Marietta Daily Journal
KSU community welcomes Kathy Schwaig as sixth president
By Chart Riggall
With the chain of office draped around her neck, Kathy Schwaig was officially installed Thursday as the sixth president of Kennesaw State University. The new president — garbed in robes of KSU’s gold and black — was welcomed to the university’s top job by a bevy of students, elected officials, and academics from KSU itself and around the country. “There is energy here,” Schwaig said, “and it is in the enormity of influence that we have as an institution to transform the lives of students, families, and our community.” A longtime member of KSU’s faculty, Schwaig took over the presidency earlier this year after the 2021 departure of Pamela Whitten for Indiana University.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech hires J Batt from Alabama as new athletic director
By Ken Sugiura
Georgia Tech has hired Alabama executive deputy athletic director J Batt as its new athletic director, a person familiar with the situation confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Batt has been at Alabama since 2017 and has been heavily involved in revenue generation as well as having oversight of several areas of internal operations, according to his bio on the Alabama athletics website. Batt succeeds Todd Stansbury, who was dismissed after six years Sept. 26 along with football coach Geoff Collins.
Athens CEO
Community Taps UGA Outreach Units to Help Local Entrepreneurs Succeed
Charlie Bauder
From downtown redevelopment and beautification to recreation and tourism, an East Georgia community is tapping into University of Georgia expertise to increase opportunities for economic development and help grow local business. Thomson, Ga., a UGA Archway Partnership community and the first to earn UGA’s Connected Resilient Community designation, recently launched a program designed to help entrepreneurs develop business and leadership skills. The inaugural Thomson-McDuffie Entrepreneurial Leadership Academy includes nine entrepreneurs. Experts from two UGA Public Service and Outreach units—the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC)—will lead the program.
Patch
As deputy commissioner for the Georgia Department of Public Health, Chris Rustin, DrPH, has helped Georgia respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current monkeypox outbreak. These issues are a part of the past, present and future of public health in Georgia, which he will discuss on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., in the Performing Arts Center on Georgia Southern University’s Statesboro Campus.
Savannah Tribune
Sigma Gamma Rho Joins Voter Education And Registration Efforts In Savannah
The Alpha Iota, Alpha Iota Sigma, and Upsilon Theta chapters of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. partnered with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and other local organizations to host Reclaim the Soul of Voting: Rally-March-Crusade. The event, held at Forsyth Park on September 17, included a local candidates’ forum and march. The chapters’ Social Action Committees also provided voter registration information and other education resources to empower community members in attendance. On September 20th, chapter members volunteered at a National Voter Registration Day Drive held on the Armstrong campus of Georgia Southern University. The event provided voter information to community members as well as registered college students to vote ahead of the October 11 deadline for Georgia. Early voting begins October 17.
Savannah Morning News
Where does Georgia Southern rank on spending for football coach Helton in FBS, Sun Belt?
Nathan Dominitz
Georgia Southern significantly trails most Sun Belt Conference programs when it comes to paying the head football coach, but there’s more to the story — and more money coming — for Clay Helton. The Eagles’ first-year coach is due $700,000 in base salary and other compensation totaling $730,000 for 2022, according to USA Today in its annual college football coach salary report released Thursday. That figure ranks 104th of the 120 FBS programs with available information, and 11th of the 14 programs in the Sun Belt.
Teen Vogue
College Students Are Fighting For Abortion Rights on Campus Post Roe v. Wade
By Fortesa Latifi
At a table at Texas A & M University, Molly Davis, 20, stands in front of a sign that reads in bubbly handwriting, “ABORTION IN TX POST ROE.” On the table, there are stacks of goodie bags for students, decorated with glitter and strings. Inside the bags, there are condoms, lube, voter registration cards, pink heart stickers with the slogan “ABORTION ACCESS SAVES LIVES” and QR codes that, when scanned, give information about Plan C and local abortion funds. …In Georgia, where abortion is currently banned after six weeks gestation, Jill King, 21, focuses her activism at the intersection of reproductive rights and disability advocacy. Jill, who is blind and chronically ill, is part of the Students with Disabilities Advocacy Group at Georgia Southern University as well as the Young Democrats of Georgia Southern.
The Red & Black
Introducing the plants of UGA’s Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden
Libby Hobbs
While students may be busy sleeping or rushing to 8 a.m. classes, the bees of the Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden at the University of Georgia are busy at work. Well, busy resting on Stevia plants and hoping for the warmth of the new day to arrive quickly. But, the Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden is home to much more than busy bees and Stevia plants. Life has been flourishing in the tucked-away location behind Baldwin Hall since its construction in 1998. …Today, plants from all over Latin America and the Caribbean can be found in the garden, said Paul Duncan, associate director of UGA’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute. Duncan gives tours of the garden and The Red & Black explored some of the plants he shares with visitors.
Knews
Video Games May Trigger Rare Heart Attacks in Kids: Study
When 16-year-old Jake Gallagher died of a heart attack while playing video games, the U.K. teen’s death made international headlines. Many reports called the 2013 case a rare isolated incident, noting the teen had an underlying heart condition that put him at risk. But new research suggests such cases are more common than you might think. Australian scientists who reviewed nearly 70 studies and reports on cardiovascular risks from electronic gaming identified 22 children and teens who lost consciousness while playing video games and experienced heart rhythm problems and other cardiac complications. …In an editorial accompanying the new report, Daniel Sohinki, MD, with the Department of Cardiology at Augusta University in Georgia, argues that the study’s findings suggest screening programs — similar to what’s recommended for collegiate sports — aimed at identifying underlying cardiac issues “should encompass athletes being considered for participation in eSports.” Sohinki says what’s needed is a better understanding of how stress — mental or physical — stimulates the cardiovascular system in ways that can be dangerous to gamers and traditional sports athletes alike. The same might also be said of other highly stressful activities, such as watching horror films or exciting competitive sporting events that get your heart beating faster.
WGAU Radio
UGA, Athens Area Humane Society expand partnership
By Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia is partnering with the Athens Area Humane Society to establish a shelter medicine program.
From Kristen Linthicum, UGA Media Relations…
In 2020, the Athens Area Humane Society had plans to grow and was building a new facility. At the same time, the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine was exploring options to establish a shelter medicine program. Although the Humane Society and the university had partnered before—offering veterinary externships, conducting research on pet adoptions and providing service-learning experiences—a shelter medicine program would establish a more extensive relationship.
WABE
What to expect in Georgia’s first senatorial debate
Jim Burress
Democratic U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker face off for the first, and what could be the only, face-to-face debate on Friday ahead of the November 8th election. The debate is set to take place in Savannah and will be broadcast by Nexstar Media Group. University of North Georgia Communications Professor Tom Preston sat down with WABE’s “All Things Considered” to give his take on where each candidate sits going into the debate.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First lady Jill Biden to appear at Abrams fundraiser
By Tia Mitchell
First lady Jill Biden will speak at an Atlanta fundraiser for Stacey Abrams’ campaign on Friday night, the White House announced. It is the most significant involvement from President Joe Biden’s administration thus far in the Georgia governor’s race. Abrams, the Democratic nominee, is trailing in the polls behind Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. …Friday’s event will not be open to the public. It will be held shortly before Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker meet in their first and likely only televised debate. Abrams’ approach to Biden is a contrast to Warnock, who has emphasized his work across the aisle with Republicans more than his ties to the president. Walker has asserted he’s voted “lockstep” with Biden, a message the GOP contender is expected to emphasize at the debate. Many Democrats in Georgia and other states are “trying to distance themselves from the president by touting their independence” as their opponents attempt to brand them as his lackeys, said Nathan Price, a University of North Georgia political scientist.
Higher Education News:
Higher Ed Dive
Can higher education really be redesigned to connect learners and the workforce?
Education Design Lab’s CEO talks about the nonprofit’s work, including what it calls human-centered design.
Rick Seltzer, Senior Editor
Bill Hughes is the president and CEO of Education Design Lab, a nonprofit that seeks to improve the connections between education and the workforce. The position gives him a valuable perspective on higher education. That’s because the nonprofit looks at learners’ experiences using human-centered design, a process meant to help teams understand the perspective of people experiencing a problem to create effective solutions. Education Design Lab also espouses the values of equity and economic mobility. Hughes studied systems thinking, which focuses on interactions among elements of complex systems. His past includes founding a career-skills training company, JobReady, experience in venture capital, and a vice president position at the education and publishing giant Pearson. Hughes started as president of Education Design Lab in December. Then in August he took over as CEO from founder Kathleen deLaski, a transition that was planned when he was hired. He answered questions about the organization and his priorities there. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
How Introductory STEM Courses Weed Out Blacks and Other Underrepresented Students
A new study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University and Williams College in Massachusetts finds that performance in core introductory courses required for STEM degrees is strongly associated with degree completion. In 2017, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous individuals comprised 30 percent of the U.S. population, 34 percent of STEM-intending incoming college students, and but only 18 percent of undergraduate STEM degree recipients. The researchers analyzed nearly 110,000 student records from six large, public, research-intensive universities in order to assess whether introductory courses in STEM fields were disproportionately weeding out underrepresented minority students. They found the association between low performance in an introductory STEM class and failure to obtain a STEM degree is stronger for underrepresented minority students than for other students, even after controlling for academic preparation in high school and intent to obtain a STEM degree.
MLive
Michigan’s public universities have lost 45,000 students since 2011. It’s about to get worse.
By Matthew Miller
The drop in enrollment at Michigan’s 15 public universities over the past decade or so would have been enough to empty out Lake Superior State University, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan University, the University of Michigan’s Flint and Dearborn campuses and Ferris State, as well. That’s more than 45,000 students, the equivalent of a small city, a 15 percent decline from the enrollment peak in 2011. The decline is partly a pandemic phenomenon. It’s mostly the product of a shrinking number of 18 to 22-year-olds and a slow decline in the percentage of high school graduates choosing to enroll in college. It is almost certain to get worse. After 2025, the number of students graduating each year from Michigan high schools is projected to drop steadily for more than a decade. Barring significant and unlikely shifts in the number of high school graduates enrolling in college or in the ability of the state’s less selective regional universities to draw out-of-state and adult students, those schools are simply going to get smaller.
Higher Ed Dive
After Pennsylvania system mergers, overall enrollment is down — but first-year numbers are up
The financially strained PASSHE touted momentum from a bump in first-year students after mergers created PennWest and Commonwealth universities.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Enrollment continues to fall in Pennsylvania’s network of state-owned universities, prompting doubts that the system’s controversial merger of six institutions into two will actually remedy its entrenched financial problems. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s enrollment slid by about 4.6%, from almost 88,700 students last year to about 84,600 in fall 2022, continuing a decade-plus decline. The drop comes more than a year after the system voted to consolidate two sets of institutions: California, Clarion and Edinboro universities merged to create Pennsylvania Western University, and Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities became Commonwealth University. The mergers became official in July of this year. PASSHE Chancellor Daniel Greenstein has argued the two merged institutions will help attract a contingent of untapped students, including new adult learners. He earlier this year set an enrollment target of adding 18,000 students by an unspecified date. But that goal seems increasingly out of reach.
Inside Higher Ed
We Need to Infuse Civic and Public Purpose Into a College Education
Why civics education matters.
Opinion
By Steven Mintz
Civics education is all the rage. If there’s any issue that the nation’s political leaders agree upon, it’s this: that the teaching of civics and knowledgeable, responsible citizenship has never been more important or necessary. A recent Newsweek headline sums up the widespread view: “When We Fail to Teach Our Kids the Basics About Civics, We Risk Losing Our Democracy.” Support for civics education cuts across the political spectrum. Advocates include Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers; former Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer; district courts that offer teachers’ institutes in seven states; and Texas’s Republican-dominated Legislature and Arizona’s Republican governor, Doug Ducey. What does civics education entail? There are a lot of disagreements, but certain goals are widely shared:
Politico
Opinion | A Million-Dollar Tuition Bill for the Top 1 Percent?
It’s the best way to fix higher education and reduce economic inequality.
Opinion by Martin Skladany
Martin Skladany is a law professor at Penn State University, Dickinson Law. His most recent book is Copyright’s Arc.
There are few goods where you pay as much as you can afford — no less, no more. Yet college tuition is largely an exception. Applicants are asked questions about their family’s income and assets. Universities want to know if aspirants have siblings in college or extraordinary medical expenses. These prying questions are only asked of the non-rich, though the intent is altruistic: It is to determine how much aid to provide potential matriculants. Meanwhile, the wealthy are the only group in America that is not asked to pay what they can actually afford. An affluent family will only pay the tuition sticker price for their kids to attend college, even though doling out $60,000 might be an afterthought to them.
Inside Higher Ed
Michigan State President Resigns Amid Battle With Board
The Michigan State Board of Trustees has been trying to push the university president out since September. After initially holding on, Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr. is now stepping down.
By Josh Moody
Michigan State University president Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr. resigned Thursday after a month-long standoff with the Board of Trustees over Title IX issues. Some trustees had tried to push Stanley out last month, initially asking him to retire but stay on for a year as they searched for his successor. Dr. Stanley announced his resignation in a YouTube video, noting that he had provided the board his contractually required 90-day notice. “I, like the Michigan State University Faculty Senate and the Associated Students of Michigan State University, have lost confidence in the action of the current Board of Trustees and I cannot in good conscience continue to serve this board as constituted,” Dr. Stanley said in the video, referring to the no-confidence votes both students and faculty issued in the board this week. Dual Title IX controversies are at the heart of the issue that ultimately pushed Dr. Stanley out.
Higher Ed Dive
Michigan State faculty senate votes no confidence in trustees for alleged overreach
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
Michigan State University’s faculty senate voted no confidence in the institution’s trustees Tuesday, escalating ongoing tensions between the academic branch of the prominent public institution and its governing board. The faculty senate, which approved the no confidence vote 55-4, is objecting to purported board overreach into academic matters. The trustee board recently hired a law firm to investigate the ouster of Sanjay Gupta, the university’s former business school dean, who allegedly failed to report sexual misconduct. Board members have also expressed concerns about Michigan State University’s president, Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr., certifying Title IX reports before trustees completed those legally required reviews. Title IX is the law banning sex-based discrimination and sexual violence in federally funded schools.