University System News:
www.athensceo.com
Steve Wrigley Named Chancellor of the University System of Georgia
Staff Report From Georgia CEO
The Board of Regents has named Dr. Steve Wrigley chancellor of the University System of Georgia, effective January 1, 2017. Wrigley had been named interim chancellor on August 10, after Chancellor Hank Huckaby announced at the August meeting of the Board of Regents his plans to retire December 31. Wrigley has served as executive vice chancellor of administration for the USG since June 2011. He will assume the role of chancellor on January 1, 2017, after Huckaby retires as previously announced.
www.michigansthumb.com
Georgia university system board names new chancellor
ATLANTA (AP) — Steve Wrigley, a top official within the University System of Georgia, will become its chancellor in 2017.
Wrigley was scheduled to become interim chancellor on Jan. 1, but the system’s governing Board of Regents voted Wednesday to name Wrigley to the top job. Chancellor Hank Huckaby announced in August that he planned to retire at the end of the year.
www.ajc.com
Olens promises ‘tolerance’ and compliments Kennesaw State’s ‘grit’
Ben Brasch The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Attorney General Sam Olens released a letter Thursday, the day after he was named president of Kennesaw State University, that addressed concerns voiced by students and faculty in opposition to his appointment. More than a dozen protesters interrupted the state Board of Regents meeting demanding a nationwide search instead of just considering a man decided the state will oppose both gay marriage and gender neutral bathrooms. “I know that you have many questions about how I plan to lead this university,” he wrote. “As president, I strongly believe in mutual respect, open communication, and tolerance.” …”The grit and determination that Kennesaw State students are known for and the inclusive campus community are consistent with who I am and the values that I hold,” the letter reads. …He said he will be visiting both campuses and wants open communication with students.
www.onlineathens.com
Regents give OK to renovation of UGA’s Russell Hall dormitory
By STAFF REPORTSNEWS
Russell Hall, a nearly 50-year-old high-rise University of Georgia dormitory on Baxter Street, will be getting a massive renovation following a Wednesday decision by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. The regents, who oversee all of the University System’s campuses across the state, approved a plan under which the university will use reserve funds from University Housing, an auxiliary UGA enterprise, to spend up to $44.5 million — with up to $34.5 million allocated specifically to construction costs — for updating the 970-bed dorm. The renovation “would increase room space and flexibility through the removal of built-in furnishings, and provide students with individualized in-room temperature controls,” according to a summary of the project in this month’s regents’ meeting agenda. “Along with enhanced student study and community spaces, the hall bathrooms would be configured for greater privacy in showers and toilets. In addition to a complete update of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and IT systems, windows would be replaced to improve energy efficiency and modifications would be made to enhance ADA accessibility.” The decision to renovate Russell Hall is the result of the development of a master plan for UGA’s high-rise residence halls. In developing the plan, university officials conducted an extensive analysis of housing operations and looked at a number of renovation and new construction scenarios, according to a document reviewed by the regents in connection with Wednesday’s vote.
www.athensceo.com
UGA School of Social Work Receives $2.6M to Support Graduate Students in Need
Staff Report From Athens CEO
Wednesday, October 12th, 2016
Graduate students in the University of Georgia School of Social Work who face financial challenges while earning a degree are receiving help, thanks to the re-establishment of a federally funded scholarship program. The school was recently awarded $2.6 million by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Service Administration, as part of its Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students program. The funds will be distributed to students in need over the next four years, contingent upon the program’s annual review by the federal agency. The award is the largest to be received by the school for the program. The school had previously received four years of funding for the scholarships that ended in June 2016. The school, which began distributing the grant money in August, will continue to award the scholarships to students who are enrolled full time in the clinical practice concentration of the social work graduate degree program.
www.usda.gov
NIFA invests $1.4 million in Health and Safety Education for Rural Communities
Focus on Substance Misuse Prevention, Mental Health and Aging
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced $1.4 million in grants to enhance the quality of life for citizens in rural areas through the Rural Health and Safety Education competitive (RHSE) grants program. Through these awards, the program is supporting two projects to address the critical challenges of substance misuse in rural communities. …Fiscal year 2016 grantees include:
University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., $359,487 – Through a partnership with Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas, this project will engage rural Georgians and Texans and increase participation in recommended breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screenings, as well as nutrition and physical activity behaviors related to cancer prevention. To aid in these efforts, the projects will capitalize on the existing, successful University of Georgia Extension Program, Cooking for a Lifetime of Cancer Prevention Cooking School.
www.thegeorgeanne.com
GS ranks nationally for African-Amercian physical science graduates
http://www.thegeorgeanne.com/news/article_8cdb109a-5446-5df6-b620-00d20c3dbcdd.html
by Tandra Smith the George-Anne staff | 0 comments
Georgia Southern University’s physical science department, which includes astronomy, physics, geology and chemistry, was ranked number four in the U.S. for African-American graduates this year by the publication Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Since 2010, GS’ ranking has varied from being as low as number 19 to as high as number three nationally. Where GS ranks depends on how many students end up graduating in that particular year.
www.goldenisles.news
Scholarship available to high school seniors
Marshland Credit Union is offering three $1,500 scholarships to high school seniors from Brantley, McIntosh and Glynn counties who will be graduating in 2017. This year, one of the three scholarships will be awarded to a graduating student who plans to attend College of Coastal Georgia in the fall.
www.goldenisles.news
Glynn County schools, CCGA fare well against storm, evacuation plans go smoothly
By LAUREN MCDONALD
Damage on College of Coastal Georgia’s campus was also minimal, said Greg Aloia, president of the college. CCGA evacuated its students on Wednesday, transporting 85 students to stay in dorms at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton. “We got our kids out on Wednesday, and everyone was safe and secure,” Aloia said. The college plans to reopen the residence halls at 3 p.m. today and resume classes on Thursday. CCGA’s fall break will still be Oct. 17 and Oct. 18, but the last day for students to withdraw from classes has been extended to Oct. 28.
www.goldenisles.news
College of Coastal Georgia set to resume classes Thursday
College of Coastal Georgia Vice President for Academic Affairs Tracy Pellett announced classes will resume Thursday for both Brunswick and Camden campuses.
Higher Education News:
www.diverseeducation.com
Obama Administration Puts Teeth into Teacher Prep Ratings
by Jamal Abdul-Alim
The Obama administration was still in its first term when it started talking about the need for America’s teacher prep programs to step up their game and begin to produce more effective teachers. Now—with about just three months left in its second term—the administration turned that talk into a tangible reality Wednesday in the form of new federal regulations. The regulations seek to rate teacher prep programs according to how many of their graduates go on to get jobs, how long they stay in those jobs, and how well they do those jobs as measured by student academic performance. The regulations allow for latitude in how the new rating systems will be implemented at the state level as long as those systems rate teacher prep programs as “effective,” “at-risk,” or “low-performing.”
www.insidehighered.com
A Title IX Win for Accused Students
In rare decision, Education Department finds Wesley College violated law when it ignored its own policies and due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct.
By Jake New
Wesley College, in Delaware, violated the gender discrimination law Title IX when it disregarded the due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday. The decision is unusual. Over the last five years, the department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened Title IX investigations into nearly 200 institutions where students have accused administrators of mishandling their reports of sexual assault and harassment. Very few of those investigations were prompted by accused and disciplined students, and even fewer have concluded with a finding in those students’ favor. “It is the first time that the agency has found Title IX violations in response to a complaint by a disciplined student,” said Erin Buzuvis, an expert on Title IX and director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies at Western New England University. “But I’m not particularly surprised by the outcome, in the sense that it is justified by the facts.”
www.chronicle.com
What a Landmark Finding in a Title IX Case Means for Colleges Wrestling With Sex Assault
By Sarah Brown
In an apparent first, federal officials have found a college in violation of Title IX, the gender-equity law, for infringing on the rights of students accused of sexual violence.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights had opened an investigation of Wesley College, in Delaware, in July 2015. That investigation was one of more than 300 the office, known as OCR, has conducted into colleges for possibly mishandling reports of sexual violence. In the past, OCR’s findings about colleges have occasionally alluded to the rights of accused students. But experts say the findings in the Wesley case, released Wednesday, seem to mark the first time that the office has cited unfair treatment of an accused student as the primary Title IX violation.
www.chornicle.com
Kentucky’s Governor Has Raised Hackles Across Higher Ed. What’s His Plan?
By Eric Kelderman
Higher education wasn’t a key theme in the 2015 Kentucky gubernatorial election. But Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, has turned it into a contentious topic since he won that race. In the last year Governor Bevin has tried to change how the state appropriates money to public colleges, make midyear cuts to higher education, and overhaul the governance structure at the University of Louisville. In each case he has been unsuccessful, but the battles have left many in the state wondering: What, if anything, is guiding the governor’s handling of higher ed? The Kentucky governor is one in a long list of state leaders who in recent years have tried to reshape higher education by challenging the conventions of academic governance, pressing for greater accountability and efficiency, and emphasizing the need for more career and technical training over the liberal arts.