USG NEWS:
www.aj.com
http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/georgia/group-assembled-to-search-for-new-school-president/nhq4Y/
Group assembled to search for new school president
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The University System of Georgia Board of Regents has assembled two committees to help find a new president for Columbus State University. Officials say the regents’ search committee will include six members led by Board of Regents Chairman Philip Wilheit. Officials say candidates for the position will be screened by a group of 17 CSU faculty members, trustees and student government leaders. The university’s President Tim Mescon recently announced his plan to retire from the university system on Dec. 31, 2014.
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/uga-works-to-prevent-ebola-s-spread/article_3da760f6-5ae2-11e4-a2a0-001a4bcf6878.html
UGA works to prevent Ebola’s spread
Michelle Baruchman
Although the Ebola virus has not yet spread to the state of Georgia, the University of Georgia is involved in several precautions in order to make sure it stays that way. Here are some safety measures UGA has implemented in the past week to protect students from the viral disease.
RESEARCH:
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/25992235/article-UGA-study–Night-shift-workers-at-higher-risk-for-breast-cancer
UGA study: Night shift workers at higher risk for breast cancer
by Hilary Butschek
MARIETTA — People working night shifts may be at an increased risk for breast cancer, according to research from the University of Georgia. Chunla He, a biostatistics graduate student in the UGA College of Public Health, published a study in September showing people who are exposed to artificial light at night, when the body would usually be asleep, are more likely to develop breast cancer, said He of Athens. Sara Robb, assistant professor of epidemiology at UGA, said people who work at night should take notice of their increased risk for breast cancer. “The most important takeaway from this study … is that we found that people who are employed in certain jobs, like shift workers who work at night or flight attendants, are at a higher risk for breast cancer,” said Robb of Athens, who was He’s mentor on the research.The study, called “Circadian disrupting exposures and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis,” which was published in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, analyzed five previous studies performed in the past 14 years to draw conclusions from their results.
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2014-10-23/georgia-making-strides-lessen-childhood-obesity-more-still-do
Georgia making strides to lessen childhood obesity, but more still to do
By Lee Shearer
Georgia is making slight progress in the fight against childhood obesity, but is expected make more headway, said University of Georgia food and nutrition expert Caree Cotwright.
School lunch programs, controversial now because of a federal mandate to serve healthier food choices, aren’t the problem, said Cotwright. But school nutrition can make a big difference, she said, especially with low-income children whose main source of nutrition may be breakfast and lunch at school. Cotwright spoke to about 75 parents and community members at a Wednesday night “Science Cafe” in the cafeteria of Chase Street Elementary School. The popular Science Cafe series, partly funded by UGA, brings university researchers out into the community in public settings to talk about timely topics.
www.healthcanal.com
http://www.healthcanal.com/medical-breakthroughs/56573-uga-researchers-discover-route-for-potential-chagas-disease-animal-vaccine.html
UGA researchers discover route for potential Chagas disease animal vaccine
Athens, Ga. – Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered a new way to direct a vaccine to the parasite that causes Chagas disease, a leading cause of death among young to middle-age adults in areas of South America where it is endemic.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/surprising-gadgets-not-just-books-are-ready-for-checkout-at-college-libraries/54985?cid=megamenu
Surprising Gadgets, Not Just Books, Are Ready for Checkout at College Libraries
by Jeffrey R. Young
Justin Ellis’s official title at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s library is instructional-technology associate, but he thinks of himself as the gadget guy. He manages a program at the library that lets students and professors check out a growing catalog of computers, cameras, and other electronics—a selection more akin to a Best Buy store than a lending library. A colleague, Ameet Doshi, compares him to the character Q in the James Bond series because he not only has the latest device but is expert at giving “the two-minute drill on how to use it.” Georgia Tech is not alone in having a Q on the library staff. Colleges and universities across the country now lend tech hardware in addition to books. And we’re not just talking laptops, netbooks, and iPads, which Mr. Doshi says have become pretty standard fare.
www.bbc.com
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29737539
Could robots become too cute for comfort?
By Radek Boschetty
Would you share your innermost secret with a robot? And if you did, would you be comfortable knowing that the secret might be stored online in the “cloud”? Think of an elderly grandmother with dementia who becomes very attached to her robotic “pet” and you will realise that this isn’t science fiction… A combination of legislative framework and technical solutions is the way forward, according to Andrea Thomaz, associate professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her lab already requests detailed permissions from people taking part in experiments but a clear understanding on the part of the roboticist about which data is strictly necessary for a particular design also helps. For instance, can you use a camera which detects movement rather than recording individual faces? You shouldn’t simply collect all the data you can and only later decide what to do with it: you should only collect what you know you will definitely need, says Prof Thomaz.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/21/academic-minute-tidal-disruption
Academic Minute: Tidal Disruption
In today’s Academic Minute, Tamara Bogdanovic, a professor of physics at Georgia Tech, discusses the use of advanced supercomputers to make predictions about the behavior of black holes.
www.news.yahoo.com
http://news.yahoo.com/sign-language-interpreter-tablet-empowers-deaf-152604700.html
Sign language interpreter tablet empowers the deaf
A new tablet called UNI translates sign language into spoken language using gesture recognition technology by Leap Motion. The portable device could enable deaf people to communicate freely with those who don’t understand sign language, opening up a world of possibilities… Other mobile device innovations such as Transcense, now in the works, can transcribe spoken language into text, allowing the deaf to follow conversations on their mobile devices. And using Google Glass, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a live text transcription function that uses Google’s advanced voice recognition technologies. Conversations are transcribed on the app Captioning on Glass and the user follows along on his smartphone.
Education News
www.tough.sun-sentinel.com
http://touch.sun-sentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81760246/
Florida prepaid college plan sales set record
By David Fleshler and Scott Travis, Sun Sentinel
Sales of Florida’s prepaid college tuition plans set records during the first week of open enrollment, with purchases tripling over the same period last year. The Florida Prepaid College Board attributed the increased sales to lower prices, a new cheaper plan, waived application fees and a statewide publicity campaign. A total of 6,031 plans have been sold since this year’s enrollment period began Oct. 15, an increase of 208 percent over last year’s 1,959, according to the board.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/3-questions-left-unanswered-by-chapel-hills-academic-fraud-report/88381?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
3 Questions Left Unanswered by Chapel Hill’s Academic-Fraud Report
by Andy Thomason
After the latest report of academic fraud at the University of North Carolina flagship was released on Wednesday, administrators said that, disturbing as the findings were, the campus’s four-year nightmare might finally end. “I believe we now know all that we are able to know about what happened and how it happened,” said the system’s president, Thomas W. Ross, according to an account in The Daily Tar Heel. But the 136-page report, the result of an investigation led by a former federal prosecutor, Kenneth L. Wainstein, raises still more questions about how more than 3,000 students were able to participate in an 18-year academic scandal at one of the nation’s premier public universities. Here are three of the most important:
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Ethicist-Who-Crossed-the/149619/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
The Ethicist Who Crossed the Line
By Brad Wolverton
She was everywhere, and seemingly everyone’s friend, a compassionate do-gooder who worked long hours with underprepared students while balancing several jobs, including directing a center on ethics. On Wednesday the world learned something else about Jeanette M. Boxill: Her own ethics were malleable. Most of the blame fell on Julius E. Nyang’oro, a former department chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his longtime assistant, Deborah Crowder, after they were identified as the chief architects of a widespread academic scandal there. But the person everyone’s talking about is Ms. Boxill, a senior philosophy lecturer and former academic counselor for athletes. According to an independent report released on Wednesday, she played a key role in steering athletes into fake classes to help them maintain their eligibility with the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67557/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=f974a900affa4b92a4b653038dcd062e&elqCampaignId=415
Panel Addresses Sexual Violence at the University of Oregon
by Associated Press
EUGENE, Ore. — A task force studying ways to prevent sexual violence at the University of Oregon has come up with a list of nearly two dozen recommendations, including the creation of a single office dedicated to addressing the problem. The recommendations are intended to improve the university’s prevention and support policies for victims.
www.touch.latimes.com
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81764505/
CalArts students protest school’s handling of rape allegations
BY JASON SONG
California Institute of the Arts students walked out of their classes Thursday afternoon to protest the school’s handling of rape allegations reported by one woman. The students left their classes around 3 p.m., according to campus officials and students. It was unclear how many left, but the number was “substantial,” according to CalArts spokeswoman Margaret Crane.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Campus-Counseling-Centers-Face/149615/?cid=at
Campus Counseling Centers Face a Question: Where Are All the Men?
By Jared Misner
Male college students are far less likely to use campus mental-health services than female students are. In fact, campus counseling centers treat almost two women for every man, according to a recent study. To Jon A. Davies, who was a senior staff psychologist at the University of Oregon for 20 years, that is a statistic colleges should pay far more attention to. He links it to the biggest challenges colleges face today: Fewer men than women are attending college. Most sexual assaults are committed by men. All of the recent high-profile shootings at campuses have been committed by male students. But Mr. Davies worries that many colleges are not prepared to help male students—or to convince them that they need help in the first place.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/24/higher-ed-trade-group-presidents-make-more-many-college-presidents
Higher Ed Association Paydays
By Ry Rivard
Salaries for executives at higher education trade associations rival those of top-paid college presidents. Compensation for the leaders of these higher ed groups – which are considered nonprofits by the IRS – has climbed in recent years. Twenty-seven of 48 association heads earned about as much or more than the median salary for a university president, which was about $400,000 in 2012-13.