University System News

USG NEWS:
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/21/georgia-tech-sophomore-gives-amazing-welcome-new-students#ixzz2cbPhU4KW
A Welcome to Remember
By Scott Jaschik
Like many colleges and universities, the Georgia Institute of Technology has a welcoming convocation. One of the traditions at Georgia Tech is that a second-year student is selected by a faculty-staff committee to give “the sophomore welcome.” This year’s welcome — by Nicholas Selby — went viral Tuesday and may set a new standard for welcoming new students. Here is the closing, which has captured most of the attention:

Related articles:
www.huffingtonpost.com
Georgia Tech Student Goes Nuts In Epic Welcome Speech (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/georgia-tech-welcome-spee_n_3785612.html

www.abcnews.go.com
Georgia Tech Student’s Motivational Song
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/extras/2013/08/20/instant-index-crime-author-elmore-leonard-dies-at-87/

www.cbsnews.com
Welcome to Georgia Tech! Welcome to the world! Welcome everyone, everywhere!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504784_162-57599424-10391705/welcome-to-georgia-tech-welcome-to-the-world-welcome-everyone-everywhere/

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/health/2013-08-20/documentary-med-students-airs-tonight
Documentary on Athens med students airs tonight
A new documentary featuring the first class of medical students to study in Athens through the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership will premiere on WUGA-TV at 7 p.m. tonight. The 30-minute documentary titled “Changes and Transitions: Georgia’s New Medical Partnership” was compiled by a team of journalism students from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

GOOD NEWS:
www.americustimesrecorder.com
http://americustimesrecorder.com/local/x1253326295/Albany-Tech-GSW-ink-agreements
Albany Tech, GSW ink agreements
The Americus Times-Recorder
Albany — Albany Technical College officials signed two articulation agreements with Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) on Monday. Through the articulation agreements, students graduating with a networking specialist, PC maintenance specialist or computer support specialist associate of applied science degree (AAS) from Albany Tech (ATC) can begin work toward a bachelor of science (BS) degree in information technology from GSW.

www.chron.com
http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/article/Report-A-M-degree-worth-1M-more-than-it-costs-4743639.php
Report: A&M degree worth $1M more than it costs
By Craig Hlavaty
If you went to Texas A&M, you’d end up $1 million richer than if you hadn’t. A national website that tracks college pricing and affordability has reported that the College Station school ranks first among Texas public colleges and universities when it comes to getting your money’s worth out of tuition. Rice University, a private university, ranks first overall in Texas and just ahead of A&M, with the University Of Texas at Austin coming in third out of 452 colleges. A&M’s return on investment is $1,057,000, while Rice is just $12,000 more… The top 10 schools based ranked overall for return on investment: 1. Georgia Institute of Technology,

www.newsday.com
http://www.newsday.com/business/the-best-online-college-programs-named-for-2013-2014-1.5923826
The Best Online College Programs Named for 2013-2014
After months or research, BestOnlineColleges.org has released their annual lists for the best online colleges in various fields of study. Program fields include: Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, Human Resources, Sociology, Math, Biology, Graphic Design and Nutrition. …Schools featured for each list can be seen below. …Best Online Nutrition Programs: Georgia State University …Best Online History Programs: Valdosta State University …The Best Online Sociology Degree Programs: Kennesaw State University …Best Online Special Education Degree Programs: University of Georgia …Valdosta State University

www.educationnews.org
http://www.educationnews.org/online-schools/georgia-tech-udacity-team-up-for-online-masters-degree-program/
Georgia Tech, Udacity Team Up for Online Master’s Degree Program
As the nationwide debate rages over whether online education will be truly revolutionary, many universities are teaming up with massive open online courses (MOOC) such as edX, Udacity, Coursera to offer free online courses. The Georgia Institute of Technology is taking that one step further by offering a master’s degree in computer science through MOOCs for a fraction of the on-campus cost, according to Tamar Lewin of The New York Times, making it the first elite institution in the country to offer a master degree program through MOOC. – See more at: http://www.educationnews.org/online-schools/georgia-tech-udacity-team-up-for-online-masters-degree-program/#sthash.6D039h7y.0b0Ig8zX.dpuf

www.informationweek.com
http://www.informationweek.com/tech-center/it-as-a-service/udacity-ceo-says-mooc-magic-formula-emer/240160169
Udacity CEO Says MOOC ‘Magic Formula’ Emerging
Sebastian Thrun dishes on Udacity’s Silicon Valley style and how to make massive open online courses work for more than “the most motivated 1%.”
By David F. Carr
InformationWeek
After weathering a round of negative publicity, Udacity CEO Sebastian Thrun believes vindication is at hand. “The thing I’m insanely proud of right now is I think we’ve found the magic formula,” he said in an interview last week. “Had you asked me three months ago, I wouldn’t have said that. I’m not at the point where everything is great. There are a lot of things to be improved, a lot of mistakes we’re making, but I see it coming together.”… Meanwhile, Udacity is gearing up to offer an affordable online master’s degree in computer science in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology, partially underwritten by AT&T as a means of recruiting employees with IT skills.

RESEARCH:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/a-healthy-conversation/2013/08/new-technique-to-manage-peripheral.html
New technique to manage peripheral arterial disease
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer-Atlanta Business Chronicle
About 8 million Americas battle peripheral arterial disease — unbearable leg pain caused by muscles starved of blood and oxygen — exacerbated by walking. Georgia Regents University researchers hope a noninvasive measure of oxygen levels in leg muscles will help alleviate the pain. The idea is to push to the point of often intolerable pain then rest so the blood requirements of the muscles decrease, Dr. Jonathan Murrow, cardiologist at the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership in Athens noted in a statement.

www.spacedaily.com
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Device_for_capturing_signatures_uses_tiny_LEDs_created_with_piezo_phototronic_effect_999.html
Device for capturing signatures uses tiny LEDs created with piezo-phototronic effect
by Staff Writers
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology want to put your signature up in lights – tiny lights, that is. Using thousands of nanometer-scale wires, the researchers have developed a sensor device that converts mechanical pressure – from a signature or a fingerprint – directly into light signals that can be captured and processed optically.

www.dailymail.co.uk
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2398171/Jekyll-app-sneaky-tactics-hackers-use-trick-Apples-App-Store-revealed.html#ixzz2cbUm9nzX
The sneaky tactics hackers use to trick Apple so they can get dangerous and malicious software onto the app store
By VICTORIA WOOLLASTON
Hackers have discovered a way of sneaking dangerous and malicious software onto Apple’s App Store by tricking the store’s reviewers into thinking its safe. The app, dubbed Jekyll after the character in Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous book in which Dr Jekyll has an evil alter ego called Mr Hyde, can be made to look like a harmless game, service, utility app and so on. Once it has passed Apple’s strict app review policy, the computer scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology who developed the technique can remotely change its binary code to make it malicious.

www.gcn.com
http://gcn.com/articles/2013/08/20/georgia-tech-execscent-malware.aspx
New cyber tool learns network behavior to sniff out malware
By William Jackson
Network administrators and security officials could soon have a new tool to help detect malicious traffic on their networks by sifting out the command and control traffic of infected computers from the background noise. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology tested a prototype of the tool, called ExecScent, on live networks and identified dozens of previously unknown command and control domains while discovering hundreds of infected hosts on the networks.

STATE NEEDS/ISSUES:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2013/08/20/developers-builders-back-georgia.html
Developers, builders back Georgia public-private partnerships law
Dave Williams
Staff Writer-
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Judging from the lobbyists who packed a meeting room at the state Capitol Tuesday, Georgia builders and developers are eager for the chance to jump-start public-sector construction that has lagged since the Great Recession. A Georgia Senate study committee met to gauge interest in legislation that would let the private sector help state agencies and local governments finance and construct public buildings through public-private partnerships, a model that already has been adopted by the Georgia Department of Transportation for highways.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2013/aug/21/new-act-scores-georgia-students-lag-math-science/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
New ACT scores: Georgia students lag in math, science
The DOE released ACT scores today. In a nutshell, Georgia scores on the college admissions test did not change and still trail the national average. The state’s weakest performance was in math and science. The national average is slipping so the gap between Georgia and the rest of the country is narrowing.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/08/21/how-the-reading-wars-are-being-reignited/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet by Valerie Strauss
How the ‘reading wars’ are being reignited
This is a new piece about an issue raised in this post last week, titled “Literacy experts say reformers reviving ‘reading wars.’” Both of these refer to ratings published in June by a group called the National Council on Teacher Quality of teacher education schools. …In this post, Stanford Professor Linda Darling-Hammond, an expert on teacher training, critiqued the NCTQ’s methodology and said the ratings did not reflect the work of ed schools.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/learn-to-code-with-codagogy-a-review/51767?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Learn to Code with Codagogy: A Review
By Adeline Koh
In my efforts to brush up on my coding knowledge this summer, I’ve been exploring a number of online courses, including CodeAcademy, Udacity and the Programming Historian. My latest foray into code has been with a new company called Codagogy, an offshoot of Web Start Women. Web Start Women is an organization that aims to encourage more women to become web developers and programmers. Codagogy is the company’s attempt to bring their classes to a virtual audience.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/qwerty-mobile-learning-conundrum
The QWERTY Mobile Learning Conundrum
By Joshua Kim
Why are we pushing ahead into mobile learning? One possibility is that we are all making a huge collective mistake. That we have drunk the iPad / iPhone / Android Kool-Aid. That we will look back on all this talk about mobile learning the same way we look back on netbooks and MOOCs (did I just say MOOCs?). We will wonder why we did not ask the mobile learning evangelists the hard questions. Why did we see mobile learning as an ends, rather than a means in which to accomplish our educational goals?

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/advising-and-naming-names
Advising and Naming Names
By Matt Reed
Some things that strike me as obvious apparently don’t strike others the same way, so I’m doing an ethical compass check here. Should academic advisors steer students towards, or away from, individual professors? I’ll set some context. Let’s take a program that’s big enough to have multiple professors teaching sections of the same course. And let’s assume that the placement of students into the course — as opposed to any particular section — is uncontroversial.

www.nytimes.com

How Four Years Can (and Should) Transform You
Mark Edmundson’s Essays Ask, ‘Why Teach?’
By MICHAEL S. ROTH
When young people starting their college careers ask me what they should look for when they get to campus, I tell them: find out who the great teachers are. It doesn’t matter much what the subject is. Find a real teacher, and you may open yourself to transformation — to discovering whom you might become. This can be the great gift of a liberal education.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/its-time-to-accept-higher-educations-growing-role-in-the-economy/32749?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
It’s Time to Accept Higher Education’s Growing Role in the Economy
By Nigel Thrift
Higher education is becoming more and more integral to national economies, especially as universities find new ways to work together.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/as-brain-research-expands-it-may-not-need-major-ethical-overhaul/33437?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
As Brain Research Expands, It May Not Need Major Ethical Overhaul
By Paul Basken
Not long after he proposed giving researchers $100-million to improve fundamental understandings of brain function, President Obama was worried. How, Mr. Obama asked his bioethics commission last month, might improved technologies for reading the brain affect society in areas that include personal privacy, moral and legal accountability, stigmatization, discrimination, and measures of intelligence?

Education News
www.dailyreportonline.com
http://www.dailyreportonline.com/PubArticleDRO.jsp?id=1202616292215&kw=Layoffs%20Will%20Cost%20Clark%20Atlanta&et=editorial&bu=Daily%20Report&cn=20130821&src=EMC-Email&pt=Morning%20News&slreturn=20130721100023
Layoffs Will Cost Clark Atlanta
Fulton jury finds ‘enrollment emergency’ was bad-faith ploy, awards severance pay, attorney fees
By Greg Land
A Fulton County jury has ruled that Clark Atlanta University acted in bad faith when it laid off five professors during an “enrollment emergency” in 2009, awarding each a year’s salary and accrued interest. Because of the bad-faith ruling, the university was also ordered to pay $290,000 of the professors’ attorney fees and expenses.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/poll-most-americans-unfamiliar-with-new-common-core-teaching-standards/2013/08/20/ffacc0d6-09b9-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
Poll: Most Americans unfamiliar with new Common Core teaching standards
By Emma Brown
Most Americans have never heard of the Common Core State Standards, the educational approach that is overhauling classroom instruction across most of the country and has triggered intensifying political and policy debate about the nation’s academic benchmarks, according to a national poll scheduled to be released Wednesday. The disconnect between policymakers and the public is among the key findings of a PDK-Gallup poll that was the 45th annual effort to measure Americans’ views on key education issues.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/21/act-scores-fall-lowest-level-five-years#ixzz2cbbV27MM
ACT Scores Slip
By Allie Grasgreen
With a 20.9 composite average, the 2013 ACT scores are the lowest they’ve been in five years, with the biggest drops occurring in the English and reading sections. The high school class of 2013’s composite average is down 0.2 points from 21.1 last year, and English and reading scores (averaging 20.2 and 21.1) are down 0.3 and 0.2 points, respectively.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/a-quarter-of-high-school-graduates-who-took-the-act-met-its-college-readiness-standards/36157?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
A Quarter of High-School Grads Who Took ACT Are Found College-Ready
By Beckie Supiano
Twenty-six percent of high-school graduates who took the ACT in 2013 met all four of its college-readiness benchmarks, according to a report released on Wednesday by ACT Inc., the organization that administers the test.

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/education/act-only-quarter-of-grads-ready-for-all-subjects/nZTyG/
ACT: Only quarter of grads ready for all subjects
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Just a quarter of this year’s high school graduates who took the ACT tests have the reading, math, English and science skills they need to succeed in college or a career, according to data the testing company released Wednesday. The numbers are even worse for black high school graduates: Only 5 percent are fully ready for life after high school.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/georgia-students-struggle-most-in-math-science-on-/nZTp3/?icmp=ajc_internallink_textlink_apr2013_ajcstubtomyajc_launch
Georgia students struggle most in math, science on ACT test
BY NANCY BADERTSCHER – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
At least 60 percent of Georgia’s college-bound seniors may struggle to earn a “B” or better as they advance to college-level math and science courses, based on results released Wednesday of the ACT national college admissions exam. Across the state, 48,505 students, or 51 percent of Georgia’s most recent high school graduates, took the ACT, which some see as an easier alternative to the SAT, long the dominant test for college-bound seniors in the region.

www.orlandosentinel.com
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-act-scores-florida-20130821,0,5208514.story
Florida students behind nationally in ACT scores
By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel
Despite a growing interest in higher education, Florida students lag the nation when it comes to being prepared for college after graduating high school, according to ACT college-admissions-test results released this morning. Only 19 percent of Florida’s class of 2013 scored “college-ready” on all four ACT exams — English, math, reading and science, according to The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2013 report. That was a slight improvement from last year’s 18 percent but below the national rate of 26 percent.

www.gpb.org
http://www.gpb.org/news/2013/08/21/more-college-students-rely-on-federal-aid-study-says#
More College Students Rely On Federal Aid, Study Says
The percentage of U.S. undergrads who rely on the federal government for financial aid soared above 50 percent in the most recent survey from the National Center for Education Statistics. The data show that for the first time, a majority of students got federal help.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/55405/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=4f8d259e6e71420fb09f98f4a3e572b3&elqCampaignId=33#
As Price of College Rises, So Does Federal Aid
by Associated Press
WASHINGTON — With college costs continuing to rise, more students are receiving federal financial aid, though state and institutional aid remains largely flat Data released Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education, shows 71 percent of all undergraduate students received some type of financial aid in the 2011-12 school year, up from 66 percent four years earlier. Forty-two percent of students received federal grants, up from 28 percent, and 40 percent received federal loans, an increase of 5 percentage points.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Report-Calls-for-Bankruptcy/141191/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Report Calls for Bankruptcy Protection for the Most Vulnerable Borrowers
By Kelly Field
Washington
Allowing borrowers to discharge some student loans in bankruptcy would provide relief to the most vulnerable and would foster a “race to the top” among lenders and institutions, says a new report by the Center for American Progress. The paper, “How Qualified Student Loans Could Protect Borrowers and Taxpayers,” was written by Joe Valenti and David A. Bergeron, a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Education Department who joined the center this year.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/55401/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=4f8d259e6e71420fb09f98f4a3e572b3&elqCampaignId=33#
Texas Schools Join Forces in Bid to Help Minority Males
by Maria Eugenia Miranda
This summer marked the beginning of a collaborative initiative in Texas to link together several community colleges and four-year universities and a couple of school districts in the name of finding solutions to lagging graduation rates among Latino and African-American males. Headed by Dr. Victor Sáenz, associate professor of educational administration and executive director of Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success) at the University of Texas at Austin, the Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color is supported by a three-year $335,000 grant and will serve as a platform for dialogue on the issue of college success among minority males.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/21/scholars-consider-appropriate-background-teach-womens-studies#ixzz2cbbLRowO
Who Should Teach Women’s Studies?
By Colleen Flaherty
“Internet feminist” Hugo Schwyzer’s recent breakdown – his word – has been ugly and public. While the Pasadena City College women’s studies professor’s revelations about being an adulterous “moral fraud” have stolen the headlines, his case raises another, more academically relevant issue: What qualifies one to teach women’s, gender and sexuality studies?

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/21/google-glass-beta-test-generates-excitement-innovation-among-medical-professionals#ixzz2cbbjHWX1
O.K., Glass, Teach
By Carl Straumsheim
Google Glass, the search engine giant’s augmented reality device, is in the hands of a select few beta testers — and among them, a small number of educators. While many instructors say they will spend the fall semester determining whether the gadget deserves a role in the classroom, Glass is already affecting how some medical professors teach their craft.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/21/obama-plan-college-costs-coming-week
Bus Tour Hints
By Paul Fain
WASHINGTON – President Obama plans to take on rising tuition prices with speeches later this week that the White House promises will include fresh, serious proposals. But those claims were met largely with skepticism here, even from supporters of the president’s repeated pledge to “shake up” higher education.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Obama-Vows-Action-on-College/141203/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Obama Vows Action on College Costs, but Observers Say His Options Are Few
By Kelly Field
Washington
In a speech at Knox College last month, President Obama said he would “shake up” higher education with an “aggressive strategy” aimed at making college more affordable. On Thursday the president will embark on a two-state, three-campus tour where he’ll lay out what he has in mind. In a letter sent to his supporters this week, he promises “real reforms that would bring lasting change.”

Related article:
www.nytimes.com
Obama to Offer Plans to Ease Burden of Paying for College

Other News
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/national/employers-insurance-premiums-go-up-again/nZTkg/?icmp=ajc_internallink_textlink_apr2013_ajcstubtomyajc_launch
Employers’ insurance premiums go up again
BY MISTY WILLIAMS – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Most Americans receive health insurance through their employers, but many have little idea of how much the coverage costs them or the boss.
An annual survey of employers released Tuesday supplied the answer: If you are an average American worker, the total annual premium for you and your family will be $16,351 this year. Your boss is paying about two-thirds of that, and your share comes to $4,600.