University System News:
www.rockdalecitizen.com
ROB JENKINS: High school students, move on when ready
http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/opinion/rob-jenkins-high-school-students-move-on-when-ready/article_7991ea5a-73c7-5add-a64b-4891621c2671.html
By Rob Jenkins
It’s that time of year again — time for me to write about dual enrollment, aka “Move on When Ready,” or MOWR. More to the point, it’s time for college-bound high school students and their parents to start thinking about MOWR as an option. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, MOWR is a state-sponsored program that allows qualified high school seniors (and sometimes juniors) to take actual college courses for both high school and college credit (hence the term “dual enrollment”). That credit then goes with them wherever they decided to attend after graduation. …And the best part is, MOWR is basically free. The funding formula seems to change slightly from year to year, but right now the state is paying all tuition and fees and even including a stipend for books. …Students in this this part of the state are especially fortunate to have some excellent options for MOWR. Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville has an outstanding program, as do Georgia State University’s campuses in Alpharetta, Dunwoody, Clarkston, Decatur and Covington.
www.politics.blog.ajc.com
Will Nathan Deal sign Georgia’s ‘campus carry’ legislation?
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/04/11/21088/
Greg Bluestein
Gov. Nathan Deal faces another dicey political question as he debates whether to sign legislation that would allow college students to carry guns onto campuses after GOP lawmakers defied his personal request for changes to the measure. The two-term Republican has already vetoed the controversial “religious liberty” legislation long sought by religious conservatives, and rejecting a second measure with broad support among the GOP base in an election year could further jeopardize his standing in his party. But Deal has been lukewarm on the “campus carry” measure, and lawmakers ignored his attempt to push for changes that would exempt child-care centers and make other exceptions to the gun rights expansion. The governor has until May 3 to make up his mind. Here’s a closer look at the debate:
USG Institutions:
www.covnews.com
New president named for Georgia Southern University
http://www.covnews.com/section/163/article/200977/
STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — A new president has been named to take the helm of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on Wednesday named Jaimie Hebert president. He will step into his new role on July 1.
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
What colleges don’t tell you: Most campus sexual assaults happen in dorms; freshmen particularly vulnerable
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2016/04/11/what-colleges-dont-tell-you-most-campus-sexual-assaults-happen-in-dorms-freshmen-particularly-vulnerable/
Andrea Anne Curcio, a Georgia State University College of Law professor, researches sexual violence issues, including campus sexual assaults. In this piece, Curcio reveals a fact seldom highlighted on campus tours or freshman orientation. “What no one is talking about is that most assaults occur in dorms and residence halls — a fact that should play a critical role in awareness and targeted prevention efforts,” said Curcio. The essay was originally published here.
www.scienmag.com
UGA Skidaway Institute starts study on dynamic Cape Hatteras waters
http://scienmag.com/uga-skidaway-institute-starts-study-on-dynamic-cape-hatteras-waters/
By admin
Savannah, Ga. – Sometimes called the “graveyard of the Atlantic” because of the large number of shipwrecks there, the waters off Cape Hatteras on the North Carolina coast are some of the least understood on U.S.’s eastern seaboard. University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Dana Savidge is leading a team, which includes UGA Skidaway Institute scientist Catherine Edwards, to investigate the dynamic forces that characterize those waters. The four-year project, informally called PEACH: Processes driving Exchange at Cape Hatteras, is funded by $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Skidaway Institute will receive $1.2 million for its part. PEACH will focus primarily on the physics of the ocean, but the information the researchers gather will also help scientists more fully understand the chemistry and biology, and may cast light on issues like carbon cycling and global climate change.
www.nytimes.com
Climate-Related Death of Coral Around World Alarms Scientists
By MICHELLE INNIS
Kim Cobb, a marine scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, expected the coral to be damaged when she plunged into the deep blue waters off Kiritimati Island, a remote atoll near the center of the Pacific Ocean. Still, she was stunned by what she saw as she descended some 30 feet to the rim of a coral outcropping. “The entire reef is covered with a red-brown fuzz,” Dr. Cobb said when she returned to the surface after her recent dive. “It is otherworldly. It is algae that has grown over dead coral. It was devastating.” The damage off Kiritimati is part of a mass bleaching of coral reefs around the world, only the third on record and possibly the worst ever. Scientists believe that heat stress from multiple weather events including the latest, severe El Niño, compounded by climate change, has threatened more than a third of Earth’s coral reefs. Many may not recover. Coral reefs are the crucial incubators of the ocean’s ecosystem, providing food and shelter to a quarter of all marine species, and they support fish stocks that feed more than one billion people.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Lumina Report on College Completion Goal
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/04/11/lumina-report-college-completion-goal?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0be8b923a0-DNU20160411&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0be8b923a0-197515277
In 2014, 45.3 percent of working-age Americans held a high-quality postsecondary credential, according to the Lumina Foundation’s seventh annual report on college completion. The foundation’s completion number for the first time includes an estimate of how many working adults hold a certificate the foundation determines to be of value in the workforce. Their first-ever nationally representative survey on the topic found that 4.9 percent of Americans hold a high-value certificate. Another 40.4 percent hold an associate degree or higher, up slightly from 40 percent in 2013.
www.hechingerreport.org
Rate of increase in degree-holders continues to lag behind national goal
But including certificates for the first time helps create a big one-time jump
Rate of increase in degree-holders continues to lag behind national goal
by JON MARCUS
The rate by which Americans are earning two-and-four year degrees continues to lag stubbornly behind what’s needed to meet national goals, and declining college and university enrollments threaten to make things worse, according to a new report. But a change in the way the figure is being calculated has caused a one-time leap in in the percentage of adults considered to have higher educations. The proportion of people with two- or four-year degrees eked up slightly, from 40 percent in 2013 to 40.4 percent in 2014, the most recent period available, the Lumina Foundation reported. The proportion of people with two- or four-year degrees eked up slightly, from 40 percent in 2013 to 40.4 percent in 2014, the most recent period available, the Lumina Foundation reported. That’s compared to about 38 percent in 2008, when a coalition of policymakers set a goal of reaching 60 percent by 2025.
www.insidehighered.com
The Cost of Being an HBCU
Historically black colleges must pay more to issue bonds than institutions of comparable financial strength, study finds.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/11/study-black-colleges-pay-more-issue-bonds-colleges-similar-financial-circumstances?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0be8b923a0-DNU20160411&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0be8b923a0-197515277
By Scott Jaschik
Colleges typically have their finances and institutional strength reviewed by rating agencies before seeking to issue bonds. The idea is that those buying bonds don’t need to rely on colleges’ word that they are creditworthy. The varying ratings theoretically provide investors with a sense of the relative risks associated with bonds from different colleges. Institutions with the same financial strength (or weakness) should be able to issue bonds at the same costs. But a new study finds that historically black colleges end up paying more than colleges on similar financial footing to issue the same value of bonds.
www.insidehighered.com
Report Recommends Ways to Keep University Labs Safe
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/04/11/report-recommends-ways-keep-university-labs-safe?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0be8b923a0-DNU20160411&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0be8b923a0-197515277
Several major associations issued a new report Monday designed to help universities ensure that their research labs and other academic environments operate safely. The report, “A Guide to Implementing a Safety Culture in Our Universities,” was produced by a special panel created by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, in response to a series of accidents in laboratories and other research sites.