University System News:
www.savannahnow.com
Georgia legislators question tuition hikes
http://savannahnow.com/news/2016-01-19/georgia-legislators-question-tuition-hikes
By WALTER C. JONES
ATLANTA — Lawmakers who will write next year’s state budget questioned the University System of Georgia chancellor Tuesday about last year’s 9-percent tuition increases. The system’s Board of Regents set tuition after the legislature had voted on the annual budget and gone home. So Tuesday’s budget presentation was the first time Chancellor Hank Huckaby had faced lawmakers since the board hiked students’ costs for attending the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. Huckaby brought up the subject by mentioning the complaints he had heard. “That is not likely to happen again, and there were some specific circumstances for that,” he said of the increase size. The rest of the 20 colleges and universities averaged a 2-percent increase. After the system’s chief financial officer explained why Gov. Nathan Deal is recommending a $44 million increase in ongoing funding as well as $154 million in bonds for building construction, the question period kept coming back around to the tuition hike. “You said there was a unique circumstance there. Could you address that?” asked Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta. Huckaby said higher tuition is needed for pay raises.

USG Institutions:
www.athensceo.com
Gift to UGA Leadership Initiative Named for Former Gymnastics Coach
http://athensceo.com/news/2016/01/gift-uga-leadership-initiative-named-former-gymnastics-coach/
Staff Report From Athens CEO
A $500,000 gift to the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at the University of Georgia will create the Suzanne Yoculan Leebern Fund to support students through the Embark program. The gift, made by UGA alumnus and University System of Georgia Board of Regents member Don Leebern Jr., specifically will provide support for UGA students who have been orphaned, placed in foster care, are under court protection or legal guardianship, or who are identified as homeless.

www.gainesvilletimes.com
Lanier Tech may break ground in May on new campus
School moving from longtime South Hall location to site off Ga. 365 in North Hall
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/114681/
By Frank Reddy
Construction crews could break ground as early as May on the planned new location of Lanier Technical College — an estimated 320,000-square-foot, six-building campus — according to Ray Perren, president of Lanier Technical College. During a meeting of South Hall business leaders and the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce Tuesday morning at Lanier Technical College, Perren discussed further details for a new campus slated to open in fall of 2018. …Perren said the Oakwood campus of Lanier Technical College “will become part of the University of North Georgia’s Gainesville campus … this campus will continue to have an educational legacy.”

www.wdef.com
Jekyll Island to spend 4 years, $150,000 studying deer issue
http://www.wdef.com/news/state/story/Jekyll-Island-to-spend-4-years-150-000-studying/acnYV6-JyEqsnt43ZFsP8Q.cspx
JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Jekyll Island plans to spend four years and $150,000 studying whether the state park’s maritime forests are being harmed by an abundance of hungry deer. The Jekyll Island Authority board voted Tuesday to pay the University of Georgia to conduct the research. The decision came a year after the board sidelined a proposal to hire professional sharpshooters to thin the island’s deer population.

www.wtoc.com
Camilla mayor quits ASU; Calls for keys
http://www.wtoc.com/story/31000592/camilla-mayor-quits-asu-calls-for-keys
By Dave Miller
CAMILLA, GA (WALB) – Camilla’s new mayor, Rufus Davis sent a letter by email to the WALB newsroom Tuesday morning. In the letter, he said he will resign his position at Albany State University, where he was the head of fiscal and administrative affairs. Davis also said citizens will “confront” city council members, and that use of a taser by city police will be addressed.

www.forbes.com
Why Do Many Minorities Avoid Science?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2016/01/18/why-do-many-minorities-avoid-science/#e4e0b3f68bb04bdd639e68bb
Marshall Shepherd
Dr. Martin Luther King’s holiday juxtaposed with an interesting number that I heard at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Conference last week inspired this article. While at the conference, results from a survey of the Society’s nearly 14,000 members revealed that only 2.1% of the membership is African American. Other minority numbers were even lower. Numbers on degree attainment for underrepresented groups within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields are alarmingly low. The problem is not exclusive to the Atmospheric Sciences. U.S. News and World Report recently noted that the United States STEM workforce is no more diverse now than 14 years ago.

www.onlineathens.com
UGA student dies at his home off campus
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2016-01-19/uga-student-dies-his-home-campus
By JOE JOHNSON
A University of Georgia student was found dead Sunday afternoon at his home off campus. A female UGA student called 911 at about 9:45 a.m. to report that 25-year-old John Wesley Spencer was unresponsive and turned blue, according to Athens-Clarke County police said. Police said they responded, along with EMS and Fire-Rescue units, but there was nothing they could do for the student.

Higher Education News:
www.ajc.com
Report: Most Ga. community college students don’t attain higher degree
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/report-most-ga-community-college-students-dont-att/np7fk/
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A majority of students in community college intend to go on to earn a bachelor’s degree, but only 14 percent of them reach that goal, and in Georgia the numbers are even worse, according to a new national report. The study, released Tuesday by a collection of education groups including the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, shows that only 8 percent of Georgia community college students who started in the fall of 2007 transferred and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree within six years of initially enrolling.

www.chronicle.com
Transfer System From 2-Year to 4-Year Colleges Isn’t Working, Report Says
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/transfer-system-from-2-year-to-4-year-colleges-isnt-working-report-says/107948?elq=89b8e7b12db4437b87488e106b318e41&elqCampaignId=2259&elqaid=7570&elqat=1&elqTrackId=8c97cd293a484fde8d1223bd64547c91
by Katherine Mangan
Only 14 percent of the students who start out in a community college transfer to a four-year university and earn a bachelor’s degree within six years, according to a report released on Tuesday by three groups that are studying ways to plug the leaky pipeline between two- and four-year colleges. The report was a joint effort of the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College, the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program, and the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

www.chronicle.com
Wanted: High-Character Students
Dozens of colleges endorse plan to promote — and reward — ‘ethical engagement’ in admissions
http://chronicle.com/article/Wanted-High-Character/234972?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elq=89b8e7b12db4437b87488e106b318e41&elqCampaignId=2259&elqaid=7570&elqat=1&elqTrackId=b0f39068214f4de5ae0b30a16f0d3ada
By Eric Hoover
Each year colleges invite applicants to sing their own praises, by listing achievements and proclaiming passions. Now some admissions offices are emphasizing students’ concern for others and the world beyond their test-prep manuals. For the last few months, some admissions leaders have quietly discussed strategies for encouraging good citizenship, not just résumé-polishing, among high-school students. Although many colleges already consider applicants’ extracurriculars — volunteering, music, sports — some deans say the institutions should do more to promote and reward altruistic pursuits. To that end, several selective colleges have changed their applications to signal the importance of community service, and more plan to follow suit this year.

www.chronicle.com
How a Little-Known Program for Foreign Students Became Embroiled in a Hot-Button National Debate
http://chronicle.com/article/How-a-Little-Known-Program-for/234973?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elq=89b8e7b12db4437b87488e106b318e41&elqCampaignId=2259&elqaid=7570&elqat=1&elqTrackId=2ef390f703004cc79fcac2cc7fc7dec3
By Karin Fischer
WASHINGTON
Thousands of foreign students could be forced to leave the United States if a challenge to an obscure federal program is not resolved in the next few weeks. The program, Optional Practical Training, has become the latest flash point in the contentious debate over immigration. It just might be the biggest controversy you’ve never heard of — even if you’re on a college campus. Here’s a quick rundown of the program, and why colleges ought to care if it is curtailed: Optional Practical Training, or OPT, allows some students and recent graduates of American colleges who are in the United States on student visas to extend their stay temporarily in order to gain work experience related to their field of study. And while most Americans might not be aware of it, the program is popular with international students. In fact, 12 percent of the nearly one million student-visa holders aren’t studying at all; they’re on OPT.

www.insidehighered.com
Psych!
Florida’s governor has called public university presidents to a meeting to ask why they can’t be sure graduates in their most popular majors will all be employed. His prime target is psychology.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/20/florida-governor-wants-know-why-all-psychology-majors-arent-employed?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=ccf46d4be6-DNU20160120&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-ccf46d4be6-197515277
By Josh Logue
Governor Rick Scott of Florida made headlines in 2011 when he suggested that the state didn’t need any more anthropology majors. Now, he’s going after psychology majors. Scott summoned the state’s public university presidents to a meeting Thursday at which he’ll ask them to make sure that their two most popular majors have 100 percent employment rates, leaving out those who go to graduate school. Psychology ranks as one of the top two programs at six of the state’s 10 universities. And indeed, National Center for Education Statistics data show psychology to be one of the five most popular undergraduate areas of study nationwide, alongside business and the social sciences. The other popular majors vary by campus and include such sure-employment fields as nursing — so the focus Thursday is expected to be on psych.

www.diverseeducation.com
HBCUs Hit Strategic Reset in Face of Funding Mismatch
http://diverseeducation.com/article/80328/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=d73173e36dcf4b91a70a6ceae4f0a2f8&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=b2c2af506b46460e92d57f0af3fa787f
by Autumn A. Arnett
In an environment in which state and federal higher education appropriations are continuing a downward spiral, many public institutions are feeling the pressure of a resource deficit. For public historically Black colleges in particular, which have traditionally received less funding than their predominantly White counterparts and which typically serve students who are more financial aid dependent at a sticker price that is also often lower than their counterparts, this funding mismatch is a perennial problem. But despite the doom-and-gloom narrative that is often projected on these institutions, three in particular are seizing an opportunity to look inward, producing new strategic plans that accentuate their strengths and build upon their weaknesses.

www.diverseeducation.com
Title IX Exclusion and Marginalization Needs to Change
http://diverseeducation.com/article/80331/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=d73173e36dcf4b91a70a6ceae4f0a2f8&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=a14bac152bf44e168dc46bcaa7fc40cf
by Jacqueline McDowell
When Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act was passed in 1972 it stated, in part, “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” More than 40 years later, we have a law that was meant to protect many, but is too focused on a few — those participating in varsity-level collegiate sports. Title IX legislation applies, with a few exceptions, to all students and employees in educational and training activities and programs in institutions receiving federal financial assistance. This includes, but is not limited to: preventing discrimination in public and private elementary, secondary and postsecondary institutions; and Title IX legislation focuses on 10 program areas: access to education, athletics, career education, education of pregnant and parenting students, employment, the learning environment, math and science, sexual harassment, standardized testing and technology. Despite this broad coverage, Title IX is often narrowly associated with athletics.