Inside Higher Ed
Defense for DEI Initiatives, From a Former Trump Official
Sonny Perdue was Trump’s agriculture secretary before becoming the University System of Georgia chancellor. He has provided a report on diversity, equity and inclusion—and defended it.
By Ryan Quinn
Sonny Perdue, the University System of Georgia chancellor, recently delivered a report on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) expenses with an unexpected introduction for someone who was a Republican governor of Georgia turned Trump agriculture secretary. He defended the DEI expenses. Like Florida Republicans did this year in their state, Burt Jones, Georgia’s lieutenant governor, had requested this information for the whole Georgia system, according to Perdue’s letter. Georgia’s system comprises all 26 public, four-year universities statewide. …The University System of Georgia said it had no comment Monday beyond Perdue’s letter.
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
What changes are coming to Columbus State University under its new president?
By Mark Rice
She is the first woman among six presidents to lead Columbus State University in the institution’s 65 years, but Stuart Rayfield seems more interested in a different kind of history upon her return to the campus. The history is the tradition of servant leadership in the Chattahoochee Valley and the productive partnership between CSU and the community. While she was a faculty member at CSU (2006-16), Rayfield directed the William B. Turner Center for Servant Leadership. After leaving CSU to work as interim president at three University System of Georgia institutions and as USG’s interim vice chancellor for academic affairs, she has come full circle. …Here are excerpts from her interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, edited for brevity and clarity:
YouTube
#WeeklyWisdom interview with Georgia State University President Brian Blake
Join Doug Lederman from Inside Higher Ed and Bridget Burns from the University Innovation Alliance for a lively discussion with Georgia State University President Brian Blake.
Opelika-Auburn News
What overturning Affirmative Action means for local universities
Alex Husting
How local colleges reacted to the affirmative action ruling
Nine states had already outlawed affirmative action before the ruling, but it remained legal in Alabama/ At this moment, Auburn University has the Office of Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity(AA/EEO). The office has a very clear statement regarding discrimination and, more specifically, non-discrimination. …Columbus State University is one of 26 schools in the University System of Georgia and when contacted, the school referred our inquiry to the USG. “At all 26 University System of Georgia institutions, race or ethnicity is not a determining factor in admissions. USG follows the law with regards to the admission of students,” read a statement from USG. Schools included in USG are Columbus State University, Georgia Southern, East Georgia State and many more
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Student housing’s resilience is attracting top investors
By Terell Wright – Editorial Intern
The owner of one of the largest student housing developers in the nation said that enrollment growth has propelled Georgia as a prime location for student housing. The state’s largest public colleges — Georgia State University, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State University, and the University of Georgia — have seen enrollments increase by 11% between 2018 and 2022, according to CBRE. “We’re having our best two-year period we’ve ever had in our company’s history,” said Wes Rogers, founder and CEO of Athens-based Landmark Properties Inc., in an interview with the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Athens CEO
Georgia Newspaper Project Transitions to Digital Preservation
Camie Williams
Librarians are seeking partnerships to transform from using microfilm to 21st century technology
For decades, microfilm stations at local libraries have unlocked history for Georgians. Scanning through the old editions of newspapers preserved on film, a grandmother can find her favorite childhood dessert recipe because she remembered her mother read it in the newspaper, siblings can piece together their family tree and genealogy projects for the next generation, and schoolchildren can look up what happened in their town on the day they were born and how much groceries cost in the advertisements. Since 1953, the Georgia Newspaper Project at the University of Georgia Libraries has microfilmed more than 100 community newspapers, providing free access to the stories of the state’s small towns, big cities, and close communities. But with an 11-year backlog and outdated equipment no longer in production, the future of the project is in flux, and librarians are seeking partnerships to transform the practice using 21st century technology. “Microfilming is a time-intensive process that is approaching obsolescence,” said Sheila McAlister, who heads the project at the UGA Libraries while also managing the Digital Library of Georgia, a statewide GALILEO initiative based at the Athens campus.
Moultrie Observer
New ABAC certificate programs set to begin this fall
Staff Reports
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will begin offering two certificate programs aimed at addressing local workforce needs. Beginning this Fall semester, the Certificate in Instructional Support Personnel and the Certificate in Digital Media and Professional Communication will be available for ABAC students. The Certificate in Instructional Support Personnel is designed as a continuing education and professional development program for paraprofessionals/teacher assistants and is intended to prepare students to successfully pass the GACE exam, which is required by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. This certificate will help meet the need for additional teacher assistants, an occupation the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to grow by 5% nationally by 2031.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Richard Gruber will grow clean tech companies at Georgia Tech
By Amy Wenk – Staff Reporter
Georgia Tech has named a new leader who will work to convert its clean tech research into “impactful companies.” Richard Gruber will oversee clean tech commercialization efforts at Georgia Tech, the university’s Strategic Energy Institute and Venture Lab announced. In the role, Gruber will cultivate relationships between economic development officials, business leaders, angel investors, attorneys and venture capitalists. Georgia Tech has about 1,000 faculty working in clean energy.
Albany Herald
Albany State faculty members contribute to research journal
From staff reports
Six Albany State University faculty members contributed research articles to a special issue of the International Research and Review Journal of Phi Beta Delta Honor Society of International Scholars. The special issue journal, Internationalizing the Curriculum for all Learners, focuses on strategic models of integrating international, intercultural, and global engagements into courses in higher education institutions, specifically at ASU. “The journal highlights ASU as one of the first institutions to offer scholars at other HBCUs a faculty-led example for internationalizing their curricula,” Rhonda Porter, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, said in an ASU news release. “In the journal, ASU faculty wrote about their course designs and experiences implementing this curricular change. ASU shows that higher education institutions can follow and lead faculty in these internationalization efforts.” Participating faculty members included Nneka Nora Osakwe, Erica DeCuir, Louise Wrensford, Andrea Dozier, Patrick Whitehead, and Anthony Owusu-Ansah.
Now Habersham
Georgia moms aren’t getting the right care after pregnancy, with fatal outcomes
By Sofi Gratas
Earlier this year, Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee reported just over 100 cases of pregnancy-related deaths from 2018 to 2020. Almost 90% could have been prevented. According to national estimates, Georgia’s rate of 30.2 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births is almost double that of states that rank near the top for maternal outcomes. A new review from the state committee looks more carefully at why. …Professor at Georgia Southern University, Heidi Altman, runs the Georgia Moms Project, an ongoing study where Altman interviews people with experiences in prenatal and postpartum health care to find patterns for possible causes of maternal mortality.
Albany Herald
UGA selected as partner in multiyear National Pork Board effort
By Jordan Powers UGA/CAES
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has been selected as one of five university partners participating in a multiyear effort focused on identifying and addressing consumer questions involving the pork industry, the National Pork Board announced. The establishment of the Real Pork Trust Consortium will bring together the diverse expertise of five universities and will focus on three key areas to build consumer trust: research designed to answer consumer questions about pork and pork production; communications that share the research findings in a relatable, relevant way consumers can easily understand and use when making decisions; and training to empower people from various walks of life to share research-based information about the pork industry.
Fruit Growers News
Postharvest research at UGA focuses on reducing waste
While the dilemma of how to feed a rapidly increasing population has focused primarily on how to increase yields through growing practices or improving the plant itself, a growing field of research focuses on reducing food waste. At the University of Georgia’s (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Angelos Deltsidis is working on research projects designed to ensure that Georgia fruits, vegetables and nuts get eaten. Deltsidis, UGA professors and grad students at the Vidalia Onion Research Laboratory in Tifton, Georgia, have been testing the use of ozone to suppress disease/fungal growth on peaches, blackberries, onions and other fresh produce during short-term controlled atmosphere storage. Orestis Giannopoulos, a UGA postharvest physiology graduate student who works in the lab with Deltsidis, planned, set up and executed the ozone experiments.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia blueberries and peaches are hard to find. Blame severe weather
By Evan Lasseter
Peaches, blueberries and cotton have all been impacted by erratic weather this year as farmers look to adapt.
It was a strange start to the year for most of Georgia’s fruit crops, particularly the state’s trademark peaches and blueberries. Most fruit plants need a certain amount of chill hours, those under 45 degrees Fahrenheit, in order to prepare for blooming come spring. This year’s start set the tone with typical cold temperatures, preparing the fruits to blossom, but a particularly warm mid-January to February prompted an early bloom. Right as these fruits were coming into form, a set of freezes in March zapped tender peaches and killed a heap of blueberry plants. Merlon Harper, a blueberry grower in Covington, said her blueberries took a beating. …The University of Georgia’s Cooperative Extension cotton agronomist, Camp Hand, almost had a tractor stuck in the mud during that time. South and Southwest Georgia saw two to six inches more rain than normal this June, according to UGA Extension’s agriculture and climate blog. The blog is run by Pam Knox, an agricultural climatologist at UGA. Knox said there is always variability in the weather year-to-year. Based on that variability, you cannot pinpoint climate change as a cause of these conditions.
Albany Herald
Dr. Robert Moss named to Georgia Southwestern Alumni Association Board
From staff reports
The Georgia Southwestern State University Alumni Association recently elected new officers for the 2023-2025 term. Andrea Ingram, ’91, ’94, ’15, will serve as the incoming president with Ryan Garnto, ’13, serving as vice chair and Cheryl Fletcher, ’93, as treasurer. Having led the organization for two years, Amy Benton, ’90, will continue to serve on the board, adopting her past president title as well as a long list of accomplishments and accolades.
GPB
Georgia Today: South Fulton Mayor arrest; Sustainability PHD; Georgia Tech alumni slams at Wimbledon
By: Peter Biello and Jake Cook
Peter Biello: …These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
…Story 3: Peter Biello: Longtime Georgia political journalist and Georgia Writers Hall of Fame inductee Bill Shipp has died. Shipp covered state politics for five decades, beginning in the 1950s, when, as a writer for the University of Georgia’s student newspaper, he was fired for advocating for racial integration. He spoke with GPB about it in 2016. …Story 5: Peter Biello: Georgia Southern University is launching a new school this month focused on sustainability. And starting this fall, it will offer a first of its kind doctoral degree in Georgia. GPB’s Benjamin Payne reports. …Story 6: Peter Biello: In sports news, Georgia Tech’s Chris Eubanks continues his storybook run at Wimbledon. The 27-year-old Atlantan has advanced to the quarterfinals in his first appearance at the Grand Slam event.
Savannah Morning News
Opinion, Kenneth Zapp, Savannah
Reader letter: SCAD remains highly profitable for a non-profit
With the recent availability of its 2022 audited financial statements, we can see that the Savannah College of Art and Design remained highly profitable through the worst months of the COVID-19 crisis. Its assets increased to over $5 billion and net assets (assets minus liabilities) increased to 1.282 million. Cash reserves increased to over $137 million and the book value of its land and buildings grew 13% to $917 million. …The compensation of SCAD President Paula Wallace dropped from over $5 million the previous year to $2.8 million in fiscal year 2022. However, when seen in the context of other local university presidents, her salary still raises questions about its appropriateness for a non-profit leader. The president of Georgia Southern University, which has twice as many students as SCAD, was paid $440,000 last year.
Clayton News-Daily
Overcrowded 5th Congressional District membership on DNR Board prompts replacement
By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service
Gov. Brian Kemp has removed veteran Republican political operative Nick Ayers from the state Board of Natural Resources, citing an oversupply of board members from Georgia’s 5th Congressional District. In an executive order Kemp issued late last week, he pointed to a provision in Georgia’s Constitution that no more than two members of the board can come from the same congressional district. Including Ayers, three of the 19 board members were from the 5th District, which includes the heart of metro Atlanta. In a second executive order, the governor named Lesley Chandler Reynolds of Greene County to replace Ayers. Reynolds is the wife of Harold Reynolds, chairman of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and founding partner of the company that developed Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee. … Ayers served as chief of staff to then-Vice President Mike Pence between 2017 and 2019. Before that, he was executive director of the Republican Governors Association. He got his start in politics with the College Republicans at the University of Georgia and later served as an adviser to then-Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
American Confidence in Higher Ed Hits Historic Low
A Gallup poll shows only 36 percent of Americans have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, which is down by about 20 percentage points from eight years ago.
By Jessica Blake
Americans’ confidence in higher education is at an all-time low, according to a Gallup poll released today. The poll was conducted in June and found only 36 percent of Americans have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, down about 20 percentage points from eight years ago. Prior measurements of public confidence in the nation’s colleges and universities found significantly higher levels in 2015 (57 percent) and 2018 (48 percent). Researchers and education policy experts say college and university administrators and other higher ed officials should take notice of the sharp decline, especially because it was consistently high among all major subgroups of those polled.
See also:
Higher Ed Dive
UNC-Chapel Hill to start free tuition program in response to Supreme Court ruling
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Friday that it will cover tuition and fees for in-state students whose families earn less than $80,000 a year, beginning with the incoming undergraduate class in 2024. The free tuition offer is in response to the U.S. Supreme Court deeming the public flagship’s race-conscious admissions practices unlawful late last month. Pundits and higher ed leaders have said they feared the Supreme Court decision would lead to fewer underrepresented students being admitted to selective institutions like UNC-Chapel Hill.
Higher Ed Dive
A Florida public college search was suspended. Some critics blame political interference.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
The chancellor of the State University System of Florida last week suspended a presidential search at one of its public colleges, citing “anomalies” in the process — but some critics say it ended for political reasons. Florida Atlantic University had winnowed down presidential candidates to three finalists, it announced last week. But absent from the list was Randy Fine, a Republican state politician and favorite of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who reportedly recommended Fine for the job earlier this year. Fine, unlike the those finalists, does not have experience running a higher ed institution. The search being put on pause raised concerns about partisan interference. Another state lawmaker, Democrat Anna Eskamani, tweeted that Florida Atlantic “is being targeted for purely political reasons. It’s gross and an insult to academic freedom and integrity.”
Inside Higher Ed
Faculty Opposes Penn State Reverse Discrimination Lawsuit
By Ryan Quinn
Over 370 faculty members and a few dozen others have signed a letter supporting “antiracist faculty” at Pennsylvania State University and criticizing the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) and a lawsuit it’s supporting. “Educational institutions nationwide are facing attacks from reactionaries who claim that curricula, programs and initiatives aimed at promoting inclusivity and equity are racist and divisive,” the letter states. “Today, Penn State University is but one such target of this effort, led and funded by a powerful entity whose mission is to end antiracist programs in higher education,” the letter says before specifically criticizing FAIR. “Their latest polemic masquerading as a lawsuit accuses antiracist Penn State faculty, staff and administrators of suppressing freedom of speech and engaging in discriminatory behavior.”
Inside Higher Ed
‘Metaversities’ Face Virtual Learning’s Financial Realities
Faculty and students are taking to learning in the metaverse, but universities wonder how they will pay for it once Meta’s two-year pilot program ends.
By Lauren Coffey
It’s not as pricey as it sounds: visiting Egypt, blasting off for Mars, traveling in time, rebuilding an entire college campus. When it all happens in the virtual realms of the metaverse, almost anything is possible to support new and innovative learning experiences. But for the vanguard of colleges experimenting with the concept of “metaversities” and classes held in virtual reality, a financial reality is becoming clear: bringing the metaverse to large numbers of faculty and students is costly and hard to pull off. “The dilemma we have is the demand and interest is much higher than we can accommodate,” said Daniel Mintz, department chair for information technology at the University of Maryland Global Campus.
Cybersecurity Dive
Threat group testing more sophisticated DDoS hacks, authorities warn
Hacktivists behind the attacks on Microsoft OneDrive and Azure are claiming recent test disruptions at Stripe, Reddit and EFTPS.
David Jones, Reporter
Weeks after suspected Russia-linked hacktivists disrupted key Microsoft services, including Azure and OneDrive, U.S. authorities are warning organizations about potential new threats involving distributed denial of service attacks. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in late June urged organizations to monitor their systems to determine whether outages were related to maintenance or, potentially, deliberate attacks. Security experts told Cybersecurity Dive that Anonymous Sudan, the threat group behind the Microsoft attacks, posted specific threat claims, warning it had disrupted a major financial services firm and a U.S. government system.