University System News
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‘P3’ bill back before Georgia Senate
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/capitol_vision/2015/01/p3-bill-back-before-georgia-senate.html
Dave Williams
Staff Writer-Atlanta Business Chronicle
Legislation introduced in the Georgia Senate Tuesday would expand the ability of state agencies and local governments to work with the private sector to finance and construct public buildings and infrastructure. The state currently is using public-private partnerships to finance and build toll lanes along metro Atlanta interstate highways and non-instructional buildings on university campuses, including dorms.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions:
www.effinghamherald.net
Budget proposals take center stage
http://www.effinghamherald.net/section/2/article/29446/
By Sen. Jack Hill
Governor Deal’s fiscal year 2015 amended and FY16 general budget proposals were reviewed during a week of budget hearings. The FY 15 budget grew by 0.4 percent in the amended proposal by Gov. Deal. The FY 16 general budget is based on 4.3 percent growth over the final FY 15 total which amounts to about $800 million in new spending. Here is a partial listing of highlights of the amended and FY 16 budgets.
FY 15 amended budget highlights
• $4.8 million in FY 2015 to provide clinical trials through Georgia Regents University to study the use and safety of cannabidiol in children with medication resistant epilepsy.
• $515,600 to establish the Georgia Film Academy through a cooperative partnership between the University System and the Technical College System.
• $5,802,134 for growth in Accel dual enrollment program for high school students enrolled in college.
FY 16 general budget highlights
• $2.5 million in operating funds to continue the establishment and development of the Georgia Film Academy.
• $1 million for advanced manufacturing education and research initiatives at Georgia Southern University.
• Nearly $198 million in bonds for new capital projects as well as major repairs and renovations at all USG institutions.

www.onlineathens.com
Harrop: Education is public investment, not public expense
http://onlineathens.com/opinion/2015-01-27/harrop-education-public-investment-not-public-expense
By FROMA HARRO
It’s good that many Republicans have joined Democrats in declaring the growth of economic inequality a problem. And some are even looking to solutions beyond making the rich richer through tax cuts. As we’ve seen, rising stock prices do not necessarily lead to jobs — for Americans, that is. The crumbling of the once-mighty American middle class has two unstoppable causes, globalization and automation, and one stoppable one, a poorly educated workforce. A high-school diploma no longer guarantees a decent income. That’s something we can fix.

www.gertschooled.blog.ajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Are students helped or hurt by more math requirements in high school?
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/01/28/are-students-helped-or-hurt-by-higher-math-requirements-in-high-school/
Georgia and other states intensified high school math requirements in the belief students would ultimately benefit. Now, that assumption is being questioned. Texas, a pioneer in requiring algebra II in high school, has joined Florida in retracting the mandate. Algebra II became a gateway course in many places after research showed it predicted college and career success. In its decision to mandate algebra II, Georgia sought to bolster the state’s historically dismal math performance. Georgia students consistently rank in the bottom quarter of states on SAT math scores. About 60 percent of Georgia high school students who took the end-of-course test in coordinate algebra last spring failed to meet the state’s standard for content mastery. In analytic geometry, 65 percent failed to meet the standard. Has the pendulum swung too far?

USG Institutions:
www.accountingweb.com
Website Ranks Best Tuition Rates for Online Accounting Master’s Degrees in 2015
http://www.accountingweb.com/article/website-ranks-best-tuition-rates-online-accounting-master’s-degrees-2015/224317
by Jason Bramwell
Two schools that are part of the American Public University System (APUS) offered the most affordable accounting programs for online master’s degrees this academic year, according to a new report from Accounting Degree Review. …The following is Accounting Degree Review’s ranking of the top-30 most affordable institutions for an online master’s degree in accounting in 2015: …19. Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA: $20,950

www.education.tmcnet.com
College Choice Releases 2015 Rankings of the Best Online Masters of Nursing (MSN) Programs
http://education.tmcnet.com/news/2015/01/27/8136930.htm
RALEIGH, N.C./PRNewswire/ — College Choice, an independent college search and rankings website, has published its 2015 ranking of the top fifty online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs in the United States. …University of West Georgia

www.metteradvertiser.com
‘Starting a business’ class to be offered in Swainsboro
http://www.metteradvertiser.com/article_26927f46-a627-11e4-bb60-17a5b69c52c6.html
The City of Swainsboro and the Swainsboro-Emanuel County Chamber of Commerce are partnering to host a “Starting a Business” workshop from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at the Sudie A. Fulford Community Learning Center on the campus of East Georgia State College. The workshop will walk entrepreneurs through the steps of starting a business, including conducting market research, estimating start-up costs and cash flow projections, securing financing, developing business plans, and determining a legal structure for the business. In addition, traits of successful entrepreneurs and factors that commonly influence business failure will also be discussed. A detailed workbook for starting a business, along with various other handouts will be provided. The workshop will be presented by the Small Business Development Center, a division of the University System of Georgia’s SBDC Network which provides business consulting and training for Georgia entrepreneurs.

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
Gwinnett County Schools, Georgia Gwinnett to partner on special ed teaching program
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2015/jan/27/gwinnett-county-schools-georgia-gwinnett-to/
By Keith Farner
Finding and keeping special education teachers has been an ongoing issue for years in Gwinnett County Schools. This spring, the school district and Georgia Gwinnett College are launching a bachelor’s degree program in hopes of creating a human pipeline.

www.bizjournals.com
Using analytics to help doctors fight cancer, Oncora Medical nabs $20K investment
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/01/27/using-analytics-to-help-doctors-fight-cancer.html
Lauren Hertzler
Staff Writer- Philadelphia Business Journal
Oncora Medical wants radiation oncologists to have mounds of clinical data at their fingertips. That way, they can identify the absolute best treatment options based on past patients.
The clinical data already exists — it just hasn’t been made easily accessible, until now. …Oncora Medical was founded by University of Pennsylvania MD/PhD student David Lindsay (he’s studying medicine and engineering) and Christopher Berlind, a PhD student at Georgia Institute of Technology. The duo just nabbed $20,000 in seed funding from the Dorm Room Fund, a student-run investment group initially backed by First Round Capital. It was Lindsay and Berlind’s first capital raise, which they’ll use to “design the product a little better,” Lindsay said. The company has plans to launch its first publicly committed pilot in the next few months.

www.upi.com
Sailing spacecraft LightSail to harness power of solar wind
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/01/27/Sailing-spacecraft-LightSail-to-harness-power-of-solar-wind/3831422366737/
By Brooks Hays
Why burn expensive fuel, when you can harness the kinetic power of the wind — solar wind. It’s always been a dream of aerospace engineers to set sail in the cosmos. That possibility is gaining momentum as the space research nonprofit The Planetary Society prepares to launch LightSail, its tissue-box-sized sail-powered spacecraft … The first launch of LightSail will be be a solo test run, but a second launch in 2016 will reach a higher orbit. The LightSail is expected to be harnessed to Prox-1, a small satellite-inspecting satellite developed at Georgia Tech, and lifted into orbit on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. After the spacecraft and satellite separate, LightSail will attempt to use its sails to maneuver through space.

www.bizjournals.com
Coca-Cola Enterprises to put innovation center at Georgia Tech
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/atlantech/2015/01/coca-cola-enterprises-to-put-innovation-center-at.html
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. will open a nearly 5,000 square foot innovation and development center at Tech Square … The company declined comment. CCE will locate the innovation center in the Centergy building, a 650,000 square foot development home to several corporate innovation hubs, startups, venture capital firms and tech incubator Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). At the center, CCE will work on emerging technologies and Big Data products for retail customers, such as Tesco and Carrefour, that will help them improve efficiencies, reduce costs and drive sales … CCE is attracted to Tech Square for access to Georgia Tech’s students, faculty and research.

Higher Education:
www.ajc.com
Governor creates commission to review school funding
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/governor-creates-commission-to-review-school-fundi/njyG9/
Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Nathan Deal has picked 33 people to study Georgia’s school funding formula and recommend educational reforms. His Education Reform Commission is to suggest changes to the formula for distributing state tax proceeds to 180 local school districts. …The panel also is charged with recommending ways to increase access to early learning programs, to recruit and retain effective teachers and to “expand school options” for Georgians.

www.diverseeducation.com
Panel Makes Recommendations on Teacher Prep Programs
http://diverseeducation.com/article/69075/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=110ce92f1711405e8e6b72bb0f775baf&elqCampaignId=415
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
The federally proposed regulations to rate teacher preparation programs should be withdrawn and reformulated to be made less punitive and more focused on providing access to the teaching profession for underrepresented minorities. Those were among the key recommendations made during a panel discussion hosted at the National Press Club Tuesday by the Howard University School of Education and the American Federation of Teachers. A fundamental problem with the proposed regulations is that they rely in part on the standardized test scores of K-12 students, which are unreliable indicators of teacher effectiveness, said Arthur Hernandez, dean of the College of Education at Texas A&M University — Corpus Christi.

www.insidehighered.com
ACT Launches College and Career Readiness Campaign
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/01/28/act-launches-college-and-career-readiness-campaign
ACT, the nonprofit testing giant, this week began its third annual national career and college readiness campaign.

www.insidehighered.com
Virginia Commonwealth Drops SAT Requirement
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/01/28/virginia-commonwealth-drops-sat-requirement
Virginia Commonwealth University announced Tuesday that it is dropping the SAT requirement for applicants who have a high school grade-point average of at least 3.3.

www.insidehighered.com
Obama Drops Plan to Raise Taxes on 529 Savings Plans
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/01/28/obama-drops-plan-raise-taxes-529-savings-plans
The White House said Tuesday that it was abandoning its proposal to get rid of the tax benefits for 529 college savings plans, according to The New York Times. Conservatives had widely criticized the plan, which would have rolled back a tax exemption for the earnings on money that families invest in 529 plans. But The Times reported that top Democrats in recent days also pressed the White House to drop it.

www.insidehighered.com
The (Out-of-)State University
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/28/study-finds-link-between-cuts-state-budgets-and-out-state-enrollment
By Doug Lederman
It’s well documented that state appropriations for public colleges and universities have flattened or fallen since the early 2000s, especially when viewed against significant increases in enrollments at the institutions over that time. It is similarly understood that enrollments of out-of-state students have burgeoned over that time period. But are the two trends related?
A new study published in the journal Research in Higher Education (abstract available here) asserts that they are. The research, by professors at the University of Arizona and the University of Missouri at Columbia, examines the relationship between funding for higher education in U.S. states and the levels of nonresident enrollment at public institutions between 2002-3 and 2012-13.

www.wsj.com
Number of College Students Pursuing Science, Engineering Stagnates
National Push to Increase Workers’ Skills Has Little Effect
http://www.wsj.com/articles/number-of-college-students-pursuing-science-engineering-stagnates-1422334862
By MELISSA KORN
The number of students completing degrees in science and engineering barely budged over the past decade, despite a national push to increase workers’ skills to boost the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. In 2014, 34% of all bachelor’s degrees were in so-called STEM fields, which cover subjects like biology, chemistry and mathematics, compared with 33% in 2004, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Excluding social science and psychology, those figures were 18% and 17%, respectively.

www.usnews.com
New Caucus Aims to Get More Women, Minorities Into STEM
A bipartisan group of lawmakers have teamed up with tech groups to get more women into STEM fields.
http://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2015/01/27/new-caucus-links-lawmakers-with-startups-for-more-diversity-in-tech?int=a14709
By Gabrielle Levy
Despite significant strides to improve equality in business and education, women and minorities still lag significantly behind their white male colleagues in science, technology, engineering and math fields. Lawmakers and representatives from the technology industry gathered Monday on Capitol Hill to launch a new bipartisan caucus to address those issues head-on, encouraging more women and minorities to get into STEM fields and to promote equal opportunities for them.

www.insidehighered.com
Deep-Pocket Donors
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/28/2014-record-year-higher-ed-donations
By Kaitlin Mulhere
Charitable donations to colleges reached an all-time high of nearly $38 billion last year, according to an annual survey released today by the Council for Aid to Education. Donors increased the amount they gave colleges in 2014 by 10.8 percent, up from $33.8 billion in 2013, which was the previous historic high. Without adjusting for inflation, the growth between 2013 and 2014 was the largest since 2000.

www.insidehighered.com
Test Anxiety
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/28/purdues-president-and-faculty-clash-over-student-learning-assessment
By Colleen Flaherty
All eyes were on Mitch Daniels, former governor of Indiana, when he took on the presidency of Purdue University in 2013. How would the politician adjust to life in academe, and would he push his standardized test agenda for K-12 schools up the ladder, many wondered? But apart from a few scuffles with the faculty — including his abrupt cancellation of the student common reading program, which he attributed to budget cuts — Daniels’s tenure had been relatively quiet. Until now, that is. Two years into the job, Daniels has arrived at a major impasse with Purdue’s faculty: how to prove that students are actually learning something while at the university.

www.insidehighered.com
Deep Cuts in Wisconsin
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/28/wisconsin-looks-cut-higher-ed-300m-tries-give-something-return
By Ry Rivard
Wisconsin universities now face the largest budget cuts in their history, even as colleges in other states crawl out of budget holes. Governor Scott Walker, a possible Republican candidate for president, announced Tuesday a $300 million cut to the 26-campus University of Wisconsin System. The planned cuts will come as a pair of $150 million cuts in each of the next two years. In exchange for taking away so much money, 13 percent of the higher ed budget, Walker said he wants to give state university officials more independence from state lawmakers.

www.diverseeducation.com
Louisiana Governor Considers Cuts to College Fund He Pushed to Create
http://diverseeducation.com/article/69071/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=110ce92f1711405e8e6b72bb0f775baf&elqCampaignId=415
by Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — When it was created last year, a $40 million incentive fund to pay for college programs that fill high-demand jobs in Louisiana was hailed as critical to both higher education and the state’s workforce needs. Now, with the state grappling with deep budget problems, Gov. Bobby Jindal is proposing to strip financing from the fund that only months ago he described as among his top priorities.

www.diverseeducation.com
Lawmaker Wants to Increase State Funding for Tribal Colleges
http://diverseeducation.com/article/69083/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=110ce92f1711405e8e6b72bb0f775baf&elqCampaignId=415
HELENA, Mont. — A Montana lawmaker proposed Monday that tribal colleges receive the same per-student funding that community colleges receive. Rep. Susan Webber of Browning introduced House Bill 196 in the House Education Committee. The Democrat’s measure builds on a 2013 law that temporarily raised the amount of state funding provided to tribal colleges to educate non-Indian students. That aid totals $3,000 per student annually and is half the amount that Montana’s community colleges receive per student. Webber’s proposal would match funding for students at tribal colleges to the average aid provided to community colleges.

www.insidehighered.com
Vanderbilt Football Players Found Guilty of Rape
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/01/28/vanderbilt-football-players-found-guilty-rape
After a three-week trial, a jury has found two former Vanderbilt University football players guilty of the 2013 rape of a female student. Cory Batey and Brandon Vandenburg were accused of filming themselves and other players having sex with the unconscious student in a campus dorm. On Tuesday, they were found guilty on 14 counts of aggravated rape and sexual battery. Vandenburg was also found guilty of tampering with evidence and unlawful photography. The players, who face decades in prison, will be sentenced in March. The verdict was delivered as more than 430 representatives from 76 colleges and universities in Tennessee, including Vanderbilt, gathered at a summit this week focused on preventing campus sexual assault.