USG Institutions:
www.ledger-enquirer.com
CSU presidential candidate pitches plan to creatively solve issues
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2015/03/04/3596748_csu-president-candidate-promises.html?rh=1
BY MARK RICE
An interesting nugget buried in Aldemaro “Al” Romero Jr.’s 60-page resume is that he writes a weekly syndicated column about higher education. So after he spoke to about two dozen folks Wednesday in the Columbus State University Riverside Theatre Complex, the Ledger-Enquirer asked him what the headline should be. “CSU president candidate promises creative approach to solve issues,” he said. Romero certainly delivered a creative multimedia presentation. It was the second of two open forums for the public to meet, hear and question the former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Southern Illinois University, where he now is a biology professor after losing his five-year deanship Dec. 31 in a reorganization.

www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Georgia Tech again among top colleges in country for student return on investment
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/03/05/georgia-tech-again-among-top-colleges-in-country-for-student-return-on-investment/
PayScale.com released its annual list of top colleges based on students’ return on their tuition investment, and Georgia Tech is again among the top 10 on the list of public and private institutions nationwide. Tech ranks 8th, right after MIT. Most of the colleges where students reap the greatest financial returns on their college investments are engineering schools. The University of Georgia ranks 330 for those students who pay in-state tuition. (If you pay out-of-state tuition, the ranks drops to 554, tying with the University of Tennessee.) For students paying in-state tuition, Georgia State University ranks 512.

www.statesboroherald.com
Valdosta State, Ogeechee Tech sign articulation agreements
Move should help transition between schools
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/66279/
Special to the Herald
Ogeechee Technical College signed articulation agreements with Valdosta State University on Wednesday, simplifying student transition between the two institutions of higher education. The Pathways Program agreement will allow Ogeechee Tech students with an Associate of Applied Science to maximize their transfer of credits to complete either a Bachelor of Science in organizational leadership or a Bachelor of Applied Science in human capital performance in two years or less at Valdosta State, said Andy Clark, the vice president for enrollment, marketing and communications at VSU.

www.savannahnow.com
Business in Savannah in brief
http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2015-03-05/business-savannah-brief
Institute receives grant from conservation program
STATESBORO — The James H. Oliver Jr. Institute for Coastal Plain Science at Georgia Southern University has received a grant worth more than $300,000 from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program.
Institute director Daniel Gleason and two collaborators were awarded $315,381 for three years for their project titled “Investigating how coral recruitment and juvenile survivorship varies along the Florida Reef Tract.”

www.benzinga.com
State Funds Child Abuse Helpline Housed At Georgia State
http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/15/03/p5298082/state-funds-child-abuse-helpline-housed-at-georgia-state
State officials have awarded $82,500 to Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, part of the School of Public Health at Georgia State University, to support the state’s 1-800-CHILDREN Helpline. The funds were awarded by Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) as a one-year pilot contract to support the DFCS Call Center.

www.wtvm.com
CSU submits video for First Lady Michelle Obama’s challenge
http://www.wtvm.com/story/28262814/csu-submits-video-for-first-lady-michelle-obamas-challenge
By Jasmine Agyemang
COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) – Dozens of high school students took a visit to Columbus State University to participate in the African American Male Initiative’s “College Student for a Day” experience. During their visit, CSU’s Diversity Programs and Services made a memorable video of the event. This video was submitted to the White House on Friday Feb. 27 for Michelle Obama’s “Near-Peer Mentoring College Challenge.”
This initiative is to show how colleges are giving high school students an opportunity to enter into an institution, and CSU did just that with a video they created.

www.myfoxatlanta.com
KSU fraternity caught on camera chanting in sewer
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/28265760/ksu-fraternity-caught-on-camera-chanting-in-sewer
By Trevor Shirley, FOX 5 Digital Journalist
KENNESAW, Ga. – Officials at Kennesaw State University have placed the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house under investigation. That’s because officials say the house was caught holding an event in the campus sewer system. The incident was caught on camera, after a student could hear chanting coming from a storm drain.

www.gainesvilletimes.com
University of North Georgia students discuss firing of professor
Political Science Student Association considers whether dismissal was just
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/108207/
By Kristen Oliver
A tenured University of North Georgia professor was fired recently following an altercation with a guest speaker, and the issue has polarized the Dahlonega campus. The Political Science Student Association at North Georgia met Wednesday to discuss “Power at UNG” and whether or not the actions taken against Professor Vicki McCard were just.

University System News:
www.onineathens.com
Changes to teacher retirement system might reduce benefits, educators say
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-03-04/changes-teacher-retirement-system-might-reduce-benefits-educators-say
By LEE SHEARER
A proposed bill that intends to overhaul the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia is drawing fire from teachers, but praise from a Georgia conservative think tank. “Overall, this bill represents a significant reduction in benefits for anyone participating in the new plan,” according to a post on the Professional Association of Georgia Educators web page. The Georgia Association of Educators warned that those reduced benefits might drive more teachers out of the profession. But the proposed changes are in line with recommendations the Georgia Public Policy Foundation made last year.

www.wabe.drupal.publicbroadcasting.net
Despite University Smoking Bans, Georgia Students Keep Puffing
http://wabe.drupal.publicbroadcasting.net/post/despite-university-smoking-bans-georgia-students-keep-puffing
By BOBBY HOLLOWAY III
Tobacco bans on college campuses are now a social norm. Over 1,000 schools across the country now have a smoking ban. The University System of Georgia banned tobacco last October. But getting students to kick the habit is still a challenge. Isabella Lynn is a student at Emory University who travels around campus looking for smokers, offering them brochures and even counseling services. “I know of a couple smokers personally, and it makes me sad. So I felt empowered and wanted to be a part of the program,” she says. Lynn is a tobacco monitor at Emory. …Georgia’s university system, which includes Georgia Tech, banned tobacco in late 2014. Tech uses signs to promote a smoke-free campus, but officials say there is no formal enforcement. “Most of time with policy, you can make something so socially unacceptable that people know that it’s not the cultural norm of that institution or university,” Forbes says. Which means Georgia Tech students now don’t have to worry about inhaling secondhand smoke or seeing cigarette butts litter their campus. Julie Braden, a graduate student in aerospace engineering, finds the ban refreshing.

Higher Education News:
www.myajc.com
Gun legislation revives efforts to bring campus carry to Georgia
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/gun-legislation-revives-efforts-to-bring-campus-ca/nkNmf/#6b021552.3566685.735662
By Aaron Gould Sheinin – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Legislation introduced in the state House on Wednesday would renew the fight over the carrying of guns on college campuses. House Bill 544, by Rep. Heath Clark, R-Warner Robins, would allow anyone with a weapons permit to take guns on all parts of public college campuses. Clark said the bill would not prevent weapons from being carried inside stadiums or fraternity houses as previous attempts to pass campus carry did. That could still change, he said, if the bill receives a committee hearing.

www.insidehighered.com
Free Community College: It Works
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/05/tulsa-community-colleges-free-tuition-program-has-paid-while-inspiring-others
By Paul Fain
President Obama’s free community college proposal has a direct ancestor in a program Tulsa Community College began in 2007. And Tulsa’s free-tuition experiment is working, with the college’s leaders calling it a “battle-tested” recipe for increasing degree production. Tulsa Achieves pays for three free years of tuition or 63 free credits, which is enough for an associate degree. The scholarship is open to all high school graduates in Tulsa County, Okla. They must enroll right out of high school, maintain a 2.0 GPA, take a student success course and do 40 hours of community service each year to remain eligible.

www.insidehighered.com
Distance Ed Myths Debunked
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/05/analysis-distance-education-enrollments-challenges-myths-about-medium
By Carl Straumsheim
In fall 2013, one in every eight students enrolled at colleges and universities in the U.S. studied exclusively online. One in every four students took at least one online course. Those and other findings, released this week in a three-part analysis by the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), suggest distance education is more pervasive in higher education than previously imagined, and may help debunk some of the common myths surrounding the medium.