The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One Georgia school makes top 20 on best colleges and universities list
By Nancy Clanton
The University of Georgia is No. 1 — in the college football rankings. On WalletHub’s list of the best colleges and universities, however, it’s No. 64. To determine the top-performing schools at the lowest costs to undergrads, the financial website compared 857 colleges and universities across seven key dimensions: student selectivity; cost and financing; faculty resources; campus safety; campus experience; educational outcomes; and career outcomes. It then evaluated those dimensions using 30 relevant metrics, each of which was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best school performance. Three Georgia schools finished in the top 100, with one making into the top 20. With an overall score of 74.02, Georgia Institute of Technology ranked No. 16 in the nation. …Within the state of Georgia, the Yellow Jackets were again No. 1, …At the University of Georgia, an overall score of 67.6 put it at No. 64 nationwide. …Within the state, however, it was No. 2, …A few Georgia schools had some inauspicious rankings. Middle Georgia State University, for example, tied for 849th in admission rate. Georgia State University was near the bottom of the pack for student-faculty ratio, tying for 853rd place. Brewton-Parker College and Georgia Gwinnett College tied for the 854th spot in graduation rates.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: Clark Atlanta’s building spree, Augusta president to retire
By Vanessa McCray
Several Georgia legislators are pushing for more funding for the state’s historically Black colleges. And as the fall semester marches along, colleges across the state are celebrating big grants and starting construction on new projects. We have that news and more in this edition of AJC On Campus. Lawmakers call for more HBCU funding Several Georgia lawmakers are demanding that the state invest more money in historically Black colleges after federal officials pointed to historic underfunding. … The federal letter said that Fort Valley State University, a land-grant HBCU, would have received an additional $603 million from the state over the last three decades if its per-student funding was equal to that of the University of Georgia. … The University System has said it plans to review the data related to HBCU funding. …Georgia State students relocated after fire More than 320 students who live in Georgia State University’s Patton Hall were relocated after an Oct. 9 fire in a student room on the fourth floor, and some will not return this semester. …Georgia State University’s AI grant …Electric buses for University of Georgia …University of North Georgia construction …‘Diversity’ is out, ‘multicultural’ is in The University of North Georgia will hold an investiture ceremony Nov. 10 for its new president, Michael P. Shannon. And there are other changes afoot as well. …Saying goodbye Brooks Keel, president of Augusta University since 2015, will retire at the end of this school year. … More housing for Kennesaw State students …Weight-loss drugs on wait list Back in June, we told you about a task force created by the University System of Georgia to determine if the employee health care plan should cover weight-loss drugs. It’s become a hot topic since the FDA approved the drug Wegovy to treat obesity. Well, the results are in, and covering such drugs would be costly.
41NBC
Fort Valley State University receives record $1 million donation from alumni, renames student center
Fort Valley State University makes history with its largest donation ever received by living alumni, according to the university.
Drake Rozelle
Fort Valley State University makes history with its largest donation ever received by living alumni, according to the university. The school announced Monday the renaming of its student amenities center to the Alonzo and Alma Jones Student Center. The $1 million gift comes from alumni Dr. Alonzo Jones, Dr. Alma Jones and their niece Dr. Rose Holton. The contribution aims to give back to the university that helped them achieve their medical careers.
Valdosta Today
VSU, CJB Industries collaborate on employee training initiative
A team from CJB Industries Inc. recently returned to the classroom for three days of instruction on high-performance liquid chromatography. Valdosta State University’s Dr. Yakov Woldman, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Geosciences, was asked to teach the chemical manufacturing industry employees — five total, including four Blazer Nation alumni — how to better use high-performance liquid chromatography in their roles with CJB Industries Inc. An important analytical method, high-performance liquid chromatography is commonly used to separate and quantify components of liquid samples.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DeKalb aims to train 150 new teachers in 2 years with residency programs
By Cassidy Alexander
The DeKalb County school board agreed late Monday to invest close to $1.7 million in new programs to train new teachers. The hope from district leaders is that these programs can help fill persistent vacancies for the state’s third-largest school system. …The IGNITE DeKalb teacher residency will train 100 teachers by June 2025, according to documents about the project posted with the meeting agenda. The one-year program is for those who already have bachelor’s degrees, but need to get certified to be a teacher. They’ll also obtain a master’s degree in that year. At the same time as they complete necessary coursework through a partnership with Middle Georgia State University, they will be working in a “full-time, student-facing position” alongside a teacher mentor. The district will cover $414,900 — about half of the cost of the teachers’ education. The university agreed to spend $400,000. There will be no cost to the program’s participants. Upon completion, the goal will be to hire the teachers for jobs at the district’s schools with the highest needs. Those who complete the program would be expected to commit to teaching in one of the district’s highest-need schools for five years.
Albany Herald
CAES leads $3.2 million USDA grant to improve organic onion production
By Emily Cabrera UGA/CAES
A team of researchers from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is partnering with colleagues from Texas A&M University to find more effective production practices for organic onion growers in the southern United States where short-day onions — those that bulb with 11 to 12 hours of sunlight each day — are primarily grown. Bhabesh Dutta, associate professor in the UGA Department of Plant Pathology at UGA, is leading the team over the next four years through a recently funded $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative. The project, referred to as “Onion IQ (Improved Quality),” is a collaborative effort between the two institutions to build an integrated approach with faculty from various departments and fields of expertise for improving the production and quality of organic onions.
The Newman Times-Herald
Farmer among UNG’s Distinguished Military Students
Ethan Farmer of Newnan is among 22 University of North Georgia cadets who have earned Distinguished Military Student status for the 2023-24 academic year. The cadets were formally recognized at the DMS dinner and review the weekend of Sept. 22-24. …Additionally, Farmer completed Advanced Camp training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, over the summer, along with 93 other cadets.
Daily Coffee Press
South Georgia State College Professors’ Work Appears in Recently Published Book
South Georgia State College is excited to announce several SGSC professors’ work now appears in the pages of a recently published book Putting It All Together: Creating and Scaling Exceptional Learning by Dr. Jeffery W. Galle, former University System of Georgia Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Faculty Development, and Dr. Jo K. Galle. Dr. Robert L. Potter, associate professor of biology, Dr. Rosa Guedes, professor of biology and ecology and Dr. Frank Holiwski, professor of psychology, contributed “Chapter 27: The Undergraduate Research Symposium at South Georgia State College: History, Status, and Future.” Dr. Potter, Dr. Guedes and Dr. Holiwski are one team of several authors in the book who are faculty members, administrators and staff professionals who have developed successful learning experiences for students.
NPR
New England fruit farmers begin to reimagine crops as climate shifts
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
A good fall apple harvest in New England depends on things that happened months before. And this year many farms have no fruit because of a freezing night in mid-May. As New Hampshire Public Radio’s Mara Hoplamazian reports, in a warming climate, fruit farmers are having to reimagine their crops.
…HOPLAMAZIAN: The problem, Londo says, is they’re waking up earlier, but the threat of cold isn’t going away. Farmers across the country are dealing with these changes. This year in Georgia, January and February were super-warm. Pam Knox, an agricultural climatologist with the University of Georgia, says that set peach trees up to fail.
PAM KNOX: The peaches bloomed two or three weeks early, depending on the variety. And we got – we went back into a cooler weather pattern in March. And we got two frosts two weekends in a row.
HOPLAMAZIAN: That froze almost all of the commercial peaches in the state, she says. And with climate change posing an increasing threat, growers and scientists are trying a few different things to adapt.
KNOX: One is to try different varieties of the same crop that they’ve been growing. So you might grow a apple that has fewer chill hours than the previous apple that you’re growing.
HOPLAMAZIAN: In Washington state, scientists have developed a spray to help insulate fruit. In Georgia, some farmers are growing citrus or olives.
Atlanta News First
Georgia lawmakers review state’s TV and film credit
While most states cap their incentives, Georgia’s film credit has no cap.
By Rachel Polansky
Georgia lawmakers are already reviewing all of the state’s tax incentives, months ahead of the legislative session. That includes the state’s TV and film credit, which is Georgia’s largest tax incentive. While most states cap their incentives, Georgia’s film credit has no cap. Supporters say it’s great for enticing production companies to film in the Peach State, but opponents say it costs Georgia taxpayers big bucks each year. Georgia has been working to entice TV and movie producers since 2005, when then-Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a generous tax incentive program. Since then, the tax credit for production companies has only increased – now up to 20% – with an extra 10% if the film includes the “Made in Georgia” logo in the credits.
Athens Banner-Herald
Oconeefest kicks off this week, fundraises scholarships for University of North Georgia
Clark Leonard Special to ABH
The University of North Georgia’s Oconee Campus will host the 10th annual Oconeefest scholarship fundraiser on Thursday. The two-hour event begins at 5:30 p.m. on the front lawn of the campus off Experiment Station Road in Watkinsville. A main fundraiser at the event is a silent auction featuring merchandise donated by numerous businesses. There is a suggested $25 donation and anyone can bid on the merchandise. The event raises money for two scholarships. The Oconee County Resident Scholarship is awarded to a resident of Oconee County who is an incoming freshman on the Oconee campus. UNG awarded four of these $1,000 awards this year. The Oconee Annual Scholarship awards $1,000 to students from Oconee, Walton, Oglethorpe, Barrow, Clarke, Greene, Morgan and Madison counties who are enrolled at any of the UNG campuses. Two such scholarships were awarded this year.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New video footage from night of fatal UGA crash details club visit
Toppers’ attorney says video clears club of wrongdoing in multimillion-dollar lawsuit, while AJC review reveals video is inconclusive, raises new questions about football personnel’s visit to strip club that night
By Dylan Jackson
Recently released video footage from inside the Athens strip club where Georgia football players and staff celebrated a second consecutive national championship brings new details to light as the club, UGA’s athletic association and others face multi-million dollar lawsuits in the wake of a fatal Jan. 15 crash.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Middle East Tumult Reverberates on U.S. Campuses
Donors pull funds at Harvard, Penn administrators under fire, incidents at Drexel and conflicting petitions over a Columbia professor.
By Doug Lederman
College campuses in the U.S. continue to be roiled by tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas, with donors and politicians pressuring institutions to take stronger stands and reports surfacing of alleged threats against students. Among the developments: The Wexner Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to strengthening Jewish leadership in North America, said it was “formally ending its financial and programmatic relationships” with Harvard University and its Kennedy School of Government. …The president of Drexel University, John Fry, said in a message to the campus Saturday that “someone within our community” defaced a women’s restroom on the Philadelphia campus with antisemitic graffiti. … The president of the University of Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Magill, released a statement Sunday in the wake of intensifying criticism about the university’s perceived failure to condemn antisemitic rhetoric. Some donors and alumni have called on Magill and the university’s board chair to resign because they hadn’t responded as forcefully as the critics wished to the attack by Hamas and to a Palestinian writers’ conference on the Penn campus last month. …Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling on Columbia University to dismiss a professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history whose essay this month appeared to support Hamas’s attacks on Israel.
Inside Higher Ed
When Commitments to Free Speech and Against Antisemitism Collide
We need to be asking different questions as conflicts around antisemitism and free speech continue to arise on college campuses, Jeffrey Herbst writes.
By Jeffrey Herbst
Last month, the University of Pennsylvania hosted Palestine Writes, a literary conference that featured some speakers who were very critical of Israel, including Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd, whose anti-Israel comments are seen by many as antisemitic. Jewish groups objected, but Penn president M. Elizabeth Magill decided that, while some of the participants had track records of “engaging in antisemitism,” the conference should go forward because Penn supports “the free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission.” This conflict, which puts two noble goals in opposition—the fight against antisemitism and the commitment to free speech—has been replicated in a number of ways at different colleges, and there’s every reason to think such conflicts will increase and intensify with Israel and Hamas at war.
Higher Ed Dive
Arkansas lawmakers grill college leaders over DEI
Six public colleges faced questions on diversity spending and hiring practices ahead of potential legislation coming down the pike.
Laura Spitalniak, Associate Editor
Dive Brief
Arkansas lawmakers grilled representatives from six public colleges and schools on their diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices during a subcommittee meeting Monday. Leaders from six institutions — the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, the University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas State University, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and its law school — addressed questions about DEI and student success, often highlighting that the work done by diversity offices extended beyond race and ethnicity. But Republican legislators expressed concern that DEI on college campuses allows accreditors and outside forces to unduly influence academics in the state.
Inside Higher Ed
Presidents Break With Supreme Court on Affirmative Action
Most college and university presidents disagree with the decision on race-conscious admissions and think it will reduce diversity in higher education—just not at their institutions, a new survey finds.
By Colleen Flaherty
Scores of college presidents released public statements disagreeing with the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision on affirmative action, in a case that involved Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but had implications for all of higher education. A new survey of college and university presidents from Inside Higher Ed and Hanover Research reveals the scope of that disagreement: more than two-thirds (68 percent) of the survey’s 136 respondents oppose the court’s curbing of race-conscious admissions, nearly half (46 percent) of them strongly. Just 17 percent of the presidents in the survey, supported by Lumina Foundation, somewhat or strongly support the court’s decision. An additional 15 percent of presidents are neutral.
Higher Ed Dive
A dozen education groups press Education Department for FAFSA release date
The groups say “every day counts” to help students go through the new process for filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
Dive Brief:
A dozen education organizations are pressing the U.S. Department of Education to announce a firm release date for the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, arguing that “every day counts” when supporting students through the process. The Education Department announced earlier this year that it would unveil the FAFSA form sometime in December, two months later than its usual Oct. 1 release. The delay is meant to implement changes to make the form simpler, but it also shrinks the window for college officials to make aid offers to applicants. The organizations — which include prominent higher education groups like the American Council on Education and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities — argue that the lack of a release date could hinder a smooth rollout of the new form.
Inside Higher Ed
Paying Undergrad Mental Health Workers
Students have long played a role in supporting their peers’ mental health on campus. Now some are getting paid for their work—and helping to meet the growing demand.
By Johanna Alonso
As colleges continue to struggle to meet students’ psychological needs, some are beginning to outsource mental health education and support duties to an unlikely contingent: undergraduates. Students interested in counseling have long provided informal peer support through clubs and organizations, including campus chapters of Active Minds or the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But now, some universities are backing such work in more formal ways, paying students to administer mental health education and programming and even peer counseling and coaching. At California State University, Fullerton, eight undergraduate students, called mental health peer educators, are responsible for delivering workshops to fellow students on several mental health–related topics. That responsibility used to fall to clinical staff in Counseling and Psychological Services, but in 2021 officials decided instead to hire and train students to lead the hourlong workshops, which cover common mental health issues, such as stress, sleep and mood.
Inside Higher Ed
WVU Professors Get Their Layoff Notices
Amid the sweeping elimination of degree offerings and faculty members’ jobs at West Virginia University, professors are left with possibly hopeless appeals.
By Ryan Quinn
It’s been a month since West Virginia University’s Board of Governors rebuffed students’ and faculty members’ pleas not to slash academic programs and positions. Last week, Provost Maryanne Reed told the Faculty Senate that the 143 positions the board approved axing would only result in 69 people receiving layoff notices. But, she said, that’s because “there were a significant number of faculty that voluntarily retired or resigned.” “I realize that is of little solace for those faculty members who will be losing their positions,” Reed said. …WVU’s enrollment has dropped 10 percent since 2015, far worse than the national average and unusual particularly for a flagship university. University officials, projecting a further plunge over the coming decade, said they needed to cut $75 million from the budget and targeted low-enrollment majors, alongside pursuing reductions outside the faculty ranks.
Cybersecurity Dive
SMBs seek cyber training, support as attack risk surges
A report from Sage indicates SMBs face considerable obstacles to preventing cyberattacks when compared to larger, higher resourced enterprises.
David Jones, Reporter
Dive Brief:
Small- and medium-sized businesses across the globe are facing a high degree of cyber risk, with 48% of companies experiencing an incident over the past 12 months, according to research commissioned by Sage, a provider of payroll and financial software. Three-quarters of SMBs in the U.S. say cybersecurity is a major concern and the majority, 59%, plan to increase investments in cybersecurity over the next year. The report shows that 91% of SMBs plan to either maintain existing investments or spend additional funds for cybersecurity over the next year. SMBs are calling on cybersecurity specialist companies and trusted technology partners to help manage cyber risk. These companies also are looking to industry organizations for help with education and training on cyber risk management.
Cybersecurity Dive
CISA’s top 10 misconfigurations reveal ‘systemic weaknesses’
Common mistakes including poor credential management, weak MFA and lackluster patching continue to harm large enterprises.
Matt Kapko, Reporter
There’s a systemic weakness in large organizations’ network infrastructure: common problems go unrepaired, the National Security Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said earlier this month in an advisory. The pleas from federal cyber authorities “for network defenders and software manufacturers to fix common problems” underscores the importance of secure-by-design principles, CISA said. The ten most-common misconfigurations reads like a list of basic standards and best practices, according to cybersecurity experts and analysts. These weaknesses are abundant in enterprises with mature cybersecurity postures, according to CISA.