41NBC
Georgia College launches initiative providing two-year college program for adults with disabilities
by Brick Nelson
Georgia College and State University has launched a two-year college program for adults with disabilities called the GCSU Thrive Initiative. The program provides individuals with intellectual disabilities the chance to achieve their dreams of obtaining a college degree. …The GCSU Thrive Initiative allows students to take up to eight college courses and engage in internships with other Georgia College students to help them academically and socially.
WTVM
CSU named top producer of Fullbright Scholars
By Ashton Akins
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau Of Educational and Cultural Affairs, named Columbus State University, a top producer of Fullbright U.S. Scholars. Fulbright is the government’s international education exchange program. …Columbus State’s newest recognition, highlights universities with the highest number of applicants selected for the 2023 Fulbright Scholar Program. This year, two CSU faculty members were chosen for the award.
WGAU Radio
University of Georgia lands three slots on National Academy of Inventors
By Tim Bryant
Three professors at the University of Georgia are selected for membership in the National Academy of Inventors: the honors go to UGA’s Christine Szymanski, Hitesh Handa, and Leidong Mao.
From Brandon Ward, UGA Today…
The National Academy of Inventors has selected three University of Georgia faculty as 2023 NAI Senior Members. NAI Senior Members are faculty, scientists and administrators selected for their proven ability to invent and innovate. The UGA representatives of the 2023 class are Christine Szymanski, Hitesh Handa and Leidong Mao. With their selections, UGA now has 11 Senior Members overall.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
2023 Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs
Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, along with the ACPA-College Student Educators International, is pleased to announce its annual report, The Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs (MPPWSA), will be published in the March 16, 2023 edition of the magazine. With a focus on workplace diversity, staffing practices, and work environment, the research uses a web-based survey approach to examine categories such as family friendliness, salary and benefits, and professional development opportunities. The list of the 27 most promising places to work in student affairs (in alphabetical order) includes: …University of West Georgia
EurekAlert!
American Gastroenterological Association announces 2023 Recognition Awards recipients
The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has announced the 2023 recipients of its annual recognition prizes, given in honor of outstanding contributions and achievements in gastroenterology.
…Distinguished Mentor Award
The AGA Distinguished Mentor Award recognizes an individual who has committed lifelong efforts to the mentoring of trainees in the field of gastroenterology and for achievements as an outstanding mentor. AGA bestows this year’s award to Satish S.C. Rao, MD, PhD, AGAF. Dr. Rao is an exceptional mentor who has directly supervised 87 postdoctoral fellows, 18 undergraduate research recipients and 56 other junior faculty along with numerous visiting fellows, nurses and faculty who have won competitive national and international research awards and hold leadership roles in gastroenterology programs throughout the world. Dr. Rao is currently the J. Harold Harrison distinguished university chair in gastroenterology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
Times-Georgian
UWG providing financial wellness platform for students
Special To The Times-Georgian
The University of West Georgia’s Center for Economic Education & Financial Literacy (CEEFL) and iGrad have partnered to provide a customized, interactive online and mobile student financial wellness platform to the university’s student population.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
School librarians could face criminal charges under Georgia bill
By Ty Tagami
Legislation would strip them of current protections under ‘harmful materials to minors’ law
Several Georgia Senate Republican leaders are backing legislation that would criminalize school librarians who let students check out books found to be obscene. State law currently shields the gatekeepers at public libraries — plus those at any school, college or university — from criminal prosecution for sharing materials considered irredeemably sexually explicit. Senate Bill 154 by Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Alpharetta, would remove school librarians from that exemption, exposing them to a misdemeanor “of a high and aggravated nature.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia ‘religious liberty’ bill proposed that matches federal law
By Mark Niesse
Kemp has said he would accept identical federal protections
A bill introduced Tuesday calls for greater legal protections for religious Georgia residents, a proposal that gay rights advocates say could be used to justify discrimination. The measure by Republican state Sen. Ed Setzler, who previously sponsored Georgia’s anti-abortion law, would limit the state government’s ability to pass or enforce laws that conflict with religious beliefs. He said religious freedoms are fundamental rights that need to be secured. …In a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, the court ruled that a student at Georgia Gwinnett College could pursue a lawsuit challenging his school’s speech restrictions that required him to express his religious views in campus free-speech zones. Setzler said if Georgia previously had a religious liberty law, the student could have cited his faith rather than having to rely on his free speech rights. This year’s religious liberty bill is the latest proposal that could ignite heated partisan battles in Georgia after Republican legislative leaders resisted efforts on controversial issues such as new limits on abortion and creating a new city of Buckhead.
Emanuel County Live
A lasting impression: Meet inspiring teacher, Cindy Riner
By Brittany Hall
It’s safe to say that we have all experienced at least one inspirational teacher who helped us to understand their subject more and taught us to become a better person. The best teachers pass on this burning enthusiasm to their students, inspiring students to view the subject through refreshed lenses and to see things from a different perspective. Some inspired students have even gone on to become teachers, which is the case for one of Swainsboro High School’s most encouraging educators, Cindy Riner. …Among her many sophisticated titles, Riner holds an Associates of Arts degree from East Georgia State College and a Bachelor of Science/Arts degree in Middle Grades Education from Georgia Southern University. In 2002, she furthered her education by earning a Master of Education degree in Secondary Math. In the Summer of 2022, she earned an Education Specialist degree in Instructional Technology from Kennesaw State University.
Patch
Cobb County Government: Cobb Judge Appointed To GA Supreme Court Committee
On February 8, 2023, the Supreme Court of Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution (GCDR/Commission) welcomed two new appointees: Judge Pandora E. Palmer, Henry County Superior Court, and Judge Vic Reynolds, Cobb County Superior Court. During the February 8 GCDR meeting, Chief Judge M. Cindy Morris, Commission Chair, administered the oaths and welcomed the new members to the Commission. Judge Pandora E. Palmer completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia and attended law school at Georgia State University. …Judge Vic Reynolds is a proud alumnus of Georgia Southern University and attended law school at Georgia State University.
WTVM
Community members explain more about foreign objects shot down
By Ashlee Williams
Making national headlines this month – several foreign objects being spotted and shot down across our airwaves. The U.S. and Chinese governments are clashing over the first vessel that was found, which China says was a weather balloon that accidentally entered U.S. airspace. And since then, three more unknown vessels have been shot down in the past week. One high-altitude balloon and three other foreign objects made their way into the United States air waves this month, raising many questions as to why they are here and who sent them. Dr. Mahmut Reyhanoglu, a professor at Columbus State University with years of experience in aerospace engineering, explains high altitude balloons are not uncommon… they are released daily across the world, for educational, research and entertainment purposes. He explains the threat, though, is that the objects are coming from outside of the U.S. and putting commercial airlines at risk.
The Atlantic
Eagles Are Falling, Bears Are Going Blind
Bird flu is already a tragedy.
By Katherine J. Wu
It was late fall of 2022 when David Stallknecht heard that bodies were raining from the sky. Stallknecht, a wildlife biologist at the University of Georgia, was already fearing the worst. For months, wood ducks had been washing up on shorelines; black vultures had been teetering out of tree tops. But now thousands of ghostly white snow-goose carcasses were strewn across agricultural fields in Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas. The birds had tried to take flight, only to plunge back to the ground. “People were saying they were literally dropping down dead,” Stallknecht told me. Even before he and his team began testing specimens in the lab, they suspected they knew what they would find: yet another crop of casualties from the deadly strain of avian influenza that had been tearing across North America for roughly a year.
Albany Herald
National educator/activist to speak at Georgia State Benjamin Mays lecture
From staff reports
Na’ilah Suad Nasir, president of the Spencer Foundation, will deliver the 34th annual Benjamin E. Mays Lecture on Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m. in a virtual format. At this event, hosted by Georgia State University’s Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, Nasir will give a presentation entitled, “Learning Is Life-Long and Life-Wide: Reflections on Learning, Leadership and Education Research.”
Georgia Entertainment News
Bo Bartlett Center welcomes ‘Kate Capshaw: Unaccompanied,’ ‘Earthly Matters’ exhibitions in February
By Staff
Columbus State University’s Bo Bartlett Center welcomes a pair of new exhibitions on Tuesday, Feb. 7 to its RiverPark Campus galleries. They feature the first solo exhibition by artist Kate Capshaw and a new series of work by the center’s namesake, Bo Bartlett. Capshaw’s “Unaccompanied,” available through May 12, is comprised of 20 oil portraits, 18 studies and an audio component by Joshua-Michéle Ross. It is an artistic outgrowth of Capshaw’s inquiry into the invisibility of youth experiencing homelessness. “Earthly Matters” also opens on Feb. 7 and celebrates the work of renowned realist painter and Georgia native, https://www.bobartlett.com/. This selection of his recent works examines humankind’s impact on and interaction with nature’s elements. …It will remain at the Bo Bartlett Center through April 28. The two exhibitions will be presented alongside each other with a public reception on Thursday, Feb. 16 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
See also:
Statesboro Herald
7 Bridges Band to take the PAC stage Feb. 28 for Eagles tribute
Called the ultimate Eagles experience, the 7 Bridges Band will take the stage at the Performing Arts Center at Georgia Southern University on Feb. 28. The band combines incredible musicianship, vocal precision and a stage presence that has garnered national acclaim.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thomas Dortch, Atlanta civic leader, dead at 72
By Ernie Suggs
Former CEO of 100 Black Men blazed path in political, business circles.
Last November, in one of his last public appearances in the well of Atlanta’s City Hall, where the council was honoring him, Thomas W. Dortch Jr. talked about the promise the city had when he moved here more than 50 years ago. “It was part of a renaissance,” Dortch said, regaling the audience with stories of Maynard Jackson’s historic run as the city’s first Black mayor. But Dortch also took the time to talk about his health, recalling that 35 years ago, he beat a devastating form of cancer that had attacked his small intestine. On that morning in the well, he officially announced that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. …Dortch, the influential Atlanta businessman and civic leader who rose to become chairman of 100 Black Men of America, died Wednesday. He was 72. …After graduating from Whitman Street High School in 1968, Dortch attended Fort Valley State University and graduated with a B.A. in sociology in 1972. He served as student body president and once registered over 96% of the campus to vote.
Statesboro Herald
Statesboro expected to name former GS player new football coach
Matt Dobson to take over Blue Devils program
Josh Aubrey/staff
The Bulloch County Board of Education approved the hiring of former Georgia Southern defensive back Matt Dobson as the new Statesboro High head football coach during its regularly scheduled board meeting Thursday evening.
Higher Education News:
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Some colleges are making deep cuts as enrollment cliff looms
By Andy Medici – Senior Reporter, The Playbook
Indiana State University is laying off staff. New Jersey City University is looking to cut $12 million in expenses and announced it was eliminating 37% of its 171 academic programs and cutting 30 tenured professors. Fresno Pacific University students recently protested budget-cutting moves at the school that reduced the number of faculty and staff. They aren’t alone. Colleges and universities across the country are downsizing — and it’s community colleges that are cutting the deepest, according to an analysis of Department of Education data by The Business Journals. …Public four-year institutions cut about 10,000 nonmedical staff, while nonprofit four-year schools cut about 29,000 positions over the period.
Higher Ed Dive
Laura Spitalniak, Associate Editor
Dive Brief:
The larger a county’s four-year college population, the lower the COVID-19 case rate it was likely to report, according to new research published in Scientific Reports, an open-access peer-reviewed journal in the Nature portfolio. Counties with large university enrollment saw a 16% lower incidence in COVID cases compared to similar counties without a university. Counties with medium and small university enrollments also saw lower rates, 8% and 1% respectively. The demographics of a county’s population best predicted COVID case rates — not a university’s mitigation efforts. Researchers evaluated county demographics including median household income, unemployment rates and self-reported patterns of wearing face masks.
Inside Higher Ed
Dual Enrollment Comes at a Cost
A new analysis shows dual-enrollment programs can be costly for community colleges—unless they’re carefully designed.
By Sara Weissman
Community college leaders are largely thrilled about the rise in high school students enrolling in college classes, particularly after steep enrollment declines during the pandemic, and many are hoping the trend continues. But offering dual-enrollment courses comes at a cost for many community colleges because of discounted tuition rates for high school students and extra expenses associated with these courses, among other financial challenges, according to a new working paper by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College. The paper offers strategies for colleges to run dual-enrollment programs without breaking the bank.
Inside Higher Ed
Oversight Coming for Online Program Providers
Colleges and universities that contract with an online program management company need to submit details about those arrangements by May 1.
By Katherine Knott
The Education Department is planning to increase oversight of the outside contractors that colleges and universities use to help run online programs. The online program management companies, or OPMs, have grown in the last decade, but critics have accused the industry of engaging in aggressive recruiting practices and questioned the legality of the OPMs’ business practices. Supporters of the companies say they have helped expand online offerings in higher education at a time when institutions lacked the capacity to create programs and that further regulation would dampen innovation.
See also:
Inside Higher Ed
Vermont State University’s ‘All-Digital’ Library Fiasco
A merged institution born out of financial strain seeks to balance cost with quality, while also reaching more rural residents. But its botched announcement led to an outcry, an apology and a no-confidence vote.
By Susan D’Agostino
Last week, Vermont State University announced plans for an “all-digital” academic library when the new institution, formed from the consolidation of three colleges, officially launches on July 1. “We listened to our students as we made this decision,” the emailed statement from Parwinder Grewal, the first president of Vermont State University, said. “What we heard was that they need and want access to library resources where they are, whether on or off campus.” …In planning for the new library, the financially challenged institution seeks to forge a path that balances cost with quality, while also reaching a wider swath of the state’s rural residents. But its botched announcement, in which “all-digital” is a misnomer, failed to recognize students’ and professors’ emotional attachment to print books. Since the announcement, the union faculty and staff voted no confidence in the state college chancellor, Grewal and others in leadership earlier this week, according to WCAX.
Inside Higher Ed
DeSantis Threatens to Bar All AP Classes in Florida
By Scott Jaschik
In the latest development of the war between the College Board and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, DeSantis is threatening to end all Advanced Placement instruction in the state, The Washington Post reported. Originally, DeSantis didn’t like the new AP course in African American studies.