University System News:
www.bizjournals.com
University of Georgia campaign raises record $227.8 million
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/07/17/university-of-georgia-campaign-raises-record-227-8.html?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=cd593cb6bd-eGaMorning-7_17_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-cd593cb6bd-86731974&mc_cid=cd593cb6bd&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
David Allison
Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle
The University of Georgia announced Monday it raised a record $227.8 million in new gifts and pledges in the first year of the public phase of the Commit to Georgia Campaign. “When we launched the public phase of the campaign last fall, we called on our alumni and friends to help us expand the impact of this great university on the world,” said President Jere W. Morehead in a statement. “Clearly, they are answering that call with extraordinary generosity and support, and it is with the deepest sense of gratitude that I say ‘thank you’ for making gifts that are changing lives.” It’s the fourth consecutive year that UGA donors have set a new record in fundraising but the first time the annual total has surpassed $200 million. The $227.8 million is 24 percent more than the then- record of $183.8 million raised last year and nearly doubles the $117.2 million raised in fiscal year 2013. The goal of the Commit to Georgia Campaign is to raise $1.2 billion by 2020 to increase scholarship support, to enhance the learning environment, and to solve the grand challenges facing society.
www.valdostadailytimes.com
State leaders visit VSU
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/state-leaders-visit-vsu/article_1b790896-14f0-55d5-aced-2745c9a92e1a.html?utm_source=Publicaster&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily_Newsletter&utm_content=State+leaders+visit+VSU
Officials from the Georgia House of Representatives Higher Education Committee, Technical College System of Georgia, Office of the Governor and University System of Georgia recently spent the day discovering the many ways Valdosta State University inspires excellence on campus, in the community, and around the world. …They toured various facilities, including the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) Center for Applied Creativity and Innovation, Student Recreation Center, Education Center, Student Union, West Hall and Health Sciences and Business Administration Building, according to a university press release. They learned about various plans for possible future growth and expansion and discovered the potential life-changing research being conducted by faculty, staff, and students.
www.chronicle.com
Great Colleges To Work For 2017
http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/greatcolleges17?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=7358f24c848040f5b5d84a2d2af5877d&elq=8b3684f2fe3a41a9914517e452f481b8&elqaid=14725&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6227
The annual Great Colleges to Work For survey was administered March 14 through April 15 and compiled by ModernThink LLC for The Chronicle. All survey-related content in this issue, including college presidents’ statements about what makes their institution a great place to work, was provided by ModernThink, which drew institutional data from the colleges and the U.S. Department of Education. For more details on the winners, including average salaries and turnover rates, get copies of the full report here. …Clayton State University, Recognition Categories: Collaborative Governance; Respect and Appreciation; Work/Life Balance
www.albanyherald.com
Albany State University students learning globally
Thirty-one ASU students are studying abroad this summer
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/albany-state-university-students-learning-globally/article_ef8ff58f-0c8c-53f8-9a4b-d28ff0308a54.html#utm_source=albanyherald.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1500120104&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
Staff Reports
Albany State University students are going global this summer through study-abroad opportunities offered by the ASU Office of Global Programs. Thirty-one ASU students are encountering international experiences in some of the world’s most vibrant countries. Throughout the semester, students and faculty members have blogged about their travel experiences. The Trinidad and Tobago study-abroad opportunity is led by Irma J. Gibson, an associate professor in the ASU Department of Social Work. The Belize study-abroad program is led by Kathaleena Edward Monds, a professor of information systems in the College of Business and co-director of the Center for Economic Education/Small and Minority Entrepreneurship. Global service learning experiences, cultural lectures by partner university professors and a variety of tours, social outings and excursions are integrated into the curriculum to ensure students’ academic success.
www.gpbnews.org
Can We Make The Athens Drinking Culture Safer?
http://gpbnews.org/post/can-we-make-athens-drinking-culture-safer
By CELESTE HEADLEE & TREVOR YOUNG
A fraternity at the University of Georgia was recently suspended for a year for misconduct during a hazing ceremony. A ban on new bars opening in Downtown Athens took effect in February. All this points to a problem with partying. How can the city and the campus sober up? We speak with David Lynn from the Athens Downtown Development Authority, UGA senior and Red & Black writer Dillon Thompson, and Beacon College Psychology Professor Nicki Nance.
www.wsbradio.com
GEORGIA TECH WARNS STUDENTS ABOUT NEW SNAPCHAT FEATURE
http://www.wsbradio.com/news/local/georgia-tech-warns-students-about-new-snapchat-feature/zdD4Rozljv017LzIllB2GN/
By: Carol Sbarge Atlanta | WSBTV
A new feature on Snapchat prompted a local university’s police department to alert students about being safe concerning their whereabouts. Georgia Tech police tweeted about Snap Map, a feature added to the app last month. Georgia Tech intern Mariam Chappelka told Channel 2’s Carol Sbarge she might try it for five minutes for the novelty, but would be concerned about keeping the feature. It shows a Snapchat user’s followers exactly where they are when they use the app. Intern Dorris Scott said it would make her uncomfortable to use that, even though she likes using Snapchat overall. Georgia Tech professor Amy Bruckman said users need to consider the repercussions of sharing. Bruckman is the interim chair of interactive computing at Georgia Tech. She said app companies can often track your whereabouts, but making it so obvious to friends is something each Snapchat user needs to evaluate.
www.albanyherald.com
Albany Area Education Notebook: July 16, 2017
Area school systems set openings for new school year
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/albany-area-education-notebook-july/article_e855bcb8-a53c-5860-b9d2-68bb1a3442c9.html#utm_source=albanyherald.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1500206479&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
By Terry Lewis
Carvajal chairs rural talent panel
Members of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Rural Prosperity Council recently gathered at the Center for Rural Prosperity in Tifton to discuss the unique challenges and priorities of rural communities across the Peach State. They focused on four key areas — rural incentives, defense communities, talent and education, and homegrown entrepreneurship. Richard Carvajal, president of Valdosta State University, serves as chairman of the Rural Prosperity Council’s Talent and Leadership Development Subcommittee. He has been charged with helping the Georgia Chamber of Commerce develop an action plan designed to attract and retain the best and brightest citizens with the talent and leadership potential necessary to help the state’s rural communities stay economically competitive on a national — and even international — level.
www.cbs46.com
Georgia college students now exercising right to carry guns on campus
http://www.cbs46.com/story/35891154/georgia-college-students-now-exercising-right-to-carry-guns-on-campus#ixzz4n5iq7Uoz
By Kim Passoth
When Georgia college students return to campus for the new school year, many will bring something new with them: a gun. As of July 1, it is legal for college students with a concealed carry license to have a gun at school. With the law in place for two weeks during the summer school session, CBS46 wanted to know how is it working out? Are people aware of the new law? We went to Georgia Tech to find out. “I felt weird not carrying before, so I feel not weird now,” Georgia Tech fifth year computer science student Ja’Quan Taylor told CBS46. Taylor carries a gun everywhere he is legally allowed, which now includes the Georgia Tech campus.
www.college.usatoday.com
What Georgia’s new concealed campus carry law means for students and faculty
http://college.usatoday.com/2017/07/12/what-georgias-new-concealed-campus-carry-law-means-for-students-and-faculty/
By Ramsey Touchberry, University of Florida
At public universities in Georgia, if you’re 21 or older and have a firearm license, you can now legally carry a concealed firearm to some classes and on certain parts of campus. House Bill 280, also known as a “campus carry” law, made Georgia the 10th U.S. state to enact such a law when it went into effect July 1. It applies to all public universities in the state, which includes University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University and Georgia Institute of Technology, among others. Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin have similar campus carry laws at their respective public universities. Advocates of campus carry laws often argue it would reduce the number of mass shootings on campus. Since 1966, eight of the country’s deadliest mass shootings on college campuses have claimed the lives of 84 people. But numerous studies have found that campus carry laws actually increase the likelihood of violence. Allowing guns on college campuses is unlikely to reduce mass shootings, a study released in October by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found. Instead, these laws are more likely to lead to shootings, homicides and suicides.
www.savannahnow.com
Gray’s Reef awash with life off Savannah’s coast
Expedition aboard NOAA ship studies invertebrates, predator-prey relationships
http://savannahnow.com/news/2017-07-16/gray-s-reef-awash-life-savannah-s-coast
By Dash Coleman
To the naked eye, there’s not much to Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The 22-square-mile swatch of federally protected ocean looks, on the surface, like the rest of the deep blue sea off Georgia’s coast — distinguishable only by a large, bright yellow buoy adorned with solar panels. But underneath the surface, vibrancy pops. The sanctuary is as warm with life, with loggerhead sea turtles, black sea bass, nurse sharks and even the occasional North Atlantic right whale calling it home. The live bottom reef itself sits about 60 feet under water, and its rocky seafloor makes a comfy habitat for invertebrates like sea squirts, sponges and anemones. While anchoring is prohibited in the sanctuary, rod and reel fishing and diving are allowed. It’s also, naturally, something of a haunt for local scientists, especially those working out of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association-run sanctuary’s headquarters on Skidaway Island and the adjoined Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, an arm of the University of Georgia. NOAA and UGA scientists make regular trips to the sanctuary, but it’s about 40 miles off Savannah’s coast. As Kimberly Roberson, the sanctuary’s research coordinator, puts it, that’s a two-hour commute to the “office.” One of Skidaway Institute’s boats, the Research Vessel Savannah, has onboard labs and can make longer trips, but the big expedition comes in the summer with a little help from the NOAA Corps.
Higher Education News:
www.washingtonpost.com
Not who you think: The truth about today’s college students
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/07/14/not-who-you-think-the-truth-about-todays-college-students/?mc_cid=cd593cb6bd&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56&utm_campaign=cd593cb6bd-eGaMorning-7_17_17&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_term=.85d6b93c64f8
By Jamie Merisotis
Jamie Merisotis is president and chief executive of Lumina Foundation, an education nonprofit.
An observation about school made by a Georgia lawyer 60 years ago still makes sense in very different times. “Fathers send their sons to college either because they went to college — or because they didn’t,” said Lanham L. Henderson. He’d get an argument about that today, judging from the recent plunge in our national regard for higher education. In case you haven’t seen it, a Pew Research Center report shows that just over half the public, 55 percent, say that colleges and universities have a positive effect on the country. But there’s a sharp division based on worldviews. The survey shows 58 percent of Republicans and people who lean Republican say colleges have a negative effect. Among Democrats it’s just the opposite: 72 percent see a positive effect. You and I may have our theories about this. The divisions in our country take up countless hours of cable TV bandwidth and Internet argument. I’m not wading into that swamp, but I’ve got some good news when it comes to the future of American young people and our country’s prospects overall. … If you have any doubt, consider this stunning fact: According to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, 95 percent of new jobs created since the Great Recession ended in late 2010 went to people with an education beyond high school — a degree, certificate, or another credential. More than 70 percent of those new jobs went to people with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Secondly, not only are the economic prospects of educated people better than ever, but there’s a troubling shortage of well-trained and educated workers in America that could leave millions of jobs unfilled.
www.chronicle.com
Colleges Are to Blame for the Contempt in Which They’re Held
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Are-to-Blame-for-the/240617?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=8abefb650e214b0eb913f4a838943b14&elq=94efe6b9ec54469aab4d805ca294532a&elqaid=14734&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6231
By Peter Wood
The Chronicle’s story about the new Pew Research Center survey on American attitudes toward higher education displays a photo of Middlebury College students turning their backs on Charles Murray at the March 2 protest that culminated in assaults on Murray and Professor Allison Stanger. The photo deftly captures the essence of the Pew report. The survey of 2,504 adults found a dramatic shift in the percentage of Republicans who see colleges and universities having “a positive effect on the way things are going in the country.” The finding has been widely reported: In just two years, Republicans have flipped from a majority (54 percent) saying higher education has a positive effect on the country, to a majority (58 percent) saying the opposite. I am heartened by the news. It has taken a lot to break through the complacency of these voters. In my role as head of the National Association of Scholars, I’ve given speeches at countless grassroots events, written or published hundreds of articles, and spent hours on talk radio in an effort to persuade ordinary Americans that something is terribly amiss in higher education. The Pew survey suggests that at least some people have begun to listen.
www.huffingtonpost.com
Partisan Divide About College Reflects Our Dislike Of Each Other
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/its-the-snowflakes-stupid-partisan-divide-about_us_596ac97ce4b09e26b6d76894
Lara Schwartz, Contributor
As I’ve written, attacks on academia are bread and butter conservative discourse—even though Republicans at the highest levels are the products of elite institutions. This is a problem—not because professors are snowflakes or conservative families are choosing to deny their kids access to higher education. In fact, the overwhelming majority of parents expect their kids to go to college. It’s a problem because attacking the liberal academic straw man harms students themselves—many of whom are facing the economic uncertainty that pundits insist propelled Trump to the white house. Nobody who follows politics is surprised that a Pew Research study showed stark partisan divides in the way Republicans and Democrats view institutions, with 58% of republicans saying colleges and universities have a negative effect on the direction of our country. As a professor with a background in politics, I know academia is a right-wing media whipping post.