USG NEWS:
www.wabe.org
http://wabe.org/post/georgias-public-universities-go-smoke-free
Georgia’s Public Universities Go Smoke Free
By MICHELLE WIRTH
All 31 campuses within the University System of Georgia went officially smoke free Wednesday. That means students can’t light up, use chewing tobacco or e-cigarettes anywhere at school. Kennesaw State University is one of the schools undergoing the change. WABE’s Michelle Wirth spoke with students and administrators at the university.
www.valdostadailytimes.com
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/article_9709dca2-49ec-11e4-8481-e751f7e6ad3c.html
VSU assesses sexual assault prevention efforts
Adam Floyd, The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University President Dr. William McKinney outlined the school’s ongoing process of assessing its efforts to prevent sexual assaults on campus during a press conference Wednesday. In May, McKinney appointed members to the President’s Special Committee on the Prevention of Sexual Assault and charged the group to assess the school’s strengths and weaknesses. McKinney said the group was not formed because of inadequate policies but because he believes the school should always be evaluating its efforts.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2014-10-01/gru-tackles-ebola-issues
GRU tackles Ebola issues
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
Georgia Regents University could not have timed it better to play host to a forum on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. A day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first Ebola case diagnosed in the U.S. in a traveler from Liberia, the university held a forum Wednesday night on the medical and cultural implications of Ebola. Medical centers in the U.S. – including Georgia Regents Medical Center, which is already preparing a protocol to ask patients with fever about recent travel – need to understand that diseases in distant lands can travel here quite easily, said Dr. José Vazquez, the chief of infectious disease at GRU.
GOOD NEWS:
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-10-01/ugas-grady-journalism-school-kicks-centennial-thursday-concert
UGA’s Grady journalism school kicks off centennial with concert
By LEE SHEARER
It’s homecoming week at the University of Georgia, but UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is rolling out more than the usual celebration this year. Next year is the Grady College’s 100th anniversary, and college officials have lined up six months of events and a lot more to mark the centennial. …The college began in an era of enterprising journalism that yielded not only the kind of sensationalized coverage called “yellow journalism,” but muckraking reporting that uncovered abuses such as the conditions of people in insane asylums. “Journalists were becoming more enterprising, becoming the watchdogs of democracy,” said former Dean Cully Clark, who is writing a history of the college.
UGA’s first journalism instructor was Steadman Sanford, for whom Sanford Stadium is named, he said.
RESEARCH:
www.latinoshealth.com
http://www.latinoshealth.com/articles/3322/20140930/new-diagnostic-approach-for-autism-in-tanzania.htm
New diagnostic approach for autism in Tanzania
Researchers at Brown University and the University of Georgia have developed and tested an approach for diagnosing autism in Tanzania, where such clinical assessment and intervention services are rare. The assessment battery combines several existing but culturally adapted techniques into a protocol that the researchers tested with 41 children at two Tanzanian sites.
www.labcanada.com
http://www.labcanada.com/news/monarch-butterflys-genetic-analysis-surprises-researchers/1003280520/?&er=NA
Monarch butterfly’s genetic analysis surprises researchers
Athens, GA – With their distinctive orange wings, remarkable long-distance migration and widespread presence, monarch butterflies are some of the most recognizable butterflies in the world. A team of researchers, led by scientists at the University of Chicago and including University of Georgia ecologist Sonia Altizer, has published a study in Nature that reveals unexpected answers to the origins of monarchs and the genetic basis of their best-known traits.
www.nsf.gov
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=132857
$18-million NSF investment aims to take flat materials to new heights
…To investigate the promise of 2-D layered materials beyond graphene, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) recently awarded grants totaling close to $18 million. NSF collaborated closely with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), which is planning to invest an additional $10 million through its Basic Research Initiative. Over the next four years, nine teams involving a total of 42 researchers at 18 institutions will pursue transformative research in the area of 2-D atomic-layer research and engineering (2-DARE). …The 2-DARE projects for EFRI are listed below.Alexander Balandin of the University of California, Riverside (UCR), will lead the project “Novel Switching Phenomena in Atomic Heterostructures for Multifunctional Applications” (1433395) in collaboration with Alexander Khitun of UCR, Roger Lake of UCR, and Tina Salguero of the University of Georgia.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/views/our-take-zero-tolerance-ban-ineffectively-combats-secondhand-smoke/article_5806ed72-48db-11e4-abd6-0017a43b2370.html
Our Take: Zero-tolerance ban ineffectively combats secondhand smoke
As the UGA smoking ban comes into effect, it’s important the University of Georgia keeps its priorities straight as to why the ban is in place to begin with. While the move will cut down on second-hand smoke around campus, the University should not be trying to strike against smoking in general.
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/25864847/article-Hotel-motel-tax-on-university-residence-halls-a-bad-idea?instance=lead_story_left_column
Hotel/motel tax on university residence halls a bad idea
by Don McKee
Attorney General Sam Olens says he will shortly issue his advice on whether the hotel/motel tax may be levied on university dormitories — an out-of-left-field idea proposed in the city of Waleska, home to private Reinhardt University.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/online-student-life
Online Student Life
By Matt Reed
Most campus-based colleges have some form of a “student activities” or “student life” office. That office runs a slate of programs for students, ranging from co-curricular to extracurricular to just-for-fun. …Has anyone seen a college do a good job of providing some sort of student life for online students?
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/without-student-engagement-nothing-else-matters
Without Student Engagement, Nothing Else Matters
By John Warner
Earlier this year, in a post titled “An Open Letter to the Education System: Please Stop Destroying Students,” I declared that we have a “curiosity crisis” in our schools. My evidence was experiential, observational, and anecdotal. I see it in my students, who arrive at college often lacking passion and curiosity, having been defeated by a system that wants them to be standardized[1] in the search of “college and career readiness.” I followed up this notion earlier this week by noting that traits like curiosity and passion are more important than academic skills[2] when it comes to being successful in my college classroom and that the current mania over assessment of students, of teachers, of schools, is actively working against the development of these traits. But again, my argument is experiential, anecdotal.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/3-ideas-future-educause-conferences
3 Ideas for Future EDUCAUSE Conferences
By Joshua Kim
Two things are clear from EDUCAUSE 2014:
1. The EDUCAUSE Annual Conference is expertly planned and exceptionally well-run, reflecting both the status of the higher ed tech ecosystem as healthy and vibrant, and the high levels of skill and professionalism of the EDUCAUSE staff and the larger EDUCAUSE member community. 2. The EDUCAUSE Annual Conference needs to change.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/at-tech-trade-show-a-push-to-give-colleges-better-digital-intelligence/54789?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
At Tech Trade Show, a Push to Give Colleges Better ‘Digital Intelligence’
by Jeffrey R. Young
Orlando, Fla. — More than 7,000 college officials gathered here this week for what is probably the largest higher-education-technology trade show in the United States, the annual meeting of Educause. Walking the trade floor, where some 270 companies mounted colorful booths, serves as a reminder of how much of college life today happens in the digital realm, and how much colleges are betting on technology to help alleviate the many challenges they face. The biggest emerging trend this year is data analytics.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/college-ready-writing/i-just-came-say-ello
I Just Came To Say Ello
By Lee Skallerup Bessette
There’s a new social media space up and running called Ello.co. It’s currently by invitation only, says that it values your privacy and won’t ever show you ads. Of course, it still tracks you and there’s no way to block users who might be abusive, and they have venture capital money invested in them so they already have an exit strategy…
Education News
www.macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2014/10/01/3338464/central-georgia-tech-breaks-ground.html?sp=/99/148/198/
Central Georgia Tech breaks ground on $21 million health sciences building
BY ANGELA WOOLEN
WARNER ROBINS — Local leaders, government officials and community members turned dirt during a ground breaking ceremony for a new health sciences building Wednesday morning. Part of Central Georgia Technical College, the nearly $21 million building will be used for health education. It is scheduled to be completed by fall 2015, with classes starting in spring 2016.
www.edweek.org
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/10/01/06contract.h34.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1
Common-Core Testing Contracts Favor Big Vendors
By Sean Cavanagh
Most of the biggest contracts being awarded by the two main consortia creating online common-core assessments—perhaps the most ambitious and complex testing projects in U.S. history—are flowing to some of the education industry’s most familiar and entrenched players. Testing companies and organizations such as Pearson, McGraw-Hill Education CTB, and the Educational Testing Service are among the top winners of prime assessment contracts awarded through those state consortia with federal money—awards worth more than $300 million combined so far.
www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/news/2014-10-02/early-college-become-full-high-school
Early College to become a full high school
By Jenel Few
The Savannah Early College Specialty Program will become Savannah-Chatham’s 11th public high school next year. “It is a very intelligent group of kids you’ve got at Early College,” said Savannah-Chatham Superintendent Thomas Lockamy. “I’m predicting that it will become one of our top high schools.” Wednesday the Savannah-Chatham Public School Board voted to convert Early College from a program to a full high school during the 2015-16 school year. Eight years ago they opened the specialty program with support from a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant to encourage more students to go on to college after high school graduation. Following the Early College Model, Savannah Early College freshmen and sophomores take rigorous advanced-level courses and are required to maintain above-average grades so they can take college classes in their junior and senior years of high school. By the time they earn high school diplomas, most have already accumulated a year-and-a-half to two year’s worth of college credit.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/02/moodys-misleading-student-demand-creates-uncertainty
Moody’s: Misleading Student Demand Creates Uncertainty
A new report from Moody’s Investors Service describes how the phenomenon of high school students applying to significantly more colleges and universities is causing difficulties for institutions.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/02/2-new-plans-free-community-college-tuition
2 New Plans for Free Community College Tuition
Two new plans were announced Wednesday for free community college tuition:
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/what-keeps-women-out-of-elite-colleges-their-sat-scores/39109?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
What Keeps Women Out of Elite Colleges? Their SAT Scores
by Eric Hoover
We’ve all heard about the gender gap in higher education: Nationally, women enroll in college and complete degrees at higher rates than men do. But new research reveals that for decades women have been underrepresented at the nation’s most-selective institutions. And the apparent culprits are standardized tests.
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/technology/college-students-given-the-opportunity-to-text-it-/nhHb9/#f48f6d6a.3566685.735508
College students given the opportunity to text it out
By Monica S. Nagy – Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH — Students at Texas Wesleyan University who don’t like their roommates don’t have to hold it in and resort to passive-aggressive tactics or worse this year, with the addition of a new app designed to prevent conflict. Roompact, launched this summer by a Chicago-based company, allows students to rate their roommate relationships by texting or emailing resident assistants through a secure virtual portal.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67170/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=a96bbe5d45be42d39e58a0552e20378b&elqCampaignId=415
Immigration Issues Spur New Age of Hispanic Student Activism
by Lois Elfman
From fostering meaningful debate to student activism to making sure future teachers have cultural sensitivity, immigration issues often come to the surface in college courses. Immigration debates over the long-stalled DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) or the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) fill the news. As more and more Hispanic students — U.S. citizens as well as legal and undocumented immigrants — pursue higher education, current events have found a presence in college and university classrooms. Academics who have long explored immigration issues in their research are seeing a new sense of urgency among students — to learn more about the issues, to more freely express themselves and to become informed so as to be effective leaders in their communities.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/What-Lurks-Behind-Graduation/149103/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
What Lurks Behind Graduation Rates? A Lot of Noise—and Meaning
By Beckie Supiano
There can be lots of variation underneath a college’s overall graduation rate. Recently, a colleague here at The Chronicle stumbled across an unusually detailed breakdown of graduation rates that drove the point home.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/02/new-rankings-system-linkedin-based-employment-outcomes-huge-sample
Ranking and Networking
By Paul Fain
LinkedIn has officially joined the jam-packed college rankings party. And with 313 million users, the job networking site has a big data sample both for creating the rankings and for marketing them. The new ranking system tracks the success of college graduates in eight broad career paths, adding weight for jobs deemed “desirable.” It lists the top 25 institutions in each career category.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/to-help-community-colleges-students-help-their-presidents/87177?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
To Help Community Colleges’ Students, Help Their Presidents
by Andy Thomason
The Association of American Colleges and Universities has announced a new project aimed at improving community-college students’ success by better training the colleges’ leaders. The effort, financed with a $290,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, will include the creation of an online hub to share best practices at community colleges nationwide, among other things.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/02/us-audit-faults-education-dept-direct-assessment
U.S. Audit Faults Education Dept. on Direct Assessment
Degree programs that award students credit by assessing their skills – rather than making them pass courses – have been touted by the Obama administration, members of Congress and many in higher education as a promising new innovation. But the U.S. Department of Education’s Inspector General this week threw some cold water on the enthusiasm for that model, known as direct assessment, criticizing how officials have allowed the first handful of programs of that type to become eligible for federal funding.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/02/oversight-loan-guarantors-lacking-audit-says
Oversight of Loan Guarantors Is Lacking, Audit Says
The U.S. Department of Education is not properly overseeing the entities it pays to administer and insure federally guaranteed student loans, according to an audit released this week by the agency’s inspector general.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/02/federal-audit-urges-steps-avoid-redundancy-low-income-programs
Federal Audit Urges Steps to Avoid Redundancy in Low-Income Programs
The U.S. Department of Education is not doing enough to make sure that the programs it runs for low-income students do not end up providing duplicative services, according to a report released this week by the agency’s inspector general.