University System News

USG VALUE:
www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2013/08/25/2627765/middle-georgia-states-online-it.html
Education notebook: Middle Georgia State’s online IT program dubbed most affordable
By Telegraph staff
Middle Georgia State College’s online bachelor’s degree in information technology has been ranked the nation’s most affordable by the consumer information website GetEducated.com, according to a news release. Get Educated’s rankings show the 34 most affordable online bachelor’s degrees with computer science options, which are regionally accredited.

www.washingtonmonthly.com
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_08/2013_bangforbuck_college_ranki046542.php
2013 Bang-For-Buck College Rankings
By Ed Kilgore
As noted earlier, last year the Washington Monthly supplemented its famed College Rankings with a new measurement of a school’s “bang for the buck,” to “highlight those colleges that use their resources to effectively educate students at a relatively low cost—and to call out those that burn though tuition dollars without much to show for it.” Since President Obama today called on the Department of Education to begin working towards a similar ranking of colleges’ cost-effectiveness, we decided to accelerate by a few days the release of WaMo’s 2013 “Bang-for-the-Buck” rankings. …Best Bang for the Buck – National Universities …2. University of Georgia …Best Bang for the Buck – All Schools …7. UGA …2013 National Universities …9. Georgia Tech …60. UGA …149. GA State …229. GA Southern University …2013 Community Colleges – 25. College of Coastal Georgia; 26. Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College

www.latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-college-rankings-20130823,0,7240045.story
UC San Diego and Riverside top Washington Monthly rankings
By Larry Gordon
UC San Diego and UC Riverside are first and second in the annual “socially conscious” ranking of national universities being released Monday by Washington Monthly magazine. For the fourth year in a row, the San Diego campus topped the Washington Monthly list which emphasizes such factors as enrolling and graduating low-income students, supporting research and encouraging students’ public service… The other universities in the top 10 are Texas A&M, third; Case Western, fourth; Stanford, sixth; University of Texas at El Paso, seventh; Georgia Tech, ninth.

www.dallas-hiram.patch.com
http://dallas-hiram.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/group-seeks-volunteers-to-support-healthy-food-systems
Group Seeks Volunteers to Support Healthy Food Systems
A new group seeks volunteers to support healthy food systems in West Georgia.
Posted by John Barker
The West Georgia Regional Food System Collaborative is seeking volunteers to assist in the development of new community gardens, to become trained instructors for Cooking Matters classes and to support various task force initiatives. The Food System Collaborative was recently launched by local residents who are working to create a healthier food infrastructure in Carroll, Haralson and Heard counties. …In addition to Get Healthy, Live Well staff, the attendees represented a wide variety of community groups, including the Georgia Food Policy Council, University of West Georgia students, faculty and staff, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension,

GOOD NEWS:
www.times-herald.com
http://www.times-herald.com/local/20130824-UWG-welcomes-Coweta-County-Freshman
UWG President Welcomes Coweta Freshmen
by CELIA SHORTT
The University of West Georgia president and alumni held a welcome reception for the incoming freshmen from Coweta County at the Newnan Centre on Thursday. “Tonight is all about the students,” said Frank Pritchett, director of Alumni Relations & Annual Giving for UWG. “Our purpose is to celebrate the choice that students here in Coweta made to go West.” “The purpose of this event is to welcome this freshman class to UWG,” said new UWG President Dr. Kyle Marrero, who came to the university this summer.

www.times-georgian.com
http://www.times-georgian.com/gallery/featured/collection_097adc6a-0cf8-11e3-88cf-001a4bcf6878.html
UWG Move In
Over 3,300 of the 12,000 University of West Georgia students moved into on campus housing Friday and Saturday including moving into renovated Bowdon Hall and the new Oaks.

www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2013/08/25/2627765/middle-georgia-states-online-it.html
University of North Georgia offers military scholarships
The University of North Georgia is offering 42 full scholarships to attend the university through its Military Scholarship Program. The state-funded scholarship, valued at about $70,000 over four years, is for people to pursue bachelor’s degrees from the university and then to be commissioned as second lieutenants in the Georgia Army National Guard after graduation.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2013-08-25/are-free-digital-textbooks-future-uga-students
Are free digital textbooks in the future for UGA students?
By LEE SHEARER
University of Georgia students, and some of their professors, have been trying for years to beat the high cost of textbooks, but now they’re getting institutional backing. Students in a couple of UGA introductory biology courses are getting free digital textbooks this semester thanks to a $25,000 University System of Georgia grant.

www.georgiashouthern.edu
https://my.georgiasouthern.edu/index.php?option=com_content&id=1889
Biological Sciences Building Ribbon Cutting Tuesday
A ribbon cutting ceremony for the Biological Sciences Building will be held Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 10 a.m., hosted by President Brooks Keel. …With 155,394 gross square ft., the new facility showcases scientific research and learning as it happens and provides students with exceptional research opportunities at all levels.

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/ugalife/new-million-veterinary-medical-learning-center-under-construction/article_9b555e40-0d83-11e3-a906-0019bb30f31a.html
New $32.7 million Veterinary Medical Learning Center under construction
Laura James
What once was an open field on the corner of College Station Road and Barnett Shoals Road is now the construction site for a $32.7 million Veterinary Medical Learning Center for the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine. The VLMC campus will consist of five buildings, containing almost 300,000 square feet. The buildings will include a hospital, an academic building, a covered outdoor arena, a theriogenology and farm field services building and a large animal isolation barn.

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/ugalife/georgia-regents-university-the-university-of-georgia-medical-partnership-grows/article_4df3a0c0-0d7f-11e3-8c42-0019bb30f31a.html
Georgia Regents University & The University of Georgia medical partnership grows annually
Arvind Deol
Since the Georgia Regents University and The University of Georgia medical partnership opened its doors in fall 2010, the school has grown to include over 160 students and adds 40 spots annually. “We’re new, but we’ve grown a lot in the past four years,” said Allison McCullick, director of outreach and communication. The medical school also began a partnership with Athens Regional Medical Center, St. Mary’s Hospital and other medical institutions in Georgia including the Gwinnett Medical Center.

www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2013/08/25/2627765/middle-georgia-states-online-it.html
Middle Georgia State professor wins writing prize
Stephen M. Fuller, associate professor of English at Middle Georgia State College, has won the prestigious Eudora Welty Prize from the University Press of Mississippi and Mississippi University for Women for his recent book, “Eudora Welty and Surrealism,” according to a news release.

USG NEWS:
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/business/michael-adams-ive-broken-one-of-the-basic-corporat/nZZms/
Michael Adams: ‘I’ve broken one of the basic corporate rules’
Former UGA president discusses leadership, financial issues and the Dooley controversy.
BY HENRY UNGER – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
The average tenure of a college president is about seven years today. Michael Adams went 16 at UGA before stepping down this summer after helping to turn the state’s flagship university into one of the nation’s top public colleges. Adams, a skilled fundraiser who learned that trade in politics, helped UGA secure more than $1 billion for new construction and millions more for faculty endowments and student scholarships. Enrollment, which became significantly more selective during his watch, grew to about 35,000 students from 29,000.

www.abcnews.go.com
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/08/georgia-tech-epic-speech-not-plagiarized/
Georgia Tech ‘Epic’ Speech Not Plagiarized
By Priyanka Tilve
In the four days since it turned up on YouTube, Georgia Tech sophomore Nick Selby’s “epic welcome speech” became an Internet sensation and reached more than 1 million views. But today, it created headlines of a more negative sort, after allegations that Selby’s oratory at Freshman Convocation had been plagiarized from one of his high school speech coaches, Andy Scott. Selby’s speech does mirror one given by Scott in 2008 in that they both use music from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” But Scott says any accusations of plagiarism are false.

RESEARCH:
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/4-Key-Ideas-in-Obamas-Plan/141239/
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… Credence for MOOCs within academe has come from the American Council on Education, which in February endorsed five MOOCs for credit. The Georgia Institute of Technology lent them further gravitas when it announced it would offer students the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in computer engineering at a steep discount by taking MOOCs it would offer through Udacity.

www.communities.washingtontimes.com
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/world-our-backyard/2013/aug/23/ancient-greek-theater-epidaurus/#ixzz2d4dFtLvm
The ancient Greek theater at Epidaurus
Laura Sesana
EPIDAURUS, Greece — The theater at Epidaurus is considered the most impressive ancient Greek theater in terms of acoustics and aesthetics. Built in the fourth century B.C., the theater remained buried and therefore almost perfectly preserved until excavation began in 1870… For decades scientists attributed some of the theater’s amazing acoustics to sound being carried by the wind. However, a 2007 study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology revealed that not only is the theater built in a way that astonishingly amplifies high frequency sound coming from the stage, but the limestone seats also act as natural acoustic traps that filter out low frequency sound, minimizing noise from the crowd.

www.rn-t.com
http://rn-t.com/view/full_story/23444077/article-Drones-tested-to-help-famers-see-crops-from-above-
Drones tested to help famers see crops from above
by KELLY YAMANOUCHI, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On a dirt path through rows of corn, cotton and peanuts in this South Georgia town, a small black unmanned helicopter levitates, then takes off 675 feet into the sky. It’s one of the test flights of unmanned helicopters from Stockbridge-based military drone maker Guided Systems Technologies that started in June and finish next month — a project underwritten by a $100,000 grant from the Georgia Centers of Innovation for Aerospace and Agribusiness. Researchers from the University of Georgia Tifton campus and Middle Georgia State College are also involved… Georgia loses about 16.5 percent of its crops to diseases, said Gary McMurray, who leads research on early detection of pests and diseases in agriculture at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

www.startribune.com
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/220845591.html
Is it time to reconsider the mammogram?
Article by: EMILY HERRMANN , Slate
A recent cover story in the New York Times Magazine made a convincing case against the mammogram. Its main criticism was that mammograms result in many false-positives, which other research has confirmed. Women get treated for cancers they don’t have or for cancers that are noninvasive but which doctors at the moment can’t distinguish from the malignant ones. All of this leads to a lot of wasted money, stress and distrust of the system as a whole. While this is almost certainly true, many in the scientific community prefer to look at mammograms in a different way. Mammograms are a life-saving screening method, but they are not being utilized properly. But there is a way to fix that. A group of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Georgia Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School have started to use risk-factor models that can help eliminate some of the harms associated with mammography and use it to its full potential.

www.fiercemedicaldevices.com
http://www.fiercemedicaldevices.com/story/novo-nordisk-targets-early-2014-kid-friendly-insulin-pen/2013-08-23#ixzz2d4exmud4
Novo Nordisk targets early 2014 for kid-friendly insulin pen
The company just won FDA clearance for the device
By Mark Hollmer
Novo Nordisk ($NVO) wrapped up FDA clearance for a new insulin injection pen designed with children in mind, a step that helps address broader concerns about the lack of medical devices for pediatric patients… The complaint has been out there for years, but it continues to resurface. In June, for example, a study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine noted that children with complex medical conditions face additional risks having to rely on life-saving devices and implants designed for adult patients. Device companies have agreed with the need for more pediatric devices, but they’ve clashed with the FDA over how to address it. Meanwhile, some are trying to meet the call for more pediatric devices. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology, for example, are jointly developing medical devices specific to pediatric care.

www.zimbio.com
http://www.zimbio.com/General/articles/_KNKoKoxxNV/Researchers+Examine+Older+Adults+Willingness
Researchers Examine Older Adults Willingness To Accept Help From Robots
By Madge Alvarado
Changes that occur with aging can make the performance of various tasks of daily living more difficult, such as eating, getting dressed, using the bathroom, bathing, preparing food, using the telephone, and cleaning house. When older adults can no longer perform these tasks, an alternative to moving to a senior living facility or family member’s home may someday be to bring in a robot helper. In their HFES Annual Meeting proceedings paper, “Older Adults’ Preferences for and Acceptance of Robot Assistance for Everyday Living Tasks,” researchers Cory-Ann Smarr and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology showed groups of adults age 65 to 93 a video of a robot’s capabilities and then asked them how they would feel about having a robot in their homes.

www.fiercecio.com
http://www.fiercecio.com/techwatch/story/researchers-plant-undetectable-malware-apple-app-store/2013-08-23#ixzz2d4cu9xHn
Researchers plant ‘undetectable’ malware on Apple App Store
By Paul Mah
A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology has succeeded in giving the reviewers for Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iOS App Store the slip, getting a seemingly benign news reader app approved for public download. Under the hood though, the app is really a sophisticated Trojan capable of sending tweets, email and text messages without the knowledge of the user.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.accessatlanta.com
http://www.accessatlanta.com/weblogs/buzz/2013/aug/22/meet-epic-georgia-tech-speaker-nicholas-selby/
The Buzz with Jennifer Brett
Meet “epic” Georgia Tech speaker Nicholas Selby
Believe it or not, the Georgia Tech student whose “epic” speech has made him a viral YouTube star, considered himself sort of shy when he first got to campus last year. “I was the only one that I knew here,” said Nicholas Selby, a 19-year-old Georgia Tech sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz. “I came here without any friends. I was kind of nervous. I’m a socially awkward guy. I was nervous about being able to make friends and fit in here. Georgia Tech took all of my fears and eliminated them.”

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/opinion/2013-08-23/nesmith-dinosaur-remembers-uga-old
NeSmith: A ‘dinosaur’ remembers the UGA of old
They’re back — all 34,434 of them — driving two cars each, with at least one dog riding shotgun in both sets of wheels. That means the University of Georgia is back in gear. And that’s a good thing. Times have changed since 1966, and the 5,150 freshmen of 2013 would say, “That’s a good thing, too.” When freshmen of this era hear about the archaic rules of my collegiate days, they stare as if I were a tyrannosaurus just coming back to life. Some days, I do feel like an old fossil. Still, I remember:

www.chornicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/opinion-columns/2013-08-25/new-university-augusta-faces-unique-opportunity?v=1377392547
With new university, Augusta faces a unique opportunity
By James M. Hull
Guest Columnist
A solid university is among the strongest economic engines to drive and improve the fortunes of the community that surrounds it. The jobs associated with universities pay well and are stable. The students and faculty are consumers in and benefactors to the community, and their vitality can push up the quality of life for everyone. Augusta has the next great university in the South.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/our-ed-techie-chief#ixzz2d4hJ5K5M
Our Ed-Techie In-Chief
By Joshua Kim
These are the best of times for us ed tech geeks. Does it get any sweeter than when the President of the United States gives us a giant shout out? How cool is it to be name checked by Commander-in-Chief? In his 8/22 speech at the State University of New York in Buffalo the President enthused: “So let me talk about some alternatives that are already out there. Southern New Hampshire University gives course credit based on how well students master the material, not just on how many hours they spend in the classroom. So the idea would be if you’re learning the material faster, you can finish faster, which means you pay less and you save money.” “Universities like Carnegie Mellon, Arizona State, they’re starting to show that online learning can help students master the same material in less time and often at lower cost. Georgia Tech, which is a national leader in computer science, just announced it will begin offering an online master’s degree in computer science at a fraction of the cost of a traditional class, but it’s just as rigorous and it’s producing engineers who are just as good.”

www.sanluisobispo.com
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/08/23/2646761/degree-innovation.html
Degree innovation
By Tim Waag — San Luis Obispo
In a letter to the editor in June 2013, I begged our local Cal Poly leaders to find a way to reduce the costs of higher education to make it affordable to more students (and reduce student loan debt). Well, highly rated Georgia Tech beat our highly rated Cal Poly to the punch, offering a two-year master’s degree in computer science in their Massive Open Online Coursework (MOOC) program. The cost of this degree? Just $6,600 vs. the $45,000 that Georgia Tech normally charges, as reported in the Tribune on Aug. 18…

www.gizmag.com
http://www.gizmag.com/georgia-tech–graduate-computer-science-degree-mooc/28763/
Will Georgia Tech’s $7K online M.S. in computer science program make the grade?
By Brian Dodson
The Georgia Institute of Technology, in partnership with Udacity and AT&T, is preparing to offer an accredited online master of science (M.S.) degree in Computer Science. The instruction will be via Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC), which will be open to anyone at no charge, but will also be available as for-credit courses leading to an Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMS CS). The total cost of instruction fees and tuition for those taking the M.S. route is expected to be less than US$7,000. The potential of the internet as a revolutionary force in education has long been touted, but actually developing a formula that works for all stakeholders seems elusive.

www.blog.credit.com
http://blog.credit.com/2013/08/the-7000-masters-degree-scaring-colleges/
The $7,000 Master’s Degree That’s Scaring Colleges
by Mitchell D. Weiss
The Georgia Institute of Technology rocked the higher education world when it announced plans to offer a fully online master’s degree in computer science for roughly one-seventh the price of its on-campus equivalent – less than $7,000. The project is powered by a joint venture with Udacity, an online higher-education course provider that stands to earn 40 percent of the tuition revenues. The AT&T Corporation, which is providing two-thirds of the estimated ramp-up costs, expects to funnel existing employees through the program and recruit new ones at the back-end of it. Reaction to the news has been mixed.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/08/26/essay-teaching-about-reality-tv-turning-course-reality-tv#ixzz2d55byuIr
So You Think You Can Think
By Dominic Pettman
Among the mountains of literature dedicated to “best practices” in pedagogy, the consensus has emerged that engagement is key, and that we teachers can no longer – as we did throughout history – willfully try to drag students violently by the ear into our own umwelt and call it learning. Rather we need to create an active halfway space between world-bubbles, thus allowing learning to happen more organically, through a mutual reorientation.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Making-Campuses-Safer-From/141219/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en
Making Campuses Safer From Rape
By Laura Gray-Rosendale
I have had a very satisfying career as a university professor for more than 15 years now. Back in 1988, however, I couldn’t have imagined such a future for myself. I was a junior in college and had just survived a sexual assault. It was a stranger rape. It was brutal. It happened in my off-campus apartment, just blocks away from the university. I learned later that the perpetrator was a relative of the president of the Board of Trustees at my university.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/rising-debt-engulfs-colleges-as-well-as-students/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Rising Debt Engulfs Colleges as Well as Students
By Don Troop
President Obama took aim last week at rising levels of student borrowing, but two graduate students in sociology say the real culprit for growing college debt is Wall Street. In a report posted last week on the Web site of the Scholars Strategy Network, Charlie Eaton and Jacob Habinek, doctoral candidates at the University of California at Berkeley, assert that the expanding burden of tuition debt is “partly driven by the indebtedness universities have taken on.”

www.online.wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324619504579029282438522674.html?KEYWORDS=%22Higher+Education%22
Richard Vedder: The Real Reason College Costs So Much
The expert on the economics of higher education explains how subsidies fuel rising prices and why there’s a ‘bubble’ in student loans and college enrollment.
By ALLYSIA FINLEY CONNECT
Another school year beckons, which means it’s time for President Obama to go on another college retreat. “He loves college tours,” says Ohio University’s Richard Vedder, who directs the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. “Colleges are an escape from reality. Believe me, I’ve lived in one for half a century. It’s like living in Disneyland. They’re these little isolated enclaves of nonreality.”

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/08/23/yes-mr-president-but/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Yes, Mr. President, But …
By Biddy Martin
I applaud President Obama for putting the importance of a college education squarely at the center of the national agenda in his speech at the University at Buffalo, and for insisting that students get the education they need regardless of economic circumstances. He is right to insist on greater clarity in how colleges and the government inform prospective students and their families about the net price of attendance, the availability of financial aid, student debt, and graduation rates. …But the inevitably broad generalizations that shape his diagnoses and proposed solutions cover over significant differences among the missions of institutions in this broad and varied sector, leaving gaps that I hope will be addressed by taking account of those differences.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/how-loyal-are-overseas-branch-campuses-to-their-host-countries/32723?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
How Loyal Are Overseas Branch Campuses to Their Host Countries?
By Jason Lane and Kevin Kinser
In the United States, we often think of colleges and universities as the anchors of their communities. A campus is often among the largest employers in the region, a significant consumer of local goods and services, a critical supporter of local businesses, and a major attractor of new people to the region. Not only does a college educate the next generation of the work force, but it also plays a major role in enhancing the local quality of life and economy. …The news out of Singapore, however, demonstrates why we can’t say the same for international branch campuses.

www.opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

How Technology Wrecks the Middle Class
By DAVID H. AUTOR AND DAVID DORN
In the four years since the Great Recession officially ended, the productivity of American workers — those lucky enough to have jobs — has risen smartly. But the United States still has two million fewer jobs than before the downturn, the unemployment rate is stuck at levels not seen since the early 1990s and the proportion of adults who are working is four percentage points off its peak in 2000. This job drought has spurred pundits to wonder whether a profound employment sickness has overtaken us. And from there, it’s only a short leap to ask whether that illness isn’t productivity itself. Have we mechanized and computerized ourselves into obsolescence?

Education News
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/many-in-line-to-profit-from-common-core-education-/nZY93/?icmp=ajc_internallink_textlink_apr2013_ajcstubtomyajc_launch
Many in line to profit from Common Core education standards
BY WAYNE WASHINGTON – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Common Core, a set of national academic standards, has become chum for a school of consortia, not-for-profit groups, consultants and textbook sellers, all of whom stand to benefit financially or have already benefited financially by offering products or services “aligned to Common Core.” That term is the hot new catch-phrase in education circles, and implies that products or services “aligned to Common Core” are a must-have now that most of the country has embraced the new standards. …There’s no single authority, however, to evaluate or certify what Common Core materials are supposed to include. There is no law against making money from new education initiatives, which often mean more revenue for groups that sell textbooks or other learning materials.

www.miamiherald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/24/3583858/for-common-core-a-new-challenge.html
For Common Core, a new challenge — from the left
BY KATHLEEN MCGRORY
HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
TALLAHASSEE — Conventional wisdom held that liberals and teachers supported the new Common Core curriculum standards. Until the Badass Teachers Association crashed the party. The 25,000 BATs, as they call themselves, are pushing back against the national standards with Twitter strikes, town hall meetings and snarky Internet memes. They have no qualms with the theory behind the new benchmarks, but they fear the larger movement places too much emphasis on testing and will stifle creativity in the classroom.

www.online.wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887323980604579029143959843818-lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwNjEyNDYyWj.html?mod=wsj_valetbottom_email
Are You Ready for the Post-College SAT?
Employers Say They Don’t Trust Grade-Point Averages
By DOUGLAS BELKIN CONNECT
Next spring, seniors at about 200 U.S. colleges will take a new test that could prove more important to their future than final exams: an SAT-like assessment that aims to cut through grade-point averages and judge students’ real value to employers. The test, called the Collegiate Learning Assessment, “provides an objective, benchmarked report card for critical thinking skills,” said David Pate, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at St. John Fisher College, a small liberal-arts school near Rochester, N.Y. “The students will be able to use it to go out and market themselves.”

www.saportareport.com
http://saportareport.com/blog/2013/08/morris-brown-goes-to-bankruptcy-court-monday-with-new-1-5-million-loan/
SaportaReport
Morris Brown returns to bankruptcy court with a new $1.5 million loan
By Maria Saporta
The legal proceedings of Morris Brown College’s bankruptcy will resume Monday in the courtroom of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Ellis-Monro. According to legal filings submitted to the court last week, Morris Brown will be seeking to stay open for the foreseeable future thanks to a new $1.5 million loan that the African Methodist Episcopal Church is willing to provide. Morris Brown College filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2012 to prevent going into foreclosure due to being an estimated $30 million in debt to multiple creditors.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/55498/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=bf20e60c82834c89877b9281dedc941a&elqCampaignId=33#
For-Profit Schools Under Pressure to Prove Investment in Education Pays Off
by Vikki Conwell
Drexel University students are making sure their degrees work for them. Last year, at least 90 percent of the student body participated in cooperative education before graduating. …It also helped graduates land jobs in their chosen career field as 44 percent of 2012 co-op participants were offered jobs by former co-op employers. …“Institutions need to be nervous because more and more people want to know about the economic value of the education,” said Anthony P. Carnevale, director and Research Professor of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “Colleges never had to be accountable. Now, if you’re a for-profit college, you have to demonstrate that the program gives people the skills to get a job to pay back the loan.”

www.theeagle.com
http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/article_6bfdda0a-8da6-5172-80bf-77114ec7108e.html
Texas A&M crafting a bigger, better engineering school
By ALLEN REED
Texas A&M University administrators are not content with having the best engineering program in the state. Through their highly ambitious 25 by 25 initiative, they seek to more than double the amount of engineers A&M produces and become the largest engineering school in the nation.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/26/social-media-education-absent-orientation-sessions-despite-new-arrests#ixzz2d54ywyZz
Another Digital Divide
By Carl Straumsheim
More students are being disciplined for sharing incendiary remarks through social media, drawing outraged responses from peers who say online interactions don’t dictate offline behavior. Despite the conflicting ideas of how students should behave on the Internet, social media etiquette is almost never discussed during first-year orientation.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/26/north-carolina-becomes-first-state-guarantee-students-option-lawyer-disciplinary#ixzz2d55SVDMr
Students Lawyer Up
By Allie Grasgreen
Campus officials like to say that student disciplinary hearings are not court proceedings. There is no such thing as a finding of guilt — only “responsibility” — and even in the most serious cases where students are suspended or expelled, they say, the purpose is more to teach good citizenship than it is to punish wrong behavior. Which is why a new law in North Carolina, the first of its kind, has them worried.

www.diverseeducation.com
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N.Y. Sues ‘Trump University’ and Its Get-Rich Claims
by Michael Gormley, Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s attorney general sued Donald Trump Donald Trump -Search using:News, Most Recent 60 DaysBiographies Plus Newsfor $40 million Saturday, saying the real estate mogul helped run a phony “Trump University” that promised to make students rich but instead steered them into expensive and mostly useless seminars, and even failed to deliver promised apprenticeships.

Other News
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2013-08-23/health-care-reform-confuses-colleges
Health care reform confuses colleges
Anticipation of health care changes costs part-time teachers
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
Rich Herdegen is already feeling the pinch of federal health care reform. Herdegen, who is disabled and faces massive medical bills from his wife’s long battle with cancer before her death, relies on his salary as an adjunct instructor in economics at Georgia Military College’s Augusta campus. But this quarter his hours have been cut, costing him about $2,000, he said. … Hours were cut for a number of adjunct or part-time faculty at the college, in part because it is moving on advice to comply now with requirements of the Affordable Care Act, a move that might actually be premature. Even experts in academic human resources say there is “general confusion” about the act’s implementation and impact. At issue is the 30-hour-a-week rule that would make an employee count as full time under the Affordable Care Act and require a large employer to offer them insurance.