It often takes time, a lot of time, for administrators in higher education to get something done. In this week’s AJC On Campus, we begin with a title it took a few decades for Jimmy Carter to receive and something many Georgia Bulldogs football fans wish had been considered years ago.
Jimmy Carter’s new honor
Emory University announced Monday that its most famous faculty member, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, has been granted tenure. Carter has been lecturing at Emory for 37 years. His tenured faculty appointment is in four schools, Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Oxford College, Candler School of Theology, and Rollins School of Public Health.
Alcohol in Sanford Stadium
There may soon be a new reason for some fans to cheer at Georgia Bulldogs games. The Southeastern Conference voted Friday to allow its members, which include the University of Georgia, to set its own policy to sell alcohol in its football venues. UGA will sell beer and wine in one specific area on the club level of Sanford Stadium during the 2019 football season. Here's a report about how this will likely work.
Baldwin Hall report
The University of Georgia recently released a near 400-page report it sent to state officials detailing its 2015 discovery of the remains of 105 people buried near Baldwin Hall, an academic facility on the Athens campus. Many students, faculty and community leaders have not been pleased with how the university has managed the process of exhuming the remains and researching who was buried there. UGA initially suggested the remains appeared to be from persons of European descent. It took more than a year for the university to acknowledge the vast majority were from individuals of African heritage, most likely slaves or former slaves.
The new report found the contents of some graves were disturbed during the construction of the hall in 1938 and 1942. Some graves appeared to have been exhumed, either before or during construction, the report found. The graves that were in the construction area of the 2015 building addition project were exhumed and reburied in the Oconee Hill Cemetery. Critics held several demonstrations before the semester ended about the site and other issues surrounding campus diversity.
Prominent Emory faculty member to resign
Emory University announced Wednesday that Richard Prior, its director of Orchestral Studies, will resign at the end of August. The university would not discuss his departure, saying it's a personnel matter. Prior did not respond to a telephone call or email address listed on his website. He is listed as the conductor and music director of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra.
Arts for Athletes
Clark Atlanta University head men's basketball coach George Lynch hosted a fundraiser Friday to raise money for the program. The money will go to scholarships, summer school, equipment, meals and tutors. Historically black colleges and universities such as CAU have less money to offer scholarships, so these types of fundraisers are critically important, Lynch told the AJC. More than a dozen artists, including Fahamu Pecou, Cecil Bernard, Monica Tookes, Fabian Williams and former NFL player Takeo Spikes have donated nearly a quarter-million dollars worth of art to be auctioned.
CAU’s Mensa Man
Clark Atlanta University announced last week that Jamie Pleasant, a marketing professor and associate dean of its business school, is the newest member of the Mensa society, the world-renowned society for people who’ve tested with high intelligence. A university spokesman said Pleasant is believed to be the first CAU faculty member to be part of the group. Candidates for membership of Mensa must achieve a score at or above the 98th percentile on a standard test of intelligence. Mensa has about 134,000 members worldwide.
Grad school diversity effort
The American Chemical Society announced last week that it has selected six university departments as partners in the ACS Bridge Program, an initiative that seeks to increase the number of graduate students from underrepresented groups in the chemical sciences. Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering was selected to be part of the effort.
Fort Valley State prostitution case update
Two men pleaded not guilty last week to charges they solicited sex from a former Fort Valley State University employee. The former employee waived arraignment amid a motion for more evidence. Here's a report by Channel 2 Action News, who covered the hearing.
KSU wins national science competition
A team from Kennesaw State Univesity took first place Wednesday night in the 12th annual American College of Sports Medicine Student Bowl in Orlando, the university said. The KSU quartet won the national title over 12 other teams from around the country in the “Jeopardy”-style tournament showcasing sports medicine and exercise science knowledge.
Education Notebook
Many have heard the old saying about real estate. It's all about about location, location, location. For some DeKalb County parents, the same goes for high school graduation ceremonies. Many were upset when the school district signed a contract to hold its ceremonies at the Georgia World Congress Center. AJC reporter Marlon A. Walker wrote about the issue in Sunday's Education Notebook. Here's his story.
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