University System News:
www.news.wabe.org
Georgia’s Job Market Looks Strong For New College Grads
http://news.wabe.org/post/georgias-job-market-looks-strong-new-college-grads?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=2bfd5f0d84-eGaMorning-5_2_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-2bfd5f0d84-86731974&mc_cid=2bfd5f0d84&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
By JOHN LORINC
Students graduating from college this month may have a good chance of finding employment within Georgia. “The unemployment rate is basically back to where it was before the Great Recession. And we’re not staring into another recession for another year or two,” said Dr. Jeff Humphreys, an economics professor at the University of Georgia. Something else giving the state a leg up: officials are aggressively fighting to boost Georgia’s overall economy.

www.13wmaz.com
Macon grandfather graduates from college
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/macon-grandfather-graduates-from-college/435499992
Karli Barnett, WMAZ
It’s almost graduation time here in Central Georgia.  College students will don their caps and gowns to grace the stage for that coveted diploma. One Fort Valley State University senior who is preparing for this major milestone is just a little more senior than his classmates. While most retirees want to spend their golden years slowing down, Matthew Brown says he is just getting started. …The Air Force veteran turned music instructor says he wanted to take his skills beyond raw talent, so he came to Fort Valley State University four years ago. The Macon 70-year-old, however, is not a professor. He’s a student. In fact, he’s an honor student. …He wanted to get his degree to show his grandchildren how important it is to pursue higher education, and he figured the only way to do that was to lead by example. …The University System of Georgia covers tuition past the age of 62, as long as the person is a Georgia resident and attends one of the 29 USG institutions. …He’s already enrolled at Georgia College and State University for his Masters. Brown graduates on May 6.

www.mdjonline.com
Kennesaw State University’s African Studies program granted one more year to increase enrollment
http://www.mdjonline.com/news/kennesaw-state-university-s-african-studies-program-granted-one-more/article_ceec9fea-2ed4-11e7-8074-8bd14c7faac1.html
Mary Kate McGowan
Kennesaw State University has given its African and African Diaspora Studies program one year to recruit more students to enroll in the program or it might face elimination at the university. The African Diaspora refers to the relocation of African people throughout the world including through the slave trade. The program’s faculty members agreed they would work closely with the provost’s office next school year to recruit more students to the program, according to a statement from KSU Provost Ken Harmon’s office. If more students do not enroll in the program, the university could terminate the major next spring.

www.wbtv.com
GSW student uses theatre to mentor special needs child
http://www.wbtv.com/story/35299420/gsw-student-uses-theatre-to-mentor-special-needs-child
By Re-Essa Buckels, Reporter
One Georgia Southwestern State University theatre major is using his talent on and off the stage. For the past three years, GSW senior Justin Neal has spent his time mentoring children with autism. Through the Son-Rise Program, Neal has worked with one 12-year-old autistic boy, Sean. Neal said his theatre experience has helped him open up more and be more patient. And because of it, his experience has been nothing short of amazing. …Neal graduates from GSW on Thursday with a degree in theatre and minor in voice. He plans to continue to his work with autistic children after graduation.

www.ajc.com
Leadership Atlanta names class of 2018 participants
http://www.ajc.com/business/leadership-atlanta-names-class-2018-participants/P53v0KzJUDkiugEtZUyP8O/
Staff report
Eighty-six metro Atlanta leaders from a wide range of organizations have been selected to participate in Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2018 Program. The program aims to “move Atlanta forward by delving deeply into the city’s issues,” according to a press release. “We are thrilled to welcome one of our largest, most diverse classes ever,” President and CEO Pat Upshaw-Monteith said. “We are proud to continue Leadership Atlanta’s tradition of bringing together the region’s most influential, engaged, and creative leaders dedicated to working together for the greater good.” Here are the 2018 participants and their companies or organizations: Nisha Botchwey, Georgia Institute of Technology; John Fuchko, University System of Georgia

www.ajc.com
Zipcar now offered at this Atlanta college
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/zipcar-now-offered-this-atlanta-college/Z4OR44b3dNKN58E9RcJCWL/
Becca J. G. Godwin  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Zipcar is now available at Atlanta Metropolitan State College. The short-term rental “car sharing” service recently announced its partnership with the south Atlanta college. One car, a Ford Focus Hatchback named “Jucean,” is available for use 24 hours a day. The car can be reserved for hours or multiple days on the website or mobile app. It will have a designated parking spot in the student center’s red lot, and is available for students, faculty and staff ages 18 and older. …Zipcar is available on more than 600 colleges and universities across North America, including metro Atlanta campuses such as Georgia Gwinnett College.

www.11alive.com
Marvel hires more locals for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’
http://www.11alive.com/news/marvel-makes-more-locals-for-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-2/435503884
Jennifer Leslie, WXIA
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” is the third Marvel release that was shot primarily at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayetteville. It opens in theaters in the U.S. on Friday. “We’re bringing in less and less people for every show, so we’re hiring more and more locals each time we bring another movie here,” said David Grant, Marvel’s Vice President of Physical Production, during a premiere of “Guardians” for local cast and crew at The Fox Theatre on Sunday.. “The state of Georgia has created an amazing film program that is luring all this top-notch talent. it’s an economic benefit for both sides.” …The Georgia Film Academy also has a presence at Pinewood and a partnership with Disney and Marvel. “This year, over 120 Georgians will train on the Marvel lot here in Georgia,” said Jeffrey Stepakoff, Georgia Film Academy Executive Director. “We’re just beginning this partnership. Perhaps next year, when we see another Marvel screening, you’ll see a lot of Georgia Film Academy students in the credits.”

www.politics.blog.ajc.com
Deal urges more police patrols as he weighs ‘campus carry’ bill
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/05/01/deal-calls-for-more-police-patrols-around-universities-as-he-weighs-campus-carry-bill/
Greg Bluestein
Gov. Nathan Deal urged civilian police departments to tighten security around college campuses as he weighs whether to sign a sweeping gun rights expansion that would legalize more firearms on university property. Deal has signaled he’s likely to sign the controversial proposal after lawmakers acceded to his demands for more exceptions to the measure. The Legislature’s refusal to add those exemptions last year to another “campus carry” proposal last year helped spur the governor’s veto of the measure. But on Monday he urged local police departments to ramp up police patrols around college campuses, saying he’s “not satisfied” they have taken proper security measures to protect students, faculty and staff.

www.news.wabe.org
Gov. Deal ‘Not Satisfied’ With Security Around College Campuses
http://news.wabe.org/post/gov-deal-not-satisfied-security-around-college-campuses
By ELLY YU
As Gov. Nathan Deal considers whether to sign a bill that would legalize guns in some areas on public college campuses, he said Monday he isn’t “satisfied” at local law enforcement efforts to help protect students around campuses. “I view the issue as not just one of on the campus, as much as it is off the campus,” Deal said.   He said he’s concerned about students who are going to and from campus, like to parking lots, apartments and other areas. “If a criminal is really going to pick a victim, they’re likely to pick someone who they know is not carrying a weapon for purposes of protection,” Deal said. “If someone is going to a college campus, they know under the current law, they can’t have a weapon on them, so therefore, they are – for that purpose – defenseless.” Deal said he called on the university system last year to improve security on campuses, and said he thought the system has made “significant efforts.” He said he called on local law enforcement to do the same thing around campuses.  “I am not satisfied that they have done appropriately what they should do in light of this,” Deal said. “It’s one thing to simply rail against students having the right to defend themselves, but those students have a right to expect that civilian law enforcement would give them the protection that they deserve.”

www.live5news.com
Deal still mulling “Campus Carry” 2.0
http://www.live5news.com/story/35300771/deal-still-mulling-campus-carry-20
By Jonathan Andrews, Sr. Digital Content Producer
As Governor Nathan Deal mulls whether he’ll sign the Campus Carry Bill, allowing licensed gun owners to carry weapons on Georgia’s College campuses, students who would be affected by it are of mixed opinions. Last year, Deal vetoed the similar legislation citing an issue he took with the allowance of guns in on-campus daycares. With a provision added to the bill preventing that, the bill was sent back to the governor during the 2017 legislative session. He’s still mulling over the pros and cons. Deal said common sense should dictate the practice. “Common sense would say, there should be extraordinary additional support from civilian law enforcement to protect these students,” Deal said. He said he asked for improved safety from civilian police and hasn’t seen it. Deal said, “They could show that they’ve tailored their hours and the number of people who are available around and surrounding, including going to the parking lots and other areas.”  Kenny Kenchen is a student at Georgia State University and says  he feels safe in Atlanta — he strongly opposes the idea of allowing firearms on campus.

www.thetrace.org
Campus Carry Has Georgia’s Pro-Gun Governor in the Hot Seat Again
Proponents of arming college students bent legislative rules to keep this year’s bill alive. Republican Nathan Deal now has seven days to decide whether he’ll repeat his 2016 veto, or give gun rights advocates a win.
https://www.thetrace.org/2017/05/georgia-campus-carry-nathan-deal-veto/
BY REBECCA BURNS AND NATE HARRIS
In the waning hours of Georgia’s 2017 legislative session, those inclined to gamble were betting that House Bill 280, the fifth attempt in five years at allowing concealed weapons on the campuses of state colleges and universities, would not survive. The legislation had passed from the House to the Senate and been kicked back to the House again. On Sine Die — or the final day for legislation to work through the General Assembly to the governor’s desk — HB 280 appeared to be flat-lining. Frankensteined at each turn to address objections raised a year earlier by Governor Nathan Deal’s emphatic veto of 2016’s campus carry bill, HB 859, the new legislation grew cluttered with restrictions, notably against carrying guns in on-campus childcare centers and in facilities that serve high schoolers taking college courses. All the while, the legislation remained highly unpopular with the majority of Georgians, especially those who study or work at its colleges and universities. …But on Monday, the governor also urged police departments to offer “extraordinary additional support” to campus law enforcement to protect students, faculty, and staff. If last year is any indication, he’ll take until the last minute to make his decision. Deal’s deadline, it’s worth noting, falls after final exams at most of Georgia’s public colleges.  The class of 2017 likely will have marched in graduation exercises before the governor makes a decision that affects their alma mater.

Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
A ‘Repudiation’ of Trump Budget
In restoring year-round Pell Grants and boosting research and other programs targeted for major cuts in White House’s 2018 blueprint, 2017 budget deal suggests Congress’s disinclination to embrace Trump approach.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/02/omnibus-budget-deal-maintains-programs-hit-drastic-cuts-trump-budget?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=50cc6fd192-DNU20170502&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-50cc6fd192-197515277&mc_cid=50cc6fd192&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Andrew Kreighbaum
The deal reached by Congress this weekend on an omnibus budget for the current 2017 fiscal year included key victories for universities and higher ed advocates. It also looked like at least a preliminary rejection of the draconian budget blueprint offered by the Trump administration for the next federal fiscal year. The spending agreement, which funds the government through September, restores year-round Pell Grant funding, a longtime priority sought by student aid groups since its elimination as a cost-saving measure in 2011. The deal also funds the National Institutes of Health at $2 billion more than 2016 levels. And it provides modest increases to college readiness programs TRIO and GEAR UP, which were reduced significantly in the proposed White House 2018 budget plan. Where higher ed groups didn’t gain important, if modest, wins like year-round Pell — a policy that has received bipartisan backing — the budget agreement mostly maintained the status quo. “This is a congressional rebuff of the administration’s funding request,” said Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. “And it’s an acknowledgment that realistically you can’t slash budgets midyear.”

www.diverseeducation.com
Top Colleges Urged to Boost Percentage of Pell Grant Students
http://diverseeducation.com/article/95915/?utm_campaign=DIV1705%20DAILY%20NEWSLETTER%20MAY2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
In order to give low-income students a better shot at graduation and to bring about more socioeconomic diversity on campus, the nation’s most selective colleges should make sure at least 20 percent of their students are Pell Grant recipients, a new paper being released today from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce argues. Billed as “The 20 Percent Solution,” the paper states that selective colleges and universities can increase the percentage of their Pell Grant students to 20 percent — roughly half the rate of the 39 percent of students overall who receive Pell Grants — and that it won’t hurt their graduation rates or their bottom lines. “Just because most Pell Grant recipients are low-income does not mean they would not succeed in college,” the paper states, refuting what it cites as a common refrain among selective institutions. …The Georgetown analysis found that there are 346 colleges and universities that fall short of the 20 percent Pell enrollment threshold, and that more than half of the Pell Grant recipient shortfall is concentrated among the nation’s top 500 most selective institutions, even though they only enroll about 25 percent of all undergraduates. …Dr. Anthony Carnevale, lead author of the paper and director of the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, said that, while colleges and universities face many different constraints as they make decisions about admissions and finance that could affect their reputation, colleges should “still be thinking more about equity and stretching a little more to accept a greater cross section of students.”

www.insidehighered.com
Selective Colleges Reject Qualified Pell Recipients
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/05/02/selective-colleges-reject-qualified-pell-recipients?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=50cc6fd192-DNU20170502&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-50cc6fd192-197515277&mc_cid=50cc6fd192&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Paul Fain
Roughly 86,000 Pell Grant recipients score at or above the median on standardized tests for students at selective colleges but do not attend those institutions, according to a new analysis from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. Instead, a majority of Pell recipients attend open-access colleges with relatively low graduation rates, the report found.
“Highly qualified Pell Grant students are being turned away from the opportunity for an elite college education, which is more and more open only to the wealthy,” Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown Center and lead author of the report, said in a written statement.

www.insidehighered.com
Suicide and Title IX
Two lawsuits — one involving accused student’s suicide and another about an attempt — have added fire to the continued debate over how colleges handle complaints of sexual assault.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/02/title-ix-cases-resulted-suicide-suicide-attempt-two-colleges-prompt-fresh-debate?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=50cc6fd192-DNU20170502&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-50cc6fd192-197515277&mc_cid=50cc6fd192&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
In recent years, critics of the Obama administration’s approach to sexual assault reporting have charged that colleges are denying the rights of the accused. Conservative websites, primarily, in the last few weeks have focused two pending lawsuits against universities. The suits say that after allegedly bungled investigations into sexual assault accusations under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a University of Texas at Arlington student killed himself and a Cornell University student attempted to do so. These two cases, among others, have been held up as examples of a flawed system that some say should require colleges to rely on a higher standard of evidence in investigating and punishing students for rape. Advocates for sexual assault prevention in interviews expressed satisfaction with the current federal Title IX guidelines, and instead called for institutions that fumble with their procedures to be better versed and trained in the expectations, but said the federal guidance shouldn’t be scrapped.

www.chronicle.com
Science Advocates See Trump Backlash in Budget Boost
Shock over the size of the president’s proposed cuts for the NIH apparently energized scientists and lawmakers
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Science-Advocates-See-Trump/239967?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=89ea5ccffda048449b13628340b19a04&elq=73fee9d9fccd475fa573df8f7b0b286c&elqaid=13735&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5718
By Paul Basken
If there was any doubt that a Republican-led Congress might give a strong boost to federal science spending, the Trump administration probably sealed the deal. With its call in March for a mammoth $6-billion cut in the annual budget of the National Institutes of Health, the administration appears to have done more than anything else to energize the science community and supportive lawmakers, advocates said. That spark culminated Monday with congressional leaders announcing their agreement on a $1-trillion federal budget package covering the rest of the 2017 fiscal year — extending to September 30 — that provides increases for several key science agencies, including a $2-billion boost at NIH.

www.insidehighered.com
Northwestern J-School Drops Accreditation
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/05/02/northwestern-j-school-drops-accreditation?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=50cc6fd192-DNU20170502&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-50cc6fd192-197515277&mc_cid=50cc6fd192&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Scott Jaschik
Northwestern University’s journalism school has dropped its specialized accreditation, The Chicago Tribune reported. The school — generally considered among the country’s top journalism programs — was up for renewal by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications and opted not to go through the process. Northwestern, as a university, maintains institutional accreditation, so students are still eligible for federal student aid. Bradley Hamm, dean of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, told the Tribune, “Our goal is always to be the best in the world, and this process doesn’t get us there.

www.insidehighered.com
Trump Administration Backs Termination of ACICS
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/05/02/trump-administration-backs-termination-acics?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=50cc6fd192-DNU20170502&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-50cc6fd192-197515277&mc_cid=50cc6fd192&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Paul Fain
The Trump administration has backed its predecessor’s decision to terminate the recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, a national accreditor that oversees 245 colleges, most of them for-profits. The Education Department finalized its decision to nix the accreditor shortly before Trump’s inauguration, citing concerns about lax oversight of the collapsed Corinthian Colleges, ITT Technical Institute and other colleges. …Most of the 245 institutions overseen by ACICS have begun attempting to find a new accreditor, with the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges saying in January that it expected to receive 210 applications from ACICS institutions by the end of that month.