University System News:
www.gcsunade.com
20 years of liberal arts
http://gcsunade.com/2016/10/15/20-years-of-liberal-arts/
Written by: Lexi Garofalo
This year, Georgia College celebrates its 20th Anniversary of being Georgia’s designated liberal arts university. “This school teaches me a multitude of skills and knowledge to help me critically evaluate the world around me,” said Casey Hendrix, sophomore, who is excited and pleased about GC’s anniversary. A classical liberal arts education covers a wide spectrum of disciplines students can use as a broad foundation in future jobs and careers. A modern liberal arts education focuses on critical thinking, world-centric situational experiences and allows students the opportunity to have more freedom creating their courses, and areas of study within their major. GC’s liberal arts courses include, but are not limited to English, foreign languages, natural sciences, social sciences, literature and ethics. GC ’s values include an expansive undergraduate educational experience, excellence in graduate education, challenging innovative teaching, opportunities for community engagement and preparation for leadership, according to a statement on GC’s official website.
www.mdjonline.com
Cobb, Marietta students move on to college courses when ready
Mary Kate McGowan
This year, more high school students in Cobb are saving money while earning college credit. A total of 601 Cobb and 26 Marietta high school students are currently enrolled in both high school and college through the state education department’s Move On When Ready program. The program allows high school juniors and seniors to take college classes that count toward both high school graduation and a college major or certification without having to pay college tuition. Here’s an example of how it works: Rather than attending first period at Pope High School, a student would take a math class at Kennesaw State University. Alternatively, the student could take the KSU math course online at Pope. Last fall, the state education department combined several dual enrollment programs — including the HOPE Grant for dual enrollment — to launch the Move On When Ready program.
www.wsbtv.com
KSU professor to file complaint over president elect
by: Tom Regan
COBB COUNTY, Ga. – A tenured professor at Kennesaw State University says she will file a job discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission over the process that led to the appointment of Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens as president elect of KSU. “My greatest concern is damage to our national reputation, and the fact that university presidents should be academics, not just attorneys. The EEOC case is pending and will be filed next week, with multiple complainants stating that women, minorities and others were not allowed to apply for the position,” said Susan Gaines, Ph.D KSU Professor. Gaines said the Georgia Board of Regents showed bias and lack of transparency in the selection process. She said a nationwide search should have been conducted, and that the Board did not consider other candidates for the position, including her application. “We had a number of faculty members apply for the position and be considered so a real hiring process could occur, and their applications were not responded to in any way.” said Gaines.
www.mdjonline.com
Q&A with the new head Owl: Sam Olens talks politics, policy, priorities
Ricky Leroux
After being named the new president of Kennesaw State University on Wednesday, Sam Olens has wasted little time in beginning his transition into his new role. In an interview with the MDJ Editorial Board on Friday afternoon in the KSU president’s office, Olens described many of the steps he has already taken ahead of his official start date of Nov. 1, including meeting with the president of the university’s student government association and executive cabinet. Olens also describes why he decided to get out of politics after 18 years — from Cobb district commissioner to commission chair to attorney general — as well as his goals and priorities for the university. This interview has been lightly edited for style and space.
www.atlantajewishtimes.com
Olens: Safety, Protection of Students Come First
http://atlantajewishtimes.com/2016/10/olens-safety-protection-students-come-first/
BY JEWISH TIMES
Sam Olens has begun his transition from elected official to academic administrator with a promise of open, honest communication and a commitment to mutual respect and tolerance. He also has faced a campus protest and a promise of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against his hiring. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents named Olens, who as attorney general has been Georgia’s highest-ranking elected Jewish politician for almost six years, the fourth president of Kennesaw State University while he observed Yom Kippur on Wednesday, Oct. 12. …He is resigning his elected position and assuming the presidency of the university with more than 33,000 students at campuses in Kennesaw and Marietta on Nov. 1. In an email that went out to members of the Kennesaw State community Thursday morning, Oct. 13, Olens called it “an institution that has helped transform our community and has earned a reputation as one of Georgia’s top universities.” “I am excited to join the KSU community. The tremendous growth both in size and academic stature that this university has achieved in a relatively short amount of time speaks volumes about your dedication and commitment to excellence,” he wrote, adding that he has a passion for the university that is rooted in his belief in “the life-changing impact” of education. He said the grit and determination of Kennesaw State students and the inclusive campus are consistent with his own values. …“My job is to represent the state. That’s what I’ve done,” Olens told the AJT. “As far as being university president, there’s nothing more important in that capacity than the safety and protection of the students. The universities are there for the students. The point’s gonna be made loud and clear that my job is to do everything I can to ensure their success, and that doesn’t impinge on any type of political beliefs. That doesn’t come into the equation.”
www.11alive.com
KSU’s new entrepreneurship degree a first for Georgia
http://www.11alive.com/news/education/ksus-new-entrepreneurship-degree-a-first-for-georgia/336327380
Melissa Long, WXIA
If you dream of starting your own business but are perplexed about how to start, Kennesaw State University (KSU) may offer the guidance you need. The local university is now home to a first-of-its-kind program for the University System of Georgia. Undergraduate students can now pursue a degree in entrepreneurship in KSU’s Coles College of Business.
www.onlineathens.com
Ex-U.S. ambassador’s papers to be given to UGA’s Russell Library
By UGA NEWS SERVICE
David Adelman, a former U.S. ambassador to Singapore and a former Georgia state senator, has agreed to donate his official papers, documenting his diplomatic and legislative service, to the University of Georgia Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.
Adelman served from 2010 to 2013 as the 15th U.S. ambassador to Singapore. Adelman is the recipient of the U.S. Department of State’s Superior Honor Award and the U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Award, the highest award given by the Navy to non-military personnel. …Adelman was a state senator from Georgia’s 42nd District from 2003 to 2010. …Adelman’s diplomatic papers include speeches, notes, meeting materials, travel itineraries, strategic planning documents, official correspondence, daily schedules, photographs and press files covering the duration of his ambassadorship. The collection is rounded out with material from his time in the Georgia Senate including files related to legislation and committee work, correspondence from constituents, and campaign material. …Adelman is a graduate of UGA’s Grady College of Journalism as well as Emory University’s School of Law and Georgia State University’s School of Policy Studies.
www.healio.com
CDC awards more than $14 million to antibiotic resistance projects
The CDC is devoting more than $14 million to fund 34 projects that will explore new approaches against antibiotic resistance, including research on how a person’s microbiome may predict and even prevent drug-resistant infections, according to a press release. “Understanding the role the microbiome plays in antibiotic-resistant infections is necessary to protect the public’s health,” CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said in the release. “We think it is key to innovative approaches to combat antibiotic resistance, protect patients, and improve antibiotic use.” The funds are part of the CDC’s Broad Agency Announcement and support the agency’s Antibiotic Resistance Solutions Initiative, which employs tracking, prevention and antibiotic stewardship activities. The awards, granted to numerous universities, two nonprofit organizations and a commercial company, will investigate the association between antibiotics, the microbiome and the consequences of widespread antibiotic use. In particular, the projects will attempt to determine how antibiotics interrupt a healthy microbiome, how a disturbed microbiome puts people at risk for drug-resistant infections, and how to improve antibiotic stewardship programs to protect the microbiome. …According to the CDC, awards were distributed to …Georgia Institute of Technology; University of Georgia;
www.mdjonline.com
Land sale still pending between Lockheed Martin and Georgia Tech
Anthony White
The sale of four buildings and 52 acres in Marietta that Lockheed Martin Aeronautics announced it was selling to Georgia Tech back in July is still pending and may not be complete for years. However, instead of selling the property directly to Georgia Tech, the property is being sold to an affiliate of the university, Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures, said Georgia Tech spokesman Lance Wallace. Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures’ activities include the Advanced Technology Development Center incubator space at the Centergy Building in Tech Square on the university’s Midtown campus. According to Wallace, Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures “has entered into a contract to purchase the property from Lockheed, but the contract has not yet closed and Lockheed Martin is still the owner of the property.”
Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
The Next Great Hope for Measuring Learning
http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Next-Great-Hope-for/238075
By Dan Berrett
The long search for an answer to one of higher education’s most pressing questions led here, to the basement of a bistro outside Hartford. What do students really learn in college? To find answers, about 20 faculty members from Central Connecticut State University came to spend the waning days of summer break analyzing hundreds of samples of students’ work. Carl R. Lovitt, their provost, gave them a pep talk over bagels and coffee: “You are engaged in work of meaningful national significance.” Academe has been pilloried for decades, he said, for its lack of accountability. This project could remedy that. It’s the kind of acronym-heavy, jargon-laced endeavor that’s easily overlooked. But by measuring students’ intellectual skills, it might turn out to provide telling insight into one of higher education’s central functions.
www.insiderhighered.com
Lumina Revises Plan for Completion Push
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/10/17/lumina-revises-plan-completion-push
By Paul Fain
The Lumina Foundation on Monday released a revised strategic plan for achieving its goal of 60 percent of Americans holding a college degree, certificate or other high-quality credential by 2025. The foundation has released a new plan every four years since first proposing the goal in 2008. The latest iteration provides a more detailed breakdown of the 16.4 million Americans who will need to earn a credential to meet the goal. About 4.8 million are traditional-age students who now are not likely to earn a college degree or certificate. Another 6.1 million are potential returning adult students, who attended college but did not earn a credential. The final group is 5.5 million with no college credits — 64 million Americans fit this description, Lumina said
www.reuters.com
How a Chinese company bought access to admissions officers at top U.S. colleges
Dipont is accused by ex-employees of helping students cheat on their college applications. The company also has spent widely to get its clients in front of schools such as Vanderbilt, Wellesley and the University of Virginia.
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-charity/
By Steve Stecklow, Renee Dudley, James Pomfret and Alexandra HarneyA major Chinese education company has paid thousands of dollars in perks or cash to admissions officers at top U.S. universities to help students apply to American schools. And according to eight former employees of Shanghai-based Dipont Education Management Group, the company’s services didn’t end there. Six told Reuters that Dipont employees wrote application essays for students. Another said she altered recommendation letters that teachers had written for students. One student was given access to his high school transcript and erased bad grades, one of the former employees said. Dipont denies the allegations of application fraud but boasts of its special relationship with some 20 U.S. colleges, which include Vanderbilt University, Wellesley College, Tulane University and the University of Virginia.
www.diverseeducation.com
Guillermo: Accused Students Get Rare Title IX Protection
by Emil Guillermo
In the ongoing fight against sexual misconduct on college campuses, those who simply advocate a just and fair system can claim a victory this week in Delaware. Wesley College in Dover, Delaware, is one of the first colleges in America to have been found in violation of the sexual violence and sexual harassment provisions of Title IX when it comes to protecting the rights of accused students. In an official release, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that a Wesley College student accused of sexual misconduct “was not provided a full opportunity to respond to the charges, rebut the allegations, or defend himself at his hearing.” The investigation prompted the announced agreement between the OCR and the college. …The OCR concluded Wesley failed to give the accused students “essential procedural protection” in violation of Title IX, as well as violated safeguards within the school’s own disciplinary policies.