E-clips for February 19, 2015
Public Relations Admin Comm
on behalf of
USG Communications
Thu 2/19/2015 4:28 PM
To:
Public Relations Admin Comm ;
USG Institutions:
www.onlineathens.com
UGA eases free speech rules, but maybe not enough to end lawsuit
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2015-02-18/uga-eases-free-speech-rules-maybe-not-enough-end-lawsuit
By LEE SHEARER
Protestors and speakers on the University of Georgia campus will no longer be restricted to so-called “Free Expression Areas” under a new policy. Groups can also hand out literature in public places on campus, not just specific zones. The change comes as the university moves to settle a federal lawsuit over the issue brought last year by the UGA chapter of a student group called Young Americans for Liberty and two of its UGA student members, Audrey Brasuell and Cecilia Kuehnel.
www.onlineathens.com
Did irresponsible social media posts feed meningitis scare?
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-02-18/social-media-irresponsible-reporting-fed-meningitis-scare-uga-president
By LEE SHEARER
The president of the University of Georgia on Wednesday blamed misinformed commenters on social media and irresponsible reporting for spreading false rumors that a UGA student died this week from bacterial meningitis. UGA President Jere Morehead said the comments and reports spread unwarranted fear across the campus. “The rumor mill that has blown up around her passing is unfortunate and is feeding speculation that simply is not true,” he said.
www.wctv.tv
Tallahassee Community College Graduates Now Eligible For In-State Tuition At VSU
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/–292293391.html
Winnie Wright
Valdosta, GA – As of Monday, students at Tallahasee Community College who meet academic requirements will now receive the opportunity to further their education at Valdosta State University with in-state tuition.On Monday, TCC’s President Dr. Jim Murdaugh met with VSU’s President William McKinney to sign the agreement. The cost of in-state tuition at VSU is roughly 3,500 dollars a semester. In 2012, institutions in both the Technical College System of Georgia and the University System of Georgia submitted plans to achieve the goal of adding more than 250,000 post secondary graduates to Georgia’s workforce by 2020.
www.mhealthnews.com
Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth expands telemedicine to first college campus in Georgia
http://www.mhealthnews.com/press-release/georgia-partnership-telehealth-expands-telemedicine-first-college-campus-georgia
mHealth News Staff
Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth (GPT), a charitable nonprofit promoting the establishment of telemedicine programs in communities throughout Georgia, announces its newest partner, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), a State College of the University System of Georgia located in Tifton. ABAC will be the first college campus in Georgia to house a telemedicine clinic in addition to their existing campus health clinics and further strengthens GPT’s telemedicine network within the state. Tift Regional Hospital is also very invested in the program as the ABAC’s primary partner. Tift Regional and ABAC recognized the importance of telemedicine for ABAC’s students as well as ABAC’s School of Nursing & Health Sciences nursing program curriculum.
www.sustainablebrands,com
Georgia Tech Commits to Ambitious Sustainable Community Engagement Initiative
http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/collaboration/bart_king/georgia_tech_commits_ambitious_sustainable_community_engageme
by Bart King
Within a few years, every undergrad at the Georgia Institute of Technology could understand what it means to create sustainable communities. That’s the goal of a new institute-wide initiative called Serve•Learn•Sustain. Earlier this year Georgia Tech adopted the Serve•Learn•Sustain Quality Enhancement Plan focused on “creating sustainable communities” and emphasizing community engagement and service learning as its central pedagogical approach … I spoke with them and Professor Matthew Realff, QEP Liaison for the College of Engineering, to find out how the Serve•Learn•Sustain Plan will transform education at Georgia Tech and how industry will be involved.
www.wtoc.com
Albany State raises awareness of campus gang activity
http://www.wtoc.com/story/28142783/albany-state-raises-awareness-of-campus-gang-activity
By Jim Wallace
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – Albany State University Police gave faculty and staff information on how to spot gang activity on campus on Wednesday. For the second year in a row, officers hosted a seminar, teaching instructors how to identify gang members and activities that could lead to violence or crimes. Police say gang members are becoming more open on many college campuses, and it’s important for the university community to know what to look out for.
www.georgiatrend.com
POLITICAL NOTES: FEBRUARY 2015
http://www.georgiatrend.com/February-2015/Political-Notes-February-2015/
Susan Percy
…And Another Consolidation: The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) has voted to consolidate two more schools: Georgia State University (GSU) and Georgia Perimeter College. GSU President Mark Becker will head the school, which will retain the Georgia State University name. This is the sixth consolidation since Chancellor Hank Huckaby took office in 2011. He called Georgia State “a recognized national leader in improving student retention and graduation rates,” and said “combining these attributes with Georgia Perimeter College’s leadership in providing access to students across the metro area presents a major opportunity to improve student success.” …At its meeting last month, the Board of Regents also finalized the consolidation of Kennesaw State University and Southern Polytechnic State University under the leadership of longtime Kennesaw State President Dr. Dan Papp.
www.blog.epa.gov
Building Partnerships Between Colleges and Underserved Communities
http://blog.epa.gov/ej/2015/02/building-partnerships-between-colleges-and-underserved-communities/
By Michael Burns
…Many small, underserved communities, like Hayneville, are in need of resources to improve their environment and quality of life. However, they often lack the technical expertise in engineering, transportation, and infrastructure planning to pursue initiatives in a progressive and sustainable manner. Eighteen months later, I was talking to folks from EPA Region 4 about this idea of connecting underserved communities with the talents of college students and faculty. They asked if I would be willing to collaborate with EPA. I agreed, and began to reach out to colleges and universities. …Our biggest advance came when Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, a small college in Tifton, Georgia, agreed to provide economic development plans for two small cities in Georgia with no financial support from the federal government. The College understood the value of giving its students such a rich experiential learning opportunity in which they could take what they learned in the classroom, apply it to real world problems, and come up with real-world solutions. …The briefing the school gave the communities about concepts and plans for economic development was fantastic! It has offered to help these communities develop grant proposals to move forward, and get the resources they need for improvements.
www.money.cnn.com
Amazon isn’t happy with FAA’s proposed drone rules
http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/16/technology/faa-drone-rules-amazon/index.html
The government’s new drone proposal would open the skies to a whole list of new uses — but not Amazon deliveries. Amazon’s plans for a drone-based half-hour delivery service known as Prime Air would remain grounded under the rules the Federal Aviation Administration proposed Sunday … Current FAA rules bar commercial drone flights, although about two dozen exemptions have been approved. CNN is among those pursuing news uses for drones though a partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology.
www.bizjournals.com
Pindrop Security raises $35M, plans to add 100 jobs
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/atlantech/2015/02/atlanta-startup-pindrop-security-raises-30m-plans.html
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
Pindrop Security recently raised more than $30 million in venture capital as it gears up for global expansion, Atlanta Business Chronicle has learned. The Atlanta startup, backed by Citi Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, has developed phone fraud-busting technology to address a multi-billion dollar problem … Pindrop technology was developed at the Georgia Tech Information Security Center. The company was founded by CEO Vijay Balasubramaniyan and is backed by serial cybersecurity entrepreneur and investor Paul Judge.
www.newswise.com
Georgia State University Receives $2.7 Million Federal Grant to Improve Blood Transfusion Outcomes
http://newswise.com/articles/georgia-state-university-receives-2-7-million-federal-grant-to-improve-blood-transfusion-outcomes?ret=/articles/list&category=science&page=1&search%5Bstatus%5D=3&search%5Bsort%5D=date+desc&search%5Bsection%5D=20&search%5Bhas_multimedia%5D=
Newswise — The Georgia Health Policy Center (GHPC) at Georgia State University has received a five-year, $2,669,903 award from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that will allow the GHPC and partnering organizations to look at transfusion-related complications in patients with hemoglobin disorders (sickle cell disease and thalassemia) and improve their outcomes.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
MCG students, faculty at Capitol
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/government/2015-02-17/mcg-student-faculty-capitol
By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
ATLANTA — Administrators, faculty and more than 30 students from the Medical College of Georgia’s campuses around the state spent the day Tuesday rubbing elbows with legislators. The students had to compete to be selected to attend, including submitting an essay. MCG is part of Georgia Regents University, based in Augusta, with campuses in Athens, Rome, Savannah and Albany. …Although a snow storm prevented the trip last year, and this year’s weather was also threatening, the annual event is worthwhile, according to Dr. Peter Buckley, MCG’s dean. It’s a way to remind state officials that one of every five physicians in the state is an MCG graduate. It’s also educational for the students.
www.savannahnow.com
GSU celebrates Day at the Capitol
http://savannahnow.com/your-good-news/2015-02-18/gsu-celebrates-day-capitol
By Savannah Morning News
Georgia Southern University hosted its second annual “Day at the Capitol” event on Feb. 3 in Atlanta. Representatives from the University’s academic, research and athletics divisions, and from student organizations were on hand to speak to state lawmakers and showcase the many programs, initiatives and achievements happening at the University. …The University also provided updates on its Military Science programs, its groundbreaking concussion research, FabLab construction, STEM activities and the new Manufacturing Engineering program in the College of Engineering and Information Technology.
Higher Education:
www.ajc.com
State school board considers new math curriculum
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/state-school-board-considers-new-math-curriculum/nkDRd/
Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Board of Education will decide Thursday whether to approve high school math curriculum changes that would allow schools to deviate from the current “integrated” method of teaching algebra and geometry.
www.myajc.com
Bill formalizing academic credit for military members passes Senate
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/bill-formalizing-academic-credit-for-military-memb/nkC43/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstubtomyajcpremium#bcc68071.3458083.735647
By Janel Davis – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Senate unanimously approved legislation Tuesday formalizing policies allowing service members to receive college credit for their prior military experience when attending Georgia’s technical colleges. The technical college system already grants this type of credit, but Senate Bill 18 makes the policy official, said bill sponsor Sen. Ed Harbison, who called the bill a “big welcome home” for service members. …Georgia is home to about 776,00 veterans and 100,000 active-duty military personnel, including guardsmen and reservists, and ranks fifth in the nation for states with the most active-duty service members, according to information from the state department of veterans services and the military affairs division of the University System of Georgia.
www.diverseeducation.com
Report: U.S. Millennials Not Measuring Up vs. International Peers
http://diverseeducation.com/article/69880/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=3caf8ced1d784d03a92e79af226af98a&elqCampaignId=415
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
Calling the situation a “clear cause for concern,” ETS on Tuesday released a new report that shows the skills of America’s so-called “millennials” are “comparatively weak” in relation to their international peers. And it’s not just because of disparate skill levels among different segments of the U.S. population — as bad as that would be if that were the only reason. Rather, the report notes that even the top-scoring and “most-educated” U.S. millennials are trailing behind similarly situated millennials in most other participating Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, nations when it comes to skills in the realms of literacy, numeracy and problem-solving in “technology-rich environments.”
www.vox.com
Discrimination against women is a real problem in college admissions
http://www.vox.com/2015/2/17/8050259/discrimination-against-women-is-a-real-problem-in-college-admissions
Updated by Libby Nelson
Two generations ago, women were in the minority in higher education. Now they’re dominating it. In 1960, women earned 35 percent of all bachelor’s degrees. They crossed the 50 percent mark in the late 1970s and just kept going. Women now make up 59 percent of all college students. In 2011, they earned 62 percent of all associate degrees, 57 percent of all bachelor’s degrees, and 60 percent of all master’s degrees. They now even earn the majority of doctorates — the last bastion of male domination in higher education. Women are so dominant, in fact, that some colleges — particularly private colleges — overtly or covertly give men a boost in the admissions process. If you’re hoping to be admitted to a prestigious private college that doesn’t specialize in engineering, it helps to be male.
— Office of Communications Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia 270 Washington Street, SW Atlanta, GA 30334 Tel: (404) 962-3050 Fax: (404) 962-3045 communications[/owa/communications@usg.edu/medpub@usg.edu]@usg.edu “Creating A More Educated Georgia”