University System News

USG NEWS:
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/ethics-exemption-for-colleges-means-free-football-/njXJr/#d5ed4671.3566685.735596
Ethics exemption for colleges means free football for lawmakers
Loophole in 2013 reform exempts university system lobbyists. Georgia lawmakers cash in on free football tickets and meals.
By Chris Joyner and James Salzer – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State lawmakers have hailed new lobbying reforms as “historic” because they set the first-ever limits on what freebies public officials could accept. But The Atlanta Journal-Constitution discovered legislators and other public officials are using a loophole in the law to continue to receive the kind of goodies the public assumed were outlawed. The reforms took effect this year, banning free tickets, golf games and anything of value over $75. But the same bill changed the definition of lobbyist to exclude public employees, including university system lobbyists who are among of the most generous at the Capitol. As a result, lawmakers got prime seats to watch the Bulldogs hammer Auburn, the Yellow Jackets scrape by Georgia Southern and the Georgia State Panthers manage their only win this fall, free of charge. University System lobbyists spent more than $20,000 this fall on football tickets, game-day meals and mixers for lawmakers. Overall, they had spent more than $48,000 on lawmakers through the end of November, according to reports collected from schools by the AJC using the Open Records Act.

www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=283410
University system uses loophole to lobby lawmakers
By The Associated Press
ATLANTA – University System of Georgia officials spent tens of thousands of dollars this year on football tickets, meals and events for state lawmakers despite a law banning many freebies for members of Georgia’s Legislature. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ( http://bit.ly/13CHJ1l ) reports records obtained through an Open Records Act request show that lobbyists spent more than $48,000 on state lawmakers through the end of November. A state law passed in 2013 prohibits lawmakers from receiving free tickets and gifts worth more than $75. However, that law also excludes public employees from being considered lobbyists. The University System’s Vice Chancellor for External Affairs said officials didn’t lobby lawmakers to exempt them from the ethics reform bill that was passed in 2013.

www.businessinsavannah.com
http://businessinsavannah.com/bis/2014-12-23/bis-brief-georgia-southerns-small-business-center-relocate
BiS in brief: Georgia Southern’s small business center to relocate
The Georgia Southern University Small Business Development Center, currently located in the Market District on Fair Road, will relocate to 58 E. Main St. on the City Campus in downtown Statesboro. Beginning Jan. 1, the small business center will operate from City Campus as part of the Business Innovation Group. BIG will include the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership, which includes GENIE, a virtual incubator linking small businesses in rural Georgia to resources at Georgia Southern;

www.jacksonville.com
http://jacksonville.com/breaking-news/2014-12-23/story/camden-county-hospital-one-29-georgia-penalized-high-levels
Camden County hospital one of 29 in Georgia penalized for high levels of infections and patient injuries
By Andy Miller
ATLANTA | Southeast Health System’s St. Marys hospital is one of 29 in Georgia that the federal government is penalizing because of high levels of infections and patient injuries in the facilities. The new Medicare crackdown on hospital-acquired infections and preventable injuries is similar to the existing federal penalties on excessive readmissions of patients within 30 days after discharge. Overall, 721 U.S. hospitals are getting the new penalties, which means they will have their Medicare payments lowered by 1 percent. The Georgia hospitals being penalized include some of the largest and best known in the state. In the metro Atlanta area, Emory University Hospital, Grady Memorial, WellStar Kennestone, Piedmont Hospital and Atlanta Medical Center are among those receiving cuts. Also getting penalties are Southeast Georgia Health System’s Camden campus; Athens Regional Medical Center; Memorial University Medical Center and Candler Hospital in Savannah; Georgia Regents Medical Center and Doctors Hospital in Augusta; and Coliseum Medical Centers and Coliseum Northside in Macon.

GOOD NEWS:
www.covnews.com
http://www.covnews.com/section/163/article/57453/
Sanders leaves $3.4 million to UGA School of Law
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Former Georgia Gov. Carl Sanders has left $3.4 million of his estate to the University of Georgia School of Law. Law school officials said Tuesday that the gift will be used to create a scholarship fund for law students and continue a faculty position that was established in 2002. They say it is the single largest gift in the law school’s history.

www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/your-good-news/2014-12-24/gsus-real-stem-program-named-grant-winner
GSU’s Real STEM Program named grant winner
By Savannah Morning News
Gov. Nathan Deal has announced 18 award winners for the Innovation Fund, a competitive grant program that provides more than $4.5 million to local education authorities, schools, institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations to further advance student achievement in Georgia. Georgia Southern University was awarded a scaling grant for the Real STEM program, led by the University’s Institute for Interdisciplinary STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Education (i2STEMe). The scaling grant will provide $200,000 over a two-year period to further the program.

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2014/dec/27/georgia-gwinnett-college-to-offer-more-non/
Georgia Gwinnett College to offer more non-traditional class times, formats
By Keith Farner
More non-traditional class times and formats are coming to Georgia Gwinnett College. Two years after the school began offering 7 a.m. classes, which quickly filled and remain popular, the school will offer a weekend cohort for students studying education. The new offering, called “GGC Complete,” which begins in January, is for weekday evenings and weekends where students move through the program as a group. Students studying education as para-professionals will be the first to take the weeknight and weekend cohort, while business, science and technology students will begin in August.

www.businessinsavannah.com
http://businessinsavannah.com/bis/2014-12-26/bis-brief-armstrong-state-adds-nursing-programs
BiS in brief: Armstrong State adds nursing programs
The College of Health Professions at Armstrong State University has launched two new nursing programs to help remedy a projected shortage of nurses statewide. “By 2020, the nursing profession is expected to grow 26 percent and produce 712,000 new jobs, and we are preparing our graduates to fill that need,” said nursing department chair Catherine Gilbert. In the summer of 2015, the College of Health Professions will offer the family nurse practitioner graduate degree program to allow registered nurses to become a practitioner responsible for managing families in primary care settings.

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2014/dec/24/georgia-gwinnett-college-teacher-education-growth/
Georgia Gwinnett College teacher education growth feeds GCPS
By Keith Farner
From tuition cost to student diversity, Georgia Gwinnett College has bucked several national trends in recent years. The latest comes in its local teacher education partnership with Gwinnett County Public Schools. GGC is dwarfing other state colleges and universities in the number of student teacher placements in GCPS. Associate Superintendent Frances Davis reported in November to the Gwinnett County Board of Education that, during the 2013-14 school year, GGC placed 569 student teachers in the school system, up from 545 in 2012-13. Georgia State University is second out of nine colleges and universities with 428, while the University of Georgia placed 154 student teachers in GCPS last school year. Four schools (Shorter University, Phoenix University, Georgia Perimeter and Mercer University) all saw a drop in placements.

RESEARCH:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2014/12/26/ncsu-college-of-textiles-georgia-soutnern-nonwoven.html
NCSU College of Textiles, Georgia Southern to partner on nonwoven fabric research
Dawn Wallace
Staff Writer – Triangle Business Journal
N.C. State University’s College of Textiles and Nonwovens Institute is partnering with the Georgia Southern University Herty Advanced Materials Development Center to work on streamlining the commercialization of specialty fibers. Nonwoven Specialty fibers, such as performance bi-component fibers, used in the medical and filtration industries are particularly sought after, but can take many years from the time they are created in the lab to the moment they are applied in the field.

www.accessnorthga.com
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=283331
Georgia Tech, Norcoss team up for immigrant study
By The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) A team of researchers from Georgia Tech plans a wide-ranging study of immigrants in one metro Atlanta community. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Norcross City Council has approved the arrangement with Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning.

Related article:
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/georgia-tech-to-study-immigrant-communities/njZxR/
Georgia Tech to study immigrant communities

www.wsj.com
http://www.wsj.com/articles/when-parents-start-companies-to-cure-their-children-1419639500
When Parents Start Companies to Cure Their Children
For These CEOs, Helping Ill Offspring Can Mean Putting Profits First
For years, Brad Margus has juggled two goals as chief executive: Make money, and find cures for his children. He just co-founded a startup, Exigence Neurosciences Inc., in part to seek treatments for his two sons who have ataxia-telangiectasia, or A-T, a rare progressive and eventually fatal neurological disease… With an M.B.A., Mr. Fischer had started a company before. In 2011, he met Jeffrey Skolnick, a Georgia Institute of Technology computational-biology professor who developed algorithms to predict what drugs might work on specific genes. Those algorithms, Mr. Fischer thought, might find drugs to treat Dravet and be the basis for a business.

www.timesenterprise.com
http://www.timesenterprise.com/news/uga-entomologist-focused-on-reducing-plant-viruses-in-crops/article_7e0f48d6-8af1-11e4-a48b-ef003ab7737c.html
UGA entomologist focused on reducing plant viruses in crops
By Jordan Hill University of Georgia, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
TIFTON — University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences entomologist Rajagopalbab Srinivasan aims to better understand plant viruses in southeast Georgia’s crops. Srinivasan, based on the UGA Tifton Campus, hopes to enhance Georgia’s agriculture by improving the management of insect-transmitted pathogens, particularly viruses. He is also very interested in studying complex and intricate interactions between vectors, or bearers of a pathogen — in this case insects, and viruses.

STATE ISSUES/NEEDS:
www.dailyreportonline.com
http://www.dailyreportonline.com/home/id=1202713242740?kw=Judges%2C%20Officials%20Want%20Gun%20Law%20Cleanup&et=editorial&bu=Daily%20Report&cn=20141223&src=EMC-Email&pt=Afternoon%20News&slreturn=20141129104641
Judges, Officials Want Gun Law Cleanup
Kathleen Baydala Joyner, Daily Report
Probate judges and county officials are hoping for tweaks in state gun laws in the upcoming legislative session that would clear up what they describe as ambiguities and contradictions.
But the lawmaker who sponsored last session’s bill—House Bill 60—that relaxed many carry and licensing restrictions said he and other proponents aren’t keen to tinker with the code.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions:
www.seattletimes.com
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2025272966_banksopedurbanleague22xml.html
Guest: Solving race inequities through education
The issues of justice and inequality demand our community pay attention and take action. And it begins with educating our children.
By Pamela Banks
Special to The Times
THIS has been a time of difficult introspection for the nation and region as frustration and unease grow about the fact that our shared American ideals are not evenly applied across all communities. The outpouring of anger, sorrow and disappointment in recent weeks was about more than the decisions not to press criminal charges against police officers in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City. The larger context includes decades of mistreatment of African Americans and people of color, including racial profiling and disparate treatment in the criminal-justice system. Add to this mix employment discrimination and an education system that overwhelmingly fails African Americans, and outrage and impatience fuel a clarion call for change… In fact, there are close to 30,000 open computer-science jobs available in our state right now that cannot be filled. But, the sad truth is that those high-paying jobs will not be filled with African-American candidates. In 2013, only 12 African-American students in the entire state of Washington took the AP computer-science exam and, in 2012 only eight did, according to the Institute for Computing Education at Georgia Tech.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68544/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=48b75595430a4c3ba1e810b94bb14f16&elqCampaignId=415
Do Community College Credentials Pay Off?
by Madeline Joy Trimble
The returns to education have been a popular topic of study among economics researchers. However, only in the last few years has a critical mass of research begun to emerge on the returns to community college credentials. It’s about time—after all, two-year colleges enroll almost as many students in a given year as do four-year colleges across the United States.
This emerging evidence suggests three important findings. First, community college credentials on average are valuable, leading to both higher earnings and a higher probability of employment. Second, looking only at average returns can be misleading, because the program in which a credential is earned matters—a lot. Finally, even programs that do not appear to lead to higher earnings for their graduates may confer other important benefits that should not be overlooked.

Education:
www.mdjonline.com
http://mdjonline.com/printer_friendly/26294905
Rep. Evans HOPES for change
by Hilary Butschek
MARIETTA — State Rep. Stacey Evans (D–Smyrna) is proposing changes to the HOPE Grant that would make it less expensive to attend a technical school. Evans said Georgia needs more workers with technical skills, so she wants HOPE money to incentivize students to pursue technical fields. “There are jobs that are available that are unfilled, and there are Georgians who are unemployed. Those fields just don’t match. The skills of those who are unemployed don’t match the jobs that are available,” Evans said. “We know that we would have a lot of those students being able to fill those jobs if we had them getting the training that technical colleges offer.”

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68555/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=48b75595430a4c3ba1e810b94bb14f16&elqCampaignId=415
Daughter’s Suit Over Tuition Goes to Higher Court
by Associated Press
CAMDEN, N.J. ― A higher court will be handling the case of whether a divorced New Jersey couple must pay their daughter’s college tuition even though they both disagree with where she’s going to school.

www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2014-12-26/college-sees-small-big-benefits-loan-promise
College sees small, big benefits with loan promise
By JEFF KAROUB | Associated Press
ADRIAN, Mich. — When it came time to pick a college, Abby Slusher leaned toward a private school near her southeastern Michigan home for the small campus and class sizes. Her mother pushed Adrian College for another reason: A new program guaranteeing every graduate would make more than $37,000, or get some or all student loans reimbursed. Adrian is among the first colleges to take out insurance policies on every incoming freshman and transfer student who have student loans and at least two years of school remaining.

www.dispatch.com
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/12/23/1000-fresh-starts.html
African American Male Initiative seeks to help black men find better lives
By Logan Hickman
The Columbus Dispatch
Two-time convicted felon Wesley Sanders never thought he’d receive a standing ovation from Mayor Michael B. Coleman or state Rep. Kevin Boyce. Sanders, 34, started selling drugs on South Side streets when he was 14. He never knew his father, who was killed when he was a baby, and his family needed the money, he said. “There were times I would be dealing (drugs) with tears in my eyes.” …He served two prison terms for felonious assault, and he was released the second time in November 2013. He said he has since turned his life around.
He’s now an ordained minister, a subcontractor at a local construction business and a devoted father to his 11-year-old daughter. He credits part of his revival to guidance from the Columbus Urban League, where he recently graduated as the 1,000th man served by the African American Male Initiative.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68597/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=82a64c5d0abc4d82958eba3d375c3520&elqCampaignId=415
West Virginia Higher Ed Changes to Help Students
by Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia higher education leaders are finalizing policy changes to help students more easily transfer college credits and earn degrees. The changes were approved by the state Higher Education Policy Commission and the state Council for Community and Technical College Education within the last two months. The proposed rules state that a school should accept course credits from another institution if 70 percent of learning objectives are similar between the courses at each school.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68550/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=48b75595430a4c3ba1e810b94bb14f16&elqCampaignId=415
Associate Degrees on Rise at 4-Year Institutions
by Pearl Stewart
In recent years, there has been a quiet shift in higher education, as economic factors and social and political forces have combined to change the landscape. From academic year 2001-02 to 2011-12, the number of associate degrees awarded increased by 71 percent, while the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded increased by only 39 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). As the demand for associate degrees has increased, four-year institutions have joined community colleges and technical schools in offering Associate of Science and Associate of Arts degrees in a variety of disciplines.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68580/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=82a64c5d0abc4d82958eba3d375c3520&elqCampaignId=415
HBCU Stakeholders List Financing Programs, Affordability as Top Issues
by Autumn A. Arnett
Many in and around the historically Black college and university (HBCU) community recently have publicly pondered the state of the institutions as a whole—and much of the narrative has not been positive. Between a dearth of confidence in leadership, a lack of advocacy at all levels, and local problems such as declining enrollment and concerns over institutional ability to compete in an ever-changing higher education landscape, much of the public discourse about HBCUs has been less than optimistic about the future viability of these institutions as a whole. “It’s very di­fficult to think about HBCUs as one unit, because they’re so vastly different,” says Dr. Ivory Toldson, deputy director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs. “There are some HBCUs that are really standing out and some HBCUs that I’m really concerned about.” However, overall, Toldson says, “I’m optimistic about the future of HBCUs in general.”

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68559/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=d0725c853ce746f9af2c7379a550200e&elqCampaignId=415
Researchers Mobilize to Preserve U.S. College Major Question on Census Survey
by Ronald Roach
It’s widely believed that among the data gathered for the American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, the inclusion of college major choice as a data point has proved critical to a better understanding of the value higher education attainment has in the U.S. economy and workforce. This conviction is driving researchers, such as economist Jeff Strohl, to oppose a Census Bureau proposal that the agency drop the college major question from the American Community Survey (ACS).

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68570/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=d0725c853ce746f9af2c7379a550200e&elqCampaignId=415
Judge Says University of South Carolina Fraternity Members Must Move
by Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A judge in Columbia says about 30 University of South Carolina students in the Kappa Sigma fraternity house must find somewhere else to live before the new semester begins Jan. 12. Circuit Judge Casey Manning refused to allow the fraternity members to live in the house since the chapter lost its charter, The State newspaper reported. Kappa Sigma’s national office withdrew the local chapter’s charter for five years after an investigation found hazing and alcohol and drug violations. The USC chapter will appeal the charter in a February hearing.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68547/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=48b75595430a4c3ba1e810b94bb14f16&elqCampaignId=415
LSU Law Center Offers Buyouts to Cut Budget
by Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. ― LSU’s Law Center is offering an incentive to seven professors if they retire next summer as it looks to cut costs amid a dwindling interest in law schools nationally. The professors, all older than 65 and tenured faculty members, have until Monday to decide whether they will retire June 30 and get paid a bonus of roughly a year’s salary in return. The total that would be saved if all decide to take the buyout: $1.12 million a year. Law Center Chancellor Jack Weiss told a recent LSU Board of Supervisors meeting that the cuts are part of a necessary effort to provide additional financial flexibility for the Law Center.

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68541/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=48b75595430a4c3ba1e810b94bb14f16&elqCampaignId=415
Department of Education Criticized for Not Using Accreditor Sanction Data
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
As the U.S. Department of Education continues to pursue its unwieldy consumer-focused project to establish a college ratings system, a new government report blasts the department for its routine failure to make use of accreditor sanction data already at its disposal. “Education does not systematically examine accreditor sanction data that could help identify insufficient accreditor oversight and thereby reduce potential risk to students and federal funds,” concludes the Government Accountability Office report, titled “Higher Education: Education Should Strengthen Oversight of Schools and Accreditors.” Department of Education officials shot back to the GAO during the course of its investigation that analyzing the sanction data “would be too time- and labor-intensive.”