Athens Banner-Herald
Future of farming: UGA creating data-driven system that could redefine farming
By Chris Starrs
A $4 million-dollar federal grant awarded to Georgia’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences could go a long way in providing the template for the farm of the future. UGA, in partnership with Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Clemson and Kansas State, received the grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to establish a climate-smart 4-D (digital and data-driven demonstration) Farm.
Black Enterprise
Albany State University fosters community engagement with ‘Read to a Class Day’
Albany State University (ASU) hosted “Read to a Class Day” as a community engagement event during the 120th Founder’s Day. This event encouraged reading to elementary school students within the Dougherty County School System to positively impact their educational experience. The university partnered with four elementary schools which included Live Oak, Lake Park, Lincoln and International Studies. Over thirty-five ASU faculty, staff, and students volunteered to read to various classes. Among the volunteers that participated were members of ASU’s football team. The team enjoyed reading to the children and hearing about their future careers and goals.
The Tifton Gazette
ABAC mourns passing of ABAC, Cook officer
Frank Strickland, the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College police chief, remembers meeting Tim Bruner on his first day on the job in 2015. “Tim took me around campus, showed me everything, introduced me to people,” Strickland said. “When someone does that on your first day on the job, you don’t ever forget it. He was a good man.” Bruner, 49, passed away Saturday, May 20. Funeral services were May 27, in the chapel of Albritton Funeral Directors, college representatives said in a statement.
The Independent
Provision of student accommodation at Wexford convent enters design phase
By Pádraig Byrne
While visiting Wexford this week, the president of Georgia Southern University has signed contracts worth in the region of $400,000 to progress the refurbishment of old Adoration Convent Building in Wexford town with the goal of converting the historic building into student accommodation. President Kyle Marrero was part of a “high-powered delegation” from Savannah, Georgia, whose arrival in Wexford coincided with the arrival of 65 students who will attend the American university’s Wexford campus for the next four weeks.
Cordele Dispatch
By Sarah Brown
Dooly County Schools has worked with Georgia Southern University in efforts to protect Dooly’s students from COVID-19. The University’s Institute for Health Logistics and Analytics (IHLA) garnered a $15.7 million contract with the Georgia Department of Public Health to manage COVID-19 mitigation efforts in K-12 schools to help keep them operating safely.
13 WMAZ
Macon sees drop in unemployment numbers. Economist says that could impact business owners
By TJ Anthony
The unemployment rate dropped a little, but the number of people filing unemployment claims went up—the latest numbers out of Bibb County cover the month of April. … “We shut down and walked away. I started selling stuff, getting rid of stuff. Emptied out my fridge,” says Carl Fambro, owner of Francar’s Wings. He opened again in March after people contacted him for employment. He was one of several business owners providing unemployed people jobs in the past few months. “The unemployment rate dropped in April by .7% down to 3.2% in Macon-Bibb County,” says Middle Georgia State University economist Greg George.
Fox 28 Savannah
Savannah economist weighs in on debt ceiling deal, future of federal spending
By Christian Felt
President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy came to an agreement over the weekend to suspend the federal borrowing limit through 2025, a move the president said would help the country avoid the ‘threat of catastrophic default.’ Fox28 spoke with an economic expert about the issue of government spending and the impact this debt ceiling deal could have on inflation and the economy as a whole. Economics professor Michael Toma works at Georgia Southern University’s Parkers College of Business. He said the debt ceiling deal gives Congress more time to address the $31 trillion the country owes by finding solutions to the nation’s issue of overspending.
GPB
This Georgia study about grief shows how a person can die from a broken heart
By Ellen Eldridge
Professor emeritus Dr. Toni Miles says her work truly began when she retired from the University of Georgia in 2021. She said she had wanted for nearly a decade to study the injurious effects of bereavement on a community or a large group of people. “I’ve been looking for ways to measure it,” she said. “We can tell how many people die, but we don’t know who they’re connected to. That’s one way of thinking about it.”
41 NBC
Kidcam Camps debut at Middle Georgia State University
By Brick Nelson
Middle Georgia State University is playing host to Kidcam Camps, a 9-week traditional summer program, providing children with several activities and a chance to foster community engagement after a year marked by COVID-19 restrictions.
Statesboro Herald
Kiwanis awards record $50,000 in scholarships
By Al Hackle
The Kiwanis Club of Statesboro this year awarded Kiwanis Memorial Scholarships totaling $50,000 to an also record number of graduating seniors, 25, from seven high schools in four counties. After the club’s Scholarship Committee contacted every high school in the surrounding counties to promote the $2,000 scholarships, the number of students who applied, 120, also set a new record, reported the committee’s chair, John Banter, Statesboro Kiwanis past president.
Other News:
GPB
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia, her family says
By Vanessa Romo
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, a longtime advocate for mental health care, has been diagnosed with dementia, her family revealed on Tuesday. “She continues to live happily at home with her husband,” the family said in a statement posted by The Carter Center. The announcement comes less than four months after former President Jimmy Carter entered hospice care at the couple’s home in Plains, Ga., following several stints in and out of the hospital.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lands $750M home manufacturing facility, 1,400 promised jobs
By Zachary Hansen
A building manufacturer will soon call South Georgia its home. Finland-based Admares announced Wednesday it will open a $750 million manufacturing facility in Waycross. The company, which specializes in mass production of buildings and houses, expects the factory to employ more than 1,400 workers. The project will be Admares’ first U.S.-based operation as the company looks to move its headquarters stateside, according to a news release. Gov. Brian Kemp celebrated the news, adding that more work is needed to deliver cheaper housing options across Georgia due to inadequate supply and heightened housing costs.
Higher Education News:
Higher Ed Dive
Education faces flat funding under debt ceiling deal
By Kara Arundel
Federal education funding and all nondefense spending would stay flat in fiscal 2024 and get a 1% increase in fiscal 2025, according to a negotiated budget deal made over the Memorial Day weekend in an effort to prevent the country from defaulting on its payments. The bipartisan agreement drew praise from both the White House and House Republican leadership who said they are working swiftly at a compromise before the default deadline of June 5.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Higher ed received billions in Covid-relief money. Where did It go?
By Brian O’Leary and Audrey Williams June
When the Covid-19 pandemic began more than three years ago, the consensus was that the economic fallout for most colleges would be severe. Not long after, the federal government allocated an unprecedented infusion of cash — $76 billion — to institutions of higher education. At a time when colleges and students were navigating both a public-health emergency and the pandemic’s financial fallout, the federal funding provided a much-needed buffer.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
By Crystal Edmonson
Morehouse College held its 139th commencement exercises May 21, four years after billionaire Robert Smith surprised the 2019 graduating class with a $34 million pledge to pay off their student loan debt. Atlanta Business Chronicle checked in with Smith and a couple of Morehouse alumni to see the impact the historic donation has made. As Smith sees it, the gift “liberated their spirits,” allowing those 400 Morehouse graduates to become their best selves.
The Chronicle of Higher EducationMost new presidents at top research universities are now women
By David Jesse
The last 20 months have seen a rise in the number of women leading the nation’s premier research universities, a new study shows. Women now sit in the president’s office in 30 percent of the nation’s 146 R1 research universities, up from 22 percent when the same survey was conducted in September 2021 by the Women’s Power Gap, an effort by the Eos Foundation to increase the number of women from diverse backgrounds in high-ranking executive positions.
Higher Ed Dive
Education Department delays final Title IX rules until October
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
The Biden administration has made rewriting Title IX policies a key regulatory priority, intent on reversing a rule set by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Advocates for sexual assault survivors argue the DeVos rule licenses colleges to ignore campus sexual violence. The U.S. Department of Education has delayed releasing the final versions of its two Title IX regulatory proposals until October. Initially, the two final rules were expected this month, but the Education Department said in an online post Friday it was still reviewing hundreds of thousands of public comments on the proposals.
Inside Higher Ed
Dealing with disreputable donors
When Bard College president Leon Botstein first met financier Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein was a convicted and registered sex offender. That didn’t stop Botstein from accepting a personal gift of $150,000 from Epstein, which the president then directed to the college as part of his own $1 million gift, The New York Times reported. Epstein’s gift—which Botstein has downplayed—raises questions about how colleges should handle criminal donors and whom presidents should engage with in their fundraising duties.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
South Dakota governor calls on Regents Board to ban drag shows
By Arrman Kyaw
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has opened a hotline for complaints about colleges in the state and is calling on the state higher education governing board to ban drag shows, NBC News reported. The Republican governor said in a letter to the South Dakota Board of Regents that states have allowed “liberal ideologies to poison their colleges and universities.” She urged board to remove references to “preferred pronouns” in school materials, increase graduation rates, cut administrative costs, and ensure schools are not accepting money from China.