University System News
2014 GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION NEWS:
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/republicans-avoid-internal-fight-over-national-aca/ndcKN/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
Republicans avoid internal fight over national academic standards
BY WAYNE WASHINGTON – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
What could have erupted into a fight among Republicans Tuesday didn’t, when the state Senate passed a law to review — but not immediately pull Georgia away from — the controversial set of national academic standards known as Common Core. By a vote of 34-16, the Senate passed legislation sponsored by Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, to have an advisory panel review the standards, which have drawn political opposition from tea party activists as a federal intrusion into state control of public education. Abruptly leaving Common Core could have huge financial costs in Georgia; the state won a $400 million federal education grant in part because it had agreed to adhere to the standards.
Related articles:
www.wabe.org
http://wabe.org/post/senate-passes-bill-aimed-separating-georgia-common-core
Senate Passes Bill Aimed at Separating Georgia from Common Core
www.thebrunswicknews.com
http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/open_access/local_news/LIGON-022614-hr#
‘Scaled-back’ version of Core passes
www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=271659
Ga. politicians fault national education standards
By The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) Conservatives are making an election-year attack on national curriculum standards used by Georgia’s schools, though it appears unlikely to change much inside classrooms. The state Senate was scheduled to vote Tuesday on legislation that would in theory ban Georgia’s state officials from adopting national education standards proposed by the U.S. government or other coalitions.
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/schools-gain-flexibility-to-deal-with-some-weapons/ndcLD/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
Schools gain flexibility to deal with some weapons on campus
BY AARON GOULD SHEININ – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Schools would no longer be forced to expel or suspend students caught with a fishing knife or baseball bat in their car on school grounds under legislation approved by the state House on Tuesday. The House approved House Bill 826, by Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, by a vote of 170-0. Setzler’s bill aims to eliminate situations where a student has a rescue knife or fishing knife in his car on school grounds and is automatically suspended from school and charged with a crime.
USG NEWS:
www.wsbtv.com
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/p-card-audit-leads-fbi-investigation-ga-tech/ndbn6/
Audits uncover ongoing issues with Ga. Tech credit cards
ATLANTA, Ga. — In 2014 alone, state government agencies and universities will spend $200 million using state-issued credit cards, also known as P-cards. No agency has more of the cards than Georgia Tech, and Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Richard Belcher says no one has had more difficulty with the cards, either. Georgia Tech has nearly 1,700 cards in use, but state auditors who look at all agencies gave Tech one of the lowers compliance scores they have ever handed out.
USG VALUE:
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-02-24/clarke-central-ninth-graders-got-look-uga-science
Clarke Central ninth-graders got a look at UGA science
By LEE SHEARER
About 260 Clarke Central High School ninth-graders toured the University of Georgia campus Monday for a day-long taste of what scientists and students do in UGA’s biological programs. The event was the second major field trip in a program called Experience UGA that aims to bring every Clarke County public school student to the UGA campus at least once a year for a field trip. About 400 ninth-graders from Cedar Shoals High School are scheduled to make a similar trip next week. Earlier this school term, middle school students visited the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and the student-run UGArden in the program, which grew out of a partnership between the Clarke County School District and the UGA College of Education.
GOOD NEWS:
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-02-24/uga-employees-donate-more-400000-campaign-charities
UGA employees donate more than $400,000 to Campaign for Charities
By UGA NEWS SERVICE
Donations to the University of Georgia’s Campaign for Charities topped $400,000 for the eighth consecutive year. The statewide charitable giving campaign enables UGA employees to support the work of more than 1,200 service agencies in Georgia, many of which are engaged in the local community. A total of $402,298 was raised, with 2,000 university faculty and staff members participating. Their gifts will support the work of 394 service agencies.
RESEARCH:
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-02-25/uga-researchers-develop-sustainable-way-manufacture-important-drug-precursors
UGA researchers develop sustainable way to manufacture important drug precursors
By UGA NEWS SERVICEpublished Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Researchers at the University of Georgia have found a new way to manufacture an important molecule used in the pharmaceutical industry to create anticoagulants, a class of drug commonly prescribed to treat or prevent abnormal blood clots that can lead to heart attack, stroke and deep vein thrombosis.
www.fierceenergy.com
http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/new-fuel-cell-uses-solar-and-biomass/2014-02-25
New fuel cell uses solar and biomass
By Barbara Vergetis Lundin
Despite the benefits of low-temperature fuel cell technologies, they cannot directly use biomass as a fuel because of the lack of an effective catalyst system. However, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have developed a low-temperature fuel cell that directly converts a wide variety of biomass sources — including starch, cellulose, lignin, and even switchgrass, powdered wood, algae and waste from poultry processing — to electricity with a catalyst activated by solar or thermal energy.
www.nytimes.com
An Environmental Film Festival and High-Tech Music
By JASCHA HOFFMAN
March events at the intersection of science and culture … Robotic Musicianship Concert. Part of the Atlanta Science Festival … Two years ago, the drummer Jason Barnes lost an arm when he was jolted by an electric charge while cleaning a restaurant oven. Rather than learning to play with one stick, as Def Leppard’s drummer did in the 1980s, Mr. Barnes sought a musical prosthetic. Enter Gil Weinberg of the Georgia Institute of Technology who has built a number of musical robots, including one that plays the marimba.
www.smh.com
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/computers-are-getting-creative-20140220-331n0.html
Computers are getting creative
Drew Turney
Computers are getting better at things once seen as uniquely human.
Humans and machines have traditionally had clearly defined areas of expertise. We have the ideas, and they do the dangerous, complicated or boring parts. If we write a poem, a computer can check the spelling, but it can’t write the poem in the first place … So maybe we need to rethink exactly what creativity means. Mark Riedl, of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Interactive Computing, works in what’s called ”narrative intelligence” – programming computers to comprehend and generate cohesive stories.
www.blogs.wsj.com
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/24/piazza-opens-college-homework-site-to-recruiters/
In Race to Find Tech Talent, Piazza Opens College Homework Site to Recruiters
By DOUGLAS MACMILLAN
Piazza, an online study network popular with college engineering students, wants to help tech startups compete in the war for talent … Founded in 2009 by Sankar, Piazza lets college classmates ask and answer questions about homework and gives teachers a way to help students outside of the classroom. The company says more than half of the undergraduates at top engineering schools Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Georgia Tech are on the site, with average users spending two to three hours on it each night.
www.saportareport.com
http://saportareport.com/blog/2014/02/africa-atlanta-2014-initiative-aims-to-strengthen-ties-between-us/
Africa Atlanta 2014 initiative aims to strengthen ties between us
Posted in Latest Reports
By Maria Saporta
Former Mayor Andrew Young used to call Atlanta the gateway to Africa. On Monday, Atlanta leaders took one big step to open that gateway when they launched the year-long Africa Atlanta 2014 collaboration to highlight and strengthen their cross-cultural ties … Georgia Tech has been closely involved with both events. Jacqueline Royster, dean of Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, called it an idea whose time had come.
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/atlantech/2014/02/former-atdc-chief-launches-early-stage.html
Former ATDC chief launches early stage venture fund
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
A former chief of tech business incubator ATDC has launched a venture firm that will bet on Atlanta’s earliest — and riskiest — tech companies. Tech Square Ventures, launched by Blake Patton, will focus on seed-stage and early stage companies. “At the top of the funnel we still have a capital shortage — at the earliest stage,” sad Patton, a serial entrepreneur and former interim manager at the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech.
www.saportareport.com
http://saportareport.com/blog/2014/02/olympia-building-at-five-points-to-be-restored-to-historic-grandeur/
Olympia building at Five Points to be restored to historic grandeur
Posted in David Pendered
The historic Olympia building at Five Points is to be restored to its original grandeur, right down to the neon lighting from its days as the showroom for Wormser Hats … As the years passed, the Olympia building remained a constant presence as taller buildings rose near Woodruff Park. The modern classic structure is one of the few remaining commercial buildings in Atlanta by Ivey and Crook, a company that helped with the Crum & Forster building in Midtown. The rear portion of the Crum & Forster buildings is slated for demolition. Georgia Tech owns the former insurance building and says the older space is incompatible with the school’s needs.
www.wsbtv.com
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/are-3-d-printed-guns-security-threat/ndZsy/
Are 3-D printed guns a security threat?
By Tom Regan
A Channel 2 Action News Investigation found diverse opinions regarding the public security danger of weapons created using new versions of 3-D printers that are now widely available to consumers … Channel 2 also spoke to the director of the 3-D invention studio at Georgia Tech. Channel 2 also spoke to the director of the 3-D invention studio at Georgia Tech. Professor David Rosen said given the limits of technology to build a reliable gun from a desktop grade printer, he said he would consider other threats more pressing for the government.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.politifact.com
http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2014/feb/26/mary-margaret-oliver/opposition-gun-bill-slightly-less-stated/
PolitiFactGeorgia
More than 80 percent of Georgians don’t support legislation to ease gun restrictions in houses of worship, in bars and on campuses.
Mary Margaret Oliver
Opposition to gun bill slightly less than stated
The Georgia House of Representatives recently passed legislation that would increase the types of places where guns could be allowed, but one lawmaker said most Georgians don’t support the changes. “You are aware of the polling data that dictates the views of people in relation to this gun debate,” Georgia state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, said during a floor debate concerning House Bill 875. “You are aware 80 percent-plus people don’t support these bills and these measures.” One House member who supported the legislation questioned Oliver’s numbers. PolitiFact Georgia wondered whether Oliver had accurately portrayed the people’s sentiments about the bill, or was she stretching the truth to win lawmakers to her side to vote against the bill.
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/24640293/article-Ground-the-owl–PETA-proposal-won-t-fly-at-KSU?instance=lead_story_left_column
Ground the owl? PETA proposal won’t fly at KSU
Who has been Georgia’s best-loved athletic figure, year-in, year-out? Hank Aaron, Dale Murphy and Herschel Walker all have their fans, but chances are that if it were ever put to a vote, the winner would be Uga, the English bulldog that prowls the sidelines at University of Georgia football games. Having live animals as mascots is a tradition at many stadiums and arenas, not just in Athens. The Atlanta Falcons usually have a live falcon on hand at home games. Georgia Southern University in Statesboro has a live eagle, Freedom, at graduations and sporting events. It’s a scene played out around the country and does much to add to the tradition and excitement of such occasions. So it is as well for Kennesaw State University’s mascot “Sturgis,” a live owl named for the school’s first president, the late Dr. Horace Sturgis. …KSU Athletic Director Vaughn Williams replied to PETA to, in so many words, not get its feathers ruffled. The owl’s training included getting it used to auditory and visual super-stimuli like cheering, blow horns, fireworks and pompoms.
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/24641061/article-KSU-s-Sturgis-needs-no-help-from-PETA–nor-do-other-live-mascots?instance=lead_story_left_column
KSU’s Sturgis needs no help from PETA, nor do other live mascots
by Don McKee
Sturgis, the great horned owl mascot of Kennesaw State, needs no help from People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA wants the university to stop using Sturgis as a mascot, protesting: “An arena filled with bright lights, screaming fans, flashing cameras and loud noises is terrifying and distressing for animals. Intelligent, sensitive birds simply do not belong at sporting events.” KSU athletics director Vaughn Williams responded back in October when Sturgis made his inaugural flight, saying the bird wouldn’t fly free at events and he wasn’t distressed. “Judging from Sturgis’ demeanor, he felt comfortable and safe,” Williams said. …Anyway, Sturgis, named for KSU’s first president, Horace Sturgis, is in the good hands of trainer Daniel Walthers at Winding Wood Ranch in Commerce. Among other mascots trained by him are the Baltimore Ravens’ two live ravens, not nearly as handsome as Sturgis, by the way.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/why-university-ideal-startup-platform
Why the university is the ideal startup platform
WIRED
The entrepreneurial spirit at the university level is willing and eager: nearly 90 percent of young people believe that entrepreneurship education is important, according to the Young Entrepreneur Council. And with the advent of the internet, free access to resources, and lowered barriers to entry, students can now start companies with minimal capital. At 3 Day Startup, we help students start companies through our experiential education entrepreneurship programs. Through our work with 5,000 students at 45 schools across the world, we’ve realized that the university is an ideal startup platform.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/popping-higher-education-bubble
Popping the higher education bubble
The Boston Globe
Last week, Kenneth Griffin, the founder and CEO of the investment firm Citadel, announced a gift of $150 million to Harvard University to subsidize financial aid. It’s not only Harvard that’s back in the money. A survey earlier this month showed that giving to colleges and universities was back at pre-recession levels, with a record $33.8 billion in charitable contributions during the 2013 fiscal year, almost a 10 percent increase over 2012. Most of this increase was, according to the survey by the Council for Aid to Education, “due to the rebounding in the stock market.” This is great news for higher education but bad news for higher education reformers who have been hoping that the financial crunch might cause colleges to rethink their operating assumptions.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/twitter-‘being-black-university-michigan’
On Twitter, ‘Being black at the University of Michigan’
The New York Times
As my colleague Tanzina Vega reported, there’s a notion in the media and popular culture that millennials are growing up in a colorblind world and “race is a relic of the past.” But a spate of recent incidents on college campuses challenge that idea. And interviews that Ms. Vega conducted with dozens of students, professors and administrators point out that racial tension continues to play out in both old and new ways.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/tuition-increases-pay-administration-not-education
Tuition increases pay for administration, not education
Main St.
According to the report, Labor Intensive or Labor Expensive: Changing Staffing and Compensation Patterns in Higher Education, the exponential growth of the higher ed workforce is at least partly to blame for the rising cost of college. The report finds that the number of non-faculty staff positions at colleges and universities rose 28% between 2000 and 2012. The bulk of these positions (accounting for 20% to 25%) have been administrative, with the biggest growth in student services. The report contends that the increasing cost of college can also be correlated to the associated benefits packages for these staff positions and declines in state funding.
www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/21/student-debt-volunteering_n_4825274.html
How You Can Pay Off Your Student Loans By Doing Good For The World
The Huffington Post | by Eleanor Goldberg
College debt is crippling our recent grads and it doesn’t look like there’s an immediate solution in sight. In 2012, seven in 10 college seniors picked up their diplomas and an ample amount of debt, too. They accumulated an average of $29,400 for their student loans that year, according to the annual Project on Student Debt report from the Institute for College Access & Success. While President Obama has vowed to help students who feel “trapped” by their student loan debt, a number of little-known programs already in place are giving struggling grads a much-needed reprieve. They’re rewarding college graduates who use their hard-earned skills to help others by covering some of their student debt.
www.theguardian.com
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/feb/25/build-overseas-campus-international-student-nottingham-malaysia
Why it still makes sense to build an overseas campus
Overseas campuses provide new opportunities for staff and students. But they cannot just be teaching outposts – their offering has to be as strong as it is back home
Christine Ennew
Students have always travelled in search of the best study opportunities and researchers have always collaborated across borders. But until fairly recently, higher education institutions have been stubbornly national – whether limited by the demands of domestic regulation or by protectionist approaches in potential destinations. With the exception of a small number of private sector initiatives and small-scale overseas study centres, universities have for the most part remained fundamentally bound by their geography. But the past 20 years or so have seen almost seismic shifts in context, policy and regulation, and in attitudes and behaviour. Now a new report by the British Council on opportunities for UK universities in India has warned them off investing in the bricks and mortar of an overseas campus. Instead, it points to calls from Indian higher education officials for more research partnerships.
Education News
www.timesfreepress.com
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2014/feb/25/technical-college-passes-milestone-in-catoosa/?vm=r
Technical college passes milestone in Catoosa County campus plans
by Tim Omarzu
Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s plans for a Catoosa County campus passed a milestone Monday. The technical college took ownership of about 38 acres on Old Alabama Highway near Interstate 75 that it purchased for $1.145 million from the Catoosa County Economic Development Authority. Construction could start in early June, college President Pete McDonald said, on the Catoosa campus that’s been in the planning stage for about 15 years.
www.unionrecorder.com
http://www.unionrecorder.com/local/x1783687741/GMC-could-expand-to-four-year-degree-program
GMC could expand to four-year degree program
Vaishali Patel and Kyle Collins
The Union-Recorder
MILLEDGEVILLE — Georgia Military College is close to offering students a four-year degree once the state legislature approves the two-year community college to expand its offerings at its campuses. “The bachelor of applied science degree in supervision and management is offered at six colleges and universities around the state. We wanted to offer it as well because of our location and our ability to support it,” said Dr. Mike Holmes, vice president of academic affairs at GMC. “We have to get the law changed in order to offer more than just first two-year level work. We’re working with state Rep. Rusty Kidd (I-Milledgeville) as well as state Rep. Bubber Epps (R-Dry Branch) who have supported us on this.”
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/dwindling-midwest-high-school-grads-spur-college-hunt
Dwindling midwest high school grads spur college hunt
Bloomberg News
“You can’t create 18-year-olds in a lab,” said Brian Prescott, director of policy research at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in Boulder, Colorado. “Enrollment managers are facing an awful lot of pressure that they can’t do much about.” Nationally, the high school Class of 2012 ushered in a first wave of declines in the number of graduates, according to a report by the commission. The trend will worsen after 2025, when admissions officers face the impact of a drop in births that began with the 2007 recession.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/tallahassee-community-college-florida-state-university-strengthen-ties
Tallahassee Community College, Florida State University strengthen ties
Tallahassee.com
Administrators at TCC and FSU have been fine-tuning details of the program for the past three months in order to make it available for the this year’s crop of high school seniors. “I don’t see how this is not a win-win for everybody involved,” John Barnhill, assistant vice president for enrollment management at FSU, said. With TCC2FSU, students who know they want to go on to FSU after earning an associate’s degree at TCC – students who may not have been accepted at FSU initially, or students who prefer the cost savings of a state college versus a public university – will receive additional advising to ensure that they have completed the necessary coursework for their major at FSU.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/professors-say-university-colorado-shouldn’t-have-shared-private-info
Professors say University of Colorado shouldn’t have shared private info
The Salt Lake Tribune
University administrators acknowledged the investigators from the American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status of Women Site Visit Program were given access to files within the Office of Discrimination and Harassment that are typically considered confidential.
www.diverseeducaton.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/60920/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=f6408cdaf58444babc8303f339b04839&elqCampaignId=173
Hispanic-Serving Institutions Continue Growth With More Poised to Join Ranks
by Charles Dervarics
Eleven percent of U.S. colleges and universities now qualify as Hispanic-serving institutions, a figure that may grow substantially soon as more institutions inch closer to the designation, a new report says. The nation had 370 Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) in 2013, an increase of nearly 60 percent during the past decade, said the new report from Excelencia in Education, based in Washington, D.C. In 2003, 242 colleges met the definition. …While the numbers continue to increase, enrollment data also show that many other colleges and universities are poised to join the ranks of HSIs soon. Excelencia identified 277 colleges and universities as “emerging” HSIs, or colleges with full-time equivalent Hispanic enrollments of 15 to 24 percent.
www.nytimes.com
Colorblind Notion Aside, Colleges Grapple With Racial Tension
By TANZINA VEGA
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A brochure for the University of Michigan features a vision of multicultural harmony, with a group of students from different racial backgrounds sitting on a verdant lawn, smiling and conversing. The scene at the undergraduate library one night last week was quite different, as hundreds of students and faculty members gathered for a 12-hour “speak out” to address racial tensions brought to the fore by a party that had been planned for November and then canceled amid protests.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/university-louisville-be-part-public-private-digital-manufacturing-lab-chicago
University of Louisville to be part of public-private digital manufacturing lab in Chicago
Courier-Journal.com
The University of Louisville will function as a remote manufacturing research site for the Chicago lab, university officials said. It’s meant to act as the nation’s flagship institute for research in digital manufacturing, using computers and data to improve high-tech manufacturing machines and factories.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/west-virginia-state-legislators-honor-value-college-degree
West Virginia state legislators honor the value of a college degree
The Parthenon
Marshall University’s Director of Recruitment, Beth Wolfe, said so many people are in some way tied to Marshall, and she enjoyed talking to them and hearing their stories. She said that it is also important to show lawmakers what the universities have to offer to West Virginians. “Higher education is important to the current and future success of West Virginia,” Wolfe said. “It’s important for the lawmakers to visually be able to see what our university has to offer. There’s a lot of pride for Marshall here, and it shows.”
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/obama-announces-innovation-hubs-pairing-companies-and-universities/73469?cid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en
Obama Announces Innovation Hubs Pairing Companies and Universities
President Obama on Wednesday announced the creation of two institutes in the Detroit and Chicago areas that will pair universities with private companies and nonprofit organizations in an effort to spur innovations in manufacturing. The new institutes are being supported by $140-million in federal money and an additional $140-million from nonfederal sources.