SaportaReport
Pedro Cherry, 2024 chair of Georgia Chamber, to focus on economic opportunity
by Maria Saporta
As the Georgia Chamber of Commerce enters a new year, one theme is on its mind – how to make sure Georgia maintains its standing (10 years running) as the best state for business. In 2024, the business leader at the helm of that task is Pedro Cherry, president and CEO of Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas (subsidiaries of the Southern Co.). Cherry succeeds Neil Pruitt Jr., chairman and CEO of PruittHealth, as Georgia Chamber’s chair. …None is greater than the healthcare space, an area Pruitt knows well. He became CEO of PruittHeath in 2002 when he was only 27. His father, the founder of the company, died in a car accident in 2003. “We currently have more than 40,000 openings in healthcare in the state, and that’s projected to grow to 100,000 openings by 2030,” Pruitt said in an interview. “Here at PruittHealth, we have 3,000 open positions and 13,000 employees. We should have 16,000.” For Pruitt, who also serves on the Georgia Board of Regents, believes the only way to solve the issue of workforce training is through public-private partnerships, and he believes the Georgia Chamber plays a pivotal role in building those relationships.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lawmakers look to try again to increase need-based college aid
By Vanessa McCray
Georgia lawmakers plan to reexamine a proposal to expand need-based grants that help students who can’t afford to finish college. The Georgia College Completion Grant program launched in 2022 after legislators authorized providing up to $2,500 to students who’ve completed 80% of their college credits and have a financial aid gap. …Need-based college aid supporters such as Georgia State University junior Rhea Wunsch are eager to see the state provide more dollars to low-income students. The Georgia Lottery funds the robust, merit-based HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships. But even though Wunsch receives that help with tuition, she said she’s taken out some student loans to help with other costs. She also works to pay for expenses such as textbooks and rent on the one-bedroom apartment she shares with a roommate.
WGAU Radio
UNG graduates 76 nursing students
By Tim Bryant
As a new spring semester begins at the University of North Georgia, UNG is reporting the fall graduations of 76 students who received Bachelor of Nursing degrees.
From Agnes Hina, UNG…
With the urgent need for health care professionals in northeast Georgia, the University of North Georgia is producing a growing number of new leaders in the nursing career path. “The UNG Nursing Department provides expert faculty, state-of-the-art simulation and hands-on clinical experience at an affordable price,” Dr. Heather Harris, Nursing Department head, said. “With the highest NCLEX pass rate in the state of Georgia over the last four years, UNG is one of the best values in nursing education in the region.”
Valdosta Today
VCS congratulates December 2023 employee graduates
Valdosta City Schools congratulates staff members who completed another milestone by graduating in December 2023. Congratulations to our staff members who completed another milestone in December 2023! We are so grateful for your initiative and diligent work to become better educators and employees through furthering your education. We commend you for your endurance to achieve this great accomplishment, and we are thankful you are part of Valdosta City Schools! From Horne Learning Center: …Emy Aultman, Ed. Specialist in Instructional Technology from Kennesaw State University; Andrea Davis, Masters in Elementary Education from Albany State University; Abishai Diaz, from Valdosta State University…
Atlanta Business Chronicle
City of Atlanta renews lease for temporary APD space
By Savannah Sicurella – Staff Reporter, Atlanta Business Chronicle
The Atlanta Police Department will continue to train in a temporary facility on the Atlanta Metropolitan State College as construction work on the contentious public safety center continues. The Atlanta City Council on Monday authorized renewal of the lease for one year, beginning July 1. The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents is the landlord of the space. The city leases 26,000 square feet across two buildings at 1630 Metropolitan Pkwy, where the Atlanta Police Department has operated its training facility since 2021. The space costs $26,790 in rent per month, according to the City Council agenda. This expenditure is partly paid from the general fund.
WRBL
Is it a problem? Here’s what you need to know about tobacco-free oral nicotine
by: Olivia Yepez
Tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches are on the rise and many institutions are still figuring out how to handle it. Sales of oral nicotine pouch products in the U.S. increased from just over $126 million in 2019 to just over $808 million in 2022. “It’s on TikTok, it’s on Snapchat, whatever – all social media … and it’s not stigmatized, whereas cigarettes have become kind of taboo,” said Dr. Rebecca Toland, who teaches entry-level addiction courses as an assistant professor of Health Sciences at Columbus State University (CSU).
YouTube
Video
On the Farm: University of Georgia plans to probe excessive deer damage to state’s 2023 cotton crops
BVM Sports
Men’s Basketball Beats Augusta in Overtime
The Columbus State University men’s basketball team defeated Peach Belt Conference opponent Augusta University 91-87 in overtime to break the five-game losing streak to the Jaguars. With the win on Saturday, the Cougars remain undefeated in the PBC and improve to 8-3, while the Jaguars fall to 7-5 and 0-2 in the conference.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tech football player honors dad, APD officer found dead after medical emergency
By Rosana Hughes and David Aaro
A Georgia Tech football player is honoring his father, an Atlanta police officer who was found dead in his vehicle in the department’s parking lot late Thursday night, authorities confirmed. Officials said Kenya Galloway, 44, was found unresponsive in his personal car at the department’s annex on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway around 11 p.m. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Benjamin Galloway, a freshman offensive lineman from Hillgrove High School in Cobb County, replied to a post from the Atlanta Police Department on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing that he hopes to keep making his father proud. Galloway appeared in three games for the Yellow Jackets during the 2023 season.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Workforce Development, State Funding Among Higher Ed Leaders’ Policy Priorities
A new survey of state higher ed officials also found that providing students a return on their investment was a top concern.
By Jessica Blake
As many state legislatures return to session this month, lawmakers are expected to tackle various higher ed issues, including economic and workforce development, college costs, calls for increased funding, and hot-button topics such as diversity, equity and inclusion programs and free speech and hate speech. Policy experts anticipate these key issues will converge in statehouses across the country. …A new report released by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association on Jan. 4 confirms such predictions. Its findings, based on a survey of state higher education officials’ top policy priorities for the new year, indicate they share many of the same concerns.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Report Presents New Approach to Increasing Completion Rates at Public Institutions
Lois Elfman
Complete College America makes a case for a shift in higher education funding formulas. In the new report, “Ending Unfunded Mandates in Higher Education: Using Completion-Goals Funding to Improve Accountability and Outcomes,” Complete College America (CCA) calls on states to evolve beyond performance-based funding to what they call completion-goals funding. The goal of virtually all colleges and universities is to increase retention and completion. Typically, the current funding model involves receiving funding after the institution shows improvement. CCA’s completion-goals funding advocates for the funding to be allocated up front, thus giving public institutions the funds to provide adequate support services which will lead to improving outcomes and meeting state completion goals.
Inside Higher Ed
A State Calculates the Costs of Dual Enrollment
Ohio’s state auditor finds that half of colleges lose money when accounting for all costs of their programs for high school students.
By Sara Weissman
About half of Ohio colleges and universities that offered dual enrollment lost money on the courses once student support costs were taken into account, a survey by the state’s auditor found. The survey of the state’s College Credit Plus program also revealed that the costs of the programs depended on the mode of instruction, which can vary widely for these courses. The report, published in December and based on an analysis of 2022 data, comes at a time when high school students are increasingly enrolling in community college courses. The trend has been a relief for the institutions after staggering pandemic enrollment declines and an anticipated impending drop in the number of traditional-age students.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
ABA Proposes Increased Job Protections for Untenured
Johnny Jackson
An American Bar Association plan to strengthen job protections for untenured law faculty has been received positively by legal writing and clinical professors. Reuters reported that a proposal under consideration by the ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar would require law schools to hire full-time legal writing instructors and other untenured full-time faculty on five-year “presumptively renewable long-term contracts.”
Higher Ed Dive
Investing in DIII athletics doesn’t guarantee higher enrollment, analysis finds
Half of Division III institutions that didn’t add varsity sports or head coaches still saw their headcounts rise, the Urban Institute found.
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Dive Brief:
Investing in Division III athletics programs may not yield enrollment growth for their colleges, a recent Urban Institute analysis shows. The left-leaning think tank studied 325 DIII colleges. It looked at institutions’ headcounts, as well as the number of varsity sports and full-time head coach positions they created between 2004 and 2020. The Urban Institute found athletic investments had little correlation with enrollment changes. Of the two-thirds of colleges that added varsity sports or head coaches, less than half saw enrollment increases. And of the 38% of institutions that did not invest in athletics, more than half experienced enrollment growth, the think tank found.
The Post and Courier
Editorial: Henry McMaster’s good idea for SC colleges
By The Editorial Staff
It would be easy to overlook the significance of Gov. Henry McMaster’s proposal to spend $3 million on a study of South Carolina’s colleges and universities. S.C. government studies, after all, are rarely worth the paper they’re printed on — much less the money that goes into producing them; more often, they’re an excuse to do nothing and say you did something. And in a $40 billion budget, $3 million isn’t even a rounding error; it’s the equivalent of 75 cents out of $10,000. But the obscure little item in the budget proposal Mr. McMaster unveiled on Friday should be just what we need to revive a conversation, which never has gotten the traction it deserves, to transform South Carolina’s amalgam of public technical colleges, community colleges, liberal arts colleges and universities into an actual system of higher education. …As vague as he tried to be, though, the governor tipped his hand when he noted that North Carolina has a board that’s very different from South Carolina’s Commission on Higher Education, which has little statutory authority and less actual power. What North Carolina has is a board of governors, which oversees the University of North Carolina, N.C. State University, Appalachian State and the state’s 13 other public universities. It’s similar to boards of governors and regents that oversee all the public colleges and universities in Georgia and about 40 other states — but not South Carolina.