University System News:
www.savannahnow.com
Stratton Leopold: Combining forces to promote city to film-makers a stellar idea
I have always promoted Savannah as a location for entertainment production. I produced “The General’s Daughter” here. I’ve consulted on many projects and supported people I thought could advance the industry. In the 1980s I was fortunate enough to work on many projects in Savannah. I am a member of the Georgia Film Commission. Earlier, I also served on the Savannah Film Commission. Through it all, some of the most effective work I’ve done has been chairing a committee of local industry professionals at the request of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. Its purpose was to identify Savannah’s strengths and weaknesses relative to entertainment production and make recommendations about how we could grow a strong, sustainable industry. I presented our recommendations to the SEDA board and have since seen more consistent progress than ever before. First, SEDA followed the committee’s recommendation to hire an industry expert to promote Savannah by contracting with Ralph Singleton who literally wrote the textbooks being used in most film production classes today. Since then, they’ve analyzed the budgets of Savannah-based productions, determined areas of disadvantage and developed plans to address them. They’ve met with key union leaders. …They’ve met with Savannah State University, Armstrong State University, Savannah Tech and SCAD. They’ve attended industry conferences, film festivals and trade shows. They’ve had one-on-one meetings with industry decision makers from big studios and networks to independent filmmakers and technicians. The energy of these efforts, conversations started, and connections made have led to many positive developments. Hunter Maclean dedicated a Critical Issues Forum to the subject. Savannah Technical College is now offering programs specifically for production and partnered with the Georgia Film Academy starting classes this summer. …We can combine our efforts and multiply the budget by creating a Savannah Area Film Office. I fully support the plan City staff and SEDA have developed.
USG Institutions:
www.ajc.com
Auditors uncover more policy violations by Kennesaw State officials
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Conflicts-of-interest and ethics breeches are the latest findings by auditors looking into issues at Kennesaw State University. Another round of reports from auditors at the University System of Georgia found that leaders of KSU’s division responsible for feeding the school’s more than 33,000 students were violating all sorts of policies, including interfering in the bidding process for dining vendors, consulting for one of the school’s vendors and nepotism. One of the complaints against the division director, Randall Shelton, even allege his actions cost the university more than $430,000.
www.noodls.com
Board of Regents Approves Georgia Tech’s Fiscal 2017 Budget
http://www.noodls.com/view/D691FEDDCE5BBF69D719C703FB7A26AA3F829222
distributed by noodls
The fiscal 2017 budget for the Georgia Institute of Technology is $1.66 billion from all sources (excluding affiliate organizations). In May, the Board of Regents (BOR) approved the fiscal 2017 budgets for Georgia Tech as well as other schools in the University System of Georgia. The following questions and answers below outline key actions taken by the BOR and provide an overview of Georgia Tech’s approved budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016.