University System News

USG NEWS:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/government/2013-10-15/mills-district-proposal-will-be-considered-gru-master-planning?v=1381854691
Mills District proposal will be considered in GRU master planning
By Susan McCord
Staff Writer
The University System of Georgia hasn’t embraced Augusta’s plans for a mills and cultural campus to support the expansion of Georgia Regents University, but supporters remain optimistic it will. According to a Sept. 17 letter from Chancellor Hank Huckaby released Monday by Mayor Deke Copenhaver, the system supports the development of a consolidated GRU campus “centered around the current Health Sciences campus,” which will have “positive impact” on downtown Augusta and the riverfront.

GOOD NEWS:
www.valdostadailytimes.com
http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x862182974/VSU-receives-Christa-McAuliffe-Award
VSU receives Christa McAuliffe Award
Kristin Finney
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University is continuously striving to reach new levels with their students and staff. This need for success has led the university to win, for the second time in 10 years, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Christa McAuliffe Excellence in Teacher Education Award. …The Christa McAuliffe award is given to institutions that are able to show their effectiveness in producing Pre-K through twelfth grade learning outcomes. The universities must also explain how their education programs were redesigned to improve or change the outcomes they produced. VSU was able to win this prestigious award for the second time thanks in large part to their work with the Valdosta Early College Academy (VECA).

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2013/oct/15/3-charities-named-for-2014-greater-gwinnett/
Three charities named for 2014 Greater Gwinnett Championship
By Keith Farner
About three months after the Greater Gwinnett Championship gave $165,901 to local charities, golf tournament officials on Tuesday announced recipients for next year’s proceeds. Recipients for the 2014 tournament proceeds from the PGA Tour’s Champions Tour event include Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Georgia Gwinnett College Foundation and the Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation. Last year’s charities that benefitted were CHOA, the Georgia Gwinnett College Foundation, the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter, the Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation and the Gwinnett Technical College Foundation.

USG VALUE:
www.savdailynews.com
http://savdailynews.com/Content/News/Effingham—Bulloch-Counties/Article/Georgia-Southern-Students-are-Raising-Funds-for-Local-Food-Bank-in-an-Artistic-Way/2/475/42999
Georgia Southern Students are Raising Funds for Local Food Bank in an Artistic Way
SDN Staff Report
Oct. 15, 2013 – Students and staff at Georgia Southern University will soon have the opportunity to fill their own stomachs while helping to ensure that others won’t go hungry during the annual Empty Bowl Project, hosted by the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art. The annual service project, which will take place on Oct. 17, is held to raise money for the Statesboro Food Bank.

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2013/oct/10/state-local-representatives-discuss-education/
State, local representatives discuss education issues
By Keith Farner
LAWRENCEVILLE — Sen. Renee Unterman learned something that surprised her on Thursday during an afternoon discussion about education issues.Many school officials, including superintendents and school board members across Gwinnett and the state, support Common Core, a set of national academic standards. Unterman said she’s received hundreds of emails and letters from constituents and no one she knows supports it. That changed at Georgia Gwinnett College when Unterman and members of the state House and Senate Education Committees met with school officials and community members.

RESEARCH:
www.usnews.com
http://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2013/10/15/stem-roundup-a-new-community-for-stem-students
STEM Roundup: A New Community for STEM Students
A roundup of recent STEM education and employment news.
By JOSEPH P. WILLIAMS
STATESBORO, Ga. — GUS, Georgia Southern University’s mascot, has gone where no eagle has gone before: into the stratosphere, on a mission to promote STEM learning. A miniature GUS was attached to a weather balloon and a rig with multiple high definition video cameras and tracking equipment for lift-off at Paulson Stadium, and reached an altitude of 102,000 feet before the weather balloon burst and a parachute returned the Eagle mascot to earth. …The goal of GUS in Space was to showcase the University’s efforts in STEM education which include practical, hands-on use of technology in the telemetry, satellite and antenna labs.

www.wsbtv.com
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/new-testing-technology-synthetic-drugs/nbPYb/
New testing technology for synthetic drugs
BREMEN, Ga. — For several years, the crime lab at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was the only facility where law enforcement could test suspected synthetic marijuana that was seized at smoke shops or convenience stores. But new technology is allowing law officers to do more field-testing that is very accurate and reliable. Some of those tools were unveiled Tuesday at a synthetic drug summit in Bremen… Georgia Tech and the Hall County School system is using a dip stick testing system to check if athletes are using synthetic drugs. It’s called “K-2, D-2.”

www.citeworld.com
http://www.citeworld.com/cloud/22561/georgia-tech-big-data-new-materials
Georgia Tech will train young scientists to use data to build space-age materials
By Andy Patrizio
Normally it can take 15 to 20 years to design and create a high performance material, such as a new polymer, carbon fiber technology, or battery technology. That’s because materials designed today are basically brute force trial and error and process of elimination. For example, suppose a firm wants to design new materials to be used in the body of a fuel-efficient vehicle. The materials must have certain properties concerning strength, weight, ability to handle stress along different directions, and so on. …”As you can imagine, this is very time-consuming work. By doing much of the experimentation using computational tools, the process can be greatly accelerated,” said Richard Fujimoto, a professor at Georgia Tech and the head of its new Institute for Data and High Performance Computing. The university just got a $2.8 million grant to start a program to train a new type of data scientist capable of creating advanced materials and bringing them to market at a much faster pace than usual, utilizing analytics to get the job done.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/15/are-school-reformers-wrecking-the-common-core/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss
Are school reformers wrecking the Common Core?
Whether you think the Common Core State Standards are a step forward in education or a step back, there are legitimate questions about how the initiative is being implemented and how that process will affect America’s public schools. Here’s a smart look at this issue by Jeff Bryant, an associate fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future and the owner of a marketing and communications consultancy that serves numerous organizations including Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, PBS, and International Planned Parenthood Foundation. He writes extensively about public education policy at The Education Opportunity Network, where this appeared.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/opinion/georgia-competes-in-manufacturing/nbNZ9/
Georgia competes in manufacturing
BY THOMAS KURFESS
Georgia’s recent declines in GDP have sparked speculation that its economy is in peril. In fact, Georgia is poised for long-term growth in manufacturing. Georgia sustains itself well in the national and global economy with its rising manufacturing and exports. Challenges, however, lie ahead for U.S. competitiveness. A recent Deloitte report shows that our nation ranks third behind China and Germany but may decline to fifth in 2018 forecasts. …Georgia has armed itself with this globally competitive weapon on three levels — higher education, secondary and k-8 education, and practices. Properly supported, Georgia will remain atop the nation’s hotbed of advanced manufacturing, the Southeast.

www.edition.cnn.com
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/15/opinion/marcus-common-app-crash/index.html
College application insanity gets worse
By David L. Marcus, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: David L. Marcus has been a high school teacher and an independent educational consultant. His most recent book is “Acceptance: A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges — And Find Themselves” (Penguin Books). He is a volunteer interviewer for Brown University.
(CNN) — Every college applicant knows about the “hardship essay,” which asks a teenager to write about overcoming an obstacle. Here’s a suggested approach:
“Being a high school senior unnerved by college applications was tough enough until I tried to fill out the Common Application and the site froze, then refused to accept my writing and rejected my teachers’ recommendations.”

www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-w-jentleson/moocing-about-in-high-tec_b_4080035.html?utm_hp_ref=twe
MOOC-ing About in High Tech Ed and High End Global Dialogue
Bruce W. Jentleson
Professor, Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy
I’m about to venture into MOOC-land (“massive open online courses”), with my 21st Century American Foreign Policy course (starting October 20), as part of the Coursera consortium of which Duke University is a member, with two main objectives in mind. One is educational: In between Nirvana-like grandiose claims and Luddite fears of change, what is the potential of high tech higher ed? Mine is a non-credit course more in the continuing education than degree-earning mode but with some lessons for for-credit applications of the technology.

www.online.wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304561004579135293814151928.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLE_Video_Third
Why Does College Cost So Much?
The hefty price tag attached to a university degree in the U.S. has made financing college a tough task for most families. So we asked The Experts: What explains the high, and rising, cost of college in the U.S.?

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/56736/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=91c50d886a5540469a8f49530d4fb471&elqCampaignId=62#
Affirmative Action and the Supreme Court Blues
By Ibram X. Kendi
We often look back at American racial history and shake our heads in wonder. We degrade previous generations for their collusion or apathy regarding the forces of racism. …On Tuesday, on the eve of the 60 year anniversary of the historic Brown decision, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, which if decided like the Brown case, could have far-reaching effects on racial justice in America. The Court could finally rule in favor of what anti-racist scholars of race have been saying for ages—if a law or policy breeds racial inequality, then it is racist and should be outlawed. The language does not matter. The effect is everything.

Education News
www.northfulton.com
http://www.northfulton.com/Articles-BUSINESS-c-2013-10-11-201022.114126-sub24320.114126-Gwinnett-Tech-to-begin-construction-on-Alpharetta-campus-in-2014.html
Gwinnett Tech to begin construction on Alpharetta campus in 2014
by Caitlin Wagenseil
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Gwinnett Technical College will soon begin construction on a campus in Alpharetta that officials say could accommodate up to 10,000 students when completely developed.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/16/common-application-glitches-block-students-applying#ixzz2hswvZnHY
Commotion App
By Allie Grasgreen
The initial early application deadline for campuses including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Georgia Institute of Technology came and went yesterday, and hundreds of students missed it. Not because they were procrastinating (at least, not on Monday night), but because system-crashing technical glitches in the online Common Application continued to plague students (and their parents) who’ve been struggling to apply to college.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/56732/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=91c50d886a5540469a8f49530d4fb471&elqCampaignId=62#
Nationwide Study Affirms Income Affects Postsecondary Achievement
By Christina Sturdivant
A thread of urgency for college attainment and continuance has spread throughout higher academia, after President Obama’s 2009 charge to the United States in regaining its lead in worldwide college graduates by the year 2020. In this collective pursuit for higher achievement by universities, educational organizations and policy makers, often left out of the fold of accountability are high schools across the country — who have been moreso tasked with the obligation of graduating students from secondary institutions with diplomas that are not viable for the demands of sustainable employment opportunities in the country. In a recent study, “High School Benchmarks: National College Progression Rates,” released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, high school administrators have been presented with data for their introduction into this nationwide call for action.

www.gallup.com
http://www.gallup.com/poll/165425/online-education-rated-best-value-options.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication?vm=r
In U.S., Online Education Rated Best for Value and Options
Viewed as weakest in terms of trusted grading and acceptance by employers
by Lydia Saad, Brandon Busteed, and Mitchell Ogisi
PRINCETON, NJ — Still something of a novelty, online education is seen relatively positively by Americans for giving students a wide range of curricula options and for providing good value for the money. However, Americans tend to think it provides less rigorous testing and grading, less qualified instructors, and has less credence with employers compared with traditional, classroom-based education.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/diversity-aside-international-students-bring-a-financial-incentive/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Diversity Aside, International Students Bring a Financial Incentive
By Andy Thomason
As college campuses face financial uncertainty and tough enrollment seasons, it’s no secret that attracting more international students can yield benefits beyond the intangibles, like a more diverse student body. A recent Chronicle survey of 436 small private institutions and state universities shows that colleges that enrolled more international students also were more likely to meet enrollment and net-tuition-revenue goals.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-european-mooc-providers-1st-courses-go-online/47387?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
QuickWire: European MOOC Provider’s First Courses Go Online
By Lawrence Biemiller
Six courses offered through a new Berlin-based MOOC provider, iversity, went online on Monday with what the company said was a total of 115,000 students. The courses are the first of 24 that iversity hopes to offer as it seeks to enroll a million students by the end of next year—even though it’s still groping for a business model, according to TechCrunch.

www.wvtm.com
http://www.wtvm.com/story/23670380/dental-hygienist-job-market-growing
Dental hygienist job market growing
Posted by Courtney Smith
COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) – The job market for dental hygienists continues to grow despite issues with our nation’s economy.
According to the Georgia Department of Labor, employment for dental hygienists is expected to grow about 35 percent by 2020, an annual growth rate of three percent. Rebecca Foster, the Dental Hygiene Program Director from Columbus Technical College, explains why this particular health care career is growing.

www.usatoday.com
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/13/hospital-job-cuts/2947929/
A job engine sputters as hospitals cut staff
Paul Davidson and Barbara Hansen, USA TODAY
Hospitals are cutting thousands of jobs, undercutting a sector that was a reliable source of job growth, even through the recession.
Hospitals, a reliable source of employment growth in the recession and its aftermath, are starting to cut thousands of jobs amid falling insurance payments and inpatient visits. The payroll cuts are surprising because the Affordable Care Act (ACA), whose implementation took a big step forward this month, is eventually expected to provide health coverage to as many as 30 million additional Americans.

www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/effingham-now/2013-10-10/logistics-critical-issue-area#.Ul2XUih5iCY
Logistics a ‘critical issue’ for area
By Mary Carr Mayle
Frank Casaine’s daughter came home from school recently with a questionnaire designed to help her determine what line of work she might want to pursue down the road. “Of all the options listed on that paper, not one was in the logistics field. Yet we have one of the leading ports in the country fueling thousands of good logistics jobs right here in our own backyard,” said Casaine, distribution center director for Pier 1 Imports. “If we want to draw the talent to grow our logistics industry here, that has to change.” Casaine, along with Georgia Ports Authority’s Curtis Foltz and Jay Neely from Gulfstream Aerospace composed the panel for Thursday’s Savannah Critical Issues Forum on Logistics.

www.independent.co.uk
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/skills-not-schools-lord-baker-unveils-utcs-new-deal-for-teenage-learning-8880050.html
Skills not schools: Lord Baker unveils UTC’s new deal for teenage learning
Lord Baker’s emphasis on practical skills could transform secondary sector
RICHARD GARNER
Plans for pioneering “career colleges” for 14- to 19-year-olds will be approved today. The colleges will offer vocational training in a range of subjects including digital technology, construction, catering and healthcare. The radical new breed of colleges – the brainchild of Lord Baker, a former Conservative Education Secretary – will build on his network of highly successful university technical colleges which specialise in the so-called Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths).

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/10/11/cultivating-future-workers.html
Cultivating future workers
Top metro Atlanta HR professionals discuss the challenges of hiring, finding skilled employees
H.M. Cauley, Contributing Writer
On Sept. 19, senior human resources executives from some of the area’s top companies gathered at The Carter Center for the 2013 SHRM-Atlanta Signature Breakfast. This year’s theme, “Cultivating Atlanta’s Future Workforce: Next ‘Best Practices’ from Atlanta’s Top HR Leaders,” was tackled by a panel that included:

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/56744/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=91c50d886a5540469a8f49530d4fb471&elqCampaignId=62#
Under IPEDS Measures, Some Graduates and Transfers Still Considered Dropouts
By Reginald Stuart
…Hampton is one of millions of college graduates who are considered college dropouts based on the rigid — many now say unrealistic — criteria used by the federal government’s principal postsecondary education data collection program. Under the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, known in academia as IPEDS and established in 1992 as part of the federal Higher Education Act, a four-year institution is not allowed to count a student in its graduation rate if the student was a transfer student from another four-year institution or a community college, like Hampton. Hampton originally enrolled in Drexel University in Philadelphia, but transferred to Towson to complete her education.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/16/after-months-controversy-90000-bonus-rutgerss-president#ixzz2hsxggQVD
Reward Amid Controversy
By Ry Rivard
Despite being at the center of multiple controversies this year, Rutgers University President Robert Barchi received a $90,000 bonus from the university’s Board of Governors.
The bonus — which comes on top of his $650,000 salary, and perks like a house and car and driver — will be donated back to the university, Barchi said.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/16/st-marys-u-presents-model-cyclical-faculty-development#ixzz2hsxUZPDf
Training the Faculty
By Carl Straumsheim
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA — Faculty development is like a computer. Unless maintenance is performed at a regular basis with relevant updates, both risk becoming outdated to the point where students are unable to benefit. That was the analogy used by two technology officials from St. Mary’s University of Texas as they presented their university’s approach to faculty development here on the first full day of seminars during the annual Educause conference.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/16/paper-argues-more-support-adjuncts-wont-cost-much#ixzz2hsx3Y3ms
Not Too Expensive to Fix
By Colleen Flaherty
Collecting better data on adjunct employment on campus. Inviting adjuncts to participate in departmental meetings and curriculum design. Some of the biggest ways institutions can improve the working conditions of adjunct faculty are free or cost little, debunking a common argument against rethinking higher education’s changing faculty make-up.

www.bbc.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24526627
Use universities to drive economic growth, report urges
By Judith Burns
BBC News education reporter
Universities should be brought into the heart of the economy and funded to stimulate growth, a report is urging.
It says the government should put £1bn into what it calls Arrow Projects, to turn “globally competitive technological ideas into real business”. Current funding streams are too complex, argues author Sir Andrew Witty, boss of GlaxoSmithKline. The government and the Confederation of British Industry welcomed the report.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/16/supreme-court-justices-appear-skeptical-overturning-michigan-ban-affirmative-action#ixzz2hsxEcKGj
Supreme Court Skepticism
By Scott Jaschik
Seven years and numerous lawsuits after Michigan voters agreed to bar public colleges from considering race or ethnicity in admissions decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments about whether the referendum was unconstitutional. While predicting Supreme Court rulings based on oral arguments is always risky, there were no signs in the oral arguments that any of the justices who have been dubious of affirmative action were willing to reject the referendum.

www.nytimes.com

Justices Weigh Michigan Law and Race in College Admissions
By ADAM LIPTAK
WASHINGTON — Just four months after the Supreme Court largely ducked the question of whether the University of Texas may take account of race in its admissions decisions, the justices heard arguments on Tuesday about whether Michigan’s voters violated the Constitution by forbidding race-conscious admissions plans at that state’s public universities.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/142345/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chronicle%2Fnews+%28The+Chronicle%3A+Top+Stories%29
Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Racial-Preference Bans
By Peter Schmidt
Washington
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared on Tuesday to be leaning toward upholding state prohibitions on race-conscious admissions at public colleges as the justices heard arguments in a lawsuit challenging a ban passed by voters in Michigan.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/56740/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=91c50d886a5540469a8f49530d4fb471&elqCampaignId=62#
Supreme Court Likely to Uphold Michigan Measure on Race
By Mark Sherman, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed prepared Tuesday to uphold a voter-approved ban on taking account of race in college admissions. The court heard arguments over a 2006 change to the state constitution to prohibit the University of Michigan and other state schools from any consideration of race when they decide whom to admit.The justices’ focus was more on whether they could craft a narrow ruling to uphold Michigan Proposal 2 or would have to overrule earlier cases that protect minorities’ rights to participate in the political process.

Related article:
www.sheboyganpress.com
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20131015/SHE0101/310150429/Justices-signal-support-state-affirmative-action-ban?nclick_check=1
Justices signal support for state affirmative-action ban
Amendment has been under fire since Mich. voters approved it