University System News
USG NEWS:
Newnan Times-Herald
http://www.times-herald.com/education/20130718-Clayton-State-University-regional-impact
Clayton State University Shown To Have Significant Regional Impact
by CELIA SHORTT
In a recent study by the Selig Center for Economic Growth, Clayton State University was shown to be a major player in the Metro Altanta southern counties area, both economically and in overall quality of life.
Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/22/nursing-schools-face-faculty-shortages
Who Will Teach Nursing?
By Lauren Ingeno
Don’t mention the “R” word to Kathryn Grams. The dean of the School of Nursing at the University of West Georgia is a baby boomer who became a nurse educator more than 20 years ago. Unfortunately, so did most of her colleagues. That means an entire cohort of nursing faculty will be retiring at roughly the same time, leaving vacancies that will be burdensome to fill.
GOOD NEWS:
Atlanta Journal Constitution
http://www.myajc.com/news/lifestyles/georgia-tech-professor-has-mentored-more-than-100-/nYr9F/?icmp=ajc_internallink_textlink_apr2013_ajcstubtomyajc_launch
(Subscription required*)
Georgia Tech professor has mentored more than 100 doctoral candidates
Earning a doctoral degree is a major accomplishment, requiring years of study, research and dedication. Having a professor as mentor and guide to direct the process is critical to success. More than 100 doctoral candidates in chemical engineering have found such a mentor in Chuck Eckert. The 74-year-old DeKalb resident has been the guiding light to Ph.D. students at both the University of Illinois and Georgia Tech, where he is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/07/19/atlantas-western-arc-the-opportunity.html
(Subscription required*)
Atlanta’s western arc: the Opportunity Test
Emerging, Rip Van Winkle like, from a forced hibernation, Atlanta is showing unmistakable signs of a recovery in its housing and real estate development sectors. Though development is concentrated in a few choice submarkets currently, it is likely that this major driver of Atlanta’s economy will expand beyond the Midtowns and Buckheads into other close-in markets with attractive characteristics.
RESEARCH:
MSN
http://now.msn.com/fido-device-for-dogs-could-help-them-speak-to-humans-better-than-a-bark
If dogs could talk … the things they would say. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology would love to help them communicate more precisely, at least. They are developing a sensor/transmitter that would attach to a dog’s vest or collar, which the dog could trigger by biting or pulling on it, and would give the handler or owner specific information about such things as bomb detection, health diagnoses or navigation for the blind.
AJC
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/opinion/do-dissections-teach-animal-cruelty/nYs6n/
(Subscription may be required*)
Do dissections teach animal cruelty?
Connecticut students will soon be able to opt out of participation in classroom animal dissection. Earlier this month, the state legislature passed a bill requiring that students who object to dissection activities be allowed to perform an alternate assignment, as long as they receive permission from their parents. With this legislation, Connecticut joins 10 other states that maintain “student choice” laws, and five more with informal policies (adopted, for example, by a state’s department of education). Georgia is not one of those states with a student choice law, and thus our children do not have this freedom.
C&EN
Chemical & Engineering News
http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i29/Industrys-Water-Stewards.html
Industry’s Water Stewards
By Susan J. Ainsworth
College students frequently want to save the world. When the part they are interested in saving is water and they are studying at the University of Texas, Austin, they often approach chemical engineer Danny D. Reible for career advice. Most assume they can make the biggest difference in a developing country, working to remedy the shortage of clean drinking water, says Reible, a professor of environmental health and director of UT Austin’s Center for Research in Water Resources
STATE NEEDS/ISSUES:
Tampa Bay Times
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_CANAL_SOUTHERN_PORTS_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-07-20-12-18-19
Ports around the South prep for canal growth
By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press
The port of Panama City, Fla., is a busy place. Containers of biofuel-wood pellets head to Europe. Copper from South America is offloaded onto railroad cars for transport further north. Frozen chicken, machine parts and other materials are shipped south to Mexico and Central America.
savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/news/2013-07-22/ga-blueberry-knocks-peach-top-fruit-pile#.Ue04GuDhMfk
Ga. blueberry knocks peach off top of fruit pile
By RAY HENRY
What is the most valuable fruit crop produced in the Peach State? This is not a trick question, but you may want to pause a second before answering. Ready? It’s the blueberry. Georgia is famous as a major producer of the peach, the fuzzy succulent orange fruit whose image appears on state license plates, “welcome to Georgia” billboards and on road signs. When driving in the capital city of Atlanta, you can pass the corner of Peachtree Street and Peachtree Center Avenue, just one block from West Peachtree Street.
Gigaom
http://gigaom.com/2013/07/19/6-cool-startups-from-my-trip-to-atlanta/
6 cool startups from my trip to Atlanta
by Stacey Higginbotham
Did you know that 70 percent of all credit card payments processed in the U.S. are processed in Atlanta? The city is home to many of the data centers owned by the back-end service providers for the major credit card companies. Even Square has operations there. That’s one of several tidbits I learned while GigaOM conducted an event in the southern city on Wednesday.
Education News
New York Times
U.S. Online Course Provider Tries to Enter China Market
Coursera, one of the major U.S. education companies providing massive open online courses, known as MOOCs, seems to have run into some red tape in China. Representatives of Fudan University and Shanghai Jiaotong University confirmed by telephone that they had signed an agreement this month to hold classes in Mandarin Chinese and English for Coursera. The announcement was also made July 9 on a Shanghai government Web site. However, a representative for Launch Squad, a U.S.-based press relations company that represents Coursera, said in an e-mail that the partnerships with the two Shanghai universities were “revealed prematurely” and that “contracts are still in the process of being written.
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-maples/return-on-investment-roi-_b_3626205.html
Return on Investment and Why It Matters for Higher Education
Oregon Tech has received quite a few accolades for early and mid-career salaries of our graduates and the Return on Investment (ROI) of our degrees. Largely as a result of the recent economic downturn, coupled with growing student debt, there also have been quite a few recent commentaries and discussions about the ROI for various academic degrees, both outside of academia and within academia. ROI is often deemed by proponents to be critical in the current economic environment for students to know so they can determine what degrees will allow them to obtain higher-paying jobs to maximize their ROI as soon as possible after completing a degree or certificate.
New York Times
Depending on whom you ask, a proposed new international testing system will either be the next big thing in higher education or a pointless, expensive rankings exercise that will be used to criticize faculty at hard-pressed colleges and universities. At a meeting in its headquarters in Paris last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a study on whether it would be possible to test what students around the world actually learn in colleges and universities. In November, the organization will decide whether to press ahead with the new system, Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes, or Ahelo.