University System News:
www.mdjonline.com
KSU Whistleblower seeks $1.5 million
Anthony White
A Kennesaw State University employee has filed suit based on claims she was slandered and “suffered adverse work conditions and retaliatory isolation” after she refused to lie about the business dealings of her supervisor and called those dealings to the attention of university officials. According to the suit filed Monday, Tracy Nunn seeks damages under the Georgia Whistleblower Protection Act for mistreatment after she wouldn’t go along with a scheme that eventually led to the firing of her boss, KSU dining services director Gary Coltek. The lawsuit contained an exhibit letter dated December 9, 2015, to KSU’s Division of Legal Affairs, the University System’s Board of Regents and the Attorney General’s Office, in which her attorney said she would accept a $1.5 million settlement. Nunn was an administrative assistant to Coltek. The harassment began after Nunn refused to lie about a corporation Coltek allegedly opened using her name, according to the lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court. Nunn claims she was wrongfully listed as the registered agent for a company Coltek owned, and after she refused to go along with the scheme, she was harassed, slandered and ostracized.
See also:
www.wsbtv.com
Whistleblower sues university, claims retaliation for exposing corruption
USG Institutions:
www.thepostsearchlight.com
Rayfield talks about state of Bainbridge State College
http://www.thepostsearchlight.com/2016/08/23/rayfield-talks-about-state-of-bainbridge-state-college/
By Carolyn Iamon
Dr. Stuart Rayfield, interim president at Bainbridge State College, gave Rotarians an upbeat update on Tuesday about the present status of the College, as well as a peek into its future. She observed that although the college has had a tumultuous, uncertain time over the past years, she wanted to share some positives that give her hope. Enrollment is up. There was a 6.3 percent increase in enrollment from Spring 2015 to Spring 2016. Summer of 2016 saw a 13.6 increase over summer of 2015. The Move on When Ready program currently makes up 25 percent of the student population, with the Move on When Ready up 72 percent from last fall. And, she jokingly added, it saw a 5,300 percent increase for Summer 16 over last year, adding that was because it didn’t exist in summer 2015. At any rate, she is happy for the increased enrollment and believes it is an outward sign of the state’s commitment to creating a more educated population in Southwest Georgia. She also cited that 19 students from Mitchell County who were in the MOWR program, graduated in April from Bainbridge College with an associate degree before receiving their high school diploma. Rayfield mentioned that Bainbridge State had recently been recognized as one of the most affordable colleges.
www.growinggeorgia.com
Harley Langdale, Jr. Foundation Provides $250,000 Toward Ag Program at Museum
Thousands of school children across South Georgia counties will benefit from a $250,000 gift from the Harley Langdale, Jr. Foundation, Inc. to the ABAC Foundation to enhance agriculture and natural resource programming at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. ABAC President David Bridges said the program titled, Destination Ag, will focus on pre-k through fifth grade students in Tift, Colquitt, Cook, Berrien, Irwin, Turner, Ben Hill, and Worth counties when fully implemented. “Through the very generous support of the Harley Langdale, Jr. Foundation, ABAC will be planting seeds that will ensure the growth of Georgia’s number one industry, Agriculture, for the next generation and beyond,” Bridges said. “Their support has made it possible for us to invest in the lives of these students who will be the agricultural leaders of this state 30 years from now.”
www.wrdw.com
Georgia Southern opening new student center for military and veterans
STATESBORO, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) — A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held for a brand new center for military and veteran students at Georgia Southern University. The event will be held Wednesday, August 24 at 9 a.m. at the Russell Union Commons on 85 Georgia Avenue in Statesboro. A spokesperson for GSU says the center “will serve as a resource to assist military members, veterans, and their family members in making a successful transition to the student community.”
www.mdjonline.com
KSU offers new bachelor’s degree
Staff reports
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved the establishment of a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in entrepreneurship at Kennesaw State University. Beginning in the fall of 2017, the new undergraduate degree program will be housed in the Michael J. Coles College of Business and will be the first entrepreneurship B.B.A. program in the state. The goal of the program is to help students develop the skills and mindset to become entrepreneurs, and the program will take place in several disciplines across the campus.
www.athensceo.com
UGA Creates New Fellows Programs for Graduate Students
Staff Report From Athens CEO
The University of Georgia has created two new graduate fellowship programs to boost the recruitment of students in fields that align with UGA’s Signature Research Themes and the needs of Georgia’s knowledge-based economy. At the doctoral level, the university is launching an internationally competitive graduate fellows program known as the Georgia Research Education Award Traineeship. …Ten elite Ph.D. students will be named GREAT Fellows annually beginning in fall 2017, and they will work closely with UGA faculty to conduct high-impact research in the university’s Signature Research Themes of Inquiring and Innovating to Improve Human Health, Safeguarding and Sustaining Our World, and Changing Lives through the Land-Grant Mission. At the master’s level, UGA is launching the Georgia Impact Now fellows program. … Ten GAIN Fellowships will be awarded annually beginning in fall 2017 to outstanding students pursuing degrees in fields that are critical to Georgia’s economic vitality.
www.valdostatoday.com
VSU, ATHENS TECHNICAL COLLEGE FORM PATHWAYS PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP
http://valdostatoday.com/2016/08/vsu-athens-technical-college-form-pathways-program-partnership/
Newsdesk
VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University signed articulation agreements with Athens Technical College on Monday, simplifying student transition between the two institutions of higher education. The Pathways Program agreement will allow Athens Technical College students with an Associate of Applied Science in one or more of the articulated programs (see below) to maximize the transfer of credits in order to complete either a Bachelor of Science in organizational leadership, a Bachelor of Applied Science in human capital performance, or a Bachelor of Science in office administration and technology in two years or less at Valdosta State University, noted Dr. Joseph G. Weaver, director of Off-Campus Programs at VSU. “This agreement provides Athens Technical College students with one more option to further expand their education and enter Georgia’s workforce with the knowledge and the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills needed to be successful,” shared Dr. Kelli Brown, interim president of VSU. “We look forward to welcoming these students into our Blazer Nation family for many years to come.”
www.arounttherings.com
Plans for Atlanta’s Olympic Landmarks Still Under Wraps
The Turner Field Stadium has been given a “third- life” according to President Mark Becker of Georgia State University who officially announced its purchase of the area. The associate vice president for public relations and marketing communication at GSU Andrea Jones tells Around the Rings the plans for expansion will likely be finalized at the Oct. 12 University System of Georgia Board of Regents meeting. ATR has learned the revamp plans are not official given that the Board of Regents does not set the agenda until a few days before the meeting, currently leaving its topics unknown. “Ideas are still up in the air,” Jones tells ATR. “Georgia State does not take full ownership of the property until the end of the year.” Turner Field, formerly known as the Centennial Olympic Stadium, was built specifically for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games and began its construction in 1993. It was at that stadium that the late Muhammad Ali – the first three-time heavy weight champion – lit the Olympic Flame during the Opening Ceremony of the ’96 Games. The stadium was converted into Turner Field for the Atlanta Braves shortly after the Games, where the Braves have set an abundance of records. Becker will now be the first president of a University that will have more Olympic venues than any other University in the world.
www.georgiasignal.com
GSUPD rolls out new police body and campus cameras
http://georgiastatesignal.com/gsupd-rolls-new-police-body-campus-cameras/
By: Sean Keenan
More than 500 new surveillance cameras will be scoping Georgia State students this fall, thanks to safety initiatives by the school’s police force. Among those new digital eyes will be 20 cameras mounted on the chests of campus cops. The spike in surveillance, initially prompted by a string of on-campus crime that occurred last winter, yields extra oversight to the Georgia State University Police Department (GSUPD), as it welcomes the swell of students enrolled after the GSU-Georgia Perimeter College consolidation. GSUPD Chief Carlton Mullis told The Signal there are now more than 200 new surveillance cameras in the library, where a slew of armed robberies took place last December and January. Additionally, 200-some cameras have been installed in the school’s newest residence hall, Piedmont Central, and a handful are peppered elsewhere about campus. Those 20 GSUPD officers strapped with body cams will be scattered about the school’s six campuses, as the police forces keeps tabs on its body worn camera (BWC)-related expenses. Mullis said GSUPD hopes to have a chest-mounted camera on about 140 officers in the near future.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
ACT Scores Drop as More Take Test
Large gaps remain evident when looking at average scores by racial and ethnic group.
By Scott Jaschik
Average ACT scores are down this year. ACT officials attribute the drop to the increasing percentage of high school seniors who have taken the test.
The average composite score for those who graduated from high school this year was 20.8, down 0.2 points from last year and representing a five-year low. (The highest possible score on each part of the ACT is 36, and the composite is an average of the four scores.) ACT data show that 64 percent of high school seniors in the Class of 2016 took the ACT this year, up from 59 percent last year and 52 percent in 2012. Generally, when a larger share of students take a test — in some cases encouraged by state requirements more than the students necessarily being college ready — scores go down. Score drops were the largest in states that have just started to require all students to take the ACT. ACT has benchmarks for predicting college success for each section of the test. These too are showing declines.
www.insidehighered.com
Decision Time
Study of tens of thousands of college students finds that those who were open to change their major were more likely to graduate than those who decided right away.
By Carl Straumsheim
The key to graduating in four years (at least in the minds of many parents) is picking a major early and sticking with it. But a new report suggests students who change their major as late as senior year are more likely to graduate from college than students who settle on one the second they set foot on campus. The report, published by the Education Advisory Board, a research and consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., challenges the notion that changing majors is keeping students in college past their intended graduation date and driving up their debt. Instead of looking at when students first declared a major, the EAB’s study explored the connection between students’ final declaration and how it affected their time to degree and graduation rates.
www.insidehighered.com
Alcohol Bans and Sexual Assault
Stanford adopts policy banning large containers of hard alcohol on campus, leading to criticism that such policies do little to protect victims of campus sexual assault.
By Jake New
Stanford University on Monday announced a new policy banning large containers of hard alcohol from undergraduate housing and events. The policy bans containers 750 mL and larger of distilled liquor, spirits and hard alcohol — a standard-size bottle of vodka or whiskey — for all undergraduates on campus, including students who are over 21. The university says the policy is aimed at reducing “the availability and accessibility of hard alcohol” and the “high-risk behaviors” that can accompany heavy drinking, including those that might lead to sexual assault. But victims’ advocates argue that the policy — which comes after the university was the site of a high-profile rape case in which alcohol was consumed — puts the onus on victims to avoid drinking rather than on would-be attackers to not assault. “These policies don’t work,” Anna Voremberg, managing director of the organization End Rape on Campus, said. “They don’t prevent sexual assault. Schools definitely have a responsibility to prepare students for safe drinking habits. That’s important. But putting such policies in the context of preventing sexual assault misses the mark. Alcohol doesn’t cause rape. It’s a weapon used by rapists to rape women.”