University System News:
www.chronicle.com
Colleges With the Largest Endowments, 2017
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Colleges-With-the-Largest/242627
The 809 American colleges that participated in a 2017 survey reported an average return of 12.2 percent (net of fees) for the fiscal year, compared with a –1.9 percent return reported by 805 colleges for the 2016 fiscal year. Seven private nonprofit institutions had endowments of $10 billion or more at the end of the 2017 fiscal year, as did three public institutions or systems … Public Institutions … 18. Georgia Institute of Technology and related foundations $1,985,802,000 (market value) 7.7% (one-year change); 36. University of Georgia and related foundations $1,151,904,000 13.3%
www.albanyherald.com
Fredrick says Albany State with Prioritize Health Professions in 2018
From the OUTLOOK 2018: Looking ahead in the Albany area series
She also vowed to get ASU students more involved in the transition process this year
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/fredrick-says-albany-state-with-prioritize-health-professions-in/article_f61410e5-3bd8-580b-935e-a99a5094a625.html
By Terry Lewis
There is little doubt 2017 was a difficult year for Albany State University, which is still grappling with the effects of the recent consolidation with Darton State College. The university lost its president, Art Dunning, in January of this year, and the University System of Georgia brought in USG Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Marion Fedrick, naming her interim president. A USG official said recently that Fedrick would not be named permanent president, saying the USG has not named a presidential search committee and did not know if a committee would even be formed this early after Dunning’s departure. Fedrick said, moving forward, the university focus would concentrate on student engagement, enrollment, retention and graduation. One of the first things she did was to get ASU students involved in the process by way of a Student Engagement Experience Task Force, which recently issued a list of recommendations.
www.publicnow.com
UWG, Tanner Break Ground On Student Health Center: Innovative Project Is First In University System Of Georgia
http://www.publicnow.com/view/6C6DFDE7FEBC67C42275B8B00F4CDBEECC5965D8
The University of West Georgia broke ground Thursday on a new student health center – the first of its kind to receive approval from the University System of Georgia. Built through a unique partnership with Tanner Health System, the new student health center will leverage Tanner’s cost-effective building strategies to provide a state-of-the-art center that will provide UWG students with quality health care without any increase in mandatory health fees. The development and approval process took three years and the hard work of many people from UWG, Tanner, and contractor RA-LIN and Associates.
www.wabe.org
Kennesaw State University Hosts Listening Sessions On Presidential Search
https://www.wabe.org/kennesaw-state-university-hosts-listening-sessions-presidential-search/
SAM WHITEHEAD
Kennesaw State University will host two listening sessions next week in its search for a new president. Former President Sam Olens just ended his short, rocky tenure at the school. He led the school for about a year and was widely criticized for his response to cheerleaders kneeling during the national anthem before football games. KSU senior Cory Hancock hopes Olens’ replacement won’t run away from the controversy. “Kennesaw State really needs a president to come in and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got all this stuff in the past. We’re going to acknowledge that, but we’re going to grow from that,’” he said. …The Board of Regents has started its national search and hopes to have a list of finalists by May. The listening sessions will take place at 2:30 p.m. Monday on KSU’s Kennesaw campus and at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the school’s Marietta campus.
www.cnbc.com
Sweeping Georgia cybercrime bill would target ‘snoopers’
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/25/the-associated-press-sweeping-georgia-cybercrime-bill-would-target-snoopers.html
By R.J. RICO, Associated Press
Supporters of a bill making its way through the state legislature say it’s designed to give law enforcement the ability to prosecute “online snoopers” — hackers who break into a computer system but don’t disrupt or steal data. The legislation came in response to a recent data breach at a Georgia university in which unauthorized cybersecurity experts noticed the vulnerability of Georgia’s voting records. …The bill is specifically meant to stop criminal hacking, Carr said. Lawmakers backing the bill, which passed the Senate on Feb. 12, point to the acts of two unauthorized cybersecurity experts who in 2016 and 2017 discovered that a server at Kennesaw State University had left Georgia’s 6.7 million voter records dangerously exposed. The men reported the vulnerabilities, but Carr said they should never have been snooping in the first place. “If the research is legitimate, why should you not require someone to get permission on the front-end?” Carr said, arguing that it’s hard to know what a snooper’s intentions are. Carr said the bill was drafted with the help of business groups and after conversations with the University System of Georgia, which has not taken a position on it. Carr said he is open for more input, especially from academics concerned it could hurt their ability to conduct research. Andy Green is an information security lecturer at KSU. Green said that by alerting people at KSU’s Center for Election Systems, the men prevented the data from falling into the wrong hands. Criminalizing such acts will only deter “ethical hackers” and not stop malicious ones, Green argued.
www.thebrunswicknews.com
Penalties for campus speech violations up to regents
https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/penalties-for-campus-speech-violations-up-to-regents/article_4b66977f-b9ab-5403-b157-7f0b638c71af.html
By WES WOLFE
What happens when a student definitively violates someone else’s free speech on a college campus through disruption remains undecided, as is where the line is drawn that student would cross, per state Sen. William Ligon’s Senate Bill 339. The Senate Higher Education Committee favorably reported the bill Wednesday, setting up a vote in the full Senate, which must happen by Wednesday for the legislation to remain viable this session. The original bill provided for significant penalties, including suspension for a minimum of one year for second-time violators, and potential expulsion from the school. …Ligon submitted the amendment to provide a range of penalties so all public universities in Georgia would be governed under the same regulations, as decided by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents.
www.ajc.com
Cobb may add small business incentives
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/cobb-may-add-small-business-incentives/tYH5r3vKFLSxqqbXXitSyO/
Carolyn Cunningham For the AJC
A final public hearing and possible vote are scheduled for Feb. 27 by the Cobb County Board of Commissioners that would allow more small business incentives … Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program: For eligibility, the business will have to participate in IgniteHQ, an incubator run by Kennesaw State University and the Cobb Chamber of Commerce or Georgia Tech Research Institute that will be moving to Marietta. Incentives would be application for cash grants from the Cobb Innovation Fund from the Development Authority of Cobb County (DACC) and a 50 percent reduction on the business license fee for two years.
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Sculpture at Ga. Tech to honor Rosa Parks
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article202066144.html
BY LARRY GIERER
Georgia Tech will honor civil rights activist Rosa Parks with a new piece of public art. The unveiling of the sculpture, “Continuing the Conversation” will be unveiled April 5 in Atlanta coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
www.ajc.com
Suspect in custody after fatal shooting on Savannah State University campus
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/breaking-suspect-custody-after-fatal-shooting-savannah-state-university-campus/Op8uFjVTBkSvxLB4oczBlJ/
Ellen Eldridge The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A man is in police custody in connection with a fatal shooting on the campus of Savannah State University, the school said Sunday. The shooting was reported about 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the vicinity of University Commons. The victim was taken to Memorial Hospital where he died as a result of his injuries, the university said on Twitter. Neither the suspect nor the victim were students, according to SSU police Chief James Barnwell.
Higher Education News:
www.hechingerreport.org
New research offers hope to first-generation college grads
Pay stubs of first-generation students match those of wealthier peers
Column by JILL BARSHAY
Economists have been finding that it’s getting harder to move up in America. Kids who come from poor families are more likely to remain poor as adults than in the past. But data released from the statistics division of the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month points out that a college education can still be a lever of social mobility. Even college graduates whose parents had never attended any college at all were still working at the same rates and earning the same salaries, on average, as their peers with better-educated parents … But the report wasn’t all good news; it also highlighted how first-generation students are less likely to take challenging, college-preparatory classes in high school. Afterward, first-generation students enroll in college in smaller numbers. And when they get to college, they’re more likely to drop out without a degree.
www.chronicle.com
How to Protect Your College’s Research From Undue Corporate Influence
https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-to-Protect-Your/242616
By Paul Basken
The upsides of research ties between companies and universities are legendary. Silicon Valley, Route 128, Research Triangle, and their numerous superstar companies with academic roots are leading examples. Annual benefits are now measured in the billions of dollars, thousands of patents, and hundreds of start-up companies. But corporate bias is a known risk to scientific integrity. And as universities find themselves increasingly enticed by governmental budget cuts to court industry dollars, their eagerness for private-sector partners appears to be outpacing their willingness to set firm rules on ethical boundaries and to investigate when things go wrong. It’s a problem that some university leaders, such as Hunter R. Rawlings III, a past president of both Cornell University and the Association of American Universities, have been struggling with.