USG Institutions:
www.ajc.com
Georgia colleges rank among Kiplinger’s best value colleges for 2016
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-colleges-rank-among-kiplingers-best-value-/npkyn/
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Emory ranked 23rd among the top 50 overall college values, according to the 2016 “Best College Value” rankings from the business and personal finance publisher. The four-year university, with a total yearly cost of $60,668 according to Kiplinger’s, was the highest overall ranked Georgia institution. Emory also ranked 10th among the top 10 private university values. Virginia’s Washington and Lee University claimed the top spot for best overall college value, followed by Princeton and Harvard universities, and Davidson and Swarthmore colleges. The University of Georgia, ranked 92nd, was the only other Georgia school to place in the top 100 overall institutions. Among public schools, UGA ranked 12th and Georgia Tech ranked 23rd for in-state students. For out-of-state students, the rankings dropped slightly to 18th and 24th, respectively.

www.time.com
The 14 Most Improved Public Colleges in the U.S.
http://time.com/money/4135957/most-improving-public-colleges/
Kim Clark
Based on their graduation rates—a key measure of educational quality.
Here’s some encouraging college news: Most colleges are getting better at educating and supporting students through to graduation. A new study of college graduation rates by the Education Trust, a Washington, D.C., think tank, has found that most colleges have raised their graduation rates during the last decade. And, overall, beleaguered public colleges have improved the most. Today, 58% of freshmen at public colleges earn bachelor’s degrees within six years. While that might not sound impressive, it’s almost 5 percentage points higher than the rate from a decade ago. University of Georgia Money Rank 68; Graduation Rate 83%; Georgia State University Money Rank 483; Graduation Rank 53%

www.savannahnow.com
Armstrong named top performing school for underrepresented minority students
http://savannahnow.com/your-good-news/2015-12-17/p-nodehl1spanarmstrong-named-top-performing-school-underrepresented
By The Savannah Morning News
The Education Trust recently named Armstrong State University a top performing school for underrepresented minority students. The nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., shapes and influences national and state policy with a focus on reducing achievement gaps, according to Armstrong State University. In the Trust’s new report, Rising Tide: Do College Grad Rate Gains Benefit All Students?, Armstrong is identified as one of 26 top performing universities nationwide. You can locate it online at https://edtrust.org/resource/rising-tide/.

www.henryherald.com
Immigrant achieves dream at Clayton State at 60
http://www.henryherald.com/features/immigrant-achieves-dream-at-clayton-state-at/article_731b435d-a27a-5907-bca7-2df763d0c362.html
From Staff Reports
MORROW — If there was one word to describe Dennis Sutherland it would have to be “determined.” The recent graduate of Clayton State University walked across the stage Dec. 12 to receive his degree in business management with a minor in supply chain management, but what makes his story different is how he pushed through several obstacles to make his dream a reality. Sutherland, a 60-year-old immigrant from Kingston, Jamaica, moved to the United States in 2009, and four years ago, he enrolled at Clayton State as a full-time student while working full-time at a grocery store. “I have 15 grandkids,” said Sutherland. “One of my objectives was to be an example for them. I taught English and math in Jamaica for 15 years, and I believe my exposure in education was the driving force for me to go into the educational system and elevate myself here.” However, earning his degree while also working a full-time job was no easy feat for Sutherland, who said he had to make studying a priority.

www.americantowns.com
Columbus State University Celebrates 111th Commencement
http://www.americantowns.com/ga/columbus/news/columbus-state-university-celebrates-111th-commencement-24854299
Friends, family and loved ones gathered at the Columbus Civic Center Monday night to celebrate the hard work and achievements of Columbus State University’s fall 2015 graduating class. More than 550 degrees were awarded during the university’s 111the commencement ceremony, which featured an address from Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson.

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
Georgia Gwinnett graduate, Rwanda native, speaks at commencement
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/education/georgia-gwinnett-graduate-rwanda-native-speaks-at-commencement/article_de97af55-8faa-5201-8fd5-77b856b425df.html
From Staff Reports
LAWRENCEVILLE — The latest graduation at Georgia Gwinnett College was equal parts patriotic, inspirational and emotional. It was a milestone event with the final students to graduate during GGC’s 10th anniversary year, including the college’s 3,000th graduate. …The emotional remarks came from Olivia Mugenga, originally from Rwanda. She praised her father, Joseph Mugenga, who raised four daughters on his own after losing his wife in the Rwandan genocide. …Mugenga said her father sent his children to school in Belgium and later to the U.S. for college, despite being wrongfully imprisoned,. One of her sisters, Sandrine Irankunda, graduated from GGC in 2012 and is now the college’s residence director. Mugenga grew up speaking French and had to learn English when she enrolled at GGC.

www.13wmaz.com
Middle Ga. State University graduates first class
http://www.13wmaz.com/story/news/local/macon/2015/12/17/middle-ga-state-university-graduation/77507724/
WMAZ Staff
Middle Georgia State hosted its first fall commencement and its first graduation ceremony as a university Thursday morning. With their diplomas, Middle Georgia State University’s first graduating class can reap the benefits of their hard work. “I went on and off part-time, full-time, because I also worked,” said graduate Jill White, “So, it was a lot. It took 5 and half years, but it was worth it.” White earned her degree in Public Service and wants to get a job helping older adults. “There’s a lot that can be done there. A lot of opportunities to make it better for them, because we have such a huge aging community coming up with baby boomers,” she explained. Middle Georgia State gained university status in July. More than 200 graduates from the school’s College of Education and College of Arts and Sciences walked across the stage Thursday morning to receive their diploma.

www.statesboroherald.com
GSU may use ticket system for future fall commencements
Recent overflow crowds prompt possible changes
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/71780/
BY Al Hackle
For several years now, attendance at Georgia Southern University’s fall commencement has overflowed Hanner Fieldhouse, and friends and relatives shut out of the gym have been invited to watch on a screen at the Russell Union. This year, a second remote viewing site was needed for the largest of the three ceremonies, all held Dec. 11. One thing Georgia Southern hasn’t done in recent years is assign each graduate a limited number of tickets, but officials say they are considering it.

www.macon.com
Middle Georgia State University waives parking fines for toys
http://www.macon.com/news/local/article49873140.html
BY STANLEY DUNLAP
‘Tis the season at Middle Georgia State University, where the magic of Christmas can make traffic fines disappear in exchange for a nice gesture. When the university offered to allow people with parking tickets to instead donate toys this holiday season, the campus police department’s staff didn’t expect the program to take off like it has. Over the past few weeks, more than 100 toys have been donated across the school’s five campuses as students have had their fines waived to help children in Middle Georgia. The school’s Toys for Tickets program benefits Toys for Tots led by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. The idea behind Toys for Tickets came after hearing about another department offering the program in its community, Police Chief Shawn Douglas said. “We thought if we could get 40 to 50 gifts, then it would be a good year,” he said. “We’re now over 120, so we’ve surpassed our goal.” After receiving clearance from Middle Georgia State’s administration, the school’s precincts became drop-off locations for toys that cost at least $10. The average parking ticket is $25, so students were able to save some money while also helping out a worthy cause, Douglas said.

www.gwinnettdailypost.com
Georgia Gwinnett College’s Chase Hodges named national coach of the year
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/sports/college/georgia-gwinnett-college-s-chase-hodges-named-national-coach-of/article_067003b4-7c3c-5b3c-8365-a9d934dfadf3.html
From Staff Reports
Monday evening brought another great moment for the Georgia Gwinnett College tennis program and head men’s and women’s coach Chase Hodges. Hodges was presented with his 2015 NAIA Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year award from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association at the ITA’s annual Coaches Convention at the Naples Grande Breach Resort in Naples, Fla. …“I was humbled and honored to receive this award again in front of my peers and colleagues,” said Hodges, who earned the honor for the second straight season. “The ITA does an amazing job with this convention in Naples and it is great to play a very small part in the growth of college tennis in the USA.”

www.onlineathens.com
Phone, Internet out on parts of UGA campus later today
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-12-17/phone-internet-will-be-out-parts-uga-campus-today
By STAFF REPORTS
Phone and Internet service on parts of the University of Georgia campus will be affected today from 5 to 6 p.m. as schedule maintenance on the campus network will leave some services in the dark. Here’s a note from UGA detailing the outages:

www.bizjournals.com
UGA, Georgia Tech team up to build camp for disabled children
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2015/12/17/uga-georgia-tech-team-up-to-build-camp-for.html?ana=e_du_pap&s=article_du&ed=2015-12-17&u=RTlVDXqeoAo7%2BsAViRbL%2FQ0ac0dabf&t=1450443239
Phil W. Hudson
Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
The University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design and Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture partnered with Extra Special People Inc. to build a “first-of-its-kind, fully accessible overnight camp for children and young adults with developmental disabilities.” UGA reported Camp Hooray, which will be located on a 70 acres in Jackson County, will have traditional camp activities including music, sports and games, art, swimming, boating, archery, field days, talent shows and overnight stays. The project would use the land design expertise of UGA’s College of Environment and Design and Georgia Tech’s architecture expertise to make the space sustainable and feature accessible design for residential cabins, outdoor spaces and common areas around a small rural lake.

www.noodls.com
Emory-UGA agree to reciprocal use of core facilities
http://www.noodls.com/viewNoodl/31364231/emory-university/emory-uga-agree-to-reciprocal-use-of-core-facilities
Research leaders at Emory University and the University of Georgia recently agreed to the reciprocal use of core facilities at the two institutions. Cores are available for the use of researchers from either institution at the same rates and terms offered to internal faculty users. The aim of the Memorandum of Understanding is to create a greater availability of research support services for faculty at both institutions, to minimize duplication of resources, and to expand research collaboration opportunities.

www.onlineathens.com
Solar power project will benefit UGA and Georgia Power
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-12-15/solar-power-project-will-benefit-uga-and-georgia-power
By JIM THOMPSON
Sunlight fell generously across rows upon rows of solar panels off South Milledge Avenue in Athens on Tuesday afternoon to mark the beginning of a solar energy partnership between Georgia Power Company and the University of Georgia. It’s an initiative the Georgia Public Service Commission will be watching as Georgia Power, and other utilities across the state, look toward diversifying their portfolio of options for power generation.

www.ajc.com
Bragbook for Dec. 18
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/bragbook-for-dec-18/npmRq/
Shelagh MaRee Hardrich
For the AJC
Dr. Scott Mitchell, Shaquille Smith, Kayla Sims, LeKeisha Jackson and Jada Brown of Georgia Perimeter Decatur received the Beautification Group of the Year award from DeKalb Clean and Beautiful for their continued service and environmental stewardship for the county.

www.valdostadailytimes.com
Cagle links education, economy
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/cagle-links-education-economy/article_70a3b073-2b67-5a84-93ec-ce4f8956415b.html
by Jason Stewart
VALDOSTA — Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle believes education drives the economy. Cagle met with business leaders to discuss the economic impact of education in the state, at a Dec. 9 Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce function. Cagle visited the city to assist State Sen. Ellis Black (R) with a fundraiser, he said, but the visit also afforded him the opportunity to see Cecil Staton, interim president for Valdosta State University, who Cagle called his friend. During his visit, Cagle spoke to the business leaders about his plan to build a workforce in Georgia using education. …During his speech, Cagle mentioned Move On When Ready, an educational initiative that allows qualifying high school students to earn college credit.
About MOWR, Cagle said, “We have schools that have no ceilings.”

www.coastalcourier.com
UGA Skidway scientist studies Arctic black carbon
http://coastalcourier.com/section/139/article/78007/
SAVANNAH — University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Aron Stubbins led a team of researchers to determine the levels of black carbon in Arctic rivers and found that the input of black carbon to the Arctic Ocean is likely to increase with global warming. The results of their study were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science. Black carbon, or biochar, is formed when vegetation and other organic matter burns. Today black carbon is a massive store of carbon in global soils, where it is thought to be very stable — so stable that researchers have previously suggested that adding black carbon to soils might be a good way to lock away carbon dioxide and reduce climate change. This new research reveals that the black carbon stored in Arctic soils is being exported to the oceans.

www.onlineathens.com
Arrest made in Georgia State student robbery inside library
http://onlineathens.com/national-news/2015-12-17/arrest-made-georgia-state-student-robbery-inside-library
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA | The Georgia State University Police Department has made an arrest in connection with an armed robbery that occurred on campus. Police tell local media outlets that 38-year-old Daniel Duplessy was arrested Wednesday on charges of armed robbery and an outstanding failure to appear warrant. An incident report says a student was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday afternoon inside Library North. The student wasn’t injured, but his cellphone and laptop were stolen.

www.wtvm.com
ASU Police issue warrants for robbery suspect
http://www.wtvm.com/story/30770755/asu-police-issue-warrants-for-robbery-suspect
By Jim Wallace
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – Albany State University Police issued arrest warrants for a man they charged with robbing three of their students at gunpoint, and one of them was caught on surveillance video. 19-year-old Devin Randle is charged with at least two counts of armed robbery. Police said that surveillance video from the Albany State Campus on October 13th showed Randle chasing and robbing William Chunn on Radium Springs Road as he returned from a party. Officers said Randle, who is known as Hoodie, robbed 3 students within one hour.

Higher Education News:
www.wsbradio.com
Georgia still ranks near bottom for high school graduation rate
http://www.wsbradio.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-still-ranks-near-bottom-for-high-school-gr/npkQq/
By Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s public high schools ranked sixth from the bottom among states, judged on their ability to graduate students on time. The new report on the “four-year adjusted cohort rate” is for the 2013-14 school year.
Georgia’s overall rate was 72.5 percent, ahead of Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico and the District of Columbia, according to the data assembled by the National Center for Education Statistics.

www.chronicle.com
College Enrollment Declines for 4th Straight Year
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/college-enrollment-declines-for-4th-straight-year/107458?elq=45ede19995cf44eaaffb0074209611df&elqCampaignId=2090&elqaid=7264&elqat=1&elqTrackId=f68916fefc8d4b4084ef285d29c62f5e
Overall college enrollment has dipped for the fourth straight year, according to an annual report released on Wednesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. According to the report, overall enrollment has dropped 1.7 percent since last fall, a slightly sharper decline than the one measured in the previous year. The steepest drop by sector was at four-year for-profit institutions (13.7 percent) and two-year public colleges (2.4 percent).

www.insidehighered.com
Growth in Foreign Grad Students
The number of first-time international graduate students at U.S. graduate schools increased by 5 percent this fall. More than three-quarters of new students are in master’s and certificate programs.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/12/17/council-graduate-schools-survey-records-5-percent-growth-first-time-international?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=42ef953f10-DNU20151217&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-42ef953f10-197515277
By Elizabeth Redden
First-time enrollments of international students in U.S. graduate schools grew by 5 percent between fall 2014 and 2015, a slowdown from the 8-10 percent growth rate seen in the past few admissions cycles but higher than the rate of growth for domestic students (2 percent). For the first time this year the Council of Graduate Schools’ annual survey of new international student enrollments breaks down the data according to degree level.

www.chronicle.com
New Study Fuels Debate Over ‘Mismatch’ Theory in Race-Conscious Admissions
http://chronicle.com/article/New-Study-Fuels-Debate-Over/234643?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elq=45ede19995cf44eaaffb0074209611df&elqCampaignId=2090&elqaid=7264&elqat=1&elqTrackId=27abff4e2eb14bc0b6f554a601eff398
By Peter Schmidt
A new study based on University of California data lends support to an argument that the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia caused a furor in raising last week: that affirmative action can hinder some black students’ prospects of becoming scientists by channeling them into top colleges where their poor academic preparation causes them to struggle.
Like Justice Scalia, the new study explains gaps between races in graduation rates by invoking the controversial academic “mismatch” theory, which holds that race-conscious admissions policies place many minority students in highly selective academic environments where they end up over their heads academically. In contrast with Justice Scalia, however, the researchers behind the new peer-reviewed study treat the subject as complex. Although they have reputations as critics of race-conscious admissions, they did not find such policies to be harmful to all students, only those who ended up pursuing science-related careers at highly selective campuses for which they were academically unprepared.

www.hechingerreport.org
The rich-poor divide on America’s college campuses is getting wider, fast
Rich, poor take paths even more dramatically divergent than in the past, new data show

The rich-poor divide on America’s college campuses is getting wider, fast

by JON MARCUS and HOLLY K. HACKER
… It’s a stark view of the reality of American higher education, in which rich kids go to elite private and flagship public campuses while poor kids — including those who score higher on standardized tests than their wealthier counterparts — end up at community colleges and regional public universities with much lower success rates, assuming they continue their educations at all. And new federal data analyzed by the Hechinger Report and the Huffington Post show the gap has been widening at a dramatically accelerating rate since the economic downturn began in 2008. Once acclaimed as the equal-opportunity stepping stone to the middle class, and a way of closing that divide, higher education has instead become more segregated than ever by wealth and race as state funding has fallen and colleges and universities — and even states and the federal government — are shifting financial aid from lower-income to higher-income students. This has created a system that spends the least on those who need the most help and the most on those who arguably need the least. … Elite flagship public institutions such as the universities of Oregon, Texas at Austin, Washington, Colorado-Boulder, Maryland, Connecticut, and Georgia Tech do slightly better; there, the proportion of students who are low income has grown from an average of 20 percent to 28 percent. But that’s only half the proportion of college students nationally who come from low-income families eligible for Pell grants.

www.insidehighered.com
Modest Increases for Student Aid, Research in Spending Bill
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/12/17/modest-increases-student-aid-research-spending-bill?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=42ef953f10-DNU20151217&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-42ef953f10-197515277
Congressional leaders early Wednesday morning unveiled the details of a government spending bill that would boost some student aid and federal research funding. The spending deal would allow the maximum Pell Grant to increase by $140 to $5,915 for the 2016-17 academic year. Funding for the TRIO program would jump by $60 million to $900 million, and the GEAR UP program would receive $322.8 million, a $21 million boost from the current year. Campus-based aid programs like the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and Federal Work-Study would continue to be funded at their current levels.

www.insidehighered.com
More Grads Have ‘Excessive’ Debt
An analysis finds a steady rise in the proportion of college graduates paying too high a percentage of their annual income to repay student loan debt.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/12/18/proportion-college-graduates-excessive-debt-growing
By Doug Lederman
The growing public focus on student loan debt in recent years has been driven by some numbers that really matter (like the passing of the $1 trillion threshold in the amount of total outstanding loan debt) and some that are less meaningful (anecdotal reports about the occasional baristas who accumulated $120,000 in debt, an outlier level when the average is about a quarter of that). Exactly which data points tell the true story about the seriousness of the student debt crisis is to some extent in the eye of the beholder.

www.insidehighered.com
Feds Warn Colleges With Secret Credit Card Agreements
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/12/17/feds-warn-colleges-secret-credit-card-agreements?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=42ef953f10-DNU20151217&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-42ef953f10-197515277
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sent warning letters Wednesday to 17 colleges that it says may be in violation of federal law for not disclosing agreements they have with credit card companies. The bureau declined, however, to name which institutions it investigated. “As a matter of policy, we are not disclosing their identities, as the bureau does not comment on or confirm potential enforcement investigations,” CFPB spokeswoman Moira Vahey wrote in an email. “The purpose of these warning letters is to put these schools on notice that their practices may be violating the law, and that they need to carefully review their approach to public disclosure and bring it into compliance with the law.”

www.diverseeducation.com
Community Colleges Becoming Prime Destination for Faculty
http://diverseeducation.com/article/79587/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=54bec09789ee4b0cb158df1fd6d61829&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=84b241d5916443cb87755d881434bbf5
by Jamal Eric Watson
At one time — not too long ago — community colleges were thought to be the place where faculty who couldn’t get a four-year teaching job landed. But that perception has rapidly changed, particularly for minorities with terminal degrees who are consciously making the choice to choose to work at a community college instead of a four-year college or university. That growing interest aligns with the nation’s changing demographics. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, more students are enrolled in one of the nation’s 1,132 community colleges than other institutions.

www.chronicle.com
Judge Tosses Controversial Regent’s Lawsuit Against U. of Texas System
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/judge-tosses-controversial-regents-lawsuit-against-u-of-texas-system/107451?elq=ec7dfe8093774427a080d6c4f75e26b3&elqCampaignId=2078&elqaid=7239&elqat=1&elqTrackId=79600dab15724b74b25d5d61d7c84a98
by Andy Thomason
A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the University of Texas system by a regent, Wallace L. Hall Jr., who is seeking access to confidential records related to an investigation of admissions at the Austin flagship. The Austin American-Statesman reports that the judge dismissed the suit on Monday. According to the newspaper, Mr. Hall, who has led a controversial one-man crusade for transparency at the university for years, is expected to appeal. “Today’s ruling effectively dismisses the case, though we stand ready to continue to defend our position while Regent Hall appeals this ruling,” said the system’s chancellor, William H. McRaven, in a written statement. “I believe that a regent’s access to information is not above the law, and while I am pleased to provide a regent with the answers and information he or she may seek in order to make informed decisions, I will also continue to protect confidential student information, as required by federal and state law.”