UGA to create Georgia’s second public medical school, university announces
By Sam Sachs, WSBTV.com
The footprint of the University of Georgia is set to grow following a Tuesday vote by the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents. As of Tuesday, UGA will be creating a new independent School of Medicine in Athens, making it the second public medical school in the state, according to a statement by the university. …“This is a very important decision by the Board of Regents and a historic moment for our state and university,” UGA President Jere W. Morehead said. “As a land-grant and sea-grant research university, our commitment to Georgia is unwavering, and the new University of Georgia School of Medicine will expand our positive impact on Georgians in many critical ways…” …Since 2010, UGA and Augusta University have operated a medical partnership to educate physicians in Athens. It is currently the longest-serving medical partnership in the U.S., according to UGA, with others that were founded around the same time having become independent medical schools already. “UGA will continue to work closely with the Medical College of Georgia to ensure a smooth transition for current medical students as UGA seeks accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education,” the university said.
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WGAU Radio
UNG gets gift for new STEM building
By Tim Bryant
There is a $3 million gift to help fund the construction of a new STEM building for the University of North Georgia: the facility, planned for UNG’s campus in Dahlonega, gets the donation from the alums Stewart and Carol Swanson, who graduated in the mid-1980s from what would become the University of North Georgia. The new building will replace one that has been on the campus in Lumpkin County since 1948.
From Denise Ray, UNG…
The University of North Georgia has officially received its first major gift for the new STEM building at the Dahlonega Campus from alumni Stewart Swanson, ‘85, and Carol Barnette Swanson, ‘86. The Swansons’ $3 million gift marks a major step toward UNG’s vision for a state-of-the-art STEM facility, also known as the STEM Excellence Center.
The Post-Searchlight
ABAC Bainbridge recognizes students awarded academic scholarships for the 2023-2024 year
By Staff Reports
ABAC Bainbridge recently recognized students who were awarded academic scholarships for the 2023-2024 year. The scholarships, awarded by both the ABAC Foundation and the Scholarship Foundation of Southwest Georgia, formerly the Bainbridge State College Foundation, totaled nearly $30,000. …Students who were recognized for their academic achievements came from seven southwest Georgia counties. Dr. Tracy Brundage, ABAC’s President, and Dr. Michael Kirkland, Executive Director of ABAC Bainbridge, offered their congratulations to the students and appreciation to the many donors in attendance.
WGAU Radio
Altera Investments is UGA’s fastest-growing business
By Tim Bryant
Altera Investments, founded and led by University of Georgia graduates David Fershteyn, Carlos Alcala, and Mitch Reiner wins the title of this year’s fastest-growing UGA business. Altera Investments is based in Atlanta and is an alternative investment firm focused on the lower middle market.
From Rachael Andrews, UGA Today…
The University of Georgia Alumni Association recognized the fastest-growing companies owned or led by UGA alumni during the 15th annual Bulldog 100 Celebration Feb. 9 in the West End Zone of Sanford Stadium.
WGAU Radio
UGA class teaches floral fundamentals
By Jordan Powers, UGA Today
As students filter into Julie Campbell’s Tuesday morning lab, they are greeted by bins of sharp tools lining cold, stainless steel tables. It’s dissection day, but not the kind you may expect. This is “Floral Design and Management,” or HORT 3030, and today’s lesson is the anatomy of a flower. Students pass pale pink carnations and delicate yellow-and-orange Alstroemeria around the room as Campbell, assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, begins a lecture on plant morphology and how external plant structure, color, leaf size and shape impact floral arrangements. This is Campbell’s fourth year teaching the class. Not only popular among horticulture enthusiasts, students across UGA enroll in the course for an introduction to careers in the green industry.
Archinect News
Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture presents 2024 Annual Award winners
By Josh Niland
The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) has announced a group of eleven educators and two students as its 2024 Annual Award Winners. The CELA Awards were established to recognize excellence in teaching and design education in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and are submitted annually during the Fall semester through an application process overseen by the CELA Awards Committee and CELA Board of Directors. …Winners will be honored on Friday, March 22nd, at a special Awards Dinner and Reception held during the Annual CELA Conference Taking Action: Making Change in St. Louis. The full list of 2024 CELA Awards winners is below.
Student Award Winners …Student Research Award: Aisha Iyengar – University of Georgia
WALB
Georgia cotton growers concerned about Arizona Dicamba ruling
By Jim Wallace
There are a lot of cotton growers in Georgia concerned about an Arizona court ruling about Dicamba, a herbicide that kills weeds. Georgia Cotton Commission Chairman Bart Davis speaks on why Georgia growers are concerned. “Well, we’re concerned. I mean, I think it was 2017 when that came and we could start buying the that came with treats and our seed and Dicamba is a very useful tool we use. For some of our major pests, pigweed, and then morning glories. And this is one of the few chemicals out there that we can do a really good job controlling.” “And already what you’re concerned about as well as you know, just it being the court ruling to say the EPA should not allow it. But a lot of growers here, have already made their decisions on what they’re going to grow. This could actually concern what they’ve already purchased for next year.”
yahoo!news
What is dating violence? Augusta University sparks campus conversation on national issue
Alexandra Koch, Augusta Chronicle
Statistics show that, on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. However, abuse can come in many different forms – making the true number of those experiencing dating violence more difficult to calculate and likely much higher. Dating violence is a pattern of coercive, intimidating or manipulative behaviors used to exert power and control over a partner, according to Love is Respect, a project of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Dating violence tends to involve a series of abusive behaviors over time and can be hard to detect. …Julie Kneuker, Augusta University’s Title IX coordinator, said dating violence often goes unnoticed by college students because they may not be educated about what a healthy relationship looks like.
WJBF
Former Georgia State Senator Ed Tarver dies
by: John Hart, Karlton Clay
Ed Tarver, who represented the Augusta area in the Georgia State Senate and served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, died Friday at the age of 64 according to family members. Tarver was born in 1959 and graduated from Augusta College before enlisting in the Army. He earned his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1991. From 2005-2009 Tarver represented Georgia’s 22nd District in the Georgia State Senate. Later in 2009, he was sworn in as the first Black United States Attorney from the Southern District of Georgia.
The City Menus
Empowering futures: UWG hosts inaugural State Agency Career Fair
By Julie Lineback
The University of West Georgia recently hosted an inaugural event that brought together students and prospective employers from across the state and fostered a promising avenue for career growth. Organized by UWG’s Office of Career Services in partnership with the Department of Civic Engagement and Political Science, the university’s first-ever State Agency Career Fair represented a significant milestone in the institution’s commitment to empowering students with tangible pathways to success. Dr. Dawn Tatum, UWG’s director of career services, said representatives from 23 state agencies were eager to engage with the nearly 150 students present who represented the next generation of talent. Agencies present included the state departments of education, juvenile justice and transportation.
WGAU Radio
UNG alum is new soccer coach at West Georgia
By Clark Leonard, UNG
University of North Georgia alumna Mallory Sayre has been named the women’s soccer head coach at the University of West Georgia. Sayre will lead the Wolves as they transition to NCAA Division I during the 2024 season. Sayre was a record-setting goalkeeper for the Nighthawks from 2012 to 2015. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 2016 and then added an online master’s degree in physical education from UNG in 2018. “To be a Division I head coach at age 29, I can’t wait to get started and have my own program,” Sayre said. “I’m excited to keep growing and learning as I coach in the game I’ve loved my entire life.”
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
How AI Has Begun Changing University Roles, Responsibilities
While job titles and descriptions have not changed, more faculty are being given AI-focused tasks, according to a new Educause survey.
By Lauren Coffey
Artificial intelligence is beginning to impact jobs and policies within universities as adoption of the technology grows, a new study finds. More than half (56 percent) of those surveyed said they have new responsibilities related to AI strategy, according to Educause, a nonprofit focused on education and technology. Most of those experiencing the change are executives (69 percent), followed by managers and directors (66 percent), staff (46 percent), and faculty members (39 percent).
Inside Higher Ed
University of Missouri System Extends Test-Optional Policy
By Liam Knox
The University of Missouri system is extending its test-optional policy for another year following a unanimous vote by the system’s Board of Curators. It first adopted a test-optional policy in 2020, along with the vast majority of institutions. At the board meeting, curators said they wanted to gather enough data on graduation rates before making a permanent decision, according to a report from KBIA.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Report Outlines Steps to Take to Support Students and Those Returning to College
Arrman Kyaw
Higher education leaders and states can take a number of additional steps to bolster academic success, reenrollment, and degree completion for students who started college but never finished. Those are the findings from a new report from California Competes. These students with some college, no credential (SCNC) make up more than six million Californians ages 25-64. Drawing from interviews with 52 adults who had stopped out but reenrolled – those referred to as ‘comebackers’ – and completed/will complete soon, the report outlines a series of recommendations for higher ed leaders and state policymakers to take to support these comebackers in their return but also to help students before they feel the need to leave.
Higher Ed Dive
Nebraska lawmakers to debate DEI, tenure bills
Lawmakers will discuss two Republican-led proposals that reflect broader higher ed trends.
Laura Spitalniak Staff Reporter
Dive Brief:
Nebraska lawmakers Tuesday are set to debate proposals that could eliminate tenure and dramatically diminish campuses’ diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Under one bill, public colleges would be barred from creating DEI offices or requiring employees to take DEI training. They would also be prohibited from spending public funding on DEI programming. A separate piece of legislation would “prohibit the practice of academic tenure” at public colleges and require all faculty to undergo yearly performance evaluations.
Inside Higher Ed
UNCF Report Details HBCUs’ Role in Climate Solutions
By Sara Weissman
Historically Black colleges and universities are poised to play a role in combating climate change, according to a new report by the United Negro College Fund, an organization representing private HBCUs. The report, released Monday, is based on a survey of 20 HBCUs from 11 U.S. states and territories, including public and private institutions in rural, suburban and urban environments. The research was funded by the Waverly Street Foundation, which gives grants focused on climate solutions. The survey found that 85 percent of these institutions had green programs in place, ranging from using solar panels on campus to creating community gardens and forming student-led environmental groups.
Inside Higher Ed
Land-Grant Universities Profit Off Native Lands
By Sara Weissman
Fourteen land-grant universities benefit from money made off “trust lands,” or lands taken from Native Americans and managed by the states in which they’re located to produce income to sustain these institutions, according to Grist, an online news magazine focused on environmental issues. Trust lands include surface and subsurface acres, meaning underground resources such as oil, gas and minerals. Grist used public data to identify 8.2 million surface and subsurface acres that previously belonged to 123 Indigenous nations and continue to monetarily benefit land-grant institutions.
Inside Higher Ed
Researchers Fear ‘Unintended Consequences’ of Plan to Lower Drug Prices
They say the plan to allow a government agency to take control of high-priced, federally funded inventions could undermine public-private research partnerships that spur technological innovation.
By Kathryn Palmer
President Joe Biden has touted a plan that would allow federal agencies to seize patents for products developed with federally funded research if the government deems those products too expensive. The White House has framed the proposal, which would revise the guidelines of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, as part of the administration’s broader push to lower prescription drug prices. But advocates for research universities, which rely heavily on federal dollars, are opposed.
Higher Ed Dive
Foxx will not seek another term as House education committee chair
The congresswoman has been a vocal critic of the Education Department, including its pandemic spending and Title IX regulatory efforts.
Naaz Modan Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, will not seek another term as chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Foxx said during remarks at the Community College National Legislative Summit last week. Foxx chaired the committee between 2017 and 2019 and returned to the role in 2023 when Republicans reclaimed control of the House. Foxx is stepping down as chair due to the expiration of a waiver that allowed her to circumvent GOP conference rules limiting the consecutive terms a chair can serve to three. Her current term ends January 2025, and although she will not seek another term as committee chair, she is running for re-election to the House in 2024. She has served on the committee since joining Congress in 2005.