University System News:
www.redandblack.com
Textbook prices rise by more than 1000 percent since 1977
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/textbook-prices-rise-by-more-than-percent-since/article_0cedc10a-51d9-11e5-b0db-0764a7ad5c55.html
Nate Harris
Textbook prices have risen by more than 1,000 percent since 1977, over three times the rate of inflation, according to an NBC analysis of numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For struggling college students, expensive textbooks can present a heavy financial burden. “The price of everything has gone up in the world,” said Kathy Partridge, the manager of Beat the Bookstore in Athens. “Authors want to be paid more, the research costs more, the shipping costs more, and so in the end, the textbook costs more.”
USG Institutions:
www.onlineathens.com
Man makes UGA student uncomfortable
http://onlineathens.com/blotter/2015-09-02/inappropriate-comments-made-uga-student
By JOE JOHNSON
A 21-year-old University of Georgia student reported she was working at an apparel shop downtown Tuesday evening when a man made her uncomfortable with a sexual comment, Athens-Clarke County police said. The 32-year-old man was known to employees at the store on East Clayton Street because he frequently goes in there, but a police report did not indicate if the man ever buys anything. …According to the UGA student, the man got close to her and said, he was “not going to ask her to have sex,” then showed her a piece of paper on which there was some scribbling and pointed to the word “rape” before leaving the store.
www.savannahtribune.com
Armstrong History Professor Awarded Prestigious National Honor
http://www.savannahtribune.com/news/2015-09-02/Social_%28and%29_Community_News/Armstrong_History_Professor_Awarded_Prestigious_Na.html
Dr. Felicity Turner, assistant professor of history at Armstrong State University, recently received the Coordinating Council for Women in History’s 2015 Nupur Chaudhuri Prize for her article, “Rights and the Ambiguities of the Law: Infanticide in the Nineteenth Century U.S. South.” The article was originally published in the September 2014 issue of The Journal of the Civil War Era. The national Coordinating Council for Women in History presents the award for the best first article published by a member of the organization during the previous two years.
www.wuga.org
UGA Reseacher Receives $2.9 Million Grant
http://www.wuga.org/index.php?/News/newsstory/uga-reseacher-receives-2.9-million-grant
The University of Georgia has received a five-year, $2.99 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an interdisciplinary graduate training program in disease ecology. The program is led by Vanessa Ezenwa, associate professor in the Odum School of Ecology and College of Veterinary Medicine’s department of infectious diseases.
www.metrospirit.com
Dr. Keel should chat with Bob Young
http://metrospirit.com/dr-keel-should-chat-with-bob-young/#.VedceflVhuA
The Insider
In this week’s cover story featuring Georgia Regents University’s new president Dr. Brooks Keel, the Insider was surprised to read that Keel believes the dispute over the university’s name is in the past. Now, Keel did acknowledge that the name change temporarily divided the university, but he told Metro Spirit reporter Stacey Eidson that he feels that things are back on track. “I think it was an unfortunate setback that held the whole university back from making as much progress as it possibly could have,” Keel told the Metro Spirit in this week’s cover story. “But I think we are beyond that now and I think people realize that the merger has brought together two totally different universities and created something really magnificent in the wake of all of that.” Keel insisted that there has been a “tremendous marriage” between the two campuses that will only benefit the entire area.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
State, college leaders visit King’s Hawaiian
Dignitaries tour plant as part of area agricultural showcase
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/111855/preview/
By Frank Reddy
Visiting leaders from the University of Georgia, the state legislature and the department of agriculture donned white smocks, hair nets and hardhats as they toured the inner workings King’s Hawaiian in Flowery Branch Wednesday afternoon. It was all part of a tour designed to showcase agriculture’s $72 billion impact on Georgia’s economy to key leaders throughout the state. Aimed at strengthening the relationship between UGA and the agriculture community, the stop at the Flowery Branch bread manufacturer was the second local visit of the day.
www.jbhe.com
Higher Education Grants of Interest to African Americans
Fort Valley State University, a historically Black educational institution in Georgia, received a three-year, $538,148 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. The grant will support research on target detection using machine learning systems. Georgia State University in Atlanta received a $1 million donation from Regynald G. Washington, the chief executive officer of Hojeij Branded Foods. He is the former vice president for worldwide food and beverage operations for Walt Disney resorts. The university’s graduate program in hospitality management will be named in Washington’s honor.
www.bizjournals.com
Gwinnett officials approve 1.1-million-square-foot proposed office park on Hwy. 316 (SLIDESHOW)
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/real_talk/2015/09/gwinnett-offiicals-approve-1-1-million-square-foot.html
Douglas Sams
Commercial Real Estate Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Gwinnett County officials gave the go-ahead for a nearly 160-acre project on Georgia 316 that looks as much like a college campus as an office park. Canadian real estate company The Walton Group of Cos. brought the proposal before the Gwinnett County Planning Commission last night, almost three years after it began scooping up land along 316. The highway connects Atlanta to its far northeastern suburbs and the University of Georgia. Walton likes the site because of its location between Georgia Tech and UGA.
www.globalatlanta.com
Georgia Tech Launches New Logistics Center in Singapore
http://www.globalatlanta.com/article/27787/georgia-tech-launches-new-logistics-center-in-singapore/
by Trevor Williams
Georgia Institute of Technology is revitalizing its ties with the National University of Singapore through the creation of a new institute to study the future of logistics in the Southeast Asian city-state and its surrounding region. Last month, the two schools launched the Center for Next Generation Logistics in Singapore at a ceremony that drew more than 150 government and business representatives. The center is the latest step in a longstanding relationship with NUS, with which Georgia Tech established an Asian logistics institute in the late 1990s.
www.athensceo.com
AT&T Upgrades Four Athens Cell Sites to Boost Wireless Network Performance
http://athensceo.com/features/2015/09/t-upgrades-four-athens-cell-sites-boost-wireless-network-performance/?utm_source=Athens+CEO&utm_campaign=2926f97533-valdostaceo-daily_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3401d54c55-2926f97533-303727209
Staff Report From Athens CEO
AT&T has made several upgrades to improve service for its local wireless customers and students returning to campus. In August, the company added 60% more capacity to four cell sites around Athens and the UGA campus. The stronger cell sites can handle more traffic, which helps improve mobile Internet data speeds and voice service for customers. The areas in Athens benefitting from the network upgrades include downtown Athens, the main UGA campus and the east campus/intramural field area.
www.hakaimagazine.com
The Blessing & The Shrimp
Faced with declining returns, hardy Georgia shrimpers hold tight to their traditions of pageantry and prayer.
http://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-long/blessing-shrimp
by Lina Zeldovich
The shrimp harvest was once so bountiful that a few good weeks a year could sustain a family and its boat. But “shrimp landings”—the quantity of shrimp fished out of the sea—have plummeted in the past decade because of a mysterious infection that turns the crustaceans’ gills black. …Afflicted shrimp are safe for humans to eat—scientists call black gill a condition, not a disease—but the paltry catches cost many families their livelihoods. …Black gill doesn’t directly kill the shrimp, but it makes it an easy dinner, says Marc Frischer, a microbiologist at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah, Georgia. Shrimp with black gill tire more quickly—perhaps because of the infection or due to oxygen deprivation from the damaged gills—and become easy prey. Whenever an infected shrimp outgrows its exoskeleton, shedding it for a new one with healthy white gills, the infection soon returns and the gills again turn black. To get rid of the damaged gills, shrimp molt excessively, which wears them out, increasing their risk of being eaten. …Exactly what causes black gill is an enigma that has scientists glued to their microscopes.
Higher Education News:
www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
National SAT scores down. Georgia up. Does it mean anything?
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/09/03/national-sat-scores-down-georgia-up-does-it-mean-anything/
Do SAT scores mean anything? Can we draw anything from the news today national scores are down slightly despite a push for more “rigor” and an increased emphasis on literacy starting in kindergarten? According to the College Board, the average score for the Class of 2015 was 1490 out of a 2400, a 7 point drop from the prior year. Even more disconcerting, 1490 represents the lowest overall score in a decade. However, Georgia registered an increase at the same time more students are taking the college admissions test. We still lag the national average, but we are improving.
www.insidehighered.com
SAT Scores Drop
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/03/sat-scores-drop-and-racial-gaps-remain-large?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=512fde5bd3-DNU20150902&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-512fde5bd3-197515277
By Scott Jaschik
SAT scores dropped significantly for the class of college-bound seniors this year. All three sections saw declines — and the numbers were down for male and female students alike. At the same time, SAT scores showed continued patterns in which white and Asian students, on average, receive higher scores than do black and Latino students. And, as has been the case for years, students from wealthier families score better than do those from disadvantaged families. These and other figures — including new data on Advanced Placement participation — are being released today by the College Board.
www.kpbs.org
Why Are Colleges Really Going Test-Optional?
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/sep/03/why-are-colleges-really-going-test-optional/
Cory Turner / NPR
It’s an increasingly popular move in higher education. Hundreds of schools no longer require student applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores. In July, George Washington University became the latest school to throw its considerable weight behind the test-optional movement. Its explanation: “The test-optional policy should strengthen and diversify an already outstanding applicant pool and will broaden access for those high-achieving students who have historically been underrepresented at selective colleges and universities, including students of color, first-generation students and students from low-income households,” said Laurie Koehler, who leads enrollment efforts at George Washington. …As evidence, Burd cites the work of Andrew Belasco, who was a doctoral student at the University of Georgia when he led this study of the effects of going test-optional: “The Test-Optional Movement at America’s Selective Liberal Arts Colleges: A Boon for Equity or Something Else?” The study included 180 liberal arts colleges — roughly 30 of them test-optional — and Belasco looked at their enrollments over nearly two decades. What he found surprised a lot of people, himself included: “no statistically significant evidence suggesting that there was even a slight bump in diversity.”
www.diverseeducation.com
In Higher Ed, Flexibility Seen as the Key
http://diverseeducation.com/article/77602/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=189d3a0015fc4edf9f164de141ffdb93&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=04d11a9711404ca69a7a3080a584840b
by Autumn A. Arnett
Just as the country is seeing a big shift in the way we see information obtained and consumed, so, too, is higher education experiencing a shift. That was the message a group of higher education leaders delivered at the 2015 Men and Women of Color Summit at Mississippi State University last week. “The landscape of higher education is changing,” said Karl Reid, executive director of the National Society of Black Engineers. “I believe higher education is going through a paradigm shift and I believe the forces that are driving that are affordability … and technology.” If rising and current leaders in the higher education space are going to best serve their students, they are going to have to recognize the shift and be ready to adapt.
www.insidehighered.com
Looming Battle Over Perkins Loans
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/03/colleges-fight-save-expiring-federal-loan-program-some-republicans-eye-its-demise?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=512fde5bd3-DNU20150902&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-512fde5bd3-197515277
By Michael Stratford
Colleges and universities are ramping up their efforts to preserve a federal student loan program that some congressional Republicans are eyeing for elimination in the next several weeks. The Federal Perkins Loan Program, which allows colleges to make loans of typically several thousand dollars to certain students, will expire on Sept. 30 unless Congress acts to reauthorize it.