University System News:
www.ajc.com
Lawrenceville’s college corridor to make city ‘college town’
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/lawrenceville-college-corridor-make-city-college-town/2nBhTdiiMBoJ72dVppJSDL/
Karen Huppertz For the AJC
Lawrenceville has kicked-off work for the college corridor project, selecting Georgia Development Partners to oversee the initial construction of a 2.2-mile linear park that will connect Georgia Gwinnett College with the Downtown District. The scope of work includes construction of roadways and streetscapes in the immediate downtown and train depot areas. Plans for the entire Corridor project were developed by Jacobs Engineering a little less than 5-years ago. The total cost for this project is estimated to be around $30 million and has been funded through a bond issuance approved and completed by city council in 2015. “Georgia Gwinnett College produces more than $300-million in local economic impact for the Gwinnett community and sits inside Lawrenceville’s borders,” said Mayor Judy Jordan Johnson. “This linear park will connect one of our strongest economic engines and workforce development institutions with a vibrant and booming downtown and county core. We are pleased to make this tangible connection a reality and realize the vision for being Gwinnett’s first and definitely unique ‘college town’.”
www.albanyherald.com
Sanford Bishop announces $232,265 grant for Ft. Valley State
Grant will provide aid to underrepresented students at FVSU
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/sanford-bishop-announces-grant-for-ft-valley-state/article_85ca8bda-4501-5a1f-b1a8-9ab715a81b52.html#utm_source=albanyherald.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1507118423&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
Staff Reports
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, announced Tuesday that Fort Valley State University has been selected for a $232,265 grant award from the U.S. Department of Education’s Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. The McNair Achievement Program grant, which is anticipated to be for a period of five years, will provide aid to underrepresented students at FVSU to prepare for further graduate education through involvement in research and other scholarly activities. “This award will support Fort Valley State University’s work in cultivating the minds of students, regardless of their background and life circumstances,” Bishop said. “It is vital that academically talented students are recognized and given the right tools to further their educational experience.”
www.wsbtv.com
Local terrorism expert: Las Vegas shooting ‘extremely detailed, planned out’
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local-terrorism-expert-discusses-mass-shooting-in-las-vegas/618859630
by: Audrey Washington
A local homeland security and terrorism expert recently spoke about the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Channel 2’s Audrey Washington spoke with the expert at Clayton State University. The expert said that in cases like this, authorities will trace the bread crumbs and search for any type of manifesto or clues the shooter left behind. Dr. Rodgers Bates, professor of sociology and expert of lone terrorism at Clayton State, has studied and written articles on terrorism. He said that so far, the mass shooting in Las Vegas appears to have been extremely detailed and planned out.
www.redandblack.com
UGA plays major role in cell manufacturing research
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/uga-plays-major-role-in-cell-manufacturing-research/article_f30efad0-a71f-11e7-8d64-67cc9d3b1934.html?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=a8cae9b1aa-eGaMorning-10_4_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-a8cae9b1aa-86731974&mc_cid=a8cae9b1aa&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
Kelly Mayes | Contributor
Hidden away on the fourth floor of the University of Georgia’s Edgar L. Rhodes Center for Animal and Dairy Science, researchers in the Regenerative Bioscience Center are making strides in the field of cell biology. UGA recently became a major partner in a cell-manufacturing research consortium. With a grant of $20 million from the National Science Foundation, The Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies, RBC researchers, engineers and others will work to enhance development of cell therapies for chronic diseases, such as heart disease or cancer. “Partnerships of this nature — that span different universities and sectors — are critical to advancing human health around the world,” said UGA President Jere Morehead in the UGA press release. UGA is one of three major partners, including the University of Wisconsin and the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. University of Pennsylvania, Emory University, the Gladstone Institutes and Michigan Technological University are affiliates of the consortium.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Ongoing Barriers to College Aid
Two new papers find application rates for federal student aid continue to lag for low-income students, and serious barriers remain for those most in need of help paying for college.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/10/04/new-papers-find-persistent-barriers-aid-low-income-students-despite-federal-policy
By Andrew Kreighbaum
Two tweaks to the federal student aid application process — an earlier start date and use of family income data from the previous year — appear to have boosted completion rates of applications for federal student aid. A years-long decline in filings of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid was reversed. Every state saw its application numbers go up. And applications by high school seniors were up 9 percent over the previous year as of June 30, traditionally considered the end of the academic year.
www.educationdive.com
Higher ed leaders are 10% more likely to use social media than their corportate counterparts
http://www.educationdive.com/news/higher-ed-leaders-are-10-more-likely-to-use-social-media-than-their-corpor/506325/
AUTHOR Pat Donachie
Many higher ed institutions across the globe are boosting their social budgets to keep up with a new generation of students who rely primarily on social media for their news and information about a variety of topics, according to a new report from Hootsuite, a social media monitoring company. These results and others are found in “The Social Campus Report: 8 Opportunities for Higher Ed in 2018,” which is to be released today in conjunction with a webinar conducted by Phil Chatterton, the industry principle for higher education at the company. Chatterton said the company received more than 800 responses from institutions around the world in regards to their survey. The study revealed that on 70% of campuses, students had spurred the increased focus on social media. Chatterton said the analysis revealed higher ed administrators and executives are increasingly aware of the need to invest in social media, with 66% of executives viewing it as a strategic area of focus and 63% believing it is an important aspect of a school’s strategic planning and the fulfillment of its institutional mission.
www.chronicle.com
Undergraduate Research Surges, Despite Uncertainties Over Best Practices
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Undergraduate-Research-Surges/241360?cid=wcontentlist_hp_latest
By Paul Basken
In just a few months, Rachael G. Nutt’s undergraduate thesis at the University of Vermont — on menstruation and fertility in Italian Renaissance art — has already been downloaded more than 400 times. Her 70-page paper helps explain such mysteries as why the artists painted urinating boys on wedding gifts. (It’s one of many symbols, Ms. Nutt concluded, thought to have encouraged fertility.) The thesis — and its unexpectedly strong public reception — is also part of a new era of undergraduate research that’s helping colleges and universities understand exactly what such early-stage scholars should be taught, and be expected to accomplish. At the undergraduate level, “it’s pretty extraordinary to have this experience,” said Ms. Nutt’s faculty adviser, Kelley Helmstutler Di Dio, a professor of art history. Initially a phenomenon found mostly at small, elite private institutions, undergraduate research has expanded in the last couple of decades to hundreds of colleges of all sizes and types. Still elusive, however, is good information on how best to shape those programs, assess their benefits, and repeat their successes. Just the number of undergraduate research programs is tough to estimate.
www.chronicle.com
DeVos Keeps Higher Ed — and Reporters — at Arm’s Length
http://www.chronicle.com/article/DeVos-Keeps-Higher-Ed-and/241372?cid=wsinglestory_hp_1
By Adam Harris
Betsy DeVos is not fond of the national media. Since being confirmed as education secretary, she has rarely given interviews. But that changes when she gets outside of the Washington, D.C., bubble, where she sits down for local television news, chats with columnists, and appears at gaggles with reporters. Journalists outside of the northeast corridor are “more balanced and fair,” she told The Detroit News last month. She has, on occasion, granted interviews to national outlets — CBS News, the Associated Press, and Fox News, among them — but for higher-ed observers looking for details on the daily administration of federal policy, few are to be found. This has created a problem for colleges eager to understand her philosophy on higher education. “I can’t get a feel for what she’s thinking about,” E. Gordon Gee, president of West Virginia University, told The Chronicle in July. Even inside the department, some staffers told me they have trouble knowing where the secretary stands. I’ve tried asking, but getting answers isn’t easy.