University System News
GOOD NEWS:
www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2013-10-18/bis-brief#.Um_MiSh5iCZ
BiS in brief
Georgia Southern gets grant to fight childhood obesity
STATESBORO — The executive director of Georgia Southern University’s Rural Health Research Institute, Bryant Smalley, has been awarded an $85,000 federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to form a network focused on childhood obesity prevention in rural south Georgia.
www.herald-dispatch.com
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x786303638/Endowment-established-to-honor-professor
Endowment established to honor professor
Mary Jean Harrold
A graduate fellowship endowment at The College of Computing at Georgia Tech has been established in honor of Mary Jean Harrold, a Huntington native who was a professor in the college, according to a news release from the college. Harrold died Sept. 19 at the Emogene Dolin Jones Hospice House in Huntington at age 66. Dean Zvi Galli said that the fellowship honors a colleague who had earned acclaim as one of the world’s leading software engineers and as an advocate for broadening participation in computing. The endowment will be funded through donations.
USG VALUE:
www.businessinsavannah.com
http://businessinsavannah.com/bis/2013-10-23/wells-fargo-recognizes-19-savannah-non-profits#.Um_Mhih5iCZ
Wells Fargo recognizes 19 Savannah non-profits
By Business in Savannah
Wells Fargo recognized 19 nonprofits across the Savannah area Tuesday with $1,000 grants through the bank’s Days of Giving program. Days of Giving, now in its fourth year in Savannah, allows Wells Fargo employees to honor groups that are helping in their local communities. …The following groups received checks Tuesday at a community breakfast at Woodville Tompkins High School, 151 Coach Joe Turner St.: …• Georgia Southern University Foundation
www.athens.patch.com
http://athens.patch.com/groups/schools/p/clarke-county-public-schools-and-uga-launch-experience-uga
Clarke County Public Schools and UGA Launch “Experience UGA”
The new program aims to bring every Clarke County student to UGA’s campus for an annual field trip and opportunity to experience a college campus.
Posted by Rebecca McCarthy
By Shannon Wilder
The University of Georgia and the Clarke County School District have launched Experience UGA, a new partnership that aims to bring every Clarke County student to UGA’s campus for an annual field trip and opportunity to experience learning on a college campus, explore college options and interact with UGA students. The partnership’s vision is that children who start kindergarten in a Clarke County school will have at least 13 opportunities to visit the UGA campus by the time they graduate from high school and ultimately will come to view a post-secondary degree as an attainable option for their future.
RESEARCH:
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Diversity-at-Research/142513/
Diversity at Research Universities, 1992-2012
Member institutions of the Association of American Universities were nearly 40 percent more racially diverse in 2012 than they were than 20 years earlier. The diversity index measures, on a scale of 0-100, the probability that any two students at an institution are from different racial or ethnic groups… Georgia Institute of Technology: 23,461 (total Enrollment), 0.1% (American Indian/Native Alaskan), 14.1% (Asian), 6.0% (Black), 5.0% (Hispanic),0.1% (Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander), 19.0% (Nonresident Alien), 53.5% (White), 2.2% (Two or More Races), 0.6% (Race Unknown), 65.21 (Diversity Index 2012), 43.39 (Diversity Index 1992), 21.82 (Difference)
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Partnerships-ThenNow/142653/
Partnerships Then and Now
By Goldie Blumenstyk
Since the advent of distance education, colleges have been working closely with companies like Academic Partnerships, the Apollo Group’s Institute for Professional Development, Pearson, and, more recently, 2U, to develop, market, and run online courses. In some cases, like that of Altius Education and Tiffin University’s Ivy Bridge College, financial, programmatic, and even accreditation ties between colleges and companies have gone deeper, stretching traditional notions of “service provider” relationships. Some haven’t worked out. Some have fallen below expectations… Future:… Georgia Tech’s Online Master’s in Computer Science: The Georgia Institute of Technology and Udacity plan to offer the master’s curriculum through a massive open online course, and offer the degree for credit at an unusually low cost—$6,600—to all who qualify for admission.
www.businessnewsdaily.com
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5370-how-to-get-the-most-out-of-online-reviews.html
How to Get the Most Out of Online Reviews
by Chad Brooks, BusinessNewsDaily Contributor
Positive online reviews of businesses mean more to potential customers when they know the reviewer had recently visited the establishment, new research suggests. A study by researchers at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business and University of Connecticut revealed that one way to overcome consumers’ overreliance on negative reviews is to encourage satisfied customers to include language indicating that they wrote their online review soon after they bought their product or received their service.
www.forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherclancy/2013/10/28/how-electric-vehicles-could-drive-changes-in-power-grid-management/
How Electric Vehicles Could Drive Changes In Power Grid Management
Heather Clancy, Contributor
One application many electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers love discussing when touting their technology is the idea of using EV batteries as some sort of storage mechanism to help with stability and demand response. To be clear, this technology is still a way off: the worldwide electricity capacity from vehicle to grid (V2G) systems is very small at less than 9 megawatts (MW) in 2013, according to Navigant Research data. But it will grow steadily over the next decade as car companies begin to redefine their value and experiment with applications. … It is testing the idea in two homes in conjunction with partners including appliance maker Whirlpool, solar company SunPower, power management company Eaton and the George Institute of Technology, among others… In collaboration with Georgia Tech, Ford has come up with some figures suggesting that its approach could help homeowners reduce energy costs annually by up to 60 percent – and cut about 9,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide – if they use their Ford plug-in vehicles, along with solar panels, to better manage their power consumption.
www.saportareport.com
http://saportareport.com/blog/2013/10/ga-tech-students-may-shape-another-atlanta-community-stadium-neighborhoods/
Ga. Tech students may shape another metro Atlanta community: Three Falcons stadium neighborhoods
Posted in David Pendered
Another game-changing proposal to renew a portion of metro Atlanta is coming out of Georgia Tech and it is to be presented to the public Wednesday. A dozen students studying for their masters degree in Tech’s School of City & Regional Planning have proposed a 12-page set of recommendations intended to improve neighborhoods within a mile radius of the future Falcons stadium. Officials with Invest Atlanta are reviewing the report and may use some of it to write the first draft of a community benefits deal.
www.civil-war-picket.blogspot.com
http://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2013/10/they-had-names-students-want-to-tell.html?&co=f000000009816s-1158206718
They had names: Students want to tell story of slaves who built Confederate prison camp
Phil Gast
One survey and excavation at a time, often in hot and muggy weather, Hubert Gibson is trying to unearth a story that has yet to be fully told. “Whenever we think of Civil War memory, they talk about Confederacy, the Union, prisoners and guards — and not address slavery,” said Gibson. Gibson and other students at Georgia Southern University are trying to learn more about all of those who played a part at Camp Lawton, a Confederate prison camp north of Millen in east-central Georgia. …“They are not actively talked about,” said Gibson, 24, a master’s student who was an archaeology field school supervisor on site this past summer.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/57099/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=f9c21ab2fb274369906e54b1b7d37674&elqCampaignId=62
Time For Higher Ed to Rethink the Questions
by Brian C. Mitchell
Recently, the articles, blogs and op-eds on higher education shared a common, repetitive theme. The Wall Street Journal carried an opinion piece on rising costs, for example, naming the usual suspects. U.S. News & World Report published its 10 most expensive colleges listing. They pick up on popular rhetoric now baked into the American psyche. Americans think that college costs too much. Higher education leadership can argue the difference between cost and sticker price, emphasize the value of the liberal arts education and plead with alumni as new fundraising targets now top $5 billion at some places. The problem is that — in the end — it doesn’t matter much anymore.
www.nytimes.com
Are You Competent? Prove It.
Degrees Based on What You Can Do, Not How Long You Went
By ANYA KAMENETZ
IN 1893, Charles Eliot, president of Harvard, introduced to the National Education Association a novel concept: the credit hour. Roughly equivalent to one hour of lecture time a week for a 12- to 14-week semester, it became the basic unit of a college education, and the standard measure for transferring work between institutions. To be accredited, universities have had to base curriculums on credit hours and years of study. The seat-time system — one based on the hours spent in the classroom — is further reinforced by Title IV student aid: to receive need-based Pell grants or federal loans, students have had to carry a certain load of credits each semester. After more than a century, the system equating time with learning is being challenged from high quarters.
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/views/social-media-eases-transition-to-campus-life/article_2c2e186e-3fe6-11e3-8389-001a4bcf6878.html
Social media eases transition to campus life
Viraj Desai
Each new academic year introduces thousands of students to the rich culture and academics provided by the University of Georgia. It is an institution that has survived the test of time and retained its value as a highly competitive public school. Our beloved University, along with many others across the nation, are quickly modernizing and utilizing online resources to spread the word and promote themselves. UGA and many of its respective branches have their own networks on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For example, the University of Georgia has a Facebook page with 140,000 “likes.” …At my orientation, one thing I experienced was how effectively UGA used social media to reach new students.
www.opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com
Academic Freedom Against Itself: Boycotting Israeli Universities
By STANLEY FISH
I hate it when I have a book in press and people keep writing about the subject anyway. You would think that they would have the courtesy to hold their fire until I have had my say. I raise the issue because my book on academic freedom (“Versions of Academic Freedom: From Professionalism to Revolution”) will be out in about a year and the online Journal of Academic Freedom (published by the American Association of University Professors) has just posted its fourth volume consisting of essays on a topic that figures prominently in my analysis — the boycott of Israeli universities by academic institutions and scholars housed in other countries.
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/political-insider/2013/oct/28/your-daily-jolt-hope-grant-change-sent-6000-tech-s/
Political Insider with Jim Galloway
Your daily jolt: HOPE grant change sent 6,000 tech students packing
By Greg Bluestein, Jim Galloway and Daniel Malloy
In 2011, more than 11,000 students in 24 technical colleges lost HOPE grants, the result of a belt-tightening measure pushed through the Legislature. Nearly 6,000 have never returned to class, the Athens Banner-Herald reports:
www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/10/28/2767522/technical-college-enrollment-fiscal.html
Technical college enrollment, fiscal woes discouraging
More distressing news on the education/economic front: More than 11,000 students in Georgia’s technical colleges lost their HOPE grants last year when the standards were raised to keep the program solvent. Worse, more than half of those have not come back, even though modestly improved revenues allowed the state to go back to the old GPA minimum for this year.
Education News
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2013/10/report-half-of-students-who-lost-hope.html
Report: Half of students who lost HOPE grant have not re-enrolled
Carla Caldwell, Morning Edition EditorMore than 11,000 Georgia students lost HOPE grants to attend state technical colleges when the state lawmakers adopted tougher academic requirements in 2011, and more than half have not re-enrolled in school as of this fall, according to Technical College System of Georgia statistics.
More than 11,000 Georgia students lost HOPE grants to attend state technical colleges when the state lawmakers adopted tougher academic requirements in 2011, and more than half have not re-enrolled in school as of this fall, according to Technical College System of Georgia statistics. The Legislature in 2011 raised the minimum GPA students had to keep in their first year – from 2.0 to 3.0 – as a way to cut the costs of the lottery-funded HOPE program. As a result of the cost-saving measure, 11,471 students in the system’s 24 technical colleges lost their HOPE grants, reports the Athens Banner-Herald.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/57095/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=f9c21ab2fb274369906e54b1b7d37674&elqCampaignId=62
Initiative Aims to Raise the Bar for Teacher Prep Programs
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
In an effort to get more effective teachers into America’s classrooms, seven states have joined a new initiative to “strengthen” teacher licensure standards and “raise the bar” on the approval process for teacher prep programs. The initiative — led by the Council of Chief State School Officers, or CCSSO, and formally called the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation, or NTEP — grew out of a “call to action” that CCSSO issued late last year and adds to the growing momentum to make university-based teacher preparation programs more accountable for student achievement.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/29/complete-college-america-report-tracks-state-approaches-performance-based-funding#ixzz2j6YucUPB
Scorecard for Scorecards
By Paul Fain
SALT LAKE CITY — In the last few years, 16 states have begun funding public colleges based at least partially on student outcomes like degree production and completion rates. That number soon will grow, according to Complete College America, bringing the total to 25 states.
www/chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Group-Promotes-Game-Changing/142673/?cid=at
Group Pushes ‘Game Changing’ Tactics for Improving College Completion
By Katherine Mangan
Salt Lake City
Policy makers, politicians, and education leaders from 34 states gathered in a hotel ballroom here on Monday to listen to a nonprofit group read from its playbook of “game changing” strategies for doubling or even tripling college-completion rates. They heard from lawmakers in states that have carried out sweeping changes in remedial education and tied state appropriations to student performance. They listened to students expound on the merits of block scheduling and carefully structured academic pathways. …The meeting, which ends on Tuesday, offers a glimpse at how Complete College America is influencing higher-education policies in dozens of states.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/57107/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=f9c21ab2fb274369906e54b1b7d37674&elqCampaignId=62
Diverse Conversations: Military Veterans, College Life and Mental Illness
by Matthew Lynch
Thousands of veterans are returning home each month and transitioning back to civilian life. For many, this includes going back to college or taking college courses. As they reintegrate into the routines of civilian life, special attention should be paid to easing the transition process and providing a supportive environment. Dr. Victor Schwartz, medical director of the Jed Foundation, a leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting emotional health and preventing suicide among college students, answers a few questions regarding the mental health and transitional issues many U.S. veterans face and what college campuses are doing to address the issue.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/29/study-tracks-impact-counseling-low-income-students#ixzz2j6ZBA8ms
College Counseling Matters
By Scott Jaschik
A theme of several studies in the last year has been that there are plenty of academically talented low-income students who for some combination of reasons are not applying to competitive colleges to which they would probably be admitted. A new study along those lines — this time documenting the impact of intense college counseling — was released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/29/more-data-show-students-unprepared-work-what-do-about-it#ixzz2j6YlBihL
Qualified in Their Own Minds
By Allie Grasgreen
As more students have struggled to find a place in a depressed job market and questions about the employment value of a college degree have intensified, so too has concern that new graduates are not equipped to function in the work place and are not meeting employers’ expectations. A new survey reaffirms that quandary, but the group that commissioned it hopes the findings actually teach students something.
www.bloomberg.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/is-there-a-college-bubble-developing-in-america-pl_9ydA6RZihMnAIchowjQ.html
Is There a `College Bubble’ Developing in America?
The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy’s George Leef discusses the cost of higher education. He speaks with Mark Crumpton on Bloomberg Television’s “Bottom Line.”
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Company-Selling-Net-Price/142671/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Company Selling Net-Price Calculators Stymies Efforts to Compare College Costs
By Kelly Field
A company that has developed net-price calculators for some of the nation’s top colleges is blocking access to an aggregator’s computer servers, allegedly at the request of some of those college clients.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/29/unc-institution-looking-cutting-physics-history-political-science-and-more#ixzz2j6Yb086y
The End of History?
By Ry Rivard
One of the 17 University of North Carolina campuses could stop offering degrees in physics, history and political science. Elizabeth City State University, a 2,300-student historically black college in northeastern North Carolina, is talking about ending seven undergraduate degree programs because of state funding declines and enrollment shortfalls, said Provost Ali Khan. The majors are considered “low productive” by UNC’s general administration office, Khan said. Elizabeth City is not alone — about 11 percent of all academic programs in the system have been given the same designation.
www.online.wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304470504579164172889094320?mod=ITP_personaljournal_3
Penn State Settles With Sandusky Abuse Victims
By RACHEL BACHMAN
Penn State will pay 26 sex-abuse victims of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky a total of $59.7 million in settlements, the school announced Monday. The agreements include releases of all claims against Penn State and other parties and are subject to confidentiality.