University System News:
www.mdjonline.com
Endowed chair established in Leven School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality
Staff reports
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on Feb. 14 approved the establishment of the Michael A. Leven Endowed Chair at Kennesaw State University. The $500,000 endowment is part of a $5 million commitment Michael A. Leven made in 2015 to name KSU’s School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality. The gift from Leven, a veteran hospitality industry executive and CEO of the Georgia Aquarium, is the largest single contribution from an individual in KSU’s 54-year history. The endowed chair, a premier teacher and scholar in the field of culinary sustainability and hospitality management, will conduct research, develop and teach courses, mentor students and faculty, and will represent and promote the Leven School to the community and hospitality industry.
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Georgia House approves $2.5 million for projects at Columbus State University
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/latest-news/article133518929.html
BY BEN WRIGHT
The Georgia House has approved more than $1 billion in construction projects in the state’s fiscal 2018 budget, including $2.5 million for construction at Columbus State University. The spending plan approved Thursday includes $2 million for equipment for the new lab sciences addition at LeNoir Hall and $500,000 to plan and design the renovations to Schwob Memorial Library at the main campus. The proposal moves to the Senate for approval before it reaches the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal. John Lester, associate vice president for University & Government Relations at CSU, said approval from the House is a great step forward. “We are delighted to have both items included in the budget,” he said Friday. “We are not done yet. It has got to go through the Senate then back to the governor, so it’s just another step in the process for now.”
www.ajc.com
Study: Struggling college students get a hand to graduate
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Getting through college isn’t easy, and it can be even harder for low-income and first generation students with few support resources. A new tool involving big data can help those at risk. Researchers at Georgia State University spent four years analyzing students’ grades, test scores and other information in order to identify those in potential trouble, and promptly assisted them. The study shows the number of students graduating has jumped by 30 percent and that students are spending less time and money to earn a degree. “These are really encouraging gains,” said Timothy Renick, the school’s vice president for enrollment management and student success and the principal investigator in the study. “Because of these proactive interventions all students benefited, but the students who benefited the most were first generation, low-income and students of color.” Renick presented the study at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Boston on Saturday. Inspired by Renick’s results, the Education Department awarded a four-year $8.9 million grant that will significantly expand his study. The project, which kicked off last year, will involve 10,000 low-income and first generation students at Georgia State and 10 other large public research universities.
www.daltondailycitizen.com
Margaret Venable: Stewardship of Dalton State is a shared responsibility
Dalton Daily Citizen
As Dalton State College celebrates its 50th year of service to Northwest Georgia this year, we look back at our rich history, and we look ahead to our vibrant future. As I consider my own place in the college’s half-century tradition, I am simultaneously humbled and proud of where we’ve been and where we’re going. Moreover, this 50th anniversary year reminds me of the immense responsibility each of us here on campus has as stewards of this magnificent asset that is Dalton State. When University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby inaugurated me as only the fifth president in Dalton State’s history last October, he did so with a charge to keep — namely, that I always work to preserve the college and put its people first. While the scope and responsibilities of a college presidency are wide and varied, it is this one — that of chief steward, if you will — that I take most personally.
www.ajc.com
Armstrong State gets new president to guide campus merger
The Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. Armstrong State University in Savannah is getting a new president as it moves toward a merger with Georgia Southern University. Steve Wrigley, chancellor of the state’s university system, has named Jennifer Frum to serve as interim president at Armstrong State. Frum currently works as vice president for public service and outreach at the University of Georgia. Frum will start her new job at Armstrong State on July 1. That’s when the school’s current president, Linda Bleicken, is scheduled to retire.
See also:
www.statesboroherlald.com
Merger pending, Armstrong gets interim president
Committee: GS, ASU programs to stay put until 2022
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/78593/
www.usnews.com
Armstrong State Gets New President to Guide Campus Merger
Armstrong State University in Savannah is getting a new president as it moves toward a merger with Georgia Southern University.
www.wcbtv.com
Armstrong State gets new president to guide campus merger
http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/34537772/armstrong-state-gets-new-president-to-guide-campus-merger
www.wjcl.com
Interim president named for Armstrong State University
http://www.wjcl.com/article/interim-president-named-for-armstrong-state-university/8948243
www.theeagle.com
Armstrong State gets new president to guide campus merger
www.thegeorgeanne.com
Georgia Southern Police Department to form Citizens Police Academy
http://www.thegeorgeanne.com/news/article_73987203-fc67-5ddb-98dc-3501ac32e0a8.html
By:Matthew Enfinger The George-Anne staff
The Office of Public Safety is in the process of creating a citizens police academy at Georgia Southern University that will be open to both students and staff. The Citizens Police Academy will consist of some classroom instruction and hands-on learning. “It will entail putting citizens through the different aspects of law enforcement,” Laura McCullough, GS police chief, said in an email.
www.lagrangenews.com
UGA scholarship established in honor Hunnicutts
Callaway Foundation to match funds to support UGA students from Troup County
By Jennifer Shrader
A scholarship has been established at the University of Georgia to honor a local couple and support future UGA students from Troup County. The Gail and William Oliver (Dr. Pat) Hunnicutt III Scholarship was created by local UGA alumni to honor the Hunnicutts for distinguished leadership to the university and lifelong service to Troup County. Gifts to the scholarship fund will be matched by the Callaway Foundation for the next five years. A steering committee, including Jay Russell, Heather Graham, Kyle Crawford, Bill Hunnicutt, Jake Jones and Sam Craig, plans to raise at least $500,000 in private donations for the scholarship fund by 2022. The Callaway Foundation has committed to matching each dollar given up to $500,000. During the preliminary phase, nearly $150,000 has been raised in gifts and pledges.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA Miracle Dance Marathon raises $1.3 million for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
By Hilary Butschek
UGA Miracle set a record with this year’s Dance Marathon, raising $1.3 million for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. That’s nearly $300,000 more than the University of Georgia student-led philanthropic organization raised with last year’s marathon. The first $1 million will go straight to CHOA, and the additional $352,705.17 raised this weekend will go to CHOA’s Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. The total amount of money raised is just under the $1.4 million goal that UGA Miracle had set for this year’s marathon.
www.saportareport.com
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter receive Ivan Allen Jr. Prize in Social Courage
http://saportareport.com/jimmy-rosalynn-carter-receive-ivan-allen-jr-prize-social-courage/
By Maria Saporta
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were awarded Georgia Tech’s prestigious 2017 Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage Friday – linking the legacies of two iconic Georgia political families. It was the first time in its five–year history that the Allen Prize has been given to a couple rather than an individual. For former President Jimmy Carter, the award luncheon at the Atlanta Biltmore was like coming home. Carter attended his sophomore year at Georgia Tech before entering the Naval Academy. He returned to give a commencement address, when he was awarded an honorary doctorate’s degree, Carter said, explaining that usually they are not given to former Tech students – unless they had been president. “It is a pleasure to be associated in any way with Ivan Allen Jr.,” Carter said upon receiving the award. “His son (Ivan Allen III) helped start the Carter Center.”
www.fastcompany.com
The World’s Most Innovative Companies
https://www.fastcompany.com/company/georgia-institute-of-technology
Developed in partnership with Udacity and AT&T, Georgia Tech’s online M.S. costs just $7,000—much less than the $45,000 that out-of-state students pay to attend in-person—while imposing the same admissions and graduation standards. That combination is attracting exactly the kind of oft-forgotten student that policymakers are eager to engage: middle-aged Americans looking to re-skill. At the moment 11,000 students nationwide earn an M.S. in computer science each year; just two years in, Georgia Tech’s program is on track to add as many as 1,200 to that pool. The program recently received its 10,000th application, and the number of applications for the next admission cycle is up about 50%.
www.hypepotamus.om
How Georgia Tech Became The Only University On Fast Company’s Most Innovative
https://hypepotamus.com/news/georgia-tech-fast-company/
BY HOLLY BEILIN
Amazon. Google. Uber. These are the names that come to mind when predicting the companies that will grace Fast Company’s Most Innovative List. But earlier this week, the Southeast’s very own Georgia Institute of Technology made waves when it became the only university (and only the second in over five years — following MIT’s debut last year), to earn a spot on the list. Georgia Tech was listed #3 Most Innovative Company in the Education sector following Microsoft and Duolingo. According to Fast Company, the designation is thanks to the launch and success of Tech’s online Masters in Computer Science program, a first of its kind in the country. Dr. Rafael L. Bras, Georgia Tech’s Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, said the honor is a confirmation of the university’s commitment to innovation and nontraditional education. “To be in the company of such enterprises as Google and Microsoft who are constantly innovating, it makes you feel like you are doing the right thing,” says Dr. Bras.
www.atlanta.curbed.com
Georgia Tech planning most environmentally conscious building in the Southeast
The $30-million “Living Building” will be equal parts teaching tool and academic facility
BY MICHAEL KAHN
Georgia Tech’s sprawling campus on the western edge of Midtown is filled with hulking concrete and brick buildings dating to the 1960s, hearkening to the days when the school experienced rapid post-WWII expansion. However, over the past few years, Tech has begun to push the envelope when it comes to design — and nowhere is that more apparent than the plans for the “Living Building.” Announced last year, the project is an initiative by The Kendeda Fund and Tech to create what they hope to be the most environmentally friendly building in the Southeast. Now, new details have been released illustrating how the building plans to achieve that goal. And some of the sustainable measures are pretty damn cool. Features include a green roof, flexible auditorium that can be reconfigured to fulfill an array of needs, a canopy made of solar panels, and plantings around the site that will provide food for students throughout the year.
www.usnews.com
Georgia Tech Researchers, 1 in Alabama Win US Navy Grants
By The Associated Press
The Office of Naval Research says three Georgia Tech researchers and one at Alabama’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab are among 33 young scientists nationwide getting $16 million in grants for young investigators. A news release from the Arlington, Virginia-based agency says typical grants pay $510,000 over three years, and more than 360 researchers applied. Kelly Dorgan of the sea lab got a grant to study how worms and other animals that burrow in mud and sand affect the sediments’ acoustic and geotechnical properties.
www.technologyreview.com
A Robot Physical Therapist Helps Kids with Cerebral Palsy
A humanoid bot called Darwin shows how aspects of nursing and child care might be mechanized.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603614/a-robot-physical-therapist-helps-kids-with-cerebral-palsy/
by Will Knight
A young girl in Atlanta manages the symptoms of cerebral palsy with regular physical therapy, which normally means a visit to a doctor’s office, or hours of boring, repetitive actions on her own. Recently though, she began taking instructions, at home, from a pint-sized robot physical therapist called Darwin. Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology are using robots to help children and adults meet their physical therapy goals. And they’ve found that combining a simple game with words of encouragement and physical cues from the robots provides a noticeable boost to patients’ efforts, compared to asking them to go through the work on their own
www.albanyherald.com
South Georgia cotton gin donates equipment to research center
Stripling Irrigation Research Park studies irrigation effects on various crops, including cotton
By Clint Thompson
CAMILLA — A south Georgia cotton gin is helping the University of Georgia’s C.M. Stripling Irrigation Research Park (SIRP) harvest cotton more efficiently thanks to its donation of a cotton module builder and cotton boll buggy. Funston Gin in Funston donated the two pieces of equipment, valued at $25,000, last harvest season to help the park harvest its cotton plots in the fall. SIRP Superintendent Calvin Perry said the module builder and boll buggy are welcome additions to the park’s inventory, especially given the amount of cotton research conducted at SIRP every year. “When you deal with plots like we do, you may pick some for Dr. (John) Snider today and, in two days, you may pick some for Dr. (Wes) Porter. We just needed a way to better handle cotton between researchers,” Perry said. SIRP enables the study of irrigation effects on various crops, including cotton, peanuts and corn. Perry said that last year, the park devoted 25 acres to cotton research. Those 25 acres were divided into hundreds of different plots that contained the research of different scientists within UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
www.savannahnow.com
Skidaway researchers track plastic fibers in coastal food chain
Microplastics about size of grain of rice almost everywhere
http://savannahnow.com/news/2017-02-19/skidaway-researchers-track-plastic-fibers-coastal-food-chain
By Mary Landers
Skidaway Institute researchers looking for plastics in the coastal environment are finding them almost everywhere, but not in the form they expected. Instead of finding tiny chunks of plastic they’re finding microscopic threads, or microfibers. These miniscule strands of synthetic cloth are pervasive, said Jay Brandes a professor of chemistry at the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. Now in the second year of a two year study on microplastics — pieces of plastic that are broken down to the size of a grain of rice or smaller — he’s shifted his focus to these tiny bits of fabric. “It was kind of surprising because the field is more focused on micro pieces of plastic,” Brandes said. “It’s changed in the last year that people are becoming more aware of this.” Lots of clothing and bedding is made of synthetic microfiber. When it’s washed some of those tiny plastic threads are broken off and are spewed out in the rinse water. (Think of the lint screen on your dryer.) They go right through sewage treatment plants and into river systems where animals inadvertently consume them. …The project is expected to be completed and the results published by early 2018.
www.spaceref.com
NASA Announces Eighth Class of Candidates for Launch of CubeSat Space Missions
NASA has selected 34 small satellites from 19 states and the District of Columbia to fly as auxiliary payloads aboard missions planned to launch in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Launch opportunities are leveraged from existing launch services for government payloads as well as via dedicated CubeSat launches from the new Venture Class Launch Services contracts. The proposed CubeSats come from educational institutions, universities, non-profit organizations and NASA centers. CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. The cube-shaped satellites measure about four inches on each side, have a volume of about one quart and weigh less than three pounds each. …Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta – The CubeSat will use a miniaturized LiDAR imaging camera to demonstrate cm-level altimetry precision over tens of kilometers by deploying an inflatable that will serve as the imaging target. …University of Georgia, Athens – SpecOcean will develop and operate the first moderate resolution coastal ecosystem and ocean color CubeSat to monitor coastal wetlands status, estuarine water quality, and near-coastal ocean productivity.
www.globlatlanta.com
World War I Exhibitions to Spur Local Interest in the ‘Forgotten War’
Starting March 6 the Atlanta History Center is to have a series of World War I exhibitions.
http://www.globalatlanta.com/world-war-exhibitions-spur-local-interest-forgotten-war/
PHIL BOLTON
World War I may be “the forgotten war,” overshadowed in U.S. history by the Civil War and World War II, but it’s consequences continue to be felt this very day. The loss of 10 million who died in the conflict with twice as many injured may be only a faint memory. Yet the collapse of empires, the creation of new nation states, the launch of the United States as a world power, the rise of Communism and the Soviet Union, Hitler’s reign, World War II, the Holocaust and the continuing chaos in the Middle East can all trace their origins to World War I. In an effort to overcome this amnesia, Congress created the World War I Centennial Commission to develop and execute educational programs with the goal of commemorating America’s involvement in “the Great War.” Four former presidents are serving as honorary chairs. …Atlanta resident Monique Seefried, the wife of Ferdinand Seefried, the honorary consul general of Austria, is one of the members of the national commission created in 2013 to develop and deliver programs commemorating the war and its human sacrifice. Dr. Seefried, is the federal representative on the Georgia World War I Commission, which was created two years after the national commission by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and the General Assembly. The Georgia Commission is chaired by Billy Wells, senior vice president for leadership and global engagement at the University of North Georgia (UNG). …Thomas H. Jackson Jr., the Heritage Communications executive for the University System, has been appointed the commission’s executive director. Dr. Jackson told Global Atlanta that the Centennial of the U.S. entry into the war in April 1917 will provide numerous educational events geared at increasing the understanding of how the cataclysm 100 years ago affects the world today.
Higher Education News:
www.nytimes.com
Universities Face Pressure to Hold the Line on Title IX
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/us/college-campuses-title-ix-sexual-assault.html?_r=0
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Advocates are starting a campaign to try to persuade colleges to maintain the Obama administration’s tough policies for protecting women on campuses from sexual assault, even if the Trump administration relaxes enforcement. Many people expect the Trump administration to tilt the balance of federal guidance to make it harder to discipline the thousands of students, almost all of them men, who are accused of sexual violence against women each year. Women’s groups are leading the push, along with an organization that represents the campus administrators responsible for enforcing federal sexual assault policy — a group whose numbers have grown into the thousands in just a few years. The main goal of those involved in the effort is to convince college presidents that the Obama-era policies have positively transformed the lives of women on college campuses. …On one side of the issue are those who believe the Trump administration could usher in a new era of stigmatizing young women who speak up when they have been sexually assaulted by fellow students. On the other are critics, including many conservative activists and lawyers, who say that young men are being demonized and having their rights trampled in campus disciplinary proceedings. Mr. Sokolow’s group has drafted a document, “The ATIXA Playbook: Best Practices for the Post-Regulatory Era,” which he said would be distributed to 33,000 people at schools, colleges and universities whose job involves enforcing Title IX.
www.insidehighered.com
Don’t Blame State Disinvestment Alone
Tuition rose faster than state appropriations fell, and federal aid helped make that possible, study asserts.
By Rick Seltzer
Neal McCluskey, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, makes that argument in a new study seeking to explain increases in college and university tuition levels. It’s in some ways a middle-of-the-road finding for a libertarian think tank weighing into a debate whose different sides have long been dug in behind their favorite narratives. But it is also a distinct attempt to shift the focus at a time when some believe state funding has received too much attention in the debate over college costs and tuition levels. Many campus leaders and higher ed analysts argue that public colleges and universities have had to raise tuition to keep their budgets balanced amid a long-term trend of decreasing state funding per student. Others reject that narrative, instead arguing that tuition hikes go to pay for increasing and often unnecessary spending — say, for posh new benefits for students, administrative bloat or inflated faculty salaries. “I’ve heard what many times sounded to me like people saying inflation is explained by cuts in state funding,” McCluskey said in an interview. “And I just don’t think that’s an adequate explanation. I think that’s probably part of it, but it certainly doesn’t explain all of it.”
www.insidehighered.com
Online Education Costs More, Not Less
Study challenges the myth that digital instruction costs less — both for students and for the colleges producing the courses.
By Carl Straumsheim
The myth that online education courses cost less to produce and therefore save students money on tuition doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, a survey of distance education providers found. The survey, conducted by the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), found that most colleges charge students the same or more to study online. And when additional fees are included, more than half of distance education students pay more than do those in brick-and-mortar classrooms. The higher prices — what students pay — are connected to higher production costs, the survey found. Researchers asked respondents to think about 21 components of an online course, such as faculty development, instructional design and student assessment, and how the cost of those components compares to a similar face-to-face course. The respondents — administrators in charge of distance education at 197 colleges — said nine of the components cost more in an online course than in a face-to-face course, while 12 cost about the same. In other words, virtually every administrator surveyed said online courses are more expensive to produce.
www.insidehighered.com
Maybe College Isn’t the Great Equalizer
Study links family income growing up to postgraduation income — even after controlling for many factors. Other researchers disagree.
By Scott Jaschik
College is the great equalizer. That’s the message proudly proclaimed by many in higher education, not to mention many parents trying to urge children who may not have trust funds to prepare for college. But a new study says that the economic impact of college — in postgraduation wages — is very much tied to the income of students’ families growing up, with students from wealthier families earning more than others. Some might assume that this difference is due to enrollment patterns, in that wealthier high school students are more likely than their less well-off counterparts to enroll at highly competitive colleges whose graduates are more likely to earn more in their careers. But the study found this impact even after controlling for a number of factors, such as competitiveness of college attended.
www.wsj.com
Does It Pay to Double Major?
Pursuing more than one major in college doesn’t confer significant benefits, a recent study finds
https://www.wsj.com/articles/does-it-pay-to-double-major-1486955101
By LISA WARD
The benefits of a double major in college seem obvious. By gaining expertise in two different areas, many believe, students will have a significant edge when it comes to launching and advancing a career. That may be especially true, the thinking goes, if a student can combine a higher-paying degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) with the creative and cultural benefits that come from a liberal-arts education. But a recent paper published in the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis casts doubt on that thinking. Part of the problem, the study’s authors say, is that while double-majoring is fairly common (at about 20%, according to the 2010 National Survey of College Graduates) most double majors are in related areas that provide limited educational diversity. What’s more, even combining a liberal-arts major with a STEM or business degree typically doesn’t increase earnings or job satisfaction, they found.