University System News:
www.metroatlantaceo.com
10th Annual University System of Georgia Procurement Expo Sept. 20th-21st
Staff Report From Metro Atlanta CEO
This year as we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the USG Procurement Expo in collaboration with The Georgia Black Constructors Association’s “Construction and Business Expo,” we will salute the Georgia Film Academy and film industry in the State of Georgia. The 10th Annual USG Procurement Expo, hosted by Atlanta Metropolitan State College, features exhibits from University System institutions and provides information on business opportunities with the institutions of the University System of Georgia, federal, state, and local government agencies, and prime construction management firms. The event targets small, minority, and women-owned businesses; however, all businesses are welcome! This is your chance to learn how to do business with the University System of Georgia and gain contacts to make that happen. A luncheon program follows sessions on doing business with the procurement, facilities, and information technology departments of the University System of Georgia institutions.
www.insidehighered.com
HOPE for Whom?
New analysis of Georgia’s aid program for top students — a model for those of many other states — finds that it is missing many low-income and minority students.
By Rick Seltzer
Then Governor Zell Miller deployed soaring rhetoric in 1992 when he called for a new state lottery-funded scholarship program in Georgia. “With the lottery proceeds, Georgia can provide scholarships by the thousands to deserving students who want to go to college or a vocational school,” Miller said that year in his State of the State address. “This is Georgia’s opportunity to pioneer the most far-reaching scholarship program in the nation — and not only for those who are minorities or who come from lower-income families, but also those middle-income families who are devastated with the cost of education and training beyond high school.” Georgia would go on to establish the Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally, or HOPE, financial assistance program. The state made the first HOPE awards in the 1993-94 academic year. Since then, HOPE, which includes several different scholarships and grants, has come to be viewed as a trendsetting program providing non-need-based aid, also called merit aid, to top-achieving Georgia students who stay in the state for higher education. From HOPE’s inception, the state’s top colleges — such as Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia — have credited it with attracting top students who in the past might well have gone out of state.
www.politics.blog.ajc.com
Kennesaw State profs sound an early alarm about a Sam Olens takeover
Greg Bluestein
For now, the possibility that Attorney General Sam Olens could take the helm of Kennesaw State University is nothing but a rumor, neither confirmed nor denied. But some leading faculty at the troubled university have sounded an early alarm. It started with a May letter from Humayun Zafar, president of KSU’s faculty Senate, and Andrew Pieper, head of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors. It urged the Board of Regents to endorse a nationwide search led by a committee of faculty, alumni, students and community leaders. Consider it a preemptive strike against a quick appointment of a politician. Regents chair Kessel Stelling answered with a polite, but non-committal, response. Then, on Sept. 2, came a more forceful note from Zafar informing the Regents that the faculty Senate “strongly supports a national search” for the school’s next president. Six days later was the sharpest blow yet, a dispatch from Pieper. He said Olens is a man of high integrity with deep community ties, but said the chance that he could be tapped to lead the sprawling Cobb County school without going through a nationwide search is “disturbing on multiple levels.”
www.middlegeorgiaceo.com
Dr. Christopher Blake on Middle Georgia State Footprint & Continued Growth
President of Middle Georgia State University Dr. Christopher Blake talks about the extensive footprint that the University covers and how they continue to experience tremendous growth.
www.myajc.com
Bud Peterson has central role in ACC’s HB2 discussions
http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/college/bud-peterson-has-central-role-in-accs-hb2-discussi/nsX43/
By Ken Sugiura – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech school president G.P. “Bud” Peterson has a central role in the ACC’s deliberation over its response to a North Carolina state law that has already led the NBA and NCAA to pull marquee events from the state. Many have found the law – known as HB2 – to be discriminatory against LGBT people. As chair of the NCAA board of governors, Peterson helped steer the NCAA’s response to the law that was made public Monday – taking seven championship events out of North Carolina. Peterson was elected to the position in August. The board is the NCAA’s highest governing body and oversees issues across the association’s three divisions.
www.ajc.com
NCAA contacts Kennesaw State about hosting title games moved from N.C.
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/college/ncaa-contacts-kennesaw-state-about-hosting-title-g/nsX8B/
Doug Roberson, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The fallout from North Carolina House Bill 2 continued on Wednesday with the ACC pulling all of its neutral-site championships from the state for the 2016-17 sports season. That came two days after the NCAA announced that it was moving seven events during 2016-17 from the state because of the government’s actions concering civil rights. The decision may benefit Georgia. The Gwinnett Sports Commission said on Wednesday that it was interested in hosting several of the ACC events. The NCAA has contacted Kennesaw State regarding hosting the soccer and lacrosse title games recently relocated from North Carolina. Kennesaw State athletic department officials are evaluating whether the university will submit a bid.
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
Georgia Gwinnett College’s Wilson named NAIA Athletic Director of the Year
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Darin Wilson, director of Athletics at Georgia Gwinnett College, has been named the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ (NAIA) Athletics Director of the Year for the 2015-16 academic year. The annual award recognizes leadership, innovation and growth within collegiate athletics and the progression of the NAIA and its mission of offering character-driven intercollegiate athletics while upholding the five core values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership. This is the sixth time Wilson has received significant recognition for his achievements as an athletics director, and the second time he has been named the NAIA Athletics Director of the Year.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Thousands attend annual CSRA College Night
Representatives from dozens of institutions meet with students
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/education/2016-09-16/thousands-attend-annual-csra-college-night
By Doug Stutsman, Staff Writer
Eighty minutes before doors opened, Winnequa Thomas and Geneva Cedeno stood patiently near the entrance of James Brown Arena. “We want colleges to know how serious we are about getting an education,” said Thomas, a senior at Glenn Hills High School. “Not only are we here, but we’re motivated to be here.” Thomas and Cedeno were among thousands of local students who took part Thursday in the annual CSRA College Night – sponsored in part by U.S. Department of Energy (Savannah River Operations Office). The event featured dozens of institutions throughout the country, including Georgia Tech, Auburn University, Clemson University, University of Alabama, University of Georgia and Virginia Tech. “I’m here to take in everything,” said Cedeno, a senior at A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering Magnet High School. “I hope to focus on nursing, but I came tonight to explore every option.” Augusta University had 12 representatives on hand to meet soon-to-be graduates.
www.athensceo.com
UGA Faculty and Students Assess Community Health Needs, Get Hands-on Experience
Staff Report From Athens CEO
Thursday, September 15th, 2016
An assessment of community health needs, led by University of Georgia faculty and facilitated by the UGA Archway Partnership, has contributed to a new urgent care center for one middle Georgia county and resulted in a scholarly article in the Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association. Graduate students from the College of Public Health helped conduct the IRS-mandated Community Health Needs Assessment at Hawkinsville’s Taylor Regional Hospital under the direction of UGA College of Public Health faculty members Marsha Davis and Grace Bagwell-Adams. They provided the kind of expertise that isn’t easily found in small communities, said Michelle Elliott, Archway operations coordinator and Archway Partnership professional in Pulaski County. “Students come in and partner, get the local knowledge from the Archway professional and the people that are invested in the community, and really make something of value for the hospital and community,” Elliott said.
www.newscientist.com
One Per Cent
Fighting future fires
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23130911-600-one-per-cent/
There’s no smoke with data. Working with the Atlanta fire department, a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology has built an algorithm that predicts the risk of fire for the city’s commercial property. Called Firebird, it uses crime statistics, fire permits and nearby liquor licences to flag high-risk buildings. A similar approach has also been used in New York.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Gains in Minority Grad Student Enrollments
Graduate student enrollments increased nearly 4 percent last year, with the biggest relative gains seen among underrepresented minority groups.
By Colleen Flaherty
First-time graduate student enrollments were up 3.9 percent last fall from a year earlier, according to a new report from the Council of Graduate Schools. Each of the last four annual surveys has found that enrollment has increased, but 2015’s bump was one of the biggest since 2009. Contributing to that growth was an increase in the share of underrepresented minority student enrollees, which could be a response to national conversations and institutional initiatives on faculty diversity. At the very least, it’s a possible start to broadening the eventual faculty applicant pool.
www.chronicle.com
Stresses on Doctoral Programs May Be Taking a Toll on Applications, Data Suggest
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Stresses-on-Doctoral-Programs/237815
By Vimal Patel
American doctoral education is under fire. Concerns about working conditions and low stipends are fueling graduate unionization drives. Secure academic jobs, in many fields, are getting harder to land. Graduate-education debt levels are rising. Could all that be taking a toll on the desire to enroll in doctoral programs? Maybe, according to a report on the latest national data, released on Friday by the Council of Graduate Schools. Among colleges that participated in the council’s survey, the 656,928 applications to their doctoral programs in 2015 amounted to a 4.3-percent decrease when compared with colleges that responded a year earlier.
www.nytimes.com
As Amazon Arrives, the Campus Bookstore Is a Books Store No More
By ARIELLE DOLLINGER
It is a conversation occurring on campuses across the country: If more and more students are buying and renting their course books online, why do they need a bookstore? …Eventually, students will be able to order texts for delivery to an Amazon area, which is still under construction, and pick them up from storage lockers. Ripley MacDonald, director of Amazon Student Programs, said the company was also the primary course materials provider for Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. …Other schools are using Amazon as a supplementary course materials provider, Mr. MacDonald said. Amazon has opened pickup locations at 12 universities since 2015, he said, and will have 17 by the end of this year.