University System News

CONSOLIDATION:
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/implementation-team-set-for-ksu-spsu-merger/nb2Yk/
Implementation team set for KSU, SPSU merger
By Janel Davis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby has appointed members of the implementation committee that will work on the Kennesaw State University and Southern Polytechnic State University consolidation. The university presidents will lead the committee, that includes 13 faculty, staff, student and administrative representatives from both schools. The committee will meet within the next two weeks and provide regular updates to both schools.

USG NEWS:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2013-11-24/colleges-explore-online-courses?v=1385340072
Colleges explore online courses
Program could help dropouts return to school
By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
ATLANTA ¬¬— The 30,000 students who signed up to take Sam Shelton’s Energy 101 course online were more than he had taught in his two-and-a-half decades as a Georgia Tech professor. “It’s unbelievable how this has taken off,” said Shelton, who’s semi-retired now. He’s talking about a new type of online course available to the public for free without enrollment in a degree-seeking program. They’re called massive open online courses, or MOOCs, and they are shaking up higher education.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/audit-discovers-suspected-financial-fraud-at-georg/nb2yc/
Audit discovers suspected financial fraud at Georgia Tech
BY JANEL DAVIS – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
An internal audit has uncovered suspected fraudulent financial activities involving Georgia Tech Research Institute employees. The audit, completed in September, found procurement card purchases that appeared to be split between two employees — James Fraley and Alan Golivesky — to circumvent the university’s purchasing policies. A third employee, Stephen Blalock, approved the card statements, the audit said. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained a copy of the audit from Georgia Tech Friday. The report detailed discrepancies in charges and allegedly fake invoices, in addition to payments to questionable companies with ties to Fraley and Golivesky.

www.cbsatlanta.com
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/24047558/student-investigation-into-university-system-of-georgia-is-my-own-version-of-watergate
Student: Investigation into Ga. university system is ‘my own version of Watergate’
By Jeff Chirico
ATHENS, GA (CBS ATLANTA) – When news that the college he attended had developed a $16 million budget deficit in May 2012, David Schick knew it was the big story he had wanted. As editor of The Collegian, the student newspaper at Georgia Perimeter College, Schick began investigating what led to the supposed budget deficit that resulted in the termination of former college president Anthony Tricoli and 282 other GPC employees. “At times it feels like it’s my own version of Watergate,” said Schick, who has sued the university system for blocking his investigation.

GOOD NEWS:
www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2013/11/24/2796531/mercer-elects-board-chairman-new.html (2nd article)
MGS online programs named most affordable
Middle Georgia State College’s online degree programs have been named the most affordable in the state by AffordableCollegesOnline.org. It’s the second time this year the college’s online programs have been ranked the most affordable, according to a news release.

www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2013/11/24/2796531/mercer-elects-board-chairman-new.html (3rd article)
Central Georgia Tech, Georgia College sign agreement
Officials of Central Georgia Technical College and Georgia College & State University recently signed an agreement that will allow students to more easily transfer credits between the two institutions.

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/georgia-tech-grad-among-2014-rhodes-scholars/nb3yB/
Georgia Tech grad among 2014 Rhodes Scholars
By Michelle E. Shaw
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A 2012 Georgia Tech graduate is one of 32 Americans named as 2014 Rhodes Scholars this weekend. Melissa L. McCoy plans to pursue a master’s degree in science through research in environmental chemical engineering while at Oxford University in England, according to a bio provided by the Rhodes Trust.

Related article:
www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/24/rhodes-scholars-2014_n_4333687.html
Rhodes Scholars 2014: 32 American Students Announced As Winners

www.wrbl.com
http://www.wrbl.com/story/24034870/georgia-southwestern-chemistry-professor-named-universitys-2013-2014-featured-scholar
Georgia Southwestern chemistry professor named university’s 2013-2014 Featured Scholar
Posted By Naomi Keitt
AMERICUS, Ga. – Nedialka Iordanova, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, was announced as Georgia Southwestern State University’s 2013-14 Featured Scholar today by President Kendall A. Blanchard, Ph.D. …”Dr. Iordanova is a wonderful chemistry professor,” said Blanchard. “She is actively engaged in her own research, but at the same time, she involves her undergraduate students in that research. Students who take her chemistry courses not only learn about chemistry, they actually do chemistry, and at levels usually reserved for graduate students. She is one of the reasons that our graduates fare so well when applying for medical, dental, veterinary, or pharmacy school.”

RESEARCH:
www.nytimes.com

Already Anticipating ‘Terminator’ Ethics
By JOHN MARKOFF
ATLANTA — What could possibly go wrong? That was a question that some of the world’s leading roboticists faced at a technical meeting in October, when they were asked to consider what the science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov anticipated a half-century ago: the need to design ethical behavior into robots.…Dr. Arkin, a veteran roboticist at Georgia Institute of Technology whose research has included the ethics of robots for the military, began his talk by focusing on the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Robotics Challenge, for which teams have been asked to design robots capable of operating in emergency situations, like the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis in Japan.

www.wtoc.com
http://www.wtoc.com/story/24056378/uga-researchers-get-13-million-grant-for-loggerhead-research
UGA researchers get $1.3 million grant for loggerhead research
By WTOC Staff
ATHENS, GA (WTOC) – Researchers at the University of Georgia have received a grant to continue genetically “fingerprinting” loggerhead sea turtles. UGA says that the $1.3 million grant will allow researchers to continue their work with the threatened loggerhead sea turtles in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

www.gpb.org
http://www.gpb.org/blogs/georgia-works/2013/11/22/need-engineers
Georgia Works
Need Engineers?
By Chip Rogers
This past fall, the Georgia Tech Institute of Industrial Engineers held their annual IIE Fall Career Fair. Over 600 Georgia Tech students attended the fair with 42 companies recruiting top talent from one of the best engineering schools in the country. January 30, 2014, will be the next IIE Career Fair. For any employer needing to recruit the future’s brightest, this is the place to be.

www.gainesvilletimes.com
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/92104/
Water law now in hands of conference panel
By Jeff Gill
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives conferees have started work on the final version of a water authorization bill that states governors, not Congress, should negotiate interstate water disputes. That’s especially key in the longstanding battle over Lake Lanier water between Georgia, Alabama and Florida, a dispute that’s flared up again recently with a lawsuit filed by Florida against Georgia in the U.S. Supreme Court… The group is set to meet Dec. 11-13 at Lake Blackshear in Cordele, where it will decide whether to keep under wraps the details about a water study being conducted by Georgia Tech’s Georgia Water Resources Institute.

www.eetimes.com
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1320203&
Micron’s Automata Exploits Parallelism to Solve Big Data Problems
Gary Hilson
Micron unveiled what it claims is a fundamentally different new processor architecture at Supercomputing 2013 that speeds up the search and analysis of complex and unstructured data streams. The sneak peak of its Automata Processor (AP) architecture was accompanied by the establishment of a Center for Automata Computing at the University of Virginia… Micron has partnered with a number of research institutions to foster adoption of the technology, including the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Missouri, while the University of Virginia has established the Center for Automata Computing with the help of seed funding from Micron.

www.healthcanal.com
http://www.healthcanal.com/brain-nerves/brain-diseases/45191-ucla-emory-researchers-find-a-chemical-signature-for-fast-form-of-parkinson-s.html
UCLA, Emory researchers find a chemical signature for ‘fast’ form of Parkinson’s
The physical decline experienced by Parkinson’s disease patients eventually leads to disability and a lower quality of life. Depending on the individual, the disorder can progress rapidly or slowly. Scientists at UCLA and colleagues have now, for the first time, identified a biochemical signal in the blood associated with the faster-progressing form of Parkinson’s. Such a biomarker could help doctors predict early on, just after the onset of motor symptoms, how rapidly the disease will progress. The researchers said they hope blood-based biomarkers like this one will aid in earlier detection and lead to more effective disease management… Other study authors included Shannon L. Rhodes of UCLA; James R. Roede, Kichun Lee, Vilinh Tran, Frederick H. Strobel and Dean P. Jones of Emory University; Douglas I. Walker of Emory University and Tufts University; Youngja Park of Emory University and Korea University; and Karan Uppal of Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/25/massachusetts-institute-technology-names-edx-key-component-educational-strategy#ixzz2lfCkgEM3
The (Off-Campus) Future of MIT
By Carl Straumsheim
ORLANDO — Anant Agarwal has quit cold turkey — coffee, that is. But the president of edX, the massive open online course provider co-founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is as energetic about MOOCs as ever, despite almost daily calls from traditionalists for the death of his product.

STATE NEEDS/ISSUES:
www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/11/22/2815097/corporate-dollars-fund-career.html
Corporate dollars fund career paths
BY ROSE FRENCH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Asfand Sheikh types on a keyboard used to operate a robotic arm resembling something straight out of science fiction or a video game. But this is no game for the 17-year-old. He’s trying to land a job in Georgia’s carpet manufacturing industry, whose biggest companies have given money to fund the robot and other equipment to schools to train students like Sheikh. … Businesses across the state are playing an increasingly active role in Georgia education, contributing millions of dollars for equipment and other resources to schools and helping shape curriculum as part of an effort to prepare students to work for them or in related industries. The outpouring from business is tied to the state Department of Education’s new “Career Pathways” program, which directs ninth-graders to pick one of 17 broad career “clusters,” such as energy and manufacturing.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/11/24/2815521/why-college.html
Why college?
BY TIM MESCON
Tim Mescon, president, Columbus State University
For those of us here at Columbus State University, the questions Dimon Kendrick-Holmes raised in his Saturday column were very familiar. Parents all over the country are asking similar questions about the value of a college education, whether it’s the right choice for their children, and how to afford it. I can assure you, political and government leaders all over the country are also asking these questions. Hopefully I can help.

Link to Dimon Kendrick-Holmes article mentioned in above article:
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/11/15/2800886/some-basic-questions-about-college.html
Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Some basic questions about college
BY DIMON KENDRICK-HOLMES

www.times-herald.com
http://www.times-herald.com/opinion/20131123-Georgia-Says
Georgia Says
Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle on Georgia Regents University:
State officials are at least taking a skeptical look at having Georgia Regents University expand into the stately old mills beside the Augusta Canal. But it appears they’re looking more eagerly to establish an Atlanta campus of the GRU medical school. We think expansion here makes a ton more sense.

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2013/nov/22/celebratory-shouting-7500-high-school-seniors-lear/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
That celebratory shouting: 7,500 high school seniors learning they were admitted to UGA today
I am seeing proud mamas posting on Facebook tonight that their high school seniors were admitted today to the University of Georgia.
According to UGA: Some 7,500 high school seniors will have additional cause for celebration this holiday season, as they learn today that they have been offered early admission to the University of Georgia for fall semester 2014. For the third year, the UGA Office of Undergraduate Admissions is announcing early-action admission decisions nearly three weeks sooner than usual..

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Kludging-of-Higher/143215/
The Kludging of Higher Education
By Kevin Carey
Why does applying for student aid seem to require an advanced degree in accounting—and yet college keeps getting more expensive? Why does accreditation involve countless hours and mountains of paperwork—and yet many college graduates still don’t learn very much? Why are so many things in higher education complicated and ineffective at the same time? The answer can be summed up in a single word: “kludgeocracy.”

www.chornicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/are-colleges-ready-to-adjust-to-a-new-higher-education-landscape/?
Are Colleges Ready to Adjust to a New Higher-Education Landscape?
Moody’s Investors Service on Friday released a report with grim news, particularly for public institutions: In a survey, 28 percent of public institutions, compared with 15 percent the year before, said they expected declines in their net-tuition revenue, increasingly the lifeblood of many institutions. For private institutions, the news was not quite as dire. Nineteen percent expected declines, compared with 18 percent last year, but that finding should come with a caveat: The Moody’s survey included only the institutions the credit-rating company evaluates, which means they are probably among the more financially stable private colleges out there.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/11/25/essay-impact-applying-corporate-values-higher-education#ixzz2lfDNAuCs
Corporate Values
By Anthony Mora and Alexandra Minna Stern
America’s public research universities face a challenging economic environment characterized by rising operating costs and dwindling state resources. In response, institutions across the country have looked toward the corporate sector for cost-cutting models. The hope is that implementing these “real-world” strategies will centralize redundant tasks (allowing some to be eliminated), stimulate greater efficiency, and ensure long-term fiscal solvency. Recent events at the University of Michigan (suggest that faculty should be proactive in the face of such “corporatization” schemes, which typically are packaged and presented as necessary and consistent with a commitment to continued excellence.

www.blogs.edweek.org
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/john_wilson_unleashed/2013/11/common_core_needs_a_czar.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2
Common Core Needs a Czar
By John Wilson
Well, one of my favorite Southern sayings may be even truer as it relates to those implementing Common Core State Standards: “A bureaucrat can screw up a two-car funeral procession!” Who would have thought the “powers that be” could make such a mess of what started out as a powerful and game-changing idea? The Secretary of Education is insulting suburban moms for challenging the misuse of tests. The Commissioner of Education in New York has dug in so deeply that he risks the political future of his governor. The Department of Education is forcing the largest state to waste precious funds to meet irrelevant policies that could easily be waived.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/24/more-states-delay-common-core-testing-as-concerns-grow/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss
More states delay Common Core testing as concerns grow
Massachusetts and Louisiana, both seen as important in the world of school reform, have decided to delay the implementation of high-stakes standardized tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards in the face of growing concern about the initiative. The two states follow nearly 10 others — including Florida, the pioneer of corporate-influenced school reform — to slow or rethink Core implementation, actions coming amid a growing movement led by educators and parents who have become skeptical of the standards and the new related standardized tests.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/24/following-the-common-core-money-where-are-millions-of-dollars-going/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss
Following Common Core money: Where are millions of dollars going?
In this post, award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York raises some new questions about the Common Core State Standards and curriculum being developed around them. Burris has for more than a year chronicled on this blog the many problems with the test-driven reform in New York (here, and here and here and here, for example).

Education News
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-education-officials-traveled-abroad/nb2xJ/
Georgia education officials traveled abroad
BY WAYNE WASHINGTON – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Georgia School Superintendent John Barge and his staff have traveled far and wide to cement exchange programs and get tips on how to implement the new career pathways program. Barge said the trips have had tangible results — nearly 400 Georgia students have traveled to France and Germany over the past three years and about 650 students from Europe and Asia have come here to study. The pathways program has been implemented, with Georgia students choosing a career track they can follow throughout high school. Barge said international experiences will help Georgia students be more competitive in an increasingly global job market.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/25/tuition-revenue-not-keeping-pace-inflation-4-10-four-year-universities#ixzz2lfD3ZzAh
Tuition Revenue Down
By Ry Rivard
After years of leaning on tuition increases to make up for declining state support, about four in 10 public universities now report tuition revenue is not keeping pace with inflation, according to a new report by Moody’s Investors Service.

www.blogs.edweek.org
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2013/11/chances_of_completing_colleges_go_up_with_full-time_attendance.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3
Full-Time College Students Have Higher Completion Rates Than Part-Timers
By Caralee Adams
While high school seniors right now are focused on applications to get into college, the bigger issue they will eventually face is getting out. New research suggests that students who attend private schools have higher completion rates than those who attend public institutions, and enrolling full-time substantially improves the chances of earning a degree over part-timers.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/57661/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=1d73050197de4df69417645a9c5223c0&elqCampaignId=62#
Report: Job Growth Under Health Care Reform to Benefit Minorities
by Ronald Roach
A new analysis of health care job growth, stimulated in large part by the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, estimates that over the next 10 years the health care sector will see 4.6 million new positions, or a 31 percent increase from current employment levels, open up in the U.S. Economy.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/st-marys-college-of-maryland-joins-troubling-trend-too-many-empty-freshman-seats/2013/11/22/2fd1f8c0-489a-11e3-b6f8-3782ff6cb769_story.html
St. Mary’s College of Maryland joins troubling U.S. trend: Too many empty freshman seats
By Nick Anderson
A growing number of colleges nationwide are scrambling to fill classes, a trend analysts say is driven by a decline in the number of students graduating from high school and widespread concern among families about the price of higher education. The admissions upheaval at schools ranging from lower-tier colleges to esteemed regional ones, including St. Mary’s College of Maryland, contrasts with the extraordinary demand for the most elite colleges and universities.

Related article:
www.denverpost.com
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_24586794/more-colleges-have-harder-time-filling-slots
More colleges have harder time filling slots

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/25/ucla-grad-students-stage-sit-during-class-protest-what-they-see-racially-hostile#ixzz2lfCuRNkd
In-Class Sit-In
By Colleen Flaherty
The University of California at Los Angeles has come under fire multiple times this fall for the state of race relations there. First, concern over the treatment of minority professors prompted a sobering report detailing instances of race-based discrimination against faculty members. Next, Sy Stokes and other black male undergrads made their now-viral video about their slim ranks on campus.

www.inc.com
http://www.inc.com/issie-lapowsky/7-ways-tech-changes-education.html
6 Ways Tech Will Change Education Forever
BY ISSIE LAPOWSKY
Want to know what college will look like in 10, 20, 30 years? Here are six predictions from some of the brightest minds in academia and business.
Tensions were high Wednesday at New York University’s Stern School of Business, as a group of academics, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs faced off during a panel discussion on the future of higher education. The panelists, including NYU President John Sexton, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, and Codecademy CEO Zach Sims, among others, were charged with predicting the future of the traditional university. Will emerging technology and online learning dismantle the notion of “college” as we know it? …Here are six big ideas about how tech incumbents are about to drastically change the face of education:

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/25/american-studies-association-meeting-scholars-debate-proposed-academic-boycott#ixzz2lfCaGFbz
American Studies and Israel
By Elizabeth Redden
WASHINGTON – The National Council of the American Studies Association is deliberating a proposed resolution to endorse a boycott of Israeli universities, and a decision is expected before Thanksgiving, according to the executive director of the association, John F. Stephens. The council had a long meeting on Sunday morning, at which many thought there would be a decision, but the meeting is still technically considered to be in session. The resolution, which was proposed by the ASA’s Academic and Community Activism Caucus, has been endorsed by the current president and president-elect of the association, and attracted strong support from members during an open forum at the association’s annual conference on Saturday.