University System News:
www.bizjournals.com
Middle Georgia State College becomes a university, adds graduate program
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2015/03/middle-georgia-state-college-becomes-a-university.html
Carla Caldwell
Morning Edition Editor-Atlanta Business Chronicle
Middle Georgia State College will become a university effective July 1. The state Board of Regents on Wednesday approved the name change and new course offerings at the school, reports Macon’s The Telegraph.
The change will bring a master’s degree program to the soon-to-be university. An information technology master’s program will offer students a choice between a cybersecurity track or a health informatics track, The Telegraph reports.
www.middlegeorgiaceo.com
It’s Official: Middle Georgia to Become a State University on July 1st
http://middlegeorgiaceo.com/features/2015/03/its-official-middle-georgia-become-state-university-july-1st/
Staff Report From Middle Georgia CEO
Fulfilling a longtime dream of many graduates, students, faculty, benefactors and regional leaders, Middle Georgia State College is on the brink of officially becoming a university. The institution’s name will be Middle Georgia State University, with the status and name change becoming effective on July 1, 2015. The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents unanimously approved the changes at its March 18 meeting in Atlanta. The board also approved Middle Georgia’s first master’s degree program – in information technology – which will roll out this fall.
www.coosavalleynews.com
Regents Move to Make Macon College a University
http://www.coosavalleynews.com/np110836.htm
CVN News
The Georgia Board of Regents has decided to elevate Middle Georgia State College in Macon to university level as of July 1. The University will be a combination of Middle Georgia State College, formerly Middle Georgia College, which merged with Macon State College in 2013. The merged entity will give Georgia 18 university-level institutions.
www.onlineathens.com
Medical marijuana research presents unique opportunity to regents
http://onlineathens.com/general-assembly/2015-03-18/medical-marijuana-research-presents-unique-opportunity-regents
By WALTER C. JONESMORRIS NEWS SERVICE
ATLANTA | While the Georgia Legislature and news accounts dwelled on the emotional and controversial aspects of marijuana as medicine, researchers at Georgia Regents University took a scientific approach. The Board of Regents got a status report Wednesday on a unique study sponsored by the state. When the Legislature defeated a bill last year to permit the use of oil derived from marijuana as a medicine, Gov. Nathan Deal issued an executive order initiating the research and medical trials for as many as 50 children suffering from frequent epileptic seizures.
www.accessnorthga.com
Medical marijuana oil study underway at Georgia Regents
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=286507
By The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) A Georgia Regents University scientist says a clinical study he’s launched on medical marijuana oil covers only a small number of children with severe seizures that are resistant to medication. Dr. Michael Diamond of GRU in Augusta said Wednesday that the study will make a marijuana extract available to some people in Atlanta and several other locations around the state.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
University makes progress toward adding residencies
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2015-03-18/university-makes-progress-toward-adding-residencies
By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
ATLANTA – Executives from University Hospital are getting serious about having a residency program, state officials said Wednesday. The hospital has sent a “letter of interest” to the University System of Georgia, the first formal step in receiving financial help in expanding its residency program for newly graduated physicians. The facility already provides six slots and once had more until a change in Medicare rules increased the financial burden on the hospital several years ago. Now University Hospital is looking for assistance in reestablishing those positions from the University System, which, despite the similar name, is not directly connected. The University System’s Board of Regents convinced the legislature to appropriate $5 million yearly to fund part of the startup costs for hospitals willing to host residents so they can work alongside veteran colleagues.
www.myajc.com
Georgia Senate eyes budget that indicates recovery
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/georgia-senate-eyes-budget-that-indicates-recovery/nkZNJ/#5b488bbb.3566685.735676
By James Salzer – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state would borrow $1.1 billion for new construction projects, give pay raises to top judges and rate hikes to nursing home owners, and continue providing health insurance to school bus drivers as long as local districts foot the bill under a spending plan backed by Senate leaders Wednesday. …The projects are part of a $21.8 billion state budget for the upcoming fiscal year that the Senate will approve Friday. The House has already passed its version. A final spending deal will be worked out by House and Senate leaders over the next few weeks. …Most of the rest of the bond money would go to k-12 school and college construction. Senate leaders added college and library projects in the districts of about one-fourth of the chamber’s members. …The budget also would add money to fund 278 additional caseworkers for the state’s troubled child welfare system, and it would fund increases in HOPE college scholarships and in grants to students attending private colleges.
Proposed construction
Many of the construction projects in the Senate version of next year’s state budget were initially recommended by Gov. Nathan Deal. Some were added by the House, some by the Senate. Included in the package is:
$43 million for the second phase of a business facility at the University of Georgia
$17 million for a center for molecular medicine at the University of Georgia
$4.9 million to plan, design, build and equip a classroom building addition at Georgia State University
$4.9 million to plan, design, build and equip a classroom building addition at Georgia State University
$4.9 million for an English building renovation and addition at Kennesaw State University
$700,000 to design a student services building at Atlanta Metropolitan College
USG Institutions:
www.hometalk.com
The Hidden History Behind the 10 Oldest College Buildings in America
http://www.hometalk.com/7614534/the-hidden-history-behind-the-10-oldest-college-buildings-in-america
7. Old College at University of Georgia
“At the University of Georgia, part of our core identity is being the nation’s first state-chartered institution of higher learning,” says Tom Jackson, the Vice President of Public Affairs at the University of Georgia. “There’s a sense of pride connected to that history,” he explains. The history of UGA is indeed something to be proud of, especially considering the past of its very first building, Old College. The first permanent building and the oldest building in Athens, Old College was built as the dormitories for the original Franklin College, which was renamed the University of Georgia after the civil war.
www.onlineathens.com
Hoop skirts banned at UGA following Oklahoma frat video
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2015-03-17/hoop-skirts-banned-uga-following-oklahoma-frat-video
By LEE SHEARER
Hoop skirts will go the way of Confederate uniforms as special-event attire for Greek organizations at the University of Georgia — into the past. The hoop skirt ban came after UGA Student Affairs administrators met Monday with some UGA fraternity and sorority leaders, including representatives of the UGA chapters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Kappa Alpha fraternities, both of which have deep roots in the Southern Confederacy. The ban comes a week after the University of Oklahoma expelled two SAE fraternity members and shut down the university’s SAE chapter because of a racist video made by members.
www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
White guys win again. Was this college catalog cover a loser?
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/03/18/white-guys-win-again-was-this-college-catalog-cover-the-loser/
A reader sent me a copy of the cover of the new University of North Georgia continuing education catalog asked with this question, “Are they crazy?” It’s a valid question given the awkwardness of the image and its pairing with a headline that asks, “Why follow when you can lead?” The illustration features two exultant white men — dressed like missionaries for some reason — well ahead of a woman in heels wearing what looks to be an ensemble from “Dynasty” and a black male in more casual attire who appears to be struggling to finish the race. I thought the cover was a parody, a sort of Mad Men meets Peachtree Road Race. It’s not, although there are some mad men and women commenting on the cover on Facebook. The cover is getting some national attention.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Keep Students, Earn More
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/19/university-ties-money-salary-decompression-successful-retention-growth
By Kaitlin Mulhere
Salary compression is a familiar dilemma to faculty members and administrators. Most campuses conduct regular analyses to measure salary discrepancies across academic departments, across generations of faculty members and between their own professors and those at other institutions. Few colleges, though, have found a sustainable solution to relieve compressed salaries, especially in a period of budget cuts, shrinking state investment and rising tuition. Administrators at Coastal Carolina University, a 10,000-student public university in South Carolina, think they have done so through what they call profit sharing. If the university is successful — in this case, at increasing student retention — then faculty members are rewarded with a pool of money that is divvied up to help alleviate compression.
www.chronicle.com
Sensing a Moment, Diversity Officers Swap Tips on Improving Campus Climate
http://chronicle.com/article/Sensing-a-Moment-Diversity/228605/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Madeline Will
Washington
Put 300 campus diversity officers in a room, and they’ll have no shortage of topics to discuss. But this week, when the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education held its annual conference here, one issue came up frequently: the racial climate on college campuses. …”Part of the charge of diversity officers is really to provide leadership to engage” people to respond to those incidents, said Benjamin D. Reese Jr., the association’s president and vice president for institutional equity at Duke University. “It’s really an opportunity for lots of people in the academy to think more clearly and be more decisive about what we need to do.” How can diversity officers do that? Several of the actions discussed by conference attendees — in panels and in interviews with The Chronicle — centered on the following themes.
www.chronicle.com
House Would Cut Student Aid More Than Budget Blueprint Reveals
http://chronicle.com/article/House-Would-Cut-Student-Aid/228609/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Kelly Field
Washington
Turns out the budget outlook for student aid is even bleaker than it seemed. On Tuesday, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives released a spending blueprint that would freeze the maximum Pell Grant for 10 years and roll back some recent expansions of the program. On Wednesday they revealed that their plan would also abolish the in-school interest subsidy on Stafford loans, reverse a recent expansion of income-based repayment, and end public-sector loan forgiveness.