AP News
Enrollment rebounds in 2023 after 2-year dip at Georgia public universities and colleges
By Jeff Amy
The number of students rose at Georgia’s public universities and colleges this fall after a two-year dip, with all but three of the system’s 26 schools adding students. Enrollment rose 2.9% statewide from fall 2022. That increase of nearly 10,000 students set a new record of more than 344,000 students statewide, surpassing the previous high of 341,000 in fall 2020. After a steeper decline in enrollment than the nation as a whole last year, University System of Georgia schools outstripped the nationwide rise of 2.1% this fall recorded by the National Student Clearinghouse.
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Board of Regents picks new vice chair, Gordon State president
Harold Reynolds will serve his third year as board’s chair
By Vanessa McCray
The Georgia Board of Regents looked close to home to fill the presidential post at Gordon State College. The board, which oversees the 26 schools in the University System of Georgia, voted Tuesday to appoint Donald J. Green as Gordon State’s next leader, effective Wednesday. At the same meeting, the board once again selected Harold Reynolds to serve as its chair and chose T. Dallas Smith as the new vice chair. Green has been serving as Gordon State’s interim president since May. The former president, Kirk Nooks, left for a job as president and CEO of the Council on Occupational Education in Atlanta.
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Georgia Trend
Georgia 500
Georgia’s Most Influential Leaders 2023
Education
M. Brian Blake, Pres., Georgia State University; Tracy L. Brundage, Pres., Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College; Angel Cabrera, Pres., Georgia Institute of Technology; Richard Carvajal, Pres., Valdosta State University; Cathy Cox, Pres., Georgia College & State University; Marion Ross Fedrick, Pres., Albany State University; Jennifer Frum, VP for Pubic services and Outreach, University of Georgia; Jenna Jambeck, Prof. University of Georgia; Michelle R. Johnston, Pres., College of Coastal Georgia; Paul Jones, Pres., Fort Valley State University; Jann L. Joseph, Pres., Georgia Gwinnett College; Brooks Keel, Pres. Augusta University; Brendan B. Kelly, Pres., University of West Georgia; Kyle Marrero, Pres., Georgia Southern University; Jere W. Morehead, Pres., University of Georgia; Sonny Perdue, Chancellor, University System of Georgia; Kathy “Kat” Schwaig, Pres., Kennesaw State University; Neal Weaver, Pres., Georgia Southwestern State University.
The Chatsworth Times
Georgia schools waive application fees
The Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC) has partnered with the University System of Georgia (USG), the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), private institutions, and Georgia Military College to provide application fee waivers to Georgia high school seniors during Georgia Apply to College Month. Fifty colleges and universities have agreed to waive their application fees for high school seniors between Nov. 1-30. This is the third year that GSFC has promoted application fee waivers for Apply to College Month in November. Over 300 high schools have partnered with the Georgia Student Finance Commission to host events promoting the fee waivers and the Peach State’s new direct admissions initiative, GEORGIA MATCH.
WALB News
VIDEO
University System of Ga. offers free mental health services for college students
Christie Campus Health under the University System of Georgia has partnered with Albany State University for the third time. The feedback from students over the past three years has been relatively positive since the partnership started back in 2020.
WGAU Radio
Isakson Initiative gives $1.4M to UGA Vet Med
By Amy H. Carter, UGA Today
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents on Nov. 14 approved the creation of two endowed distinguished professorships, made possible by a gift of $1.4 million from the Isakson Initiative to the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. Arthi Kanthasamy and Jason Richardson will be the inaugural holders of the Johnny Isakson Distinguished Professorship and the Dianne Isakson Distinguished Professorship, respectively. Housed in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Isakson Center for Neurological Disease Research, these professorships are named in honor of the late U.S. Sen. John Hardy “Johnny” Isakson and his wife, Dianne. Isakson, who died in 2021, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech’s Student Athlete Performance Center receives new name
Georgia Tech’s Student Athlete Performance Center, a 96,000 square foot facility to be built where the Edge Center currently sits in the northeast corner of Bobby Dodd Stadium, received a new name Tuesday. The Georgia board of regents, in a meeting Tuesday, approved the naming of the facility to the Thomas A. Fanning Student-Athlete Performance Center in honor of Tech alumnus Dr. Thomas A. Fanning. Fanning earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial management from Tech and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2013.
Albany Herald
Albany State names ‘Shining RAM’ award recipients
From staff reports
During the University System of Georgia’s recent Ethics Awareness Week, Albany State University selected faculty member Anta’Sha Jones and staff member Reginald Christian to receive the 2023 Shining RAM Award. The Shining RAM Award is given to a faculty and a staff member who exemplify excellence, integrity, respect and accountability in everyday practices and demonstrate innovation, creativity, and courage in working to improve areas within the university.
The Gainesville Times
‘Our best days are ahead of us’: UNG’s 21st president marks new chapter at investiture ceremony
Ben Anderson
The University of North Georgia held an investiture ceremony Friday, Nov. 10, for UNG’s 21st president, Michael Shannon, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the university’s 150-year history.
WGAU Radio
UGA hosts International Conference on Africa and its Diaspora
By Tim Bryant
The African Studies Institute at the University of Georgia hosts today’s 8th Biennial International Conference on Africa and its Diaspora: the Conference that begins today continues through Saturday at UGA’s Tate Student Center.
From the UGA master calendar…
The theme for this year’s conference is “Religion and Sustainable Socio-Cultural and Economic Development within the 21st Century in Africa and Its Diaspora.” The conference is being hosted in honor of Dr. Ibigbolade Aderibigbe, UGA’s Professor Emeritus of Religion and African Studies. Dr. Aderibigbe was the conference co-convener between 2011 and 2021. The conference will feature thought-provoking keynote speakers, world-class panel sessions, dynamic education sessions, and plenty of unique ways to network and connect with peers from across the world.
Grice Connect
Georgia Southern Fraternity’s Trash Busting: 200+ pounds of debris removed in Statesboro
As part of a joint effort with Keep Statesboro-Bulloch Beautiful, fraternity brothers from Phi Delta Theta at Georgia Southern recently spent time collecting litter along the walkways and creek beds around Main Street and Highway 301. . …In just one hour, this group of brothers managed to collect over 200 pounds of trash. Their haul included plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and bits of tire, collected from the walkways and creek beds around Main Street and Highway 301.
The Augusta Chronicle
MCG professors: Flu vaccines a safe, effective way to build a healthier future for Augusta
Dr. Catherine Hedrick and Dr. Klaus Ley
In a world brimming with medical advancements and cutting-edge research, the Immunology Center of Georgia is advancing global progress in scientific innovation and health protection all from right here in Augusta. IMMCG, part of the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, is a research enterprise that pioneers ways for the body to marshal its immune defenders and attackers to defeat health threats. Unlocking the power and potential of the human immune system takes imagination, determination and collaboration, and we are ready for the challenge. Established in 2022, IMMCG is on a mission to enhance well-being through research in immunology and vaccinology. This promising endeavor lured us, founding co-directors Catherine “Lynn” Hedrick, PhD, and Klaus Ley, MD, to move across the country to Augusta from our previous roles at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology in San Diego.
Savannah Morning News
By 2025, Savannah won’t have enough people to fill jobs, study says. What can be done?
Joseph Schwartzburt
At the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) board meeting on Tuesday, President and CEO Trip Tollison delivered some sobering news: the supply of workers in Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham and Effingham counties is not sufficient to fill the estimated 15,000 jobs coming to the region by 2025. …Coastal Georgia’s unemployment rate, according to Georgia Dept. of Labor (GDOL) statistics, has hovered around 3% most of 2023. The most recent Economic Monitor Report from Georgia Southern University showed that job losses in the service sector of the local economy were picked up in business and professional sectors, which underscores one of the key findings of SEDA’s workforce study that competitive pay and enhancing employee retention have and will become increasingly important.
Higher Education News:
Higher Ed Dive
How community colleges are revamping their student onboarding process
Institutions nationwide are overhauling how they help learners understand, select and enter a program of study.
By Lilah Burke
The track through community college into a career often appears amorphous and opaque to students. But many colleges have attempted to address this problem over the past decade by adopting a popular set of reforms known as guided pathways. The framework aims to make educational pathways clear so students can finish their course of study and land a job in their desired field. The reforms include overhauling how colleges help students choose programs and assist them in staying on their path. In 2015, the American Association of Community Colleges launched an initiative called the Pathways Project to help community colleges implement some of these reforms. From 2016 to 2022, 30 community colleges participated in the project, pledging to redesign their student experiences.
Inside Higher Ed
UMD Extends Thanksgiving Break During ‘Challenging Fall’
By Jessica Blake
The University of Maryland will extend its Thanksgiving break to provide students, faculty and staff a chance to “rest and recharge” in light of a “challenging fall,” according to a campuswide note sent by university leaders. Classes on Monday, Nov. 20, will move online, and there will be no classes Tuesday, although the university will remain open both days, according to an email sent by President Darryll Pines and Provost Jennifer King Rice. The email said Nov. 22 will be recognized as an administrative leave day for faculty and staff. The Thanksgiving recess was previously scheduled for Nov. 22–26. The email noted that this semester was “punctuated by loss around the world and in our own community,” a seeming reference to the Israel-Hamas war, which has prompted heated debates and protests on college campuses across the country.
Inside Higher Ed
House Republicans Blame DEI Programs for Rise in Campus Antisemitism
At a hearing Tuesday, Democrats disagreed—and said the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, facing budget cuts, needs more money to respond to the crisis.
By Katherine Knott
Diversity, equity and inclusion programs on college campuses are behind the recent spike in campus antisemitism, several House Republicans said Tuesday during a hearing on “confronting the scourge of antisemitism on campus.” “I think DEI is a fraud and what we’re seeing now on campuses is proof of that,” said Burgess Owens, the Utah Republican who chairs the House higher education subcommittee. Democrats and Republicans on the subcommittee condemned the increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last month. Some Democrats also decried the increase in Islamophobic incidents, though that was not a focus of the hearing.
Inside Higher Ed
Researchers Lack Support Needed to Share Data
By Kathryn Palmer
Researchers in the U.S. and numerous other countries are not getting the support they need to share their data openly, according to a new report. Almost three-quarters of the researchers say they’ve never received support with planning, managing or sharing their research data, according to the State of Open Data Report 2023 released Tuesday by Digital Science, a technology company; Figshare, an online open-access research repository; and publisher Springer Nature. Insufficient support for open data sharing was one of the key takeaways from the report, which surveyed more than 6,000 researchers across a wide spectrum of fields, including medicine, engineering and social sciences, in countries across the globe.
Inside Higher Ed
California Judge Suspends Community College DEI Rules
By Sara Weissman
A California judge has suspended the enforcement of rules instituted by the California Community College system intended to ensure faculty and staff members uphold diversity, equity and inclusion values. The rules, which took effect in the spring, establish criteria for the evaluation of employees regarding their “demonstrated, or progress toward, proficiency in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility … competencies that enable work with diverse communities,” according to a May memo from system leaders. The injunction, granted Tuesday, was in response to a lawsuit against Bakersfield College and Kern Community College District leaders filed by Daymon Johnson, a history professor at the college.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Panel: Erasing Black History Threatens to Harm Black Community, Students, and Nation’s Future
Arrman Kyaw
The exclusion and omission of Black history threatens to harm not just the Black community at large but also students and the very future of the nation, experts said during a Nov. 14 panel. The panel – part of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s larger National Racial Equity Initiative for Social Justice (NREI) Summit – brought together experts to discuss contemporary attacks against the inclusion of Black history in societal awareness and education.
Higher Ed Dive
Johns Hopkins, Clark transform Newseum building
Despite a series of challenges during the four-year project, crews converted the Washington, D.C., media-focused museum into a higher education facility.
Zachary Phillips, Editor
Paul Nassetta doesn’t retire well, he says. After winding down his career as chief operating officer at Washington, D.C.-based contractor Hoffman and Associates, Nassetta returned to the workforce in 2018 as director of design and construction for Johns Hopkins University. In his new role, Nasetta was tasked with delivering a challenging project: transforming the recently closed Newseum just blocks from the U.S. Capitol into a state-of-the-art higher education facility, along with general contractor Clark Construction.