University System News
USG VALUE:
www.mdjonline.com
http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_story/23144148/article-Study–SPSU-s-economic-impact-tops-%24222-7-million?instance=home_editorial
Study: SPSU’s economic impact tops $222.7 million
From staff reports
MARIETTA — Southern Polytechnic State University’s impact on Cobb County in 2012 totaled more than $222.7 million, according to a newly released study by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. The previous report, based on Fiscal 2011 data, placed SPSU’s economic impact at more than $198 million. This year’s data represent a 12 percent increase in the university’s economic impact over the last 12 months and an almost 16 percent increase in the last 24 months. …SPSU provides an economic influence to its surrounding community, contributing more than 2,000 jobs and adding millions of dollars to the local and regional economy in personal services, construction expenditures and student spending.
www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=263568
UNG’s Summer Scholars Institute helps struggling students succeed academically
By Staff
GAINESVILLE – Three years ago, Jackie Martinez, a sophomore at Chestatee High School in Gainesville would have listed physical education as her favorite class. “I used to think gym was my favorite class because it was so easy, but I like math better now. It’s challenging and fun at the same time,” said Martinez, who wants to study technology in college. Martinez is spending her third summer as part of the University of North Georgia’s Summer Scholars Institute, a three-year academic enrichment program designed to help struggling middle and high school students. Held at UNG’s Gainesville Campus, the summer program concentrates on reading, writing, and mathematics, adding in history and science for older students.
GOOD NEWS:
www.finance.yahoo.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/desire2learn-unveils-2013-desire2excel-award-170000052.html
Desire2Learn Unveils the 2013 Desire2EXCEL Award Winners
Award winners display ingenuity, creativity and collaboration to create fulfilling learning journeys for students
Desire2Learn Incorporated (“Desire2Learn”), a leading provider of innovative learning solutions, today announced the winners of the 2013 Desire2EXCEL Awards at FUSION 2013, the company’s annual users conference being held in Boston. Originally founded in 2005, the Desire2EXCEL Awards are given to individuals, groups, or organizations that have displayed exemplary ingenuity, creativity and collaboration in empowering students to achieve their academic goals. …”This year’s Desire2EXCEL Award winners capture the spirit of innovation and collaboration that are critical to educating the world,” said Desire2Learn Vice President of Marketing and Business Development Jeff McDowell. ” …Finalists for the Desire2EXCEL Innovation Award included: Georgia Online Virtual Instruction Enterprise Wide (GoVIEW), Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia …Desire2EXCEL Student Award Winner: Katie Lashlee, Georgia Southern University, The inaugural winner of the Desire2Excel Student Award is Georgia Southern University’s Katie Lashlee for her work as a Desire2Learn Folio Ambassador. In this role, Lashlee served as a strong Desire2Learn evangelist and was a catalyst for the Georgia Southern campus embracing the company’s technology.
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2013/07/16/gsu-pulls-in-38m-in-fundraising.html
GSU pulls in $38M in fundraising
Jacques Couret
Senior Online Editor-Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia State University raised a record $38.3 million in fiscal 2012-2013 — about 33 percent higher than its goal of $29.1 million. The previous record for the Atlanta university was $35.3 million in 1999. “This is an inspiring reminder of just how strong Georgia State’s support is from the community,” said GSU President Mark P. Becker, in a statement. “And to receive that reminder during our centennial year makes it all the more meaningful.
www.mysouthwestga.com
http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=922273#.UebbpuCTpGM
Albany State’s Student Government Association wins big
by FOX 31 News Team
ALBANY, GA — Albany State University has released the following information: The votes are in. An organization on Albany State University’s campus is the best student advocacy group among historically black colleges and universities in the nation. ASU’s Student Government Association received honors at the 2013 National HBCU Media Summit and Awards ceremony on June 28 at Jackson State University. The selection was based on media coverage garnered by the organization for its activities. 2012-2013 SGA president Clarence Washington accepted the award.
www.rdmag.com
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/07/grant-helps-college-students-recruit-retain-women
Grant helps college students recruit, retain women
By National Center for Women & Information Technology
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and Symantec have awarded $10,500 in seed funding to 14 student-run projects that work to increase the numbers of women studying computer science and information technology disciplines. The NCWIT Student Seed Fund, sponsored by Symantec, has distributed $43,250 in funding to 70 student-run projects at universities and colleges nationwide since 2010. The winners of round six of the NCWIT Student Seed Fund will receive $750 each for projects that recruit, retain, and encourage girls and women in technology and computing. Student Seed Fund projects include programming workshops, after-school programs, student mentoring, peer support, professional training, and other opportunities serving thousands of elementary, middle-school, high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students. …Following are the recipients of the NCWIT Student Seed Fund awards: …• Georgia Gwinnett College will support events for a Women in IT community on campus.
www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2013-07-16/exchange-brief#.UebiouCTpGM
Exchange in brief
GSU agency gets grant to help rural business
Georgia Southern University’s Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development has been awarded a $295,927 grant by the North American Development Bank to expand Georgia’s Enterprise Network for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GENIE) project. GENIE will extend services of the Georgia Southern City Campus and assist entrepreneurs and small business owners in the rural counties of Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Lincoln, Telfair and Wilkes, all of which are defined as designated eligible areas for Georgia.
USG NEWS:
Www.news.georgiasouthern.edu
http://news.georgiasouthern.edu/sites/magazine/blog/adventures-abroad/
ADVENTURES ABROAD
— Mary Beth Spence
This summer, learning took on a global meaning for Georgia Southern University students during their Study Abroad trips. Students ventured outside a traditional classroom for diverse cultural experiences in such locales as Costa Rica, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Southeast Asia. During these trips, some students lived with host families while others stayed in small apartments. They participated in weekend excursions to neighboring regions and countries, were introduced to foreign cuisine through cooking classes, developed new friendships and made an impact through volunteerism. …Since 1999, students have traveled to Montepulciano, Italy, for a five-week Study Abroad program. The program is run by a consortium of schools within the University System of Georgia. In addition to Georgia Southern, students from participating universities including Kennesaw State and Georgia College and State University, traveled to the town located in the heart of Tuscany.
RESEARCH:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/2013/07/innovolt-raising-9m.html
Innovolt raising $9M
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer-Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta-based Innovolt Inc. has raised nearly $2.6 million of a planned $9 million equity raise, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. Innovolt has developed technology, it says, guards against damage from 99.5 percent of power interruptions and extends the life span and reliability of electronic devices. The Georgia Tech spinoff has designed a microprocessor — about half the size of a business card — that can be embedded in electronic devices. The chip is able to detect abnormalities in the electrical flow and evens out the current, or shut off the device before damage occurs.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2013-07-16/georgiaforward-provides-lessons-atlanta#.UebsXuCTpGN
GeorgiaForward provides lessons from Atlanta
By BEA WRAY
Last week I had the privilege of participating in GeorgiaForward, an annual conference that serves as a catalyst for identifying innovative ideas to solve our state’s challenges. This year’s conference was held at Georgia Tech’s main campus in Atlanta and attendees hailed from all over the state representing a cross-section of local and state governments, education, entrepreneurial companies and large corporations. All were united by a common mission: Make Georgia a more competitive state. …I was also thrilled to get a first hand introduction to some amazing developments in entrepreneurship and innovation. I enjoyed tours and visits at Hypepotamus, Atlanta Tech Village and Georgia Tech’s ATDC (Atlanta Technology Development Center).
www.blogs.wsj.com
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/07/16/should-colleges-charge-engineering-students-more/?KEYWORDS=%22Higher+Education%22
Should Colleges Charge Engineering Students More?
By Khadeeja Safdar
Why does a student majoring in English have to pay the same tuition as an engineering student with much higher earning potential? In a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, one economist suggests looking at differential tuition—the practice of varying tuition costs across areas of study. Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Kevin M. Stange from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy analyzed 50 universities that had instituted higher fees for their nursing, engineering and business majors between 1990 and 2008. Mr. Stange found that the effects of implementing differential tuition vary among groups of students and areas of study. The share of degrees awarded in engineering and business decreased within three years after putting in place the differential tuition program.
Education News
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/a-healthy-conversation/2013/07/emory-no-1-in-georgia-on-us-news.html
Emory No. 1 in Georgia on U.S. News best hospitals list
Jacques Couret
Senior Online Editor-Atlanta Business Chronicle
Emory University Hospital the best hospital in Atlanta and in Georgia, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2013-2014 list of best hospitals. Emory claims that mantle for having five nationally ranked specialties and 10 high-performing specialties.
www.edsurge.com
https://www.edsurge.com/n/2013-07-16-2u-uc-berkeley-team-up-for-online-masters-program
2U, UC Berkeley Team Up for Online Masters Program
2U and UC Berkeley are teaming up to offer what they call the “country’s first online Master of Information and Data Science (MIDS) degree program.” According to AnnaLee Saxenian, dean of UCB’s School of Information, there is a “dramatically growing need for well-trained big data professionals who can organize, analyze, and interpret the deluge of often messy and unorganized data available from the web, sensor networks, mobile devices, and elsewhere.” The industry has seen a growth in the number of accredited classes and even degrees from private online course providers. Most recently, Udacity announced a deal with Georgia Tech to offer an online master’s degree in computer science for under $7,000.
www.gigaom.com
http://gigaom.com/2013/07/16/uc-berkeley-now-offers-online-only-masters-in-data-science-for-60k/
Will students fork over $60K for UC Berkeley’s new online master’s degree in data science?
by Ki Mae Heussner
Big data is becoming a big opportunity for higher education. As we’ve reported before, more universities are trying to meet industry’s growing appetite for data scientists with new master’s programs in the field. But on Wednesday, the University of California at Berkeley will announce that it is launching a data science master’s degree that, for the time being at least, will only be online… The degree, which 2U expects students will be able to complete in 12 to 20 months, will cost $60,000 a pop. When compared to the free and low-cost massive open online courses (MOOCs) — like the online computer science degree offered by Georgia Tech and Udacity — that get the lion’s share of attention in online education, that’s bound to raise eyebrows. But 2U offers an entirely different flavor of online learning.
www.informationweek.com
http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/quit-dithering-on-digital-business-strat/240158256
Quit Dithering On Digital Business Strategy
Rob Preston
VP & Editor in Chief, InformationWeek
Don’t dismiss it as just the latest IT craze. Every enterprise is now a digital business — or must become one fast. The future of your company and organization (and career) is on the line. What is digital business? It’s a movement, rooted in customer-focused analytics, mobile computing and social networking, that stands to turn every company and industry on its ear… Colleges and universities come to mind on the denial side. The entrenched thinking: Digital tools will augment what we do, but it’s pretty much higher education as usual. It’s not. The disruption will go far deeper, down to their core business and profit models. Consider Georgia Tech’s announcement in May that it will use massive open online course (MOOC) software to offer an online master’s degree in computer science — the first such full-credit degree from a major university — for about a fifth the price of a typical on-campus degree. Other mainstream colleges and universities better be paying attention.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/17/moocs-spread-quickly-aided-no-bid-deals-public-universities
No-Bid MOOCs
By Ry Rivard
The providers of massive open online courses have rapidly expanded in the past year, aided in part by a series of potentially lucrative no-bid deals with public colleges and universities, including for services that may extend beyond the MOOC model. At least 21 universities and higher education systems in 16 states have signed agreements with Coursera, Udacity or edX without going through a competitive bidding process, according to interviews and open records requests by Inside Higher Ed. The deals include contractual language that could be used to divert untold amounts of taxpayer or student tuition money to outside vendors. …Though MOOCs gained attention as free classes for the masses, the providers each have nascent business models that demand outright payments (the University of Texas System paid $5 million in a no-bid agreement to join edX) or seek to share in tuition revenues (Udacity expects to make $2 million from a three-year partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology that was also not competitively bid).
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/17/even-healthy-universities-make-big-changes-free-funds-priorities#ixzz2ZJ2HcMiB
Turning Big Ships
By Doug Lederman
INDIANAPOLIS — On what one might call the “vulnerability index” — how higher education institutions shake out in terms of their financial viability in the short- to mid-term — the universities represented in a session titled “Remaining Nimble in the Face of External Challenges” at the annual meeting of college business officers here Tuesday are some of the lucky ones. Unlike some smaller and less-differentiated private and public colleges and universities, public flagship universities like the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois and selective (and highly visible) private institutions like the University of Notre Dame are not only going to survive whatever turmoil higher education faces in the next decade or two — at least — they’re likely to thrive, too.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/No-Confidence-Votes-Are-No/140325/?cid=at
No-Confidence Votes Are No Longer a Death Knell
By Seth Zweifler
When a hockey alumni association felt the athletic director at the University of Alaska at Anchorage had made bad and autocratic decisions, the group voted to express no confidence in him. Two weeks later, the faculty at Occidental College used no-confidence votes to voice its frustration with the way the institution’s general counsel and dean of students had handled allegations of sexual assault on the campus. In between the votes at Alaska and Occidental this spring, at least five other faculties took votes of no confidence in campus leaders. One came at a community college in Alabama; another was held at a midsize public university in West Virginia. A third, at one of the most-prominent campuses to hold no-confidence votes this year, was at New York University, where several groups of professors have complained about the leadership style and strategic priorities of John E. Sexton, the president. Voting no confidence has become a common strategy for faculty members to express disapproval in their institution’s leadership. …The broad use of the no-confidence vote, however, may in some ways be diminishing its effect.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/17/e-mails-reveal-mitch-daniels-governor-tried-ban-howard-zinn-book#ixzz2ZJ27VnGk
The Governor’s Bad List
By Scott Jaschik
Mitch Daniels, as an unconventional choice to become Purdue University’s president, has repeatedly pledged his strong commitment to academic freedom. And many professors — including some who had questioned the wisdom of appointing a governor as university president — have given him high marks for the start of his work at Purdue. But on Monday, the Associated Press published an article based on e-mail records it obtained under Indiana’s open records laws. Those e-mail records showed Daniels, while governor of Indiana, asking that no public universities teach the work of Howard Zinn, seeking a statewide investigation into “what is credit-worthy” to see that similar works were not being taught for credit, and considering ways to cut state funds to a program led by a professor who had criticized him.
Related article:
www.chronicle.com
In E-Mails, Former Indiana Governor Wanted Scholars Silenced
http://chronicle.com/article/In-E-Mails-Former-Indiana/140401/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/college-foundations-aim-higher-as-performance-stays-flat/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
College Foundations Aim Higher, but Performance Stays Almost Flat
By Lee Gardner
Another day, another set of data sketching the continuing financial doldrums of higher education, this time regarding the performance of college foundations. In its annual survey of 88 institutionally related foundations, released on Tuesday, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education found that 63.6 percent of respondents had experienced a drop in the value of their endowments in the 2012 fiscal year. The median decrease in value was 1.6 percent. Among the 31.8 percent of institutions that saw an increase in endowment value, the gains were modest, at a median 1.2 percent.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Study-Finds-Rampant-Bias-in/140399/
Study Finds Rampant Bias in Animal-Based Drug Research
By Paul Voosen
It’s been an open secret in medicine for some time: A central part of the drug-discovery pipeline is broken. For decades, scientists have relied on animal models of human disease to test potential new treatments. Yet it has become increasingly clear that most drugs found to be effective in, say, lab mice ultimately fail in human beings. Pharmaceutical companies have raised alarms. By one recent estimate, only 11 percent of drugs that enter human trials are ever approved for use. Researchers run down one dead end after another, and billions of dollars are wasted.
www.nytimes.com
Universities Face a Rising Barrage of Cyberattacks
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
America’s research universities, among the most open and robust centers of information exchange in the world, are increasingly coming under cyberattack, most of it thought to be from China, with millions of hacking attempts weekly. Campuses are being forced to tighten security, constrict their culture of openness and try to determine what has been stolen. University officials concede that some of the hacking attempts have succeeded. But they have declined to reveal specifics, other than those involving the theft of personal data like Social Security numbers. They acknowledge that they often do not learn of break-ins until much later, if ever, and that even after discovering the breaches they may not be able to tell what was taken.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Protesters-Call-for-Stricter/140375/
Protesters Call for Stricter Sanctions on Colleges That Mishandle Sexual Assault
By Sara Lipka
Washington
Several dozen students and recent graduates—in T-shirts bearing their colleges’ names—rallied in front of the U.S. Department of Education on Monday to demand tighter enforcement of federal antidiscrimination law, with stricter sanctions when institutions fail to support victims of sexual assault. “The Department of Education needs to be more punitive and hold schools accountable,” said Andrea L. Pino, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill whose federal complaint in January helped to galvanize students around the country.
www.miamiherald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/16/3502744/state-approves-safety-net-for.html
Another reprieve for school grades as officials question validity
BY DAVID SMILEY AND MICHAEL VASQUEZ
Many Florida schools that struggle under the state’s polarizing A through F grading system will again get a reprieve this year after the state Board of Education narrowly agreed Tuesday to keep rankings from dropping more than one letter, regardless of performance. Board members voted 4-3 in an emergency conference call to reinstate a “safety net” in response to concerns that a slew of changes made to raise education standards threatened instead to unfairly punish schools. Board members and Education Commissioner Tony Bennett, who recommended the change, also talked about preserving faith in Florida’s school grades — even as they questioned whether the system has already lost its credibility.