University System News:
www.onlineathens.com
Benefits for UGA same-sex couples? Regents will ‘comply with law’
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2015-06-27/benefits-uga-same-sex-couples-regents-will-comply-law
By LEE SHEARER
The Georgia Board of Regents stopped short of saying that legally married same-sex couples can now claim dependent and spousal benefits, such as health insurance, at the University of Georgia and state colleges and universities. But the board will obey the law, according to a statement. …“The Supreme Court has ruled and the Board of Regents will ensure the University System and its 30 institutions will comply fully with the ruling,”
according to the statement furnished by Charlie Sutlive, vice chancellor of communications for the University System of Georgia. “We are reviewing our policies and benefits to identify what steps are necessary to ensure we are in compliance.”

www.gettingsmart.com
Creating a Qualified Workforce for Georgia’s Film Industry
http://gettingsmart.com/2015/06/creating-a-qualified-workforce-for-georgias-film-industry/
By Guest Author, Jennifer Klein
…Bell and other district leaders examined the pathways that were proposed for the new South Fulton Career and Technical Education Center and found they didn’t align with the industries nearby. Meanwhile, the film industry stood out as a local industry with a major skills gap, so they went back, looked at existing CTE pathways in Georgia, did research, polled students about their interests, and came up with pathways that were directly in line with the needs of the film industry. …In addition to the new pathways, Fulton is entering a post-secondary partnership with Clayton State University, a business partnership with 404 Studio Partners, and a city partnership with nearby Union City, GA. Through these partnerships, one senior from each of the six South Fulton County high schools will receive a scholarship to Clayton State’s Digital Film Technician Certificate Program, which was developed in early 2014 to help increase qualified crew members to fill growing jobs.

www.onlineathens.com
History made as St. Mary’s residency program begins
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2015-06-27/history-made-st-marys-residency-program-begins
By LEE SHEARER
The first group of interns at St. Mary’s Hospital helped make local history last week as the Athens hospital, along with the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership, launched the first medical residency program in northeast Georgia. After a day of orientation on Wednesday, the young doctors in training got down to some important business Thursday in an afternoon session at the University of Georgia Health Sciences Campus in Normaltown, which houses the medical partnership.

www.ledger-enquirer.com
Columbus State part of Georgia’s inaugural class of fellows to improve STEM teachers
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2015/06/26/3787766/columbus-state-part-of-georgias.html
BY MARK RICE
Columbus State University represents one-third of the inaugural class of college students in a state program that is part of a larger effort to improve the quality of math and science teachers. Kennesaw State University and Piedmont College are the other institutions in Georgia’s first cohort participating in the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship. …The foundation selected the participating universities. Georgia State University and Mercer University also will offer the fellowships starting in the 2016-17 academic year. The program is part of the University System of Georgia’s goal to prepare 20,000 new teachers by 2020.

USG Institutions:
www.tiftongazette.com
Construction begins on ABAC Laboratory Sciences building
http://www.tiftongazette.com/news/construction-begins-on-abac-laboratory-sciences-building/article_9543f774-1cee-11e5-a823-3b7c07a1b62f.html
Special to The Gazette
TIFTON—Ten shovels filled with red soil worked in unison for a photo opportunity. Then a yellow motor grader smoothed out the dirt as the real construction began on the new $8.5 million laboratory sciences building on a steamy hot Thursday morning at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. “It is more than symbolic that this building will stand at the academic crossroads of the ABAC campus,” ABAC President David Bridges said at the brief ceremony. “More than 80 percent of our students are enrolled in science, technology, engineering or mathematics disciplines.

www.jbhe.com
Fort Valley State University Announces a Series of New Minor Degree Programs

Fort Valley State University Announces a Series of New Minor Degree Programs

Fort Valley State University, the historically Black educational institution in Georgia, has announced a series of new minor degree programs.

www.13wmaz.com
Eastman aviation program helps fuel pilot pipeline
http://www.13wmaz.com/story/news/2015/06/26/eastman-aviation-college-fuels-pilot-pipeline/29267347/
Lorra Lynch Jones
Aspiring aviators will likely maneuver smooth skies if they enter their job search in the next twenty years. The airline industry predicts a need for more than a half-million pilots. The Middle Georgia State College Aviation Campus in Eastman is helping to fuel the pilot pipeline. But instructors warn the journey to the captain’s seat often comes with some turbulence.

www.statesboroherald.com
Should Statesboro Confederate monument go?
Petition to remove memorial stirs debate
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/68582/
By AL HACKLE
For 106 years, the Confederate soldier made of marble has stood, looking out from the Bulloch County Courthouse grounds, his rifle resting vertical in front of him. In the wake of the June 17 mass murder of nine people at a black church in Charleston, SC, a Georgia Southern University student is mounting an online petition to have the monument removed to another location. The Sons of Confederate Veterans, meanwhile, is countering with an in-person petition drive to keep the monument where it is.

www.redandblack.com
Student’s handgun stolen from house
http://www.redandblack.com/cops/student-s-handgun-stolen-from-house/article_c8add136-1c2e-11e5-96ba-0b4275026157.html
Patrick Adcock
A University of Georgia student reported a burglary to the Athens-Clarke County Police Department Thursday night. Among the stolen items were a handgun, a holster, and a cleaning kit, according to an ACCPD report.

www.wmbfnews.com
Eric Sheppard bonds out of jail
http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/29417561/eric-sheppard-bonds-out-of-jail
By Dave Miller
VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) –
The former fugitive protester accused of bringing a gun onto the Valdosta State University campus in April posted a $25,000 bond and was released from the Lowndes Co. jail at 10:45 Friday morning. Eric Sheppard was originally denied bond after he was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Tampa Bay, Florida, but his attorney appealed the decision, and a Lowndes County Magistrate Judge granted Sheppard a bond of $25,000 last week. Sheppard will be required to live with his mother in Cobb County, Georgia and will be subjected to a 7 p.m. curfew, along with several other conditions of his bond.

www.ajc.com
Two people arrested in death of metro Atlanta woman in Florida
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/crime-law/two-people-arrested-in-death-of-metro-atlanta-woma/nmmtq/
Steve Visser
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Miami police have arrested two people in the mysterious death of a metro Atlanta woman who disappeared from a boat during a nighttime cruise in May. Lauren Jenee Lamar, 26, was on a boat outing with 45-year-old Russell Matthew Bruce, a local nightclub owner, and Alicia Nicole Bartolotta on May 24. Bruce reported he discovered her missing after he docked his 30-foot boat at Matheson Hammock on Biscayne Bay. But police found his behavior strange that night and, on Friday, arrested him and the 29-year-old Bartolotta on manslaughter charges, the Miami-Dade County police announced. …She attended Clayton State University.

www.daltondailycitizen.com
DSC assistant housing director Ramos dies in wreck
http://www.daltondailycitizen.com/news/dsc-assistant-housing-director-ramos-dies-in-wreck/article_62da298e-1c30-11e5-bfb4-c71ceb5209b2.html
From Dalton State College
Jason Ramos, assistant director of residential life at Dalton State College, died Thursday night in a car crash on Interstate 75. Ramos, 31, was heading home to Brunswick, Ohio, for vacation. Ramos joined the housing staff at Dalton State in May 2013. He supervised a staff of 10 residence assistants as well as three office assistants and oversaw the daily management of the residence halls that housed approximately 300 students.

Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
What the Landmark Ruling on Gay Marriage Means for Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/article/What-the-Landmark-Ruling-on/231203/
By Meg Bernhard and Mary Ellen McIntire
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. What will the effect be on higher education? For most colleges, not much. But for others — in particular, Christian colleges — the ruling beckons toward an uncertain future. Some people at Christian colleges worry that they might lose federal benefits if they don’t change their own policies on same-sex relationships and marriages. …Colleges in states that have already legalized same-sex marriage have recognized benefits for those employees already. While the ruling will lead to a potential increase in benefits for same-sex couples who do get married, same-sex couples receiving co-habituation benefits who choose not to wed could see those benefits disappear, said Brian Powell, a professor of sociology at Indiana University at Bloomington. Students who hailed from states that had not legalized same-sex marriage and, for that reason, who had chosen to attend a more-progressive institution out of state could also be more inclined to attend a public institution in their home state now that marriage equality is legal there, Mr. Powell added.

www.insidehighered.com
Supreme Court Returns to Affirmative Action
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/29/supreme-court-will-once-again-consider-affirmative-action-college-admissions
By Scott Jaschik
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to review the constitutionality of the consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions cases. The case involves the admissions practices at the University of Texas at Austin. It is possible that the Supreme Court could rule in a narrow way about UT. But the case also gives the justices, several of whom are dubious of the consideration of race by schools and colleges, a chance to limit or ban the consideration of race in college admissions. The case will now be heard in the fall, with a decision likely in early 2016. The issues in this case are likely to be debated in the 2016 presidential race.

www.wsj.com
How to Cut Student Drinking
Text messages and personalized feedback online can help
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-cut-student-drinking-1435249267
By LISA WARD
Can a few minutes on a website or mobile phone encourage college students to drink less? A growing body of research suggests it can. Multiple studies have found that giving students personalized feedback about their drinking habits via the Web or by text can lead them to cut back. The technique mimics in-person interventions, which have been shown in studies to reduce drinking as much as 13%, but because the communication is delivered electronically, it can reach more students at lower cost. The use of electronic interventions “dramatically increases access to techniques that have been proven to work,” says Robert Leeman, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.

www.diverseeducation.com
Social Media Increasing Fundraising Efforts at Colleges and Universities
http://diverseeducation.com/article/75874/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203SpecialSend062915&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=9a3f5469a10249ef90a1377a7577b390&elqCampaignId=703&elqaid=1043&elqat=1&elqTrackId=8e3c4e18f2d34330a17b4a79b72aea29by Autumn A. Arnett
When Columbia University raised more than $7.8 million in a 24-hour period during its online Giving Day campaign in 2013, the institution set a new model for fundraising in higher education. The institution set up a website to serve as a central hub, then mobilized social media (primarily through Facebook), designated alumni fundraising champions and social media influencers, hosted on-campus events with expert panels that were livestreamed on the web and recorded video projects to thank donors, among other initiatives. Nearly 10,000 gifts came in from all 50 states and 53 countries. Slowly, people around the country began to take notice. …Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are not the only online tools being leveraged for fundraising in higher education. From sites such as Gofundme.com to USEED.org to custom platforms designed for individual schools, crowdfunding is quickly emerging as a way to attract more donors from the Internet.