The Augusta Chronicle
Augusta University contributed nearly $3 billion, 20,000 jobs to Georgia
Abraham Kenmore
Augusta University generated $2.94 billion for the Peach State economy in 2022, according to a new report from the University System of Georgia. The report totals the impact of the university and AU Health, which between them employ 21,250. The impact is not entirely localized to the Augusta region. The Medical College of Georgia partnership and clinical campuses across the state contribute almost $50 million of the total. “Augusta University and AU Health are not only leaders in education, research and patient care, we are also proud of the economic impact our campuses provide in the Augusta region and throughout Georgia,” AU President Brooks Keel was quoted as saying in a news release. …Augusta University was one of eight USG institutions to see an increased enrollment last year, out of 26 institutions across the state. At a recent Board of Regents meeting, USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue recognized Keel for AU’s 6.8% increase in enrollment over the summer semester, the highest out of the four research universities in the system.
13WMAZ
Students help boost Milledgeville economy. Here’s what business is like when they’re gone
Milledgeville businesses say the summer months are slow when Georgia College’s school year ends which affects them.
Author: Jessica Cha
In downtown Milledgeville, you can hear the roar of new students, but to businesses there, it also sounds like money. “We are stocking up! I think the other day we got like five boxes of things jam-packed, like full boxes,” Zoe Furh, an associate at Firefly Boutique, said. But, when college students leave town for the summer, so does a lot of the business. She says that, when students go on their summer vacations, the customer numbers at their store get cut in half. …But with schools like Georgia College gearing up to bring in a new freshman class, businesses are hoping to see more customers in seats. … Georgia College says they are the largest employer in the county.
Dalton Daily Citizen
John M. Fuchko III and Marilyn Helms: The value of Dalton State College in our community
The latest data on the economic impact of the 26 University System of Georgia (USG) institutions in Georgia was just published and the news is excellent. Economic impact refers to a business or an entity’s overall effect on a region. Initial changes in spending typically lead to more significant changes in general economic activity. This ripple effect magnifies the impact of an initial expenditure of money on an area’s economy. For example, spending by Dalton State College increases production and income for other businesses. This spending, in turn, motivates those businesses to spend additional monies on labor and raw materials, and the cycle continues in a chain reaction. Economists use multipliers to capture the impact of the initial dollars and successive rounds of re-spending. …Dalton State’s overall impact on our region increased 1.4% from 2021 to 2022. When we consider the data for Dalton State, output or spending in 2022 was $124.7 million in key categories, including personnel services, operating expenses and student spending, resulting in more than $132 million in output impact.
The Georgia Virtue
Incoming Eagle students give back to new community before first day of class
The initiative between the Office of Leadership and Community Engagement and New Student & Family Programs allowed incoming students to contribute more than 760 books for the second consecutive year, underscoring their dedication to making a positive impact on their new community at the start of their Georgia Southern experience.
13WMAZ
Georgia College moves in largest freshman class in their university’s history
Georgia College says they moved around 800 students into their dorms
Author: Jessica Cha
If traffic through downtown Milledgeville is backed up, it’s for a good reason. Georgia College’s class of 2027 just moved into their dorms. As the largest freshman class in the university’s history enters the next chapter of their lives, there were more boxes and cars than you can count at this historic move-in day at Georgia College.
WGAU Radio
By Tim Bryant
There is one last weekend before Monday’s start of fall semester classes at the University of North Georgia. It will be UNG’s first academic year with its new president. Georgia Tech administrator Mike Shannon took over for the retired Bonita Jacobs earlier this summer. He’s on a tour of UNG campuses that will bring him to the Oconee County campus next week.
GPB
Georgia’s only environmental science Ph.D. program is launching. Hear from two of its first students
By: Benjamin Payne
Georgia Southern University’s new Ph.D. program in environmental science is the only such degree offered in the state.
As the fall semester gets underway this week at Georgia Southern University, eight doctoral students will have the honor of ushering in the school’s new Ph.D. program in environmental science — the only such degree offered in Georgia. GPB spoke with two of the inaugural students — Ellesse Lauer of Richmond Hill, Ga., and Carisa MacPherson of Cleveland, Ohio — to hear their thoughts about the program and what they hope to accomplish.
13WMAZ
Aviation Fly-in offers unique up-close look at all sorts of planes — and so much more
The event at the Heart of Georgia Regional Airport is slated for Saturday, and it could be your chance to get an up-close look at WW2 planes.
Author: 13WMAZ Staff
With National Aviation Day coming up, get ready to have a soaring day at the Second Annual Aviation Fly-in event this Saturday. So get your wings up and come on down to the Heart of Georgia Regional Airport. The free event will allow students to see World War Two aircraft like the P-51 and T-34. …The event is a collaboration between the city of Eastman and Middle Georgia State University.
Augusta CEO
Monique Williams
Rebecca Berger, director of Testing and Disability Services in the Division of Enrollment and Student Affairs at Augusta University, has a tough message for students: No one is 100% going to help you. You’re the only one who’s 100% going to help yourself. It’s a mantra not taken from a textbook but from experiences she’s lived. The “develop your academic mindset” principle in Augusta University’s “4 to Finish” model hits close to home, Berger said, because it was unattainable for many years. “In high school, I had a learning disability but didn’t find out until I was 20. …Berger said once she was tested, diagnosed and treated, she changed her way of thinking and became an A student. Developing one’s academic mindset, a key area in “4 to Finish,” states success in the classroom depends on students believing they can do the work and that positive self-talk and a positive outlook on their academic career make all the difference. She and her team model this belief for about 475 students per year through their department’s work.
Middle Georgia CEO
Atrium Health Navicent and Fort Valley State University (FVSU) have partnered to offer on-campus health services for students, faculty and staff beginning fall 2023. The partnership has evolved from a relationship between leaders at Atrium Health Navicent and FVSU, which led to a discussion about ways to enhance students’ health and well-being through services offered on campus.
Grice Connect
The amazing Carolyn Altman retiring as Botanic Garden Director
Ashlea Mask
After 16 years as Director of the Botanic Garden at GSU, Carolyn Altman is retiring. Carolyn’s colorful background includes an undergraduate degree in Biology, and experience as a dancer, choreographer, writer, and artist. An avid outdoorsperson, Carolyn loves to be in nature and loves to see how community and things grow together — “whether that’s plants or people,” she says. She enjoys walking in the serenity of the garden trails and is also a cycler —traveling to all parts of the country to bike. If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting Carolyn, you know her love of nature, community and the Botanic Garden radiates through her. She said the Garden became very important to her because she wanted to provide a space for people who had nowhere to experience being in nature. It was her motivation to build a beautiful space working alongside her coworkers and students.
MedPage Today
The preference for insurance coverage of opioids over non-pharmaceutical options explained
Amy Baxter, MD MEDS (clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at Augusta University)
Pain is the primary reason people seek medical care. Pain is also the problem that ignited the opioid crisis and continues to supply fuel. Eighty percent of opioid misuse begins with a pill prescribed for pain. Purdue invested heavily in marketing Oxycontin to physicians, training them that home opioids are the standard of care for recovery from surgery. While addiction debunked the myth of universal safety, two fallacies embedded in the Sackler marketing campaign persist in American culture: we still believe pain-free is the goal, with pills as the path. New neuroscience contradicts both. Nonetheless, opioids at discharge remain reimbursed, while proven FDA-cleared drug-free alternatives are not. The Purdue fallacies and explicit Medicare policy are blocking patients from effective pain relief. Before the true risks were known, home prescriptions for 90 narcotic pills were not uncommon. This practice left a legacy of leftover medicine-cabinet pills to fuel inappropriate use. While still over-prescribed, the opioid crisis (and DEA requirements) have re-educated MDs, reducing circulating opioids.
Endocrinology Advisor
Menopause Curriculum Lacking in Most Ob-Gyn Residency Programs
Overall, 83 of 99 directors agreed or strongly agreed that their programs needed more menopause educational resources.
HealthDay News — Most obstetric and gynecology residency programs lack a dedicated menopause curriculum, according to a study published online Aug. 8 in Menopause. Jennifer T. Allen, M.D., from Augusta University in Georgia, and colleagues surveyed 99 U.S. obstetrics and gynecology residency program directors to assess menopause education, resources, and needs among obstetrics and gynecology residency programs. The researchers found that nearly all participants (92.9 percent) strongly agreed that residents nationwide should have access to a standardized menopause curriculum, yet only 31.3 percent reported having a menopause curriculum in their residency program.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Students raise concerns about street preachers on Atlanta college campuses
A Georgia law that passed in 2022 stopped limiting speakers to ‘free speech zones’
By Toni Odejimi
The fire and brimstone preachers who’ve come on the green space of Georgia State University’s Atlanta campus usually tout a few things: signs with anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion imagery, video cameras and loud voices. The visits here, and to other metro Atlanta college campuses, have occasionally drawn large crowds condemning the speakers. As the fall semester began this week for several area schools, the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition is working with like-minded students to find ways to make the preaching less triggering for students who object to the presence of these preachers. The students, for example, meet once a month to talk about current political issues to build a sense of community on campus to make all students feel accepted.
WRDW
AU students head back – except in beleaguered dorm
By Staff
Augusta University students headed back to school on Wednesday, but some students are still being affected by flooding at Oak Hall. As students come back for the fall semester, many students who have decided to live on campus are settled in, however, those who were assigned to Oak Hall are getting different accommodations. Their move-in date is this weekend, depending on where the university decided to put them for now. Among the places they’ll be living is The Row apartments on Slaton Street, where some will be spending the entire semester.
Savannah Tribune
City To Host Budget Engagement Event: ‘Speak Out Savannah’
As the annual budget process gets underway, the City of Savannah has planned a special engagement for citizens to get an inside look at the process. The City will host Speak Out Savannah, a special public budget engagement event, on Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. in the Junior Achievement Colonial Group Discovery Center on the Georgia Southern Armstrong Campus. At this event, citizens and stakeholders will learn about the budget process and participate in an engaging and educational budget simulation activity. Groups will cycle through six service areas and allocate funds to balance their budget as well as rank priority areas.
South Magazine
Kyle Bradley to Perform at Georgia Country Music Fest™
Sept 1-3, 2023 in Marietta, Georgia
…Kyle Bradley is an independent singer/songwriter from Palestine, TX and currently based in Atlanta, GA. Inspired from an early age by artists such as Jerry Jeff Walker, The Allman Brothers Band, and Al Green, Kyle’s music exists somewhere in the rub between country and soul with heartfelt storytelling and a powerhouse delivery. The now 27-year-old began performing during his time in college at Georgia Southern University and is gearing up for the release of his first record.
Oconee Enterprise
Oconee firefighters train by running in uniform
by Caitlin Farmer
Oconee Fire Rescue Station 6 firefighter and emergency medical responder Matthew Gentry has been braving the summer heat by running in full uniform alongside firefighter and emergency medical technician Vincent Pair since 2019. Gentry, who is 45 years old and an industrial safety professional for Industrial Mechanical Incorporate, and Pair, who is 46 years old and a professor at Medical College of Georgia Augusta University and a nurse practitioner for the Veterans Association, were recently spotted running in uniform at Oconee Veterans Park.. Gentry said they have been running together since they went through Firefighter 1 training and typically run near their houses on Cole Springs Road, Lane Creek Road and Peacock Lane but decided one day to run at OVP.
WJCL
Georgia Southern once again pushing to honor Erk Russell
The university believes getting Erk into the College Football Hall of Fame is long overdue
Andy Cole Anchor/Reporter
Former Georgia Southern University head football coach Erk Russell has been in the Georgia Southern Hall of Fame since 1990. Now, athletics officials are pushing for him to be honored on the national level. “For us, it’s a chance to, in my opinion, right a wrong. He deserves a chance to be in there, and the only thing keeping him out is that he’s two seasons short of a 10-year, in my opinion, arbitrary number of years coaching,” Jared Benko, Georgia Southern’s athletic director, told WJCL 22 News. The Hall of Fame, which is in Atlanta, says on their website that for a coach to be inducted, they must have been a head coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning average. Erk’s career spanned more than 30 years, but only eight as the Eagle’s head coach.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
New Analysis Finds Most Families Can’t Cover College Costs
By Sara Weissman
Anew data analysis from the Institute for Higher Education Policy found that most students have unmet need and experience gaps between what their families can pay and their college costs. Those gaps are significantly larger for students of color and low-income students compared to white students on average. The analysis, released on Wednesday, draws on data from the U.S. Department of Education’s 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. It found that 90 percent of students who received a Pell Grant, federal financial aid for low-income students, still have unmet need, compared to 56 percent of students who never received a Pell Grant.
Inside Higher Ed
California 2-Year Instructors Sue Over Diversity Rules
By Ryan Quinn
Six faculty members sued California’s community college system leaders and others Thursday to overturn new diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) rules. “The DEIA rules require faculty members to teach in a manner reflecting ‘DEIA and antiracist principles’ and ‘promote[] a race-conscious and intersectional lens,’” says the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for California’s Eastern District. “Professors must also employ a ‘social justice lens’ and a ‘collectivism perspective,’ rather than an ‘individualist perspective.’ The government warns professors not to ‘weaponize academic freedom and academic integrity as tools to impede equity’ or ‘inflict curricular trauma on our students.’” The suit says “California’s community college districts must now evaluate faculty performance based on faculty members’ compliance with these DEIA rules. If professors want to keep their jobs, each of California’s community colleges require that faculty incorporate the requirements into lesson plans and lectures.”
Higher Ed Dive
Federal loans for graduate students on track to outpace those for undergraduates
A new report from the Education Department’s chief economist office looks at how the federal loan landscape is shifting.
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
Dive Brief:
The U.S. Department of Education could soon disburse more for graduate student loans than it does for undergraduate loans, according to a recent report from the agency’s chief economist office. That’s because undergraduate loan disbursements have plummeted, falling from almost $80 billion in 2010 to $45 billion a decade later. Those figures are adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars. Meanwhile, graduate loan disbursements surged starting around 2000 before leveling off at around $40 billion from 2010 to 2020. Graduate loans will account for the majority of disbursements in the next few years if these trends persist, according to the report.
Higher Ed Dive
SUNY Potsdam plans to phase out 4 academic programs amid $9M deficit
The leader of the university’s faculty senate recently told colleagues to prepare for cuts “of an order beyond anything we have seen.”
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
The State University of New York at Potsdam plans to phase out four academic programs as it stares down a $9 million budget hole. The public institution intends to discontinue bachelor’s programs in computer science education, geographic information science, and speech communications, as well as a graduate-level certificate in college teaching. The university, part of the 363,000-student SUNY system, has not shared this plan publicly. However, local news reports, and a leaked communication from the institution’s faculty senate chair, confirm the cuts.
Inside Higher Ed
SUNY Fredonia Fights to Keep Controversial Professor Off Campus
The tenured professor was barred from campus after his contentious comments on pedophilia prompted public outrage. He filed suit arguing that his First Amendment Rights were violated.
By Jessica Blake
A year and a half after Stephen Kershnar, a polarizing philosophy professor at SUNY Fredonia, was barred from the campus and relegated to teaching online courses, university officials are still intent on keeping him out. The university’s lawyer argued last Friday during a federal district court hearing on a lawsuit filed by Kershnar against the State University of New York at Fredonia president and provost that Kershnar’s controversial past comments about pedophilia—which included his questioning whether “adult-child sex” is always wrong—make it impossible for him to return to campus without posing a risk to students and faculty and staff. The lawyer cited threats of violence by those who oppose Kershnar’s return and accusations that the small, public institution in western New York is “an advocate to child sexual exploitation.” Kershnar’s lawyers argued that the university’s order—which prohibits the professor from entering the campus and having contact with any students, faculty or staff— is a violation of his First Amendment rights.
Higher Ed Dive
North Carolina restricts transgender college athletes in veto override
A Republican supermajority voted to prohibit transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams aligning with their gender identity.
Laura Spitalniak, Associate Editor
Dive Brief:
North Carolina’s Legislature on Wednesday overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a law limiting transgender athletes’ participation in higher education and K-12 sports. The law prohibits transgender women and girls from competing on academic sports teams that align with their gender identity. The legislation does not address transgender men’s eligibility for men’s teams. Cooper, a Democrat, had shot down the bill last month. But Republican lawmakers, who hold veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers, revived it with votes largely along party lines.
Inside Higher Ed
Popular Chancellor Is Ousted, and No One Is Saying Why
After 10 years as chancellor, Nancy Cantor of Rutgers-Newark will not have her contract renewed next year. Faculty and local leaders are angry.
By Josh Moody
After a decade at the helm of Rutgers University at Newark, Chancellor Nancy Cantor will not have her contract renewed next year, sparking concerns on campus and questions from the community. The decision was announced Wednesday in a letter to the university community from Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway, who praised Cantor’s contributions at the Newark campus without specifying why her contract would not be renewed when it expires next June. “There may be no other chancellor in the country as committed to the impact that a university can have on its host community as an anchor institution,” Holloway wrote in the announcement. Cantor, in a letter of her own, made it clear that the decision to leave was not her choice. Now faculty and community leaders are searching for answers as to why a popular campus administrator is being pushed out, while Rutgers leaders deflect questions on the matter.
Higher Ed Dive
Lawmakers urge Education Department to help end legacy and donor admissions
A trio of prominent senators called on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to take steps like aggressively pursuing complaints against the practice.
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
Dive Brief:
A trio of senators urged Education Secretary Miguel Cardona this week to help end legacy and donor preferences in admissions. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, both Democrats from Massachusetts, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, wrote a letter Monday calling on Cardona to use his “advisory and investigatory authority” to level the playing field for college hopefuls. The lawmakers voiced concerns about the ongoing impact of legacy preferences, which tend to benefit White and wealthy students, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June striking down race-conscious admissions.
Higher Ed Dive
House Republicans’ bill would freeze Education Department hiring
Lawmakers characterize it as a first step in returning education policy decisions to the local and state levels.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
A trio of House Republicans this month introduced legislation that would freeze hiring at the U.S. Department of Education. Florida Rep. Aaron Bean, bill sponsor and chair of the House Early Childhood, Secondary, and Elementary Subcommittee, said in a statement this month that imposing a hiring freeze “is just the first step to decrease the role of the federal government and return education policy to where it belongs — the state and local level.” The bill applies to political appointees. It would also claw back the Education Department’s funding for salaries and expenses that would go unused under the legislation.
Cybersecurity Dive
Security basics aren’t so basic — they’re hard
Lax security controls cause heavy damages, and security experts warn how unmet basics turn up, time and again, when things go wrong.
Matt Kapko, Reporter
The basics of cybersecurity, it turns out, aren’t so basic. Fundamental defenses — identity and access management, MFA, memory-safe languages, patching and vulnerability management — are lacking or nonexistent across the economy, according to cybersecurity experts. “It is the simple stuff,” Arctic Wolf CISO Adam Marrè said during an interview at Black Hat. “Year after year these data breach reports come out, year after year it’s the same thing as most attacks happen because you’re not patching your systems and you’re not taking care of your credentials.” An oversupply of applications and services complicate efforts to rollout phishing-resistant MFA and identity protection. The average large business uses 367 software apps and systems, according to a 2022 Forrester study.
Inside Higher Ed
New Brief Urges Congress to Extend COVID Emergency Aid
By Jessica Blake
Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice released a brief Wednesday calling on the federal government to extend student emergency aid grants that were available during the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress funded the grants through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). But even as disruptions caused by the pandemic fade from public focus, Bryce McKibben the Hope Center’s senior director of policy and advocacy, is urging Congress to continue this “successful policy” that helped struggling students stay in college. He noted in the brief that “widespread basic needs insecurity in higher education remains, and the pandemic relief money has dried up.”