USG NEWS:
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/bookmark/26006709-Tax-exempt-status-for-University-System-of-Georgia-properties-backed-by-both-sides-of-the-aisle
Tax-exempt status for University System of Georgia properties backed by both sides of the aisle
By Emily Boorstein
MARIETTA — Cobb lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say they support a referendum voters will see on Election Day. The author of House Resolution No. 1183, Rep. Lynne Riley (R-Johns Creek), said the University System of Georgia seeks to retain the tax-exempt status housing and parking decks have in Georgia as public property. “Going forward, they would like to enter into contracts with private vendors that will share in the financing, management and operation of these facilities,” Riley said. “Georgia law will not allow that and protect the non profit, tax-exempt status unless the voters vote to approve that.”
www.politico.com
http://www.politico.com/morningeducation/1014/morningeducation15816.html
Higher ed on the ballot, part 2 — Weingarten battles bad apples image — A ballot call for smaller classes — Child care assistance check up
By CAITLIN EMMA
With help from Allie Grasgreen and Stephanie Simon
(3rd and 4th articles down)
— Another measure, this one down south, would extend a public property tax exemption to privately run student residence halls and parking decks at University System of Georgia campuses. Referendum 1 is part of a larger package of bills that would privatize the USG dorms: the system would lease the buildings to private firms, which would incur existing property debt but then collect revenue from operating the buildings. …
— The University System of Georgia is allowed to educate voters about the measure but not lobby for it. “This ballot measure is about keeping housing affordable for students,” system spokesman Charlie Sutlive said. “The ballot measure will simply ensure that student housing located on our state’s college and university campuses will remain untaxed in the future, just as it is currently.
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/georgia/academic-scores-lag-at-ga-division-i-schools/nhr9f/
Academic scores lag at Ga. Division I schools
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Data from Georgia universities with top tier Division I football programs shows they’re willing to make exceptions to admission requirements for football players despite the schools becoming increasingly competitive for other incoming freshmen. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/1w7fLWo ) analyzed data from the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern and Georgia State and found a pattern of football players trailing the general student population in several areas including SAT scores, GPAs and graduation rates. The newspaper reported that the schools accepted more than 230 football players who didn’t meet University System of Georgia minimum academic requirements between 2009 and 2014. Special admissions for athletes are made on a case-by-case basis, said Georgia State University Vice Provost Timothy Renick.
www.investigations.myajc.com
http://investigations.myajc.com/football-admissions/
Academic scores lag at Division I colleges
By Shannon McCaffrey and Nicholas Fouriezos | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the freshman class at Georgia Tech, the average SAT is a record-shattering 1445. It’s an eye-popping figure that underscores Tech’s standing as one of the nation’s most elite public schools. But look at Tech’s football team and a different picture emerges. For incoming football players, the average SAT is 420 points below the class as a whole, according to an analysis of school data obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Tech isn’t alone. At Georgia’s other top-tier Division I college football programs — the University of Georgia, Georgia State University and Georgia Southern University — the admission scores of football players also lag significantly behind those of other freshmen, the AJC found.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/105520/
State graduation rates low for 2-year degrees
Reasons, rates vary; transfers, tuition among causes cited
By Jennifer Brown
In Georgia, about two-thirds of new full-time students seeking bachelor’s degrees will graduate on time, but for associate degrees, fewer than a quarter will graduate under the same criteria, according to Complete College America. In University System of Georgia schools, that rate is even lower. Only 9.5 percent of first-time, full-time freshmen seeking associate degrees will graduate within three years, according to 2012 data, the most recent available. At the University of North Georgia, that rate was 9.2 percent.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Helping-Black-Men-Succeed-in/149585/
Helping Black Men Succeed in College
By Ben Gose
Cameron Slater spent nearly a decade on the streets in Little Rock, Ark.—he says he saw four friends die within three months—before he enrolled at Pulaski Technical College after a nudge from his pastor. In his first year, he and his friends noticed some adults on the campus, in North Little Rock, who always seemed to be chatting with black male undergraduates. “We thought they were probation officers,” he says… “We’ve got to address the performance challenges in this cohort if we’re going to raise America’s overall attainment level,” says Arlethia Perry-Johnson, director of the University System of Georgia’s African-American Male Initiative… The Georgia university system’s African-American Male Initiative has programs on 27 of the 31 campuses. The system encourages participation by providing matching grants of up to $30,000 per year. Since the effort’s inception, in 2002, the number of bachelor’s degrees earned systemwide by black men has increased 82 percent, to 2,353 in 2013, officials say. Each institution designs its own variations. The Georgia Institute of Technology, for example, offers a multiweek immersion program for new black male students, so that they will more quickly appreciate the level of study required to be successful.
www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/10/24/3374213_columbus-state-presidential-search.html?rh=1
Columbus State presidential search committees announced
BY MARK RICE
The folks tasked with hiring Columbus State University’s next president have been identified. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents chairman Philip Wilheit Sr. has released the names of the members of two committees that will conduct a national search to replace Tim Mescon, who announced last month he plans to retire Dec. 31.
GOOD NEWS:
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/college/georgia-state-will-receive-1-million-gift/nhsSh/
Georgia State will receive $1 million gift
By Doug Roberson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia State will receive a $1 million planned gift from Phil and Jeanne Oneacre, the school announced on Monday. The gift will be earmarked to support scholarships in athletics, the Honors College and the J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
www.onwardstate.com
Penn State Named Teach For America Top 10 Contributing School
Penn State Named Teach For America Top 10 Contributing School
Penn Staters are certainly known for their dedication to service. That obviously hasn’t been lost with recent graduates, as the university was named Teach For America’s seventh-highest participating institution. Used as a way to gain experience in education, Teach For America seeks college graduates and professionals to commit to teaching in high-need schools for two-year periods. The organization’s goal is to end educational inequality in the United States by providing teachers for low-income school districts. The campus tied with the University of Georgia and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with 55 participants each.
RESEARCH:
www.businessweek.com
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-24/at-and-t-and-former-google-vp-back-georgia-tech-online-degree-program
Why AT&T Is Investing in Virtual School
By Natalie Kitroeff
It made sense that the Georgia Institute of Technology launched an online-only computer science degree in January of this year. It was less obvious what was in it for its two corporate partners: Udacity and AT&T (T). Sure, Udacity is an online education company. But the company’s founder, former Google (GOOG) vice president and self-driving car evangelist Sebastian Thrun, made his name by creating virtual programs open to anyone, not paid online degrees like the one Georgia Tech is offering. He is, according to Fast Company, the “godfather of free online education.” Georgia Tech’s program has the technological trappings of a massive open online course, or MOOC, but it’s different from a MOOC in important ways. First, to get credit for the class you need to pony up $6,600. Second, graduates can claim a Master of Science degree that’s no different from the one someone sitting in a physical Georgia Tech classroom would receive—you don’t have to list “online” next to the MS on your résumé
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Student-Diversity-at-4725/149537/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Student Diversity at 4,725 Institutions
This table shows the race, ethnicity, and gender of 20,642,572 students enrolled at 4,725 colleges and universities in the fall of 2012, the latest year for which figures are available. Of those, 56.8 percent were female, and 54.3 percent were white. Among minority groups, Hispanics made up the largest share, representing 13.6 percent of all students enrolled, followed by blacks at 13.3 percent and Asians at 5.4 percent. Explore all institutions in the interactive sortable table below… Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia (State), 21,557 (Enrollment), 30.5% (Women), 0.1% (American Indian/Alaskan Native), 14.6% (Asian), 5.6% (Black),5.2% (Hispanic), 0.1% (Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander), 51.6% (White), 2.5% (Two or more races), 0.5% (Unknown), 19.8% (Non-resident Foreign), 28.1% (Total Minority)
www.news.yahoo.com
http://news.yahoo.com/igda-sexism-hurting-industry-spurs-170002886.html
IGDA: Sexism is hurting the industry and spurs harassment
By Brian Crecente
Sexism in video games and in the game industry itself is one of the chief factors that impact the negative perception society as a whole might have about video games, according to this year’s game developer satisfaction survey. And that sexism leads to industry harassment, said Kate Edwards, president of the International Game Developers Association. Both the criminal harassment making international news this fall and a constant, day-to-day workplace sort that is rotting the industry out from the inside… Indeed, according to the survey — which was conducted in partnership with Western University and TELUQ, M2 Research and the Georgia Institute of Technology — 47 percent of respondents said that they don’t believe there is equal treatment and opportunity for all in the game industry.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/10/27/essay-importance-tracking-phd-career-paths
Tracking Ph.D. Career Paths
By Melanie Sinche
While the subject of Ph.D. career outcomes has appeared in numerous articles and studies over the past few decades, an even greater sense of urgency seems to have emerged in recent years, based in part on the downturn of the economy, the recommendations made by the National Institutes of Health Biomedical Workforce Task Force, recent works like the American Historical Association’s Mellon Career Diversity Project, the Ph.D. Placement Project, and myriad others. The National Science Foundation is launching its full-scale data collection phase this fall for the agency’s newly developed instrument, the Early Career Doctorates Survey, and the National Association of Colleges and Employers has assembled a First-Destination Survey Task Force to explore collecting career outcomes data from advanced degree graduates for the first time, having done this previously for undergraduates alone… Michael Roach of Cornell University stressed the efficacy of using social media tools to reach Ph.D. alumni for data collection efforts, which he has been undertaking for some time with collaborator Henry Sauermann of Georgia Tech.
www.startribune.com
http://www.startribune.com/blogs/280340302.html
Why Cash is Piling Up on Balance Sheets
Posted by: Lee Schafer
In looking for data this week on how American businesses use their cash, to confirm the observations of a longtime Minneapolis portfolio manager interviewed for an upcoming column, I reviewed the most recent look at cash flow produced by The Georgia Tech – Scheller College of Business. The authors have a broad enough view to produce a regular report on cash flow that’s far more interesting than might be suggested by the title “Cash Flow Trends and Their Fundamental Drivers.” The authors are looking at the cash flow data of 3,000 or so companies that have a market capitalization in excess of $50 million. The focus of their study is “free cash flow,” which is the cash profits left over after all obligations have been paid.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/editorials/2014-10-13/three-yes-votes
Three ‘yes’ votes
Trio of state ballot measures deserve your approval
By Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Proposed Statewide Referendum 1 would give tax-exempt status to University System of Georgia property that’s privately managed and operated – mostly dorms and parking decks.
Vote “yes.” It will make student-housing management more efficient, and it will extend much-needed financial relief to the University System. This is part of a larger privatization plan that could rid the system of $4 billion in debt.
www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2014/10/27/governors-race-carter-has-to-clarify-stand-on-hope-deal-has-to-make-amends-with-teachers-did-either-do-so-last-night/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Governor’s race: Carter has to clarify stand on HOPE. Deal has to make amends with teachers. Did either do so last night?
I watched the WSB-TV gubernatorial debate last night in which Democrat Jason Carter and Republican Nathan Deal had several fractious exchanges over the HOPE Scholarship and education spending. …Based on the emails and conversations I’m having with voters, Carter needs to be clearer on HOPE, and Deal needs to tone down the rhetoric on his education spending at a time when many teachers are still suffering furloughs.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Get-More-Black-Men-/149561/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
How to Get More Black Men Into Science
By Freeman A. Hrabowski III
In the 1980s, when I was vice provost at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, I visited public schools to speak with boys of color about academic achievement. The children often reacted defensively. “What did we do wrong this time?” they would ask. Their skepticism and suspicion made it clear they were accustomed in school to being associated with undesirable behavior. During that same period, a potential donor, Robert Meyerhoff, asked me a related question: “Why is it that the only positive thing I see on TV involving black men is about sports?” The other images, he commented, involved violence or antisocial behavior. I was both encouraged and surprised that this philanthropist was asking such a provocative question. Our subsequent discussion led to our creating the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, with his support, at UMBC. The initial goal was to increase the number of black men excelling in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and continuing on to pursue STEM doctorates.
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/opinion/higher-ed-can-lead-climate-solutions/nhpD4/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1#69ae38c8.3566685.735533
Higher ed can lead climate solutions
By Carlton E. Brown
Higher education can lead by example on climate solutions. I remember hearing the Rev. Joseph Lowery speak about environmental justice more than two decades ago and was inspired and energized by his passion for social and racial equality. It was this passion that motivated my work in environmental justice today. He and I formed a fast friendship on this and many other issues while I was president of Savannah State University. …As president of Clark Atlanta, I have signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, joining over 600 institutions in all 50 states committed to achieving carbon neutrality. In fact, the higher education system is the only sector in America, and the world, that has made a significant carbon neutrality commitment.
www.nytimes.com
The American Dream Is Leaving America
Nicholas Kristof
THE best escalator to opportunity in America is education. But a new study underscores that the escalator is broken. We expect each generation to do better, but, currently, more young American men have less education (29 percent) than their parents than have more education (20 percent). Among young Americans whose parents didn’t graduate from high school, only 5 percent make it through college themselves. In other rich countries, the figure is 23 percent. The United States is devoting billions of dollars to compete with Russia militarily, but maybe we should try to compete educationally. Russia now has the largest percentage of adults with a university education of any industrialized country — a position once held by the United States, although we’re plunging in that roster.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/law-policy-and-it/nicholas-kristof-made-it-official
Nicholas Kristof Made It Official
By Tracy Mitrano
The downgrading of U.S. higher education both as the engine of domestic upward mobility and international influence is official: Nicholas Kristof in this Sunday’s column, “The American Dream is Leaving America,” said so himself. So what are those of us who are in and/or higher education going to do about it? Many of these thoughts are not original, but putting them together in this blog space, and inviting readers to add to it, is an immediate response to the gauntlet that Kristof has thrown down in front of us. Here are five high level thoughts to get the party started.
www.thehill.com
114th Congress can help our student loan problem
By Harry Floyd
Student loan debt in the United States is growing upwards of $1.2 trillion. The United States values higher education in its rhetoric. It needs to, however, match that rhetoric with real action. In 2015, the 114th Congress will have a chance to take positive action combatting our ever-growing student loan debt.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67575/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=1120eb582b5749c5a2a9c75b5d8de691&elqCampaignId=415
Wainstein Report on UNC Should Make All Schools Rethink Athletics
by Emil Guillermo
If you still haven’t heard or read or talked about the Wainstein investigation into the University of North Carolina, then what can I say? You’re in denial. You’ve got your head in the sand, or something worse. You’ve forgotten the true goals of a valid higher education community. But always, you love your football and college sports. I don’t mean to be holier than thou, but an eight-month probe at UNC has just concluded that, between 1993 and 2011, as many as 3,000 students were in enrolled in a “shadow curriculum” that offered fake classes to a high percentage of student-athletes. Shouldn’t you be alarmed?
Education News
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/perfect-scores-on-sat-testshow-they-did-it/nhqjK/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1#0c8b1e12.3566685.735533
Perfect scores on SAT tests: How they did it
By Rose French and Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For high school students, achieving a perfect score on the SAT is like winning the academic lottery. The rare feat means handsome offers from selective colleges, instant accolades and gape-mouthed reactions from friends and relatives. …Some of the metro Atlanta students who captured the elusive score of 2400 offered Atlanta Journal-Constitution readers an array of tips for those looking to ace the college entrance exam, next scheduled Nov. 8 — from purchasing study guides to hiring tutors and taking SAT prep courses and using test-taking skills gleaned from classroom learning. Nationally, less than one percent of the nearly 1.7 million students who recently took the SAT scored 2400. Of the 583 students with a perfect score, 11 were Georgians, according to the College Board, which administers the exam.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67572/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=1120eb582b5749c5a2a9c75b5d8de691&elqCampaignId=415
College Applicants Get Chance to Visually Make Their Case
by Catherine Morris
Can a cell phone video get you into college? As of this fall, maybe. At Goucher College, prospective students will have the option to forgo transcripts and SAT scores in favor of a short video. In the opening of the promotional video for Goucher’s new video application, a student holds up a high school transcript and calmly tears it into four pieces. “That’s it, no test scores! No transcripts!” he says. “At Goucher, you’re more than just a number.” Goucher, a small liberal arts college serving around 1,500 students on almost 300 wooded acres near Baltimore, is rethinking how students apply to college. By offering the video as an alternative to the traditional application, Goucher representatives say they hope to attract a more diverse type of student and even students who might not consider going to college at all.
www.abcnews.go.com
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/pick-college-data-crunchers-hope-26450875
How to Pick a College? Data Crunchers Hope to Help
By ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press
For many high school seniors, fall means deciding where to apply for college and maybe visiting a guidance counselor. Data crunchers hope to help. The popularity of social media sites and advancements in the ability to analyze the vast amounts of data we put online give members of the class of 2015 more tools than ever to help chart their next step, even if finding the right college is an inexact science. The professional networking site LinkedIn has just come out with its “University Finder,” which identifies which colleges are popular with which companies.
www.milwaukeecourieronline.com
New Efforts to Change Stereotypes and Encourage African-American Young Men
New Efforts to Change Stereotypes and Encourage African-American Young Men
UWM is working to change the stereotypes and the prospects for young African-American males through a collaborative effort called the African American Male Initiative. “This effort is a merger of two initiatives aimed at black youth to help them be successful,” says Jim Hill, associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs. The collaboration grows out of Saving Black Boys – an initiative that Gary L. Williams director of the Black Cultural Center and the Institute for Intercultural Research started at UWM several years ago – and efforts on the part of Student Affairs to recruit and retain African-American males and assure they graduate.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Black-Man-in-the-Lab/149565/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Black Man in the Lab
Why do so few black men earn STEM degrees? The reasons, and the remedies, go beyond numbers.
By Stacey Patton
For two decades, academic researchers have asked the same questions about black males in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known as the STEM fields: Why do black males underperform in grade-school and high-school math and science classrooms? Why do so few pursue STEM degrees? Of those who enter college with the intention to major in STEM fields, why do so many switch to other disciplines? And among those who persist and graduate with science majors, why do so few proceed to Ph.D. programs? The scarcity of black men earning STEM degrees has been documented repeatedly. …In establishing why progress has been so slow, there is no single answer, says Earnestine P. Easter, a program director in the division of graduate education at the foundation. Black males face more than a few obstacles before they reach college:
www.bostonherald.com
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2014/10/new_hub_report_denies_a_brain_drain_exodus
New Hub report denies a ‘brain drain’ exodus
By: Erin Smith
A new BRA report debunks what Hub officials have long bemoaned as Boston’s “brain drain” — the mass exodus of the young and college educated who flee the area soon after graduation and take their talents to high tech jobs in other cities. The report, which analyzed census data, labor statistics and two studies over the past decade, found that the number of newly minted college graduates leaving the city is a normal turnover for what you would expect from a region where higher education is a major industry. The analysis also found that the area boasts a healthy level of young, college-educated residents.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67577/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=1120eb582b5749c5a2a9c75b5d8de691&elqCampaignId=415
East Tennessee State University Pondering Impact of Sex Week
by Associated Press
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. ― Students and administrators on the Johnson City campus of East Tennessee State University are wondering about the impact three days of sex education known as Sex Week may have on the campus. Although the $9,340 requested by the event’s organizers was denied by the student Senate, the group has achieved more than a quarter of the needed money through online fundraising. Vice President of Student Affairs Joe Sherlin told The Johnson City Press that reservation forms for Sex Week were filed with the university weeks ago to hold spots for the scheduled programming. “All of our polices and state laws allow student organizations to hold events on campus as long as reservation forms are filed and procedures are followed.”
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67569/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=1120eb582b5749c5a2a9c75b5d8de691&elqCampaignId=415
Failures in Oversight Worsened University of North Carolina Academic Fraud
by Aaron Beard and Emery P. Dalesio, Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. ― An alarming lack of institutional oversight at the University of North Carolina allowed an academic fraud scandal to run unchecked for nearly two decades and has the school reeling from the scandal’s fallout. The latest investigation found that university leaders, faculty members and staff missed or just ignored red flags that could’ve stopped the problem years earlier.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67579/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=1120eb582b5749c5a2a9c75b5d8de691&elqCampaignId=415
West Virginia State Gets $40K Grant for Agriculture Research
by Associated Press
INSTITUTE, W.Va. ― West Virginia State University is getting a grant to help fund agricultural research projects. The Institute school says it has received a $40,000 grant through the West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. Officials say the money will be used for projects relating to alternative growing methods for farmers and diversifying the crops produced in West Virginia.