University System News

2014 GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION NEWS:
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/bills-in-play-for-final-days-of-georgia-legislatur/nfC37/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
Bills in play for final days of Georgia Legislature
BY AARON GOULD SHEININ AND KRISTINA TORRES – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
After 38 days in session, the 2014 General Assembly will meet Tuesday and Thursday before lawmakers head home to campaign and transition back to private life. The only thing the House and Senate must do before the clock strikes midnight Thursday is pass a state budget. But in the session’s final days, they will also scramble to complete work on sweeping gun legislation, changes to Common Core, medical marijuana, Obamacare and a host of other issues. The final days of the legislative session are usually among the longest, with members of the General Assembly deciding the fate of scores of bills and resolutions. Here’s a list of issues still to be settled:

www.wsbtv.com
http://www.wsbtv.com/ap/ap/georgia/busy-finish-to-gas-annual-legislative-session/nfDsP/
Busy finish to Ga.’s annual legislative session
By RAY HENRY
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Eager to get campaigning, Georgia’s lawmakers will wrap up an unusually quick legislative session Thursday, likely making decisions on whether to expand the places people can carry firearms and whether to support a medical marijuana program for the ill. Equally important are the efforts that stall during the final days, a category that appears to include plans to privatize parts of the state’s child welfare system and to pull back from national education standards. …For a second year, House and Senate lawmakers are approaching the end of their session in a rift over firearms legislation. …An effort to force Georgia to abandon national education standards appears to have politically collapsed. However, it is still too early to know for certain what legislation will fail for the year.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/franken-bills-stalk-the-georgia-legislature/nfDGc/
‘Franken-bills’ stalk the Georgia Legislature
BY AARON GOULD SHEININ AND KRISTINA TORRES – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
The final days of the Georgia Legislature’s 2014 session are turning out to be less a case of “Schoolhouse Rock” and more a rumination on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”
In a mix of strategy and desperation, lawmakers this year have taken an unusual number of different bills and sewn together pieces of them in hopes they survive to reach Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk. However, the stakes have been raised by the fact that caught up in the maneuvering, as the legislative calendar comes to a close, are issues affecting thousands, if not millions, of Georgians.

www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/business/2014-03-16/job-creation-issues-quieter-ga-capitol
Lawmakers quietly push job creation measures
By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
ATLANTA — Many of the headlines coming out of the legislative session this year about Obamacare, Common Core, guns and “medical marijuana” might give a false impression that job-creation bills are nonexistent. Part of the reason is because, unlike the last three years, there was no blue-ribbon commission holding meetings across the state to make recommendations beforehand. Those resulted in tax-cutting packages that sparked highly publicized debates. Instead, this year there are plenty of bills but less media attention devoted to them.

USG NEWS:
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-obituaries/howard-bo-callaway-superstar-of-republican-party/nfDkM/
Howard “Bo” Callaway: ‘Superstar’ of Republican party (former Regent)
By Aaron Gould Sheinin
In the 1960s, when nearly every elected Georgia Republican could fit in a Studebaker, Howard “Bo” Callaway was the party’s driver. By 2010, when the GOP swept every statewide office for the first time, Callaway’s name was spoken with reverence, as the father of the Georgia Republican Party and its first superstar. Callaway, 86, who helped his parents create the Callaway Gardens resort near Pine Mountain, died Saturday, nearly two years after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.

www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/government/2014-03-16/jimmy-carter-recalls-rival-bo-callaway?v=1394962573
Jimmy Carter recalls rival Bo Callaway
By Tony Adams
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Howard “Bo” Callaway and Jimmy Carter. Theirs was a relationship built on a red-hot bitter rivalry early in their lives and political careers. But as the years unfolded, those feelings would thaw into the warmth of friendship at a ski resort in the cold Colorado winters. “Bo and I were competitors at a young age. I went to Annapolis, he to West Point. He wanted the first southwest Georgia four-year college in Columbus, I wanted it in Americus,” Carter told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in a Saturday e-mail. …After departing the Army, Callaway, while serving on the Georgia Board of Regents, championed making Columbus the site of the first four-year college in southwest Georgia. Carter won that one, with Georgia Southwestern College in Americus, Ga., receiving four-year status in 1964, followed by Columbus College in 1965.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-03-16/education-events-week
Education events this week
…• Board of Regents, Atlanta: Regular monthly meeting of the Board of Regents, which sets policy and budgets for UGA and other Georgia public colleges and universities.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-03-14/regents-set-ban-tobacco-state-college-campuses
Regents set to ban tobacco on state college campuses
By LEE SHEARER
Smoking on state college campuses might soon become a thing of the past. The state Board of Regents is set to vote on a policy next week which would ban the use of tobacco products on college campuses, including the University of Georgia. The Regents set policy for UGA and other public colleges in the state. If adopted, the ban would take effect Oct. 1.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-03-14/renovation-uga-baseball-field-regents-agenda
Renovation of UGA baseball field on Regents agenda
By LEE SHEARER
A plan to renovate the University of Georgia baseball field could get the go-ahead from the state Board of Regents next week. The $12 million renovation of Foley Field is one of the agenda items for the board to consider when it meets Tuesday and Wednesday in Atlanta. If approved as expected, construction would begin after this baseball season and conclude in time for next year’s season.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/entertainment/writers-tarnished-reputation-fuels-zuckerman-museu/nfCHq/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
Writer’s tarnished reputation fuels Zuckerman Museum flap
Artwork to be re-installed, but controversy lingers
BY JENNY JARVIE
…Ruth Stanford, a multi-media sculptor born in Greenville, Miss., in 1964 — the year the Civil Rights Act passed — had never heard of Harris until last year, when she was invited by curators at Kennesaw State University’s new Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art to create an installation inspired by Harris’ homestead in north Georgia. The piece was to appear in the museum’s inaugural exhibition. Stanford, an associate professor of sculpture at Georgia State University, spent nearly a year reading Harris’ work, taking photographs and collecting artifacts from the homestead, all the while struggling with how to portray the author fairly to a modern-day audience. “The whole thing is about complexity,” she said about “A Walk in the Valley,” the installation she created for the Zuckerman opening. …Stanford was stunned when, the day before the new museum was set to open on March 1, curators informed her KSU president Daniel Papp had previewed the exhibition and demanded Stanford’s work be removed. …Last week, the university offered to reinstate the installation, arguing that the display would be “more appropriate and meaningful” when the community had prepared to revisit the issue and engage in “related programming.”

Related article:
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/24749027/article-KSU-to-reinstall-artwork-removed-from-its-museum?instance=home_top_bullets
KSU to reinstall artwork removed from its museum

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/campus/uga-chefs-will-battle-it-out-in-national-culinary-challenge/article_ddec6bb8-a793-11e3-82d5-0017a43b2370.html
UGA chefs will battle it out in national culinary challenge
Laura James
If facing a live lobster in the kitchen is not scary enough, two University of Georgia chefs will do just that in front of an audience when they compete against chefs from other universities in a regional culinary challenge later this month. Don Law, chef at Snelling Dining Commons, and Tim Neal, chef at Oglethorpe Dining Commons, will travel to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., to compete in the Culinary Challenge at the National Association of College and University Food Services Southern Region Conference on March 26. The NACUFS Culinary Challenge recognizes outstanding food preparation and presentation skills in collegiate food service programs throughout the country, according to a UGA Today press release.

www.times-georgian.com
http://www.times-georgian.com/news/article_df833722-abdf-11e3-bc8b-001a4bcf6878.html
Community service ordered for suspects in wolf statue theft
Colton Campbell/Times-Georgian
The two Fayette County men charged with the theft of a piece of public art last summer have had their prosecution halted and have been ordered to complete community service.
The cases of Michael Nathan Barchi, 24, and Benjamin Levi Joiner, 23 — the pair of University of West Georgia students accused of stealing a fiberglass wolf that was part of the Howl for UWG project — has been closed, with a pretrial diversion and deferred prosecution.

USG VALUE:
www.redandblack.com
http://onlineathens.com/blueprint/2014-03-16/partnership-aims-bring-clarke-county-students-uga-campus-each-year
Partnership aims to bring Clarke County students to UGA campus each year
The University of Georgia and the Clarke County School District recently launched Experience UGA, a new partnership that aims to bring each Clarke County student to UGA’s campus each year. Through a variety of field trips, students participate in hands-on, curricular-based learning activities. Increased exposure to college life through Experience UGA fosters interest in the pursuit of higher education among all 13,000 Clarke County students.

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/organizations/students-to-educate-public-about-organ-donations/article_981b4124-a6d3-11e3-aec3-0017a43b2370.html
Students to educate public about organ donations
Savannah Levins
A new organization at UGA is trying to get the word out about the myths and benefits of organ donation, and it’s not just talking about checking the “organ donor” box at the DMV.
Colleen Boyle, a junior genetics and biology major from Woodstock, is the founder and president of Donate Life UGA. She said the organization’s mission is to clear the misconceptions about organ donation and get people signed up on an organ, eye and tissue donor registry.

GOOD NEWS:
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/campus/over-the-dog-years-statue-of-bernard-ramsey-welcomes-scholars/article_33c8cb4e-a6d6-11e3-a51f-0017a43b2370.html
Over the Dog Years: Statue of Bernard Ramsey welcomes scholars with open arm
Lauren McDonald
Bernard Ramsey hoped to transform the University of Georgia through scholarship, and a statue commemorating his legacy sits on a bench outside Moore College on North Campus, with an arm outstretched, welcoming students and reminding them of the vision he had. Ramsey graduated from UGA’s Terry College of Business in 1937. He maintained close ties with UGA his entire life, and by the time he passed away in 1996, he had donated a total of $44,785,682. He left $34 million to UGA in his will, a vast amount of which went to funding the Foundation Fellowship Scholarships. “When he passed away, because he was a very wealthy man, he left a very large sum of money to the University or Georgia,” said Martha Woodruff Pierce, who served as a UGA Foundation Trustee with Ramsey. “But because it was such a huge amount of money, they decided to name the Ramsey Center after him, because it also largely went towards funding the Ramsey Center.”

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/campus/uga-company-ranked-in-top-innovative-technology-companies/article_ce631ab2-ad37-11e3-88cf-001a4bcf6878.html
UGA company ranked in top 40 innovative technology companies
by Taylor West
IS3D LLC, an Athens based company, was ranked among the 2014 Top 40 Innovative Technology Companies in Georgia by the Technology Association of Georgia.
The company, founded in 2010 by eight University of Georgia professors, was selected for the list from more than 100 technology companies, according to a UGA press release.
The point of the company, said Tom Robertson, an associate professor of physiology and pharmacology, in the release, is to inspire young people to pursue careers in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math.

RESEARCH:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2014/03/14/wellstar-and-georgia-tech-research-institute-form.html
WellStar and Georgia Tech Research Institute form partnership
Ellie Hensley
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
WellStar Health System has announced a collaborative research partnership with Georgia Tech. Marietta-based WellStar’s Center for Health Transformation (CHT) will work with faculty and students from the Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and its Research Institute (GTRI), using new technologies to expand their collective resources and improve overall patient experience.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-03-14/volunteering-creates-better-employees-according-uga-study
Volunteering creates better employees, according to UGA study
By APRIL BURKHART
Businesses might hesitate to allow employees opportunities to volunteer during work hours for fear they might lose focus at their jobs. But according to a study by Jessica Rodell of the University of Georgia Terry College of Business, employees that volunteer often show signs of increased productivity in the workplace, are more apt to help co-workers and have a greater sense of satisfaction. The study, published this year in the Academy of Management Journal, noted that volunteerism is on the rise.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-03-15/athens-could-see-more-tornadoes-year
Athens could see more tornadoes this year
By LEE SHEARER
There’s a chance Georgia could see more tornadoes and severe thunderstorms than usual this year, according to one tornado expert. “In the spring, our tornadoes are associated with the clash between warm and moist air masses and cool air masses,” said David Stooksbury, a professor in the University of Georgia’s College of Engineering and the former state climatologist.

www.nationaldefensemagazine.org
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2014/April/Pages/Sailor-LessShipsSoonCouldBeaRealityinUSNavy.aspx
Sailor-Less Ships Soon Could Be a Reality in U.S. Navy
By David Antanitus
It was 15 years ago when Vice Adm. Walter Cebrowski and Professor Wayne Hughes discussed the need to develop a network of small, inexpensive, minimally manned and unmanned platforms that would complement the Navy’s larger force-projection ships and provide access to the contested littorals… Given the difficulty of the autonomy problem, DARPA is pursuing several parallel paths to mitigate technical risk. It is working with Charles River Analytics Inc., Daniel H. Wagner Associates, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Northrop Grumman Corp. and Spatial Integrated Systems Inc.

www.massive.com
http://www.masslive.com/living/index.ssf/2014/03/reach_for_the_stars_mars_reconnaissance_orbiter_sends_photos_which_may_be_evidence_of_water_flowing.html
Reach for the Stars: Mars reconnaissance orbiter sends photographic clues of water flowing on red planet
By AMANDA JERMYN
We’ve long known that water once flowed on Mars, and it is currently abundant on the red planet in the form of ice. Water ice covers its north pole. It also lies beneath carbon dioxide ice at its south pole and below the surface elsewhere in warmer latitudes… Lujendra Ojha, a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, first identified the streaks as potential saltwater flows while an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He is the lead author of two recent reports on these features in the journals Icarus and Geophysical Research Letters.

www.thewire.com
http://www.thewire.com/technology/2014/03/google-glasss-battery-lousy-purpose-says-google-man/359195/
Google Glass’s Battery Is Lousy On Purpose, Says Google
LEO MIRANI, QUARTZ
Thad Starner has been wearing computers on his face for 21 years. Today he works with Google on Glass, the web giant’s wearable computing project which, because of its high-profile backer and the accompanying publicity blitz, also happens to be the go-to example of all that is good and evil about wearable devices. With that status comes plenty of angst (such this campaign to “stop the cyborgs“) as well lots of hand-wringing about what it means for privacy and surveillance… But Starner, who is the director of the Contextual Computing Group at the Georgia Institute of Technology as well as a leading force in the Glass team, says that Glass is actually more privacy-friendly than your smartphone. Why?

www.designews.com
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=272177&dfpPParams=ind_186,aid_272177&dfpLayout=article&dfpPParams=ind_186,aid_272177&dfpLayout=article
Georgia Tech Invests in Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE to Prepare Next-Gen Designers
Cabe Atwell, Contributing Editor, Design Hardware & Software
Georgia Tech recently announced that it purchased 10,000 licenses for Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE to support its engineering community in designing the next wave of innovative design works. 3DEXPERIENCE is a software platform that combines design invention, digital manufacturing, cyber-physical modeling, and visualization. The investment marks 12 years of collaboration between Georgia Tech and Dassault Systèmes, a leader in the 3D design industry, including 3D Digital Mock-Up, Product Lifecycle Management, and 3D design development software. The licenses were obtained for students, educators, and design professionals as a way to collaborate through workshops, education, summer camps, and research and development. Approximately 5,000 of the licenses will be used for education, while the remaining 5,000 licenses will be used by the Aerospace Systems Design Lab to develop solutions to objectives set by the US Army Research Lab.

www.nbc.com
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/can-social-media-help-direct-mental-health-aid-n53801
Can Social Media Help Direct Mental Health Aid?
BY NIDHI SUBBARAMAN
For most people, a selfie’s just a selfie. But looked at the right way, tweets and online posts may be very revealing about the way people and communities think and feel. Researchers are beginning to tap hundreds of thousands of tweets emerging from conflict zones to see what the trove of data can reveal about the mental health of people in distress… “People are not reacting as negatively as you would expect them to,” Munmun De Choudhury, study co-author and a researcher at Georgia Tech, told NBC News. The results of the study surprised Choudhury’s co-author, Andres Monroy-Hernandez, a researcher at Microsoft who grew up in northern Mexico.

STATE NEEDS/ISSUES:
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/business/economy/proposed-military-retrenchment-would-hit-georgia-e/nfCLb/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
Proposed military retrenchment would hit Georgia economy
BY DANIEL MALLOY AND JEREMY REDMON – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
COLUMBUS — Staff Sgt. Tim Jalbert rejoined the U.S. Army out of a deep sense of anger after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, making the military his career. The Army has grown since then and adapted to fight two major wars. But with withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq has come a proposal to shrink the Army to pre-World War II levels as part of an overall military retrenchment. …Business groups have another fear and are already lobbying against cuts to a military presence that generates an estimated $21 billion a year for the state economy. Georgia is the fifth-largest military state, according to Pentagon figures as of last year, with 137,000 active-duty, reserve and civilian personnel. The economic hit would be felt particularly south of Macon, where most of the state’s bases are. Fort Benning could lose training classes. Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta could lose half its strength if the A-10 aircraft is retired. Fort Stewart, outside Savannah, already is set to lose a brigade.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/opinion/2014-03-16/jones-senate-bill-didnt-kill-common-core-issue
Jones: Senate bill didn’t kill Common Core as issue
By WALTER JONES
ATLANTA — A puzzle for the business and education community supporting the multi-state education standards known as Common Core is why conservatives are so opposed to the initiative. Supporters argue the standards are supposed to provide more rigor while also serving as the basis to compare student performance between states. Former Gov. Sonny Perdue helped launch it because he felt Georgia pupils were being shortchanged by unequal comparisons.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/opinion/rights-and-responsibilities/nfC5r/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
GUN RIGHTS LEGISLATION
Rights and responsibilities
Lawmakers must use common sense in considering gun law changes this week
BY ANDRE JACKSON
At this point, the broad Second Amendment right of Americans to bear arms is a pretty settled matter. The same can’t be said at the state level. The issue of gun rights and concurrent responsibilities arouses powerful passions on all sides. Which is understandable, since words in a law can result in lives being spared or lost on our streets. The latest chapter in how all that works in Georgia will be written later this week in the final, harried days of this legislative session. Lawmakers are picking over various writings of concealed weapons laws. Their work will, among other things, determine how firearms laws affect the mentally ill, or carry of weapons into government buildings, schools, or houses of worship.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/opinion/safeguarding-a-constitutional-right/nfCXc/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
ANOTHER VIEW
Safeguarding a constitutional right
BY RICK JASPERSE
With the Second Amendment, in a mere 27 words, our Founding Fathers empowered the citizens of this nation – for as long as it should stand – to retain the right to keep and bear arms and that this right shall not be infringed. The rights enumerated by the Second Amendment speak to the importance of the preservation of a limited government and cannot be overstated. In my capacity as a state legislator, I am often reminded by my constituents that their right to keep and bear arms is both sacred and immutable. It is not simply that they fear the encroachment of government into their lives – it is that they recognize that, unfortunately, we live in a dangerous world. While I cannot begin to explain the reasons for which someone might seek to take the life of another, I believe wholeheartedly that, should Georgians wish to take responsibility for the safety of themselves and their families, they should have that option.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/opinion/time-to-stop-the-gun-expansion-madness/nfDzR/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
Time to stop the gun expansion madness
BY VINCENT FORT
The madness of promoting the use of guns and allowing firearms everywhere at any time has reached a fever pitch at the state Capitol. As the legislative session comes to a close this week, there are three versions of the “guns everywhere” bill circulating at the state Capitol. All versions will make Georgians less safe, not more safe. HB 875, as amended in the Senate Judiciary (Non-Civil) committee, would allow guns in churches, bars, and schools. Then there is SB 60, onto which the House of Representatives grafted the original version of HB 875.

www.politics.blog.ajc.com
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/03/17/on-whether-gun-bill-would-let-felons-claim-stand-your-ground-status/
Political Insider with Jim Galloway
On whether gun bill would let felons claim ‘stand your ground’ status
By Jim Galloway, Greg Bluestein and Daniel Malloy
Over the weekend, a New York Times editorial decried the continuing influence of the gun lobby in state capitols. In particular, the newspaper’s editors seized on HB 875, now under consideration by the state Senate: In Georgia, for instance, a pernicious bill approved by the House authorizes an array of dangerous laissez-faire gun provisions. One would allow convicted felons who kill someone with an illegally possessed gun to seek justification under the state’s Stand Your Ground law. A second would allow concealed guns on college campuses, despite the opposition of 78 percent of polled Georgians. Last week, state lawmakers gave up on the campus-carry provision of HB 875. But allowing convicted felons to claim self-defense? Opponents of the bill point to this obscure passage contained in the original legislation:

www.nytimes.com

Craven Statehouse Behavior
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Despite all the lethal mayhem caused by the Stand Your Ground laws now on the books in nearly two dozen states, the gun lobby is inviting more trouble. In Georgia, for instance, a pernicious bill approved by the House authorizes an array of dangerous laissez-faire gun provisions. One would allow convicted felons who kill someone with an illegally possessed gun to seek justification under the state’s Stand Your Ground law. A second would allow concealed guns on college campuses, despite the opposition of 78 percent of polled Georgians.

www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2014/03/16/2993427/richardson-am-i-a-weenie.html
RICHARDSON: Am I a weenie?
BY CHARLES E. RICHARDSON – THE TELEGRAPH
Charles E. Richardson is The Telegraph’s editorial page editor.
Let me make this admission up front. I get nervous when I’m around people with guns, unless of course, I see a badge. Without the badge, that gun on the hip for all to see makes me uncomfortable. That’s their purpose, I’m sure. I should feel protected, but I don’t. Just the opposite. I know, I’m a weenie. I feel this way because when scary people get scared, most times they are scared of people who look like me. And it’s been shown that in certain circumstances that’s reason enough to blow somebody who looks like me away — and reason enough for the courts to let them get away with it. I’m talking about Florida’s stand your ground law, a law some in Georgia’s General Assembly would like to see in this state.
Last week there were those for and against House Bill 875, sponsored by Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, speaking at the Capitol. That bill, if approved by the Senate (it passed the House 119-56) would make it legal for scary people — as long as they have a gun carry permit — to make me nervous almost anywhere in the state: school grounds, churches, bars, airports and a host of other places.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/17/are-american-students-grossly-unprepared-for-college/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss
Are American students grossly unprepared for college?
It has become a common refrain from school reformers that a very large percentage of high school graduates must take remedial classes when they get to college. Are they right? Award-winning Prinicipal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York looks at this issue in the following post. She has been exposing the problems with New York’s botched school reform effort for a long time on this blog.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/higher-accountability-college-dropout-rates
Higher accountability for college dropout rates
The Huffington Post
There are a lot of metrics in place that gauge the effectiveness of P-12 schooling in the U.S. and shine a particularly bright light on public schools, particularly when they are failing students. Dropout rates are just one of the factors taken into account when these numbers are calculated and tend to weigh heavily on the schools and districts who have low percentages. The same does not seem to be true once the high school years pass though. Compared to P-12 institutions, colleges and universities seemingly get a pass when it comes to dropout rates – perhaps because in the past, higher education was considered more of a privilege and less of a right.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/states-shrink-and-shift-higher-education-costs-families
States shrink and shift higher education costs to families
The Washington Informer
According to Demos, a public policy organization advocating economic opportunity and inclusive democracy, over the last two decades state support for higher education funding shifted to a new paradigm.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/promising-proposal-higher-ed-funding
A promising proposal for higher ed funding
The Denver Post
So we support in broad terms the concept that Colorado House Speaker Mark Ferrandino is promoting in seeking to rewrite the higher education funding model. However, with less than eight weeks left in the session it’s not clear there’s enough time to fully vet the specifics. It wasn’t until recently that the state’s colleges and universities even saw the draft legislation.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/stem-scholarship-program-should-extend-beyond-suny-cuny
STEM scholarship program should extend beyond SUNY, CUNY
The Buffalo News
There has been a steady push in New York State to address the shortage of talent in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), a factor that has been the driving force behind Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s $8 million proposal to create a STEM incentive program. An ambitious initiative that aims to bolster the state’s STEM-educated workforce, the program provides full scholarships to students attending State University of New York or City University of New York institutions.

Education News
www.thecitizen.com
http://www.thecitizen.com/articles/03-16-2014/ga-chamber-chief-education-top-concern-future-ga-business
Ga. Chamber chief: Education a top concern for future Ga. business
Submitted by John Munford
In terms of attracting major employers and convincing local companies to expand, Georgia has started to pull ahead of others in the southeast, Georgia Chamber of Commerce President Chris Clark told the Peachtree City Rotary Club Thursday. …The state’s excellent business climate is a result of policies the state had adopted along with transportation infrastructure such as Hartsfield Jackson Airport, Clark said, adding there is still work to be done. He pointed to a survey of Georgia Chamber members that targeted K-12 education as one of the state’s biggest future concerns.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/bill-gates-calls-on-teachers-to-defend-common-core/2014/03/14/395b130a-aafa-11e3-98f6-8e3c562f9996_story.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
Bill Gates calls on teachers to defend Common Core
By Lyndsey Layton
Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder who is spending part of his considerable fortune trying to improve U.S. public education, called on teachers Friday to help parents understand the new Common Core academic standards in an effort to beat back “false claims” lobbed by critics of the standards.

www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/03/16/is-yours-an-act-or-sat-state/
Is yours an ACT or SAT state?
BY NIRAJ CHOKSHI
Do you live in an ACT state or an SAT state? Higher education reporter Nick Anderson conducted an analysis of the prevalence of the two college admissions tests and found that the answer to that question depends broadly on geography. The SAT is generally more prevalent in the West, Northeast and Washington area. The ACT is more prevalent in center-of-the-nation and Southern states. But, Anderson found, the SAT has been hard-hit since its major revamp nine years ago. “In 29 states, a Washington Post analysis found, there were fewer SAT test-takers in the high school class of 2013 than there were in the class of 2006,” he reports in his story on state use of the two tests. “By comparison, usage of the rival ACT admission test fell in three states: Idaho, Maine and South Dakota.”

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/obama-takes-action-against-predatory-poor-performing-career-colleges
Obama takes action against predatory, poor-performing career colleges
U.S. Department of Education
The Obama Administration announced today new steps to address growing concerns about burdensome student loan debt by requiring career colleges to do a better job of preparing students for gainful employment—or risk losing access to taxpayer-funded federal student aid.

www.npr.org
http://www.npr.org/2014/03/17/290249557/paying-for-college-no-easy-answers-for-many-families
Paying For College: No Easy Answers For Many Families
by Marilyn Geewax
The math is clear: College pays off. Among Americans ages 25 to 32, college graduates earned $17,500 more than high school graduates in 2012 — the largest pay differential ever, according to Pew Research. When it comes to earnings, “the picture is consistently bleaker for less-educated workers,” the Pew study concluded. But even as the value of a college diploma has been rising, the cost of tuition has been increasing even faster — far beyond the reach of most young people.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/tufts-university-offers-financial-aid-students-year
Tufts University offers financial aid for students’ year off
Reuters
The program puts Massachusetts-based Tufts among a handful of American colleges offering to pay for a ‘gap year’ to explore the world and absorb different cultures after high school, a tradition that is more common in Europe.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/asian-americans-divided-allowing-affirmative-action-higher-ed
Asian Americans divided on allowing affirmative action in higher ed
Los Angeles Daily News
Some groups representing larger and more established Asian populations such as Chinese-Americans oppose the proposal asking voters to consider doing away with Proposition 209’s ban on the use of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in recruitment, admissions and retention programs at California’s public universities and colleges.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/utah-lawmakers-more-generous-higher-education
Utah lawmakers more generous with higher education
The Salt Lake Tribune
Overall, state money for colleges and universities grew by 11.2 percent, or $81.2 million, a large chunk of which will go to equity funding. UVU now gets $2,997 in public money per student, the lowest amount in the state. Salt Lake Community College is a close second at $3,202. Compare that to the University of Utah’s $6,744 per full-time student (though its research university status comes with costs).

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/idaho-state-university-make-security-changes
Idaho State University to make security changes
Local News 8
While still controversial, guns will be allowed on campus now that Gov. Butch Otter has signed the “Guns on Campus” bill into law. Now, Idaho State University is scrambling to figure out how it will comply with the law. The first concern the university brought into light was their nuclear research and how it may not continue, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn’t allow guns in research facilities. But the university is working with the NRC to find out what additional security measures will be needed.

www.slate.com
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2014/03/mooc_survey_students_of_free_online_courses_are_educated_employed_and_male.html
The Revolution Is Not Being MOOC-ized
Students are educated, employed, and male.
By Gayle Christensen and Brandon Alcorn
They promise equality of access to higher learning, but online courses will only succeed with better general education in place first, say two educationalists. A revolution in education has been promised with a little help from technology. Massive Open Online Courses are free, online, university-level instruction that anyone can access from anywhere, at least in theory. They have dominated headlines in the sector in recent years.

www.blogs.seattletimes.com
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/educationlab/2014/03/17/the-promise-of-a-10000-bachelors-degree/
The promise of a $10,000 bachelor’s degree
Posted by Katherine Long
Is it possible to create a bachelor’s degree that would cost students only $10,000? A few years ago, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Florida Gov. Rick Scott called on colleges to create a $10,000 bachelor’s degree. Critics argued that it was tantamount to the “Walmartization” of higher education. But those two states now offer a limited number of low-cost online degrees. Earlier this month, Jean Floten — former president of Bellevue College and currently chancellor of Western Governors University-Washington — took part in a panel discussion on the merits of the low-cost degree at the South by Southwest education conference, or SXSWedu, the companion to the annual music, film and interactive conference in Austin, Texas.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-Debt-Is/145347/
Graduate-School Debt Is Raising Questions About Degrees’ Worth
By Vimal Patel
When Abigail B. Williams first started graduate school, debt wasn’t on her mind. Like growing numbers of students beginning graduate programs, she arrived with student-loan debt already, having borrowed thousands of dollars to pay for her undergraduate education. But that didn’t deter her from taking out more loans. At the time, in her early 20s, the loans had the feeling of free money, she says. So as she embarked on a master’s program in social work, she borrowed thousands of dollars more to help pay for her living expenses. Now, as a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ms. Williams has learned not to take on more debt. For her joint program in social work and psychology, she says she is not borrowing money to supplement her teaching assistantship. But the damage has been done. She owes a total of $91,600 and wonders if she may have to put off life plans, like buying a home, because of her debt.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Gainful-Employment-What-s/145359/
Gainful Employment: What’s New? What’s Missing? And to Whom Does That Matter?
By Goldie Blumenstyk
Washington
The U.S. Department of Education unveiled its proposed new “gainful employment” regulation—all 841 pages of it—on Friday. In a nutshell, it sets out two kinds of tests—one based on loan-default rates of borrowers in for-profit and vocational programs, the other based on how much debt the programs’ graduates incur relative to their eventual income—to determine whether programs pass or fail. Programs that failed either test would lose their eligibility for federal student aid, although when that ineligibility would kick in is pretty complicated.

www.csmonitor.com
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2014/0314/Will-your-degree-get-you-a-good-job-US-proposes-test-for-for-profit-colleges
Will your degree get you a good job? US proposes test for for-profit colleges.
The proposed ‘gainful employment’ regulations would take away a program’s eligibility for federal student aid if too many of its students defaulted on student loans or had debts too high relative to earnings.
By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo
The Obama administration took new steps Friday to hold for-profit colleges and other career-training programs accountable for producing graduates who can earn enough money to pay back student loans. The proposed “gainful employment” regulations would take away a program’s eligibility for federal student aid if too many of its students defaulted on student loans or had debts too high relative to earnings. “For too long, some of these programs have measured success by how many students they enroll – and that needs to change,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. “Success in career education should be measured by how many students graduate prepared for a good job with sufficient earnings.”

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/17/study-tenure-track-professors-saw-21-average-raise-year#ixzz2wDu9Bn8m
Actual Raises for Faculty
By Scott Jaschik
Tenured and tenure-track faculty members at four-year colleges and universities are receiving raises this year that exceed the increase in the cost of living, according to a study being released today by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. The study found that the median increase in base salary is 2.1 percent, and that the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for the period was 1.5 percent. Many faculty members in recent years have received no raises or increases that were smaller than increases in the cost of living, but this year could mark (even with only small average gains in excess of CPI) one in which tenure-track professors are receiving real raises.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Raises-for-Public-College/145349/
Raises for Public-College Faculty Edge Past Those at Private Colleges
By Audrey Williams June
For the first time in at least six years, the median base salary of professors at public colleges increased at a greater rate than that of their private-college counterparts, according to an annual report released this week by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. The median increase for tenured and tenure-track faculty members at public institutions in the 2014 fiscal year was 2.2 percent, compared with 2.0 percent at private colleges. Over all, the median base salary for tenured and tenure-track professors in 2014 rose 2.1 percent from the year before, the same increase as a year ago.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/northwestern-university-launch-areas-largest-fundraising-campaign
Northwestern University to launch area’s largest fundraising campaign
Chicago Tribune
In the most ambitious fundraising campaign ever in the Chicago area, Northwestern University plans to announce Friday that it has set out to raise $3.75 billion for the Evanston-based institution. If successful, it would be among the 10 largest fundraising efforts by a university in the United States. While there is no end date for the campaign — dubbed “We Will.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/u-m-chief-alumni-should-lobby-snyders-proposed-funding-hike
U. of M. chief: Alumni should lobby for Snyder’s proposed funding hike
The Detroit News
“As you know, in the last two years, state support for the university has risen modestly, but this year, I am so encouraged to see the governor’s budget proposal with a substantial increase for higher education, the first major increase since I came to Michigan in 2002,” Coleman wrote in a letter emailed Wednesday night to 90,000 U-M alumni living in the state.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/hacking-incidents-prompt-universities-rethink-balance-between-openness-security
Hacking incidents prompt universities to rethink balance between openness, security
The Baltimore Sun
In the two weeks between recent revelations that hackers stole data on students, alumni and faculty from the University of Maryland, College Park and the Johns Hopkins University, nearly 360,000 records were swiped in similar attacks at schools in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Dakota. Online thieves have increasingly sought sensitive or otherwise valuable data from educational institutions, experts say.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Data-Breaches-Put-a-Dent-in/145341/
Data Breaches Put a Dent in Colleges’ Finances as Well as Reputations
By Megan O’Neil
The costs of a cyberattack on the University of Maryland that was made public last month will run into the millions of dollars, according to data-security professionals who work in higher education. Such a financial and reputational wallop threatens many colleges that are vulnerable to serious data breaches, experts say.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/17/who-would-win-ncaa-tournament-if-games-were-decided-academic-performance#ixzz2wDuPVJb6
The 2014 Academic Performance Tournament
By Allie Grasgreen
It’s that time of year again, when the best of the best face off in front of thousands upon thousands of spectators, when office pools make enemies of friends and when March Madness sweeps the nation. Of course, that’s not really what we’re here for; in this ninth iteration of Inside Higher Ed’s annual academic tournament, the bragging rights go to the fans whose team dominates in the classroom, not on the court.