USG Institutions:
www.ajc.com
Does your college major even exist anymore? Georgia revamps majors statewide
Ben Brasch, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The University System of Georgia approved a slew of additions, deletions and changes to dozens of majors at universities throughout the state. Universities ranging from Coastal Pines Technical College to the University of Georgia have been affected by the Aug. 10 decision to assess the programs, which happens regularly. Check out the changes for universities in metro Atlanta and UGA, along with explanations from the state university board:
www.thecitizen.com
Largest soundstage topped off at Pinewood
http://thecitizen.com/news-newsmakers/largest-soundstage-topped-pinewood
Ben Nelms
When completed by January 2017, studio lot will contain 18 soundstages Work is always the order of the day at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayetteville. The afternoon of Aug. 19 was no exception, as the final truss was installed on a 40,000 sq. ft. undivided soundstage as part of the Phase 3A project. The completion of Phase 3A will result in more than 1.1 million sq. ft. of developed space on the 288-acre site. With Phase 1 and 2 complete, construction crews have been working on Phase 3A. Once completed, this portion of the expansive studio project will add six soundstages, a workshop building and more office space toward the south side of the 288-acre studio property along Veterans Parkway and directly across the roadway from the large Pinewood Forrest residential and commercial development. Phase 3A includes the 40,000 sq. ft. undivided soundstage, currently the largest on the property, along with two soundstages at 20,000 sq. ft. each, two soundstages at 15,000 sq. ft each and a final soundstage at 18,000 sq. ft. …The Pinewood Production Centre, situated across Sandy Creek Road from the studio property, is the home of Pinewood’s current offices, numerous vendors supporting the film industry and the recently opened Georgia Film Academy. Pinewood Forrest, at 234 acres and located along Veterans Parkway, will be home to 1,300 multi-generational residences, two hotels, the future home of the Georgia Film Academy, 275,000 sq. ft. of commercial space and a variety of amenities.
www.savannahnow.com
Acclaimed TV series moving production to Savannah
Second season of ‘Underground’ begins filming this month
http://savannahnow.com/news/2016-08-24/acclaimed-tv-series-moving-production-savannah
By Mary Carr Mayle
Sony Pictures Television announced Wednesday that “Underground,” its hit series from WGN America, has moved filming of its second season to Savannah. The new 10-episode season of the Underground Railroad thriller that follows a group of slaves as they attempt a daring, 600-mile escape from a Georgia plantation begins production in Savannah on Monday with Aisha Hinds of “Under the Dome,” “True Blood” and Star Trek into Darkness” cast in a recurring guest star role as Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad’s most famous conductor. The production, which will shoot in Savannah for approximately four months, is expected to spend close to $50 million. “This has been a long time coming,” said Trip Tollison, president of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, which oversees the Savannah Area Film Office. “Since we started courting the entertainment industry, we’ve known that the real prize was landing a major television series.” A series typically brings in more people for a longer period of time, he said. “But, most importantly, it shows people in the entertainment industry that Savannah has the ability to handle, partner and work on an ongoing project. “It also shows our local workforce that we are serious about bringing in work that pays well and, hopefully, will encourage them to look at the first-class training that’s being offered at Savannah Technical College’s Georgia Film Academy.”
www.politics.blog.ajc.com
On Sam Olens and the rumors of his imminent takeover of Kennesaw State
Aaron Gould Sheinin
Greg Bluestein
The rumors that Sam Olens was about to step down as attorney general to become the next president of Kennesaw State University have swirled for months. Your Insiders have chased them as far as they go, with Olens telling us in June that it was simply a rumor. But these things have a way of bouncing around the echo chamber of statewide politics and eventually leak back out. Hence, dueling posts the past two days from GeorgiaPol.com on Tuesday and from Zpolitics.com on Wednesday. Neither names a source for the information, and we won’t either at this point because nobody with direct knowledge of the situation will confirm it. Update at 1:43 p.m.: Charlie Sutlive, spokesman for the Board of Regents, which would actually decide who becomes the next KSU president, said they “do not comment on rumor or speculation.” Original post continues:
www.myajc.com
DA declines to bring charges in Georgia Tech, Morehouse rape cases
Decision comes years after alleged sex assaults
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/da-declines-to-bring-charges-in-georgia-tech-moreh/nsLTm/
By Janel Davis and Shannon McCaffrey – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County’s district attorney has quietly dropped two high-profile campus rape cases that had lingered more than two years, one at Morehouse College and the other at Georgia Tech. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution learned of Paul Howard’s decision not to prosecute through attorneys last week. The long delay prompted complaints that both the accused and the victims were left in limbo. The three men accused in the Morehouse case were suspended, Tech expelled the man accused in that case, and Howard said the woman in the Morehouse incident is still suffering. In an interview in his office Wednesday, Howard acknowledged the cases had moved slowly but said they involved complicated and sensitive issues of consent. “These cases with drugs and alcohol are very difficult for us to reach conclusions,” he said. In each instance, Howard said, the victim was conscious, communicating with those around her, but afterward said she could not recall what happened. Prosecutions in campus rape cases are rare, though the number of reports has been rising. Heavy drinking or drugs that cloud memories, and the lack of witnesses or conclusive evidence, often hamper the cases.
www.bizjournals.com
Post-consolidation Georgia State University sets enrollment record
Dave Williams
Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Consolidation with Georgia Perimeter College is boosting student enrollment at Georgia State University to a record level. More than 5,700 freshmen signed up for classes this fall semester, including more than 3,700 at Georgia State’s downtown Atlanta campus. The combined enrollments at GSU and Georgia Perimeter bring the university’s first post-consolidation student body to more than 50,000, the largest in Georgia. The quality of the incoming freshman class at Georgia State is also better than ever. The average high school grade point average for incoming freshmen at the downtown campus is at all-time high 3.5, up from 3.4 last fall.
www.walb.com
Darton and ASU see drop in enrollment numbers
http://www.walb.com/story/32836474/darton-and-asu-see-drop-in-enrollment-numbers
By Re-Essa Buckels, Reporter
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – Fall enrollment at Darton and Albany State University has taken a plunge. Numbers from the first fall semester after the merger was announced show a dramatic decrease in enrollment. Albany State’s enrollment fell six percent from last fall, and Darton is down by a whopping 22 percent. But school officials said that enrollment at Darton will rise once B-term starts. School officials also said that some students procrastinated and others simply decided not to pursue higher education. They also admit uncertainty over consolidation is having an impact.
www.ajc.com
New Zika virus case in Georgia
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/new-zika-virus-case-in-georgia/nsLq5/
Steve Burns, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An individual has tested positive for the Zika virus in southeast Georgia, according to a Georgia Southern University official. Dean of Students Patrice Jackson said in an email that the Zika case is travel-related, the Savannah Morning News reported. There’s no evidence the virus is being transmitted in the Statesboro area, which is in Bulloch County, about 210 miles southeast of Atlanta. It was not immediately clear if the person who tested positive for the Zika virus was a student.
www.statesboroherald.com
GSU alert: Zika case reported in Bulloch
University says it was notified of travel-related Zika case
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/75936/
From Staff Reports
Georgia Southern University officials sent students an alert late Wednesday afternoon informing them that a person had tested positive for Zika virus in Bulloch County, but that the virus was contracted elsewhere. A campus alert was sent via email to the student body and university employees, addressed from the “Dean of Students,” who is Patrice Jackson. Contact information at the end of the alert listed Dr. Brian DeLoach, the medical director in GSU Student Health Services. “It is important to understand that this case is travel associated and there is no evidence that Zika is being transmitted in our area,” the notice stated. Students were further advised that there have been about 60 travel-related Zika cases throughout Georgia already. No locally transmitted cases have been confirmed in the state. “At Georgia Southern, campus officials have been proactive in preparing for Zika and have already done an assessment of our campus to identify and remove areas that may collect standing water,” the notice stated.
www.wgauradio.com
UGA dedicates new center
http://www.wgauradio.com/news/news/local/uga-dedicates-new-center/nsLpt/
By Tim Bryant
From University of Georgia News Services…
The University of Georgia today (Wednesday) dedicated the Exploratory Center, a new resource that provides personalized advising services for students who need help choosing a major, as well as for intended business and journalism majors. Across UGA, advisors in each school and college assist students with established majors. The 13 advisors in the Exploratory Center, which is located in the heart of campus on the first floor of the Tate Student Center, are specially trained to help students identify a major that aligns with their interests and skills. In addition to housing advisors who work exclusively with students with an unspecified major, the Exploratory Center houses advisors for students who plan to pursue careers in business and journalism. Led by coordinator Jennifer Eberhart, the advisors also refer students to partner units on campus that can assist them with career assessments, campus engagement and experiential learning opportunities that may help them identify the best academic path. Recent data show that nearly 70 percent of UGA students change majors, with about 25 percent of those students changing their majors more than once.
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Agent: Columbus State professor’s book to ‘blow lid’ off alcohol addiction treatment industry
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article97540072.html
BY MARK RICE
Remember the correspondent who provided Ledger-Enquirer readers with coverage of the ethics trial that convicted former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard this year? Well, Joe Miller has written about another series of events involving an even more famous politician, but this time it’s a little-known story. Miller, a Columbus State University assistant professor of English, has signed a contract to have his new manuscript, “US of AA: Science, Alcoholism, and the Rise and Fall of the Twelve Steps,” published in 2018 by the Chicago Review Press. Miller explained in a CSU news release why he received a $1,560 Moody Research Grant to visit the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin, Texas.
www.cnet.com
Blame it on the alcohol: Researchers discover how to recycle carbon fiber
by Andrew Krok
Carbon fiber is a great, albeit expensive material to use in the transportation industry. It’s light, it’s strong, and it also happens to look pretty neat. But, because of how it’s created, it’s a pain in the tokus to recycle. Thankfully, the Georgia Institute of Technology has found a way to make it work. Georgia Tech researchers have turned to an alcohol-based solvent to reclaim fibers that would otherwise head to the trash heap. By soaking carbon-fiber composites in this solvent, the actual carbon fiber separates from the epoxy that holds everything together. From there, both the carbon fiber and the epoxy can be reused in new ways.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Fewer Bachelor’s Holders at Two-Year Institutions
A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that fewer students are enrolling in two-year institutions after earning bachelor’s degrees. Of students who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2013, 5.8 percent enrolled in a two-year institution — the lowest point in 14 years. Students who are over age 30 when they earned a bachelor’s degree are least likely to seek further education at a two-year institution, according to the report.
www.insidehighered.com
Study: Paying Tuition With Credit Cards Is Costly
Many colleges allow students or families to pay tuition bills with credit cards, but the fees associated with those payments may be costly enough that any rewards from the credit card company are wiped out. That is the bottom line of a new survey from CreditCards.com, a division of the finance research site Bankrate. The survey of the 300 largest public and private colleges found that 85 percent accept payments with credit cards, but the average “convenience fee” is 2.62 percent, generally more than the value of reward points a card user might receive.