U.S. News & World Report
Georgia’s Governor Says the State Will Pay a $1,000 Year-End Bonus to Public and School Employees
Georgia’s government will pay a $1,000 year-end bonus to state, university and public school employees
By Associated Press
Georgia’s government will put a little extra jingle in the pockets of state, university and public school employees, paying them a $1,000 year-end bonus, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday. The Republican governor also said he would propose a permanent $104 million yearly allocation for school security going forward, enough to provide $45,000 to every Georgia public school, as he makes further plans to spend Georgia’s $11 billion in surplus funds. Officials said the roughly 112,000 state and university employees would get the extra $1,000 by the end of the year, while school districts will determine when the roughly 196,000 teachers and support staff get the bonus. Elected officials and judges won’t get the cash.
WGAU Radio
Kemp, Morehead clarify teacher, state worker signing bonus announcement
By Tim Bryant
The Governor’s office is clarifying this week’s announcement of one thousand dollar bonuses for teachers and state workers, saying now that teachers in some school districts will not get the bonuses until after the first of the year. University of Georgia president Jere Morehead says UGA’s full time staffers will see their bonuses added to their December 29 paychecks.
Dalton Daily Citizen
John M. Fuchko III and David J. Elrod: Anyone can be a philanthropist
By John M. Fuchko III and David J. Elrod (John Fuchko III is the president of Dalton State College.
David J. Elrod is director of the Dalton State Foundation.)
When we are out and about in the community, people frequently come up and say some variation of “Let me know what I/we/my company can do to support Dalton State.” This is music to our ears, especially in those times when resources are tight or when we’re seeking to strengthen our foundation of support among the population the college is intended to serve. One of the easiest avenues for supporting Dalton State College is philanthropy. A common misconception is that philanthropy applies only to millionaires, but anyone can be a philanthropist. Philanthropy is the act of giving any amount, whether it’s $10 or $10 million. We all have different philanthropic abilities, but when we focus them on shared aspirations and goals, that’s when magic happens. This was illustrated dramatically during Dalton State’s fourth annual Giving Day on Oct. 19.
The Tifton Gazette
ABAC’s Emma Richwine receives Bridges Award
From Staff Reports
Emma Richwine, an agricultural communication major from Bishop, received the prestigious David and Kim Bridges Award during the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources commencement ceremony at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Thursday, Dec. 14. Richwine received an award and a check for $1,000 from the ABAC Alumni Association, which sponsors the award. The Bridges Award is presented in recognition of scholarship, leadership, and citizenship to a graduate receiving a four-year degree from ABAC. Dr. David Bridges was the longest-serving president in the history of ABAC. He retired on July 31, 2022, after more than 16 years as ABAC’s chief executive. He and his wife, Kim, are both ABAC alumni. During her ABAC career, Richwine made the President’s List every semester and was awarded multiple scholarships including the Georgia Agribusiness Council Sumpin’ Big Scholarship, the Georgia Ford Dealers Scholarship, the ABAC Ag Alumni Scholarship, the Georgia Development Authority Scholarship, the National FFA AGCO Scholarship, the NRCW Scholarship, and the Dr. Baldwin Davis Memorial Scholarship.
YouTube
Columbus State University 2023 Fall Commencement Recap
Baldwin2K News
Georgia Film Academy Opens Spring 2024 Course Registration Statewide
Hands-on training provides workforce development in the digital entertainment and creative industries
Georgia Film Academy (GFA) opened registration for its Spring courses at more than 25 partner institutions across the state. Running from Jan. 8 to April 25, 2024, GFA’s offerings will provide workforce training in the digital entertainment, film and television production industries. Open to degree and non-degree seeking students, course offerings include Introduction to Film & Television Production (GFA 1000), Introduction to Film & Television Post-Production (GFA 1040) and Introduction to Digital Entertainment, Esports & Game Development (GFA 1500). …“In collaboration with the University System of Georgia and Technical College System of Georgia, we’re proud to continue educating the next wave of professionals for the creative economy,” said Scott Votaw, assistant vice chancellor for the University System of Georgia where he leads GFA. “We are excited to equip students with the latest tools and knowledge needed for success in this ever-evolving field, which has become a coveted workforce opportunity for Georgians and individuals across the country.”
Georgia Southern University receives grant for waterfront study
A grant of more than $254,000 awarded to Georgia Southern University will provide the first comprehensive assessment of Georgia’s working waterfronts since 1975. Although location data on docks was gathered by Georgia Southern researchers between 2018-21 through a Georgia Sea Grant project, there is no in-depth information on the current conditions of each dock and its infrastructure, according to Jennifer Sweeney Tookes, Ph.D., a Georgia Southern associate anthropology professor. The new grant funds a three-year project in which a group of three to five students each year will receive intensive training in qualitative research methods, as well as the complexities associated with managing Georgia’s coast, and commercial fishing industry.
MedPage Today
Nutrition Can’t Be Ignored in Osteoporosis
— As important a component in management as in heart disease
by Diana Swift, Contributing Writer
Diet and related lifestyle issues have long been acknowledged as significant to prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. “Nutrition is an area definitely not to be ignored, both in those with a previous fragility fracture and those diagnosed with osteoporosis or are at risk for it. In fact, diet is critically important for all people over age 50,” said Douglas R. Dirschl, MD, chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Osteoporosis is just the tip of a very large iceberg, and for a subset of people the risk is already long in place.” …”Nutrition has a significant impact on bone health, particularly when combined with weight-bearing, muscle-strengthening, and balance-training exercises and prescribed medications,” said Emma Laing, PhD, RDN, director of Dietetics at the University of Georgia in Athens and national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Ample calcium, vitamin D, protein, and a variety of fruits and vegetables are recommended for individuals at risk for or who are diagnosed with osteoporosis. “A targeted nutrition intervention is unlikely to improve bone strength on its own; however, diet can improve the effectiveness of medications used to treat this condition,” Laing added.
Vogue
These 5 Brain Fog-Busting Foods Will Help To Boost Your Mental Clarity
by Georgia Day
Whether it’s caused by too much stress or too little sleep, brain fog can affect us all. Usually manifesting as poor concentration, slowness of thought and feelings of forgetfulness, the lack of mental clarity that brain fog brings can be frustrating. And while it’s not a recognised medical term, eliminating brain fuzziness and boosting your concentration is something we should all take seriously. According to the Office for National Statistics, dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease is the leading cause of death in Britain. As with almost everything health-related, diet has a huge part to play. …Leafy greens like kale, spinach and Swiss chard are packed with antioxidants that can help neutralise cellular damage caused by free radicals. Research carried out by the University of Georgia indicates a link between two specific carotenoids found in leafy greens – lutein and zeaxanthin – and improved visual processing, a process which more than 50 per cent of the brain’s cortex is dedicated to. It’s thought that the antioxidants are the only two carotenoids that can cross the blood-retina barrier to nourish both the eyes and the brain.
WGAU Radio
UGA study: gaming, vaping prevalent among adolescents
By Kathryn Kao, UGA Today
Addictive behaviors often develop during adolescence and can lead to issues with mental and physical health. Despite these consequences, most high school counselors, who are positioned to address these issues, report a lack of formalized training in two addictive behaviors—vaping and internet gaming, according to a new study by the University of Georgia.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Legislature ‘24: General Assembly must address full education continuum
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Fred A. Jones Jr. is the senior director of public policy and advocacy for the Southern Education Foundation, a 156-year-old organization based in Atlanta. He lives with his family in Augusta and has a child enrolled in Georgia’s public school system. In a guest column, Jones advises the Georgia General Assembly to look at education from pre-K through college and assure all levels have the funding and supports they need to succeed.
By Fred A. Jones Jr.
As we begin the 2024 legislative session, Georgia leaders need to invest in and transform our education system to meet the unique needs of each student. Instead of segmenting early childhood, K-12, and higher education, legislators should frame and fund youth development in a way that comprehensively supports students’ individual educational pathways and supports them through the critical transitions in their young lives. …A recent study by the Century Foundation clearly outlines the funding disadvantages for HBCUs, especially land-grant institutions such as Fort Valley State University. Several HBCU alumni in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit against the state, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars to correct historic funding inequities in the state. The state’s underinvestment in Fort Valley State has resulted in a funding gap of about $600 million over the last three decades alone, compared to levels the state would have provided if resources had been allocated fairly.
Grice Connect
Georgia Southern to sponsor winter/spring Junior Tennis Academy
The academy is open to boys and girls from grades 6-12 and will meet every Monday and Wednesday beginning on January 8 at the Wallis Tennis Center on the campus of Georgia Southern University.
Georgia Southern women’s tennis will be hosting a winter/spring Junior High and High School Tennis Academy, beginning in January of 2024. The academy is open to boys and girls from grades 6-12 and will meet every Monday and Wednesday beginning on January 8 at the Wallis Tennis Center on the campus of Georgia Southern University.
YouTube
Georgia Alabama Sports Live Show
Special Guest: Columbus State Women’s Head Basketball Coach Matt Houser
The Brunswick News
PUT ON PAUSE: College of Coastal Georgia volleyball program on indefinite hiatus
By Derrick Davis
The College of Coastal Georgia volleyball program has been paused indefinitely. Last month the school decided to put its volleyball program on hiatus as part of a short- and long-term plan for its athletic department following an extensive operational review that spanned 18 months. “After careful consideration, I am announcing a strategic pause of our volleyball program,” Coastal Georgia president Michelle Johnston said in an email sent to members of the team Nov. 16. “This means that we will not compete at the conference or NAIA levels for the 2024 season. Please know that the decision has not been made to permanently cancel the program. Coastal Georgia Volleyball has a strong following and has achieved notable accomplishments throughout the years. We are grateful for the leadership of interim coach Val Every and our assistant coaches who have invested deeply in the development of our student-athletes.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Ed Department Releases FAFSA ‘Soft Launch’ Timeline
By Liam Knox
The Department of Education released details Friday on the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, noting that the previously announced Dec. 31 deadline represented a “soft launch period,” during which officials will monitor for technical issues, field concerns from families and make last-minute tweaks. The ED will also implement periodic “pauses,” when students already working on FAFSAs may continue doing so but new forms cannot be started. The department clarified that “full processing” of forms will not begin until late January, and students need not rush to complete the form once it’s released.
Inside Higher Ed
Men Are Driving Enrollment Declines
By Johanna Alonso
Men are driving the decline in college enrollments—particularly at four-year institutions, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. While the number of women aged 18 to 24 in college has decreased by 200,000 since total college enrollment peaked in 2011, the number of men in that age bracket has dropped by a million during that time period. Men currently make up 42 percent of all 18- to 24-year-old college students, down from 47 percent in 2011.
Higher Ed Dive
Colleges that require DEI statements would lose federal funding under House bill
The proposal from Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, highlights the momentum behind efforts targeting diversity, equity and inclusion.
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
Dive Brief:
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas, introduced a legislative proposal this week that would strip colleges of federal funding if they require employees, students or applicants to write diversity, equity and inclusion statements. Colleges sometimes ask prospective students and employees to submit DEI statements, which typically highlight their contributions to diversity and inclusion within their research or teaching. Crenshaw’s bill would ban the practice for federally funded colleges. Crenshaw’s proposal faces tough odds of passing a politically divided Congress, especially in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Yet it highlights growing momentum behind the conservative-led movement to crack down on DEI initiatives in higher education.
Inside Higher Ed
Incoming Law Class Reaches Highest Ever Diversity
By Liam Knox
Law schools enrolled their most diverse matriculating classes on record in 2023, the final class to be selected before the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down affirmative action in June, according to new data from the American Bar Association. The national incoming law class is made up of 40 percent students of color, a one-percentage-point increase over last year and the third straight year of historic diversity for law schools. Nonwhite students also made up a larger portion of the applicant pool this year—42 percent, up by one percentage point from last year as well.
Higher Ed Dive
DOL rule would promote apprenticeships, tighten program labor standards
Apprenticeships have received much attention of late as a way to funnel badly needed talent into key industries.
Kathryn Moody, Senior Editor
Dive Brief:
The U.S. Department of Labor proposed a rule Dec. 14 that seeks to modernize the registered apprenticeship program. The rule intends to strengthen labor standards and worker protections as well as better promote apprenticeship pathways, among other things. The rule also includes a program called the “registered career and technical education apprenticeship” that is designed to make it “more seamless” for full-time high school and community college students to enroll in the apprenticeship system. “Equity and job quality have marked the most successful Registered Apprenticeship programs for workers and employers alike. This proposed rule codifies the Department of Labor’s strong commitment to these principles,” Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a statement. “Importantly, the proposed changes will also provide strong worker protections, improved employer experiences and greater clarity about the roles of federal and state governments and their partners in the National Apprenticeship System.”
Inside Higher Ed
Report: House Republican Details Plan to Crack Down on Elite Universities
By Katherine Knott
U.S. representative Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, told a group of business leaders that this month’s hearing on campus antisemitism was the first step in a broader plan to defund elite universities, CNBC reported Monday. Following the combative Dec. 5 hearing that featured the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, the House Education and Workforce Committee opened investigations into those institutions. Banks, a member of that committee, who is running for Senate in Indiana, said those investigations are the second step. The inquiries are centered in part on how institutions responded to reports of campus antisemitism, along with their policies and disciplinary procedures. Banks said the committee will be looking to see if the institutions are creating an unsafe environment for Jewish students.
Inside Higher Ed
CFPB Sounds Alarm About College-Sponsored Bank Accounts
By Katherine Knott
Students at historically Black colleges and universities, for-profit colleges, and Hispanic-serving institutions pay higher-than-average fees when they open a college-sponsored deposit account, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finds in a report released Tuesday. The agency’s annual report on college banking and credit card agreements offered new research and data on the financial products that colleges market to students. Colleges and universities can partner with banks to disburse financial aid to students in the form of prepaid credit cards or bank accounts.
Inside Higher Ed
2 TAs Provided Students Mental Health Resources on Gaza. They’re Not TAs Anymore
University of Texas at Austin faculty members and students are protesting the removal of two teaching assistants who sent students a pro-Palestinian statement.
By Ryan Quinn
Around late October or early November, a University of Texas at Austin student in a course called Women and Madness asked the instructors to “acknowledge the mental health needs of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students,” according to a now-former teaching assistant for the class. … Kennedy said the Women and Madness professor, Lauren Gulbas, declined that request, saying it was an emotional and fraught issue. So Gulbas, Kennedy and the other TA, Parham Daghighi, worked together on an alternative: issuing a statement that would also provide students with mental health resources. The TAs said they worked for an hour to collectively edit the statement, and Gulbas—after expressing some concern at the end of their meeting about retaliation other faculty members have faced for speaking out on the issue—gave them approval to distribute it, but without her name attached. The TAs posted the message the morning of Nov. 16, on the class’s Canvas learning management platform. …That evening, the TAs said, Gulbas informed them that there had been a complaint. On Nov. 17 she told them it was from a Jewish student, they said. They said they then heard nothing from Gulbas or the administration until Nov. 22, when, Daghighi, the other former TA, said, “We awoke to dismissal letters.” The letters were signed by Allan Cole, dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, and they said the TAs’ message “shows that you lack the professional judgment required for this role.”
Higher Ed Dive
Florida faculty question if they can hire grad students from ‘countries of concern’
The state recently restricted when its public colleges can partner with nations like China and Iran, raising questions about international recruitment.
Laura Spitalniak, Staff Reporter
Dive Brief:
Faculty at the University of Florida are pressing their leadership for clarification on if a new state law prevents them from hiring international graduate students from countries like China and Iran for assistantship positions. Earlier this year, the state began requiring its public colleges to seek permission before working with so-called “countries of concern.” But university department chairs have issued differing instructions on how this impacts international graduate student recruitment, faculty said in a letter to university leaders. To avoid further confusion, the group is seeking an explicit edict from the administration allowing the university to recruit graduate assistants regardless of their nationality. As of Tuesday afternoon, the letter drew over 300 signatures, according to a public list.
Inside Higher Ed
MIT Facing Investigation for Alleged Title VI Violations
By Katherine Knott
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is now among 23 colleges and universities under investigation for alleged discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry, according to the Education Department’s updated list of open inquiries. The department said Tuesday that it had opened investigations into MIT; the University of California, Davis; Drexel University; and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The list doesn’t specify what the investigations are about, other than that they focus on possible shared-ancestry violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires federally funded institutions to protect students from discrimination based on race, color or national origin.
Inside Higher Ed
Building Up the Black Deaf Student Community
Gallaudet University is raising millions of dollars to introduce more supports for Black Deaf students and make amends for past wrongs.
By Sara Weissman
J.C. Smith, a senior at Gallaudet University, grew up using Black American Sign Language, a variation of ASL used by African Americans, with some of his high school classmates at Mississippi School for the Deaf. But when he got to Gallaudet, a private university dedicated to Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Washington D.C., he felt like he had to “code-switch.” “We used our own slang, our own language. We had our own culture there,” Smith said of his upbringing in Jackson, Miss. But he felt like Black ASL “was looked at like kind of a ‘hood’ language” or “inappropriate” at the university, he said. He started using it less and less. Then Gallaudet opened its Center for Black Deaf Studies in 2020, his sophomore year, and Smith started working at the center as a student support specialist. … Last year the center began offering a minor in Black Deaf studies. …Gallaudet is now putting new resources into supports for its Black community and acknowledging racial injustices from the past.
Cybersecurity Dive
Comcast’s Xfinity discloses massive data breach linked to CitrixBleed vulnerability
The breach, involving 35.9 million customers, took place just a week after Citrix released a patch for a critical flaw.
David Jones, Reporter
Dive Brief:
Comcast’s Xfinity broadband entertainment platform disclosed a massive data breach involving 35.9 million customers on Monday, an incident connected to the ongoing CitrixBleed vulnerability. Xfinity promptly patched the vulnerability in Citrix software it uses in mid-October and took additional mitigation steps, the company said in an announcement. However, during a routine cybersecurity exercise on Oct. 25, Xfinity found an anomaly in its systems and identified a breach between Oct. 16-19 by an unauthorized party. After launching an investigation and contacting law enforcement, on Nov. 16 the company determined that customer data was likely stolen. On Dec. 6, Xfinity determined the compromised data included user names and hashed passwords. In some cases, names, contact information, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, dates of birth and secret questions and answers were accessed.