University System News

USG NEWS:
www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2013-11-14/collaboration-between-ga-tech-gulfstream-represents-switch-undergraduate-classes?utm_source=Morris%20Digital%20Works&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlinesfromSavannahnow.com#.UoYpNCh5iCY
Collaboration between Ga. Tech, Gulfstream, represents switch from undergraduate classes
By WALTER C. JONES
ATLANTA — The working relationship between Gulfstream Aerospace and the Georgia Institute of Technology is about to get a lot cozier with the approval Wednesday of an agreement for them to share space in Savannah’s Technology Circle office park. It’s the first such arrangement in Savannah and one that school and civic leaders hope to repeat with other firms. It also completes the transition away from undergraduate classes that local leaders had lobbied hard to bring to the city. By sharing nearly 100,000 square feet of offices and classroom space at Tech’s Savannah building, the jet maker will be able to extend the partnership to include faculty exchange, more research and development of additional courses.

www.albanyherald.com
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2013/nov/14/rynders-8216optimistic8217-funding-for-a-new-fine/
Rynders ‘optimistic’ funding for a new fine arts center at Albany State will be in the state budget
Area legislators give overviews of what they expect at the January General Assembly
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — With the opening of the 2014 Georgia General Assembly looming on the horizon, the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed the area’s legislative contingent to its annual Legislative Affairs Rise ‘N Shine Breakfast Thursday morning at the Merry Acres Event Center. The four legislators —State Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, and Reps. Gerald Greene, Winfred Dukes and Ed Rynders gave brief overviews on what they expected to see in the upcoming session. Perhaps some of the most welcomed news of the morning came from Rynders in regard to funding for a new fine arts center at Albany State University. Rynders basically confirmed what former state senator and Georgia Board of Regents member George Hooks said two months ago that the more than $25 million to build the facility would be included in the next budget.

www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2013-11-14/city-leaders-want-source-azzizs-comment-augusta-population-decrease?v=1384476667
City leaders want source of Azziz’s comment on Augusta population decrease
By Wesley Brown
Staff Writer
Community leaders do not believe Georgia Regents University President Ricardo Azziz damaged the city’s image Wednesday when he told the state university system’s board of directors that Augusta’s population has decreased by 10 percent. They would, however, like to know the source of his data. “I was blown away,” said Margaret Woodard, the executive director of Downtown Augusta’s Economic Auth¬ority. “Is his information even accurate?” she asked.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2013-11-14/students-staff-use-creativity-innovation-reduce-waste-uga
Students, staff use creativity, innovation to reduce waste at UGA
By UGA NEWS SERVICE
The University of Georgia has simple goals when it comes to waste management—drastically reduce waste and make it equally as easy to recycle as it is to throw something away. On all parts of campus, students, faculty and staff are working to showcase and increase UGA’s efforts to be more sustainable.

www.statesboroherald.com
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/54992/
Ground broken on shooting sports center
GSU, city hope complex attracts international competitions
BY Jeff Harrison
More than two years ago, officials with Georgia Southern University and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources set their sights on creating a state-of-the-art Olympic-caliber archery and shooting complex on the Statesboro campus. With support from various sponsors and a major financial commitment from the city of Statesboro, the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents approved the project earlier this year. Thursday, representatives from all parties involved gathered on a tract of dirt and bush to officially break ground on the multimillion-dollar project.

ww.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/more-racist-facebook-posts-prompt-2nd-uga-protest/nbsDX/
UGA students, faculty protest racist Facebook posts
By Robert Lee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Less than a week after racist and homophobic comments posted on the Facebook pages of two affinity groups prompted a Nov. 8 rally in front of the football stadium, UGA students took their concerns to administrators Thursday afternoon. About 100 students and faculty members, many of them carrying signs, attended the silent protest in front of the administrative office.

www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=267892
Racist Facebook posts again spark protest at UGA
By The Associated Press
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) University of Georgia students and faculty have protested for a second time after hateful posts were again left on a Facebook page belonging to a minority student organization and one representing gay and lesbian students. The second series of posts within two weeks featured a photograph of a lynching and offensive language. Students staged a silent protest outside the office of University President Jere Morehead Thursday.

www.cbsatlanta.com
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/23973296/former-employee-board-of-regents-hiding-records
Former employee: Board of Regents hiding records that show mismanagement
By Jeff Chirico
MACON, GA (CBS ATLANTA) – Denise Caldon, of Macon, has repeatedly tried to unseal court records that she said contains evidence that the Board of Regents has mismanaged a college campus and employment appeals. “It will open a Pandora’s box, there are so many issues,” said Caldon. Caldon was fired in 2008 after she said she refused to continue falsifying documents at the request of her supervisor, David Bell, former president of Macon State College, now Middle Georgia State College.

GOOD NEWS:
www.venturebeat.com
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/14/these-are-the-50-smartest-colleges-in-the-u-s-and-1-will-surprise-you/
These are the 50 smartest colleges in the U.S. (and #1 will surprise you)
Rebecca Grant
Forget the Ivy League and Stanford — the smartest college in America is not what you might think. Washington University in St. Louis came out on top of Lumosity’s annual ranking of the “smartest colleges in America.” Last year’s winner, MIT, came in second, followed by Princeton University, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon. Harvard and Yale came in eight and ninth, respectively, and Stanford settled down in 12th place… 23. Georgia Institute of Technology

www.times-georgian.com
http://www.times-georgian.com/news/local/article_4cb3cf20-4d9c-11e3-8bf6-0019bb30f31a.html
UWG dedicates Tanner Health School of Nursing
The University of West Georgia dedicated the Tanner Health System School of Nursing Tuesday night, with UWG President Dr. Kyle Marrero saying the partnership with Tanner would serve to propel the university into the future. “This partnership will transcend this glorious building where we house the School of Nursing,” Marrero said. “It will transcend the relationship that we currently have and move us forward in the west Georgia region.”

www.times-herald.com
http://www.times-herald.com/local/20131114-rundown
The Friday Rundown
Here’s a short preview of what’s appearing in tomorrow’s online and print edition of The Newnan Times-Herald:
…–University of West Georgia nursing school renamed to recognize partnership with Tanner Health System — now Tanner Health System School of Nursing.

RESEARCH:
www.times-georgian.com
http://www.times-georgian.com/news/article_f037e4b6-4d9b-11e3-b8a8-0019bb30f31a.html
County, UWG working on recreation survey
Winston Jones/Times-Georgian
When Carroll County Commission Chairman Marty Smith wanted to get a true picture of the county’s recreation needs, he knew an outside agency was the only way to go. The county has never used an outside agency before to determine recreation needs, but he said it’s the ideal way to get meaningful data that’s not biased by anyone already involved in recreation activities. Cost, however, can be a deterring factor. So instead of hiring an expensive private consultant, Smith sought a government-university partnership to do the work. “We approached the University of West Georgia to help us with a survey,” Smith said.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2013/11/georgia-tech-gulfstream-relationship.html
Georgia Tech, Gulfstream relationship gets ‘cozier’
Carla Caldwell, Morning Edition Editor
The working relationship between Savannah-based Gulfstream Aerospace and the Georgia Institute of Technology is about to get cozier due to a new agreement to share space in Savannah’s Technology Circle office park, reports the Savannah Morning News. The agreement completes the transition away from undergraduate classes that local leaders had lobbied hard to bring to the city, the paper says.

www.myfoxatlanta.com
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/23970664/almost-humans-being-created-now-at-georgia-tech
“Almost Humans” being created at Georgia Tech
By Paul Milliken, Good Day Atlanta feature reporter
ATLANTA –
J.J. Abrams is talking about his latest show “Almost Human” which is premiering this weekend. “It’s not really a sci-fi show. It’s a show about these two characters, and the group around them, going through the challenges that are very unique given the time and place of the series,” describes Abrams. It might seem far off, but a world of robots doing human jobs is already happening. Good Day Atlanta’s Paul Milliken visited Georgia Tech to see how they are creating their own “Almost Humans.”

www.fastcompany.com
http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-uphill-climb
UDACITY’S SEBASTIAN THRUN, GODFATHER OF FREE ONLINE EDUCATION, CHANGES COURSE
By Max Chafkin
There’s a story going around college campuses–whispered about over coffee in faculty lounges, held up with great fanfare in business-school sections, and debated nervously by chain-smoking teaching assistants… It might already be changing. This January, several hundred computer science students around the world will begin taking classes for an online master’s degree program being jointly offered by Udacity and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Fees will be substantial–$6,600 for the equivalent of a three-semester course of study–but still less than one-third of what an in-state student would pay at Georgia Tech, and one-seventh of the tuition charged to an out-of-state one. It’s a bold program, partly because it is the first accredited degree to be offered by a provider of massive open online courses, but also because of how it’s structured. Georgia Tech professors will teach the courses and handle admissions and accreditation, and students will get a Georgia Tech diploma when they’re done, but Udacity will host the course material.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/atlantech/2013/11/sensor-startup-lumense-raises-2m-from.html
Sensor startup Lumense raises $2.65M from Coca-Cola
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer-Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta-based sensor technology startup Lumense has raised a reported $2.65 million from the GRA Venture Fund and The Coca-Cola Company. Formed in June 2011, Lumense offers chemical and biological sensors targeted for use in the poultry, food and beverage, and water quality industry. In poultry, Lumense is working to help poultry growers measure levels of ammonia in their poultry houses. In the food and beverage and water industries, the technology aims to detect contaminants and chemicals… Lumense, located in tech business incubator Advanced Technology Development Center, has developed technology based on $20 million in funded research conducted at Georgia Tech.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/11/15/gwinnett-boosts-support-of-small.html?page=all
Gwinnett boosts support of small businesses
Doug DeLoach, Contributing Writer
From its Amazing Entrepreneur program to its Gwinnett Entrepreneur program, Gwinnett County is bolstering the support it gives to small businesses. “We are a connector, a hub; we organize and establish connections, and we promote activities in the community that encourage entrepreneurship and foster new businesses,” said Mark Farmer, director of entrepreneurship and information services at Gwinnett Chamber Economic Development (GCED). Among the key components of this countywide network are quarterly meetings of the Entrepreneurship Council, which bring together city, county and state economic development experts; representatives from The University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and SCORE; and business owners and entrepreneurs. Prior to the formation of the council, the participating organizations rarely talked to each other outside of casual encounters, Farmer said… The county is also collaborating with Georgia Tech to establish a local branch of the institute’s high-tech incubator, the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).

STATE NEEDS/ISSUES:
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/uga-georgia-power-put-on-the-dog-for-legislators/nbsWT/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
UGA, Georgia Power put on the dog for legislators
BY CHRIS JOYNER – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
This spring state lawmakers set the first-ever limits on individual gifts given by lobbyists to public officials, but they preserved the tradition of large, general-invitation banquets and parties. Two of the largest lobbying interests in the state – Georgia Power and the University of Georgia – showed their gratitude in October, spending a combined $35,000 for events for lawmakers. That’s more than all the rest of the reported lobbying spending for the month combined.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/24059801/article-Twist-of-irony–SPSU-leads-university-system-in-increased-enrollment?instance=lead_story_left_column
Twist of irony: SPSU leads university system in increased enrollment
by Don McKee
It’s quite ironic that the biggest increase in enrollment among Georgia’s 31 universities and colleges this fall was recorded by Southern Polytechnic State University, now facing a merger into Kennesaw State University. This remarkable fact emerged from checking the details of the University System of Georgia’s fall 2013 report, which showed enrollment declined by nearly 4,900 students from the 2012 fall figures. Enrollment dropped about 1.6 percent to 309,500 students from 314,365 last year. It’s the second year of decline after enrollment hit a record 318,027 students in 2011, an increase of 6,585 students, or 2.1 percent.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/57426/#
Parent Plus Loan Tightening Yields Negative Consequences
By Ronald L. Carter
Paying for college has always been a struggle for Christian Fair, a first-generation computer engineering student at Johnson C. Smith University. But the battle has become much more challenging since his parents were denied a federal Parent PLUS Loan (PPL) this fall. Facing a $600 shortfall in funds needed to cover the rest of his tuition and books, the sophomore worried that he might have to pack up and go home. Fortunately, a group of generous alumni stepped in and paid the balance for Christian. Most students, however, won’t be so lucky. The effect of tightened lending standards has been both far-reaching and devastating across the U.S., particularly in minority communities.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/11/15/colleges-must-work-retain-and-document-institutional-knowledge-essay
Capturing Institutional Knowledge
By Andrew M. Pena
What happens to an organization when its best, brightest, most experienced and knowledgeable employees are walking out the door? What do they take with them, and what do we lose? Part of it is the organization’s institutional knowledge or history. Obviously not all employee turnover is “bad” turnover; there are some employees that we’d like to leave sooner rather than later. But employees who leave do so with a substantial amount of work, business and operational knowledge that’ll be difficult to replace or duplicate if internal systems to retain or document this type of knowledge are nonexistent.

Education News
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/15/instead-waiting-lawmakers-it-officials-say-higher-education-should-lead-privacy#ixzz2kiptYlts
Leading on Privacy
By Carl Straumsheim
WASHINGTON — As long as federal and state-level authorities drag their feet on updating privacy standards, higher education institutions and their private sector partners have an opportunity to lead on the issue and drag governments to the negotiating table. Privacy experts and IT officials delivered that call to action on Thursday during a roundtable discussion that also explored privacy issues in health care and K-12 education.

www.blogs.wsj.com
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/11/14/are-you-repaying-your-federal-student-loans/?KEYWORDS=%22University%22
Are You Repaying Your Federal Student Loans?
By Lindsay Gellman
The cost of all that pomp and circumstance is catching up with recent grads. According to figures released Thursday from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the amount of education loans outstanding nationwide, which has increased every quarter since the New York Fed began tracking these figures in 2003, rose $33 billion to $1.027 trillion. Meanwhile, the share of student-loan balances that were 90 or more days overdue rose to 11.8% from 10.9%, even as delinquencies on other debts dropped.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/11/15/congressional-panels-look-ways-restructure-student-aid
Congressional Panels Look at Ways to Restructure Student Aid
Members of Congress this week heard from higher education advocates and researchers on ways to restructure the federal government’s student aid programs as lawmakers continue their series of hearings on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act. The education committees in both chambers convened separate hearings Wednesday and Thursday to discuss various ways to change federal student aid. Lawmakers heard about simplifying the administrative barriers for students applying for aid, restructuring Pell Grants to better incentivize completion, and improving income-based repayment options for student borrowers.

www.timesfreepress.com
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2013/nov/14/university-memphis-wants-drop-out-state-tuition/
University of Memphis wants to drop out-of-state tuition
by Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The interim president at the University of Memphis is advocating changes that include dropping out-of-state tuition, increasing enrollment and graduation numbers, and adding online course offerings. Interim President Brad Martin told The Commercial Appeal that he plans an “all hands on deck” meeting with university officials on Monday. He says the school will seek permission from the Tennessee Board of Regents to drop out-of-state tuition.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/11/15/warning-californias-governor
Warning From California’s Governor
California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, warned the University of California Board of Regents Thursday, that the university system is going to need to look to internal savings to finance improvements, The Los Angeles Times reported. Brown spoke at a meeting at which the board approved a tuition freeze (consistent with the governor’s thinking), but also a request to the state for $120 million beyond what he has proposed in his state budget plan. “The big, bad state is not going to bail you out at a rate that is different from what we are doing,” Brown said.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/11/15/essay-impact-open-access-requirements-academic-freedom#ixzz2kiq5NqGE
Open Access and Academic Freedom
By Cary Nelson
Over the last decade there has been a rapid evolution toward increased scholarly publishing online. Much of it remains proprietary publishing available only through paid access, but there are now a number of peer-reviewed gold access online scholarly journals, and book publishers commonly make a table of contents and a sample chapter freely available. Google meanwhile has made the complete texts of millions of public domain books available for free. And there are countless websites devoted to more narrowly defined online publishing projects.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/11/15/senators-introduce-bill-fund-open-education-resources
Senators Introduce Bill to Fund Open Education Resources
A new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate seeks to tackle the rising cost of textbooks by giving states an incentive to experiment with open educational resources. The Affordable College Textbook Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Al Franken, Democrats of Illinois and Minnesota, respectively, would create a grant program that would fund the creation of new textbooks — as long as they are made available for free online.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/15/federal-judge-rules-googles-digitization-effort-falls-under-fair-use#ixzz2kipioWQq
Another Win for ‘Fair Use’
By Carl Straumsheim
A judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit struck another blow for the “fair use” doctrine on Thursday, ruling that Google’s book digitization project can make book samples available free in an online database without violating authors’ copyright. The ruling brings an end to a case that is almost as old as Google Books and the accompanying Library Project themselves.

Related article:
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Judge-Hands-Google-a-Big/143059/
Judge Hands Google a Big Victory in Lengthy Book-Scanning Case

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Lawmakers-Are-Told-of/143063/?cid=at
Lawmakers Told of Health-Care Law’s Harmful Effect on Adjuncts and Colleges
By Lindsay Ellis
Washington
President Obama’s health-care-reform law will hurt both faculty members who work on a contingent basis and the colleges that employ them, said panelists who spoke on Thursday at a hearing of a U.S. House of Representatives education committee. Many adjuncts will see their teaching loads forcibly reduced, speakers said, as colleges seek to limit the faculty members’ working time to 30 hours per week, the law’s threshold for employers to be required to provide health insurance to employees.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/15/study-tracks-changes-sociology-departments-and-faculty-workloads#ixzz2kipaoKSO
Holding Steady
By Colleen Flaherty
Sociology departments haven’t really grown over the last decade, but they haven’t shrunk, either, according to a new department-level survey from the American Sociological Association. “We’re doing relatively well,” said Roberta Spalter-Roth, director of research and development for the ASA. “We aren’t doing as well as we would like to be, but we’re doing relatively well compared to other disciplines,” such as physics and foreign languages, which have seen widespread closures in recent years.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/President-of-U-of-Wyoming/143065/?cid=at
After Forcing Rapid Change at U. of Wyoming, President Abruptly Resigns
By Lindsay Ellis
Change came with unusual speed at the University of Wyoming under Robert J. Sternberg, the institution’s leader since July. And then, abruptly, change came to the president’s office, too. After just over four months on the job, Mr. Sternberg announced on Thursday that he would step down. During Mr. Sternberg’s short tenure at Wyoming, a provost, three associate provosts, and four deans resigned. The departures unsettled the campus, creating what some professors described as a climate of fear.