University System News:
www.ajc.com
Georgia schools among U.S. News rankings of top colleges
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-schools-among-us-news-rankings-of-top-coll/nnbJj/
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Emory University is Georgia’s highest ranked school in the latest rankings by U.S News and World Report, which also lists Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia among the top 100 institutions in the nation. The 2016 rankings, released Wednesday, include data on almost 1,800 colleges and rankings of 1,376 schools scoring them on up to 16 academic measures, including graduation and retention rates. …Georgia Tech ranked 36th and UGA shared a 61st place ranking with four schools including Clemson and Syracuse universities. All three Georgia institutions had freshman retention rates of at least 94 percent and graduation rates last year of at least 82 percent. Among the top 30 public universities, Georgia Tech again ranked 7th, and UGA was 21st …Georgia State University ranked fifth among national universities in a new U.S. News ranking this year of most innovative schools.
www.washingtonpost.com
The U.S. News and World Report college rankings: A public vs. private dilemma
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/09/09/the-u-s-news-and-world-report-college-rankings-a-public-vs-private-dilemma/
By Nick Anderson
There was a time in the 1980s when the University of California at Berkeley was deemed a top-five national university on the most prominent annual ranking in higher education, up there with Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale. No longer. Nowadays one of the most prestigious public institutions in the world, with seven Nobel laureates on its faculty, can barely crack the top 20 in U.S. News and World Report’s list of best national universities. For the third straight year, according to rankings released Wednesday, UC-Berkeley is No. 20 on that list. It sits just behind Rice, Notre Dame and 17 other private universities that are rearranged very slightly, if at all, from year to year.
USG Institutions:
www.huffingtonpost.com
The 50 Fittest Colleges in America 2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-active-times/the-50-fittest-colleges-i_b_8073230.html
This is our third annual attempt to define the best of the best, which we openly admit is not an easy task. There are countless esteemed schools to take into consideration, each with their own unique qualities and accolades, but at the end of the day, only 50 fit schools can earn a spot in our rankings. #8 University of Georgia #48: Georgia Institute of Technology
www.wfxg.com
Young Richmond Hill girl wins college savings in summer reading program
http://www.wfxg.com/story/29983949/young-richmond-hill-girl-wins-college-savings-in-summer-reading-program
By WTOC Staff
RICHMOND HILL, GA (WTOC) – A 9 year old from Richmond Hill is already putting a dent into her college savings account. Katey Atkins, a student at McAllister Elementary School, was one of the big winners in Georgia’s Path-to-College summer reading program sweepstakes. She received a little over $1,500, and her library, Richmond Hill Public Library, also won $500. Katey’s parents said she dreams of attending college to become a teacher. …This is the sixth year the Path-to-College Plan and Georgia Public Library Service have partnered, and the second time a winner came from Richmond Hill.
www.accesswdun.com
UNG signs agreement with Germany’s Goethe-Institut
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/9/334531/ung-signs-agreement-with-germanys-goethe-institut
By AccessWDUN staff
DAHLONEGA – The University of North Georgia (UNG) has created a partnership with the Goethe-Institut, the premiere global German language and cultural organization, that will provide advanced courses for UNG students and expand the university’s German language program. The Goethe-Institut, headquartered in Munich, has 159 centers throughout the world in more than 80 countries, but the agreement with UNG marks the first time the organization has partnered with an American university to offer language credit. The direct-enrollment program, in which UNG students will enroll in the institute, is the only one of its kind.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Review of former GRU chief finds only password violation
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2015-09-08/gru-releases-findings-investigation-against-former-police-chief
By Travis Highfield, Staff Writer
Georgia Regents University has finished its investigation into complaints against its former public safety chief, concluding that only one of the five allegations is substantiated. A copy of the report obtained by The Augusta Chronicle on Tuesday states that Amanda Flanders, who was an administrative assistant for Chief William McBride, said there were several concerns she wanted the university to be aware of. Among the allegations were the inappropriate administration of salary increases, a violation of the school’s password protection policy, reports of discriminatory and threatening behavior and misuse of state funds. The investigation was handled by the Compliance and Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit and Human Resources offices. McBride was found to have violated the University Information Security Password Protection Policy, something others who were interviewed admitted to doing as well. …Though there was no direct evidence of McBride mishandling state funds to “the level of malfeasance,” the report suggested that better judgment could have been used.
Higher Education News:
www.diverseeducation.com
Sex Talk Part of Curriculum Under New York Campus Safety Law
http://diverseeducation.com/article/77704/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=105281a7fb554ef5af5acfd82a6ee88d&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=a8e63722b35f484da2cb7e318bfaeba3
by Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press
ALLEGANY, N.Y. — They’d barely arrived on campus at St. Bonaventure University, but already the new students were talking about hooking up. Administrators didn’t mind. In fact, they’d encouraged—even required—it to comply with a new state law meant to prevent sex assaults on campuses. At colleges elsewhere, students watched skits about sex, saw videos on YouTube, had face-to-face sessions at orientation and clicked through online courses for what has become one of the earliest lessons of college life: That only “yes”—not silence or a lack of resistance—is the cue for sex. In July, New York became the second state, after California, to write the affirmative consent standard into law for campuses. But it’s becoming the norm at colleges around the country that are under the same pressure to reduce and better handle sexual assault cases.
www.chronicle.com
Bystander Intervention: Not Just for Sexual Assault
http://chronicle.com/article/Bystander-Intervention-Not/232935/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Katherine Mangan
Austin, Tex.
Bystander intervention is a hot topic at campus orientation sessions this fall as colleges struggle to come up with new ways to prevent sexual assaults. But the University of Texas system is taking that idea much further by urging students to step in to try to stave off suicide, binge drinking, hazing, hate speech, and even offensive language and academic dishonesty.
www.insidehighered.com
80,000 Cal State Students Hit in Data Breach
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/09/09/80000-cal-state-students-hit-data-breach?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=a6202d0822-DNU20150909&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-a6202d0822-197515277
Nearly 80,000 students on eight California State University System campuses have had their data breached, The Los Angeles Times reported. The students were participating in a required online course on sexual violence, provided by an outside vendor, We End Violence.
www.diverseeducation.com
Couple Donates $20M to Notre Dame to Aid Low-income Students
http://diverseeducation.com/article/77702/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=105281a7fb554ef5af5acfd82a6ee88d&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=4e2f5c67a1554dcd85e2942c1706c4cf
by Associated Press
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A New Jersey couple has donated $20 million to the University of Notre Dame to help low-income students pay tuition and other expenses. The donation was made by University of Notre Dame alumnus Sean Cullinan and his wife, Sue, of Glen Ridge, New Jersey. The money will be used to fund the Fighting Irish Initiative, which will fully fund the cost for low-income students to attend Notre Dame, including tuition and fees, room and board, books, transportation and personal expenses.
www.nytimes.com
Is College Tuition Really Too High?
The answer depends on what you mean by college.
By ADAM DAVIDSON
To understand the feeling of crisis that many see in higher education right now, it’s useful to start with some figures from 40 years ago. In 1974, the median American family earned just under $13,000 a year. A new home could be had for $36,000, an average new car for $4,400. Attending a four-year private college cost around $2,000 a year: affordable, with some scrimping, to even median earners. As for public university, it was a bargain at $510 a year. To put these figures in 2015 dollars, we’re talking about median household income of $62,000, a house for $174,000 and a sticker price of $21,300 for the car, $10,300 for the private university and $2,500 for the public one. A lot has changed since then. Median family income has fallen to about $52,000, while median home prices have increased by about two-thirds. (Car prices have remained steady.) But the real outlier is higher education.
www.chronicle.com
President Obama to Announce a New ‘College Promise’ Campaign
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/president-obama-to-announce-a-new-college-promise-campaign/104269
by Goldie Blumenstyk
The movements for free community college and other tuition- and debt-free college programs will get a renewed push on Wednesday when President Obama returns to Macomb Community College, in Michigan — along with Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and a longtime community-college professor — to announce a wide-ranging new effort called the College Promise campaign.