University System News:
www.macon.com
EDITORIAL: College presidents rewarded much like corporate CEOs
http://www.macon.com/2015/06/10/3789028_college-presidents-rewarded-much.html?rh=1
There were some people — mainly college professors — who looked at the news that some of their bosses were too valuable to lose and had been given raises by the Board of Regents to push their salaries in excess of $1 million and shook their heads. Bud Peterson, Georgia Tech’s president, and Georgia State’s Mark Becker passed the $1 million mark. University of Georgia President Jere Morehead received a raise to $811,348. What is a college president worth? Some compare college presidents to a corporate CEOs. Not a bad comparison when looking at what a college president has to oversee. UGA’s Morehead is responsible for 389 buildings and almost 10,000 employees, not to mention the school’s more than 35,000 students while managing a $1.48 billion annual budget. Tech has 6,700 employees, 242 buildings and a budget of about $1.4 billion. Georgia State’s Becker has 32,000 students and 4,400 faculty and staff. Here’s news: Of the three president’s mentioned, two are not the school’s highest paid employees.
www.artsatl.com
Georgia’s university system launches initiatives to train students for film industry
http://www.artsatl.com/2015/06/film-industry-georgia-state-university/
By Jeff Stafford
California and New York have long been the top two shooting locations for film and television production, but Georgia, currently ranked in the number three position, is rapidly gaining momentum. This didn’t happen overnight or by accident. Under Governor Nathan Deal, the Georgia Department of Economic Development has made the film industry a major priority. Hard work and productive collaborations between the film industry and state government have had a major impact on the state’s success. But success creates new challenges, and foremost among them is the ability to meet the demand for skilled workers at every level of the profession.
USG Institutions:
www.wtxl.com
VSU Sociology Professor Receives Top Honor
http://www.wtxl.com/news/vsu-sociology-professor-receives-top-honor/article_6cdf9f10-0ef5-11e5-84ae-a3791b221245.html
by Jade Bulecza
VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL)–A Valdosta State University professor has been selected to receive the 2015 Hans O. Mauksch award from the American Sociological Association. The award will be presented in August to Dr. Kathleen Lowney, a professor of sociology at VSU. The award is given to undergraduate sociology faculty members who have advanced teaching and learning, by using innovative teaching methods and contributing insights into the education process.
www.onlineathens.com
Pretrial diversion for student in UGA social media threat of campus mass violence
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-06-09/pretrial-diversion-student-uga-social-media-threat-campus-mass-violence
By Joe Johnson
A University of Georgia student recently was accepted into a pretrial diversion program for a social media threat of mass violence last year that set off a panic on the UGA campus. If he successfully complete’s the program, charges against 20-year-old Ariel Omar Arias would be dismissed, according to a memorandum of plea agreement filed last Wednesday in Clarke County Superior Court. On Sept. 19 Arias warned people to stay away from the Zell B. Miller Learning Center “if you want to live,” and that “I’m coming with an AK,” in reference to an AK-47 assault rifle. The threat caused UGA police to evacuate the learning center and search the building for possible offenders and harmful devices. Arias, who was suspended from the university on an interim basis, told police the threats were a prank and he had no intention to harm anyone.
www.daltondailycitizen.com
State senator will continue to press for religious freedom bill
http://www.daltondailycitizen.com/news/state-senator-will-continue-to-press-for-religious-freedom-bill/article_3d882544-0f1c-11e5-ab2b-6b8c445b0067.html
by Charles Oliver
Nine years ago, Savannah State University kicked a Christian student group off campus, saying that its practice of requiring members to wash each others’ feet violated school anti-hazing rules. The group sued and won reinstatement. But state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, told Whitfield County Republican Party members Tuesday night that group members shouldn’t have had to go to court to force the university to recognize their religious rights. McKoon is the lead author of Senate Bill 129, a bill he says would help protect the religious rights of Georgians from government overreach.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Talk, Then Talk Again
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/10/new-survey-identifies-best-ways-campuses-share-information-sexual-assault-policies
By Jacqueline Thomsen
A university tapped by the White House to lead the charge on sexual assault education and prevention released a report Tuesday on how institutions can best spread awareness of their sexual assault policies and resources. A report from the University of New Hampshire’s Prevention Innovations Research Center found that students who were able to interact with and discuss their college’s policies were more likely to retain information on resources within the institution or be more knowledgeable about the policies themselves. As more colleges are encouraged to amp up their sexual assault education, experts hope these results can help officials find effective strategies for their students.
www.insidehighered.com
Flawed Evaluations
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/10/aaup-committee-survey-data-raise-questions-effectiveness-student-teaching
By Colleen Flaherty
They’re almost universally loathed by professors as being too subjective and an unreliable indicator of performance. But beyond that, surprisingly little is known about student evaluations of faculty teaching. How many colleges require them, and what do they ask? How many students complete them, and what effect do they have on instructors’ careers? A committee of the American Association of University Professors wanted to help answer some of the questions, and help stir discussions about a better way to rate professors in the classroom. Survey responses gathered by the committee from some 9,000 professors suggest diminishing student response rates for course evaluations, too much focus on such evaluations alone in personnel decisions — especially for non-tenure-track faculty — and a creep of the kinds of personal comments seen on teacher rating websites into formal evaluations. But while the committee argues that whatever value student evaluations ever had is shrinking, it says student surveys can play an important role in a more holistic faculty evaluation system.
www.insidehighered.com
Study Outlines Importance of Public Universities
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/06/10/study-outlines-importance-public-universities
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has released the first of a series of publications seeking to increase public understanding of and support for public universities. “Public Research Universities: Why They Matter,” reviews the mission of these institutions, their contributions to state and regional economies and their efforts to spend funds responsibly, among other topics.
www.washingtonpost.com
College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one.
What truly makes an education valuable: the effort the student puts into it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/09/college-is-not-a-commodity-stop-treating-it-like-one/?hpid=z3
By Hunter Rawlings
Pick up any paper or magazine, and you’re likely to see a front-page article on college: It costs too much, spawns too much debt, is or isn’t worth it. I entered academia 52 years ago as a student of Latin and Greek expecting to enter a placid sector of American life, and now find my chosen profession at the center of a media maelstrom. With college replacing high school as the required ticket for a career, what used to be a quiet corner is now a favorite target of policymakers and pundits. Unfortunately, most commentary on the value of college is naive, or worse, misleading.
www.chronicle.com
In Heated State-Budget Fights, Students Strive to Be Heard
http://chronicle.com/article/In-Heated-State-Budget-Fights/230793/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Sarah Brown
Public colleges and universities in several states once again face the prospect of sharp budget cuts this year, and students say they have an important role to play in opposing them. Still, student activists say, mobilizing peers is at least as significant a challenge, as they might not understand how budget cuts will affect them — until the cuts occur. Other activists say politicians don’t take them seriously. Timing can also be a barrier: Many legislative sessions wrap up in the summer, when most students are no longer on the campus. The Chronicle examined college and university systems in four states that face significant budget cuts this year — Wisconsin, Louisiana, Illinois, and Connecticut — and spoke with students and experts to gauge how students are influencing the debate, and whether their efforts to roll back the proposed cuts are paying off.