University System News:
www.live5news.com
Students react to news of ASU-Darton ‘merger’
http://www.live5news.com/story/30485446/students-react-to-news-of-asu-darton-merger
By Melissa Hodges
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Board of Regents approved the merger just a few days after the plan was announced. Some Albany State students support a merger with Darton College, but a lot of other folks have strong opinions against it. News of the merger spread quickly across Albany State University’s campus. Supporters see great value in bringing the strengths of the schools together. Critics think the move will hurt the missions of both schools and say Darton’s identity will disappear. William Tillman, ASU Senior from Savannah says, “Came about out of nowhere. Been here four years. Best move they could have made.” Kaile Holloman, ASU Freshman said “Ummm, it’s going to be different.” The news caught some students by surprise at Darton, too. Freshman Ashleigh Moore, a Nursing Major says “We were talking about it yesterday, they are going to call it West Albany. No, Albany State University. Oh, Wow! That is interesting.” Interesting, but nearly every student of the more than a dozen students we spoke to felt like the merger held benefits for both schools.

www.noodls.com
Board of Regents Elects New Officers
http://www.noodls.com/viewNoodl/30766924/university-system-of-georgia/board-of-regents-elects-new-officers
The Board of Regents, the 19-member governing body for the University System of Georgia, today elected new officers for 2016. The positions include chair and vice chair. Regent Kessel Stelling Jr. was elected to a one-year term as the board’s chair. Stelling currently serves as vice chair. Regent C. Thomas Hopkins Jr., MD, was elected to a one-year term as the board’s vice chair.

www.metrogazette.com
Dr. Arthur Dunning Named President of Albany State University
http://www.metrogazette.com/article/dr-arthur-dunning-named-president-albany-state-university
Dr. Arthur (Art) Dunning has been named by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia as the permanent president of Albany State University. The regents’ decision followed a recommendation by University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby and ends the interim status he has held at Albany State since November 2013.

www.chronicle.augusta.com
Augusta University stops tougher admissions requirements
Augusta University looks to increase enrollment
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/2015-11-10/augusta-university-stops-tougher-admissions-requirements?v=1447207283
By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
ATLANTA — Plans to keep raising admissions standards at Augusta University ground to a halt after administrators decided it was hurting enrollment growth, President Brooks Keel told the Board of Regents on Tuesday. During a progress report, Keel said the goal is to boost admissions to the level of other research universities. That’s an outgrowth of the merger of the state’s medical/dental graduate school with a community college that offered open enrollment.

www.onlineathens.com
Regents OK upgrades to UGA’s Clark Howell Hall
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2015-11-10/regents-ok-upgrades-ugas-clark-howell-hall
By MORRIS NEWS SERVICE
ATLANTA | The Board of Regents approved Tuesday a $6 million renovation of Clark Howell Hall, a former University of Georgia dormitory that houses the school’s center for testing and disabled students. The project will update the interior of the 33,300-square-foot building constructed in 1937. That includes ventilation and safety improvements like sprinklers and handrails. University reserves will pay $1 million of the cost. The balance will come from the sale of bond by the state, if the governor and General Assembly approve.

USG Institutions:
www.valdostadailytimes.com
Yorkey Named Chancellor’s Service Excellence Ambassador of the Year
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/yorkey-named-chancellor-s-service-excellence-ambassador-of-the-year/article_7e6c535b-e780-54e2-8dc8-fb76f1d667ef.html
VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University’s Lt. Tim Yorkey is the 2015 University System of Georgia Chancellor’s Service Excellence Ambassador of the Year. …The Service Excellence Ambassador of the Year Award recognizes an individual who has successfully guided service excellence improvements throughout his or her institution and fostered service excellence teams and activities.

www.redandblack.com
UGA ranked No. 6 for highest graduate salaries in Georgia
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/athens/uga-ranked-no-for-highest-graduate-salaries-in-georgia/article_08962f32-8769-11e5-b25b-b3b90d73c061.html
Lisa Fu
College students worry about lots of things, but finding a job with a good starting salary might be number one on the list. And at the University of Georgia, recent graduates may not be making as much as they’d like, as UGA ranked No. 6 out of Georgia colleges in average starting salaries. University of Georgia graduates make an average starting salary of $43,800, according to SmartAsset, a personal finance and technology company. The company released a list that placed the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta at No. 1, with an average starting salary of $60,700, and Armstrong State University from Savannah at No. 7, with a $45,600 average starting salary.

www.tiftongazette.com
Tift Building renovation at UGA Tifton nears completion
http://www.tiftongazette.com/news/tift-building-renovation-at-uga-tifton-nears-completion/article_be4837e0-87db-11e5-b1cf-cbeb651a52c1.html
By Tatyana Phelps
TIFTON — The Tift Building on the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, which is under renovation, should be furnished in late December and ready for move-in next January, said Joe West, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences assistant dean. “Our architectural firm and construction management firm have done an amazing job. We’re on track, on schedule and I think we’re going to end up with a product that we’re proud of,” West said. The newly renovated Tift Building will house several campus support offices, including the assistant dean’s office, business office, development office and campus public relations office. The campus’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics is also being relocated to the renovated building, and will occupy the top floor. The front of the campus will once again be a busy hub for agriculture and UGA, according to West.

www.coastalcourier.com
Armstrong State University a top school for veterans
http://coastalcourier.com/section/5/article/77183/
Military Times honored Armstrong State University this week, ranking the institution seventh among four-year schools on its “Best for Vets: Colleges 2016” list. Now in its sixth year, the annual rankings stand apart as the most comprehensive school-by-school assessment of veteran and military students’ success rates. This year marks the second consecutive year Armstrong has been included on the list.

www.walb.com
Darton State recognized as military friendly
http://www.walb.com/story/30486072/darton-state-recognized-as-military-friendly
By Aaryn Valenzuela
Darton State College is honored for its service to military students. Victory Media recognized Darton for the 5th year in a row as military friendly. College officials they enjoy serving students who have served our country.

www.news.yahoo.com
10 Historically Black Colleges Where Alumni Contribute the Most
https://news.yahoo.com/10-historically-black-colleges-where-alumni-contribute-most-140000340.html
By Delece Smith-Barrow
The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search. There’s almost no better way for college grads to thank their alma maters than by writing a check. At many schools, alumni donations fund scholarships, start new programs and help maintain campus facilities. And graduates are getting more generous. Alumni donations increased 9.4 percent in 2014, according to the Council for Aid to Education.
Fort Valley State University – Average percentage of alumni who donated 14.4%; U.S. News historically black colleges and universities rank 39 (tie)

www.artsatl.com
Preview: Under the leadership of Ivan Pulinkala, Kennesaw State celebrates 10 years of dance
http://www.artsatl.com/2015/11/preview-ivan-pulinkala-kennesaw-state-celebrates-10-years-dance/
By GILLIAN ANNE RENAULT
Dr. Ivan Pulinkala, chair of the Department of Dance at Kennesaw State University (KSU), is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the program he founded, thanks to a job he didn’t really want. …Pulinkala and his faculty have created a thriving program that’s turning out highly accomplished dancers known for their strong technique. One hundred students have graduated (with an 80 percent graduation rate) — including one student who came all the way from Iceland to study — and this year the program attracted more than 100 applicants, of which only 25 were accepted. …A defining aspect of KSU’s dance program is the cost. Emory University and Spelman College both have dance programs, but they are private schools, with private school tuition. Emory’s undergraduate tuition is more than $45,000 a year. Kennesaw’s is around $7,000 for in-state students, with opportunities for HOPE scholarships.

Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
New Guide to Remediation
National organizations and states partner to develop a set of principles to guide reform efforts on remedial education.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/11/groups-release-principles-improving-remedial-education?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=5cf93c1075-DNU20151111&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-5cf93c1075-197515277
By Ashley A. Smith
Colleges and states have spent years working on ways to improve remedial education, especially as they find more students are graduating high school unprepared for the rigors of college. Sixty-eight percent of community college students and 40 percent of students at public four-year colleges take at least one remedial course, and even more students are referred to developmental courses but never enroll in them, according to the Community College Research Center. Now a slate of national organizations and states are endorsing six principles, all in an effort to aid in transforming and improving remediation.

www.insidehighered.com
White House Push on Veterans’ Education
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/11/11/white-house-push-veterans-education?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=5cf93c1075-DNU20151111&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-5cf93c1075-197515277
The Obama administration this week announced several new efforts it said would help veterans of the U.S. military get more out of their college educations. The White House said it was unveiling a redesigned version of a federal GI Bill Comparison Tool, drawing new data from the broader College Scorecard to give veteran-specific data on graduation and retention rates. (Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill’s creation in 2009, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has spent more than $57 billion on education benefits that 1.5 million students received, the White House said.) In addition, the administration said the VA and the Federal Trade Commission have signed a new agreement to “provide enhanced oversight and strengthen enforcement against schools that engage in deceptive or misleading advertising, sales or enrollment practices towards veterans.”