USG VALUE:
www.times-georgian.com
http://www.times-georgian.com/view/full_story/22335504/article-Have-a-book?instance=TG_home_story
Have a book
Stacie Taniguchi, right, presents Margie Laney with a free copy of the book “Salvage the Bones” by author Jesmyn Ward Tuesday at the Carroll County Soup Kitchen. Taniguchi, a graduate student at the University of West Georgia, was participating in the World Book Night distribution, along with other grad students and university staff across the county. …The program was administered through the UWG Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Acting Director Deirdre Rouse, and the UWG Ingram Library. Nationwide, the program distributed around one-half million free books to light or non-readers.

USG NEWS:
www.jacksonville.com
http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2013-04-24/story/gregory-f-aloia-be-new-president-college-coastal-georgia
Gregory F. Aloia to be new president of College of Coastal Georgia
Aloia, now president of Concor University in Athens, W.Va., will assume office July 1
By Terry Dickson
BRUNSWICK, GA. | Gregory F. Aloia will become president of the College of Coastal Georgia July 1 replacing Valerie Hepburn, the college’s first president as a four-year institution, the state Board of Regents announced.
“We are delighted that Dr. Gregory Aloia will be taking over leadership at the College of Coastal Georgia,” Board of Regents Chair Dink NeSmith said Wednesday morning.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2013-04-24/hundreds-turn-out-reception-honoring-uga-president-adams
Hundreds turn out for reception honoring UGA President Adams
By LEE SHEARER
Hundreds of people lined up to shake hands with departing University of Georgia President Michael Adams and his wife Mary at a farewell reception Wednesday afternoon.
Adams will step down from the UGA presidency June 30 after 16 years as the university’s top administrator.
Most of the crowd of 300 or so at the catered reception were UGA administrators, faculty and staff, including Provost Jere Morehead, who will take over Adams’ job July 1. A few students also showed up for the event in the Tate Student Center’s Grand Hall, along with Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson, Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens and others from the Athens community.

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/ugalife/bulldog-nation-gives-univeristy-president-michael-adams-final-farewell/article_633c071c-ad4c-11e2-bc4e-0019bb30f31a.html
Bulldog nation gives University President Michael Adams final farewell
Kendall Trammell
Editor’s Note: Thirty-two semesters have passed under the tenure of University of Georgia President Michael Adams. Below are a few glimpses into his administration, told through the stories of some that knew him best. Administrators and student leaders bid him and his wife, Mary, farewell in an address Wednesday.
Correction appended

www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/education/2013-04-24/azziz-seeks-independent-review-use-gru-resources-family-wedding?v=1366853873
Azziz seeks independent review of use of GRU resources at family wedding
By Steve Crawford
Staff Writer
Georgia Regents University President Ricardo Azziz has asked the state university system to conduct an independent review of the use of state resources for a family wedding held at his home. Azziz asked University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby for an “impartial assessment” of the issues and actions connected with the Saturday wedding, which was held for his niece at the president’s home at 920 Milledge Road. “Due to the questions raised around use of university resources in conjunction with a wedding held at the University President’s Home, I have requested an impartial review by the University System of Georgia,” Azziz said in a prepared statement released late Wednesday. “My team and I will make every effort to support the System in their assessment.”

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/ugalife/administration/uga-attracts-maintains-students-with-higher-gpa-intellectual-curiosity/article_4d669cc0-ad49-11e2-841f-001a4bcf6878.html
UGA attracts, maintains students with higher GPA, ‘intellectual curiosity’
Kendall Trammell
…Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management, said the quality of applicants has increased over the years. The students applying to UGA are those “with intellectual curiosity,” McDuff said. This is one of the changes University President Michael Adams leaves behind with his legacy. “We’ve seen the demand to enroll at the University of Georgia increase substantially over the 16 years both in the number of students, their academic quality and the diversity of students,” McDuff said. For this reason, McDuff said UGA is able to accept students of a higher caliber.

www.daltondailycitizen.com
http://daltondailycitizen.com/local/x437174117/It-s-Greek-to-them
It’s Greek to them
First fraternity forms at Dalton State
By Christopher Smith
Dalton State College “doesn’t have a lot of reasons for students to stick around,” history education junior Matt Hall said. That’s why Hall, accounting senior Nate Baggett and biology senior Carrington Akins spearheaded Dalton State’s first fraternity organization. The three students joined 12 other Dalton State students who signed into the national Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity Wednesday evening at the Pope Student Center.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2013-04-24/most-trash-uga-bins-was-recyclable-audit-finds
Most trash in UGA bins was recyclable, audit finds
By LEE SHEARER
The University of Georgia still has a way to go before it meets a goal of diverting about two-thirds of its waste from landfills to recycling centers. A waste audit conducted Tuesday on the Tate Center lawn demonstrated part of the reason why. Student volunteers and members of UGA’s sustainability office donned protective suits and sorted through all the trash UGA faculty, staff and students had thrown into the roughly 400 outdoor trash bins that dot the UGA campus, sorting the fairly smelly contents into what was recyclable and what was not.

RESEARCH:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/a-healthy-conversation/2013/04/uga-develops-game-to-teach-neuroscience.html
UGA develops game to teach neuroscience
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
University of Georgia researchers are developing a video game that teaches students about the complex networks in the brain and the nervous system by challenging them to solve puzzles using music, colors and shapes.
Interactive Science in 3D, or IS3D, the UGA start-up company developing the game called Nurbits, will test it in Athens and Atlanta schools.

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/ugalife/researcher-receives-million-to-study-hot-tub-loving-pathogens/article_142ec6fa-ad3d-11e2-ae65-0019bb30f31a.html
Researcher receives $1.5 million to study hot-tub loving pathogens
by JEANETTE KAZMIERCZAK
At the Playboy Mansion in Feb. 2011, several hundred people came down with flu-like illness and four cases were confirmed to be Legionnaires’ Disease. The likely culprit? The hot tub. Legionnaire’s disease is caused by the Legionella bacteria, which affects between 8,000 and 18,000 people a year in the United States. Vincent Starai, an assistant professor of microbiology and infectious diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine has been given $1.5 million by the National Institutes of Health to study Legionella and how it operates inside human immune cells.

www.cbsnews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57581288/watch-robot-flipperbot-inspired-by-baby-sea-turtles/
Watch: Robot “FlipperBot’ inspired by baby sea turtles
By Shoshana Davis
While it may look like a giant robotic pet, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have actually created the “FlipperBot” to generate new data on how organisms move. The robot mimics the movements of sea turtle hatchlings struggling to reach the ocean. These little creatures need to rely on dexterity and flexibility in their wrists to get around without moving a lot of the surrounding sand.

Related articles:
www.huffingtonpost.com
Amphibious Robots Inspired By Baby Sea Turtles, Researchers Say (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/amphibious-robots-flippers_n_3149760.html

www.slashgear.com
New robots shed light on origins of sea turtles
http://www.slashgear.com/new-robots-shed-light-on-origins-of-sea-turtles-24279213/

www.latinospost.com
FlipperBot, Inspired By Sea Turtles, Explores A New Mode Of Robotic Locomotion [Video] http://www.latinospost.com/articles/17442/20130424/flipperbot-inspired-sea-turtles-explores-new-mode-robotic-locomotion-video.htm

www.extremetech.com
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/154162-the-power-grid-of-the-future-will-be-controlled-by-neurons-in-a-petri-dish
The power grid of the future will be controlled by neurons in a Petri dish
By Sebastian Anthony
If engineers at Clemson University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have their way, the power grid of tomorrow will be governed by a network of living neurons, grown in a Petri dish, and attached to a computer. For now, the researchers have successfully used a simulation of the power grid to “teach” the living neurons, and then used their new-found mastery of power generation and transmission to control electric generators attached to a real power system.

www.businessnewsdaily.com
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4391-four-words-pinterest.html
The Four Words That Drive Business on Pinterest
By: David Mielach, BusinessNewsDaily Staff Writer
The secret to success for businesses on Pinterest may come down to simply using the right word or words in posts. New research has found that four words in particular — use, look, want and need — set posts apart from other social networks for businesses. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Minnesota say those words are important in signaling the intent of consumers.

www.times-georgian.com
http://www.times-georgian.com/view/full_story/22347643/article-Expect-future-domestic-terrorism–UWG-prof-warns?instance=TG_home_story_offset
Expect future domestic terrorism, UWG prof warns
by Winston Jones/Times-Georgian
More terrorist incidents like the Boston Marathon bombing can be expected in the future and law enforcement has to remain vigilant to that possibility, a University of West Georgia criminology professor said Wednesday. “I don’t think it’s a trend, but we’re going to see it happen on occasion,” said Dr. David Jenks, professor and chair of the UWG Criminology Department. “One of the reasons it doesn’t happen more often is because attempts are being thwarted by the police through their vigilance.” Jenks will be traveling to Israel this summer for a 10-day course in terrorism studies and how democracies can defeat the worldwide terrorist threat.

www.spacedaily.com
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Rethinking_early_atmospheric_oxygen_999.html
Rethinking early atmospheric oxygen
by Staff Writers
A research team of biogeochemists at the University of California, Riverside has provided a new view on the relationship between the earliest accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere, arguably the most important biological event in Earth history, and its relationship to the sulfur cycle. A general consensus exists that appreciable oxygen first accumulated in Earth’s atmosphere around 2.4 to 2.3 billion years ago… Reinhard, now a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech and soon to be an assistant professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, explained that although the researchers’ new model provides a plausible mechanism for reconciling recent conflicting data, this can only occur when certain key conditions are met – and these conditions are likely to have changed through time during Earth’s long early history.

STATE NEEDS/ISSUES:
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2013-04-24/deal-signs-bill-lowering-gpa-hope-grants
Deal signs bill lowering G.P.A. for HOPE grants
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA (AP) — Gov. Nathan Deal has signed legislation to lower grade requirements for recipients of the HOPE Grant program, which helps students attending the state’s technical colleges. Deal signed the bill during a Wednesday event at the Technical College System of Georgia’s annual leadership summit.

Related articles:
www.bizjournals.com
Gov. Deal signs bill expanding access to technical colleges
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2013/04/24/gov-deal-signs-bill-expanding-access.html

www.thecoastalsource.com
Deal signs bill lowering G.P.A. for HOPE grants
http://www.thecoastalsource.com/2013/04/24/deal-signs-bill-lowering-g-p-a-for-hope-grants/

www.redandblack.com
Gov. Nathan Deal signs legislation for technical colleges
http://www.redandblack.com/ugalife/gov-nathan-deal-signs-legislation-for-technical-colleges/article_f359da9c-ad0e-11e2-a30d-001a4bcf6878.html

www.myfoxatlanta.com
Deal signs bill lowering G.P.A. for HOPE grants
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/22065863/deal-signs-bill-lowering-gpa-for-hope-grants

www.wsbradio.com
Bill allows for more HOPE grants for tech college students
http://www.wsbradio.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/bill-allows-more-hope-grants-tech-college-stsudent/nXWsL/

www.northeastcobb.patch.com
http://northeastcobb.patch.com/articles/bill-makes-chatt-tech-more-accessible-88ef159b
Bill Makes Chatt Tech More Accessible
The governor has signed a bill to help students afford the cost of attending Georgia’s technical colleges.
By Rodney Thrash
Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a bill that will expand access to schools such as Chattahoochee Technical College, which has a campus in Northeast Cobb. House Bill 372 lowers the GPA requirement for the HOPE Grant from a 3.0 to a 2.0. The HOPE Grant goes to students who attend schools in the Technical College System of Georgia.

www.finance.yahoo.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-reasons-atlanta-great-place-145914625.html
4 Reasons Atlanta Is A Great Place For Entrepreneurs
By Vivian Giang, Business Insider
In recent years, some smaller cities have been able to compete with larger areas — such as New York City and San Francisco — as places for entrepreneurs to start new businesses. In the South, Atlanta has quickly become an attractive place for entrepreneurs with its low cost of living, convenient transportation, available tech hubs, and diverse talent pool… Atlanta is home to some of the most advanced universities in technology and bioscience degree programs, such as Georgia Tech, Emory University, and Georgia State University. In fact, Georgia Tech has one of the oldest business incubators in the country: the Advanced Technology Development Center, a startup accelerator that has helped launched more than 130 companies, according to its web site.

www.gpb.org
http://www.gpb.org/blogs/georgia-works/2013/04/24/america’s-1-city-to-start-a-small-business-–-atlanta#
America’s #1 City to Start a Small Business – Atlanta
By Chip Rogers
Nerdwallet.com, which recently ranked Georgia Tech as the #1 post-secondary educational investment, has now ranked Atlanta the top city for starting a small business. Atlanta beat out the likes of Charlotte, Austin, and Tulsa to take the top spot.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/new-ethics-rules-jan-1-start-creates-uncertainty-f/nXW6L/?icmp=ajc_internallink_textlink_apr2013_ajcstubtomyajc_launch
New ethics law’s Jan. 1 start creates uncertainty for lobbyists, legislators
BY AARON GOULD SHEININ – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
When the lights come up on the 2014 legislative session, lobbyists and lawmakers will remain in the dark about how to navigate new ethics rules that take effect Jan. 1 but won’t be interpreted by ethics regulators until much later. The new ethics rules, approved by lawmakers this year, have already spawned a number of questions. Among them: Does the bill include an inadvertent exemption that allows lobbyists who are lawyers to avoid registering and disclosing their spending? Do lobbyists who are state employees have to register? Does the new $75 cap on lobbyist gifts to lawmakers apply to each individual instance or could a lobbyist, for example, spend $75 on drinks and another $75 on dinner?

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2013/apr/24/expanding-hope-grants-students-20-gpas/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Expanding HOPE grants to students with 2.0 GPAs
For years, the HOPE Scholarship was considered inviolate. If changes had to be made to the lauded Georgia scholarship program, the changes broadened HOPE’s reach, not contracted it. But the recession changed the calculus of HOPE and suddenly the unthinkable began to happen: HOPE decreased, both in the amount of the scholarship and the size of the recipient pool. Qualifications rose. Payouts fell. Books and fees were eliminated. Only top students in the state now earn full HOPE, based not only on their grades, but their SAT and ACT scores.

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/views/our-take-as-adams-departs/article_da8387ae-acf3-11e2-ab33-0019bb30f31a.html
Our Take: As Adams departs
NICHOLAS FOURIEZOS
Look around campus today. You might walk through Tate Plaza, see the bookstore and take up residence in one of the Miller Learning Center’s comfy chairs. You might then follow that up with a walk across the bridge and into Tate 2, the $58 million expansion which was added in 2009. Move up to North Campus, where the buildings invoke the University’s past. Take a study break at the library, which was renovated this past summer. Never mind if you haven’t been there since freshman year — it’s all brand new, anyway. …All of this is the legacy of President Michael F. Adams, who on Wednesday was honored by students, alumni and faculty at the Tate Grand Hall along with his wife, Mary. Adams will have served 16 years by the time he steps down June 30. Or, in other words, he’s seen four Georgia governors during his tenure.

www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/editorials/2013-04-25/azzizs-transit-authority?v=1366853689
Azziz’s transit authority
GRU’s reigning monarch grabs taxpayer-funded resources for personal enrichment
By Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Can you imagine a mayor commandeering a city bus, as well as city police officers, to help pull off an extended relative’s wedding at a taxpayer-owned home? Of course not. That would be a raw abuse of power, an imperious and legally questionable, ethically dubious act. No leader worth his salt would even contemplate such an autocratic, high-handed appropriation of the public’s resources for personal benefit.
But Ricardo Azziz actually did such a thing.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/04/25/moocs-do-not-represent-best-online-learning-essay
MOOCs and the Quality Question
By Ronald Legon
Overnight, MOOCs — with free tuition for all, attracting unprecedented enrollments reaching into the hundreds of thousands, and the involvement of world-class faculty — have captured the imagination of the press, public and even legislators looking for ways to expand the availability of higher education at minimal cost.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/law-policy-and-it/more-moocs-and-liberal-arts-education
More on MOOCs and Liberal Arts Education
By Tracy Mitrano
Yesterday I wrote about how MOOCs (broadly interpreted, not literally defined) could enrich a liberal arts education from the proverbial 10,000-feet level. Today I would like to drop down several thousand feet in thought to share how an institution might effectuate such programming.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/devry-responds-my-3-suggestions-profits
DeVry Responds to My ‘3 Suggestions for For-Profits’
By Joshua Kim
A few weeks ago I wrote a post titled 3 Suggestions for For-Profits. I wrote this post because I am both a fan and a critic of for-profit education. The original post was written at least in part to try to bring our for-profits colleagues into the discussion. We all have opinions about for-profit education (and I hope that you share them with us here), I’m hoping for a dialogue. To DeVry’s credit, it is the first for-profit university that took me up on the invitation to share some specific information around transparency, faculty, and opportunities for collaboration.

Education News
www.gpb.org
http://www.gpb.org/news/2013/04/24/technical-schools-brace-for-sequestration#
Technical Schools Brace for Sequestration
By Claire Simms
ATLANTA — Georgia’s Technical College System Commissioner Ron Jackson said Wednesday leaders at the state’s technical schools are anxious about how automatic federal budget cuts, commonly known as sequestration, could impact their students. “We’re all incredibly nervous about what it could mean for our federally funded programs,” explained Jackson. He said technical education programs and Pell Grants are the most at risk.

www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/22348945/article-GOP-leaders-join-anti-Common-Core-stance?instance=home_top_bullets
GOP leaders join anti-Common Core stance
by Jon Gillooly
Local Republican leaders are warning the Cobb County Board of Education about a vote scheduled today on the purchase of millions of dollars of textbooks they believe will tie the system into the Obama administration’s nationally prescribed Common Core curriculum. This month the Republican National Committee adopted a resolution denouncing the Common Core State Standards, while Saturday local Republican districts, such as District 6, representing parts of Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb counties, followed suit.

www.kennesaw.patch.com
http://kennesaw.patch.com/announcements/bbb-warns-of-scholarship-and-financial-aid-scams-2f6da3e2
BBB Warns of Scholarship and Financial Aid Scams
Posted by Dottie Callina
Need money for college? Doesn’t everybody? With tuition bills skyrocketing, and room and board going through the roof, students and their families are looking for creative ways to finance a college education. Unfortunately, in their efforts to pay the bills, many of them are falling prey to scholarship and financial aid scams. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), unscrupulous companies guarantee or promise scholarships, grants or fantastic financial aid packages.

www.edweek.org
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/04/24/29college.h32.html?tkn=WSQFTXxwVDdQXQeasWuQkAOWYfK3eULZlIJj&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2
Obama Proposal on Student Loans Draws Fire
Some say move to market-based rates could dampen college access
By Alyson Klein
The Obama administration has found itself at odds with a key voting block—college students and their advocates—as well as many of its Democratic allies in Congress, because of an important, if technical, budget proposal that could have significant implications for college access.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/04/25/house-holds-hearing-data-disclosures
House Holds Hearing on Data Disclosures
WASHINGTON — When choosing a college, most prospective students are more in need of help navigating already-available data than they are of more disclosures from colleges and universities, witnesses told the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training during a hearing Wednesday.

Related article:
www.diverseeducation.com
Panel Calls for More Government Transparency on Path to College
http://diverseeducation.com/article/52898/#

www.miamiherald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/24/3362461/legislators-finish-rewrite-of.html
Legislators finish rewrite of ethics, campaign bills
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
TALLAHASSEE — Shamed by a series of ethics and campaign finance abuses, Florida lawmakers sent to the governor on Wednesday legislation that eliminates political slush funds and imposes new ethics rules for elected officials across the state. The bills moved swiftly through the House and Senate after leaders reached an agreement behind closed doors earlier in the week. Now there’s pressure on Gov. Rick Scott to sign or veto them before the session ends May 3.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/25/moocs-may-eye-world-market-does-world-want-them
The World Is Not Flat
By Ry Rivard
Online higher education is increasingly hailed as a chance for educators in the developed world to expand access and quality across the globe. Yet it may not be quite so easy. Not only does much of the world not have broadband or speak English, but American-made educational material may be unfit for and unwanted in developing countries, according to academics who have worked for years on online distance education and with open educational resources, or OER.

www.live.huffingtonpost.com
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/florida-to-open-online-only-public-university/517707bb02a76049bd000133
First Public Online University
Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a bill in which the University of Florida will offer a series of online bachelor’s degree programs next year, with $15M start-up funds for 2014. This will be the first online-only public university in the U.S.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/04/25/california-senate-panel-mulls-course-outsource
California Senate Panel Mulls Course Outsource
California’s Senate education committee is expected to vote next week on a newly amended plan to allow online courses from unaccredited providers to count for credit at the state’s three college and university systems. The committee on Wednesday heard an hour of discussion about the bill, SB 520.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Illinois-at/138769/
U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Plans to Add 500 Full-Time Professors
By Sydni Dunn
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announced this week that it would hire about 500 new full-time, tenure-track faculty members in the next five to seven years. The hiring spree follows years of budget shortfalls that limited hiring at the university, including one year in which hiring was frozen campuswide. University officials now want to restore the total number of full-time faculty members to a level closer to what the campus had in 2007, just before the recession hit.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Higher-Education-Groups-Split/138773/
Higher-Education Groups Split Over Workplace-Retaliation Case at Supreme Court
By Peter Schmidt
Washington
A workplace-retaliation lawsuit heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday has exposed divisions between higher-education groups over how to balance colleges’ freedom to make academic decisions against the need to protect the jobs of faculty members who bring discrimination complaints.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/25/new-study-links-student-motivations-going-college-their-success
Motivation and Student Success
By Scott Jaschik
Why did you decide to go to college? Asking that question of new students in a more formal way might help colleges find ways to encourage more students to complete their programs, according to a new study from University of Rochester education researchers published in The Journal of College Student Development.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/04/25/no-more-freshmen-washington-state
No More Freshmen in Washington State
A new law in Washington State, requiring that all statutes be converted to gender-neutral language, has led to the elimination of all “freshmen,” (at least as an official term), Reuters reported.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/25/head-scottish-university-critiques-idea-promoting-knowledge-its-own-sake
‘Spinach for Its Own Sake’
By David Matthews for Times Higher Education
For at least a millennium, the notion of knowledge for knowledge’s sake has helped to justify scholarly activity and universities themselves. But one vice-chancellor in Scotland says that this is no better than advocating eating “spinach for its own sake” and calls on the sector to “modernize” the arguments for its existence.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/04/25/study-finds-no-shortage-stem-workers-us
Study Finds No Shortage of STEM Workers in U.S.
While many educators and politicians say that colleges need to increase science and technology enrollments to meet workforce demands, a study being released today suggests that there is no shortage of STEM workers. The study — by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan but liberal leaning think tank — finds that:

www.robotics.tmcnet.com
http://robotics.tmcnet.com//topics/robotics/articles/335459-activists-form-group-preemptively-block-manufacturing-use-killer.htm
Activists Form Group to Preemptively Block Manufacturing, Use of ‘Killer Robots’
By Ed Silverstein
A new organization has been formed in the United Kingdom called the “Campaign to Stop Killer Robots” – which wants to preemptively ban robots which can “attack targets without any human intervention.” The robots are also called fully autonomous weapons. It is made up of a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) from the United Kingdom and across the world. Speaking this week from London, the organization’s leaders said in a statement that human beings “should not delegate the responsibility of making lethal decisions to machines.” The reasons are moral, legal, technical and policy-related, the group argues.

www.edweek.org
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/04/23/ntoy_charbonneau.html?tkn=WVTFh57RYs0NAKKnNGfq24Qzwe1UpAK5UkYs&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1
National Teacher of the Year Noted for Robotics, Resourcefulness
By Liana Heitin
On Tuesday afternoon, President Barack Obama presented Jeffrey Charbonneau of Zillah, Wash., with the 63rd National Teacher of the Year award in a cozy Rose Garden ceremony at the White House. The 12-year veteran science teacher was selected from among the 2013 state teachers of the year by a panel of representatives from 15 education organizations. …As President Obama explained in his speech, Charbonneau revamped the “lagging” science curriculum at the school—introducing more difficult and even college-level courses—because he “wanted to convince kids that something like quantum mechanics wasn’t something to run away from, but something to dive into.”

www.edweek.org
http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/school-safety-bills-since-newtown.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1
School Safety Legislation Since Newtown
After the devastating school shootings in Newtown, Conn., in December, state lawmakers around the country vowed to act. The mission: Devise ways to prevent a similar tragedy. They came up with hundreds of possible strategies. An Education Week analysis of nearly 400 bills related to school safety filed in the days, weeks, and months after the deadliest K-12 school shooting in U.S. history found that legislators have proposed solutions that include arming teachers, adding guards or police officers, and shoring up the security of school buildings.

www.usatoday.com
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/24/purdue-university-hate-crime/2109687/
Slur, drawing at Purdue University seen as hate crime
Hayleigh Colombo, (Lafayette, Ind.) Journal and Courier
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University police are investigating a possible hate crime in which a racial slur was written on a poster. On Tuesday morning, according to a statement released by the university, someone wrote a racial slur and a stick figure drawing of a body hanging from a tree on a placard left from a march and demonstration the previous day. According to Purdue, the incident is being treated as a hate crime “since property was altered or destroyed and the conduct was apparently motivated by bias.”

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Dartmouth-College-Calls-a/138753/
Dartmouth College Calls a Timeout After Student Protest Draws Hostile Reactions
By Ann Schnoebelen
All undergraduate and graduate classes in the arts and sciences at Dartmouth College have been canceled for Wednesday after a student demonstration sparked a backlash that included violent online threats against the protesters. In place of regularly scheduled courses, the New Hampshire institution will hold educational programming that it hopes will foster healthy debate and promote respect for diverse opinion.

www.io9.com
http://io9.com/the-geopolitical-powderkegs-most-likely-to-start-the-ne-479636407
The Geopolitical Powderkegs Most Likely to Start the Next Major War
George Dvorsky
Predicting future conflicts is not easy, especially considering that social unrest and dramatic political changes can happen at virtually any time. But world-altering events don’t unfold in a vacuum — it’s all about reading the signs. Here are seven geopolitical hotspots that have the potential to change the course of history… I asked Georgia Tech’s Margaret Kosal about Pakistan, and she expressed her concerns with its government and the upper echelons of Pakistan’s military. The country is currently experiencing internal anti-government problems, which include, but are not limited to, Islamist radicals