University System News:
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
State official to chamber: Georgia needs work force development
By Curt Yeomans
Georgia should be doing more to make sure it has a workforce that is qualified to fill jobs that are coming to the state, an official with the Georgia Department of Economic Development told the Gwinnett Chamber on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner Ben Hames said, across the nation, there are 5.8 million unfilled positions, which is up from 5.2 million in 2015. Meanwhile, he added, the job vacancy rate has increased from 3.9 percent to 4.1 percent in the last year. Hames explained the state has been going through a shift in its focus on how to attract business in recent years, going from primarily looking at incentives for businesses to also focusing on workforce development. …The deputy director said Georgia officials have taken some steps at the policy level to encourage work force development, including letting computer programming stand in for math, science and foreign language requirements in high schools, setting up the Georgia Film Academy and offering free tuition for 11 high demand areas, such as industrial maintenance technicians, or CDL programs, at the High Demand Career Institute.
USG Institutions:
www.timesfreepress.com
Trucking company, driver indicted in crash that killed 5 Georgia Southern University nursing students
by Staff Report
ATLANTA (AP) — A grand jury has indicted a tractor-trailer driver and his employer accused of causing a fiery interstate crash that killed five Georgia Southern University nursing students. The Bryan County grand jury on Wednesday indicted John Wayne Johnson of Shreveport, Louisiana, on nine counts and truck company Total Transportation on seven counts in the April 22, 2015 crash. A tractor-trailer on Interstate 16 slammed into the students’ car during stop-and-go traffic backed up by an unrelated wreck. …Johnson and Total Transportation of Mississippi were charged with five counts of homicide by vehicle in the first degree and serious injury by vehicle, the indictment stated. Johnson was also charged with one count of reckless driving, one count of failure to exercise due care and one count of following too closely. Total Transportation is also separately charged with one count of serious injury by vehicle in the first degree and one count of criminal responsibility of corporations. A second indictment seeks to hold Total Transportation criminally responsible under a Georgia law that allows charges to be brought against corporations.
www.emanuelcountylive.com
Be a part of EGSC’s growth on June 22
http://emanuelcountylive.com/2016/06/be-a-part-of-egscs-growth-on-june-22/
by HALEI LAMB
On Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 10 a.m., join East Georgia State College as they cut the ribbon on their newest residence hall, Bobcat Villas – West. This is EGSC’s second residence hall and will provide housing for an additional 212 students, making the total number of on-campus residents 412. Part of the P3 (Public-Private Partnership) Initiative, the construction of Bobcat Villas – West is the first of seven on-campus residence halls to be completed in phase 1 of the initiative, which will include 3,683 new beds across the state of Georgia.
www.thesylvesterlocal.com
Southern Regional Technical College and Albany State University Sign Articulation Agreement
By Cari Colby
The leadership of Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) and Albany State University (ASU) have signed an articulation agreement that creates new education opportunities for SRTC students who graduate with an associate degree in Early Childhood Care and Education. Under the agreement, which was signed on June 8, students who complete their Associate of Applied Science degree from SRTC in Early Childhood Care and Education can transfer their college credits toward a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education at ASU. “We’re grateful to Albany State University President Dr. Art Dunning and his faculty and staff for their desire to partner with SRTC on this articulation agreement and open new doors of opportunity for our students. It creates a seamless pathway for eligible SRTC graduates who want to continue their higher education and earn a bachelor’s degree from ASU in Elementary Education,” said SRTC President, Dr. Craig R. Wentworth. The partnership between SRTC and ASU has already provided valuable opportunities that increase the accessibility of higher education throughout the area.
www.globalatlanta.com
UGA Receives $3 Million Grant to Encourage Mastery of Portuguese
http://www.globalatlanta.com/uga-receives-3-million-grant-to-encourage-mastery-of-portuguese/
Phil Bolton
A $3 million grant to the University of Georgia‘s “Portuguese Flagship Program” is bound to increase the number of students who know the difference between “obrigado,” and “obrigada.” In Brazil the men say “obrigato” and the women say “obrigada” to express gratitude. Flagship program director Robert Moser, associate professor of Portuguese in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, should pass along a heartfelt “obrigado” to the U.S. Defense Department‘s National Security Education Program that is funding the $3 million ensuring the UGA program’s existence for an additional four years. “The Flagship Program at UGA is the only one of its kind in Portuguese in the U.S., and it represents, arguably, one of the largest federal investments in Portuguese instruction in the history of higher education in this country,” said Dr. Moser, in a news release announcing the grant May 27.
www.13wmaz.com
College students fight to end drug overdoses on campus
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/college-students-fight-to-end-drug-overdoses-on-campus/245480598
Ryan Kruger, WMAZ
ATLANTA — Jeremy Sharp has a story similar to too many local college students. “I had a friend pass away on his twenty-first birthday from polydrug use,” Sharp said. Since then, the senior at University of North Georgia has worked tirelessly to make sure no other student has to die from a drug overdose. Two years ago, he worked with the state legislature to pass HB 965, the so-called Good Samaritan 911 law, which gives amnesty to people who call 911 when their friend is overdosing. Now, Sharp has his eyes on something larger. “We’re trying to get all of the 29 different police forces at the university level to be equipped and carrying Naloxone in case of an opioid overdose,” said Sharp. Naloxone has a 98 percent success rate when it comes to reversing the effects of an overdose. ….According to Georgia Overdose Prevention, only three college police agencies currently carry Naloxone, UGA, Kennesaw State and University of North Georgia. Though Georgia is one of the leading states when it comes to law enforcement being equipped with Naloxone, Sharp believes more can be done.
www.statesboroherald.com
Sneak peek of GSU Incubator
Chamber event also to showcase Averitt’s new fine arts center
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/74791/
From staff reports
It’s not an official opening. But a “sneak peek” into Statesboro’s Innovation Incubator complex, including facilities of Georgia Southern University’s Business Innovation Group and the Averitt Center for the Arts, will be offered from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Thursday. The expansion of the GSU City Campus to fill the building at 62 E. Main St. includes the Innovation Incubator for business, and a preview setup, not yet fully functional, of the Fabrication Laboratory equipment for creating prototypes. Meanwhile, the Averitt Center will open the doors of its two-story Roxie Remley Center for Fine Arts, in back of the existing City Campus at 58 E. Main St.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Presidential Perks
New study on compensation for leaders of state colleges and universities finds costs for bonuses and other expensive benefits are growing.
By Rick Seltzer
When public college or university presidents are hired, their salaries always attract attention. But new research suggests the real growth in executive costs may be due to expenses and benefits, which these days go beyond the charge to live in the president’s mansion. Presidents’ contracts have become long, complex and stuffed with extra benefits going far beyond base salary and a place to live, according to new research from James Finkelstein, a public policy professor at George Mason University who has been analyzing presidential contracts for several years. Finkelstein is scheduled to share his findings at the American Association of University Professors’ annual conference Thursday in Washington. He is using his work to call for more transparency in presidential contracts at public universities, like posting them online. But some say that could bring about unintended consequences and argue contracts and the benefits in them are dictated by the marketplace.
www.insidehighered.com
Examining Why Female Students Leave Engineering
After starting out in engineering, women are less likely than men to stay in the profession. But rather than a toxic curriculum or classroom environment, the problem may come from the group dynamics found in teamwork and summer internships, according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When MIT researchers analyzed more than 40 engineering students’ twice-monthly diaries, they found that female students often felt marginalized during group activities. In these situations, men are more likely to work on challenging problems, while women are more likely to be assigned menial tasks.
www.ajc.com
Does high school GPA better predict college success than ACT or SAT?
Maureen Downey
A new survey by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling survey raises questions about the use of the ACT and SAT in college admission decisions. Among questions asked of the 400 higher ed institutions in the survey: How often do you validate the usefulness of these standardized entrance exams in predicting which students will experience academic success in college? The survey found only 51 percent of the colleges conduct predictive validity studies to discover whether the tests tell them anything helpful. Yet, nearly 8 out of 10 colleges require either the ACT or SAT.