmetrics are not a panacea, as they are susceptible to manipulation and do not always measure quality.
Inside Higher Ed
Ford Foundation Ends Fellowship Program
The Ford Fellowship program for diverse scholars is ending after nearly six decades. Experts worry it will leave a big hole in the funding landscape for underrepresented would-be professors.
By Colleen Flaherty
The Ford Foundation is ending its longtime fellowship program for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds. The foundation says the decision is part of a longer-term pivot away from funding education—which ranks high among philanthropic causes—to supporting traditionally underfunded work in social and racial justice. Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, said in an announcement, “This was a painful sacrifice, but a necessary one. We understand and respect that some may disagree with our judgment. To be clear, no one is declaring victory for diversity and equity in higher education—not in the United States, not around the world. The academy neither fairly reflects the former nor fully embodies the latter. Clearly, we must hold higher-education institutions accountable for the persistent lack of diversity in tenured and leadership positions, despite a robust pipeline of diverse, talented scholars.”