University System News:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Georgia Regents board approves continuing budget
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2015-07-01/georgia-regents-board-approves-continuing-budget?v=1435762609
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
While it awaits the arrival of its new chairman, who will also be the next president of Georgia Regents University, the board of Georgia Regents Medical Center passed a continuing budget resolution Wednesday that allows management to proceed. On the first day of its fiscal year, the board approved the budget resolution with the idea of passing a final budget at its next meeting in August. The board also voted to continue its current membership and suspend any appointments until a new president is chosen. Georgia Southern University President Brooks Keel is the only candidate for that position. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents will vote on his candidacy at 11 a.m. July 8. The president serves as chair of the medical center board and chair of the board of Georgia Regents Health System.
USG Institutions:
www.gainesvilletimes.com
UNG’s increased budget goes toward employee costs
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/110654/
By Kristen Oliver
An increased budget at the University of North Georgia for fiscal year 2016 reflects increased costs for employees, according to university officials. Kate Maine, associate vice president of university relations, noted the university has increased faculty and staff levels and insurance costs have gone up. Educational and general fund budgets on all of the university’s campuses increased by $13.98 million to a total $129.69 million. Since the 2013 consolidation of Gainesville State College and North Georgia College & State University, employee pay has also gradually been adjusted to resolve discrepancies in pay between the two institutions.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
Student activities take hit after state waivers at UNG
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/110653/
By Kristen Oliver and Hailey Van Parys
More than three-quarters of University of North Georgia student groups on the Gainesville campus will face budget cuts this year. Some military personnel, combat veterans and dual-enrolled high school students attending UNG are now exempt from paying certain fees, but the campus didn’t have contingency funds to make up the difference, according to Kate Maine, associate vice president of university relations. “The Gainesville campus is in the process of establishing a reserve fund that will allow them to handle changes that take place like this without affecting programming,” Maine said. “But as they begin to set up that reserve, some organizations saw a slight decrease.” The fiscal year 2016 budget took effect Wednesday, and the Gainesville student activities budget alone decreased by $30,207, to a total $446,874.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
The Way We Were: Brooks Keel
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2015-07-01/way-we-were-brooks-keel
By Bill Kirby
Staff Writer
One of The Chronicle’s more recent marketing campaigns promoted the theme “We Were There,” something you get to say when you’ve been around for 230 years. And as the photograph shows, we were there in July 1974 when an incoming freshman named Brooks Keel talked to Augusta College admissions officials about beginning classes at our “Harvard on the Hill.” Well what do you know? Later this month, now-Dr. Brooks Keel, the current president of Georgia Southern University, is on track to be named president of Georgia Regents University, the school created when Augusta State University and the Medical College of Georgia combined. Dr. Keel is an alumni of both.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Canceling Clery?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/07/02/senator-mccaskill-suggests-removing-campus-crime-disclosure-law
By Jake New
Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, suggested last week that she was in favor of “removing” the Clery Act, the law that requires colleges to provide and publicize information about campus crimes. In a statement late Wednesday night, though, she softened her language, saying through a spokeswoman that she had been referring only to the campus security law’s reporting requirements. While McCaskill — who has promoted legislation that would toughen oversight of colleges on sexual assault — has long been critical of the Clery Act, her statements last week were especially condemnatory. The comments, which came during McCaskill’s keynote address at last week’s Campus Safety National Forum, elicited cheers from campus law enforcement officials and concern from campus safety groups.
www.chronicle.com
New Players Could Be in Line to Receive Federal Student Aid
http://chronicle.com/article/New-Players-Could-Be-in-Line/231333/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Kelly Field
Students may soon be able to use Pell Grants to attend coding boot camps and enroll in MOOCs and other nontraditional programs under an experiment that the Education Department is considering conducting. The pilot project, which has been in the works for several months, would let colleges contract out entire programs to education-technology companies and retain the programs’ eligibility for federal grants and loans. Colleges are now limited in how much of a program they can outsource.
www.chronicle.com
Colleges Face Calls for Better Support of Students With Learning Disabilities
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Face-Calls-for-Better/231329/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Mary Ellen McIntire
When Katherine J. Walsh was choosing a college, she wasn’t as focused on which college did best in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings or tied to living in a particular part of the country. One thing she did care about was finding an institution prepared to support the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder she’d struggled with for most of her life. She’s not alone. The number of students with learning disabilities has jumped in the past decade, said Lindsay E. Jones, director of public policy and advocacy at the National Center for Learning Disabilities. …It’s an issue that has caught the eye of the U.S. Department of Education, which announced last month that it would fund a new center to share information and best practices to help students with learning disabilities make the transition to or attend a postsecondary institution.
www.insidehighered.com
Minimum Wage Hike
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/07/02/whats-stake-when-universities-raise-their-minimum-wage
By Kellie Woodhouse
More and more colleges and universities are hiking their minimum wage above what’s required by their states and the federal government. The increases — often motivated by concerns about equitable pay for all employees, changes in local ordinances or pressure from advocates for low-wage worker — can cost millions. Yet many colleges that are raising pay say they have an obligation to do so.