University System News

2014 GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION NEWS:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/capitol_vision/2014/02/privatized-college-buildings-bill.html
Privatized college buildings bill clears Georgia House
Dave Williams
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
After several fits and starts, legislation making it easier for the University System of Georgia to privatize student dormitories and parking decks is moving in the General Assembly.
The state House of Representatives approved the bill overwhelmingly on Wednesday, sending it on to the Georgia Senate. The university system Board of Regents wants to step up its privatization efforts in order to reduce the system’s debt load from campus construction projects, a total that is approaching $4 billion.

USG VALUE:
www.gainesvilletimes.com
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/96114/
Boy, 11, going to Hawaii thanks to Make-A-Wish foundation
By Carly Sharec
The temperature was cool outside, but it was hot, hot, hot inside Wednesday evening at the University of North Georgia men’s basketball game. And instead of cheers for the university’s Nighthawks, chants of “Aloha, Joseph!” filled the air. Calhoun resident Joseph Tippins, now 11, was first diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma when he was 9. With his cancer now in remission, Joseph along with his mother, brother and two friends, got to spend the entire day at the university, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Along with being treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the school and becoming an honorary Nighthawks basketball player — No. 10 — Joseph was told his wish of going to Hawaii was going to come true, with a five-day trip to Maui planned for April.

Related article:
www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=271771
Aloha Joseph: Wish comes true at UNG basketball game

www.times-georgian.com
http://www.times-georgian.com/article_e9a5cc5a-a028-11e3-9633-0017a43b2370.html
LIVING LEGACIES: Three educators praised for integration work
Colton Campbell/Times-Georgian
Three former educators were honored Thursday night as “living legacies” for their work in integrating Carroll County schools in the 1960s. A trio consisting of Norma Fulbright, C.B. Ward and Charles E. Wilson Sr. was inducted into the University of West Georgia’s Living Legacy Hall of Fame, sponsored by the university’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion. Acting director of the center Deirdre Rouse said each of the nearly 100 attendees present were indebted to the three recipients of the honor, which got its start last year.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-02-27/grady-college-debut-first-course-offering-spanish-speaking-country
Grady College to debut first course offering in a Spanish-speaking country
By UGA NEWS SERVICE
The University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is offering a course in a Spanish-speaking country for the first time as part of the new interdisciplinary study abroad program Art, Astronomy and Journalism. Anandam Kavoori, professor of telecommunications in the Grady College, will join faculty members from the department of physics and astronomy and the Lamar Dodd School of Art for the May term program on the UGA Costa Rica campus.

GOOD NEWS:
www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/02/27/2976202/agreement-to-make-transfers-easier.html
Agreement makes transfers easier from Georgia Military College to CSU
BY MARK RICE
Students who start their college career at Georgia Military College will have an easier time finishing their degree at Columbus State University, thanks to an agreement CSU announced Thursday. More than 120 courses will count as academic credit toward a degree at either school, according to the news release. “Our partnership with Georgia Military College is incredibly important and valuable to us,” Columbus State University president Tim Mescon said in the release.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/scholarship-georgia-regents-university-aims-produce-science-technology-engineering-and
Scholarship at Georgia Regents University aims to produce science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers
The Augusta Chronicle
Two years into college, Alexis Wren’s plan was to finish her chemistry degree, continue to medical school and one day land a high-paying job as a physician. So she wasn’t expecting a summer internship tutoring Burke County High School students in science to change her mind. But over several weeks of helping teenagers get caught up at summer school, Wren realized she could work in a field she enjoyed while being able to help others. “Medicine just felt so distant,” she said. “But the one-on-one interaction with students and getting to know them and getting to see how you can have an impact on their lives was rewarding.” With that, Wren, 22, decided to ditch her path to a six-figure salary in medicine for a career as a public school teacher. Luckily for her, a scholarship program at Georgia Regents University is in place to help students making such career changes.

www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/02/28/2977266/gsu-relaunches-child-abuse-helpline.html
GSU relaunches child abuse helpline
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Georgia State University officials say the school’s Center for Healthy Development has relaunched a free child abuse helpline. Officials said Thursday that the Prevent Child Abuse Georgia helpline has been relaunched with support from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. The helpline was shut down in 2011 and began operating again on Feb. 26.

USG NEWS:
www.wsbtv.com
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/couple-seeks-family-wwii-veteran-after-medals-foun/nd2t5/
Couple seeks family of WWII veteran after medals found in camper
A Canton family is on a sort of reverse treasure hunt — they found a hidden box of treasure and now want to find the rightful owners. Andrew Gunter is one of those guys who can fix anything so getting this 1978 Apache camper to fix up was perfect for him. He didn’t expect to find a treasure. Michelle turned the medal over to reveal his name – Dr. Edwin D. Harrison. Harrison went on to become the sixth president of Georgia Tech. He desegregated Tech in the 1960s without any court order.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2014/02/28/engineering-firms-fight-turnover.html
Engineering firms fight turnover
Courtney O’Neal
In an Atlanta Business Chronicle research survey that polled key issues faced by Atlanta’s top engineering firms, 47 percent noted dwindling retention rates as their top hurdle.
With competitive engineering programs offered at Georgia Tech – which has one of the top engineering schools in the country – and The University of Georgia, engineering occupations have consistently had a favorable outlook for growth, both in Atlanta and in the state of Georgia.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2014-02-27/uga-audit-work-fired-employee-reveals-no-improprieties
UGA audit on work of fired employee reveals no improprieties
By WAYNE FORD
The University of Georgia’s Internal Auditing Division completed a review of the financial accounts handled by a former employee recently charged with stealing from a youth sports organization in Madison County. The audit did not reveal any improprieties, officials said Thursday. The audit report regarding the investigation into Sherry Hawkes’ work at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government “had no adverse findings,” UGA spokesman Tom Jackson said.

RESEARCH:
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-02-27/report-finds-protecting-natural-areas-makes-good-fiscal-sense
Report finds protecting natural areas makes good fiscal sense
By UGA NEWS SERVICE
Protecting a county’s natural resources and its fiscal health may seem to be competing goals, but a recent University of Georgia study provides a blueprint for achieving both. The paper, which appears in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, offers a new way to assess the financial and environmental costs and benefits of development. Focusing on McIntosh County, Georgia, the study’s authors make recommendations to help keep down the costs of growth and also preserve the area’s natural resources and the services they provide.

www.cnbc.com
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101449845
A world where people still dream of new BlackBerry
By: David Cotriss, Special to CNBC.com
A booming population and growing middle class are developing world trends that many corporations are leaning on to pitch their growth prospects, but when it comes to the market bet on a turnaround at BlackBerry, emerging demographics seem to be an afterthought. In fact, there are two D’s in the BlackBerry story—devices and demographics—that should be essential, but instead another D has sprung to the forefront: the dilemma the company and its investors face in trying to figure out how to value the struggling smartphone maker… The demographic opportunity in Africa—and in particular the “youth bulge” and rise of a “digital native” population—are trends that Mike Best, associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has spent his career studying. Best doesn’t care about BlackBerry’s stock price, but he is fascinated by Blackberry’s preeminent status in places like South Africa and Nigeria.

www.livescience.com
http://www.livescience.com/43738-portable-clean-energy-develpment-nsf-bts.html
Walking Can Recharge the Spirit, But What About Our Phones?
By Valerie Thompson
By the end of 2014, Earth will be home to more mobile electronic devices than people. Smartphones, tablets, e-readers, not to mention wearable health and fitness trackers, smart glasses and navigation devices — today’s population is more plugged in than ever before. But our reliance on devices is not problem-free:… A team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology may have a solution to both problems: They’re developing a new, portable, clean energy source that could change the way we power mobile electronics: human motion. Led by material scientist Zhong Lin Wang, the team has created a backpack that captures mechanical energy from the natural vibration of human walking and converts it into electrical energy.

www.gigaom.com
http://gigaom.com/2014/02/26/the-weird-wacky-cool-energy-ideas-coming-out-of-labs-across-the-u-s/
The weird, wacky & cool energy ideas coming out of labs across the US
by Katie Fehrenbacher
A fuel cell for space. Batteries that use air. A way to tap pine trees and extract biofuels like maple syrup from a maple tree. These are just some of the “out-there” energy innovations that researchers and entrepreneurs are hard at work building in labs across the U.S., and which were on display at the fifth annual energy innovation-focused ARPA-E Summit this week… Dust devil energy: This might be the most out-there idea at the show. The researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology are looking at ways to harness the energy in dust devils, a naturally occurring phenomenon that takes place when a wind vortice is created from solar heated air on the ground. The project looks to create man-made dust devils in a sort of wind turbine.

www.news.yahoo.com
http://news.yahoo.com/self-administered-flu-vaccine-could-way-164527578.html
A self-administered flu vaccine could be on its way
The days of visiting a clinic to receive a flu vaccine may be over, a new study suggests. Researchers from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found self-vaccination may be possible using a microneedle patch instead of a traditional needle. The study, published in the journal Vaccine and believed to be the first study of its kind, involved nearly 100 residents of the Atlanta, Georgia area who applied a prototype vaccine patch on themselves… “Our dream is that each year there would be flu vaccine patches available in stores or sent by mail for people to self-administer,” said Mark Prausnitz, a Regent’s professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “People could take them home and apply them to the whole family.”

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2014/02/28/atlanta-bids-to-be-smart-city-for.html
Atlanta bids to be ‘Smart City for Mobility’
Maria Saporta
Contributing Writer – Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta is campaigning to become one of a handful of cities to be designated a Global Smart City for Mobility — a move that it hopes will catapult it among the world’s technology capitals… GSMA is finalizing its criteria to name a small group of metro areas — probably beginning with just four cities — that would qualify as Global Smart Cities for Mobility. Atlanta leaders are mounting a high-level effort to be among the first cities to receive that designation… Both Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed have sent letters in support of that designation. So have Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson and Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Richard Anderson, who also is the 2014 chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2014/02/27/valley-backed-atlanta-startup.html
Valley-backed Atlanta startup patenting battery technology
David Allison
Editor – Atlanta Business Chronicle
An Atlanta startup backed by two Silicon Valley venture capital firms aims to revolutionize batteries for electric vehicles and other uses. Sila Nanotechnologies, founded in 2011 in collaboration with Georgia Tech and funded by Sutter Hill Ventures and Matrix Partners, has in recent months filed for four patents for new battery technologies.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2014/02/28/georgias-logistics-a-critical-factor.html
Georgia’s logistics: A critical factor in economic development
Chris Carr
This past year was an exceptional one for economic development in Georgia. We couldn’t be more proud to say that our state is the No. 1 place in which to do business. Due to the leadership of Gov. Deal, our state’s economic development efforts have helped create more than 30,000 jobs and more than $6 billion in investment during the last fiscal year.
While our highly skilled workforce and low cost of doing business are magnets for companies looking to relocate or expand, our solid logistics infrastructure plays a critical role in driving economic development.

www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-ricardo-azziz/a-looming-challenge-higher-education_b_4855108.html
A Looming Challenge in Higher Education: Our Changing Student
Dr. Ricardo Azziz
President, Georgia Regents University
What comes to mind when you hear “college student”? If you’re like most Americans, you probably picture a young, more-than-likely white, high school graduate somewhere between 18 and 21 years old, attending a four-year institution full time, and living in a dorm somewhere on campus. Popular culture and the media have helped cement that picture in our collective minds, yet it has never been less accurate — and is rapidly getting further and further from reality. The changing face of today’s typical college student has profound implications for the future of higher education in our country.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2014/02/28/georgia-growing-business-with-africa.html
Georgia growing business with Africa
James Munson
As Atlanta prepares to kick off its innovative Africa Atlanta 2014 on Feb. 28, it’s important to consider all of our connections with the countries of Africa from business to books. I work with international businesses and am familiar with the growing relationship between Georgia and Africa. This relationship will be explored in depth in a number of conferences sponsored by the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College initiative, Africa Atlanta 2014 including “Atlanta: A nexus of Global Business, Entrepreneurship, and Innovations” and “Economic Opportunities in Africa Conference” (programs that will presented later this year) and more.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/resolving-higher-educations-challenges
Resolving higher education’s challenges
The Huffington Post
The destructive negative news about our higher education system keeps coming, but there is very little coverage in the national media about why colleges and universities might not be addressing perceived shortcomings as rapidly or comprehensively as students, their families, external organizations or the media wishes, or on what creative solutions might realistically exist. After all, a robust higher education system is critical for national economic competitiveness and our vibrancy matters for this country.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/midwest-opinion-college-degree-still-worth-it-students
Midwest opinion: Is a college degree still worth it for students?
West Central Tribune
Now, here’s news: The students are right. “On virtually every measure of economic well-being and career attainment — from personal earnings to job satisfaction to the share employed full time — young college graduates are outperforming their peers with less education,” a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data reported earlier this month.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/creating-massively-better-classrooms-could-make-flint-education-destination
Creating ‘Massively Better Classrooms’ could make Flint an education destination
MLive
“Teaching naked” is the term coined by the speaker, Dr. Jose Bowen, in his book, Teaching Naked: How moving technology out of your college classroom will improve student learning. Dr. Bowen is dean of the Meadows School for the Arts at Southern Methodist University with teaching credentials at Stanford and Georgetown University, among others. He is a pioneer in using technology to provoke enhanced learning.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/colorado-software-firm-programming-your-next-professor
A Colorado software firm is programming your next professor
Forbes
There’s more patience and forgiveness in this brave new virtual world, notes Dennis McGuire, an e-learning specialist at CodeBaby, a privately held Colorado Springs software development concern. “Students and humans inherently don’t like to expose their ignorance to other humans right out of the gate,” McGuire explained to me in a recent interview. “They’re often not in a comfortable environment, whereas they will ask questions to a virtual assistant that they otherwise wouldn’t ask to some human on the phone or to a teacher in a classroom.”

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/28/why-naep-isnt-really-the-nations-report-card/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss
Why NAEP isn’t really ‘the nation’s report card’
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is known across the country as “the nation’s report card” because it is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know in different subjects. The body that oversees NAEP, the National Assessment Governing Board, this week marked its 25th anniversary with a conference in Washington, at which Richard Rothstein and Rebecca Jacobsen made a presentation about the beginnings of NAEP and how its original intentions have become skewed.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/27/gates-foundation-opposes-release-of-teachers-vam-scores-in-florida/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss
Gates Foundation opposes release of teachers’ VAM scores in Florida
Readers of this blog know that I am not a fan of the “value-added method” of evaluating educators. VAM uses student test scores and adds them into complicated formulas that can supposedly figure out the “value” teachers add to student learning. (Can a complicated formula really factor out the post traumatic stress that affects a student’s ability to take a standardized test or the effects of persistent hunger?) Assessment experts have cautioned that the use of VAM for high-stakes evaluation decisions is a bad idea because the results are generally not valid or reliable, but policymakers have gone ahead and required school districts to use them anyway. …The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been a prime supporter of the use of VAM as part of a teacher’s evaluation and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into developing teacher evaluations that use this method. But the foundation does not support the release of the VAM scores. In this post, Vicky Phillips, who is the K-12 education director, explains why.

www.nytimes.com

When May I Shoot a Student?
By GREG HAMPIKIAN
BOISE, Idaho — TO the chief counsel of the Idaho State Legislature: In light of the bill permitting guns on our state’s college and university campuses, which is likely to be approved by the state House of Representatives in the coming days, I have a matter of practical concern that I hope you can help with: When may I shoot a student? I am a biology professor, not a lawyer, and I had never considered bringing a gun to work until now. But since many of my students are likely to be armed, I thought it would be a good idea to even the playing field.

Education News
www.chattanoogan.com
http://www.chattanoogan.com/2014/2/27/270681/GNTC-Selected-Into-Achieving-The-Dream.aspx
GNTC Selected Into Achieving The Dream National Reform Network
Signifying a commitment to student success and completion, Georgia Northwestern Technical College is one of 12 institutions selected this year into the Achieving the Dream National Reform Network. GNTC was welcomed into the network today at DREAM 2014 and will immediately begin the challenging work of identifying and implementing evidence-based strategies for closing achievement gaps and increasing student retention, persistence, and completion rates, said officials.

www.univeritybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/how-exactly-do-colleges-allocate-their-financial-aid-they-won’t-say
How exactly do colleges allocate their financial aid? They won’t say.
ProPublica
At the center of the admissions and financial-aid process is a massive information imbalance: Schools make their decisions with detailed data about each applicant that goes well beyond test scores and transcripts. Many universities have access to comprehensive financial profiles, sometimes down to the type of cars a family drives. Some analyze patterns and interpret even the most subtle indicators from students, such as the order in which schools are listed on the federal financial-aid application, or even how long a student stays on the phone with an admissions officer. Students are not so lucky.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/28/us-projects-college-enrollment-grow-14-through-2022
The Enrollment Slowdown
By Doug Lederman
WASHINGTON — Nearly three million more people will be enrolled in American colleges and universities in 2022 than were enrolled in 2012, according to Education Department projections released Thursday. That would represent a significant slowdown in enrollment growth over the next decade compared to the last one, but the projection is still aggressive given that the traditional college-age population is expected to decline over the same period.

www.univeritybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/colleges-ramp-career-guidance-students
Colleges ramp up career guidance for students
USA Today
University of Vermont seniors used to have to go out of their way to get to the career center. That changed last fall, when the center was handed a piece of prime real estate on the first floor of the school’s bustling student center. The high-profile location signals a new priority for the campus, one that’s echoing at colleges coast to coast. Under growing pressure to demonstrate the return on investment of a college education, many schools are boosting their attention to jobs and careers.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/60974/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=ee61e28d53a847bead19348fd7a5167e&elqCampaignId=173
California State University System Makes Recruitment, Retention of Students of Color a Priority
by Jamal E. Mazyck
WASHINGTON — In an effort to bolster student achievement and degree completion among underrepresented students, the nation’s largest four-year public university system, California State University (CSU), has focused on a series of enrollment and retention initiatives.

www.jbhe.com

Four Elite California Universities in Joint Effort to Boost Minority Ph.D.s in STEM Fields

Four Elite California Universities in Joint Effort to Boost Minority Ph.D.s in STEM Fields
The California Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate is a new consortium that aims to increase the number of underrepresented minority students in Ph.D. programs in mathematics, computer science, engineering, and the physical sciences. …Together, the four schools are creating a unique, cross-institutional community of underrepresented minority Ph.D. students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty members in the targeted fields; developing faculty training to better recognize and help these students thrive and advance; and conducting research that includes annual surveys of Ph.D. students about what factors impact their attitudes, experiences and preparation for the future.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/indiana-university-says-146000-students-personal-data-exposed-webcrawlers
Indiana University says 146,000 students’ personal data exposed to webcrawlers
CNN U.S.
Files including students’ names, addresses and Social Security numbers — stored in an unsecure location — were accessed three times by automated data-mining applications, which are used to improve Web searches, the university said Tuesday. No servers or systems were compromised, and the information “was not downloaded by an unauthorized individual looking for specific sensitive data,” the university said in a news release.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/purdue-merge-administrative-offices-two-region-campuses
Purdue to merge administrative offices of two region campuses
Post-Tribune
At an afternoon town hall meeting, Purdue Calumet Chancellor Thomas Keon said the proposal, which laid out options ranging from no merger to total merger, had its genesis in conversations with the Purdue system and originally included Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/google-announces-online-data-interpretation-class-general-public
Google announces an online data interpretation class for the general public
TechCrunch
Friday, February 28, 2014
Called “Making Sense of Data” and running from March 18 to April 4, the course will be open to the public and, like most MOOCs, will be taught through a series of video lectures, interactive projects, and the support of community Tas. Users who complete the final capstone homework assignment will even have the option of receiving a certificate of completion.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/31-women-accuse-uc-berkeley-botching-sexual-assault-investigations
31 women accuse UC Berkeley of botching sexual assault investigations
Los Angeles Times
The complaints allege that officials for years have discouraged victims from reporting assaults, failed to inform them of their rights and led a biased judicial process that favored assailants’ rights over those of their victims. The reports were filed with the U.S. Department of Education, which investigates violations of Title IX, the federal anti-discrimination law, and the Clery Act, a federal law that requires campuses to accurately report incidents of serious crimes, including sexual assault. Under Title IX, campuses that receive federal funding are required to impartially investigate allegations of sexual assault, which is considered a form of gender discrimination.

Related article:
www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/26/uc-berkeley-rape-students-complaint_n_4855816.html?ir=College&utm_campaign=022614&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-college&utm_content=Title
UC-Berkeley Faces New Complaints That It Failed Sexual Assault Survivors

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/ex-chicago-state-worker-wins-whistleblower-lawsuit
Ex-Chicago State worker wins whistleblower lawsuit
Chicago Tribune
A judge could further increase that amount at a hearing next month. It may be the first verdict stemming from a whistleblower claim filed under the state’s ethics act, a 2003 law that laid out guidelines for behavior by state employees, according to the Illinois attorney general’s office. That law includes whistleblower protection for employees who disclose activities they believe violate the ethics act. “We’re not aware of another judgment like this,” Attorney General spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said.