College commencement season is around the corner. To cross the finish line, many Georgia students have spent late April hunkering down and studying up for final exams.
There’s been plenty more happening on Georgia’s college campuses besides exam preparation. Here’s what you might have missed in April, courtesy of the AJC On Campus Roundup.
$2 million for ‘Spelhouse’
Morehouse and Spelman colleges received $1 million each in April thanks to a donation from a family of proud alumni. Drs. George I. Crawford Jr. and Marcus H. Crawford graduated from Morehouse, the private historically Black college in the 1990s, following the footsteps of their father. Their sister, Christine Crawford, graduated from Spelman in 1994 and later served on Morehouse faculty.
The donation comes weeks after Spelman launched its $500 million capital campaign that aims, in part, to expand financial aid. Morehouse said in a media release the donation would go toward its endowment and to support the construction of its new campus center.
“We are who we are because of Morehouse and Spelman,” said Crawford Jr., calling the decision a “no-brainer.”
Credit: Morehouse College
Credit: Morehouse College
New name for UGA’s new nursing school
Georgia is facing a nursing shortage, with a projected 21% shortfall in registered nurses by 2035. The state’s flagship university is trying to fill that gap, launching a nursing school expected to welcome its first students in fall 2027.
At a private ceremony in April, the University of Georgia announced the new school will be named after Victoria Kay Ivester. It was a surprise from her husband, Melvin Douglas “Doug” Ivester, and the most recent donation the Ivester family has gifted UGA, including a $20.5 million endowment to benefit the nursing school.
“We believe the Victoria Kay Ivester School of Nursing will offer outstanding educational opportunities for future students who will ultimately make great contributions to the state’s medical community and the health and well-being of Georgia citizens,” said Doug Ivester, a 1969 graduate who later became chief executive officer of the Coca-Cola Co..
Credit: Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA
Credit: Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA
Industry and academia
Georgia Tech has launched a 20,000-square-foot facility designed to take new research and transform it into products that are available on the consumer market.
The Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility in Midtown Atlanta allows students to work alongside industry specialists to take early-stage concepts from idea to reality, according to the school. It features robots moving between machines and labs, giving students access to advanced technology often only available to industry professionals.
Working with partners ranging from aerospace and automotive companies to materials manufacturing companies, students and researchers will be able to test out products before they ever make it to a factory floor for large-scale production.
Georgia Tech says the space will offer career connections, as industry leaders can work with promising students, ultimately leading to future employment opportunities.
Great debate
Emory University’s debate team won its fourth national tournament, making history along the way.
Since the advent of the National Debate Tournament in 1947, only four schools have achieved first in the seasonlong rankings, won the tournament and had the tournament’s top speaker. Emory’s team, known as Barkley Forum, achieved the feat in April.
Spelman’s Research Day
Spelman College canceled classes April 17 for its annual Research Day, where students presented more than 300 research projects to their classmates, faculty and staff.
Their creations included a project where, through artificial intelligence, students enabled plants to communicate and explain their needs. Another student project featured a mechanical exoskeleton that humans can wear to enhance their strength, decreasing muscular workload during physical activities like lifting, walking and jumping.
In a media release, Spelman said the event occurred “on the cusp of Spelman earning the 2025 Carnegie Research Colleges and Universities (RCU) designation for its modernized curriculum and investment into research and innovation.”
GGC helping Georgia read
Georgia has a literacy crisis. According to the Georgia Council on Literacy, 62% of third grade students are not reading proficiently. For eighth graders, the figure is 69%.
The School of Education at Georgia Gwinnett College is working to increase childhood literacy by training future teachers in its reading assessment class. It instructs student teachers to identify problems early, so the future educators can create individual lesson plans and help struggling readers before their struggles worsen; a 2023 Deloitte report found nearly 800,000 Georgia adults have low literacy skills.
“Our literacy training is a hallmark program,” associate professor of literacy education Christine Reilly said in an April media release. “The amount of field and teaching opportunities our candidates receive means they graduate confident and ready to make a positive impact in their own classrooms.”
Expanded partnership
The Technical College System of Georgia announced its signed a partnership with Western Governors University to help students continue their education after completing an associate degree from a TCSG school.
It follows a previous agreement signed in 2022 where TCSG students can go on to get their bachelor’s degree from WGU, particularly in the high-demand fields of information technology, nursing, business, and K-12 education.
More than 3,200 students from TCSG colleges have transferred to WGU, and more than 1,600 have earned their bachelor’s degrees, according to the system.
Bloomberg donation
One TCSG school, Central Georgia Technical College, received a $10 million donation from Bloomberg Philanthropies to expand high-demand healthcare workforce programs.
In a partnership with the Houston County School District, dually enrolled high school students will be able to receive training in programs like nursing, surgical technology and pharmacy technology.
“Students will graduate high school with a college credential that will qualify them to immediately enter the health care workforce with a good-paying job, but without any college debt,” according to a media release.
Most of the classes will take place at the STEM/Allied Health Academy, currently under construction in Warner Robins. Initial coursework for healthcare programs will begin this fall.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
More teachers through KSU program
Kennesaw State University signed an agreement with Fulton County Schools that will allow students interested in becoming teachers to earn more than 30 credits before graduating high school.
The dual enrollment initiative is designed to streamline the admissions process into KSU’s College of Education, saving students time and money and getting them into the workforce more quickly. Fulton will offer priority hiring consideration to graduates of the program, “helping create a direct pipeline from high school to college to career,” according to a media release.
If you have any higher education tips or thoughts, email reporter Jason Armesto at jason.armesto@ajc.com.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
