University System News:
www.ajc.com
Bill makes it easier for science, math majors to keep HOPE
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/bill-makes-it-easier-for-science-math-majors-to-ke/np8wr/
Maureen Downey, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With evidence that the HOPE Scholarship — or rather the fear of losing it — has reduced the number of Georgia students willing to pursue challenging science and math degrees, the Legislature will take up the issue of whether the Grade Point Average requirement to keep the generous merit-based aid should be changed for students in demanding majors. A recent study of merit-based scholarship programs in several states including Georgia found: State merit-based scholarships reduce the likelihood a student will earn a degree in a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field. That has led state Rep. Jan Jones, R-Milton, to announce she is sponsoring a bill that would award college students the same half-point boost to their GPAs for taking hard college courses as they now earn for taking advanced classes in high school. …It is not a new discussion. Georgia Tech students have long maintained a 2.8 GPA in biochemistry or physics should not cost them HOPE considering the rigor of the courses and the state’s need for STEM workers. Chancellor Hank Huckaby told the AJC a while back, “I don’t know how you deal with that but I understand the argument can be made. I don’t have an answer but it keeps coming up. And that argument is getting louder. It, quite frankly, is something we haven’t addressed yet.”

www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Debate over whether to change HOPE GPA for math, science majors will move to Legislature
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2016/01/21/debate-over-whether-to-lower-hope-gpa-for-math-science-majors-will-move-to-legislature/
By Maureen Downey
We’ve had a lot of discussion on this blog about whether the HOPE Scholarship should be used to encourage math and science majors. The question has been whether it’s fair to hold Georgia Tech biochemistry majors to the same 3.0 GPA requirement to retain HOPE as Georgia Southern English majors or Kennesaw State University sociology majors. Now, the debate will move to the General Assembly. My AJC colleague Kyle Wingfield reports State Rep. Jan Jones of Milton, a leading Republican with a long-time interest in education issues, plans to introduce a bill that would give college students the same half-point boost to their GPAs for taking hard college courses that they now earn for taking advanced classes in high school. And “hard” would be defined as the sorts of classes taken by Georgia Tech students. So, a B in physics would go from a 3.0 to a 3.5 value. A C in calc sequence becomes a 2.5 instead of a 2.0 The criteria for the boost would be set by the Regents, but the intent would be to keep kids in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors that prepare them for the hard-to-fill jobs in the state.

www.athensceo.com
University System of Georgia Releases DWS HOPE Retention Statistics
http://albanyceo.com/news/2016/01/university-system-georgia-releases-dws-hope-retention-statistics/
Staff Report From Albany CEO
The University System of Georgia recently released data on the Deerfield-Windsor School graduating classes of 2012 and 2013. More than ninety percent of DWS graduates who qualified for the HOPE Scholarship or the Zell Miller Scholarship performed at a high enough level to retain those scholarships into their second year of college. The statewide average for HOPE retention is less than 40 percent.

www.savannahnow.com
EDITORIAL: Tuition hikes: Stop squeezing students
http://savannahnow.com/opinion/2016-01-20/editorial-tuition-hikes-stop-squeezing-students
Georgia lawmakers rightly grilled the head of the state’s University System on Tuesday about the whopping 9 percent tuition hikes imposed on students who attend the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. The Board of Regents singled out students at these institutions for major cost hikes last year, while students who attend the rest of the state’s 30 colleges and universities were hit with a modest tuition increase that averaged 2 percent. Tuition hikes squeeze families and students, often forcing them to take on more debt than they can safely manage. It also puts more strain on the state’s HOPE scholarship program, which covers much of tuition costs for college students who earn good grades. Raising the cost to attend college should be the last way for an institution to balance its budgets. Better management of expenses should be the first approach in holding costs down on college campuses.

USG Institutions:
www.bizjournals.com
University projects top Gov. Deal’s bond package
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/capitol_vision/2016/01/university-projects-top-gov-deals-bond-package.html
A renovation of Georgia Tech’s library and a new Hall County campus for Lanier Technical College highlight the $850 million bond package Gov. Nathan Deal is requesting from the General Assembly. The $23.7 billion fiscal 2017 state budget the governor submitted this week includes $47.4 million to renovate the S. Prince Gilbert Library and Dorothy M. Crosland Tower at Georgia Tech, both parts of the school’s library complex, and $48.3 million to replace the Oakwood campus of Lanier Tech just outside of Gainesville, Ga., with a new Hall County campus.

www.onlineathens.com
UGA will hold line on food, parking prices, do more to increase diversity, Morehead says
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-01-20/uga-will-hold-line-food-parking-prices-do-more-increase-diversity-morehead-says
By LEE SHEARER
The cost of the University of Georgia’s meal plan won’t go up next year. “In the interest of affordability, I am pleased to announce that the University will extend the freeze on food services rates for a third year in a row and also extend the ongoing freeze on parking rates,” UGA President Jere Morehead said Wednesday in the university president’s annual “State of the University” speech in the UGA Chapel. Students won’t see any fee increases, either, except for the next phase of a stepped fee increase paying for the university’s new student information system, he said.

www.chronicle.augusta.com
Augusta University will unveil its new brand today
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2016-01-20/augusta-university-will-unveil-its-new-brand-today?v=1453337319
From staff reports
Augusta University will unveil its new brand today. In advance of the ceremony its boards of health system and hospital have agreed to a name change. The university posted a story to its Jagwire Web site announcing that their respective boards support changing Georgia Regents Health System to AU Health and Georgia Regents Medical Center to AU Medical Center. AU President Brooks Keel told The Augusta Chronicle in December that he was talking to board members about those names and wanted the clinical system to be lined up with the university name. The university quotes Keel in its story as saying it is important for all of AU’s entities to be “under a single brand.” The name changes were announced after board members were sent a resolution asking whether or not they supported the new names and those responses were then tallied, according to university spokeswoman Christen Carter. It is expected that they will be “ratified” at board meetings, which are scheduled for Jan. 28, she said. Carter pointed to a part of the health system bylaws that allow the board to conduct business without a meeting if there is written consent by a majority of board members.

www.gainesvilletimes.com
Abit Massey to receive UGA honor
Poultry industry leader will receive President’s Medal
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/114707/
By Frank Reddy
The president of the University of Georgia has plans to bestow one of the institution’s highest honors upon one of Hall County’s own. Former Georgia Poultry Federation President Abit Massey is one of two individuals (the other, posthumously) who on Jan. 27 will receive UGA’s President’s Medal — an accolade recognizing contributions of those who are not current employees of UGA but “have supported students and academic programs, advanced research and inspired community leaders to enhance Georgians’ quality of life.” “We are honored to recognize two great Georgians for helping to improve our state and strengthen the university,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Through their influential vision and tremendous generosity, both Abit Massey and the late Jane Willson have had a profound impact on UGA, and their contributions will continue to benefit the university for generations to come.”

www.albanyceo.com
Darton State College Received Georgia Humanities Grant of Foundations in Family: A Literary Festival
http://albanyceo.com/news/2016/01/darton-state-college-received-georgia-humanities-grant-foundations-family-literary-festival/
Staff Report From Albany CEO
Darton State College has received a grant from Georgia Humanities for a new program, Foundations in Family: A Literary Festival to be held on Saturday, April 16, 2016 at Darton State College. “We are honored to receive this investment from Georgia Humanities,” says Dr. Elizabeth Gassel Perkins, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Darton State College. “The Humanities Department works each year to bring recognition to the importance literature plays in our society by celebrating students writing through our literary magazine, New Clay, and through larger events, such as our National Day on Writing. With this seed funding, we will able to organize and promote a free festival for students, as well as for the community.”

www.live5news.com
Columbus attorney confirms civil lawsuit to be filed against CSU police officer
http://www.live5news.com/story/31015870/columbus-attorney-confirms-civil-lawsuit-to-be-filed-against-csu-police-officer
By Georgia Ellyse
COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) – A Columbus attorney confirmed on Wednesday that she’ll be filing a civil claim against a Columbus State University police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Zikarious Flint in 2014. This happened after the district attorney took a grand jury’s recommendation to not pursue criminal charges last month. …Police reports indicate that, Flint who was not a student, was loading a gun on CSU’s campus and was shot twice in the back after running from officers.

www.rebusinessonline.com
Tech Firms are Bringing Atlanta’s Office Market Into the Modern Age
http://rebusinessonline.com/tech-firms-are-bringing-atlantas-office-market-into-the-modern-age/
BY JOHN NELSON
Atlanta’s office market offers key factors that are harder to come by in other top markets: stability and top universities. Because the city is so diverse, it is not reliant on any one type of business for survival. It’s less volatile, which is one factor that has allowed us to come back from the Great Recession, although slowly, in a more firm and healthy fashion… Topping the list of Atlanta’s assets, particularly for creative firms, is the access to local talent from Georgia Tech and other top universities. Georgia Tech has not only been a top university for developing this kind of talent in Atlanta, but the institute has risen in the national rankings, competing with the top technology schools in the country.

www.wsbtv.com
2 charged with stealing thousands from Georgia Tech’s payroll account (news video)
http://www.wsbtv.com/videos/news/2-charged-with-stealing-thousands-from-georgia/vDhrBX/
The men were operating from half way around the world.

Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
A New Call for Reform of Admissions
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/01/21/new-call-reform-admissions?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=dedf3fac24-DNU20160121&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-dedf3fac24-197515277
It’s time for competitive college admissions to undergo significant changes, according to a report, “Turning the Tide,” issued Wednesday by the Making Caring Common program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. The reforms called for include: going test optional on admissions or assuring students that standardized tests aren’t the crucial part of applications, discouraging students from trying to take the maximum number of Advanced Placement courses possible and encouraging high school students to focus on the quality rather than quantity of extracurricular activities.

www.insidehighered.com
Should Colleges Measure Well-Being?
Colleges should track the well-being of students, including how specific groups are faring, according to panelists at the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ annual meeting.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/21/what-colleges-can-do-measure-and-promote-students-well-being?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=dedf3fac24-DNU20160121&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-dedf3fac24-197515277
By Ellen Wexler
When students go through college, it isn’t enough for them to excel academically; they should flourish. That idea was the focus of a session at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The session was organized by Bringing Theory to Practice, an independent nonprofit group that works with AAC&U. The session focused on the role of student well-being in higher education: What can colleges do to promote their students’ well-being? Why is student well-being an outcome that colleges should pay attention to in the first place?

www.insidehighered.com
Detecting More Than Plagiarism
Turnitin, seeking to expand beyond plagiarism detection, launches a tool to help students improve their writing as they write. Many writing instructors continue to be skeptical of the company’s products.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/21/turnitin-expanding-beyond-plagiarism-detection-launches-revision-assistant
By Carl Straumsheim
As Turnitin seeks a “realignment” of what it does, the company best known for its plagiarism detection software hopes it can warm more faculty members to the idea of using technology in writing instruction.
Turnitin in 2014 acquired LightSide Labs, a Carnegie Mellon University-based start-up. On Wednesday, Turnitin launched a rebranded version of the start-up’s Revision Assistant, an online writing tool that uses machine learning to tutor students as they draft their essays.

www.chronicle.com
21% of Undergraduate Women Have Been Sexually Assaulted in College, Survey Finds
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/21-percent-of-undergraduate-women-have-been-sexually-assaulted-in-college-survey-finds/107965?elq=0f205ea353614047a1da6270ee32e9a6&elqCampaignId=2270&elqaid=7587&elqat=1&elqTrackId=37b65c3819cc4f2a9d1b3953f713238b
by Andy Thomason
A survey of students on nine campuses has found that 21 percent of female undergraduates reported having been sexually assaulted since starting college. On one campus, that proportion was 38 percent. Conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the firm RTI International, the survey grew out of the work of a White House task force on sexual assault, formed in 2014.

www.chronicle.com
Science-Diversity Efforts Connect Grad Students With Mentors
http://chronicle.com/article/Science-Diversity-Efforts/234947?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elq=0f205ea353614047a1da6270ee32e9a6&elqCampaignId=2270&elqaid=7587&elqat=1&elqTrackId=a3f54b8348fc49a78c2c2e0f7d2be2ae
By Vimal Patel
Most efforts to increase the number of black and other underrepresented minority doctoral recipients in science and engineering have fallen flat. For example, the share of engineering doctorates earned by black students remained unchanged, at 4 percent, from 2004 to 2014, according to the most recent Survey of Earned Doctorates. The problem has many causes — including that most minority-group members enroll in graduate programs at lower rates than white students do — but many observers say a lack of good mentoring is a key factor. …To improve mentoring, students are increasingly being connected with researchers and scientists from outside their colleges. The most ambitious effort, supported by a $21-million grant from the National Institutes of Health, aims to create a national database of potential mentors for minority graduate students and others, primarily in the biomedical sciences and related fields.