University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: PETA vs UGA, Clayton St. recruits in S.C., a new Regent
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia’s college students got a brief break for the Thanksgiving holiday, but there was some news you may have missed, particularly at the University of Georgia. Here’s our latest edition of AJC On Campus: UGA’s early admissions; Students, groups looking to combat hate-based vandalism; South Carolina students, Clayton State wants you; PETA vs Uga; The newest Regent; Georgia university benefactor charged with fraud
WGAU
UGA lines up commencement speakers
By: Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia lines up a commencement speaker for the fall semester graduation exercises that are now ten days away: Kessell Stelling, a member of the state Board of Regents and the CEO of Synovus Financial Corporation, will address the Class of 2019 in ceremonies set for December 13 in UGA’s Stegeman Coliseum.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Headlines around Georgia that you may have missed
By The Associated Press
A city considers suing the federal government, a company buys a Mississippi mall, and a university expands its reach
…University partners with Ireland
Georgia Southern University has officially opened a learning center in Ireland. Savannah Morning News reports Georgia Southern University leaders traveled to Wexford recently for the ceremonial event. The university says the center stems from a long-time partnership between the town and Savannah, and Georgia Southern’s Center for Irish Research and Teaching. The school says many Savannah residents claim Irish ancestry and can trace ancestors specifically to Wexford.
The George-Anne
President Marrero, Georgia Southern delegation travels to Ireland to open the learning center
By Nathan Woodruff
A delegation from Georgia Southern traveled to Ireland over the Thanksgiving holiday week to officially open a learning center in Ireland. GS is the first American university to open an outreach facility in Ireland. “Visiting with Irish President Michael D. Higgins, opening our new center and meeting with a number of important Irish partners made for a moving, once-in-a-lifetime visit,” Georgia Southern University President Kyle Marrero said in a university press release. “The excitement from Irish leaders in Wexford was overwhelming – we heard repeatedly that having our delegation visit in person sent an important message about our commitment to this learning center and our intent to expand the scope of our new partnership.” This is the first meeting between a GS president and a foreign head of state. Higgins is the incumbent President of Ireland, taking office in 2011. President Higgins also received a plaque on behalf of the Hibernian Society of Savannah commemorating the establishment of the organization in 1812 to provide aid and assistance to needy Irish immigrants to Savannah. The deputy Prime Minister, Simon Coveney, was also in attendance, saying that he hoped other American universities, would follow GS’s example.
Statesboro Herald
Georgia Southern officially opens landmark learning center in Ireland
Flanked by the Irish flag, left, and the Georgia State flag, Georgia Southern President Kyle Marrero speaks at official opening of the university’s learning center in Wexford, Ireland. When a team of Georgia Southern University leaders traveled to Ireland recently to officially open its learning center in Wexford, the ceremonial event proved to be so significant it attracted the deputy prime minister of Ireland and led to a meeting with Ireland’s president – the first official meeting between a Georgia Southern president and a foreign head of state.
Savannah Morning News
Scott Center: GSU, Savannah go international with Ireland campus opening
World Trade Center Savannah’s goal is to create new jobs by helping local companies expand globally and helping foreign companies invest here in our region. WTC Savannah’s program, Tradebridge, is part of that effort and targets Wexford County, Ireland, due to our Irish community’s historical ties to that county. Through research conducted by faculty and staff at Georgia Southern University’s Center for Irish Teaching and Research, directed by Dr. Howard Keeley, it was found that 60% of all Irish Savannahians are from Wexford. Wexford leadership is keenly aware of this and have sent many business and political delegations to Savannah that WTC Savannah has hosted in recent years, led by WTC and Savannah Economic Development Authority board member John Coleman. Keeley’s efforts were the incubator for what happened recently. Georgia Southern University President Kyle Marrero and Board of Regents Chair Don Waters led a delegation from GSU, WTC, SEDA and Visit Savannah to Wexford to open GSU’s first international campus. It is also the first U.S. public university to have a learning site in Ireland.
WABE
Closer Look: Conversations With Atlantans Who Are Giving Back Globally
GRACE WALKER
We conclude the program with a conversation Joel Jassu, a recent graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech. When he joined “Closer Look with Rose Scott” in-studio, on an earlier edition of the program, Joel talked about his plans to use his new master’s degree in architecture to redesign and refurbish projects in Uganda and his journey to Georgia Tech.
Herald Tribune
Opinion
Future of education requires new way of thinking
By Karen Holbrook
Higher education is a 1,000-year-old enterprise and many universities have persisted nearly that long. What other venture has such longevity and with relatively little change? Think of the relatively short life span of companies — even of major corporations (Sears, Blockbuster, Kodak, Pan Am, and Enron) — and restaurants. Something is right about universities, but this doesn’t mean there won’t be, or doesn’t need to be, change. A day-long seminar is being planned by the Sarasota Institute on Jan. 18 that will closely examine the future of education in the 21 st century with a focus on envisioning an educated person in 2035. But, we are far from the only ones considering this topic. In 2018, Georgia Tech’s Commission on Creating the Next in Education, #GT 2040, published Deliberate Innovation, Lifetime Education. The foreword of the document begins with the statement, “In 40 years in academia, I have never experienced a faster pace of change. I am convinced that the future belongs to those institutions that are nimble enough to stay in front of the wave of change and, more importantly help define what will be the next in education.” The document is a commitment to lifetime education. Education is a continuum, not starting and stopping at specific intervals, but an ongoing process in which students will progress at an appropriate pace for their learning ability, economic status and opportunities available to them.
Growing Georgia
Georgia Farm Credit Associations to Invest $25,000 in Future Agribusiness Leaders
By: AgSouth Farm Credit
Pat Calhoun, CEO of AgSouth Farm Credit, announced today that the Farm Credit Associations of Georgia have partnered with the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources to help fund the Advancing Georgia’s Leaders in Agriculture and Forestry (AGL) Program. The Georgia Farm Credit Associations – comprised of AgSouth Farm Credit, AgGeorgia Farm Credit and Southwest Georgia Farm Credit – will invest $25,000 towards this program in the next five years.
Saporta Report
YMCA of Metro Atlanta Works with Local Partners to Give Thanks for a Compassionate Community
AvatarMegan Anderson
Dean Rusk YMCA Early Learning Center, part of the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, recently partnered with University of West Georgia (UWG) and Family Service Assistants to meet the needs of local families during the holidays. More than 140 people attended the Y’s Family Day where UWG faculty and students equipped parents with tools to facilitate education-based activities at home and children received a lunchbox to take to school.
The Augusta Chronicle
HIV program at Augusta University deals with obstacles
By Tom Corwin
Preston Slayton was first attracted Monday by the free food in the lobby of Oak Hall dormitory at Augusta University, so he agreed to a rapid HIV test. But he thinks everyone should do it. “It’s good to get tested to know your status,” said the 18-year-old freshman from Hinesville, Ga., who hopes to become a nurse. “It promotes better health.”
The Ryan White program at AU was offering free rapid HIV testing, with a little inducement, as it marked World AIDS Day. The program offers the testing around the community but is struggling with a couple of obstacles in getting to people who need testing and treatment the most.
Inside Higher Ed
A Friend at the Front of the Room
Faculty members need to get more involved in helping students with mental health challenges, write engineering professors and deans Steven W. McLaughlin, Alec D. Gallimore and Robert D. Braun.
Like many other higher education institutions in the United States, our three colleges are in the midst of a student mental health crisis. And while some may wonder why colleges are feeling the impact so dramatically, the fact remains that the age group where these symptoms often first manifest is the 18- to 21-year-old range — our undergraduate student population. The young people in our classrooms today are more anxious and overwhelmed than ever. National studies demonstrate the significance of mental health challenges among our students. …Preparation can help, and colleges are offering just that. …At Georgia Tech, a new easy-to-follow guide to identifying and dealing with a student in distress went out to all faculty members at the beginning of the fall semester.
Douglas Now
Digestive Disease Consultants Supports Dye Foundation’s Work
Sohail Choudhri, MD of Digestive Disease Consultants in Waycross recently made a contribution on behalf of the practice to the James M. Dye Foundation. Accepting the gift was Foundation Executive Director Taylor Hereford. Digestive Disease Consultants has been an educational partner for many years, and the Dye Foundation is grateful for the continued support. Established in 1976, the James M. Dye Foundation provides funding for South Georgia State College’s (SGSC) Waycross Campus through student scholarships and grants as well as programs and initiatives not supported through state appropriations. The Foundation also supports SGSC with funding for college-wide initiatives.
Under the Georgia Sun
Rural Health Care Crisis: Nine Georgia Counties have no doctors
By Andy Miller, GHN
Scott Bohlke is the only doctor practicing in Brooklet, a tiny town in southeastern Georgia. He has been working there for 21 years. “I didn’t do it for the money. I did it for the [community] need. I think the patients appreciate it,’’ he says. He has lived the challenges that accompany medical care in rural areas. Many of his patients have no insurance, many live in poverty, and there’s a high level of chronic disease, including diabetes and hypertension. …The challenges facing rural health care are as substantial as ever, says Jimmy Lewis, CEO of HomeTown Health, an association of rural hospitals in the state. He notes that Georgia has laws and regulations that keep nurse practitioners and other midlevel providers from practicing their profession to the fullest. The state has restricted the ability of these professionals to practice more independently. Charles Owens, director of the Center for Public Health Practice and Research at Georgia Southern University, adds that physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and other health professionals can deliver “cost-efficient, sustainable health care in communities with lower populations.’’ …The Medical College of Georgia (MCG) in Augusta plans to allow a percentage of students to finish med school in three years and go directly to a primary care residency. The plan is for their education to be tuition-free or reimbursed if they commit to a number of years of practice in underserved areas of Georgia. “States realize there has to be a financial incentive for med students to stay in the state and practice in underserved areas,’’ says Dr. Doug Miller, vice dean for academic affairs at MCG.
Engineered Systems Magazine
Former President Barack Obama Headlines Greenbuild 2019
Atlanta Certified
…Atlanta’s Resilience Strategy was a central tenant contributing to its certification and builds on both the challenges and opportunities the city faces. By making resilience a key part of its sustainability strategy, the city is focused on efforts that support residents and address some of the region’s more pressing issues. Initiatives include the Atlanta Resilience Equity and Design Collective (RED Lab) partnership with Georgia Tech to help residents use data and technology to solve community issues that contribute to or detract from the livability of their neighborhoods. The EV Rideshare Program provides transportation services to those with low mobility access, including previously incarcerated individuals.
Medical Xpress
Death of STAT lab tests could be good for patient care
by Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
While a lab test might be ordered STAT to help save a life, a new study suggests that the STAT test order should rest in peace, and instead the time standard for most clinical lab tests, like the commonly requested complete blood count, or CBC, should be more efficient. Ninety minutes is widely considered the standard time for STAT lab results, and four hours is considered a good turnaround for non-STAT tests. But strategies like automation and other manufacturing practices used successfully by top automobile makers, can essentially cut usual STAT time in half for the majority of tests, says Dr. Gurmukh Singh, vice chair of pathology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Ninety percent of both categories of tests are now being done in 45 minutes or less at AU Health System, corresponding author Singh and his colleagues report in the journal Laboratory Medicine.
drugs.com
End-Stage Renal Disease Patients at Higher Risk for Syphilis
End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are at a higher risk for contracting syphilis, according to a study recently published in the Clinical Kidney Journal. Erena N. Weathers, M.D., of Augusta University in Georgia, and colleagues examined the incidence of and risk factors for syphilis in 759,066 ESRD patients who received an inpatient diagnosis of syphilis from 2004 through 2010.
Gainesville Times
Former UNG police officer, nine others charged in child exploitation investigation
Two from Forsyth County included in those arrested
Nick Watson
A former University of North Georgia police officer was charged with four counts of enticing a child online following an undercover Hall County Sheriff’s Office investigation, according to authorities. Jason Noel Lingerfelt, 47, of Cleveland, was arrested Nov. 27. He resigned the position the same day after serving just over a year. “The charges against Mr. Lingerfelt are inconsistent with the university’s community values and disturbing to us all, and UNG is cooperating fully with these agencies as they conclude their investigation,” UNG Chief of Staff Kate Maine wrote in an email Friday, Nov. 29. Lingerfelt was booked into the Hall County Jail, where he remains without bond.
Marietta Daily Journal
Lots of drugs seized at apartment near KSU
Staff Reports
A Blue Ridge man is facing 11 felony drug charges after an investigation at an apartment near Kennesaw State University turned up hundreds of prescription pills, cocaine, LSD, psychedelic mushroom spores, ecstasy and marijuana. Morgan Michael Kephart, 25, also faces charges of improperly turning onto Big Shanty Road from George Busbee Parkway. According to an arrest warrant, when officers pulled Kephart over, they found 31 grams of marijuana, just over an ounce, in his pocket. Police found more drugs at an address that matches that of The Blake, an apartment complex that caters to college students, according to the warrant.
Higher Education News:
The Wall Street Journal
Getting into a top school is a stressful, unpredictable process. Here are 10 ways to make it fairer and more transparent.
By Melissa Korn
For students applying to the top echelon of American colleges—and for parents, guidance counselors and university administrators—the admissions process can be stressful, unpredictable, inequitable and seemingly irrational. Jockeying for limited spots has become fiercer as acceptance rates at selective schools plunge. These institutions represent a tiny slice of America’s higher education system—just 55 schools had admit rates of 20% or below in 2017, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education—but they each receive, on average, about 25,000 applications. The race to get into them has generated armies of test-prep…
The Chronicle of Higher Education
High Loan-Default Rates Won’t Be Solved by Income-Driven Repayment, Report Finds
By Danielle McLean
As Democratic presidential candidates debate how best to address the federal student-loan crisis, a new report shows that the status quo is disproportionately failing black student borrowers. About one in three black borrowers who began college during the 2011-12 academic year defaulted on their student loans within six years, a rate that is two and a half times that of their white peers, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. The startling racial disparity, which was calculated using U.S. Department of Education data, has not changed much since a previous federal report showed that over twice as long a time frame, half of black student borrowers who started college during the 2003-4 academic year defaulted on their student loans. What’s different is that the latter group had access to income-driven repayment plans throughout the entire time they were in college. That indicates that the repayment plan, which caps the amount a borrower pays per month based on income, is not quite the silver bullet to solving the student-loan crisis that lawmakers had hoped for.
Inside Higher Ed
A new approach to teaching physics “energy first” holds promise, especially for students who struggle with math.
By Colleen Flaherty
Math, specifically calculus, is a barrier to many natural sciences, technology and engineering fields. Physics, which is math-heavy, often proves similarly challenging to students who wish to pursue STEM degrees. A new way of teaching introductory, calculus-based physics holds some promise for students who struggle with math, however. The curriculum involves two major changes from the way this standard course is typically taught. Whereas most courses begin with instruction on forces and vector mathematics, this begins instead with energy — which, proponents say, better plays to students’ intuition. The course also asks students to do more calculus themselves, to make sure they understand it. …The new curriculum, therefore, “has the potential to improve student retention by specifically helping the students who need help the most, including traditionally underserved populations who often have weaker mathematics preparation.”
The Guardian
From dog-petting to desk yoga: do ‘wellbeing weeks’ make university less stressful?
Debt, academic pressure and social isolation are piling pressure on students, but what’s the best way of boosting mental health?
At the “doggy de-stress” drop-in on the main campus at King’s College London (KCL), students queue around the block to sit on bean bags cuddling and taking selfies with rescue dogs. The event is one of the most popular of the 90 activities held as part of this year’s “wellbeing week”, and organisers say engagement is up 47% on last year. “We have everything from yoga classes and coffee mornings to craft afternoons and garden sessions,” explains a students’ union spokesperson. “A lot are led by student groups. It’s about boosting resilience, making connections and having safe spaces to talk in.” With the rise of tuition fees and the advent of widening participation, there has been a steady increase in demand for student counselling services. With many students facing stresses such as debt, academic pressures and social isolation, universities are beginning to look at how campus environments can improve mental wellbeing and become healthier places.
Forbes
Sarah KimContributor
On November 27, the National Association of the Deaf (N.A.D.) won a landmark settlement with Harvard University that institutes a series of new guidelines to make the university’s website and online resources accessible for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. The settlement represents the most comprehensive set of online accessibility requirements in higher education and ensures for the first time that Harvard will provide high-quality captioning services for online content. The settlement expands upon Harvard’s new digital accessibility policy, which was announced in May. According to the new policy that will go into effect on December 1, Harvard must provide captions for all online resources, including school-wide events that are live-streamed, content from department-sponsored student organizations and any new university created audio or video hosted by third-party platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud.
Los Angeles Times
California higher education hangs in the balance as UC, Cal State search for new leaders
By Teresa Watanabe, Nina Agrawal
In a rare confluence that will shape the future of California higher education, the state’s two top university jobs are open, high-profile vacancies that position its leaders as national pacesetters because of the size and status of the two systems. The dual searches at the University of California and California State University have generated a daunting list of desired job qualifications. The new chiefs will be expected to figure out how to meet enormous admission demands, increase student diversity, raise academic achievement, lower costs, secure stable sources of money and deal with fierce politics. All this while improving the quality and prestige of two of the nation’s most popular and renowned public university systems. And this must be accomplished with limited state funding and salaries well below their comparable peers.