University System News:
www.albanyherald.com
At Georgia Southwestern State, 93 percent of nursing students pass state exam
University reports 41 graduates took exam, 38 passed
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/at-georgia-southwestern-state-percent-of-nursing-students-pass-state/article_1cbe12bd-9d94-52b0-a5e4-411642953a83.html
Staff Reports
AMERICUS – According to recently published 2017 data, approximately 93 percent of Georgia Southwestern State University nursing graduates passed the state licensure exam on their first attempt. The state and national average is approximately 85 percent. According to GSW officials, 41 students took the exam for the first time, and 38 passed. …Ranked among the top nursing schools in Georgia for affordability, the GSW School of Nursing is accredited by the Georgia Board of Nursing and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

www.forsythnews.com
UNG hits record 3.1 percent student enrollment growth
https://www.forsythnews.com/local/education/ung-hits-record-31-percent-student-enrollment-growth/
Isabel Hughes
A spokeswoman for the University of North Georgia said student enrollment numbers are at a record high — the result of 3.1 percent growth in the fall 2017 semester. According to UNG’s Director of Communications, Sylvia Carson, the university currently has 18,782 students enrolled on the university’s five campuses, with 1,133 currently enrolled on the Cumming campus. While the actual total enrollment numbers are lower than predicted — in August, the school projected 19,576 enrolled undergraduate and graduate students, with a Cumming enrollment of 1,078 — UNG’s enrollment growth is the fourth-largest among Georgia’s public colleges and universities, falling just behind Georgia Southwestern State University, which saw 3.3 percent growth.

www.valdostadailytimes.com
Enrollment dips at VSU
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/enrollment-dips-at-vsu/article_3bb10b6a-8f19-5b78-b5ff-ad7d5d0b5afc.html
By Kimberly Cannon
VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University had a slight drop in enrollment this fall in comparison to fall of last year, according to the University System of Georgia’s Fall 2017 Semester Enrollment Report. The report stated VSU’s current enrollment is 11,341, a 0.3 percent decrease from the 11,375 enrolled in fall 2016. VSU’s spring 2017 enrollment was 10,714, just one student short of spring 2016’s enrollment, according to the USG enrollment reports. However, more beginning freshman enrolled this fall semester than the 1,448 in fall of last year.

www.fortune.com
You Can Take These 8,000 College and University Courses For Free
http://fortune.com/2017/11/06/free-online-college-courses/
By Emily Price
College is expensive. In recent years several universities and colleges around the world have started offering some of their courses for free. Over the past six years over 8,000 different courses have been made available for free to anyone who wants to take them. In a story on Quartz, Class Central founder Dhawal Shah notes that he’s been tracking them all since they rose to prominence. Shah says that over the past three months alone 200 universities have announced 600 new free online courses. Free courses range from humanities and social sciences classes to business, health & medicine, and computer science courses. Classes are taught by professors from places like Stanford, Johns Hopkins, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Colorado.

www.wtoc.com
ABAC honor society collects items for veterans
http://www.wtoc.com/story/36777993/abac-honor-society-collects-items-for-veterans
By Ashley Bohle, Reporter
TIFTON, GA (WALB) – Some Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College students are giving back and encouraging others to do the same. The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society is collecting personal care items for veterans. Deodorant, dental floss, and razors are just a few things being collected. The box collecting the items is placed by the book checkout at the Baldwin Library on campus. Phi Theta Kappa Vice President of Leadership Keira Nicely said she’s glad she’s able to give back to veterans.

www.walb.com
ASU seniors say mushrooms, mold grow in their dorm
http://www.walb.com/story/36786342/asu-seniors-say-mushrooms-mold-grow-in-their-dorm
By Catherine Patterson, Anchor
Two Albany State University seniors said there are mushrooms growing in their Albany State University dorm room. And that’s not all– the students said they have mold in their vents. ASU seniors Ashli Brown and Fantasia Gorham said they’ve called everyone and done everything they can possibly think of to remove the mold, mildew, and fungus. But they said the most the school’s done is make temporary fixes,and  the mold just keeps coming back. Brown and Gorham have lived together for the past three years and said they have never experienced issues like what’s growing in their dorm room’s bathroom.  They said it’s gross, and they want something done.

www.cobbcountycourier.com
Professor Loses Job After KSU Decides To End Culinary Program

Professor loses job after KSU decides to end culinary program

POSTED BY: SIERRA HUBBARD
One Kennesaw State professor has lost his job after the university’s decision to phase out its culinary and hospitality program. Daniel Henderson has been at KSU for a year and a half, teaching courses in hospitality like spirits production and beer culture. “The entire announcement and communication to the students and the faculty was extremely unprofessional and very poorly managed,” Henderson said. A week before students were told the CSH program was shutting down, Henderson received notice that his spring contract had been terminated. “It had no reason behind it,” he said. “It was so cold, and no explanation.” Henderson is one of four limited-term instructors within the CSH program, though he is the only one whose contract has been rescinded. When asked whether termination of the program would affect faculty, KSU provost Ken Harmon said those decisions would be made based on the needs of the program.

www.myajc.com
Kennesaw State cracks down on fraternity
http://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/kennesaw-state-cracks-down-fraternity/RwtcVQUAD4yprhjz0fZYsO/
By Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kennesaw State University has issued a cease and desist order against a fraternity for violating its student code of conduct, the second time it’s done so against a fraternity this semester, officials said Tuesday. The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity broke unspecified code violations at its frat house on KSU’s Marietta campus on or about Oct. 25, university spokeswoman Tammy DeMel said. The cease and desist order was filed the following day, she said. KSU issued a cease and desist order earlier against the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity for student code violations, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News reported last month. The two orders come amid increased national scrutiny of fraternities and sororities.

See also:
www.wsbtv.com
KSU fraternity suspended amid allegations of misconduct
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb-county/ksu-fraternity-suspended-amid-allegations-of-misconduct/642637251

www.cbssports.com
Josh Pastner, Georgia Tech accused of underplaying violations by jilted friend
Ron Bell says the Yellow Jackets’ second-year coach knew about extra benefits given to players
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/josh-pastner-georgia-tech-accused-of-underplaying-violations-by-jilted-friend/
by Gary Parrish
Ron Bell, an Arizona resident and longtime friend of Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner, has told CBS Sports he’s the person who provided benefits in violation of NCAA rules to Georgia Tech basketball players Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson. Georgia Tech announced last Thursday that it self-reported the violations to the NCAA and suspended both players indefinitely, but it did not, at the time, identify Bell. It instead only acknowledged that the same person was responsible for all violations, and that he was neither a booster nor a Georgia Tech employee. According to the school, Jackson accepted benefits totaling less than $525 while Okogie accepted benefits totaling less than $750.

www.bizjournals.com
IT consulting firm doubles Atlanta office, relocates to Midtown’s Bank of America tower (Video)
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/11/07/it-consulting-firm-doubles-atlanta-office.html
By Urvaksh Karkaria  –  Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Management and IT consulting firm CapTech is expanding in Atlanta — a year after opening its office in Midtown. The Richmond, Va.-based company plans to double its workforce in Atlanta and add 50 jobs next year. As part of the expansion, CapTech has leased 6,000 square feet at Midtown’s Bank of America Plaza office tower. “The tech market in Atlanta is just booming and Captech’s business in Atlanta is growing faster and more robustly expected that they opened (in Atlanta) a year ago,” a spokeswoman said Monday afternoon. CapTech, founded in 1997 by two Andersen Consulting veterans, specializes in web, mobile, data and analytics consulting services. …Metro Atlanta is also an attractive market to recruit tech talent. Atlanta is ranked as one of the top 10 high-tech talent cities. A low cost of living and a strong university system provides employers a steady pipeline of tech talent. Captech was drawn to the Bank of America Plaza — the Southeast’s tallest skyscraper — because of its Midtown location and proximity to Georgia Tech and mass transit, Atlanta office chief Boyd Christian said. “Almost half of our CapTechers can walk to work,” Christian said. “It also puts us in close proximity to Georgia Tech, the seventh best engineering school in the world.”

www.athensceo.com
New UGA Drug Discovery Core Lab Works to Develop Treatment of Leading Diseases
http://athensceo.com/news/2017/11/new-uga-drug-discovery-core-lab-works-develop-treatment-leading-diseases/?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=483d81cecc-eGaMorning-11_8_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-483d81cecc-86731974&mc_cid=483d81cecc&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
Staff Report From Athens CEO
The University of Georgia has created the Drug Discovery Core laboratory, a campus-wide collaborative facility designed to hasten the development of therapeutic drugs for a number of major diseases. A survey distributed to UGA researchers in 2016 identified chemical screening and toxicity profiling as the most critical needs for enhancing drug discovery research at UGA, and the DDC will address many of those needs for faculty working in infectious disease, regenerative medicine, cancer biology and other human health-focused disciplines. Phase one of the new lab will allow for the curation, management and distribution of chemical libraries containing more than 50,000 compounds. The lab also will enable researchers to rapidly screen these chemical libraries in miniaturized models of various diseases using robotics and high-throughput signal detection. Finally, the lab will provide opportunities to identify potential toxicity of the compounds and determine if their chemical properties will allow them to be successfully delivered to patients. Additional capabilities, including pharmacokinetic characterization, genotoxicity and assay design, are under development.

Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
How the GOP Tax Plan Could Hurt Graduate Students — and American Research
http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-the-GOP-Tax-Plan-Could/241702?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=a3654717738043708880ec3882980761&elq=9e040fd54aa6487bad00d1510c2f83ea&elqaid=16506&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7146
By Eric Kelderman
Buried in the details of the 400-page tax-reform plan unveiled on Thursday by House Republicans is a proposal that, if enacted, would leave many graduate students wondering if they could afford to continue their studies. Under current law, college employees are allowed to get a break on tuition without counting that break as taxable income. Graduate students who work as research or teaching assistants are among the chief beneficiaries of that policy. But the bill released last week recommends that tuition waivers be counted as income and be subject to taxes. If that provision becomes law, graduate students could find themselves paying taxes on a far greater amount of money than they actually receive in paychecks from their college. “Unless this can be circumvented, it would be a major disincentive for people to go to graduate school,” said Claus O. Wilke, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin. And the impact of the measure, he said, would fall mostly on students who go into fields that provide a benefit to society without offering high pay. Nationwide, about 55 percent of all graduate students had adjusted gross incomes of $20,000 or less, according to federal data cited by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, and nearly 87 percent reported incomes of $50,000 or less. At the same time, master’s-degree students received tuition waivers averaging nearly $11,000, and doctoral students got waivers averaging more than $13,600, the association found.

www.diverseeducation.com
Congress Urged to Invest in Blue-Collar STEM Jobs
http://diverseeducation.com/article/104738/?utm_campaign=DIV1711%20DAILY%20NEWSLETTER%20NOV8&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
WASHINGTON —Automation and other technological advancements threaten to put good-paying jobs further out of reach for marginalized groups unless more investments are made in preparing students for “Blue-Collar STEM” jobs, panelists convened Tuesday on Capitol Hill said. Conversely, employers will need a more diverse pipeline of STEM talent in order compete, said panelist Dr. Victor McCrary, vice president for research and economic development at Morgan State University. “This workforce is vital to the well-being of our society and the economic competitiveness of our nation,” McCrary said. “Businesses large and small across the U.S. — from Baltimore to the bayous of Louisiana — need adaptable, STEM-capable workers at every level of education and from all demographic groups in order to compete.” McCrary said 12 percent of all jobs require skilled technical workers — a figure he said represents a total of more than 16 million jobs.

www.nytimes.com
Florida State Halts Fraternity Activities After Student’s Death

By MATTHEW HAAG
Florida State University indefinitely suspended all activities at its fraternities and sororities on Monday, imposing sweeping rules after the death of a pledge and the unrelated arrest of a fraternity member on drug charges. The university’s president, John E. Thrasher, said the strict new regulations would stay in place until students in the Greek system made a commitment to change their behavior and accepted a “new normal.” Almost all aspects of Greek life were ordered to stop, including chapter meetings, social events and philanthropy. “The message is not getting through,” Mr. Thrasher said at a news conference on Monday afternoon. “There must be a new culture, and our students must be full participants in creating it.”