University System News:
www.georgiatrend.com
Higher Goals for Higher Education
A Q&A with University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley, who is focused on keeping quality up and costs down.
http://www.georgiatrend.com/September-2017/Higher-Goals-for-Higher-Education/
By Susan Percy
Steve Wrigley, chancellor of the University System of Georgia, is a familiar presence in higher education – he served as interim chancellor and executive vice chancellor of administration before the Board of Regents tapped him for the top job, effective Jan. 1, 2017. He knows his way around the state Capitol as well, having been a lobbyist for the University of Georgia and, before that, chief of staff to former Gov. Zell Miller. He is a graduate of Georgia State University and has a doctorate from Northwestern University. The system he runs has 28 public institutions, including four major research universities, nearly 322,000 students, more than 45,000 faculty and staff, an annual budget of $8.84 billion and a mandate to provide top-quality education. Georgia Trend Editor-At-Large Susan Percy talked to Wrigley at the University System offices early this summer, just days before the campus carry law (allowing guns on public campuses, with some restrictions) took effect. They talked about the law’s implementation, consolidation, college costs and economic development. Following are edited highlights of the interview.
www.bizjournals.com
Georgia college graduation program showing progress
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/09/01/georgia-college-graduation-program-showing.html
Dave Williams Staff Writer Atlanta Business Chronicle
In 2011, the University System of Georgia launched an initiative aimed at ensuring more students leave school prepared for the high-skilled jobs the modern workforce requires. By almost any measure, Complete College Georgia is getting results. Consider the following: …“It takes a long time to move numbers,” said Tom Sugar, president of Complete College America, the Indiana-based nonprofit parent of Compete College Georgia sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “But there are indicators that give us clues this program is working.” When Gov. Nathan Deal unveiled Complete College Georgia in August 2011, it was with the admonition that by 2020, 60 percent of jobs in Georgia would require some form of postsecondary education. At the time, 42 percent of Georgia’s workforce met that qualification, a figure that has risen to 47 percent today. Steve Wrigley, the university system’s chancellor, said the chief mission of Complete College Georgia is to keep moving that number higher by removing obstacles students face in earning a job certification, an associate’s degree or an undergraduate degree.
www.valdostadailytimes.com
VSU welcomes chancellor, state leaders
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/vsu-welcomes-chancellor-state-leaders/article_76ce1120-1005-57f6-b28f-624068b203a4.html
Valdosta State University recently welcomed state officials to campus. Dr. Steve Wrigley, chancellor of the University System of Georgia, recently shared an update on happenings in higher education across the state with Sen. Ellis Black of Valdosta, R-8th District; Rep. Jay Powell of Camilla, R-171st District; Rep. John Corbett of Lake Park, R-174th District; and Dr. Richard A. Carvajal, VSU president. The informal meeting, which was held at VSU, was also an opportunity for Wrigley and the state leaders to talk to Carvajal and learn more about ongoing and upcoming Blazer Nation projects, programs, and initiatives
www.leadership.saportareport.com
Career service directors on metro Atlanta graduates and the 2017 workforce
https://leadership.saportareport.com/metrobusiness/2017/08/28/career-service-directors-metro-atlanta-graduates-2017-workforce/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
britton
By Patrick Adcock
With recent graduates entering the workforce and students getting ready for the fall semester, the Metro Atlanta Chamber sat down with career service representatives from three of Georgia’s leading universities to discuss what kind of employment environment these young graduates are moving in to, as well as what on-going services are available to students and graduates alike. Bridgette McDonald serves as career service director with Clayton State University; Paul G. Fowler, Ph.D., is executive director of the Emory Career Center at Emory University; and Patricia Bazrod is employer relations director with the Center for Career Discovery and Development at the Georgia Tech. From your point of view, what are the defining characteristics of graduates from the past few years? What skills are they bringing to the table? Paul G. Fowler –
www.ajc.com
Atlanta teen youngest to attend University of West Georgia at 13
http://www.ajc.com/news/world/atlanta-teen-youngest-attend-university-west-georgia/M49ZsnXub8hjbXOBYsPfxM/
Najja Parker The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At first glance, the Biology 1010 class at the University of West Georgia looks like a typical lecture room. Books are spread out across desks, a professor is teaching a new lesson, and students are jotting down notes on their laptops. But on second glance, you may notice an undergrad who seems significantly younger than the others. That’s Kimora Hudson. She’s 13 years old and the youngest student at West Georgia this fall. It may be shocking to imagine a young teen roaming the campus, but for the Douglasville-native, she’s just “doing what comes natural.”
www.daltondailycitizen.com
State Rep Houston: Georgia Tech Tifton campus a possibility
http://www.daltondailycitizen.com/news/ga_fl_news/state-rep-houston-georgia-tech-tifton-campus-a-possibility/article_061d1aa7-169b-5758-91a5-eaffc81d3649.html
By Eve Guevara
TIFTON — Georgia Tech might be opening a campus in Tifton, according to State Representative Penny Houston. Houston was speaking at the Legislative Appreciation Breakfast put on by the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce on August 24 at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Regional Office. Houston said that legislators recently received a letter about Georgia Tech possibly opening a Tifton campus as a way to increase the number of students from rural parts of the state. She said that someone pointed out “there are more people at Georgia Tech from South Korea than from South Georgia. “And that just really hit home,” she said. State Senator Greg Kirk, Houston, State Representative Clay Pirkle and State Representative Sam Watson attended the breakfast, as did local elected officials, business leaders, educators and members of the public. …During his time to speak, Pirkle said that Georgia Tech has started a new initiative to allow every valedictorian and salutatorian in the state to be automatically accepted. Houston, who is a University of Georgia alumnus, teased him by saying that UGA has been doing that for a long time, which led to laughs and applause from the crowd.
www.bizjournals.com
Schools offer more STEM programs to meet workforce demand
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/08/30/schools-offer-more-stem-programs-to-meet-workforce.html
Karen Cohen Contributing Writer Atlanta Business Chronicle
STEM programs offered at metro Atlanta schools give students a leg up on careers in high-paying fields expected to have strong demand through 2027. A Forsyth Central High School graduate began working in a lab her freshman year of college, published academic articles, took part in field studies and is now applying to vet school. According to Economic Modeling Specialist International, labor market advisors to higher education, business, and community development leaders, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs in Georgia will grow 13 percent between 2017 and 2027, while all other jobs will grow by 8 percent… Woodward Academy, the largest independent school in the continental United States, is also embracing a STEM-focused curriculum. One of its innovative STEM programs is the Independent Scientific Research course in its Upper School. Students identify a problem in an area of interest and partner with university and professional researchers doing similar work. Students have been paired with experts at Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Emory University and the Shepherd Center, among others.
www.thegeorgeanne.com
Georgia Southern works to lower food waste amounts
http://www.thegeorgeanne.com/news/article_eefcd59f-d847-5ddc-bec3-62d3af4ade8c.html
By George Andersen The George-Anne Staff
The Center for Sustainability has approved a $26,470 grant proposal to evaluate the amount of food waste that Georgia Southern University dining halls produce as well as come up with intervention strategies to help lower food waste amounts. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2014, 38 million tons of food was wasted in the US, 22 million pounds of which came from colleges. The grant proposed by Evans Afriyie-Gyawu, associate professor in the department of environmental health sciences, will fund project plans that will continue through the spring semester of 2018, with many of the planning phases including food waste data collection and administration of surveys will happening in fall 2017.
www.georgiatrend.com
Organizations: Mad Housers
http://www.georgiatrend.com/September-2017/Organizations-Mad-Housers/
By Candice Dyer
The Mad Housers provide basic emergency structures to give homeless individuals safety, security and privacy. “You don’t have to be a skilled carpenter or construction worker to build one of our shelters,” says Tracy Woodard, the Atlanta nonprofit’s client outreach officer, noting that blueprints are available free of charge online. The plywood huts typically take just one day to build, and they can be disassembled in a couple of hours. Each has a small stove for heat and cooking, a pipe chimney and a lock on the door. The group, which operates on donations and gets most of its referrals by word of mouth, started in the Georgia Tech School of Architecture in the 1980s. Woodard and her husband, Nick Hess, took over in 1999, and they since have built hundreds of the shelters, averaging around 15 per year, generally at sites where homeless people are camping already.
www.myajc.com
Houston flood has personal impact for Josh Pastner’s family
http://www.myajc.com/sports/college/houston-flood-has-personal-impact-for-josh-pastner-family/60ZHihKnBvdA6VwO85jO9K/
By Ken Sugiura
The flooding in Houston claimed the home of the parents of Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner. Hal and Marla Pastner’s ground-floor apartment in the Kingwood community of Houston was under several feet of water because of the heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey. In a turn of fortune, Pastner’s parents were kept out of harm’s way because they have been in Atlanta visiting their son’s family during the storm. Unable to return, their stay has been extended by about a week… Josh Pastner has watched the news reports with particular attachment. He grew up in a house in the Kingwood community, where some of the most catastrophic flooding has occurred. It is not far from where his parents now live. Hal Pastner said that Kingwood Drive, the street where Josh grew up, has been traversed by rescuers in kayaks and boats. “It’s a crazy deal,” Josh Pastner said. “I know all these people, they’re like, they can’t believe it. People are calling and asking for help, like, send a boat.”
www.savannahnow.com
Savannah comes together for Hurricane Harvey victims
http://savannahnow.com/news/2017-08-30/savannah-comes-together-hurricane-harvey-victims
By Will Peebles
Georgia Southern athletics
Georgia Southern University and the GS Athletics Department will be collecting donations at upcoming home sporting events to help with the relief efforts. GS Athletics will be asking patrons to join this effort during football, men’s soccer and women’s soccer home games until Oct. 4 by bringing items to those events and donating them to the cause. The items collected will be shipped off on Oct. 5, the day after the Eagles’ home football game against Arkansas State. “Our hearts are with those affected by Hurricane Harvey,” said Tom Kleinlein, Athletic Director at Georgia Southern. “This is a time for us all to come together to help out those whose lives have been turned upside down. My hope is that Eagle Nation will contribute and we all can impact lives that have been affected by this devastation.” Items being collected: Underwear (men, women, children); diapers and pull-ups; toilet paper and paper towels; wipes for babies and adults; toiletries packaged; toothbrushes and toothpaste; canned foods (pop tops preferred); and bottled water (cases preferred).
www.times-herald.com
St. Smyrna gathering supplies for Texans in need
http://times-herald.com/news/2017/08/st-smyrna-gathering-supplies-for-texans-in-need
By The Newnan Times-Herald
St. Smyrna Baptist Church in Newnan is coordinating with a church in Houston, Texas to help victims of Hurricane Harvey. Tamarkus T. Cook, pastor of St. Smyrna, said his church will send a tractor-trailer load of supplies to the historic St. John Baptist Church in downtown Houston. Starting today from 11 a.m-8 p.m., donations can be dropped at St. Smyrna, at 68 Heery Road. Items may also be dropped Friday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. and tentatively on Sunday. “Various fraternities and sororities, churches and individuals have helped,” said Cook, who is the 2017 Coweta County Citizen of the Year. He said the University of West Georgia is also aiding with the drive.
www.savannahnow.com
Armstrong athletics announces final hall of fame class
http://savannahnow.com/local-colleges/news/sports/2017-08-31/armstrong-athletics-announces-final-hall-fame-class
By Savannah Morning News
Armstrong State University has announced its final hall of fame class in institutional history. The Armstrong State Athletic Hall of Fame committee considered nearly a hundred nominations from the beginning of the Pirate athletic program to the final season of competition in 2016-17 and has selected 40 inductees and five service citation award winners to represent the final class to be inducted. The final induction ceremony will take place Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Armstrong Center. …With the final class included, the Armstrong State University Athletic Hall of Fame will feature 122 inductees, including 21 service citation award recipients. The inaugural class was inducted in 1995, and a class was inducted each year through 2004, and from 2011 through the two induction classes in 2017.
www.myajc.com
Student housing, retail, beer garden on tap near former Turner Field
http://www.myajc.com/news/local-govt–politics/student-housing-retail-beer-garden-tap-near-former-turner-field/8of3YINMGo5YEgrXO0OZXL/
By J. Scott Trubey – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The development partners of Georgia State University on Thursday unveiled what they see as the new gateway to downtown, with new design concepts and a name for the planned $300 million mix of residences, retail, and offices around the former Turner Field. The project, called Summerhill after the historic neighborhood that surrounds the stadium to the north and east, will start with the reinvention of boarded up storefronts along Georgia Avenue into a mix of shops, restaurants and a brewery/beer garden. The development team, led by Atlanta-based Carter, plans to start renovation in November of nine aging brick buildings it controls there as well as construct new buildings for a mix of food, services and retail. The first phase of the project is also expected to include a new 700-bed, $70 million student housing building just north of Georgia State Stadium. The student housing project will break ground in February, said David Nelson, senior vice president at Carter.
www.ajc.com
College football fans voted on top mascot, and guess who’s No. 1
http://www.ajc.com/sports/college/college-football-fans-voted-top-mascot-and-guess-who/QJaXHXi2tePXnjAuZekMWN/
USA TODAY’s weekly fan index polls college football fans’ on the things that matter most in sports: who’s No. 1? In the first week of the 2017 season the subject du jour is the mascots. This wasn’t really a contest for No. 1 as it was a race of also-rans. Georgia’s English Bulldog, Uga, has long been a college football favorite. (Remember the Sports Illustrated cover?) USA TODAY says of Uga: The best mascot in college football was born in 1955. His name was Hood’s Ole Dan but became known as Uga I. The white English bulldog was the first of a long line of canines that have served as the beloved four-legged embodiment of Georgia sports. Uga I, which like his descendants was owned by famed attorney Frank “Sonny” Seiler, made his first appearance as the school’s mascot in 1956. Since then Uga’s kin have had a home along Sanford Stadium’s famous hedges.
Higher Education News:
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Fault for broken college dreams & soaring debt falls on families, schools and state
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2017/08/31/fault-for-broken-college-dreams-soaring-debt-falls-on-families-schools-and-state/
Jessica D. Johnson is founder of the Scholarship Academy, a nonprofit organization that helps low-income/first-generation families create college funding plans and increase their eligibility for private scholarship funds. She serves on the GEAR UP Georgia (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program) leadership team and the Atlanta Youth Commission. In this column, Johnson discusses a three-part series, Debt Without Degree, produced by the Hechinger Report in collaboration with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The recent series examined college costs, student debt and HOPE Scholarships in Georgia. You can read the first story on the untapped HOPE Scholarship surplus here. You can read the second story here about the impact of college costs and debt on students and the state. You can read the third story here about college affordability in Georgia.
By Jessica D. Johnson
For Georgia’s college students, this week is the traditional add/drop period, or, as I like to refer to it, “Raise enough money to keep your classes from being purged” week.
www.insidehighered.com
How Higher Ed Can Restore Public Trust
A year of national service before, during or after college will better prepare our students to complete their degrees, secure meaningful employment and become lifelong engaged citizens, write E. Gordon Gee, Eduardo Padrón and Anthony P. Monaco.
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2017/09/01/importance-national-service-during-or-after-college-essay
By Anthony P. Monaco, E. Gordon Gee and Eduardo Padrón
The next generation of young Americans is in need of a change. They face unprecedented pressure to follow a defined path to success. They’re often stuck in silos, surrounded by peers who match their political ideologies, economic statuses, religions, ethnicities and races. All the while, many have grown increasingly unsure that higher education institutions have a positive impact on the country. And for those people who do view college positively, the cost of earning a college degree is often far out of reach. As college and university presidents, it is our responsibility to ensure that students and their families view higher education as a realistic and affordable option for all students as they prepare for their futures.