University System News
www.insidehighered.com
Appeals Court Denies Rehearing in Georgia State Fair Use Case
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/01/09/appeals-court-denies-rehearing-georgia-state-fair-use-case
A federal appeals court has decided it won’t rehear a case on whether or not Georgia State University’s e-reserves violate publishers’ copyright, setting up the possibility for a Supreme Court showdown over fair use.
www.northwestgeorgianews.com
Georgia Farm Bureau offering scholarships to high school seniors
http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/lifestyles/hometown_headlines/georgia-farm-bureau-offering-scholarships-to-high-school-seniors/article_fa8710e4-96ed-11e4-a921-4b9d82544449.html
From staff reports
Georgia Farm Bureau will award a total of $14,250 in scholarships to 10 high school seniors who plan to pursue a college degree in agriculture, family and consumer sciences or a related field, Leigh Rush, Floyd County Farm Bureau president, announced. The top three students will each receive a scholarship of $3,000. The remaining seven students will each receive a $750 scholarship. Applicants must plan to enter a unit of the University System of Georgia or Berry College during the 2015-2016 academic year to pursue an undergraduate degree in agricultural and environmental sciences, family and consumer sciences or a related agricultural field.
www.onlineathens.com
When UGA shuts down coal boiler, Athens air will be cleaner
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-01-08/when-uga-shuts-down-coal-boiler-athens-air-will-be-cleaner
By LEE SHEARER
The University of Georgia’s coal-fired steam boiler is running full tilt to help keep the campus warm right now, but by the middle of March, it will be shut down for the final time and workers will begin installing a new electric-powered electrode boiler. Once the plant burns the 4,000 tons of coal stockpiled near the plant in the middle of the UGA campus, it will be shut down. “We’re going to burn it all,” David Spradley, UGA’s director of energy services, said of the stockpiled coal. The change will mean more than just a new power source to back up the natural gas that supplies UGA’s other three steam boilers. It’s also going to mean cleaner air for Athens.
www.onlineathens.com
Construction nearing on next downtown student housing development
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-01-08/construction-nearing-next-downtown-student-housing-development
By KELSEY COCHRAN
Athens developer Landmark Properties is in the final stages of preparation before breaking ground on a behemoth mixed-use student apartment complex on the downtown Athens property popularly known as the Armstrong & Dobbs tract.
www.mdjonline.com
KSU sees more reporting of sexual assault: Officials: Victims report less than 1/3 of all sexual assaults
http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_story/26341829/article-KSU-sees-more-reporting-of-sexual-assault–Officials–Victims-report-less-than-1-3-of-all-sexual-assaults
by Hilary Butschek
The number of sexual assaults reported by Kennesaw State University students has increased over the last three years, and university officials say they’re encouraged more students are coming forward. Michael Sanseviro, dean of students, said he doesn’t think more sexual assaults are happening to students, but more victims are reporting the incidents to the school.
www.redandblack.com
Ceiling tiles broken at Morris Hall
http://www.redandblack.com/cops/ceiling-tiles-broken-at-morris-hall/article_4bd29468-9767-11e4-a54d-03c3f2011960.html
Nate Harris
A Morris Hall resident director reported criminal trespassing in the building to the University of Georgia police. According to a police report, the resident director stated that between midnight and 2 a.m. Jan. 6, an unknown person used an unknown object to break two ceiling tiles in the first floor hallway and pulled a smoke detector out of place.
www.redandblack.com
Tripods, camera stolen from Tate Center locker
http://www.redandblack.com/cops/tripods-camera-stolen-from-tate-center-locker/article_98106af8-9767-11e4-a107-c3f848f8cc72.html
Nate Harris
An employee at the University of Georgia reported a burglary at the Tate Student Center to the UGA police. According to the police report, the employee stated that some time between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6, an unknown individual entered room 102 in the building and forced open a locker to remove its contents.
www.mainenewsonline.com
Researchers working to prevent electronic signal leaks from computers
http://www.mainenewsonline.com/content/15012341-researchers-working-prevent-electronic-signal-leaks-computers
Written by Herb Ryder
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are investigating how low-power electronic signals are emitted by computers – even when they are not connected to the Internet – and sensitive data, like encryption keys, is ‘leaked’ to hackers.
www.dailycoffeenews.com
Coffee Shop Hackers Could Be Stealing from Non-Connected Devices, Researchers Say
Coffee Shop Hackers Could Be Stealing from Non-Connected Devices, Researchers Say
With public wifi and high volumes of people clacking away on their laptops, coffee shops are notoriously fertile ground for hackers. Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology working to make that ground more secure have released some troubling new discoveries based on the idea that hackers can still access a plethora of a coffee shop visitor’s personal information even when that person’s computers or smart phones are not connected to the public wifi.
www.healthcanal.com
Treatment for parasitic worms helps animals survive infectious diseases–and spread them
http://www.healthcanal.com/infections/58953-treatment-for-parasitic-worms-helps-animals-survive-infectious-diseases-and-spread-them.html
Parasitic worms, which infect millions of people and other animals around the world, influence how the immune system responds to diseases like HIV and tuberculosis. In a new study of African buffalo, University of Georgia (UGA) ecologist Vanessa Ezenwa has found that de-worming drastically improves an animal’s chances of surviving bovine tuberculosis–but with the consequence of increasing the spread of TB in the population. “Health interventions can sometimes have unexpected and unwelcome outcomes,” said Sam Scheiner, National Science Foundation (NSF) director for the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program, which funded the research. NSF, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture support the EEID program. “By examining such outcomes, we can design better intervention strategies for infectious diseases.” The findings, published this week in the journal Science, have implications for human health. “If you think about humans in this context, this is what we’d like to do–to figure out how to help people who get infected by something live longer and be less sick,” Ezenwa said. “But here we found that doing exactly that can have unanticipated consequences.”
www.savannahnow.com
GSU online Sports Management degree Ranked No. 6 by Top Management Degrees
http://savannahnow.com/your-good-news/2015-01-07/gsu-online-sports-management-degree-ranked-no-6-top-management-degrees
By Savannah Morning News
Georgia Southern University’s online master’s degree in Sports Management was recently ranked number six by the website TopManagementDegrees.com. According to Top Management Degrees, the ranking was designed to help prospective students make a smart choice about where to invest their time and money while earning their degree, and to connect students to high quality educational opportunities.
www.usnews.com
10 Cheapest Online Bachelor’s Programs for Out-of-State Students
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2015/01/08/10-cheapest-online-bachelors-programs-for-out-of-state-students
For these public online bachelor’s programs, the total cost is less than $28,000 for out-of-state students.
By Devon Haynie
The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. …Below are the 10 least expensive public online bachelor’s programs for out-of-state students based on per-credit costs and the number of required credits. The total program cost doesn’t take into account any scholarships or other forms of student aid, nor does it include any of the extra fees that schools may charge. …Georgia Southern University; Georgia College & State University
www.cbs46.com
UGA library puts videotaped Nixon interviews online
http://www.cbs46.com/story/27799320/uga-library-puts-videotaped-nixon-interviews-online
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – The University of Georgia libraries have improved access to more than 30 hours of videotaped interviews with former President Richard Nixon. The university says the videotapes had been largely unseen outside of the group that produced them in 1983.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions:
www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/01/08/obama-free-community-college-for-responsible-students/
Obama: Free community college for “responsible students”
The White House released ambitious news today: President Obama wants to provide two years of free community college to students on a path to a degree. Obama has focused a lot of attention on college access and affordability. This new plan speaks to both. While the federal government would shoulder three-quarters of the average cost of community college, states would have to agree to kick in the remaining funds required to eliminate all tuition.
www.insidehighered.com
Have MOOCs Helped or Hurt?
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/01/09/essay-ways-moocs-helped-and-hurt-debates-about-future-higher-education
By Randy Best
As the hype around MOOCs has subsided, a frequently asked question in university circles today is: Who have massive open online courses helped or hurt? Providing free and open access to content from revered institutions is laudable. But enrollments at elite colleges’ MOOCs do not translate into revenue at the vast majority of colleges and universities, many of them already cash-strapped. And learning that fails to deliver credit that leads to a credential may not yield much for students, even if they enjoy the courses. MOOCs may have been more faddish than altruistic. For MOOCs to be important long term, they must be more than a curiosity.
Education:
www.myajc.com
Georgia earns C on higher education report card
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-earns-c-on-higher-education-report-card/njjjS/
By Janel Davis – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State funding of Georgia’s public colleges is better than many states’, but recent budget cuts have forced schools to raise tuition and students to take on more of the cost, according to a new report card on education released this week. …Georgia’s average tuition of $7,823 was lower than the national average, but has increased 67 percent since the recession, according to the report, earning the state an F for its tuition costs. The state also received failing grades in per-student spending and burden on families. Georgia received high marks for prioritizing education and in state aid to students, particularly for the popular HOPE scholarship program.
www.chronicle.com
Behind the Statistics on Campus Rape
Research is more nuanced than easy numbers imply
http://chronicle.com/article/Behind-the-Statistics-on/151089/
By Marc Parry
When journalists and politicians talk about campus rape—as they have frequently over the past several months—they tend to pluck numbers out of context. Studies done on one or two campuses are said to represent the country. Estimates become facts. The reality is that measuring sexual violence remains a challenge.
www.nytimes.com
Obama Plan Would Help Many Go to Community College Free
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and TAMAR LEWIN
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Thursday that he would propose a government program to make community college tuition-free for millions of students, an ambitious plan that would expand educational opportunities across the United States. The initiative, which the president plans to officially announce Friday at a Tennessee community college, aims to transform publicly financed higher education in an effort to address growing income inequality.
www.washingtonpost.com
Brainstormers: Obama’s big research push kicks off with a meeting of the minds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obama-research-initiative-seeks-to-create-new-tools-to-understand-the-human-brain/2015/01/02/dce17f02-7bb8-11e4-9a27-6fdbc612bff8_story.html
By Amy Ellis Nutt
The motley group included men and women, old and young, in sweatshirts and three-piece suits, shod in socks and sandals, wingtips and heels. They were a kind of neuroscience dream team, more than 100 scientists gathered in a Bethesda, Md., hotel not to talk about their latest breakthroughs — there weren’t any yet — but to meet and get to know one another.
Eighteen months after President Obama launched an ambitious brain-research initiative, likened by some to the moonshot of the 1960s, federal officials are trying to create a new model for neuroscience research, one that emphasizes innovation and cooperation across specialties and institutions. To do that, they threw a two-day “kickoff” for scientists fortunate enough to have received the first funding slices of what probably will be a multibillion-dollar federal pie.