USG Institutions:
www.ajc.com
Best in class: UNG, Tech teams’ designs aid students with disabilities
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/best-in-class-ung-tech-teams-designs-aid-students-/nmx5R/
Staff
• The University of North Georgia’s Department of Physical Therapy hosted nine industrial design students from the Georgia Institute of Technology and their faculty team leader June 29 – July 3 for a weeklong conference aimed at building innovative assistive technology for several clients with physical disabilities. In the project dubbed “creating rehab engineering and assistance technology experiences,” or cREATe for short, student teams worked with with clients whose physical needs ranged from combating scoliosis to controlling a powered wheelchair with the head. The groups experimented with different materials and structures and made adjustments with feedback from the clients and their families. The Tech students went back to their home campus to spend two weeks building the prototypes, which will then be delivered to the clients…. • The University of North Georgia’s debate team, which competed in seven tournaments during the 2014-15 academic year, finished the year with national rankings and several team awards. Students who earned individual awards, include:
www.macon.com
FVSU lands $400,000 grant for toxin study
http://www.macon.com/2015/07/15/3844453_fvsu-wins-400000-grant-for-toxin.html?rh=1
BY WAYNE CRENSHAW
A federal grant will help Fort Valley State University students study the impact of toxins on the environment. The $399,049 grant from the National Science Foundation will pay for new lab equipment and internships for FVSU students to study toxicology, said Celia Dodd, an assistant professor in the biology department.
www.diverseeducation.com
Amid Celebration, Land Grant Schools Say Money Would Be Great Gift
http://diverseeducation.com/article/76366/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=6af9b562e16349dfa14e271f5ce45065&elqCampaignId=415&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=263baee1171a4d0ba9ccbfa56e7793af
by Catherine Morris
WASHINGTON ― This week marks the commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the Second Morrill Act, signed on August 30, 1890. In that Act, Congress set aside lands to create agricultural colleges and universities in former Confederate states, with the provision that some be dedicated to the instruction of African-American students. …Representatives from Congress, the land grant universities, and agricultural industries are gathering for a two-day observance of the Act and the subsequent accomplishments of the land grant universities and colleges, or the “1890s,” since their origins at the end of the 19th century. The House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing Wednesday at which six land grant university presidents gave testimony on the accomplishments of their schools and their plans. …At Georgia’s Fort Valley State University, researchers looked into how to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses and how to increase the longevity and health of peach trees. …Jessica Bailey, Fort Valley State acting president, said it would be helpful to promote agriculture as a potential career, starting in K-12. “Agriculture is not Google,” she said, adding that tech careers tend to hold more appeal for the youth today. Nevertheless, she said, agriculture and related industries do offer a wide array of potential careers and students could benefit from learning about their options before they graduate from high school.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA makes bid to get better in study of informatics
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2015-07-16/uga-makes-bid-get-better-study-informatics
By LEE SHEARER
University of Georgia administrators plan to hire eight new professors in the relatively new field of informatics. The UGA president’s office sent out an announcement this week of the initiative, which could potentially bring new faculty members to any of UGA’s 17 schools and colleges.
www.nationalreview.com
University Policy Seemed to Suggest Students in Wheelchairs Could Never Consent to Sex
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421234/university-policy-wheelchairs-cant-consent-sex
by KATHERINE TIMPF
School claims that the policy has since been revised — the website just doesn’t reflect it yet.
The sexual-assault policy currently posted on Armstrong State University’s website states that students with a “physical and/or mental impairment are unable to give consent” to sex. The document never clarifies exactly what qualifies as a “physical and/or mental impairment,” which, as Ashe Schow of the Washington Examiner points out, “appears to indicate that a student in a wheelchair would not be able to ever consent to sexual activity simply because of his or her physical handicap.” Schow said that when she asked the Savannah, Ga., school’s Title IX coordinator, Deidra Dennie, for clarification, Dennie claimed that the version posted on the website was an old one. According to Schow, Dennie insisted that the school has since added the words “’that inhibit’ to clarify this specific definition” — they simply haven’t gotten around to making this distinction on the website yet.
www.accesswdun.com
UNG/Gainesville program aims to increase college attendance, graduation among migrant youth
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/7/323370/unggainesville-program-aims-to-increase-college-attendance-graduation-among-migrant-youth
By AccessWDUN staff
DAHLONEGA — The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the University of North Georgia (UNG) a grant of $2.1 million over five years to establish a College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) as part of a federally-funded initiative to increase college attendance and graduation among the nation’s migrant youth. CAMP serves approximately 2,400 migrant participants annually through more than 35 colleges and universities. This grant will support up to 40 students each year at UNG’s Gainesville Campus through the University College, an academic unit particularly focused on student success initiatives and associate degree programs.
www.phys.org
Researcher gets $1.48 million to study disease that causes blindness in AIDS patients
http://phys.org/wire-news/198419024/researcher-gets-148-million-to-study-disease-that-causes-blindne.html
Dr. Richard Dix, professor in the Department of Biology at Georgia State University, has received a four-year, $1.48 million federal grant to study an eye disease that causes vision loss and blindness in HIV-immunosuppressed patients who do not have access to antiretroviral therapy or don’t respond to the therapy.
www.npr.org
Progress In The Fight Against A Parasite That Causes Diarrheal Disease
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/07/15/422945908/progress-in-the-fight-against-a-parasite-that-causes-diarrheal-disease
Scientists are reporting progress in the fight against a parasite that’s a major cause of diarrheal disease in the developing world.To make progress against any microbial disease, scientists usually try to find ways to tinker with the microbe’s genes, looking for weak spots that could be exploited with drugs. But tinkering with the genes of Cryptosporidium parvum has been difficult, if not completely impossible. No one has been able to figure out how to apply the standard tools of molecular biology to this parasite, because it’s particularly difficult to work with in the lab. Now that’s changing, thanks to work done by Boris Striepen and his colleagues at the University of Georgia in Athens.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
GRU Cancer Center expansion on track; will expand its cancer research abilities
Facility will aid national prominence in field
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2015-07-14/gru-cancer-center-expansion-track-will-expand-its-cancer-research-abilities
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
The expansion of cancer research at Georgia Regents University is getting closer and the buildup of the cancer program overall is on pace to bring the GRU Cancer Center closer to a long-sought designation, the center’s director said. Groundbreaking on the expansion of the current research building, which will include a three-story space above Laney-Walker Boulevard, is probably a month away, Director Samir N. Khleif said. It will actually have two primary pieces, he said.
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
Collins Hill Road reopened after gas leak near Georgia Gwinnett College
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2015/jul/15/gas-leak-near-georgia-gwinnett-college-forces/
By Danielle Ryan
A gas main leak forced students to evacuate the Georgia Gwinnett College sports complex facilities Wednesday afternoon while firefighters assessed the situation. According to the Gwinnett County fire department, firefighters responded to the scene of a natural gas leak outside of the 1061 block of Collins Hill Road in Lawrenceville after a contracting crew struck a 6-inch gas main while digging to lay sewer lines at a construction site. …Approximately 25 to 30 people were evacuated as a precatuion from the GGC sports complex, located directly across the street from the gas leak. …GGC sent out a text to students to inform them to stay away from the area.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
A Middle School Start
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/07/16/new-study-identifies-best-way-make-low-income-families-aware-federal-financial-aid
100By Jacqueline Thomsen
For some students, plans to attend college take shape during high school. But according to researchers, high school can be too late to start planning — financially and academically.
A new study released by the Urban Institute today, available on its website at 10 a.m., identifies new ways to help make middle schoolers and their families aware of their financial aid options, letting them know that college can be a reality for those who might think they can’t afford it.
www.chronicle.com
How Traditional Colleges Compete to Enroll Student Veterans
http://chronicle.com/article/How-Traditional-Colleges/231665/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Colleen Murphy
To many institutions, veterans seem like ideal students: They’re seen as hardworking and driven, and they bring guaranteed tuition money through federal benefits. It’s that last fact, many observers say, that has made service members so attractive to for-profit colleges. Federal law requires institutions to draw at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources beyond federal student aid; but education money that veterans qualify for under the Post-9/11 GI Bill count as a separate source, even though the benefit comes with a federal guarantee. So for-profit institutions have recruited aggressively, and it has worked. Students veterans brought more than $19.5 billion to colleges through the GI Bill from August 2009 to September 2014, and nearly $8 billion of that amount went to for-profit colleges, according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs. For nonprofit colleges that see serving veterans as an important part of their mission, that poses a challenge: Getting service members fresh out of the military to enroll is often a matter of getting on their radar, and for-profit institutions tend to do that first.