USG Institutions:
www.educationdive.com
U of Georgia has saved students nearly $2M with OER
http://www.educationdive.com/news/u-of-georgia-has-saved-students-nearly-2m-with-oer/409694/
By Tara García Mathewson
The University of Georgia adopted open educational resources for a number of its courses since 2013 and is now approaching the $2 million mark in projected savings from the effort.
Campus Technology reports that the university has focused on courses with large enrollments to get the most impact from switching to free educational materials and maximize savings for students.
Georgia’s resources come from the California State University’s MERLOT library, as well as OpenStax College and eCore.

www.ajc.com
Making the Grade: High school offers college credit on its campus
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/making-the-grade-high-school-offers-college-credit/npPW4/
H.M.Cauley
For the AJC
A typical day for many of the advanced high school students at North Cobb Christian last year didn’t end until well after 7 p.m. And it wasn’t unusual to find them back in class on Saturday mornings. The commitment was part of being a dual-enrollment student who took college-level courses away from the school’s Kennesaw campus. NCC officials realized that these students were heavily involved in other activities such as drama, music and athletics that added to their intense schedules. So they designed a program that put dual-enrollment courses into their regular school day on the campus where they already spent most of their time. “The schedule was the real pickle,” said Todd Clingman, who has led the 33-year-old school for the last nine years. “For years, our students were going to Kennesaw State or Liberty University online, but it wasn’t with our instructors on our campus within our schedule. The idea of having an on-campus dual-enrollment was really cool.”

www.myajc.com
Turner Field bidders released
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/breaking-turner-field-bidders-released/npTXZ/
By Katie Leslie and J. Scott Trubey – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three groups have submitted bids to acquire all or part of Turner Field, according to the recreation authority overseeing the sale and redevelopment of the ballpark. Georgia State University is the only widely-recognized name among the bidders, which also include two little-known entities: Mercury Youth Organization, Inc. and Rita World Pearl Kingdom, LLC. Though Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed dropped hints of prominent suitors for the ballpark during the past two years, in the end, no other large scale development groups, corporate entities or casino interests made offers on the site.

Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Promise Provides Enrollment Boost
Tennessee Promise drives dramatic increases in freshman enrollments at the state’s two-year institutions.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/24/promise-program-sharply-lifts-tennessee-college-freshman-enrollment?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=5228eb4c4d-DNU20151124&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-5228eb4c4d-197515277
By Ashley A. Smith
In Tennessee, officials now have a clearer picture of the impact of the country’s first statewide, free two-year college program. For more than a year state officials, with money and rhetoric, have been encouraging high school seniors to help increase Tennessee’s population of adults with a college degree or certificate. And as of last week, new enrollment data show 16,291 of them have enrolled in the state’s community, technical and private colleges this fall because of the new Tennessee Promise program. The Promise is one of the initiatives Governor Bill Haslam implemented to make sure at least 55 percent of the state’s populace has a degree by 2025.

www.diverseeducation.com
Diverse Conversations: 4 Ways HBCUs Can Prepare Students for Lack of Workplace Diversity
http://diverseeducation.com/article/79113/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=f7705f93938342aa9d06259908c18733&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=49222fb58d474cdeb19d7dd9494054fd
by Matthew Lynch
Historically Black colleges and universities have always been places that encourage greater diversity when it comes to higher education, both on their campuses and in the greater college landscape. From their origins as being the only places people of color could go for a college education to their role today as welcoming all students and instilling cultural awareness, HBCUs stand as models of multicultural learning at its best. Are HBCUs doing enough to prepare their students for the real workplace, though? The reason so many college administrators, myself included, stand firmly by the necessity of HBCUs in contemporary college education is this: HBCUs provide a heightened diversity-centric environment that is not able to be duplicated in other settings. This is why these schools are so fantastic. But is all that idealism blindsiding our students later on? Do HBCUS give students a false sense of what to expect in the real workplace? There has to be a blending of what is actually happening in the workplace with what the ideal can be with the right people who work for it. So how can HBCUs promote diversity while still preparing their students for the reality of the American workplace today?

www.chronicle.com
A Virginia Tech Survivor Puts a Face on the Gun-Violence Prevention Movement
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Virginia-Tech-Survivor-Puts/234329?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elq=212977bbc2dc418a9a22212ffb5e8b92&elqCampaignId=1918&elqaid=7014&elqat=1&elqTrackId=323f379160d54b6cbef1fab48e639373
By Goldie Blumenstyk
For Colin Goddard, an advocate for stricter gun-safety laws, the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in October brought on an all-too-familiar sense of hopelessness. Eight and a half years ago, he was one of the students taking the bullets, shot four times while sitting in his French class at Virginia Tech. “You feel like you’re back at Day 1,” he says, “and you know there are now so many number of new innocent families in this country that are on Day 1” with you. Mr. Goddard’s own recovery and his early experiences in exposing lax gun-sale practices as an intern with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence have been chronicled in the 2011 documentary Living for 32, which is dedicated to the lives taken at Virginia Tech in 2007 and to “the 32 people killed by guns every day in America.” Now a senior policy advocate with the organization Everytown for Gun Safety, Mr. Goddard, 30, lobbies for background checks for gun purchasers and other gun-safety legislation, and helps train other survivors of gun violence to engage in advocacy.