Bluefield Daily Telegraph
By Asia Ashley
CNHI News Service
A shortage of health care workers has state officials concerned enough to set aside funding to help rural providers recruit employees. Georgia is among the top three states with the highest number of job vacancies in the U.S., particularly, in the health care field. …State lawmakers approved the creation of the Senate Study Committee on Rural Medical Personnel Recruitment this session which aims to raise awareness of the obstacles faced by rural hospitals to recruit an adequate work force and retain their surgical personnel. This session lawmakers also added $3.1 million to the upcoming 2024 budget for loan repayment programs for health providers practicing in rural areas and educating future providers, such as physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses, along with new nursing faculty programs. Other items included in the budget to boost the state’s health care workforce include: …More than $580,000 for child and adolescent psychiatry and maternal fetal medicine fellowships at the Medical College of Georgia; $240,000 for the start-up of a new rural OB/GYN training program
KPVI
Grant will allow UGA to expand ag pathways
By Roy Parry
A $1.5 million USDA grant will allow the University of Georgia to help advance agricultural initiatives and innovative food production in Georgia as part of the USDA’s Food System Transformation framework. The UGA Archway Partnership will administer the grant using its nationally recognized and award-winning model of community engagement and facilitation to support agriculture in Georgia. Archway will connect UGA experts with farmers and agricultural producers to determine the underlying needs of Georgia’s agricultural community and to help them connect to resources that can help them access new markets and increase sustainability and long-term viability of farming operations. The goal is to increase supply chain resiliency in urban and rural community food systems and strengthen the food supply chain to create fairer, more competitive, more resilient markets.
Americus Times-Recorder
Georgia Southwestern undergraduates showcase student research
By Ken Gustafson
Georgia Southwestern State University recently hosted its 5th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium featuring student research on topics such as politics and history, marketing, psychology, biology, and issues in nursing.
Business Wire
Georgia Professor Begins Term as 2023–2024 President of the National Science Teaching Association
On June 1, Dr. Julie Luft, Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor and Athletic Association Professor of Mathematics and Science Education in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, became the 2023–2024 President of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), the largest professional organization in the world seeking to transform science education to benefit all through professional learning, partnerships, and advocacy. Luft joined the University of Georgia faculty in 2012. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, and mentors doctoral students.
WGAU Radio
UNG Public Safety trains for active threats
By Denise Ray, UNG
The University of North Georgia Department of Public Safety held on-campus training sessions during the month of May to maintain skills in the event of an active threat. All sworn UNG police officers took part in the eight-hour training which included a classroom session covering tactics, rules of engagement and policies and procedures surrounding an active threat. The afternoon was the practical exercise where officers are placed in a simulated situation with role players. “We want our entire police force to be trained on that type of situation,” Greg Williams, director of Public Safety and chief of police, said. “We want to build up their confidence.” The training, organized by Sgt. Trent McGuffey and Senior Officer Rusty Myers, focused on a single-officer response.
Columbus CEO
A Brighter Future: Opportunities Abound for esports’ Growth at CSU, Nationally
Staff Report
The explosion of high school-based esports teams like those at local Northside High School where Columbus State University student-gamers serve as coaches and mentors illustrates the sport’s growth potential. These teams, community gaming events at the Columbus Civic Center and other competitive regional locations are presenting the CSU esports program with more and more outreach opportunities. … That exponential growth is already seen at CSU, where its Davidson Student Center gaming room—once a perfect size for its original five-to-10-person team—is now too small for all four of its teams to gather, practice and compete together. Without partners like Columbus Got Game, which provides space for CSU’s entire esports program to gather, practice and socialize, esports’ growth at CSU might have been stymied.
WGAU Radio
UNG alums win grants from National Science Foundation
By Clark Leonard, UNG
Krystal Sewell nearly lost her life in an off-campus car accident in March 2011 during her second semester as a student at what was then Gainesville State College and is now the University of North Georgia’s Gainesville Campus. In the years since, she has struggled with pain and other adversity as she sought to find a career path. …Sewell, a fall 2020 University of North Georgia graduate with a degree in chemistry with a biochemistry concentration, particularly found purpose in her undergraduate research with Dr. Clarke Miller, associate professor of biochemistry. Miller also pointed her to resources available through Student Accessibility Services, which she said was instrumental in helping her complete her degree. Now a Ph.D. student at the University of Kentucky, Sewell has earned acceptance into the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. She was one of four UNG alumnae to earn the fellowship this spring.
WRBL
Miss Georgia competitors discuss change and challenges
by: Olivia Yepez
Glittering tiaras and polished smiles graced the steps of Columbus’ RiverCenter for the Performing Arts. Fifty-six Miss Georgia and 36 Miss Georgia Outstanding Teen participants were presented as the 2023 candidates for the Miss Georgia and Miss Georgia Outstanding Teen title in a “Meet the Crowns” ceremony. Despite the glitz and glam of the occasion, past winners and contestants agreed the competition comes with its own challenges. Miss Georgia Outstanding Teen 2022 Anna Kate Robinson, 18, said Columbus has become her home away from home, after years of competing in the city since the age of 12. “With this role and this title, you have to have, you know, good balance skills … I’m a full-time college student, I’ve had to do many events right after a test or right after a midterm, but I love it,” said Robinson. …Aaliyah Phillips, 21, won Miss Columbus State University (CSU). She stood poised in a baby blue dress and bolero with matching pumps and earrings, seeming like a practiced professional. But Phillips it was her first year doing the competition.
Athens CEO
Terry College: America’s Economy Continued to Grow & Diversify While Recovering from COVID-19
Merritt Melancon
In the rebound from the COVID-19 recession the buying power of American households continued to grow and diversify in 2021. According to the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth’s annual Multicultural Economy Report, America’s buying power totaled $18.5 trillion in 2021 — a 329 percent increase since the research series’ first report in 1990. With the release of the 2022 report, the Selig Center issued new estimates of minority buying power for the U.S. and its 50 states. The takeaway: nearly $1 out of every $5.75 of buying power in the U.S. — 17.4% — belongs to an African American, Asian-American or Native American household.
Homesteading Today
A nasal spray for Seizures and Alzheimers
A new nasal spray may hold the key to saving people from both epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University say the spray uses a novel peptide that boosts the brain’s ability to prevent seizures and protect neurons. Specifically, the team developed the A1R-CT peptide which shows the ability to tamp down uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain. This is a common problem after a traumatic brain injury or stroke, as well as a symptom affecting more than half of all Alzheimer’s patients.
WREG
Deadly brain-eating amoeba: How concerned should you be this summer?
by: Talia Naquin, Michael Bartiromo
As temperatures heat up, many of us will be headed to the water to cool off. However, there’s a deadly amoeba that lives in freshwater and thrives during the summer months. Naegleria fowleri, commonly called “brain-eating amoeba,” is rare – there are only about 3 cases per year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but it’s almost always fatal. …Naegleria fowleri infects people in only one way: when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose, according to the CDC. The amoeba then makes a beeline for the brain. Naegleria fowleri is naturally found in warm freshwater environments such as lakes and rivers, or hot springs, but can also be found in water discharge from industrial or power plants, geothermal well water, poorly maintained or minimally chlorinated swimming pools, water heaters, and soil, according to CDC data on all confirmed cases. Dr. Dennis Kyle, professor of infectious diseases and cellular biology at the University of Georgia and the scholar chair of antiparasitic drug discovery with the Georgia Research Alliance, previously told Nexstar, “This time of year is when we typically hear about these cases … when people are out doing summer activities in the water, or on the lakes.” People who become infected develop a condition called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).
Statesboro Herald
Olympians help sharpshooters at elite Georgia Southern Camp
SCOTT BRYANT/staff
Ginny Thrasher won a gold medal in the women’s 10 meter air rifle at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Lucas Kozeniesky won a silver medal in the mixed 10 meter air rifle at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo that were held in 2021 due to COVID. Thrasher and Kozeniesky are the lead instructors at the Elite Precision Rifle Academy that began Thursday and runs through Monday at the Georgia Southern University Shooting Sports Education Center.
Wexford Local
1798 Battle of Ross commemoration
By Dan Walsh at New Ross
A Colour Party from the New Ross FCA Pipe Band under Pipe Major Pascal Bolger followed by The Three Bullet Gate Pike Group under Captain Joe Cullen and Enniscorthy Historical Re-enactment Society led by Ray Murphy opened proceedings with a march from the Youth Centre to the Three Bullet Gate Memorial Park where the commemorations took place. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern honoured an invitation to rededicate the Three Bullet Gate Memorial Park which he officially opened in 1998 marking the bicentenary of the Battle of Ross during the Rebellion of 1798. Afterwards Mr. Ahern held a lengthy audience with the young students from Georgia Southern University who attended the ceremonies. The keynote speech was delivered by Professor Kevin Whelan who explained the meaning of the events of 1798 and made comparisons with the modern era in an international context.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion: Can campus diversity survive the U.S. Supreme Court?
By Maureen Downey
With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to outlaw race as a factor in college admissions, advocates for campus diversity hope that students of color don’t become less visible. Historically, the court has permitted colleges to consider a student’s race among the factors in admissions. Known as affirmative action, the policy has been whittled down by the high court over the years. Under federal law, colleges now can’t have racial quotas or use race as the sole determinant. But campuses can embrace what is described as race-conscious admissions, where race is among an array of factors influencing which applicants are accepted. Those factors typically include academics, test scores, extracurriculars, geography, awards, athletic abilities and whether the applicant’s parents are alums. …After four years of court battles, the University of Georgia ended affirmative action admissions in 2001. At the time, UGA President Michael Adams acknowledged enrollment on his campus did not mirror the state’s Black population, an issue that still persists. He blamed an inadequate K-12 system, writing in an essay for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The University of Georgia will never represent the state’s population until the qualified applicant pool produced by K-12 does so, and it’s not even close.”
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Why Students Opt Not to Enroll
Students in a new survey cite concerns about academic preparation, mental health and affordability. Many say college isn’t worth it.
By Scott Jaschik
One in five high school students who say they won’t enroll in college cite their doubts about the value of college, up from 8 percent in 2019. This is a finding in a new report from EAB. The report summarizes the results of a new survey of more than 20,000 high school students—those whose college-going behaviors have been influenced by the pandemic.
Higher Ed Dive
Fitch: Small colleges must strengthen student pipelines before resources are sapped
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
Dive Brief:
Small colleges can boost their viability by strengthening their student pipelines, but they must make these moves before enrollment declines sap their reserves and other resources, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings. Certain types of initiatives — including tuition resets, scholarship aid and direct admissions — can attract students. But colleges must maintain fiscal balance while pursuing them. Moreover, “modest enrollment growth” may not be enough for colleges to recover from pandemic-related disruptions and demographic shifts. Smaller colleges in the Northeast and Midwest, for instance, face a shrinking pool of high school graduates as well as people moving away from the region.
Higher Ed Dive
An Ohio experiment boosted graduation rates and earnings for community college students. Here’s how.
Three of the state’s public two-year colleges successfully replicated a college completion program developed in New York, a six-year analysis found.
Laura Spitalniak, Associate Editor
Public community colleges are often hailed as engines of economic and social mobility for low- and middle-income students, as they tend to be more accessible and less expensive than their four-year and private counterparts. But the completion rate at two-year public institutions is low. Among community college students who first enrolled in 2016, 43.1% graduated within six years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. That’s compared to 68% of students at public four-year institutions and the national average of 62.3% for all types of colleges. Efforts are underway to shrink the completion rate gap between community colleges and other institutions. An experiment in Ohio has done just that by adapting a completion program originally established 600 miles away for the City University of New York system.
Inside Higher Ed
More Borrowers at Risk of Defaulting
With student loan payments set to resume, a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report shows more borrowers are struggling. “The situation is worse than we could have imagined,” one advocate said.
By Katherine Knott
More student loan borrowers are behind on their credit card bills and loans than before the pandemic, and they are paying more because of rising interest rates, a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found. The rising delinquencies mean that more borrowers will be at risk of defaulting when payments turn back on later this summer after a three-year pause. Nearly 20 percent of borrowers, about 5.9 million, have two or more risk factors that indicate they’ll struggle with making their student loan payments. That’s up from the estimated 5.1 million borrowers who were at risk in April 2022.
Inside Higher Ed
Mississippi Auditor Criticizes Diversity Spending
By Scott Jaschik
Mississippi auditor Shad White issued a report Thursday that said the state’s public universities spent $23.4 million on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts from July of 2019 to now. “There have also been allegations that DEI staffers are duplicative of other human resources staff and are therefore a waste of money,” said White. “In light of all this, as a starting point, I thought it was important for taxpayers to know what public universities are spending on DEI.”
Higher Ed Dive
Utah governor seeks to replace entire state higher ed board
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, is on the brink of replacing the entire membership of the state board of higher education. After legislation that Cox signed this year shrank the number of board seats from 18 to 10, the governor opted not to retain any of the past appointees. He nominated 10 new individuals, nine of whom require approval from the Republican-controlled state Senate. The 10th is a student member. His senior communications adviser, Jennifer Napier-Pearce, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. But she told Deseret News that Cox “wants Utah’s colleges and universities to be more aligned with workforce needs and responsive to keeping tuition low, and he believes this board will do that.”
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Oregon Higher Ed Commission Approves Student Success-Centric Funding Model for Community Colleges
Arrman Kyaw
Oregon is changing how $550 million-plus in annual local and state taxpayer funding will be distributed to the state’s 17 community colleges. This new approach – approved by Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) – is a student-focused distribution model that allocates a portion of money to support Oregon’s community college student success and equity. State taxpayer funds – up to 10% – will be distributed, with a proportion of funding based on enrollment of underserved groups and weighted funding based on completion and success of specified underserved groups. As it stands, the community colleges funding model distributed funds almost entirely based on student enrollment, which did not incorporate student success components.
Cybersecurity Dive
Microsoft investigating threat actor claims following multiple outages in 365, OneDrive
A hacktivist group known as Anonymous Sudan has claimed to be involved in DDoS attacks.
David Jones, Reporter
Microsoft is investigating claims by an alleged hacktivist group that it launched a series of DDoS attacks that disrupted the company’s OneDrive and other Microsoft 365 services. The company suffered a series of outages this week that impacted a range of services, including Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. The OneDrive disruption was still impacting customers as of Thursday. The group, known as Anonymous Sudan, has claimed credit for the alleged DDoS attacks and made additional threats against the company. Microsoft officials acknowledged the public claims and are working to fully restore services.