UNIVERSITY SYSTEM NEWS
Ga. Regents seeking $49M more next fiscal year
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/ap/education/regents-to-seek-193b-budget-for-fy2015/nZtFw/
WSBTV-2
Sept. 11, 2013
From the Associated Press
The Georgia Board of Regents on Wednesday signed off on a $1.93 billion budget request for next fiscal year, which represents a $48.9 million increase over the current year. The requested 2.6 percent increase now heads to the governor’s office for consideration and doesn’t include $235.2 million that the board says it needs for facilities within the university system. …The board is also seeking $3.2 million for more hospital residency slots. Other increases include health insurance, retirement programs and facility operations.
Regents Ask for $50M in State Funding for UGA
http://www.coosavalleynews.com/np104006.htm
Coosa Valley News
Sept. 11, 2013
By Tony Potts
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents have requested $50 million in state funding to build a science learning center and renovate Baldwin Hall at the University of Georgia. The board wants the money to be included in the 2015 fiscal budget.
Ga. Regents seeking $1.93B budget for next fiscal year, a $49M increase
http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/80a5d0d953324e3dabd1173ccebbee69/GA–Regents-Budget/#.UjNpoxYqagE
Daily Journal
Sept. 11, 2013
From the Associated Press
The Georgia Board of Regents on Wednesday signed off on a $1.93 billion budget request for next fiscal year, which represents a $48.9 million increase over the current year.
UGA President Morehead to serve on Committee of Research Intensive Public Universities
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2013-09-12/uga-president-morehead-serve-committee-research-intensive-public-universities
Athens Banner-Herald
Sept. 12, 2013
University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead will help lead a committee charged with developing a national agenda for public research intensive universities. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities announced the creation of the Committee of Research Intensive Public Universities to advise the association on key initiatives and policies.
Top global universities rule out setting up India campuses for now
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/education/top-global-universities-rule-out-setting-up-india-campuses-for-now/articleshow/22527784.cms
Economic Times India
Sept. 12, 2013
Barely days after the government opened doors for foreign universities to set up campuses here, half-a-dozen top universities said they have no interest in the invitation from India. ET spoke to top officials from Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge University and Duke University and all of them ruled out the possibility of opening campuses here. They are, however, keen to continue engaging with students, academia and industry through research, faculty exchange and executive education programmes… Though Cardiff University has no plans to open a campus in India at present, Professor ColinBSE -0.64 % Riordan, the university’s president and vice chancellor, says it is actively considering options. Cardiff has links with many Indian institutions that establish a framework for potential collaboration in research, staff exchange and training and exchange of academic materials. Sources say Georgia Institute of Technology and Virginia Institute of Technology have some interest in an India campus.
Georgia Tech College of Computing Offering New Online Master’s Degree
http://news.yahoo.com/georgia-tech-college-computing-offering-online-masters-degree-230100910.html
Yahoo News
Sept. 10, 2013
Zvi Galil, the dean of the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is seeking a technological and academic revolution by developing an online Master of Science (OMS) degree in computer science via massive open online courses (MOOCs) for roughly $6,600, perhaps 15 percent of what a traditional degree in the field might cost. A Tradition of Innovation: “Georgia Tech in general and the College of Computing in particular [have] been on the forefront on new academic programs, including our Threads-based undergraduate degrees and our specialized PhDs, such as human-centered computing and computational science and engineering,” Galil noted in an email response to interview questions. “So we have it built in our DNA to try innovative programs like our OMS.”
UNIVERSITY SYSTEM – VALUE
Freezing assets
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/09/13/freezing-assets.html?page=all
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Sept. 13, 2013
With numerous amenities that set Atlanta up for success, economic development leaders are touting Atlanta as the place to be for any business participating in or taking advantage of cold chain logistics. This industry is big business and growing rapidly as more regulations are imposed on the food industry and as the pharmaceutical and health-care industries rely more heavily on the cold chain for the storage and distribution of drugs, blood, tissue and other medical necessities… He adds another advantage locally is the work being done at the Georgia Institute of Technology Supply Chain and Logistics Center, the largest supply chain and logistics research and education program in the world. The center provides global leadership for research and education in supply chain engineering. Jaymie Forrest, managing director of the center and the co-founder of the Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Research Center, said the integrity of cold chain has come into its own in the past few years.
Making the Connection
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/09/13/making-the-connection.html?page=all
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Sept. 13, 2013
After a year of working with United Parcel Service Inc. executives through the Georgia Mentor Protégé Connection, Carlos Quinones, CEO of Stockbridge-based Display America Inc., is better prepared to focus on business development and growth. The leader of the tradeshow marketing and management company took full advantage of 12 months of advice and help from UPS leaders that focused on inventory control, process management, project management and contracts and procurement… The program is administered by the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute. (Subscription required*)
Network to make angel investor connections
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/09/13/network-to-make-angel-investor.html
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Sept. 13, 2013
While in search of financing for a company, an angel, an individual investor who focuses on startups or early-stage funding, can be a good place to start. But where does an entrepreneur begin to look for an angel investor? Atlanta is one of the more visible cities for business owners to seek out angels, Michael Eckert, vice chairman of the Angel Capital Association, said… Robert Franklin, an angel investor who serves as chairman emeritus for Ariel Savannah Angel Partners, suggested Eckert’s group as well as incubators like the one at Georgia Tech and Startup Atlanta. (Subscription required)
UNIVERSITY SYSTEM RESEARCH
GRU gets $1.4M for autoimmune disease research
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/a-healthy-conversation/2013/09/gru-gets-14m-for-autoimmune-disease.html
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Sept. 12, 2013
By Urvaksh Karkaria
A protein called STING can help treat, or even avoid, autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, Georgia Regents University researchers report. …Dr. Andrew L. Mellor, immunologist at the Medical College of Georgia at GRU …recently received a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help figure out a way to activate the STING protein.
Glass App Teaches Sign Language to Parents of Hearing-Impaired Children
http://mashable.com/2013/09/12/sign-langauge-google-glass-app/
Mashable
Sept. 12, 2013
A new app for Google Glass makes communication a little easier between parents and their hearing-impaired children. SMARTSign teaches ASL (American Sign Language) to Glass wearers. Kim Xu, a recent Human-Centered Computing Ph.D. graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology, developed the app with one of her professors. The app pushes sign language quizzes to Glass in intervals throughout the day. The wearer sets when and how often he receives quizzes. During a quiz, the wearer sees a video of a sign, and he can select the correct answer from a bank of choices.
Georgia Tech robotics program secures $2.3M in NSF awards
The Business of Robotics
Sept. 12, 2013
Georgia Tech, already among the leaders in robotics research, has some new projects to be excited about thanks to the National Science Foundation. According to the school’s Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, NSF recently awarded nearly $2.3 million to fund four Georgia Tech robotics projects. Three of the projects received funding through the National Robotics Initiative, which President Obama launched two years ago to accelerate the development of robots that work beside people. A fourth was funded through the NSF’s Robust Intelligence program, which the NSF’s website says “advances and integrates the research traditions of artificial intelligence, computer vision, human language research, robotics, machine learning, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, and related areas.”
UGA gets $10M grant to study sugar molecules
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/09/13/uga-gets-10m-grant-to-study-sugar.html
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Sept. 13, 2013
The University of Georgia has received a five-year, $10.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, to develop technologies for the analysis of glycans. Glycans are sugar molecules that coat the surface of living cells, and play critical roles in cell regulation, human health and disease progression. The study of glycomics is dependent on the development of specialized tools, custom-made technologies and advanced testing equipment. UGA’s National Center for Biomedical Glycomics develops those tools, which are then used by scientists in universities, pharmaceutical companies and biomedical industries for research. NCBG also conducts research on understanding and identifying complex glycan structures, according to a statement. (Subscription required)
OPINION/EDITORIALS/COLUMNS/BLOGS
Enrollment drop means higher ed needs more help
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/09/12/2685720/enrollment-drop-means-higher-ed.html
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Sept. 12, 2013
…Georgia’s higher education system finds itself in a situation analogous to that of the New York subway system a couple of decades ago, when fewer passengers prompted the city’s transit authority to raise prices. As counterintuitive as that sounds, it can occasionally be an effective temporary emergency measure. People who have come to depend on or just won’t give up a service or product will pay the extra fee and make up some of the shortfall … in the short term. But such a formula is self-evidently unsustainable, for a subway system or a university system.
Not Just a Place to Sleep
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/09/13/essay-calls-more-ambitious-concept-residence-life
Inside Higher Education
Sept. 13, 2013
By Adam Weinberg
…For the most part, too many of us treat residential halls as a functional place for housing students. This is a lost opportunity. …To meet their civic responsibilities, our students will need the capacity to thrive in diverse environments, embrace change as a daily reality, think outside boxes and across categories, and possess a mix of personal attributes, including humility, confidence, persistence, empathy, and communication and conflict negotiation skills. Residential halls are great places for some of this learning to occur.
David Cummings: Finding Success in Atlanta
http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2013/09/12/david-cummings-finding-succcess-in-atlanta/
Wall Street Journal Blog
Sept. 12, 2013
GUEST MENTOR David Cummings, co-founder of Pardot: Atlanta might not be the first city that comes to mind to build a tech startup but it’s the best in the country if you want to bootstrap your way to success due to the large number of Fortune 500 companies, access to talent, local capital, strong community and low cost of living… – Talent: Atlanta is seventh in student enrollment among America’s largest urban areas and sixth in annual college grads. There are more than 57 colleges and universities located within the Atlanta region including Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia State University, and UGA that produce highly skilled graduates. At one of my earliest startups, the vast majority of our 100+ people had never been involved in a startup before they were hired, proving they already had acquired the skills and ability to succeed. Clearly, the right talent is already present in Atlanta and can effectively transition to the startup workforce.
EDUCATION NEWS
New college grads see boost in starting pay
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/09/13/new-college-grads-see-boost-in.html
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Sept. 13, 2013
The overall average starting salary for Class of 2013 new college graduates has increased, a new survey finds. Average starting salary for new college graduates currently stands at $45,327, an increase of 2.4 percent over the reported average of $44,259 for Class of 2012 graduates, according to the September 2013 Salary Survey, which is published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Boosting the positive news is salary increases are not limited to certain fields of study that are “carrying” the class. The survey found they are evident in all disciplines except one, computer science. (Subscription required)
Program Review at Idaho Colleges Cover Administration and Sports Too
http://chronicle.com/article/Program-Reviews-at-Idaho/141595/
Chronicle of Higher Education
Sept. 12, 2013
Idaho’s public four-year colleges are about to start the sometimes painful process of justifying their expenses to state lawmakers. But unlike similar efforts across the country, more than just academic programs face scrutiny. Administrative offices, auxiliary operations, and even athletics—a sacred cow at most colleges—will have to make the argument that they deserve staff and space on campuses.
Free Massive Online Education Provider, Coursera, Begins to Find a Path to Profits
Free Massive Online Education Provider, Coursera, Begins To Find A Path To Profits
Tech Crunch
Sept. 12, 2013
Online education providers may very well disrupt the higher education establishment, but, first, these for-profit companies need to find a way to finance the mammoth technical infrastructure needed to support millions of students. It’s a challenge that all mission-based businesses wrestle with, and why many have wondered whether Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) providers will ever become big business — or be around in five years — let alone “transform higher education,” as they’ve so often promised. Today, one of the biggest MOOC providers on the Web, Coursera, showed skeptics that it has indeed found a way to monetize free educational content and may just be on the road to riches. In a blog post this afternoon, Coursera announced that it has raised over $1M for paid certifications, which verify that students passed (an otherwise free) online college course.
International Educators Debate the Future of Student Mobility
http://chronicle.com/article/International-Educators-Debate/141585/?cid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
Sept. 12, 2013
Will the growing mobility of students and of knowledge itself change higher education as we know it? That question challenged participants attending the annual meeting here this week of the European Association for International Education. The rise of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, has made it possible for a student in Bangalore, India, to enroll in the same course as a peer in Berkeley, Calif. Open-access publishing has made more research available. Some four million students cross national boundaries to pursue their studies, a number that is projected to grow to seven million by the decade’s end, according to the European Commission. (Subscription required)
Advocate for Black Colleges
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/13/new-leader-selected-white-house-office-historically-black-colleges
Inside Higher Education
Sept. 13, 2013
By Michael Stratford
Nine months after the departure of its previous director, the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities has a new permanent leader, the Obama administration announced Thursday. George Cooper, a former president of South Carolina State University, will take the top post at the initiative, which works to support black colleges as they apply for grants and contracts with federal agencies, and to make sure the institutions’ interests are considered in the development of federal policy.
College, Career Academy?
http://www.msgr.com/news/local_news/article_ad3624f4-1b99-11e3-b9ea-0019bb2963f4.html
The Eatonton Messenger
Sept. 12, 2013
By Lynn Hobbs
The drop in the local economy and general uncertainty seem to be having an effect on the Putnam County College and Career Academy. Not only are original plans being changed, but there is confusion about the changes, and board of education members say they are discouraged at the lack of progress.
Researchers Struggle to Secure Data in an Insecure Age
http://chronicle.com/article/Researchers-Struggle-to-Secure/141591/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
Sept. 12, 2013
Long before Edward Snowden made his revelations about the National Security Agency, even before the popular rise of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill discovered the pain of not securing sensitive data. Back in 2009, the technical staff of Chapel Hill’s medical school discovered spyware on a server housing the medical records of some 180,000 women, participants in a study analyzing mammography results. Though no evidence existed that hackers copied the files, the breach caused a painful feud between the university and the project’s principal investigator, each blaming the other for failing to secure the private information.
Princeton to Focus on Improving Diversity Among its Graduate Students
http://chronicle.com/article/Princeton-to-Focus-on/141603/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Chronicle of Higher Education
Sept. 13, 2013
Princeton University announced new plans on Thursday to further diversify its campus, including its graduate-student population. A report by a 19-member diversity committee created last year by then-president Shirley M. Tilghman notes that previous efforts to improve diversity among the university’s undergraduate population had limited effect on diversifying the ranks of graduate and postdoctoral students, faculty, and senior administrators. (Subscription required)
How much state funding does the University of Virginia receive?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/how-much-state-funding-does-the-university-of-virginia-receive/2013/09/12/fb999782-1baf-11e3-82ef-a059e54c49d0_story.html
Washington Post
Sept. 12, 2013
There’s a preliminary proposal floating around the University of Virginia that recommends the elite public flagship push for more independence from the state government. One of the reasons such change is needed, according to the draft: “Significant, sustained, and permanent decreases in federal and state funding.” Just how much money does U-Va. receive from that state? Depends on how you look at the numbers. Here’s a primer: What proportion of the U-Va. budget comes from the state? For years, the university saw its funding from the state steadily decrease. That changed during fiscal 2013, when appropriations increased about $8 million, according to the university’s Financing the University 101 Web site.
Going to the Root of the Problem
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/13/promising-remedial-math-reform-tennessee-expands
Inside Higher Education
Sept. 13, 2013
By Paul Fain
A group of community colleges in Tennessee is going into local high schools to try to help more students get ready for college math. The experiment has showed impressive early results, and now the state’s governor is forking over serious money to expand it.
Preventing ‘Molly’ Deaths
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/13/recent-overdoses-lead-some-colleges-step-education-efforts-about-form-ecstasy
Inside Higher Education
Sept. 13, 2013
By Megan Rogers
Many colleges are reaching out to students about the dangers of the illicit club drug “Molly” following a series of fatal overdoses, some involving students. While use of Molly, a more pure form of ecstasy, among college students isn’t as common as use of alcohol or marijuana, the deaths have given the issue new urgency.
Emory gets $500K CDC grant
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/a-healthy-conversation/2013/09/emory-gets-500k-cdc-grant.html
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Sept. 12, 2013
Emory University has received a $500,000 federal award to establish the Emory Center for Public Health Training in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies. The center will focus on, among other things, developing a graduate certificate in humanitarian emergencies. The center will also develop a US-based fellowship program for international candidates from countries affected by complex humanitarian emergencies, according to a statement.
Distance Education State Reciprocity Initiative Begins Staffing
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/09/13/distance-education-state-reciprocity-initative-begins-staffing
Inside Higher Education
Sept. 13, 2013
The National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements, an initiative to simplify the process by which distance education providers are authorized to operate in individual states, has begun staffing its central and regional offices.
OTHER NEWS
Deal picks Isakson aide for top economic development job
http://www.ajc.com/news/business/deal-picks-isakson-aide-for-top-economic-developme/nZt2Z/
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sept. 12, 2013
By J. Scott Trubey
The art of negotiation is a daily exercise in the halls of the U.S. Capitol. Now, Chris Carr will get to test his skills representing Georgia in corporate boardrooms around the world. Carr, 41, the chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., was named Thursday as the new head of the state Department of Economic Development, which is tasked with helping Georgia companies grow and convincing businesses to locate here. The Marist graduate succeeds his friend and former high school classmate Chris Cummiskey, who served as commissioner since January 2011 and during one of the most productive runs in the agency’s history in terms of corporate recruitment. Cummiskey will step down next month and join a subsidiary of the Southern Co. in an executive role. (subscription required)