University System News

GOOD NEWS:
www.nbc26.tv
http://www.nbc26.tv/story/23672174/nbc-26-exclusive-gru-mills-campus-one-step-closer-to-reality
NBC 26 Exclusive: Mayor: GRU mills campus one step closer to reality
Written by Lauren Walsh, Reporter
AUGUSTA, Ga. – The city’s vision to rehabilitate the old Sibley and King Mills into a new downtown campus for Georgia Regents University is one step closer to reality. Mayor Deke Copenhaver tells NBC 26 that Chancellor Hank Huckaby has officially signed on to the planning process. “This is the first official word that we’ve heard back that you know, from the chancellor himself saying we want to work with you in moving forward so it is a significant step forward,” he said. The plan for the proposed mills district includes new classrooms and student living space. But, GRU has not yet committed to that plan, calling it a city initiative. …He says the chancellor of the university system asked GRU to begin a master planning process that includes working with the city on the mills project.

www.wjcl.com
http://www.wjcl.com/news/local/teen-driving-safety-week
Teen Driving Safety Week
…So that’s just one reason, that the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is traveling around the state this week to observe Teen Driver Safety Week. Thursday morning, they stopped at Georgia Southern University to deliver their message about safe driving for 16-to-20 year olds. …”We want to do everything we can to keep our students as safe as we possibly can,” said Dr. Brooks Keel, Ga. Southern President. “We have to help them understand the dangers of using the cellphone while they’re driving.” Georgia Southern is doing its part to help, they started a Text Later campaign, where students sign a pledge not to text and drive.

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/georgia-tech/2013/oct/24/tech-hits-graduation-rate-record/
Tech hits graduation rate record
By Ken Sugiura
Georgia Tech’s athletes delivered an all-time high with its latest GSR score, the NCAA’s metric for measuring graduation rates of scholarship athletes. It followed a June report that its NCAA academic progress rate was also a record score. According to the NCAA’s Graduation Success Report, Tech had a graduation rate of 79 percent for four classes of freshmen who entered the school between 2003 and 2006. The NCAA gives athletes six years to graduate to be counted towards the rate.

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/uga-sports/2013/oct/24/latest-ncaa-figures-show-uga-football-tops-sec-gra/
Latest NCAA figures show UGA football tops in SEC in graduation success rate
By Chip Towers
Georgia might not be getting it done on the football field this season, but it’s getting it done in the classroom. The NCAA on Thursday released its latest numbers compiling the Graduation Success Rates (GSR) for every athletics program in the country and the Bulldogs’ student-athletes graduated at a rate of 83 percent. That is up from 81 percent of a year ago and ranks fourth among SEC schools.

USG NEWS:
www.jbhe.com

Everette Freeman Named President of the Community College of Denver

Everette Freeman Named President of the Community College of Denver
Everette J. Freeman was named president of the Community College of Denver in Colorado. The college enrolls about 12,000 students. African Americans make up about 16 percent of the student body. Since 2005, Dr. Freeman has been president of Albany State University in Georgia. He will take on his new role beginning November 1.

www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2013-10-24/record-number-medical-students-limits-future-training-group-says
Record number of medical students but limits on future training, group says
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
A record number of first-year students enrolled in medical school this year as officials work to meet a looming shortage of physicians, the group that represents U.S. medical schools announced Thursday. But without an increase on residency slots that were capped 16 years ago, many might not complete the training needed to become physicians, said Dr. Darrell G. Kirch, the president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the former senior vice president for clinical activities and dean at Medical College of Georgia.
While he touts the need for more diversity among budding physicians, Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University actually doubled the numbers of blacks who enrolled in medical school this year.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/25/white-house-officials-discuss-low-income-recruitment-university-presidents#ixzz2ijdBBkyF
White House Meeting on ‘Undermatching’
By Michael Stratford
About a dozen university presidents were summoned to the White House this week to discuss a possible new administration effort to get more low-income, academically talented students to apply to the nation’s best institutions. The leaders of top research institutions met with Gene Sperling, the chief White House economics adviser, and James Kvaal, deputy director of Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, according to one of the people present… “The emphasis was on how we can recruit more students of low socioeconomic status who may not ever go to college because they might not realize they the opportunity to,” said Philip P. DiStefano, chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who attended one of the meetings on Tuesday morning… Besides DiStefano, other participants in the meetings included the leaders of Carnegie Mellon, Michigan State and Northwestern Universities, Georgia Institute of Technology,

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/gsu-police-say-gunmen-knew-victims/nbXzR/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub2
GSU police say gunmen knew victims
BY MIKE MORRIS AND STEVE VISSER – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
The three gunmen at Georgia State University weren’t master criminals. They didn’t wear masks, and they practically smiled for the security cameras. The suspects are accused of robbing people they knew. And it happened right after they signed into a dorm as guests.

RESEARCH:
www.redorbit.com
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112984019/development-robots-collaborate-with-humans-for-enhanced-productivity-102413/
NSF, NIH, USDA And NASA Fund Development Of Robots That Collaborate With Humans For Enhanced Productivity
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and NASA, today announced new investments totaling approximately $38 million for the development and use of robots that cooperatively work with people to enhance individual human capabilities, performance and safety. These mark the second round of funding awards made through the National Robotics Initiative (NRI) launched with NSF as the lead federal agency just over two years ago as part of President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Initiative… A few of the projects are highlighted below: Matthias Scheutz, Linda Tickle-Degnen, Tufts University; Ronald Arkin, Georgia Institute of Technology. This research will assist people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD).

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/10/25/worker-woes.html?page=all
Worker woes
Efforts made to combat workforce shortages in manufacturing and logistics sectors
Tonya Layman, Contributing Writer
Mike Ecker, general manager of Lawrenceville-based Tara Materials Inc., often loses sleep at night worrying about his future workforce needs and if he will be able to meet his business’ growth if he can’t find the right talent. . . .Ecker has started working with neighboring Gwinnett Tech to cross-train workers and with Georgia Tech’s Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership to perform audits to improve manufacturing processes and build programs to better train workers.

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2013/oct/24/economist-alfie-meek-paints-bleak-picture/
Economist Alfie Meek paints bleak picture
By Camie Young
DULUTH — Working as Gwinnett County’s economist during the Great Recession, Alfie Meek earned the nickname “Dr. Doom and Gloom.” Visiting the county two years after leaving to become Georgia Tech’s director of innovation strategy and impact, Meek did little to dispel the reputation despite a more positive economy. During Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce general membership luncheon Thursday, Meek shared statistics that showed a statistical recovery from the recession, but little else to be excited about.

STATE NEEDS/ISSUES:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/10/25/2013-set-to-be-best-year-for-vc-since.html?page=all
2013 set to be best year for VC since recession
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer-Atlanta Business Chronicle
This should be the strongest year for venture investments in Georgia since the end of the Great Recession. About $374 million has been invested in Georgia companies in the first nine months of 2013, versus $262 million for all of 2012, according to the MoneyTree report, published by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/letters/2013-10-25/gru-aims-great-things?v=1382662806
GRU aims for great things
By Wyck A. Knox Jr.
Augusta
(The writer is chairman of the Georgia Regents University Board of Visitors.)
“(A) top-tier university that is a destination of choice.” “(T)he Georgia Tech of health sciences.” “(T)he next great American university.”
Georgia Regents University is aiming high, and in the above quotes regarding GRU, more and more of us are persuaded and excited. The GRU Board of Visitors, made up of citizen advisors from around the state, just completed a series of meetings with university leaders, and I find myself compelled to share what I learned with my community. Make no mistake: GRU is a tremendous asset to the Augusta area, and our support of it is a must.

www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-werner/why-the-common-app-failed_b_4148401.html
Why the Common App Failed Online Applicants
James Werner
Vice President of Higher Education, DecisionDesk
Applying to college is arguably one of the most stressful experiences for any high school student. The pressure that comes with submitting applications to several schools can become overwhelming. The Common Application was developed, in part, to help relieve this stress, creating a standardized application that is now accepted at over 500 colleges and universities. But what was once a solution to the application process has now become a pain-point. Over the past several weeks, media reports have been detailing the enormous challenges students are facing this season when attempting to use the online platform. These failures in technology highlight a major issue within the current college application process: the failure to evolve with the times… Take Georgia Tech, for example. With students unable to complete their online applications, the university has been forced to push back the entire review process by several weeks — a substantial burden on both applicants and university staff.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/opinion/america-can-learn-from-chinas-school-successes/nbWrw/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub2
America can learn from China’s school successes
BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN
SHANGHAI — Whenever I visit China, I am struck by the sharply divergent predictions of its future one hears. Lately, a number of global investors have been “shorting” China, betting that someday soon its powerful economic engine will sputter, as the real estate boom here turns to a bust. Frankly, if I were shorting China today, it would not be because of the real estate bubble, but because of the pollution bubble that is increasingly enveloping some of its biggest cities. Optimists take another view: that China is just getting started, and that what we’re now about to see is the payoff from China’s 30 years of investment in infrastructure and education.

Education News
www.timeshighefreducation.co.uk
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/small-us-colleges-scramble-for-survival/2008289.article
Small US colleges scramble for survival
BY JON MARCUS
Institutions struggle as the pool of potential students shrinks
…This is a sad story, but not an isolated one. Experts, including financial analysts and bond rating agencies, warn that more US universities will close. In addition to Saint Paul’s, at least five others have shut over the past two years, in Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Tennessee. As many as a third of institutions are on an unsustainable financial path, according to the consulting firm Bain & Company, based on an analysis of some 1,700 US colleges and universities. Its report, The Financially Sustainable University, says their debts are ballooning while revenues are flat.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/25/report-discusses-best-practices-evaluating-teacher-preparation-programs#.UmplRyglwtQ.email
Evaluating Teacher Evaluation
By Megan Rogers
In the past two years, the quality of teacher education programs has been repeatedly called into question, and a federal panel could not come to a consensus on the role students’ test scores should have on teachers’ evaluations. A report released today by the National Academy of Education suggests that more emphasis should be placed on designing evaluations of teacher training programs. Current approaches to evaluating teaching programs are “complex, varied, and fragmented,” the report said.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/57026/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=90501deb185f451a8c13445e50a83993&elqCampaignId=62
Scholars Reveal Best Practices to Keep Black Males in Education
By Jamal Watson
…“Males in general and males of color in particular, are not functioning at an optimal level,” says Moore, who appeared on a panel with other noted researchers from colleges and universities across the country who shared best practices for recruiting and retaining African American males to their campuses. “We’re losing Black males at every generation.”
The three-day colloquium, organized and spearheaded by Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson who directs Wisconsin’s Equity & Inclusion Laboratory and holds the Vilas Distinguished Professorship of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is largely focused on highlighting successful program outcomes that offer solutions aimed at solving the series of problems that confront Black males in education.

www.jbhe.com

Census Data Shows Need for Further Efforts to Attract Blacks Into STEM Fields

Census Data Shows Need for Further Efforts to Attract Blacks Into STEM Fields
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows the necessity of increasing efforts to increase the number of African American who study in STEM fields at American colleges and universities. The data shows that while Blacks are 10.8 percent of all employed workers, they make up only 6.4 percent of all employees in STEM occupations.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Under-Financial-Pressure/142613/?cid=at
Under Financial Pressure, Universities Give Patent Buyers a Closer Look
By Paul Basken
The leading association of university technology managers is re-examining a pledge to shun companies that buy patent rights as a litigation strategy, after several member institutions were found to be working with a reputed pioneer of the practice. The institutions, including the California Institute of Technology and Duke University, were reported in September to be in partnership with Intellectual Ventures, a company known for assembling portfolios of patents sometimes used in revenue-generating lawsuits.