University System News:
www.fox5atlanta.com
Audit raises questions about Atlanta Metro’s finances
http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/242771722-story
By: Portia Bruner
ATLANTA – Warren Green the Fourth plans to earn a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Atlanta Metropolitan State College in December. The 25-year-old Decatur student said the tuition and smaller class sizes made all the difference on his path to academic success. Students can earn an associate’s degree for $8,000 a year or a bachelor’s degree for $16,000. Fewer than 3,000 students are enrolled in the Southwest Atlanta institution on Metropolitan Boulevard. “I love Atlanta Metro. Atlanta metro gave me a second chance at a higher education. Since there aren’t a lot of students, everything is more hands on with your professors, so you get more one on one with your professors,” Green told FOX 5’s Portia Bruner. Atlanta Metro President Gary McGaha is proud of the school’s 42-year record of offering more affordable college degrees to Atlanta residents. But he’s no proud of audit recently released by the State Department of Audits and Accounting. In it, auditors concluded college officials should be doing a much better job accounting for millions of dollars — including funds for the HOPE Scholarship, Food Services Department, building additions and the new Student Center. State auditors say there’s even the potential for “a misappropriation of assets and a misrepresentation of the institution’s financial position.” Dr. McGaha said it’s been a tough year—fiscally speaking. He said six out of the nine members of the Fiscal Affairs Department left over the last 15 months to accept higher paying jobs. “There were absolutely no dollars missing and no funds taken at all. But we did have some people who literally made some mistakes. Now that’s not an excuse because we should have gotten this corrected. But we are now and we will in the future,” said McGaha who’s been president for 10 years. McGaha said he’s changed leadership and replaced the Vice President and Associate Vice President of Fiscal Affairs last week. He said the school is following several long-term recommendations auditors made at the end of February.
www.insightintodiversity.com
Kennesaw State Develops Successful Students Via Exposure to Diverse Cultures
by Alexandra Vollman
As both a result of and a reaction to a growing multicultural community on campus, Kennesaw State University (KSU) has focused its efforts on ensuring safe spaces and cross-cultural education for its diverse students in order to enhance their success. “Diversity is part of KSU simply because of our rapidly changing demographics,” Chief Diversity Officer Erik Malewski, PhD, says of the 53-year-old public university. “We are not even who we were five years ago. We’re asking ourselves what this increase in diversity means and how to use it as an asset.” A member of the University System of Georgia, KSU is the third-largest university in the state and one of the 50 largest public institutions in the country. With approximately 35,000 students — undergraduate and graduate — the university views diversity and inclusion as a collective effort.
www.ajc.com
African American remains reinterred as UGA studies who they were
Christopher Quinn
As a ceremony was held to reinter the remains from 105 graves unexpectedly found on grounds of the University of Georgia, the school announced an ongoing effort to figure out who the people had been. DNA analysis of some of the remains showed nearly all were African American, possibly slaves from the Athens area. The removal of the remains and plan to rebury them at Oconee Hill Cemetary Monday caused some controversy, and African American leaders questioned their removal. …Following the discovery, the university consulted with the state archaeologist’s office, then commissioned a team of faculty and students to learn about the individuals who had been buried. …A second stage of university-sponsored research will be coordinated by UGA’s Vice President for Research David Lee. The continuing research will will build upon what they know now to understand better how the people lived and what their connections were to the Athens community, including any ties to slavery, a university spokesman announced.
www.saportareport.com
The National Endowment for the Humanities is at work in Georgia
In this column, members of Georgia Humanities and their colleagues take turns discussing Georgia’s history and culture, and other topics that matter. Through different voices, we hear different stories.
By Jamil Zainaldin
Last Thursday the White House released a budget that proposed the elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). You may not be immediately familiar with its work, which grounds itself in disciplines that explore how people understand and express the human condition, such as history, literature, art, music, language, philosophy, and ethics, but you’ve felt its impact. …The NEH works on a smaller scale, too. No less important than the documentaries and treasures that have captivated a nation are the local projects supported by NEH funds. Here in Georgia, grants from the NEH have benefitted the University of Georgia, Albany State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Wesleyan College, Spelman College, Emory University, and Mercer University, among other educational institutions. Thanks to the NEH, Morehouse College was able to expose more students to documents in the Martin Luther King Jr. Collection, and Georgia State University investigators are able to explore the impact of moral injury on members of the armed forces. …Georgia Humanities shares the stories that move us and make us, an undertaking aided immeasurably by the New Georgia Encyclopedia (NGE), created in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, and the Office of the Governor. The NGE is the first state encyclopedia designed exclusively for online publication. When it went live in 2004, the NGE placed Georgia at the forefront of providing dynamic, authoritative learning resources for students and teachers.
www.athensceo.com
Cellular Biology Professor Rick Tarleton Named Regents’ Professor at UGA
Staff Report From Athens CEO
Rick Tarleton, Distinguished Research Professor and University of Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in Biological Sciences in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has been named Regents’ Professor, effective July 1. Regents’ Professorships are bestowed by the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents on faculty members whose scholarship or creative activity is recognized nationally and internationally as innovative and pace-setting. Tarleton, who is a professor in the department of cellular biology and founder of UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, has made research advances that have the potential to transform the lives of the 10 million to 20 million people suffering from Chagas disease, a potentially deadly parasitic infection that primarily affects people in Central and South America. “Through the founding of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases in 1998, Dr. Tarleton has helped make the University of Georgia a leader in promoting global health,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. “His research into Chagas disease has implications for millions of people and inspires hope in the fight against one of the world’s most neglected parasitic diseases.”
www.gwinnetdailypost.com
Georgia Gwinnett College tennis takes both A.I.I. awards for seventh straight week
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The Association of Independent Institutions announced Monday that Georgia Gwinnett College’s Jordan Cox (men’s) and Valeria Podda (women’s) have been named the A.I.I.’s Men’s and Women’s Tennis Players of the Week for the duration of March 13-19. Monday’s selections are the seventh week in a row that Georgia Gwinnett’s tennis student-athletes have swept Player of the Week honors.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
What Did Black Colleges Win From Meetings With Trump?
Institutional aid was preserved in White House budget. But several programs facing significant cuts serve disproportionate numbers of minority students — at HBCUs and elsewhere.
By Andrew Kreighbaum
The Trump budget proposal released last week promised to maintain institutional support for historically black colleges. But it does so while dealing a blow to grant-based and work-study programs on which black colleges and their students depend.
And that’s not the vision many leaders of black colleges had when they met (and posed for photos with) President Trump — and heard him talk about how much of a priority black colleges would be in his administration. More than 55,000 students at those institutions would be affected by the elimination of the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, a federal program serving those with very low income levels, which was zeroed out in the Trump budget blueprint. And 26,000 with work-study jobs would be affected by slashing that program, said United Negro College Fund President and CEO Michael Lomax in a letter last week to Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director. …It’s clear the White House is concerned about the way the budget is perceived by HBCUs — in part because of early missteps by the administration, said Clare McCann, a senior policy analyst with New America’s education policy program. “The fact that they explicitly protected that funding for the institutions at the expense of student aid dollars is, I think, a significant indication of where their priorities are,” said McCann, who worked at the Department of Education during the Obama administration. But she said cuts like eliminating SEOG would have a serious impact on access for students attending HBCUs. “At the end of the day, these cuts are going to affect students at their schools and are going to have a significant impact on affordability at HBCUs, where many students have unmet need and rely on these dollars,” she said.
www.insidehighered.com
Presidents Call on Trump to Protect Dreamers
By Elizabeth Redden
More than 560 college and university presidents have signed a letter urging President Trump to keep in place protections for “Dreamers,” a term for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children — many of whom are now college students. Under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, created by President Obama, more than 700,000 Dreamers have been able to obtain work permits and temporary protection from the risk of deportation. During the campaign, Trump called for an end to DACA, but he has since softened his tone, saying he would like to “work something out” for Dreamers, without offering specifics.