University System News:
www.ajc.com
Pay raises again this year for Ga. college presidents
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Presidents at Georgia’s public colleges and universities will see their pay increase next year thanks to raises approved this week by the state’s Board of Regents. The raises for fiscal 2017, which begins in July, range from 1.5 percent to 5 percent bumps in the presidents’ base salaries. The increases amount to between about $2,750 and $12,196 for the school leaders. The raises, for the most part, are in line with Gov. Nathan Deal’s budget which included money for state employees to receive raises in July in the range of 3 percent.
www.ajc.com
University System has $15 billion impact on Georgia’s economy
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s public college and university system had a $15.5 billion impact on the state’s economy last year, according to a recent study released this week. The University System of Georgia’s impact increased by 9 percent, or $1.3 billion, over the previous fiscal year. The study, conducted by the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, measures direct and indirect spending that contributes to the regions the state’s college system serves. Initial spending by system schools on on personnel costs, such as salaries and fringe benefits, operating expenses and other budgeted expenses, along with spending by students attending the institutions, account for most of the $15.5 billion impact.
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
USG Foundation raises $1.3 million for need-based scholarships
From Staff Reports
The 12th annual Regents’ Scholarship Gala recently raised more than $1.3 million to promote, support and provide need-based scholarships for students at the University System of Georgia’s 29 institutions. The annual gala surpassed its previous records on fundraising. “When we all come together, we are able to make a significant investment in Georgia’s future,” Regent Sachin Shailendra said in a news release. “Together, we are intent on moving the needle on increasing need-based scholarships and it speaks to the reason we are here tonight: the students.” The gala honors faculty, alumni and one individual who exemplify true leadership and support of higher education in Georgia.
www.albanyceo.com
University System to Implement Alcohol and Substance Abuse Initiative
Staff Report From Georgia CEO
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved a system-wide alcohol and substance abuse initiative as recommended by USG Chancellor Hank Huckaby and the USG Alcohol and Substance Abuse Task Force. Last July, Huckaby charged the Task Force with reviewing and developing recommendations related to alcohol and substance abuse at the System’s institutions. Huckaby convened the task force in response to a 2015 recommendation by the USG Campus Safety and Security Committee, which found that “the abuse of alcohol and other substances is a significant contributing factor in many of the most serious public safety issues” and should therefore receive additional study.
www.huffingtonpost.com
Georgia Caps How Much Student Fees Can Subsidize College Sports
A win for poor college students.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/georgia-student-fees-cap-sports_us_5734aaffe4b08f96c1825fca
Tyler Kingkade
The Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia has adopted a new policy capping how much a school’s athletics budget can rely on student fees. Tuesday’s policy change follows a Huffington Post/Chronicle of Higher Education examination of how student fees pay for athletic programs at public colleges. State universities poured over $10.3 billion in mandatory student fees and other subsidies into sports teams from 2010 through 2014. The HuffPost/Chronicle report showed that about 84 percent of Georgia State University’s athletics budget was subsidized by student fees and other institutional support. That was the 14th highest percentage in the nation. While Georgia State’s in-state tuition and fees are about average, the majority of its students are eligible for Pell grants, meaning they come from lower-income backgrounds and find it harder to shoulder added college costs. Under the new cap, student fees at Georgia’s public colleges and universities cannot account for more than 65 to 85 percent of the individual school’s athletics budget.
USG Institutions:
www.gwinnetdailypost.com
GGC makes history with U.S. Army commissioning
By Keith Farner
The two ROTC members who helped make history at Georgia Gwinnett College said Thursday that this is just the beginning. The Lawrenceville school more than doubled its number of U.S. Army officers by commissioning four at once, including its first two female officers. Ashleigh Simmons and Alicia Griffiths joined Andrew Lee, who comes from a military family, and Adam Robes in being honored during a ceremony on graduation day. “It’s an amazing feeling to be the first females to commission from this program,” Simmons said. “Alicia and I contracted together, so I’m glad that we commissioned together, as well. This is just the first step, though. There is a group of great female cadets in the program who will follow in our footsteps.” Added Griffiths: “I was very excited when Ashleigh and I became the first females to contract with the Army. I am confident in my abilities and the leadership skills I have gained through ROTC. I will make my impact on the world.”
www.onlineathens.com
Students’ satellites could launch space program for UGA
By LEE SHEARER
A student-led University of Georgia team has gotten grant funding to design, build and launch two small satellites into space, but they’re aiming for something bigger. The student team wants not only to launch UGA’s first small “cube satellite” in 2018 (with another to follow as soon as 2019) – they want to establish a continuing University of Georgia space program, said Caleb Adams of Powder Springs, a key leader of the undergraduate student team. “We need to make the space program sustainable,” said Adams, who is majoring in astrophysics and computer science.
www.bizjournals.com
Viewpoint: Job prospects looking up for new UGA grads
The good news is that the job market for college graduates—whether you’re a Bulldog, Yellow Jacket or otherwise—is looking the best it has in 10 years. Employers across the nation plan to hire 5.2 percent more new college graduates this year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. …Employers want to hire University of Georgia graduates. They know our students have received excellent educations and that a large portion of them have taken advantage of experiential learning opportunities, such as internships, service-learning projects and study abroad programs. The students have the technical skills that accompany a college degree, but what really sets UGA students apart are important traits such as leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, professionalism and career management. Ultimately, they represent future leaders in a myriad of career fields.
www.bizjournals.com
Georgia State University partners with LGBT Institute
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/05/12/georgia-state-university-partners-with-lgbt.html
Phil W. Hudson
Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia State University and the LGBT Institute at the Center for Civil and Human Rights formed a new partnership to bring the experiences of LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] Southerners to light. According to the school, it partnered with the LGBT Institute to connect academic researchers with LGBT advocates to tell the stories of some of those most marginalized—LGBT Southerners—through data.
www.myajc.com
Grateful for 13 years in a long history
By James W. Wagner
Thirteen years is a long tenure for a college or university president these days, when the average is not much more than about seven. But as I prepare to retire from the Emory University presidency in August, I look back on the past 13 years stunned at their swiftness and overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude. My gratitude extends not only to the Emory family but also to the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia, for the ways in which university, city, and state have grown increasingly important to each other. …Of the many lessons I have learned in 13 years of helping to nurture Emory’s regional partnerships, I would note three in particular. …Third, partnerships with our neighbors should strengthen all parties to the collaboration, including the state as well as the nation. Emory and our Atlanta community are enriched by the growing partnerships Emory enjoys with Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Agnes Scott College, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, The Carter Center, the Task Force for Global Health, and other great institutions in our city, as well as through the Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and other funding partners whose efforts extend across the globe.
www.bizjournals.com
Arnold utilizes technology to promote better health
Tonya Layman, Contributing Writer
Jeff Arnold has been an innovator in the digital health field for as long as the industry has existed. He believes technology allows consumers to take control of their health-care and he wants to provide the tools that help people be “happy, healthy and productive.” The more access people have to information, the better they take care of themselves. They become aware of what healthcare costs and they make better decisions, Arnold says. This is especially true as more people hold tons of information in the palm of their hand with smartphones… This potential enhancement resulted from acquisition of a German technology company. Researchers at the Institute for People and Technology at Georgia Tech and neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta are overseeing an adaptive trial of the technology. It is available to the public via the Sharecare Beta smartphone app on Android. A version for Apple devices is planned for June.
www.bizjournals.com
Clayton county zeroes in on industries for growth
Martin Sinderman, Contributing Writer
Building upon inherent strengths in areas such as location, transportation infrastructure, and natural resources, Clayton County has targeted several industries for special attention in its economic development efforts. The effort is based largely upon a strategic economic development plan prepared for the county in 2013 by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, the university’s business outreach organization. The targeted industries are manufacturing; logistics and distribution; bio/life sciences; and health-care services, according to Courtney Pogue, director of the Clayton County Office of Economic Development & Film.
www.ajc.com
Survivor of crash that killed 4 UGA students moved to Shepherd Center
Alexis Stevens, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The University of Georgia senior critically injured in a crash that killed four classmates was moved Thursday afternoon to Atlanta’s Shepherd Center from Athens Regional Medical Center. Agnes Kim, 21, has been hospitalized since the night of the April 27 crash in Oconee County. Kim, a Brookwood High School graduate, was driving a Toyota Camry northbound on Ga. 15 when she crossed the center line and drove into the path of Chevrolet Cobalt, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
www.wtoc.com
Georgia Southern student, friend die in tragic hiking accident
http://www.wtoc.com/story/31964829/georgia-southern-student-friend-die-in-tragic-hiking-accident
By WTOC Staff
STATESBORO, GA (WTOC) – A Georgia Southern University student has died after slipping at a North Carolina waterfall on Tuesday. Davis Zinsenheim, 22, of Marietta, Georgia, and his friend, Joseph Hopkins, 23, also of Marietta, were visiting friends at Ravens Rock Falls at Lake Toxaway. According to the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office, the boys were hiking when Hopkins slipped and fell. Zinsenheim died at the scene after falling about 100 feet while trying to reach Hopkins, who had fallen about 40 feet to a ledge. Hopkins died from his injuries Wednesday at a hospital in Greenville, South Carolina. Zinsenheim was a student at Georgia Southern in Statesboro.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA’s oldest letterman Cliff Kimsey dies
http://onlineathens.com/sports/college-sports/2016-05-12/ugas-oldest-letterman-cliff-kimsey-dies
By UGA SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS
Cliff Kimsey, Georgia’s oldest living football letterman, died at his home in Cornelia Tuesday at the age of 94. …At the University of Georgia, Kimsey shared a backfield with Frank Sinkwich and Lamar ‘Racehorse’ Davis and played tailback, fullback, and blocking back during his collegiate career. In 1942 Kimsey was the recipient of UGA’s Outstanding Senior Athlete Award.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Taking Sexual Assault to Twitter
Frustrated with how colleges have handled their claims of sexual abuse, more students are turning to social media to publicize their cases.
By Jake New
“This is my freshman year at Spelman College,” the tweet read. “And my last year, because I decided to leave after what happened to me.” The message, shared anonymously last week under the Twitter handle @RapedAtSpelman, was the first of a series of tweets detailing an alleged gang rape at the historically black women’s college. The student said she was sexually assaulted by four students from Morehouse College, a nearby all-male HBCU with strong historical ties to Spelman, and when she tried reporting the crime to campus officials, she was met with indifference and hostility. The series of tweets, which prompted pledges from Spelman and Morehouse to investigate the allegations and review their sexual assault policies, was just the latest example of students turning to social media in recent months to air their dissatisfaction with how cases of campus sexual assault are handled.
www.insidehighered.com
Leave It in the Bag
Study by faculty members at West Point finds students perform better academically when laptops and tablets are banned from the classroom.
By Carl Straumsheim
When faculty members at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point took away students’ computers and tablets in an introductory economics courses, their students’ grades jumped. The study of those faculty members’ findings, published this month by the School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggests that male students and students with high grade point averages at the beginning of their college careers are most susceptible to their grades suffering from device-induced distraction.
www.chronicle.com
Student Reporter Interviews Obama. First Question? The Fafsa.
by Courtney Kueppers
When President Obama made a surprise appearance in the White House’s Briefing Room on College Reporter Day, on April 28, he probably didn’t expect one of the student journalists there to ask him for more access. But Dan Corey, editor in chief of Rutgers University’s student newspaper, The Daily Targum, did just that. And on Monday, Mr. Corey landed an interview with the commander in chief, who will speak on Sunday at the institution’s commencement, in New Brunswick, N.J. In the 15-minute telephone interview, Mr. Corey wasted no time in jumping on the issues that matter to college students. In his first question he asked the president about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or Fafsa. …Despite Mr. Obama’s insistence that efforts have been made to streamline the Fafsa application, the process remains notoriously complicated, as a new batch of graduating high-school students and their families discover annually. Simplifying the form isn’t as easy as it may sound, and too much simplification could actually have some drawbacks, The Chronicle reported last year.
www.chronicle.com
Obama Administration to Issue Directive on Transgender Access to Bathrooms
by Don Troop
The Obama administration will issue a directive on Friday that public-school districts must allow transgender students to use restrooms that match their gender identity, The New York Times and The Washington Post report. The mandate contains an implicit threat that institutions that do not comply risk losing federal funds. A statement by the secretary of education, John B. King Jr., made clear that colleges, too, will be expected to comply with the directive: “No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” Mr. King said. “We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment, and violence.”