University System News

USG NEWS:
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/24821495/article-SPSU-leader-Rossbacher-takes-post-in-California?instance=secondary_story_left_column
SPSU leader Rossbacher takes post in California
by Rachel Gray
MARIETTA — Southern Polytechnic State University’s president, who was about to be displaced after a mandated merger with Kennesaw State University, has accepted a new position at a northern California school. Lisa Rossbacher will become the first female president in the 100-year history of Humboldt State University, which is part of the California State University system off the Arcata Bay outside of Eureka, Calif. Rossbacher will start her new role as HSU’s seventh president on July 1, succeeding Rollin Richmond, who is retiring at the end of the academic year after 12 years as president.

Related article:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/capitol_vision/2014/03/southern-poly-president-stepping-down.html
Southern Poly president stepping down

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/administration/uga-experiences-best-year-in-campus-development-funding/article_1284e8be-b46e-11e3-a0bc-001a4bcf6878.html
UGA experiences ‘best year’ in campus development funding
Brad Mannion
A 3 percent increase in budget for the University System of Georgia may not be a “huge jump,” said University of Georgia President Jere Morehead, but UGA is “clearly moving in the right direction,” particularly for faculty and staff salaries. “Overall, the University System of Georgia’s entire budget has been increased by about 3 percent for next year, and the system did receive some funding for merit-based pay increases,” he said. Morehead addressed the increase in Wednesday’s University Council meeting, an announcement that hopes for the possibility of the first pay increases in several years. …Along with potential increases, Morehead called this year the “best year in our history” in the “capital front,” when considering the Georgia General Assembly also approved funding for the design and development of several programs and buildings.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/business/ncr-said-to-be-considering-complex-near-georgia-te/nfL4C/
NCR said to be considering complex near Georgia Tech
BY GREG BLUESTEIN AND J. SCOTT TRUBEY – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
It took a fast-moving secretive deal in 2009 to persuade financial technology giant NCR to dislodge from its home in Ohio and move to Gwinnett County. Now the Fortune 500 company is involved in a flurry of back-channel negotiations to build a major corporate complex near Georgia Tech. The Duluth-based company is in talks to put a major facility on the doorstep of the state’s top technology school, two individuals with direct knowledge of the situation told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. For NCR, such a move would have many benefits, including a direct line to the highly skilled engineering and programming talent that graduate each year, the individuals said. …NCR has long cited Georgia Tech as one of the metro area’s strengths and a driver in its decision to move to the region.

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/administration/on-the-hunt-students-tread-similar-career-paths/article_a8defb88-b522-11e3-852b-0017a43b2370.html
On the hunt: Students tread similar career paths
by Jeanette Kazmierczak
With graduation just around the corner, even the most reluctant college seniors are starting to face the idea of life after college. But as the job market remains less than optimal, University of Georgia students are wondering where they are going after they leave campus. AfterCollege, an online career networking website for students and recent graduates, issued a press release stating Intel Corporation had or was edging out the competition for most popular employer for technology, engineering and business majors, although companies such as Google, The Boeing Company and Target remain popular as well. …Walton said 80 percent of Terry’s students are employed by three months after graduation. Although the majors are finance and marketing, management information systems is becoming more popular. And Microsoft Corporation came in at Terry’s fifth biggest hiring company.

USG VALUE:
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/clayton-state-wants-to-help-children-have-brighter/nfMLf/
Clayton State wants to help children have brighter smiles
By Tammy Joyner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clayton State University’s Dental Hygiene Clinic is looking for young patients. The clinic has a shortage of children patients, especially those with baby and permanent teeth. “To meet their graduation requirements, senior dental hygiene students are required to provide oral care for a certain number of children,” said Dr. Gail Barnes, chair of the Department of Dental Hygiene which runs the clinic. The clinic is one of the university’s busiest and best-known public outreach programs.

GOOD NEWS:
www.wctv.tv
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/VSU-Recognized-For-Use-Of-Technology-To-Improve-South-Georgias-Low-Student-Retention-Rates-252336511.html
VSU Recognized For Use Of Technology To Improve South Georgia’s Low Student Retention Rates
By: Winnie Wright
Valdosta, GA – A study by Georgetown University found that by 2018 Georgia will need more than 250,000 college graduates to meet the growing workforce demand. Gov. Deal launched Complete College Georgia to help produce these graduates. “For us to be where we need to be as a nation and as a state we need a more educated work force. Part of what we do in higher education is to educate that work force. And so, in order to meet these goals, we have to have students graduate. …Part of VSU’s Complete College Georgia plan was the expansion of the data system that helps track the academic progress of students. …”Before, a student for instance would have to walk in to our Success Center to say, get help in math. Well now, if a math faculty sees a student is having problems, They can click one button, it automatically notifies our success center, so now the Success Center can reach out to the student.

RESEARCH:
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/science_health/researchers-prepare-to-return-to-site-gulf-of-mexico-oil/article_682f988c-b46d-11e3-81d2-001a4bcf6878.html
Researchers prepare to return to site Gulf of Mexico oil spill
Gabe Cavallaro
A University of Georgia marine scientist will lead a research expedition back to the site of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico to examine the seafloor and assess the long-term effects of the oil spill. “The main thing that we want to find out is are these chemicals persisting in the environment and we want to figure out why they’re not being degraded,” said Samantha Joye, a UGA marine scientist and professor who will be the chief scientist on the cruise.

www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2014/03/27/3014143/report-people-are-moving-away.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1
Report: People are moving away from Middle Georgia
BY MIKE STUCKA
New population estimates suggest Middle Georgia residents are leaving the region as a whole. The number of newcomers to Houston County has dramatically slowed, while more than 2,100 people moved out of Bibb County in a single year, U.S. Census population estimates released Thursday suggest. These estimates show most Middle Georgia counties lost population between July 2012 and July 2013, the latest year for which data is available, while the area overall lost nearly 1,000 people. …Greg George, director of Middle Georgia State College’s Center for Economic Analysis, said the estimates themselves, if accurate, don’t identify the economic impact on the area. The area would be hurt more by losing working-age families than retirees who just wanted to move closer to the beach, he said. But population loss alone is a problem. “It’s discouraging to have a shrinking population,” he said. “The details will determine whether it’s just a little bad or a lot bad.”

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2014/mar/27/gwinnett-leads-state-in-growth-according-to/
Gwinnett leads state in growth, according to Census stats
By Camie Young
Gwinnett continues its reign as the fastest growing county in Georgia, according to numerical stats released by the U.S. Census Bureau this week. The population estimate says Gwinnett added 18,729 people from July 1, 2012 to July 1, 2013, a growth rate of 2.2 percent. The rate ranked sixth in the state, below the smaller counties of Forsyth, Columbia, Bryan, Long and Towns. But the number of new residents was nearly twice as much as any other Georgia county, with Cobb coming the closest at 9,913 people.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/03/26/3024654/here-is-the-controversial-gun.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1
Here is Georgia’s controversial gun rights bill
BY ADAM CARLSON
It’s the gun rights bill heard ’round the state: House Bill 60 is now ready for Gov. Deal’s (very likely) signature, after which it will become law. That means your right to carry a gun into a church, bar or airport will be expanded. (In the case of the former, the decision will be left up to individual congregations; for the latter, being armed will be essentially decriminalized.) …That post’s headline — “Georgia’s totally reasonable, rational, not extreme whatsoever gun bill awaits Deal’s signature” — reflects the high stakes the bill has claimed in public debate. Let’s not continue it here! Instead, you can read House Bill 60 for yourself, in its 29-page entirety, below.

www.nytimes.com

In Georgia, Carry a Gun, Just Not in the Capitol
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
There’s a lot of concern about new legislation in Georgia that expands how people can buy, carry and use guns. It reduces some licensing requirements and provides Georgians with a stronger “Stand Your Ground” defense should they feel threatened and decide to open fire. Some critics were calling it the “guns everywhere” law. …Georgia’s lawmakers are not allowing everyone’s safety to be endangered by gun-slinging people. They are deeply concerned, for example, with their own. The bill, passed on Thursday and awaiting the governor’s signature, will, among other things, allow people to carry concealed weapons into more places — including ones, like bars, which conveniently enough are spots where they are likely to be put to use. …Republican lawmakers in the Georgia House tried — and failed — to require colleges and churches to allow concealed weapons. The law bans them on college campuses (thank goodness for that, at least) and requires armed Georgians to get permission from their church before they go to Sunday services packing heat. But, while patting themselves on the back for protecting the Second Amendment rights of their fellow citizens and dismissing any notion that guns could be a danger to the public, Georgia lawmakers were careful to continue to ban the carrying of weapons in government buildings with security checkpoints, like the Capitol itself, though guns are welcomed in buildings without screening.

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/views/our-take-smoking-ban-a-childish-attempt-to-end-addiction/article_1ecc4bc4-b5b5-11e3-a1a1-001a4bcf6878.html
Our take: Smoking ban a childish attempt to end addiction
The ban on all tobacco use that was approved for the University of Georgia’s campus Wednesday made me feel as if I was back in middle school. Remember when teachers used to say we couldn’t chew gum in class? Gum was banned from my middle school classrooms because a few troublemakers abused their privilege to chew gum. They stuck it under the desks, popped it during lectures and their bad behavior ruined the fun for everyone else. Of course, many people still smoke under the breezeway at Tate, but that may be the only place on campus an abundance of smokers gather. Although some smokers are abusing the ban, that’s not reason enough to punish everyone. Unfortunately, just like in middle school, a few rule-breaking smokers on campus led to the Georgia Board of Regents to ban everyone from smoking, taking away a college student’s prized right. …No smoker is going to quit just because of the ban — as I assume was UGA’s goal. They won’t stop smoking because they can’t. A smoker is already sacrificing his health for the addiction. A smoking policy, with no clear plan for enforcement, is not going to make a difference.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/03/27/competency-based-learning-isnt-panacea-may-be-one-answer-essay
Competency as One Answer
By David Schejbal
Amy Slaton’s February 21 essay is a good example of how a well-intentioned effort to defend the value of higher education ends up portraying competency-based education as something it’s not and perpetuates the view that there is only one true approach to higher education. To understand the recent focus on competency-based education, it’s important to recognize a few critical realities.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/shifting-role-university-systems
The Shifting Role of University Systems
By Steven Mintz
Must reading for anyone interested in the future of public higher education is Jason E. Lane and Dr. Bruce Johnstone’s Higher Education Systems 3.0 (SUNY Press, 2013), which examines the shifting role of multi-campus university systems. Today, 59 multi-campus public university systems operate in 37 states, serving roughly three quarters of all students at four-year public colleges and universities. A relatively recent phenomenon, multi-campus university systems first emerged in the late nineteenth century, but only became commonplace after World War II. From the outset, the primary motivation for system-building was to curb political influence in funding public colleges and universities. …My personal view is that there is great value in systemness. I say this as a system administrator but also as a faculty member at an individual campus. Systems are well-positioned to devise strategic plans that will allow campuses to fulfill their distinct mission, build on their unique strengths, and better serve their locality.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/data/2014/03/27/what-college-offers-the-best-return-on-investment-the-answer-is-still-elusive/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
What College Offers the Best Return on Investment? The Answer Is Still Elusive
by Jonah Newman
Harvey Mudd College, a small, STEM-focused, liberal-arts institution in Southern California, is the college with the highest “return on investment,” as determined by PayScale’s annual “College ROI Report,” released on Tuesday. Just like last year. And just like last year, that ranking isn’t as meaningful as you might think. As we discussed in a previous blog post, PayScale’s annual ROI rankings fall victim to some of the pitfalls of calculating the value of a college degree based on future earnings alone.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/new-data-shed-light-on-use-of-plus-loans-and-controversial-loan-denials/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
New Data Shed Light on Use of PLUS Loans and Controversial Loan Denials
by Goldie Blumenstyk
Washington — Colleges that have complained that the U.S. Department of Education has been too strict in denying PLUS loans to their students now have a little better picture of the reason for those denials. And policy advocates who say the rules still allow overborrowing by students and families who may not be able to repay the loans may have some new talking points, too. Data released by the department on Wednesday show that nearly 70 percent of all PLUS-loan applications initially rejected in the past two years were denied on the grounds that the borrower had other debts in collection or had settled a debt for less than the full amount.

Education News
www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2014/03/26/3014252/wave-of-test-changes-hitting-high.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1
Wave of test changes hitting high-schoolers
BY JENNA MINK
It’s one of the most popular college-entrance exams, but in the next couple of years, students will be taking a revamped SAT. The College Board recently announced sweeping changes scheduled to take place in 2016, and school officials are now preparing to communicate those changes to students, parents and teachers. The changes would affect current freshmen who plan to take the test as juniors. To better measure the skills students are learning in high school — and will need in the future — the test will ax obscure vocabulary words, make the essay optional, revert to a top score of 1,600 and enforce no penalties for wrong answers, among other changes.

www.well.blogs.nytimes.com

Exercising for Healthier Eyes
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
Age-related vision loss is common and devastating. But new research suggests that physical activity might protect our eyes as we age. …So, more recently, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta and the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center in Decatur, Ga., took up that question for a study published last month in The Journal of Neuroscience. Their interest was motivated in part by animal research at the V.A. medical center. That work had determined that exercise increases the levels of substances known as growth factors in the animals’ bloodstream and brains. These growth factors, especially one called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or B.D.N.F., are known to contribute to the health and well-being of neurons and consequently, it is thought, to improvements in brain health and cognition after regular exercise.

www.insidehghered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/03/27/controversial-presidential-pick-says-he-can-mend-fences
Controversial Presidential Pick Says He Can Mend Fences
South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Glen McConnell says he can overcome the backlash that erupted after he was named the next president of the College of Charleston, a public liberal arts college. McConnell, who has been criticized for not being an academic and for his affiliation with Confederate historical causes, said time as leader of the state Senate taught him how to bring together divided constituencies.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/61422/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=52de1d0b903f44e0ab0caabcd6832862&elqCampaignId=173
Drexel Discrimination Suit May Jeopardize Privacy Rights of Uninvolved Students
by Eric Freedman
What might otherwise be a routine discrimination suit about one aggrieved ex-student’s dismissal for poor academic performance has implicated the privacy rights of more than 100 other students. The case being played out in a Philadelphia federal courthouse pits Le Ke’s discrimination claims against a university’s legal duty and the rights of other students under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Ke, who was born in China, is suing for damages and reinstatement to Drexel University’s College of Medicine. He alleges that discrimination based on his race and Chinese ethnicity led to his dismissal in 2011, an allegation that the university denies.

www.insidehghered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/27/late-night-cookouts-keep-drinkers-campus
At Night, Burgers Beat Beer
By Allie Grasgreen
Late one weekend night six or seven years ago, local police rushed to the Saint Michael’s College campus in Vermont to check out a report of a large gathering. They started breaking up the party but found that, to everyone’s surprise, the source of ruckus was not a keg stand or game of beer pong, but a table of immensely popular chicken patty sandwiches.
The mix-up bode well for officials at the Vermont liberal arts college, who’d cooked up the weekend barbecue idea as a way to minimize alcohol-related incidents and keep an eye on students who may have had too much to drink. …The cookouts were part of a broader programming effort designed to influence behavior of freshmen and sophomores (the feast caps off an evening of community-building dorm activities), but there was an unintended side effect: a reduction among all students in binge drinking and conduct code violations, such as fights and underage citations.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Negotiators-Tussle-Over/145577/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Negotiators Tussle Over Proposed Rule to Compel State Scrutiny of Online Ed
By Kelly Field
Washington
Colleges pushed back on Wednesday against the U.S. Education Department’s efforts to expand state oversight of online education, calling the agency’s proposed “state authorization” rule a “bureaucratic nightmare.” Speaking here at a negotiated rule-making session, campus officials argued that the draft rule, which would require colleges to seek approval to operate in every state where they enroll students online, would place an undue burden on both the colleges and the states.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/61429/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=52de1d0b903f44e0ab0caabcd6832862&elqCampaignId=173
University of Pennsylvania Center Aims to Turn MSI Research Into Results
by Jamal E. Mazyck
PHILADELPHIA — Launched in January, the Penn Center for Minority-Serving Institutions (CMSI), via the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, was created to highlight and advance the contributions of minority serving institutions (MSI) in higher education. The goals of the center include, among many, connecting academic and administrative leadership, advancing effective policies that strengthen MSIs, increasing development and support of students and faculty, and augmenting initiatives that aim to close achievement gaps in underrepresented groups.

www.insidehghered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/27/civitas-brings-completion-oriented-big-data-community-colleges-and-universities
Predicting Success
By Paul Fain
Many colleges are flirting with how to use predictive analytics to boost their graduation rates. But big data is often just a flashy way to spend money on reports aimed at administrators, argue the leaders of Civitas Learning. They say data science works best when converted to practical tools that faculty members, advisers and students themselves can use. And the company, which is a relatively new player in education technology, so far has signed up more than 25 institutions — including statewide systems and national chains of campuses — to give its products a whirl.

www.insidehghered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/27/qa-author-new-book-how-polarization-has-created-stale-higher-ed-policy-profits-can
‘Degrees of Inequality’
By Ry Rivard
American higher education policy has drifted off-course, and what we have now are the diminishing returns, according to a new book by a Cornell University professor of government, Suzanne Mettler. Mettler, who has written in the past about how relatively hidden tax policies are helping to subsidize corporate America, took a look at the landscape of higher education. She found Congress and others have failed to maintain the college-going effort they began as far back as the 18th century.

www.ccnewsnow.com
http://www.ccnewsnow.com/academic-credits-lost-when-students-transfer-from-community-colleges-study-suggests/?utm_campaign=032614ccnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=b1cd02127d984a599668fb685385904a&elqCampaignId=249
Academic credits lost when students transfer from community colleges, study suggests
Source: dailyfreepress.com
More than 10 percent of students who transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions such as Boston University lose a majority of their credits during the switch, according to a study released Wednesday. “The percentage of credits you get transferred has a not insubstantial effect on one’s probability of completing a bachelors degree,” said City University of New York Research Analyst David Monaghan, who co-authored the study. The study, conducted by Monaghan and CUNY Professor Paul Attewell, found students who retained most or all of their credits upon transferring to a four-year university were 2.5 times more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than those who transferred fewer than half of their credits.

www.ccnewsnow.com
http://www.ccnewsnow.com/3-seattle-colleges-dropping-community-from-names/?utm_campaign=032614ccnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=b1cd02127d984a599668fb685385904a&elqCampaignId=249
3 Seattle colleges dropping ‘community’ from names
Source: komonews.com
SEATTLE – Seattle’s three community colleges are losing the “community.” The district’s board voted unanimously to change the names to Seattle Central College, South Seattle College and North Seattle College. The change was approved Thursday by the board of the Seattle Community Colleges District, which will now be known as Seattle Colleges. “The decision came after a year-long exploration of national and statewide trends; opinion surveys of students, employees and community partners; and consultation with business and civic leaders and representatives from Seattle Public Schools,” Susan Kostick, Interim Communications Director, Seattle Colleges said.

www.floridatrend.com
http://www.floridatrend.com/article/16965/commercializing-floridas-public-research
Commercializing Florida’s public research
As Florida TaxWatch has explored in the past1, researchers at Florida universities and research institutes have made some of the most recognizable inventions in the U.S., and commercializing those inventions has brought millions of dollars to the state. In many cases, the new product or process is licensed to a large company that may or may not be located in Florida. In other cases, startup companies (known as spinoffs) are formed, often with the inventor taking a role in the company.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/ap/top-news/college-athletes-can-unionize-federal-agency-says/nfLst/
College athletes can unionize, federal agency says
BY MICHAEL TARM – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — In a stunning ruling that could revolutionize a college sports industry worth billions of dollars and have dramatic repercussions at schools coast to coast, a federal agency said Wednesday that football players at Northwestern University can create the nation’s first union of college athletes. The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board answered the question at the heart of the debate over the unionization bid: Are football players who receive full scholarships to the Big Ten school considered employees under federal law, thereby allowing them to unionize?

Related articles:
www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=272982
College athletes can unionize, federal agency says

www.insidehghered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/26/nlrb-office-backs-union-northwestern-football-players
Football Players Win Union, for Now