University System News:
www.bizjournals.com
Georgia State University, Delta make gains on Atlanta’s 25 largest employers list
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/07/21/georgia-state-university-went-on-an-atlanta-hiring.html
Eric Mandel Digital Producer Atlanta Business Chronicle
More Georgia employees work for Delta Air Lines than any other public or private entity in the state. But it was the Panthers at Georgia State University that went on the biggest hiring spree inside Atlanta in 2016. Georgia State University, based in downtown Atlanta, boosted its full-time employment numbers to 5,430 – a 38.31 percent between 2015 and 2016, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s list of Atlanta’s 25 largest employers. w/list of Atlanta’s 25 Largest Employers … #13 Georgia Institute of Technology
www.athensceo.com
Summer Leadership Program at UGA Gives High School Students in Foster Care College Experience
http://athensceo.com/news/2017/07/summer-leadership-program-uga-gives-high-school-students-foster-care-college-experience/?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=aa3764b303-eGaMorning-7_21_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-aa3764b303-86731974&mc_cid=aa3764b303&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
Staff Report From Athens CEO
A group of high school students currently in foster care across Georgia grew their leadership skills and received a college campus experience through a UGA summer program. The seventh annual CollegeBound summer leadership program, hosted by the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, brought 20 youth to the UGA campus from June 18-22. During the program, Fanning Institute faculty members worked with the youth to teach them about leadership concepts, team building, and financial literacy. Along with developing their leadership abilities, the students learned more about preparing for college from counselors and advisors, stayed in the university’s residence halls, and visited a host of campus facilities.
www.wjcl.com
Ga. Southern receives grant for nursing program
http://www.wjcl.com/article/ga-southern-receives-grant-for-nursing-program/10336594
Dave Williams
Finding health care providers to treat uninsured patients, especially in poor and rural areas is becoming increasingly difficult. But now thanks to a $1.3 million grant for Georgia Southern University’s nursing program, that will get a little easier. This grant will allow the nurse practitioners at Georgia Southern University to do their clinicals at five different venues throughout the state, all of which treat the under-served, something that’s badly needed in the state of Georgia. …This is a two year grant for the University and at the end of that time, they’ll reapply and hope to receive it again. 22 nursing graduate students will be awarded the grant money, starting this fall.
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
Gwinnett Medical Center donates tourniquet kits to county’s largest public facilities
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/gwinnett-medical-center-donates-tourinquet-kits-to-county-s-largest/article_3c99924f-869a-5330-877c-97cb45ef375f.html
From Staff Reports
Gwinnett Medical Center recently donated tourniquet kits to Georgia Gwinnett College, Infinite Energy Center and Coolray Field. The donations are part of GMC’s participation in the Stop the Bleed campaign, an initiative launched by the White House in 2015 that is meant to cultivate grassroots efforts that “encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped and empowered to help in bleeding emergencies before professional help arrives,” according to a GMC press release. …GMC gave kits to GGC, Infinite Energy and Coolray because they’re the county’s most prominent public facilities, visited by thousands of people each year, according to the release. “With nearly 12,000 students and more than 1,000 faculty and staff, our institution is one of the fastest growing colleges in the Southeast,” said Buck Buchanan, director of emergency management at Georgia Gwinnett College. “That growth places increasing importance on our ability to address emergency situations, and the tourniquet kits from GMC fill one vital area of need.”
www.bizjournals.com
Disruptors target real estate
Potential disruptors see opportunity in Atlanta’s commercial real estate industry. But cultural differences pose an obstacle.
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/07/21/clash-of-cultures.html?ana=RSS
Urvaksh Karkaria Staff Writer Atlanta Business Chronicle
As its construction crane-dotted skyline suggests, pro-development Atlanta is a real estate town. Meanwhile, the region’s burgeoning software industry has triggered a wave of startup crucibles, such as Atlanta Tech Village and Switchyards Downtown Club. So, why the paucity of real estate tech companies in metro Atlanta? … But, while Atlanta might not have the density of customers, the region has competitive advantages, especially for startups. “In tech, it’s all about talent,” Ashley said. “That makes a strong case for Atlanta.” Georgia Tech and other Atlanta schools are churning out droves of technically skilled workers. Companies in Atlanta also don’t suffer the expensive and time-consuming employee churn tech companies in the Valley and Northeast must endure. Atlanta’s lower cost of doing business, meanwhile, is attractive to bootstrapping early stage companies.
www.ajc.com
Dallas-based company putting data center in Midtown at Georgia Tech
http://www.ajc.com/business/economy/dallas-based-company-putting-data-center-midtown-georgia-tech/FyCgQx4Yl51I9N6DL0UDKJ/
Michael E. Kanell
A Dallas-based company will partner with Georgia Tech to build a 94,000-square-foot data center near the Tech campus in Midtown Atlanta. Construction of the project will begin late this year and take about 12 months to complete, according to Kevin Ooley, president and chief financial officer of DataBank. The center will be part of a larger, mixed-use project already under construction in Technology Square by Portman Holdings. Plans call for the data center to eventually have scores of renters, said Ooley, who is also an alumnus of Georgia Tech. “Georgia Tech will be our anchor tenant.”
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Delta opens Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility at Georgia Tech
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article162664953.html
By Larry Gierer
Delta Air Lines officially opened its new Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility at Georgia Tech Thursday. In a story by Lance Wallace on the Georgia Tech website, school president G.P. “Bud” Peterson says that in this facility, “our students, faculty, staff and researchers will be able to develop products, and it provides Delta an opportunity to collaborate with its partners.” According to the story, the facility was made possible by a $3 million gift from the Delta Air Lines Foundation. It is designed to be an integrated physical and cyber manufacturing technology testbed as well as a demonstration and teaching facility, a place where early-stage concepts can go from idea to reality. This opening comes three months after Delta opened a Global Innovation Center at Georgia Tech.
www.bizjournals.com
First look at Portman’s big new Tech Square project (SLIDESHOW)
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/07/21/first-look-at-portman-s-big-new-tech-square.html
Amy Wenk Staff Writer Atlanta Business Chronicle
Portman Holdings is planning another big project near Midtown’s Technology Square. The Atlanta developer presented the plans July 18 to Midtown’s Development Review Committee … The project between 3rd and 4th streets would sit next to Portman Holdings’ other big development Coda, a 21-story mixed-use building rising at Spring and 4th streets. Coda will be anchored by a 300,000-square-foot lease with Georgia Tech. “There’s a tremendous amount of interest that’s being generated in the area, as evidenced by Georgia Tech and Coda. NCR is coming there,” said Hunter Richardson, executive vice president of development for Portman Holdings. “We are finding that a lot of the other companies are looking to get into the area that may or may not fit into Coda.” Those are technology companies trying to be near Georgia Tech and its pool of talent, he said. “At the moment, we are seeing some fairly large companies.”
Higher Education News:
www.wabe.org
Officials Want More Of Ga. Lottery’s Record Profits To Fund Education
http://news.wabe.org/post/officials-want-more-ga-lottery-s-record-profits-fund-education
By Tasnim Shamma
The Georgia Lottery hit the jackpot with record profits this fiscal year, so it’s transferring a record $1.1 billion to state education programs. The state lottery was set up in 1993 to provide “as nearly as practical” of 35 percent of its proceeds for HOPE scholarships and pre-K programs. Though it’s the largest transfer in the lottery’s history, a state audit found it’s been falling short of the goal and could be doing more. During a press conference in January, Republican State Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert announced he would work to increase the amount the lottery provides towards education.
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Is college about producing well-rounded citizens or graduates with job skills?
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2017/07/20/is-college-about-producing-well-rounded-citizens-or-graduates-with-job-skills/
Alma Washington is another one of the talented college interns working at the AJC this summer. She is a rising senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she studies interactive multimedia journalism and creative writing. She is interning in the audience department at the AJC. In this piece, Washington looks at general education or gen ed classes, courses required of students regardless of major so they’ll emerge well-rounded. Schools impose “distribution requirements” to ensure their students sample an array of courses to satisfy the gen ed mandate … Despite those noble goals, many students regard gen ed as something to get out of the way as soon as possible. There is a debate underway about whether students should be bound by someone else’s checklist of what they ought to know to succeed in life. Today, Washington adds her voice to the discussion.
www.hechingerreport.com
New study shows more degrees earned at colleges and universities that serve minorities
New study shows more degrees earned at colleges and universities that serve minorities
by Meredith Kolodner
The official federal graduation rates for colleges and universities that serve large numbers of black, Latino and Asian students significantly underestimate how many of their students are earning degrees, according to a new report. “Pulling Back the Curtain,” released Wednesday by the American Council on Education and the Center for Policy Research and Strategy, shows graduation statistics that include more students than those issued annually by the federal government. The authors argue that their report represents a more complete picture of how minority-serving institutions, or MSIs, are performing. “We believe the [federal] graduation rate data captures only a portion of the overall completion story occurring at MSIs,” said Jonathan Turk, senior policy research analyst for the American Council on Education.
www.nytimes.com
Betsy DeVos Is Right: Sexual Assault Policy Is Broken
By CATHY YOUNG
Leading Democrats in Congress, activists and many survivors of sexual assault are up in arms about possible plans by the Department of Education to overhaul federal policies on campus sexual assault instituted by the Obama administration. They say those changes will weaken protections for survivors, that they will embolden misogynist fringe groups and that they will turn back the clock to a time when rape was ignored. But whatever one may think of the Trump administration, this is one area in which its initiatives may herald positive change. Federal policies on campus sexual assault desperately need to be revised … Clearly, the current system needs to change. Allowing schools to use a higher standard of proof in disciplinary proceedings would be a good first step. Other possible solutions include better coordination with law enforcement — expulsion from school is a shockingly inadequate punishment for rape — as well as counseling and mediation in cases where a student feels aggrieved but the incident does not rise to the level of sexual assault. And any efforts to combat the widespread culture of binge-drinking should be applauded.
www.insidehighered.com
Education Spending in the Crosshairs
Many cuts proposed by Trump have been avoided in House appropriations bill, but GOP budget resolution could lead to major changes to student aid.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/07/21/gop-budget-would-mean-billions-cuts-higher-ed
By Andrew Kreighbaum
Student aid advocates didn’t find much to like in a House education appropriations bill released last week — lawmakers removed billions from the Pell Grant surplus while taking no significant steps to improve college access. But educators could at least find consolation in the fact that the committee didn’t follow through on the drastic cuts to many aid programs proposed in the White House budget in May. Advocacy groups found no such consolation in the House budget resolution released this week. The document calls for a rewrite of the tax code and for hundreds of billions in cuts to federal programs. More significant for advocates is reconciliation language included in the resolution that calls for $203 billion in mandatory spending cuts over the next 10 years — $20 billion of that coming from programs overseen by the House education committee.
www.diverseeducation.com
Senators Durbin, Graham Try to Jump-start Dream Act
http://diverseeducation.com/article/99291/
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
WASHINGTON — Two U.S. Senators called on President Donald J. Trump and their fellow lawmakers Thursday to support their bipartisan effort to win passage of the Dream Act. The Senators introduced the bill anew Thursday after 16 years of stymied attempts to pass the legislation that would grant legal status to those brought to the United States illegally as children. “We don’t believe that young people should be held responsible for the errors or illegal actions of their parents,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), who first introduced the Dream Act in 2001, said Thursday during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol. Durbin was joined by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who said President Trump could easily unite the Republican Party and opponents of illegal immigration to support the Dream Act.
www.insidehighered.com
Questions Raised on Foreign Student Proposal
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/07/21/questions-raised-foreign-student-proposal
By Elizabeth Redden
Twelve higher education associations this week registered “serious concern” about a proposal under consideration at the Department of Homeland Security that would require international students to reapply annually for permission to stay in the U.S. The DHS deliberations were reported by The Washington Post, which noted that the proposal was preliminary and would require regulatory changes and possibly agreement by the State Department by in order to become policy. “The proposed changes under DHS consideration are problematic and do not consider that students and exchange visitors often enroll in U.S. institutions to complete multiyear programs,” the 12 higher education groups wrote in a July 17 letter to DHS Secretary John Kelly.
www.insidehighered.com
Proposed Federal Policy Would Cripple University Research
A proposal by the federal Office of Management and Budget would leave higher education research institutions in every state in an impossible situation, write the chief research officers of 12 Florida colleges and universities.
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2017/07/21/proposal-indirect-costs-would-put-research-universities-impossible-situation-essay
By 12 Chief Research Officers
Over the past 20 years, technologies based on university research have launched entire new industries, cured fatal diseases and even put new foods on your grocery store shelves. Since 1996, these technologies have contributed an estimated $1.3 trillion and 4.2 million jobs to the American economy. In 2015, Florida’s state universities spun out 48 start-ups and achieved a multitude of scientific breakthroughs in health, engineering, agriculture and basic sciences. The partnership between America’s research universities, industry and the federal government is the envy of the world. But a proposal by the federal Office of Management and Budget to severely cut the reimbursement government agencies make to universities for shared research costs threatens to destroy it.