University System News:
www.albanyherald.com
Albany State, Darton cut 110 faculty and staff positions
University officials cite falling enrollment numbers in cost-saving reductions
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — In a joint statement released Monday afternoon, Albany State University President Art Dunning and interim Darton State College President Richard Carvajal announced plans to reduce operating expenses for the Fiscal Year 2017 budget in response to a significant decrease in enrollment since 2011. The reductions include eliminating some positions while leaving other slots unfilled. Managers at both schools have informed employees whose positions will no longer exist after Sept. 30. ASU is reducing 80 positions, 48 of which are currently filled. DSC is reducing 30 positions, none of which are filled. Darton State had multiple reductions in force in 2015 that eliminated 20 filled positions and has maintained a hiring freeze which allowed only the most critical roles to be filled since early 2015.
www.wfxl.com
ASU, Darton look to cut 2017 expenses in wake of enrollment decreases
http://wfxl.com/news/local/asu-darton-look-to-cut-expenses-in-wake-of-enrollment-decreases
BY FOX 31 STAFF
A decrease in enrollment has led Albany State University and Darton State College to reduce staff positions, restructure some departments and eliminating some academic programs for the 2017 fiscal year according to a release issued by both institutions Monday afternoon. Presidents for the institution say that the enrollment decreases led to a decrease in revenue from state funds and tuition leading to the decision.
www.insidehighered.com
Albany State, Darton State Eliminate Positions
Albany State University and Darton State University, two public institutions that Georgia officials are moving to merge, jointly announced plans Monday to eliminate faculty and staff positions and to eliminate “low-producing academic programs.” The programs were not identified. The universities cited enrollment declines as the reason. The breakdown between faculty and staff positions was not released.
www.tiftongazette.com
New laboratory building makes ABAC ‘destination’ for science students
Special to The Gazette
TIFTON—Opening a new $8.5 million laboratory sciences building sends a message to students considering careers in health care, science, and mathematics, according to Dr. Johnny Evans, dean of the School of Science and Mathematics at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. “ABAC is now a destination for students who will find cures for diseases, invent amazing technology, and solve the toughest problems the world has ever faced,” Evans said at Wednesday’s opening ceremony for the 20,966 square foot facility. “This new building is focused on meeting students’ needs and providing a space for discovery, research, and creativity.” Other speakers at the opening ceremony in the spectacular atrium of the new facility were ABAC President David Bridges, Kenna Scragg, vice president of operations for International City Builders; Rob Evans, president of the IPG architectural firm; and Brooke Appleton, a senior biology major at ABAC from Albany. …In his remarks, Bridges thanked University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby as well as Georgia lawmakers including Greg Kirk, Tyler Harper, Jack Hill, and Jeff Mullis from the State Senate and Penny Houston, Sam Watson, Clay Pirkle, Amy Carter, Jay Powell, Earl Ehrhart, Terry England and former representative Jay Roberts from the House of Representatives.
www.bizjournals.com
VIEWPOINT: UNG’s Cumming campus grows with community
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/08/01/viewpoint-ung-s-cumming-campus-grows-with.html
When I was the Registrar at North Georgia College and State University (NGCSU) in 2001 and we started offering a few courses in the evenings at the Forsyth County Board of Education, I could not have imagined the long and winding road we would travel to get to where we are today. Some 15 years later, after the consolidation of NGCSU and Gainesville State College to form the University of North Georgia (UNG), I find myself leading a vibrant and growing campus here in Forsyth County. After opening in August 2012 and experiencing four very successful years, UNG’s Cumming campus has more than 950 students enrolled and offers one bachelor’s degree program (Early Childhood Education/Special Education), associate degrees with nearly 10 programs of study, three graduate programs and three certificate programs. There are also more than 100 continuing and professional education courses available to the local community. UNG President Bonita Jacobs has championed the effort to establish campuses across UNG’s service area.
www.zdnet.com
Georgia Tech awarded DARPA grant to develop new IoT protection
The $9.4 million grant will be used to research new techniques for protecting embedded Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/georgia-tech-awarded-darpa-grant-to-develop-new-iot-protection/
By Charlie Osborne for Zero Day
The Georgia Institute of Technology has been issued a $9.4 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop new ways to protect low-power, embedded IoT devices. The educational establishment says that the research grant could result in the development of a new way to wirelessly monitor IoT devices for malicious software — without the need to tamper with embedded IoT devices — components which are small, low-power and have specialized functions. On Monday, Georgia tech researchers said in a blog post that the new technique will rely on receiving and analyzing side-channel signals — the electromagnetic emissions which are produced by devices as they execute functions and programs.
www.smithsonianmag.com
Bulldogs Are Dangerously Unhealthy, But There May Not Be Enough Diversity in Their Genes to Save Them
How we loved this dog into a genetic bind
By Brian Handwerk
Uga, the beloved canine mascot of the University of Georgia’s sports teams, wouldn’t be much on the field. With his squashed, baby-like face and stout, low-slung torso, he looks more likely to take a nap than make a tackle. Yet it is because of these very features—not in spite of them—that the bulldog has won hearts on both sides of the Atlantic, rising to the heights of university mascot and even proud icon of the U.S. Marine Corps. And it is because of the bulldog’s legions of admirers—not in spite of them—that the breed is now in trouble. Decades of breeding have accentuated the traits that make up the dog’s distinctive and wildly popular look, but compromised its health in the process. Now, the first comprehensive genetic assessment suggests that the bulldog no longer has the genetic diversity left for breeders to raise enough healthy animals to improve its overall outlook.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Therapy could be guided ‘missile’ against cancer
AU researchers test targeted delivery
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
Using a double-targeted vehicle to home in on prostate cancer cells provides a highly targeted attack against interlocking mechanisms of survival to induce cell death and shrink tumors, researchers at Augusta University said Monday. …In a study recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, the AU researchers focused on prostate cancer, the leading cancer in men, because the tumors are often complex and current therapies don’t add much to survival, according to the report. While some targeted therapies might work for a while, they are often not specific enough and other mechanisms allow the tumors to develop resistance while other key mechanisms are out of reach of those therapies. So the AU team turned to a different delivery vehicle of targeted genetic material known as an aptamer.
www.ajc.com
Climate change killing Georgia’s salt marsh
Dan Chapman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s salt marsh is disappearing, according to UGA scientists, and climate change is the main culprit. Researchers at the University of Georgia’s Marine Institute on Sapelo Island used satellite imagery over three decades to show that the amount of Spartina alternifolora, or cordgrass, has diminished by 35 percent. The recently released study largely blames climate change with its higher temperatures (on land and in the ocean) and prolonged droughts. The loss of vegetation will ripple through the salt marsh ecosystem.
www.myajc.com
Hollywood spending tops $2 billion in Georgia, governor’s office says
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/hollywood-spending-tops-2-billion-in-georgia-gover/nr8X9/
By J. Scott Trubey – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia reached a new record in Hollywood spending in the past year thanks in no small part to summer blockbusters such as “Captain America: Civil War” and popular televisions series like “The Walking Dead. Gov. Nathan Deal’s office said Tuesday that total film spending in the state topped the $2 billion mark for the first time ever in the 2016 fiscal year that ended July 31. Total filming and other movie and television production expenditures were up nearly 19 percent compared to budget year 2015 and more than seven times the figure Hollywood spent in Georgia in 2008. …Production companies can earn tax credits up to 30 percent of what they spend in Georgia when they meet certain standards. That’s caused a stampede of production companies and the industries that service them — such as studio operators like EUE/Screen Gems and Pinewood Atlanta Studios — to Georgia. Georgia’s tax credit program, meanwhile, has become the state’s single largest corporate perk. The program directed $925 million to production companies from 2009 to 2014, according to a study by Georgia State University.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
‘It Just Happened’
Many colleges have adopted affirmative consent policies in recent years to help combat sexual assault. But some research suggests that the policies are far removed from how students actually request and receive consent.
By Jake New
Either by choice or when required to do by state legislation, colleges in recent years have moved toward a policy of affirmative consent. The change moves colleges away from the old “no means no” model of consent — frequently criticized by victims’ advocates as being too permitting of sexual encounters involving coercion or intoxication — to one described as “yes means yes.” If the student initiating a sexual encounter does not receive an “enthusiastic yes” from his or her partner, the policies generally state, there is no consent. Research by two California scholars, however, suggests that students’ understanding of consent is not in line with the new policies and laws. Instead, students often obtain sexual permission through a variety of verbal and nonverbal cues, both nuanced and overt, that do not always meet a strict definition of affirmative consent.
www.diverseeducation.com
Report: Standardized Assessments Best Measure of Graduates
A technology think tank released a report on Monday calling on the federal government to divorce the process of learning and credentialing in the higher education sector. In addition, the report calls for the use of standardized assessments in measuring the abilities and job readiness of college graduates. While versions of standardized assessments for college graduates already exist in the form of the GRE, MCAT, and LSAT, the system of assessment proposed by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) goes several steps further. First, the report recommends that such an assessment ought to be administered by a national certification system, which is not yet in existence. Second, the test would not apply primarily to the performance of individual graduates, but rather measure the efficacy of institutions in educating classes of students.
www.myajc.com
Student-loan relief proposal could hurt black colleges, leaders say
By Janel Davis – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A proposal intended to help students who were cheated at for-profit colleges could end up hurting some historically black colleges, say the leaders of Clark Atlanta University and other HBCUs. Public comment closed Monday on an updated “defense to repayment” or “borrower defense” regulation proposed by the U.S. Department of Education. The draft rules clarify the process for borrowers to seek to have their federal student loans forgiven if they believe a college misled them with promises about its services and future careers. The draft rules also include new financial requirements aimed mostly at for-profit schools. But the proposed policies are too broad, and HBCUs, with smaller endowments and fewer resources, could be left vulnerable to frivolous lawsuits, said Ronald Johnson, Clark Atlanta’s president.
www.insidehighered.com
Survey Finds Broad Support for Free College
Sixty-two percent of all Americans support free tuition at public colleges and universities, according to a survey released Monday by Bankrate.com. Among millennials surveyed, support was even higher, with 77 percent backing free tuition. …Respondents were also sharply divided over forgiveness of student loan debt. Thirty-five percent supported forgiving student loan debt after 10 years of repayment, while 40 percent said it should be fully paid off.
www.chronicle.com
NYU Begins Ignoring Common App’s Questions on Criminal Records
by Arielle Martinez
New York University has begun ignoring the checkbox questions about criminal and disciplinary history on the Common Application, the institution announced on Monday. The university has added narrower questions to its own section of the application that ask applicants if they have been convicted of or disciplined for violent offenses, but answering “yes” to the new questions will not mean an automatic rejection of an application for admission, according to a news release. The university announced in May 2015 that it had stopped considering applicants’ criminal records at the start of its admissions process. Instead, admissions officers read applications without knowing whether an applicant has answered “yes” to the questions about criminal and disciplinary history. When applicants are set to be admitted to the university, the admissions officers then see which of those applicants answered “yes” and will review their criminal histories.