University System News:
www.albanyherald.com
Marion Fedrick Fedrick discusses first month on job at Albany State University
ASU official sees potential for partnerships between ASU, community
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/marion-fedrick-fedrick-discusses-first-month-on-job-at-albany/article_c5ac9046-ffaa-5816-9510-2d827c2bf95e.html
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — After a month on the job, Albany State University interim Executive Vice President Marion Fedrick took some time Friday to reflect on her new — albeit temporary — job at the university. She assumed her position on Oct. 9, shortly after ASU President Art Dunning announced his retirement, effective Jan. 31 of next year. Fedrick has inherited a university in a state of flux, still trying to find its footing since its official consolidation with Darton State College this past January. Over the past four weeks, the University System of Georgia’s Vice Chancellor for Human Resources said she has not encountered any surprises during the transition. “We’ve worked so closely with Albany State over the last several years that we were already aware of the positives and negatives for the most part,” Fedrick said. “We were on top of it, and I don’t think there is anything that has been a surprise so far. Now one of the things I will say is, from the systems office, maybe we were not as involved with the pulse of the community, and just getting involved there has been a great experience. But that is something we didn’t focus on earlier. “We depended on the campus to build those relationships. We do from afar, but not to the level of being as engaged since I have been here.” Fedrick said the USG is considering a number of new initiatives to facilitate student enrollment, retention and graduation rates.

www.wxfl.com
ASU student-led task force to help increase student enrollment, overall experience
http://wfxl.com/news/local/asu-student-led-task-force-to-help-increase-student-enrollment-overall-experience
by Alexandria Ikomoni
ALBANY, Ga. — Albany State University students are taking charge to help increase enrollment. ASU launched the Student Engagement Experience Task Force to help improve students’ experience while attending the university, and it’ll ultimately help increase enrollment that recently dropped 7.6 percent. “The task force primarily focuses on the students’ overall experience here at Albany State University from the time that they step foot on Albany State’s campus to the time that they graduate,” DeAndre Cochrane, Student Government Association Vice President, said.

www.wabe.org
Is Computer Science A Foreign Language? Ga. Says Yes, Sees Boost In Enrollment
https://www.wabe.org/computer-science-foreign-language-state-sees-boost-enrollment/
TASNIM SHAMMA
After the bell rings at Lanier High School in Buford, Georgia, Michael Reilly asks to see his students’ faces, because most are hidden behind computer screens. Reilly is a technology teacher at the Center for Digital Technology (CDAT) at Lanier High School, where he teaches an elective class called Programming, Games, Apps and Society. Students work in teams or individually at their own pace to build their own apps for Android phones this semester. To build these apps, the students are learning how to code in the programming language Java.
College Admissions
Since the fall of 2014, students have been able to take computer science classes, where they learn programming languages like Java or Python, in place of foreign language classes like French or Spanish. Reilly helped the state come up with the strategy to boost enrollment in high school computer science classes. The University System of Georgia (USG), which includes all of the state’s public colleges and universities, changed its college entrance requirements to support the change. Statewide, since the USG shifted its policy and the state board of education put more emphasis on hiring computer science teachers, the number of students taking computer science classes has grown by more than 50 percent.

www.albanyherald.com
University of North Georgia student from Albany ranks among top ROTC cadets
Cadet Lt. Col Bryton Wenzel, a nursing major at UNG, ranked fifth among ROTC cadets
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/university-of-north-georgia-student-from-albany-ranks-among-top/article_6783e4a6-45ae-5b03-8dac-e31e59a3420c.html
By Jennifer Parks
ALBANY — Two ROTC cadets at the University of North Georgia have ranked in the top five – among 5,536 cadets – in this year’s U.S. Army Cadet Command national Order of Merit list. Among them is Cadet Lt. Col. Bryton Wenzel of Albany, who is ranked fifth. Wenzel, a native of Texas, moved to Southwest Georgia during his elementary school years. He was active in both academics and sports, and when high school graduation rolled around and he was considering what to do with his life, Wenzel decided to follow the same route as his father, grandfather and grandmother’s family and look into the military. “Other than that, it was just a choice I decided to do for myself,” he said. In his time at UNG, Wenzel said he has fulfilled an opportunity to serve and has learned much about the concept of sacrifice that many his age may not have connected to yet. He credits much of his recent success to the environment UNG has provided.

www.ledger-enquirer.com
HOPE Grant expansion means new opportunities
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/opinion/article183974551.html
BY DUSTY NIX
Recent days have brought a flurry of encouraging news about postsecondary education in Georgia, a trend we would definitely like to see continue. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported that not only is fall enrollment in University System of Georgia institutions at a record high for the second straight year, but the statewide graduation rate at USG schools has also shown a dramatic rise. Close to home, Columbus State University’s fall enrollment of 8,452 students also set a record.

www.bizjournals.com
Next phase of Science Park complex at Georgia State on tap
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/11/13/next-phase-of-science-park-complex-at-georgia.html?ana=e_mc_prem&s=newsletter&ed=2017-11-13&u=xw%2BDRjRaikB6EdaliSJBWQ0ae2f198&t=1510585096&j=79163171
By Dave Williams  –  Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
The proposed third of four phases of Georgia State University’s Science Park complex will be on the University System of Georgia Board of Regents’ agenda this week. GSU is planning a new nine-story, 84,000 square-foot-building complex at the intersections of Decatur Street, Jesse Hill Jr. Drive, and Piedmont Avenue in downtown Atlanta. The first phase of the complex, the Petit Science Center, opened in 2009. The Research Science Center was the second phase and opened in 2016. The new $81.2 million building would be entirely dedicated to advanced research with a focus on highly infectious diseases, providing critical information for prevention, treatment and future drug and vaccine development. The building would include highly specialized laboratory space, open laboratories with associated lab support spaces and offices, and a small vivarium, a space where animals are housed for observation and research.

www.savannahnow.com
Savannah State University Founders Day awards spotlight remarkable achievements
http://savannahnow.com/news/your-good-news/2017-11-10/savannah-state-university-founders-day-awards-spotlight-remarkable
By Savannah Morning News
Savannah State University will celebrate Founders Day on Nov. 16, a commemoration of those who established the school and a celebration of the members of the SSU family. SSU will honor three individuals during the ceremony in the Student Union ballroom at 10 a.m. This year’s speaker will be Carolyn V. Jordan, D. Min., descendant of Maj. Richard R. Wright Sr., the first president of SSU.  The event is free and open to the public.

www.onlineathens.com
Stand or kneel? Protests discussed at UGA
http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2017-11-11/stand-or-kneel-protests-discussed-uga
By Lee Shearer
Players kneeling during the national anthem at a NFL game may not be protected speech under the U.S. Constitution, but they’re also a time-honored American way of getting a message across, panelists said in a recent free-speech forum at the University of Georgia.

www.myajc.com
KSU cheerleaders link arms for national anthem
http://www.myajc.com/news/ksu-cheerleaders-link-arms-for-national-anthem/FgfzcqNMU8VC0bGKSqWcfN/?ref=cbTopWidget
By Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the wake of weeks of criticism, Kennesaw State University cheerleaders did not take the knee during the national anthem at Saturday’s home game. However, some of the cheerleaders instead linked arms while they were standing on the field for the first time after being relegated to a tunnel for the national anthem for recent games. KSU president Sam Olens announced Wednesday he was reinstituting the prior practice of allowing cheerleaders on the football field during the national anthem.

www.wtol.com
KSU cheerleaders return to field on Veteran’s Day
http://www.wtol.com/story/36822751/ksu-cheerleaders-return-to-field-on-veterans-day
By Kai Beech, CBS46 News Reporter
KENNESAW, GA (CBS46) – At Saturday’s Kennesaw State University football game, the game plan was not executed. No, not the actual football team, but rather, a group of KSU cheerleaders who pulled out of a protest at the last minute. They decided not to kneel during the National Anthem. Instead, they stood and locked arms. “I’m glad they didn’t do it today because it shows they got a little support for the veterans of the United States,” said U.S. Marine Steven Rule. Saturday was the first game that the cheerleaders were allowed back on the field during the National Anthem in weeks.

www.wtoc.com
Georgia Southern students, faculty honoring veterans
http://www.wtoc.com/story/36816633/georgia-southern-students-faculty-honoring-veterans
By Dal Cannady, Reporter
STATESBORO, GA (WTOC) – Georgia Southern University honored veterans from several generations on Friday.  The university’s Military and Veterans Student Center hosted their 2nd Annual Veterans Day Program. The group recognized recently-retired director of Military Affairs, Lt. Col. Bill Roberts. Speakers included retired Marine and graduate student John Kitchens. Leaders of the Student Center say Southern and other schools have more military and veteran students than most people realize.

www.wtoc.com
GSU veteran, active duty military students hike to Glennville
http://www.wtoc.com/story/36818773/gsu-veteran-active-duty-military-students-hike-to-glennville
By Dal Cannady, Reporter
STATESBORO, GA (WTOC) -The cool weather didn’t stop some young veterans from hitting the road Friday. A dozen Georgia Southern University students who are either veterans or active duty military took off from campus to hike 36 miles to Glennville and the Georgia Veterans Cemetery. They arrived Friday evening to help place flags on gravesites for Veterans Day.

www.douglasenterprise.net
SOUTH GEORGIA STATE COLLEGE PARTNERS WITH GEORGIA SOUTHERN TO BRING BIRDS-OF-PREY SHOW
https://www.douglasenterprise.net/news/south-georgia-state-college-partners-georgia-southern-bring-birds-prey-show
BY: ETHAN MITCHELL AND SARAH E. BRASWELL
South Georgia State College (SGSC) recently welcomed Georgia Southern University (GSU) Center for Wildlife Education’s (CWE) Birds-of-Prey show in an event hosted by South Georgia State’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Center. The event drew large crowds that included students, alumni, current and retired employees, and members of the community, with 200 audience members on the Douglas campus and 60 in Waycross. Steve Hein, Director, and Scott Courdin, Wildlife Curator, of the Georgia Southern Center for Wildlife Education brought several birds of prey to SGSC campuses to educate and entertain the audiences. Included in their menagerie were: a European Kestrel, red-tailed hawk, a highly vocal red-shouldered hawk, Harris’s hawk, and Eurasian eagle-owl. Also present at the event were Freedom, GSU’s American Bald Eagle, and a peregrine falcon, the world’s fastest bird, capable of reaching speeds of 200 mph. As the crowd sat in awe, the birds flew from handler to handler and perch to perch, often sailing across the auditorium and ruffling the feathers of several audience members. Given that the hawk is SGSC’s mascot, it seemed only fitting that SGSC’s president herself – Dr. Ingrid Thompson-Sellers – should be given the opportunity to fly one of these majestic birds.

www.chroncle.augusta.com
MCG students hope to get local youths excited about science with community outreach program
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/2017-11-12/mcg-students-hope-get-local-youths-excited-about-science-community-outreach-program
By Tom Corwin Staff Writer
Madison Briers, 10, and her friends take their plastic bags filled with ice and salt and shake them vigorously up and down and side to side, turning it into a dance as they try to turn the smaller bag filled with milk inside that bag into ice cream. They succeeded a little too well as they pour it into a cup and sample the white chunky result at the Dogwood Terrace Boy and Girls Club. “It’s a little bit salty,” Madison said. “Maybe your bag came open,” said Maya Milton, a first-year student at Medical College of Georgia. She is part of the Junior Medical League, a group of first- and second-year MCG students who do outreach into the community with tutoring and science experiments to get kids excited about science. The idea is to convince children at Madison’s age “that learning can be fun,” said Linda James, assistant dean for student diversity and inclusion at MCG and an adviser to the group. While MCG has “pipeline” programs that seek to get high school and college students interested in medicine, this program could be a “really, really early pipeline” program, she said.

www.walb.com
Police: ASU East campus on lockdown due to possible shooting
http://www.walb.com/story/36822791/police-asu-east-campus-on-lockdown-due-to-possible-shooting
By Emileigh Forrester, Anchor
ALBANY, GA (WALB) -The Albany State University Police Department is looking for a gray or silver Toyota Celica as a vehicle of interest after a Saturday evening shooting. Denise Ward, Special Assistant to the President for Marketing and Strategic Communications at ASU, said ASU Police responded to reports of shots fired near Halls 1 and 2 on the East campus at 10:15 p.m. on Saturday. By 10:44 p.m. the campus was on lockdown until around 12:30 Sunday morning. Ward said there are no life-threatening injuries, but two individuals were treated at the hospital. One of the people being treated is an ASU student who has been identified as a woman.

www.ajc.com
KSU student arrested after alleged dorm room rape
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/ksu-student-arrested-after-alleged-dorm-room-rape/caVdcJDlwAv3PHapzSmIkL/
Ellen Eldridge  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Kennesaw State University student is accused of raping a woman in a dorm, police said. Campus police arrested Benjamin Wainscott Thursday after a 20-year-old alleged he raped her during a date, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Channel 2 Action News. The victim was not a KSU student, the university said. Students weren’t notified of the most recent incident because “law enforcement officials determined that the suspect was not a threat to campus,”a university spokesperson told Channel 2.

www.ajc.com
Georgia Tech student killed trying to cross Downtown Connector
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/georgia-tech-student-killed-trying-cross-downtown-connector/MGrdX8wZsgpgbOKAPttb9K/
Ellen Eldridge  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A 19-year-old Georgia Tech student was hit and killed Friday night on the Downtown Connector, police said. Kaden Campbell appeared to be attempting to cross the interstate at I-85 South and I-75 North about 11 p.m. when he was hit by an SUV, Channel 2 Action News reported. The driver stayed on the scene and no charges are anticipated.  Georgia Tech confirmed that Campbell was a student at the school and a Sigma Nu fraternity pledge.

www.savannahnow.com
Fan arrested for public drunkenness after threatening GS defensive coordinator
http://savannahnow.com/blog/nathan-deen/2017-11-11/fan-arrested-public-drunkenness-after-threatening-gs-defensive
Nathan Deen
Georgia Southern defensive coordinator Lorenzo Costantini was the victim of an altercation that resulted in the arrest of a fan Nov. 4 after Georgia Southern’s 21-17 loss to rival Georgia State. According to a police report filed by the Georgia Southern University Police Department and obtained by the Savannah Morning News, the fan ran onto the field immediately after the game, “yelling, spitting on, threatening, and cursing” Costantini and Georgia Southern Athletics video assistant Glenn Ingram. Statesboro-based attorney William Keith McGowan was arrested for public drunkenness, a misdemeanor, and subsequently received a one-year ban from Paulson Stadium.

Higher Education News:
www.diverseeducation.com
New Report Offers Best Financial Practices for Colleges’ Roles in Student Success
http://diverseeducation.com/article/104913/?utm_campaign=DIV1711%20DAILY%20NEWSLETTER%20NOV13&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua
by Tiffany Pennamon
College affordability and a clear understanding of financial aid are among the biggest challenges low-income students pursuing a higher education face. Education experts say that colleges and universities can play a larger role in increasing student success by changing their financial aid practices, according to a new report. The new report by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation titled “Making College Affordable” offers 11 best practices for colleges and universities to implement in order to alleviate financial burdens on students. Institutional “practices that reflect the disparate realities of low-income students ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed,” the report stated.

www.chronicle.com
Senate Bill Would Impose Endowment Tax but Keep Tuition Waivers Tax-Free
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Senate-Bill-Would-Impose/241742?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=7d4507f56b484053862b40873ec1a689&elq=be7a295858a741068356cc0a7e332403&elqaid=16557&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7187
By Eric Kelderman
Republicans in the U.S. Senate late Thursday released their proposal to overhaul the tax code, taking a somewhat different approach on higher education from their colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives. But while the two bills differ in key ways at the moment, each could change significantly as Republicans seek to agree on a single piece of legislation to send to President Trump before the end of the year. On charitable donations, a key issue for colleges and other nonprofit organizations, the Senate bill keeps a provision from the House that would reduce the number of people who can itemize their charitable contributions, from about 30 percent of filers to just 5 percent. The National Council of Nonprofits has estimated that the measure would cut charitable donations by some $13 billion annually. Senate Republicans also retained the House’s proposed 1.4-percent tax on investment earnings by endowments at private colleges that enroll at least 500 students and have assets of $250,000 per full-time student. A Chronicle analysis found that the measure, if enacted, would probably affect fewer than 65 colleges. Like the House bill, the Senate version would impose a 20-percent tax on compensation in excess of $1 million paid to any of a nonprofit organization’s five highest-paid employees. The measure would apply to colleges as well as teaching hospitals and even college and university foundations. The Senate plan also proposes new taxes on income from business activities not related to a college’s core academic mission, such as summer sports camps for children, facility rentals, and golf courses.

www.chronicle.com
International-Student Enrollment Is Slowing — and It Isn’t All Donald Trump’s Fault
http://www.chronicle.com/article/International-Student/241737?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=fe536158d2eb4534ad56f81d8aeea817&elq=be7a295858a741068356cc0a7e332403&elqaid=16557&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7187
By Karin Fischer
The number of international students in the United States hit a new high in the fall of 2016, topping 1.08 million, according to a report just released by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. Department of State. But the shiny record obscures a grimmer truth. Even before the ascension of Donald J. Trump to a presidency notable for its hostility to global engagement and to foreigners themselves, international student recruitment had already begun to ebb, auguring the end of a decade of muscular growth. Though the overall number of student-visa holders increased during the past academic year, their ranks were buoyed not by a fresh entering class but by graduates staying on to work. The number of first-time students from abroad actually fell in 2016 by 3 percent, or some 10,000 students, the annual Open Doors report shows. At the same time, participation in the postgraduate work program soared 19 percent, thanks, in part, to an expansion under President Obama to allow those with science and engineering degrees to remain in the country for as long as 36 months.