University System News:
www.albanyherald.com
Search starts for Georgia Southwestern State University president
A presidential search committee is to be in place by the end of December
From Staff Reports
ATLANTA — The University System of Georgia has launched a nationwide search for a new president for Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus. Board of Regents Chairman Kessel Stelling, Chancellor Hank Huckaby and Chancellor-elect Steve Wrigley announced the candidate search Thursday. Dr. Charles Patterson has served as interim president of Georgia Southwestern State since November 2014. A campus-based presidential search committee will be formed and announced by the end of December, USG officials said. The committee membership will include GSW faculty, staff, students and representatives of the Americus community. members will be appointed by Stelling, Huckaby and Wrigley. Nominations for the search committee should be submitted to the Board of Regents. …A Regents’ Special Committee will also be formed and comprised of Board of Regents members.
www.wgauradio.com
Interim dean for UGA Vet school
http://www.wgauradio.com/news/news/local/interim-dean-uga-vet-school/ns6ms/
By Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia names an interim dean for its College of Veterinary Medicine: Keith Harris will take over for retiring dean Sheila Allen. Harris is a professor of pathology at UGA. Allen is stepping down as Vet School dean on December 1. From University of Georgia Provost Pamela Whitten… I am pleased to announce that Dr. Keith Harris, the Barry G. Harmon Professor of Pathology, has agreed to serve as Interim Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Harris has served as head of the department of pathology since 2008, and his appointment as Interim Dean is effective December 1.
www.valdostatoday.com
VSU HONORS VETERANS
http://valdostatoday.com/2016/11/vsu-honors-veterans/
VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University will host a Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 11, on the steps of the Student Union. All faculty, staff, students, retirees, alumni, and friends of the university are invited to attend. Sponsored by VSU’s Student Veterans of America and Office of Adult and Military Programs, the Veterans Day ceremony will begin with a display and presentation of the Battlefield Cross by the Moody Air Force Base Airman Leadership School. Welcoming remarks from retired United States Air Force Master Sgt. Mark A. Smith, coordinator of the VSU Center at Moody and adult admissions counselor with the Office of Adult and Military Programs, will follow. Veterans from the VSU campus and the Valdosta community will read the names of more than 200 fallen service members from Georgia who were involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. They will also read the names of those stationed at Moody Air Force Base who died in service to their country. The event will conclude with a moment of silence.
www.13wmaz.com
Veterans Day events around Middle Georgia
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/veterans-day-events-around-middle-georgia/350954099
Kasandra Ortiz, WMAZ
MACON, GA.– – November 11th is one day to thank our veterans for their years of service and sacrifice. If you are looking for a way to celebrate around town, there are plenty. The Veterans Day Ceremony at the World War I Memorial in Coleman Hill starts at 11 a.m. and is hosted by Middle Georgia State University. Mayor Robert Reichert will also speak at the ceremony.
www.savannahnow.com
Savannah ready to turn out for Veterans Day parade
http://savannahnow.com/news/2016-11-10/savannah-ready-turn-out-veterans-day-parade
By Dash Coleman
Tourists strolling downtown this week might have noticed an awful lot of red, white and blue on Broughton Street. That’s because Savannah does Veterans Day big. By midmorning, people will crowd underneath the American flags, waving on the area’s active-duty service members and veterans in the annual Veterans Day parade. And, at 11 a.m., everything will briefly stop at Bull and Broughton streets. “The parade is timed to arrive at the reviewing stand at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, which was the ceasefire and end of World War I in 1918,” said Doug Andrews, chairman of the Chatham County Veterans Council. The parade starts at 10:15 a.m., beginning at Abercorn and East Gwinnett streets. It heads north to Liberty Street, then goes west to Montgomery Street, where it heads north to Broughton and goes east. It ends on East Broad Street. Chatham County is home to more than 24,000 military veterans. Nearby Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield are home to the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. There is a Ranger battalion in Savannah as well as Military Police at Hunter, and the Georgia Air National Guard’s Air Dominance Center is at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. “Savannah is one of those communities that welcomes the military and appreciates the veterans,” said Ray Gaster, who will be leading the march today as grand marshal — along with the 3rd Infantry Division Band, Color Guard and 200 soldiers from the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade. Gaster, an Army veteran who chairs the local USO, will be joined by Honorary Marshal Linda Bleicken and Veteran of the Year Rich Noel. Bleicken, the president of Armstrong State University, is both the first woman and first person with no military service to be named an honorary marshal of the parade, Andrews said. Over the past few years, the Savannah university has worked to increase its military veteran enrollment and expand services to both active duty service members and veterans. Bleicken says she plans to work with Veteran of the Year Noel over the next year “to explore new avenues that can be of assistance not only to veterans but also to the Savannah community.”
www.johndruckenmiller.com
Education: Georgia Highlands reports a 5.1% jump in fall enrollment. OTR’s Bob Owens joins Georgia Northwestern’s board.
by hometownheadlines
Georgia Highlands College reports a 5.1 percent increase in students for the fall semester compared to the same period a year ago. GHC had 6,013 students across its campuses — including Rome and Cartersville — compared to 5,746 students a year earlier. Overall, the University System of Georgia’s 29 colleges and universities totaled 321,551 students, an increase of 1.1 percent (or 3,531 more students) over fall 2015. This fall’s enrollment continues a trend, for three years in a row, of modest increases in student enrollment in the University System of Georgia.
www.collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com
Georgia State shells out $23 million for Turner Field, will repurpose MLB park for football
By John Taylor
The former home of a Major League Baseball club is officially being repurposed by one FBS member. In the works for more than two years, Georgia State announced Wednesday that its board of regents has approved the university’s purchase of Turner Field. GSU purchased the stadium and 38 acres of the 68-acre site on which the now-former home of the Atlanta Braves sits for $22.8 million. The university plans to renovate The Ted and use it as the home for its football team. The stadium will initially seat 23,000 fans, with the possibility of 10,000 seats being added in the future. No taxpayer dollars or new student fees were used in the purchase, nor will they be used in the renovation, the school noted. Any of the acreage not used by the university or athletic department “will be sold and leased to Georgia State’s development partner Carter and Associates, which will develop private housing, retail and corporate facilities around the stadium.”
www.fox28media.com
State Representative Mable Thomas champions diversity in Georgia film industry
BY ROBERT CATANESE
Georgia (WTGS FOX 28) — An open forum was hosted by State Representative Mable Thomas from District 56 on Thursday. The venue was Savannah State University and the workshop focused on ensuring diversity and inclusion in the $7 billion film and television industry. One of Thomas’ goals is to strengthen the efforts of existing incentives, such as the film tax credit and the newly created Georgia Film Academy. Thomas is Chair of the House Study Committee on Georgia Minority Participation in the Film and Television Industry. She said she feels that having properly trained people in the industry will not only create jobs throughout Georgia, but will more likely provide incentive for production companies to return to places like Savannah. …President of Savannah State University, Dr. Cheryl Dozier said her students will graduate well prepared for the Film Industry. “They are majoring in all of the areas that make them ripe and ready to work in the film and TV industry here in Georgia,” said Dozier. …The following Georgia colleges and universities provide certificate and degree programs in film and television-related disciplines: Georgia Film Academy (multiple campuses); …Clayton State University, Georgia College, Milledgeville, Georgia Southern University, Georgia State University, University of Georgia, Valdosta State University
www.thewestgeorgian.com
UWG To Offer New Film Course
http://thewestgeorgian.com/uwg-to-offer-new-film-course/
By Ashlyn Fluker in Living West
UWG will offer a new film course for students next semester. The creators of the Georgia Film Academy (GFA) came to UWG Nov. 1. Executive director Jeff Stepakoff and Director of Strategic Partnership Greg O’Bradovich came to encourage students to enroll in Film 1000 at UWG. The class teaches students the ins and outs of working in film production. It is a beneficial course for students wanting a career in film and production. UWG is one of the four universities the class is offered at along with Kennesaw State University, Clayton State University and Columbus State University.
www.bizjournals.com
15 Georgia nonprofits make Philanthropy 400 list
Maria Saporta
Contributing Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
The recent ranking of the Philanthropy 400 by the Chronicle of Philanthropy showed little change among the order of Georgia’s major nonprofits. The largest nonprofit in the state continues to be the Task Force of Global Health, which ranks seventh among all foundations nationally… Universities also fared well including Emory University (No. 112); Georgia Tech (No. 242) and The University of Georgia (No. 279). The rankings are based on the private support the nonprofits receive each year – including both cash and in-kind contributions.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA launches ‘public’ phase of fund-raising campaign
http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2016-11-10/uga-launches-public-phase-fund-raising-campaign
By Lee Shearer
More than 1,000 people filled the Tate Student Center’s largest room Thursday as the University of Georgia formally launched a fund-raising campaign that began four years ago. UGA President Jere Morehead didn’t announce a specific dollar goal for the campaign, dubbed by UGA marketers “Commit to Georgia.” That announcement won’t come for another week, when Morehead meets with big donors at a private event in Atlanta. But it will be well above the $1 billion-plus figure Morehead has mentioned earlier in the campaign’s so-called “quiet” phase. UGA has already raised $650 million in the first four years of the expected eight-year fund-raising effort, said Kelly Kerner, UGA’s vice president for development and alumni relations. UGA has about 300,000 living alumni. That’s more than the entire total the university raised in its previous capital campaign (which concluded in 2008), he said. “This is just the beginning,” he said.
www.bizjournals.com
Gostin pushes herself toward new challenges
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/11/11/gostin-pushes-herself-toward-new-challenges.html
By Tonya Layman
Jill Gostin is never one to be stopped by being told “you can’t do that” and often conquers what others may think is impossible. “I have five sisters and one brother and growing up our parents told us we can do anything we wanted to do. They made us believe that,” she said. “When I have obstacles in my way and someone saying ‘you aren’t going to be able to that’ I just push through and give it my best shot.” Gostin has worked at Georgia Tech Research Institute since 1985, focusing on algorithm assessment and software testing and evaluation, specifically related to sensor systems, that resulted in several years of funded research. Today, she is the deputy director of GTRI’s Information & Communications Laboratory, a role many said she wouldn’t get… On Nov. 10, Gostin was named the 2016 Women in Technology Woman of the Year in the Medium/Mid-Size Organization category, which represents organizations with 251-2,500 employees and educational institutions.
www.bustle.com
5 Important Scientific Breakthroughs To Lift Your Spirits
https://www.bustle.com/articles/194516-5-important-scientific-breakthroughs-to-lift-your-spirits
By JR THORPE
…Ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal of the cancers that attack the female body; the American Cancer Society estimates that around 14,000 American women will die of it in 2016 alone. Fortunately, though, a new therapy tested in mice might give hope to women with diagnoses and those who look likely to inherit it. The therapy, tested by the Georgia Institute Of Technology, combined traditional chemotherapy with the use of nanoparticle technology. A nanoparticle “pill” was given to four mice with ovarian cancer, and was able to target one of the things that signals malignant growth in cancer cells.
www.futurism.com
Nanoparticles Are Moving Us Toward a Cancer-Free World
http://futurism.com/nanoparticles-are-moving-us-toward-a-cancer-free-world/
Jelor Gallego
While some medical studies focus on developing completely new medicines and treatments for diseases, others attempt to improve existing options. In an attempt at the latter, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new nanoparticle-based treatment that makes chemotherapy more effective. Their treatment targets epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs). These cell structures are found in epithelial cells, which line the body’s organs. In a healthy cell, they jumpstart a variety of typical cellular functions, but in cancer cells, they are overproduced. “The problem is that because of this overexpression, many cellular functions, including cell replication and resistance to certain chemotherapy drugs, are dramatically cranked up,” says chief researcher John McDonald.
Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
Why University Chiefs Head Out the Door
By Peter Schmidt
Major university presidents’ risk of being removed from office has surged in recent years, but the factors determining the length of their tenure are not always what people in academe assume, according to new research. One new study, an examination of 25 years’ worth of records dealing with university presidents’ departures, found that the share of leaders who left involuntarily rose substantially after 2007, for reasons not always attributable to the economic crisis spawned then. A second study, an analysis of the circumstances surrounding public university presidents’ retirements or job changes, found that working for large governing boards or for Republican governors tended to shorten tenures. Contrary to what the study’s authors had hypothesized, however, leaders hired from outside their institutions — or even outside academe — generally remained in office longer than those promoted from jobs within their institutions. The two studies, presented Thursday at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, provide new evidence that the task of running a college has become more difficult as a result of broader trends in the field such as growing competitive pressures.
www.insidehighered.com
The Incidents Since Election Day
Many campuses have seen graffiti, taunts and more — with immigrant, Muslim and minority students as targets — in last 48 hours. Some see a Trump effect.
By Scott Jaschik
Many minority, Muslim and/or immigrant students are reporting increased harassment since Donald Trump was elected president. On many campuses, incidents specifically include Trump’s name, and, at others, various slurs are being reported.
Racial and ethnic incidents on campus are hardly new and have been happening since well before Trump entered the presidential race. But as reports circulate about these incidents, some students are saying that things are worse. And their view has added to anxiety and anger many students feel about the outcome of the election. While many of the reports involve slurs, others include physical attacks.
www.insidehighered.com
Trump Win Opens Questions for Colleges’ Books
Federal funding is a top item to watch, along with enrollments and fund-raising.
By Rick Seltzer
Worries about stock market turmoil subsided in the two days since Donald Trump unexpectedly won the presidential election, but many questions still remain about what Tuesday’s results mean for college and university finances. Will markets turn ugly and imperil endowment returns if Trump proves unpredictable as president? Will proposed changes to the tax code help or hinder fund-raising? What effect could new economic and immigration policies have on the pool of tuition-paying students? And, critically, what will happen to federal funding for research and student financial aid? Several experts zeroed in on that last question, pointing out that Trump promised substantial tax cuts during his campaign while also promising to protect Social Security and Medicare. With several other potentially big-ticket items proposed — from a wall on the Mexican border to a major infrastructure-building package — some believe federal funding for higher education could end up being cut.
www.chronicle.com
Regulatory Relief Under Trump Could Favor Both For-Profit and Traditional Colleges
By Eric Kelderman
The day after Donald J. Trump secured a victory in the U.S. presidential election, Wall Street traders voted with their money. Among the winners were some of the nation’s largest for-profit college companies, such as Bridgepoint Education Inc., Career Education Corp., and DeVry Education Group Inc., which all saw big gains in their share prices. The markets were sending a clear message that they expect Mr. Trump to limit or end the Obama administration’s heavy regulatory focus on proprietary colleges. Policy experts pointed to several areas where the new president could significantly lower the level of federal scrutiny of for-profit colleges, such as seeking to change the “gainful employment” rules around students’ earnings after graduation and allowing a controversial accreditor of proprietary colleges to continue to operate. A rollback of higher-education regulation could also give traditional public and nonprofit private colleges some relief from government oversight, including newly issued requirements for teacher preparation and yet-to-be-released rules on state authorization of distance-education programs. The new administration could also simply choose to enforce some laws and regulations less stringently than the current administration, such as its guidance on how colleges should handle sexual assault under Title IX, the law that requires gender-equity in education.
www.chronicle.com
A Humbling of Higher Ed
By Jack Stripling
The elites. The know-it-alls. The pointy-headed people. The safe-spacers and the trigger-warners. The politically correct. Named and unnamed, these became the targets of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump, whose victory over Hillary Clinton gobsmacked the very establishment he had railed against. For a candidate who offered so few specific higher-education proposals, Mr. Trump ran an effective right-flank offensive against many of the values academics hold dear. In nearly 17 months of rallies, cheered on by numerous supporters without college degrees, the Republican nominee rode a rising wave of resentment toward the elitism and insularity that higher education is often thought to represent. Mr. Trump’s call to “Make America Great Again” was just vague enough to invite interpretation. But many scholars heard it as a summons to turn back the clock to a time before their ideas about diversity and inclusivity were cemented into the policies and strategic plans of universities across the nation.
www.chronicle.com
Trump Administration May Back Away from Title IX, but Campuses Won’t
By Robin Wilson
lthough federal oversight of how colleges handle sexual assault is bound to subside — and could even disappear — under a Trump administration, campus officials and victims’-rights advocates believe institutions will remain focused on the issue.
“There’s going to be a sea change in the country, and we really don’t know what all that’s going to look like,” said Laura L. Dunn, founder of the advocacy group SurvJustice. “But I’m not worried about campuses no longer addressing sexual violence.” Under pressure from the Obama administration, colleges have transformed how they handle students’ reports of sexual assault under the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX. While for years students accused institutions of ignoring complaints and shielding alleged perpetrators, the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights put campuses front-and-center in a broader campaign by the administration to crack down on sexual misconduct. …The Trump White House is likely not only to shelve those investigations and cut back on enforcement, said higher-education observers, but may also look to the courts instead of colleges to deal with allegations of sexual assault. That’s what the Republican Party endorsed last July in its platform at the Republican National Convention. Sexual assault, said the platform, “must be promptly investigated by civil authorities and prosecuted in a courtroom, not a faculty lounge.” It also said the Obama administration’s “distortion of Title IX to micromanage the way colleges and universities deal with allegations of abuse contravenes our country’s legal traditions and must be halted.”