Statesboro Herald
Georgia Southern sets another fundraising record
University received $23.8 million in 2023 fiscal year
From staff reports
For the third consecutive year, Georgia Southern University supporters propelled the college to a record-breaking year of private fundraising. According to a release from the university, total cash, pledges and in-kind gifts to Georgia Southern amounted to $23,831,604 during Fiscal Year 2023, which ended on June 30, 2023. That surpasses the total from the previous year, which was a then record at $22.3 million. The total was buoyed by the Georgia Southern Athletic Foundation, Inc., which raised a record $11.06 million in new pledges and outright gifts.
Valdosta Today
VSU helps foster care youth prep for college
Valdosta State University recently welcomed a special group of high school students to campus for three days of activities, conversations and tours designed to introduce them to the collegiate experience. Dr. Brian Gerber, director of VSU’s STEAM Center for Applied Creativity and Innovation, said 16 youth living in foster care participated in the inaugural Fired Up Pre-Collegiate Summer Program, which was funded by a $55,616 grant from the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia’s GEAR UP Georgia project, university representatives said in a statement. The summer program is part of ongoing efforts to support the development of youth in the foster care system across the university’s 41-county service area. …GEAR UP, or Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program, is a Georgia initiative focused on helping targeted students graduate from high school and have a successful post-secondary education experience, university representatives said.
Athens Banner-Herald
New law student at UGA takes 530-mile walking trek to spotlight homelessness
Once homeless himself, a UGA Law student walked 530 miles to Athens to shine a spotlight on homelessness and hopes law degree will help him end it.
Chris Starrs Contributor
The 30-pound backpack Gordon Wayne has carried for the last three weeks is heavy, but it’s not as weighty as the burden he has known for many years. Wayne, 22, was scheduled to arrive in Athens on Monday after walking some 530 miles from Caroline County, Virginia, to begin taking classes at the University of Georgia School of Law. He made the trek to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless, a situation he found himself in several years ago. “My back has certainly been hurting many times over this journey, but whenever I think about how much pain I’m in, all I have to do is remember why I’m out here,” said Wayne from Hartwell, where he’d stopped for the day on Saturday. …Wayne saw education as his way out of homelessness, which affects some 17 people per 10,000 in the United States. He said studying law seemed like the best way to bring about change.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta executive courses use headlines to teach professionals
By Randy Southerland – Contributing Writer
Today’s executive education courses are ripped from the headlines. From the pandemic to generative artificial intelligence to bank failures, current events are prime examples of key business principles, and proving to be invaluable fodder for today’s professional students. Jonathan Clarke, senior associate dean of programs at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, teaches a required fundamentals course for Executive MBA students. He called using current events in his lessons “essential, because it helps make the material stand out and helps students relate to what they’re experiencing in their jobs.” Clarke said he typically begins each class with a discussion of recent business news and how it relates to the course materials.
KPVI
Georgia … the blueberry state?
By Jordan Powers UGA/CAES
Georgia has long been referred to as the Peach State, yet the fleshy fruit that adorns souvenirs and license plates isn’t counted among the state’s top 10 commodities. Blueberries, however, are on that that list. UGA blueberry breeder Scott NeSmith, professor emeritus in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Horticulture, has released more than 40 varieties during his career at the university. “The UGA blueberry breeding program has been a key to the success of launching a significant commercial blueberry industry in Georgia in the 1980s and helping sustain it for four decades,” NeSmith said. “Dr. Tom Brightwell is the true pioneer of blueberry breeding and helped launch the blueberry industry in Georgia.” Brightwell began his work at UGA in the 1940s, continuing until his retirement in the early 1970s. His focus was developing blueberry varieties from plants collected in the wild. “It was some years after his retirement before the industry actually took hold, but they did so by using the varieties that he developed,” NeSmith said.
WTOC
Georgia Southern professor discusses impacts of HCA Healthcare data breach
By Camille Syed
Healthcare data breaches have doubled in the past three years, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Memorial Health’s parent company, HCA Healthcare, had a data breach not long ago affecting 11 million patients. IT professor Dr. Hayden Wimmer at Georgia Southern says there are several things you need to know if a health care facility with your information gets hacked. “You should be concerned about what data was leaked.”
Athens Banner-Herald
‘Anger, sadness and fear’: UGA study finds student loan debt contributes to poor mental health
Mary Renfroe Contributor
A recent University of Georgia study has found that the mental burdens that go hand-in-hand with student loan debt may be driving mental health issues among Americans. Analyzing close to 90,000 Reddit and Twitter posts related to student loans from 2009 to 2020, the study found high levels of posts expressing mental illness. “The core sentiment of users was mostly negative. Anger, sadness, and fear were dominant emotions among social media users when discussing their student loans,” said Gaurav Sinha, lead author of the study and UGA School of Social Work assistant professor. In addition, the mental burden of student loans was also linked to failing academic performance.
NBC News
Quartz countertops linked to deadly lung disease in workers who fabricate the material
Skyrocketing demand for quartz countertops has increased workers’ exposure to silica dust, a chemical compound that causes lung damage.
By Aria Bendix
Quartz countertops have skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade, but new research suggests the material poses a deadly health risk to the workers who make it. A study published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine identified 52 cases of an irreversible, potentially life-threatening lung disease among workers in California who fabricate quartz slabs. Ten of those workers died, and three received lung transplants. Although quartz is a naturally occurring mineral, the version found in homes is an artificial mixture of silica — a chemical compound — and other materials including resins and dyes. Breathing in large amounts of silica dust can cause inflammation or scarring, also called fibrosis, in the lungs. …Whereas silica typically makes up less than 30% of natural stones like marble or granite, quartz contains around 90% or more, according to Jenny Houlroyd, an industrial hygienist at Georgia Tech, who was not involved in the new research. …Houlroyd works with countertop companies in Georgia to assess their exposure levels by collecting air samples.
WGXA
On the Farm: Aggressive corn disease, tar spot, threatens Georgia’s crops as southern rust persists
by Greg Loyd
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension researchers say that a disease common in field corn crops in the Midwest is showing up more aggressively this year in crops planted in the southwest corner of the state. Dr. Bob Kemerait, an extension specialist and professor in the plant pathology department at the University of Georgia, said tar spot is showing up in greater quantities in South Georgia corn fields this year. Kemerait said tar spot is not entirely new to Georgia. He said it’s slowly shown up in corn fields in southern Georgia over the past three years, but Kemerait said this year it’s quickly multiplying. “It’s been found earlier this year and perhaps more aggressive than we’ve found it in the past. What it will become we don’t know, but we certainly, with the help of Georgia corn growers and corn commission are keeping an eye on it,” Kemerait said.
11Alive
UGA research indicates drug available since 1951 could be highly effective against COVID
Patients treated with higher dosage of the drug cleared the virus faster and reported no more symptoms sooner than other patients in the study.
Author: 11Alive Staff
New research out of the University of Georgia suggests a commonly available drug that was originally approved back in 1951 to treat gout could be a highly effective treatment for COVID-19. UGA’s news portal published a story about the research surrounding the anti-inflammatory drug probenecid on Thursday. Researchers published a paper in the journal Viruses earlier this month titled, “Oral Probenecid for Nonhospitalized Adults with Symptomatic Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19.” …According to the paper’s abstract, COVID patients treated with probenecid cleared the virus four days quicker than a plaecbo group, and a group on a higher dosage cleared it two days quicker than a group on a lower dosage.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgian dies from rare brain-eating amoeba
The victim was likely infected while swimming in a freshwater lake or pond in an undisclosed location
By Helena Oliviero
A Georgia resident has died from a rare and usually fatal infection caused by an amoeba that destroys brain tissue, the Georgia Department of Public Health said Friday. The individual was likely infected while swimming in a freshwater lake or pond in an undisclosed location in Georgia. DPH did not disclose the age, identity or hometown of the victim. …The CDC says Naegleria fowleri infections are rare, with about three cases every year in the U.S. There were 157 cases reported between 1962 and 2022. Only four people have survived, according to the CDC. Dennis Kyle, director of the University of Georgia’s Kyle Lab, which focuses on the development of anti-parasitic drugs, said Naegleria fowleri is so deadly because symptoms of the infection resemble those of viral meningitis, a much more common and more treatable disease. While current drugs to treat this brain infection are not very effective, delays in diagnosis often means it’s too late for the person “to even have a chance” of surviving, he said. His lab is working on a tool to speed the diagnosis so patients can start treatment as soon as possible. While the risk of infection is low, the risk rises with summertime temperatures as more people turn to lakes and ponds to cool off.
AP News
Homes become ‘air fryers’ in Phoenix heat, people ration AC due to cost
By Isabella O’Malley
Temperatures have peaked at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) the entire month of July in Phoenix. Air conditioning, which made modern Phoenix even possible, is a lifeline. When a cloudless sky combines with outdoor temperatures over 100 F, your house turns into an “air fryer” or “broiler,” as the roof absorbs powerful heat and radiates it downward, said Jonathan Bean, co-director of the Institute for Energy Solutions at the University of Arizona. Bean knows this not only from his research, he also experienced it firsthand this weekend when his air conditioner broke. “This level of heat that we are having in Phoenix right now is enormously dangerous, particularly for people who either don’t have air conditioning or cannot afford to operate their air conditioner,” said Evan Mallen, a senior analyst for Georgia Institute of Technology’s Urban Climate Lab.
Science Focus
Oppenheimer: The worryingly real fears scientists have about a single nuke ripping open Earth
By Stephen Kelly
Could just one bomb destroy our planet in future? A scientist explains.
There is a scene in Christopher Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer (a biopic of J Robert Oppenheimer, the man who invented the nuclear bomb) in which Leslie Groves, an army engineer played by Matt Damon, worries about destroying the world. This is just before the Trinity test, the first-ever detonation of an atomic bomb, and Oppenheimer says he’s confident that the chances of annihilating all life on Earth are near zero. “Near zero?” splutters Groves. “Zero would be nice!” In reality, Groves’s concerns were those of Manhattan Project physicist Edward Teller. According to Dr Steven Biegalski, Chair of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, Teller was worried that the heat of the explosion “would cause the hydrogen in the atmosphere to undergo fusion, setting off a catastrophic chain reaction that would continue around the globe and destroy Earth.”
Athens Banner-Herald
SEC football coach rankings: Kirby Smart passes Nick Saban; where’s Josh Heupel?
Blake Toppmeyer USA TODAY NETWORK
When you win back-to-back national championships, you earn the top spot in the SEC coach rankings. Welcome, Kirby Smart, to the No. 1 spot in my annual coach pecking order. Josh Heupel and Shane Beamer made the biggest year-over-year jump, while Jimbo Fisher is in a spiral. Here’s how I rank the SEC’s coaches entering the 2023 season.
1. Kirby Smart (Georgia)
Last year: No. 2
BVM Sports
Eight Former Georgia Southern University Football Players Competing in NFL Preseason Camps
Key points:
Eight former Georgia Southern University football players are currently in NFL preseason camps.
The players are spread across multiple teams, including the Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, and Chicago Bears.
They will be competing for spots on the final rosters as they prepare for the upcoming 2023 NFL season.
WSAV
GSU hosts volleyball camp at New Hampstead
by: Joey Lamar
Georgia Southern held a skills camp with New Hampstead. The players say they received college-level coaching they feel can help them as they try to win a region championship this fall. Specifically, the camp covered all the fundamentals: setting, passing, serving and receiving. The players were excited because this was a new experience. “We’ve been learning a lot of stuff today,” outside hitter Kally Foard said. “We’ve been going through a lot of stuff that we’ve been kind of roughing. We’re making a lot of progress. I think the girls have been doing amazing.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ronald Bell sentenced to prison for extorting Georgia Tech, Josh Pastner
By AJC Sports
Ronald Bell was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison after he conspired to ruin Georgia Tech men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner with allegations of sexual assault, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a press release. Bell, a former colleague of Pastner’s, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion on March 1. “Ronald Bell tried to extort Georgia Tech and ruin the reputation of its basketball coach,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement. “As federal prosecutors, we have a responsibility to the citizens of this district to pursue accountability and justice for crimes of sexual violence. But in this case Bell attempted to exploit the mission of our office, and law enforcement partners, to combat sexual assault through a brazen effort to enrich himself at the expense of Georgia Tech and a member of its staff. Bell has now been held accountable for his crime.”
Athens Banner-Herald
Georgia football defensive lineman arrested on warrant after speeding ticket
Marc Weiszer
A Georgia football defensive lineman was cited for speeding in Franklin County on Monday morning and that afternoon was booked in the Clarke County Jail on a warrant for failing to appear for a previous citation in Athens. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, a redshirt sophomore from Gaffney, S.C., was cited for speeding at 9:34 a.m. on I-85 around Lavonia, according to Major Chris Looney of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. He was clocked going 90 miles per hour in a 70 mile-per-hour zone. Ingram-Dawkins’ citation marks at least the 14th time a Georgia player has been charged with speeding or racing/reckless driving since the Jan. 15 fatal crash in Athens that killed offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Report Proposes Focusing Pell Grant on Living Costs, Not Tuition
By Katherine Knott
The Pell Grant should be redesigned to cover a student’s living costs instead of an institution’s tuition and fees, a new report from the conservative Defense of Freedom Institution for Policy Studies suggests. “If policymakers focused Pell Grants on helping low-income students cover their living costs, they would not only substantially lower the living-cost obstacle to college completion, but they would also remove the incentive for institutions to increase tuition,” wrote Arthur Hauptman, the report’s author and a consultant focused on higher education finance. “By the same token, this approach would require states and institutions to cover tuition for low-income students, as some already do.”
Inside Higher Ed
UNC Board Changes Admissions, Hiring Policies on Race
By Liam Knox
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees voted Thursday to prohibit the institution from considering race, sex or ethnicity in both admissions and hiring decisions, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. “Race will not be a factor in admission decisions at the university,” university chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz declared after the vote, speaking to a large crowd outside the board’s meeting place at the Carolina Inn just off campus. The vote took place during the board’s first in-person meeting since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in June, a particularly harsh blow to Chapel Hill, which—along with Harvard University—was a defendant in the case. The defeat exacerbated last week’s contentious board proceedings, which pitted conservative trustees against more moderate defenders of diversity practices—a division that has plagued the Chapel Hill board for years.
Cybersecurity Dive
Investigations are causing data breach costs to skyrocket, IBM finds
Organizations are under mounting pressure to conduct more thorough investigations as the complexity of data breaches grow.
Matt Kapko, Reporter
Dive Brief:
Data breach costs hit a new high this year, reaching almost $4.5 million per incident on average, representing a more than 15% increase in costs since 2020, according to the annual “Cost of a Data Breach Report” released Monday by IBM Security. The investigation phase of data breaches are the fastest growing and costliest category of data breach expenses, contributing to the consistent year-over-year increase in costs. Detection and escalation costs jumped almost 10% to nearly $1.6 million per incident, IBM found. “The breadth and depth of incident response investigations are scaling up directly with the overall costs, along with the off tempo of the criminal,” John Dwyer, head of research at IBM Security X-Force, told Cybersecurity Dive.
Higher Ed Dive
Coursera’s degree and certificate offerings help drive Q2 revenue growth
The MOOC platform’s CEO touted the company’s strategy of allowing students to stack short-term credentials into longer offerings.
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
Dive Brief:
Coursera’s revenue increased to $153.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, up 23% compared to the same period last year, according to the company’s latest financial results. The increases were partly driven by strong demand for the MOOC platform’s entry-level professional certificates and rising enrollment in its degree programs. During a call with analysts Thursday, Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda attributed some of that enrollment growth to new offerings, which include a cybersecurity analyst certificate from Microsoft and artificial intelligence degree programs from universities in India and Colombia.
Inside Higher Ed
NCF Recruiting Bonuses Raise Legal Questions
By Josh Moody
New College of Florida interim president Richard Corcoran offered $5,000 bonuses to staff members who hit an enrollment target of 300 new students, according to The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, raising questions about whether the move violated federal law. “High achievement deserves a reward, and increased pay will be implemented to recognize the diligent work of the admissions team in assembling this record-breaking class,” NCF spokesperson Nathan March told the newspaper in defense of the practice.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Human Rights Campaign Launches HBCU LGBT Inclusion Initiatives
Veronica Fernandez-Alvarado
In an effort to cultivate more inclusive campuses for LGBTQ students, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation has collaborated with colleges and universities nationwide to develop its Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program and its PrEP Ambassador Program. The programs focus on building a network of leaders to eliminate stigma and enrich the college experience for LGBTQ students attending HBCUs. The PrEP Ambassador Program selects 11 students on HBCU campuses to educate and help eliminate HIV and AIDS-related stigma. PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) is a medication that is over 99% effective in preventing HIV during sex, and the program ensures that PrEP is offered nationwide on or near HBCU campuses.
Inside Higher Ed
Western Illinois Seesaws on Diversity Scholarship
By Liam Knox
Western Illinois University is reinstating scholarships for incoming students of color that it scrapped earlier this month in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action, according to reporting from WBEZ in Chicago. The public university in Macomb had drawn criticism for its quick decision to eliminate the $1,000 scholarship, which over 300 WIU students were set to receive. They were informed just weeks before the start of classes that the university had decided to cut the funding. The back-and-forth comes as colleges and universities struggle to navigate the new legal landscape amid widespread uncertainties over the scope of the Supreme Court decision. A WIU spokesperson told WBEZ that the university decided to reverse course while it awaits further guidance from the U.S. Department of Education.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Arrman Kyaw
Massasoit Community College in Brockton, Massachusetts, will begin offering a Black Studies degree. In doing so, it will become the first two-year school in the state to offer such a degree, GBH News reported. …Massasoit will begin offering the two-year program this fall – the goal being to enroll at least 15 students – with courses about Black history, literature, music, education, healthcare, and criminal justice. The school is also working out transfer agreements with four-years colleges, such as the University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston University, and HBCUs.
Higher Ed Dive
West Virginia governor pitches saving Alderson Broaddus University from closure
The Baptist-affiliated institution also said it reached a deal with local government officials over a roughly $776,000 unpaid utility bill.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Alderson Broaddus University, a cash-strapped Baptist-affiliated institution in West Virginia, got a lifeline this week when the state’s governor asked regulators to delay a meeting where they would consider revoking the college’s operating authority. The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission planned to convene Friday after learning Alderson Broaddus had an unpaid utility bill to the city of Philippi of nearly $776,000, which further threw into question the institution’s fragile finances. The commission said it would meet about Alderson Broaddus to “address an imminent material financial loss or other imminent substantial harm to the public entity, its employees, or the members of the public that it serves.” Higher education experts say the university is at high risk of closure.
See also:
Inside Higher Ed
Opinion
The Supreme Court decision on affirmative action is yet another reminder that emulating Harvard is—and always has been—a fool’s errand, John R. Thelin and Richard W. Trollinger write.
By John R. Thelin and Richard W. Trollinger
The June 29 Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action may not have been good news for Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It did, however, provide a wake-up call to higher education leaders that they could not afford to rely primarily on the examples set by a small circle of academically prestigious colleges and universities. In other words, selective admissions was on trial. Now that Harvard and UNC Chapel Hill have had their day in court, two things stand out. First, their approaches to achieving diversity in their student bodies obviously need retooling because they are out of compliance with the law. Second is that the Supreme Court decision raises doubt about the historic soundness of the competition that has characterized selective admissions policies. They may bring prestige to some institutions, but they are not a sound model for most institutions to emulate if we wish to fulfill national goals of equity and affordability. We need to consider college access and diversity for large groups of colleges and students who have been left out of media coverage and the high-profile court cases.
Inside Higher Ed
Black Fraternity Moves Convention Out of Florida
By Susan H. Greenberg
Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest historically Black college fraternity in the country, is moving a planned 2025 convention out of Florida because of the “harmful, racist and insensitive” policies of Governor Ron DeSantis, the Associated Press reported. The general president of the fraternity, Willis Lonzer, said in a statement that the decision was driven in part by Florida’s new public school Black history curriculum, which teaches middle school students that enslaved people developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.” The NAACP also recently issued a travel advisory for the state because its policies are hostile to Black and LGBTQ+ people.
Inside Higher Ed
Hawai‘i Community College Pays Ransom After Data Breach
By Lauren Coffey
In a rare move, a community college announced it has paid a ransom to hackers after data from roughly 28,000 individuals were compromised. Hawai‘i Community College, part of the University of Hawai‘i system, announced on Friday it paid an undisclosed amount to an unnamed ransomware group. “The University of Hawai‘i made the difficult decision to negotiate with the threat actors in order to protect the individuals whose sensitive information might have been compromised,” the university said in a statement. The ransomware group’s history of posting personal information when a deal is not reached was a “significant consideration” in the decision to pay, according to the university.
Cybersecurity Dive
SEC votes to overhaul disclosure rules for material cyber events
After a fierce debate, the agency voted to require companies to come clean on material breaches and attacks within four business days of determination.
David Jones, Reporter
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a measure by a 3-2 margin to require companies to disclose material cybersecurity incidents within four business days of such determination. Companies will need to disclose the incident with the SEC on form 8-K, which is available for review by investors and the general public. Companies will also need to make annual disclosures regarding their cybersecurity risk management, governance and strategies. “Currently, many public companies provide cybersecurity disclosures to investors,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said during the hearing. “I think companies and investors alike, however, would benefit if this disclosure were made in a more consistent, comparable and decision useful way.” The final rules will become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Cybersecurity Dive
New York cyber lead warns of what states face in critical infrastructure defense
Government agencies and the private sector must work collaboratively to combat increasingly sophisticated threat activity, Colin Ahern said.
David Jones, Reporter
Dive Brief:
Critical infrastructure providers are under more frequent and sophisticated cyberthreats as more nation-state adversaries work with criminal hackers to target the U.S., according to Colin Ahern, chief cyber officer for New York State. Governments must work collaboratively at all levels in order to combat these threats, with federal, state and local governments working with each other and in partnership with the private sector, which controls much of the critical infrastructure that needs protection, according to Ahern. “The state obviously also operates critical infrastructure, but as you know most of the critical infrastructure in the state is privately owned, necessitating collaborative partnerships not only within the public sector, but across the private sector,” Ahern said.