University System News

USG NEWS:
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2014-12-07/legislators-get-primer-state-government-uga-biennial-institute
Legislators get primer on state government at UGA Biennial Institute
By LEE SHEARER
More than a dozen freshman legislators got a crash course in how state government works Sunday morning at the University of Georgia, weeks before they’re scheduled to report to Atlanta and the next session of the Georgia legislature. The session kicked off the UGA Carl Vinson Institute’s Biennial Institute for Georgia Legislators, held every election year. …Here’s some of what Burks and Tanner told them: …• Most of Georgia’s annual state budget goes to three kinds of expenditures: education (54.1 percent), health, including public health and Medicare (23.1 percent) and safety, such as police courts and prisons (8.4 percent). Georgia pays about 5.4 percent of its annual budget ($20 billion this year) for debt service.
• Georgia sets a limit of 10 percent of the state budget for debt, but in practice, Georgia leaders have observed a 6 percent limit — low compared to many states. That low debt load is a big reason Georgia has a AAA bond rating, which allows the state to get the lowest possible interest rates when it issues bonds for building projects such as the University of Georgia’s $45 million Student Learning Center. …Higher Education accounts for 15 percent of the budget, compared to 14 percent in 2008.

www.bisnow.com
https://www.bisnow.com/archives/newsletter/student-housing-national/3545-giant-ppp-is-first-of-its-kind-in-student-housing/
Giant PPP is First-of-Its-Kind in Student Housing
The University System of Georgia struck a unique, $518M public-private partnership with Corvias Campus Living. It’s handling student housing for nine campuses across Georgia for the next 65 years. (Hopefully they won’t have any students who need to stay the whole time.) Corvias Campus Living managing director Kurt Ehlers says the firm will develop, construct, manage and maintain housing for the USG.

www.coosavalleynews.com
http://www.coosavalleynews.com/np109547.htm
Polk College and Career Acad. Gets $3M in Grant
CVN News
The Technical College System of Georgia has granted the Polk County School District $3 million in capital money and another $110,000 for start up funds, for the construction of a new College and Career Academy. The district will build the academy alongside Cedartown High School. Superintendent William Hunter, `We are appreciative of Lt. Governor Casey Cagle efforts to make College and Career Academy Grants available to school systems.. I commend the Polk School District, Board of Education, for their forward thinking and support of this exciting learning opportunity for our 21st century learners.` The system is partnered with Georgia Northwestern Technical College, Georgia Highlands College, and numerous local manufacturers and businesses in the creation of the academy.

www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2014-11-22/newsmakers
Newsmakers
Bleicken appointed to board of directors
Armstrong State University president Linda M. Bleicken was appointed to the board of directors for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) during the organization’s annual meeting on Oct. 21 in Washington, D.C. Bleicken also serves as a member of the AASCU legislative team.

www.wjcl.com
http://wjcl.com/2014/12/05/student-prank-leads-to-lockdown-of-ga-southern-campus/
Student prank leads to lockdown of Ga. Southern campus
By Dave Williams
STATESBORO, Ga. (WJCL) — A student prank led to the Georgia Southern University (GSU) campus being put on lockdown for several hours, Friday. The action was made necessary after reports of a man wearing a mask surfaced. Yellow tape surrounded a portion of the street near Hanner Fieldhouse on the Georgia Southern campus as police investigated a potential threat. Around 8 a.m. university officials sent out Eagle Alerts after receiving a report of a suspicious person dressed in dark clothing and a mask while walking inside the Math, Physics and Biology building. Deeming the threat credible, Georgia Southern University police took action. …The campus was given the all clear around 12:30 Friday afternoon.
No weapon of any kind was involved in the incident and the student responsible could face both criminal charges from law enforcement and disciplinary action from the school.

Related article:
www.statesboroherald.com
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/64705/
Scare temporarily disrupts part of Georgia Southern University campus
Police: Student pulled a prank, meant no harm, will not be arrested

www.wabe.org
http://wabe.org/post/how-are-georgia-colleges-responding-sexual-assault-claims
How Are Georgia Colleges Responding To Sexual Assault Claims?
By MARTHA DALTON
Disclaimer: The following story may not be suitable for young readers.
Rolling Stone magazine has retracted parts of a recent story on sexual assault at the University of Virginia. The victim’s credibility has been called into question. But, the issue is an important one for Georgia colleges. Two women have sued Georgia Tech’s Phi Kappa Tau fraternity for shrugging off rape allegations. Their attorney, BJ Bernstein, says the organization encouraged its members to sexually assault women. …Georgia Tech is not named in the lawsuit. The university expelled the accused offender and shut down the fraternity’s chapter. The school also updated its reporting policy. Neena Chaudry, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, says the federal Title IX law requires schools to act quickly. “Once they know of something that is happening, or have reason to know that something is happening, that there’s any sort of sexual violence, assault harassment, if they don’t take steps immediately to address that, then they are violating the law,” Chaudry says. …The University System of Georgia will issue a preliminary report on how colleges handle reports of sexual assault in a few weeks.

GOOD NEWS:
www.albanyherald.com
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2014/dec/07/albany-state-university-darton-state-college-to/
Albany State University, Darton State College to offer unique reverse transfer program
The new program will allow students to earn degrees from both institutions
Staff Reports
ALBANY — Albany State University and Darton State College are offering a unique opportunity for students to obtain an associate degree while working on a bachelor degree.
Through the reverse transfer program, students earning credits for course work at Albany State University may qualify to earn an associate degree if they previously attended Darton State College but did not complete associate degree requirements.

www.gainesvilletimes.com
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/106453/
UNG campus facilities receive excellence award (2nd article)
The University of North Georgia recently received recognition from the University System of Georgia for the rehabilitation of four buildings on the Dahlonega campus. The Regents Award of Excellence was presented at the 18th annual Facilities Officers Conference to Todd Berman, director of facilities, and Jace Oliver, project manager for facilities and operations on the Dahlonega campus. Renovations on the Merritt E. Hoag Student Center, the Stewart Student Success Center and the Barnes and Young halls took place during the last three years.

www.coosavalleynews.com
http://www.coosavalleynews.com/np109549.htm
GHC named vet-friendly for third year
CVN News
Military Advanced Education (MAE) awarded Georgia Highlands College the designation of a Top School in its 2015 MAE Guide to Colleges & Universities, measuring best practices in military and veteran education. The college was also recognized by MAE in 2012 and 2014 editions.

www.wfxl.com
http://www.wfxl.com/news/story.aspx?id=1131525#.VIXmTCivIeU
ASU students recognized at national conference
by Marcie Williams
Students from Albany State University received recognition at a national research conference in San Antonio, Texas. MARC to BRIDGE program students attended the 2014 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. MARC to BRIDGE stands for Minority Access to Research Careers to Bringing Research Intelligence for Deeper Growth and Exaltation. ASU senior and chemistry major Kristopher Brown won first place in the physiology section for his oral presentation on “Expression of GJA5 in Atrial Myocytes Responsible for Cardiac Malfunctions in Embryonic Development of zebrafish.”

RESEARCH:
www.forbes.com
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/12/05/cyberwarfare-new-system-protects-drones-from-hackers/
Cyber warfare? New system protects drones from hackers
By Tanya Lewis
Military drones are often used to store sensitive data, ranging from troop movements to strategic operations. While this may make them vulnerable to enemy interference, a new system is aiming to protect these unmanned aerial vehicles from cyberattacks. Researchers at the University of Virginia and the Georgia Institute of Technology developed the system and tested it in a series of live, in-flight cyberattack scenarios. As military and commercial drone use continues to grow, protecting against such attacks will become a priority, the scientists said. When installed on a drone, the System-Aware Secure Sentinel system detects “illogical behaviors” compared to those expected of the vehicle, said project leader Barry Horowitz, a systems and information engineer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/plug-electric-cars-power-has-come-someplace/njMMn/#416dc08a.3566685.735575
Blowback: why zero-emission electric cars are still dirty
In response to the AJC’s report this week on sales of plug-in electric vehicles in Atlanta, Georgia Tech energy expert Sam Shelton wrote to offer a counterpoint on the value of plug-in cars. Shelton is a senior fellow at Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute. He writes: Good article on electric car sales in Atlanta leading the country. One fact that should be pointed out is that the “zero emissions” only applies to the vehicle’s tail pipe. The all-electric car, however, must get electric power to recharge the batteries to power the vehicle. This electric power is generated back at our electric power plants, which do emit carbon into the air.

www.computerworld.com
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/561064/hidden-environmental-cost-internet-things/?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=taxonomyfeed
The hidden environmental cost of the Internet of Things
As M2M technologies continue revolutionise industries, there are concerns about the toll that the connected objects that comprise the IoT will exact on the environment
Bonnie Gardiner (Computerworld)
Analyst firm Gartner is forecasting that the IoT will encompass some 30 billion connected devices by 2020. And while networking vendor Cisco has pegged the IoT’s value at $14.4 trillion between 2013 and 2022, questions are being asked over its potential environment cost. What becomes of these thousands of sensors and smart devices once they reach EOL? Bettina Tratz-Ryan, research VP and green IT specialist with Gartner, says that this is one of her biggest concerns around the growth of the IoT… IoT researchers Alain Louchez and Valerie Thomas from the Georgia Institute of Technology argued in in an article published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) earlier this year that a standardised GPS tracking capability and a universal identification system for devices, similar to Universal Product Code (UPC) and the ISBN code used on books, could help to facilitate better end-of-life management.

www.defensesystems.com
http://defensesystems.com/articles/2014/12/05/uav-cyber-defense-uva-gtri.aspx
Researchers demo cyber defenses for drones
By George Leopold
The University of Virginia and Georgia Tech’s Research Institute said they have demonstrated a concept for improving defenses against cyber attacks on unmanned systems. UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science’s “system-aware cyber security” concept along with “Secure Sentinel” technology developed under a Defense Department grant were tested during a weeklong series of live flight cyber attack scenarios, university researchers said Dec. 1.

www.bio-medicine.org
http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-technology-1/UCB–Georgia-Institute-of-Technology-Partner-to-Harness-the-Power-of-Predictive-Analytics-in-Epilepsy-Care-41613-1/
UCB, Georgia Institute of Technology Partner to Harness the Power of Predictive Analytics in Epilepsy Care
ATLANTA, Dec. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — UCB, a global biopharmaceutical company with North America Operations headquarters in Atlanta, today announced a collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Interoperability and Integration Innovation Lab (I3L) to explore the potential of predictive analytics to help inform treatment decisions for people living with epilepsy. This project represents an important next step in UCB’s efforts to harness the power of predictive analytics to raise the standard of epilepsy care.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.albanyherald.com
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2014/dec/06/carlton-fletcher-albant-state-university/
CARLTON FLETCHER: Albany State University President Art Dunning wants seat at economic development table
OPINION: Albany State president: There’s so much potential here
By Carlton Fletcher
Once there was a silly old Ram Thought he’d punch a hole in a dam. No one could make that Ram scram, He kept buttin’ that dam. ‘Cause he had high hopes.
— Frank SinatraArt Dunning gets it. While all the economic development “experts” in the region — real and self-imagined — talk about Southwest Georgia’s strengths and weaknesses and how they’d address them, Dunning, the president of Albany State University, has sat back and listened. As he’s fond of saying, “It all starts with education.” And Dunning has been educating himself. He, Darton State College President Paul Jones, Albany Technical College President Anthony Parker and Dougherty County School System Superintendent Butch Mosely made a bold if tentative first step recently when they came together to talk about ways their institutions and systems can collaboratively address the education issues that hinder the city’s growth. But Dunning’s smart enough — has been there and done that enough — to know the work of the education leaders is only a step.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68288/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=0fe3e3482e9245be96a1b6f2ed2d195e&elqCampaignId=415
Cost of College a Problem But Diversity Issue More Serious
by Emil Guillermo
I watched the CNN documentary Ivory Tower over Thanksgiving, and it was a fair portrayal of many of the key issues weighing down higher ed. But I thought it spent too much time time on the crushing costs of college and student debt. Sure, that’s an issue. For elite schools that costs around $60,000 a year, even with scholarships, the debt load still could be well over $100,000 for many But it forces the documentary’s main focus toward the question, Is college worth it? …Peter Theil’s ideas of eschewing college and being part of a high-tech co-op house of young entrepreneurs gets extensive treatment. Considering Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, it really isn’t all that bad idea. If you’re Bill Gates and you’re well-heeled, tech-bent and White. …Where the documentary scores are in segments on David Boone, an African-American kid from Cleveland whose family was homeless. …College, never mind Harvard, was his ticket out and into the middle class and beyond. New universes. …That’s what people need to realize when they get mired in the dollars and cents/student debt conversation. Yes, it’s bad. But for most people of color, there is no question. You need college.

Education News
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68285/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=0fe3e3482e9245be96a1b6f2ed2d195e&elqCampaignId=415
Expert Tells Graduate School Stakeholders Don’t Count on Financial ‘Cavalry’ Coming
by Catherine Morris
WASHINGTON — Attendees of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) meeting last week were repeatedly exhorted to press for more legislative support for graduate institutions. Speakers warned that state-by-state divestment in higher education shows little sign of reversing — and prospects of funding from the federal government are no rosier. During the recession, states cut funding for institutions of higher learning. As one result, tuitions rose. Yet even as the economy is getting back on its feet, colleges and universities have yet to experience dramatic benefits or even a restoration of pre-recession level funding.

www.wsj.com
http://www.wsj.com/articles/colleges-clamp-down-on-bloated-student-schedules-1417823336
Colleges Clamp Down on Bloated Student Schedules
States Plan to Limit Credit Hours Required for Bachelor’s Degree
By MELISSA KORN
Colleges are trying to make sure students understand a basic math lesson: 120 credits equals a bachelor’s degree. As student-loan debt hovers near all-time highs and operational costs for colleges continue to rise, administrators are pushing to get students through their undergraduate educations more efficiently, particularly at public institutions. Full-time students complete four-year degrees with an average of 134 credit hours, according to Complete College America, a nonprofit focused on boosting college-graduation rates. That is well over the minimum of 120 hours—or about 15 credits per semester—required by most undergraduate degree programs.

www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/06/tom-harkin-pell-grants_n_6278920.html
Tom Harkin Wants To Take Money From College Students To Pay Reviled Loan Contractors
Shahien Nasiripour
An outgoing Senate Democrat wants to take federal money from low-income college students to pay student loan contractors, whose tactics toward borrowers have been criticized by consumer advocates, federal regulators and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate education committee and the appropriations subcommittee in charge of federal education expenditures, has proposed taking $303 million from the Pell grant program to increase revenues for some of the nation’s biggest student loan specialists, according to a July 24 version of a 2015 fiscal year spending bill now being negotiated by congressional leaders.

www.blogs.wsj.com
http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2014/12/05/how-many-people-dont-pay-their-student-loans/
How Many People Don’t Pay Their Student Loans?
By ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS and ALAN ZIBEL
Private student lenders and a federal regulator disagree over the proper statistics to gauge repayment problems in the student-loan market—a debate that has become important of late because lenders argue the private sector has a better track record of student-loan performance. The months-long dispute, conducted via public reports and press release, news conference and via Twitter is a key source of tension between the lenders and Rohit Chopra, the student-loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Amid concerns about rising levels of student debt and high default levels, the Consumer Bankers Association, a trade group of lenders, has said that “only 3% of private student loans are seriously delinquent.” The association is citing data from MeasureOne, a San Francisco-based firm that tracks the student-loan market. By contrast, the U.S. Education Department, which makes federal student loans, has reported double-digit default rates.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68274/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=0fe3e3482e9245be96a1b6f2ed2d195e&elqCampaignId=415
First Lady Lends Hand to College Application Push at Capital City Public Charter School
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
WASHINGTON — When Destiny Sharpe had to settle on a high school a few years back, Capital City Public Charter School was far from being first on her list. The school had no football team and seemed virtually unknown among her peers. “My dream was I wanted to be a cheerleader, homecoming queen,” Sharpe said. “At Capital City, I saw that would not be possible.” But Capital City Public Charter School ended up providing Sharpe with something much more valuable than the chance to shake pompoms on the sidelines or don a tiara in the school gymnasium. The school provided step-by-step help with the college application process. All that help culminated this past Friday with a chance-of-a-lifetime event to meet first lady Michelle Obama, who visited the school to encourage the Class of 2015 as they walked their college applications to a mail bin as part of the school’s second annual “College March.” Sharpe said the experience of meeting the first lady in person made it worth forgoing the chance to be a cheerleader or homecoming queen. …Obama — who has made college enrollment one of her personal causes through her Reach Higher initiative — commended Capital City for doing what it takes to help students make their college dreams come true.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/12/08/questions-surround-sudden-departure-clemson-vice-president-student-affairs
Punished for Punishing Frats?
By Jake New
The vice president of student affairs who attempted to rein in Clemson University’s Greek system after a student death earlier this semester is being replaced, the university announced last week. The university offered no explanation for the sudden departure of Gail DiSabatino, who served as student affairs vice president for eight years, but the shake-up came amid rising tensions between university officials and campus fraternities.

www.onlineathens,com
http://onlineathens.com/national-news/2014-12-06/advocates-fear-impact-rolling-stone-apology
Advocates fear impact of Rolling Stone apology
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Advocates for sexual-assault victims say Rolling Stone’s backpedaling from an explosive account of a gang rape at the University of Virginia doesn’t change the fact that rape is a problem on college campuses and must be confronted — even as some expressed concern that the magazine’s apology could discourage victims from coming forward. Students, state government and education leaders, meanwhile, pledged to continue ongoing efforts to adequately respond to — and prevent — sexual assaults on campus. Rolling Stone cast doubt on its story Friday of a gang rape by a woman it identified only as “Jackie,” saying it has since learned of “discrepancies” in her account.

Related article:
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68280/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=0fe3e3482e9245be96a1b6f2ed2d195e&elqCampaignId=415
Advocates Fear Impact of Rolling Stone Apology

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/12/08/campus-advocates-sexual-assault-issues-fear-impact-rolling-stone-article-boosted
After ‘Rolling Stone’
By Scott Jaschik
The past two years have brought unprecedented public focus on the issue of sexual assault on campuses. The issue is hardly new, but a combination of factors — more women speaking out about being attacked, media attention, heightened scrutiny from the White House — has changed the discussion. The reaction to “A Rape on Campus,” an article published in Rolling Stone last month, reflected this changed environment.

www.wsj.com
http://www.wsj.com/articles/coming-soon-to-yale-a-class-taught-by-harvard-1417746212?KEYWORDS=%22Higher+Education%22
Coming Soon to Yale: A Class Taught by Harvard
Computer-Science Class to Be Streamed by Professors to Both Campuses
By MIKE VILENSKY
Want to take a popular Harvard course? Go to Yale. Next fall, Yale University in New Haven, Conn., will offer a computer-science class in which its students will watch live-streamed lectures from Harvard University, and students on both campuses will take uniform tests, visit one another and collaborate in other ways both digital and physical. Harvard will live-stream at least one Yale lecture as well.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/rethinking-low-completion-rates-in-moocs/55211?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Rethinking Low Completion Rates in MOOCs
by Steve Kolowich
Completion rates in free online courses are low—to critics, laughably so. But exactly how low are they? The answer might be a matter of interpretation. Let’s say 79,500 people sign up for a handful of massive open online courses offered by Harvard University. About 44,500 of those people say they are there to complete the course and earn a certificate. About 23,000 say they are there either to browse the course materials or to complete a few assignments. The remaining 12,000 say they haven’t decided what their goals are. At the end of the course, 10,500 people earn a certificate of completion. So what was the completion rate? It depends on whether you think intent matters.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/12/08/does-privatizing-public-higher-education-necessarily-undermine-public-good
‘Privatization and the Public Good’
By Doug Lederman
Put five public university administrators in a room, and chances are good that within an hour one of them will joke about the fact that his or her institution has gone from being “state supported” to “state assisted” to “state located.” As funding for public higher education has shrunk (or at least failed to keep up with growing enrollments) in many states, public colleges and universities have increasingly sought other forms of funding that, over time, make them look less and less like state entities and more and more like their cousins in the private nonprofit sector. That trend toward privatization has spurred controversy in numerous states, troubled faculty members who believe their institutions may lose their public purpose, and raised serious questions about whether the future of “public” higher education is imperiled.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/12/08/essay-way-higher-education-reformers-misunderstand-role-professors
The Innovation Agenda
By Jeffrey J. Williams
For a rising generation of administrators in higher education, the heart of education is innovative technology — and faculty get in the way. In a recent speech, the new president of Carnegie Mellon University, Subra Suresh, intimated his administrative philosophy, remarking that, “the French politician Georges Clemenceau once said that, ‘War is too important to be left to the generals.’ Some would argue learning is too important to be left to professors and teachers.” The speech opened the inaugural meeting of the Global Learning Council (GLC), held at Carnegie Mellon in September.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/36-Presidents-of-Private/150443/
36 Presidents of Private Colleges Earned More Than $1-Million in 2012
By Sandhya Kambhampati
Three dozen private-college presidents earned more than $1-million in 2012, with the typical leader making close to $400,000, a Chronicle analysis has found. The millionaire club increased by one from the year before, and the median pay rose by 2.5 percent. The highest-paid leader was Shirley Ann Jackson of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Behind-RPIs-Highly-Paid/150441/
Behind RPI’s Highly Paid Chief, Tales of an Imperial Air and Cowed Staff
By Jack Stripling
In the official history of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Shirley Ann Jackson will very likely be remembered as a trailblazing president, whose unparalleled vision and determination transformed a respectable regional private college into a nationally recognized research institution. This is the reason, her supporters on the governing board say, that Ms. Jackson earned $7-million in 2012, making her the nation’s highest-paid private college president that year, the most recent for which federal tax forms are available. This is the explanation, her backers say, for Ms. Jackson’s perennial position as a front-runner in the college presidents’ pay race, routinely earning over a million dollars a year.