11Alive
Student helps cofound chapter of ‘Lifting Our Voices’ nonprofit at Georgia Tech
Back in the fall semester, they made 2,600 meals to give to people just outside of Georgia Tech’s campus.
Author: Dawn White, 11Alive Staff
One Georgia Tech student is working to make a difference in the community. Jordine Jones, an industrial and systems engineering student, said she wanted to give back to those in need. She told Georgia Tech that coming to campus from an underprivileged background, she saw the gaps between the campus and Atlanta communities. So, she attended a community event with the nonprofit group – Lifting Our Voices. Along with the nonprofit, Jones made and helped distribute sandwiches to people experiencing homelessness in Midtown Atlanta. Jones said the experience led her to help create a chapter at Georgia Tech. She added her mission was to extend the reach of Georgia Tech – beyond its campus boundaries.
WALB
GSW Holds 2nd annual teddy toss
By Aaron Meaux
How can one layup and dozens of teddy bears change so many lives? It’s called the Teddy Bear Toss. It’s actually the only time where Georgia Southwestern University actually encourages you to throw things onto the court at the storm dome. The event is about giving back. The idea formed as a partnership between GSW and the Phoebe’s Women’s and Children’s Health Services Division. The plush toys are donated to Phoebe and the recipients are children receiving care. It’s a gesture that has so much meaning to the lives of our little ones. GSW says it’s the most important night of the year and for the second consecutive year it was a success.
Athens Banner-Herald
Loran Smith: The Seiler family and their story as the caretakers of Uga
Loran Smith Columnist
The patriarch of the Uga dynasty experienced a milestone birthday last weekend and sure didn’t look and act his age as he was welcomed into the nonagenarian society. Sonny Seiler has cavorted with all 10 of the official University of Georgia mascots, beginning with Uga I in 1956. It is an old story, but a lovely one which does not bore or aggravate listeners, especially if they are UGA aficionados. In 1956, following Sonny’s marriage to Cecilia Gunn of Columbus, the young couple received a wedding gift of an all-white male English bulldog from a family friend of the bride. …The first Uga was a hit at the Sigma Chi House, Sonny’s fraternity. On the day of the first home game in 1956, Georgia hosted Florida State, winning the game 3-0 on a field goal by Ken Cooper. Uga was off to a great start, although officialdom was waiting in the wings.
Grice Connect
GS awarded $426,000 to study tumor formation
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded Georgia Southern University’s Dongyu Jia, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Biology, a federal grant totaling $426,000 to fill in the gaps of learning the steps of tumor formation at the beginning stages and what initially triggers their epithelial cell shape change before becoming invasive. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences supports basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
Savannah Morning News
New breastfeeding legislation makes pumping at work more inclusive
Laura Nwogu
Accordion to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three out of four mothers in the U.S. start out breastfeeding. However, nearly one in four women of childbearing age were not covered under the 2010 Break Time for Nursing Mothers Act, which requires employers to provide reasonable break time and a private, non-bathroom space for breastfeeding employees to pump during the work day. …To remedy that gap that stemmed from a provision that deemed that workers who are exempt from the overtime protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act are also exempt from the break time protections for nursing mothers, President Joe Biden signed into law the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act). …“Being able to have that time means that lactating parents, who are choosing to pump, can provide the best life that they can for their child themselves,” said Christina Cook, a doctoral student at Georgia Southern University.
The Guardian
Republicans in the US ‘battery belt’ embrace Biden’s climate spending
Oliver Milman
Georgia, a state once known for its peaches and peanuts, is rapidly becoming a crucible of clean energy technology in the US, leading a pack of Republican-led states enjoying a boom in renewables investment that has been accelerated by Joe Biden’s climate agenda. Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August, billions of dollars of new clean energy investment has been announced for solar, electric vehicle and battery manufacturing in Georgia, pushing it to the forefront of a swathe of southern states that are becoming a so-called “battery belt” in the economic transition away from fossil fuels. …Georgia’s embrace of clean energy technology was under way before the IRA, with Atlanta, bolstered by leading renewables research at Georgia Tech, increasingly viewed as an innovative fulcrum.
Popular Science
A torpedo-like robot named Icefin is giving us the full tour of the ‘Doomsday’ glacier
It may look like a long, narrow tube, but this robot is useful for a range of scientific tasks.
By Charlotte Hu
Thwaites, a notoriously unstable glacier in western Antarctica, is cracking and disintegrating, spelling bad news for sea level rise across the globe. Efforts are afoot to understand the geometry and chemistry of Thwaites, which is about the size of Florida, in order to gauge the impact that warming waters and climate change may have on it. An 11-foot tube-like underwater robot called Icefin is offering us a detailed look deep under the ice at how the vulnerable ice shelf in Antarctica is melting. By way of two papers published this week in the journal Nature, Icefin has been providing pertinent details regarding the conditions beneath the freezing waters. The torpedo-like Icefin was first developed at Georgia Tech, and the first prototype of the robot dates back to 2014. But it has since found a new home at Cornell University.
Connect Savannah
Experience local black history and voices at the Savannah Black Art Expo
Saturday, Feb. 25 from 12 – 3 p.m.
By Kareem McMichael
Since time immemorial, history and culture have been passed down from generation to generation through visual and performing arts. In continuing this tradition, the Savannah Black Art Expo brings together visual and performing artists, vendors, food trucks and more to display history and culture related to Savannah and abroad. …The Savannah Cultural Art Center opened in 2019, and this is the first time they are doing an event of this kind. On Saturday, Feb. 25 from 12 noon to 3 p.m., people of all ages can come experience various aspects of African-American culture. …This event is on the schedule for the Savannah Black Heritage Festival, which has a few other events through the end of the month including: Feb 24. at 7 p.m., “Dancing While Black” dance concert featuring the Savannah State University Dance Program at the Savannah Cultural Arts Center. …Feb 27. at 6:30 p.m., Step Afrika! performance at Georgia Southern University’s Fine Arts Building.
WTOC
The Chocolate Run returns to Georgia Southern’s campus
By Dal Cannady
The Chocolate Run has become a tradition in Statesboro and the biggest local 5k of the year. After a boatload of adjustments during the pandemic, organizers say they’re glad to be back to normal. Five hundred or more runners will line up once again on the Georgia Southern campus on a Saturday in February for the race. Organizers canceled in 2021 and ran the race last year across town at different times of year and day of the week. “Georgia Southern has been our original place and we want to be there as much as we can. We’re glad we can be there again with COVID gone,” said Jennifer Davis, with The Chocolate Run.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Biden Administration to Rescind Part of Religious Freedom Rule
But the administration says it is standing firm on religious freedom in higher education.
By Katherine Knott
The Education Department wants to roll back part of the so-called free inquiry rule, which required public colleges and universities to uphold the First Amendment, among other provisions. However, the department says it isn’t changing the actual requirements of the First Amendment in higher education. In particular, the department is proposing to eliminate the section that barred higher education institutions from denying faith-based student organizations any rights, benefits and privileges afforded to nonreligious student groups because of their “beliefs, practices, policies, speech, membership standards or leadership standards.” Colleges found in violation of that prohibition would lose access to grant programs administered directly by the department and indirectly through the states—but not federal financial aid.
Inside Higher Ed
Employers Are All In on Microcredentials, Survey Shows
By Susan H. Greenberg
Ninety-five percent of employers see benefits in their employees accruing microcredentials, according to a new survey from Collegis Education and UPCEA, the association for college and university leaders in online and professional continuing education. Among the leaders surveyed from 500 organizations, 76 percent said pursuing microcredentials demonstrates an employee’s willingness to develop their skills, 63 percent said it shows initiative and 60 percent said it’s an easy way to communicate employee competencies and skills. Eighty percent of respondents said that stackable credentials leading to a degree enhanced their appeal. At the same time, many organizational leaders expressed concern about the lack of standardization among microcredentials and the challenge of assessing their validity.
Inside Higher Ed
How Short-Term Thinking Deters Colleges From Accepting Transfer Credits
A new white paper suggests colleges need more and better financial incentives to improve transfer processes.
By Sara Weissman
A number of financial disincentives deter colleges from smoothly transferring students’ course credits from one institution to another, according to a new white paper by the Beyond Transfer Policy Advisory Board (PAB), a group of experts dedicated to transforming the transfer process. The paper, released Thursday, concludes that improving the transfer process has been hampered by short-term thinking by campus leaders concerned about how allowing credits to transfer into their institutions affects their revenues. Colleges also have overly cumbersome, expensive processes for evaluating students’ past credits and are often subject to state funding models that do little to encourage better practices.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
African American College Students More Often Have Other Duties Compared to Their Peers
A new survey by the Gallup Organization for the Lumina Foundation finds that more than one in three Black bachelor’s degree students in the U.S. have major life responsibilities beyond their coursework, twice the rate for all other bachelor’s degree students. These additional duties beyond their college studies may be a significant factor in the Black-White college graduation rate gap. About 22 percent of African American college students provide care to children, friends, seniors, or other relatives. One out of every five African American college students also has a full-time job. Both of these are about double the rate for bachelor’s degree students as a whole.
Inside Higher Ed
Florida System Board Proposes Revised Posttenure Review
By Ryan Quinn
The board overseeing Florida’s dozen four-year public universities proposed revised posttenure faculty review regulations Wednesday. In a news release, the State University System of Florida Board of Governors said individual university boards would have to amend their own policies to comply if the state-level board approves the proposals at its meeting next month. “The regulation provides for a comprehensive review of faculty accomplishments and productivity, assigned duties, and performance metrics every five years and will include recognition and compensation,” the release said.
Inside Higher Ed
UT System Pauses New DEI Policies
By Josh Moody
The University of Texas system is pausing new policies to promote diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the Board of Regents announced Wednesday. The move comes weeks after Texas governor Greg Abbott sent letters to state institutions arguing that the use of DEI policies in hiring practices could amount to illegal discrimination and violate state and federal laws.
Inside Higher Ed
Florida Art Exhibit Canceled Over DEI Concerns
By Josh Moody
An art exhibit scheduled for April at the Manatee-Sarasota campus of the State College of Florida has been canceled after college officials objected to its use of the words “diversity” and “inclusion,” according to ARTnews. The organizer, the arts and education nonprofit Embracing Our Differences, canceled the scheduled exhibit rather than comply with the university’s request to remove the words.
Inside Higher Ed
New Transfer Admissions Policy Could Be Imposed on UCLA
By Scott Jaschik
In Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget plan for next year, he has suggested that community college students who complete required coursework and meet a specified grade point average would earn automatic admission to the University of California, Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported. The plan would result in a huge increase in transfer admissions to UCLA, presumably at the expense of some of the 149,000 annual applicants to UCLA, more applicants than to any other single college in the country.
Inside Higher Ed
Temple Grad Students Reject Deal to End Strike
By Scott Jaschik
The Temple University Graduate Students’ Association voted to reject a deal proposed by the administration to end the strike that began in late January. The margin wasn’t close: 92 percent voted to continue the strike (and 83 percent of eligible voters participated). The university has ended striking graduate student workers’ health coverage and, in what the American Federation of Teachers calls an “unprecedented” move, is demanding they pay tuition, too.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
High Levels of Depression Among College-Educated Black Americans Linked to Racial Discrimination
Racial discrimination was found to be a significant force behind higher levels of depression among college-educated Black Americans, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “Our results indicate that there is an alarming level of depression among upwardly mobile — which we define as college-educated — Black Americans,” said Darrell Hudson, an associate professor and lead author of the study. Dr. Hudson and his colleagues surveyed a large group of African Americans who were 24 years or older and had earned at least a four-year college degree. Nearly 40 percent of the sample reported symptoms that were indicative of significant depressive symptoms.
Inside Higher Ed
W.Va. Governor to Sign Campus Concealed Carry Bill
By Johanna Alonso
West Virginia’s House of Delegates passed a bill Tuesday that would allow concealed carry permit holders to carry firearms on the state’s public college and university campuses, according to Fox News. The bill, which passed by a sweeping 84-to-13 majority, will now go to Republican governor Jim Justice, who is expected to sign it, The Fairmont News reported Wednesday afternoon.