SG VALUE:
www.tiftongazette.com
http://www.tiftongazette.com/local/x611419215/ABAC-named-Best-Value-School
ABAC named Best Value School
CNHI
TIFTON — Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has been designated a Best Value School by University Research & Review. ABAC is the only college in the state to receive this distinction.
Related article:
www.americantowns.com
http://www.americantowns.com/ga/tifton/news/abac-named-best-value-school-19850970
ABAC named Best Value School
GOOD NEWS:
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Great-Colleges-To-Work-For/147387/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en#id=big-table
Great Colleges To Work For 2014
In our seventh annual survey, 92 colleges were recognized. The annual Great Colleges to Work For survey was administered and compiled by ModernThink LLC for The Chronicle. All survey-related content in this issue, including college presidents’ statements about what makes their institution a great place to work, was provided by ModernThink, which drew institutional data from the colleges and the U.S. Department of Education. …Kennesaw State University
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2014/jul/19/georgia-gwinnett8217s-allied-health-and-science/
Georgia Gwinnett’s Allied Health and Science building set to open
By Keith Farner
The first class of 32 nursing students at Georgia Gwinnett College will start classes in August in the $30 million Allied Health and Science building that school officials have called a teaching machine with picturesque views of the heart of campus. The three-story, 91,000-square-foot structure will provide a variety of facilities for the college, including three physics laboratories, six biology labs, seven chemistry labs, four anatomy and physiology labs and one lab each for psychology, exercise science, IT systems and digital media.
RESEARCH:
www.members.jacksonvile.com
http://members.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2014-07-20/story/st-marys-closed-water-plant-could-become-science-discovery-center
St. Marys closed water plant could become science discovery center
Volunteers and teachers want Georgia Southern to use plant as base for research on coastal marsh
By Jared Keever
ST. MARYS | The city hasn’t used the downtown wastewater treatment plant that overlooks the marsh on the east end of Weed Street for more than a year. If a handful of local volunteers and city officials have their way, the now-vacant property will become a research center used by Camden County high school students and graduate students from Georgia Southern University. …Mayes contacted Georgia Southern professor Danny Gleason, who heads the university’s Institute for Coastal Plain Science. Gleason in turn found at least seven professors at Georgia Southern interested in conducting research on or around the marsh near St. Marys. Most already had grants to begin that research.
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2014/07/18/uga-researchers-get-1-9m-nih-grant.html
UGA researchers get $1.9M NIH grant
Ellie Hensley
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
A research team at The University of Georgia have received a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study pneumonia persistence. The team’s goal is to understand how Mycoplasma pneumoniae, the leading cause of pneumonia in older children and young adults, evades the immune system and resists antibiotic treatment.
www.online.wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/articles/report-finds-u-s-schools-rank-below-average-in-innovation-1405635683
Report Finds U.S. Schools Rank Below Average in Innovation
International Study Tracks Countries’ Efforts to Improve Education With New Methods, Tools
By CAROLINE PORTER CONNECT
The U.S. ranks below average when it comes to innovation in primary and secondary schools, while countries such as Denmark, Indonesia and South Korea top the charts, according to an international report released on Thursday. The report, a first for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, outlines new practices in classrooms and schools—both public and private—as well as teachers’ methods and tools. It then tracks countries’ efforts to improve education through these methods with international data sets already in existence. Researchers found that innovation led to improved math scores for eighth-graders, a narrowing of the achievement gap and happier teachers. …”The U.S. is a very large country with a lot of geographic, economic and cultural diversity, so that when you generalize about a country like the U.S., it’s tricky,” said Paul M.A. Baker, who researches innovation policy at the Center for Advanced Communications Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. “It’s like trying to take the average of a 2-year-old male with an 80-year-old female.”
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.saportareport.com
http://saportareport.com/blog/2014/07/atlanta-university-center-can-be-pathway-to-increase-diversity-at-tech-firms/
SaportaReport
Atlanta University Center a pathway to increase diversity at technology firms
By Guest Columnist DARAKA E. SATCHER, partner and chief operating officer of the Pendleton Group consulting firm
Most of us have seen the news by now. A number of major tech firms recently reported dismally low diversity numbers. Only 2 percent of those who work at Google, Yahoo and LinkedIn are African-American. If one accepts the widely held premise that these companies are representatives of the economy of the future, then this is a harbinger of a much greater problem… The path forward is clear. Stanford University has been empowering its students to create some of the most successful companies in history (literally) by utilizing internal resources and facilitating external resources for its students. Locally, Georgia Tech is finding similar success. So there’s no need to re-invent the wheel; we just need to put a set on our car.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/bookclub/2014/07/21/video-chat-recapping-the-student-loan-mess/
Video Chat: Recapping ‘The Student Loan Mess’
by Vincent DeFrancesco
For nearly two months The Chronicle Book Club has been discussing The Student Loan Mess: How Good Intentions Created a Trillion-Dollar Problem. Today we’re wrapping up the discussion with a video chat. The chat features Joel and Eric Best, the book’s authors; Justin Brown, an associate director of the University of Missouri at Columbia’s office of student financial aid (and one of the book club’s most active participants); and Beckie Supiano, a Chronicle reporter who covers financial aid and student-loan policy.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/07/21/essay-defending-mla-report-doctoral-education#sthash.b1Uwskwi.dpbs
Defending MLA Reform Plan
By Russell A. Berman
The Modern Language Association report on the Ph.D. in languages and literatures has already succeeded in sparking a lively debate. Some commentators have welcomed the report’s general findings, while others have taken issue with its specific recommendations. Beyond these differences, a broad consensus has emerged that the current situation is unsustainable, and this recognition is key to moving forward.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/world-view/short-term-policy-short-term-thinking#sthash.8GBF1DVZ.dpbs
Short-term policy, short-term thinking
By Liz Reisbergd
I read with dismay that the State Department is planning a new program to provide professional development in the US for young African and Asian leaders. While I celebrate any new international educational initiative, I do not understand why it has to come at the expense of the Fulbright program.
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2014/jul/21/president-obama-will-deliver-message-power-educati/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
President Obama delivers a message today about power of education. Will young black males listen?
Can the White House influence the decisions of 16-year-old minority males to stay in school? President Obama is trying with a multi-pronged campaign that includes private industry, professional athletics, community organizations and government. He will talk about the campaign this morning at a media event in Washington. Readers of this blog are often skeptical of federal initiatives to change behaviors or improve educational outcomes. It’s a fair question whether White House messages will reach teens in Atlanta or Augusta or Athens.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Should-Colleges-Help/147809/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Should Colleges Help Undocumented Students?
A look at why many Catholic institutions are doing just that.
By David M. Perry
The unprecedented surge of unaccompanied minors at the U.S. border has propelled immigration back to the forefront of our political discourse. There are, of course, already hundreds of thousands of undocumented children in our country, some of whom graduate from high school and want to enter college. What can and should institutions of higher education do? Over the last few years at my Roman Catholic university, we have begun to act, both admitting and financially supporting undocumented students. It may seem risky, but as Donna Carroll, our president at Dominican University, always says, “It’s the right thing to do.”
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/provost-prose/economics-higher-education#sthash.g7WtTGLX.dpbs
Economics of Higher Education
Herman Berliner
Very often in higher education, when we look at enrollment numbers, the numbers are aggregated. We look at the headcount of students or the number of full-time students or the number of new students or transfer students, etc. We also look more and more at the discount rate, once again by different categories of students. We know, for example, that typically first time full-time students have a higher discount rate than transfer students or part-time students or continuing students. And because of that we know that increases or decreases in categories also have bottom line implications, even if the total number of students remains the same.
Education News
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/state-shifts-data-focus-in-rating-schools-teachers/ngjB6/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1#cb709505.3566685.735435
State shifts data focus in rating schools, teachers
By Molly Bloom and Jeff Ernsthausen – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New “student growth” data the state expects to release this week is part of a significant change in how Georgia grades its schools and teachers. Designed to show how much students at each school learn in a year, regardless of how much they knew at the start of the year, it’s part of a larger shift away from grading schools almost entirely on pass/fail rates on tests. Some thought that approach was unfair to schools with high percentages of students from low-income families, learning English or in special education programs.
Related article:
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/for-georgia-schools-its-about-more-than-how-many-k/ngjB8/
For Georgia schools, it’s about more than how many kids pass the test
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/07/21/fafsas-decimal-place-error-will-be-reprocessed#sthash.eUGCiCWI.dpbs
FAFSAs With Decimal Place Error Will Be Reprocessed
The U.S. Department of Education said Friday that it will automatically reprocess the federal financial aid applications of tens of thousands of students whose aid eligibility was likely reduced because of a decimal place error. The problem came to light this month after some students and families filling out the online Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA, incorrectly entered both dollars and cents into a box that was supposed to accept only whole-dollar values.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/65700/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=e48349b5d0104cd3a3bf65f79df46fcc&elqCampaignId=173
Colleges Woo Native Americans With New Programs
by Krysta Fauria, Associated Press
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Elijah Watson knows he wants to go to college. He also knows that it will be difficult to leave home on the Navajo reservation if he does. The 17-year-old was reminded of the tough decision he’ll face next year when he participated in a weeklong celebration in March of his cousin’s Kinaalda, a hallowed Navajo ceremony marking a girl’s transition into womanhood. “I’m afraid because it’s really hard to leave my family,” he said, noting that college would mean he’d be away from taking part in the same rite for his little sister and participating in other important tribal ceremonies. To reach students like Watson with higher education aspirations, a growing number of universities are offering programs to recruit and prepare Native American students for a transition to college life that can bring on a wrenching emotional conflict as they straddle two worlds.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/21/study-mooc-content-traditional-courses-viable-if-inflexible#ixzz3861W9YhC
My Course, Your Content
By Carl Straumsheim
Another professor’s learning materials? In my course? It’s more likely than you think. The nonprofit research organization Ithaka S+R this month released its highly anticipated report on its work with the institutions in the University System of Maryland, which for the past 18 months have experimented with courseware from Carnegie Mellon University, Coursera and Pearson in face-to-face courses. Backed by a $1.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the study aimed to produce some sorely needed research about massive open online courses and their usefulness to brick-and-mortar institutions. Eighteen months later, the MOOC frenzy has calmed, and Ithaka’s findings are similarly muted.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/21/lure-research-and-avoid-regulations-some-universities-turn-away-tax-exempt-bonds#ixzz3861pSUL2
The Lure of Taxable Debt
By Ry Rivard
SEATTLE — Some universities have started forgoing their ability to issue tax-exempt bonds, long considered a benefit of their nonprofit status. Issuing taxable bonds instead makes sense under market conditions that defy conventional wisdom and allows institutions to avoid additional regulations on tax-exempt bonds, according to officials at an annual conference of college business officers. Governments and nonprofit entities — including both public and private nonprofit colleges — have long been able to borrow money using tax-exempt bonds. The bonds allow lenders to skip paying taxes on the interest they earn. That’s an incentive for lenders to lend money cheaply to institutions that serve a public purpose. Common sense suggests that these tax-exempt bonds would be the best way for colleges to borrow money. But that may not be true in some cases, particularly for 30-year bonds, and business officers may be increasingly open to using taxable bonds.
www.nytimes.com
U.S. Seen as Weak on Global Research Collaboration
By KARIN FISCHER | THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
WASHINGTON — Amie K. Lund’s long-distance collaboration with a researcher in France was a modest one. They published a paper together, exchanging drafts by email. But Dr. Lund, who studies the effect of air pollution on the heart and brain, wanted to learn an innovative cell-culture technique that her colleague had developed in his lab, and, as she said with a laugh, “you can’t just email a protocol.” Thanks to a grant from the University of North Texas, where she is an assistant professor of biological sciences, Dr. Lund spent a week in Paris this spring. Not only did she pick up the technique, but the two scientists also brainstormed new projects and made plans to exchange students. After she gave a presentation on her work, Dr. Lund was approached by several more potential research partners. “It opened up new pathways,” she said of going abroad.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/21/colleges-assign-adjunct-hiring-third-party#sthash.LyBvZ96k.dpbs
Outsourced in Michigan
By Colleen Flaherty
Colleges and universities have outsourced lots of services in the past several decades, from food preparation and delivery to bookstores to sanitation. But to many academics it is taboo to even consider outsourcing the faculty. Not in Michigan. In recent years, a handful of community colleges in that state have outsourced the recruitment and hiring of adjunct instructors – who make up the overwhelming majority of the community college teaching force – to an educational staffing company. Just last week, the faculty union at a sixth institution, Jackson College, signed a collective bargaining agreement allowing EDUStaff to take over adjunct hiring and payroll duties.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/07/21/former-us-attorney-will-monitor-corinthian-shutdown#sthash.vMmkqvR5.dpbs
Former U.S. Attorney Will Monitor Corinthian Shutdown
The U.S. Department of Education announced on Friday that Patrick Fitzgerald, a prominent former U.S. attorney from Illinois, will lead the team of outside monitors that will oversee the closure and sale of Corinthian Colleges’ 107 campuses. An agreement the feds and Corinthian reached earlier this month required that a monitor have access to the for-profit’s finances and other internal controls.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/21/u-connecticut-pay-13-million-settle-sexual-assault-lawsuit#ixzz38621ovjZ
Major Sexual Assault Settlement
By Jake New
The University of Connecticut will pay nearly $1.3 million to five current and former students to settle a federal lawsuit that accused the university of mishandling allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Most of the settlement — $900,000 — will go to just one student. In a joint statement with the students, the university said it had agreed to settle to avoid a costly trial. It is not, UConn stated, an admission of guilt.
Related article:
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/65692/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=e48349b5d0104cd3a3bf65f79df46fcc&elqCampaignId=173
University of Connecticut Settles Sex Assault Lawsuit