Fox5 Atlanta
Georgia Senate budget targets public media, cyber center
By Jeff Amy, Associated Press
Beyond cutting overall university and college spending, a Georgia Senate budget proposal also targets Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center in Augusta. The budget passed the Senate on Thursday on a 51-1 vote has mainly drawn attention for a $105 million proposed cut to teaching and health insurance funds for the state’s 26 public universities and colleges. But the spending plan also proposes a $5.1 million cut to Augusta University’s Cyber Center, out of $5.5 million in direct state funds. There’s also a $3.7 million cut to the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, the state agency that oversees GPB. That’s out of $14.2 million in state funds. The House did not seek similar cuts in its budget proposal. Representatives and senators must work out their differences on the budget by Wednesday, when Georgia’s 2023 legislative session is scheduled to end.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jones retreats on hospital overhaul, says lobbyists dangled deal he refused
By Greg Bluestein
The LG abandons 2023 push to rewrite health care rules
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones abandoned an effort to rewrite health care regulations this year, but not before accusing lobbyists of dangling a deal to allow a new hospital in his hometown if he relented on a broader deregulation push that has divided state powerbrokers. The Republican wrote in an op-ed published Saturday in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that unnamed lobbyists on several occasions “walked into my office offering to narrow this legislation to only benefit my hometown and family.” “I profusely refused because this is not about one issue, it is about expanding access for all of rural Georgia,” Jones wrote in the op-ed. “This is not about one community. This policy and my persistence to see it pass is for all rural communities.” … State officials are adamant about scuttling Jones’ measure because they want Wellstar to move forward with a potential takeover of the Augusta University Health System, the financially teetering organization that runs the Medical College of Georgia. …“That agreement in partnership is so critical to the future of the Medical College of Georgia and to medical education in Georgia,” Sonny Perdue, the chancellor of the state Board of Regents, said in an interview. “We don’t want to jeopardize that.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cobb educators show ‘overwhelming interest’ in free advanced degree
By Cassidy Alexander
The Cobb County School District has seen an “overwhelming level of interest” in its new program aimed at recruiting and retaining teachers by helping them get an advanced degree, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said this week. So far, the district has received more than 3,700 applications of interest, he said. The district originally intended to pay for 500 educators to obtain advanced degrees through a partnership with the University of West Georgia. The program is called Georgia’s BEST — which stands for “Building Educator Success Together.”
Augusta CEO
Augusta Gives Day Brings in Nearly $1.4 Million for Augusta University
Denise Parrish
The fourth annual Augusta Gives campaign held Wednesday, March 22, brought in nearly $1.4 million from more than 780 donors for Augusta University. Augusta Gives is the largest one-day fundraiser to benefit Augusta University. Donations for this community-funded initiative are driven by social media posts and shares by students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the university, as well as some of the university’s most dedicated supporters who choose to make major gifts on this day Because Augusta Gives is virtual, donors may support the colleges, programs, units or areas that resonate most with them. In addition, supporters were invited to follow campaign progress on the augustagives.com website.
Forsyth County News
Why UNG is offering high schoolers the chance to hear from former federal agents
Sabrina Kerns
The University of North Georgia is now accepting applications to its National Intelligence Summer Academy, which gives high schoolers the opportunity to learn from former top FBI and KGB agents. The academy, or NISA, runs from July 17-21 this year and promises 50 rising high school sophomores, juniors and seniors an in-depth look at careers in intelligence. Funded through UNG’s Institute for Leadership and Strategic Studies, Dr. Edward Mienie helped to create the academy, believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S., to use his more than 20 years of experience in international relations and business, media relations and coalition building to help students better understand what it truly means to work in these areas.
Douglas County Sentinel
UWG partners with Amazon to offer employees tuition assistance
By Miranda Pepe Special to the Sentinel
The University of West Georgia has been selected as an education partner for Amazon’s Career Choice program, providing Amazon’s hourly employees access to nearly all undergraduate opportunities at UWG. “We are honored to be chosen as a partner in this program and offer a first-choice university experience to the many individuals in our region who are employed by Amazon,” said Kimberly Scranage, UWG’s vice president for strategic enrollment management. “We look forward to providing members of the Amazon team with the opportunity to advance in their careers thanks to the holistic education we offer at UWG.”
The Tifton Gazette
Dr. J. Michael Kiefer has been selected as the new provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. ABAC President Tracy Brundage said Kiefer is well qualified for the role. “Dr. Kiefer brings a high level of experience to this position,” Brundage said. “He has familiarity with the University System of Georgia and I believe he can make an immediate positive impact on our institution.” Kiefer has served as the associate provost for academic and faculty affairs and campus dean at the State College of Florida, a position he has held since 2018, college officials said in a statement.
WTVM
Columbus State University’s female deans talk Women’s History Month, impact in the university
By Tiffany Maddox
Women are making many educational contributions in the Chattahoochee Valley, especially at Columbus State University. Currently, there are currently six deans at the university, five of them are women. In honor Women’s History Month, News leader 9 spoke with some of the deans about the impact women have on the university. “It’s a vision,” said Columbus State University Dean of the College of the Arts Dr. Wanda Ebright. “It’s about taking a look at the whole picture of the whole college and seeing what’s needed at any given time whether that’s fiscal, personnel resources, or community support.”
WRDW
Augusta University student raises awareness for Gold Star children
This is a live recording of WRDW News 12 at 6 p.m. (recurring)
Ag Information Network
Georgia Pecan Research and USDA Wildfire Investment
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**Georgia is the nation’s leading pecan-producing state, and University of Georgia researchers intend to keep it that way.
Working with an international team of experts, four faculty members from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have received a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture award for the second phase of a study to adapt the pecan, one of Georgia’s top commodities. The $737,227 award will further their interdisciplinary research project.
WRDW
Georgia peach crop takes major hit with cold snap in March
VIDEO Pam Knox with the UGA Extension office says some peach producers are worried about the changing climate.
Independent
Archaeologists on ‘first-of-its-kind’ mission to map sunken ancient landscapes
Dr Simon Fitch and Professor Richard Bates will travel to Croatia to begin a five-day long survey of the Adriatic seabed.
Nilima Marshall
Two British archaeologists are set to embark on a “first-of-its-kind” mission to map ancient landscapes lost to the oceans thousands of years ago. Dr Simon Fitch, from the University of Bradford, and Professor Richard Bates, from the University of St Andrews, will travel to Split in Croatia to begin a five-day long survey of the Adriatic seabed as part of the Life on the Edge project, which has received £1 million in funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). They will be joined by Vedran Barbaric, from the University of Split, as part of the pilot team to map submerged landscapes in parts of the Adriatic and North Sea. …Dr Jessica Cook Hale, from the University of Georgia in the US, who has also joined the project, said: “We know from experience human populations like to live along the coast, so once we get an understanding of the topography, we can then make an educated guess as to where they might have lived at a time when sea levels were much lower than they are today.”
WJBF
AU medical students host health fair for LGBTQ+ community
by: Nikita Dennis
The equality clinic of Augusta gave free health resources with a special health fair, while also bringing awareness to the pride community. “I hope they realize that there is a community here for them and that we’re here to support them and they were trying to raise the next generation of doctors they will be here for them,“ said Maura Connorton, medical student. Medical students at Augusta University students are helping to provide more health resources to the LGBTQ plus community with a health fair apart of the national ‘come out for health week’.
Athens Banner-Herald
Missed ‘Everything Everywhere’ on the big screen? Psychologists to speak at Ciné screening
Andrew Shearer
For all its wow-inducing stunts, bizarre comedic elements and masterful performances, genuine social issues are at the core of “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. A special one-time screening will be held Tuesday at Ciné with guest speakers from the University of Georgia to comment on some of the film’s weighty elements. As part of the 2023 National Evening of Science on Screen, “Everything Everywhere” will play at 5:15 p.m. and will feature a discussion with UGA psychology professor Anne Shaffer and clinical psychology doctoral student Miriam Zegarac.
The Newnan Times-Herald
New Black Chamber hosts event at UWG Newnan
Laura Camper
On Thursday, a new area minority organization joined with a state agency in promoting small business participation in state government contracts. The West Central Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce held its kickoff in December at the University of West Georgia in Newnan and returned to the campus Thursday to bring Julian Andrea Bailey, the Small Business and Supplier diversity manager at the Georgia Department of Administrative Services, to speak to local business owners about securing government contracts. More than 50 people from all over the area and as far away as Athens, Georgia, and Alabama attended.
Peach Belt Conference
PBC ESPORTS CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGIN THIS FRIDAY IN AIKEN
The Peach Belt Conference 2023 spring Esports Championships will begin this Friday, March 24, in Aiken, S.C., presented by Studio Architects. The conference will be holding its League of Legends and Overwatch Championships at the Etherredge Center on the campus of the University of South Carolina Aiken. League of Legends will occupy the main theater of the center while Overwatch will be just next door in the O’Connell Theater. …All contests will be streamed live with League of Legends on the PBC’s main Twitch channel here and the Overwatch competition on PBC2 here. Competition begins at 12 noon on Friday with the first of four League of Legends quarterfinals. Florida Southern College enters as the #1 seed following a perfect 7-0 regular-season. The University of North Georgia is second and Kennesaw State the third seed. The PBC will welcome two new programs to the in-person event as the University of West Georgia and Florida State University Panama City make their championship debut.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
The Role of Politics in Where Students Want to Go to College
Study finds that nearly one in four high school seniors said they passed up, out of political concerns, a college they would have initially considered because of its state. The trend is evident among conservatives and liberals.
By Scott Jaschik
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the Constitution did not guarantee a right to abortion, many expected the result to influence where students chose to enroll at college. There were anecdotal reports of some students changing colleges, but the timing of the decision, in June, limited students from changing, especially at competitive colleges with strict May 1 deadlines for responding to an offer of admissions. This is the first year when the decisions students are making about where to enroll will be after that Supreme Court decision—and after a palpable coarsening of relations between conservatives and liberals.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Cal State Fullerton Gets $1.4M for Career Pathways Projects
Jon Edelman
The difficulty of making a successful transition from school to the workforce remains one of the most persistent problems in higher education. The outcome is bad for students and industries alike: a lack of social mobility and a lack of qualified workers. But California State University, Fullerton’s efforts to tackle this issue got a major boost recently with the announcement of $1.4 million in grants for projects to shape career pathways for students.
Higher Ed Dive
Tennessee legislature passes bill banning TikTok from college campuses
Laura Spitalniak, Associate Editor
Dive Brief:
A Tennessee bill seeking to ban the use of TikTok on public college campuses passed the state legislature Thursday and will be sent to the governor’s office to be signed into law. While the legislation does not list TikTok by name, it would prohibit Chinese-owned social media from being accessed through Wi-Fi on public campuses. Republican Gov. Bill Lee is expected to sign the bill. Tennessee passed separate legislation in December to block TikTok from state government-owned devices.
Inside Higher Ed
Legal Blow to Internet Archive, Controlled Digital Lending
A federal judge’s ruling for book publishers delivered a swift verdict that has significant implications for librarians, writers and limits of digital libraries.
By Susan D’Agostino
On Friday, a federal judge in New York ruled that the Internet Archive violated U.S. copyright law when it digitized countless physical books from four major book publishers and offered them online. The highly anticipated verdict concerning the nonprofit’s behemoth online lending operation—3.6 million books protected by copyrights, including 33,000 of the publishers’ titles—was swift, landing days after the March 20 hearing. “At bottom, [the Internet Archive’s] fair use defense rests on the notion that lawfully acquiring a copyrighted print book entitles the recipient to make an unauthorized copy and distribute it in place of the print book, so long as it does not simultaneously lend the print book,” Judge John G. Koeltl of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan wrote. “But no case or legal principle supports that notion. Every authority points the other direction.”
Inside Higher Ed
5 Colleges in Louisiana Have Cybersecurity Breach
By Scott Jaschik
Five colleges and universities in Louisiana lack their regular computer systems, which are not operating, NOLA.com reported. The five include the University of New Orleans, which first announced a campuswide internet shutdown amid potential threats to its cybersecurity system. On Friday, the university announced that it and four other colleges—Nunez Community College, River Parishes Community College, Southern University at Shreveport and LSU Agricultural Center—would be working “diligently to restore network services soon.”
Higher Ed Dive
OPINION
Government must act fast to protect students and colleges from Silicon Valley’s economic threat
Colleges’ increasing dependence on private-sector ed tech firms leaves them open to risk, says the head of the Student Borrower Protection Center.
By Mike Pierce
Mike Pierce is executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center. Prior to founding SBPC in 2018, he spent seven years at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he was a senior regulator for the student financial services industry.
The abrupt collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank should put colleges, federal education officials and lawmakers on high alert. The economic chaos currently consuming Silicon Valley and the banking system exposes systemic risks to higher education. These risks exist because colleges, especially the largest public colleges, have grown dependent on shadowy, private-sector ed tech firms to deliver instruction and financial aid to students across the country. The ed tech industry exploded over the past three years, growing to allow colleges to meet the pandemic-era demand for online instruction.
Inside Higher Ed
Report: Antisemitic Incidents on Campuses Increased 41%
Scott Jaschik
A new report from the Anti-Defamation League found that antisemitic incidents on campuses increased by 41 percent in 2022. That is greater than the 36 percent increase in incidents in the United States over all. Of the 219 campus incidents, 127 were incidents of harassment, 90 were incidents of vandalism and two were assaults. Some 33 percent of the campus incidents included swastikas.
Cybersecurity Dive
US looks to reimagine cybersecurity paradigm with burden shift, rebuilt infrastructure
Security needs to be baked into the technology Americans use every day and not bolted onto aging systems, said Kemba Walden, acting national cyber director.
David Jones, Reporter
The Biden administration wants to change the paradigm for how the government and private industry think about the immediate needs and long-term technology infrastructure requirements for the U.S., according to the president’s top advisor on cybersecurity. The national cybersecurity strategy calls for two fundamental shifts in how the U.S. allocates roles, responsibilities and resources in the sector, Acting National Cybersecurity Director Kemba Walden told House members on Thursday. The U.S. needs to rebalance the responsibility for managing cyber risk so the burden doesn’t fall on the least capable members of society, according to Walden. Currently, the responsibility for cybersecurity falls on individuals, small businesses and local governments, Walden said.
Inside Higher Ed
By Scott Jaschik
Goddard College staff members went on strike Friday after bargaining between the staff union and administrators broke down, VTDigger reported. The 35 staff members are in a range of positions, including custodial workers and admissions office employees. “Negotiation hasn’t concluded yet,” Patrick Burke, the president of the UAW Local 2322, said Friday afternoon. “So the strike is on.” Dan Hocoy, the president of the college, called the strike “irresponsible.”