USG Institutions:
www.onlineathens.com
A ‘most successful year,’ says UGA president
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-04-28/most-successful-year-says-uga-president
By LEE SHEARER
The University of Georgia is winding up “a most successful year,” according to the university’s president, Jere Morehead, and he’s been ticking off the reasons why at recent public meetings. The university’s fundraisers are on track to set a new record for gifts and pledges to UGA by the time the fiscal year ends on June 30, said Morehead last week. “We hope to announce for the second year in a row the best fundraising year in university history,” he said. Morehead started talking about a possible new record in early March and the pace has kept up.
wwwmbfnews.com
VSU students welcome “normal”
http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/28907245/vsu-students-welcome-normal
By Colter Anstaett
VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) – Valdosta State University students were thankful life was returning to normal on campus Monday, as final exams got underway. Last week was a week full of protests and tension on campus after a group of student protesters stepped on an American flag on campus on April 17th. …VSU student Marleshia Davis said having things calm down would make taking finals less stressful. “It kind of makes me relieved, yeah, because I wouldn’t wanna worry about being’ safe and then I have finals,” Davis said. “It’s a big relief about that. I’m kind of glad that it’s over with.”
www.spatialnews.geocomm.com
USDA Awards $3.8 Million in Grants for Nanotechnology Research
http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/dailynews/2015/apr/27/news5.html
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced more than $3.8 million in funding to support grants focused on using nanotechnology to find solutions to societal challenges such as food security, nutrition, food safety, and environmental protection. The awards were made through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), which is authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. …Fiscal year 2014 projects include: The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., $496,192 …The purpose of AFRI is to support research, education, and extension work by awarding grants that address key problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture.
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Demolition moves ahead on former site of Ledger-Enquirer
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2015/04/27/3691258_demolition-moves-ahead-on-former.html?rh=1
BY CHUCK WILLIAMS
The demolition of the former Ledger-Enquirer complex in downtown Columbus is moving forward this week, said Columbus State University spokesman John Lester. The newsprint storage building that was visible from Broadway is now all but gone and, beginning this week, demolition will move to the lobby and office area that front 12th Street. The production building was scheduled to be the second structure demolished to make way for the new CSU College of Education and Health Professions building, but slight delays in abatement and demolition of an old printing press have caused a change in demolition plans.
www.globalatlanta.com
Georgia State Goizueta Scholars to Back Undocumented Students
http://www.globalatlanta.com/article/27576/georgia-state-goizueta-scholars-to-back-undocumented-students/
by Phil Bolton
Georgia State University students enrolled in the Goizueta Scholars Program are in the process of setting up a student advocacy alliance on behalf of undocumented students. Twenty five students, who received scholarships to the university through the Goizueta program, were recognized in a ceremony April 24 for participating in a year of leadership development training while completing their sophomore year. The leadership program is organized by the GALEO Institute for Leadership and funded by the Sapelo Foundation, the University of Georgia’s Fanning Institute, GALEO and Georgia State.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Chinese physicians exchange ideas at GRU
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2015-04-27/chinese-physicians-exchanging-gru
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
Inside the simulation center at Georgia Regents University, interim Director Wendy Jo Wilkinson was struggling to get the birthing simulator to deliver her fetus when Dr. Xianhui Zhu made a wry observation. “Maybe it’s not her time,” the Chinese cardiologist joked. Zhu is among a handful of physicians from Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine who are spending three months at GRU as part of an exchange being facilitated by GRU’s Confucius Institute. While there are number of such institutes in Georgia and worldwide fostering educational exchanges, GRU’s is the only one between an academic medical center and Chinese institutions that focus on traditional Chinese medicine.
www.farms.com
UGA Helping Farmers Preserve Produce For Food Banks
http://www.farms.com/news/uga-helping-farmers-preserve-produce-for-food-banks-91086.aspx
The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia’s food hub, housed in its Rabun County facility, will be the first in the country to leverage a regional food bank’s supply chain to help farmers aggregate and preserve their produce. In partnership with University of Georgia Extension, the organizations will join forces to increase access to local food and local jobs. UGA Extension will provide food hub farmers with business and technical training needed to make the most of the new distribution system.
www.wtoc.com
Military Spouses get help from The Landings
http://www.wtoc.com/story/28907678/military-spouses-get-help-from-the-landings
By Ben Williamson
SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) – Representatives from The Landings Military Family Relief Fund, Armstrong State University and Savannah Technical College signed a gift agreement on Monday morning for a new scholarship fund designed to support active duty military spouses and help them complete their degrees.
www.wsbradio.com
Game changer in play for the measles vaccine
http://www.wsbradio.com/news/news/game-changer-play-measles-vaccine/nk4b9/
By Sabrina Cupit
It’s being called a game changer, a Microneedle patch for a Measles vaccination. This new way of giving the vaccine was developed by Georgia Tech and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here in Atlanta. It’s designed to be administered by minimally trained workers and it can be stored easily, and there is no needle to throw away. …Georgia Tech and CDCV just finished a study that shows the new microneedle patch was effective in monkeys and had no adverse effects or health issues. This now clears the way for developing proposals for human trials. They could begin as early as 2017.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Common Core Gets a Footing
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/28/colleges-begin-take-notice-common-core
By Ashley A. Smith
The much-debated Common Core State Standards and the assessments that accompany them are designed to prove high school graduates are ready for a rigorous college curriculum. But since the standards and assessments were first revealed years ago, most colleges have remained silent on Common Core and left the debate and development of the issue largely in the hands of K-12 administrators, teachers and parents. That’s starting to change. Earlier this month, four Delaware colleges announced they would use the Common Core-based Smarter Balanced assessment to measure college readiness and will accept scores in lieu of a separate placement exam. More than 100 colleges in California, 10 in Hawaii, 24 in Oregon, 49 in Washington and 6 in South Dakota use the Smarter Balanced assessment as a placement exam. …Yet the move by colleges to accept the Common Core assessments comes at a time when many parents and anti-testing advocates are pushing back against the exams.
www.chronicle.com
Men Accused of Sexual Assault Face Long Odds When Suing Colleges for Gender Bias
http://chronicle.com/article/Men-Accused-of-Sexual-Assault/229721/?cid=at
By Robin Wilson
As federal officials have stepped up enforcement of rules requiring colleges to resolve reports of sexual assault, many accused students who contend that they were unfairly found responsible and expelled have sued their institutions. But in the last month, victories for universities in two such lawsuits show how difficult it is for accused students to win legal battles against institutions on the issue. That is particularly the case if — as happened in the two recent suits — the students allege that in finding them responsible for sexual misconduct, their institutions discriminated against them because they are men. The two cases that were recently rejected cited the very same gender-equity law that prohibits sexual assault — Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972 — to claim gender discrimination on behalf of the male students found responsible.