USG NEWS:
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/10/higher-education-ballot
Higher Ed on the Ballot
By Kaitlin Mulhere
Education may be a key issue in several states’ elections this fall, but referendums related to higher education are thin this political season. There are significant proposals in North Dakota, Oregon and Georgia, but the other five ballot measures that are tied directly to colleges and universities would have relatively minor effects. …In Georgia’s legislature, on the other hand, most Republican and Democratic lawmakers are behind an idea to privatize dorms within the state’s university system. …Most Georgia legislators are hoping voters will back their plan to privatize dormitories within the University System of Georgia, a move they say will benefit students by modernizing the dorms and save taxpayers money by outsourcing the management of residence halls.This November’s ballot contains an important detail for making the plan work.
www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2014/10/08/3352190_waddell-barnes-namesake-of-macon.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1
Waddell Barnes, namesake of Middle Georgia State’s botanical gardens, remembered
BY ANDY M. DRURY
Waddell Barnes, a retired Macon physician credited with developing the botanical gardens at Middle Georgia State College, died Tuesday at age 89. “Dr. Barnes’ legacy is one of his volunteer work, … not only making the campus better but this region better,” said David Sims, assistant vice president of facilities at Middle Georgia State. …He received the master gardener designation from the University of Georgia and hit on the idea of developing botanical gardens at Middle Georgia State, where he had served on the college’s foundation and board of trustees. Over the years, the gardens — which the Georgia Board of Regents named after him in 2003 — expanded to include Southern sugar maples, black gums, bur oaks, camellias, magnolias and a tea garden where leaves can be picked for brewing tea.
GOOD NEWS:
www.saportareport.com
http://saportareport.com/blog/2014/10/georgia-techs-graduate-planning-program-ranks-no-5-in-u-s/
SaportaReport
Georgia Tech’s graduate planning program ranked No. 5 nationally
Georgia Tech’s Master of City and Regional Planning is building its national stature. Planetizen, an online publication that caters to urban and regional planning professionals has just released its top schools for urban planners. Georgia Tech has climbed from No. 8 to No. 5 in the country since the last edition was published in 2012.
RESEARCH:
www.growingalabama.com
http://growingalabama.com/news/2014/10/uga-scientist-touts-healthy-benefits-goat-meat-national/
UGA Scientist Touts Healthy Benefits of Goat Meat
By Sharon Dowdy, University of Georgia
As America’s population continues to change and become more diverse, so does the variety of food sold in grocery stores, cooked in homes and served in restaurants. The popularity of one of these relatively new food choices, goat meat, is on the rise as more people from Asia, Africa, India and the Middle East begin to call the United States home. Goat meat is the most widely consumed red meat in the world, feeding about 75 percent of the population, said Anand Mohan, a meat scientist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, whose work focuses on the quality and safety of meat. Training goat farmers UGA food scientists are working with researchers from Fort Valley State University to help Georgia’s meat goat farmers and processors prepare for this rising demand.
www.computerworld.com
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2822820/i-understand-you-now-theres-a-google-glass-app-for-hard-of-hearing-users.html
I understand you now! There’s a Glass app for the hard of hearing
By Sharon Gaudin
Georgia Tech scientists have developed an app that creates captions on Google Glass for users who are hard of hearing. A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology developed speech-to-text software for Google’s wearable technology. Using Glass and an Android-based smartphone, the app converts speech to text and displays it on the Glass heads-up display.
www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/10/09/creepy-robots-help-researchers-understand-the-mysterious-sidewinder-snake/
Creepy robots help researchers understand the mysterious sidewinder snake
By Rachel Feltman
Lots of scientists use animals to make robots better, but a new study published in Science uses a robotic model to better understand the animal that inspired it. Sidewinder snakes are unusually good at climbing sandy slopes. But their methods look as unusual as they are effective — they seem to hoist themselves up one body segment at a time, like a slithery sideways trench crawl (see the video above for footage of their slinky “sidewinding” locomotion). But researchers wanted to figure out how this sand-friendly movement worked. “Sidewinding just seems so weird and unnecessary,” said corresponding author Dan Goldman, an associate professor of physics at Georgia Tech. “Why use this crazy movement pattern? But as it turns out, they have a good reason.” Goldman and his colleagues — a group of researchers from Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Oregon State, and Zoo Atlanta — observed the movement of the snakes in a special tank designed to simulate sand dunes.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67322/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=d11ddebddf7d4d16ac7d0cc9da52b3d7&elqCampaignId=415
Minority-Serving Institutions Exist Across the Globe
by Marybeth Gasman and Andrés Castro Samayoa
One of the fundamental responsibilites of higher education is to provide open and equal opportunities for students to learn, succeed, and positively contribute to their local, national, and global societies. Great strides are being made in increasing educational access, retention completion, and success, yet there is still work to be done particularly for students from disadvantaged or marginalized groups.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/moving-your-classroom-overseas
Moving Your Classroom Overseas
By Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
…Though grad programs in the U.S. don’t spend much time discussing the opportunities for graduate students and new PhDs in the field of international education, more and more American and European universities are opening programs, and even full-fledged campuses, overseas.
www.kylewingfield.blog.ajc.com
http://kylewingfield.blog.ajc.com/2014/10/10/a-student-debt-solution-thats-so-obvious-itll-never-happen/
Kyle Wingfield
A student-debt solution that’s so obvious, it’ll never happen
A Republican mulling a 2016 presidential run would be smart to rip off this idea from Mark Cuban for addressing “the real bubble” in the current economy — the student loan bubble (via Inc.com): “‘It’s easy for the colleges to ask for more, because then the potential students just take out bigger loans,’ Cuban said at Inc.’s GrowCo conference, adding that rising tuition costs have resulted in more than $1 trillion in student loan debt. “‘That’s the same money that, when you graduated, you used to move out of the house or you went out and spent money that improved the economy and helped companies grow. It created more revenue and spending power. Instead, it’s going to build a better fitness center at your school.’ “So what’s Cuban’s plan to stem this problem? “If Mark Cuban is running the economy, I’d go and say, “Sallie Mae, the maximum amount that you’re allowed to guarantee for any student in a year is $10,000, period, end of story,” he said.”
www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2014/10/10/georgia-continue-to-see-rise-in-ap-participation-by-high-school-students/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Georgia continue to see rise in AP participation by high school students
My twins are 10th graders this year and taking their first AP classes. I have been stunned at the amount of work involved, especially in AP Chem and the AP Chem lab. My husband – a former high school chemistry whiz kid — says the work is not only more than what he had in AP Chem in his suburban New York high school, but more than his chemistry course as a Harvard freshman. …More Georgia teens are taking AP courses. Some posters insist the surge in AP participation has led to a dilution of the rigor, but I don’t find any research support for that contention. Kids who do well in AP and on the AP exam do well in college. That has not changed with the increase in AP students.
www.online.wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/articles/judith-curry-the-global-warming-statistical-meltdown-1412901060
The Global Warming Statistical Meltdown
Mounting evidence suggests that basic assumptions about climate change are mistaken: The numbers don’t add up.
By JUDITH CURRY
Written by Judith Curry, a professor and former chairwoman of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is the president of Climate Forecast Applications Network. At the recent United Nations Climate Summit, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that “Without significant cuts in emissions by all countries, and in key sectors, the window of opportunity to stay within less than 2 degrees [of warming] will soon close forever.” Actually, this window of opportunity may remain open for quite some time. A growing body of evidence suggests that the climate is less sensitive to increases in carbon-dioxide emissions than policy makers generally assume—and that the need for reductions in such emissions is less urgent.
Education News
www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=280572
State sees increases in AP scores, participation
By Staff
ATLANTA – More Georgia students are taking and passing Advanced Placement (AP) exams in Georgia and the state is outpacing the nation in growth in both participation rates and passing rates, according to data just released on the May 2014 administration of those exams.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/When-Is-a-Student-First/149289/
When Is a Student ‘First Generation’? Words Fail Us
By Beckie Supiano
It seemed like a simple question: Which students do colleges consider to be “first generation”? But when Liz Stack raised it on a popular admissions email list a couple of weeks ago, she got a bunch of different answers. “I felt like I opened Pandora’s box,” says Ms. Stack, who was seeking clarity on behalf of families at Coral Gables Senior High School, in Florida, where she is the College Assistance Program adviser. First-generation status is one of higher education’s main markers of student disadvantage, along with Pell Grant eligibility and membership in an underrepresented minority group. And there’s good reason for that: Researchers have known for years that parents’ level of education is a big predictor of whether students enroll in and complete college.
www.jbhe.com
For All Age Groups, Blacks Are More Likely to Be Enrolled in College Than Whites
For All Age Groups, Blacks Are More Likely to Be Enrolled in College Than Whites
A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that in October 2013 there were 3,118,000 Black or African American students enrolled in college or graduate school. Some 7.5 percent of the entire Black population over the age of 3 was enrolled in college or graduate school. For non-Hispanic Whites, 6 percent of the entire population over the age of 3 was enrolled in higher education.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67319/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=d11ddebddf7d4d16ac7d0cc9da52b3d7&elqCampaignId=415
Higher Ed Leaders Now Working to Close ‘Skills Gap Shortage’
by Catherine Morris
WASHINGTON ― It’s not just the economy that’s jobs driven anymore. A growing number of colleges and universities are partnering with employers to train students with the skills they will need to break into local industries—letting the jobs lead the way. At a national summit hosted by STEMconnector, higher education professionals and business leaders met to discuss and share best practices on collaborations between employers and colleges and universities.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/10/emerging-adaptive-software-puts-faculty-members-charge-course-creation
Online and In Control
By Paul Fain
The spread of adaptive learning technology in higher education, to some, is the rise of the machines — replacing professors with software and an automated, cheapened form of instruction. To Ariel Anbar it’s a tool that helps him teach in new ways. …Four years ago he began a collaboration with Smart Sparrow, an education-technology company based in Australia and San Francisco. “I was trying to create an interactive, game-like science course for non-science majors,” said Anbar, who this year was named ASU’s first Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, an honor that comes with a $1 million research grant. …The course was to be fully online, so Anbar could teach classes of up to 400 students in an interactive way, which he said wasn’t possible in the large lecture hall. Online was the best way to really reach students for this material, he said.
www.jbhe.com
Study Questions Effectiveness of Online Science Courses for African Americans
Study Questions Effectiveness of Online Science Courses for African Americans
A new study led by researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina and published in the Black History Bulletin, finds that African American students enrolled in traditional on-campus classroom courses in the sciences had greater academic success than Black students enrolled in online courses in the sciences.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Michigan-Extends-Novel/149301/
U. of Michigan Extends Novel System of Seed Money for Research
By Paul Basken
The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor announced on Thursday a two-year extension of a program that gives its faculty members microgrants for exploratory research after finding that the project drew outside grants far in excess of the initial investment. The “MCubed” program, introduced in May 2012, made Michigan faculty members eligible for $20,000 credits that could be redeemed only if they worked with two other faculty members, including one outside their academic field, for a total credit of $60,000 per team.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Seeking-Help-at-a-Campus/149321/
Seeking Help at a Campus Counseling Center? You May Have to Wait
By Jared Misner
Margie L. Madison likes to think of herself as one of the lucky ones. Things could have been much worse, much more destructive. She knew what it was like to be gripped by anxiety. But she was lucky, she says, because she also knew she needed a counselor. Psychotherapy had worked before, in high school. So Ms. Madison, then a 22-year-old accounting major at the University of Florida, went to the university’s counseling center with a simple question: Will somebody please talk to me? The university’s response: Take a number.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/10/u-wisconsin-faces-criticism-over-list-safety-tips
Blaming the Victim
By Jake New
The University of Wisconsin at Madison Police Department issued an apology Wednesday after a list of safety tips posted to the department’s website was criticized for appearing to blame victims of campus crimes, particularly survivors of sexual assault.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Walk-a-Fine-Line-When/149291/
Colleges Walk a Fine Line When Athletes Are Accused of Sexual Assault
By Katherine Mangan
When a star athlete is accused of sexual assault, teams of handlers typically swoop in to contain what can rapidly escalate into a public-relations crisis for a university. Given the intense focus on campus sexual violence, the playbook today is more likely to call for swift suspensions and public disclosures than sweeping the matter under the rug. But as both the University of Florida and the University of Kentucky responded this week to accusations against freshman football players, they walked a fine line, immediately and publicly denouncing sexual assault while stressing that they would be fair to the players who had been accused but not convicted of any crime.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/10/us-news-issue-new-global-university-rankings
‘U.S. News’ to Issue New Global University Rankings
U.S. News and World Report has announced that it will release its first global ranking of universities on Oct. 28. U.S. News plans to publish a global ranking of the top 500 universities across 49 countries, as well as four regional, 11 country-level, and 21 subject area-specific rankings.
The Best Global Universities ranking will be based on reputational data, bibliometric indicators of academic research performance, and data on faculty and Ph.D. graduates. Robert Morse, U.S. News’s chief data strategist, said that there will be no cross-over of data between the publication’s longstanding ranking of American colleges and the new global ranking, which will rely on data from Thomson Reuters.