University System News:
www.politics.blog.ajc.com
Rule No. 2 for Tasers on campus: ‘Don’t be a jerk’
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/07/01/rule-no-2-for-tasers-on-campus-dont-be-a-jerk/
Jim Galloway
Numerous new state laws go into effect today, but none will get more attention than House Bill 792, which permits students to carry stun guns and electro-shock devices on public university campuses. From our AJC colleague Kristina Torres: Students at least 18 years old will now be legally able to carry Tasers and stun guns on Georgia’s public college and university campuses. Some dubbed the effort “campus carry lite” — after a bill vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal that would have allowed some students to carry guns on Georgia campuses. The author of the law — state Rep. Buzz Brockway, R-Lawrenceville — said he intended to provide an alternative to students wanting to protect themselves on campus but not use a lethal weapon. The law states that what are formally called electroshock weapons must only be used for self-defense, getting to concerns by some lawmakers that somebody could use the device to zap somebody else just for fun. It’s that concern over the potential misuse of
Tasers that apparently has caused Brockway to produce the above YouTube clip, offering advice on how to avoid getting zapped. Rule No. 1 is simple. Don’t break the law. Rule No. 2 is more interpretive:
www.ajc.com
Georgia teachers, workers, retirees seek more say in state health plan
James Salzer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eight teacher, retiree and state employee groups sent a letter to Gov. Nathan Deal asking for more input in their insurance plan, which provides health care to 650,000 Georgians. The group’s letter – obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution – notes that the Georgia House passed a resolution during the 2016 General Assembly session encouraging the agency that runs the State Health Benefit Plan to set up an advisory council made up of beneficiaries. The board of the Department of Community Health is expected to vote on State Health Benefit Plan coverage for 2017 over the summer. …The $3 billion State Health Benefit Plan provides medical coverage to about 650,000 teachers, state employees, retirees and their family members.
www.macon.com
Here’s how to prepare for an active shooter
http://www.macon.com/opinion/article87093732.html
BY PAULA BROADWELL AND RYAN HOOVER
Special to the Charlotte Observer
The threat of gun violence in public spaces across our nation is disconcerting. Indeed, ideologically driven, lethal-shooter attacks represent a considerate threat to national security. Since 1970, more Americans have been killed on U.S. soil due to gun violence than all wars combined. …Consider this: While most banks, hospitals, and schools rehearse tornado and fire drills, few bankers, doctors, and students have died from tornadoes or fires in the past decade. Contrastingly, scant resources are devoted to preparing to counter violence in these facilities even when we know, for example, that there were 64 school shootings in America in 2015. If such events are seemingly inevitable, but most end before police intervention, shouldn’t we ask what those in target environments could do to prepare? …If such events are seemingly inevitable, but most end before police intervention, shouldn’t we ask what those in target environments could do to prepare? Decrease high target areas’ vulnerabilities. According to the FBI, 70 percent of shooter incidents occur in an educational or business environment. These “high value targets” can become “target-free zones” by changing their vulnerability profile. This includes training employees to intervene. Why? Prepare everyone to be a first responder. The majority of active shooter scenarios last 15 minutes, and 60 percent end before law enforcement arrive on the scene. In 83 percent of active killer incidents, the event only ends through use of force. In many cases, civilian bystanders bring an incident to an end. Learn the steps to save lives. These steps for unarmed “active killer defense” provide concise, non-linear tips for bystander safety and intervention.
USG Institutions:
www.walb.com
Darton, ASU merger on schedule to be finalized in January
http://www.walb.com/story/32351192/darton-asu-merger-on-schedule-to-be-finalized-in-january
By Re-Essa Buckels, Reporter
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – There’s still a lot to do over the next six months, but Albany State University’s president said that the school’s merger with Darton State College is still on schedule to be finalized in January. President Dunning has filled more leadership roles, and work continues to fill more important positions on the campus as the merger of the two institutions moves forward. As Albany State students go about their summer course work, administrators continued to work on the merger with Darton State College. President Dunning announced that Olufunke Fontenot will take over on Friday as the interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. …There are several other key positions Dunning is working to fill, including Director of Athletics. …Despite all of the changes, Dunning said ASU will keep its HBCU status and many of the two-year degree programs now available at Darton will continue. Dunning also plans to have all positions filled by the end of the year. The consolidation is expected to be complete in January.
www.mdjonline.com
Davis officially takes over at KSU
Staff reports
Houston Davis officially takes over as interim president of Kennesaw State University today. Davis, the University System of Georgia’s chief academic officer and executive vice chancellor, takes over for outgoing president Dan Papp, who announced his retirement on May 11.
www.wsav.com
New president takes helm at Georgia Southern University
http://wsav.com/2016/07/01/new-president-takes-helm-at-georgia-southern-university/
By Kim Gusby
(Statesboro)- It’s the first day on the job for Georgia Southern University’s new leader. Today, Dr. Jaimie Hebert assumes his position as the university’s 13th president. In his first hundred days, Hebert will be gathering information and ideas by asking students, alumni, faculty, staff and the community to complete a survey to share their thoughts on Georgia Southern, and identify what they feel should be his first priorities.
www.groupstate.com
Dr. Tina Woodard chosen to attend White House Summit
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20160630/ARTICLES/160639984
Dr. Tina Woodard, Co-Founder and Executive Director of “I Am BEAUTIFUL,” an award-winning nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower girls and women of all ages and stages to live beautiful lives, was chosen to attend the United States of Women Summit, recently held in Washington, D.C. The Summit included world-renowned change-agents speaking on gender equality issues, such as leadership, entrepreneurship, education, economic empowerment and violence against women. …Dr. Woodard, currently Assistant Vice Chancellor for Organized Development at the university System of Georgia
www.bizjournals.com
Chris Downing named Georgia Tech’s economic development chief
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/06/30/chris-downing-named-georgia-techs.html
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Chris Downing is Georgia Tech’s new economic development boss. Downing was named vice president of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2), which bills itself as the nation’s largest university-based program of business and industry assistance, technology commercialization, and economic development.
www.athensceo.com
Stephen Kuzniak on Selig Center for Economic Growth at UGA
Stephen Kuzniak with the Selig Center for Economic Growth at UGA, discusses the impact the Selig Center has on the state of Georgia each year, whether its providing economic research for areas across the state, or getting out in the communities with their Economic Outlook Series.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA expands medical amnesty to protect overdosing students
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-07-01/uga-expands-medical-amnesty-protect-overdosing-students
By HILARY BUTSCHEK
Beginning Friday, the University of Georgia will extend protection to students reported to be overdosing on drugs or alcohol. According to a change in the UGA Code of Conduct, students who suffer alcohol- or drug-related emergencies reported to medical and law enforcement officials will be protected from university code violations. This change, which was led by the Student Government Association, expands the reach of medical amnesty.
www.wtoc.com
Michael’s Law makes Georgia bars 21-and-up beginning Friday
http://www.wtoc.com/story/32347866/michaels-law-makes-georgia-bars-21-and-up-beginning-friday
By Dal Cannady, Reporter
GEORGIA (WTOC) – A host of new laws take effect in Georgia Friday. One of them will regulate who can enter a bar and who can work there. A state law that’s intended to make bars across Georgia safer has its tragic beginnings at a former bar in Statesboro. Michael Gatto was an 18-year-old freshman in his first week of college at Georgia Southern University when he went into Rude Rudy’s. According to police, an off-duty bouncer, who was also underage, confronted Gatto. Prosecutors said that bouncer, Grant Spencer, assaulted Gatto to the point he died hours later. Gatto’s parents have since become advocates for strengthening regulations in Statesboro and elsewhere. The law makes all bars 21 and up to enter, not just to drink. It also requires all employees to be 21.
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Columbus State earns grant for cybersecurity, mobile sensing research
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article87056577.html
BY MARK RICE
Eight undergraduates at Columbus State University will be selected each year to work during the summer with faculty researching cybersecurity and mobile sensing, thanks to a $230,486 grant from the National Science Foundation. U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, announced the foundation has awarded CSU the grant that will fund a Research Experiences for Undergraduates site to collaborate with the university’s TSYS Center for Cybersecurity, which the National Security Agency designated as a Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education last year. “I am eager to see the impact Columbus State University will make on students, the community, the state and our nation using the resources granted by the National Science Foundation,” Bishop, Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District representative, said in a news release from his office. “Affecting national security to personal financial security, the advancement of cybersecurity by the supported Columbus State students will strengthen our country’s future as we face new technical developments and the challenges accompanying breakthroughs.” Cybersecurity involves finding ways to protect computer devices and networks from unauthorized access. Mobile sensing comprises technology that enables wireless computer devices to convert information into a digital signal that is displayed for various purposes, such as taking photos or identifying fingerprints.
www.news.wabe.org
Georgia Tech Scientist Involved In NASA’s Mission To Jupiter
http://news.wabe.org/post/georgia-tech-scientist-involved-nasas-mission-jupiter
By MOLLY SAMUEL
NASA’s Juno spacecraft is approaching Jupiter. It’s scheduled to arrive at the giant planet Monday night. One scientist who plans to forgo the fireworks that night in favor of watching the data feed in as the spacecraft enters Jupiter’s orbit is Georgia Tech’s Paul Steffes, who’s been involved in the Juno Mission since its inception more than a decade ago. “It’s extremely exciting that Juno is finally arriving,” said Steffes, a computer and electrical engineering professor at Tech. “Not only has it been five years in transit, which included a trip out beyond Mars and then back to Earth for a gravity assist, but also we’ve been working on the mission itself, on the technologies, since 2005.”
www.news.wabe.org
Museum Of Design Atlanta Opens ‘User-Centered Design’ Exhibits
http://news.wabe.org/post/museum-design-atlanta-opens-user-centered-design-exhibits
By GABBIE WATTS
It might seem obvious that designers make things so that people can use them, but “user-centered design” is a fairly new concept, evolving over the 20th century… Wearable tech is one example of “user-centered design,” and it is explored in MODA’s other new exhibit “On You: Wearing Technology,” created by Georgia Tech’s Wearable Computing Center. Wearable tech has been around for decades (think hearing aids, headphones, watches), but in recent years, the industry has exploded with commercial products like Fitbits and Google Glass. “Twenty years ago, products couldn’t have been made because it would have taken batteries that are too heavy,” said Clint Zeagler, one of the curators behind “On You: Wearing Technology.”
Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
Wave of Campus Activism Brings Fresh Challenges for College Lawyers
http://chronicle.com/article/Wave-of-Campus-Activism-Brings/236998
By Eric Kelderman
The recent wave of campus activism over issues of gender and racial equity has presented a range of challenges for college lawyers, including the thorny question of how to protect free speech and sometimes conflicting demands from federal and state governments on transgender rights. Civil-rights issues arising from concerns like those were heavily discussed at the annual conference here this week of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, known as Nacua. The focus on civil-rights issues was not intentional, said José D. Padilla, vice president and general counsel at DePaul University and departing chair of the association’s Board of Directors. But the program did reflect the complicated discussions that emerged from a year’s worth of campus protests, battles with state lawmakers, and a major Supreme Court decision on race-conscious admissions. Some of those issues were not new to the conference and have been debated for years. But the intensity of the discussions and the potential for conflict have increased over the past year.
www.chronicle.com
Is Student-Loan Debt Really Holding Would-Be Entrepreneurs Back?
http://chronicle.com/article/Is-Student-Loan-Debt-Really/236960
By Beckie Supiano
When Hillary Clinton unveiled a proposal to reduce the student-loan burden on entrepreneurs, higher-education policy wonks responded with a collective eyeroll.
The proposal, part of a technology platform the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee announced on Tuesday, would allow entrepreneurs — and, possibly, their first few employees — to defer payment on their student loans for three years. It would also offer those starting businesses in “distressed communities” or those who form “social enterprises that provide measurable social impact and benefit” up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness after five years.
www.insidehighered.com
A Research Group of Their Own
Texas Tech and Indiana U at Bloomington have developed programs that encourage female faculty members to find more time to publish their research.
Maxine Joselow
For professors, finding time to do research can be difficult. Especially if they are women. Numerous studies have found that female professors work the same number of hours as their male counterparts, but they spend less time on research and more time on other commitments. In a 2008 study by professors at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Georgia, female participants spent an hour and a half less per week on research than their male counterparts. A big reason was that they spent an hour more on service and a half hour more on teaching. The Women Faculty Writing Groups at Texas Tech University aim to combat this gender gap in research. Founded this fall, the program seeks to offer female professors a three-hour chunk of time each week to pursue writing and publishing their research without getting sidetracked by other demands, said Caroline Bishop, assistant professor of classical and modern languages at Texas Tech and a co-founder of the program.
www.insidehighered.com
Blackboard Owner Acquires Higher One
Blackboard’s parent company, Providence Equity Partners, is acquiring the higher education financial company Higher One for $260 million. The acquisition is the latest move from Blackboard to expand its capacity to handle payments.