USGNEWS:
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/university-system-of-georgia-taking-a-closer-look-/nX6qC/
University System of Georgia taking a closer look at MOOCs
By Laura Diamond
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia college leaders joined a new partnership to explore how they can best use the fast-growing market of free online courses. The University System of Georgia announced today it is one of 10 public systems and universities taking a collaborative look at how massively open online courses (MOOCs) could increase college access and make a degree more affordable. MOOCs started almost two years ago to offer quality online college courses from elite schools, including Georgia Tech and Emory University. Millions of people worldwide signed up Lately the focus has been on turning these free courses into college credit. Georgia colleges could use the courses to reduce the expense of a degree and offer students more flexible class schedules, said Houston Davis, the system’s chief academic officer.

Related articles:
www.chronicle.com
In Deals With 10 Public Universities, Coursera Bids for Role in Credit Courses
http://chronicle.com/article/In-Deals-With-10-Public/139533/

www.insidehighered.com
State Systems Go MOOC
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/30/state-systems-and-universities-nine-states-start-experimenting-coursera

www.venturebeat.com
Coursera partners with state universities to bring online education to millions
http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/29/coursera-partners-with-state-universities-to-bring-online-education-to-millions/

www.kypost.com
University of Kentucky among higher education systems turning to Coursera
http://www.kypost.com/dpps/news/national/university-of-kentucky-among-higher-education-systems-turning-to-coursera_8536779

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/georgia-colleges-test-new-ways-to-help-students/nX29t/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstubtomyajcpremium (subscription required)
Georgia colleges test new ways to help students
BY LAURA DIAMOND – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
What if Georgia colleges could make degrees more affordable by reducing textbook costs? Or if counselors knew as much about students’ financial needs as their academic struggles? Or if classes meant to offer students extra help could even better meet individual needs? These are just some of the challenges that colleges will tackle as they test new programs designed to increase the number of Georgians with degrees. Gov. Nathan Deal launched the Complete College Georgia initiative in 2011, saying economic success depends on producing an educated workforce that attracts and keeps employers. All 31 colleges in the University System of Georgia have developed detailed plans to meet the governor’s goal.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2013-05-29/knapp-returns-lead-uga-business-school
Knapp returns to lead UGA business school
By FROM STAFF REPORTSNEWS
Former University of Georgia president Charles Knapp will lead UGA’s business school for the next year. Charles Knapp, UGA president from 1987 to 1997, will be interim dean of the UGA Terry College of Business for the 2013-14 fiscal year after a search for a permanent dean was halted after three finalists were announced. “(Knapp’s) record of leadership in higher education and his strong ties to the business community will position the Terry College for continued success in the coming year,” said UGA senior vice president for academic affairs and provost Jere Morehead in a press release.

Related article:
www.gpb.org
Former UGA Prez Takes Over Terry College
http://www.gpb.org/news/2013/05/30/former-uga-prez-takes-over-terry-college#

www.wsav.com
http://www.wsav.com/story/22451696/job-outlook-improving-for-college-grads
Job Outlook For College Grads
By Raquel Rodriguez, Reporter
STATESBORO, GA – After working hard to get that college degree, local graduates are facing the next obstacle which is landing a job. Some graduates aren’t stressing though, they already had jobs lined up before they put on that cap and gown. A little more than 3,000 Georgia Southern University students graduated this spring. Of those graduates, 936 of them responded to a survey about after school plans. 40% of those grads said they had fulltime employment lined up and another 30% said they planned on continuing education. “The job outlook is getting better. We are seeing more job postings on our campus job board, we are seeing more employers come to campus, more employers participate in career fairs, and more students who are having opportunities upon graduation,” said Acting Director of Career Services, Dr. Vince Miller.

www.thecoastalsource.com
http://www.thecoastalsource.com/2013/05/29/georgia-southern-set-to-break-ground-on-new-football/
Groundbreaking set for Georgia Southern new football center
By Frank Sulkowski
Georgia Southern University is ready to break ground on the new Football Operations Center. University President Brooks Keel invites all Eagle fans to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the new 50,000 square foot Football Operations Center and Paulson Stadium expansion Wednesday, June 5th in the east end-zone of the stadium. …Stadium improvements will be in the form of 6,000 additional seats. The current on-grade seating will be expanded by approximately 1,500 new seats and 4,500 will be added with the construction of an upper deck. Concession areas and restrooms will also be added.

GOOD NEWS:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2013-05-28/gru-looks-strengthen-ties-chinese-schools-community?v=1369785698
GRU looks to strengthen ties with Chinese schools, community
Chinese nursing students to enroll
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
A dozen students from the CSRA Chinese School sang a traditional song Tuesday as part of a program for visitors and patients in the lobby of Children’s Hospital of Georgia, a reflection of Augusta’s long and diverse Chinese history. Georgia Regents University is seeking to deepen its own ties to Chinese universities and might call on Augusta’s Chinese groups to help, officials said. The most tangible evidence of those new ties might come this fall when six Chinese nursing students enroll in the GRU College of Nursing, the result of more than a year of ongoing talks and negotiations with Jianghan University in Wuhan.

RESEARCH:
www.livescience.com
http://www.livescience.com/34834-research-sticky-stem-cells-nigms.html
Inside Life Science: Sticky Stem Cells
Joseph Piergrossi for the National Institutes of Health
Imagine a group of barnacles hanging onto a rock against a relentless ocean current. That’s not unlike what’s happening to the human cells in this image. Adhesive complexes containing actin stress fibers, stained magenta, and the protein vinculin, stained green, help influence how strongly cells adhere to surfaces such as the walls of blood vessels or bone, or in the case of this picture, a glass slide. Researchers used the meeting point of these two molecules, known as focal adhesions, to develop a new way of isolating human induced pluripotent stem cells. . . . Using information about how strongly different cells stick to surfaces, a research team led by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a faster, more efficient way of collecting human iPS cells.

www.govtech.com
http://www.govtech.com/transportation/Dirty-Jobs-in-Government-Road-Maintenance.html
Dirty Jobs in Government: Road Maintenance
By Elaine Pittman
. . . .Sealing cracks in a road may sound simple enough: Send a crew to close the traffic lane, spray on a sealant, let set, reopen the lane and move on to the next crack. However, it requires an investment in manpower and creates a safety risk for the workers tasked with doing the job. Yet the benefit of cost avoidance makes it a task that can’t be ignored. . . . With GDOT funding, researchers are proving that an automated system is feasible. The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) created a prototype for an automated pavement crack detection and sealing system that located and filled cracks smaller than one-eighth inch wide while moving at about 3 mph. “We demonstrated the concept, and I think that GDOT looks to the future and looks at trying to be more efficient,” said Wayne Daley, principal research engineer with the GTRI.”

www.walb.com
http://www.walb.com/story/22440947/researchers-harvest-artificial-truffles
UGA Researchers harvest artificially grown truffles
By Devin Knight
TIFTON, GA (WALB) – New research at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus may have unlocked the key to growing and cultivating truffles in south Georgia. Pathologists inoculated sprouting pecan trees with spores in 2001 and have now harvested the first artificially grown truffles. The fungi, loved by chefs around the world, are especially difficult to find because they grow an inch or two below the soil. Researchers said this species of truffles is promising because they grow on Georgia’s abundance of pecan trees.

Related article:
www.albanyherald.com
New method makes truffles easier to find
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2013/may/25/new-method-makes-truffles-easier-to-find/

www.phys.org
http://phys.org/print288600359.html
New family of tiny crystals glow bright in LED lights
(Phys.org) —Minuscule crystals that glow different colors may be the missing ingredient for white LED lighting that illuminates homes and offices as effectively as natural sunlight. Light-emitting diodes, better known as LEDs, offer substantial energy savings over incandescent and fluorescent lights and are easily produced in single colors such as red or green commonly used in traffic lights or children’s toys. …”But it’s hard to get one phosphor that makes the broad range of colors needed to replicate the sun,” said John Budai, a scientist in ORNL’s Materials Science and Technology division. …Budai is working with a team of scientists from University of Georgia and Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories to understand a new group of crystals that might yield the right blend of colors for white LEDs as well as other uses. Zhengwei Pan’s group at UGA grew the nanocrystals using europium oxide and aluminum oxide powders as the source materials because the rare-earth element europium is known to be a dopant, or additive, with good phosphorescent properties.

www.wabe.org
http://www.wabe.org/post/sonic-generator-scores-metropolis-high-museum
Sonic Generator Scores Metropolis at the High Museum
By DAVID BARASOAIN
If you happened to be passing by the High Museum last night you might have noticed they were projecting the science fiction movie, Metropolis outside the building. The 1927 Fritz Lang film tells the story of a working class who toils underground to sustain a ruling class living in luxury up on the surface. The film was scored live last night by Sonic Generator the contemporary music ensemble-in-residence at Georgia Tech.

STATE NEEDS/ISSUES:
www.wabe.org
http://wabe.org/post/atlanta-officials-plan-bike-share-program
Atlanta Officials Plan Bike Share Program
By MARTHA DALTON
U.S. cities, such as Boston and New York, have launched bike share programs. And Atlanta may not be far behind. Through a bike share, the city would provide bikes residents could use for a fee. And riders could decide on the spot if they feel like riding a bike, according to Dr. Kari Watkins, an engineering professor at Georgia Tech. “You can check it out and use it for just a short distance and there would be another station where it is that you’re heading and you put the bike back in for someone else to use,” Watkins says, “And when you’re ready to go back, you can grab a different one and go back to where it was you started from.” Atlanta’s program would start with 500 bikes at 50 stations. Rebecca Serna, the executive director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, says there will be some special features to help riders navigate Atlanta’s terrain.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.peachpundit.com
http://www.peachpundit.com/2013/05/29/georgia-techs-online-cs-masters-degree-branded-for-att-and-udacity-priced-for-dubai-and-bangalore/
Georgia Tech’s Online CS Master’s Degree: Branded For AT&T and Udacity, Priced For Dubai and Bangalore
by GEORGE CHIDI
Charity is one thing. A corporate gift of $2 million is something else. I saw the announcement for Georgia Tech’s sub-$7000 massive open online course master’s degree pilot program a couple of weeks ago. When I saw how prominently AT&T featured in the effort to award Georgia Tech degrees in computer science to people who never need set foot on campus, I decided to commit an act of journalism. It’s not that I think something nefarious is going on. But it’s profound news that could radically remake the institute. So I asked the communications folks at my alma mater to give me e-mail from Georgia Tech’s Director of Corporate Relations Beth Bryant related to the AT&T gift and the project under a Georgia Open Records Act request — a peek at the inside dope. Apparently, I’m not alone.

www.blogs.edweek.org
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2013/05/many_americans_unaware_of_college_savings_529_plans.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2
Many Americans Unaware of College Savings’ 529 Plans
By Caralee Adams
With tuition rising, families are being expected to pay more for college every year. Smart planning often involves setting aside money in a tax-advantaged educational account, such as a 529 Plan, yet 69 percent of Americans don’t know what such a plan is, a new survey released by Edward Jones reveals. Named after Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, which created these types of savings plans in 1996, the education savings plans are operated by state or educational institutions to help families set aside money for future college costs. Federal law provides special tax benefits to encourage the savings.

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2013/may/27/teaching-special-career-or-job-any-other/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Is teaching a special career, or a job like any other?
Peter Smagorinsky of the University of Georgia is a frequent contributor to the Get Schooled blog. He gives us a lot to think about in his latest essay:
By Peter Smagorinsky
Earlier this year I had breakfast with a professor who was visiting Athens from the Midwest. All of his teaching during his career had taken place in universities, rather than schools. Our conversation touched on many areas, including how K-12 teachers are evaluated, retained, and dismissed. His view, he said, had been forged in his youth as a native of a southern state and member of a working class family who scorned labor unions. He posed a question that has given me much to think about: In just about every line of work, people get fired for ticking off their boss. Why should teaching be any different?

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2013/may/30/should-english-major-pay-more-degree-math-major/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Should an English major pay more for a degree than a science major?
In Florida, the governor has urged public colleges to offer $10,000 degrees in areas where jobs abound, including STEM fields. Last year, Gov. Rick Scott famously asked, “Do you want to use your tax dollars to educate more people who can’t get jobs in anthropology? I don’t.” Florida is moving foward on lower-cost degree programs in high demand areas. As explained by the Orlando Sentinel:

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/53603/#
Schools, Universities Under Fire for Sexual Assaults on Campus
by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Quite a few colleges and universities have recently been investigated (and some censured) for poor management of sexual assaults on their campuses. They have either not been vigilant in investigating charges or have not accurately compiled and reported sexual assault data. Colleges and universities are required, under the federal Clery Act, to track and publish crime statistics in annual reports open to the public. Not doing so could result in a fine or losing eligibility for federal financial aid. Some college officials seem not to care. They seem more concerned with making their campuses appear safe for women than actually making them safe for women.

Education News
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/53610/#
Sallie Mae Plans To Split into Two Separate Companies
by Associated Press
NEWARK, Del. — Sallie Mae plans to split into two separate, publicly traded companies. The student loan giant also named John Remondi as its CEO. Sallie Mae, formally named SLM Corp., said Wednesday that the two separate companies, an education loan management business and a consumer banking business, would help unlock value and boost its long-term growth potential. The education loan management business would include the company’s portfolios of federally guaranteed and private education loans, as well as most related servicing and collection activities. Remondi will continue as its CEO. The principal assets of the business are likely to include approximately $118.1 billion in federally guaranteed loans, $31.6 billion in private education loans, $7.9 billion of other interest-earning assets and a loan servicing business with about 10 million student loan customers.

Related article:
www.chronicle.com
Sallie Mae Announces Plan to Split Into 2 Companies
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/jp/sallie-mae-announces-plan-to-split-into-2-companies?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/reasons-vary-for-low-graduation-rates/nX3SM/?icmp=ajc_internallink_textlink_apr2013_ajcstubtomyajc_launch (subscription required)
Reasons vary for low graduation rates
BY MARK NIESSE AND WAYNE WASHINGTON – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Riverdale High School in Clayton County had a 2012 four-year graduation rate of 43 percent. Another school in that district, Forest Park High, had a graduation rate of 48.7 percent. DeKalb’s McNair High — whose graduates Tuesday were addressed by Gov. Nathan Deal at the Georgia World Congress Center — had a four-year graduation rate just shy of 47 percent in 2012. And in Atlanta Public Schools, more than a quarter of the high schools whose graduation rates were calculated in 2012 had rates below 50 percent. In stark terms, that means 2012 graduation ceremonies at those schools included fewer than half of the students who might have marched with their freshman classmates. The reasons for super-low graduation rates are nuanced and varied, according to interviews The Atlanta Journal-Constitution conducted with district-level and state education officials after the state released the 2012 four-year graduation rates on Tuesday. Ultimate responsibility for low graduation rates is diffuse, leading to a sort of everyone-so-no-one culpability that changes little when Johnny or Jane flunks or drops out.

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/hispanic-enrollment-surges-in-metro-schools/nX6Ww/
Hispanic enrollment surges in metro schools
By Nancy Badertscher and Jeffry Scott
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The minority population boom is echoing through the region’s classrooms. Enrollment of Hispanic students rose dramatically between 2000 and 2012 while enrollment of white students in metro Atlanta declined by about 30,000. The number of Hispanic students jumped by more than 100,000 in those dozen years, according to figures released Wednesday by the Atlanta Regional Commission. Hispanic students have become 16 percent of the student population, as the proportion of white students declined to 37 percent. Asian and African-American enrollment numbers also rose. …In the just-completed school year, the district also formed a partnership with Georgia Tech aimed at identifying and attracting more Hispanic students to the critical STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math, he said. That program was established in the Meadowcreek cluster around Norcross and Lawrenceville, which has a high concentration of Hispanic students, he said.

www.management.fortune.cnn.com
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/29/online-mba/
The online MBA comes of age
Some of the best business schools in the world now offer MBA degrees online and every other week, a new business school seems to be announcing the launch of yet another cyber-MBA program.
As top schools continue to move into the online market, the quality of the students opting to earn degrees on the web is increasing as well.
By John A. Byrne
…Undaunted, Dean plowed ahead, appointing his initially skeptical colleague as the associate dean of the online program, MBA@UNC. In due time, Shackelford shed his reservations and has since become a true convert. Now, as the school prepares to graduate its first class of online MBAs this July, the professor believes that Kenan-Flagler’s move into the online space was not only prescient. “It was brilliant,” concedes the 55-year-old professor. After all, some of the best business schools in the world now offer MBA degrees online. Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business will enroll its first online class this August.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Outsourced-Lectures-Raise/139471/
Outsourced Lectures Raise Concerns About Academic Freedom
By Steve Kolowich
Students at Massachusetts Bay Community College this year got a rare opportunity to take a computer-science course designed and taught online by some of the top professors in the field. The 17 students in a programming course at MassBay’s Wellesley Hills campus watched recorded lectures and completed online homework assignments created by professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and offered as a massive open online course through edX, a nonprofit MOOC vendor co-founded by MIT. The MassBay students met for regular class sessions with Harold Riggs, a professor of computer science at the community college. Students were required to come for only 90 minutes each week, rather than the customary three hours. And in addition to graded in-class projects from Mr. Riggs, the students completed homework assignments and three major exams written by the MIT professors and graded automatically by edX. At the end of the semester, the students who passed the class got three credits from MassBay and a certificate of achievement from edX. Some higher-education forecasters believe this is the future of public education.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/engineering-students-learn-how-to-swing-dance-during-class-to-help-with-problem-solving-skills/2013/05/29/c0a21520-c82e-11e2-9cd9-3b9a22a4000a_story.html
Engineering students learn how to swing dance during class to help with problem-solving skills
By Associated Press
EVANSTON, Ill. — Engineering students at Northwestern University are getting a leg up on the competition. They’re learning to swing dance in a for-credit class called Whole Body Thinking. Joe Holtgreive (HOHLT’-greev), an assistant dean at the McCormick School of Engineering, started the class to help future engineers break outside their comfort zone.

www.11alive.com
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/294629/299/Skills-Gap-Jobs-open-no-workers
Skills Gap: Jobs open, no workers
Julie Wolfe
ATLANTA — A new survey reports the skills gap in the United States is bigger than we thought. A survey from Manpower Inc. reports 39% of U.S. employers have open positions they can’t fill because they can’t find qualified workers. Inside the welding classroom at Atlanta Technical College, I yell over the sound of a large fan dissipating heat from flying sparks. Work stations are separated by black plastic. Behind masks, students concentrate on practicing their skill. It’s a look at one of the hardest jobs to fill in the United States right now. …”Pretty much everything we have out there, we have to weld it together, “he said. “My students, if they come in here and they do what’s required of them, if they excel, they can leave here and make as much as a graduate from Georgia Tech.”

www.blogs.edweek.org
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2013/05/pearson_reaches_75_million_settlement_in_e-book_complaint.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2
Pearson Reaches $75 Million Settlement in E-Book Complaint
By Sean Cavanagh
A division of Pearson, the worldwide publisher of education products and other materials, has agreed to pay $75 million as part of a settlement of a lawsuit in which a group of companies was accused of fixing the price of e-books. The lawsuit had alleged that Penguin, whose parent company is Pearson, and other publishers had conspired with Apple Inc. to limit competition and fix the retail price of e-books, as a way to combat Amazon’s influence over the market through the Kindle, including its ability to offer discounted prices.

www.blogs.edweek.org
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2013/05/state_chiefs.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2
State Chiefs: Common Core Requires Flexibility, Not a Pause
By Michele McNeil
The Council of Chief State School Officers is rejecting calls for a moratorium on any high stakes tied to the Common Core State Standards, and is instead suggesting that states have almost all of the power they need to smooth the way for what could be a rocky transition. What the chiefs do want, however, is some flexibility from the U.S. Department of Education and from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan—from No Child Left Behind itself or the waivers already granted—during these next couple of tricky years as the common core is fully implemented and common tests come on line. In fact, about three-dozen chiefs or their representatives met with three high-level federal department officials last week in Chicago to talk about these issues.

www.nbcnews.com
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/sequestration-hurts-key-medical-research-6C10088207
Sequestration hurts key medical research
John W. Schoen CNBC
As Congress debates immigration reform to allow more highly-skilled workers to come to the U.S., the irony is that it is chasing away a generation of young American scientists by starving them of billions of dollars in funding for important medical research. Stephanie Zerwas, a University of North Carolina researcher hoping to find the genes that place young girls at risk for developing devastating eating disorders, is one of them.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/AAUP-Urges-Direct-Talks/139529/
AAUP Urges Direct Talks Between Colleges’ Boards and Faculties
By Peter Schmidt
Washington
Citing several instances of what it regards as breakdowns in shared governance, the American Association of University Professors is calling for colleges’ governing boards to take steps to hear directly from faculty members, without letting administrators filter such talks.

Related article:
www.insidehighered.com
Talk Therapy
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/30/aaup-recommends-more-communication-between-faculty-and-governing-boards#ixzz2UmLqks5K

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/30/study-finds-students-dont-learn-more-charismatic-lecturers#ixzz2UmO1TsHJ
Charisma Doesn’t Count
May 30, 2013 – 3:00am
By Chris Parr for Times Higher Education
Imagine you receive the same lecture twice: once from a charismatic lecturer speaking fluently without notes and maintaining eye contact; and again from a hesitant speaker, slumped over her notes and stumbling over her words. Which is better? In terms of what you learn there is surprisingly little to choose between the two, according to a team of psychologists.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/For-Many-Chinese-Hoping-to/139527/?cid=at
For Many Chinese Hoping to Study in the U.S., Language May Be a Problem
By Karin Fischer
St. Louis
A large-scale survey of Chinese students interested in studying in the United States has found that nearly two-thirds of them do not speak English well enough to participate in an American classroom discussion. The telephone survey of 25,000 prospective Chinese students—conducted recently by Zinch China, a consulting company that advises American colleges and universities about China—found that 62 percent of those surveyed had “poor” or “subfunctional” spoken English. When Zinch conducted a similar survey approximately a year earlier, just 38 percent fell into that category.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/30/international-educators-discuss-challenges-facing-saudi-students-and-strategies#ixzz2UmM1VUrR
Strategies for Saudi Student Success
By Elizabeth Redden
ST. LOUIS – Several sessions on Wednesday at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference focused on the rapidly growing numbers of Saudi Arabian students in the United States and the unique challenges associated with these students, who often arrive on campus with low levels of English and math preparation and with cultural values that can complicate their chances for success in an American classroom.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/jury-orders-suny-to-pay-ex-professor-600000-in-lost-wages/61007?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Jury Orders SUNY to Pay Former Professor $600,000 in Lost Wages
A federal jury last week awarded $600,000 in back pay to a former professor at the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica-Rome after finding that university officials had retaliated against him for complaining about bias, the Associated Press reported. The professor, Jason Zhou, was a finance professor at the institution from 2005 until he was denied reappointment, in 2006. He sued in 2008, asserting that he had been discriminated against because he is a native of China.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/53594/#
Governor Defends Rutgers President Amid AD Controversy
by Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. — Rutgers University’s president, a neuroscientist, was brought in last year to turn the school into a medical sciences powerhouse, but he has quickly become a target of criticism from some lawmakers who question his ability to lead the university amid a series of embarrassments in the high-profile athletic department. Still, Robert Barchi has the support of the state’s most important politician, Gov. Chris Christie, who said Tuesday that he has “absolute confidence” in Barchi and won’t meddle in university business, including its decision to hire Julie Hermann as athletic director.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/30/string-unseemly-revelations-about-rutgers-athletic-staff-calls-vetting-process#ixzz2UmLUn9X2
At Rutgers, a Question of Vetting
By Allie Grasgreen
For Rutgers University athletics these days, if it isn’t one thing, it’s another. Over the course of just a few days, Rutgers’s new and crucial hire, Julie Hermann, went from being known as the university’s first-ever first female athletics director to an allegedly abusive former coach who was targeted in sex discrimination lawsuits. The new developments would be cause for concern at any institution, but at Rutgers — which was just starting to move past the massive fallout from the former basketball head coach Mike Rice’s abuse of players – they’re downright shocking.