Americus Times-Recorder
Twenty-five GSW Marshals selected to prestigious program
By Ken Gustafson
Twenty-five students have been selected to one of Georgia Southwestern State University’s (GSW) most prestigious and oldest organizations on campus, the GSW Marshals. Founded in 1939, the GSW Marshals is an ambassador program designed to serve as university hosts for special events including commencement, convocations and donor receptions among others. Students must be recommended by GSW faculty or staff for their leadership ability, communication skills and enthusiasm for the University. They go through an extensive application and interview process before they are able to be trained in this position. “Helping these students grow into servant leaders and witnessing how they interact with faculty, staff, board members, alumni and community leaders is quite remarkable,” said David Jenkins, Ed.D., advisor to the GSW Marshals. “The networking opportunities these students are given plays an important role in their college experience.”
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
Georj Lewis Is the New President of Clayton State University in Georgia
The board of regents of the University System of Georgia has appointed Georj Lewis as president of Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia. Since 2019, Dr. Clayton has been president of Atlanta Metropolitan State College (AMSC).
The Red & Black
Exquisite and excelling: Alpha Kappa Alpha celebrates 50 years at UGA
Allison Mawn
Six granite pillars stand in the heart of the University of Georgia’s campus. Emblazoned on their fronts are the crests of sororities and fraternities — members of the Divine Nine, as they have come to be known. In a space where Black individuals have not always been respected, much less celebrated, these monuments stand resolutely, just like the tenacious students who created spaces where they could feel safe and understood over the past 62 years. Since UGA’s integration in 1961, Black students have fought to make spaces for themselves on campus and in the community. Today, one of the most prominent spaces on campus for celebrating Black identities is in a sorority. This year, the Eta Xi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated is celebrating its 50th year of striving for excellence in service, sisterhood and scholarship at UGA. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated was founded Jan. 15, 1908 at Howard University, a historically Black university. It is the “oldest Greek-letter Organization founded by African American college-educated women,” according to the group’s official website.
Columbus CEO
Minority Scholars Program, Upcoming Summit Seek to Bolster Future STEM Workforce
Staff Report
With female and minority representation in the STEM workforce lagging, programs like Columbus State University’s Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program are providing STEM students with greater academic, research, mentoring and professional development support. Based in the university’s College of Letters & Sciences, the LSAMP Program is making it possible for the next generation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals to find their place in the nation’s workforce.
Savannah Business Journal
Idea Accelerator Bootcamp for Entrepreneurs to have Free, Virtual Info Session Feb. 21
Staff Report
The Creative Coast’s annual Idea Accelerator Bootcamp is a virtual 12-week educational and mentoring program starting with a free pre-course to help attendees determine if entrepreneurship is the right path for them. The event is a partnership between The Creative Coast, Georgia Southern Business Innovation Group (BIG), and the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). The Idea Accelerator Bootcamp is for anyone who is ready to test their business idea or anyone who wants to update an old business.
Middle Georgia CEOUGA SBDC Hosts Signature SBDC StartSmart Program in Virtual Format
Staff Report
The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (SBDC), a Public Service and Outreach unit of the University of Georgia, is hosting the SBDC StartSmart Program in a virtual, live learning format. The educational program, paired with expert consulting from SBDC professionals, is designed to assist those who are planning a business or have been in business for less than two years.
yahoo!news
Poet Courtney Faye Taylor to speak at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
The Albany Herald, Ga.
Award-winning poet Courtney Faye Taylor will come to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Monday as part of the Georgia Poetry Circuit. Taylor will share her work at 7 p.m. at ABAC’s Edwards Hall. Taylor is the author of “Concentrate, forthcoming,” which was the winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize selected by Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Her work was also a finalist for the National Poetry Series. Taylor earned a bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College before completing requirements for a master’s degree at the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program.
Marietta Daily Journal
KSU names chief diversity officer
Staff reports
Sonia Toson, an associate professor of law at Kennesaw State University, has been named the school’s chief diversity officer. Toson, who was the interim chief diversity officer since August 2021, will begin in the position Feb. 15. Prior to being named to the interim position, she was the director of diversity relations in KSU’s Michael J. Coles College of Business.
WSAV
Georgia Southern offers free COVID tests with new kiosk
If you’ve been impacted by COVID-19, you know one of the hardest things to find was a COVID test. Georgia Southern University is offering a quick and easy way to get a test at no cost. The university teamed up with the Georgia Department of Public Health to make it possible. Sean Bear, public health administrator for health services, says this kiosk is something that was needed for the community. …The kiosk sits right on the Statesboro campus next to the bookstore, and it’s available for everyone — not just students and staff.
Savannah Morning News
Make Armstrong meaningful again? Wisdom behind merger with Georgia Southern still a mystery
Consolidating two universities an hour apart didn’t fit the mold employed elsewhere in the state. Was it done to save Armstrong?
Adam Van Brimmer
This commentary is written by opinion columnist Adam Van Brimmer.
Some brilliant ideas sound dreadful at first mention. Five years on, a merged Armstrong-Georgia Southern seems far from genius ― it might even be more absurd now than it sounded then. January marked the five-year anniversary of the consolidation of the two universities. During that half decade, enrollment and the number of students living on campus has dwindled, the campus culture has evolved from vibrant to stale, and promises made about athletics and extracurriculars ― student life ― have gone unfulfilled. As a 2020 grad put it in an anniversary retrospective published this week, “The name Armstrong is kind of meaningless.”
Other News:
InsiderAdvantage
The Development of Economic Development
by IAG Staff | James Magazine
Economic development has been a buzzword in Georgia for so long that it has spawned its own industry of economic development professionals. And every industry needs someone to advocate for them – enter the Georgia Economic Developers Association, helmed by Grant Cagle, who aims to help Georgia remain the top state to do business for the 10th year in a row. Learn more about the GEDA from Cagle in this video from Georgia CEO below:
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
How Student Loan Forgiveness Could Win at the Supreme Court
If the parties challenging the plan can’t clear the standing threshold, then the Supreme Court justices shouldn’t consider the other arguments that the debt-relief plan is illegal. But that might not stop the conservative justices from striking down loan forgiveness.
By Katherine Knott
If the Biden administration’s debt-relief plan survives the U.S. Supreme Court, some legal experts say it will likely be because of standing—or rather, the plaintiffs’ lack of it. The question of standing has been a key theme in the recent legal battle over the Biden administration’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for eligible Americans. Critics have to first find plaintiffs who could challenge the plan in federal court, though several federal judges have rejected many of standing theories presented.
Higher Ed Dive
Accreditors struggle to recruit public members, incorporate them into decision-making
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
A new survey reveals higher education accreditors struggle to find and train members of the general public to sit on their governing boards — necessary steps to fulfill a requirement under federal law. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation distributed the survey last summer to 85 accreditors that it or the U.S. Department of Education recognize. A total of 25 accreditors responded, sharing background on how many public members they have, how they identify those people and the process of onboarding them. Accreditors said word of mouth is their primary method of recruiting public members. They said they have found the members through referrals or conferences.
Cybersecurity Dive
98% of organizations worldwide connected to breached third-party vendors
David Jones, Reporter
Dive Brief:
A total of 98% of organizations worldwide have integrations with at least one third-party vendor that has been breached in the last two years, according to a report released Wednesday from SecurityScorecard and the Cyentia Institute. Third-party vendors are five times more likely to exhibit poor security, the report found. Half of organizations have indirect links to at least 200 fourth-party vendors that have suffered prior breaches. The information services sector maintained on average 25 vendor relationships, which is the largest number of any sector and more than double the overall average of third-party vendors, which was 10. Healthcare averaged 15.5 vendors and the financial services industry averaged the lowest number, with 6.5.
Higher Ed Dive
FTC approves order requiring Chegg to tighten data security
Roger Riddell, Senior Editor
Dive Brief:
In a 4-0 vote, the Federal Trade Commission last week finalized a proposed order requiring ed tech provider Chegg to tighten its data security and delete unnecessary data. The company — which sells products and services including virtual tutoring and an online college scholarship search service to high school and college students — had experienced four security breaches since 2017. Those incidents exposed Social Security numbers, email addresses, passwords, birthdates, parents’ income ranges, sexual orientation, disabilities and other sensitive data of millions of its customers and employees. Despite this, Chegg allegedly did not correct the issues, the FTC said. Under the FTC order, Chegg will be required to implement a comprehensive information security program that includes data encryption and employee security training, limit the data it collects and retains, offer users security measures like multifactor authentication, and permit users to access and delete data they’ve provided to the company.
Cybersecurity Dive
T-Mobile CEO spins recent breach, says its cybersecurity chops ‘showed up’
“Our systems and policies protected the most sensitive kinds of customer data,” Mike Sievert said on an earnings call. “We take this issue very seriously.”
Matt Kapko, Reporter
Top brass at T-Mobile, despite a string of security incidents, insist the company’s investments in cybersecurity are paying off. “The investments we’ve made in 2022, including in our cybersecurity capabilities, showed up in a critical way a few weeks ago,” CEO Mike Sievert said Wednesday during the company’s 2022 Q4 earnings call. “After identifying a criminal attempt to access our data through an API, we shut it down within 24 hours. And more importantly, our systems and policies protected the most sensitive kinds of customer data from being accessed,” Sievert told analysts.