University System News:
www.myajc.com
Merri Brantley, 58: She dazzled state capitol for decades
https://www.myajc.com/news/local-obituaries/merri-brantley-she-dazzled-state-capitol-for-decades/07cznuiG8aeynyHMSQmkFK/
By Bill Banks
Merri Brantley spent the better part of 30 years working the third floor of the Georgia Capitol. Whether as a lobbyist or her six memorable years as Senate press director, she was stylishly impeccable, rigorously impartial (though personally conservative politically) and linguistically concise. Most recently she was a “lobbyist” for Georgia Gwinnett College, where she had gone to work after leaving state government. College President Stanley Preczewski remembers Brantley escorting him inside the Gold Dome and saying, “Just follow me and don’t say a damn thing.” “She knew everybody down there,” Preczewski said, “legislators and staffers and their children. She taught me quite a bit about relationships, about how to build them, maintain them and be fair.” Merri Marlene Brantley, 58, died Sunday after a heart attack Friday night. She had just left the annual University System of Georgia Foundation gala at the St. Regis Hotel in Buckhead.
www.walb.com
ASU improving financial aid communication
http://www.walb.com/story/37677143/asu-works-to-better-communicate-financial-aid-deadlines
By Ashley Bohle, Reporter
Albany State University financial aid leaders are encouraging students to file their financial aid now, because more than 80% of students utilize financial aid at ASU. Deadlines for the summer and even this fall are are approaching fast, according to the Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, Dr. Chip Reese. “We do this every day, but again, some of these people– this is the first time they’ve ever done it,” explained Reese. Reese said the majority of students on financial aid are students between 18 and 21 years old, making up about 55% of students. Students must re-submit a new “Free Application for Federal Student Aid” or FAFSA every year. Now Reese said he and other campus leaders are listening to students and parents to make sure information is easily accessible, consistent and communicated. “We’re working to try to get people, again, information to them up front, encouraging them to go ahead and file their FAFSA now for next year. The sooner they get filed the sooner we can get their paperwork processed,” said Reese. Reese said the financial aid process is the same at ASU as it is anywhere else.
www.jbhe.com
Albany State University in Georgia Seeks to Enhance the Student Experience
Albany State University in Georgia Seeks to Enhance the Student Experience
Albany State University, the historically Black educational institution in Georgia is undertaking a new initiative to improve and enhance the student experience from the moment they arrive on campus until they receive their degrees. The new program will focus on three key areas: the first-year student experience, student engagement for success, and student support services. Staff at university housing will be trained to help first-year students succeed. Plans will be developed for housing students focused on academic success, persistence, and retention. Work/study opportunities will be provided for students and internship, volunteer work, and community service opportunities will be enhanced.
www.publicnow.com
Albany State Alumna Receives Regents Hall Of Fame Alumni And Distinguished Friends Award
http://www.publicnow.com/view/E0203A608CDE23501C5D023D00339DADA7E35280
Carolyn Glenn believes in giving back, and for 51 years, she’s been committed to giving back to Albany State University (ASU). On Friday, March 2, she received the 2018 Regents Hall of Fame Alumni and Distinguished Friends Award. The award was presented during the University System of Georgia (USG) Foundation’s annual Regents Scholarship Gala. The event raised nearly $1 million to promote, support and provide need-based scholarships for students at USG institutions. Glenn, a 1967 graduate of Albany State College, remains an active alumna, committing time and financial resources to aid the institution. She is the single largest individual donor in the University’s 100-year history. ‘I’m just grateful for what Albany State did for me,’ Glenn said. ‘I will never forget it, and that’s why I continue to be involved, and that’s why I give back.’
www.venturebeat.com
How AI could help improve the education enrollment process
https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/08/how-ai-could-help-improve-the-education-enrollment-process/
BEN DICKSON, TECHTALKS
Education is one of the domains where artificial intelligence is showing great promise. But while most efforts have focused on augmenting and enhancing the learning experience, challenges remain in the registration and enrollment domains. Students and learners often struggle to find their way to the right courses and classes, whether because of the confusing variety of courses available on online platforms or the complicated processes for enrolling at higher education institutions. A handful of startups are poised to solve these challenges through AI tools that provide personalized assistance to students during the registration process. So far, their efforts show positive results. …The process is especially difficult for students who come from low-income backgrounds or who don’t have a family member who can guide them through the process. Not providing support to students results in many of them failing to matriculate. Meanwhile, every student is faced with their own unique set of challenges, which means generic outreach tools may prove inefficient and cause further confusion. An alternative would be to provide individual counselor outreach, but it would not scale as the number of students increases. An interesting case study in this regard is Georgia State University, which partnered with AI-powered messaging platform AdmitHub to provide assistance to students in their transition to higher education. GSU used AdmitHub’s conversational AI system Pounce to automatically reach out to would-be college freshmen based on their individual pain points.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA will cut Thanksgiving holidays to shorten semester length
http://www.onlineathens.com/news/20180308/uga-will-cut-thanksgiving-holidays-to-shorten-semester-length
By Lee Shearer
University of Georgia students will get more time to finish up internships and summer jobs before starting fall semester classes in 2019. But they’ll also see their five days of Thanksgiving vacation reduced to three under a proposed calendar that has the backing of UGA administrators. The fall break, on the Friday before the Georgia-Florida football game in Jacksonville, is untouched. UGA students have gotten five days off for Thanksgiving for a number of years, but few schools give that much time off, faculty found last year as they looked for ways to shorten the length of the school’s academic calendar. Most have classes Monday and Tuesday on the week of Thanksgiving, with Wednesday through Friday off.
www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Georgia Southern’s $33.6M IAB to Be Complete in June
https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/georgia-southerns-336m-iab-to-be-complete-in-june/39329
IRWIN RAPOPORT – CEG CORRESPONDENT
Georgia Southern University’s $33.6 million Interdisciplinary Academic Building (IAB) is expected to be completed this June as Charles Perry Partners Inc. LLP (CPPI) and crews from Lavender Construction and other subcontractors are meeting their scheduled benchmarks. The new structure is located at the Georgia Southern University Campus in Statesboro, Ga. Ground was broken in February 2017 on the 110,000-sq.-ft. building that will provide flexible space with the latest classroom technology. The IAB will house teaching space for many faculties, including interior design, fashion merchandising and apparel design, history, foreign languages, writing and linguistics, international studies and departments in the Waters College of Health Professions and College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. With an expanding student population, the classroom space is needed. Jaimie Hebert, president of Georgia Southern, stressed how the new building meets several goals.
www.ajc.com
3 Greek organizations suspended at Georgia college for hazing violations
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime–law/greek-organizations-suspended-georgia-college-for-hazing-violations/ihbEaTu6PHWsqhu1cZ3rKO/
Raisa Habersham The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three Greek organizations have been suspended at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega for hazing and alcohol violations, Channel 2 Action News reported Thursday. The university told the news station they received three separate complaints about sororities Kappa Delta and Phi Mu and fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon in January and February. Details of the complaints were not released. Officials said they could not comment and that the organizations are suspended until the investigation is complete.
www.savannahnow.com
Savannah State students condemn gun violence at vigil
http://www.savannahnow.com/news/20180308/savannah-state-students-condemn-gun-violence-at-vigil
By Will Peebles
A group of about 30 Savannah State students gathered Wednesday night to mourn the victims of gun violence at SSU, in Savannah and nationwide. Organized by SSU students Schonn Franklin and David Cunningham, the event aimed to draw the attention of university, local and state leaders. Franklin said he hoped the event would elicit policy change. “We don’t want to make this specific to Savannah State,” Franklin said. “This is a national issue.” The issue hit close to home on Feb. 24, when Kaleel Clarke, 20, was shot and killed on the SSU campus by 19-year-old Phillip Burke. Burke and Clarke were not SSU students. SSU student Christopher Starks was shot and killed on campus in 2015. “It’s a vigil for the person who was shot; it’s a vigil for the person that was shot a few years ago,” Franklin said.
www.myajc.com
Opinion: Georgia Tech should break its silence on student walkout over school shootings
https://www.myajc.com/blog/get-schooled/opinion-georgia-tech-should-break-its-silence-student-walkout-over-school-shootings/kg0nLMYdJs7tG2lBrKkVtI/
By Maureen Downey
No Georgia public college has reassured high school applicants and those already admitted they will not risk rejection or revocation by participating in Wednesday’s 17-minute walkout to honor the students and staff killed in the Parkland, Fl., school shooting three weeks ago.
The campuses apparently have been told by the Board of Regents they cannot speak out, even though peer institutions around the country had stood up for students willing to risk punishment to call for stronger gun laws and better security measures. I have heard from University of Georgia and Georgia Tech students stunned their leadership remains silent. In a guest column today, a Georgia Tech professor shares his hope his campus will match the courage of the Florida students organizing the walkout and extend its support for their civic engagement.
www.myajc.com
Life with Gracie: Will high school activists make a difference in gun debate?
https://www.myajc.com/news/crime–law/will-high-school-activists-make-difference-gun-debate/7rgTRGawDKBZhhNceEivWI/
By Gracie Bonds Staples – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The wave of high school students walking out of class to protest gun violence and honor the victims of the Parkland, Fla., mass shooting is nothing short of inspirational. If you’re prone to historical flashbacks as I am, you couldn’t help remembering the student led sit-ins of the 1960s and feeling proud that once again our kids are taking the lead and, in this case, standing against violence, against the NRA, and for more gun control when those in power and charged to protect them can’t seem to find it in themselves to do so. …Closer to home, a group of 25 students in Atlanta held a silent protest two years ago at a Georgia Board of Regents meeting, challenging the state’s enrollment policies for immigrants. Other events have included “die-ins,” involving students at Emory University, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State University protesting police killings of unarmed black men. Students at the University of Georgia hosted candlelight vigils. Those at Spelman College, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University led solidarity marches. This, though, is different. Not only are recent protests the first sign of resistance to gun violence, they may well be the first mass protests we’ve seen from our nation’s high school students, said Karyn Amira, assistant professor of political science at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. …Nationwide protests, including the March 24 March For Our Lives march on Washington and national school walkouts on March 14 and April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, have been planned.
www.wabe.org
Georgia Legislature Considers Need-Based College Scholarships
https://www.wabe.org/georgia-legislature-considers-need-based-college-scholarships/
MARTHA DALTON
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would create Georgia’s first college scholarship program based on financial need. Currently, Georgia and New Hampshire are the only two states that don’t have such a program. Georgia’s lottery-funded HOPE program, first awarded in 1993, is merit-based. That means students have to meet certain academic requirements to receive scholarships and grants. Lawmakers tightened the standards in 2011 for the HOPE scholarship to keep the program solvent. Despite record profits, the lottery couldn’t keep up with massive demand for the program. The proposed need-based program would have minimal academic requirements. It would also be limited to students from families who earn $48,000 a year or less. State Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, says Georgia badly needs this kind of program.
Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
College Culture Drives Professors’ Job Satisfaction, Study Finds
https://www.chronicle.com/article/College-Culture-Drives/242776?cid=wcontentlist_hp_latest
By Audrey Williams June
Research shows that faculty members spend a lot of time working, which raises the question: Are professors satisfied with their jobs? A new study by the TIAA Institute sorted data on faculty members’ attitudes about work according to the type of institution at which they worked. And because colleges invest so much money in their faculties, a report on the study says, higher-education leaders should better understand the factors that affect job satisfaction — and institutional culture is key.
www.washingtonpost.com
Education inspector general raises concerns over GOP higher ed plan
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/03/06/education-inspector-general-raises-concerns-over-gop-higher-ed-plan/?utm_term=.3e2d45e2e294
By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
The U.S. Department of Education’s inspector general is cautioning Congress against provisions in the House Republican higher education bill that would repeal regulations holding colleges and universities accountable for the use of federal student aid. “Eliminating various accountability provisions without a proven substitute would increase the risks to students and taxpayers,” the inspector general said, in a report released Monday. It “could result in higher costs to offer credit through loans due to excessive borrowing, could increase defaults, and increase the use of [income-driven repayment plans] and loan discharges that could negatively impact the long-term viability of the programs.” The inspector general’s critique centers on several measures in the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success and Prosperity through Education Reform Act, the legislation House Republicans introduced in December to overhaul the federal law governing almost every aspect of higher education.