University System News:
www.myajc.com
Georgia college students will now earn HOPE GPA boost in many science and math classes
http://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/georgia-college-students-will-now-earn-hope-gpa-boost-many-science-and-math-classes/vfNVGHHlTcIqx2Mc6J3uoN/
By Maureen Downey – Get Schooled
Georgia Tech students long lamented they lost their HOPE Scholarships because their science and math classes were tougher than what many peers at other colleges were taking. Their contention: There should be some allowance for demanding courses like quantum computing or organic chemistry. In 2016, the Legislature said Tech students had a valid point and passed a law that added 0.5 to a B, C or D in approved STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — classes. That is the same bump now awarded to high school students who enroll in advanced courses. The boost goes into effect for the first time this semester for students receiving HOPE or Zell Miller scholarships at public or private campuses. To find out what classes qualify for the grade enhancement, go here. The courses were selected based on their connection to high demand career fields. The list shows 107 Georgia Tech classes. Emory has 149 classes on the list, while the University of Georgia has 147.  Georgia State has 72. I am not sure how well known this new policy is as it wasn’t mentioned at the Georgia Tech and UGA orientations I attended with my twins, and most parents were surprised and delighted when I told them about it.

www.ajc.com
What’s new on Georgia’s college campuses?
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/what-new-georgia-college-campuses/UPMoMSOxXLPU35FiEdRNbN/
Eric Stirgus
More than 300,000 students return to college and university campuses this month in Georgia. The biggest changes include a new “campus carry” law that allows students with licensed weapons permits to carry firearms on portions of campuses, additional credit to students who take approved STEM courses to keep their HOPE scholarships and the repurposing of Turner Field into Georgia State’s new football stadium. Here’s a look at some changes at some of metro Atlanta’s largest campuses and the University of Georgia … Georgia Tech — The campus’ West Village, which includes five micro-restaurants, Panera Bread and Starbucks, music classrooms, and shared meeting rooms. (w/photo)

www.times-georgian.com
UWG sets new fall enrollment record
http://www.times-georgian.com/news/local/uwg-sets-new-fall-enrollment-record/article_abbff10a-7d7d-11e7-820b-47f0d053af6f.html
Erin McSwain/Times-Georgian
The University of West Georgia has started its fall semester with its eighth straight year of record enrollment, which also marks historic levels in the median grade point average and SAT scores of incoming freshmen.

www.wtoc.com.
Operation Move-In at Georgia Southern; classes start on Monday
http://www.wtoc.com/story/36117830/operation-move-in-at-georgia-southern-classes-start-on-monday
By Dal Cannady, Reporter
Across the Georgia Southern University campus at the residence halls, most of the almost-5,000 students who’ll live on campus will return this weekend as part of Operation Move-In. Friday, student volunteers staffed the parking lots to help students and families get acclimated and help with the heavy lifting. The volunteers include a host of student organizations including the Eagle football team. …GSU begins classes on Monday.

www.mdjonline.com
Kennesaw State University freshmen move into their new on-campus homes
http://www.mdjonline.com/news/kennesaw-state-university-freshmen-move-into-their-new-on-campus/article_d43e04f6-7fc5-11e7-9e93-57350e83d1da.html
Ross Williams
A favorite comforter, a beloved computer and a borrowed mini-fridge. Textbooks, hockey sticks and pictures to remind you of home. It’s the time of year when college students pack their belongings into boxes, hug mom and dad goodbye and move into a dorm for the first time. “It’s interesting, knowing that I won’t be living with my parents and I’m going to be on my own,” said Charles Featherstone as he unpacked his computer in his Kennesaw State University dorm room on the Marietta campus. “That’s an interesting feeling and thought.” Featherstone is one of KSU’s 3,500 first-year students who were scheduled to move onto campus Saturday. Soon the young man from Decatur will be studying mechatronics, a field which incorporates mechanical engineering, computer science and electrical engineering. His dad, also named Charles Featherstone, said he could not be more proud of his son. “He’s the first one,” the older Featherstone said. “I’m proud of him. It’s awesome. He’s the first one on my side of the family (to go to college).

www.tiftongazette.com
King Hall gets new life as ABAC prepares for fall semester
http://www.tiftongazette.com/news/king-hall-gets-new-life-as-abac-prepares-for-fall/article_1587ddd4-7eda-11e7-8f03-67c9a26166a1.html
A 78-year-old building took a breath of new life at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Thursday when ABAC President David Bridges opened King Hall after a year-long renovation process. “This building has a long history here at ABAC,” Bridges said. “It was at one time the library and then when I was a student here in 1978, it was the home of the agriculture division. “ABAC has a proud legacy and a very promising future. As the new home to the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, this building will play a very important role in that promising future.” Constructed in 1939, King Hall contains six classrooms and 12 offices. The $1.8 renovation focused on the interior of the building. The original bricks remain on the exterior. The building now has an elevator for the first time.

www.mdjonline.com
KSU President: Student success is our No. 1 priority
http://www.mdjonline.com/news/ksu-president-student-success-is-our-no-priority/article_2dfc6e82-7edc-11e7-867c-dfe91e9840fd.html
Staff reports
Kennesaw State University president Sam Olens welcomed faculty and staff to campus on Aug. 10 for the 2017-18 academic year and encouraged them to take advantage of “the unique opportunity we have to transform the lives of our students.” Speaking at the annual Opening of the University program at the Convocation Center on the Kennesaw campus, Olens emphasized that “student success is our No. 1 priority.” He tasked the campus community to do their part to ensure that KSU students develop the skills and adaptability needed to succeed in today’s global economy. “The fall represents a new beginning, a new adventure for everyone,” Olens said. “All of us look forward to assisting and watching our students’ intellectual growth, encouraging them to gain from their experiences at KSU, so that they may successfully spread their wings and fulfill their dreams. Our state and country are counting on your leadership and our students’ future leadership.” …KSU is also becoming a more competitive school for students to attend. Under the Competitive Admissions Model that will begin in Fall 2018, acceptance to KSU will be determined by a combination of a student’s high school grade point average with SAT or ACT score and meeting the university’s minimum requirements may not guarantee admission to KSU.

www.bizjournals.com
New 225-unit student housing project proposed by Georgia Tech
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/08/10/new-225-unitstudent-housing-project-proposed-by.html
Douglas Sams Commercial Real Estate Editor Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta developer Integral Group is proposing 225 student housing units near Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd stadium, according to planning documents filed with the city. Integral is seeking a special administrative permit from the city of Atlanta for the project on 3.5 acres at Centennial Olympic Park Drive and North Avenue. The student housing project would also rise next to Centennial Place, which Integral developed on 60 acres near Centennial Olympic Park and Georgia Tech. …Over the past year, more developers are targeting student housing projects near Georgia Tech and Georgia State University.

www.albanyherald.com
New bus routes will link Albany State campuses
Two Albany Transit Authority buses set up for Monday-Saturday service
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/new-bus-routes-will-link-albany-state-campuses/article_f6614ee6-91bc-59cd-b9bf-540603fbcbf2.html#utm_source=albanyherald.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1502539343&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
By Terry Lewis
Since the consolidation of Albany State University and Darton State College was announced, ASU President Art Dunning has spoken of the need for a transportation link between the two campuses. Friday morning his wish came true. During a ribbon-cutting ceremony, officials with the Albany Transit Authority announced final plans for two new bus routes running between the university’s East and West campuses. “I love it when a plan comes together,” Albany City Manager Sharon Subadan said during remarks at the ceremony. “This is a part of the ‘town-and-gown’ initiative we have been striving for with the city and Albany State. We want the city to be recognized as a university town, and this is a big step in that direction. “We are committed to making our service work for the students.” The new routes, together called the “Ram Rush Route,” will begin rolling Monday.

www.jacksonville.com
Interim president Meg Amstutz wants to keep wind in College of Coastal Georgia’s sails
http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2017-08-12/interim-president-meg-amstutz-wants-keep-wind-college-coastal-georgia-s
By Terry Dickson
A model wooden ship sits on display in Meg Amstutz’s office at College of Coastal Georgia where she has a view of a broad walkway with pennants of the college’s blue-and-white logo, three sails filled with wind. The model ship and the sails are connected only coincidentally, albeit perfectly. When Amstutz decided to accept the appointment as interim president of the college to replace retiring Gregory Aloia, she told her father, Dave Amstutz, the model shipbuilder. “He said, ‘I’m so excited for you. Would you like a ship for the office?’ ” she said. She accepted without hesitation, and like other things, it fits in with the design. Building has been a theme at College of Coastal Georgia since around 2008 when the state Board of Regents decided to turn the two-year community college into a state college offering four-year degrees. The first president, Valerie Hepburn came with a to-do list that took her five years and Amstutz’s office overlooks the results. …When Chancellor Steve Wrigley called to ask her to take the interim appointment, Amstutz said her first question was “What goals do you have for me?” The answer was to increase enrollment and that became her primary task, Amstutz said.

www.globalatlanta.com
Merits of Overseas Internships Increasingly Attractive to Georgia Tech Students

Merits of Overseas Internships Increasingly Attractive to Georgia Tech Students

Phil Bolton
The number of Georgia Institute of Technology students participating in overseas internship programs reached new heights in the 2016-17 academic year providing them with practical work experience while developing cross-cultural skills. Jennifer Evanuik Baird, director of Georgia Tech’s global internship program and international plan, told Global Atlanta that the global internships also allow Georgia Tech to expand its networks and reputation around the world with students interning in more than 45 countries. The university’s Office of International Education has announced that 188 students experienced the global internships during the past academic year, a 25 percent increase over the 2015-16 total of 150. Seventy-two percent or 135 of the students were undergraduates, 15 percent; 29, were students pursuing master’s degrees and 13 percent, 24, were students pursuing doctorates.

www.cadillacnews.com
Cadillac native selected as Georgia Governor’s Teaching Fellow
http://www.cadillacnews.com/news/community/education-news-round-up/article_b1ae05df-ab77-5886-8ff9-ca62b18e3b68.html
CARROLLTON, Ga. — Cadillac native Dr. Ryan Bronkema, assistant professor of counselor education and college student affairs in the University of West Georgia Education department, was recently selected as a 2017 Georgia Governor’s Teaching Fellow.

www.albanyherald.com
New UGA faculty members get hands-on lessons in agriculture
Tour includes visits to University of Georgia Tifton and Griffin campuses
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/new-uga-faculty-members-get-hands-on-lessons-in-agriculture/article_356ee8a1-70c6-5fd3-ad2f-606799b3465b.html#utm_source=albanyherald.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1502539343&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
By Clint Thompson
TIFTON — Agriculture — Georgia’s top industry — was featured prominently this week at stops on the University of Georgia Griffin and Tifton campuses during the university’s annual New Faculty Tour. The tour, which introduces new UGA faculty members to economic mainstays throughout the state during a five-day trip, visited the Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center (FoodPIC) at UGA-Griffin on Wednesday. On Thursday, the tour stopped at UGA-Tifton, where faculty visited the energy-efficient Future Farmstead home and learned about peanut breeding and dairy research. “We are very happy the New Faculty Tour made a stop at the Griffin campus this year,” said Lew Hunnicutt, assistant provost and UGA-Griffin director. “They had a great tour and a great meal, and I think they left impressed with what we offer at the Griffin campus.”

www.myajc.com
Ga. college leaders fear big impact of threatened research cuts
http://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/college-leaders-fear-big-impact-threatened-research-cuts/JwMJlXLeKRsaH9uZmFgt4N/
By Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Educators at several Georgia colleges and universities are increasingly fearful that federal funding for research, currently topping $1.2 billion a year, may be significantly cut under President Trump’s proposed budget, which they say could force widespread layoffs, disrupt some research and curtail training. The presidents of eight of the state’s most influential research institutions, most of them in metro Atlanta, wrote a letter last month to former Georgia congressman Tom Price, now the nation’s Health & Human Services Secretary, warning him of the potential impact of some cuts to the National Institutes of Health and other biomedical research awards. “The proposed cap would result in the discontinuance of significant portions of the federal research activities currently conducted at our institutions,” the letter read. “This includes the termination of promising research programs ranging from cancer to infectious disease, closure of several state-of-the-art research facilities, reduction of graduate and post-graduate training programs, and potentially large-scale layoffs.” The potential cuts come as elected officials nationwide, including Trump, talk about the need to enhance cybersecurity capabilities, more research on life-threatening infectious diseases, and combatting opioid addiction. University of Georgia president Jere Morehead said the federal money for research “not only brings about medical advances and ensures continued safety and well-being of Americans, but also promotes innovation and assures our global leadership in the world’s economy.” The eight campuses received over 1,110 grants from NIH, equaling more than $525 million during the most recent fiscal year, according to the letter.

www.metroatlanta.ceo.com
Emory and Georgia Tech Enjoy Unique, Longtime Partnership in Research and Academics
http://metroatlantaceo.com/news/2017/08/emory-and-georgia-tech-enjoy-unique-longtime-partnership-research-and-academics/
Staff Report From Metro Atlanta CEO
Georgia Tech and Emory University are connected by twisting ribbons of asphalt, five or six miles long depending on your destination. It’s a route that Bob Guldberg, executive director of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech, knows well. “When I started I was going to Emory almost every day for my in vivo studies, and to be honest, if it wasn’t for Emory, I would not be at Georgia Tech,” says Guldberg, who came to Atlanta fresh from the University of Michigan in 1996, as an up and coming leader in orthopedic musculoskeletal research, which didn’t really have a presence at Georgia Tech at the time … Guldberg came to Georgia Tech and has been a grateful beneficiary and influential proponent of the unique cross-town research partnership ever since. A year after Guldberg arrived, that partnership took a bold and historic step with the creation of a new academic unit. The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME, launched in 1997) was the result of several things converging in the ecosystems of Emory and Georgia Tech.

Higher Education News:
www.ajc.com
Grant supports students to get a head start for college and workforce
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/grant-supports-students-get-head-start-for-college-and-workforce/Dv6Nl96l7DfxyuHxwtsriJ/
Devika Rao For the AJC
Gwinnett Technical College’s Move On When Ready program got extra support to help its students finish high school with workforce ready skills and the choice to continue to pursue a post-secondary education or go directly into the workforce. Thanks to AT&T’s Aspire program, Gwinnett Tech recently received a $20,000 grant that will enhance community outreach for the college’s rapidly growing Move On When Ready program. “We will be able to reach more students and families through this grant. It allows parents the opportunity to see that college is an option for their high school student and it gives the students the opportunity to feel comfortable making the transition to college after high school,” said Karen Howell, director of Move On When Ready at Gwinnett Tech.

www.diverseeducation.com
Expert: Diversifying Cybersecurity Starts with “Targeted Recruiting”
http://diverseeducation.com/article/100254/
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
In order to diversify the growing field of cybersecurity, employers must do more “targeted recruiting” at colleges and universities that are diverse themselves. That advice comes from Debora Plunkett, a retired National Security Agency executive and adjunct cybersecurity professor at the University of Maryland University College, or UMUC. “It just defies logic that if we’re trying to increase diversity, that we would aim our recruiting efforts at a university that is not diverse,” Plunkett said.  “It doesn’t mean that you don’t go there,” Plunkett said of institutions of higher education that lack diversity. “But it means if you’re trying to get a diverse population, you make sure you go to places where there are diverse candidates.” Plunkett made her remarks Friday at a New America forum titled “Embracing Innovation and Diversity in Cybersecurity.” The forum proved a fitting coda for what ended up being a week with a whirlwind of controversy on the issue of diversity in technology.

www.insidehighered.com
Missing the Mark on Consent
Study suggests a big difference between how college men describe affirmative consent and how they apply it to their own sexual experiences.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/14/study-suggests-big-difference-between-how-college-men-describe-affirmative-consent?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=64b112b74e-DNU20170814&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-64b112b74e-197515277&mc_cid=64b112b74e&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Colleen Flaherty
MONTREAL — Many institutions have launched what they consider to be effective affirmative consent campaigns based around the idea that only “yes means yes” when it comes to sex. Some states require such a view. Findings from a new study presented here this week at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association challenge the success of such campaigns, saying that college men are still using ambiguous physical cues to secure what they think is consent before sex. “Moaning and Eye Contact: College Men’s Negotiations of Sexual Consent in Theory and in Practice” was written by Nicole Bedera, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Michigan. Bedera recruited study participants from high-enrollment introductory courses across disciplines at a large mid-Atlantic university with an affirmative consent policy and related education efforts. Focusing on heterosexual undergraduate men who described themselves as sexually active — the targets of so many proactive campus rape prevention campaigns — Bedera wanted to know how and if consent policies were being put into practice. The answer was frequently no.

www.insidehighered.com
NCAA Sexual Violence Policy Criticized as Weak
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/08/14/ncaa-sexual-violence-policy-criticized-weak?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=64b112b74e-DNU20170814&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-64b112b74e-197515277&mc_cid=64b112b74e&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Scott Jaschik
The National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted rules last week that require key administrators to complete annual training on sexual violence prevention, and to certify annually that the institution’s teams and programs are familiar with policies and processes to prevent sexual violence or to deal with incidents that take place. Further, the rules require institutions to provide information to athletes on institutional policies and procedures. A column in The Huffington Post noted that the NCAA rules are largely similar to what federal law requires of colleges, and that they don’t address issues related to athletes found to have assaulted others.

www.chronicle.com
Lawsuits From Students Accused of Sex Assault Cost Many Colleges More Than $200,000
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Lawsuits-From-Students-Accused/240905?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=287420be8cc244869c417554039a73a0&elq=37c4e6d46f444aa58da566f6082a7784&elqaid=15131&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6443
By Sarah Brown
Over the past six years, more students who believe they were falsely accused of sexual assault have sued colleges. And even though those students seldom win in the courts, the costs for colleges to fend them off are adding up. United Educators, a risk-management and insurance firm, reviewed dozens of cases from 2011 to 2015 in which colleges filed claims with the company involving accused students and eventually suffered financial losses. Most of the cases were lawsuits or “demand letters,” another form of legal action. On average, United Educators and colleges ended up paying $187,000 per case. In 40 percent of the cases, institutions were out more than $200,000. On one occasion, a legal fight cost a college $1 million. (Those figures include the expense of hiring lawyers as well as settlement payments and other costs associated with resolving a case.) Only one of the lawsuits went to trial, and the institution won a favorable verdict, but it had to pay a high price, $500,000, in the legal battle.

www.insidehighered.com
Feds Ask Court to Delay Title IX Case
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/08/14/feds-ask-court-delay-title-ix-case?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=64b112b74e-DNU20170814&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-64b112b74e-197515277&mc_cid=64b112b74e&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Andrew Kreighbaum
Attorneys for the Department of Education asked a federal district court Friday to hold off on a challenge to Obama administration Title IX guidelines for 90 days while it completes its own review of the guidance. The guidance, issued in a 2011 Dear Colleague letter, advised colleges and universities that they should do more to prevent and investigate sexual harassment and assault. Last month, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos met with a number of outside groups and students to receive input on the guidelines as well as responses to the issue more broadly. DeVos has not committed to any course of action on the guidelines but said that those meetings made it clear “there’s work to be done.” The department has said it is continuing to review comments and input from stakeholders and policy experts on potential changes to Title IX enforcement guidelines.

www.chronicle.com
Beyond a President’s Worst Fears, a Mob With Torches Arrived
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Beyond-a-President-s-Worst/240914?cid=wsinglestory_hp_1a
By Jack Stripling
Two nights before a throng of white nationalists descended upon the University of Virginia, carrying lit torches toward what would become a violent melee, Teresa A. Sullivan described her ominous misgivings to a colleague over dinner. The prospect of a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville had loomed over Ms. Sullivan, the university’s president, for weeks. The event had all the makings of a powder keg: neo-Nazis in Emancipation Park, where the city has been seeking to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, clashing with progressive-minded locals and students, who were just beginning to arrive for the fall semester. Over a meal of vegetable pasta in Carr’s Hill, the president’s residence, Ms. Sullivan told Larry J. Sabato, a friend and professor of politics, that she had a gut-level concern that the historic university, founded by Thomas Jefferson, might prove too potent a symbol for the white nationalists to resist, Mr. Sabato says. …Around 8:15 p.m. on Friday, Ms. Sullivan was walking the university grounds, making small talk with the “Lawnies,” a few dozen fourth-year students who are selected for choice rooms at the center of campus that they can move into early. She was stopped by a resident assistant, who showed her a social-media post about a demonstration of white nationalists that was slated for 9 p.m. at the Rotunda. The post was Ms. Sullivan’s first confirmation that her instincts had been correct. The president would later learn that, sometime Friday afternoon, one of the organizers of the demonstration had contacted the university about coming to campus with a group. But Ms. Sullivan says that the organizer did not convey the scale of the proposed demonstration, and as a result the information was not even shared with her.

www.chronicle.com
When White Supremacists Descend, What Can a College President Do?
http://www.chronicle.com/article/When-White-Supremacists/240913?cid=wcontentgrid_hp_1b
By Goldie Blumenstyk, Nell Gluckman, and Eric Kelderman
The University of Virginia became the latest public-college campus to be thrust into political discord and deadly violence when white supremacists paraded through the streets of Charlottesville, Va., this weekend. Carrying torches, protesters supporting a so-called Unite the Right rally gathered Friday night around the statue of Thomas Jefferson on the Charlottesville campus. The evening ended in physical clashes that continued on Saturday, which resulted in the university canceling numerous activities it had planned to respond to the protests. …The chaos in Charlottesville added a dangerous element to what was already expected to be a contentious climate when students return to college campuses this fall. While several controversies over free speech on campuses have, so far, stemmed from students opposing visits by far-right figures, the mayhem in Virginia presented a very different kind of threat. It brought to light questions about what college leaders can do when extremists descend on campuses, at a time when presidents may draw fire — as Teresa A. Sullivan, UVa’s president, did initially — for not speaking out as strongly as some people want.

www.insidehighered.com
Supremacists on Campus
Extremist white movement is turning up on college campuses through speakers and leaflets. U of Florida and Texas A&M  bracing for events in September.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/14/white-supremacy-turning-campus-speeches-and-leaflets
By Scott Jaschik
The events in Charlottesville this weekend have worried educators nationwide. But they are not typical of how white supremacists are turning up on campus. The last academic year saw more of a visible white power movement on campus than ever before, according to the Anti-Defamation League and others. Much of the activity, however, came in the form of racist posters and leaflets that appeared on campuses, most of the time anonymously and without any link to a person on campus. The last year also saw, however, a campaign by the National Policy Institute to hold events on campus — and that effort may be picking up this fall. The institution describes itself as committed to promoting “the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent.” The leader of the group, Richard Spencer, is known for “Hail Trump” rhetoric that prompts his supporters to respond with Nazi salutes.