USG Institutions:
www.ajc.com
Most popular occupations for the grads of these Georgia universities
Carolyn Cunningham, For the AJC
Jobs in engineering, business, health, computer science and education are among the most popular occupations for graduates of various Georgia colleges and universities. For Clayton State University graduates, the top occupations are business management, health professional, information technology and logistics management, said Bridgette McDonald, the university’s director of Career Services. Tammy DeMel, executive director of Strategic Communications for Kennesaw State University, said, “Unfortunately, we do not have job titles or occupations of our graduating students. However, we do gather data on where they are employed.” …For The Georgia Institute of Technology, a 10-year career-and-salary survey of 2006-16 graduates, with bachelor’s degrees, does not show occupations but does show a median annual salary of $60,000 and median bonus of $5,000. Of the 12,351 job seekers, 65.4 percent participated in the survey. While the Georgia Tech survey does not show occupations, the graduates came mostly from the majors of mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, management, computer science and electrical engineering, For The University of Georgia, career outcomes for 2013-14 graduates show that, of the 8,763 graduates, 76 percent responded.
www.daltondailycitizen.com
New dorm at DSC ‘personifies campus life’ at college
By Shaka L. Cobb
In the past, Autumn Hooton never saw a reason to stay on campus at Dalton State College since she lived just 20 minutes away in Ringgold. Now she is preparing to move into Mashburn Hall, the new dorm on campus, next month, “really excited because it will give me the college experience I thought of as a kid,” said Hooton, a rising junior. The fall semester begins Aug. 15. A ribbon cutting, ceremony and open house were held Thursday morning at DSC for the new dorm. Students, administrators, professors, alumni and supporters gathered for the 15-minute ceremony before touring the building. Jodi Johnson, vice president for Enrollment and Student Services, said the college will have gone from having 60 residents at the Wood Valley complex, former apartments that the college was using as on-campus housing, in the fall of 2009, to 350 at Mashburn.
www.foxnews.com
Certain factors increase magnitude of head impact in HS football
By Kathryn Doyle
In high school football, head impacts are more severe in the second quarter of the game, when caused by contact with another player and after longer closing distances, according to a new U.S. study. The researchers say rule changes to minimize these situations should be considered to reduce the number and severity of head impacts. “Impacts to the head that resulted from contact with another player were of higher magnitude than contact with other surfaces, such as the ground,” said lead author Julianne D. Schmidt of the University of Georgia in Athens. “We also found that running a long distance before colliding with an opponent resulted in higher magnitude head impacts compared to running a short distance, especially when players started in a 3-point stance or were being struck,” she told Reuters Health.
Higher Education News:
www.universitybusiness.com
Where have all the college students gone?
Economic recovery among many factors driving higher ed enrollments down
Tim Goral
The numbers should unsettle enrollment professionals: College and university enrollment rates have decreased for each of the last four years and nothing indicates a reversal anytime soon. …Across higher ed, full-time enrollment fell 1.5 percent, while the number of part-timers shrunk by 2.1 percent, according to the most recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
www.diverseeducation.com
Experts: Direct More Institutional Aid to Low-income Students
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
WASHINGTON — Colleges and universities should rethink the way they distribute institutional aid in order to matriculate more students who lack the means to pay, several scholars said Thursday at a discussion on enrollment management. “I do believe that institutions of higher education ought to be engines of opportunity, not perpetuating or accentuating inequality,” said Donald Hossler, senior scholar at the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice at the University of Southern California. But Hossler cautioned against being too critical of colleges and universities for using their institutional aid to attract more high ability students who can pay their tuition — a trend identified in a New America report titled “Undermining Pell: Volume III: The News Keeps Getting Worse for Low-Income Students.”
www.chronicle.com
As Dual Enrollments Swell, So Do Worries About Academic Rigor
By Katherine Mangan
As a history instructor at South Texas College, Trinidad Gonzales is used to straddling two worlds. Four out of 10 students at South Texas are still in high school. Mr. Gonzales is a key player in the two-year college’s booming dual-enrollment program, which allows high-school students to take courses for college credit at a high school or at the college. The courses are growing nationally and are wildly popular in the Lone Star State. But their rapid expansion has exposed a rift that Mr. Gonzales knows all too well: the gulf of expectation that divides high schools and colleges. He has fielded complaints from high-school instructors who are being pressured to pass students who are not prepared for the rigors of the college classes they’re teaching.
www.chronicle.com
Achieving a Culture of Communication on Campus
By Richard K. Boyer
Over the past year, there’s been no shortage of headlines covering the crises and challenges (some new, some old) that colleges and universities have to deal with. From the passionate protests of the Black Lives Matter movement to the highly politicized involvement of lawmakers to the almost daily reports of strained relations with governing boards, colleges are having to deal not only with the issues themselves but also with the crisis-management response. While some institutions experience a breakdown in relationships when handling these highly publicized issues, others move forward with unity. One of the key differences that contributes to how well a college moves forward is the quality of its communication, with both internal and external audiences. It’s probably not surprising, then, to see that when examining institutions that consistently rank high on the Great Colleges to Work For survey, it’s clear that the quality of their communication helps create an environment in which faculty and staff members want to work. Achieving a culture of communication isn’t a one-step process — it involves strategy and purposeful implementation — but it can make a significant difference for leaders, for faculty and staff members, and for students.
www.insidehighered.com
Calls for Unity and Civility
After a tense summer nationally, and fearing a return of campus protests, college officials call for a peaceful start to the academic year.
By Jake New
Bracing for another round of student protests as the new academic year begins, college officials are pre-emptively calling for peace and unity on their campuses following a summer of gun violence and political unrest. Last year, anger over race relations — including issues that were specific to higher education and issues that were not, such as police killings of unarmed black men — led to widespread student protests at campuses across the country. The demonstrations prompted institutions to make some policy changes in regards to support for minority students, as well as compelling several college administrators to step down. The protests also provoked considerable backlash, with several campuses receiving online threats against black students. After a summer break that featured a divisive presidential primary season framed by more police killings of black men, the murders of several police officers and a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., campus officials are not counting on campus protesters being any less active this year.
www.chronicle.com
When Pokémon Goes to Campus: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
By Gabriel Sandoval
Two weeks after its release, the augmented-reality game Pokémon Go has become a global phenomenon, and college students across the country are finding that their campuses are among the best places to play. By using the GPS system and camera lens on a player’s smartphone, the free app tracks the player’s location and creates a virtual world atop the physical one, viewed through the phone’s screen. Campuses are prime destinations for players because of their landmarks, which often double as “Poke Stops” and “gyms,” essential spots for players who want to catch the game’s fictional creatures and advance to higher competitive levels. By many accounts, the game’s popularity has had a positive effect in higher education: Students are venturing outside, interacting with one another, exercising, and exploring their campuses to an extent that may be a little unusual during the summer. But the game also carries some safety concerns, such as people playing on campuses well into the night. And the game has occasionally turned dangerous: Last week at the University of Maryland at College Park, three students playing Pokémon Go were robbed of their phones, according to The Baltimore Sun. Such incidents have been rare on campuses, though. And even if the game turns out to be a fad — say, the next Candy Crush — students and administrators are making the most of it for now.