University System News:
www.ajc.com
Kennesaw State to eliminate mandatory meal plans for commuter students
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kennesaw State University plans to end its requirement that commuter students purchase a meal plan. The decision is part of a response to an audit last month by the state’s University System that found several employee violations, as well as managerial and financial problems with the school’s food services division. The audit led to the resignation of a high-ranking division director. Four other KSU administrators were also fired. …The school plans to end the mandatory meal plans “no later than” the close of fiscal year 2018, KSU’s interim president, Houston Davis, said in the audit response, dated July 8 and released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday in response to an open-records request. KSU also plans to provide “some level of relief” to students paying for the required plans during the upcoming school year, until the plans are eliminated within the next two years.
www.onlineathens.com
Out-of-state enrollment up at UGA, but growth small compared to University of Alabama, Georgia Tech
By LEE SHEARER
Out-of-state and foreign enrollment is rising at the University of Georgia, but nothing like what’s happened at many other large state universities over the past 15 years. The number of students from other states grew by 30 percent at UGA from 2000 to 2016, and the number of students from outside the United States grew by 65 percent, according to University System of Georgia statistics. The number of in-state students grew by 14 percent. In spring semester 2016, 1,882 UGA students listed home addresses outside the United States — up from 1,143 in 2000. Another 4,344 UGA students came from states other than Georgia, up from 3,395 in 2000. They bring the campus not only a more cosmopolitan atmosphere, but more revenue.
www.ajc.com
Two Ga. colleges fall, two climb in World University rankings
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/two-ga-colleges-fall-two-move-world-university-ran/nrwsR/
Fiza Pirani, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Did your alma mater rank among the world’s top 1,000 universities? Five Georgia colleges and universities did. Analysts from the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) examined eight objective indicators to rank the world’s top 1,000 universities, including quality of education, alumni employment, influence, patents, faculty quality and more. The 2016 list measures both the quality of education and student training as well as the prestige of faculty members and their research without depending on university submissions or surveys. In order of rank, these are the five Georgia colleges that made the cut: Emory University (79), Georgia Institute of Technology (86), University of Georgia (204), Augusta University (462) and Georgia State University (487).
www.wsbtv.com
Stun gun sales to students surge with new law
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb-county/stun-gun-sales-to-students-surge-with-new-law/398341243
by: Tom Regan
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia college students are snapping up Tasers and other stun guns after a law took effect that allows students and faculty to carry electronic shock weapons on campus. Adventure Outdoors, a hunting and camping supply store in Smyrna, told Channel 2’s Tom Regan sales have doubled in recent weeks. “We had to place a large order, because they were selling out. More people are coming in and buying these. A lot of fathers are buying them for their daughters and ladies who go to Georgia State, Kennesaw State, UGA and Georgia Tech,” said store manager Eric Wallace. The law on electronic shock weapons is sometimes referred to as “campus carry lite.” It was seen as a compromise on legislation vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal that would have allowed students to carry concealed weapons on campus. High-powered stun guns can deliver a disabling shock to an assailant. Some weapons generate millions of volts in a quick burst. “If you hold it to them for a second or two, it can knock them to the ground for a few seconds so you can get away,” said Wallace. Some students at Kennesaw State University support the electroshock-weapons carry law.
USG Institutions:
www.wgxa.tv
Middle Georgia State University celebrates 30 years in Dublin
http://wgxa.tv/news/local/middle-georgia-state-university-celebrates-30-years-in-dublin
BY SHANNON LILLY
MACON, Ga. — Middle Georgia State University celebrated 30 years at the Dublin campus Monday. University leaders held a ceremony on campus complete with speakers including President Dr. Christopher Blake. Blake announced MGSU plans to add two new Bachelor’s Degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies and Health Services Administration in the Fall 2017. “We have the potential here to really grow the program and to make our Dublin Campus one of the proudest gems that really exists in this area in higher education,” Blake said. He also talked about the growth he’s seen over the years.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
University of North Georgia to hold ribbon-cutting for new residence hall July 28
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/117977/
Times staff reports
The University of North Georgia will officially recognize its new, four-story residence hall, The Commons, with a ribbon-cutting on the Dahlonega campus at 10 a.m. July 28. The co-ed, two-building facility will add about 540 beds to UNG’s on-campus housing. The facility is across the street from UNG’s dining hall and is adjacent to the Walker Drive residential parking deck. Corvias Campus Living was selected to build, manage and maintain student housing by the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents for several institutions, including UNG.
www.news.wabe.org
Atlanta Olympics Helped GSU Shake Off Commuter School Image
http://news.wabe.org/post/atlanta-olympics-helped-gsu-shake-commuter-school-image
By MICHELL ELOY
On a sunny summer day in downtown Atlanta, students dart across the main plaza of Georgia State University, with very few students lingering in the stagnant, 90-degree heat. Nestled in between the school’s library and Langdale Hall off Peachtree Center Avenue, the plaza, with its bubbling fountain and sitting areas, has been the heart of the campus since GSU’s days as a commuter school… There was one rub to get those dorms, though: They had to be built across town on Georgia Tech’s campus. “With all of the construction of residences for the Olympics, they had to be within the security perimeter, which they created around the Georgia Tech campus,” Crimmins says. “Tech didn’t have the capacity to absorb them all, which is what gave us the opportunity for the Olympic dorms.”
www.thebrunswicknews.com
Georgia Southern shows off animals at library event
Three young volunteers were brought up to the front of the room, where inside several boxes were mysterious animals yet to be revealed. “Sorry, I should have said bravery is one of the volunteer requirements,” said John Haley, a worker with the Georgia Southern University Center for Wildlife Education, who visited the Brunswick-Glynn County Library on Tuesday to teach children about animals. He asked the children to close their eyes and cup their hands. He then placed in each other of their hands a large cockroach. Every volunteer promptly dropped their insect. …He carried every bird, insect and amphibian through the crowd of more than 200 children in attendance. Geri Lynn Mullis, director of the Marshes of Glynn Libraries, said the event is part of the libraries’ summer reading program, meant to encourage reading during the summer months to keep students’ minds sharp for when they return to school in the fall.
www.publicnow.com
Jamie Tanner Named Chairman Of CUPA-HR’s Southern Region Board Of Directors
http://www.publicnow.com/view/2F0ADCFE19DCFE5A63917C78BB16BA19B0018501
VALDOSTA – Valdosta State University’s Jamie Tanner is the new chairman of the Southern Region Board of Directors of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR). His one-year term began July 1 and ends June 30, 2017. ‘I am very excited about this next year …,’ said Tanner, who serves as employee relations manager with VSU’s Division of Human Resources and Employee Development. ‘I have been in higher education human resources for more than 10 years, and CUPA-HR has been my constant source of information and updates on all things human resources affecting our higher education world. It is the premier organization for human resources professionals in higher education and has our best interest at heart.’ Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., CUPA-HR serves higher education by providing the knowledge, resources, advocacy, and connections to achieve organizational and workforce excellence.
www.ajc.com
$100K grant lures Keysight to Atlanta
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/100k-grant-lures-keysight-to-atlanta/nrxK8/
David Ibata, For the AJC
A California company has won a $100,000 InvestAtlanta Economic Opportunity Fund grant to bring 241 software engineering jobs to Technology Square in Midtown. The Atlanta City Council recently approved the grant to Keysight Technologies, a Santa Rosa-based manufacturer of test and measurement equipment and software. The company chose Atlanta — and particularly, a location near Georgia Tech — over Seattle and California’s Silicon Valley for its software development center, city officials said.
www.tiftongazette.com
VSU students hold Black Lives Matter rally
By Jason A. Smith
VALDOSTA, Ga. — A handful of Valdosta State University students and alums gathered Monday at West Hall to protest the deaths of black men across the nation. Event organizers spoke about their reasons for wanting to put the demonstration together. After learning about the Alton Sterling and Philando Castille officer-involved shootings,”It made me sad,” said Kimberlin Kelly, event organizer and VSU student. “I wanted to get the word out that in Valdosta, of all places, we are not going to take this. It is sickening to see our black men murdered for things that are minuscule and could be handled better. “The reason I wanted to have the march is to let the community know we care about them as VSU students,” Kelley said. “We are part of the community so we want to help the community. ” …The demonstration was originally to be held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument, but was moved to West Hall after the Valdosta Police Department asked for the march to be delayed until Thursday, Kelley said. She has no plans to hold another demonstration this week. The demonstration lasted about 20 minutes with 45-50 people in attendance.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Competency-Based Education for Underprepared Students
The key to designing a competency-based education program for underprepared adult students is the need to balance remedial instruction with college work, within a system of effective student support services, says a new paper from Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit group.
www.chronicle.com
As Free Textbooks Go Mainstream, Advocate Says Colleges Should Do More to Support Them
By Goldie Blumenstyk
It’s been a big few weeks for the movement to replace commercial textbooks with free online materials, thanks to the sudden rise of something called the Zero Textbook Cost degree. In June, 38 community colleges announced plans to make free online materials standard in every course in some degree programs as part of a new effort coordinated by Achieving the Dream. Just a few weeks later, Gov. Jerry Brown of California, a Democrat, signed a 2016-17 budget that includes $5 million for community colleges in the state to create their own ZTC degrees. Hal Plotkin, a longtime advocate of open education resources, or OER, says the moves could eventually save students billions of dollars. As he argued in a recent commentary, California’s new ZTC program is “easily the most ambitious state-level effort to promote the use of OER in public higher education to date.” Yet while cheering both the California and Achieving the Dream initiatives, Mr. Plotkin, a senior open-policy fellow at Creative Commons USA, argues that college leaders could and should be doing far more to promote the use of free, openly licensed materials, to prevent publishers from treating students “like walking cash registers.”
www.insidehighered.com
Virtual Reality on the Horizon
The hype has some colleges wondering if now is the right time to jump in. High costs and development issues suggest the technology is still years away from making a difference.
By Carl Straumsheim
Virtual reality is not yet here — at least not in higher education. But as technology companies invest billions of dollars in the emerging technology, many colleges and universities are taking a first look at the nascent medium out of concern that they will be left out of shaping it.
www.ajc.com
Student debt casts doubts on home-buying
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/student-debt-casts-doubts-on-home-buying/nrxhN/
Christopher Quinn, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A majority of households surveyed by the National Association of Realtors believe now is a good time to buy a home, but some key findings were that those under 35 were the least optimistic, and that about half of those surveyed who also have student debt said they were uncomfortable also carrying a mortgage. Student debt has risen dramatically across the U.S. in the last two decades, and economists have cited it as an anchor on the economy.
www.chronicle.com
- of California Increases In-State Admissions
by Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz
The University of California system has increased offers of admission to California applicants by more than 15 percent for the coming fall semester, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. The rise in in-state admissions comes a few months after a state audit found the system enrolled too many out-of state students. Critics said the system’s admissions policy favored out-of-state and international students because they paid higher tuition rates than did their in-state counterparts.
www.insidehighered.com
Obama, the Academic (Again)
Embracing his scholarly roots, President Obama became the first sitting president to publish an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Maxine Joselow
President Obama published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday — seemingly a first for a sitting president. The article, titled “United States Health Care Reform: Progress to Date and Next Steps,” examines the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It also offers policy makers proposals for improving the U.S. health care system. Obama presents evidence that the law has expanded health insurance coverage to 20 million Americans. He also suggests sustaining the ACA’s provisions, improving competition in the marketplaces and cracking down on prescription drug prices.