Good Morning America
Sorority sisters hailed as heroes after saving mother and her kids
By Shafiq Najib, Janice McDonald, Nora Hanna, Stacy Rollins, and Eva Pilgrim
Five sorority sisters from the University of Georgia have been hailed as heroes after rescuing a mother and her two young sons from their sinking vehicle after it fell into a creek. Molly McCollum, Jane McArdle, Eleanor Cart, Clarke Jones and Kaitlyn lannace were leaving their campus in Athens to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Savannah when the event occurred on March 15. On their way to Savannah, the group took a long detour to stop for lunch, prompting them to reroute through a rural area later when they hit the road again. It wasn’t long before the group ran into something unusual.
Times-Georgian
UWG Early Learning Center ranked Top 15 in nation
By Julie Lineback UWG
What makes the University of West Georgia’s Early Learning Center one of the Top 15 university-affiliated centers of its kind in the nation? Let’s count the ways. In celebration of the Week of the Young Child, observed April 6-12, we sat down with the center’s director, Melanie Brooks, to discover why the program is a model for the nation when it comes to pre-K initiatives.
WUGA
UGA graduate programs among nation’s best in new rankings in Public Affairs, Pharmacy, Law, and more
By Katie Tucker
Several of the University of Georgia’s graduate and professional programs ranked among the top in the nation in new 2024 rankings released by U.S. News and World Report. UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs ranked fourth in the nation after jumping three spots since 2023. The College of Pharmacy moved up the ranks nine spots from its most recent ranking and now sits at number 15 nationwide. Both the UGA School of Law and the School of Social Work ranked number 20 nationally and in the top 10 among public institutions. The Terry College of Business and the Mary Frances Early College of Education both moved to a higher ranking and are now in the top 30 nationwide.
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WTVM
Harris County High School graduate selected as a White House HBCU scholar
2020 graduate Jamyra Hayes
By Steve Pineda
Jamyra Hayes, a 2020 graduate of Harris County High School, has been recognized as a White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities Scholar for 2023. A student at Fort Valley State University, Hayes’ selection for this honor is a testament to her academic achievements, leadership skills, and dedication to civic engagement. As part of the program, she had the opportunity to visit Washington DC, where she explored iconic sites and attended a dinner at the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris in celebration of Black History Month on February 29, 2024.
The Georgia Virtue
RiteCare Center, communication disorders students receive financial awards from Scottish Rite Masons
Georgia Southern University’s RiteCare Center for Communication Disorders recently received a boost from the Scottish Rite Masons when the organization made an $11,500 donation to the center. The group also awarded two scholarships to graduate students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSDS) program.
WRBL
Cutting the ribbon at CSU’s brand-new WRBL Uptown Bureau
by: Nicole Sanders
Tuesday marked an exceptional morning for WRBL News 3 and Columbus State University. Students, journalists, teachers and more gathered to cut the ribbon on the brand-new WRBL bureau in One Arsenal Place — a historic riverfront building that also houses the CSU Communications Department. …WRBL anchors, reporters and meteorologists will work out of the space next to the university’s student radio station WCUG. There is an active classroom just outside the door. Columbus State President Dr. Stuart Rayfield says the space provides CSU students with real-world experience.
Farm Monitor
Women’s Pivotal Role in Georgia Agriculture
In Athens recently, conversations were had surrounding the topic of women in agriculture, which according to USDA Census Data, accounts for thirty-six percent of the ag industry’s workforce, three times was it was just decades ago. However, despite that progress, there’s still more work to be done, which is where the Women in Agriculture Forum comes in. “We were able to travel all over Georgia and to meet farmers and ranchers, all across Georgia…(a) common theme here really was that first of all, agriculture is a necessary and vital industry, but it is also a really hard profession, especially for women…(w)e’re trying to support female farmers in Georgia by providing a platform for them to get to know each other, to build a community, but also to learn about state and federal resources and to also practice some really tangible skills like leadership, mentoring, and branding,” says Alexa Bankert, an Associate Professor at UGA. According to Bankert, one of the biggest hurdles they found for women in the agriculture industry, was the lack of community, as she says most are juggling several things at once and either don’t know about or don’t have time to utilize the resources that are out there.
Morning AgClips
Creature Comforts partners with UGA wheat breeder
To create 2024 Get Comfortable brew
Wheat breeders spend years meticulously crossing varieties to coax the best traits out of each species, carefully propagating plant varieties that are healthier, heartier and better suited for the environments where they are grown. Professional brewmasters are equally painstaking when choosing the components that will give their beers a specific flavor profile. These two exacting professions came together this spring when Athens-based Creature Comforts Brewing Co. reached out to the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) to find a sustainable wheat variety they could use to make a good beer for a great cause. Picking the right partner UGA wheat breeder and geneticist Mohamed Mergoum and CAES are the latest partners to work with Creature Comforts on its annual Get Comfortablecollaboration, for which they produce an annual, limited-run brew to support a community-wide effort to improve educational outcomes for local elementary school students.
Cotton Grower
Prescriptions for Healthy Cotton
By Jim Steadman
Cotton growers are approaching 2024 plantings with a mix of normal anticipation and continuing concern about production costs. Although the prices of some inputs — including nitrogen — have eased a bit, it’s fair to say that cost efficiencies and savings remain top of mind for many growers right now. “The bad part about this year is that inputs are still high, but cotton prices are lower,” says Camp Hand, University of Georgia Extension Cotton Specialist. “So, one of the first things on growers’ minds is cutting costs and looking at ways to maximize their return on investment from the inputs they’re going to use.”
The Packer
TV series to feature Vidalia onions and growers
By The Packer Staff
The story of Vidalia onions comes to national television in a two-part special airing in April. The special is set for April 12 and April 19 at 10 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. EDT on the RFD-TV Network series “Where The Food Comes From,” according to a news release. …”Where The Food Comes From” will tell the story behind the Vidalia onion and spotlight growers, including John Shuman of Shuman Farms, Aries Haygood of A&M Farm and Bo Herndon of Herndon Family Farms — all of whom have earned Vidalia Grower of the Year honors. The show also visits the University of Georgia Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center, where new varieties are tried and tested, the release said.
Produce Bluebook
G&R Farms BB #:114342, a third generation premier Vidalia Onion grower in southeast Georgia, is proud to announce the new hire of Rawls Neville in the position of sales manager effective April 1, 2024. Neville is an industry veteran who started his career as a farm hand and has held jobs as an Operations Manager at both Four Corners Farms and Van Solkema Produce. …With an eye to the future, this Georgia Southern University grad wasted no time getting involved in the Vidalia Onion business as a grower-packer, and other than an a short ag sales tenure at AimTrac, Vidalia onions has always been the career path for him.
Lanier County News
ABAC celebrates rare solar eclipse
Students, faculty and staff at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College gathered Monday in the center of campus and joined a sunglass-wearing nation to gaze skyward at a rare natural phenomenon. More than 250 people attended the College’s Solar Eclipse Party, which was organized by Dr. Michael Maw, associate professor of agronomy at ABAC’s School of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “I wanted to put together a multi-disciplinary event for the campus to celebrate the solar eclipse because it’s so rare here,” Maw said. “Even though we didn’t get the total eclipse, I just really wanted to have a fun event. All the different disciplines on campus had something relevant that they could add. We had a lot of buy-in and it was really exciting to see it all come together.” Maw said he was grateful for the engagement from other faculty and staff, many of whom participated by setting up booths that linked their area of expertise to the eclipse.
Gwinnett Daily Post
Georgia Gwinnett College officials: Solar eclipse made ‘science more accessible’
By Curt Yeomans
Georgia Gwinnett College junior Erica Marlette’s biotechnology professor didn’t feel it would have been right to keep students in class on Monday afternoon. The students were studying science, biology to be exact, and there was another kind of science event taking place outdoors at the same time as the class was scheduled: a partial solar eclipse.
WRBL
CSU concludes speaker series: Rep. Ferguson, others talk U.S.-Korea economic relations
by: Olivia Yepez
After nearly a year’s worth of panels, CSU ended its Korean War Armistice speaker series with a panel including key figures with ties to both Georgia and Korea. The speaker series concluded April 4, but not before panelists brought to light ideas about what the future of U.S.-Korea relations could look like, 70 years after the armistice ended the Korean War. “Our friends in South Korea live in a very bad neighborhood,” said U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, who represents Georgia’s third congressional district. … As a conclusion of the recognition of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice, up to 15 CSU students will take a two-week trip to South Korea under the leadership of speaker series organizers Dr. David Kieran and Dr. Daewoo Lee, as well as retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Pat Donahoe. On the trip, students will visit Korean War sites and military installations, as well as offices and headquarters facilitating the current-day relationship between the U.S. and Korea. The trip will take place in late May of 2024.
The George-Anne
National Library Week – Gaming Center, Scavenger Hunt and Raffle Prizes
Ainslie Smith, Writer
Zach S. Henderson Library kicked off National Library Week with a video and board game meetup in the brand new Educational Gaming Center on the second floor. National Library Week, from April 7-13, is about recognizing how libraries can strengthen communities and showing gratitude to librarians and library staff. Join Georgia Southern University in the celebration by visiting the library and checking out the new gaming set-up, educational exhibits, and completing a scavenger hunt to receive a small gift and be entered into a raffle for the chance of a bigger prize.
Emanuel County Live
Book signing to be held at Franklin Memorial Library
Franklin Memoria Library is pleased to announce an Author Booking Signing of Mrs. Hellen Leonard on Monday, April 29, at 10:30 a.m. Mrs. Hellen grew up near Statesboro, and is a retired educator with a BS in Education with a major in mathematics from Georgia Southern University.
Fernandina Observer
Review: ‘Songs of the Sea’ — and More Delights Coming
By Wilma Allen
Make no mistake: creativity, talent, and cooperation are alive and well on Amelia Island. Last weekend’s “Songs of the Sea” was a perfect example. This was a rollicking Celtic songfest produced by Amelia Island Opera and performed in the Museum of History’s former Nassau County jail. It featured Meredith Beck and Janice Landry of the Galway Girls, and their spouses, John Dutton and Martin Landry, all sought-after performers from the Philly/New York area. They were joined by Jonathan Bryant, History Professor Emeritus at Georgia Southern University; a wise-cracking Irishman (played by John Drew, our tax collector); and a sold-out audience who laughed, clapped, and sang along.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Netflix golf hit ‘Full Swing’ is brainchild of UGA grad Chad Mumm
By Chip Towers
The 88th Masters Tournament will be in full swing Thursday, and the hope of golf fans everywhere is the show by the same name soon will be, too. By now, millions are familiar with “Full Swing,” the docuseries that utilizes unprecedented access to golfers competing on the PGA and LIV tours and follows them for a year on their journeys around the globe. In its first couple of years, it has humanized stars such as Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa and made stars out of journeyman pros such as Joel Dahmen, his caddie and up-and-comers like Tom Kim. Lesser known, likely, is that the series has some strong Atlanta ties. The show is the brainchild of native Atlantan Chad Mumm. Though self-described as a “military brat” who was born in Japan, Mumm attended McIntosh High in Peachtree City and graduated from the University of Georgia.
Swim Swam
Allyson Sweeney Steps Down As Georgia Southern Head Coach After Two Seasons
by Anya Pelshaw
Allyson Sweeney has stepped down as Georgia Southern’s head coach after spending two seasons with the Eagles to pursue other opportunities. “Working at Georgia Southern University has afforded me opportunities to expand personally and professionally in ways one can only aspire to achieve,” Sweeney said. “Having been granted faith in my ability and leadership, I express the utmost gratitude for this opportunity. Georgia Southern swimming & diving—namely its student-athletes— are a remarkable group of individuals! The discovery of this group’s passionate ambition, in and out of the water, has had a profound impact on my perspective of life, spurring me to explore my next personal steps. I’m looking forward to cheering on THIS group of women from a distance!” “I would like to thank Allyson for her tireless contributions and service to our Georgia Southern student-athletes over the past two years,” said Georgia Southern Athletic Director Jared Benko. “Allyson has had an indelible impact during her time in Statesboro, and I look forward to seeing her continued success as she pursues her passion for a career outside of college athletics.”
BVM Sports
Columbus State Defeats West Alabama 5-2 with Thibodeau’s Home Run
By BVM Sportsdesk
The University of West Alabama baseball team suffered a 5-2 loss to Columbus State University in a non-conference game, with CSU sweeping the season series.
Dalton Daily Citizen
Dalton High baseball plans to honor alums, former coach with jersey retirement ceremony
By Daniel Mayes
Before a Friday night game, the Dalton High School baseball team will officially honor three Catamount alumni and a legendary former coach. Friday at 5:45 p.m., prior to Dalton’s home game against East Hamilton at 6 p.m., the Catamounts will officially retire jerseys for former players Matthew Boggs, Mitchell Boggs and Rodney Hennon alongside former coach Manny Pontonio. …No. 10 will be hung up for former Catamount Rodney Hennon, who now coaches at Georgia Southern University…Matthew Boggs played for the Catamounts under Pontonio from 1994-1997. He was a four-year starter at Georgia Tech from 1998 to 2002. In his final season, he helped Georgia Tech advance to the College World Series. His coaching career began at Georgia Southern University. …Mitchell Boggs played under Pontonio from 1999-2002. He played baseball at the University of Georgia and helped the Bulldogs reach the 2004 College World Series. Boggs left Georgia his junior year to begin his professional career with the St. Louis Cardinals.
James Magazine
Unpunished radicals disrupt Collins UGA speech
by Phil Kent
Left-wing extremists continually interrupted, cursed and some observers say even threatened U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., last week when he tried to speak during a campus event sponsored by the University of Georgia College Republicans and Turning Point USA. Most of his remarks, mainly centering on Biden open borders policy and illegal immigration issues, were drowned out by radicals— some of whom were removed by campus police. …Luke Winkler, president of the University of Georgia College Republicans, told the Campus Reform publication that protesters continually disrupted the congressman’s speech so he often couldn’t be understood by the audience. …He also said he will ask the University of Georgia to open an investigation into those who ruined the event.
WSAV
Georgia Southern student arrested after alleged fight in class
by: Eden Hodges
A Georgia Southern student has been charged after allegedly starting a fight in a nursing class. The student, witnesses say is Gene Mack. His classmates say he started a fight in the middle of their nursing lecture. “This behavior… it’s not nurse behavior,” said a nursing student who witnessed the fight. “If Georgia Southern lets him graduate and be a nurse, like, what does that say about our program?” According to Georgia Southern’s Campus Police Clery log. A fight happened in the nursing building Friday morning. …They said one minute they were listening to their lecture, and the next they said they turned around and saw Mack punching a female student. When another female student jumped in to break up the fight, they say he hit her too before fleeing.
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Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Study: Nearly Half of Students Started, Never Finished College
Federal researchers followed the post-secondary outcomes of 23,000 students for 12 years. Nearly 40 percent of the students never earned a credential.
By Kathryn Palmer
Only 60 percent of students who enrolled in college earned a degree or credential within eight years of graduating high school. That’s one of the biggest takeaways from a new report the National Center for Education Statistics released Monday that analyzed the enrollment, completion and financial aid outcomes of students. The researchers tracked the postsecondary educational outcomes of roughly 23,000 students beginning in 2009 when they were freshman in high school through 2021, when the cohort was eight years out from graduating high school.
Inside Higher Ed
The Underemployment Problem for College Graduates: Key Podcast
By Doug Lederman
More than half of bachelor’s degree holders are underemployed a year after graduation, and roughly four in 10 are still underemployed a full decade later. How worried should we be about those rates, and what can colleges and universities do to decrease them? This week’s episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, explores that question through a discussion about “Talent Disrupted,” a recent report from Strada Education Foundation and the Burning Glass Institute, which adds important nuance to the larger discussion about post-college outcomes for graduates.
Inside Higher Ed
California Opens FAFSA Alternative to Mixed-Status Families
By Liam Knox
California announced yesterday that it has opened the California Dream Act Application (CADAA) to students with undocumented parents as an alternative to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The CADAA is normally reserved for “dreamers,” undocumented students brought to the U.S. when they were under 16. But students with undocumented parents or guardians have been struggling to fill out the new FAFSA since January, grappling with persistent technical glitches and frustrated by the education department’s convoluted workarounds. State officials emphasized that students from mixed-status families should still fill out the FAFSA if they want to qualify for federal aid, and encouraged them to at least attempt to complete it before turning to the CADAA. But filling out the CADAA will now make them eligible for state grants and scholarships at public colleges, which both normally require FAFSA completion for citizens. California pushed back its application deadline for state financial aid from April 2 to May 2, but even the extended deadline is fast approaching.
Inside Higher Ed
Are DEI Office Name Changes Enough?
As DEI bans impact colleges nationwide, many institutions are renaming their offices to something more innocuous. The results have been varied.
By Johanna Alonso
Not long after Texas passed SB 17, a law prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public colleges and universities, many institutions chose to rename their former DEI offices, using words like “belonging,” “community engagement” and “student development” in the new titles. But last month, an anti-DEI legislator warned that cosmetic adjustments were not enough. Republican state senator Brandon Creighton, the lead sponsor of SB 17, wrote letters to Texas’s public university systems reminding them that compliance with the law goes beyond renaming offices. “While I am encouraged with the progress I have seen from many institutions of higher education in implementing SB 17, I am deeply concerned with the possibility that many institutions may choose to merely rename their offices or employee titles,” he wrote. ”This letter should serve as notice that this practice is unacceptable.”
Inside Higher Ed
GAO Finds Faculty Diversity Lacking, Discrimination Complaint Processing Slow
By Kathryn Palmer
College faculty don’t reflect the diversity of the students they teach, according to a new study the Government Accountability Office released Tuesday. “Research has shown that faculty diversity plays an important role in student completion and can have a major impact on students’ sense of belonging and retention rates,” said U.S. representative Bobby Scott, the ranking Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, told The Hill. “That is why I asked the GAO to study the state of faculty diversity at institutions of higher and the hiring and retention policies to promote faculty diversity.” According to the resulting report, the percentage of Black and Hispanic faculty members has increased over the past 20 years, but not enough to be representative of an increasingly diverse student body.
Higher Ed Dive
Louisiana bill would allow governor to select higher ed board chairs
The proposal comes as lawmakers across the nation look to gain more power over college governance.
Natalie Schwartz, Senior Editor
Dive Brief:
Louisiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow Gov. Jeff Landry to select the chair of the state’s five higher education boards, potentially giving the Republican leader more influence over the state’s public colleges. Landry is backing the proposal, The Advocate reported. It would allow him to select the chairs starting in August and each year afterward, stripping that power from board members. The bill, which was introduced last month, comes as Landry has been pressuring the state’s university boards to implement policies that mandate college athletes be present for the national anthem during games or risk losing their athletic scholarships.
Inside Higher Ed
Goddard College Announces Closure
The small, progressive Vermont college will close at the end of the spring semester. It’s another blow to a state that has lost a number of higher ed institutions in recent years.
By Josh Moody
Goddard College in Vermont is closing at the end of May, officials announced Tuesday, citing declining enrollment and steep financial challenges. The abrupt closure comes after Goddard went completely online in January, a move officials said was temporary. In the closure announcement, college leaders pointed to “trends of inflationary pressures, demographic shifts and changing educational preferences.” Significant enrollment losses are a key factor in the progressive college’s economic struggles; the number of students at Goddard fell from more than 1,900 in the 1970s to 220 today, according to the announcement.
Inside Higher Ed
Pro-Palestinian Student Group at American Univ. Put on Probation
By Sara Weissman
The Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at American University has been put on probation after a disciplinary hearing, the group announced in an Instagram post on Monday. The hearing was held to address a Feb. 8 demonstration at the Washington, DC institution in which student activists silently walked through campus buildings holding signs against violence in Gaza and calling for divestment from Israel, The Eagle, the university’s student newspaper, first reported. Matthew Bennett, American University’s vice president and chief communications officer, confirmed in an email to Inside Higher Ed that the chapter was on probation for violating recent directives shared by university officials on Jan. 25 prohibiting indoor protests, among other measures, and as “part of our overall commitment to campus safety and supporting a sense of belonging for our students.”
Inside Higher Ed
NAIA Bans Transgender Athletes From Women’s Sports
By Jessica Blake
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) decided Monday that transgender women—or female gender–identifying individuals who were assigned male sex at birth—may not compete in its collegiate women’s sports going forward, CBS Sports reports. The NAIA’s governing body oversees 249 small, mostly private colleges and their approximately 83,000 student athletes. It appears to be the first among collegiate athletic associations to implement such a rule.
Inside Higher Ed
Views
Why I’m a Convert to Diversity Statements
Diversity statements proved surprisingly helpful to our red-state university search committee, Suzanne Penuel writes.
By Suzanne Penuel (associate professor of English at the University of South Carolina Lancaster)
As anyone who even glances at this publication knows, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts are not popular with some state lawmakers. Southern and Central states in particular are outlawing various forms of DEI in higher ed right and left (or rather, given the composition of our legislatures, right and right). But if you’re wondering what DEI can actually look like in practice in those places, what follows is my experience on a hiring committee for a job in American history at the University of South Carolina Lancaster.