WGAU Radio
UGA lines up speaker for King Day Freedom Breakfast
By UGA Today
Dallas Smith, founder and CEO at T. Dallas Smith & Company and member of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, will deliver the keynote address at the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Breakfast. The event will be held at 8 a.m. on January 16 in the Tate Grand Hall. … Smith, a Georgia State University alumnus, is the chair of the Real Estate and Facilities Committee for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. …, vice chair for the Board of Regents…
WGAU Radio
State Dept: UGA ranks in top 10 in study abroad programs
By Tim Bryant
A report from the US State Department gives the University of Georgia high marks for its study abroad programs: the Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs says UGA ranks 6th overall among US colleges and universities in student study abroad participation and third among doctoral institutions.
The Brunswick News
CCGA professor joins cohort of Governor’s Teaching Fellows
By Lauren McDonald
A local professor joins a cohort of her colleagues from across the state in this year’s Governor’s Teaching Fellow program. Mary McGinnis, an assistant professor of English at College of Coastal Georgia, was chosen to join the 2023-2024 cohort. She is one of 16 faculty members from institutions of higher education across the state who selected to participate following a highly competitive application and selection process. McGinnis said she was honored to be selected as the college’s representative.
WABE
Georgia Tech expands research partnerships with minority-serving institutions
LaShawn Hudson
With the goal of building a diverse workforce in science and technology, Georgia Tech is working to establish new research partnerships with minority-serving institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities. The new effort is called the Research Collaboration Initiative. Earlier this month, Georgia Tech held the Research Collaboration Forum to foster conversations about research funding, the challenges in select areas of research, and possible solutions. The forum brought together researchers, representatives from HBCUs and minority-serving institutions, government officials, and technology companies such as Microsoft.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here is schedule of ceremonies for Rosalynn Carter, who died Sunday
By Mike Esterl
The Carter Center said late Sunday that ceremonies celebrating former first lady Rosalynn Carter will take place the week after Thanksgiving in Atlanta and Sumter County, Georgia. Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former President Jimmy Carter, died Sunday in the couple’s hometown of Plains. She was 96 years old. The Carter Center, an Atlanta-based nonprofit founded by the couple, said Rosalynn Carter’s remains will travel by hearse the morning of Monday, Nov. 27, from Phoebe Sumter Medical Center to Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus. The public will be invited to pay respects along the motorcade route, which will be shared in the coming days, and wreaths will be laid at the university.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Court ruling tied to separate shooting death of football standout
By Rosie Manins
Two nonprofit entities associated with student housing at Savannah State University have been freed from a Georgia mother’s attempt to hold them responsible for the fatal shooting of her son. A lawsuit brought by Konshitera Lewis against Savannah State University Foundation Real Estate Ventures LLC and Savannah State University Foundation Inc. was ended Friday by the Georgia Court of Appeals. … The court relied heavily on a previous decision it made in relation to the unrelated 2015 fatal shooting of Savannah State University student Christopher Starks. It determined that the nonprofits could not be held liable as neither possessed or controlled the student housing where Donald Lewis was shot.
WGAU Radio
UGA names new VP for development and alumni relations
By Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia names a vice president for development and alumni relations. Jill Walton begins her job on December 1, moving over from her current job as executive director for development at UGA.
From UGA Media Relations…
Following a nationwide search, Jill Stephens Walton has been named vice president for Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) and Executive Director of the University of Georgia Foundation for the University of Georgia. Walton, who was leading the university’s development division on an interim basis and had formerly served as the senior executive director of development, will officially assume the role Dec. 1.
Georgia Recorder
Georgia’s wild turkeys were once considered a conservation success but now are in decline
By: Ross Williams
The majestic gobble of the wild turkey no longer echoes as loudly through Georgia’s Piedmont region as it once did. The wild turkey was once considered a conservation success story. In 1973, Georgia’s turkey count was just 17,000, but by 1984, 113,000 of the plump little critters roamed the state. Unfortunately for the turkeys, that growth has been reversed. “We’ve documented ongoing declines actually for about the last 20 years in turkeys across the southeast, Georgia included,” said Michael Chamberlain, a wild turkey expert and professor at the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. “There’s no question populations have declined, which is reflected in the harvest that has declined quite a bit in the past decade or so.”
WRBL
by: Chuck Williams
Columbus State University professor Dr. Shawn Cruzen sat down with WRBL to talk about the Coca-Cola Space Science Center and a new exhibit that has recently opened. Cruzen is the executive director of the Space Science Center, which is located on Front Avenue in downtown Columbus. It is open to the general public. The new exhibit is called the Guzzle Vortex. Cruzen also talks about the Space Science Center’s role in STEM education and economic development.
Augusta Business Daily
Mondays with Rick: Develop a sense of purpose to guide your business and yourself
Gary Kauffman
Dr. Rick Franza, Professor of Management at the Hull College of Business, discusses a different, timely business topic each Monday in this column. This week, he discusses how small business owners develop a sense of purpose. The interview has been edited for clarity and impact.
Psychiatric Times
Anxiolytic Effects of Ketamine
Brian Miller, MD, PhD, MPH (Dr Miller is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Augusta University in Georgia. He is on the Editorial Board and serves as the schizophrenia section chief for Psychiatric Times)
Ketamine for anxiety? Researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of ketamine’s anxiolytic effects.
… The lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders in US adults in 34%. Given the limitations of currently available treatments for treatment-resistant anxiety, there is a need for novel anxiolytic agents. In addition to its efficacy for depression, the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine has emergency evidence of anxiolytic effects. However, previous reviews did not investigate the time course of ketamine’s action and included lower-quality evidence, which delimits conclusions. Furthermore, the transdiagnostic nature of anxiety symptoms suggests potential utility of ketamine in a range of clinical settings.
Mad in America
Focusing on Trauma and Involving Families in Care Could Help Prevent Early Death
By Richard Sears (Richard Sears teaches psychology at West Georgia Technical College and is studying to receive a PhD in consciousness and society from the University of West Georgia.)
A new consensus statement published in JAMA Network Open makes eight recommendations for addressing early death in people diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, and disabling major depressive disorder. The researchers note that people with SMI die 10 to 25 years earlier than people without such a diagnosis, on average. The article, written by 28 members1 of a virtual roundtable led by Karen L. Fortuna of Dartmouth College, suggests that trauma-informed care and advancing the support roles of friends and family are among the most pressing issues in preventing early death for people with serious mental illness (SMI).
Her Campus
An Expert Reveals Why Social Anxiety Is So Common During Thanksgiving
Makalah Wright (Campus Correspondent at Her Campus at UWG chapter; currently a sophomore at the University of West Georgia, studying public relations with a minor in music)
It’s the holiday season once again. A lot of joy and cheer is in the air and, for those in school, many folks are on the edge of finishing off the fall semester. This time of the year can bring a lot of fulfillment, but also a lot of stress — especially if you struggle with social anxiety. While Thanksgiving is the primary holiday of giving thanks to those close to you, as well as giving back to those who are in need, having to face large gatherings and being around people can come with a load of stress. Social anxiety during Thanksgiving and other holidays is very real when it comes to anything related to parties and other social gatherings. Despite it being dubbed as “the most wonderful time of the year”, it can be seen as the scariest time for those who are beyond frustrated about having to immerse themselves in social situations. Navigating social anxiety during the holidays shouldn’t have to be a hit or miss, though, and there are resources out there to help you cope. To further into this topic, I spoke with David Tzall, Psy.D to discuss the impact of social anxiety during the holiday season.
Egg News
Dry Hydrogen Peroxide a Suitable Alternative to Formaldehyde in Hatcheries
Dr. Brian Jordan of the University of Georgia recently reported on a study funded by the U.S. Poultry Foundation comparing dry hydrogen peroxide vapor with formaldehyde in a commercial hatchery. The project conducted over a year required hydrogen peroxide generators to be installed in the hatchery. Bacterial fluff counts, surface contamination and the quantum of bacteria on surfaces were evaluated. Although there was no difference between formaldehyde fumigation and dry hydrogen peroxide with respect to three-day chick mortality, hatchability in single stage incubators was improved by 3.1 percent corresponding to the previous level using formaldehyde fogging. The study demonstrated the potential for dry hydrogen peroxide to replace formaldehyde.
yahoo!sports
This Augusta-area coach is the latest branch on the Dip Metress basketball coaching tree
Will Cheney, Augusta Chronicle
Players often take on the identities of their coaches. That still rings true when those players transition to their own coaching careers. Greenbrier girls’ basketball coach Travis Keels is one example. An Augusta University basketball alumnus, it’s easy to see a lot of Jaguar coach Dip Metress in Keels’ practices with the Lady Pack.
Forbes
Will AI Be Reviewing Your College Application?
Brennan Barnard, Contributor
… Liam Knox at Inside Higher Ed reported on a survey by Intelligent, an online education magazine targeting college applicants. Among Intelligent’s key findings were that “Half of educational admissions departments currently use AI and 82% will by 2024” and the “Majority of schools using AI will allow it to have the final say on applicants.” The report suggests that admission offices are using AI in every way, from detection software to verify the authenticity of essays, to recommendation and transcript scanning programs. … Before you throw your hands in the air, keep in mind that the survey only had 399 respondents and 20% were not college admission officers. The findings were met with skepticism from admission leaders. Andy Borst, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Georgia reassures applicants and counselors, writing on X/Twitter, “There is a zero percent chance admissions offices are using AI to read files in the way this internet survey and article imply. Yes, Harvard is still reading students’ essays. No, they are NOT using AI technology to skim and score your letters of recommendation. Yes, many colleges are using a formula based on historical data (usually GPA and test score) to ‘finalize admissions decisions’.” He added, “I will acknowledge that AI has the POTENTIAL to aid in the organization and standardization of admissions information. No one is there yet…students, parents, and those in higher ed should not be concerned about AI replacing caring humans in the admissions process. College admissions is flawed, but it also has not been turned over to AI.”
Higher Education News:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Survey: Hiring for Class of 2024 Projected to Decrease But Job Market Remains Strong
Arrman Kyaw
Overall hiring for the Class of 2024 is projected to decrease 1.9% but does not indicate a bad job market, according to a new survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). The findings do not necessarily mean that the job market is weak. Rather, this decrease follows the record high levels of growth that the college job market saw in 2022. … More than three-quarters of responding employers rated the job market for the Class of 2024 as good to excellent, he said. And more than 43% of employers plan to increase starting salaries to Class of 2024 bachelor’s graduates, and nearly all others plan to keep salaries at last year’s levels.
Inside Higher Ed
Data Show Strong Return on Investment for UNC Grads
A new report shows that 94 percent of the system’s undergraduate degree programs yield positive economic outcomes for graduates.
By Kathryn Palmer
Despite growing public skepticism about the value of college, the cost of obtaining a degree from any of the University of North Carolina System’s 16 universities is worth it, according to a study evaluating the financial outcomes of graduates of the system. Graduates who complete an undergraduate degree at one of the UNC System’s universities have a median lifetime return on investment of $500,000 compared to North Carolinians without undergraduate degrees. And completing a degree resulted in upward economic mobility for nearly 90 percent of low-income students. These are some of the highlights of the results of a study the system released earlier this month that examined return on investment between 2015 and 2020 for the 724 undergraduate programs and 575 graduate programs across the UNC System. The study also found that students who complete graduate degrees had a median lifetime return on investment of $938,000 compared to those with just a bachelor’s degree.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Ellucian Foundation to Award Grants to 25 Two-Year Colleges
Arrman Kyaw
The Ellucian Foundation will award grants to 25 two-year colleges to help support students facing economic challenges. The global 2023 Progress, Accomplishment, Thriving, Hope (PATH) Scholarship consists of $10,000-$25,000 grants to higher ed institutions to help students with expenses such as housing, tuition, and food. Individual students receive awards of up to $1,500 with limited exceptions.
Higher Ed Dive
Opinion
How campuses can protect free speech and student safety amid the Israel-Hamas war
Administrators can take steps to embrace free expression and delineate between speech and violence, two PEN America staff members say.
By Kristen Shahverdian and Sam LaFrance
Kristen Shahverdian is a senior manager for free expression and education at PEN America. Sam LaFrance is the manager of editorial projects for free expression and education at PEN America. PEN America is a nonprofit devoted to protecting free expression.
Campuses have long been hotbeds of debate, protest and political tensions, but few issues have been as vehemently contested in recent years as conflicts related to Israel and Palestine. It is no surprise, then, that as the Israel-Hamas conflict has escalated since early October, U.S. campuses have spiraled into a crisis, as holding space for any reasonable disagreement has seemed nearly impossible. … They are one of the few places left in our society that are meant to foster an environment where open discourse and disagreement can occur across the ideological spectrum. But the events in Israel and in Gaza are testing higher education’s ability to live up to that mission.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Arrman Kyaw
In an effort to address basic needs insecurity among students, the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE) launched a free online tool to connect college students to basic needs resources. The navigation tool provides students a place to look up resources and information for matters such as housing, food, transportation, childcare, and state assistance processes. This effort comes as part of NJ Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration’s goals to increase college completion and get 65% of state denizens a high-quality credential by 2025.
Inside Higher Ed
Jason Lane, Higher Ed Researcher, to Lead State System Group
By Doug Lederman
The National Association of System Heads, which includes leaders of dozens of public college and university systems that educate roughly 5 million students, has appointed its first-ever president and chief executive officer. Jason E. Lane, dean of the College of Education, Health and Society at Miami University and an accomplished higher education researcher focused on policy, will lead NASH. He has worked closely with the group over the years, having developed its leadership academy and co-led a seven-year student success initiative that sought to integrate the work of systems in various states on key issues.
Inside Higher Ed
U.S. Lags in AI Use Among Students, Surveys Find
Students across the globe weighed in on their AI usage, with the U.S. lagging behind.
By Lauren Coffey
Students and university leaders in the United States are lagging behind their peers elsewhere in use of artificial intelligence, two new reports suggest. According to a report by the education technology firm Anthology, 38 percent of students reported using AI at least monthly, with only the United Kingdom having a lower usage rate. Chegg, another ed-tech firm, conducted its own global study with similar results: 20 percent of students in the United States reported using generative AI, followed only by the U.K. with 19 percent. However, in the U.S., more than 30 percent of the university leaders surveyed by Anthology are concerned that AI is unethical and could result in plagiarism—a higher degree of suspicion than leaders in any country but the U.K.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Report: Multiple Aspects of Higher Ed Can Benefit from AI Use
Arrman Kyaw
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to benefit multiple aspects of higher education, from logistics to the student experience, according to a new playbook from Complete College America and T3 Advisory. The playbook, “Attainment with AI Making a Real Difference in College Completion with Artificial Intelligence,” describes the ways in which higher ed can take advantage of what AI has to offer amid the surge in AI discussion this year. According to one study, approximately more than 30% of all students were already using generative AI technology in the classroom during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Inside Higher Ed
Using AI Tools to Prepare Slide Decks: Pulse Podcast
By Doug Lederman
In this month’s episode of The Pulse podcast, the host Rodney B. Murray discusses his experience using AI-powered tools to generate slide decks for a new course he was teaching on podcasting. He talks about the pros and cons of using MagicSlides and SlidesGPT to produce AI-generated slides and the differences between these two generative AI slide tools.
Inside Higher E
Free Speech Requirement for Law Schools Moves Forward
By Kathryn Palmer
A proposal that would require all law schools to adopt free speech policies is one step closer to approval. The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which the U.S. Education Department recognizes as the sole and independent accreditor of law schools, unanimously voted Friday to send the proposal to the ABA’s House of Delegates for final approval in February, according to Reuters. The proposal would require all law schools to approve written policies that protect the rights of faculty, students and staff to express controversial or unpopular ideas as well as forbid any conduct that limits free expression. While many law schools already have free speech policies, the proposed requirement would raise the stakes of enforcement because any school found out of compliance would have to answer to its accreditor.
Inside Higher Ed
Gaza Speech Allegedly Blocked by National Communication Association
A historic moment for Palestinians at the organization’s annual conference was shut down over concerns about calling the deaths in Gaza “genocide,” professors say.
By Ryan Quinn
A Palestinian professor was slated to speak this past Saturday about the ongoing death in Gaza as part of an address by the National Communication Association’s first Palestinian president. She said the president had asked several speakers to write and deliver parts of the address. But the professor, Ahlam Muhtaseb, said that about 30 minutes before the presidential address and awards ceremony at the NCA’s 109th Annual Convention were to start, the organization’s president, Walid Afifi, told her and the other speakers who were supposed to take part that the NCA’s executive branch had issues with Muhtaseb’s planned use of the word “genocide” to describe what’s happening in Gaza, along with her plan to say “free Palestine.” The conference’s theme, in all caps on the first page of the conference agenda, was “freedom.” But Muhtaseb, a professor of communication studies at California State University, San Bernardino, said Afifi told her the NCA would cancel the whole awards ceremony if she gave her speech, which was to be delivered in Arabic.
Higher Ed Dive
GAO: Future student loan relief programs must fully address fraud risks
The Education Department approved loan forgiveness for 14 million borrowers without employing proper safeguards, the government watchdog found.
Laura Spitalniak, Staff Reporter
Dive Brief:
The U.S. Department of Education failed to proactively address fraud risks when it approved borrowers for the sweeping student loan forgiveness plan that the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately struck down, the federal Government Accountability Office said in a Thursday report. The department based its borrower approval processes on an assessment that the loan forgiveness program was at relatively low risk for fraud, GAO found. But given the size of the intended loan cancellation — “an estimated $430 billion of relief for potentially over 31 million borrowers” — the agency should have taken more anti-fraud steps. Though this forgiveness program never came to be, the Education Department is pursuing alternative means of mass debt relief. In that event, GAO said, the department should avoid relying on self-reported data and should fully evaluate fraud risk before providing relief.
Cybersecurity Dive
CISA explains how to apply secure-by-design principles
The focus should be on what manufacturers are doing to keep their customers safe, not the damage attackers might be inflicting, CISA’s Bob Lord said.
Matt Kapko, Senior Reporter
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency wants receipts from all parties involved far and wide as it advances on its quest to push the responsibility for security to manufacturers and vendors instead of customers. Following CISA’s revised guidance urging technology companies to prove they are incorporating security into their products with detailed data and logs, Bob Lord, senior technical advisor at CISA, explained how these responsibilities fall on various hardware and software stakeholders in a Thursday blog post.