University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp budget won’t fund full raises to all low-wage state workers
By James Salzer and Maya T. Prabhu
More than 47,000 state employees make less than $40,000 a year and would qualify for a raise Gov. Brian Kemp has promoted to boost the wages of the government’s lowest-paid staffers. But it’s unclear how many of those employees would receive the $1,000 raise Kemp promised in his budget proposal. Budget-writers and at least one agency head say the governor’s budget doesn’t supply enough money to fund a $1,000 raise for all state employees who earn less than $40,000. Data obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution backs up that assertion.
GBPI
Overview: Georgia’s 2021 Fiscal Year Budget for Higher Education
By Jennifer Lee
Governor Brian Kemp’s proposed 2021 budget allocates $2.58 billion for the Board of Regents and $373 million for the Technical College System of Georgia. This budget includes money for enrollment growth and a $1,000 raise for full-time employees earning $40,000 or less.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five things to know about new college endowment report
By Eric Stirgus
The National Association of College and University Business Officers and financial services company, TIAA, released a report Thursday detailing how much money many of the nation’s colleges, universities and foundations have in their endowments. Harvard University has the largest endowment in the nation, at about $39.4 billion. Endowments are an important sign of a college or university’s financial health. They often draw deep-pocketed donors. …Here are five interesting things we saw: …The top five endowments in Georgia were: Emory ($7.87 billion), Georgia Tech ($2.17 billion), University of Georgia and related foundations ($1.3 billion),
Campus Technology
Affordable Learning Georgia Releases Interactive OER Lab Manual
By Dian Schaffhauser
Two faculty members from the University of Georgia have developed a lab manual for anatomy and physiology and made it available as an open educational resource. The work was led by DeLoris Hesse, an associate professor, and Dan McNabney, a senior lecturer, both in the Department of Cellular Biology at the university. It was funded by an Affordable Learning Georgia grant.
11Alive
Georgia Tech cancels spring programs in China due to coronavirus concerns
Two Georgia Tech students are now in study or internship programs in China, the school said.
Author: Michael King
Georgia Tech is working to get two students home from China as it cancels spring programs in the country due to coronavirus concerns. Georgia Tech offers an opportunity for some of their Master’s level students to study abroad in Shenzhen, China as part of their study abroad programs. According to the school, Tech’s M.S. degree program in Shenzhen was launched in 2014. The students there primarily study electrical and computer engineering. In a statement from Georgia Tech on Wednesday afternoon, school officials said they have canceled their spring 2020 programs in China due to warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Clayton News-Daily
Clayton State students visit Gold Dome for annual Day at the Capitol
Nearly 100 students, faculty and staff attended Clayton State University’s annual Day at the Capitol on Jan. 14. Students got see to first-hand how government operates, meet local representatives and engage in political discussions. The event was capped off with a reading of a resolution in both the House and Senate chambers acknowledging Clayton State’s impact as a higher education institution in Georgia for the last 50 years.
WMAZ
‘It was a big accomplishment’: Central Georgia teen gets bronze Congressional award medal
It took months, and a long, long checklist of tasks, but now a Byron college freshman has received a bronze Congressional medal.
Author: Kayla Solomon
For 18-year-old Dawson Ezzell, it’s been a busy 12 months. “I typically got out about 12:00 every day, I only had one high school class, so I’d either go after that before practice or when baseball wasn’t in season, I’d have a couple hours during the day before it was night time.” Between being the captain of his baseball team at Central Fellowship Christian Academy, taking college courses, and graduating in May, he still found a way to work toward a bronze Congressional Award medal. …U.S. Congressman Sanford Bishop presented Ezzell with the bronze medal for seven months of hard work. …Ezzell is currently enrolled at Middle Georgia State university and says he plans to get his degree in nursing.
Forsyth County News
These UNG students are providing free help with your taxes
Students pursuing accounting degrees in the University of North Georgia’s (UNG) Mike Cottrell College of Business (MCCB) get a chance this semester to build their tax preparation skills and aid the surrounding communities as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program sponsored by the IRS. …The students, under Nash’s direction, are certified by testing through the IRS.
Tifton Gazette
Day’s Wall of Fame induction leads Chamber honors
Awards honoring community leaders were given out at the Annual Tifton Tift County Chamber of Commerce Banquet on Jan. 23. Dr. Homer Day’s induction into the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce’s Wall of Fame was the culmination of the evening of awards. Day received a standing ovation from the attendees as he accepted the award for al lifetime of service to the community. Day was a member of the professional staff at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College for 30 years, his career culminating when he was named Interim President in 2000. …Dr. Ryan Currie was the winner of the J. Lamar Branch Award. Currie has been an instructor in the Stafford School of Business at ABAC since 2017 after previously working as an attorney in the Atlanta area. He has been an active Ambassador with the Chamber of Commerce and often brings his students to Chamber functions so that they can learn more about the community.
Gwinnett Daily Post
Gwinnett middle schools showcase programming projects at Georgia Tech
By Taylor Denman
Duluth Middle School eighth grader Ethan Pickle holds his thumb to a sensor that detects his body heat, trying to demonstrate the device he and his classmates developed in Deepa Pendalwar’s class. As the sensor heats up, LEDs flash and read: “YOUR BABY IS STILL IN THE CAR!” …The Duluth Middle students programed a sensor, which is designed to hang on a seat facing a baby’s carseat. It’s designed to detect changes in temperature which notifies someone carrying a receiver that their car has breached a safe temperature range. It also responds to movement, so hopefully a baby or pet trapped in a car is saved before they’re even in danger. …The Duluth Middle schoolers were one of approximately two dozen teams from metro Atlanta presenting projects at the Honeywell STEM Challenge Showcase at the Student Center at Georgia Tech. …It’s the second year Georgia Tech and engineering company Honeywell collaborated to host a showcase of students’ projects, but it’s the first year the showcase took place on the Georgia Tech campus.
Gainesville Times
How technology competition inspires students to build robots, think digital
Kelsey Podo
Jonathan Ayers and Diego Ochoa, fourth graders at Sugar Hill Elementary, programmed and built a miniature motorized vehicle, fit for putting out fires in Australia and transporting rescued koalas. “It’s propeller helps it fly and it also drives on the ground,” Diego said. “I feel excited to show it to the judges.” The two spent four weeks putting the project together, just in time for the Hall County Schools Regional Technology Competition on Wednesday, Jan 29. …Throughout the two-day event, individual students or pairs — third grade through 12th — presented projects before a small group of judges. Their work had to fall within one of the competition’s 15 categories. Some of the divisions include 3D modeling, animation, digital game design, graphic design, programming and robotics. The first-place grade winners from each category will advance to the state competition on Saturday, March 14, at the Marietta Campus of Kennesaw State University.
WMAZ
Middle Georgia State breaks ground on new $3 million enrollment center
The enrollment center is expected to open next summer, and a new residential hall on the Macon campus is opening this year.
Author: Pepper Baker
Middle Georgia State University’s Macon campus is about to get a major upgrade in the form of a new enrollment center. The Peyton Anderson Enrollment Center is the college’s third major project over the last year. …President Christopher Blake says the changes are coming fast. ..”The Peyton Anderson Enrollment is going to be like a concierge operation in a hotel. We’re going to be able to help students with admissions, with financial aid, with finding out about residential opportunities, about internships and graduation,” Blake said. The Peyton Anderson Foundation paid for half of the project. Blake says once it’s finished, you won’t be able to miss it.
The George-Anne
Students found violating Tobacco 21 law could face university disciplinary action
By Abby Fuller
Congress approved legislation that would raise the legal minimum age for purchasing all tobacco products, including vaping products, from 18 to 21 in Dec. 2019. Prior to the federal legislation, 16 states had already passed legislation raising the minimum purchasing age to 21. Georgia was not one of these states. Georgia Southern University is a smoke-free campus, so tobacco and vaping products are already prohibited on campus by the Code of Student Conduct. Because the Office of Student Conduct receives reports for off-campus incidents, students found to be violating the Tobacco 21 law off-campus could still face disciplinary action on campus as a result.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATE: Georgia State student arrested, accused of filming in campus restrooms
By Chelsea Prince and Zachary Hansen
A Georgia State University student was identified Wednesday night as a suspect in recent secret filming incidents in campus restrooms. The incidents took place Monday and Tuesday in the University Commons student housing building, the Student Center and main campus library’s North building, university police said. Both male and female students were targeted. “They saw somebody pushing a red cellphone from the stall beside them and pointing it up toward them,” police Chief Joseph Spillane said. “They didn’t know if someone was taking a photo, or if they were being filmed.” Donny R. Techiera was taken into custody Wednesday shortly after investigators named him as the suspect. He is facing two counts of felony unlawful surveillance and a single count of public indecency.
The Augusta Chronicle
Augusta University police raising money for women’s self-defense program
By Miguel Legoas
One in five women in college experience sexual assault, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The Augusta University Police Department has found a way to fix that. The department will be holding a cookout fundraiser Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Jaguar Student Activities Center at Augusta University’s Summerville Campus to raise funds for its self-defense program, Rape Aggression Defense Systems. The women’s program is the only self-defense program endorsed by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. The instructors are all part of the AU Police Department.
Athens Banner-Herald
Morehead: UGA sees ‘big, big gains in productivity’
By Lee Shearer
University of Georgia students will get more mental health services, UGA President Jere Morehead announced Wednesday. The university will also grow its graduate student enrollment with a new aid program for Ph.D. students, funded with $500,000 in donated funds, Morehead said in the annual “State of the University” address in the UGA Chapel. The university will also step up its public service through partnerships with communities not just in Georgia but across the world, and step up efforts to bring in more students from under-represented groups such as minorities and first-generation students, Morehead said. “We must deepen our commitment to access,” he said.
Columbus CEO
CSU’s Dr. Linda Hadley on Revising the Curriculum at the Turner College of Business
Dean of the Turner College of Business at Columbus State University Dr. Linda Hadley talks about revising the curriculum in order to better meet the needs of employers.
EurekAlert
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
- Marshall Shepherd, a meteorologist whose diverse communication efforts engage a wide audience on weather, climate, and the relationship between science and society, will receive the 2020 Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor and director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia, chair of the NASA Earth Science Advisory Committee, and former president of the American Meteorological Society, Shepherd’s prowess as a researcher and leader are well known within the scientific community.
BioPortfolio
Community Paramedic Coaching Program for Caregivers and People With Dementia
Summary
This pilot study is designed to evaluate the potential effectiveness of the implementation strategy and intervention delivery model of a community paramedic coaching program for caregivers of persons with dementia, in direct coordination with the participant and caregiver’s primary health care team. Specifically, the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the program will be assessed, collecting data from all implementation stakeholders at baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks, and post-intervention (~50 weeks) using quantitative survey instruments and qualitative interviews. The intervention is an adaptation of the evidence-based REACH program (Resources Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health), designed for and validated in multiple settings to give education, tools, and support to informal caregivers of people with dementia, delivered through a series of at-home visits (minimum of 9 in-person and 3 phone sessions) conducted by trained and certified coaches over 6-12 months. The content of the coaching visits will follow the REACH program protocol, with materials customized with information about local community resources (e.g., Dane County). Coach/administrator training for delivery of the REACH intervention will be conducted by master trainers from the Rosalynn Carter Institute (RCI) for Caregiving, a department of Georgia Southwestern State University, who administers, certifies, and provides oversight for REACH sites nationally (https://www.rosalynncarter.org/programs/rci-reach/).
Growing America
Loeffler Names Key Advisors on Agriculture Issues
By: U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga.
U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., today announced that Jody Redding, Sydne Smith and Jack Overstreet will be her key staff advisors on Georgia agriculture issues and for her work as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. …Redding is a graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton. …Smith earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Georgia.
Morning AgClips
UGA SNAP-Ed rolls out nation’s first evidence-based online program
Food eTalk is an innovative, smartphone-based eLearning nutrition education program
The University of Georgia Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Education Program has launched Food eTalk, the country’s only evidence-based online SNAP-Ed program. UGA SNAP-Ed, a nutrition education and obesity prevention program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that targets low-income audiences, is delivered through UGA Cooperative Extension network in partnership with diverse stakeholders and communities across the state. Food eTalk is an innovative, smartphone-based eLearning nutrition education program tailored to the specific needs of SNAP-eligible adult Georgians.
Morning AgClips
UGA Ag Forecast shows Ga beef and poultry on the rise
Crops were presented by UGA agricultural economist Adam Rabinowitz
This year’s forecasts for peanuts, poultry, pecans, cotton and other Georgia crops were presented by University of Georgia agricultural economist Adam Rabinowitz during the first of five Georgia Ag Forecast events held across the state. Farmers and others in the agricultural industry met at the Georgia Farm Bureau Building in Macon, Georgia. According to Rabinowitz, Georgia beef and poultry production will increase while most other crops produced in the state will remain steady or decrease. Following is an overview of the 2020 Ag Forecast.
Gainesville Times
Tom Baxter
Even though it doesn’t always feel that way, more people will get up and go to work today in Georgia than at any time in the state’s history. In the past year alone, a quarter-million new jobs have been added in the state, Gov. Brian Kemp told the Joint House-Senate Budget Committee last week, as he rolled out his budget plan to lawmakers. State Economist Jeffrey Dorfman echoed the governor’s cheerful, yet cautious, assessment. Kemp chose Dorfman, a University of Georgia professor who has served as an economic adviser to the Gwinnett County Commission, to be state economist last summer. “The Georgia economy is so good we have essentially run out of workers, and it is very hard to grow employment when your state unemployment level is 3.3%,” Dorfman said.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
A Call for More Aid, and More Accountability
A panel including lawmakers involved in Congress’s last renewal of the Higher Education Act says that law is now obsolete, recommending a series of changes.
By Kery Murakami
In the 12 years since Congress last managed to renew the Higher Education Act, colleges have grown unaffordable, more graduates face stifling student debt and many do not graduate. The 2008 law has grown obsolete and does not deal with today’s problems, say two lawmakers who played a leading role in the last reauthorization. In a series of recommendations released Wednesday, a panel of former lawmakers and education experts, chaired by the top Democrat and Republican on the House education committee that helped write the last reauthorization law, called for billions more in student aid. The group, assembled by the Bipartisan Policy Center, would pay for it by phasing out education tax credits.
Inside Higher Ed
Senators Seek Information About Online Program Managers
By Doug Lederman
Two Democrats in the U.S. Senate have asked five companies that help colleges and universities manage their online academic programs for information about their contracts and relationships with the institutions. The letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio seeks either copies of contracts with the institutions or, “alternatively,” information about the nature and term of all of their institutional contracts. The letter also requests data on how much revenue they receive and how much they spend on services such as marketing, recruiting, instruction and student support for each institutional client. The senators also seek information about how the companies comply with federal rules prohibiting payments to recruiters on a per-student basis.
Inside Higher Ed
Report: California Ahead on Dual Enrollment
By Madeline St. Amour
New research shows that California is ahead of the curve on dual-enrollment participation, but Latinx and black students still lag behind their peers. The brief from Wheelhouse, the Center for Community College Leadership and Research, found that 12.6 percent of public high school students in California are part of a dual-enrollment program. Nationally, only 11 percent of high school students participate in dual enrollment. These programs let high school students take college courses while still in secondary school, which gives them credits for a future college degree and exposure to college experiences. Research has shown that students who participate in dual enrollment are more likely to graduate from high school and persist in college.