UNIVERSITY SYSTEM – NEWS
New UGA president pledges to focus on core academic mission
http://savannahnow.com/news/2013-08-27/new-uga-president-pledges-focus-core-academic-mission#.Uh40cxYqagF
Savannah Morning News
Aug. 27, 2013
Jere W. Morehead, who was named president of the University of Georgia in February, promised members of the Savannah Rotary Club on Monday he will focus on the university’s core academic mission. …Morehead said he will ask anyone who brings him an idea or initiative looking for state funding or the university’s private support to answer the question of how it will improve students’ learning and education. …Being focused on the core academic mission means students are the first priority, Morehead said. “Everything we do should accrue to the benefit of our students,” he said.
Georgia Gwinnett College students upset over parking
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/georgia-gwinnett-college-students-frustrated-over-/nZdrm/
WSBTV2
Aug. 27, 2013
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Students at Georgia Gwinnett College say growing pains are putting parking at a premium. This semester, GGC has record high enrollment — nearly 10,000 students. Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh went to the campus in Lawrenceville to speak with officials about possible solutions for the parking woes.
Catholic Colleges Engage Cautiously with Online Education
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/catholic-colleges-engage-cautiously-with-online-education/#ixzz2dFeMD6oa
National Catholic Register
Aug. 27, 2013
Georgia Tech recently announced that it would offer an online master’s degree in computer science for under $7,000, stirring hopes that higher education was on the cusp of a revolution that would bring down tuition bills for families. Experts say the pilot project still must prove that it can deliver a high-quality education for a large volume of students at a modest price. Still, the news marks a trend in higher education that parallels recent initiatives by Catholic universities and colleges that have begun to launch their own online master’s degrees in subjects like education, theology, business and nursing. Georgia Tech will partner with Sebastian Thrun, a founder of Udacity, which provides open online courses that have attracted 10,000 enrollees per course, and AT&T, which will use the degree program to train employees and identify potential recruits.
UNIVERSITY SYSTEM – VALUE
Atlanta’s “Innovation Culture” drew AT&T Foundry development center
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/2013/08/atlantas-innovation-culture-drew.html?page=all
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Aug. 27, 2013
Atlanta’s innovation culture was a big reason AT&T put its newest Foundry in the city, the wireless carrier’s chief said at the center’s grand opening Tuesday . “We are here in Atlanta, because innovation is here” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility. “We’re here in Atlanta because there’s a great entrepreneurial mindset.” The Foundry program helps AT&T tap independent developers, venture capital firms and startups to develop new applications and services for its network… AT&T will collaborate with networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. at its new Atlanta innovation center, which is located on the ground floor of the Centergy building at Georgia Tech’s Technology Square.
AT&T Foundry Innovation Center Opens in Midtown Atlanta
http://midtown.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/att-foundry-innovation-center-opens-in-midtown-atlanta
Midtown Patch
Aug. 27, 2013
City of Atlanta officials welcomed the opening of the new AT&T Foundry innovation center today in Midtown Atlanta. The AT&T Foundry will speed up the company’s development of the latest technologies, applications and platforms. The opening marks Atlanta as one of only four global locations chosen for an AT&T Foundry. “Combining great ideas, business know-how and state-of-the-art infrastructure is a key part of our formula for growing the tech community in Atlanta and is at the heart of what the AT&T Foundry does,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “We’re delighted to have an even larger AT&T presence in the city and know that this investment in Atlanta will attract additional investment and jobs.” The Atlanta Foundry is the result of a partnership including AT&T, Cisco, Georgia Tech, the City of Atlanta, and state and local business leadership. The innovative ideas that come out of the Atlanta Foundry will help improve the lives of people in the city and around the country, AT&T said.
AT&T’s New Foundry Innovation Center Officially Opens Today in Atlanta
http://www.intomobile.com/2013/08/27/atts-new-foundry-innovation-center-officially-opens-today-atlanta/
IntoMobile.com
Aug. 27, 2013
AT&T has just opened the doors to its new Foundry Innovation Center in Atlanta, Georgia today. The Foundry will focus on AT&T’s Digital Life service for home security, along with Mobility services for the connected car, AT&T U-Verse and emerging devices. Check out the video below of the new facility. The new Foundry Innovation Center in Atlanta joins the other Foundry locations in Palo Alto, CA, Plano, TX, and Ra’anana, Israel. Plano, TX will soon see a second Foundry location later this year that will focus on machine to machine technology.
2013 Bang-for-Buck College Rankings
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_08/2013_bangforbuck_college_ranki046542.php#
Washington Monthly
Aug. 22, 2013
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. We’re publishing rankings for national universities (where the University of Florida and my own University of Georgia finished one-two) …
UNIVERSITY SYSTEM – RESEARCH
Georgia Tech’s research, economic development wing clipped by Great Recession, credit agency suggests
http://saportareport.com/blog/2013/08/georgia-techs-economic-development-wing-clipped-by-great-recession/
SaportaReport
Aug. 26, 2013
By David Pendered
The harsh economy hasn’t spared a nonprofit entity created to support Georgia Tech’s efforts to promote high-tech research and economic development. Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures, Inc., which oversees projects including the acclaimed Technology Square and Technology Enterprise Park, is scraping by on a bare-bones budget, according to a rating action from Moody’s Investors Services.
New Wearable Tech May Help Dogs Communicate with People
http://www.forbes.com/sites/toyota/2013/08/26/new-wearable-tech-may-help-dogs-communicate-with-people/
Forbes
Aug. 26, 2013
Devices such as Google GOOG -0.34% Glass, Jawbone’s Up and Thalmic Lab’s MYO have made “wearable technology” one of the hottest buzzwords in the tech industry. Market research firm Juniper Research expects 70 million “wearables” to be sold between 2013 and 2017. Just how many of those will be worn by dogs remains to be seen. Wearable technology’s potential to give animals a voice has led to the program Facilitating Interactions for Dogs with Occupations (FIDO). Thad Starner, technical lead for Google Glass, along with Georgia Institute of Technology professor Melody Jackson and research assistant Clint Zeagler, created FIDO to enable clearer communication between service dogs and their human handlers. It’s no wonder that Jackson saw the potential for canine wearable tech. In addition to serving as director of Georgia Tech‘s Center for BioInterface Research, she’s also spent the last 18 years training service dogs.
Georgia researchers in graphene ‘gold rush’
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2013/08/26/georgia-researchers-in-grapheme-gold.html
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Aug. 27, 2013
Georgia researchers are part of what’s being called a “global scientific gold rush” to commercialize a wonder material called graphene. An Aug. 24 story in The Wall Street Journal reports that graphene could potentially change society much the way that steel, plastic and silicon have. Interest in graphene has exploded since 2010, the Journal reports. Georgia researchers are involved in the scientific race to discover new ways to make, use and commercialize graphene. On July 30, Georgia Tech’s Dragomir Davidovic, Walter A. de Heer and Christopher E. Malec won a U.S. patent for an electrical device made of graphene. Click here to read the Georgia Tech patent. Three other graphene patents have been awarded in the past few years to other researchers at Georgia Tech. Other graphene patent applications have been filed by researchers at Tech and The University of Georgia.
Jekyll Malware: Researchers Create Self-Constructing Malware
http://midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/jekyll-malware-researchers-create-self-
Midsize Insider
Aug. 27, 2013
Researchers at Georgia Tech created an app called Jekyll, which is designed to appear benign so that it could pass Apple’s vetting process for the App Store. In actuality, the app contained “code gadgets” – bits of code that could dynamically assemble itself to generate new, malicious behaviors once the app was downloaded and installed. The app was only downloaded from the App Store by the researchers themselves, who created and tested their malicious app to better understand the Apple vetting process. According to an article in MIT Technology Review, the researchers concluded that their app was tested by Apple for “only a few seconds” before it was approved for release. This type of static testing could mean that apps containing similar self assembling malware could pass through undetected. Apple has responded to the research team’s findings by making updates to the Apple mobile iOS.
EDITORIALS/OPINION/COLUMNS/BLOGS
Columbus State making community proud
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/08/26/2655134/chuck-williams-columbus-state.html
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Aug. 26, 2013
By Chuck Williams
…I am constantly amazed at how CSU is changing — and how it is changing our community. And the change is for the better. …It’s becoming a university of choice. A lot of kids from the metro Atlanta area and beyond are coming to Columbus to study. Last year, more freshmen were from the 16-county metro Atlanta area than were from Columbus.
Isn’t Learning Part of ‘Value’?
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/08/27/obamas-value-plan-leaves-out-student-learning-essay
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
By Richard Hersh
…The president’s plan largely fails, however, to appropriately tackle the more fundamental value issue – far too little student learning. Myriad studies over the past several decades document that too little “higher” learning is taking place; college students do not make significant gains in critical thinking, problem solving, analytical reasoning, written communication skills, and ethical and moral development.
More Work to Be Done
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/08/27/essay-additional-steps-needed-promote-competency-based-education
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
By Deb Bushway
In his address on higher education last week, President Obama encouraged innovation, specifically mentioning the groundbreaking work being done to award college credit based on learning, not simply on how much time is spent in a classroom. …Even with the excitement around this new higher education delivery model, colleges and universities wishing to operate programs through direct assessment are still forced to work within the confines of an antiquated financial aid delivery system built upon concepts like the credit hour. Here is where President Obama’s higher education plan has an opportunity to enact real, lasting change that will spark innovation – and change the way we think about education.
Public Colleges Boost Economic Growth
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579008511057574246.html
Wall Street Journal
Aug. 26, 2013
The U.S. makes up less than a tenth of the world’s population, but we have more than three-fourths of the world’s greatest colleges and universities. Students from all over the world flock to America to obtain college degrees, and as we compete with other nations, America’s dominance in this area is a tremendous asset. But affordable, public higher education is quickly disappearing—with grave consequences for the nation’s future. A brief look back at history illustrates that as the price of higher education declined, the U.S. economy grew. In 1800, when the population of the U.S. was five million, there were only about 1,000 Americans enrolled in colleges. Nearly all of them were enrolled in small, expensive private institutions… (Subscription required*)
Sustainability v. Competition
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/sustainability-v-competition
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 26, 2013
By John Warner
…under President Obama’s vision, schools are going to be asked to compete on a different metric, “value.” …But competition invariably has winners and losers. Given that we see access to a quality education as an essential component of achieving prosperity, should we be viewing the providing of it as a competition? … While there are thousands of colleges and universities, rather than thinking about them as individual entities in competition with each other, why aren’t we thinking of them as a system that works in cooperation, especially at the Federal oversight level?
HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS
Introducing “The Tuition is Too Damn High”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/26/introducing-the-tuition-is-too-damn-high/
The Washington Post
Aug. 26, 2013
By Dylan Matthews
“The Tuition is Too Damn High” is a 10-part series that will run in Wonkblog over the next two weeks exploring the causes and consequences of — and potential fixes for — the skyrocketing costs of higher education. This is part one. … According to the U.S. Department of Education, the average annual tuition, fees and room and board at a public college or university in 1964-65 — the first year for which there’s data — was $6,592, in 2011 dollars. By 2010-2011, that had increased to $13,297 — a 101.7 percent increase.
The Tuition is Too Damn High, Part II: Why College is still worth it
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/27/the-tuition-is-too-damn-high-part-ii-why-college-is-still-worth-it/
The Washington Post
Aug. 27, 2013
By Dylan Matthews
So does college raise incomes? Is it an investment good enough to make widely accessible? Yes, it is. Period. … Going to college means you make more money than you otherwise would, and that benefit far, far outstrips its upfront price.
The Tuition is Too Damn High, Part III: The three reasons tuition is rising
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/28/the-tuition-is-too-damn-high-part-iii-the-three-reasons-tuition-is-rising/
The Washington Post
Aug. 28, 2013
By Dylan Matthews
There are two things that can cause the net price of college for a family to increase. One is that the college spends more. That could mean paying faculty more, or building more sports arenas, or conducting more research — whatever the reason, spending rises and they ask students and their families to pick up the tab in the form of higher tuition and/or lower financial aid. The second is that the college needs to ask students to pay more to fund current spending. If, for instance, state governments were to cut subsidies for public colleges and universities, those institutions could choose to raise tuition (rather than, say, cut spending or solicit alumni donations) to make up the difference. This is a cost shift.
College for Free
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/28/new-book-california-union-president-says-public-colleges-can-be-free
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 28, 2013
By Ry Rivard
Could public colleges be free? Yes, says the head of the union for University of California’s 4,000 instructors and librarians. How? Trim non-essential functions, redirect a bunch of money and end tax breaks that mostly benefit wealthy college-goers’ families …[Bob] Samuels’ new book says students have become “slaves to debt” because colleges have decided to get into “expensive and disorienting” endeavors – research labs funded by external dollars, luxury dorms and athletics – that have little to do with instructing students.
U. System of Maryland to Test Open-Source Textbooks
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/08/27/u-system-maryland-test-open-source-textbooks
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
The University System of Maryland will this fall launch a pilot project to gauge the efficiency of open educational resources (OER), James Jalandoni, president of the system’s student council, said on Monday.
Expense Experiments
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/28/cost-textbooks-focus-universities-launch-pilot-projects
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 28, 2013
By Carl Straumsheim
… Put on notice by the president and pressured by cost-conscious families to make higher education more affordable, many institutions spy an opportunity to respond to the charge by curbing the cost of textbooks and other educational materials, although not necessarily with open resources. Common strategies include allowing students rent textbooks for a semester or pushing bookbag-friendly e-textbooks. Yet other institutions are launching more ambitious projects, like Lynn University’s investment in hundreds of iPad minis for its incoming freshmen, which shifts part of the cost from the student to the university.
Residence Halls Get Religion
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/28/new-religious-dorms-part-faith-based-housing-trend
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 28, 2013
By Allie Grasgreen
…Nebraska is one of several public and private universities that are adding various forms of faith-based housing. This fall alone, new residences are also opening up at Florida Institute of Technology, Troy University and Texas A&M University at Kingsville. Another, at Purdue University, is slated to open within the next few years.
Ivies Borrow Billions, but Whatever
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/27/despite-billions-debt-perhaps-little-worry-elite-institutions
Inside Higher Education
Aug.27, 2013
By Ry Rivard
Eleven of the nation’s most selective universities together have $26 billion in debt on the books, according to a new analysis. But while much smaller debt loads would be seen as risky and perhaps life-threatening for less-well-off institutions, these universities have top-notch credit ratings and could probably borrow more if they wanted.
University of Texas Investigates Another Possible ‘Bleach Bomb’ Attack Against Minority Student
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/26/university-of-texas-bleach-bomb-bryan-davis_n_3818280.html
Huffington Post
Aug. 27, 2013
An investigation is underway over a so-called “bleach bomb” attack reportedly perpetrated against an African-American student at the University of Texas at Austin. The incident echoes similar occurrences that shook the school’s minority community last year and sparked campus protests. The student who was apparently targeted, UT junior Bryan Davis, told Austin-based FOX 7 that he was walking to a friend’s house past an apartment complex popular with students when he was hit with what he says was a chemical-filled balloon. “I kind of just hear something exploding near me and I feel a light sting on my leg,” Davis told FOX 7.
CIO’s Wear Second Hat
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/28/small-colleges-are-putting-same-administrator-charge-it-and-libraries
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 28, 2013
By Ry Rivard
More than a tenth of college chief information technology officers are also in charge of campus libraries, a sign of the rapid digitization of scholarship and the desire of small colleges to consolidate administrative functions.
Deep Wounds
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/27/tribal-colleges-preparing-destructive-effects-sequestration
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
By Lauren Ingeno
…The federal spending cuts that went into effect in March could have harmful effects for K-12 schools as well as public colleges. Many research universities are also frustrated by the cuts — but they are particularly painful for tribal colleges, which depend on federal programs for operating support and which typically lack much in the way of state funds or endowments to serve largely low-income students.
Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/survey-faculty-attitudes-technology
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
By Doug Lederman and Scott Jaschik
Online education arguably came of age in the last year, with the explosion of massive open online courses driving the public’s (and politicians’) interest in digitally delivered courses and contributing to the perception that they represent not only higher education’s future, but its present. Faculty members, by and large, still aren’t buying — and they are particularly skeptical about the value of MOOCs, Inside Higher Ed’s new Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology suggests.
Don’t Call It a MOOC
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/27/ut-austin-psychology-professors-prepare-worlds-first-synchronous-massive-online
Inside Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
By Carl Straumsheim
Two University of Texas at Austin psychology professors will Thursday night take the stage for the fall semester’s first session of Introduction to Psychology. … In their years of working together, the professors’ research has shown their students benefit from computer-based learning to the point where they don’t even need to be physically present in the classroom. Just don’t call it a MOOC. The university styles the class as the world’s first synchronous massive online course, or SMOC (pronounced “smock”), where the professors broadcast their lectures live to the about 1,500 students enrolled.
College Costs Surge 500% in U.S. Since 1985: Chart of the Day
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-26/college-costs-surge-500-in-u-s-since-1985-chart-of-the-day.html?vm=r
Bloomberg News
Aug. 26, 2013
By Michelle Jamrisko and Ilan Kolet
…The CHART OF THE DAY shows that tuition expenses have increased 538 percent in the 28-year period, compared with a 286 percent jump in medical costs and a 121 percent gain in the consumer price index. The ballooning charges have generated swelling demand for educational loans while threatening to make college unaffordable for domestic and international students.
The “skyrocketing” increases exacerbate income inequality by depriving those of less means of the schooling they need to advance and may also derail the “prestige and status” of U.S. higher education, said Michelle Cooper, president of the Washington-based Institute for Higher Education Policy.
Bulletproof whiteboards are university’s answer to school shootings
http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/26/news/companies/school-shootings-bulletproof-whiteboards/index.html?section=money_topstories?vm=r
CNNMoney
Aug. 26, 2013
By Aaron Smith
As school shootings continue to make headlines, a new line of defense has emerged: bulletproof whiteboards. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore has already snapped up 200 of them for $299 each. The boards are made by Hardwire, a company that has supplied the military with vehicle armor and other protective gear used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Colleges are toughening up on student borrowing
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/25/colleges-student-loan-defaults/2666173/
USA Today
Aug. 25, 2013
By Mary Beth Marklein
LEWISBURG, W.Va. — So far, the speakers at new-student orientation at New River Community and Technical College on this afternoon have been upbeat and supportive. Now comes financial aid director Trish Harmon. The tone darkens.
“Caution! Student Loans must be paid back!” screams the headline of the flier she hands out. It lists the consequences — a dozen in all — for borrowers who default: Garnished wages. Bad credit reports. Collection agencies at the door.
Forbes removes Emory from “America’s Best Colleges” list
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2013/08/forbes-removes-emory-from-americas.html
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Aug. 27, 2013
Forbes magazine has removed Emory University and three other schools from its annual “America’s Best Colleges” list for two years for misreporting admissions data to organizations that produce rankings, reports The Emory Wheel. The other institutions removed from Forbes’ list include Claremont McKenna College in California, Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., the student publication reports. Since fall 2011, each of these schools has admitted to submitting exaggerated admissions numbers about enrolled students, such as SAT/ACT scores or class rank. The misreporting occurred during the course of several years for each school.
Is University of California-San Diego the nation’s best college?
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/news-wire/2013/08/26/is-university-of-california-san-diego.html
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Aug. 27, 2013
What’s the best college in the country? It’s not Harvard, Princeton or Yale — it’s the University of California-San Diego, according to rankings released today by Washington Monthly. The rankings are timely because the magazine’s college rankings aren’t based on reputation — they’re based on schools’ performance in recruiting and graduating low-income students, conducting cutting-edge research and producing PhDs, and encouraging students to perform public service. The publication’s criteria are similar, but not identical, to President Barack Obama’s plan to rate colleges on performance. Last week Obama proposed tying the amount of federal aid colleges get to these ratings.
U.S. Lags in business funding of academic research
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/news-wire/2013/08/26/us-lags-in-business-funding-of.html
Chronicle of Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
The U.S. lags 13 other nations in the support businesses provide to academic researchers, according to a study compiled by Times Higher Education. South Korea ranks No. 1 on the World Academic Summit Innovation Index. Businesses invest an average of $97,900 per scholar in that country for R&D work on their behalf. In the U.S., businesses are providing only $25,800 per academic researcher. This report is the latest piece of bad news in “a long and troubling trend of faltering industry investment in university research in the United States,” writes Stephen Ezell, senior analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. From 2000 to 2008, business funding for U.S. university research fell by 7 percent as a share of gross domestic product, ITIF reported in 2011.
College Rankings and the Will to Swagger
http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/college-rankings-and-the-will-to-swagger/36187?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
College officials often use colorful language when discussing U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of colleges. Over the years, I’ve heard the list described as ”corrosive,” “immoral,” and “real evil.” Some of the other terms aren’t printable. Naturally, those who publish rival rankings also have choice words for the Best Colleges guide. In a news release, Washington Monthly’s editor, Paul Glastris, described his own publication’s college rankings, just published on Monday, as an answer to U.S. News, which, he wrote, “relies on crude and easily manipulated measures of wealth, exclusivity, and prestige.” Washington Monthly’s rankings take into account such factors as graduation rates and the proportion of low-income students a college enrolls (the University of California at San Diego once again took the top spot on this year’s national list). In short, the magazine’s rankings are heavier on measures of outcomes, lighter on the input variables that underpin other rankings systems.
Old Cellphones, Once Bound for Landfills, Now Bring Colleges Money
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/old-phones-once-bound-for-landfills-now-bring-colleges-money/45629?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
Aug. 27, 2013
College officials often face logistical and philosophical dilemmas in disposing of cast-off cellphones, tablets, computers, and printers. “At a lot of universities—unless they have a centralized program in place or some sort of waste-management policy through their facilities department—it is really challenging to be able to recycle just about anything,” says Jennifer Sellers, sustainability coordinator at Coastal Carolina University, in Conway, S.C., and a veteran professional in the recycling and waste-management industry. “It is enough just to get people to throw trash in the trash can, especially when things get hectic.”
Choosing Real-World Impact Over Impact Factor
http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/08/26/choosing-real-world-impact-over-impact-factor/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
Aug 26, 2013
My annual report for the 2012-13 academic year stares at me from an undisturbed corner of my desk. I’m tempted not to fill it out. It’s not that I’ve spent the past year in blissful inactivity. It’s just that what I’ve produced has no place on this form. To list my activities, they must be camouflaged and then smuggled into the shady category of “additional publications.” Even there, they would be considered dubious. For the past 12 months I’ve moved from writing articles for refereed journals to creating digital products for high-school history teachers. These include lesson plans, sets of original documents, instructional videos, and short assessments of historical thinking. With my team of graduate students, we’ve eliminated the middleman. Rather than seeking a publisher, we upload our materials directly to the Internet and leave them by the proverbial digital curb. For free. To date, we are closing in on a million downloads.
Study Abroad Must ‘Prepare for the Worst’ on Sex Harassment
http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/study-abroad-must-prepare-for-the-worst-on-sex-harassment/32903?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
Aug. 26, 2013
This month CNN published online a blog post by a student from the University of Chicago that described the sexual harassment she faced while studying abroad in India for three months. Her story reportedly received more than 800,000 page views and attention from the news media in India, where there’s been a national debate about gender discrimination. It also raised questions about the role colleges play in preparing students for overseas travel. In a statement to CNN, the University of Chicago said it “offers extensive support and advice to students before, during, and after their trips abroad, and we are constantly assessing and updating that preparation in light of events and our students’ experiences.” In the following article, Mandy Reinig, director of international education at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, responds to the concerns raised by the student’s experience and offers advice on what colleges should do to prevent such problems.
Righting the Ship on Higher Education Costs
http://www.forbes.com/sites/singularity/2013/08/26/righting-the-ship-on-higher-education-costs/
Forbes
Aug. 26, 2013
By Tom Katsouleas, Dean of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering. President Obama announced last week an initiative to lower the cost of college for the middle class. He is on the right topic. Higher education, America’s flagship of international leadership, is a proud vessel in need of attention. I just hope he won’t replace the rudder without patching the leaks. The cost of higher education as measured by private and public tuition has indeed risen at rates higher than inflation, roughly 4% per year for non-profit private tuition. And Obama is rightly focused on the middle class — incomes for upper income brackets have risen faster than the rate of tuition, so that for those groups the cost of tuition as a fraction of household income has actually come down.
Washington Monthly’s college rankings echo pieces of the Obama higher education plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/washington-monthlys-college-rankings-echo-pieces-of-the-obama-higher-education-plan/2013/08/26/cfd09dfc-0e59-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html
Washington Post
Aug. 27, 2013
President Obama said last week he wants to rate colleges on value and performance. The Washington Monthly, an independent magazine for policy wonks, released annual rankings Monday that attempt to do just that. The Monthly, which for years has argued that conventional measures of college prestige are far less important than what colleges do for the country, is pleased that the president appears to be singing from its song sheet.
Advocates for Historically Black Colleges Prepare to Sue Over PLUS Loan Changes
http://chronicle.com/article/Historically-Black-Colleges/141257/?key=GT5zdAJqMnAVZnE3b20TOWlRb3dpYkl2angZa3l+bl9VGA==
Chronicle of Higher Education
Aug. 26, 2013
By Kelly Field
A coalition representing historically black colleges and members of the Congressional Black Caucus is threatening to sue the U.S. Education Department over eligibility changes it made two years ago in the Parent PLUS loan program. In a letter sent on Friday to members of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, Lezli Baskerville, the group’s president and chief executive, said that while the group appreciated the department’s promise this month to revisit the issue next spring, “these actions should have taken place before the department made this significant policy change, not in its aftermath.” (subscription required)