University System News:
www.thegeorgeanne.com
Hebert addressed concerns and announced search for new provost at town hall
http://www.thegeorgeanne.com/news/article_5d73ad82-0c12-527a-918a-a8720204e9ad.html
Blakeley Bartee The George-Anne staff
Jaimie Hebert spoke and answered questions at a town hall event Monday at the Nessmith-Lane Center to mark his first 100 days as president of Georgia Southern University. After congratulating Jean Bartels, provost and vice president for academic affairs, on her upcoming retirement, Hebert announced a national search for a new GS provost. Richard Flynn, GS literature professor, moderated the event and presented questions from Facebook and from the floor. Budget priorities, the balance between athletics and academics, expanding the University’s curriculum and plans regarding GS administration were among the topics Hebert covered. Hebert explained that while he loves GS and does not want to change the University, he is obligated as president to do what he can to improve GS. “I don’t want to be a different university. I want to be a better Georgia Southern,” Hebert said.
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Opinion: Choosing Olens to lead Kennesaw State University is part of GOP agenda
By Maureen Downey
Lucas Carpenter is the Candler Professor Emeritus of English at Oxford College of Emory University. In this column, he assails the appointment of former Attorney General Sam Olens as president of Kennesaw State University, a political choice by the governor that has riled some students and faculty. (A petition calling for a national search for the KSU president garnered 16,599 signatures as of Monday night.) During his 30 years at Oxford, Carpenter won the Fleming Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Emory Williams Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Phi Theta Kappa Teaching Award. He was named a Fulbright Distinguished Senior Scholar in 1999, and in 2003 he was awarded Emory University’s Scholar/Teacher of the Year award. He was also Oxford’s first faculty member to be named Charles Howard Candler Professor. A Vietnam War veteran, Carpenter earned a Bronze Star.
By Lucas Carpenter
One important but little-mentioned aspect of Sam Olens’ recent appointment as president of Kennesaw State University by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents is how it plays into a larger Republican effort to control and influence higher education in America.
www.savannahnow.com
Savannah State senior now Miss Black Georgia USA
Empowerment is her mantra
http://savannahnow.com/accent/2016-10-17/savannah-state-senior-now-miss-black-georgia-usa
By Andria Segedy
Shaunii Rawls is excited when she can talk to young girls and women about how to believe in who they are and how to walk into a room with confidence and think “I am, I will, I can.” She follows her own mantra, having been named 2017 Miss Black Georgia USA after an interview process in August, which means she will represent Georgia at the 2017 Miss Black USA Scholarship Pageant next August in Washington, D.C. Turning 23 on Oct. 23, the Savannah State University senior will graduate Dec. 10 with a degree in mass communications with a focus on audio and video.
www.wfxg.com
Georgia Southern University students tour Plant Vogtle for Nuclear Science Week
By John Domol, Multimedia Journalist
BURKE COUNTY, GA (WFXG) – It’s Nuclear Science Week and Plant Vogtle is showing students that there’s a lot more to nuclear power than a degree in engineering. Joel Leopard spoke to students from Georgia Southern University about what kinds of jobs the plant offers. While engineers are the backbone of Vogtle, the facility also needs electricians, mechanics, IT and public relations. “If you’re interested in science, engineering, technology, math–maybe these are things that you should be thinking about when you go from high school into your university studies,” communications specialist Joel Leopard said. Craig Ward, president of the society of manufacturing engineers at GSU, says Vogtle is a bit of an open window as far as employment possibilities. “I really think it’s just a good opportunity for all. It’s like a little town out here, so I think there’s a little bit for everyone,” Ward said. Joseph Lugo is a mechanical engineering major at GSU and said it was nice to be able to put what he learned in books into perspective.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Report: Average Student Loan Debt Ticked Up for 2015 Graduates
By Andrew Kreighbaum
College students who graduated in 2015 left with an average of $30,100 in student loan debt — an increase of 4 percent over the 2014 average, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the Institute for College Access and Success. About one-fifth of that loan debt came from nonfederal loans, which provide fewer consumer protections. Nearly a third of graduating seniors left college with no student loan debt. The report is the 11th annual analysis by TICAS of students’ debt upon graduation.
www.chronicle.com
One-Third of Low-Income Student Borrowers Who Rehabbed Loans Could Default Again
[Updated (10/17/2016, 11:45 p.m.) with additional information and editing changes.]
by Andy Thomason
One in three student-loan borrowers with very low incomes who have “cured” a loan in default in the past year are likely to default again, according to a report released on Monday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The federal agency’s student-loan ombudsman’s latest annual report highlights complaints the bureau has received from the “most economically distressed” borrowers about the transition from default to an income-driven repayment plan. The bureau estimates that more than 650,000 such borrowers “rehabilitated” a defaulted federal student loan last year by making $5 monthly payments for nine months. It projects that over the next 24 months, more than 200,000 of those borrowers will default a second time, “unless policy makers and industry take immediate action.”
www.insidehighered.com
Efficiency, at Scale
Competency-based education can save money for colleges and students, a new report finds, but the efficiency gains won’t come easily or without worries about the impact on academic quality.
By Paul Fain
With up to 600 colleges working to create competency-based education programs, a new report examines the business model for this emerging approach to higher education, finding significant savings possibilities for colleges and students alike. According to the report, four institutions that were early adopters spent an average of 50 percent less per student on education-related activities in competency-based degree tracks compared to their traditional programs. The rpkGROUP, a consulting firm that advises colleges on financial matters, conducted the analysis. The Lumina Foundation funded the report. Some of the cost savings the report identified can be passed to students in the form of lower tuition rates. And the focus on mastery in competency-based education can give students a chance to move at their own pace, the report said, potentially earning a degree faster than they would otherwise.
www.chronicle.com
Title IX Officers Pay a Price for Navigating a Volatile Issue
By Robin Wilson
On the second day of class this year, the University of Florida fired its deputy Title IX coordinator amid complaints that he had too much power over resolving sex-assault cases. Then, this month, Baylor University’s Title IX coordinator resigned, charging the institution with refusing to give her enough authority. The claims — that one Title IX officer had too much power, while another didn’t have what she needed — highlight the pitfalls and pressures for those in a high-profile job at the center of one of higher-education’s most vexing issues: campus sexual assault. Title IX officers face criticism and questions from all directions — students, parents, lawmakers, board members, and fellow administrators. The officers are responsible for considering allegations of sexual misconduct and overseeing their universities’ procedures to determine whether the accused is responsible, all under the glare of increasing federal and public attention. Sometimes the decisions Title IX administrators make may harm their own universities’ reputations. They complain of being both ignored by senior administrators and made the scapegoat for unpopular decisions. All the while, they are on the line for complying with a growing and complicated set of federal guidelines in trying to resolve sexual-misconduct claims.
www.diverseeducation.com
Military Friendly Institutions Competing for Veterans
by Pearl Stewart
Some institutions call it white-glove treatment, others call it concierge service and some refer to it as their red-carpet rollout. These are among the descriptions colleges and universities are using to attract the growing number of transitioning military students. As more aid has become available for college attendance through the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, institutions are striving to compete for those prospects, estimated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to number 1.1 million. The bill covers 100 percent of a public, four-year undergraduate education to a veteran who has served three years on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001. One of the ways the schools compete is by attaining military-specific rankings and designations. One of those is Military Friendly, a trademarked term for the ratings division of a privately owned company, Victory Media, which rates higher education institutions, as well as businesses, based on their programs to recruit and retain military veterans. Victory Media and Military Friendly are not government entities.