University System News
www.aikenstandard.com
Georgia Regents, University consider collaboration
http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20150129/AIK0101/150129243/1002/AIK01/georgia-regents-university-consider-collaboration
Staff reports
Georgia Regents Health Sys­tem and University Hospital have begun talks on a potential partnership, citing drastic change in the U.S. health care industry, but it is not known yet how or if the collaboration will affect Aiken Regional Medical Centers. A release from Dr. Peter Buckley, the interim CEO of Georgia Regents Medical Center, said in a release that “declining reimbursements and new quality standards ushered in by the Affordable Care Act are only two of many factors exerting pressure on the industry to respond.” …The University System of Georgia Board of Regents recently contacted University Hospital to begin exploring “strategic opportunities to partner with our health system to more effectively serve the health care needs of our region and state,” the release said. Scott Asnede, University’s vice president of professional and support services, confirmed Thursday that University is in talks with the board of regents, but he said those talks are in the early stages. “University Health Care System is in the very early stages of discussions with representatives from the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. There really is nothing more to share at this time,” he said.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions:
www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
New Georgia school chief visits two ‘failing’ schools and finds state grades don’t tell full story.
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/01/30/new-georgia-school-chief-visits-two-failing-schools-state-grades-dont-tell-the-full-story/
Interesting column by the new Georgia state school superintendent on his visit to two Athens-area schools with low accountability scores. I have had the same experience Richard Woods describes — visiting a school labeled failing and finding a building full of hardworking educators and attentive students. A few weeks ago, I was at one of the two schools Woods visited — Cedar Shoals High School — for an academic bowl tournament and was impressed with students I met and the facilities. It is not always clear why a school struggles.

www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Georgia picks fight with College Board over AP history. Guess who loses again? Our children.
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/01/30/georgia-picks-fight-with-college-board-over-ap-history-guess-who-loses-again-our-children/
Both my twins are in AP U.S. History this year, and I’m impressed with the depth of the course. They are learning far more about American history than I ever did. They are being taught more than dates and names. Their assignments require they look beyond what happened to why, how and the long-term consequences. The goal of the class is understanding our history, the good, the bad and the ugly — and America has it all. But a resolution in the state Senate – sponsored by the same coastal lawmaker who attempted last year to not only rid Georgia of Common Core, but of any test or class that reflected a national effort – calls for AP U.S. History to be outlawed if the College Board does not present a more sanitized view of American history.

www.georgiatrend.com
ECONOMY: “A” GRADES ALL AROUND
Jeffrey Humphreys
http://www.georgiatrend.com/February-2015/Economy-A-Grades-All-Around/
It’s a new year, and things are looking up for Georgia’s A-Team: Atlanta, Albany, Athens and Augusta. A revival of population growth and the housing recovery will strongly underpin Atlanta’s ongoing economic recovery. A high concentration of college-educated workers will continue to attract high-tech companies in life sciences, research and development, IT, professional and business services, and advanced manufacturing. The healthcare IT and mobile apps segments are also growing rapidly. …In 2015, employment in Athens will increase by 1.9 percent – about 1,700 jobs, which exceeds the gains estimated for 2014. Athens’ outsized healthcare sector is poised for growth, expanding the city’s role as a medical service center for northeast Georgia. The establishment of a medical school at UGA in partnership with Georgia Regents University will encourage further development of the clinical healthcare and biomedical industries. UGA’s three-year-old College of Engineering continues to enhance entrepreneurial development and recruit high-tech companies and venture capital. …Augusta is a center for telecommunications services and call centers, and the Georgia Medical Authority will use the expertise at Georgia Regents University to establish Augusta as a center for the rapidly growing life sciences industry.

www.nfib.com
COLUMN: HIRING TREND IN GEORGIA? MAYBE

Article

By KYLE JACKSON
It’s definitely possible that small businesses will start hiring again in 2015, unless something happens and they don’t. I’m being serious.Small-business owners are inherently skittish. You would be, too, if your life’s savings and your retirement fund depended on the success of a single furniture store or coffee shop. One minute, things are looking up, but if someone in the General Assembly starts talking about a tax increase, or the Environmental Protection Agency threatens to regulate the drainage ditch behind your store, you’re not going to spend a dime unless you absolutely have to. …NFIB doesn’t drill down to the state and local levels, but economists with the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business recently predicted that statewide employment growth would increase by 2.3 percent in 2015, continuing a trend that began in 2011. If that’s the case, we’ll be doing better than the country as a whole. Overall, job growth in the United States is forecast at 1.8 percent. According to the University of Georgia economists, our biggest job gains will come from the construction industry, professional and business services and mining and logging.

www.insidehighered.com
Time and Money
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/01/30/essay-continuing-importance-carnegie-unit-academic-credit
By Johann Neem
It may make sense to move beyond the Carnegie unit, but where should we go? This is the question at the heart of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s new report, The Carnegie Unit, on which Inside Higher Ed reported this week. A primary critique of the Carnegie unit, or credit hour, is that it measures “seat time” but not the quality of learning. The first thing to remember, the report usefully reminds us, is that the credit hour did not evolve to evaluate student learning or quality teaching.

www.diverseeducation.com
A Fool-proof Guide to Accreditation
http://diverseeducation.com/article/69167/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=fcf41016ca124147a62d53af89929eb2&elqCampaignId=415
by Linda Suskie
Over the last decade I’ve helped hundreds of colleges and universities across the United States prepare for accreditation reviews. I recently summarized much of what I’ve learned through my work in a new book, “Five Dimensions of Quality: A Common Sense Guide to Accreditation and Accountability.” Let me share with you some of the many ways that colleges and universities can annoy their accreditor and thereby make the accreditation process a lot harder than it needs to be.

USG Institutions:
www.jbhe.com
Savannah State University to Offer Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Organizations

Savannah State University to Offer Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Organizations

Savannah State University, the historically Black educational institution in Georgia, has announced a new graduate certificate program in nonprofit organizations and leadership. The 12-credit program is designed for students who have obtained a bachelor’s degree but want to take master’s degree level courses in nonprofit management.

www.redandblack.com
Undocumented students feel discriminated by ban
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/undocumented-students-feel-discriminated-by-ban/article_6ec11b52-a75c-11e4-b399-87869d809fd8.html
Lindsey Conway
While attending the University of Georgia is a dream for Valentina Emilia Garcia, due to policies put in place by the University Systems of Georgia Board of Regents, she will never have the chance. On Jan. 9, a group gathered inside Moore College to protest Policy 4.1.6, which prevents them from attending the top five universities in the state — UGA, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Georgia College and State University and the Georgia Health Sciences University — and Policy 4.3.4, which prohibits them from receiving in-state tuition. … Laura Emiko Soltis, faculty member and teacher at Freedom University, which educates those who are not eligible to attend the top Georgia schools, said the issue first began in 2010 when Kennesaw State University student Jessica Colotl was arrested for a minor traffic violation. Colotl, a native Mexican, was taken to a deportation center following her arrest and proceedings were started to get her deported, although she was eventually released. “This was really the catalyst to the legislature and the Georgia Board of Regents to ignite their fears that undocumented students were inundating or taking over our public institutions,” Soltis said. “As a response to that, this is when they started drafting these different laws and policies.” The issues presented by the BOR for implementing these policies against do not have solid evidence holding them up, Soltis said.

www.ajc.com
TB case reported at Kennesaw State University
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/tb-case-reported-at-kennesaw-state-university/njzwf/
Janel Davis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Faculty, staff and students at Kennesaw State University will be tested for tuberculosis after a person at the college tested positive for the disease, university officials said Friday. KSU officials have notified the entire campus of the case, and sent an additional notification to about 200 people who had frequent contact with the infected person, campus spokeswoman Tammy DeMel said in a statement. Those 200 people have been strongly encouraged to take a TB skin test, either on campus or from their own physician.

www.eurekalert.org
Physicians explore why children with sickle cell disease are experiencing mixed results on hydroxyur
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA AT GEORGIA REGENTS UNIVERSITY
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-01/mcog-pew012915.php
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Electronic medication monitoring caps may help physicians put together the puzzle of why children taking a medicine that promises to curb sickle cell disease are showing mixed, confusing results. Clinical studies indicate that children who take hydroxyurea, the only Food and Drug Administration approved drug for their condition, will have fewer pain crises, hospitalizations, and other related problems, said Dr. Cindy Neunert, pediatric hematologist/oncologist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. …Neunert is Principal Investigator on a new study, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, seeking to put the pieces together by establishing a method to accurately monitor medication use, examining medical and social barriers to its use, and exploring genetic differences between patients who do and don’t respond.

www.spectrum.ieee.org
Skin-Based Generators Scavenge Muscle Motion to Power Wearables
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/devices/skinbased-generators-scavenge-muscle-motion-to-power-wearables
By Prachi Patel
Using human skin as one of its charge-collectors, a new flexible generator converts muscle movements into enough power for small electronics. The postage-stamp-sized device takes advantage of static electricity to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Such friction-powered generators could usher new types of wearable sensors that don’t require batteries but instead are powered by the wearer’s daily activities like walking, talking or holding an object… Researchers have been trying for many years to make nanogenerators that scavenge body movements to power medical implants and other electronics. Georgia Tech investigators have used piezoelectric materials that generate electrical energy under mechanical stress. But in 2012 they reported a new kind of generator based on static electricity, the mechanism that makes your hair stand on end when you rub a balloon against it. They recently tapped the effect to make a slinky-like generator.

www.jdsupra.com
CNN And FAA Partner To Test Drones For Reporting
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/cnn-and-faa-partner-to-test-drones-for-r-27411/
byKing & Spalding
The basis for the partnership between the FAA and CNN is CNN’s ongoing research collaboration with Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech”), which started in the summer of 2014. CNN and Georgia Tech entered into the collaboration to “better understand the opportunities [UAVs] present for media organizations, and to explore the access and safety issues that need to be addressed as part of any new regulatory framework.” See Bridget Leininger, CNN, Georgia Tech To Launch First Ever Initiative To Explore Media’s UAV Use In U.S. Airspace. The FAA plans on using the information created under the CNN-Georgia Tech collaboration to develop a framework for various types of UAVs to be safely integrated into newsgathering operations.

www.bizjournals.com
Reed: Atlanta is the dominant economy in the Southeast
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2015/01/30/reed-atlanta-is-the-dominant-economy-in-the.html
Maria Saporta and Amy Wenk
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta is securing its spot as the “dominant player in the Southeast” — a position that Mayor Kasim Reed intends to solidify during his last three years in office. This will be the theme of Reed’s “State of the City” breakfast speech, set for Feb. 4. During an hour-long editorial board meeting with Atlanta Business Chronicle on Jan. 27, the mayor unveiled several details about a number of current issues and developments impacting the city, including: …The theme that tied all the topics together was Reed’s desire to make Atlanta the unquestioned economic center for the Southeast. “All of this really is a message to the world, that if it’s the South, it’s us,” Reed said. “That really does have to be the message about Atlanta for us to compete the way I want us to compete.” Reed said that compared to 2009, when he first took office, people are no longer comparing Atlanta to Charlotte, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn. “We have the fundamentals that can’t be replicated,” Reed said. “So you can’t create another Georgia Tech. You can’t create another Emory. And those two universities are in the top 100 universities in the world. You also can’t create another Atlanta University Center, which gives you a black population that’s as well educated as any black population in the United States.”

www.bizjournals.com
Gwinnett loses two big headquarters in two weeks
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2015/01/30/gwinnett-loses-two-big-headquarters-in-two-weeks.html
Douglas Sams
Commercial Real Estate Editor- Atlanta Business Chronicle
In the booming suburban expansion of the 1980s and 1990s, two water towers along Interstate 85 proclaimed “Gwinnett is Great” and “Success lives here.” But for metro Atlanta’s largest suburban county, January was a painful reminder that Gwinnett’s success isn’t what it used to be. First, on Jan. 13, six years after Gwinnett landed its headquarters, NCR Corp. announced it will relocate to a new Midtown campus to be built over the next three years. Then on Jan. 26, one of Gwinnett’s long-time corporate giants, Norcross-based box-maker Rock-Tenn Co., announced it will merge with MeadWestvaco Corp. The combined company’s executive offices will be based in Richmond, Va. …”Companies excel in suburban environments, as evidenced by the thousands of employees driving every day to suburban office buildings,” said Ken Ashley of commercial real estate services giant Cushman & Wakefield. …”But, certain companies are looking for the modern-day corporate gold, that highly skilled tech talent. And in order to strike it rich some companies have adopted the strategy of moving closer to the source of that talent — our colleges and universities, notably Georgia Tech.”

www.georgatrend.com
DODGE COUNTY: TOWARD A COMMON GOAL
http://www.georgiatrend.com/February-2015/Dodge-County-Toward-A-Common-Goal/
David Shivers
…The community’s prevailing economic vision – growing the aerospace industry – remains literally up in the air. Aerospace, which is soaring across the state, has a firm hold in this county of rolling hills and woodlands about 60 miles southeast of Macon. A trio of companies adjacent to Eastman’s Heart of Georgia Regional Airport – Heart of Georgia Metal Crafters, parts fabricators; Dynamic Paint Solutions, aerospace and industrial metal finishers; and the new Aremac Heat Treating plant – form what is described as “one-stop shopping” for aircraft parts that is unique in the Southeast, perhaps even the country. …“With those three companies and their ability to mesh together to provide support for some of the Tier One suppliers to Boeing or Airbus [or Gulfstream in Savannah], we’re going to pretty much do what it takes to get someone of that caliber here,” says Dodge County-Eastman Development Authority Chairman Butch Kirkley. Aremac’s original site is in California, and the Eastman plant will be their East Coast location. The presence of Heart of Georgia Metal Crafters and Dynamic Paint Solutions was a key factor in the decision to locate in Dodge County. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the adjacent Heart of Georgia Regional Airport is also home to Middle Georgia State College’s (MGSC) nationally recognized School of Aviation.

www.chronicle.augusta.com
Augusta man acquitted of most serious charges in GRU police shooting case
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2015-01-29/augusta-man-acquitted-most-serious-charges-gru-police-shooting-case
By Sandy Hodson
Staff Writer
A few hours later, the Richmond County Superior Court jury acquitted James of the two most serious charges he faced – aggravated assault on a police officer and theft. Keith James was the one who needed protection the night Georgia Regents University Police Officer Wesley Martin stopped him, his attorney argued to the jury in closing Thursday. But James could still face time in prison or jail depending on the outcome of his sentencing hearing this morning. He will be sentenced on the charges the jury convicted him of – fleeing or eluding a police officer, driving without a license, reckless driving and driving too fast for conditions.

Higher Education:
www.insidehighered.com
U. of Wisconsin Leader Defends Faculty from Governor
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/01/30/u-wisconsin-leader-defends-faculty-governor
The head of the University of Wisconsin System defended faculty from state Governor Scott Walker’s suggestion that professors should teach more classes to save money as part of a Walker-backed $300 million budget cut. Faculty are like state lawmakers, system President Ray Cross said in a radio interview, “if all we think they do is what we see them do when both chambers are in session. They only work a few months at best a year. That’s not any different than faculty. Faculty on average are working 50 to 60 hours a week.”

www.chronicle.com
The Anatomy of an Academic Program Cut
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Anatomy-of-an-Academic/151477/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Madeline Will
You’re the leader of a public university that has been slammed with state budget cuts, and you’ve decided the only way forward is to eliminate some academic offerings. Now comes a difficult question: Which programs stay and which go? It’s an increasingly common debate, especially at cash-strapped public regional institutions, where troubles caused by shrinking budgets are often compounded by shrinking enrollments.

www.diverseeducation.com
Dartmouth President Announces Safety, Inclusion Plans
http://diverseeducation.com/article/69170/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=fcf41016ca124147a62d53af89929eb2&elqCampaignId=415
by Holly Ramer, Associated Press
HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth College students are prohibited from drinking hard alcohol on campus and required to learn about sexual violence prevention each year under reforms announced Thursday by the school’s president. President Philip Hanlon, who has led the Ivy League school since mid-2013, created a “Moving Dartmouth Forward” steering committee last April to study problems he said were “hijacking” its promise: high-risk drinking, sexual assault and a lack of inclusion. The plan he outlined Thursday includes banning hard alcohol for students on campus; implementing a mandatory, four-year sexual violence prevention program; ending pledge or probationary periods for all student groups; and creating new residential communities.

www.insidehighered.com
Counting Students Equally?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/30/ed-dept-ratings-framework-ignites-new-questions-over-adjusting-student-outcomes
By Michael Stratford
A core premise of the Obama administration’s college ratings plan — and one that makes it controversial — is that colleges and universities need to be held more accountable for student outcomes. College presidents have repeatedly argued that those outcomes, like completion rates and graduates’ earnings, are largely a reflection of the student population they serve, and therefore not necessarily a good benchmark of their institution’s success. A ratings system, they warn, could discourage colleges from recruiting students they’re not confident will graduate.

www.chronicle.com
Federal Agency Asks Banks for Straight Talk on Help for Student-Loan Borrowers
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/federal-agency-asks-banks-for-straight-talk/93037?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
by Kelly Field
Federal regulators are keeping up the pressure on banks to do more to help struggling student-loan borrowers.

www.jbhe.com
Nearly 6 Million Living African Americans Hold a Four-Year College Degree

Nearly 6 Million Living African Americans Hold a Four-Year College Degree

The U.S. Bureau of the Census has just released its annual data on Educational Attainment in the United States. The report shows that in 2014, nearly 6 million living African Americans now hold at least a four-year college degree. The data shows that in 2014, of the 24,864,000 living African Americans 25 years or older, 22.2 percent had obtained at least a bachelor’s degree. Another 10.3 percent of the adult Black population had earned a two-year associate’s degree but no higher degree.

www.jbhe.com
How the University of Maryland Has Boosted Black Male Retention and Graduation Rates

How the University of Maryland Has Boosted Black Male Retention and Graduation Rates

In recent years, the University of Maryland at College Park has shown significant gains in its Black student graduation rate. The overall improvement has been led by an increase in the graduation rate for Black men, which has improved from 65.0 percent to 72.4 percent over the past four years. The university attributes this improvement to its Student Success Initiative, which is geared to closing the academic achievement gap for students from at-risk groups including Blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities.

www.diverseeducation.com
Appeals Court: Case Western Can Deny Student’s Medical Degree
http://diverseeducation.com/article/69177/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=fcf41016ca124147a62d53af89929eb2&elqCampaignId=415
by Associated Press
CINCINNATI — A federal appeals court has ruled that a university in Cleveland can deny a medical degree to a student if the school decides the student lacks professionalism. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling that ordered Case Western Reserve University to give Amir Al-Dabagh a degree. The school had argued he lacked the professionalism to responsibly carry out his duties. The appeals panel in Cincinnati concluded Case Western was within its rights to make an academic judgment about a student and deny the degree.

www.savannahnow.com
Top US colleges push for more diverse students from China
http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2015-01-29/top-us-colleges-push-more-diverse-students-china
By MICHAEL MELIA | Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — …Top U.S. universities that worked to overcome reputations for serving only children of the American elite are now pushing to do the same with their international students. With more undergraduates coming from overseas than ever, Yale, Harvard and other schools — with help from the U.S. State Department — are trying to attract students of more varied financial backgrounds. …Two Chinese real estate moguls, Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, are prodding American universities to do more by giving them money to support low-income students from China. Through their SOHO China Foundation, they so far have awarded $15 million to Harvard and $10 million to Yale.

www.diverseeducation.com
American Colleges Expanding Campuses to Africa
http://diverseeducation.com/article/69164/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=fcf41016ca124147a62d53af89929eb2&elqCampaignId=415
by Lekan Oguntoyinbo
In fall 2012, Carnegie Mellon University established a new campus that offers a graduate degree in information technology and a joint degree in computer science and electrical engineering in Kigali, Rwanda. ­The highly ranked Pittsburgh school may be the first major U.S. research institution to set up a degree-granting campus in Africa. The university says on its website that its master’s degree in information technology will provide students with skills that focus on “practical applications in areas such as cyber security, mobile applications, wireless networking and strategic business planning.” It says students also will get the opportunity to do practicums and internships with multinational companies like IBM, Microsoft and Visa.

www.chronicle.com
Colleges Raised a Record $1.26-Billion for Sports in 2014
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Raised-a-Record/151543/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Brad Wolverton and Sandhya Kambhampati
Wealthy donors are fueling a boom in gifts to major-college sports programs, with the biggest athletics departments reporting a total of more than $1-billion in donations last year, according to a survey released this week by the Council for Aid to Education. It’s the third time in the past four years that sports gifts have topped $1-billion.