USG e-Clips from Sept. 11, 2014

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USG NEWS:
www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=279383
$1.99B requested to fund Ga. universities, including $3.5M for UNG project
By The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is requesting $1.99 billion for its 2016 budget and a separate $254.8 million for facilities. Included is $3.5 million in “planning and design funds” for a convocation center at the University of North Georgia (UNG), according to a news release from the board.

www.wjcl.com
http://wjcl.com/2014/09/10/governor-deal-helps-break-ground-for-new-armstrong-liberty-center/
Gov. Deal helps break ground at Armstrong Liberty Center
By Dave Williams
HINESVILLE, Ga. (WJCL) — It’s an exciting day for Armstrong State University and Liberty County. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal was among those on hand Wednesday to break ground for the new Armstrong Liberty Center campus. The new 21,000 square foot building will replace a smaller facility located in a strip mall. It will include much more space and accommodate many more students, most of whom are non-traditional and military and those transitioning from the military.

www.effinghamherald.net
http://www.effinghamherald.net/section/6/article/28455/
Armstrong set to open new Liberty Center in Hinesville
Staff report
Armstrong State University and the city of Hinesville will host a groundbreaking for the new Liberty Center in Hinesville on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. The event, at Memorial Drive and Welborn Street, will include remarks by Gov. Nathan Deal and University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank M. Huckaby. …The new facility, which is expected to open in the summer of 2015, will include classrooms, science laboratories, faculty/staff offices, common areas, student services and support areas.

Related article:
www.businesssavannah.com
http://businessinsavannah.com/bis/2014-09-11/armstrong-breaks-ground-new-facility-hinesville#.VBG1SCivIeU
Armstrong breaks ground on new facility in Hinesville

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2014-09-10/uga-wont-hold-summer-commencement-anymore
UGA won’t hold summer commencement anymore
By LEE SHEARER
The University of Georgia will no longer conduct summer commencement exercises, university officials announced today. Instead, undergraduates eligible for summer graduation are allowed to walk in spring ceremonies, before they fulfill graduation requirements. Ph.D. and master’s students who finish in the summer are eligible to participate in fall graduation exercises, according to the announcement.

Related article:
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/summer-commencement-ceremony-discontinued-at-uga-administration-meeting/article_fe75fd26-393e-11e4-8b2b-0017a43b2370.html
Summer Commencement ceremony discontinued at UGA administration meeting

www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/have-you-rsvp-d-event-raises-sexual-assault-awareness-in/article_eb052998-3965-11e4-99c9-0017a43b2370.html
‘Have You RSVP’d?’ event raises sexual assault awareness in light of recent reports
Lauren McDonald
In the past two weeks, seven incidents of rape and sexual battery have been reported to University of Georgia Police Department, a problem one on-campus event attempted to raise awareness of Wednesday. The Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention office of the UGA University Health Center worked to raise awareness of available resources for sexual assault victims in Athens-Clarke County by giving each an information table in Tate Student Center Plaza to educate students.

GOOD NEWS:
www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/news/2014-09-10/day-southern-breaks-record-raises-more-2-million#.VBCluSivIeU
‘A day for Southern’ breaks record, raises more than $2 million
By Savannah Morning News
STATESBORO — Georgia Southern University’s 41st annual A Day for Southern fundraising campaign has raised $2,221,424, breaking last year’s record of $2.1 million. This marks the second straight year the campaign has raised more than $2 million.

www.gainesvilletimes.com
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/104362/
Area colleges intervene to keep new students in school beyond first year
By Jennifer Brown
For many students, the first year of college comes as a shock. Balancing schoolwork with life, keeping up with difficult academic demands and just trying to pay the bills can create a heavy burden, and more than 35 percent of first-time, full-time freshmen don’t enroll for a second year at the same school. Some of those transfer to other schools, but many decide it’s not the right time for college, or just give up altogether. At Brenau University and the University of North Georgia, advisers use intervention programs to try to help struggling students. …At UNG, the rate of retention from freshman year to sophomore year for first-time, full-time students in the bachelor’s degree program is relatively high: 80 percent last year, compared to a national average of 62 percent for public, open-enrollment universities.

www.albanyherald.com
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2014/sep/10/magazine-ranks-albany-state-university-no-15/
Magazine ranks Albany State University No. 15 among U.S. public HBCUs
ASU was unranked in the 2013 U.S. News and World Report ratings
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — U.S. News & World Report has released this year’s list of top ranked colleges and universities, and Albany State University is listed among the top Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the nation. Previously unranked, ASU made the cut at No. 15 among all 56 public HBCUs nationally and No. 26 among the nation’s 105 public and private HBCUs combined. According to the rankings released this week, ASU pulled ahead of Georgia’s other public HBCUs, Fort Valley State and Savannah State.

www.rockdalecitizen.com
http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/2014/sep/01/georgia-perimeter-kicks-off-50th-anniversary-year/
Georgia Perimeter kicks off 50th anniversary year
From staff reports
COVINGTON — Concerned that not enough students in DeKalb County were able to attend college, the DeKalb County Board of Education made a historic move in 1964. In that year, the BOE officially opened DeKalb College, the first and only public two-year college in Georgia to be controlled by a local school district, with 763 students enrolled. Twenty-two years later, DeKalb College joined the University System of Georgia; and in 1997, the USG Board of Regents changed the name of the college to Georgia Perimeter College to reflect its expanding mission and its service throughout the metro Atlanta area. The GPC moniker became official in the fall of 1998.

Related articles:
www.rockdalenews.com
http://www.rockdalenews.com/section/23/article/20850/
www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2014/09/03/3283134_georgia-perimeter-college-marks.html?rh=1
www.neighbornewspapers.com
http://www.neighbornewspapers.com/view/full_story/25738535/article-Georgia-Perimeter-College-celebrates-50-years?instance=all
www.newtoncitizen.com
http://www.newtoncitizen.com/news/2014/sep/01/georgia-perimeter-kicks-off-50th-anniversary-year/
www.covnews.com
http://www.covnews.com/section/1/article/55868/
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/bookmark/25710511-Georgia-News-Roundup
www.wabe.org
http://wabe.org/post/georgia-perimeter-turns-50-years-old
www.cbs46.com
http://www.cbs46.com/story/26433752/georgia-perimeter-college-marks-50th-anniversary
www.41nbc.com
http://www.41nbc.com/story/d/story/georgia-perimeter-college-marks-50th-anniversary/44875/wDTH3XiBBkGc_kYbnIXAlQ
www.wrbl.org
http://www.wrbl.com/story/26433752/georgia-perimeter-college-marks-50th-anniversary
www.twitter.com


Georgia Perimeter College turns 50. Mascot Jiggy is excited about that.

RESEARCH:
www.statesboroherald.com
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/63516/
Georgia Southern’s Molecular Biology Initiative named a STEM Education Awards finalist
Special to the Herald
The Technology Association of Georgia, the state’s leading association dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of Georgia’s technology industry, announced Wednesday that the Georgia Southern University Molecular Biology Initiative has been named a finalist in the Post-Secondary Outreach category for the 2014 STEM Education Awards.

Editorial/Columns/Opinions
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/66815/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=fe2f9c15ca504d6d839704b0d0780c9a&elqCampaignId=358
For HBCUs, Investing in Education Abroad a Key to Marketplace Success
by Steven W. Jones
The numbers show how under-represented students of color are when it comes to international experiences, but how can its increase also be connected to improving marketplace success? Since 2000 according to the Institute of International Education, study abroad participation among U.S. college students has nearly tripled in the 2011-12 academic year, the latest available figures until November, to a new high: 283,332. The four largest groups: Whites (76.4); Asians (7.7); Hispanics (7.6); and Blacks (5.3). During the same period: 58.0, 5.8 and 14.4 percent of enrolled U.S. college students were represented by those same groups, respectively. Latinos and African Americans were virtually tied.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/university-venus/demystifying-community-colleges
Demystifying Community Colleges …
By Yves Salomon-Fernandez
A colleague in marketing recently asked me to write a blog post on community colleges. She was astounded by the number of people in the state who don’t know what community colleges are, what they do, and whom they serve. I commiserated with her. This past year, a big part of my work focused on outreach and very quickly I realized that I could not assume that every potential partner—industry or community-based— or person knew about community colleges. In a state that is home to many elite higher education institutions and a strong cadre of second-tier, highly competitive schools, it is not surprising that the public knows very little about community colleges.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/spikes-stacks-and-spaces
Spikes, Stacks, and Spaces
By Matt Reed
What should a campus library look like when enrollments are moving increasingly online? I’m old enough to remember when college libraries were all about books, microfilm, and microfiche. (Anyone who worked with microfiche will be immune to talk of the “good old days.”) Over time, the emphasis on paper volumes — whether books or periodicals — has gradually receded, in favor of access to all sorts of electronic databases and resources. That’s particularly true, my layman’s eye tells me, in the area of reference materials. I haven’t seen the Big Wall of Encyclopedias in a while, and I’m not sure such a thing would even make sense anymore.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/To-Tenure-or-Not-to-Tenure-/148699/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
To Tenure or Not to Tenure?
What to expect when you’re asked to write an external letter of recommendation, or when you’re the subject of one

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/09/11/ncaa-cant-be-reformed-congress-should-replace-it-essay
Don’t Reform NCAA – Replace It
By Donna Lopiano and Gerald Gurney
Three weeks after a trial over the NCAA’s use of college athletes’ likenesses ended this summer, U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller’s Commerce Committee began hearings on the welfare of athletes and included testimony from NCAA President Mark Emmert. Amid the senators’ skepticism and the professed need for congressional oversight, Emmert once again promised more change to come and referred to the hearings as a “useful cattle prod.” …It is clear that the NCAA is experiencing an era of discontent and public distrust. Emmert’s promise of corrective change amounted to no more than a power grab by the so-called Big 5 conferences, giving increased autonomy to the wealthiest schools to further maximize revenue. The NCAA has once again demonstrated that it is incapable of self-reformation and in need of a complete overhaul from Congress. It is time to repeat history.

Education News
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-could-delay-impact-of-teacher-evaluation-s/nhJzd/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1#51b0af8a.3566685.735487
Georgia could delay impact of teacher evaluation system
By Molly Bloom – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia teachers who receive poor scores on their job evaluations this year may be forgiven under a proposal the state Department of Education plans to make to the federal government.
The state was set to roll out a high-stakes teacher evaluation system this year that bases half of teachers’ job ratings on students’ academic growth, as measured in some grades and subjects through standardized tests. The new system influences decisions about hiring, firing, certification and — for some — pay.

www.gainesvilletimes.com
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/104424/
Gainesville crowd debates Common Core’s merits
English professor says educators played key role in devising controversial standards
By Jeff Gill
An English professor told a Gainesville audience Tuesday night that educators, including herself, were heavily involved in the development of Common Core standards but they also were “passionate” about their work. “Part of the reason we believe in what we’re doing is because these standards are an opportunity for us … in a lot of different ways,” said Jennifer Wunder, who spoke for nearly an hour during a public hearing at Gainesville High School.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/66826/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=fe2f9c15ca504d6d839704b0d0780c9a&elqCampaignId=358
Many Dropped Students Return to Kentucky State University
by Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky State University says 70 percent of the students who were dropped for nonpayment are back at school. The school said Wednesday that 452 of the students have either paid their balances in full or registered for university payment plans.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/09/11/study-suggests-texass-tuition-policies-suppressed-hispanic-enrollment-research
Texas’ Missing Hispanic Students
By Ry Rivard
Hispanic students may have been kept away from Texas’ public research universities after the Legislature allowed state colleges to set their own tuition prices, according to a study published this month in The Annals, a journal of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The study comes as Texas officials appear hard-pressed to meet 15-year enrollment targets for Hispanic students.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/09/11/ace-will-create-pool-100-low-cost-courses-some-non-college-providers
Umbrella Group Backs Unbundling
By Paul Fain
In recent years the American Council on Education has experimented with issuing credit recommendations for online courses from non-college providers, sometimes sounding more like Silicon Valley than One Dupont — the stodgy headquarters of the higher education lobby. Those tests appear to have fizzled, as few students pursued college credits for MOOCs. So the council is trying a different approach.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/09/11/blackboard-simplifies-smartphone-app-licensing
Blackboard Simplifies Smartphone App Licensing
Learning management system provider Blackboard has simplified how it licenses its smartphone app Mobile Learn. Colleges and universities can license the app for use across the institution, or they can leave it up to individual instructors and students, for whom the price for the app is $1.99.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/09/11/wesleyan-u-fires-university-librarian-after-disagreement-provost
Fired for Disagreeing
By Carl Straumsheim
Wesleyan University last month fired its head librarian after a prolonged debate over the role of a library at a liberal arts institution. Patricia A. Tully, a 10-year veteran with the university, served as the Caleb T. Winchester university librarian from March 2010 until her firing last month. …In a Sept. 2 email to the faculty listserv, Tully said she was fired because of her ongoing disagreements with Ruth S. Weissman, provost and vice president for academic affairs, “about how to lead people effectively in an organization.” The letter was later posted online (click the thumbnail on the right to read).

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Investigators-Say-Education/148757/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Investigators Say Education Dept. Has Ignored Dozens of Recommendations
By Kelly Field
Washington
The Education Department has yet to respond to dozens of recommendations made by government investigators over the past decade, officials at two oversight agencies told members of Congress on Wednesday. Such delays allow problems to fester, and sometimes reduce the amount of money the government can recover from colleges and contractors, said Kathleen S. Tighe, the department’s inspector general, at a House oversight hearing. The delays also “send the wrong message to program participants about the department’s tolerance for noncompliance and misuse of program funds,” she said.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/09/11/warren-blasts-education-dept-loan-servicing-contracts
Warren Blasts Education Dept. on Loan Servicing Contracts
Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who has been a leading critic of how the U.S. Department of Education oversees the companies it hires to service federal student loans, indicated Wednesday that she is not satisfied with the department’s effort to overhaul its agreements with those companies. Under pressure from Senate Democrats like Warren, as well as many groups representing students, labor unions, and consumers, the Education Department announced last month that it had renegotiated new contracts with the four main entities it hires to manage payments for federal student loan borrowers.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/66818/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=fe2f9c15ca504d6d839704b0d0780c9a&elqCampaignId=358
Senior Americans Burdened With Student Debt
by Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Rosemary Anderson could be 81 by the time she pays off her student loans. After struggling with divorce, health problems and an underwater home mortgage, the 57-year-old anticipates there could come a day when her Social Security benefits will be docked to make the payments. Like Anderson, a growing percentage of aging Americans struggle to pay back their student debt. Tens of thousands of them even see their Social Security benefits garnished when they cannot do so.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/66821/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=fe2f9c15ca504d6d839704b0d0780c9a&elqCampaignId=358
Study: College Affordability Metrics Don’t Match HBCUs’ Mission
by Jamal Eric Watson
The current metric used by the Obama administration to measure college affordability does not rely on the critical role that historically Black colleges and universities play in educating traditionally underrepresented students, according to a new report released by the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education’s Center for Minority Serving Institutions.
The 19-page study “Ranking and Rewarding Access: An Alternative College Scorecard” chastises the White House for its online College Scorecard and proposed college rating system, pointing out that HBCUs and other minority serving institutions with large numbers of underrepresented, first-generation, and/or low-income students will likely be disadvantaged.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/09/11/colleges-worry-about-future-football-fans-student-attendance-declines
Empty Seats Now, Fewer Donors Later?
By Jake New
Game day. For many college alumni, the phrase alone is enough to conjure autumnal memories of watching football while surrounded by cheering student sections, marching bands, and brisk fall air. But an increasing number of students, researchers say, now see the experience a little differently. For them, attending a football game more likely means sitting outdoors for hours in chilly weather, with little or no access to cell phone reception and alcohol. …Student attendance at major college football games is declining across the country. By how much varies greatly at each institution, but a recent Wall Street Journal analysis of turnstile data at 50 public colleges with top football programs found that average student attendance is down more than 7 percent since 2009. In 2013, the University of Georgia’s designated student section was nearly 40 percent empty. The University of California at Berkeley has sold about 1,000 fewer student season tickets this season than last year — a season that already saw a decline from the previous one.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/On-Campus-Grenade-Launchers/148749/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
On Campus, Grenade Launchers, M-16s, and Armored Vehicles
By Dan Bauman
Should the campus police at the University of Central Florida ever need a modified grenade launcher, one sits waiting in the department’s armory. Retooled to fire tear-gas canisters, the weapon was used several years ago for training purposes, according to Richard Beary, the university’s chief of police. It hasn’t left storage since. At Central Florida, which has an enrollment of nearly 60,000 and a Division I football team, the device was acquired, a police spokeswoman said, for “security and crowd control.” …Both institutions received their launchers from the same source: the Department of Defense. At least 117 colleges have acquired equipment from the department through a federal program, known as the 1033 program, that transfers military surplus to law-enforcement agencies across the country, according to records The Chronicle received after filing Freedom of Information requests with state governments (see table of equipment). …But on campus and off, there are detractors. Some argue that the procurement of tactical gear doesn’t help with the types of crimes that occur more frequently on college campuses, like alcohol-related incidents and sexual assault. Others worry that military equipment is an especially poor fit for college campuses, fearing that it may have a chilling effect on free expression.