University System News
USG NEWS:
Atlanta Business Chronicle
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2013/11/01/kennesaw-state-university-and-southern.html
Kennesaw State, Southern Poly to consolidate
Dave Williams
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents will consider a proposal this month to consolidate Kennesaw State University and Southern Polytechnic State University. The planned merger is part of an ongoing system-wide series of institutional consolidations aimed at gaining efficiencies and cutting costs.
http://www.wsbtv.com
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/students-rally-against-proposed-kennesaw-state-sou/nbgmn/
Students to rally against proposed Kennesaw State, Southern Poly merger
Students at Marietta’s Southern Polytechnic University say they’ll rally Monday against a merger of their school and Kennesaw State University. The plan was announced Friday. But on Sunday a group of Southern Poly students told Channel 2’s Diana Davis they already have more 1,000 signatures on a Facebook page and petition against the merger.
The Marietta Daily Journal
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/23971909/article-SPSU-community-petitions-to-stop-merger?instance=home_top_bullets
SPSU community petitions to stop merger
By Rachel Gray
Students, alumni and faculty of Southern Polytechnic State University are uniting to stop a “hostile takeover” of the SPSU campus by the University System of Georgia. On Friday, the University System of Georgia announced it will ask the Board of Regents later this month to sign off on a plan to merge the Marietta-based SPSU with Kennesaw State University, ten miles northwest. The consolidation would need final approval in January 2015.
The Marietta Daily Journal
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/23967695/article-SPSU-president–students-shocked–angered-by-news?instance=home_top_bullets
SPSU president, students shocked, angered by news
By Hannah Morgan
Students, faculty and even the president of Southern Polytechnic State University were shocked and upset Friday at the announcement their school would be merged into the much-larger Kennesaw State University. Many students said they were worried about class sizes, changes in tuition and the reputation of their degrees.
http://eastcobb.patch.com/
http://eastcobb.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/ksu-president-to-speak-at-chamber-breakfast
KSU President to Speak at Cobb Chamber Breakfast
Daniel Papp would oversee an expanded university under a proposed merger with Southern Poly.
Posted by Wendy Parker (Editor)
Kennesaw State University president Daniel Papp is one of the featured speakers at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s First Monday breakfast, and he’ll have a lot to say about some big news involving higher education in Cobb County. On Friday a proposed merger between KSU and Marietta’s Southern Polytechnic State University was announced, with the move likely to be completed by 2015.
WFXL FOX 31
http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=965778#.UnevJZSifjg
Court rules in favor of Albany State
The Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled in the case of a whistle-blower lawsuit against the Georgia Board of Regents and Albany State University President Everette Freeman and Vice President for Academic Affairs Abiodun Ojemakinde.
Times-Georgian
http://www.times-georgian.com/news/article_28d7fbe6-4426-11e3-90dc-0019bb30f31a.html
Tanner, UWG announce nursing school partnership
By Winston Jones
Tanner Health System and University of West Georgia have announced a nursing school partnership designed to train more nurses and enhance the school’s educational facilities.
As part of the partnership, the university nursing program will be named the Tanner Health System School of Nursing. Investment from Tanner will be used to increase enrollment in the nursing program, add facilities and offer more scholarships and educational opportunities for nursing students in west Georgia and east Alabama.
RESEARCH:
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/11/02/women-high-tech-degrees/3382175/
Wanted: Women who want a college degree in a STEM field
By Nenad Tadic
Getting young women interested and immersed in computer science programs comes at a time when one million new jobs in tech-related fields will be created in the next decade. Just 37% of this year’s freshman class at Georgia Tech is female. And that’s increase over previous years, thanks in part to the school’s dedicated women’s recruitment team. Comprised of 75 current Georgia Tech students and an advisor, the team’s initiatives include speaking at high schools, hosting online chats and setting up campus visit events.
Economic Times
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-31/news/43561383_1_films-metal-oxide-gas
New coating may lead to waterproof cell phones
Scientists have created new barrier films that can protect electronics in very harsh environments – even when you submerge your cell phone in salt water for months. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new way to produce better films using atomic layer deposition.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
The Marietta Daily Journal
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/23974499/article-KSU-Southern-Poly-merger-plan-is-shocker-of-the-year-in-Cobb?instance=lead_story_left_column
KSU-Southern Poly merger plan is shocker of the year in Cobb
By Don McKee
This could be the shocker of the year in Cobb County. It’s the proposed merger of Kennesaw State University and Southern Polytechnic State University.
It came as a shock at Southern Poly from the president on down as reflected in comments to the Marietta Daily Journal after Friday’s announcement of the plan. Chancellor Hank Huckaby of the University System of Georgia said he will ask approval by the Board of Regents in a couple of weeks with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2015.
Gwinnett Daily Post
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2013/nov/02/jenkins-state-colleges-provide-second-chances-for/
State colleges provide second chances for university ‘drop-outs’ too
By Rob Jenkins
One of the best things about our American higher education system is that it routinely offers students second chances — and sometimes third and fourth. A lot of developed countries steer students onto either the college or the vocational track while they’re still in elementary school. In many cases, the choice is made for them, and there’s not much mobility between tracks.
Education News
Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/04/obama-administration-says-colleges-deserve-due-regard-key-affirmative-action-issues#ixzz2jgL69MIC
How Much Diversity? Who Decides?
by Scott Jaschik
The Obama administration has weighed in on a key legal question in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in June that courts could not approve the consideration of race in admissions by colleges just because those institutions offered their “good faith.” The administration argued in a brief filed Friday that although the Supreme Court ruling requires courts to independently review whether colleges’ policies are legitimate, those colleges are still entitled to “due regard” of their educational goals and how affirmative action fits into them. Specifically, the administration is calling for colleges to be granted some leeway in determining whether they have a “critical mass” of minority students necessary to promote the educational values of diversity.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/31/duncan-lays-out-rough-timeline-developing-college-ratings-system
The ‘Transfer Moment’
By Eric Hoover
Colleges that have long overlooked and undervalued transfer students are thinking more carefully about how to recruit, retain, and graduate them. During a session here on Thursday at the College Board’s annual conference, enrollment experts said the nation was having a long-overdue “transfer moment.”…Not long ago, Bonita C. Jacobs, president of the University of North Georgia, formerly North Georgia College and State University, would hear parents say almost apologetically that their son or daughter had enrolled at a community college. Now, she said, “they wear that as a banner of pride.”