Valdosta Daily Times
Today, Peach State Health Plan, a care management organization that serves the needs of Georgians through a range of health insurance solutions and a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), and the Centene Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Centene Corporation, announced a $2.2 million funding commitment to Augusta University (AU). The funding will facilitate the expansion of the University’s Medical College of Georgia (MCG) 3+ Primary Care Pathway Program (MCG 3+ Program), as well as support the launch of a new loan forgiveness program for the university’s Dental College of Georgia (DCG) students who commit to five years of practice in rural and underserved areas. This commitment builds on an existing relationship with AU and is another example of the work underway to approach challenges that result from provider shortages in rural areas of the state.
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Today
See professor surprise entire class with trip to the Paris Olympics
Professor Mo Ivory told her law class at the Georgia State University that she was going to bring two students to the 2024 Olympics in Paris with the help of Delta Air Lines — but there was a twist! TODAY’s Hoda Kotb shares the Morning Boost.
Albany Herald
UGA international student approaches education through inclusive lens
By Erica Techo UGA Today
Wisnu Pradana is seeking ways to understand others. As a language and literacy educator and doctoral student in the Mary Frances Early College of Education, Pradana aims not only to educate but also support students from all backgrounds. … Pradana came to the University of Georgia in 2017 as a Fulbright Scholar and master’s student. But after earning his degree in 2019, he stuck around to continue his Ph.D. As an international student from Indonesia, he faced several challenges while adjusting to life in Athens. From homesickness to learning new cultural norms, he recognized that other international students confronted the same obstacles. …His work has not gone unnoticed, either. Pradana was named an Unsung Hero of UGA in 2021 and received the 2022 Saeeda Peermahomed Award, an ISL award that recognizes outstanding international students. In 2023, he was awarded the Genelle Morain Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching.
Diverse Issues in Education
Georgia State Prep Program Seeks to Retain Local Teachers
Johnny Jackson
Georgia State University has launched a teacher prep and retention program to help ensure students in metro Atlanta school districts receive stable, qualified classroom instruction. Georgia State’s College of Education & Human Development (CEHD) is partnering with four area school districts to help mitigate the state’s teacher shortage and improve teacher retention, according to university officials.
The Brunswick News
College supports local economy growth and entrepreneurship
By Lauren McDonald
When Ande Noktes moved to Brunswick in 2022, she hit the ground running in her effort to meet local entrepreneurs and learn what they need to be successful. Noktes, the first executive director of the Art and Lindee Lucas Center for Entrepreneurship at College of Coastal Georgia, would attend First Friday, a monthly event in downtown Brunswick, and spend time meeting and talking with entrepreneurs in attendance. …College of Coastal Georgia plays a significant role in the area’s economic growth. This is done by offering job opportunities, bringing students to the area, partnering with local businesses and nonprofits through service-learning programs and more. CCGA’s economic impact over the past five years has been over $500 million. But the college’s role in economic growth goes further than that, said Michelle Johnston, president of CCGA.
AP News
Georgia leaders propose $11.3M to improve reading as some lawmakers seek a more aggressive approach
By Jeff Amy
Georgia education officials want to provide literacy coaches to help train teachers to improve reading instruction, even as some prominent lawmakers say the state Department of Education isn’t doing enough to implement a literacy law passed last year. … Georgia is a relative latecomer to literacy reform, with legislators passing a law last year mandating that each district must retrain teachers by August 2025. …Because the Georgia Department of Education doesn’t closely track what schools are teaching, it’s possible some districts haven’t even gotten started. A survey by the Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy [GCSU] could help answer that question by spring. …“The research shows just going to workshops, just hearing talks and participating in webinars, that’s unlikely to change behavior,” said Lindee Morgan, executive director of the Deal Center.
WGAU Radio
By Erica Techo, UGA Today
The University of Georgia bestowed one of its highest honors on Ronald D. Simpson and Rebecca Hanner White in an award ceremony on Jan. 25. The President’s Medal recognizes individuals, not currently employed at the university, who have made extraordinary contributions to the UGA community by supporting students and academic programs, advancing research or engaging in public service to enhance the quality of life of citizens in Georgia. The honor is awarded annually during the university’s Founders Day celebration. “This year’s honorees, Dr. Ronald Simpson and Dean Rebecca Hanner White, have been devoted members of the UGA community for decades and have played key roles in establishing some of our most impactful academic programs,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “It has been my great privilege to work with both of them over the course of my career.”
Augusta CEO
Augusta University Business Faculty Offers Financial Advice for College Students
Kevin Faigle
The world of finances isn’t always an easy one for students to navigate. Wendy Habegger, PhD, senior lecturer in the Hull College of Business, suggests several ways college students can improve their financial literacy, even after their collegiate career. Habegger said most don’t have a good grasp of what that is, despite being one of the most foundational building blocks to help students start off on the right foot.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta economy, 2023: strong year, mixed finish
Most economists forecast that Metro growth will slow and continue modestly in the coming year
By Michael E. Kanell
In a somewhat mixed coda to a surprisingly upbeat year, Metro Atlanta shed jobs in December, but still finished the year with a historically low unemployment rate and growth of 72,000 jobs, the state Labor Department said Thursday. The region shed 6,200 jobs during the month with gains in some sectors offset by losses elsewhere. …Most economists — including forecasts by Georgia State’s Economic Forecasting Center and the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business — now suggest that growth will slow, but continue modestly through this year. However, the pessimism overhanging last year was not unwarranted. The Federal Reserve had rapidly raised its benchmark interest rate from near zero to 5.3%, an increase that has rippled through virtually all lending in the economy.
WGAU Radio
UGA Ag experts deliver farm forecast today in Tifton
By Tim Bryant
Economists from the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are on the UGA campus in Tifton today, delivering their annual farm and agribusiness forecast for Georgia.
From the UGA master calendar…
The University of Georgia is committed to sharing the latest economic projections for U.S. and state agriculture to guide farmers and agribusiness. Economists from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences provide an outlook of agricultural markets for the coming year and keynote speakers focus on important and trending topics. The annual event will be held in Tifton, Ga. and live-streamed to virtual participants.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tybee company makes history with harvest from Georgia’s first floating oyster farm
By John Deem – Savannah Morning News
At a dock along Chatham County’s Bull River, Perry and Laura Solomon repeat what has become a familiar routine over the last eight months. Bundled in waterproof coveralls, winter coats and stocking caps, the couple boards their 21-foot Carolina Skiff – the same vessel Perry’s late father used to lead dolphin-viewing tours around Tybee Island – at Savannah Boathouse Marina on a cold January afternoon. Perry eventually guides the boat around a final bend, flushing a flock of a pelicans from the shell-encrusted shore just as four long lines of what resemble floating violin cases come into view. These containers – 1,200 in all – hold the crop from Georgia’s first open-water oyster farm. Submerged baskets attached to the containers contain carefully cultivated mollusks at varying stages of maturity. They started as 100,000 fingernail-sized “seed,” or baby Eastern oysters, purchased in the summer from the University of Georgia Marine Extension and Sea Grant’s Shellfish Research Laboratory.
Fox5 Atlanta
Veterinarian shares 3 ways to help your pet get healthier in 2024
By Beth Galvin
Many of us started off the new year with a goal: to get in shape, lose weight, or maybe drink a little less. But what about resolving to take better care of our pets? Dr. George McCommon, professor of veterinary science at Fort Valley State University, says investing in some basic preventive care for your pet now can pay off down the road.
WSB-TV
Former WSB-TV reporter, NBA on TNT host Ernie Johnson Jr. honored by UGA with broadcasting award
By Leo Tochterman, WSBTV.com
Former WSB-TV reporter and current NBA on TNT host Ernie Johnson Jr. was honored in Athens earlier this week. The Georgia Association of Broadcasters and UGA’s broadcast society DiGamma Kappa named Johnson as this year’s Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient. Johnson has been the host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” since 1990, working alongside NBA legends like Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal, but he got his career started in Athens and with WSB-TV. A UGA graduate, Johnson worked at WSB-TV as a general assignment news reporter starting in 1982.
Lake Oconee Breeze
Rotary Club honors December 2023 Students of the Month
The Rotary Club of Greene and Putnam Counties is pleased to announce the following Students-of-the-Month for December 2023: Jayden Daniel (Gatewood), Christian Smith (Greene County High School), Mason Bear (NGA) and Sean Strickland (Putnam County High School). Gatewood November Student-of-the-Month, Taylor Moreno, was also recognized at the meeting. Jayden Daniel is a senior at Gatewood Schools. …After high school, he plans to attend The School of Aviation at Middle Georgia State University. …Taylor Moreno isa senior at Gatewood Schools and is the Student-of-the-Month for November 2023. ..After high school, she plans to attend Georgia College and State University and pursue a career in nursing. …Christian Smith, a senior at Greene County High School. He is currently …Dual Enrollment student, honor student, AP student, UGA Upward Bound Student, …Sean Strickland is a senior at Putnam County High School. …Strickland is an A/B honor roll student involved in many clubs, such as Future Farmers of America (FFA), …After high school, he plans to attend the University of Georgia and pursue a degree in environmental health science, then moving forward to attend Augusta University for medical school.
Albany Herald
Van Morrison tribute band concert scheduled at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
From staff reports
“Street Choir: A Van Morrison Experience” is coming to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Feb. 1 as part of the ABAC Arts and Culture Tribute Series. The show will be held at ABAC’s Howard Auditorium at 7 p.m. Atlanta singer Greg Hester recreates the aura of Morrison onstage with all the joy of the diminutive Irish giant at his best. Hester will perform selections such as “Domino,” “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Moondance,” “Tupelo Honey,” “Into the Mystic,” “Wild Night,” “Have I Told You Lately” and other classics.
Statesboro Herald
Local author publishes first children’s book
SEB, GS grad Sarah Taylor’s ‘King Zara’ available now on Amazon
From staff reports
Bulloch County native Sarah Taylor graduated from Southeast Bulloch High School and then attended Georgia Southern University, where she became a Double Eagle, earning both her undergraduate and graduate degrees. Now a licensed professional counselor, Taylor has been a practicing clinician since 2007 and has spent most of her career counseling active-duty members of the military and their families. As of this month, Taylor also is the author of a newly published children’s book.
Coastal Courier
Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield is hosting a free resource expo for up-and-coming entrepreneurs, small and home-based businesses on Feb. 1 at Club Stewart. This event promises an enriching experience with a lineup of successful business owners and networking opportunities. Doors open at 4:15 p.m. for registration. Program starts at 5 p.m. “As we join hands with the Georgia Southern University’s Business Innovation Group, Army Community Service and other local business leaders, Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation takes pride in presenting this event. We are providing a platform for like-minded, self-driven individuals to converge because we understand the demand for specialized information and genuine networking.
WGAU Radio
UNG organizes Relay for Life in fight against cancer
By Clark Leonard, UNG
The University of North Georgia’s Relay for Life team will host the Heroes Against Cancer 5K and one-mile fun run March 2 to raise funds for its participation in the 2024 Relay for Life of Hall County. The fun run starts at 8 a.m. at UNG’s Gainesville Campus, followed by the 5K at 8:30 a.m.
accessWDUN
Softball: Defending national champ UNG is preseason No. 1
By AccessWDUN Staff
Defending national champion University of North Georgia is the unanimous preseason favorite in the 2024 NFCA NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. Head coach Mike Davenport’s Nighthawks set a program record with 64 wins in 2023 as they went 10-1 during the NCAA postseason. They recorded a 5-1 mark at the NCAA Championships, which included a championship series sweep of Grand Valley State. .. North Georgia is scheduled to open its title defense on Feb. 2-4 when the team travels to Gulf Shores, Ala., to take part in the Gulf Shores Invitational.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA lawsuits over fatal crash likely delayed for months
Athens lawmaker Bill Cowsert has invoked a Georgia law that allows legislators to delay cases, a move that has drawn opposition from one of the attorneys representing Devin Willock’s family.
By Dylan Jackson
A pair of lawsuits that arose following a fatal crash that stunned the University of Georgia football program appear to be on hiatus through early April, a delay the lawyer for Devin Willock’s father says benefits defendants Jalen Carter and the UGA Athletic Association. Athens state senator Bill Cowsert, who is representing Carter, a former UGA defensive star, has told a judge he will step away from the cases through April 8. His filing cites a Georgia law that grants lawyer-legislators broad leave from their legal caseload during the legislative session, which typically runs through the first few months of the year. The law allows Cowsert to effectively halt hearings and discovery in the UGA cases, first filed last summer.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
University of Georgia: More bats removed from campus residence hall
By Vanessa McCray
Bats are still hanging around a University of Georgia dorm. UGA spokesman James Hataway said in an email Thursday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that work is ongoing to rid Oglethorpe House of bats that have taken up residence in the nine-floor building on the Athens campus. Pest control experts returned to the dorm Thursday where they worked over the weekend to seal up access points in the building’s exterior. The workers observed “approximately 25 to 30 bats congregating in the rafters of a rooftop mechanical space” on Thursday. Hataway described the area as “locked” and “inaccessible to students.”
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gas South settles data breach cases for almost $900,000
Affected customers can get up to $3,250 each
By Rosie Manins
Gas South will pay up to $897,500 to settle class action litigation over a 2022 data breach that affected almost 39,000 customers. A Cobb County judge gave final approval on Jan. 19 of a settlement negotiated by the Atlanta-headquartered natural gas company and four customers who sued it on behalf of all those whose personal information was compromised in the cyberattack. …Cybersecurity attacks have hit a wide range of businesses and organizations. In the past year alone, data breaches were reported by the University System of Georgia, a vendor for the Georgia Teachers Retirement System, Mercer University, Atlanta-based medical software company NextGen Healthcare, Toccoa-based consumer lender 1st Franklin Financial and locally headquartered restaurant chain Chick-fil-A.
Higher Education News:
The New York Times Magazine
College Is All About Curiosity. And That Requires Free Speech.
True learning can only happen on campuses where academic freedom is paramount — within and outside the classroom.
By Stephen L. Carter (Stephen L. Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell professor of law at Yale)
I have served happily as a professor at Yale for most of my adult life, but in my four-plus decades at the mast, I have never seen campuses roiled as they’re roiling today. On the one hand are gleeful activists on the right, taking victory laps over the tragic tumble from grace of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay. On the other is a campus left that has spent years crafting byzantine and vague rules on hate speech that it suddenly finds turned back on its allies. For those of us who love the academy, these are unhappy times. The controversy began with criticisms of some universities, Harvard included, for soft-pedaling their responses to the horrific Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and for then ignoring the overheated rhetoric of many pro-Palestinian protesters on campus. It has since spiraled into a full-bore battle in the never-ending culture wars.
The New York Times
Pennsylvania Governor Proposes to Overhaul the State University System
Gov. Josh Shapiro, declaring that the system is broken, plans to place most schools under the same system and lower tuition for low- and middle-income students.
By Stephanie Saul
Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who has complained that his state’s higher education “isn’t working,” proposed on Friday a sweeping overhaul of the state’s sprawling college and university system that would reduce tuition for many students and determine funding for individual schools based in part on their performance. The plan would consolidate 10 of Pennsylvania’s state universities and all 15 of its community colleges under one governance umbrella, boost state funding for public higher education, and allow students with low to middle incomes to pay only $1,000 a semester in tuition. Most of the plan would not affect Pennsylvania’s best-known public universities, including Penn State, Pittsburgh and Temple.
Inside Higher Ed
Undocumented Families Locked Out of New FAFSA
By Liam Knox
The new Free Application for Federal Student Aid form has been giving undocumented applicants and their families problems since its soft launch late last month. Due to a systemwide error, when parents who do not have a Social Security number begin filling out the form, they receive a message saying they are “unauthorized to act on behalf of the student since they already have a 24–25 FAFSA form”—even if their child has not started a form yet, according to a running list of issues maintained by the Office of Federal Student Aid regarding the new site. Undocumented parents are also locked out of contributing to an existing FAFSA if their child invites them to do so on an already-started form.
WSAV
University of California board delays vote over hiring immigrant students without legal status
by: Olga R. Rodriguez, Associated Press
The University of California’s governing board on Thursday punted a decision of whether to allow immigrant students without legal status to apply for jobs on its 10 campuses, with the system’s president warning doing so would carry “significant risk” for the institution and students, including possible criminal prosecution. The Board of Regents voted 9 to 6 to delay considering the plan until 2025 amid shouts of “Cowards!” from some in the audience. Before the vote, University of California President Michael Drake told the board that the proposed legal pathway for the student work plan was “not viable right now” and said implementing such a plan would carry “significant risk for the institution and for those we serve.”
Inside Higher Ed
University of Texas Austin Eliminates Scholarship for Undocumented Students
By Jessica Blake
The University of Texas at Austin is eliminating a scholarship program for undocumented students, citing the state’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion spending and federal immigration law, The Dallas Morning News reported. The program, which awarded students scholarships ranging from $500 to $1,000 annually, was part of larger program that provided resources for undocumented students and that was discontinued Jan. 1. The News learned about the scholarship’s termination from a source.
Inside Higher Ed
Florida Career College to Close
By Doug Lederman
Florida Career College, a for-profit institution whose ability to tap federal financial aid funds was cut off by the U.S. Education Department in April, will formally close its doors by Feb. 15 after teaching out all remaining students in its programs, a spokesman confirmed Thursday. The institution stopped enrolling new students last April, after the federal government denied its application to continue awarding federal financial aid, citing evidence that it had violated regulations governing the ability of students without a high school diploma to benefit from postsecondary education, among other concerns.