University System News:
www.ajc.com
Georgia State, Georgia Perimeter merger receives final approval
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-state-georgia-perimter-merger-receives-fin/npySq/
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Board of Regents granted final approval Wednesday to a merger of Georgia State University and Georgia Perimeter College. The newly consolidated Georgia State unseats the University of Georgia as the state’s largest public college. The merger is the sixth merger of colleges in the state’s public college system, and reduces the number of institutions in the system to 29. Regents also approved Georgia State’s current president Mark Becker as the leader of the newly combined Georgia State University. Wednesday’s approval was given with little fanfare and no public discussion by the regents. Georgia Perimeter’s student government president even included a bid for the merger approval in her opening prayer for the monthly meeting.
www.bizjournals.com
Regents finalize Georgia State-Georgia Perimeter merger
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/capitol_vision/2016/01/regents-finalize-georgia-state-georgia-perimeter.html
Georgia State University and Georgia Perimeter College will become one under a consolidation proposal given final approval Wednesday. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted to create the largest university in the Peach State with more than 53,000 students. The consolidated school will retain the name Georgia State University, and Georgia State President Mark Becker will retain that role with the new university. The merger will give students the best of both schools – Georgia Perimeter’s emphasis on giving high school graduates access to higher education and the research and public service features that have long characterized Georgia State.
www.ajc.com
Kiplinger: seven Georgia colleges and universities are tops in U.S.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/kiplinger-seven-georgia-colleges-and-universities-/npxw3/
Christopher Quinn, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance just released its 2016 list of the ranking of best college values in the U.S., and seven Georgia colleges and universities ended up in the top 300 list. The list is based on a combination of factors, including cost, financial aid received, four-year graduation rates and the average amount of debt a student leaves with. Emory University was the highest Georgia school in the top 300, coming in at number 23, followed by the University of Georgia at 92, Georgia Tech at 120, Agnes Scott at 146, Mercer University at 227, Spelman College at 266 and Georgia College and State University at 290.
USG Institutions:
www.forbes.com
30 Under 30 In Science: Exploring New Worlds In The Stars And In Our Cells
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2016/01/04/30-under-30-in-science-exploring-new-worlds-in-the-stars-and-in-our-cells/
Alex Knapp, Forbes Staff
When he first started working on space engineering, Jeroen Cappaert, 27, probably didn’t expect to fight pirates one day. But that’s just one of the applications the satellites he’s designed are being put to use for by the company he cofounded, Spire Global… The Other standouts include Lujendra Ojha, 25, whose studies of geological formations on Mars have provided the best evidence yet that liquid water may flow on the surface of the Red Planet. The Nepalese-born Ojha is currently a grad student at Georgia Tech and when he’s not busy studying Mars, he’s a guitarist in a heavy metal band.
www.washingtonexaminer.com
Expelled Georgia Tech student reinstated
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/expelled-georgia-tech-student-reinstated/article/2579610
By ASHE SCHOW
A Georgia Institute of Technology student who sued his school two weeks ago over an expulsion for sexual assault has been reinstated — but not by a judge. The student, identified in his lawsuit as John Doe, was seeking an injunction to have his expulsion overturned when the school’s Board of Regents reversed the decision and reinstated him. Because of this turn of events, lawyers for Georgia Tech have argued the request for an injunction is moot. “At the time Plaintiff filed his complaint and his motion. [sic] his appeal to the Board of Regents seeking to overturn the decision to expel him was still pending. The Board of Regents has now heard the appeal and has made the decision to overturn the President. [sic] by reversing the finding and the sanction of expulsion and reinstating the Plaintiff,” the lawyers wrote in their response to the injunction request. “As a result of this. [sic] Plaintiff’s request for preliminary injunctive relief is moot.”
www.wtvm.com
5 Georgia Southern nursing students killed in crash to be memorialized at State Capitol
http://www.wtvm.com/story/30895761/5-georgia-southern-nursing-students-killed-in-crash-to-be-memorialized-at-state-capitol
By Jennifer Lifsey
ATLANTA (WTOC) – The five Georgia Southern University nursing students killed in a tragic crash on Interstate 16 in April of last year will be memorialized Monday, Jan. 11 at the State Capitol.
www.businessinsavannah.com
UGA reports $355 million impact in Savannah area
http://businessinsavannah.com/bis/2016-01-05/uga-reports-355-million-impact-savannah-area
By: Dash Coleman
University of Georgia researchers say the state’s flagship academic institution has an annual economic impact of nearly $355 million on the greater Savannah area. The number was released Monday in a report detailing a $4.4 billion annual impact across the state.
www.unionrecorder.com
Local programs fulfilling mentorship role
http://www.unionrecorder.com/news/local-programs-fulfilling-mentorship-role/article_59e5acf8-b402-11e5-bc1a-fb4a3a27c551.html
by Felicia Cummings
Georgia College junior Natalie Flanders knows the perils and peer pressure teen girls face. That’s why she wants to influence the choices of local students through mentorship. Girl Talk, a new mentoring program at Georgia College, gives college women an opportunity to be positive role models for area high school teens.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
University of North Georgia receives $10K in poultry science grants
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/114440/
Times staff reports
The University of North Georgia has received a $7,000 student recruiting grant from the U.S. Poultry Foundation and $3,000 from Pilgrim’s to help support students interested in careers in the poultry industry. “The generous support of U.S. Poultry and Pilgrim’s-Gainesville division will allow us to continue to recruit and obtain exceptional students and position them to drive the industry forward in the future,” said Dr. Michael Bodri, dean of UNG’s College of Science and Mathematics. Through this funding, UNG will increase the number of students enrolled in its poultry science courses.
www.e-architect.co.uk
Zuckerman Museum of Art in Atlanta
Design: Stanley Beaman & Sears, Architects
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/america/zuckerman-museum-of-art-in-atlanta
In just the last year, an unlikely arts scene has emerged more than twenty-file miles north-west of downtown Atlanta. On the campus of Kennesaw State University (KSU), the state’s third-largest public institution of higher-education, the Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art (ZMA) has been the impetus for this renaissance in an area of the metro formerly known more for exurban sprawl than exquisite sculptures. The ZMA, designed by Atlanta-based firm Stanley Beaman & Sears (SBS), not only brought the first art museum to a University System of Georgia institution in more than 30 years, but planted the seeds for the growth of a new cultural district in the greater Atlanta area.
www.computerworld.com
AT&T working with Chicago, others on smart city tech
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3019018/internet-of-things/atandt-working-with-chicago-others-on-smart-city-tech.html
By Matt Hamblen
AT&T is working with three major cities — Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas — on smart city innovations that incorporate Internet of Things technology from seven established vendors, the carrier announced Tuesday… The Georgia Institute of Technology will work with the city of Atlanta and AT&T on smart city development.
Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
Public Colleges Lead in Adopting Competency-Based Programs
Report: “Survey of the Shared Design Elements and Emerging Practices of Competency-Based Education Programs”
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/public-colleges-lead-in-adopting-competency-based-programs/107667?elq=67d8442491b347a18b4d44f1826114be&elqCampaignId=2165&elqaid=7424&elqat=1&elqTrackId=eb459c9621544002a95d0101d06201bb
Organization: Public Agenda
Summary: Competency-based education, which measures students’ progress according to how well they master material instead of how much time they spend in class, has been growing in popularity. Nearly 600 colleges and universities are offering or developing such programs; this report reflects data from 179 respondents.
www.insidehighered.com
‘Inside Graduate Admissions’
What goes on behind closed doors when professors decide who should get chance to earn a Ph.D.? Author of new book was allowed to watch. She saw elitism, a heavy focus on the GRE and some troubling conversations.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/06/new-book-reveals-how-elite-phd-admissions-committees-review-candidates?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0c8bf0f96a-DNU20160106&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0c8bf0f96a-197515277
By Scott Jaschik
Ph.D. programs are one of the few parts of higher education where admissions decisions are made without admissions professionals. Small groups of faculty members meet, department by department, to decide whom to admit. And their decisions effectively determine the future makeup of the faculty in higher education. Politicians, judges, journalists, parents and prospective students subject the admissions policies of undergraduate colleges and professional schools to considerable scrutiny, with much public debate over appropriate criteria. But the question of who gets into Ph.D. programs has by comparison escaped much discussion. That may change with the publication of Inside Graduate Admissions: Merit, Diversity and Faculty Gatekeeping, out this month from Harvard University Press. Julie R. Posselt (right), the author and an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Michigan, obtained permission from 6 highly ranked departments at three research universities to watch their reviews of candidates, and she interviewed faculty members at four others.
www.diverseeducation.com
Wishful Thinking Won’t Erase Need for Race-Conscious Admission Policies
http://diverseeducation.com/article/79967/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=72456635dd15452da5e521cbde8a6495&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=8170be52815b4053ad9e912eeb60a7fd
by Joyce E. Smith
The U.S. Supreme Court wants to know: when will the nation’s colleges and universities no longer need race-conscious admission policies? Chief Justice John Roberts posed that query last month during oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. The question is a fair one. The court has long envisioned a day when social equality would end the need to consider race in the college admission process. But as student protests over racial bias continue to flare on campuses across the country, it’s clear that today is not that day. America’s colleges and universities, both public and private, offer a chance at a better life, socially and economically. Yet access to these springboards for upward mobility remains unequal.
www.insidehighered.com
Responding to Racist Stereotypes
A new study examines how black male students turn to campus leadership roles to combat stereotypes. A recent paper warns of a looming mental health crisis for resilient black students.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/06/studies-explore-how-black-students-respond-and-resist-stereotypes?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0c8bf0f96a-DNU20160106&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0c8bf0f96a-197515277
By Jake New
Much research has been conducted in recent years about the barriers black students face in finding college success on predominantly white campuses. They struggle with underrepresentation, social isolation, academic hurdles and racial stereotyping from both their peers and their professors. All that can be especially true for black men, researchers have found, with two-thirds of black male undergraduates not earning a bachelor’s degree within six years. But in a new article published in Harvard Education Review, Shaun Harper, founder and executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education, decided to take the research in a different direction: investigating how the one-third of black male students who persisted through graduation at predominantly white colleges and universities managed to do so.
www.diverseeducation.com
Diversity Proponents Looking for the Academy to Lead Way
http://diverseeducation.com/article/79964/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=72456635dd15452da5e521cbde8a6495&elqCampaignId=771&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=12f72a204b74430ca3aee5ca3d9be872
by Reginald Stuart
Diversity, the elusive goal that has had its share of ups and downs over the last few decades as successor to the pioneering affirmative action steps taken by corporate America in the 1960s, is getting a boost from students in colleges and universities across the nation. Higher education, which has been slower than corporate America in expanding its efforts beyond student enrollment to include staff and program diversity, got a stunning reminder this fall of the work still to be done. The reminder came in the form of widespread student demonstrations for better institutional leadership on diversity issues. The marches, rallies, meetings with institutional officials, and threats of student class and athletic activity boycotts echoed student protests of half a century ago.
www.insidehighered.com
Curbing Hoverboards
Britain, 60 airlines and a dozen universities have this in common: restrictions or outright bans on hoverboards.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/06/dozen-colleges-ban-hoverboards-over-consumer-safety-fire-concerns?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0c8bf0f96a-DNU20160106&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0c8bf0f96a-197515277
By Josh Logue
“College campuses may be the last safe haven for hoverboards,” proclaimed MarketWatch only a few days ago. But the Wall Street Journal sister publication might have spoken a little too soon about the nascent, now-imperiled campus fad. Recently, as many as a dozen universities have announced temporary campuswide bans on the self-balancing scooters — think Segways with nothing to hold onto — in light of safety concerns raised by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The CPSC, which has been periodically updating its figures on Twitter, says it is investigating reports of 28 hoverboard-related fires in 19 states, and “70 ER-treated injuries & counting.”