University System News
2014 GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION NEWS:
www.flagpole.com
http://flagpole.com/news/news-features/2014/01/22/deal-s-budget-only-starts-to-repair-damage-to-schools
Deal’s Budget Only Starts to Repair Damage to Schools
By Blake Aued
Public education has been a carnage in Georgia since the recession began in 2008. Budgets have been cut by billions of dollars, school years were shortened, and 9,000 teachers lost their jobs as class sizes increased. Gov. Nathan Deal pronounced that era over last week when he announced that he would add $547 million to K-12 education in the budget he submitted to the state legislature. …Higher Education Falls – Colleges and universities have suffered a similar fate to K-12 in recent years, with state funding falling from $2.1 billion in 2008 to a low of $1.7 billion in 2012. It’s $1.9 billion in Deal’s proposed 2015 budget. The difference is that, while local school boards can raise property taxes (at least the ones that aren’t maxed out at 20 mills), the University of Georgia cannot. Instead, the shortfall landed on the backs of students in the form of higher tuition and fees and fewer HOPE Scholarship benefits. As state spending has dropped, enrollment is up 9.4 percent, University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby told the House and Senate appropriations committees last week. State support per student is now equal to 1996—without adjusting for inflation, he said.
USG NEWS:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2014-01-21/local-match-needed-state-georgia-regents-university-cancer-center-funds
Local match needed by state before Georgia Regents University Cancer Center funds released
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
While bond funds for the new Georgia Regents University Cancer Center are unencumbered, the reality is they won’t be spent until a private match is in the bank, officials said Tuesday. And that could put Augusta officials hard up against a deadline to get special purpose local option sales tax funding. The Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission has sold $45 million in bonds to finance the $62.5 million project and the university has committed to raise $12.5 million, with another $5 million in bond funding next fiscal year. Technically, the bond funds are available and would not require a match to be spent, a GSFIC official has said.
www.albanyherald.com
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2014/jan/18/dunning-poised-to-impact-asu-and-albany/
Dunning poised to impact ASU and Albany
Interim president feels ASU can do more for Albany and southwest Georgia through partnerships
By Brad McEwen
ALBANY — Acting as Albany State University’s interim president for just more than a month, Dr. Arthur N. Dunning already sees ways in which his past experiences can help the school grow and maintain its role as an integral part of Albany and Southwest Georgia.
www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=270188
New UNG Director of Public Safety takes over
By Marc Eggers Staff
DAHLONEGA – The University of North Georgia swore in a new Director of Public Safety in a ceremony held at UNG’s Dahlonega Campus on Tuesday. Justin Gaines was sworn in by Bruce Holmes, Director of Security for the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents. The ceremony was attended by UNG President Dr. Bonita Jacobs, former UNG Police Chief Mike Stapleton, UNG Deputy Police Chief Clifford Poole, and law enforcement personnel from UNG and Lumpkin County.
www.campustechnology.com
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/01/21/georgia-tech-mooc-based-degree-program-turns-away-nearly-2000-applicants.aspx?admgarea=news
Georgia Tech MOOC-Based Degree Program Turns Away Nearly 2,000 Applicants
By Dian Schaffhauser
A totally MOOC-based master’s degree in computer science announced last spring has opened for business with about 375 students. The new program, being delivered by Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Computing, claims to be the “first and only” one from an accredited university that operates entirely through a massive open online course format.
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2014/01/wellstar-provides-275m-in-ksu.html
WellStar provides $2.75M in KSU athletic deal, gets naming rights
Carla Caldwell, Morning Edition Editor
WellStar Health System and Kennesaw State University’s athletic department have entered into a $2.75 million partnership and sponsor agreement that gives WellStar naming rights to the school’s new stadium press box. The deal calls for WellStar to provide the athletic department with $1.25 million over the first three years of the agreement, and then make 12 annual payments of $125,000 through 2029, reports the Marietta Daily Journal.
www.saportareport.com
http://saportareport.com/blog/2014/01/atlanta-tech-leaders-core-reaction-teams-need-your-help/
SaportaReport
Atlanta tech leaders — Core Reaction teams — need your help
By Saba Long
Atlanta Untold
Co-founded by the folks behind Choose ATL, this project sets the tone for what Core Reaction is focused on – highlighting what makes the greater Atlanta area home and supporting its people and places. The Atlanta Untold team, much like nearly all of the Core Reaction participants, identifies Atlanta as the region – not just the urban core. Atlanta Untold will tell the story of the Georgia Tech cyber security professor who offers national security advice to the White House.
GOOD NEWS:
www.tiftongazette.com
http://www.tiftongazette.com/local/x1767982391/ABAC-beats-trend-with-spring-enrollment-increase
ABAC beats trend with spring enrollment increase
Tifton Gazette
TIFTON — For the second consecutive semester, the enrollment at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is higher than a year ago, going against a state and nationwide trend of enrollment declines. ABAC President David Bridges said the spring term enrollment stands at 3,137, quite a jump from the 2,921 students enrolled in the spring semester of 2013. Spring term classes at ABAC began Jan. 8.
www.walb.com
http://www.walb.com/story/24513872/enrollment-continues-to-increase-at-abac
Enrollment continues to climb at ABAC
By Josh Rhoden
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – While enrollment is dropping at most Georgia Colleges, it’s going up significantly at one South Georgia school. Enrollment this semester at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is up about 7% over last spring following a 5% increase in the fall.
www.thebrunswicknews.com
http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/open_access/local_news/Donation-912214-hr#
Trailer could aid in disaster
By MARTIN RAND III The Brunswick News
College of Coastal Georgia Police Chief Bryan Sipe used to get nervous when he thought about how the school would help students in the aftermath of a natural disaster. His fears have eased a bit with the donation of an evacuation trailer to College of Coastal Georgia. The 20-foot trailer holds 50 cots, 60 blankets, a 7,500-watt gas-powered generator that can power the trailer and its equipment for up to eight hours and other equipment. The trailer and all the equipment cost $20,200 and was paid for by grant money from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the national Firehouse Subs fast food chain.
Related article:
www.members.jacksonville.com
http://members.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2014-01-21/story/firehouse-subs-donates-20200-trailer-and-emergency-equipment-college
Firehouse Subs donates $20,200 trailer and emergency equipment to College of Coastal Georgia
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/science_health/uga-lends-a-green-thumb-to-peanut-farmers/article_3cd7cdfa-8243-11e3-9e1e-001a4bcf6878.html
UGA lends a green thumb to peanut farmers
Savannah Levins
The University of Georgia received a $15 million grant that will allow it to help impoverished countries around the world. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Agency on International Development to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will go toward management of UGA’s Peanut and Mycotoxin Innovation lab. The program is aimed at helping countries feed themselves, and those involved with the program are excited to pursue this work in underdeveloped countries around the world.
www.fcw.com
http://fcw.com/articles/2014/01/21/grant-seeks-to-counter-attacks-on-power-grid.aspx
Grant seeks to counter attacks on power grid
By Mark Rockwell
The Energy Department gave Georgia Institute of Technology researchers $5 million to develop protocols and tools that can detect cyberattacks on the nation’s utility companies.
According to the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the grant will fuel a cooperative effort to detect “adversarial manipulation of the power grid.” The initiative seeks to provide real-time protection for the energy infrastructure by using advanced modeling and simulation technologies linked to a network of sensors.
USG VALUE:
www.onlneathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-01-18/sbdc-host-clinic-new-small-farmers
SBDC to host clinic for new, small farmers
The University of Georgia Small Business Development center will present a workshop Feb. 11 for new, small farmers. The Starting a Small Farm Business program will provide information on the business aspects of managing a farm.
Research News
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/uga-holds-dedication-ceremony-for-agricultural-research-center/article_a97f4f54-82b7-11e3-b779-001a4bcf6878.html
UGA holds dedication ceremony for agricultural research center
Nick Watson
University of Georgia President Jere Morehead joined local, state and federal dignitaries in a dedication for the J. Phil Campbell Sr. Research and Education Center Tuesday morning in Watkinsville. UGA is the first land-grant university to take control of a former United States Department of Agriculture facility. Rep. Jack Kingston(R-Savannah) joined President Morehead and other administrators at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility.
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/science_health/uga-researchers-explore-benefits-of-exercise-among-hispanics/article_f9ff736c-8241-11e3-adaf-001a4bcf6878.html
UGA researchers explore benefits of exercise among Hispanics
Rachel Brannon
A heavy weight has been lifted from University of Georgia researchers. Jennifer Gay, assistant professor of health promotion and behavior at the UGA College of Public Health, and her team of researchers have conducted a study suggesting that exercise reduces the risk of disease among a specific demographic — a population of Mexican-American adults located in the southern Texas city Brownsville.
www.natureworldnews.com
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/5689/20140117/chimpanzees-communicate-gestures-teach-location-study-finds.htm
Chimpanzees Can Communicate with Gestures to Teach Location, Study Finds
By James A. Foley
When trying to accomplish a specific goal, chimpanzees know how to use hand gestures to effectively communicate what they want, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Georgia found that chimps being tested on their ability to show a human the location of a hidden piece of food in a large outdoor area were able to communicate with gestures to point out the location of the food, an observation new to science.
www.upi.com
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2014/01/17/Poison-eating-bacteria-could-have-industrial-enviornmental-uses/UPI-53081390005726/?spt=rln&or=2
Poison-eating bacteria could have industrial, enviornmental uses
ATHENS, Ga., Jan. 17 (UPI) — Bacteria that thrive on breathing toxic metals in extreme environments could be an asset for industry and environmental protection, U.S. researchers say. Researchers from the University of Georgia, on a recent field trip to a remote salt lake near Yosemite National Park, found the bacteria buried deep in mud along the lake’s edge and surviving on elements that are notoriously poisonous to humans, such as antimony and arsenic, in place of oxygen, the university reported Friday.
www.inventorspot.com
http://inventorspot.com/articles/georgia_techs_using_human_arms_make_robots_more_accurate
Georgia Tech’s Using Human Arms To Make Robots More Accurate
by Tech Light
Where robotics innovation is concerned, the manufacturing sector is a major driving force, particularly where heavy machinery is concerned. The reason for this is simple – such machinery has the capacity to be extremely dangerous to humans, and with the increasing focus on automation, all it takes is a simple miscalibration to kill or disable a worker. For this reason, researchers, inventors, and innovators all over the world are constantly coming up with new ideas, concepts, and inventions to make manufacturing smarter, better, and most of all, safer. The latest development to that end comes from the Georgia Institute of Technology, which is devising a control system which, upon completion, will make robots both safer and considerably more intelligent.
www.defenseindustrydaily.com
China’s Second Carrier Will be Home-built
UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
Today’s video features Thad Starner , a researcher at Georgia Institute of Technology who’s the technical lead of Google’s Project Glass, who’s confident wearable computing will continue its push in the mainstream. (last article)
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/business/100m-tech-park-planned-for-henry-county/ncwWt/
Technology park planned for Henry County
By Christopher Seward
The new Stockbridge Downtown Development Authority, created last year, has high hopes for a new technology campus near the intersection of Eagles Landing Parkway and Rock Quarry Road in Henry County … Tino Mantella, president of the Technology Association of Georgia, said the metro area is increasingly establishing itself as a hub for innovation centers, such as the Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech, and with companies like AT&T, Panasonic, General Motors and IBM investing heavily in them.
www.backstage.com
http://www.backstage.com/news/how-drive-crowd-fund-you/
How to Drive the Crowd to Fund You
By Briana Rodriguez
Crowdfunding is quickly becoming the number one way for indie films to score the monetary resources needed to get a movie made. Success stories like Zach Braff’s Sundance select “Wish I Was Here” and the feature film adaptation of the popular television series “Veronica Mars” raised just over $3 million and $5.7 million, respectively. What was their secret? The Georgia Institute of Technology might’ve figured it out. They recently did a study that spanned 45,000 online fundraising campaigns to determine a phrasing formula for successful fundraisers, and shed some light on why other campaigns might have flopped.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/opinion/2014-01-21/what-others-say-deals-budget-proposal-no-guarantee-adequate-state-education
What Others Say: Deal’s budget proposal no guarantee of adequate state education funding
Gov. Nathan Deal’s State of the State message, delivered last Wednesday, hit some high notes concerning education — and it’s about time. State lawmakers have eviscerated public education funds for close to a decade. Deal, while not giving teachers a raise, something that’s mandated by the state, does have some increases for teacher training and experience. He plans to send $300 million to local districts through the Quality Basic Education formula, increase funding for transportation and vouchers and give $25 million in grants for digital education and wi-fi enhancements. Any dime will help — if it actually happens. The budget will be sliced and diced by a General Assembly that has shown itself to be anti-public education.
www.politics.blog.ajc.com
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/01/21/legislative-tip-sheet-guns-kids-and-pot/
Political Insider with Jim Galloway
Legislative tip sheet: Guns, kids and pot
After a three-day weekend, the state Senate will be back in session at 10 a.m. today. The House convenes at a more leisurely 11 a.m. The calendars are light, but committees will begin this week to hear and move bills. We’re on the lookout for a revised gun bill which may contain a compromise on the issue of campus carry.
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/jay-bookman/2014/jan/22/we-produce-lot-more-college-grads-college-level-jo/
Jay Bookman
We produce a lot more college grads than college-level jobs
Following up on yesterday’s post about income inequality, I think it’s useful to note that according to a recent Rasmussen poll, only 15 percent of Americans believe today’s children will be better off than their parents, while 61 percent disagree. That’s a pretty startling reversal of American optimism. It’s important to note that advancement hasn’t become impossible — not by any means. A good work ethic, a college education and marriage to a spouse who has both a job and a degree boost your chances of moving up the economic ladder substantially. The problem is that even if you do everything right, the number of good-paying slots available in the modern American economy is measurably shrinking.
Put bluntly, we are producing a lot more college graduates than jobs that require a college education.
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-01-21/blog-ugas-growth-has-been-slow-thank-goodness
BLOG: UGA’s growth has been slow (thank goodness)
By LEE SHEARER
Something to be thankful for, probably: The University of Georgia did not follow the path of many big state universities in first decade of the 21st century, which was to open their doors wide to meet increasing student demand and grow like Topsy.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/making-most-your-departments-hiring-process
Making the Most of Your Department’s Hiring Process
By Kelly Hanson
If you’ve been following academics on Twitter of late, you may have noticed an outpouring of feelings this month surrounding the annual MLA Convention, the conference for academics in the modern languages. There is even an entire Twitter feed dedicated to venting such feelings. Over the past month, these digital debates have ranged from the adjunctification of academic labor to the future of the humanities. Many of the conversations centered on what were often viewed as unfair hiring practices employed by universities, especially some of the larger research universities; how MLA (or perhaps other large academic conventions) often works as a metonym for the uneven and sometimes hostile terrain that is the academic job market; and how conferences might better serve us sans job interviews.
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/01/22/review-robert-j-thompson-jr-beyond-reason-and-tolerance-purpose-and-practice-higher
Higher Learning, Higher Ground
By Scott McLemee
After more than a year since reviewing Andrew Delbanco’s College: What It Was and Should Be (Princeton, 2012), I find one historical detail in the book especially intriguing. It concerns a once-standard feature of higher learning in the United States in the years before the Civil War, when colleges were usually run under the auspices of one religious institution or another. Then, the culmination of one’s undergraduate studies — the “capstone,” as Delbanco calls it — was a course on moral philosophy, taught by the school’s president, taken in the senior year.
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/neutron-budgets
Neutron Budgets
By Matt Reed
“[Gov.] Beshear proposes budget cuts and building projects for Kentucky universities” — Headline in Lexington Herald-Leader (hat-tip to Lee Skallerup Bessette for highlighting it)
Readers of a certain age will remember the neutron bomb. It was billed as a breakthrough in warfare back in the 70’s. Its selling point was that it would kill people by the thousands, but leave buildings standing. … People in higher education have become familiar with neutron budgets, of which Kentucky’s is the latest. It’s a budget in which colleges get money for buildings while, at the same time, taking cuts in the money to pay people to work in those buildings. From the perspective of folks on the ground, neutron budgets are both devastating and demoralizing. But from the perspective of a state legislature, neutron budgets can actually make a kind of sense.
www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/22/gov-cuomo-seeks-changes-to-flawed-common-core-implementation/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss
Gov. Cuomo seeks changes to ‘flawed’ Common Core implementation
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), who just a few months ago was defending the state Board of Regents’ implementation of the Common Core State Standards, now says it has been “flawed” and that he is creating a panel of education experts and legislators to review the problems and take speedy “corrective action.” He also called for an end to standardized testing for students in kindergarten through second grade. The remarks, made Tuesday as part of his 2014-15 budget presentation to the state legislature, come after many months of what educators and parents say has been a disastrous rollout of the Common Core standards.
Education News
www.miamiherald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/21/3883214/fla-board-of-ed-to-hear-about.html
Fla. Board of Ed weighs changes to Common Core
BY CHRISTINE ARMARIO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — Education Commissioner Pam Stewart defended proposed changes to the Common Core on Tuesday, saying they will set Florida apart and strengthen the state’s academic standards. Stewart presented the changes and fielded questions from the Board of Education and its meeting in Miami. The benchmarks for learning in language arts and math were adopted by Florida in 2010 and have been approved by more than 40 other states. The standards were developed by a coalition of state leaders and establish what a student should know to be prepared for college and the workforce.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/22/consumer-advocacy-group-calls-tighter-oversight-sallie-mae-other-loan-servicers
Taking on Sallie Mae
By Michael Stratford
The federal government needs to do a better job of overseeing the companies it hires to service student loans, especially Sallie Mae, according to a new report by the National Consumer Law Center. “The growing number of government investigations and consumer complaints show that government supervision has been lax at best,” the report says of Sallie Mae, the largest player in the private student loan market and student loan servicing industry.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/completion-rates-arent-the-best-way-to-judge-moocs-researchers-say/49721
Completion Rates Aren’t the Best Way to Judge MOOCs, Researchers Say
by Steve Kolowich
When it comes to measuring the success of an education program, the bottom line is often the completion rate. How many students are finishing their studies and walking away with a credential? But that is not the right way to judge massive open online courses, according to researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Course certification rates are misleading and counterproductive indicators of the impact and potential of open online courses,” write the researchers in the first of a series of working papers on MOOCs offered by the two universities. (The Harvard papers can be found here, the MIT papers here.)
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/22/after-failed-talks-academic-partnerships-and-coursera-both-introduce-online-course
More Competition for Online Certificate Students
By Carl Straumsheim
An online course provider will this spring introduce bundles of courses created by top-tier universities that can be completed for certificates. That description fits both Academic Partnerships and Coursera, and both programs are called “Specializations.”