University System News

USG NEWS:
www.romenews-tribune.com
http://romenews-tribune.com/view/full_story/23429793/article-Confluence-steering-committee-announced?instance=home_news
Confluence steering committee announced
by Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce reports
Confluence, the innovation conference and program of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce, announced on Thursday the steering committee for the February 20-21, 2014 event. Willis Potts, retired industry executive and former chair of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, has been appointed as chairman of the steering committee. …Other steering committee members are: …Leonard Reeves, Assistant Dean Northwest Georgia Clinical Campus, Georgia Regents University …The focus for Confluence 2014 will be to strengthen the ties among youth and the business community in the context of technology and innovation. Potts said Rome’s three great strengths are making (manufacturing), teaching (education) and healing (healthcare).

www.forsythnews.com
http://www.forsythnews.com/section/4/article/19598/
College enrollment surge could lead to expansion
Council gets update on UNG campus
By Crystal Ledford
Cumming’s mayor and city council heard a presentation Tuesday night on the University of North Georgia’s Cumming campus. Mac McConnell, a university official, said the site, which opened in summer 2012 off Pilgrim Mill Road near Ga. 400 at Exit 16, has seen dramatic growth in student population. He said during the fall semester 2012, it registered some 500 students, 100 more than anticipated. This fall, enrollment has swelled to about 750 students. McConnell said if that pattern continues, the college could see its first expansion sometime within the next the couple of years.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2013-08-22/uga-launches-new-virtual-lab-service-students
UGA launches new virtual lab service for students
By UGA NEWS SERVICE
The University of Georgia has launched a new virtual lab that allows students to remotely access applications like Microsoft PowerPoint in a computer lab “anywhere, anytime” via any device with a Web browser. Dubbed the vLab, this new initiative allows up to 900 students at one time to access software on computers at the Miller Learning Center either at the facility or remotely on their phone, tablet, laptop or personal computer.

www.albanyherald.com
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2013/aug/22/asu-students-participating-in-washington-march/
ASU students participating in Washington march
Staff Reports
ALBANY, Ga. — Four members of the ASU Student Government Association Advisory Board will be among the masses to travel to the U.S. Capitol this weekend to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. Officials from the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education reached out to ASU, inviting students to participate in the commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. …NAFEO is utilizing the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington to emphasize the need to repair current student financial aid issues and ultimately make a college education attainable for students.

GOOD NEWS:
www.times-georgian.com
http://www.times-georgian.com/faith_values/article_05d8a3b8-0b8f-11e3-9f4d-001a4bcf6878.html
Unpack the Pack: Churches help UWG students move in
Winston Jones/Times-Georgian
Going away from home to college, moving into campus dormitories and making new friends is a major happening in young people’s lives and a stressful event for parents and students alike. “When I went away to school, it was a scary experience for me,” said Mimi Gentry, a member of the Carrollton Presbyterian Church. “It was nice to meet adults that I could really rely on, if I had needs far away from home.” The University of West Georgia will have its annual “Unpack the Pack” program Saturday when volunteers from the community help students get moved into their new quarters. Several local churches are in the forefront of providing these volunteers to help new students.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/08/23/close-by-atlanta.html?page=all
Close by Atlanta
Christine Hall, Contributing Writer
Despite being just 25 minutes from downtown Atlanta and 20 minutes from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Douglas County and Douglasville are having a proximity perception problem from people who have never been there. And that is giving some of the area’s economic development leaders the constant job of putting that rumor to rest. They have some big backers, though, in the form of corporations that have toured the Douglasville area and realized it is very accessible to the Atlanta metropolitan area… “We have hired many Googlers from Georgia Tech, Georgia State, University of Georgia and others who have HVAC, welding or other trade certifications,” Wellman said. “Many live in Douglas County, and there are some who commute in from Atlanta’s surrounding areas.”

RESEARCH:
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/23/higher-ed-reformers-obama-speech-was-welcome-attention#ixzz2cmE40j8C
Enjoying White House Attention
Carl Straumsheim and Ry Rivard
Advocates of disruptive college business models and carrot-and-stick accountability measures were excited Thursday to hear President Obama back their work in his effort to curb the rising cost of college. The president, in a speech on college costs, praised a new public-private partnership between the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Silicon Valley start-up, name-checked a performance-based college funding formula in Tennessee and praised programs that award degrees to students based on how well they test rather than how much time they spend in a classroom.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/08/23/city-bids-to-host-super-bowl-of-smarts.html?page=all
City bids to host ‘Super Bowl of Smarts’
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer-Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta is competing with four cities to land the “Super Bowl of Smarts” — an international robotics event that aims to groom the next generation of scientists and engineers. The FIRST Championship, which is expected to draw up to 30,000 participants and their families, brings together four robotics competitions and is aimed at encouraging students to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)… Atlanta has the “mystique of being an Olympic city,” said Jeff Rosen, a Georgia Tech program director involved in recruiting the FIRST Championship to the city.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.nytimes.com

A Federal Prod to Lower College Costs
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
President Obama has been accused of promoting small-ball ideas in his second term, but the proposal he unveiled on Thursday is a big one: using sharp federal pressure to make college more affordable, potentially opening the gates of higher education to more families scared off by rising tuitions. While there are questions to be answered about his plan, his approach — tying federal student aid to the value of individual colleges — is a bold and important way to leverage the government’s power and get Washington off the sidelines.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Obamas-Cost-Saving-Plan-7/141233/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Obama’s Cost-Saving Plan: 7 Experts Weigh In
As President Obama promotes his new plan for bringing down college costs, The Chronicle asked several experts for their reactions to his proposals. The following is a roundup of their views. Robert Applebaum, cofounder and executive director of Student Debt Crisis, a nonprofit group dedicated to reforming how higher education is paid for in the United States:

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2013/08/22/president-sees-an-obamacare-solution-to-higher-eds-problems/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
President Sees an Obamacare Solution to Higher Ed’s Problems
By Jeff Selingo
Higher ed, welcome to Obamacare. Frustrated by how his policies of the past four years haven’t stalled rising college-tuition prices or moved the needle on the number of students, particularly low-income students, graduating from college, President Obama took on the higher-ed establishment on Thursday, declaring bluntly that the federal government cannot just keep chasing college prices with federal aid but not getting better results.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/08/22/mr-president-dont-cave-to-the-higher-education-lobby/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Mr. President: Don’t Cave to the Higher-Education Lobby
By Sara Goldrick-Rab
Over all, I’m a fan of President Obama’s proposal to rate colleges and link the results to financial aid. The plan is to give students attending institutions rated high—on such measures as tuition and graduation rates, debt and earnings of graduates, and the percentage of low-income students enrolled—larger grants, as well as lower-interest loans. The proposal ends the “tinkering” that most higher-education reform has pursued; it aims squarely at the main drivers of college costs: private and for-profit institutions (and their happy followers, the elite public flagships) and states.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/08/23/obamas-ratings-system-may-be-difficult-pull-essay#ixzz2cmKgCqQu
Ratings Are Not So Easy
By Karen Gross
On his education bus tour, President Obama is urging, among other suggestions, a new rating system to ensure that more families are able to afford higher education. I think we can all (well, almost all of us) agree that the rising costs of a bachelor’s degree need to be constrained, and we must find ways that facilitate middle- and lower-income students entering and graduating from college. The value proposition matters, and “debt without diploma” is unacceptable.

Education News
www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=264767
Deal orders review of education guidelines
By The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Gov. Nathan Deal has ordered an extensive review of national education guidelines known as Common Core standards. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Deal also asked the State Board of Education to “un-adopt” part of the program that includes sample English test selections that some parents object to. Deal also asked the board to develop a new social studies curriculum that emphasizes, among other things, civic and fiscal responsibility.

Related article:
www.thebrunswicknews.com
Deal seeks review of Common Core
http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/open_access/local_news/REVIEW23-082313-KK#

www.blogs.edweek.org
Review of Common Core Demanded by Georgia Gov. Deal
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2013/08/review_of_common_core_demanded_by_georgia_gov_deal.html

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/chairman-of-state-education-board-agrees-to-review/nZZDj/
Chairman of state education board agrees to review Common Core
By Wayne Washington
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Board of Education Chairwoman Barbara Hampton said Thursday that she and her colleagues will oversee a public review of Common Core, a set of national academic standards that has drawn the ire of some political conservatives. Hampton’s comments, made during the board’s monthly meeting, were in response to a call from Gov. Nathan Deal to review the standards, viewed by some tea party activists and others as a national intrusion into state oversight of K-12 education.

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/ap/pennsylvania/obama-launching-college-affordability-bus-tour/nZYnM/
Obama calls for cost-conscious college ratings
By JULIE PACE
The Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Targeting the soaring cost of higher education, President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a broad new government rating system for colleges that would judge schools on their affordability and perhaps be used to allocate federal financial aid. But the proposed overhaul faced immediate skepticism from college leaders who worry the rankings could cost their institutions millions of dollars, as well as from congressional Republicans wary of deepening the government’s role in higher education.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/4-Key-Ideas-in-Obamas-Plan/141239/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
4 Key Ideas in Obama’s Plan to Control College Costs Bear Familiar Fingerprints
Many of the ideas embraced by President Obama in his call to control college costs have longstanding champions in major foundations and among prominent policy analysts. The president’s plan dovetails closely with the agendas of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent $472-million to remake college education in the United States, and of the Lumina Foundation, the largest private foundation devoted solely to higher education. Many features of the president’s plan have been advocated, too, in the research and analysis of the New America Foundation’s education-policy program.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/national-news/2013-08-22/obama-calls-cost-conscious-college-ratings
Obama calls for cost-conscious college ratings
By JULIE PACE AND PHILIP ELLIOTTASSOCIATED PRESS
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Targeting the soaring cost of higher education, President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a broad new government rating system for colleges that would judge schools on their affordability and perhaps be used to allocate federal financial aid. But the proposed overhaul faced immediate skepticism from college leaders who worry the rankings could cost their institutions millions of dollars, as well as from congressional Republicans wary of deepening the government’s role in higher education.

Related article:
www.diverseeducation.com
Obama Proposes New System for Rating Colleges
http://diverseeducation.com/article/55460/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=4e95fce483a441e08d099cfc0ce2ffc4&elqCampaignId=33#

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Public-Colleges-Endorse-Obama/141231/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Public Colleges Endorse Obama Plans on Affordability and Accountability
By Eric Kelderman
Public and state higher-education leaders gave their tentative approval to much of President Obama’s proposals on Thursday to make colleges more accountable and affordable. After all, many of the ideas he presented are already being pursued at the state level.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/23/faculty-advocates-react-obamas-plan-higher-ed
Disappointed, Not Surprised
By Colleen Flaherty
Faculty members overwhelmingly supported President Obama in his candidacies. To many, his academic background and intellectual bent were welcome relief after his predecessor. Obama – a former law professor at the University of Chicago – was one of them. But in reacting to Obama’s higher education policy speech at the State University of New York at Buffalo Thursday, in which the president proposed a ratings system for institutions to be tied to federal aid, faculty members expressed disappointment.

Related article:
www.chronicle.com
Obama Plan to Tie Student Aid to College Ratings Draws Mixed Reviews
http://chronicle.com/article/Obama-Plan-to-Tie-Student-Aid/141229/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/In-Buffalo-Talk-of-College/141241/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
In Buffalo, Talk of College Costs Stirs Hope and Doubt
By Eric Hoover
Buffalo, N.Y.
A puzzle, a mess, a mystery, a racket. On the eve of President Obama’s arrival, people here in Buffalo used many words to describe the cost of obtaining a college degree. …Some described paying for college as an unfair burden, a rip-off. Others said a diploma was worth any sacrifice, even shoveling out of debt for decades. When asked if college was affordable, some gave conflicting answers in the same breath.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/23/higher-education-leaders-respond-obamas-ambitous-ratings-system-plan
Performance Funding Goes Federal
By Paul Fain
Colleges need to demonstrate the value of their product with hard numbers, an increasingly popular maxim holds, or lawmakers will try to do it for them. That prediction is now truer than ever, as the nation’s highest elected official has joined state policymakers in pushing performance-based funding for higher education.

www.miamiherald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/22/3579965/amid-controversy-state-education.html
Amid controversy, state education leaders to huddle
BY KATHLEEN MCGRORY
HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
TALLAHASSEE — Following a turbulent summer that saw the state education commissioner resign and angry parents call for a moratorium on school grades, Gov. Rick Scott will convene a group of educators, business leaders and lawmakers in Clearwater next week to hash out Florida’s education woes. “Florida’s education accountability system has become a national model, but we are at a critical point in our history,” Scott wrote Thursday in a statement announcing the three-day event.

www.mercurynews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_23912067/new-college-rankings-put-stanford-and-berkeley-top
New college rankings put Stanford and Berkeley in the top three — in the world
By Katy Murphy
Oakland Tribune
Two of the best universities in the world are in the Bay Area and only 40 miles apart, according to a new set of rankings. The Academic Ranking of World Universities by China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University put Stanford University at No. 2 and UC Berkeley at No. 3, bumping the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to a close fourth. Harvard, as usual, was at the top.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/23/idaho-will-expel-low-performing-students-part-alcohol-prevention-plan#ixzz2cmKWgS4l
Academic Approach to Alcohol
By Allie Grasgreen
Beginning this year, University of Idaho freshmen will face immediate expulsion if their grade-point average is below 1.0 at the end of fall semester — and whether or not alcohol is to blame, it’s part of an effort to curb underage drinking.

www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/21/california-sexual-assault-uc-csu_n_3790726.html?utm_hp_ref=college
California Lawmakers Demand University Audits In Wake Of Sexual Assault Complaints
Tyler Kingkade
A California legislative committee has unanimously approved a state review of the University of California-Berkeley and three other campuses, after a federal complaint alleged failures handling sexual assaults by school officials. On Wednesday, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee moved forward a request, drafted by Assemblyman Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), to the state auditor’s office for an audit of sexual misconduct policies at UC-Berkeley, as well as one other UC campus and two California State University campuses that have yet to be determined.