USG e-clips for October 31, 2022

University System News:

Marietta Daily Journal

Kennesaw State University student killed in South Korean tragedy

By Staff reports

A Kennesaw State University student was among those killed this weekend in South Korea, the university announced Sunday. In a statement, the university said, “officials were deeply saddened to learn that KSU student Steven Blesi was among the more than 150 people tragically killed in this weekend’s Halloween incident in Seoul, South Korea.” The 20-year-old Blesi was a Marietta native, according to the Washington Post. A stampede took place Saturday night in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon, after a large number of people entered a narrow alley behind the Hamilton Hotel, according to televised briefings. …KSU officials said Blesi, an international business major, was part of a study abroad program in the country with 10 other students from the university.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Private funeral for Vince Dooley, public celebration to be announced

By AJC Sports

Funeral services for Vince Dooley will be private. A public celebration of life will be announced at a later date. Dooley, the legendary Georgia head football coach and athletic director, died Friday at the age of 90.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With support of Georgia Tech Foundation, J Batt launches fundraiser

By Ken Sugiura

It did not take long for new Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt to turn the fundraising wheel, and he cranked it with the help of school president Ángel Cabrera. The unfurling of a scholarship drive on his fourth day in office speaks to Batt’s reputation as a most effective development officer. Cabrera’s participation fulfills a vow he has made to help Batt develop sources of revenue for the athletic department. In a news release issued Thursday, Batt announced the launch of the Competitive Drive Initiative, a fundraiser for scholarships. The first measure is the Accelerate GT Match Program, in which Tech is seeking to raise $2.5 million in gifts to the scholarship fund of the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, the development arm of the athletic department. The Competitive Drive Institute has been made part of Tech’s five-year $2 billion capital campaign that was launched in June.

WJCL

Savannah hosts Mark Cuban Basketball Heroes Center Suit Up Experience

Over 100 young men turned out for the event.

Greg Coy Anchor/Reporter

Over 100 young men turned out on Saturday morning for the Mark Cuban Heroes Basketball Center Suit Up Experience. The young men who attended got a free suit and important life lessons. The event transformed the gym at the Frank Callen Boys and Girls Club into a pop-up haberdashery. Young men arrived dressed down and walked out fitted with a suit. It’s a staple of clothing some of them don’t own but need and want to wear. “To be honest, I feel like the man. It makes me feel a lot more professional. A little bit more powerful,” said Terron Dixon a student at Georgia Southern University. WJCL 22 was a sponsor of the event. Our managers, anchors and reporters were on hand to help those who attended to get a shirt and tie combination and learn how to tie a necktie properly. Other community partners brought dozens of volunteers as they helped the young men get free haircuts and advice on how to polish their shoes.

WFXG

Augusta University host 2nd annual “Fall into Moore with Us” yard sale

By Allissa Young

Augusta University’s Ryan Moore Program did its part to de-stigmatize and bring awareness to HIV and AID at Thursday’s “Fall into Moore with Us” yard sale. All proceeds of the yard sale will be going towards the program. The program provides HIV/AIDS care for the state’s underrepresented populations through various services. They are aiming to give back to the community by raising money to provide care for individuals with HIV or AIDS. This event has been going on for two years and it’s always scheduled on the last Friday of October. Jonell Poe tells FOX54 that she came up with the idea for this event because she wanted to show the patients that there are people who are advocating for them.

Patch

Development Information Forum + Georgia Rental Assistance Program

The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Dacula.

Danielle Fallon-O’Leary,

Patch Contributing Writer

…From my notebook:

Georgia Gwinnett College is offering a First Generation Student/Faculty/Staff Mixer on Nov. 8 at 2:00 p.m. at the Student Center LVIS. Mark your calendar. (Georgia Gwinnett College via Instagram)

The Gwinnett County Public Library is currently recruiting volunteers. Click to learn about open positions. (Gwinnett County Public Library via Instagram)

The Gwinnett County Public Library’s KANOPY program is offering free horror film screenings. To access them, simply use your Gwinnett County Public Library card. (Gwinnett County Public Library via Instagram)

Ledger-Enquirer

Columbus State professor steps up Hollywood ladder with Hulu show. When to watch

By Mark Rice

To put in perspective how high and how fast Natalia Temesgen has climbed the ladder of Hollywood writers, you simply need to know the plan this Columbus State University associate professor of English has to watch her latest debut. When the episode she cowrote for the TV series “Julia” on HBO Max debuted in April, Temesgen and her husband, Pete — then a lawyer with Huff, Powell & Bailey and now a State Court judge — rented the Bo Bartlett Center for a watch party. But for the Nov. 8 debut of the episode she cowrote for the TV series “Reasonable Doubt” on Hulu, they probably will invite just a few friends to their home. “Nothing that big,” Temesgen said as she laughed in an interview with Ledger-Enquirer. That’s because her success in show business has become par for her course.

Inside Higher Ed

Ratings and Gender Bias, Over Time

Two new studies show how bias against women in student ratings operates over time, worsening with critical feedback and instructor age.

By Colleen Flaherty

Two new studies on gender bias in student evaluations of teaching look at the phenomenon from fresh—and troubling—angles. One study surveyed students at the beginning of the semester and after their first exam and found that female instructors faced more backlash for grades given than did male instructors. The other study examined how ageism relates to gender bias in student ratings, finding that older female instructors were rated lower than younger women. The second study was longitudinal, so students were rating the same women more poorly over time, even as these professors were gaining teaching experience. Both studies suggest that as women become more “agentic,” demonstrating agency via stereotypically male-associated traits, they are punished for violating gender norms with lower student ratings. Whitney Buser, associate director of academic programs in economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and co-author of the first study, told Inside Higher Ed that she and her colleagues “were unsure if we would find any bias at the beginning of the semester, but we did find a bit.

WYPL

Outlook For Guide Dog Use and Enzyme For Possible Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy

Dr. Arielle Silverman, American Foundation for the Blind director of research, goes over a study showing the outlook for guide dog use in a world with wayfinding apps and ridesharing services. Dr. Ruth Caldwell, professor of cellular biology and anatomy, and Dr. William Caldwell, professor and chair emeritus in pharmacology and toxicology at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta explain how an enzyme, arginase 1 (A1), could possibly be used to treat diabetic retinopathy.

Knowridge Science Report

Harmless bacteria linked to higher death risk in kidney patients

A big group of bacteria found in our soil, our water, and our showerheads are harmless for most of us. In a study from Augusta University, scientists found they are associated with an increased risk of dying in individuals whose kidneys have failed. In the study, the team looked in the United States Renal Data System at patients with end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, who also had a diagnosis of infection with the nontuberculous mycobacteria, or NTM, group. They found a strong increase in death with an NTM diagnosis in these patients, indicating that early diagnosis and treatment of an NTM infection may improve survival in ESRD patients.

Marietta Daily Journal

Georgia Tech alum opens new sports lounge in Marietta

By Skyler Heath

Professional athlete and Georgia Tech alumnus Alade Aminu is making a new play in Marietta: opening a sports lounge. Aminu celebrated the grand opening of Bar 44, located at 2755 Canton Road, on Oct. 12. As a new sports bar in Cobb County, Aminu said Bar 44 will be a unique addition to the area where patrons can comfortably enjoy signature cocktails, hookah, weekend brunch and elevated bar cuisine. “We wanted to create a comfortable feeling, different from the typical sports bars,” Aminu said. “So, we created an innovative ‘sports lounge’ concept.”

YouTube

Our undying cultural obsession with vampires | It’s Been a Minute

Spooky season is upon us, so we decided to sink our teeth into the world of vampires. Host Brittany Luse kicks off the conversation with Kendra R. Parker, who teaches a class at Georgia Southern University about Black vampires in film and literature. They talk about the racial and sexual politics of vampire narratives and why humans continue to find vampire stories compelling.

Georgia Law News

State House Committee Hears Pitch to Grant State Tuition to Georgia DACA Students

By – October 29, 2022

Georgia lawmakers are expected to convene under the Gold Dome in January for the 2022 General Assembly, and that means a second chance for bills that didn’t cross the finish line this year. Immigration rights activists are hoping that a proposed law that would allow Georgia’s so-called dreamers — recipients of Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — to pay college tuition on par with other Georgian students will see lawmakers in 2022 for a second Let’s see . “It’s obviously something we need to look at as a state,” said the bill’s author, Dalton Republican Assemblyman Kasey Carpenter. “A well-trained workforce will be of paramount importance in the 21st century. We have these kids that we’ve already invested in. It’s child’s play, but child’s play is not always the same as law.” … “Politics are always a bit shaky in an election year, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “I have a feeling it’s going to be an interesting year.” But Carpenter said he feels pretty good about the bill’s odds. Businesses are looking for skilled workers, he said, and enrollments at several Georgia colleges are declining. While the University System of Georgia increased its overall enrollment by 2.4% between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020, the system’s nine state colleges experienced an average 7% decline in enrollment during that time, both facts that help sell the bill could budget conservatives, Carpenter said.

Higher Education News:

Inside Higher Ed

Fewer Affordable Options for Pell Grant Students

Fewer than a quarter of public four-year institutions, and only 40 percent of community colleges, meet a college access group’s definition of affordability.

By Katherine Knott

Pell Grant recipients are increasingly finding fewer affordable options for college and higher financial unmet needs, the National College Attainment Network found in a new analysis. Nationally, 24 percent of public four-year colleges or universities were considered affordable for the average Pell Grant recipient, along with 40 percent of two-year public community colleges. The National College Attainment Network considers a college or university to be affordable if the total cost of attendance, plus $300 for emergency expenses, doesn’t exceed the sum of financial aid, family contributions and student wages. The association, which works to close equity gaps in postsecondary attainment, has tracked college affordability data using its formula since 2018. At four-year institutions, the average Pell Grant recipient needed an additional $2,627 to pay for tuition, fees and living expenses for the 2019–20 academic year—the most recent year with complete data at the time of the report’s release. At two-year institutions, the unmet financial need, or affordability gap, was $907.

The Hechinger Report

How one college is tackling the rural nursing shortage

Grow-your-own community college programs in rural communities reach nursing students who might struggle with a commute to campus

by Nichole Dobo

Emily Thompson was working in a convenience store in rural Maine two years ago when she met someone who changed her life. Thompson, then 47, had recently reentered the workforce as a cashier after raising her child. A woman came into the store, worried about getting gas into her car because she had forgotten her wallet. As she helped the woman with the electronic payment app on her smartphone, she noticed her name tag: Pilar Burmeister, director of the nursing program at Eastern Maine Community College. “Can you really get an R.N. from a community college?” Thompson recalls asking her. Yes, she could. Not only that, she wouldn’t need to travel into the city to do it. The nursing program at the Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor, Maine, partners with rural hospitals to provide nursing education close to home for students who would rather not come into the city. Now in its sixth year, the program is helping the community college increase enrollment in a job that’s in great demand.

The Washington Post

The Supreme Court may end college affirmative action. Then what?

Universities have followed similar bans to the letter but tried other ways to admit racially diverse classes – with mixed results

Analysis by Lauren S. Foley

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases: Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. The court last discussed the topic in Fisher v. University of Texas, which the court heard in 2016. Since then, Trump appointees have shifted the court in a much more conservative direction, and affirmative action might not survive this constitutional challenge. If it does not, universities will no longer be able to take student racial identity into consideration in admissions. However, even if the court bans college affirmative action, my research finds that the goals behind these programs may survive. While in the past, state restrictions on affirmative action have decreased the numbers of underrepresented minorities on elite campuses, universities maintained their commitments to racial diversity through other admissions methods.

The Washington Post

Opinion

Colleges will racially discriminate no matter how the Supreme Court rules

By George F. Will

The oral arguments the Supreme Court will hear Monday concern two cases that are momentous, even though the desirable outcomes would not prevent the losing parties from continuing reprehensible practices. The cases concern racial preferences in admissions to Harvard and the University of North Carolina. By holding that such preferences violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws and the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s prohibition of racial discrimination by recipients of federal funding, the court can bolster the wholesome belief held by a large, diverse American majority: that the nation’s laws should be colorblind. Affirmation of this precept is urgently needed by a nation saturated with the racial obsessions that identity politics encourage, especially on campuses. The precept can block today’s expanding racial spoils system, which is perpetrated in the name of “equity.” However, a ringing denunciation of the “sordid business” of “divvying us up by race” (Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s words in a 2006 congressional redistricting case) will be unavailing: Colleges will continue allocating opportunity through racial discrimination, thus continuing their adversarial stance regarding the national aspiration for a colorblind society.

Inside Higher Ed

Therapy Without Limits

As part of its plan to improve mental health treatment for students, Oglethorpe University removed the cap on the number of counseling sessions allowed.

By Johanna Alonso

Given his background in clinical psychology, it’s no surprise that Oglethorpe University president Nick Ladany has made student mental health a priority throughout his 30-year career in higher education. He often jokes that he uses his therapy skills as much as a college administrator as he ever has in any other job. But his experience came in especially handy at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020—soon after he assumed the presidency—when student mental health tanked amid illness and the isolation of virtual schooling. It prompted Ladany to launch a revamp of the university’s counseling center, in the hopes of helping students recover both mentally and academically from the impact of the pandemic.

Inside Higher Ed

Report: ‘Whiteness Rules’ in Selecting Presidents

By Scott Jaschik

A new report by the College Futures Foundation can be summed up by its title: “Whiteness Rules: Racial Exclusion in Becoming an American College President.” The report says, “The white man archetype of presidential leadership perpetuates racial inequity by sending racialized messages about who can and should apply for a college presidency” and by “positioning white men as the ‘natural’ choice.”

Cybersecurity Dive

CISA releases long-awaited cybersecurity performance goals for critical infrastructure

The goals are meant to apply to every critical infrastructure, focusing on security basics such as requiring unique credentials and asset inventory.

David Jones, Reporter

The Department of Homeland Security released highly anticipated cybersecurity performance goals designed to establish baseline measures that businesses and critical infrastructure providers can take to mitigate the impact of malicious cyberattacks. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency developed the goals in close partnership with the National Institute for Standards and Technology, with the intent they would be implemented under the umbrella of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

GHC Inform

GHC EMAIL DIGEST (FACULTY & STAFF)

USG e-clips for October 31, 2022