University System News:
www.thebrunswicknews.com
Search to begin for next CCGA president
http://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/search-to-begin-for-next-ccga-president/article_8d4b8ae0-10fa-517c-a611-1145a2de75e5.html
By LAUREN MCDONALD
The University System of Georgia announced Tuesday it plans to launch a national search for the next College of Coastal Georgia president. Meg Amstutz, who has served as interim president since July 1, does not plan to seek the position permanently, according to a USG press release. “We owe a big thank you to Interim President Meg Amstutz for her support and commitment to the College of Coastal Georgia and the University System of Georgia,” said C. Thomas Hopkins, the USG board of regents chairman, in the press release. “I also thank the community for its strong support of the College and Dr. Amstutz. The support of the community is directly tied to the success and growth of the College.” A campus-based presidential search committee will be formed and announced by the end of November. The committee will consist of CCGA faculty, staff, students and representatives of the Brunswick community. Members will be appointed by Hopkins and Steve Wrigley, USG chancellor.
www.accesswdun.com
UNG Cumming campus hits 1,000 in undergrad enrollment
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/10/594943/ung-cumming-campus-hits-1000-in-undergrad-enrollment
By AccessWDUN staff
Five years after opening its doors, the University of North Georgia’s Cumming Campus has reached an enrollment milestone. “We have surpassed 1,000 undergrad students,” said Jason Pruitt, executive director of the UNG Cumming Campus. “Our total enrollment (including graduate students) is more than 1,100.” Pruitt credits the increase to offering more courses in English, math, history, psychology, and political science. “The academic offerings allow students to take more courses and progress in their degree programs without having to go to another campus,” Pruitt said. “And the ultimate goal is for students to persist and progress and graduate.”
www.onlineathens.com
Proposed UGA calendar shortens Thanksgiving break
http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2017-10-17/proposed-uga-calendar-shortens-thanksgiving-break?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=2da42d9134-eGaMorning-10_18_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-2da42d9134-86731974&mc_cid=2da42d9134&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
By Lee Shearer
The University of Georgia can go back to having a more normal fall semester starting date, but it will mean students have to give up two days of the week-long Thanksgiving break they now enjoy. It’s the only way, said UGA cellular biology professor Mark Farmer, who chairs the school’s University Council’s Educational Affairs Committee. By the end of a lengthy discussion in Monday’s committee meeting, most members of the committee seemed to agree with him; only one chose the early date when Farmer asked for a show of hands on whether the committee members leaned in favor of starting the fall 2019 semester on Aug. 19 vs. Aug. 12. One of the committee’s duties is to set UGA academic calendars, which also go to the full council and then to the UGA president for approval.
www.wgauradio.com
UGA PRESIDENT RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT
http://www.wgauradio.com/news/local/uga-president-releases-annual-report/uUaKCsnDjwweKE1VThhyJO/?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=2da42d9134-eGaMorning-10_18_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-2da42d9134-86731974&mc_cid=2da42d9134&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
By: Abby Jessen
University of Georgia President Jere Morehead has released UGA’s 2017 President’s Annual Report, which discusses the university’s progress surrounding its three major priorities of “increasing scholarship support for students, further enhancing the learning environment and solving the grand challenges of our time.” Below is President Morehead’s full report from http://president.uga.edu/ar/2017/letter-from-president.php
www.ajc.com
Cobb sheriff, lawmaker pushed to keep KSU cheerleaders off field
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt–politics/ksu-cheerleader-protest-sheriff-lawmaker-say-olens-caved/y4VLs2DlTY82rOskdXvfcJ/
Meris Lutz The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren and Rep. Earl Ehrhart boasted in a series of text messages about pressuring Kennesaw State University President Sam Olens into keeping cheerleaders off the field in response to their kneeling in protest during the national anthem. The text messages, which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained under the Open Records Act, appear to contradict the official story by Olens that the decision to change the timing of the cheerleader’s entrance was made by the athletic department and had nothing to do with the protest.
www.mdjonline.com
Texts: Sheriff Neil Warren, Rep. Earl Ehrhart pushed Sam Olens to keep cheerleaders off field
President’s investiture ceremony Thursday
http://www.mdjonline.com/news/texts-sheriff-neil-warren-rep-earl-ehrhart-pushed-sam-olens/article_642f24ea-b41a-11e7-9858-8baf3b81ab24.html
Shaddi Abusaid
A series of text messages between Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren and state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, show the two urged Kennesaw State University President Sam Olens to keep the school’s cheerleaders off the field while the national anthem is played. The texts were made public the week Olens, who took over as KSU’s president last November, is set to be formally sworn in during a ceremony held on campus Thursday at 10 a.m. KSU spokesperson Tiffany Capuano said last week the Athletics Department’s decision to keep its cheerleaders in the tunnel ahead of football games had nothing to do with five of them taking a knee during the anthem last month to protest racial inequality and police brutality. But texts sent between the sheriff and the legislator appear to show them bragging about convincing Olens to keep them off the field. …The kneeling controversy may be deflating enthusiasm for Olens’ investiture ceremony on Thursday: An email sent to KSU’s college deans from the director of university events last week urged them get more faculty members and students to attend the event.
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
In response to KSU cheerleaders, Olens shows students their fears were justified
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2017/10/17/in-response-to-ksu-cheerleaders-olens-shows-students-their-fears-were-justified/
When news broke a year ago that the Board of Regents intended to name Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens to the presidency of Kennesaw State University, faculty and students expressed concern about a politician leading an institution of higher education. Olens had also been a former two-term chairman of Cobb County’s board of commissioners. Turns out those fears were justified. Today, the AJC’s Meris Lutz reveals disturbing text exchanges between two conservative Cobb officials about the black KSU cheerleaders who chose to take a knee to highlight racism and injustice. Obtained through an Open Records request, the text messages suggest Olens caved to political pressure from the Cobb sheriff and a legislator known for using the state’s higher education system to score political points.
www.ajc.com
KSU cheerleaders “disheartened” by sheriff-lawmaker texts
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt–politics/ksu-cheerleaders-disheartened-sheriff-lawmaker-texts/akZp9Q7tFzhO82NoUWZqJK/
Meris Lutz The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Kennesaw State University cheerleaders known as the Kennesaw Five issued a group statement Wednesday in response to a report by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution documenting political pressure to keep them off the field during the anthem at football games: “We are deeply dishearten by the revelations revealed in these messages. We were exercising our 1st amendment rights in the most American way possible. We took a knee for a purpose and we continue to kneel for this cause. These text messages only leave us with more questions on how the university handled this situation. We would hope the university would defend its students from political leaders. To this day, President Olens has not met or requested a meeting with us. We are owed a meeting and to have this matter addressed publicly.”
www.nytimes.com
Lawmaker: Mascot Wrong to Rally for Kneeling Cheerleaders
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/17/us/ap-us-college-mascot-anthem.html
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KENNESAW, Ga. — The student who wears the owl mascot costume at a Georgia public university where five cheerleaders knelt during the national anthem had no business leading a cross-campus march in support of the cheerleaders, an influential lawmaker said. Kenneth Sturkey, who dresses as Scrappy the Owl at Kennesaw State University athletic events, said he donned the costume without permission for Monday’s rally on behalf of cheerleaders who knelt at a game Sept. 30 to protest racial inequality. “I figured it might help some people step outside their comfort zone knowing there’s an icon behind them,” Sturkey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . “If standing up to injustice and inequality is something that’s going to upset the athletic department, which I can totally understand regarding the suit … and that may cost me my job, then that’s perfectly fine.” Republican state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, who chairs a Georgia House subcommittee in charge of funding the state’s public universities, objected to the mascot’s appearance at the rally in the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw. He said Monday a taxpayer-funded mascot should not have been used — unless any group can solicit the mascot’s services for protests. Attending Monday’s rally backing the so-called Kennesaw Five as a student would be acceptable, “but with respect to utilizing the school’s mascot, that’s inappropriate,” Ehrhart told The Marietta Daily Journal. …No official request to participate in the rally was made and the athletic department did not provide approval for the mascot’s participation, Kennesaw State spokeswoman Tammy DeMel said in a statement Monday.
See also:
www.diverseeducation.com
Lawmaker: Kennesaw State Mascot Wrong to Rally for Kneeling Cheerleaders
http://diverseeducation.com/article/103366/?utm_campaign=DIV1710%20DAILY%20%20NEWSLETTER%20OCT18&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua
www.athensceo.com
Students Learning, Patients Improving through UGA’s Partnership with Mercy Health Center
http://athensceo.com/news/2017/10/students-learning-patients-improving-through-ugas-partnership-mercy-health-center/?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=2da42d9134-eGaMorning-10_18_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-2da42d9134-86731974&mc_cid=2da42d9134&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
Staff Report From Athens CEO
Mallory Walters, a University of Georgia senior majoring in biology with a goal of becoming a physician’s assistant, has volunteered her time for several health-related causes. One that holds a special place in her heart is Mercy Health Center, a faith-based primary care clinic that provides free health care to uninsured patients in Athens-Clarke County and the surrounding communities. “As a medical assistant, I worked hands on with the patients who let me be a part of their story,” Walters said. “Each week I heard the hardships of lack of access to health care due to socioeconomic status. While this was hard, I also felt hope and pride watching the providers in this community volunteer their time to fight this disparity.” Walters is just one of hundreds of UGA students and faculty members who have placed a priority on providing community support by volunteering at the center.
www.chronicle.com
Colleges Use Facebook Ads to Target Applicants, Parents, and Lawmakers
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Use-Facebook-Ads-to/241476?cid=wcontentlist_hp_latest
By Michael Vasquez
The ads showed up in the feeds of thousands of Facebook users, and the timing of the sponsored posts — less than two months before the University of Virginia’s application deadline — was no accident. “UVA offers one of the best values in higher education,” read one post last November, seen by both potential students and their parents. Below the words were the Cavalier colors of orange and navy blue… Elsewhere, Georgia Institute of Technology officials also acknowledged using student information from admissions applications for Facebook ads. Laura Diamond, a spokeswoman for Georgia Tech, said that was done “only during the last academic year, to evaluate the platform.”
www.11alive.com
GA Tech grad turned astronaut makes return to Earth after 173 days in space
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/ga-tech-grad-turned-astronaut-makes-return-to-earth-after-173-days-in-space/484171066
Catherine Park, WXIA
For many people, space is this mysterious place that is still very misunderstood. And as daunting as that might sound, we continue to send humans up into the great darkness that surrounds our blue planet. NASA Expedition 50 Commander Robert Shane Kimbrough recently returned to Earth after spending 173 days in space. Kimbrough was born in Killeen, Texas and grew up in Smyrna, Georgia. He attended The Lovett School in Atlanta and he earned a Master’s of Science degree from Georgia Tech. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and entered the U.S. Army Aviation School in 1989. In late 1990, he was assigned to the 24th Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, GA and was deployed in Southwest Asia and served in Operation Desert Storm.
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Ga. Tech researchers involved in development of robot teams supported by Army grant
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article179200641.html
BY LARRY GIERER
Georgia Tech researchers will take part in an alliance the goal of which to develop new methods of creating autonomous, intelligent and resilient robot teams. The project was awarded a five-year, $27 million grant by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. A story by John Toon on the Georgia Tech website, www.gatech.edu/, says the alliance is headed by the University of Pennsylvania. Toon’s story says the robot teams, consisting of multiple types of robots and sensors with varying abilities, are designed to assist humans in a wide range of missions in dynamically changing, harsh and contested environments. These include search and rescue of hostages, information gathering after terrorist attacks or natural disasters, and humanitarian missions.
www.ajc.com
Georgia Tech investigating possible food poisoning
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/georgia-tech-investigating-possible-food-poisoning/WwILc6CJY0TgTDnR7HRScO/
Eric Stirgus The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech officials said Tuesday they are investigating possible food poisoning on the campus. About 50 students have reported symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea in recent days, said Georgia Tech spokeswoman Laura Diamond. Freshman Evan Chase, 19, said he believed he got sick after eating at the North Avenue dining hall Thursday.
www.thegrio.com
‘Project Runway’ stylist Mychael Knight dead at 39
by thegrio
Mychael Knight, of Project Runway fame, died early Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia, while surrounded by friends and family, according to a family friend. He was 39 years old. The famed designer was born on April 11, 1978, in Nuremberg, Germany, though he spent his childhood in Montgomery, Alabama. He went to Georgia Southern University for his undergraduate studies and was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Apparel Design and Merchandising in 2001.
www.dailyreportonline.com
GSU Law Starts Big Data Lab as Industry Girds for Disruption
An ambitious project by GSU law professor Charlotte Alexander evolved into the Legal Analytics Lab, which she calls an incubator to “see what’s possible.”
http://www.dailyreportonline.com/id=1202800669786/GSU-Law-Starts-Big-Data-Lab-as-Industry-Girds-for-Disruption?kw=GSU%20Law%20Starts%20Big%20Data%20Lab%20as%20Industry%20Girds%20for%20Disruption&et=editorial&bu=Daily%20Report&cn=20171018&src=EMC-Email&pt=Morning%20News
With big data poised to shake up the legal industry, Georgia State University College of Law is getting into the data analytics business. GSU Law has launched a Legal Analytics Lab to apply big data to law—unearthing patterns in civil litigation, patent filings and corporate compliance disclosures to shed light on legal questions and predict future outcomes in ways that earlier generations of lawyers could not have imagined. A few other law schools have also started legal analytics labs, but the GSU Law lab’s director, Charlotte Alexander, said its focus on real-world applications makes it unique.
www.douglascountysentinel.com
New building planned for UWG Richards College of Business
http://www.douglascountysentinel.com/regional_news/new-building-planned-for-uwg-richards-college-of-business/article_662cc96e-b3d6-5a6d-9d05-88a98d59cbf0.html
Erin McSwain-Davis/For the Times-Georgian
The University of West Georgia on Tuesday celebrated the 50th anniversary of its business college, and UWG President Dr. Kyle Marrero used the occasion to announce plans to build a new Richards College of Business. The new facility will be on Maple Street where a very old dorm building now stands. It has been approved by the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents and is now in the budget process. Assuming that it is approved, the university will then begin the design process in 2018. Construction will begin the following year, with completion expected by or during 2020.
www.onlineathens.com
Opioid crisis hitting Georgia especially hard, speakers at UGA conference say
http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2017-10-17/opioid-crisis-hitting-georgia-especially-hard-speakers-uga-conference-say
By Lee Shearer
The nation’s deepening opioid epidemic is hitting Georgia harder than most states, speakers said at a conference on the University of Georgia campus Tuesday. Some of the highest opioid use is in the Rust Belt and the Southeast, said Michael Crooks of Alliant Quality, a healthcare consulting firm, during a session of the UGA College of Public Health’s annual “State of the Public’s Health” conference in the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. The drugs are prescribed mainly for pain relief, though they’re also used for such purposes as diarrhea treatment and cough suppression. Their use can lead to addiction or dependence — and in the case of overdose, death. From 2009 to 2014, Georgia’s rate of increase in the number of patient encounters related to opioids led the nation, Crooks said.
www.chronicle.com
When Colleges Use Their Own Students to Catch Drug Dealers
http://www.chronicle.com/article/When-Colleges-Use-Their-Own/241466?cid=wsinglestory_hp_1
By Suhauna Hussain
Francesca Sinacori attended an orientation for parents of newly minted University of Massachusetts at Amherst students in June 2012. Her son had just enrolled as a freshman there, and though she was nervous about him leaving home, she felt comfortable. The college had its own police department with sworn officers — her son would be safe. She remembers a session on drugs and underage drinking. The severity of sanctions for violating drug and alcohol policy, whether a reprimand or a suspension or drug education, would be decided on a case-by-case basis. But one point was clear: Parents of students under 21 would be notified…Check out the policies of dozens of public colleges in the table below. University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Southern University – link to documents
www.myajc.com
Stansbury doles out raises for Georgia Tech assistants
http://www.myajc.com/sports/college/stansbury-doles-out-raises-for-georgia-tech-assistants/WsEsrL5wc1CSepMm6kRhIK/
GEORGIA-TECH By Ken Sugiura
An open-records request revealed another reason why Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson has offered his approval and support of athletic director Todd Stansbury – he’s putting more money in his assistant coaches’ pockets. Stansbury increased the assistant coaching salary pool by 15 percent, with $50,000 raises for most of the nine-member staff. For three of Johnson’s five assistants who have been with Johnson since 2010, the one-year bump was larger than the sum of the raises they had received over their previous six one-year contracts. The new contracts for defensive coordinator Ted Roof, Craig Candeto (quarterbacks/B-backs), Andy McCollum (safeties), Lamar Owens (A-backs/special teams), Mike Pelton (defensive line), Buzz Preston (wide receivers), Mike Sewak (offensive line), Joe Speed (cornerbacks) and Ron West (offensive line) went into effect in July. “That was great,” Johnson told the AJC. “I was really appreciative for Todd to make that happen.” Given a raise and extension through the 2017 season at the end of the 2014 season, Roof received another two-year extension and pay increase. Making $750,000 annually, Roof was given a raise to $800,000 and will be under contract through the 2019 season. Increasing pay for his staff has been a priority for his Johnson.
Higher Education News:
www.diverseeducation.com
States Sue Dept. of Education Over Delay of Gainful Employment Rule
http://diverseeducation.com/article/103380/?utm_campaign=DIV1710%20DAILY%20%20NEWSLETTER%20OCT18&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia sued U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Tuesday for what they allege is the “unlawful” delay of the gainful employment rule meant to stop predatory practices by the for-profit college industry. “The Department of Education is again eliminating crucial protections for student borrowers,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, who is leading the coalition of states and D.C. in the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Students seek higher education degrees to get better, higher paying jobs,” Frosh said. “When predatory institutions fail to deliver the education and training they promise, students are saddled with burdensome debt, and their employment prospects are not improved.” The 37-page complaint asks the court to declare as unlawful the delay notices that DeVos issued earlier this year on the enforcement of gainful employment; to vacate the delay notices and order that the gainful employment rule be “enforced in its entirety.”
www.insidehighered.com
Federal Judge Blocks Third Trump Travel Ban
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/10/18/federal-judge-blocks-third-trump-travel-ban?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=4cafe19b51-DNU20171018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-4cafe19b51-197515277&mc_cid=4cafe19b51&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Elizabeth Redden
A federal judge in Hawaii issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday blocking the implementation of a new iteration of the Trump administration’s travel ban. The ban, which was scheduled to fully go into effect today, would block all would-be travelers from North Korea and Syria, in addition to prohibiting all immigrant travel and imposing various restrictions on certain types of nonimmigrant travel for nationals of Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Venezuela and Yemen.
The injunction blocks the new travel restrictions for six of the eight countries — all except for those affecting nationals of North Korea and Venezuela, which were not at issue in the suit filed by the state of Hawaii and other plaintiffs. President Trump’s previous two versions of travel bans were blocked by various federal courts before the Supreme Court permitted a modified version of the second to go into effect.
www.hechingerreport.com
The looming decline of the public research university
Cuts in research funding have left midwestern state schools—and the economies they support—struggling to survive
by JON MARCUS
Four floors above a dull cinder-block lobby in a nondescript building at Ohio State University, the doors of a slow-moving elevator open on an unexpectedly futuristic 10,000-square-foot laboratory bristling with technology. It’s a reveal reminiscent of a James Bond movie. In fact, the researchers who run this year-old, $750,000 lab at OSU’s Spine Research Institute resort often to Hollywood comparisons. Thin beams of blue light shoot from thirty-six of the same kind of infrared motion cameras used to create lifelike characters for films like Avatar. In this case, the researchers are studying the movements of a volunteer fitted with sensors that track his skeleton and muscles as he bends and lifts. Among other things, they say, their work could lead to the kind of robotic exoskeletons imagined in the movie Aliens. The complex and cutting-edge research here combines the expertise of the university’s medical and engineering faculties to study something decidedly commonplace: back pain, which affects as many as eight out of every ten Americans, accounts for more than 100 million annual lost workdays in the United States alone, and has accelerated the opioid addiction crisis.
www.insidehighered.com
Productivity: Age Is Just a Number
New study pushes back on decades of studies suggesting that scientific productivity peaks early and declines thereafter.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/10/18/new-study-pushes-back-decades-studies-suggesting-scientific-productivity-peaks-early
By Colleen Flaherty
Conventional wisdom on faculty research productivity, backed by decades of studies, says that it’s all downhill after tenure. A new paper challenges that paradigm, suggesting great variability in peak research activity among individual scientists — even if their aggregate productivity curve still feeds the posttenure “dead weight” myth. “Despite the persistent conventional narrative and expectations about productivity, individual people have incredibly diverse careers,” said Samuel Way, a postdoctoral research associate in computer science at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the paper’s lead author. “This is a cautionary tale to administrators and other people in power in the sciences as to why they shouldn’t expect everyone’s career trajectory to look the exact same way.” The majority of academics who don’t fit the mold “aren’t errors, they’re people,” he added.