University System News
www.myajc.com
Costs, programs, staff top issues at Ga. State, Perimeter merger talks
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/costs-programs-staff-top-issues-at-ga-state-perime/njnMK/#6bb93939.3566685.735612
By Janel Davis – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Perimeter College has suspended its athletic recruiting. HOPE scholarship awards should not be affected. And the mascot of the merged institutions will be Georgia State’s panther. Those details were provided in meetings with faculty, staff and students Tuesday at Georgia State and Georgia Perimeter colleges. The Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia agreed last week to consolidate those two institutions. GSU and GPC presidents Mark Becker and Rob Watts, along with Shelley Nickel, the University System administrator leading the merger plans, answered questions for more than an hour at the two schools.

www.neighbornewspapers.com
http://www.neighbornewspapers.com/view/full_story/26357323/article-Former-Georgia-Perimeter-president-speaks-out-about-Georgia-State-merger?instance=dunwoody
by LaTria Garnigan
Last week, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved a merger between Georgia Perimeter College and Georgia State University. According to GPC’s website, the consolidation will help improve student success by expanding access, applying best-practice programs and reinvesting savings into academics for the benefit of students. …Watts has been in an interim role since 2012, after Anthony Tricoli left. When reached for comment about the merger, Tricoli said University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby communicated with college presidents in 2011 about his desire to merge several institutions. “When I asked him if GPC was part of that plan he said, ‘no,’” said Tricoli. …Tricoli said he would not have supported the merger, as it does not appear to be in the best interest of the students.

www.m.onlineathens.com
Deal says more money needed for transportation, doesn’t name income source
http://m.onlineathens.com/general-assembly/2015-01-13/deal-says-more-money-needed-transportation-doesnt-name-income-source#gsc.tab=0
By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
ATLANTA | Speaking to a statewide business group Tuesday, senior state officials endorsed the organization’s call for increased funding on transportation, but none would say how to go about it. …To benefit the state’s growing entertainment industry, Deal announced the creation of the Georgia Film Academy as a joint project between the University System of Georgia and the technical colleges, which he wants to rename the Georgia Career College System. He said the academy is critical to training workers needed in the state’s growing motion-picture industry that has drawn productions away from California with tax credits.

Related article:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Georgia legislator, governor undecided on how to fund road work
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/government/2015-01-13/ga-needs-roadwork-how-pay

www.wtoc.com
Bainbridge State College collects over $1.3 million in contributions
http://www.wtoc.com/story/27841963/bainbridge-state-college-collects-over-13-million-in-contributions
By Catherine Patterson
BAINBRIDGE, GA (WALB) – Bainbridge State College meets a goal of collecting more than a million dollars in contributions. Last year, the college decided to create its first capital campaign to focus on more student scholarships, building new programs, and incorporating more innovative technology into the classrooms.

www.onlineathens.com
UGA won’t say if demonstrators will face discipline
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-01-13/uga-wont-say-if-demonstrators-will-face-discipline
By LEE SHEARER
University of Georgia officials won’t say whether any of the nine people arrested Friday night for refusing to leave a UGA building are university students, nor will they say whether, if any of them are UGA students, they will face discipline under the school’s conduct code in connection with an immigrant rights demonstration. University officials can’t identify the students or say whether they’ll face UGA discipline because of federal laws protecting student privacy, said Stan Jackson, a spokesman for the office of UGA’s vice president for student affairs, which is responsible for enforcing the conduct code.

www.insidehighered.com
Court Revives First Amendment Suit on Facebook Post
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/01/14/court-revives-first-amendment-suit-facebook-post
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit revived a lengthy First Amendment lawsuit against Valdosta State University on Monday, reversing a lower court’s 2010 dismissal of the case. Hayden Barnes sued Valdosta State in 2008 after he was expelled for protesting the university’s plan to build two parking garages with $30 million in student fees.

www.myajc.com
NCR to leave Gwinnett for Midtown Atlanta
http://www.myajc.com/news/business/ncr-to-leave-gwinnett-for-midtown-atlanta/njnNQ/#f681d091.3566685.735612
By Leon Stafford and J. Scott Trubey – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NCR, the technology giant that moved from Ohio to Gwinnett County six years ago, now plans to move its headquarters into the city of Atlanta. The relocation, which had been speculated for months, will shift about 3,600 jobs. NCR said the company intends to build a new home on Spring Street at Centergy North on Technology Square near Georgia Tech in late 2017 or early the following year. It expects to consolidate workers at sites throughout metro Atlanta. A second campus is promised for the northern suburbs around the same time, but NCR said specifics on that project are not final. It is unclear if the suburban campus will be in Gwinnett or elsewhere. “Creating a state-of-the-art campus in midtown Atlanta near Georgia Tech marks an important step in NCR’s reinvention as an exciting and important, global technology company,” NCR Chairman and CEO Bill Nuti said in a release Tuesday.

www.myajc.com
Cops: UGA student, 21, shot and killed during drug deal
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/cops-uga-student-21-shot-and-killed-during-drug-de/njnj3/
By Mike Morris – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A 21-year-old University of Georgia student shot to death Tuesday was apparently killed during a drug deal, police said. Athens-Clarke County police spokeswoman Hilda Sorrow said officers responded to Athens Regional Medical Center after the victim, Min Seok Cho, was taken to the hospital by private vehicle for treatment of a gunshot wound. Cho died from his wounds, and his death is being investigated by University of Georgia police, the GBI and the Clarke County Coroner’s Office as a homicide, Sorrow said in a press release.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions:
www.huffingtonpost.com
The Spirit of Selma: Nine Students Arrested in Georgia for Protesting Discriminatory Education Policies
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-pitti/the-spirit-of-selma-nine-_b_6447202.html
Stephen Pitti
As the film Selma screens nationwide to critical acclaim, police from Clarke County arrested nine students on Friday evening in Athens, Georgia, for organizing the first “integrated classroom” for both undocumented and documented youth at the University of Georgia. Students demanded that University of Georgia President Morehead reject “the discriminatory practices enacted by the University of Georgia,” and that the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia revoke Policies 4.1.6 and 4.3.4, which bar undocumented students from attending the state’s top universities and deny in-state tuition to undocumented students. Georgia is one of only three states — including Alabama and South Carolina — that bar undocumented students from enrollment in state universities.

www.saportareport.com
Column: Paul Bowers aims to keep Georgia Chamber relevant in 2015
http://saportareport.com/blog/2015/01/column-paul-bowers-aims-to-keep-georgia-chamber-relevant-in-2015/
By Maria Saporta
As Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers takes over as the 2015 chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 13, the word he keeps repeating is “relevance.” The business organization is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. And for Bowers, what is most important is that the Georgia Chamber not only honors its past but pushes itself to be even stronger for the next 100 years. …Recognizing its responsibility to foster leadership throughout the state, the Georgia Chamber and the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at The University of Georgia will announce a new GeorgiaLEADS program at its annual Eggs & Issues breakfast on Jan. 13. The program will ultimately ensure a continuum of leadership development opportunities at the youth, adult and regional levels throughout our state.

www.saportareport.com
Underground ATL: Ga Tech grad shows time right for redevelopment
http://saportareport.com/blog/2015/01/underground-atl-ga-tech-grad-shows-time-right-for-redevelopment/
By David Pendered
As Darron Cooper completed a research paper about Underground Atlanta last year at Georgia Tech, he had no idea the city was on the brink of selling Underground to a developer. Cooper’s paper views private ownership as a logical step for the revitalization of Underground. Now his report joins those on the Atlanta BeltLine and Atlantic Station for envisioning new purpose for remnants of Atlanta’s industrial past.

www.chronicle.com
How One Building Reveals What’s Wrong With Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2015/01/12/how-one-building-reveals-whats-wrong-with-higher-education/
by Kevin R. McClure
On the heels of its inaugural football season in the Big Ten Conference, the University of Maryland announced bold plans: The Board of Regents’ Finance Committee unanimously agreed to move forward with construction of a new building that would transform Cole Field House, an old basketball arena turned student activities center, into a “dynamic hub at the intersection of athletics, academics and research.” Jump-starting the project is a $25-million donation from an alumnus, the Under Armour founder Kevin Plank. The “New Cole Field House” has little to do with academics and everything to do with competition and money. It is a perfect example of American higher education’s distorted incentives and misguided priorities.

Higher Education:
www.chronicle.com
More States Tie Money to Colleges’ Performance, but That May Not Work
http://chronicle.com/article/More-States-Tie-Money-to/151183/
By Katherine Mangan
A report being released on Wednesday throws more cold water on a trend that’s been sweeping the nation for the past several years, most recently with the White House proposal that seeks to make two years of community college free for everyone. It’s called performance-based funding, and it boils down to rewarding or penalizing colleges based in part on the numbers of students they graduate or retain from year to year. Some 30 states now distribute at least a portion of their higher-education money based on those and other achievement measures, with another four plans in the works.

www.insidehighered.com
Experimenting with Competency
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/13/feds-move-ahead-experimental-sites-competency-based-education
By Paul Fain
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education will allow at least 40 colleges to experiment with competency-based education and prior learning assessment, granting them a waiver from certain rules that govern federal financial aid. The department last week notified colleges that had successfully applied to participate in the latest round of “experimental sites,” which observers said is more expansive than previous ones.

www.insidehighered.com
Funding Formula Fracas
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/14/questions-about-whether-washington-states-funding-formula-increases-student
By Paul Fain
Washington State’s performance-based funding formula has failed to move the needle on community college student completion rates, according to a newly released research paper. But officials at the state’s two-year college system are contesting the study’s findings.

www.bizjournals.com
Harris Corp. donates $1M to Florida Institute of Technology for new design center
http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/morning_call/2015/01/harris-corp-donates-1m-to-florida-institute-of.html
Cindy Barth
Editor-Orlando Business Journal
Florida Institute of Technology received a $1 million gift from Harris Corp. that will be used to create a new student design center at the university. The 11,500-square-foot, single-story structure will serve College of Engineering and College of Science seniors completing capstone design projects.

www.diverseeducation.com
UMass, Amazon Reach Deal to Sell Students Textbooks
http://diverseeducation.com/article/68830/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=3079071de0f24353bda60cde7fa2b5f9&elqCampaignId=415
by Associated Press
AMHERST, Mass. — Students at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst are expected to save hundreds of dollars a year by buying textbooks from online retailing giant Amazon under a deal announced Tuesday. Students will be able to order new, used, rental and digital textbooks and other course materials through Amazon or through the university’s online student information system beginning in May.

www.chronicle.com
One Reason to Offer Free Online Courses: Alumni Engagement
http://chronicle.com/article/One-Reason-to-Offer-Free/151163/
By Casey Fabris
Conversations about the atomic bomb can go only so far among a classroom of 20-somethings. It’s hard for today’s students to imagine living in 1945, experiencing a world war, or, for most, serving in the military. But bring alumni—with many more years of experience to share—into the equation, and class discussions can get a lot more interesting.

www.chronicle.com
Are Young Scientists Getting Enough Help From the NIH?
http://chronicle.com/article/Are-Young-Scientists-Getting/151167/
By Paul Basken
For four straight years recently, despite annual budget cutbacks, the National Institutes of Health managed to record steady gains in a critical measure: the share of its main grant awards won by new scientists. …But that four-year rise ended in 2010, and in the four years since then the percentage of grants won by new researchers has flattened out. And once again the NIH is left scrambling to figure out new approaches to avert what it fears could be a hollowing out of the nation’s medical-research capabilities.

www.insidehighered.com
Declining the AAU Survey
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/13/more-dozen-research-universities-opt-out-higher-education-groups-sexual-assault
By Michael Stratford
At least two dozen of the nation’s top research universities have declined an offer by the Association of American Universities to anonymously survey their students about the prevalence of sexual assault on campus.

www.huffingtonpost.com
Colleges Campuses Are Full Of Subtle Racism And Sexism, Study Says
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/12/microaggressions-college-racism-sexism_n_6457106.html?ir=Education&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000023
Alexandra Svokos
Diversity on college campuses has increased, but women and minorities still face prejudice and discrimination, a new study from the Harvard University Voices of Diversity project found. This discrimination, often manifested in what are called “microaggressions,” creates unwelcoming environments and can be detrimental to academic performance, the study says.